Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Almaneberie 1086 DB

• Almanebir 1270 BM

• Almanberia, Almanber(y) 1142–54 YCh 1250–8 YDi,173 1391 YDiii 1412 YDvi 1461 YDv

• Almanbiri, Almanbyri 1236–58 YDix,393 1274–1308 WCR 1287 Ebor 1294 Ch l.13,1323 YDiii 1428 FA

• Almanbir(e) 1284 Ebor 1297 LS

• Almanbury 1275,1316 WCR 1304,1313 Pat 1316 Vill 1486 YDv

• Alemanbir 1252 Skyr

• Alemaneburi c.1154 Brett

• Alemanebir 1195–1215 YCh e.14 Font

• Alemanebiri 1251 Ch

• Almannesbiry 1188–1202 YChviii

• Almanesbir' 1235 Ebor

• Aumundebir' 1202 FF

• Almundbury 1327 WCR 1441 DiocV

• Almundbery 1409 ib

• Almannebire 1230 Ebor

• Alemannebir 1276 RH

• Almandbiri 1296 LacyComp

• Almandbury 1393,1456 DodsN 1444 Linds

• Almonbiry 1323 Var

• Almonbery 1439 YDiii

• Almonbury(e) 1509 1548 YDv 1603 PRThl

• Almondbury 1483 DodsN 1487 MinAcct 1498 HCY 1822 Langd

• Almondebury 1485 Baild

• Almontbury 1494 YDxiii78

• Aumebery 1471 WillY

• Awmbery 1503 Testiv 1518 FF 1666 SelbyW

• Ambry 1545 NCWills

• Ambrey 1592 PRHfx

• Ambery 1616 PrHosp

• Ambury 1660 SbCA

• Aimbury 1787 PRBrods

Etymology

The two spellings with Alman (n )es - suggest at least the possibility of a pers.n., which would otherwise appear (as so often in YW) mostly in an uninflected form; the late OE  Æl (l )mon , Ælmanus recorded by Searle (from an older Ælfman ) would be appropriate, as pointed out by Goodall. On the other hand the many forms with -man (n )e - make it likely that the medial -e - is significant and that would not be the case if the first el. were an uninflected pers.n. like Ælfman .Another suggestion, which Moorman made, is that Almondbury contains the name of the Alemanni , a Germanic tribe, and some evidence exists in the Greek historian Zosimus, Historiæ Novæ , and in Aurelius Victor, Epitome V, for the presence of men of this tribe in Britain during the Roman occupation. But the name Almondbury is much later than that period and it is highly improbable that a p.n. of this form would embody such a memory of Roman times, for though OE  burh is used to describe Roman encampments (v. EPN i, 59) it does not normally combine with the Romano-British names of those stations, as OE  ceaster does: Richborough K 531 (from Rutu - piæ ) is an exception, and even there it was Reptacæstir in OE (Bede) and burh is a ME  replacement of ceaster . There is no suggestion that the Alemanni were an identifiable Germanic tribe in England in Anglo-Saxon times; they were a south German folk. There is much to be said therefore in favour of Ekwall's suggestion (DEPN s.n.) that the first el. is ON  al-menn (gen.plur. al-manna ) 'all men, the whole community, the public', used in such compounds as ON  almannavegr 'a public highway', almanna -þing 'a public assembly'. Almondbury would denote 'a fortified place owned or maintained by the men of the village' as distinct from one owned by an individual (as in Dewsbury 184supra ). The burh may be no more than a fortified village, but rather more than a mile from Almondbury there is an ancient encampment at Castle Hill, which is a lofty natural eminence dominating the whole neighbourhood, and Roman coins have been found here; it is likely enough that this is the burh , although it is so far from the site of the present village.