- Teynham
infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.33
longitude=0.80
official_name= Teynham
population =
shire_district=Swale
shire_county =Kent
region= South East England
constituency_westminster=
post_town=
postcode_district =
postcode_area=
dial_code=
os_grid_reference=Teynham is a large village, and
civil parish inKent ,England , in the district ofSwale . The parish spans the A2 some three miles west ofFaversham , and extends north to include the hamlet ofConyer , on an inlet of the Swale, a channel that separates the mainland of Kent from theIsle of Sheppey .Barrow Green is also part of the village.The village is served by
Teynham railway station .Origin of name
Charters of 798 to 801 Fact|date=February 2007 and "Domesday Monachorum" — a series of Domesday-related texts kept at Canterbury Cathedral — mention it as Teneham, Taenham, Tenaham and Tenham, and it is still pronounced "ten-am" with an accent on the first syllable. In Domesday Book the name occurs as “Therham” (probably a clerical error).
The historian JK Wallenberg suggests an Anglo-Saxon root, tynan, to enclose, followed by the Anglo-Saxon word “Hamm", a land drained by dykes. Another historian, Eilert Ekwall, suggests an early owner named Teona, whose name is found in Teonanhyll in Berkshire.
J Harris, in his "History of Kent" (1719) calls it the “place of ten houses” (hams) but there must have been hundreds of places with 10 houses in Anglo-Saxon times.
It is also possibly "homestead of a man called Tena" or "homestead near the stream called Tene". Several other etymologies have been suggested but this one appears to be the most correct.
The "y" in "Teynham" was apparently added by the Roper family, who have been Barons of Teynham from 1616.
External links
* [http://www.teynham.org Teynham Parish Council Website]
Sources
* Wallenberg, J K, "Place-Names of Kent", Lundequistska Bokhandein, Uppsala, 1934.
* Ekwall, Eilert, "Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names", fourth edition (Oxford, 1960)
* Harris, J, "History of Kent" (1719)
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