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THE NAME
The sources I have used for my information have been many and varied. The recording of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials in Parish Registers only began in 1538 and many parishes did not make a start in recording this vital information until much later. Over the centuries some parish registers have been lost altogether, or in part from the ravishes of time and neglect.
While working on this research I have come across some very early references to the name. It is not possible to piece together these references into family units because the documents recording them seldom give any indication of relationship. They are useful however in giving some indication of the age of the name, its early distribution and giving some pointers to its origin. These will be discussed more fully later.
First we must enter into some discussion of the meaning and origin of the name Belchamber. Many books have been written over the years on this subject but I shall cite just three, which I have used to support my argument.
(1) C. W. Bardsley Dictionary of British Surnames
(2) P. H. Reaney Dictionary of English Surnames
(3) R. A. McKinley Surnames of Sussex
C. W. Bardsley believed that the surname was local i.e. a place name, its origin being in the village of Bellencumbre, in the arrondissement of Dieppe in Normandy, France. However Bardsley does not give any firm evidence for his opinion and as you will read later I can find only circumstantial evidence but it seems to give a firmer conclusion than the alternatives.
P. H. Reaney in his book of Dictionary of English Surnames, although highly rated as an authority on surnames, does not seem to be able to give any clear conclusion. He offers suggestions but does not seem to be able to come out on one side of the argument or the other.
R .A. McKinley who confines his study in this particular volume to the Surnames of Sussex, states that the first reference in Sussex is a Richard Belechambr or Belechombre before 1285 who was a tenant of a virgate of land in Slindon. Although he mentions an earlier instant of the name, which he connects to France, he does not make the leap from the French connection to the later references to the name in England.
Having researched the name now for many years and making my own assessment of the various sources available I have come to the conclusion that the origin of the name is in fact French and that Bel(l)chamber(s) is what finally became the anglicised version of the French place name Bellencumbre. I have to admit that I have no proof positive that this is so, but when one looks at the very few early references and the variation in the spelling it does not seem to be a gargantuan leap from Bellencumbre to Bellchambers.
Before I go into a more detailed explanation of the evidence supporting my conclusion I must give some reasons why I reject the idea of the ‘Bell Tower’ theory and its association with bell ringing. I cannot imagine anybody living in the ‘Bell Tower’ it would be an absolute nightmare, having to live with the sporadic ringing of bells, which would have been a much more regular occurrence in those early years than it is today. It could be that the Bellchamber name was connected, not to living in the Bell Tower, but being responsible for the upkeep of the tower and maybe even for the ringing of the bells. However, I do not think that this is feasible either, my argument being that every parish the length and breath of the country had its own church, so it would be expected that the name would be fairly evenly distributed throughout the country, and this is not so, apart from one or two mentioned in Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertford, and Oxford, several in Essex and the inevitable one or two in London, the name does not appear at all North of the River Thames until the early part of the nineteenth century.
The evidence for concluding that the name is a place name in origin is as stated previously, nothing if not flimsy, but it is all I have at the present time and it may be that more will be revealed in due course.
I shall begin with the very early history of the tiny village called Bellencombre, because I believe this is relevant to my argument. It is situated on the west bank of the river Varrene about 35 kilometres from Dieppe and about the same distance from Rouen. The village consists of one single broad street at the southern end of which was a large and imposing castle, now sadly only a mound of rubble. However some idea of its size and beauty can be obtained from the few sketches and tapestries that survive.
Early in the eleventh century a French nobleman named William de Warenne built this castle and made his home there. When William the Conqueror came to England in 1066, William de Warenne was among those who came and gave him support. Once the conquest had taken place William de Warenne was awarded large tracts of land, over a large part of southern England. William de Warenne remained in England and made his headquarters at Lewes in the County of Sussex where he built a castle, which still stands to this day. William de Warenne later married the daughter of William the Conqueror named Grundrada, by whom he had at least one son also named William, who succeeded his father as the 2nd Earl Warenne.
William de Warenne 1st Earl with all these lands to administer would have needed a team of faithful and trustworthy men to assist him in running all the estates he had been granted. It would not have been very surprising then that among the team would perhaps have been a member of the entourage who had come over from de Warenne’s seat in France, logically it would also not be surprising if in order to distinguish one team member from another that coming from Bellencombre he was given the name de Bellencombre, bearing in mind that at that time hereditary surnames had not yet come into being.
From 1066 to 1500 I have found only a small number of references to the name, but few of those refer to any family groups. The reason the number of references are so small are several, the population of the country was scanty in comparison to modern times, very few of these could read or write and materials such as paper, pens and ink were very difficult to procure and very expensive. There was no law that required the registration of, births, marriages or deaths, so apart from the odd references to disputes in a Court or references to transfers of land, very little documentation was produced. I will therefore list references that I have found between these dates to give some idea of the continuity of the name.
(1) Rudolph de Bellencombre held the manor of Cuckfield, County of Sussex around 1066.
(History of the Parish of Cuckfield)
(2) Bernard de Bellencombre held land in Suffolk 1086
(‘The Norman People’ published by the Genealogical Co. Inc. Baltimore 1875 and reprinted 1985 page 156)
(3) William de Bellencombre, 1165 witness to two charters granted by Isabella, Countess of Surrey to Lewes
Priory. Isabella was the widow of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl Warenne.
(original charters at East Sussex Record Office, Lewes)
(4) William Belencumbre 1235 unpublished Assize Rolls (P.H. Reaney)
(5) Presentation of Robert de Belencumbre to the church of Merewe (now Merrow in the County of Surrey) in the
Diocese of Winchester 1st July 1249 (Calendar of Patent Rolls)
(6) William de Belencumbre County of Essex 1272 (Feet of Fines)
(7) Robert de Belencumbre County of Essex 1272 (Feet of Fines)
(8) John de Belencumbre County of Essex 1273 (Hundred Rolls)
(9) Robert de Belencumbre County of Essex 1273 (Hundred Rolls)
(10) Robert de Belencumbre property worth 6 marks in rent in Felstead County of Essex also property at
Finchingfield County of Essex (Feet of Fines 1285 – 1286 Vol. ii )
The property in Finchingfield is now known as Belcumber Hall.
(11) John de Belencumbre Finchingfield County of Essex 1285 – 1286 (Feet of Fines)
(12) Richard Belchambre tenant of a virgate of land in Slindon County of Sussex 1285 (Feet of Fines)
(13) Robert de Belencombre, Alice his wife and John his son. 1 messuage - 20 acres of land worth 2 shillings and
5½ pennies Finchingfield County of Essex 1313 – 1314 (Feet of Fines)
(14) Robert de Belencumbre and Alice his wife 1 messuage – 16 acres of land, 1 acre of pasture at Bumstede
Helyum, Finchingfield Essex 1315 – 1316 (Feet of Fines)
(15) Robert de Belencumbre of Finchingfield County of Essex was granted a pardon 11th June 1318 after being
committed to the Kings prison at Colchester County of Essex for disseisin (Calendar of Patent Rolls)
(16) John son of Robert de Belencombre 1 messuage – 8 acres of land, 5 acres of meadow and 1 acre of pasture plus
3 acres of wood and 85 shillings rent in Finchingfield County of Essex 1321 – 1322 (Feet of Fines)
(17) Walter de Bellencombre held land in Kirdford County of Sussex 1st December 1333 (Calendar of Patent Rolls)
(18) Thomas Belchambre 10th May 1369 names of armed men and archers sent for the defence of the Country at the
King’s request by the Mayor and Alderman of the City of London (London Letter Book G. page 244)
(19) Thomas Belchambre 18th January 1385 – one of three people named as giving evidence regarding the use of
unlawful fishing nets on the River Thames (London Letter Book H.)
(20) Richard Belechambre of Chichester County of Sussex 16th May 1395 owed 20 marks by Hugh Richardson of
Southampton (Calendar of Patent Rolls)
(21) John Belechambre mentioned as one of a large number of protesters who prevented, by force, the parson and a
number of his parishioners from passing over a meadow and the bridge over the River Tow to the Chapel of St
Lawrence County of Devon on 10th August 1397 (Calendar of Patent Rolls)
(22) John Belechambre of Bushey County of Hertfordshire, a warrener, in dispute over a debt 28th November 1418
(Calendar of Patent Rolls)
(23) PCC will of John Belencombre of St George the Martyr Hardingham County of Norfolk 1451
(24) John Belchambers mentioned as a scholar of New College Oxford 24th April 1507
(25) Will of John Belchamber the elder of Basingstoke County of Hampshire 1512
(26) Will of Richard Belchamber of the manor of Stoke and Pypering in the County of Surrey 1527
This list contains all the disconnected references to the name over the first 500 years since the conquest, but we haven’t yet reached the date of the commencement of the first Parish Registers. In order to bridge the gap I have had to use Court records and any available wills etc. Using these sources has enabled me to produce a family tree generation to generation from this time to the present day.
(c) June Evans 2009
