King's Garn Gutter
King's Garn Gutter, Bramshawcounty:
coords:
Hampshire
SU2613
KING'S GARN GUTTER, stream in Bramshaw
'Kings Gairn strem' in 1670. The clue resides in 'Hive Garn Gutter' 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). An INCLOSURE was planted at King's Garn in 1860. '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.
