The Saxons - Provided by John Wright
The latest archaeological view is that the Saxons came up the river Thames to settle Dorchester in the late 5th century, not long after the Romans had departed. This town then became the main focus of early Anglo-Saxon activities in the region including the first Wessex Bishopric. We don’t know just when the Saxons spread out to the Baldons. Certainly they were not far away early on – as evidenced by discovery of the 5th/6th Century pagan Saxon cemetery at Berinsfield.
Known Saxon methodology suggests they first inhabited the high ground of Toot Baldon and colonised the lower land of Marsh and Little from there. The derivation of Baldon is “Bealda’s Dun”, the Saxon word “Dun” meaning a low hill suitable for settlement. Toot is Saxon for “look-out”.
By the time of the Norman Conquest however, it is clear from the Doomsday Book that the Baldon villages had been well cultivated and populated for some considerable time and a hierarchy of lords, freemen and serfs firmly established. At the time of the Conquest the Saxon owner of one of the Baldon estates was a gentleman named Azur.
Acknowledgments Victoria County History