Page:The Ancestor Number 1.djvu/310

 250 THE ANCESTOR But to make these lists really useful, to save them from being actually misleading, the manors to which they relate must be correctly identified. The labour involved at times in accomplishing this is greater than would be imagined by any one who has not approached the task ; but this indispensable work is now being admirably performed by the staff of the Public Record Office. It is only fair to remember that the volume with which we are dealing was the first of these calendars to appear, and that Mr. Stevenson, who prepared it, is unfortunately more concerned with the supposed ' sound- laws ' governing the changes in place-names than with their actual changes as proved by records. For the readers of The Ancestor however the latter are of most importance. I have therefore provided them with the right equivalent of several names which Mr. Stevenson was not able to identify. Taking these in order we find that in Gloucestershire he was baffled by ' Lutlynton ' (Littleton) and Newynton (which he identified as ' Newington '). The latter is a peculiarly instructive example, because Naunton, its right equivalent, is represented in Domesday by ' Niwetone ' (as was shown long ago by Mr. A. S. Ellis), a form which is also found employed for such names as Newington, Niton, Newtown and Newton. We thus learn the futility of endeavouring to apply the laws of sound to the changes in our English place-names. Mr. Stevenson further failed to identify Wooferton (' Wol- ferton ') of which the name is prominent in the neighbouring Wooferton Junction, Carton, (' Carkedon ') and HoUin (' Holm y When we turn to the fees of the younger sister the failures increase in number : the calendar does not identify Byton Buton ') ; Mowley Moldelsleye ') ; Nash Asshe ') county Hereford, or Nash (' Asshe ') county Salop ; Marsh in Yeovil (' Merssh ') ; Milson (' Mulston ') ; Weston, county Salop ; Stoke, county Salop ; Clifton-on-Teme (' Clyfton ') ; Kyre Wyard (' Cuyre '), or Sutton Sturmy. Worse than this it converts an Oxfordshire manor of Kiddington into Codington, county Hereford ; the Herefordshire manor of The Whyle into Willey, county Warwick ; and the Shropshire seat of Court of Hill into Hill, county Warwick. When these corrections have been made, there is not, as may be supposed, very much that is left. Four years later, in another official publication, there