153
THEYDON BOIS : AN INQUIRY INTO THE
ORIGIN OF THE WORD "BOIS" AS APPLIED
TO A PORTION OF THE ANCIENT MANOR
OF TAIDENA, ESSEX.
By BENJAMIN WINSTONE, Memb. Brit. Arch. Association, etc.
Morant, in his "History of Essex," states that the Manor of They-
don, entered in Domesday Book "Taidena" or "Teindena," of which
Theydon Bois is a portion, probably derived its name from the Saxon
words "Thegn-Dun"—Thegns' hill, or Thanes' hill; and that it was
the extensive domain of a Saxon Thegn or Thane.1 At the time of
Edward the Confessor, Hacun, and Uluuin, and seven freemen
enjoyed the parish. After the Norman Conquest, it was divided into
three manors, Theydon Mount, Theydon Garnon, and Theydon
Bois. He supposes that "the addition of Bois, signifying in French
'wood,' was annexed to the name either because it stood more among
woods than the others, or else it received it from some ancient pos-
sessor styled De Bosco." 2
At the time of the general survey, Taidena was held by Peter de
Valoines; and in 1166, under Robert de Valoines, Osbert de Tain-
den held a knight's fee here ; and William de Bosco one knight's
fee of the new feoffment. The church of Theydon Bois was given
by William de Bosco to the Priory of St. Bartholomew, West Smith-
field, which had been founded about fifty years before (1102) by
Rahere, minstrel to Henry the First.3
The statement that Theydon Bois stood more in the forest or
bush than the other portions of the ancient manor of Taindena
may be accepted as correct. When Morant published his "History
of Essex" (1768), the road from Epping to Theydon Bois was through
the forest; and, as late as 1860, the portion of the road nearest to
Epping ran through the forest, which, on the right hand side, con-
tinued all the way to the church—even now approached through
the remaining portion of the forest alluded to.
But the pronunciation of the name Theydon Bois, as if spelt
"Boice," differing so much, as it does, from that of the French word
for wood, affords ample grounds for looking to some other language
1 Morant's "History of Essex," Vol. 1., page 155. The references to Morant's *' History"
are to the Chelmsford reprint, 1816.
2 Ibid, Vol. I., pages 161 and 162.
3 Ibid, Vol. I., pages 162 and 163.
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