Mortimer Common - History and Name

History and Name

Historian David Nash Ford believes the name Mortimer stems from the Lords of the Manor, the Mortimer family, a powerful magnate family and the Earls of March from Wigmore, Herefordshire. The family were given the manor, along with Wigmore Castle by William I shortly after the Norman Conquest and held it throughout the Middle Ages, as recorded in the Domesday Book. Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March was for three years de facto ruler of England after leading a successful rebellion against Edward II, before being overthrown and executed in 1330 by Edward III, with his lands (including Mortimer) seized by the crown. The Mortimers came close, during the reign of Richard II, to the English throne again, but the claims of the family were ignored and the throne was vested in Henry IV instead.

During the Tudor period Mortimer was one of the lands granted to each of the wives of Henry VIII.

There are several Bronze Age burial mounds in the area. Excavations at one have shown that it was later used for burials when the Anglo-Saxons moved into the area.

In 1976 Princess Anne visited Mortimer as part of a horse display at the fairground.