I've been working on my genealogy and my family records go back to an Englishman, William Huggerford of Huggerford Hall. This appears to be the earliest of my known ancestors. Although the dates in this particular line stop in the 1500s, I would guess that William lived in the 12th or 13th century based on the number of generations between him and the ancestors whose birthdates I know.
So my question, does anyone know where a Huggerford Hall may have been located in the 12th or 13th century? A Google search on "Huggerford Hall" yeilds nothing and I haven't found anything useful (yet) sifting through the fewq hundred results for just Huggerford.
Agree with NNN Hungerford town is your best bet for starting a search It's located near Newbury.Berkshire. Tip Substitute keyword town with village may see something else? On old Maps up to the 18th century you'd see many variations on place names. Quite often they'd rely on Phonetic guesses Hence the confusion on different Maps and Gazetteers There is a village (same spelling) in Somerset also known as Farleigh Hungerford or Farley Hungerford(see what I mean about Local name changes?) Has some Genealogy Hits on this search
Posts: 12802 | Location: 6 miles west of Wigan UK | Registered: 06-05-02
Yes, going through my genealogy I've observed quite a few shifts both in place names and surnames. I've even found people spelling their own names differently in different documents.
Shortly after posting, I looked into Hungerford, and I agree that it is likely, though I haven't found any real confirmation of it yet. Just to drive home Bedstor and newnickname's points, Hungerford may once have been Hingwar's Ford, according to this
There's another Hungerford in Shropshire, as well, and there is Hungerford Bridge,right in the middle of London, near Charing Cross. That locale was once known as Hungerford too and was still the site of a fishmarket in the C19. There's always possibility, worth investigating, that there was a Hungerford Hall there, in London at some medieval time. (There was a place called that there in the C19 but it was not a house : see below )Merchants did have houses along the River, in the middle of London.
Hungerford is certainly the likely name. 'Huggerford' doesn't sound like an English place-name. There was a C19 building, called Hungerford Hall, at Hungerford in London, which was a place of entertainment .