Whyard

This is an English residential or occupational surname. Recorded as Winyard, Whinyard, Whyard, and others, this medieval surname recalls the days when England was a prominent wine producer, the name meaning "at the vineyard". For many centuries from about the 10th to the 18th century a.d., the country had the basic weather requirements of a hot summer and a cold winter, and vineyards were found as far north as Yorkshire. It may be that the wine products were unexceptional, but anything would have been better than drinking the water, which given that there was almost no drainage and no ways of dealing with raw sewage, would have been highly polluted, and a major source of disease and plagues. This surname is first recorded during the reign of King Edward 111rd, 1327 - 1377, with that of Willam atte Wyneard in the registers known as "Kirbys Quest" for the county of Somerset in 1328. Other later recordings include William Wynnards in the register of students at Oxford University in 1506, and Rychard Whyard at Merton College, Oxford in 1577, whilst Edward Winniyerd was married to Mary Banister at St James Clerkenwell in the city of London, in 1665.