REPTON (HISTORICAL). THE PLACE-NAME REPTON, &c.
The first mention of Repton occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
under the year 755. Referring to “the slaughter” of King Ethelbald,
King of Mercia, one out of the six MSS. relates that it happened “on
Hreopandune,” “at Repton”; the other five have “on Seccandune,” “at
Seckington,” near Tamworth. Four of the MSS. spell the name “Hrepandune,”
one “Hreopadune,” and one “Reopandune.”
Under the year 874, when the Danes came from Lindsey, Lincolnshire, to
Repton, “and there took winter quarters,” four of the MSS. spell the
name “Hreopedune,” one “Hreopendune.” Again, under the year 875, when
they left, having destroyed the Abbey and the town, the name is spelt
“Hreopedune.” The final _e_ represents the dative case. In Domesday
Book it is spelt “Rapendune,” “Rapendvne,” or “Rapendvn.” In later
times, among the various ways of spelling the name, the following
occur:—Hrypadun, Rypadun, Rapandun, Rapindon, Rependon, Repindon,
Repingdon, Repyndon, Repington, Repyngton, Ripington, Rippington,
&c., and finally Repton; the final syllable _ton_ being, of course, a
corruption of the ancient _dun_ or _don_.
Now as to the meaning of the name. There is no doubt about the suffix
_dun_, which was adopted by the Anglo-Saxons from the Celts, and means _a
hill_, and was generally used to denote a hill-fortress, stronghold, or
fortified place. As to the meaning of the prefix “Hreopan,” “Hreopen,”
or “Repen,” the following suggestions have been made:—(1) “Hreopan” is
the genitive case of a Saxon proper name, “Hreopa,” and means Hreopa’s
hill, or hill-fortress. (2) “Hropan or Hreopan,” a verb, “to shout,” or
“proclaim”; or a noun, “Hrop,” “clamour,” or “proclamation,” and so may
mean “the hill of shouting, clamour, or proclamation.” (3) “Repan or
Ripan,” a verb, “to reap” or a noun, “Rep, or Rip,” a harvest, “the hill
of reaping or harvest.” (4) “Hreppr,” a Norse noun for “a village,” “a
village on a hill.” (5) “Ripa,” a noun meaning “a bank,” “a hill on a
bank,” of the river Trent, which flows close to it.
The question is, which of these is the most probable meaning? The first
three seem to suit the place and position. It is a very common thing for
a hill or place to bear the name of the owner or occupier. As Hreopandun
was the capital of Mercia, many a council may have been held, many a law
may have been proclaimed, and many a fight may have been fought, with
noise and clamour, upon its hill, and, in peaceful times, a harvest may
have been reaped upon it, and the land around. As regards the two last
suggestions, the arrival of the Norsemen, in the eighth century, would be
too late for them to name a place which had probably been in existence,
as an important town, for nearly two centuries before they came.
The prefix “ripa” seems to favour a Roman origin, but no proofs of a
Roman occupation can be found. If there are any, they lie hid beneath
that oblong enclosure in a field to the north of Repton, near the banks
of the river Trent, which Stebbing Shaw, in the _Topographer_ (Vol. II.,
p. 250), says “was an ancient colony of the Romans called ‘Repandunum.’”
As the name does not appear in any of the “Itineraries,” nor in any of
the minor settlements or camps in Derbyshire, this statement is extremely
doubtful. Most probably the camp was constructed by the Danes when they
wintered there in the year 874. The name Repandunum appears in Spruner
and Menke’s “Atlas Antiquus” as a town among the Cornavii (? Coritani),
at the junction of the Trent and Dove!
So far as to its name. Now we will put together the various historical
references to it.
“This place,” writes Stebbing Shaw, (O.R.), in the _Topographer_, Vol.
II., p. 250, “was an ancient colony of the Romans called Repandunum, and
was afterwards called Repandun, (Hreopandum,) by the Saxons, being the
head of the Mercian kingdom, several of their kings having palaces here.”
“Here was, before A.D. 600, a noble monastery of religious men and women,
under the government of an Abbess, after the Saxon Way, wherein several
of the royal line were buried.”
As no records of the monastery have been discovered we cannot tell where
it was founded or by whom. Penda, the Pagan King of Mercia, was slain
by Oswiu, king of Northumbria, at the battle of Winwadfield, in the
year 656, and was succeeded by his son Peada who had been converted to
Christianity, by Alfred brother of Oswiu, and was baptized, with all his
attendants, by Finan, bishop of Lindisfarne, at Walton, in the year 632.
(_Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj._) After Penda’s death, Peada brought from the
north, to convert Mercia, four priests, Adda, Betti, Cedda brother of St.
Chad, and Diuma, who was consecrated first bishop of the Middle Angles
and Mercians by Finan, but only ruled the see for two years, when he died
and was buried “among the Middle Angles at Feppingum,” which is supposed
to be Repton. In the year 657 Peada was slain “in a very nefarious
manner, during the festival of Easter, betrayed, as some say, by his
wife,” and was succeeded by his brother Wulphere.
Tanner, _Notitia_, f. 78; Leland, _Collect._, Vol. II., p. 157; Dugdale,
_Monasticon_, Vol. II., pp. 280-2, all agree that the monastery was
founded before 660, so Peada, or his brother Wulphere could have been its
founder.
The names of several of the Abbesses have been recorded. Eadburh,
daughter of Ealdwulf, King of East Anglia. Ælfthryth (Ælfritha) who
received Guthlac, (see p. 12). Wærburh (St. Werburgh) daughter of King
Wulphere. Cynewaru (Kenewara) who in 835 granted the manor and lead mines
of Wirksworth, on lease, to one Humbert.
Among those whom we know to have been buried within the monastery are
Merewald, brother of Wulphere. Cyneheard, brother of the King of the West
Saxons. Æthelbald, King of the Mercians, “slain at Seccandun (Seckington,
near Tamworth), and his body lies at Hreopandun” (_Anglo-Saxon Chron._)
under date 755. Wiglaf or Withlaf, another King of Mercia, and his
grandson Wistan (St. Wystan), murdered by his cousin Berfurt at
Wistanstowe in 850 (see p. 15). After existing for over 200 years the
monastery was destroyed by the Danes in the year 874. “In this year the
army of the Danes went from Lindsey (Lincolnshire) to Hreopedun, and
there took winter quarters,” (_Anglo-Saxon Chron._), and as Ingulph
relates “utterly destroyed that most celebrated monastery, the most
sacred mausoleum of all the Kings of Mercia.”
For over two hundred years it lay in ruins, till, probably, the days of
Edgar the Peaceable (958-75) when a church was built on the ruins, and
dedicated to St. Wystan.
When Canute was King (1016-1035) he transferred the relics of St. Wystan
to Evesham Abbey, where they rested till the year 1207, when, owing to
the fall of the central tower which smashed the shrine and relics, a
portion of them was granted to the Canons of Repton. (_see Life of St.
Wystan, p. 16._) In Domesday Book Repton is entered as having a Church
with _two_ priests, which proves the size and importance of the church
and parish in those early times. Algar, Earl of Mercia, son of Leofric,
and Godiva, was the owner then, but soon after, it passed into the hands
of the King, eventually it was restored to the descendants of Algar, the
Earls of Chester. Matilda, widow of Randulph, Earl of Chester, with the
consent of her son Hugh, enlarged the church, and founded the Priory,
both of which she granted to the Canons of Calke, whom she transferred to
Repton in the year 1172.