Town Village Names

Nat Jan 16, 2006 14:04:28

Sorry if this has been brought up before!!

I've just moved back to Somerset and as I've had tons of time on my hands I've been doing rather alot of walking (the poor dog is knackered!!!)... Where i currently live is between two villages called Hinton St George & Hinton St Mary... basically I was wondering if there is a Website/Book etc that could tell me who George and Mary were? (I'm presuming Kings and Queens) and also what Hinton means?!! (And there was a discussion on New Years Eve as to the history of the village name Milborn Port - as it's not by the sea, concensus was that it was probably to do with the Spanish coming over and storing their Port.. but that was a 'three bottles of red wine' guess!!)

It's probably really simple and I'm being a fickie but hey if you don't ask you'll never know! ;o)

Hope you are all doing well.

PeterH Jan 16, 2006 15:48:24

Replying to Nat

Hinton is very common everywhere. There are two Anglo-Saxon (Old English) origins:

1 Old English "Hean-tun" meaning a place on high land

2 Old English "Higna-tun" meaning the monks' or nuns' place

Hinton St George is from the dedication of the local church and Hinton St Mary belonged to the abbey of St Mary. No monarchs involved :o)

morfe Jan 16, 2006 15:49:25

Replying to Nat

Hi Nat-ington,

I just thumbed through ye olde Reader's Digest Atlas (the 1965 lush one with all the gen.)

it says that both the Hinton's of which you speak derive from 'Monk's Farm'

I reckon the St George and St Mary, where maybe Saint George and Saint Mary? :p

PeterH Jan 16, 2006 15:53:24

Replying to Nat

Milborn Port has nothing to do with Spaniards and port wine - sorry.

Milborn is Old English and is really "Mill-bourne" written that way you can see that it simply means "mill stream". Port is Old English for a town and not necessarily a coastal town. That is why there are so many Newports inland. Milborne Port was a borough and probably evolved from a small settlement by a mill stream into a town and then into a borough.

Rolling Ronnie Jan 16, 2006 16:15:25

Replying to Nat

The Dorset/Somerset/Wiltshire areas must have been riddled with monks pre Henry 8th judging by placenames and ruins.

joudicca Jan 16, 2006 18:34:51

Replying to Nat

yes , i was wondering where "stan" originated from, as in stan-ton, stan-ley, etc.