Local history
The
name East Garston is of Saxon origin, originally "Asgar's
tun". A tun was Saxon for a village or farmstead. "As"
was Saxon for God, and "gar" meant spear; thus Asgar was "the
spear of God".
Asgar is also recorded as Ansgar or Esgar, and was said to be the "hero
of Hastings", where he was badly wounded defending the English
Standard on 14th October 1066. Asgar was a procurer of horses for the
king, and owned land in several counties. He witnessed many of Edward
the Confessor's charters, and also the queen mother's will. He appears
to have held all the cultivated land of the Lambourn Hundred, which
encompassed East Garston. East Garston or Esgareston was held by Eva
de Tracey in a number of documents dating from the 1200s, including
the "Testa de Neville". It was known locally as Argason.
The
Victoria County History of Berkshire records that the village was called
Esegarestun in the twelfth century, Hesegerton and Esegareston in thirteenth,
Esgarston in fourteenth and Argaston or Estgarston in sixteenth century.
The introduction of the " t "
in the first syllable was an early corruption, and not indicative of
"east".
www.east-garston.com reserves the right to ~ delete, edit, decline or move any ~ Non Parish Council material - at any time
for any reason without prior notice or consent All contributions and submissions to www.east-garston.com
carry automatic acceptance of this Policy.