Hackpen Hill
Early-attested site in the Parish of Winterbourne Monkton
Historical Forms
- (on) hacan penne 939 BCS734
- (super) Hakepen 1245 WMxvi
- Hakepenn(e) 1275 RH 1372,1454 Winton
- Hackpen, Hacpendowne 1570 PembSurv
- Hackpinn Downes 1695 NQviii
Etymology
This is not an easy name. Some of the difficulties arise from the problem already discussed under Pen Hill supra 34, viz. whether penn here represents the Old Celtic word for a hill or the English penn , 'enclosure.' The probabilities are in favour of the hill-interpretation. The first reference comes from the Overton charter (BCS 734). The boundary passes oþ þæne herpoð on hacan penne . Since penne is in the dative it would seem that this must be translated 'to the herepæð on Hackpen,' and though it is impossible to trace the bounds of Overton exactly, we are certainly not far from the south end of Hackpen Hill at this point in the boundaries as given in the charter. In the next two references we have again the phrase super Hakepen (n ) and this confirms the suggestion that Hakepen must have been the name of the hill itself. If that is so, the first part of the name should probably be associated with OE haca , 'hook,' the reference being to the projecting end of the hill running off Monkton Down.This interpretation is consistent with the idea, suggested under Pen Hill supra 34, that the word penn was so far anglicised that you could compound it with an English element. For such a compound we have a parallel in Hackpen Barton (PN D 538), taking its name from the hill called hacapenn (now Hackpen Hill) which thrusts itself forward prominently into the valley of the Culm (BCS 724). Cf. PN D 612, n. 1. See Addenda supra xl.