Hollier Place Names

Many Holliers have stayed in one area over many generations and have left their marks through place names. Others have had streets named after them.

Let's start with the Sydenham Holliers, who lived in Oxfordshire. There's a Hollier's Close in Sydenham itself and another in nearby Thame, where John Hollier, a solicitor, lived in the 19^th century. Older Ordnance Survey maps show a Hollier's Covert in Sydenham.

Old map of Sydenham, showing Hollier's Covert. Sydenham village is bottom right.

Further north in Oxfordshire, several related Hollier families lived in the surrounding villages to Deddington, such as Middle Barton, where there is a Hollier's Crescent, near to Hollier's Farm.

Hollier's farm at Middle Barton. Joseph Hollier (1815-1891) found farming as a tenant difficult due to the oppressive rents charged by the landlord and his family emigrated to New Zealand in 1882.

Leicestershire is another County associated with Holliers. Several families amongst the 'Elliott Holliers' and 'Sharnford Holliers' lived at Hinckley, where today there is a Hollier's Walk.

A little to the east, in the village of Croft is a Hollier's Way.

Much further back in history, Hollier or Hollyer families held land at Bexhill, Sussex, where there is a Hollier's Hill.

In more recent times, Frederick Joseph Hollier and his sons were dairy farmers at Goldings Farm, Hatfield, in Hertfordshire in the 1920s/30s. Frederick descended from the 'Sharnford Holliers'. Hatfield New Town now covers this site, where today can be found a Hollier's Way and a Hollier Court.

However, I cannot explain how there comes to be a Hollier's Close in Liverpool, which has no association with the Hollier name at all.

There are no modern day streets with the name Hollyer or Holyer, but for a long time, Linslade Lock was known as Hollyer's Lock, as John Samuel Hollyer was lock-keeper there for many years.

Many Holliers were farmers and there are or were Hollier's Farms at Shustoke, Warwickshire; Branstone, Isle of Wight; Middle Barton, Oxfordshire and Hagley, Worcestershire.

1924 advert for Hollier's Hotel There is a Hollier's Hotel at Shanklin, on the Isle of Wight. This is named after William and Alice Hollier who ran the hotel until William's death in 1875.

Back to Distribution