Bringhurst
| Bringhurst | |
| Leicestershire | |
|---|---|
 Main Street, Bringhurst | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP842921 |
| Location: | 52°31’16"N, -0°45’33"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Market Harborough |
| Postcode: | LE16 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Harborough |
Bringhurst is a small village and parish in south-east Leicestershire, adjacent to the border with Northamptonshire and close to that with Rutland. The ancient parish comprises three townships, Bringhurst itself, plus Drayton and Great Easton. Other nearby places are Cottingham in Northants and Caledecott in Rutland. The village has a primary school and a parish church but no other facilities.
History
The village antedates the Norman Conquest (AD 1066) and the manor was given by Ranulfe, a kinsman of King Edward the Confessor to the Abbey of Peterborough. Bringhurst is, according to W. G. Hoskins, one of the oldest village sites of the Anglo-Saxon period in the county. Bringhurst is one of the ancient Leicestershire villages not recorded in the Domesday Book (1086); however information about it is included in the entry for Great Easton indicating that Great Easton had acquired more importance than the older village on the hill-top. By the 13th century most villages in the county were growing in population but Bringhurst, being badly sited, probably was not.[1]
The village church of St Nicholas is 13th-century in date. The older houses are made of local stone and either roofed with thatch or Collyweston slate.[2]
Toponymy
The name of the village predates its use as a family name, the earliest mention of which is dated 1260. Earlier variations of the name, such as "Bruninghurst" were first recorded in 1188. Other variations include "Bringherst", "Brinkhurst", "Bringhast", and "Bringhaste". The etymology of Bringhurst comes from the personal name "Bryni" derived from "bryne" (Old English), meaning "fire" or "flame", combined with the word "hurst" or "hyrst" meaning "wooded hill" in Old English, related to Old Saxon, and "hurst" or "horst" in Old High German.[3]
References
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bringhurst) |
- ↑ Hoskins, W. G. (1957) Leicestershire. (The Making of the English Landscape.) London: Hodder & Stoughton; pp. 3, 11, 17
- ↑ Leach, Josiah Granville (1901). History of the Bringhurst Family: With Notes on the Clarkson, DePeyster, and Boude Families. Lippincott.
- ↑ "Bringhurst Family Crest". http://www.houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sId=&s=bringhurst.