Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Novetthall 1540 MinAcct

Etymology

Navant Hill (6″) is Novetthall in 1540 (MinAcct ). It may well have been the home of the Gocelin ate Onelte (sic) and Richard ate Ouelte or atte Noueld assessed in Petworth in 1296, 1327 and 1332 (SR). The word Ouelt is probably from a lost OE  ofhylde , 'steep-slope' (v. hylde ). For Nav - from Nov -, cf. Lavant supra 50. For initial n , v. æt . The second intrusive n , in an unstressed syllable, is fairly common, v. Addenda xlv.