English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Braydon Hook

Early-attested site in the Parish of South Savernake

Historical Forms

  • (to) bræcdene geate 968 BCS1213 c.1225
  • Braedone 1272 WIpm
  • Braydene 1290 For 1331 Stowe 1370 Ipm
  • Braydeneshok 1331 Stowe
  • viam de Braye, puteurn de Braydene 14th Bradenstoke
  • Bray dens hook 1542 Sav

Etymology

Braydon Hook is (to ) bræcdene geate 968 (c. 1225) BCS 1213, caput de Bray den 1257, Braiden '1259For , Braedone 1272 WIpm, Braydene 1290For , 1331Stowe 925, 1370 Ipm, Braydeneshok 1331Stowe 925, Braydeneshouke t. Ed 3, Braieden '1339For , viam de Braye , puteurn de Braydene 14thBradenstoke , Bray dens hook 1542Sav . 'Valley in which there is land broken up for cultivation.' v. bræc infra 423. For this development an exact parallel may be found in the history of Theydon (PN Ess 82).The earliest form of that name occurs in a 13th-century cartulary of Waltham Abbey, in a charter of Edward the Confessor. Kemble printed it as þecdene , Thorpe (followed by Ekwall in DEPN) as þetdene , but examination of the MS shows that, though e and t are hard to distinguish in this handwriting, the probabilities are all in favour of c . See further Addenda supra xxxvi.