308
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. IL OCT. 15, im.
charter of the Royal Geographical Society
would very much oblige.
(Rev.) B. W. BLIN-STOYLE. Daventry.
BELPHETE. Can any of your readers tell me where this name occurs in the works of Prior? H. C-s.
HOLBORN. On p. 10 of Mr. George Clinch's 'Marylebone and St. Pancras' (1890) it is written :
"The 'Hole-bourne' (Stream), from whence we get the ancient name Oldburn, and the modern name Holborn, arose in and around the ponds at Hampstead and Highgate, and after a meandering course through Kentish Town, Camden Town (where the two main branches united and made one channel), Somers Town, Battle Bridge, Farringdon Road, and Farringdon Street, and so into the Thames at the place where Blackfriars Bridge spans the river. It was subsequently called the Fleet River." And on p. 146 :
" ' Holebourne' is the ancient form of the name, and Holburn is a corruption of it. Throughout its course, its physical character justified its name. It- was strictly the brook or bourne in the hole or hollow."
At what date did the name cease to be applied to the stream and become identified with the road? It would appear that the road was known as Oldborne as early as 1297 (see Stow's ' Survey of London,' ed. by Thorns, 1876, p. 144), and as Holeburn in 1303 and again in 1307.
On 14 March, 1303, the king, "out of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Etheldreda," to whom the Ely Chapel is dedicated, "granted a licence for Robert, Bishop of Ely, to hold in mortmain a messuage and nine cottages in the Street (vico) of Holeburn in the suburb of the city of London, late of John de Kyrkeby, sometime Bishop of Ely, and bequeathed to that church by his will" (Pat. 31 Ed. I., m. 31 ; 'Gal. Pat. Rolls, Ed. I., 1301-7,' p. 125).
In 1307 (4 June) a commission under the Great Seal was granted to Roger de Brabazon, Ralph de Sandwyco, and John le Blund, Mayor of the City of London, to associate with themselves the more discreet of the Aldermen, and
"survey the water-course of Flete running under the Bridge of Holeburn to the Thames, which is said to be obstructed and straitened by mud and nlth being thrown into it, and by the new raising of a quay by the Master and Brethren of the New Temple, London, for their mills on the Thames by Castle Baignard, so that boats with corn, wine, nrewood, and other necessaries cannot go from the lhames by means of the water-course as they have been accustomed, and to cause the obstructions to be removed by those they think liable, and the water-course to be made as broad and deep as anciently it used to be" (Pat. 35 Ed. I., m 9d 'Gal. Pat. Rolls, Ed. I., 1301-7,' p. 548).
Stow refers to the stream as Old bourne or
Hilborne, to the road as High Oldborne Hill,
and to the bridge as Oldbourne Bridge
('Survey of London,' ed. Thorns, 1876, pp. 5,
7, 11).
What other authority is there for the- derivation of Holborn from the hole or hollow in which the stream ran? I think I have somewhere seen a suggestion that the hill was called " Oldborne Hill " on account of the fact that it had of old been the custom for those who were condemned to the gallows at Tyburn to be borne up it on their way there. Can this be so ? May not the stream have been the holy bourne, and the road th& holy bourne road, along which pilgrims would pass from the City by Newgate to the shrines of Our Lady at Gospel Oak, Muswell Hill, and Willesden ? As to the shortened spelling of the word, are not similar instances to be* found in Holbeck for Holebeck, and Holbrook for Holebrook ?
Since writing the above I have referred to Isaac Taylor's ' Words and Places,' and in a note on pp. 186-7 he writes :
"The 'Old Bourne,' or burn, is the etymology of 4 The Holburn' which is universally given thought- lessly copied, according to the usual custom, by one- writer from another. That a village or town should be called Oldham, Aldborough, or Newton, is in- telligible, but how a name like Oldbourne should have arisen is difficult to explain. The introduc- tion of the h is another difficulty in the way of this etymology. It seems far more in accordance with etymological laws to refer the name to the Anglo- Saxon hole, a hollow or ravine ; the Holborn will, therefore, be ' the burn in the hollow,' like the Holbeck in Lincolnshire, and the Holbec in Nor- mandy."
H. W. UNDERDO WN.
[Our correspondent should consult the articles at 8 th S. ix. 185, 289, 369, 437 : x. 15 ; xii. 310 ; 9 th S. i. 48. At the last reference COL. PRIDEAUX supports the etymology favoured by Isaac Taylor. ]
QUOTATIONS, ENGLISH AND SPANISH. Can any reader tell me the name of the old English poet who wrote the following lines ?
With mind unwearied still will I engage In spite of failing vigour and of age, Nor quit the conflict till I quit the stage.
What Spanish poet wrote
Dod besos tengo en el alma Que no se aparten de mi El ultimo de mi madre Y el primero que te di? The following is a translation : I have two kisses within my soul Which naught can take from me : The last which I gave to my mother, And the first which I gave to thee.
J. H. MlTCHINER. Royal Societies' Club.
