Brandon
Major Settlement in the Parish of Brandon and Bretford
Historical Forms
- Brandune 1086 DB
- Brandon(e) t.Hy1 Kenilworth
- Braundon c.1185 Madox 1199 FF 1656 Dugdale
- Brawndon 1612 FF
- Bramdun, Brampdon 1232 Ass
- Bramdon 1335 Ipm
- Brawne al. Brandon 1614 Recov
- Brandon al. Brawne 1654,1659 FF
Etymology
The first element might be OE brand , 'fire,' but the sense of such a compound is not obvious. Dugdale (29) writes, however, “This being situate at the foot of a Hill, the soyl whereof is sandy and dry, makes me conjecture that it might originally have its name from the effect that the Sun by heat doth oft times produce upon such high ground, or otherwise, because being antiently woody, it was first made fit for tillage by burning the thickets that naturally grew thereon.” Cf. Brandalls Croft infra 361. More likely it was brom dun , 'broom hill,' with early assimilation of md to nd and shortening of ō to a . Professor Ekwall notes the parallel of Brandon (Sf), earlier Bromdun 11th. Thorney (Camb. Phil. Soc. Proc. 1903, p. 13).