| In December 2005 we received an email from Alison Vickery in Australia enquiring about a house named “Banberries” in Lower Froyle. Now that spelling doesn't appear anywhere - but - even in 2005 we have a
Bamber Lane, Bamber Cottages and Bamber Lane Cottages. In 'olden times' it has been known as Bamberous, Bambrass and Bambries, so there might be a connection there. We also have in the field names Bambrass Down Arable and Bambrass Coppice Wood which are just over the road from the cottages. The Hampshire dialect gives us a big headache with names in the past so perhaps Banberries could have been corrupted to our Bamberous. Alison kindly supplied us with a transcript of John Vicary’s will dated November 9th 1587 along with an inventory of “Banberries” which she has allowed us to include here (links below). |
| To put things into context, here is a map of the Bamber area of Lower Froyle surveyed around 1870. There is no mention of Bamber at all - the modern named Bamber Lane Cottages are shown as Saintburyhill Cottages. The interesting feature is the area I have shaded red - see below. |
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| This map of 1817 shows that the cottages have not yet been built, but the area beyond them is rather different. A comparison with a modern aerial photograph is interesting. |
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| The photograph above, taken in 2002 from a Chinook of 27 Squadron from RAF Odiham, shows the area around Bamber Lane. The ? indicates (possibly) the site of “Banberries”, but we need a lot more information to locate it properly! However, it is interesting to note that the fields above the lane are called “Bambrass Down” and “Bambrass Coppice”...... |