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.

Farmery

Early-attested site in the Parish of St Bridget Beckermet

Historical Forms

  • Furmery, del Fermerie 1279 Ass
  • Furmery 1307 Cl
  • Farmery 1754 LowtherW

Etymology

Formally, this could be OFr  fermerie , 'fortified place.' But the situation of Farmery, within two miles of Calder Abbey, strongly suggests that the name represents OFr  (en )fermerie , '(monastic) infirmary.' The earliest example of this word in NED comes from the 14th-century Prompt Parv ('fermerye, infirmaria , infirmitorium '). It is known from other cases that a house for sick monks might be at a considerable distance from the main buildings of a monastery. Cf. Fermery Hill (348).