Steeple Morden – Origin of Name

Morden means literally “hill in the marsh”, from the Olde English words mor and dun. Perhaps more akin to a hillock in a bog? Certainly, the surroundings would have been wetter back then and the modern road name Bogs Gap echoes that.

Often written in early times as Mordune, the name appears by 1015 and applied to both Steeple & Guilden. They probably started life as a single parish or land holding, which divided over time as two centres of population developed or from the influence of holders of landed estates.

Mordune is mentioned nine times in the Domesday Book 1086 and differentiation between the two villages is only possible based on the various land owners and their holdings. There is, however, one reference to the “other Mordune” in respect of Guilden, so two Mordens were emerging. The name appeared in various spellings in different documents over the years. Then, by the early 1200s, North and South were used as prefixes to indicate the two different Mordens.

North was soon replaced by Guilden, which is first noted in 1204. It is the Olde English gylden for golden in the sense of rich, productive or splendid. Suggests it was a little less boggy.

In South Morden the church was rebuilt in more substantial form in the early 1200s, including a prominent central tower and steeple and from this feature, the southern Morden became Steeple Morden. This use was first recorded in 1242. In the early days the prefix appeared in a variety spellings, including Stupel, Stepil, Stepul and Stiple, before standardising as Steeple.

It all came tumbling down in the great storm of August 1625, when the poorly maintained central tower and grand steeple collapsed, causing severe damage to the chancel in the process. The parish no longer had the feature after which it was named!