Wordrou 2

Wordrou ‘of Bere’ (Devon), fl. 1066
Male
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Wordrou

Summary

Wordrou 2 had a small estate in south-east Devon TRE assessed at ½ hide and with a value of 20s.

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Devon 24,17 Bere Wordrou Wordrou 'of Bere' - Walter de Claville - 0.50 1.00 1.00 B Map
Totals

Profile

Wordrou 2’s name is apparently unique; that the DB scribe copied the form unchanged from that in Exon (395b3) suggests that he too was uncertain as to what name it represented. The modern consensus is that it is probably Brittonic, which in the context of south-east Devon in the mid-eleventh century perhaps makes an Old Breton name more likely than one in Old Cornish or Old Welsh. Von Feilitzen (1937: 417) suggested a first element related to OBret Uuoret-, OW Guoret-, Guord-, and Dodgson (Thorn and Thorn 1985: DB 24,17 Notes) suggested that the second element ‑rou may represent an unidentified byname; but neither suggestion is wholly convincing.

Similarly uncertain is the precise location of Wordrou’s small TRE estate at Bere, a name derived from Old English bearu ‘grove, small wood’ and very common in south-west England. The entries for his successor, Walter de Clavile (Walter 27) estates are intermingled with those of Walter’s brother Goscelm in Exon, but the order of entries points to a location in Halberton or Colyton hundreds for Wordrou’s estate. The Exon geld accounts (Exon 68b1) imply that Walter held land in Colyton Hundred, while his brother held land at Farway in that hundred and one of Walter’s descendants gave land in Farway first to Plympton Priory and then to found Canonsleigh Priory in c. 1160 (London 1965: x, xv, 2-3). Thorn and Thorn (1985: 24,17 Notes) point out that this does not necessarily mean that Bere can be identified with the Canonsleigh land later known as Netherton in Farway, but in the absence of further evidence that location has been adopted here for mapping purposes.

Bibliography


von Feilitzen 1937: O. von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book (Uppsala, 1937)

London 1965: The Cartulary of Canonsleigh Abbey (Harleian MS. No. 3660): A Calendar, ed. V. C. M. London, Devon and Cornwall Record Society new series 8, (Torquay, 1965)

Thorn and Thorn 1985: Domesday Book 9: Devon, ed. C. Thorn and F. Thorn (Chichester, 1985)