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JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
from another fact, that part of the manor of Elintone was held by 
the clergy of the ville in alms. The canons of Plintone, and the 
clergy of Elintone, are the only " religious " recorded in the im- 
mediate Plymouth district. 1 
I do not wish to ignore any difficulties. The Exon Domesday 
speaks of the clergy of Elintone as of St. Mary of Alentona ; and 
the existing church of Yealmpton is dedicated to St. Bartholomew, 
while the dedication of Plympton St. Mary is patent. But a 
change of dedication is no unusual thing, and we know that 
Plympton St. Mary does not date as a dedication further back 
than the beginning of the 14th century. 
On the other hand, the situation of Yealmpton is precisely that 
which all the leading early settlements and religious stations — if I 
may use a modem phrase — of this part of the county occupied 
before the Norman Conquest. Take St. Germans, at the head of 
the Lynher ; Tavistock, on the head waters of the Tavy ; Plymp- 
ton, at the " head of the lake " (Pen-lin) which we now call the 
Laira ; Yealmpton, at the head of the tidal waters of the Yale, or 
Hayle. 2 
I do not care to lay much stress upon traditions unless their 
natural origin and purity of transmission can be clearly shown ; 
but we need not ignore the further fact that Yealmpton is reputedly 
a place of note in Saxon days, and it certainly derives additional 
importance from the presence of the ancient inscribed stone in its 
churchyard, which fairly indicates ecclesiastical influence in very 
early times. 
The immediate vicinity was one of considerable prominence; 
and without attempting to trace all the manors immediately con- 
tiguous to the east bank of the Yealm, particular mention should 
be made of one or two. First we have Niwetone (Newton Ferrars), 
which Edmar held in the days of King Eadward, and which became 
one of the estates held by Reginald of Valletort under the Earl of 
1 In the taxation of Pope Nicholas (1288-91) the name is Yalmpton and 
Yalampton. 
2 I have elsewhere given reasons for believing Hayle the original form of 
the name of the river which is now called the Yealm, a word in its present 
shape inexplicable in either Keltic or Saxon. Hayle is simply Kornu for 
river ; and hayle-ham-ton = the enclosure of the dwelling by the Hayle — the 
Domesday "Al-en-tona" as nearly as one could wish. The "p" is not 
original either in Plympton or Yealmpton, and both words appear without it 
down to convparatively recent times. 
