_Venville._--The peat or black earth of Dartmoor is still called _ven_ or
_fen_. Is it not more probable that the adjoining parishes (or parts of
them) are said to be in Venville or fengfield, from their being within the
peat district, than that an abbreviation of a legal term, _fines
villarum_--_fin. vil._, should become naturalised among the peasantry, as
is the case with the word Venville?
The second part of the word seems akin to the Scottish _fail_, "a turf, or
that clod covered with grass cut off from the rest of the sward."
(Jamieson.)