The Early Wightons

 

More about Wighton, Norfolk
Outline of England Map of North Norfolk

Above left, the blue dot in the map of England approximates the location of Wighton, Norfolk. Above right, a closer view. The village of Wighton, North Norfolk, lies about 3.5 miles south of Well-next-the Sea. In 2001, the village had a population of 203 and 92 households.

We've learned that the Scottish surnames that turned up in Scotland between 1500 and 1850 had a strong phonological link to the Anglo-Saxon name for Wighton, Norfolk (Wictun). We've also learned that there's a strong link between virtually all of the variant names that appeared in those Scottish records. But, what about the names that appeared in the Norfolk, England records? Did they have a link back to Wictun? Did they have a link to our current surname?

I had the opportunity to do some genealogy browsing through the Norfolk Library in Norwich during my honeymoon in 2000. (There's no limit to what a dedicated family researcher will do to find information on his ancestors. The things I do for this family, I tell you.) I found a number of print resources which recorded the presence of 16 variants of the English village's name.

The earliest reference was in 1086 when the village name (Wistune) was mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The church was known as Wichetune during the period 1133-1189. The Wighton spelling of the town appeared in records as far back as 1216 while the Wyghton spelling appeared in 1251. The earliest person mentioned was Alan de Wihton in 1195.

Many of the people mentioned were from the 13th centuries when the surnames took this form: Alan de Wihton (1195), Walter de Wycton (1239), Alan de Wythton (1246), Peter de Wihtton (1248), Eustace de Wyhton(1250), Eustace de Wichton (1250), Hugh de Wyghton (1251), and Hubert de Wyhcton (1278). The first villager to appear with a modern form of surname (i.e., without the preposition) was (fittingly) John Wyghton in 1383. (For more information on the origin of surnames, click Why surnames originated in Norman England.)

In all, there were 16 versions of our name in Norfolk records. Now, let's take a look at those surname variants and see if they're consistent with a Weechtoon pronunciation.

Variants of the Wighton Surname in England

Variant

Explanation

Pronunciation
Wighton, Wyghton, Wichton, Wightone These English names also appeared in the Scottish records. Any English variant that was also found in the Scottish records is considered a validated variant of the Wighton surname. Weechtoon
Wihton, Wihtton, Wyhton The [h] is sounded as {ch}. Weechtoon
Wyhcton Wyhcton was used interchangeably with Wyhton which was shown above to have the Weechtoon sound. Weechtoon
Wythgon, Wythgone Bartholomew de Wythgon appeared in the records also as de Wythgone and de Wighton. The [th] is sounded as {cht}; [g] appears to be silent? Weechtoon
Wython, Wythton As noted above, the [th] is sounded as {cht}; Weechtoon
Wicton, Wycton Wycton is linked to Wighton. Wicton is equivalent to Wycton which makes it equivalent to Wighton. Also, assume [c] is equivalent to {ch} which makes it equivalent to Wichton which appears in the Scottish records. Weechtoon
Wistune Reference books cite Wistune as the early name for Wighton. Phonetically, the [s] would represent the {ch} sound. Weechtoon
Wichetune Reference books cite Wichetune as the name of the church at Wighton in 1133-1189. Phonetically, assume a silent [e] to make the pronunciation exactly the same as Wistune above. Weechtoon

To summarize: Records on the Norfolk village of Wighton produced 16 names that the chart above reveals are all equivalent to the Scottish pronunciatin Wighton. That seems to be pretty conclusive evidence that the Scottish Wightons came from Wighton in Norfolk. But... perhaps not.

All Saints Church at Wighton, Norfolk All Saints Church at Wighton, Norfolk

Above, two views of the All Saints Church in Wighton

Sources

Clark, John William (1957). Early English. Victoria Public Library, 429 C593

Mosse, Fernand, 1996. Handbook of Middle English. University of Victoria Library, PE535 M62.

Various web sites, including

Answers.com (http://www.answers.com/topic/middle-english)

Chaucer's Pronunciation, Vocabulary, and Vocabulary (http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/pronunciation/)

Dictionary of the Scots Language (http://www.dsl.ac.uk/)(Select SND Introduction)

The Great Vowel Shift (http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~laa14/vowels.html)

History and Structure of the English Language (http://home.yawl.com.br/hp/sedycias/histing11.htm)

Late Middle English Pronunciation Guide (http://www.sfu.ca/~dsymons/pronunc.htm)

Silent Letters (http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar/archive/silentletters01.html)

Spelling Exceptions (http://home.knue.ac.kr/~hjshin/cgi/wwwboard/data/resch1/Spelling%20exceptions--%20 Problems%20or%20possibilities.htm)

You have just completed reading Essay #16, More about Wighton, Norfolk. Click a button below to read another essay about The Early Wightons. Or you can return to the website's home page, from where you'll be able to read information about The Meigle Wightons, the line of Wightons descending from John Wighton and Helen Mill who married in Meigle in 1734.

#1. Number of Wightons #2. Accuracy of the data #3. Variants of our surname #4. Common forenames of our ancestors #5. The earliest Wightons #6. Pre-Ind. Rev. Scotland #7. Wighton towns before the Ind. Rev.
#8. Wighton towns during the Ind. Rev. #9. Wighton parishes (summary) #10. Origin of our surname #11. Our emigration to Scotland #12. The meaning of our surname #13. Our surname in the Middle Ages #14. Surname changes in the Modern English period
#15. These modern Wighton towns are not our origin #16. More about Wighton, Norfolk #17. What about Market Weighton, Yorkshire? #18. Summary of findings Return to the website's home page