Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/134

 Dewm Notes Mid Queries. 89 vorduy are sometimes the equivalent of the ancient worthy^ "worthy being a low German form of the high German werdtty and having the same meaning as the North-country garth and the Midland yard. As hele means a roof or house, so worthy means a farmyard. In the Devonshire Domesday worthy appears as orda or orde or urde, and one Blacheurde or Blatch worthy in Cornwood is now known as Blachford. The above derivation of ford would seem to favour Mr. L.lewellin*s suggestion, in so far as it gets over the difficulty that quite one-half the Little Silvers are not near a stream at all. But it introduces a fresh difficulty in that it strikes at the root of his derivation of Staverton, Tiverton, Thorverton and Silverton, on which that suggestion rests. Staverton appears in Domesday as Stovretona, Tiverton as Tovretona, Silverton as Sulfretona, and Thorverton does not appear there at all ; but since Torneberia, which )s close to it, does, we may infer that Thorverton is a corruption for Torneton. Stovre, Tovre and Sulfre (or as we might write them Stover, Tover and Sulfer) seem three independent words which probably do not contain the word ford at all. When so many parishes have their Little Silver, their Cold Harbour and their Porches, and quite half of the Little Silvers are nowhere near a stream, these names must surely apply to some features or institutions which were common to most manors. Whilst owning to misgivings as to Mr. £lworthy*s derivation, it seems to me, on the whole, to be the best yet hazarded. Oswald J. Reichbl. 64. The Family of Holberton or Holbbton, Devon. The members of the family of Holberton, formerly Holbeton, have been land owners in the parish of Newton Ferrers, South Devon, for several centuries. The estate of Torre, or Overtorre, now belonging to Mr. G. R. O. Holberton, Solicitor, Plymouth, was originally granted by the Lord of the Manor of Puslinch or Poselynch, in the same parish, to John Holbeton in fee simple, subject to the annual payment of decern solidos sterling, and the sum of ten shillings is still annually paid. This grant, of which we give a facsimile, is in Latin, without date, and is considered to have been made in or before the reign of Edward H. It is a pretty little deed, measuring 11 J inches in width by 8f inches