The name Whittington was derived
from 'the enclosure' (- ton) 'belonging to' (-ing) a Saxon called
'White'. In our own area are Huddington, Eckington and two Harvingtons, all
similar Saxon enclosures.
The Angles and Saxons came to
Britain from the North German coast in search of more land from the
fifth century on, settling first in coastal areas but later traveling up the rivers. By the end of the seventh
century, Worcester was the
capital of a tribe called the Hwicce, whose land included parts of
Wiltshire and Oxfordshire, as well as all Gloucestershire,
Warwickshire and, of course, Worcestershire. They made Worcester their
administrative centre long before the Bishopric was founded in 680
A.D. So Whittington must already have been 'White's enclosure' by the
start of the seventh century. It had everything that a 'family' living
on the land could possibly want. There was ploughland and pasture,
water in the Long Brook and a natural watchtower in what they called
'the Barrow'. A Saxon 'family' included three generations of free
men and women and any number of slaves, between them keeping watch day
and night, fire and cattle thieving being the commonest dangers.
THE BOUNDS
A Charter of 980 A.D. in the British
Museum gives the
HWITINTON bounds. They begin in the southeast and
go clockwise, as in most Anglo Saxon surveys. From 'Tyda's Clearing'
the walker reaches the 'RED WAY', goes down it and then veers west
of the 'BARROW' (BEORH). It is the same today, over a thousand years
later. The official parish boundary still starts at the back of The
Firs, reaches the Pershore Road, goes down it for 300 yds and then
veers left behind 'CROOKBARROW HILL'.
The Saxon bounds went on to 'Plum
Ridge' and the 'Cold Spring' and 'Reed Clearing'
(HREOD LAEGE) and 'HIGH STREET' (HAEH STRAETE), that is, the London
Road. Arthur
Jones in his book 'Anglo Saxon
Worcester (1958)' placed the Reed Clearing at the back of his
own
house, 12 Whittington Road. It would
have been thereabouts but was probably more extensive than that.
These Saxon bounds went up the road
to 'SWINES HEAD' (SWYNES HEAFOD), Swinesherd on the left of the
Spetchley Road, and then swung right to 'CYNHILD'S HOMESTEAD', south
of Swinesherd Farm. Passing through a meadow beside a wood going down
a hedgerow they reached the Long Brook, from there they continued to
'Broad Moor Ridge' and along a 'Boundary Dyke' to a second 'High
Street' going down this as far as the Brook, then kept above the low
lying land till they crossed the High Street and from there came back
to 'Tyda's Clearing'.
This second High Street was a Roman
cart road and pack horse route and is still shown as a bridleway on
the modem Ordnance Survey maps. The route travels from the junction of
Berkeley Close along Brewer's Lane, passing under the motorway to Old
House Farm and on to eventually meet the B4084 at Low Hill.
These
Saxon bounds were probably three centuries old by 980 A.D. and
remained until they were changed by the City of Worcester (Extension)
Order of 1931. Whittington lost the Whittington Road, the College for
the Blind and muchelse in that area, enabling the city to build up to
Walkers Lane.
This
page has
been reproduced by kind permission of Les Wiltshire
the copyright owner of:
WHITTINGTON
Worcestershire
A HISTORY OF THE
VILLAGE
By Les Wiltshire
(ISBN 0-9538223-0-3)
Copies of this book
which has a lot of old and interesting
photographs of the Village are still available.
Contact Webmaster
for details.
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