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Saxon standard bearer | Anglo Saxon History
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| Saxon Place Names (bury,borough and burg) |
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| | Introduction ▲ |
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Place names ending in bury, borough, or burgh are among the most common in England, and they are often assumed to mean roughly the same thing — a town, a settlement, a fortified place. The reality is more precise, and the distinctions between them reveal something about who built what, and when.
This page argues that the three endings derive from three different sources — Saxon, Roman, and a mixture of both — and that paying attention to which ending a place uses can help identify the origin and original function of the settlement.
As with the other snippet pages, it is worth reading Places containing the snippet æg meaning island first, as the broader landscape context set out there is relevant to some of the examples discussed here.
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The three endings look similar but have distinct origins. Bury derives from the Saxon burh or byrig, meaning a fortified refuge or defended settlement — often, in the Saxon period, a reuse of an existing Roman defensive structure. Borough derives from the Roman burgus, a specific type of watchtower or fortified post used to guard roads and river crossings. Burgh is the most ambiguous, as it could derive from either the Roman burgus or the Saxon beorg, meaning a hill or mound — and in practice, the two sometimes overlap, since Roman signal towers were often built on high ground. Where there is known Roman archaeology, burgus is the more likely source; where there is none, beorg (hill) is the safer interpretation.
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| Definition of bury/borough/burgh ▲ |
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Bury is derived from the Saxon byrig which means a fortified town, probably similar meaning to a burh or fortified refuge.
Examples of these are:
Canterbury
canter derived from cantwara - the tribe occupying kent pre saxon
bury derived from burh - fortified place, castle - usually associated with old Roman forts
Salisbury
salis derived from salig - willow tree
bury derived from burh - fortified place, castle - usually associated with old Roman forts
Aylesbury
ayles derived from æles - eels
bury derived from burh - fortified place, castle - usually associated with old Roman forts
Next borough, this one is derived from the Roman burgus - a signalling tower
Examples of these are:
Marlborough
marl derived from marl/mærel - a type of limestone/A rope for mooring a ship
borough derived from burgus - a roman signalling tower
Southborough
south derived from suþ - south
borough derived from burgus - a roman signalling tower
Flamborough
flam derived from flan - An arrow, a dart
borough derived from Roman burgus a signalling tower
Finally burgh, this one is more complex as it could refer to one of two different things, the first is the Roman burgus - a signalling tower, the second the Saxon beorg which means a hill.
Examples of these are:
Drumburgh
drum derived from druim - a ridge
burgh derived from beorg/burgus - a high place - hill/possible roman signalling tower.
(Drumburgh has a Roman fort)
Happisburgh
happis derived from heopes - rose hips
burg derived from beorg/burgus - a high place - hill/possible roman signalling tower
(As far as we know there are no Roman remains in the area so this one means hill)
Burwash
bur derived from beorg/burgus - a high place - hill/possible roman signalling tower
wash derived from æsc/wæsce - ash tree if inland/a place that floods
(As far as we know there are no Roman remains in the area so this one means hill)
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| A Burgus ▲ |
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Wikipedia Definition:
(Wikipedia Page for more details)
Burgi were erected along border rivers and along major roads, where they are likely to have been used for observation, as forward positions or for signalling. So these are larger than the watch towers and usually held a complement of 20-100 men(a century). They are normally defined as 'a small fortified position or watch-tower usually controlling a main routeway.'
It seems that Castellum also refer to Burgi meaning a larger fortlet, or stone built construction.
Burgus Zullstein illustrated below is a a special type of burgus contained a river landing. In addition to a rectangular building near the river bank, these had crenellated walls that extended up to or into the river like pincers, thus protecting a landing stage or berthing bay for cargo ships and river patrol boats.
This may be relevent to our area as we have a location near Rye in Sussex called Cadborough at a strategic point at the end of the river Brede which is where the majority of the largest Roman iron-workings were.
The modern place name snippet 'Borough' derives from the Roman Burgus, other place names such as 'Burgh' and 'Burg' derive from the Saxon 'Beorg' meaning a hill.
Click on the images for the full Wikipedia image:
A local example worth noting is Cadborough, near Rye in East Sussex. It sits at a strategic point at the head of the River Brede — the same valley that contained the greatest concentration of Roman iron-workings in the Weald. The borough ending suggests a Roman burgus here, and the Zullestein-type river landing burgus described above — with walls extending into the water to protect a berthing bay — would fit the location well. If correct, Cadborough was not merely a signal tower but a fortified river port controlling the export of iron from the Brede valley. This has not been confirmed archaeologically but the topography is consistent with it.
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| Further Reading ▲ |
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The three endings bury, borough, and burgh are not interchangeable. They encode a genuine historical distinction: Saxon fortified settlements built on or around earlier Roman defensive works (bury), Roman signal towers and fortified road posts (borough), and high places that may be Roman watchtowers, Saxon barrow mounds, or simply prominent hills (burgh).
In practice the boundaries blur — Saxons reused Roman structures, Roman terms passed into Saxon usage, and later scribes were not always consistent. But as a first-pass guide to what a settlement name implies about its origins, the distinction is a useful one. A bury name is worth looking at for Roman structural remains underneath a Saxon defensive reuse. A borough name is worth checking against the Roman road network. A burgh name with known Roman archaeology is likely a burgus; without it, look for a prominent hill or mound.
For further details of types of Roman Fortification:
Roman Fortifications
For our translation of places named Coldharbour please see:
~~snippet_coldharbour~~
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Local Interest
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![Saxon standard bearer](javascript:launch_resize("/images/1066AD/saxon_standard_bearer_lft.png",900,1000);)
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