Note 14 — BENTHALL HALL, SHROPSHIRE.

The name has been said to be compounded of Bent, an old English word for brow of a hill, and the Celtic al, or hal (Lat. altus), a termination commonly found in names of hills. The motto of Benthall, “Tende Bene et alta pete,” seems to allude to this interpretation of the name; but as, in Domesday Book, the name is spelt “Benhale,” the first syllable may be derived from the Gaelic word En, or An—water, the letter B being only the prefix importing the article the. This suggestion receives some weight from the fact that the Benthall estate, and one of the same name in another part of Shropshire, are washed by a river—the Severn. The derivation of the second syllable is too plainly correct to be interfered with.