(Black and white image of the Tower viewed from Middle Street, from the Historic England website, accessed 21.11.2021).
Logor’s Beorg
Montacute is named after the hill that overlooks the village; “mons acutus” is Latin for sharp/pointed (acutus) hill/mountain (mons). Previously, in the early Middle Ages the village was probably called something like Logorsberg; A.G.C. Turner’s “Notes on Some Somerset Place-Names” (Proc. Som. Arch. Soc. xcv. 120–1) records it variously as Logderesbeorgum, Lodegaresbergh, Legperesberh, Loggaresbeorg, Legderesbeorgum, Logpor and Logpores-beorh, and I've seen many other forms! Beorg (Burg) is an Old English (450 to 1150 AD) noun, m., translating as hill, mound, mountain.
Stained glass window showing William, installed in Malmesbury Abbey in 1928 in memory of Rev. Canon C. D. H. McMillan, Vicar of Malmesbury from 1907 to 1919 (Wikipedia) .William of Malmesbury linked the village name, this time spelt Logperesbeorh, with Logor, reportedly one of the original twelve monks at Glastonbury when St Patrick arrived in the 5th century, and who was commemorated on one of the two 'pyramids' outside the abbey. “Logor is said to imply the person from whom Logperesbeorh formerly took its name, which is now called Montacute”. (Project Gutenburg EBook of William of Malmesbury’s Chronicle of the Kings of England by J. A. Giles, 2015). William may have been a local lad, it is likely he was born near Sherborne!
Writing in 1633, Thomas Gerard of Trent thought William of Malmesbury's references to Montacute as Logwersbroch and Legiosberghe could refer to a Roman Legion camp on the nearby Fosse Way.
Montacute football pitch, cricket pitch and recreation ground to the north of the hill are indicated by fields labelled Higher Lossells and Lower Lossells on a reconstruction of a 1782 map by Samuel Donne'; this is as close as I can come to finding any name similar to Logorsberg. I can't find any trace of the surname 'Lossell' in Montacute. J tells me the field was referred to as 'Lost Souls' which could hint at unconsecrated burials, maybe it is a memory of the 1069 Battle of Montacute Castle, however Wikipedia says the dead from this failed revolt against the Normans were buried in Under Warren to the south-west of the hill, rather than to the North of the hill in the area of the football pitch. I'm still trying to find the original source for this reference.
Although it is difficult to know if place names have been updated when manuscripts are transcribed, it is certain that versions of both Logor’s Berg and Mons Acutus were used as names for Montacute at least a thousand years ago. In the surviving copies of De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesia (The History of Glastonbury Church), originally written in Latin by William of Malmesbury (1080-1143), there is a record of a 7th century charter “On King Baldred who gave Pennard and Montagu – In 681 AD King Baldred gave 6 hides at Pennard, 16 hides at Logworesbeorh and fishing rights to the Parrett to Abbot Haemgils”.
Bishopston
Apparently some time in the 9th century the village name was changed to Bishopston, possibly in connection with Tunbeorht, who may have been both Abbot of Glastonbury and Bishop of Winchester (Proc. Som. Arch. Soc. xcv. 120–1). Glastonbury Abbey probably lost these lands in the Danish conquest in 1016 (The Victoria History of Somerset Vol II, Abbey of Glastonbury pp 82-89 and The Priory of Montacute pp 111-115), and in the Legend of the Holy Cross, Sheriff Tofig (Tovi), standard-bearer of King Cnut, handed over his lands at Lutgaresbury (Montacute) to the church in about 1035 after finding the Holy Cross and other relics there, and the name of the village reverted to Bishopston to stress the religious association.
After the Norman conquest, William the Conqueror gave Montacute to his half-brother Robert, Count of Mortain, who constructed a motte and bailey castle on the hill “to overawe the district around” (The Two Cartularies of the Augustinian Priory of Bruton and the Cluniac Priory of Montacute in the County of Somerset; The Somerset Record Society, 1894). In exchange for their Priory at Montacute the monks of Athelney received Robert of Mortain’s manor of Purse Caundle in Dorset. A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2 1911 pp111-115 tells us that towards the end of the 11th century, Count Robert of Mortain's son gave the church at Montacute and his castle and burgh and market and the manor of "Biscopestune" with its hundred and mill to the Abbey of Cluny.
Monte Accuto
It seems that early on both names were in use, with Montacute being the name of the hill and possibly used locally as the name of the village while Bishopston was its official name. Monte Accuto is the name used in the Exon Domesday (1085) (see image below) while Biscopestone is the name of the village in the finalised Domesday Book (1086), with the castle on the hill named as 'Montague'. The name Bishopston was retained as the name of a tithing, and remains as the name of the street that runs north from the Church.
The name of Montacute may have become recognised for both the hill and the village after the Conquest because Robert of Mortain (half-brother of William the Conqueror) gave custody of Montacute Castle to his close friend Drogo de Montagu (Latinised to "de Monte-Acuto"). Drogo's family originated at Montaigu-les-Bois in Coutances, Normandy. His lands were in Somerset, where two of the manors he held in 1086, namely Sutton Montagu and Shipton (Shepton) Montagu (his seat), still retain his name. According to the Duchess of Cleveland (The Battle Abbey Roll, 1889 Vol 2 p284): "He had come to England in the train of the Earl of Mortain, and received from him large grants of lands, with the custody of the castle, built either by the Earl or his son William, in the manor of Bishopston, and styled, from its position on a sharp-topped hill, Monte Acuto"![Image: a scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing Robert (Rotbert), Count of Mortain (right) sitting to the left of his half-brother William, Duke of Normandy. Robert's full brother Odo (Odo Ep[iscopu]s, "Bishop Odo") sits to William's right, implying his seniority. (From Wikipedia, October 2021)](https://static.s123-cdn-static-d.com/uploads/5688745/2000_6179d77ec8610.jpg)
Above, a scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing Robert (Rotbert), Count of Mortain (right) sitting to the left of his half-brother William, Duke of Normandy. Robert's full brother Odo (Odo Ep[iscopu]s, "Bishop Odo") sits to William's right, implying his seniority. (From Wikipedia, October 2021)
References in the Exon Domesday (Liber Exoniensis)
Images below: Montacute and Bishopston references transcribed and translated in the Exon Domesday in the Fief lists and in the Geld Accounts:
Bishopston in the Exon Domesday: The full translation reads:
§ The count of Mortain has 1 estate which is called ‘Bishopstone’’, which the abbot of Athelney held on the day that King Eadweard was alive and dead, and it paid geld for 9 hides. 7 ploughs can plough these. Of it the count has 2 hides and a half and 2 ploughs in demesne and the villans 1 hide and 2 ploughs. There the count has 4 villans and 3 bordars and 4 slaves and 1 cob and 100 sheep and 1 mill, which pays 50 pence, and 15 acres of meadow. This pays 6 pounds.
Of the 9 hides just mentioned Alfred the butler holds 1 hide and a half from the count and he has 1 plough and a half there and 6 bordars and 1 slave and 80 sheep and it is worth 28 shillings; and Drew holds 1 hide of it and he has 1 plough and a half there and 5 bordars; and it is worth 10 shillings; and Bretel holds 1 hide of it and 1 plough and 2 bordars and it is worth 10 shillings; and Duncan holds 1 hide of it and he has 1 plough there in demesne and 6 bordars; and it is worth 15 shillings.
In that estate mentioned above is the count’s fortress which is called Montacute, and because of that estate the count gave 1 estate which is called Purse Caundle in Dorset, to the abbot of Athelney.
Montacute in the Exon Domesday: The full translation reads:
In Yeovil hundred there are 157 hides and a half.
From them the king has had 30 pounds and 7 shillings and 6 pence of his geld for 101 hides and 1 virgate.
And the king’s barons have 31 hides in demesne. Of these the count of Mortain has 18 hides and a half, and Roger de Courseulles 4 hides and 1 virgate, and Beorhtmær 5 hides, and Warmund 2 hides, and Ansger the Breton 1 hide and 1 virgate.
And from 1 hide, which Sæweard the hawker holds, the king has not had the geld; and the monks of Grestain hold 5 hides: from these the king has not had the geld; and from 6 hides, which Bretel and Drew and Alfred and the count of Mortain’s villans hold in Montacute, the king has not had the geld, and from 3 hides and 1 virgate, which Bretel holds, the king has not had the geld, and from 3 virgates, which Ansger of Montacute holds, the king has not had the geld, and from 2 hides 〈of Chilthorne Domer〉, the king has not had the geld, and from 2 hides of Oakley, the king has not had the geld, and from 〈1 hide〉, which Roger de Courseulles holds, and from 1 hide, which Duncan and his brother hold, the king has not had the geld, and from 1 virgate, which Drew holds, the king has not had the geld, and from 1 virgate, which Roger the Bald holds, the king has not had his geld.
And of this hundred Osbern holds from the bishop of Saint-Lô alias of Coutances 2 hides and 3 virgates, from which he has paid the geld in Lyatts hundred.
From this hundred 6 pounds and 15 shillings of the king’s geld remain due.
References in the Domesday Book
Image below; Bishopston and Montagu (references highlighted red) in the Domesday Book:
Literal translation:
Himself the count holds in demesne BISCOPESTONE (Bishopstone) and there is his castle which is called MONTAGUE (Montacute). This Manor paid geld TRE for 9 hides and it belonged to the abbey of ??? (Athelney) and for it the count gave to that church a manor which CANDEL (Purse Caundle) is called. In this manor Biscopeston there is land for 7 carucates. Of this in demesne 2 and a half hides and 2 carucates and 4 slaves and 4 villans and 3 bordars with 2 carucates. There is a mill rendering 50 denar, and 15 acres of meadow
Of these 9 hides holds from the count Alvred 1 and a half hides; Drogo 1 hide, Bretel 1 hide, Donecan 1 hide. There are 5 carucates with 1 slave and 19 bordars. Value to the count of this manor 6L; to the Military (the knights?) 3L and 3s.
Translated by National Archives as:
The count himself holds in demesne 'BISHOPSTON' [in Montacute] and there is his castle which is called MONTACUTE. TRE this manor paid geld for 9 hides; and it belonged to the abbey of Athelney and for it the count gave to that church a manor which is called PURSE CAUNDLE [Dorset]. In this manor, 'Bischopstone', there is land for 7 ploughs. Of this 2 and a half hides are in demesne, and there are 2 ploughs and 4 slaves; and 4 villans and 3 bordars with 2 ploughs. There is a mill rendering 50d, and 15 acres of meadow.
Of these 9 hides Alvred holds of the count 1 and a half hides; Drogo 1 hide, Bretel 1 hide, Donecan 1 hide. There are 5 ploughs with 1 slave and 19 bordars. The manor is worth to the count 6L; to the knights 3L 3s.
The Open Domesday annotates the same tract as:
Land of Count Robert of Mortain
Households
Land and resources
Livestock
Valuation
Owners
Money:
l = libra, became a pound.
s = solidos, became a shilling
d = denarius, became a penny