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We do not know exactly how, or when, Bossington
and Houghton became the Saxon villages that their names indicate. Bossington is probably derived from a leader called “Bosa”
- a known Saxon name (there was a Bishop Bosa of York in the 7th Century ). The word-ending “ing”
generally means “the people of” and “ton” simply means an “enclosure” or “hamlet”. Bossington therefore means “The village
of Bosa’s people”. Similarly
“hough” usually means a hill or a mound and therefore Houghton probably means “The village by the
hill”, referring to the slope of Houghton Down above the village.
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In many ways Houghton is an archetypal Saxon village:
it is a long ribbon development straggling along the riverbank. As the Saxon invaders
originally came from the sea, following in their boats the course of the major rivers upstream, it was natural that
they should settle first on the riverbank where their boats were moored. Little
is known about Saxon Bossington but it is likely to have been near the present church of St James.
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Christianity came to the valley during the 6th
and 7th centuries. At first, services were probably conducted in the
open. Later simple wooden churches were built at both Bossington and Houghton
and smaller chapels at Pittleworth and North Houghton. All, or most, were in turn rebuilt in stone in the 12th
century. [See Churches
and Chapels].
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