Burford SO 583 680

Derivation: “burh ford” meaning “fortified-ford” or defended crossing of the river. This is one of a series of fort names along the River Teme. There are two modern bridges here, possibly replacing fords. The one, called “Burford Bridge”, is on the A456 crossing the Ledwyche Brook. The other is the “Teme Bridge” which connects Burford and Tenbury Wells. The picture shows the river Teme looking under Teme bridge. The river is wide and shallow here, with a solid gravel river bed making it a suitable place for a ford. The original ford was probably further upstream, near the present Burford House.

Visit and Photographs.

Burford was visited in July 2000 and the crossing of the River Teme with Burford to the north and Tenbury Wells to the south was photographed. I do not yet have any pictures of the Burford Bridge over the Ledwyche Brook nor of any possible crossing of the river Teme near Burford House. From the bank of the river, it was possible to see the stone bridge as well as the gravel banks occupied by ducks in the river bed. The river was wide and shallow at this point and it would not have been difficult to ford it. It is a very different story at other times.

	From the main street in Tenbury Wells, it was possible to go down to the river and view the bridge. The next few picture showed the river and the bridge, while for the last two, I stood on the bridge and photographed the river upstream and down stream. This is an old crossing of the river, but other evidence suggests that the burh-ford which gave its name to Burford was actually a short distance upstream from this bridge.
The way down to the river
Gravel bank in the river	The side of the bridge
The bridge	View through the arch of the bridge
Looking down stream from the bridge	Looking upstream from the bridge

References: Margaret Gelling in collaboration with H.D.G.Foxall, The Place Names of Shropshire, Part One: Major Names, English Place Names Society (1990), p.67.
OS Landranger series No 137.

Page maintained by Susan Laflin.