Bittles
Bittles, Denmeadcounty:
coords:
Hampshire
SU6413
otherwise: Botevyleyns, 1448; Butvillens, 1597
BITTLES, farm in Hambledon
A 'manorial' name containing the surname 'Buttevileyn' (thus in Hambledon in the 13th century), a morally ambiguous name meaning either 'bash/kick villein' or 'provide boots for villein' (probably the former). It replaces an earlier 'Burwell' (1236 'Burewelle')='spring by the fortification'. The 'burh'='fortification' is in all likelihood the Roman building at SU645144, which also gives its name to the adjacent 'Bury Lodge' (OS 1 to 50000 map; 1263 'la Burgh'). Burwell tithing was an anomalous detached part of Meonstoke hundred within Hambledon hundred.
