Benmore

This name with variant spellings Bonmore, Binmore and Bynmore is believed to be of English locational origin from one of the estimated seven to ten thousand lost villages and hamlets that have now disappeared from maps in Britain. The prime cause of these "disappearances" was the enforced "clearing" and dispersal of the former inhabitants to make way for sheep pastures at the height of the wool trade in the 14th Century. Natural causes such as the Black Death of 1348, also contributed to the lost village phenomenon. The original place is believed to have been in Devonshire as the surname first appears in church records for the county, (see below) and is composed of the elements "Benna", an Old English personal name of uncertain origin, plus the second element "mor", the Old English name for a moor or wasteland hence "Bennas moor". There are a number of places called "Benmore", also found in Scotland. Johes Bynmoore married Thomsia Harvye on August 27th 1592, at Ugbarough in Devon while at Ashburton, Devon, Juliana Binmoore married Henricus Furse on April 29th 1605. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Emlima Bynmoore, married Johes Beane, which was dated January 18th 1573, at Ugborough, Devonshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.