W. T. Moncrieff Gipsy Jack, or, The Napoleon of humble life c.1834
Posted: April 20th, 2012 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: London, Londons Ordinary, derogatory, pubs | No Comments »
Sticky: Laugharne, Carmarthenshire Beggars Bush 1909 ?
The name is a “Hoisting Place” on the Laugharne Common Walk. This is a ceremony of beating the bounds held once every three years, when the people of the town, led by the Portreeve and the officials of the Court, retrace the town’s ancient boundaries. Ritual “hoisting” is used to remind younger walkers of the location and name of Hoisting Places – more civilised than the more corporal ways of getting young boys to remember bounds in some historical records. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 21st, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Carmarthenshire, Laugharne, William Bullein, derogatory | No Comments »
Sticky: Embleton, Northumberland Beggars Bush c.1880
This example is unusual because it contains a naming story that is almost contemporaneous, and very close to first hand. It illustrates how place names may be given through trivial incidents. Although this one did not survive into official records, such naming by landowners or those associated with them could easily transfer into and be perpetuated by paper records. It is also unusual as it occurs during a period when there were few uses of the phrase in literary works. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 25th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Coldharbour, Embleton, Izaak Walton, Northumberland, bush, derogatory, naming story | No Comments »
Wheatley, West Yorkshire Beggars Bush Close 1609
Referred to in 1609 in a Deed initially as “the long close near the way leading to Hatfield called the Beggars Bush Close or Hungerhill Close” and in 1615 as a “close of pasture in Wheatley or Doncaster (2a.) adjoining Wheatley Common and called Moreclose or Beggar Buske Close” and this name is used a reference point in two later deeds. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 23rd, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Bentley, Lullington, West Yorkshire, Wheatley, derogatory | No Comments »
Uley, Gloucestershire Beggers Bush 1723
Indenture dated 9 Sept., 1723, between Thomas Bayly, of Uley, gent, (1), and Michael Bayly, of Uley, gent, (father of Thomas Bayly) (2) of land in Uley, including 8 acres of arable land in the West field, in Uley, whereof 4 acres lye together below Seechmead, gives other locations and ends “and the other acre thereof, residue of said 8 acres, lieth in the said field at a place called Beggers Bush, next Mr. Basset’s tyning hedge”. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 23rd, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Annington, Coldharbour, Gloucester, Sussex, Uley, derogatory | No Comments »
Anon Londons Ordinarie 1629 ?
This broadside ballad “To a pleasant new tune” survives in a variety of editions. The English Broadside Ballad Archive has two dated from 1619-1629 and 1630, while the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads lists three further versions dated between 1674 and 1679. All of these include similar text which lists places, mainly hostelries (ordinaries) linked with the characters of the people who used them. Notably it is the spendthrifts who go to Beggars Bush – which is consistent with the literary usage of the phrase. It is sometimes connected to a song by Thomas Heywood, first published in 1608. For the full text see Londons Ordinarie.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 20th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Ballads, John Taylor, London, Londons Ordinary, Robert Greene, Southwark, St Giles, The Oath, The Play, Thomas Heywood, derogatory, pubs | No Comments »
Thomas Heywood The Rape of Lucrece 1608
Thomas Heywood is significant because he does not use Beggars Bush when he might have done, but he does associate beggars with bushes. This song appears to be the source or have a common source with, a later ballad Londons Ordinary which does refer to Beggars Bush.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 19th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Cambridge, Coldharbour, Francis Beaumont, Francis Kirkman, John Taylor, London, Londons Ordinary, Saxton, Southwark, St Giles, derogatory, pubs | No Comments »
Laverton & Lullington, Somerset Beggars Bush 1807
The Lullington/Laverton fields form one site, straddling the parish boundary, close to a crossroads. They are a few hundred yards from the Hemington site, and about 2 miles away from the Frome, Oldford/Berkley sites as the crow flies. Until the 1620’s there was a direct route through Orchardleigh parish, but that was blocked by the Champneys family, who emparked most of the parish, and the new road skirts the park and doubled that distance. Along the edge of the site the road is called Portway, a common name for a road between markets. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 19th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Berkley, Coldharbour, Frome, Hemington site, Laverton, Lullington, Oldford, Somerset, derogatory | No Comments »
Hemington, Somerset Beggars Bush 1840
The Hemington site is a field a few hundred metres away from the Lullington/Laverton site along the line of Portway to the north. It is a lone exposed field, in the next valley, two fields away from the road. The parish boundary between Hemington and Laverton is a brook, not easy to cross.
The origin on the name in Hemington is clear from the names of the adjacent fields in the Tithe Survey, which tell of poor land; Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 19th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Frome, Hemington, Laverton, Lullington, Somerset, derogatory | No Comments »
Warminster, Wiltshire Beggars Bush 1581
EPNS Wiltshire gives this name from papers of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. It also says these included Coldharbour, as Coleharborow, aka Gooseland 1609, which is recorded as La Goslonde as early as 1292,. The name does not appear on any later maps or records. The editors of EPNS describe it as a term of contempt.
The archivist at Corpus Christi College has been unable to trace any relevant papers. The phrase Beggars Bush was certainly known at Corpus Christi by 1609 as it is used in a letter dated 22nd October 1609 from Brian Twyne, a student there.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 13th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Brian Twyne, Coldharbour, Oxford, Warminster, Wiltshire, derogatory, early sites, proverb | No Comments »