Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/163

 10 s. XL FEB. is, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

131

the mill, its only designation seems to have been " the Mill Ditch."*

But there are the two instances of the name which, though repeatedly debated, must again be noticed : the first in the charter of c. 951, the second in the decree of 1222. In the first the western boundary of the Abbey estate is said to be " from the fen, along the old ditch, to Cowford ; from Cowford up and along Teoburn to the wide military road." The late Mr. Waller satis- factorily interpreted this. ' ' The Old Ditch ' ' was an artificial cut, whether made for demarcation of the property, for drainage, or for the purpose it eventually served that of taking direct to the Thames part of the water which came down from Maryle- bone, this cut then becoming the Aye or Tybourn Brook (above referred to), and latterly the Bang's Scholars' Pond. The Cow Ford, I think, was where the stream crossed the Chelsea Road (now Bucking- ham Palace Road), at or near the meeting of this road with that to Westminster (the latter road became James Street) ; and near the same place the stream divided, part taking " the old ditch " course to the Thames, part continuing along the road to Westminster. Ey Bridge, I think, super- seded the ford. WeU, we are told that the boundary ran from Cowford, up and along Teoburn (passing by the site of Buckingham Palace), and it is difficult to apply that name to aught else than the stream which natur- ally formed the boundary, " up and along," also, seeming to refer to the stream. But COL. PRIDEATJX imagines that in Saxon times Teoburna meant the whole stretch of land between the Hampstead springs and the Thames, within the limitations east and west of the two principal streams, and that it was " up and along " the eastern verge of this great tract, marked by the nameless stream, that the monastic boundary ran when defined c. 951. It is difficult to entertain this proposition.

The significance of the word Teoburna, and more especially that of its first syllable, seems yet to be doubtful. Consulting the 'Etymological Dictionary' (1898) of PROF. SKEAT, and finding tu as example of " the occasional loss of w " in the A.-S. word twa .(fern.) for two, I think COL. PRIDEAUX

and Ey Bridge, and even Aye Brook, may signify the Cross, Bridge, and Brook of the Island, i.e., the island made by the part/ing of the stream. And the manor name Eia (if not Ese, asinMande- ville's grant) has perhaps similar significance as land enclosed by streams east and west.
 * But Ey literally meaning " Island," Ey Cross

supported in his opinion that Teo is equivalent to Tweo. Tweo is found, under ' Between,' in A.-S. betweonan, to mean double ; but my friend seems scarcely warranted in taking tweo out of the word betweonan, omitting the first syllable, be =by, of equal value in the word, and then reading tweo as between. This done, he has found himself able to apply Teoburna, as equivalent to Tweoburna, to the land, meaning " the land between the burns," rather than to the burn itself, as generally done. For myself, I am thankful to find tweo rendered double, and, stretching it a little further, to read it as divided, i.e. Teomrna = "the divided burn."

The second notable instance in which the name occurs is the " aqua de Tyburne " of the 1222 decree. (The transition from Teo to Ty needs explanation which I cannot attempt.) Since c. 951, a lapse of the most part of three centuries, the great manor of Eia, which it is now suggested was a portion of the greater tract of Teoburna, had been added to the Abbey estate. And the statements of the two documents in regard to the western boundary have raised a stumbling-block in the path of topogra- phers ; for notwithstanding the large exten- sion of the estate westward, the limit in both statements is the Tyburn stream. Saunders in his ' Inquiry ' found the western limit identical in both, and thought that Eia was not included in 1222 because it was not '" in the franchise of Westminster " an unintelligible reason, inasmuch as Mandeville's grant had been confirmed by the Conqueror. The decree, however, recognizes the possession of land beyond the stated boundary, viz., Knightsbridge, Westbourne, and Paddington in proper sequence ; and as Knightsbridge touched the stream which we call Westbourne, it may be concluded that that was the limiting stream of 1222, although it was termed " aqua de Tyburne." Robins in his ' Paddington Past and Present ' argues that both charter and decree indicated the Westbourne ; but making no reference to the addition of Eia in the interval, he does not meet the difficulty.

I am happy to agree with COL. PRIDEAUX that in 1222 the Westbourne, as we call the stream, was certainly the boundary of the Abbey estate, although in the decree it is described as " aqua de Tyburne decurrente in Thamisiam " ; but as to the significance of the term we are not quite in accord. He renders it " Tyburn Brook " or " the stream flowing from Tyburn." " Tyburn " may be taken as the name either