Boscombe

Boscombe, Bournemouth
settlement
parish:
county:
coords:
Bournemouth
Dorset
SZ1191
refce: HANTSLOC.t
old map: 25inch County Series map -- Hants LXXXVI.14
Boscombe
otherwise: Boscumbe; Boscumbas, 1273
refce: Coates 1989
BOSCOMBE, suburb of Bournemouth, now in Dorset
Apparently Old English 'Bosa's valley(s)', cf BOSSINGTON. But the scarcity of early spellings makes this doubtful. Smith (English Place Name Elements I: 43) postulates the existence of an Old English 'bors' meaning some spiky plant, to account for various modern place names, excluding 'Boscombe'. In each case the modern name has lost its 'r: Boasley' (D) 'Boscombe' (Wiltshire) and 'Boseleys' also in Wiltshire. (Cf common dialectal 'hoss' for 'horse'.) This may account better for the Hampshire 'Boscombe.'
old map
 Boscomb
Shown on an old map by Harrison 1788
- settlement, hamlet - Christ Church Hundred - Hampshire
Period - 1780s
refce: Harrison 1788
(HAR1SZ08.jpg)
   Old Hampshire Gazetteer - JandMN: 2001