In the Transactions of the Devonshire Association's extracts from the Domesday Book, there is a place named YABSLEIGH in Halwell Parish that is described as an outlier. According to David Yabsley, YABSLEIGH is now Abbotsleigh and was seperated from Halwell Parish and placed into Blackawton parish within the last century. YABSLEIGH is a place-name and means "a clearing in the woods." This is probably the derivation of the surname YABSLEY and its' varients, but others have their theories as to the true origins.