THORPE

i" THORPE. THORP. _ A common local surname, tliere being numerous parishes in England so designated, besides an infinite number of smaller districts. As a tervii nation it is likewise very common, as in Althorpe. Sibthorpe, Calthorpe, Westhorpe. A-Snx. and old Danish, tliovp. Germ. doif. Worsaae defines it as " a collection of houses separated from some principal estate — a village." It was in use, as an English word, in the XVI. century. An old translation of Fortescue, De Leg. Ang. speaks of England being " so filled and replenished with lauded menue, that therein so siaall a tliorpe cannot be found wherein dwelleth not a knight, or an esquire, or such a householder as is called a franklein." TimoP is a corrupted iorm, whence the surnames Milthrop, Winthropp, &c.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.