Folklore: Names of Farms

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: meself
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 12:44 PM

You know, funny thing, I was talking to my mother last night, and she said she remembers very few farms in PEI having names - so, either she's forgotten something that made little impression on her in the first place or I've exaggerated the frequency of named farms in my own memory ....

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: meself
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 06:21 PM

Actually, now that I think of it. I once had the audacity to name a place myself, a little house I had for awhile in Nova Scotia. When I bought it, there was a sign over a barn door that had once advertised "Odd's & End's", but was now reduced to "Odd's End " - which I decided was a fitting name for my domicile. (I was disappointed, though, when someone told me that they had once read a novel of that title.)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,Wireharp
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 03:58 PM

Even over here in my corner of Pennsylvania, there are quite a few with names. Almost all very old houses were named in this area, my own house being one of them. It sat on 250 acres of land originally, and was (and is) quite a humble log and stone structure from 1740 named "Georgia".
My.... how grand... they anmed a state after the place :).
Well...that southern colony grabbed it first by a mere eight years... hrumph...

RWM

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 02:36 PM

Back in the fifties my uncle's family bought a small cottage in Wales.
Looking for a name they worked out that
Ty = house
Bach = little
As far as I remember they were put right by a neighbour before the name plate was made.
Ty Bach is a euphemism for "toilet".

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 02:20 PM

Tom (Curmudgeon) named our house when he built it (back a few years before he and I met). It's named Perdurabo -- "I will endure". The name is on a wooden routered plaque above the front door. There used to be a similar sign on the huge maple at the head of the driveway, but it's deteriorated and is now in the cellar somewhere.

Naming houses is not usual in the United States, at least not for working class folks. Sometimes, though, cabins or camps (in the woods, mountains, or on a lake) or cottages (on a salt water shore or beach) are named, but not most people's year round homes. (Note the distinction between cabin/camp and cottage.)

I'm glad Tom named this house Perdurabo -- it was all the more reason to go through the scramble I did in order to continue living here, my home of close to 40 years, after Tom died.

Linn

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 12:01 PM

Found the post where I quoted Robertson's description of a 17th century Stirlingshire conventicle. His list isn't the same as mine, but it has the same basic idea.

They came out from Kippen itself, from Arnprior and Balfron and Buchlyvie and Gargunnock. They came from across the hills from as far as Lennoxtown, east from Aberfoyle, south and west from Drummond and Thornhill. The country was filled with the folk of Boquhan, Kipdarroch, Cauldhame, Poldar, Arngomery, Menteith, Tamavoid, Brucehill, Ruskie, Cassaluir, Ladylands, Carden, Gartrenich, Arnfechlach, Knockinshannock, Gartentruach, Ballabeg, Gartbawn, Gartinstarry, Jennywoodston, Arngibbon, Blaircessnock, Arnbeg, Inch, Dub, Drum, Myme, Pendicles of Collymoon, Nether Easter Offerance, Claylands, Borland, Dykehead, Merkland, Shirgarton, Kepdowrie, Gartmore, Gartfarran, Offrins of Gartur. The names of their places filled the air like the numbering of Israel.

His book came out in 2000, my post had been archived by 1995.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 11:52 AM

I posted this to Usenet many years ago. Then, a few years afterwards, I found almost the same list used by James Robertson in his first book "The Fanatic" as the origins of characters arriving at a gathering in the 17th century. The telling one is The Pendicles of Collymoon, which didn't exist at the period his book is set in - he must have got it from me rather than by researching the sources directly. I'm still waiting for the cheque.

A few years ago I posted the following list to another newsgroup. They're all real Scottish placenames between Drymen and Stirling in the Central Belt, within a few miles of each other on Ordnance Survey 1:50000 sheet 57. Most are names of farms/hamlets. Honest, I haven't made any of them up...

                Jaw
                Lurg
                Thirds
                Hoish
                Nyadd
                Quoigs
                Mydub
                Skiddaw
                Todholes
                Deafleys
                Holehead
                Dumgoyne
                Gallangad
                Glenwhilk
                Edinbellie
                Douchlage
                Fluechams
                Blairgorts
                Crummocksteps
                Gargunnock
                Balafark
                Knockingalloch
                Cultybraggan
                Calziebohalzie
                Loch Rusky
                Knock-o-Ronald
                Spittal Ballat
                Hill of Drip
                Spout of Ballochleam
                Inch of Leckie
                Easter Gerchew
                Wester Drumquhassle
                Offrins of Gartur
                Meikle Canglour
                Moss-side of Baquhapple
                Low Gartachorrans
                Clachertyfarlie Knowes
                Shippytrouty Wood
                Teapot
                Dasherhead
                Doghillock
                Kilmahog
                Calziemuck
                Stank
                Sluices
                Backside of Garten
                Cock Hill
                Balfunning
                The Pendicles of Collymoon

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: sian, west wales
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 07:39 PM

My father's home farm in NE Wales is Nant Ganol (middle of the brook); there's also a Nant Uchaf (Highest Brook) and Blaen Nant (Head of the Nant). Not the most imaginative but descriptive. My mother came from Millbrook, Ontario so when we named our house, we name it Nant y Felin - Brook of the Mill. We have a slate name plaque by the mail box. It confused the postie for quite a long time, cuz all the mail coming to the house was to the Thomases, never to the Felins.

There's a village just north west of where I am in Niagara with a farm called Gwennol - Welsh for swallow (bird), or shuttle (as in weaving). I stopped once to ask about the name. The people living there at the time were of Cornish roots and the wife was a weaver. So 'gwennol' is shuttle (and possibly swallow) in Cornish as well.

So, if you were going to name your house, what would you name it?

sian, west wales (formerly)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 09:35 AM

Had a friend called Lyn, who was amused by a Kentish farm hamlet called Lynsore Bottom

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,Ebor Fiddler
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 08:52 AM

Don't forget that here in the UK, separate farms only came about after the Enclosures in the late 18th / early 19th centuries. My grandmother's family had Galley Gap (there was a crossroads nearby at the head of a valley where there had been a gallows), Spofforth Haggs (woodland on a slope, near Spofforth) and Scalla Moor. Then they moved on to the Harewood Estate, where most of the names would have been chosen by that family.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Mr Red
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 07:40 AM

The OS Benchmark database lists 6971 bechmarks with "FARM" in the description. Not all benchmarks are in the database, and this list does not include FB (Flush Bracket - metal plates).

Too many to look at but: TRENOWETH FARM, BRANE FARM, VENTON VISION FARM, PAULS GREEN FARM, HALGARRACK FARM, CARVOLTH FARM, KYNANCE FARM, TRELILL FARM, CARNARTHEN FARM, PEMBOA FARM, GWEEK FARM, ARDENTALLAN FARM, TRELISPEN FARM

all in the OS squares SW (not a cardinal direction) & SX eg Cornawall area.

I may process all 6971 and put on my website as TXT file. If anyone wants to find a weird name. I will capitalise them properly. Post request & check back later.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 02 Jun 18 - 03:42 PM

Mello Acres, not biblical more hiplical.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,Sol
Date: 02 Jun 18 - 03:44 AM

There was a tradition at one time (at least it was in our area) to name your farm after a place in the Bible. There are still a few examples of this to be found round & about.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 02 Jun 18 - 01:42 AM

songs by Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856-1923)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 02 Jun 18 - 01:23 AM

Just poking around...

Seymour Brown & Albert Gumble

REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM

THERE'S A FARM UPON A HILL DOWN IN MAINE
AND THERE A LITTLE GIRLIE WAITS FOR ME
REBECCA IS HER NAME
WHEN WE WANDERED DOWN THE LANE? JUST WE TWO
AND SHE WAS GRIEVING? WHEN I WAS LEAVING
AND THEN I PROMISED TO BE TRUE.

?WHERE THE HONEYSUCKLE VINE? WHERE THE HONEYSUCKLE VINE
?TWINES ITSELF AROUND THE DOOR? TWINES ITSELF AROUND THE DOOR
?A SWEETHEART MINE? A SWEETHEART MINE
?IS WAITING PATIENTLY FOR ME
?I CAN HEAR THE WHIPPOORWILL? I CAN HEAR THE WHIPPOORWILL
?TELL ME SOFTLY FROM THE HILL? TELL ME SOFTLY FROM THE HILL
?HER MEM'RY HAUNTS YOU? REBECCA WANTS YOU
?SO COME BACK TO SUNNYBROOK FARM.

I CAN SEE HER JUST THE SAME? STANDING THERE
AND SHE HAD ON HER LITTLE GINGHAM GOWN
AND RIBBONS IN HER HAIR
MY REBECCA LOOKS SO SWEET? DRESSED SO PLAIN
I KNEW I'D MISS HER? I LONG TO KISS HER
AND SO I'M GOING BACK AGAIN.

World War I Canadian parody version
43rd Battalion (Cameron Highlanders of Canada), CEF

REBECCA FROM SUNNYBROOK FARM

When you're going to the farm, with your rifle on your arm
Take it from me, you'd better watch old Fritz or he
Will send a whiz-bang there, stealing softly through the air,
The memory haunts you, the lobster wants you,
Keep away from Zillebeke, dear old Zillebeke, away from Zillebeke Farm.

(636 Canadian casualties)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Newport Boy
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 07:38 AM

Here in Gloucestershire, within 1km we have Park Farm. Post Farm, Springfield Farm, Spring Farm, Maypole Farm, Manor Farm, Mile End Farm, Newton Farm, Yew Tree Farm, Luce's Farm, Pound Farm, Pound Mill Farm & Oak Farm.

The fields immediately around us include Honeydew, Dry Leaze, Home Ground, Cocks Mead, Shoots Mead, Home Ground, Long Leaze, New Leaze, Home Ground, Nichols, Clocer Leaze, Aldridge, Yoke Stick, Home Ground, Quarry Leaze, Smiths Hill, Copper Table, Meeton.

Recently lost to housing development: Folcroft, Barnett Tree Hay, Broad Leaze, Barn Close, Grindstone Leaze & Great Elmin. It looks as though Butt Leaze & Frenches will go the same way soon.

The field names are taken from the 1841 tithe map. The multiple Home Grounds result from most of these farms having only a handful of fields around the farmhouse. Land ownership in this area is a nightmare, with most farmers owning or renting fields a few miles away from the farm.

When we moved here 40 years ago, 9 of the farms were active, mostly dairy + arable. Today, 2 are fully active and 3 carry a few beef cattle.

Phil

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Mr Red
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 04:14 AM

Fervid - definition, heated or vehement in spirit, enthusiasm. Definitions vary but hot seems usual.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 03:53 AM

Up to fairly recently, I was of the opinion that field names were not common in Ireland
IT SEEMS NOT TO HAVE BEEN THE CASE
I find this quite fascinatingg
"The Philipinnes - Cnoc na bhFilibín – the hill of the plovers"
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,Observer
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 03:13 AM

Sir Walter Scott bought an old rundown farm near Melrose He demolished it & it later became the stately home of Abbotsford.

The farm's real name was Clarty Hole- a much better name, I reckon... - Jim Bainbridge.

The actual name of the farm Sir Walter Scott purchased was Newarthaugh. That is the name that appears on the deeds. The farm was called Cartleyhole, sometimes corrupted to ‘Clarty Hole’, by the locals but that was never the name of the farm.

Scott did not immediately demolish the old farm bought in 1811 he used it pretty much as it was until 1817. Between 1811 and 1817 he increased the size of the farm from 400 acres to 1,400 acres and renamed Newarthaugh on the deeds to Abbotsford, after the ford across the Tweed below the house used in former times by the monks of Melrose Abbey. The house as it stands now was built in three phases, 1817 to 1819; 1822 to 1825; the final phase being undertaken in the 1850s (Sir Walter Scott died in 1832).

A £7 million renovation project was completed just a few years ago has made this house one of Scotland's best tourist attractions. The house and grounds are also used as a performance venue.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: meself
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 12:44 AM

Enjoying this thread - would like to hear of more names. (No agenda, hidden or otherwise). (On my part, I mean: you are welcome to have your own agenda, hidden or otherwise).

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:44 PM

Oops. Neglected to mention that my grandparents' farm was outside of Colby, Wisconsin.

All of the milk from his herd went to the Dill Creek (pronounced "crick") Cheese Factory about two miles away to be made into Colby cheese. Colby is a variant of Cheddar-style cheese that was once made by accident and proved tasty enough to go into purposeful production. Please don't judge it by the "Colby" cheese sold by Kraft (pronounced "crap").

Linn

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:40 PM

My paternal grandparents' dairy farm (sold out of the family in the 1960s) was named Cloverleaf Farm. I don't know if it was named by my grandfather or great-grandfather, but, while not particularly clever, it ties in with my grandfather's nickname of "Eagle Eye". He could spot a four-leaf clover from a haywagon, combine, or tractor seat.

Linn

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:17 PM

...naming of farms became fashionable at some identifiable point?...
I'd guess the Gilded Age\Gay 90's, at least in the US

Mid Uncle’s Sam’s expanded
      acres
    There’s an old, secluded glade
Where grey Puritans and Quakers
    Still grow fervid in the shade;
And the same great elms and
      beeches
    That once graced the ancestral
      farm,
Bending to the old men’s speeches,
    Lend their words an echo’s
      charm.
Laurel, clematis, and vine
    Weave green trellises about,
And three maples and a pine
    Shut the mucker-village out.
Yet the smoke of trade and battle
    Cannot quite be banished
      hence,
And the air-line to Seattle
    Whizzes just behind the fence

-George Santayana

++++++++++++++
A not so genteel name in this county:

Duyck's Peachy Pig Farm

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 31 May 18 - 03:13 PM

They were certainly not "mugs"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST
Date: 31 May 18 - 02:32 PM

You could say the makers of "Mauchlineware" were Muggers.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST
Date: 31 May 18 - 02:09 PM

Gutcher...My son and daughter in law collect "Mauchlineware", he has a large collection, some quite valuable.
I think it is fine.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: RTim
Date: 31 May 18 - 01:56 PM

Every year that we drive to The Marlboro Morris Ale in Vermont we take a short cut near Erving in Massachusetts via South Mountain Road and pass - The Trying To Farm - a great name for a farm on a mountain side.........

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Gutcher
Date: 31 May 18 - 01:07 PM

In the parish of Mauchline, South West Scotland we Have--Freenlessheid {Friendlesshead}. I often wonder what the originators got up to to justify this name.
In a neighbouring parish we find--Muggerslandburn--no, not the forerunners of some modern anti-social types but the makers of timberware to be sold at markets and fairs, having the equivalent in the parish of Tough, N.W.S.--Muggarthaugh.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,Ake
Date: 31 May 18 - 12:17 PM

In West Scotland, many far names originate from the Gaelic often containing the rateable value of the ground on which the farm stands.
Examples from round where I live Lephin(more), Lephin(chaple), Feorline, some have been Anglicised.... Penny(more).
Mhor, more, indicates a large farm... Beag, would indicate a small farm.
On the East coast the farm "touns" Like "Sleepytoun"and "Drumdelgie" became famous through the ballads of the "Plooman Poets"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,Peter
Date: 31 May 18 - 09:55 AM

"Plenty of farm names near us (Airedale) including America Farm. No idea how that came about! "

"Modern" farm names like that usually came about after enclosure when a new farm was built in the consolidated land holding rather than using the old farm buildings in the village.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Senoufou
Date: 31 May 18 - 08:51 AM

Lots of farms round here in Norfolk are called Home Farm (near the Manor House), Church Farm and Manor Farm. I expect it's the same nearly everywhere, dating from old manorial, feudal times. Originally I imagine they comprised the entire landholding of one person, divided into smaller holdings, or rented out to tenant farmers.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 31 May 18 - 06:33 AM

In the part of Norfolk we recorded, the fields were referred to as 'pieces' and as they were largely small farms, that referred to the whole farm
Walter Pardon took us to 'Dead Man's Piece' - which was once the site of a public gallows
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 31 May 18 - 06:28 AM

When he became famous, Sir Walter Scott bought an old rundown farm near Melrose He demolished it & it later became the stately home of Abbotsford.

The farm's real name was Clarty Hole- a much better name, I reckon...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Senoufou
Date: 31 May 18 - 06:14 AM

In Norfolk a pingle is called a pightle.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:54 AM

I have often wondered if a name I see often, Barrass Farm, is a corruption of Barearse :-)

Plenty of farm names near us (Airedale) including America Farm. No idea how that came about!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:43 AM

I was going to ask Jack what a Pingle is but I found the definition -

Noun (plural pingles) (obsolete, UK, dialect) A small piece of enclosed ground. Origin Perhaps from pin to impound. pingle

Collins Dictionary differs

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:33 AM

Most of the farms in the North East of Scotland these days seem to be called "For Sale".

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Senoufou
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:28 AM

Our village in Norfolk UK has three farms within the parish, and all have names which are very old. Stone House Farm, Brigham Farm and Lime Kiln Farm. They are a mixture of dairying and arable. And as Jack says above, every field has a name too, and these go back hundreds of years.
All three farms have been in the same family for centuries.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Jack Campin
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:17 AM

In many parts of Britain, naming is much finer-grained than that - each field has a name. My favourite is one mentioned on a board in Youlgrave Church in Derbyshire, listing lands given to the church in the 18th century - "Barearse Pingle".

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: Mr Red
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:11 AM

GF lives at Withyrows Farm (all dairy now)

named after a line of willow trees. I suppose her name should have been Sally but it isn't.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,Observer
Date: 31 May 18 - 03:36 AM

Karine Polwart wrote a song about a farm somewhere down in the Scottish borders called "Sorrowlessfield" - named from the tale that all the men on the farm who went to fight at Flodden (1513) returned safely home.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: GUEST,Observer
Date: 31 May 18 - 03:31 AM

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: JennieG
Date: 31 May 18 - 03:27 AM

Family farms in Oz still have names. There is one not far from us (we live on the outskirts of a town) called "Ka-Ching"!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: mg
Date: 31 May 18 - 12:43 AM

i work with cranberry farmers and there are many great names.

how about muscle in my arm for a name...from when i first

Subject: Folklore: Names of Farms
From: meself
Date: 30 May 18 - 09:01 PM

When I was a kid, a lot of the big old 'family farms' on Prince Edward Island had names that had lasted from earlier generations - a la 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'. They would often be displayed on genteel little signs near the road. Nowadays, if you see such a name and sign, it inevitably indicates a B&B; otherwise, the old names seem to be gone and forgotten. I'm wondering if that's the case in other rural areas - also, whether this naming of farms became fashionable at some identifiable point?

Btw, many, if not most, of those family farms were swallowed by bigger entities over the years since my childhood .......