_Beocherie, alias Parva Hibernia_ (Vol. v., p. 201.).--_Beocera-ig_,
i.e. the bee-keeper's island, was one of the small islets adjacent to
the larger one, Avallon, whereon the Abbey of Glastonbury stood.
Glastonbury was early resorted to by Irish devotees; St. Patrick and St.
Bridget necessarily resided there. Concerning _Beocherie_ or _Bekery_,
we are told that there "olim sancta Brigida perhendinavit" (MS. Ashmol.
790, quoted in the _Monasticon_, vol. i. p. 22.). This accounts for the
name Parva Hibernia. _Beocera-gent_, in charter 652, is the name of some
landmark or boundary. There can be little doubt that we should read
_beocera-geat_, i.e. bee-keeper's gate, as suggested by Mr. Kemble in
the preface to the third vol. of _Codex Dipl._ p. xxvi. The duties and
rights of the _beocere_, _beo-ceorl_, or _bocherus_, are described in
the "Rectitudines singularum personarum," Thorpe's _Anc. Laws_, vol. i.
p. 434.