Welsh Place-names: Tal-y-bont : Buttington

Description

Butinton1166-7, Botinton 1245, 1289, Botintone 1271, Botenton’ 1278, Botington 1278, 1286, Butyngton 1312, Botyton 1317, Botiton 1344, (i) Dal-y-bont 1440-93, (o) dal ybont 1580-90

Old English 'Bota's settlement' and identical in meaning to Boddinton (Botingtvne, Botington' 1086, Butintune 1185), Gloucestershire. Most early spellings have Bot- which probably rule out the similar Old English personal name Butta. The Welsh name means 'end of the bridge' and there was certainly a bridge here over the river Severn/Hafren in the mid thirteenth century and in 1478 when it was noted by the traveller William of Worcester. Buttington has also been identified by some historians with Botingtvne on Sæfyrne, Buttingtune on Sæferne, mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, where invading Vikings wintered in 893-4. The identification is based partly on the statement in one version of the chronicle that the Viking marauders passed across England up the river Thames and then 'up along Severn' but we cannot be sure at what point they reached the Severn or how far they travelled until they were besieged and defeated by Welsh and English armies 'on Severn shore'. It is quite possible that their defeat took place at Buttington Tump (also in Gloucestershire), an isolated fragment of Offa's Dyke next to the Severn near Chepstow/Cas-gwent.

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