hyde park

[mjandrews96]

i have read the history of hyde park from the time of the monks owning this area but i cannot find out how it got its name

,namely "hyde" park help please

[Fitzer]

Possibly, though I don't know for sure, from the Anglo-Saxon 'hide' a measure of land thought to be about 120 acres or enough land to support a peasant family with one plough for a year.

[Octavius]

Yes I would agree that that sounds a plausible explanation, "Hyde" used to mean a farm - as much land as can be cultivated with one plough; variations include Hyd, or Hithe, meaning a landing place, a haven, harbour.

[jno]

here is an entertaining alternative theory. I don't know if it's true; it may be. Ownership by a man or medieval manor called Hyde seems possible.

[Ward-Minter]

I heard once from an old Rabbi that it stood for Hampstead Yonder.

Alas I can not find any internet link whatsoever for this!!

[jno]

ah, here we are, London Encyclopedia. It was one of several properties - Ebury, Neate and Hyde - that made up the manor of Eia, bequeathed by Geoffrey de Mandeville to the monks of Westminster after the Norman conquest. Henry VIII used it as a hunting ground when the monasteries were dissolved in 1536 (he sold the other two properties off).

As to what it meant before that, Fitzer and Octavius could well be right.

[jake-the-peg]

According to wikipedia

The oldest part of Hyde Park once belonged to the manor of Ebury. This land had an area of one hide (anything between 60 and 120 acres, or 0.24 to 0.49 km�), which gave the park its name.

So they're with Fitzer

[Gromit]

James II Married Anne Hyde who was the daughter of the first earl of Clarendon. She wasd born and lived in a town called Hyde which is now in Greater Manchester.

I have always assumed Hyde Park was named after her.