The "N. & Q." have readers nearer to the spot in question than I am, who may, perhaps, be able to throw some light on the subject, and inform us whether Greendale still possesses the trace of any of those natural features which would justify the demoniacal derivation proposed by I. E. It must not, however, be forgotten that three centuries and a half of laborious culture bestowed upon the property by the monks of Tor, must have gone far to exorcise and reclaim it.
E. S.
Some years ago I asked the meaning of Grindle or Grundle, as applied to a deep, narrow watercourse at Wattisfield in Suffolk. The Grundle lies between the high road and the "Croft," adjoining a mansion which once belonged to the Abbots of Bury. The clear and rapid water was almost hidden by brambles and underwood; and the roots of a row of fine trees standing in the Croft were washed bare by its winter fury. The bank on that side was high and broken; the bed of the Grundle I observed to lie above the surface of the road, on the opposite side of which the ground rises rapidly to the table land of clay. My fancy instantly suggested a river flowing through this hollow, and the idea was strengthened by the appearance of the landscape. The village stands on irregular ground, descending by steep slopes into narrow valleys and contracted meadows. I can well imagine that water was an enemy or "fiend" to the first settlers, and I was told that in winter the Grundle is still a roaring brook.
I find I have a Note that "in Charters, places bearing the name Grendel are always connected with water."
F. C. B.
Diss.
[ROGER OUTLAWE.]
(Vol. vii., p. 332.)
Mr. Ellacombe will find some account of this personage, who was Prior of Kilmainham, and for several years served the office of Lord Justice of Ireland, in Holinshed's Chronicles of Ireland, sub anno 1325, et seq.: also in "The Annals of Ireland," in the second volume of Gibson's Camden, 3rd edition, sub eod. anno. He was nearly related to the lady Alice Kettle, and her son William Utlawe, al. Outlaw; against whom that singular charge of sorcery was brought by Richard Lederede, Bishop of Ossory. The account of this charge is so curious that, for the benefit of those readers of "N. & Q." who may not have the means of referring to the books above cited, I am tempted to extract it from Holinshed: