Abinghall/Abenhall (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, September 30, 2019, 15:24 (1887 days ago) @ DavidHankey

Did it come about through an incorrect transcription or a formal change.

David,
as the earlier replies suggest, I doubt either of the above theories apply, especially the latter. I suggest it's all down to the "lack" of perceived literacy skills which affected most forms of written text up until the late Victorian times when national schooling became the norm, where people wrote what they'd heard, or thought they'd heard, not helped by strong Forest dialects of course.

Looking at the fairly recent Trade Directories in the following list shows the publishers were themselves unsure (much as on the Ordnance Survey maps of the time), but many give history references which if anything suggest maybe it should be spelt with double "b"s haha. Often the "educated" scribes and authors who wrote these histories or produced the maps etc would spell things how they thought they should be spelt using the convention of their own time or education, sometimes with a disregard for what might be the true spelling !

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~cbennett/genealogy/index.htm