British and Anglo-British place names in Devon

The interpretation of many place names is a thorny issue. In recent years, Celtic scholars have discovered more and more British names in the English area (cf Celtic Voices, English Places edited R Coates, A Breeze, D Horovitz 2001 for instance). Indo-European studies suggest that Old Celtic and Germanic split off from each other some time about 1000-500 BC perhaps. It appears likely that when the Anglo-Saxon/Friesian/Jutish invasion occurred in the 5th century AD (or before if mercenaries for Rome) that the British and Saxons understood each other far better than the Welsh and English do now. Hence, several place names reveal a mixture of Saxon and British, eg Penhill, Pendle Hill etc, which indicates that the incoming Saxons understood British fairly well. Also, there were many surviving British enclaves even in East Anglia (cf N Higham (ed) Britons in Anglo-Saxon England 2007 and other studies).
In Devon, there are further examples of this process. The Twitchen's on West Exmoor are an interesting example of this mixture of these two Indo-European languages. From west to east, farmsteads called Twitchen are found; SE of Mortehoe, S of Ilfracombe, N of Bratton Fleming and E of Challacombe. At this point, there approximate linear layout broadens out. Thus, to the east of Challacombe are Roosthitchen and Henthitchen, possibly Titchcombe may be Twitchcombe, further south is Bentwitchen and then Winstitchen Farm and Winstitchen itself, the village of Twitchen to the south, before the twitchens peter out at Foxtwitchen N of Withypool. In Buckland Brewer is Lower Twitchen, which was Twychene 1238. There is another Twitchen in Huntshaw parish ,which lies to the SE of Bideford and a Twitchen Lane in the village of Burrington, a few miles further to the SE from  Huntshaw and another in Beaworthy Parish, NW of Okehampton, Twychene juxta Beaworth 1288 and now Tutchener on the 6 inch OS map. Apart from these four outliers from the main Exmoor group, the name twitchen is extremely rare in Britain. Aside from a possibly ancient Twitchen Lane in Furzton, Milton Keynes, there is only Twitchen, SE of Craven Arms in Shropshire, Touchen End Berkshire as 14th century Twechene and not a lot else. It has been stated that twitchen derives from old English twicene meaning cross ways or fork in the road, which appears to  be the correct definition for these places. However, while  some of these twitchens do lie at such junctions, others do not; unless, of course, the paths that go to these places were considered as important enough to be so called. The point is, why this sudden concentration of the name twitchen in NW Devon? There are countless places with such road junctions and yet not named twitchen. The name Twicene is certainly found as older spellings of the name, but having said that, the village of Twitchen, N of South Molton is called Tuchel 1086. Another possibility is that twitchen has a secondary meaning, ie to lie near two streams; in which case, twitchen is merely an English translation of British/Welsh dwy nant; two or twin streams. The universal employment of Twicene in medieval spellings could simply be explained by the fact that twicca in old English, means river fork and so, perhaps Twicene was used for both twin routes and twin streams. Such road junctions were long considered sacred to a goddess, we should now be familiar with, that is Artemis/Diana and called 'trivia' or three ways, ie a road that forks. A fine British example of this was found in Herefordshire, in the church of Michaelchurch, 10 miles S of Hereford, of a Romano-British altar to Deo Trivio, god of the three ways. This is likely to have been a British tripartite deity, the equivalent of Diana, likewise tripartite and goddess of wandering, the wilds, (as in NW Devon) and above all, goddess of crossroads (old English twicene) .                                                                                                               In the case of twicca as river fork, Twickenham W London was Tuican hom 704 (8th) 565, (in) Tuicanhamme c790 (10th) S132 and is in a large river fork of the River Thames. A confluence of waters is Welsh aber or British ober or oper, also meaning river mouth. Old English ea means both rivers and waters, which has its roots in Proto Indo-European *ak(w)a, hence Latin aqua, French eau, which with added d is Welsh dwr, Breton dour, British dubro. Hence, d-ubro water in British, is similar to British ober, river mouth and old English ofer, river bank or shore, derived from Proto-Germanic obera with the same meaning of river bank. In Indo-European *ap is flowing water, Sanscrit apam, waters and British oper, river mouth, later aber in Welsh. Garrett Olmsted in Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans p285, notes that the goddesses Matronae Gabiae, derives from either German gabio meaning 'give', or from celtic stem gabi meaning 'take' , from *IE ghabh, fasten or take, in the sense of control of fate. Matrona as the River Marne, was the controller or pourer of the life giving (and taking) waters; again with added g, as in g-abi(o). The fact that Proto-Germanic and old Celtic shared two sides of the same coin with this sense of giving and taking, is only strange to us, because we were brought up to think  of them always fighting, and not as trading friends.
This being the case, then this concentration of twitchen names, has its origins in a sacred context. The 1086 spelling Tuchel, noted above, is actually closer to the sound of the name Twizell, found at the confluence of Rivers Tweed and Till and anotherTwizell, at the confluence of the River Blyth and the Ogle Burn, both in Northumberland. Tinhay, NW of Lydford in W Devon, lies between the Rivers Lyd and Thrushel. Tinhay was Bituinia (between ea, or rivers) 1194, Tuneo 1316, Tenyowe 1486-1515, Twyneow c1500. Particularly relevant here, is the spelling Tuneo, similar to Tuchel, later Twitchen. Of course, we have only one early spelling before twicene, of twitchen, but, nevertheless, Tuchel is close to both Tuneo and Twizell where confluence is intended. Tinney, between the River Tamar and Devril Water, N of Launceston, was Tuneo 1529,Tyneowe 1550, Twining in Gloucestershire, was Tweon eaum c740 (12th), Bituineaum 814 (11th), (then a version sounding quiet close to twitchen), Tu(c)ninge 1086, Tu(u)eing/Tweninga c1095-1404. Twining lies between the Rivers Severn and Avon. The spelling eaum, dative plural (*eum) of ea, meaning river or water. Twineham W Sussex was Twienen, Tuineam and Twyenen 1066-1087; note especially Twienen, which sounds remarkably like dwy nant, as does Twyenen. Twinyeo, SE of Bovey Tracey, S Devon, lies between the rivers, Teign and Bovey; both of which are British river names. Twinyeo is Betunia 1086, Betwynyo 1303,Twyneyn 1242, Twyneyo 1311. Andrew Breeze, speculated that the River Bovey was derived from the British word for pignut ie bywi (Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries 2003, Vol. 39 pp91-92), but Bovey Tracey was Buvi 1086, which appears to be rather a shortened version of Buvindia, Ptolemy's name for the River Boinne in Ireland and meaning 'white cow', for which there is extensive mythology(cf Garrett Olmsted The Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans, 1994, where Buvindia, white cow, is the underworld goddess). In any case, these two rivers were clearly considered sacred, as all rivers were; so it is therefore possible to assume that Twinyeo, meaning literally (be)tween the yeo or rivers (from ea, old English 'river') and marking a sacred confluence, was an ancient name from the British period and translated into this English name. Condate was the old Celtic term for sacred confluence and may be the original name here, but perhaps Dwy Afon, or 'two rivers', would translate more conveniently into Twinyeo. Dwy Afon is not attested in Wales, like Dwy Nant, but modern and ancient versions of Condate are found in Britain, Northwich in Cheshire, for example, was called Condate in Romano-British. British aber, meaning river confluence, is even more  common and is more probable as the original of the name.
Tacitus, Germania 2,13-15, relates a creation myth for the Germans. Tuisco, born from the earth, engenders Mannus who in turn, gives birth to the three German peoples, named from his sons Ingaevones (sacred priests), Herminones (warriors) and Istaevones (farmers/producers), in a classic threefold Indo-European model as Georges Dumezil explains in his many publications. Tuisco is derived from tui meaning two and is matched by twicene, twin routes. Having said that, the twitchens are more probably British myth in their origins and then recognised by the incoming Saxons. Their position on the Isle of Britannia suggests this. the old crone Ceridwen riding her pig, which is the outline of Scotland, England and Wales, has the pig's knee at Mortehoe and Hartland Point; where, strange to say, Hercules has his Promontory of Hercules in Ptolemy; strange because Hercules was depicted in the night sky as bent on one knee, hence his epithet Engonasin (en gonasi on his knees) which Manilius in his Astronomica noted 'the reason for this posture is known to none but him'. However, the careful study of  Indo-European terminology reveals that the knee PIE (or primitive Indo-European) *genu and jawbone PIE *genu are from the same origins as PIE *genh, to beget a child, be born, for which see Dennis Philps Conceptual Transfer and the Emergence of the Sign, Revue de l'Association Francaise de Linguistique Cognitive, Vol.2, 2009, available to read in Cogni Textes. The author concludes the article with the revelation the ancients would have  been more than familiar with, that every part of the body is related to phonetic sounds at the root of all language. The knee and jaw are linked partly through their dual natures, hence tuisco/twirchen as twin forks, but also by the fact that the Adams Apple in the throat is compared with the apple placed in the jaws of the boars head at medieval banquets and in the Mabinogion tale Culhwch, Yspadadden, head giant, is pierced through specific body parts, like the 'aval y garr', shank's apple or the knee. Lucian, in a short essay about Heracles, is told by a Celt that Hercules, or Gaulish Ogmios, was God of eloquence, so that he is the root of language from those very same jaws, engendering from duality, all speech, body parts and the Indo-European tripartite scheme. This must be the reason why these twitchens are concentrated within this area of Britannia's knee and perhaps also why there are two lines of twitchens, one emerging from the death peninsula at Mortehoe (headland of mortality) and the other line from the knee of Hercules or Britannia's pig at Hartland Point. It would only be natural for such a cosmological scheme to be emerging from the west coast towards the east, because in Indo-European, north is to the left and south to the right as one faces the sunrise in the east and the west behind is death, other world and the point of origin of rebirth when the sun rises in the east.

If this is correct, it might explain why the twitchens could be preceded by British words, win or white/fair, ben or head and hen meaning old. If Twitchen is a direct translation of British dwy nant, likewise meaning two streams, then these British survivals would make sense, because twitchen and dwy nant are not that far removed from pronunciation.Furthermore, British d seems to mutate into t,  as pronounced by the Anglo-Saxons; which, if this surmise is correct, might explain the Dodonesse/Totnes names at Totnes, covered in another article in this series, 'A Possible Trojan Name For Totnes'. Note especially the fact that Winstitchen lies between the River Barle and White Water, because win or Welsh gwyn, means white. Hence this stream may retain an ancient translation direct from British win into English white. Likewise, the spelling Bentwitchen reflects the British mutation pen into ben. Ben is female mutation of masculine pen and thus reflecting dwy nant as feminine.noun nant and two, masculine dau, feminine dwy. Having said that, earlier spellings of Bentwitchen were Bayntwichene 1330, Baintwitchin 1581, which Place Names of Devon, guessed as Baega's crossroads. However, bayn and bain may simply be loose pronunciations of British ben meaning head. Henthitchen may be British hen old, or possibly Saxon hean meaning high. Older versions of this and Winstitchen, Titchcombe and Foxtwitchen, need to be examined before any conclusions can be reached, if anybody can kindly let me know via the comments section (Hill Place names of Somerset, does not include these names unfortunately).
As for Roosthitchen, this appears to be British ros or Welsh rhos, meaning 'moor', which is appropriate here on Exmoor. Foxtwirchen would simply be a later English addition to twitchen or a direct translation of  British/Welsh fox; ie cadno. llwynog or madryn. In any case, this upland area is more likely to have been a British enclave, remote from the more fertile lowlands where the Saxons settled.

In central Devon, there is a large area of land devoted to the cult of the nemetona's. Like bretona meaning judgement, this is a British word meaning sacred grove or sanctuary; making this, the largest sacred area known in Britain, if not the world. Sacred groves or nemetona's in Devon at Domesday, 1086, were called nymet or deformed into limet, which has become nymph or nympton in more recent times.In the north, the parishes of Bishop's Nympton, King's and George Nympton lie around what was the River Nem (Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries Vol. 6), now presumably the River Yeo or River Mole  If it was the River Yeo, then it would be consistent with the Nymet being the Yeo further south and the possibility of Ituna being the Yeo to the south east; both examined below and therefore being examples where these rivers were so sacred, the utterance of their actual names was taboo. Queen's Nympton is apparently modern, named after Queen Victoria in 1900. There is then a gap, before the nemeton names begin again in an even larger group from Nymet Rowland down to East and West Nymph near South Tawton. They include the river Yeo which was formerly the River Nymet, upon which lie several of the nemeton's, including East and West Nymph, Broadnymett, Bow (Limet 1086),  Bury Barton Roman fort which is possibly Nemetio Statio, Nymet Rowland and near to this River Nymet are Nymetwood, Nichols Nymett and Nymet Tracey.In 974, Nymet Rowland was Nymed, which was deformed into Limet at 1086. At 1086, several of these manors were called Limet, presumably all deformed from Nymet. Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries Vol 6, pp70-71 Oswald J Reichel notes that Nymet was the old name for Hampson in Bow and Walson and Thorne in Clannaborough and Piddleston, while Dimet was Natson in Bow. If these ascriptions are correct, Reichel being an expert in Devon Domesday manors, then Dimet here may be a memory Welsh Dimet as parent of Nimet, noted further on. He also lists Wolfin in Down St Mary as being Wolfsnymet. These are all tightly clustered around the same River Nymet (Yeo). Doubtless, there names changed after 1086 because there were so many of these nemeton names, that the individual manors were confused, so they took on the names, perhaps of their owners, that we know today. Reichel also mentions that Niwetona and Newentona are now Newton and Voley in nearby Zeal Monachorum. Perhaps these latter names are also variants on nemeton. Note for instance, that the Life of St Nectan mentions a sacred grove, probably the same woods by which he built his hut at Stoke near Hartland and also by Newton, where he was beheaded. Perhaps this Newton was 'new township' or perhaps it was really another variant on Nemeton and further evidence of this can be found in Shropshire' SE of Shrewsbury at SJ532057, where an ancient Romano British settlement on King Street Roman road, is now called Stanchester or Neuthona. Neuthona cannot mean 'new town' under these circumstances, so again, it may be another variant on nemeton.
 The survival of these British names, is thanks partly to the fact that in Old High Franconian (Indiculus Paganiamm), Nimid means sacred grove, clearly cognate with Celtic nemeton, sacred grove and temple, a secondary meaning. This is yet another example of the mutual understanding between these two Indo-European languages; especially in sacred terminology, which is much more conservative.
The meaning of nemeton shares the same root as Welsh nefoedd, heaven, nwyfre, firmament, Old Cornish nivet heaven and Saxon hyfan ,heofon, himin, heaven, which indicate that Saxon h was British n, in these examples. In the Welsh Mabinogion tale Culhwch and Olwen, a long list of mythological names includes, near the beginning of the list; Gwyn son of Esni, Gwyn son of Nwyfre and Gwyn son of Nudd; the latter being lord of Annwn or the underworld. This implies a threefold Indo-European scheme; Nwyfre as firmament or heaven, Nudd meaning mist being underworld and Esni perhaps linked to Gaulish Esus, divine lord, as ruler of this world. Gwyn as white, stretched through all three of these planes of existence. The old Irish war god was Neid/Neit, cognate with Welsh Nudd and also with Babylonian war god Nergal. As Nemetona was consort of war god Mars in inscriptions, it seems fairly safe to conclude that it was with Nudd and his underworld cult, that she was associated in Britain. Note also, St Nechtan's sacred grove at Hartland, listed above, is probably linked to pre-Christian Irish Nuada Necht, so that Nechtan is a by-name for Nudd/Nuada, and consort of Nemetona.
As noted above with Diana Trivia, Diana/Artemis was goddess of the wilds, of woods and sacred groves. She was called Diana Nemorensis and her sacred grove at Nemi was made famous by Sir James Frazer in The Golden Bough. Even more significant, is the fact that Nemi, from the same Indo-European root as Celtic nemeton or sacred grove, lies only 3 miles from Albanus Mons; the mounrain of Albion. Diana,s cult was taken to Rome which originally was called Alba Longa and of course, it was Diana herself who directed Brutus, after he left Alba Longa, to find the Isle of Albion or Britain. It seems reasonable therefore, to suggest, that this enormous sacred grove in central Devon sacred to Nemetona/Diana, was linked in some way with this large concentration of twitchen/trivia names in the wilds of NW Devon, again sacred to the British version of Diana/Artemis. This would, by implication, support the notion, that Diana had a special link with Devon; from Dartmouth (*Aper-Derventia perhaps) Totnes and the medieval chroniclers tradition that Brutus built a temple dedicated to Diana at Totnes, through the nemetons and up to the twitchens and given the fact she was a Moon goddess, this was her special land of Albion (white).The chances are, Britain was the famous island of Hyperborea, with its 'great circular temple' (Diodorus Siculus II,47,1-2) and if so, then Leto, mother of Artemis/Diana and Apollo, was born here; perhaps at Letocetum near Lichfield Staffs, and the land where every winter, Apollo came to sojourn, perhaps with his beloved twin elder sister Artemis/ Diana too.
The Welsh genealogies mention Dimet as parent of Nimet (Harl ms 3859,2), or spelt Dyfed and Nyfedd (Achau Brenhinoedd a Thywysogion Cymry 18a). See Dimet possibly as Natson in Bow, listed above. Nyfedd here, is reminiscent of Welsh nefoedd, meaning 'heaven'. Dyfed in SW Wales was called Demetia, which is cognate to the Greek goddess Demeter, de 'earth' , meter 'mother'. The Dumnonii tribe who give their names to Devon, were also named from the same root as Demetae, meaning earth mother, deep and sea. Thus Exeter, British Isca Dumnorum means isca 'fish', dubhnos 'of the deep'.   Barnstaple was called Ecclesia Barum in 1291 (though its more usual spellings were Bearda-/Barda-,Barna- stapla) and this name is still used for a business in the town. Roman building material has been found in Barnstaple, so if Barum is a rare survival of the British name, it probably derives from the same root as Welsh beru, to flow and baran meaning roar of the sea, appropriate to its position (although barda can also be bard in British). Another example of this, is Morley, just to the west of the head of the Teign estuary by Newton Abbot, which may be a modernised version of Morlais, a well attested Welsh name, meaning 'sound of the sea'.Saxon mor, means marsh, so perhaps it means marshy enclosure, but still watery in context. All three places are at the heads of their respective estuaries. I would therefore suggest that Dymet as mother of Nymet, is a mythological reference and that the deep in this case is not just the sea, but the underworld itself. Welsh underworld Annwn, is based on the Welsh negative prefix 'an'' which scholars suggest could be 'an dwfn', similar to Irish domhan meaning earth; IE not of this earth and implying the deep. Therefore, Dymet and Nymet would be both goddesses and rooted in the depths of the underworld. Diana as triple goddess, was named Hecate in her underworld guise. As Nymet = Nemetona/Diana and Dymet= Demeter, it is clear that this is the Welsh version of Diana/Artemis daughter of Leto, a divine mother goddess like Demeter.The goddess Nemetona was consort of Mars in inscriptions, which implies that these Rivers Nem and Nymet, were personifications of this goddess (cf Diana at her sacred grove at Nemi and this River Nem).. At Bow (Limet 1086), there was a neolithic henge found from aerial survey and the focus of many prehistoric barrows and enclosures which probably held Nemetona sacred.
Devon has at least two other nemeton names. Manaton tythe map c.1840 has Nymphayes, a rocky field amongst woods at SX757815; a delightful spot. Near Axminster, a Roman town has been found where the Fosse Way crosses the Dorchester-Exeter Roman road. Just to the SW is Kilmington which at 1086 was Chinemetona. This name in British, is chi, house, and nemetona; either a sanctuary or referring to the goddess Nemetona herself. Curiously. the folk etymology for the name Kilmington, has it as kill men, the slaying of Danes in the local tradition of the battle near Axminster. The reasoning behind this may be false, but as Nemetona was consort of Mars, it actually does make some sense; perhaps from some long lost tradition concerning these deities. Chinemetona is therefore pure British and once again proves how conservative Devon place names can be. It also reveals that caution should be applied where the interpretation of place names are involved. The rule that ton is purely an Anglo-Saxon suffix. but nemeton names clearly disprove this. In any case, the Ravenna list has the name Arduarauenatone, which I have suggested is the Roman fortlet at Highveer Point, IE ard=high and veer or var, near Lynton (cf A Roman Tour of British Place Names in this series of articles). This proves that ton can be a British suffix, like the bretona names.
Richard Polwhele in his History of Devon, 1790, Vol 2 p86, notes that Crediton was formerly known as British Caer Eden. Eden, is derived from old Celtic Ituna, meaning corn (cf Xavier Delamarre Zeitschrift fur Celtische Philologie 55,2006 pp39), thus Welsh yd, corn and Welsh yden, grain of corn. The name Crediton is linked to the River Creedy, which flows to the north of the town, which in Saxon charters was called the Cridie 739 (11th), aet Cridiantune 930, Crydiatun 974, which Celtic Voices, English Places p129 suggests, derives from Welsh crydd, shoemaker. The River Yeo, flows to the south of the town and in Saxon, yeo means river. If this River Yeo was originally Ituna, then this might explain three possible place names along its course, including Caer Eden as an ancient name for Crediton itself. Uton lies south of Crediton, on the River Yeo and by a place called Yeoton Bridge. Uton is Yeweton1285, 1435 Jouweton1292, Iuweton1296, meaning farm by the River Yeo, but as we know yeo just means river, we may suspect it had an older taboo name. (Either that, or their is here a confusion between Saxon ton and British ituna, so thar Yeweton actually means Yeo Ituna, provided, of course, that yeo precedes the river name, not the other way round, which does seem to be the case. Against this theory, is the probability that yeo was used simply as the river, rather than with a river name, so that in Saxon charters, Nymet is not called ea Nymet, but Nymet alone.  Note Gaulish Fluviam Itonam 872, now the River Iton on the left bank of the Eure, which might relate to -eton in Yeweton. Eton on the Thames in Bucks appears to be ey-ton, island farm in Saxon and cannot itself be involved here to explain Yeweton).. More  probable, Hittisleigh was Hitenesleia 1086, which by removal of the h, a frequent Anglicised addition to place names, becomes itenes or ituna/eden and leia meaning enclosure in Saxon. This suffix, leia or ley, may also be a simple translation of British lan, Welsh llan, meaning sacred enclosure or churchyard. Hence, Henley, a fairly common English place name, is really British Henllan, old churchyard, attested on the Welsh border. Ituna or Iduna, now Eden, is yet another example of t-d  mutation in British, so if this Ruver Yeo was Ituna, it would be another Devon example. Ituna as Eden is a well known British river name, attested mostly in northern Britain. The River Eden in Cumbria, has on its banks, Castle Pendragon, with its well known folklore that Uther Pendragon tried to divert the River Eden/Ituna/Iduna to make a moat for the castle, leading to the following rhyme: 'Let Uther Pendragon do what he can, Eden will run where Eden ran'. Local tradition states that Uther and his men, were killed by the Saxons poisoning a well, also told of St Albans. A Roman coin was found here, but as yet, no other evidence of a fortress exists here before Norman times. What is striking however, is that Thomas Rudbourne, in his History of Winchester Cathedral, 'Historia Maior de Fundatione Ecclesiae Wintoniensis' of the mid 15th century, affirms that Caer Pendragon was the name of Cridiensis or Crediton, which held the seat of the bishop before Exeter. This establishes another coincidence, by way of connecting Crediton's alternative names as Caer Eden and Caer Pendragon, with that in Cumbria, a strong mythic connection between Uther Pendragon and the river Eden which overcomes his strong will. Such mythology connecting ituna, corn with Pendragon, gives further grounds for believing that the River Yeo at Crediton, was called Ituna and had its own mythic link with Uther Pendragon.This must be Indo-European in origin; for Iduna, a Norse goddess in the underworld, had a box containing golden apples which kept the god(desse)s ever youthful, Hercules went to the Hesperides, where there was a hundred headed dragon (cf Pendragon = head dragon) guarding a sacred grove ( nemeton ) with golden apples granting immortality. The Biblical Garden of Eden was a paradise where grew the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, with its attendant serpent (IE dragon) and golden corn features in the descent to the underworld in the Greek mysteries of Eleusis. Eden in Genesis is not easy to trace, in terms of its origins as a word, but there are hints here that it shares the same root as Norse Iduna, Celtic Ituna/Iduna/Eden and especially with the four sacred rivers which Genesis states have their source in Eden (cf also Greek River Eridanus, possibly er-idanus=iduna, the cosmic/underworld river which links all the worlds rivers together). This then may also explain the origins of this enormous sacred grove in mid Devon and its attendant Rivers Nem and Nymet with this possible Ituna river and, far away, near Albanus Mons, the sacred grove of Diana, at Nemi, where Aeneas of Troy plucked the golden mistletoe bough as his payment on his journey to the underworld.
Liverpool has a suburb called Huyton, 1086 Hitone, assumed to be Old English 'high town'. However, Huyton is not a high place in terms of altitude or in its former status, so this meaning is doubtful. Again, by removal of the h, this name Itone resembles Ituna,'corn', which appears more reasonable. By Huyton, is Tarbock, 1086 Torbok, which again appears British, especially with the -oc termination. Liverpool itself is Lerpwll in Welsh, meaning the pool of the (sea) god Lir,Ler or Lear, Norse Hler, Welsh Llyr. These examples illustrate how easy it is to derive modern Anglicised spellings from Anglo-Saxon rather than a more probable British derivation and the same can also be true for Devon.
The Saxon conquest of Devon was prolonged and much later than most people realise. Wikipedia, History of Devon gives a useful summary of events, quoted from reliable historical sources (Major Albany 1913 Early Wars of Wessex pp 92-98, H R Loyn 1991 Anglo Saxon England and the Norman Conquest 49f). Following the Battle of Penselwood AD658, rhe Saxons advanced to the Quantock Hills by AD 682 and evidently held Exeter, because a Saxon charter states that King Cenwealh founded the monastery of  St Mary and St Peter in Exeter in 670. In 710, King Ina of Wessex based in Taunton, defeated the Gereint, last independent king of Devon and he passed laws which made provision for the wealhas or Welsh, so that they retained positions of responsibility. King Ecgberht of Wessex waged war on Devon, 813-822, ending in the British defeat, but not in their complete disposition. William of Malmesbury reported that King Alfred made negotiations with King Dungarth of Cornwall in 876 somewhere near Exmoor and that the British continued to live in Exeter, 'aequo jure'. as equals. Aethelstan then expelled 'that filthy race' from Exeter in 927. William Borlase reported that in 936, King Howel of Cornwall was defeated in a battle on Haldon near Teignmouth and Aethelstan swept down into Cornwall to finally overcome the British near Lands End somewhere. Later, the British apparently reentered Exeter. British St Petroc, as in Exeter, is still, by far, the most common dedication in Devon and others like St Bride and St Nectan reveal that the British retained important influence for longer than most historians have acknowledged. Until the 18th century, the SW quarter of the City of Exeter was called 'Brittayne' and its churches are dedicated to British saints. Likewise, just as in Shropshire, the British language was reputed to have survived in parts of Devon, well into the middle ages, particularly the South Hams, according to Risdon on his History of Devon. Isaac Taylor in his Words and Places 1865 page 16 asserts 'In the remote parts of Devon the ancient Cymric speech feebly lingered on until the reign of Elizabeth'.
Having said that, the earliest of 70 Saxon charters in Devon, was a grant of 10 hides of land in the Torridge Valley in 729, by King Aethelheard to Glastonbury Abbey. The original is lost, so we cannot completely trust the date so given, but it appears confirmed by the Crediton charter, with the earliest boundary charter in Devon in 739. The curious thing about this boundary, is the fact that the place names appear at first sight, to be all in Anglo-Saxon, and they had only settled the area some 70 years before, although Place Names of Devon page XV, suggests that this boundary may be a 10th century addition. However, it seems that some of these names are merely translations of the older British names, like langstan for British menhir (men-stone, hir-long) for example and others which may be British anyway, like Casfcan Graefan, somewhere SE of Nymet Tracey, meaning Casfcan's grove, so perhaps another Nemeton in origin. The earliest in the South Hams, is in 847 by King Aethelwulf. There is, incidentally, one surviving Cornish charter whose boundary is in Cornish, rather than the usual old English, in Lanteglos Parish, which goes to prove that even at that late date in the 10th century, a Cornish scribe was still in charge of important legal matters.
The situation then was complex. Doubtless, North Devon was under Saxon rule by about 700, but British incursions continued into the area much later. About 800 or so, the South Hams was ruled by Wessex. However, British rule in the South Hams was long remembered, because Chillington retained its probable British name. In 1018, King Canute gave the royal manor of Cadelintone to Countess Gytha. Cadelin seems to be a British name and Chillington was a Saxon hundred of similar size to the charter; from Kingsbridge Estuary to the River Dart, suggesting a small British sub-tribe in this area centred on an ancient royal manor, as found elsewhere.
If Saxon rule was only established in Devon about 700-800, it might explain why so many place names appear to be British or retain like the twitchens, a mixture of Anglo-British influences. Another good example is the probable British name Goodrington, whose coastal position near Paignton, suggests it is from a British version of Welsh godre meaning bottom of the hillslope, which it certainly is. Dawlish, S of Exeter, was Doflisc 1044, Douelis 1086, meaning black stream in British. Celtic Voices, English Places, p290, suggests a similar British origin for Dowrich, N of Crediton at SX8202, as British dubr-ig meaning water, Welsh dwr. The editors give many other examples of British place names in Devon, but their list is by no means comprehensive. In North Tawton parish is Crooke, Cruc 1086, Cornish cruc, Welsh crug, mound, barrow. On Dartmoor, Stingers Hill SX6366, is likely to replicate the same British origins as Stingwern Hill, SJ1301, west of Welshpool, as Ystavingon in the ancient Welsh poem Pa Gur, where Cai pierced nine witches, the nine maidens of the nine worlds in British cosmology.
In AD 682, a Saxon charter says of Creechborough Hill, near Taunton, 'the hill the British call Cructan, which we call Crychbeorh'. Cruc means mound, which suits this particular hill, whereas -tan is probably from the nearby River Tan, now Tone. Saxon crych is merely their version of British cruc, while beorh can mean hillock as well, similar to Pendle Hill, formerly Pennul or Penhul, Lancs for its tautology (British pen (hill), Saxon hul (hill), and later hill added as well).
Celtic Voices, English Places notes the suffix -oc or -ioc as being British and serving a simlar purpose to the Gaulish suffix so common in southern France, -ac or -aca, as in Bergerac, Cognac etc.Tarbock in Liverpool, noted above, is a probable example, but here in the south west are several examples. Quethiock, east of Liskeard, Cornwall, was anciently Cuetheke, Cornish for 'wooded place', IE gwydh-ek wood and -oc, a dimuinitive. Tarnock, formerly Ternoc, in Somerset, could be teyrn monarch, which is attested in Wales at Llantarnam, near Caerleon, where tarnam is ancient teyrnon, referring to the lord as a deity, or, because it lies in marshland, it is tarn meaning dryish. The Quantock Hills in Somerset are British cant, rim or dome plus -oc. E,Wand Middle Chinnock, SW of Yeovil, was Cinuc or Cinnuc in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which has been interpreted as Old English, cinu ravine, ock head of. The problem with this, is the topography. All three villages lie along the bottom of a long wide valley and not at the head of a ravine. There are many words in Welsh beginning cyn, but an obvious choice could be cain, meaning fair, elegant or beautiful, with suffix -oc. The same may apply in the case of Kennick SX7984, Kaynok 1294, although equally these may be Welsh ceinach, or hare. Nearby, to the SE of Kennick, is the village of Hennock, Hainoc or Hanock 1086 and interpreted as Old English hean high, oc oak. The village is high up, so high oak is possible, but British hen, old or hint, road are also possible.
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All of these many examples, whether pure British or hybrids of Saxon and British, indicate that the meaning of many place names noted in the Place Names of Devon, can frequently be questioned and this is why, any automatic interpretation of Totnes as a Saxon name is incorrect, if there is a possible British origin for the name.

Gogmagog and Godmerock

When Brutus and the Trojans landed at Totnes, they were assailed by giants led by the fearsome Gogmagog. It was Corineus who wrestled with Gogmagog on the Hoe at Plymouth and though he was nearly overcome, he managed to throw his gigantic adversary to his death over the cliff and onto the rocks below. There are records of two turf cut figures in limestone, formerly existing on Plymouth Hoe, being of both Corineus and Gogmagot, or of two giants Gog and Magog. An audit book of 1514 states 'John Lucas, sergeant, paid 8d for cutting Gogmagog. (C W Bracken A History of Plymouth and its neighbours 1931 Plymouth p4) These records postdate Geoffrey's Historia, but as there is now evidence of a Bronze Age ( c1500 BC) dating for the White Horse of Uffington and perhaps of similar chalk cut figures like the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset and The Long Man of Wilmington in Sussex; it is possible that these mythic characters date from a similar remote time period, that is from 1100 BC, after the Trojan war.
There was clearly another version to this myth, at one time, because at the entrance to the River Dart, where the Trojans first entered Albion, is a place called Godmerock. Godmer was another giant whose story is told  by Sir Edmund Spencer in his Faerie Queene, expanding on Geoffrey's version:
                          'The western Hogh, besprinkled with the gore of mighty                                         Goemot                            
                           Whom stout fray Corineus conquered and cruelly did slay
                           And eke that ample pit, yet farre renowned
                           For the large leape, which Debon did compell
                           Coulin to make, being eight lugs of ground
                           Into the which returning, backe he fell !
                           But those three monstrous stones doe most excel !
                           Whiche that huge sonne of hideous Albion
                           Whose father Hercules in Fraunce did quell
                           Great Godmer, threw in fierce contention
                           At bold Canutus, but of him was slain.'
                                                                   Sir Edmund Spenser
                                                                   The Faerie Queene II canto 10
Spenser goes on to reveal that these Trojans; Corineus and two unknown to Geoffrey, Debon and Canutus, were rewarded with the lands of Cornwall, Devon and Kent respectively. Furthermore, Spenser tells us that the wife of Brutus was called Inogene of Italy. This name may be cited as another possible Indo-European goddess based name. Inogene could resolve as *Iuno genos  which would broadly mean 'born of (the goddess) Juno, the consort of Jupiter or Zeus to whom the oaks of Dodona were sacred (cf Totnes/Dodonesse elsewhere in this series of articles). The exact location of this pit, which would be 44 yards long (a lug is 5.5 yards) is unknown, but Spenser indicates that it was famous in his day. Assuming that soil was then heaped over giant Coulin's body, then it would be a reasonable length for a long barrow; often called a giant's grave. If so, then it would be an unusual  long barrow dating from the later Bronze Age rather than the Neolithic. Such a long mound exists measuring 42m long ( IE 45.93 yards), at SX706371 west of Bolt Head. This is an impressive site which would be ideal for such a mythic struggle.


Furthermore, Welsh tradition, though vague, makes reference to Britain as the Island of Gomer. This derives from a tradition of the sons of Noah; Shem in Asia, Ham in Africa and Gomer in Europe; an Indo-European tri-partite myth which Abraham must have brought with him to Israel from Ur, which is Harran in South Turkey and close to the possible Indo-European homeland centred on Gobleki Tepi c9500BC..Incidentally, Gobleki Tepi has artwork which depicts, for instance, a bull below a crane, reminiscent of the far later Gaulish depiction of the bull and three cranes at Paris and Trier, which, if it isn't coincidence, reveals just how ancient Indo- European cosmology could be.
Gogmagog appears to be a more recent spelling of an ancient British deity known as Gogyfran, Ogryfan and other variant spellings. In Gaulish, he was called Ogmios and in Irish he was Ogma. Our modern word ogre is rooted in the same giant concept and as giants usually lived in caves, Welsh ogof meaning cave shares similar origins. Gogyfran was the father of the three Guinevere's, whose mythology is Arthurian but stretches back and forth in time way beyond the usual 6th century AD time period. The fortresses of Gogyfran on the Welsh borders feature young Guinevere meeting Arthur; at Old Oswestry Hillfort and at the hill fort by Cnuclas. but significantly, in the Medieval legend of Payn Peverill, his name is given at Old Oswestry (inferred from the geographical setting) as Gogmagog.
Gogmagog himself, is based on the reference to giant King Og of Bashan in the Old Testament; again revealing his Indo-European roots, while later he emerges as two giants Gog and Magog. The implied threat of such giants is well known in Greek and Biblical myth, where similar intermarriage between divine beings and humans engenders a giant race. In the British version, the earliest incursion into Britain is made by Lady Albina and her 33 or 50 sisters. This legend is found in several medieval manuscripts but only one of these, specifies that Lady Albina landed at Dartmouth, as it then was. This is the Mohun Manuscript which belonged to the Champernowne family at Haccombe, near Newton Abbot (cf Devon Notes and Queries Vol.4 pp17-22).
This legend is interesting because Dartmouth lies opposite to Godmerock. Lady Albina was said to have the giant Gogmagog as consort in medieval chronicles, but we should note that Spenser tells us that giant Godmer was son of Albion the giant whom Hercules quelled in France (on the Plain of Crau near Arles). Clearly, giant Albion and Lady Albina were the original consorts of the kingdom of Albion and as Rome was originally called Alba Longa with Trojan origins, we can discern Indo-European origins once more. The River Dart, in tradition the most sacred of all the sacred rivers of Dartmoor. would have good reason to be if we follow the rhyme and reason of these legendary matters, for this river was the scene of the first incursions into Albion. As with the Lebor Gabala (Book of Invasions) in Ireland where Lady Cessair was the first to enter  Ireland; likewise here in Britain, Lady Albina was first to enter these islands. Albina gave her name to Albion, meaning both white and world, while Cessair was said to be daughter of Bith, likewise meaning world,  Cessair also came with 50 maidens, which again agrees with the matriarchal nature of Albina and her sister's incursion. We may also discern classic Indo-European origins for the legend in the Greek myth of the 50 daughters of Danaus who murdered their husbands, especially as the latter myth states that their ancestry was from Egypt , because the twin brother of Danaus was Aegyptus.
The fact that Geoffrey claimed Brutus entered Albion up the River Dart to land at Totnes, would simply be a male version of an earlier incursion. In 1205, Layamon wrote that Brutus landed at Dertemuthe in Tottenes, due to the old name of Tottenes litonesse; shore of Totnes, which may apply to a wider area than the mouth of the River Dart and possibly all the coast from Berry Head to Start Point. There is no intrinsic reason why Brutus wouldn't first land at Dartmouth and then land at Totnes and it would further agree with the Lady Albina myth and Godmerock on the  opposite bank of the Dart. Layamon, incidentally, states that he has consulted 'books', that is, sources that are now lost to us, when discussing Dunwallo Molmutius, another pre-Roman king. Eilert Ekwall in Antiquity 1930, discussed the early names of Britain. The Periplus of Avienus quotes a c6th BC source which calls these islands Ierne and Albion and Ekwall  notes that Proto-Celtic albien, is cognate with Welsh elfydd, means earth or world. Such a meaning, again implies Indo-European roots. Eriu, the goddess who gave her name to Ierne, was married to Mac Greine, son of the Sun, a name which supports this meaning of world for Albion.
Another piece of supporting evidence for the incursion of Trojans up the River  Dart, comes in the guise of a lost turf maze site which once existed at Gallants Bower, Civil War fort by Dartmouth, opposite Gommerock. In 1463 this was Galions Boure, virtually identical to the Gelyans/Gilians Boure of Julians Bower turf mazes in Lincolnshire and elsewhere. Another Gallantry Bower in north Devon west of Clovelly had a local tradition of being once a maze; but again, no  trace of this survives. Turf mazes were called Walls of Troy and Julians Bower, from Trojan Julius son of Aeneas. The name derives from the tradition that the city of Troy had maze-like walls. To have such a Trojan name at the mouth of the River Dart would be stretching coincidence if Geoffrey had faked his history of the Trojans landing here, unless of course, the turf maze had post-dated the time of Geoffrey.
Originally it was the goddess Diana/Artemis who instructed Brutus to travel to Albion/Britain. The bear was sacred to Artemis/Diana, so it must be significant that the old name for Bayards Cove in Dartmouth was Bears Cove and an island known as The Bears Arse lay in the sea nearby on old maps. Hardenesse was the name of the ridge between Townstal and the ferry. In the Welsh Book of Taliesin, Ynir of Gwent fought a battle at Harddenwys, which has been identified with Hardenhuish near Chippenham in Wiltshire (Marged Haycock Legendary Poems in the Book of Taliesin p375). This would resolve as ard height of the Iwys, the Welsh rendering of Wessex. Hardenesse here in Dartmouth is therefore likely to be a British name, featuring ard height, which it certainly is, and another meaning for the ending of the name. In the context of Artemis, the goddess Arduinna in the Ardennes of Belgium was a byname for Artemis, so like Brigit, heights were sacred to her. Art meaning bear is clearly linked to ard meaning height and both sacred to her name.  This would imply that the mouth of the River Dart was sacred to Diana/Artemis; hence Brutus arriving here was partly because South Devon is especially close to Cherbourg and partly because the area was sacred to her name.
Locally, place names which may derive from Gogyfran or Ogryfan are found at Ugborough which was 1086 Ulgeberge, East and West Ogwell, Ogbeare west of Tavistock, Eggworthy Farm west of Princetown, Ugbrooke House north of Newton Abbot and possibly Occombe near Torquay. Godwell near Ivybridge, could be Godmer, or indeed Gogyfran/Gogmagog.
Of itself, these various og names would not be considered significant, but taken together with the various brut/bretona/corn and other names; their concentration in such numbers in South Devon appears to confirm Geoffrey's version of the Brutus myth to a considerable degree. Doubtless some of the root forms  as proposed in these articles will never be proven, but their sheer number is thought provoking, to say the very least. When this is complimented by the presence of such items as a turf maze with a Trojan name at the very mouth of the River Dart and a legend of Albina landing opposite Godmerock and so on, even if those are given in later sources than Geoffrey, it would seem that we should treat this myth with a little more seriousness than has been hitherto been the case amongst historians.

A possible Trojan name for Totnes

.Earliest forms of the name Totnes in south Devon, where Brutus the Trojan supposedly landed, are Totanaes 979-1016, Tottanesse C11th, Toteneis 1086 Domesday Book (Place Names of Devon J E B Gover A Mawer and F M Stenton EPNS 1931 Vol 1 p 334). Later forms follow the same pattern close to the present name Totnes.It is possible it derives from tot meaning lookout (hill) in Old English, hence the various Toothills in England, and ness would be old English naess, prominent point of land. Having said that, neither the above quoted Place names of Devon or the more up to date, Cambridge Dictionary of English Place Names, edited Victor Watts, 2004, believe that tot or look out is the correct meaning and that Totta as a personal name is more probable; but clearly they can only hazard a guess for this difficult name.
Where place names are concerned there is frequently more than one possible explanation. Although early documents don't mention it, both Leland in the C16th and Westcote a little later, call the town Dodonesse, which Westcote suggests meant rocky place without stating his reasons why. Even earlier, Totnes mayor, John Burhead, Civil History of Totnes, 1433 and 1441, calls the town Dodenays (Trans Devon  Assoc Vol 12 1880 ).
In the case of Dodonesse, t and d in ancient British and modern Welsh, are not just mutations of each other, but  they are actually used interchangeably in Welsh so that d is pronounced t. This is partly true in Germanic as well, although probably more a question of pronunciation, than mutation, as such; see Old English drosn, dregs or sediment= truosana (Old High German) and drusen (Middle High German). This is found earlier in Indo-European where *(h-)dont- tooth becomes modern denture, hence d-t, dont becomes tooth and similar to *dnghu- tongue where dnghu becomes tongue. This means that Dodonesse could be a mutation of Totnes or Tottanesse and vice versa. Watkin in his History of Totnes, Index p1259, notes a family name and evident place name; possibly the marshy area below the town itself, William de Totefen or Dodefenne and Wydo de Totefen or de Totene;in 1251.It is unclear if Totnes is intended  here, but more likely it refers to a place now called Dodoven, just north west of Brixton, near Plymouth. This being the case, it has important implications for the t-d mutation in the names Totnes/Dodonesse. Firstly, it pushes back the date of such a mutation to the mid 13th century, but also corroborates that Totnes was not the only place to share such a duality in its name. Even earlier than this, out of county,is Toddington in Bedfordshire, which is both Dodingtone and Totingedone 1086, Tudingedon, -ton 1166-1243 and Todington, -yng, -don 1219-1526. Cambridge Dict. of Place Names suggests this means 'hill of the Tudingas'. Well perhaps and then again perhaps not. What it does reveal, however, is that, even as far east as Bedfordshire, evidence of this t-d British mutation is evident at an early period. Todmarden, W Yorkshire, is Tottemerden 1086, Totmardene 1246, Todmerden 1298, Todmarden 1300. Todenham, Gloucestershire is Todanham (804) 11th |S1187, ie 9th century, Toteham 1086, Teudenham 1221, Todeham 1231. Tydd St Giles Cambridgeshire, is Tit,c1165, Tid Tidd,Tide 1170-1559, Tydd St Mary, not far away in Lincs, is Tid 1086, Tit 1094 and Tid or Tyd(de) 1168-1348. Wikipedia, Celtic Toponyms, suggests Tydd might be British tyddyn or smallholding, but perhaps the tit forms go against this interpretation.  Dittisham on the River Dart was earlier spelt Dydesham, again in the 13th century, which suggests that dod/did was an ancient form of the name, if not the precursor of tot/tott. Dodenays in 1433 is some 500 years after the earliest spellings of Totnes as tot/tott, but on the basis of the above evidence, it would appear that dod was just as ancient as tot. This is also the case for Townstal in Dartmouth which at 1086 was called Dunestal. Although dun is hill in Anglo-Saxon, estal is more problematical. It is therefore possible that an earlier version of the name was British. In Somerset, Tedintone 1086, is now called Tetton and tedin could be Welsh tyddyn, or smallholding. The fact that Totnes was a sizeable town, rather than a backwater and therefore possible British settlement on less fertile land, may explain why the totta/tot version prevailed, while oral memory of Dodonesse appears to have endured for some centuries, if my theory is correct, because the British were not in charge of the town, ie its documents. In any case, tut or tud means doctor or healer in medieval Welsh, hence in the Mabinogion tale Gereint Son of Edern, Morgan Tud/Tut is clearly Morgana, elder twin sister of Arthur, just as her Greek/Roman counterpart Artemis/Diana was elder twin sister of healer god Apollo, to whom the serpent was sacred (cf the serpent well cult in Totnes). Another possibility, is a British name like Tudwal, who was an ancestor of Arthur and his father Uthyr Pendragon and relevant, because Geoffrey claims that Uthyr landed at Totnes with Ambrosius, to fight the Saxon foe. Once again, both British and Saxon versions of the name, could be true; but at least the British versions do have the benefit of some mythology on their side, whereas Saxon Totta does not.
In Welsh, dod means to come, while dydd means day, daybreak and dyddio is to dawn, to judge or reconcile. Judgement here, is clearly relevant to the Devon bretona's, also meaning judgement. To come, as in arrival, suits the landing of Brutus on these shores as the dawning of a new era; so in all these possible meanings, Dodonesse is suitable, especially because the Celts adored multiple meanings for their words and myths. Even more curious, is the fact that Welsh diden means teat, tit or nipple; which is precisely one of the above spellings for Tydd St Mary and St Giles. Teth in Welsh, also means teat, clearly from the same root in Indo-European as the English word.
Watkin Vol 2 pp 632-3, lists the 4th Saxon mintmaster as Doda or Dodda in the reigns of Ethelraed the Unready and Cnut. The name Tota appears on coins before Doda appears on the coinage and there is no other record of any possible reason why the town should be named after a mintmaster, which in the scheme of things is a post not readily associated with eponymous founders of towns, unless he performed some valuable service which is not found in the extensive records of the town.
Evidently, as mutations of each other, Totta and Dodda fit admirably a British version of the origin of the name, but a Saxon version is also possible and the name Dodda is clear evidence that such a name was current during an early period. Dodda's headland may interpret the name but if Dodonesse is more ancient and British in origin, then another explanation must be sought.
Firstly, we should note that the town is sited in precisely the position one would expect for an ancient settlement, on a prehistoric road at its crossing point just above the estuary of the River Dart. This is a classic position for ancient cities like London, Exeter, Chester and Gloucester. Harpers Hill, which continues from the High Street heading to the south west, was traditionally called the Roman Road and in 1880 (Trans Devon Assoc Vol 12) Edward Windeatt states that the entire course of the High Street and Harpers Hill was paved Many have doubted that this was a road made by the Romans but in all likelihood, it ,was used by them as a trading route on a native British route way, especially as it is heading for the important ancient British port at Mount Batten near Plymouth. Percy Russell The Good Town of Totnes 1963 p3 mentions that a Roman inscribed stone was found at Bowden House which came from a ditch by the turnpike road which was still at Bowden House until after 1945, when the house was derelict (Anon Ghostly Tales Bowden House p4). A Roman flue tile was found at the castle which came from a high status Roman building along with Roman coins in the town and, I am informed,some Roman pottery in the river near the bridge. Post holes of a native Romano-British hut was found in the current Co-op car park, by Bob Mann.This suggests a native British settlement with possibly one Roman trading building. The Leech Wells near this ancient road and the town, would be a further reason for the siting of an important settlement here with attendant healing cult. One of these wells is a serpent well  or Long Crippler (Devon dialect for adder or viper), which may suggest Apollo (Belenus in British) twin brother of Artemis or Diana ,who led Brutus to this site. Apollo was the god of healing and serpents were crucial to his cult. Artemis/Diana may have had a temple where the Parish church of St Mary the Virgin lies now. Artemis was a virgin goddess and we have clear evidence for a Temple of Diana at St Pauls in London, which Brutus supposedly founded after Totnes (see the article on London due to be published on this same website).
The problem with the interpretation of  Totnes as tot meaning lookout, is clear from the earlier forms of the name, that is Totta rather than Tot. Indeed Place Names of Devon/Oxford Dict of Place Names/Cambridge Dict of Place Names, were forced to conclude that it derived from the personal name Totta with no supporting evidence that such a person was connected with Totnes from the C9th. Although it is possible his name was not remembered in the medieval records, given the medieval predilection for onomastic names as foundations for settlements, this seems unlikely.
Toponyms frequently share more than one name and more than one mythic explanation for that name. The Irish Dindsenchas and Hogan's Onomasticon prove that this was the case and we find many examples in other countries. As Dodonesse and Totanaes are mutations of each other, It would appear that the written forms of Totnes were paralleled by an oral version of the name and that name could refer to an earlier settlement.
A possible explanation for Dodonesse is this: Geoffrey of Monmouth informs us that Brutus went to Greece. He only mentions one place that he visited, the Isle of Leogetia which is now called Leuca and is on the west side of Greece near Ithaca, made famous by Odysseus who fought at Troy. Here Brutus consulted the oracle of Diana/Artemis and was directed to find the isle of Albion, now Britain. This sanctuary of Artemis is not on the map of the isle of Leuca, but significantly, a temple of Apollo is there. Apollo and Artemis/Diana were twins and their temples are frequently found together, so the chances are this was the case at Leuca. Not only that, but Brutus is likely to have visited the oldest and most important oracle near this island, called Dodona, which may explain the name Dodonesse at Totnes. His grandfather, Aeneas, visited Dodona after his flight from Troy (Dion.Hal.1,32); but we should also note that this is complicated by his later visit to Dido, daughter of Belus of Assyria, at Carthage and the name of one of his daughters, Codone, a curious possible mutation of Dodona. Dodona at that early period was sacred to Dione, who was actually present at the birth of Artemis and Apollo. Dione means di-one or goddess, the feminine form of Zeus or di-us meaning god and it was Zeus who took over her cult at Dodona. Roman Diana comes from a similar Indo-European root and in the classical period was equated with Artemis.
Dodona was famous for the oracular oak tree of enormous size. This is paralleled by Dodonesse lying on the River Dart meaning oak, doubtless from a similar large oak tree, possibly oracular, that once graced its banks. Even today, the most famous sacred oak grove in Britain, still lies by the river Dart; the ancient Wistmans Wood where the Wischt hounds of the wild hunt were said to emerge from.
Da,De Do and Di are all root words meaning earth, hence De-meter means earth mother and the Welsh tribe Demetae in Dyfed has the same meaning, as does Damatae, in Sicily.  Dodo means 'earth earth', as if in invocation , so if this interpretation is correct, Totnes/Dodonesse on the River Dart means (mother) earth and oak, itself rooted in the earth.
Pennies of the time of Athelstan (924-940) have been found bearing the inscription Darent Urb(s). Only burghs at this time, minted coins and as Totnes lies on the River Dart, Ptolemy's Derventia, there is a good chance it refers to Totnes. The Ravenna Cosmography lists several place names in Devon and Cornwall of which Devionisso and Statio Deuentiasteno are listed together and clearly not far from each other. Deuentiasteno could be a distortion of Deruent Statio, which might fit the idea of a simple Roman trading station at Totnes inside a native settlement.
Devionisso may have been a trading station by Denbury Hillfort, to the north of Totnes, which was called Devenaberia, meaning fortress of the Devon folk, earlier the Dumnonii tribe.. Another four place names in the Ravenna list lead up to Isca Dumnoniorum or Exeter, with the same tribal name, so there placing as I have suggested fits exactly the criteria we would be looking for; although with such distortion in the Ravenna names this has to remain speculation, no matter how appropriate, for the moment.
There is another further mythic link which may support the concept of British Dodonesse. Just as Greek Dodona had several meanings, one of which, incidentally, was 'goatskin', the famous Aegis goatskin worn by goddess Athena; so too did Derventia. True it is Celtic/British for 'oak', but their are European inscriptions to the Matres Dervones, the 'mothers, sure and certain' that is, of fate (cf G Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans 1994 pp285-7). Dodona was the most famous and most ancient of Greek sacred sites, where there is an oracle read from an oak tree. Coincidence perhaps, but Dodo means earth, earth, Demeter is earth mother(Welsh Demetae), and the Matres as divine mothers, are the fates. Furthermore, Mother Earth as the goddess Dione (cf Dodone), was resident goddess at Dodona before Zeus, father of Apollo and Artemis/Diana and as we saw, Aeneas of Troy visited Dodona, and Brutus was very likely to have followed in his footsteps when he stayed in mainland Greece after his visit to the oracle of Diana on the Isle of Leuca near to Dodona. So coincidence perhaps, but it is curious how every piece of evidence cited in favour of Dodonesse, fits the tangled thread of Greek myth so concisely.
So there is enough potential in these ancient names to give us strong room to doubt that Geoffrey invented the legend of Brutus. Other articles in this same series will provide many more place names which suggest, if not even prove the same.