Hive Garn Gutter
Hive Garn Gutter, Fordingbridgecounty:
Hampshire
... in Fordingbridge. Sumner (1972: 23-4) recounts that Forest beekeepers used to send their hives into the heaths during the time the heather was in flower and these hives were ranged up in embanked enclosures so that the ponies would not disturb them. These enclosures Sumner calls 'bee gardens'. It becomes clear that 'garn' is simply a reduced form of the word 'garden' (cf Cope 1883: 36). 'Gutter' is a usual word in the north of the Forest for a stream. The form of 1670 suggests this is a fairly recent development.
