Bucklesberry, Back in the Day: Name Not So Unique
The Bucklesberry farm community does not hold a registered trademark on its name, unusual as it is. And it certainly is not the first to have this name. Not so unique, there are a number of places in North Carolina and across the pond (England) with variations of the same name, including "Buckleberry," "Bucklebury," "Bucklersbury," "Bucklesbury," and "Bucklesberie."
The earliest known mention of the name dates back to twelfth century England. The "Bucklebury" Estate of Berkshire County was granted to the Benedictine Monks in 1121 by King Henry I. Once the Monasteries were dissolved in 1538, King Henry VIII granted the Estate to John Winchcombe in 1540. Also included in the Estate was the "Bucklebury" House, built by John Winchcombe in the mid-1500s. The estate descended through the female line and has remained in the Hartley family to the present day.
One of the oldest estates in England, the "Bucklebury" Estate comprises the parish of Bucklebury and about 1,600 acres of land, including woodland and farms, as well as commercial and private-residential property. More than half of the acreage is allocated for Bucklebury Common, from which commoners had particular grazing and wooding rights through the centuries until the early 1900s. Today, only a select group of households living in the Common are allowed to collect fallen dead wood for fireplace use.
In 1305, Willielmus Servat was issued a license to construct a tower to fortify his palace in the city of London. Situated on the north side of "Bucklesbury" and Walbrook Streets, Servat’s Tower of Bucklesbury, also referred to as the Sernes Tower in "Bucklesberie," was demolished in the sixteenth century. Interestingly, Bucklesbury Street at the time was narrow and flanked with grocery and apothecary stores. Still recognized today in the city of London is a suburb known as "Bucklersbury."
Presently, there is a village and civil parish located in West Berkshire, England, named "Bucklebury." The parish has a population of a little more than 2,000, although the village is considerably smaller. Not without fame, Bucklebury is where Prince William’s wife, Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, was reared. Kate’s parents, Carole and Mike Middleton currently own the 18-acre, seven bedroom "Bucklebury" Manor there.
Back on this side of the pond, "Bucklebury" Court is a residential subdivision in Dominion Trace, a neighborhood located in Highland Creek on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC. Most notable and historic in North Carolina is a rural, mostly wooded area currently located in Bertie County called "Bucklesberry." Its earliest mention is in a 1723 lease to Hugh Hyman for a plantation called "Bucklesbury" in the former Bertie Precinct. One hundred and forty years later, the 1862 tax listing for Bertie County listed only eleven residents holding properties with land acreage in Bucklesbury.
The 1863 map by Gilmer records a geographic area in Bertie County called "Bucklesbury" Capeheart. Similarly, the same area was identified as "Bucklesberry" Pocosin on Bell’s 1964 map of Bertie County. In 2009, Virginia Crilley of the USGenWeb Archives Project for Bertie County, NC marked the approximate location of the Bucklesberry community in Bertie County as “SW Merry Hill E of Windsor, on the south side of Highway 17 just N of intersection Hwy 45 toward Edenton.”
Although Bucklesberry of Bertie County was apparently a thriving farming and residential community during the 1700s and 1800s, it has been reduced today to a mere hunting club (pictured) located on Bucklesberry Road in Windsor, NC.
Neuse News is a locally-owned small business startup in downtown Kinston. Our goal is to provide free, hyper-local news to Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties. The kind of news our grandparents read in a format fit for today's times.
We provide this by having supportive advertisers and we encourage you to click on their ads, shop with them, and eat with them. Every bit of financial support is important to help us sustain free, hyper-local news.
Please consider supporting Neuse News with as little as $5 one-time or via a monthly option. Every little bit helps us, help you.
