Berry
Berry
meaning and origins
A geographical surname derived from either the old English Byrig meaning a fortified place, or beri/buri meaning a fortified manor house - therefore someone either owning such a place or living nearby. It could also derive from places called Bury. Curiously it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with berries - though you would think it would - someone who grew or picked berries?
variations
Bury, Barrie, Barry
distribution in England and Wales
In 1891 it was very heavily concentrated in Lancashire with Yorkshire a close second.
Minster in Sheppey, Deptford, Lewisham
Like the Richards family this seems to be a family of shipwrights - but this time on the lower reaches of the River Thames. Flat and misty countryside - very Dickensian. They seem to have been centred on the small village of Minster in Sheppey although our first Berry - Ann, ventured as far as Norwich where she married Roger Magee, only to return to the south.
I think there were many Berry people in Minster in Sheppey. I hope to discover how they were all interrelated.
Do email us if you know anything about them.