The Early History Of Beckenham

BECKENHAM EARLY HISTORY Cont'd..

Derivation of Beckenham

The long accepted belief that the name of Beckenham was derived from the Saxon words BECC', a stream and ’HAM’, a village or dwelling, has been disproved by recent study of medieval documents, in fact the reverse is now considered the more likely, that the name of the river BECK is derived from the village name of BECKENHAM.

Leading authorities on the subject of place names are convinced that the name comes from the 'BIOHHAHAHEMA' and ‘BEOHHAHAHEMA’ of Saxon times, signifying 'Beohha's settlement or enclosure'. The village is referred to by such names in Charters of the 9th. and 10th. centuries.

In the course of years the spelling of the name varied although the pronunciation probably remained much the same. In the Domesday Book the name appears first as 'BECHEHAM’ and in a later reference as 'BACHEHHAM', and from these we get the present township name of ‘BECCEHAMIAN’.

By 1141 the ‘ch’ was beginning to give way to a 'k' as seen by reference to ‘BEKAHAM’ in Queen Matilda's Charter of that year. In later periods many forms of spelling Occurred as 'BEKENHAM', ‘ BECHENHAM’', 'BEGHENHAM ' ‘BECKINGHAM’ and ‘BEKYNHAM’, all these variations the attempts of scribes to put down on parchment, or paper, name of the village when spoken to them.

The present day spelling of ‘BECKENHAM’ seems to have been from about the 17th century, although by no means universally, variation 'BECKINGHAM' still being usual even in the 18th. century.