Northbourne Spellings
According to Judith Glover’s The Place Names of Kent (1976) Northbourne is pronounced ‘Norburn’ meaning ‘North Stream’. There are various forms of spelling of the word stream: burn, burne, borne, bourne, and bourn; these are reflected in the different spellings of Northbourne. In southern England it usually refers to a winter watercourse. A rough guide to the spellings appears below. It seems that the old name was ‘Norborne', and this was generally the spelling up to the late 1600s. During the 1700s ‘Northborne’ predominates, although ‘Norbourn’ and ‘Northbourn’ were not uncommon. It is not unusual to come across two different spellings used together, for example the map in Hasted’s History of Kent (1800) shows the village as ‘Norborne’ and next to it ‘Northbourn Court’. There seems a preference for Northbourne in the early-1800s and by the late-1800s this becomes universal.
| Year | Spelling | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 618 | Nortburne | Anglo-Saxon charter |
| 1086 | Norborne | Domesday Book |
| 1295 | Northburne | Early Visitation Roll |
| 1329 | Norburne | Early Visitation Roll |
| 1474 | Norborne | Dedication to church |
| 1502 | Norborne | Archdeacon’s Visitation |
| 1511 | Norborne | Archbishop Warham’s Visitation |
| 1557 | Norborne | Archdeacon Harpsfield’s Visitation |
| 1596 | Norborne | Philip Symonson’s Map |
| 1608 | Norburne | Rev Henoch Clapham in ‘Errour on the Left Hand’ |
| 1619 | Northborne | Visitation of Kent |
| 1660 | Norburne | Rev James Burvill |
| 1665 | Norborne | Daniel Wyborne, Yeoman |
| 1668 | Northborne | Visitation of Kent |
| 1734 | Northborne | Poll Book (predominates) |
| 1734 | Northborn | Poll Book (occasional) |
| 1749 | Northbourn | Bible in church |
| 1753 | Northbourn | Pyott memorial, St Martin's church, Canterbury |
| 1754 | Northborne | Poll Book (predominates) |
| 1754 | Northborn | Poll Book (occasional) |
| 1754 | Northborne | Burial Register |
| 1756 | Norborn | Elizabeth Terry's gravestone at Staple |
| 1759 | Norbourn | Burial Register |
| 1769 | Norbourn | Map by John Andrews, Andrew Dury and William Herbert |
| 1770 | Northbourn | Burial Register |
| 1775 | Norburne | On flagon presented to the church by Mary Parker |
| 1787 | Northburn | Inscription on alms-dish |
| 1787 | Norbourn | John Cary Map |
| 1790 | Northborne | Poll Book |
| 1791 | Norbourn | William Boys |
| 1799 | Norborne | Edward Hasted says it is usually called ‘Norborne’ |
| 1802 | Northborne | Poll Book |
| 1807 | Northbourn | Rev Montagu Pennington |
| 1816 | Northborne | Pyott memorial, St Martin's church, Canterbury |
| 1832 | Northbourn | Poll Book |
| 1832 | Northbourne | Poll Book |
| 1837 | Northbourne | Poll Book |
| 1842 | Northbourn | Tithe Map |
| 1857 | Northbourne | Poll Book |
| 1863 | Northbourne | Poll Book |
| 1865 | Northbourne | Poll Book |
| 1868 | Northbourne | Poll Book |
| 1868 | Northborne | Will of Abraham Claringbowl |
| 1872 | Northbourne | OS Map |