(Vol. vii., pp. 107. 307.)
I think I can supply I. E. with another example of the application of
this name to a place. A few miles east or south-east of Exeter, on the
borders of a waste tract of down extending from Woodbury towards the
sea, there is a village which is spelt on the ordnance map, and is
commonly called, _Greendale_. In strictness there are, I believe, two
Greendales, an upper and a lower Greendale. A small stream, tributary to
the Clyst river, flows past them.
Now this place formerly belonged to the family of Aumerle, or Alba
Marla, as part of the manor of Woodbury. From that family it passed to
William Briwere, the founder of Tor Abbey, and was by him made part of
the endowment of that monastery in the reign of Richard I. In the two
cartularies of that house, of which abstracts will be found in Oliver's
_Monasticon_, there are many instruments relating to this place, which
is there called Grendel, Grindel, and Gryndell. In none of them does the
name of Greendale occur, which appears to be a very recent form. Even
Lysons, in his _Devonshire_, does not seem to be aware of this mode of
spelling it, but always adopts one of the old ways of writing the word.
I have not seen the spot very lately, but, according to the best of my
recollection, it has not now any feature in keeping with the
mythological character of the fiend of the moor and fen. The
neighbouring district of down and common land would not be an
inappropriate habitat for such a personage. It has few trees of any
pretension to age, and is still covered in great part with a dark and
scanty vegetation, which is sufficiently dreary except at those seasons
when the brilliant colours of the blooming heath and dwarf furze give it
an aspect of remarkable beauty.
Whether the present name of Greendale be a mere corruption of the
earliest name, or be not, in fact, a restoration of it to its original
meaning, is a matter which I am not prepared to discuss. As a general
rule, a sound etymologist will not hastily desert an obvious and trite
explanation to go in search of a more recondite import. He will not have
recourse to the devil for the solution of a _nodus_, till he has
exhausted more legitimate sources of assistance.
The "N. & Q." have readers nearer to the spot in question than I am, who
may, perhaps, be able to throw some light on the subject, and inform us
whether Greendale still possesses the trace of any of those natural
features which would justify the demoniacal derivation proposed by I. E.
It must not, however, be forgotten that three centuries and a half of
laborious culture bestowed upon the property by the monks of Tor, must
have gone far to exorcise and reclaim it.