Bucge was the name of the female Saxon leader of the first recorded settlement on the south coast of Britain between Pagham to the west and Felpham to the east, as part of the emerging realm of Sussex.
The name derives from the Saxon name for the beech tree (known even today as The Mother of the Woods or Queen of the Forest). Known to the Saxons as the “bēce“ or "bōc" (referring to beech bark).
Other revered trees were the oak (The Father of the Woods) and the ash, known as the asc or Yggdrasil ["Ug-drah-sill"] (The Tree of Life).
These would have been prevalent across Northern Europe and Southern Britain in the 6th and 7th centuries.
The bōc was revered by Saxon cultures as the Queen of the Woods, because of its great value to their communities.
It provided shelter, wood, birch bark, mast (beech nuts) and more. For centuries the northern european cultures traditionally used birch bark to write their records on.
The bōc is the root of the modern term ‘book’.
As the respected community guardian, Bucge would most likely have been named for her ability to protect and sustain her community and maybe even to write words about their culture, customs and traditions in a village bōc.
