Quidhampton
Quidhampton, Overtoncounty:
coords:
Hampshire
SU5150
otherwise: Quedementun, 1086; Quedhamtun; Quidhamtun, 1245
QUIDHAMPTON, hamlet, later village, in Overton
Old English 'farm of the inhabitants of Cweadham' an otherwise unknown place name meaning 'dirt/dung estate'. Or, more directly, 'farm of the inhabitants of the filthy/dung estate'. There are 2 further 'Quidhamptons' in Wiltshire.
The suspicion that the medial element is '-haeme-'='dwellers' rather than '-ham-' is based on the Domesday Book form but reinforced by the existence of farms called 'Polhampton, Northington' and 'Southington' in the same parish. Certainly the first (940 'polhaematun'='farm of the dwellers at the pool or at hypothetica Polham' ie: the pool which is a source of the Test), probably the second (1218 'Norhamet') and possibly therefore the third all contain '-haeme-'. The modern forms of the last two probably stem from the homophony of their medieval and early-modern forms with 'Northampton' and 'Southampton'. Speakers have taken action to avoid ambiguity.
