Sir,—Two of your correspondents on the above subject include Beaconsfield among place-names indicating sites of ancient beacons. I do not know how far this is correct of the other places, but it is not true of Beaconsfield, which derives its name from “beccen,” the Saxon word for beeches. (The beech has been called the “Buckinghamshire weed.”) Locally the name has always been pronounced “Bekkonsfield,” and in old documents the two ks are often used in the spelling.
It is true that since railway extension has converted Beaconsfield into an outer suburb of London, some new residents
make “Beacon” the governing note in the word, but local usage and historic fact are against them.
T. H. BUTLER.
High Wycombe.