Northbourne Spellings
According to Judith Glover’s The Place Names of Kent (1976) Northbourne is pronounced ‘Norburn’ meaning ‘North Stream’. In southern England it usually refers to a winter watercourse. 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. 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. Superficially there seems a distinct change in the early 1800s when ‘Northbourne’ seems to become universal.
| Year | Spelling | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 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) |
| 1753 | Northbourn | Pyott memorial, St Martin's church, Canterbury |
| 1754 | Northborne | Poll Book (predominates) |
| 1754 | Northborn | Poll Book (occasional) |
| 1754 | Northborne | Burial Register |
| 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 |