The Saxons settled on Portsea Island in the 6th century including one called Coppa who is believed to have owned a stretch of shoreline, in the Saxon language an ora. with the combination creating Coppan ora, with the ''n' added in place of an apostrophe. By the time the Domesday Book was published in 1086, it had changed to Copenore before being later known as Copnor. Nearby Baffins was farmland which included Baffins Pond, Baffins Farm, and Tangier Farm with those place names retained and reused for the names of the area and the roads. In the late 19th, and early 20th century the rapid expansion of Portsmouth saw the areas engulfed by the growing city. Pictured: Copnor Bridge in Copnor Road in July 1936.
The origins of place names in Portsmouth and when they become part of the city
Portsmouth as we know it today has changed dramatically over the centuries – with our modern city created by the integration of the villages, farms and hamlets which once filled the area.
The city's Old English Anglo-Saxon name, ‘Portesmuða’, is derived from port (a haven) and muða (the mouth of a large river or estuary) and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a warrior named Port and his two sons killed a noble Briton in Portsmouth in 501.
The names of a number of areas within the city owe their origin to the Saxons – we take a tour of the city as it is now to see how the names have changed over the years and when many of the areas which were once-villages and then became part of Portsmouth.
Buckland, then known as Bocheland was one of the three settlements on Portsea Island mentioned in the Domesday Book. It takes its name from the Saxons with who called any written document a book (Boche). The Manor of Bocheland was purchased by Jean de Gisors. De Gisors, a Norman lord who then founded Portsmouth on land at the southern end of the manor, in 1180. In time the name changed to Buckland. The area was extensively bombed during the Second World War and rebuilt. Photo: Google Streetview
