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I have been researching my family tree since my paternal grandfather died in 1976. Whilst researching my mother's ancestry I started recording every instance of her maternal grandmother's name FARMERY and so my one-name study was born! I now record every instance of the name I find all over the world, and my database currently contains over 51,600 name events. I am constructing family trees for each family group and try to put distant cousins in touch!

My study covers the FARMERY surname and known variants such as FARMEARY, FARMEREY, FARMARY and FARMERIE, as well as instances of the name being used as a forename rather than surname.


Sunday 15 August 2010

The Monastic or Religous Infirmary

The believed origin of the Farmery surname relates to someone "who lived by or worked in the infirmary".

I recently acquired a copy of "Portrait of Canterbury Cathedral" which includes the above plan:
8 - the farmery cloister
11 - farmery hall
13 - Chapel of the farmery
14 - chancel

"In common with other religious houses, Christ Church had a farmery or infirmary where the sick, the infirm, and the aged bretheren were tended. The chief appartment was the great hall, consisting of a central area with an aisle on either side, in this respect resembling a small church. The aisles were subdivided by screens into a number of small chambers for the sick monks and the nave was their common room. In alignment with the hall at the east end was the farmery chapel. Separating the farmery from the main cloister is the "little cloister"."