Powderham
Major Settlement in the Parish of Powderham
Historical Forms
- (of) poldraham lande, apoldraham c.1100 Earle
- Poldreham 1086 DB
- Pouderham 1219 Ass 1259 Exon 1303 FA
- Pouderhame 1257–71 Exon
- Puderham 1219 FF
- Pudrehame 1238 Ass
- Poudram 1257–71 Exon 1291 Tax
Etymology
Powderham lies low by the Exe estuary and the surrounding country is flat and marshy. We may therefore take the first element to be the English cognate of MLG polre , polder , 'low-lying land reclaimed from the sea,' familiar in the Dutch Polders . Cf. Polders in Woodnesborough (K), Poldre 1232 Cl, Polre (s )1246 Ch and PN Sx 561. The a in one of the earliest forms is no doubt a trace of the OE preposition æt wrongly attached to the name.