_Venwell or Venville_ (Vol. iii., p. 38.).--_Venwell_ or _Venville_ appears
to me to be a corruption of the word _fengfield_; and the meaning of it
seems to be, that custom of delivering possession of land to a purchaser by
cutting a piece of turf from the field bought, and delivering it into his
hands.
I well remember, when a boy, accompanying my father to receive possession
of an outlying field, distant from the main estate which he had bought; the
seller's agent, I think, came with us and cut a small piece of turf from
the ground, and delivered it into my father's hands, saying (if I recollect
right), "By this turf I deliver this field into your possession." By this
means my father "_fenged_" (took) the "_field_" into his own hands, and
became the legal proprietor of it.