The name Beollán was Irish in origin (von Feilitzen 1937: 193; O’Brien 2006), and was presumably brought to Cheshire by the Norse and Norse-Irish migrants from Dublin who settled on Wirral in the early tenth century. Its naturalization locally, albeit as a very rare name, is suggested by its presence in 1066 at some distance from Wirral.
The name is otherwise recorded in England only as that of a moneyer who struck coins at York in the period 975–85 (PASE: Beolan 1–2) and in a minor name in the north Lancashire parish of Garstang (PN Lancs. 252).
The spelling in DB represents either an Anglo-Norman substitution of –m for –n or a simple miscopying.
The Phillimore and Alecto editions both render the name in its normalized OIr form as Beollán.
O’Brien 2006: Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (Kathleen M. O’Brien), Index of Names in Irish Annals http://www.medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex (Version 2.3, updated 9 Oct. 2006)
PN Lancs.: Eilert Ekwall, The Place-Names of Lancashire (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1922)
von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)
Spellings in Domesday Book: Belam
Forms in modern scholarship:
von Feilitzen head forms: Beollán
Phillimore edition: Beollan
Alecto edition: Beollan
Shire | Phil. ref. | Vill | Holder 1066 DB Spelling | Holder 1066 | Lord 1066 | Tenant-in-Chief 1086 | 1086 subtenant | Fiscal value | 1066 value | 1086 value | Holder 1066 ID conf. | Show on map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cheshire | 14,11 | Sutton | Belam | Beollan 'of Sutton' | - | Hugh, earl | Bigot de Loges | 0.44 | 0.10 | 0.08 | - | Map |
Total | 0.44 | 0.10 | 0.08 |
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