BURR "CASTLE" ?, WHITCHURCH (General)

by Jefff @, West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, February 20, 2018, 00:39 (2256 days ago) @ sidtoomey01

Could it be a pub ?

Perhaps more likely a case of census official writing down what he thought he heard from a local, despite dialect etc ?.

I see you're not the only person to ask this question ?
https://www.curiousfox.com/uk/mbprof2.lasso?eid=70037&-nothing

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Having given-up with the old maps, have been searching the web for various alternative spellings eg Bore castle, Bocastle, Boscastle etc etc.


Could this be a clue ?

"Skenfrith Castle
At the end of the 12th century, Skenfrith was rebuilt in stone. In 1201, King John gave the castle to a powerful royal official, Hubert de Burgh. During the course of the next few decades, it passed back and forth between several owners, including Hubert, the rival de Braose family, and the Crown. Hubert levelled the old castle and built a new rectangular fortification with round towers and a circular keep."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skenfrith_Castle

It's a few miles west of Whitchurch so maybe too far off the census route, but I wonder if the Hubert de Burgh name is relevant here, I guess he had influence all across the area, which almost leads me back to a pub name ?.

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Burgh is also an ancient word for a town's administrative area, especially in Scotland or the north, hence Edinburgh, Jedburgh etc, more recently "Borough" as in Windsor being a Royal Borough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgh

Alternatively, and perhaps even more likely, I found an English Heritage document about the old City Walls of Hereford "incorporating the ramparts of the Saxon burgh"... This led me to this webpage about

"burh (Old English pronunciation: [ˈburx]) or burg was an Old English fortification or fortified settlement."
This detailed page goes onto discuss earthworks, ditches and so on, and the derivation of the modern word "bury".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burh

So I wonder if Boar Castle was actually Burr, and was maybe thought to be an old earthwork ?, but the census official didn't know the word's meaning so wrote down boar ?. I know nowt abt the history of the Little Doward hillfort, except that it's Iron Age, so more earthworks seem possible in the surrounding area.

Finally, the old maps show the lane connecting Portland House Whitchurch and Tuck Mill Marstow has just one marked address, Hill Farm, could that have been known as Burr Castle at one time ? I don't know the area, but presumably it's on a hill, there's also a Tump Cottage nearby, are these addresses marked as-such on the Census ?.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101570457

Nice one Sid !


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