 The village's name derives from Old English words "" meaning barley and "tūn" meaning enclosure/demesne farm or outlying grange.The village is first recorded as Bertune in 942 in the will of Bishop Theodred granting lands to "his kinsman Osgot, Eadulf's son".The "Domesday Book" of 1086 records the village as being in the Theivardestreu Hundred, now known as Thedwastre, and the population was 103 households made up of 22 villagers, 70 freemen, 7 smallholders, and 4 slaves along with 4 cobs, 18 cattle, 44 pigs, 402 sheep, and 2 beehives.