Marden, East, North and Up
Major Settlement in the Parish of East, North and Up Marden
Historical Forms
- Meredune (t. Steph France)
- Hup- (1227, 1240 FF)
- Hop- (1235 FF)
- Up- (1295 FF)
- Oup vel Up (1397 IpmR)
- Northm'den in 1288 (Ass)
- Westmerdon in 1279 (Ass)
Etymology
For Marden, the DB form is Meredone and the next earliest is Meredune (t. Steph France). Upmarden is Upmerdon in the 14th cent, copy of a 10th cent, charter (BCS 640). The prefix appears as Hup - (1227, 1240 FF), Hop - (1235 FF), Up - (1295 FF), Oup vel Up (1397 IpmR). East Marden is first distinguished as Estmeredun in the 12th cent. (Box ), North Marden first as Northm 'den in 1288 (Ass ). West Marden (in Up Marden) is called Westmerdon in 1279 (Ass ). Occasionally the second element appears as -den and in 1280 (FF) we have the name in valle de Merdesden (sic). The form Mardon is first found in 1421 (IpmR).It is difficult not to think that the Meredun from which they all derive is OE mære-dun, 'boundary-down,' and that the down was so called because it lay on the borders of Sussex and Hampshire, though as the parish bounds now stand, only a small piece of Up Marden is actually on the county- boundary. Probably this name for the down was used long before the area which now intervenes between the Mardens and the county-boundary was thought of as 'the parish of Compton,' and so made the old term something of a misnomer.