English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Minchery Fm

Early-attested site in the Parish of Sandford on Thames

Historical Forms

  • (an antient house called) Mincherie or Minchionrea 1661 NED
  • the Minshery 1710 NED
  • Littlemore Minchery 1893 NED

Etymology

Minchery Fm (6″) takes name from (an antient house called ) Mincherie or Minchionrea 1661 NED, the Minshery 1710 NED, Littlemore Minchery 1893 NED. This term for a nunnery (from minchen , v. infra 188, and -ry ) is first recorded in this place-name: the NED says it was “thence adopted in general application by archaizing writers.” There are slight remains of the Benedictine Nunnery known as Littlemore or Sandford (Dugdale iv, 491).

Places in the same Parish