Saintbury Hill forms the dividing ridge between Upper and Lower Froyle. Saintbury Hill Farmhouse, photographed here
in the 1950s when it was an active farm, has appeared in all the Censuses.
In 1841 it is just referred to as Saintbury Hill, and this included
the farm cottages opposite which have been greatly extended and are
today a large family house. In 1851, it was called Saintbury Hill Old
Farmhouse - which might indicate it had stood there for some considerable
time before the 19th Century - but, in 1861, it is referred to as Simbury
Hill Farmhouse, which is very interesting indeed.
The
“Freo/Frig/Frea” connection
was suggested to give ‘Saintbury’ as ‘Saint bury’, or the hill
where
the Saint (Frea) was buried - the name originating from the Nuns
of St Mary’s Abbey. However, in 1657 the farm was known as ‘Banburies’,
and there had been a Gilbert Bennebury farming there earlier.
By 1679
the farm had become Simbury Farm, and in 1760 a James Simbury acted
as a witness to a lease drawn up for property in Upper Froyle.
So
could Saintbury have evolved from the Hampshire dialect of Simbury,
and been named after a man who lived there? |