Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• (at) ywern 871–7 ShaftR(S357(1)) 15

• (in) hywerna 871–7 15 ib

• (at) Iwern 956 14 ib

• Evneminstre 1086 DB

• Ywern(e) Hy1 ShaftR 15 FF 1227 Ass 1268 Eg c.1500

• Iwern(e) 1290 ShaftR 15 FA 1316 HTax 1664

• Ewern' 14 Salis 16

• Iwarn(e) (als. Iwerne Mynster) 1392,1415 Pat

• Iwerna, Ywernia 15 ShaftR

• Euuern by Shaftesbury 1448 Pat

• Ywarne c.1500 Eg

• Iweren 1664 HTax

• Iwern(e) Menstre, Ywern(e) Menstre, Ywern(e) Munstre, Ywern(e) Min(i)str(e) 1280 Ass, QW

• Iwerne Min(i)str(e), Ywerne Min(i)str(e), Ywerne Mynstre 1288 Ass 1428 FA

• Iwern(e)minster, Iwern(e)mynster 1291 Tax 1461 Pat

• Iwarn' Minstr' 15 ShaftR

• Yewen Mynster 1569 Comm

• Vernemynster 1575 Saxton

• Ewern(e) Minster 1645 SxAS 1869 Hutch3

Etymology

Named from R. Iwerne which rises here and which also gives name to Iwerne Courtney par. supra and Steepleton Iwerne par. 2 114, v. RNs.infra . The affix is OE  mynster, perhaps in the sense '(church of a) monastery', in allusion to its possession by Shaftesbury abbey (from 956 if not earlier, v. S 357 and 630), or simply '(large) church' if the church here was particularly important even by the time of DB (supported by the fact that later it had no fewer than five chapelries, v. Hutch3 3541 ff). In 1664 HTax the par. is divided into two tithings, Iwerne and Iweren West . The Anglo-Saxon bounds of the manor of Iwerne M. are given in S 630.