Happy New Year to Wickenden Families and Friends!
Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? - The map above brings to mind our old ancestors, the Wicingas, from their arrival in Kent around 450 to the creation of the Kingdom of Hwicce in the Western Midlands by 600. It is part of a presentation to be delivered by Zoom at the 2024 conference of the American Name Society. The presentation and additional details about the settlement of Wickenden are provided in the section of this website headed Wickenden History>All the Way from Wickendorf to Wickenden. The history includes, in summary:
- Method - Each leg of the migration was discovered by identifying places that are ancient and that are aligned with the general direction of Anglo-Saxon migration. In addition, they have names whose earliest recording or attestation is clearly derived from the name of the Wicingas, and variants of which have survived to be placed on current maps, thus indicating that they must have served for centuries as migration route markers.
- Arrival - After leaving from Wickendorf in the Netherlands, boatload after boatload of Wicingas families crossed the Strait of Dover, rowed up the Wantsum Channel, and unloaded at Wingham (called Uuigincggaham in 834), forming a cluster of hamlets right across from the Isle of Thanet.
- Deployment -Serving as mercenaries for the Britons, the Wicingas warriors were deployed in the 1st leg of their migration to strategic positions up in East Anglia to defend Britain against anticipated attacks from the north by the Picts.
- Expansion - Some of the Wicingas moved their growing herds from Wingham to Wychdene in St. Peter's on the Isle of Thanet. Others headed into the primeval forest to the west called the Weald, moving their herd down Jutish droves and across Roman roads and establishing a number of dens until they settled at Wickenden (recorded as Wingindene in 1044 and Wyckenden in 1542) in the parish of Cowden (since most of their animals were cows) in the southeast corner of Kent.
- Migration - After revolting against the Britons, the Wicingas took the 2nd leg of their migrated west along three carefully coordinated routes almost exactly 51 miles each to the settle at the frontier of the Middle Angles. The places in colored text boxes represent place-names at the end of the 1st and 2nd legs which were recognized in place-name dictionaries as having derived from the Wicingas. The presentation promotes the recognition of all migration route markers.
- Colonization - From there, as part of the second revolt against the Britons, the Wicingas took the 3rd leg of their migration to strategic locations around the Western Midlands, colonized the area, and created a new, poly-ethnic, territorially-based polity which was known across Britain by the end of the 6th century as the Kingdom of the Hwicce.
New Contributions to Family Pages - We always welcome new materials, including pictures, articles, family trees, etc. regarding any of our families. Updates based on recent holiday gatherings or reunions are also valuable contributions. Remember that we can always add links to other existing files and websites.
New Subscribers - We have had several new subscribers since our last group email, two from the UK and one from the USA. Suggestions for additional subscribers are always welcome, so please share this email with other Wickenden family members and friends. Visitors to the website will receive an email asking if they would like to subscribe to receive groups messages such as this one. Readers are also invited to comment on or contribute to any section of the website.
Thank you again for your interest in our website. In case you missed any previous Updates, they are all posted in the News section of the Website. Please have a safe, healthy, prosperous, and fabulous 2024!
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