by Nick Corcos

Field, J, 1989, English Field-names: A Dictionary, 154, Stroud: Alan Sutton. However, readers should note a major caveat here. Confusion in Middle English has meant that modern forms with a spelling of bury could have come from either of two possible Old English words: byrig (the dative singular form of the word burh), which as we have already seen means a fortified and/or high status occupation site; or beorg, meaning a hill, mound or tumulus.  The latter passed into common use, especially in Wessex, to give the dialect word 'barrow', meaning specifically a burial mound. If only the modern form bury is available, it will be virtually impossible to determine which of these two derivations is the correct one, and the context of the word, especially the landscape context of the site to which it is applied, therefore becomes crucial. Fortunately, for the archaeologist interested simply in locating archaeological sites of any type, the distinction is somewhat academic since both possible source words are highly archaeologically indicative. Indeed, this is a case where the archaeology can cast light on the toponymy, since the exact nature of any site discovered through the occurrence of a bury name (is it a Bronze Age barrow or an Iron Age hillfort?), will give a clue about whether it is likely to originate in beorg or byrig. See the short but important discussion by Margaret Gelling on this problem, in Signposts to the Past: Place-Names and the History of England (3rd edn), 1997, 132-134. Chichester: Phillimore. For a detailed regional study written by an archaeologist, see F M Griffith, "Burh and Beorg in Devon", Nomina 10, 1986, 93-103.

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