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.

Fairmile

Early-attested site in the Parish of Ottery St Mary

Historical Forms

  • le faire mile c.1425 Add

Etymology

The name was probably given to an especially good stretch of the main Exeter road here in the days when even these were little more than muddy tracks. Cf. Fairmile (Sr), a part of the Portsmouth road near Cobham.