HINTONS

These are three Hintons that I have seen over the last couple of years.

Hinton (Please drive carefully) was seen north of Bath, just off the A46 near J18 on the M4. This used to be Avon, Gloucestershire before that; who knows what county now! It was evening when I saw this sign. I was on my way by car to Bath, where I stayed at the really good youth hostel (licenced bar with local ales). The next day I cycled in north Wiltshire.

Hinton on the Green is near Evesham, Worcestershire. I passed by here quite recently by car, between leaving Stow on the Wold YHA and starting a cycle ride from King's Norton to Stratford on Avon.

Little Hinton is near Swindon, Wiltshire. I came across it after cycling the Ridgway (Berks/Oxon/Wilts) and before going on to Marlborough.

The Oxford Dictionary of English Placenames says of the name Hinton: "a common name." There are two sources: Hean-tune ( = high farm) or Higna-tune ( = monks' or nuns' farm). It seems that the first Hinton above is of the first derivation and the other two of the second. All of the 'high farms' are in the Wessex area, due to Anglo-Saxon dialect (elsewhere the form is Heaton, Heighton, Hampton, etc), while the monks' farms are in Wessex or further afield (Herefordshire, Shopshire, Northampton and even Cambridge).

Send me your pictures of other Hintons when you come across them in your travels!