The Place Names of Essex
A common question I see asked is: "How did Belchamp Walter get its name?" and "what is the meaning of the village name of Belchamp Walter?"
The villages of the Belchamps have a common heritage in their naming. Obviously the common element is the word Belchamp, the second part of the naming is more complex to understand. St. Paul is probably the easiest as it refers to the administration of the village and its surrounds by the bishops of St. Pauls, London. Otten and Walter are almost certainly named after more local administrators.
Otten is most probably a corruption of Otto, Ortho or even more recently Oates. The Oates name again was proabably a corruption of the earlier Otto and Ortho. In any case the origin is likely to be from the Fitz-Otto family. In fact I have been guilty of corruption due to the adoption of some spelling on the geni.com website. See the Fitz-Otto page.
Belchamp Walter is even more obscure as not only has it been known as Walter Belchamp is has also been known as William Belchamp (Belchamp William and even Belchamp Simon). All these names are suggested by Morant and then Reaney but the common assumption is that the Walter came from Walter de Tey. The de Tey assumption seems to have been perpetuated by its inclusion in a table that either had its origin with Morant or Reaney.
Researching the history of the villages and towns of North Essex and South Suffolk one of the popular discussions is the origin of the name of the location.
In many cases it is a matter of speculation and cross-references with similar sounding names, owners of the location, the nature of the location and who owned the land at various times during its history.
P. H. Reaney
P. H. Reaney's "The Place-Names of Essex" - English Place-names Society - Volume XII, is quoted many times on this website and on other items of historical reference.
Reaney's book has a dedication to R.C. Fowler and J. H. Round
There are a number of locations that I am specificaly interested:
- The Belchamps - Belchamp Walter, St. Paul.s and Otten
- Great Wakering - Where I gew up.
- Rochford and Rayleigh - Where I went to school.
- Other places I have featured in my history pages
- Pleshey
- The Hedinghams - Castle and Sible
- Gosfield, Cobham Hall, Wethersfield
- Thunderlow - Reaney lists Thunderlow as a "Lost Half-Hundred" and associates it with Bulmer, Smeetham and Goldington.
Reaney says in his "Place-Names of Essex":
The ridge, although not now seen from the ground can be seen on the OS Map 1856. The ridge is the higher land between the tributaries of Belchamp Brook.
Keith Briggs
I came across Keith Briggs when I was researching P. H. Reaney. He has researched place-names of Suffolk and also has a bio of Reaney. His Suffolk place-names work is not as extensive as Reaney's (not surprisingly), I was hoping that I would get an insight into the names close to Belchamp Walter.
The bio on his page says:
Most of his research into the place-names of Suffolk is more to do with the meaning of the words used in the names and generally not as in-depth as Reaney. Also, the places he chooses to explain are those local to Woodbridge and Sutton Hoo. He helped in creating the website for Wuffings - "The History of Suffolk Place-Names".
Key
I have a more complete list here
- CCC - Corpus Christi College, List of St. Pauls Herrig's Archiv
- DB - Domesday Book
- ECP - Early Chancery Proceedings
- Stp - VStp - Star Chamber Proceedings - Visitations of the Churches belonging to St.Paul's cathedral
- SR -
- FF - Feet of Fines
- FA - Feudal Aidi
- Cl - Calendar of Care Rolls
- BCS -
- VCH - Victoria County History of Essex - 1903-07
- ON - Old Norse
The insistance of the Walter de Tey for Belchamp Walter