Chisbury
Early-attested site in the Parish of Little Bedwyn
Historical Forms
- Cheseberie 1086 DB
- Chessebure 1247 SarumCh
- Chessebyr' 1268 Ass
- Chessebur' 1275 RH
- Chessebury 1279 BM 1284 FF 1292 Cl
- Cheesbury 1819 RCH
- Chisseberia 1166 P
- Chisseber' 1210 Cur
- Chissebur 1210 FF 1249 Ass
- Chyssebyr' 1268 Ass
- Chussebur' 1257 For
- Chusseburia 1285 BM
- Chussebury t.Ed2 For 1316 FA
- Chusseburi 1332 SR
- Chussebury 1408 IpmR
Etymology
The sub-soil here is gravelly (WM xlvi, 7), but the persistent ss here suggests that the first element cannot be cis , 'gravel,' as in Chisenbury supra 328. Rather it must be the OE personal name Cissa , hence 'Cissa 's burh.' There is an ancient earthwork here.In a medieval history of Abingdon Abbey (Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon ii, 268) there is a story to the effect that in the days of Kinuinus , king of the West Saxons, there was a certain noble, Cyssa by name, who was regulus in a district which included Wiltshire and the greater part of Berkshire. He was called regulus because his dominium included the episcopal see of Malmesbury, but the metropolis of his kingdom was Bedeuuinde , i.e. Bedwyn, and in the south part of that urbs he built a castellum which was named Cyssebui (sic) after him. This story does not belong to the older stratum of Abingdon tradition, and has no historical value (Stenton, Early History of the Abbey of Abingdon 1, 2, 13). That does not however prevent us from believing in a sometime possessor of Chisbury named Cissa . Cf. Cissanhamm (KCD 658) in Westwood. It should be added that the camp itself is certainly far older than the West Saxon period (cf. Crawford in WM xli, 281) and lies west-south-west of Little Bedwyn and north of Great Bedwyn.