Norsemen.[1] The Devonshire names ending in -beer, such as Rockbeer, Houndsbeer, Aylesbeer, Lungabeer, are perhaps of Norse origin, derived from the Old Norræna word byr, corresponding to by, the ending so common in the Lincolnshire place-names.
Those tenants who are entitled to common rights on Dartmoor are known as Venville tenants. The ancient form of this name was Wengefield or Vengefield, and it was applied to those free settlers in the villages around Dartmoor who had summer pasture rights upon it. In Lincolnshire there are many fields known as the wong, the older form of which was wang, such as Waring-wang and Quenildewang.[2] The Old Norse word ‘vangr,’ or ‘vengi,’ appears to denote an enclosure.[3] The word ‘wang’ or ‘wong’ for a field or plain may not improbably be traced to an old Northern dialect, and so be another trace of Scandinavian settlers in Devon.
The settlement of Danes and Northmen, probably in alliance with Wends or Frisians, in parts of Cornwall is shown by evidence of several kinds: (1) The Scandinavian place-names along the coast. Among these are Helston, which may have had some connection with a settler from Helsingland. All the chief harbours in Cornwall are or were anciently called havens, from the Danish havn—viz., Falmouth Haven, Helford Haven (leading to Helston), Bude Haven, and Fowey Haven. (2) The survival here and there in Cornwall of certain customs of inheritance which are not Celtic. On the manor of Blisland the tenant’s land, in default of sons, was inherited by the eldest daughter, a custom pointing to Norwegian settlers. On the other hand, at Helston the tenant’s customary heir was the youngest son, which points either to Wendish settlers or some of the tribal Frisians. Frisic is an old place-name near the Lizard. (3) There is also the evidence of the remarkable parallelism between some of the folk-lore of Cornwall and that of Pomerania, which points to
