Great Bowden

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Great Bowden
Leicestershire
Greatbowdenchurchweb.jpg
Great Bowden parish church
Location
Grid reference: SP745887
Location: 52°29’30"N, 0°54’10"W
Data
Post town: Market Harborough
Postcode: LE16
Local Government

Great Bowden is a village in Leicestershire, immediately to the north-east of Market Harborough (and effectively becoming a suburb of it). Historically though the boot was on the other foot: Harborough was a village within the parish of Great Bowden.

The population of Great Bowden was measured at 1,017 at the 2011 census.

It is the site of Great Bowden Hall.

The village was included in the Domesday Book, under the name 'Bugedone' and was worth 40 shillings a year to the King, who held it.

Places nearby include Market Harborough, Little Bowden, Sutton Bassett, Foxton and Thorpe Langton.

Anglo-Saxon origins

'Bugedone', the village's name at the time of the Domesday Book, is a combination of the Old English female personal name 'Bucge' and the word 'dun' (meaning 'a hill, a flat-topped hill, an open upland expanse').[1]

Great Bowden was the centre of a large soke, which is known to have existed during the time of Edward the Confessor.[2]

Signpost in Great Bowden

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Great Bowden)

References

  1. Bourne, Jill (2003). Understanding Leicestershire & Rutland Place Names. Wymeswold: Heart of Albion Press. ISBN 1-872883-71-0. 
  2. A History of the County of Leicester - Volume 5 : Great Bowden (Victoria County History) – [1]