Bewdley
Major Settlement in the Parish of Bewdley
Historical Forms
- Buleye 1316 Ipm
- Beudle 1335 Ipm, Orig
- Beudeley 1349 Pat
- Beaudeley 1381 IpmR 1465 Pat
- Bewdeley 1547 Pat
Etymology
A well-known type of French place-name. The nearest parallel to this Anglicising that has been noted is Beadlow (PN BedsHu 147).
'Worthily so called for the Beautifull site thereof' (Camden's Britain , tr. Holland, 573). Leland (Itinerary ii. 87–8) waxes even more eloquent, culminating in the statement that 'at the rysynge of the sunne from este the hole towne gliterithe being all of new buyldynge, as it wer of gold.'