More information : In 915, Edward the Elder created a burh at Weardbyrig, (and at Runcorn and Chirbury), but its location is unknown. The Victoria County History (1) suggests that the name Westbury is a corruption of `Weard byrig', and notes that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that an English patrol was routed by the Welsh `near Westbury' in 1053. It therefore tentatively suggests that the Westbury documented in 1053 was a defended place and that it was the site of the earlier burh founded by Edward the Elder. However, it also notes that one of the two Westburys in Gloucestershire could equally claim to be the site of the 1053 skirmish.
The English Place-Name Society (2) traces the origin of the Shropshire Westbury's name to no earlier than 1066, and then as `Wesberie'. It suggests that the name actually derives from its relation to Pontsbury which lies to the South-East, that is, it is literally `the West bury'. Both Westbury and Pontsbury have distinct D-shaped enclosures around their parish churches which may be evidence of defences (see SJ 40 NW 1 and SJ 30 NE 17 for these enclosures). Westbury in Shropshire was an important road route into Wales, several roads, including a Roman road, converging there. If it was the site of either the burh of 915, or of a defended site of 1053, then the D-shaped earthwork enclosing the church may be its site.
Given that the place-names of the Gloucestershire Westbury's are consistently recognisable as a form of Westbury in the Saxon period, and that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that Edward built a new burh, then if Westbury is a corruption of Weardbyrig, the Shropshire Westbury is the more likely location for it. The fact that Weardbyrig is mentioned in connection with new burhs at Chirbury (Shropshire) and Runcorn (Cheshire) suggests that Weardbyrig was part of the burghal system in North Mercia rather than in the South. (1-2)
Caus (SJ 30 NW 1 and 9) has also been suggested as a site of the burh in Westbury parish, but no evidence of pre-Norman work has been reported from there. |