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.

Howbury (Hall)

Early-attested site in the Parish of Renhold

Etymology

Elizabeth, wife of John de Horbury, held land in Renhold in 1276 (RH i. 2) and the manor is called Hobury in 1549 (Pat). It is impossible to be sure whether the name is a manorial one, the family having come from some other place of that name (the only one that has been noted is one in Yorkshire) or if Horbury is of genuine local origin and comes from horh and burh when it would mean 'dirty bury.'

Places in the same Parish