HELE

Hele was first recorded as Hela in the Doomsday survey of 1086. Hela is said to have been the name of a Norse goddess of the underworld and by local tradition the neighbouring hill Hillsborough is said to have been an ancient burial place. Furthermore, the Old English word hele (pronounced 'hail') means 'hide' or 'conceal'. However, the true origin of Hele is far more prosaic; it is a common place name in Devon and comes from the Old English healh, meaning 'sheltered valley'. Hela is the dative form, meaning 'at Hele'. Many other smaller local settlements have a descriptive name with a Saxon origin, for example Beara, Bowden, Trayne, Hole and Slew.

This sheltered valley was probably a couple of kilometres inland, where there are some fields called Yarde on the first detailed Ordnance Survey map of 1889. Yarde is from the Old English gyrt, meaning an area of land of about 30 acres. These fields were almost certainly part of the Saxon settlement of Hele and were probably the demesne land (i.e. worked for the benefit of the Manor). The Saxon Manor may have been nearby, perhaps at Littletown or Comyn farm.

About 100 years after the Norman Conquest, the Champernon's took possession of Hele Manor and probably built Chambercombe Manor. The name Hele survived in Hillsborough, thought to be from Heles-Burrow. In the early 16th century Helemyll was built in the valley near the sea and in 1525 the miller of Heyle had to pay 12p a year for water. A few cottages were added to the west of the mill around the river crossing. The village expanded northwards to the sea, and along the main road, from the early 19th century. In the 1850's the path to the beach was known as Hele Close and the top of Hillside Road was known as Hele Cross.

Helemyll and the miller of the mill of Heyle are mentioned in the 1525 Survey of the holdings of Cecily, Marchioness of Dorset. Hele Cove is so-called on Dunn's map of 1765. Hele (village) is so-called on the first OS map of 1809 and Greenwoods' map of 1827. The 1839 Ilfracombe Tithe map shows Hele Bay (transcription has the addresses Hele Cross, at the top of Hillside Road, and Hele Close, possibly referring to both Beach Road and Hockey Lane); The 1841 Ilfracombe Census refers often to Heale, as does the 1851 Census; Hele Bay, Hele Beach and Hele are shown on the first detailed OS map of 1889.

An engraving of c1850 calls Hele Heal (Ilfracombe Museum, Topographic prints box, ILFCM 8048)

There are three principal historical references to Hele: in Doomsday 1086 (Hela); in 1311 Assize Rolls (unpublished) for Devon (PRO) nos174-181, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193, 195, 196, 198 (Hele); and in 1525 Augmentation Office, Miscellaneous Books (PRO) (Helemyll). Hele or heale is very common in Devon and is occasionally found in Somerset. None of the Devon examples are found in pre-conquest form, but Heale in Curry Rivel (Somerset) is found in a charter of Athelstan in the Muchelney Carthlary in the form (of) East Heale, and this makes it clear that the name goes back to OE [Old English] hēale, the dative singular of healh. Hele would be the natural ME [Middle English] development of this in a stressed syllable, though in an unstressed syllable, with shortening of the vowel, OE hēale might become ME Hale. Elsewhere in England in the fairly numerous places simply called Hale or Hales we have the distinctly Anglian form going back to OE Hāle, without breaking of æ to ea before original lh. In non-Anglian England the hale-forms go back to an unlengthened OE Hěale or are due to the influence of the extremely numerous names with final unstressed -hale. We have a few examples of Hale in Devon. There is a Hale Farm in Honiton infra. 640, which shows curious variation between the specifically Devon types and the more common one found elsewhere. So also we have traces of the hale forms in unstressed syllables in Cripple, Black Hall and Worthele, infra. 170, 304, 274 (Gover et al 1932 p46-7)

"healh - this element is very common. In the uncompounded form Hele, Heale it is of frequent occurrence in the County, far more common than the corresponding form Hale in other parts of England. Two examples have, however, been noted in Cornwall and five in West Somerset. Compounds with healh as the final element are exceedingly rare in Devon, thus reversing the position found in the rest of England, where compound names in healh are far more common than uncompounded ones" (Gover et al 1932 p 678)

"In the York rite, this phrase is found : ‘I will always hail, ever conceal, and never reveal ;’ and in the lecture, these words : Q. ‘I hail.’ Answer : ‘I conceal ; ‘ What does the word hail here mean ? page 63 - ‘the word is really hele, from the Anglo-Saxon verb elan, helan, to cover, hide, or conceal. Wherefore, to heal means the same thing as to tile. Thus language too is symbolism, and words are as much misunderstood and misused as more material symbols are." (Masonic website with selected text from Morals and Dogma by Albert Pike 2001)