Frythtsy

Contents

Introduction

There are two spellings of this entity: Frythsty and Frythes Tye.

Two Names

Frythsty

The name Frythsty appeared in the 1488 Extent of the Manor of Deopham – it is written as a single word as the name of a pathway:

The context:
Land of William Toke, lately John Longe, East,
Land of William Sebern, West,
Abutts a common pathway called Frythsty, South.

What was a “Fryth-Sty”?

The name is a compound of two classic landscape elements:

• Frith (or Fryth): (from the Old English word tēag) meaning woodland, wooded countryside, or brushwood/scrubland.
• Sty, from Old English stīg, meaning a path or narrow way. It survives in words such as stile and in place-names.

Therefore, the location was originally the “Fryth-Sty” — the path through or beside the wooded ground.

Frythes Tye

In the Court Roll for the Court of the Manor of Deopham of the Dean & Chapter of Canterbury held on March 31^st 1607 the name had mutated to “Frythes Tye”.

The context:
1 acre next to Frythes Tye between land of Richard Walter, East,
land lately of William Seaman, now of Francis Amyas, gentleman, West,
abutts land of Richard Smyth lately of John Walter, South.

This name would also have been understood to be a compound of two classic landscape elements:

• Frith (or Fryth): (from the Old English word tēag) meaning woodland, wooded countryside, or brushwood/scrubland. The scribe recognized the common pasture as a distinct entity and recorded it as “Frythes Tye” (treating “Frythes” as a possessive descriptive or a standalone landmark).
• Tye (from the Old English word tēag) means a common pasture, an open green, or an extensive piece of common land.

The meaning of Sty = “pathway” has been lost.
Whilst the Old English meanings are useful, there is no guarantee that the scribe himself would have appreciated these subtleties.

The Court of the Manor of Deopham of the Dean & Chapter of Canterbury held on September 27^th 1614 had Frythes Tye, as also did their Court of September 23^rd 1622:

Location

The location has not yet been determined ☹️.

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Date	Change
13/10/26	Published