Greenwich
WHAT'S IN A NAME
The spelling for Greenwich has changed quite a few times but the meaning has mainly stayed the same: ‘green trading settlement or harbour’.
Gronewic – 918
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First recorded in the Anglo-Saxon charter of 918. A charter was usually a recorded grant of land, privilege or gift. It was recorded because Ælfthryth (daughter of Alfred the Great) gave Lieuesham, Grenevic and Uulwich to the Abbey of St. Peter, in Ghent, Belgium.[1]
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Grenewic - 964
Recorded in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.
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Grenawic – 1013
Recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
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Grenviz – 1086
Recorded in the Domesday Book.
Grenewych – 1291
Recorded in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica. The name, pronounced 'green wic', indicates Greenwich was known as a -wich town: an Anglo-Saxon settlement characterised by extensive market and trade activity. The name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon suffix -wīc, signifying 'a dwelling or fortified place.
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HUNDRED OF GREENWICH – DOMESDAY BOOK
There were 7 places in the Hundred of Greenwich in the Domesday Book.[2] It didn't stay the Hundred of Greenwich for very long though and became the Hundred of Blackheath in 1279.
Population
Eltham
Lewisham
Greenwich
Charlton
Lee
Wricklesmarsh
Woolwich
63
62
34
15
15
13
0
Citations
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[1] https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/charter/1205b.html
[2] https://opendomesday.org/hundred/greenwich/
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General Reading
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Ekwall, Eilert, 1877-1964. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names. 4th ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960.
Taxatio ecclesiastica angliae et walliae auctoritate P. Nicholai IV circa A.D. 1291. Printed by command of His Majesty King George III. &c. &c. &c. in pursuance of an address of the House of Commons of Great Britain. 1802.
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