English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Yelverton

Early-attested site in the Parish of Buckland Monachorum

Historical Forms

  • Elleford, Ellefordlak 1291 Dartmoor 1408
  • Elverton 1765 D

Etymology

'Ella 's ford,' or possibly 'elder tree ford,' v. ellen . For the modern addition of ton , cf. Dippertown supra 200.For lak , v. lacu . The y in the modern form is a 19th cent. addition. The farm is still called Elfordtown (6″). Yelverton is the dialectal form adopted by the G.W.R. when the station was built in 1859 (J. J. A.).