local. Forms: 4 wenge-, vengefeild, vennefeld, 6 vyndefelde, 7 fen(g)field, venvill, 8– venville. [Of obscure origin; the suggestion made in quot. 1829 does not account for the earliest forms of the word.]
1. A special form of tenure obtaining in parishes adjoining Dartmoor, by which the tenants enjoy certain privileges in the use of the forest. Usually in the phrase in venville.
? 13[?]. in Trans. Devonsh. Assoc. (1876), VIII. 403. M[emorandu]m quod Tenent[es] d[omi]ni princip[is in] Wengefeild al[ia]s Vennefeld clamant … habere eos articulos et libertates subscript. infra forestam de Dartmoore. Ibid. Et eorum Tenentes iacent in vengefeild [etc.].
1609. in S. Rowe, Peramb. Dartmoor (1848), 279. Blacktorrebeare (wch. is part in the fforest of Dartmoore and part in Venvill).
1794. R. Fraser, Gen. View Devon, 49. It is customary … to take from those not in venville one shilling.
1829. T. Moore, Hist. Devon, IV. i. I. 473. Many of them belonged to parishes lying in what is called venville, which paid annually for the cattle, when trespassing within the forest bounds, certain compensations, entitled ‘fines villarum,’ thence corrupted into ‘fin vil’ and ‘venville.’
1837. Penny Cycl., VIII. 450/2. Part of the waste [of Dartmoor] is appropriated by the surrounding parishes, the freeholders of which possess the right of common, or as it is termed the right of venville, on these appropriated parts.
1887. W. F. Collier, in Trans. Devonsh. Assoc., XIX. 378. The tenants in venville are said to have the right to take anything off Dartmoor … except green oak and venison.
2. attrib. with farm, man, money, rent, rights, tenant, etc.
a. 1600. in S. A. Moore, Rep. Dartmoor Preserv. Assoc. (1890), 48. The vyndefelde men of Chagford and Mannaton.
1609. in S. Rowe, Peramb. Dartmoor (1848), 279. Payinge for the same their Venvill rents and other dues as hath bene tyme out of mynde accustomed.
c. 1630. [see FENFIELD].
1676. in Trans. Devonsh. Assoc. (1899), XXXI. 142. Paid … Phillip Andrew for Venvill rent,… [4s. 1d.].
1796. W. H. Marshall, W. England, II. 26. Many of those lands have a prescriptive right, on the forest, by paying an inconsiderable sum … annually, under the name of Venville money, to the Duchy. Ibid., 28. The good estimation in which Venville farms are held.
1829. T. Moore, Hist. Devon, IV. i. I. 473. The names of the venville parishes are Sheepstor, Walkhampton, Sampford Spiney [etc.].
1848. S. Rowe (title), A Perambulation of the antient and royal Forest of Dartmoor, and the Venville Precincts.
1887. W. F. Collier, in Trans. Devonsh. Assoc., XIX. 377–85. Venville Rights on Dartmoor.
