Bilsæte Explained

The Bilsæte ("dwellers of the ridge") were a tribe or clan in Anglo-Saxon England living in an area surrounding a small ridge now occupied by the modern settlement of Bilston in the West Midlands of England.

A grant of land from King Aethelred bestowing Wolverhampton on Lady Wulfrun in 985 named the settlement as Bilsatena,[1] and a later Anglo-Saxon charter of 996 calls the settlement Bilsetnatun.[2] These names confirm the etymology (dwelling (tun) of the people (saetna) of the ridge (bil),[3] and disproves the alternative and better known etymology for Bilston (Billestun).

Notes and References

  1. http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=860 Charter S 860
  2. http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&id=1380&type=charter Charter S 1380
  3. Johnston, James B. (1915) The Place-Names of England and Wales. London: John Murray