THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

The Society was founded in 1853. Its activities include the promotion of archaeological
and historical work within the County and the study of Natural History; the issue of a
Magazine and other publications; excursions to places of archaeological and historical
interest; and the maintenance of a Museum and Library.

The annual subscription rates for membership of the Society are: Individual Member-
ship, £2.50; Family Membership, £4.00; Student Membership, £1.50; Junior Member-
ship, £0.50; Institutional Membership, £2.50 (minimum). Enquiries about membership
should be made to the Secretary of the Society, 41 Long Street, Devizes, Wiltshire SNro 1 NS.

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY

TRUSTEES:

E. C. Barnes, Esq., C. E. Blunt, Esq., 0.B.E., F.B.A., F.S.A.,
The Right Hon. The Lord Devlin, p.c., F.B.a.,
E. G. H. Kempson, Esq., M.A., Bonar Sykes, Esq.

VICE-PRESIDENT:
Professor R. B. Pugh, M.a., F.S.A., F.R.HIST.S.

COUNCIL:

C. E. Blunt, Esq., 0.B.E., F.B.A., F.S.A. (President and Chairman)

R. E. Sandell, Esq., M.a., F.S.A., F.L.S. (Hon. Librarian; also representing the Wiltshire
Record Society)

K. H. Rogers, Esq., B.a., F.8.A. (Hon. Assistant Librartan)

Miss I. F. Smith, B.A., PH.D., F.s.A. (Hon. Editor of W.A.M.)

Miss C. B. O’Grady (Hon. Publicity Officer)

Maurice G. Rathbone, Esq., A.L.A. (ex-officio as County Archivist)

J. M. Stratton, Esq., 0.B.E. (representing the Wiltshire County Council)

Air Commodore H. Eeles, c.3., ¢.B.E. (representing the Wiltshire County Council)

H. de S. Shortt, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., F.R.N.S. (ex-officio as Curator of Salisbury Museum)

The Right Hon. The Lord Congleton, B.a. (representing the Salisbury and South Wiltshire
Museum Council)

R. S. Barron, Esq., M.A., B.Sc.

D. J. Bonney, Esq., B.A., F.S.A.

N. J. Gordon Clark, Esq.

Miss W. M. Evans

Miss K. G. Forbes

P. J. Fowler, Esq., M.A., F.3.A.

E. G. H. Kempson, Esq., M.A.

R. Macdonald Smith, Esq., M.a.

Lieut.-Commander J. E. Manners, D.s.c.

R. B. Melland, Esq., M.a.

I. G. Moore, Esq., PH.D., F.1.C.E.

Mrs. J. M. Morrison

Miss S. F. Rooke

H. Ross, Esq., B.A.

N. P. Thompson, Esq., F.s.A.

G. L. Webber, Esq.

SECRETARY AND TREASURER:
Brigadier A. R. Forbes

JOINT SECRETARY:
H. H. Townsend, Esq., B.A.

CURATOR: ASSISTANT CURATOR:

F. K. Annable, Esq., B.A., F.S.A., F.M.A. A. M. Burchard, Esq., M.A.
HON. ARCHITECT: HON. SOLICITOR:

D. A. S. Webster, Esq., M.A., F.R.I.B.A. H. G. Awdry, Esq., B.A.

THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE

Volume 68

OTS

PART B: ARCHAEOLOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY HEADLEY BROTHERS LTD
109 KINGSWAY LONDON WC2B 6PX AND ASHFORD KENT

THE
WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE

VOLUME 68 1973

PART B: ARCHAEOLOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY

CONTENTS
PAGE

Tue ROLE oF THE County Counciw’s Lisrary AND Museum SERVICE IN FIELD

ARCHAEOLOGY, by W. J. Ford, County Field Archaeology Officer 39
EXCAVATION OF THE STONEHENGE AVENUE AT WEST AMESBURY, WILTSHIRE, by George

Smith = - - - - - - - - - - - - - 42
EXCAVATION OF THREE Post-HoLEes IN STONEHENGE CAR Park, by Lance and

Faith Vatcher - - - - - - - - - - - - 57
Some Romano-British MATERIAL SALVAGED FROM WANBOROUGH, WILTSHIRE,

by Bryn Walters, Bernard Phillips and Kevin T. Greene - - - - 64.
EXCAVATION AT THE SAXON CHURCH, ALTON Barnes, by N. P. Thompson and

H. Ross - - - - - - - - - - - - - 71
A Pretiminary Account oF A MEpIEVAL PotTrery INpustry aT Minety, NortH

WILTSHIRE, by John Musty - - - - - ” - - - 79
THE PARLIAMENTARY ENCLOSURE OF ALDBOURNE, by J. R. Ellis - - - - 89
Davin HERBERT LLEWELLYN, 1837-1864, by Mark Baker - - - - - 109
NorEs:

Some Beaker Habitation Sites in North Wiltshire; A Waisted Flint Axe from

Corsley; A Middle Bronze Age Palstave from Pewsey; Environmental

Evidence from the Red Shore Bell Barrow, Alton; Ble Location of Brige;

Bradley: ‘The House Nobody Liked - - - - - =) LT
WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REGISTER FOR 1972 - - - - - - = 1026
REPORTS AND ACCESSIONS - - - - - - - - - - - 140
REVIEWS - - - - - - - - - - - - - = 152
OBITUARY - - - - - - - - - - - - - 155
INDEX TO VOLUME 68 - - - - - - - - - - - - 157

PLATES - - - - - - - - - - - - at end of volume

THE ROLE OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL’S
LIBRARY AND MUSEUM SERVICE
IN FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY

by W. J. FORD, County Field Archaeology Officer

The County Council’s main concern in archaeology is to maintain and
supplement local effort toward the discovery of hitherto unrecorded sites, and also
to support the Department of the Environment in the preservation of the archaeo-
logical and historic monuments of Wiltshire. Excavation is only embarked upon as
a final resort, when all other channels have failed. These responsibilities are under-
taken by the Archaeology and Museum Section of the County Library and Museum
Service, and close links have been developed with County Planning, County
Surveyors and other County Council departments. In practice this means carrying
out the following work programme:

Providing the historical background to the development of the Wiltshire landscape
for the County Structure Plan.

Advising the County Planning Officer of archaeological and historical constraints
on new development and re-development, and providing advice and assessments for
proposed new Conservation Areas, Countryside Parks and Picnic Areas.

Apprising the County Surveyor of all archaeological implications in County road
work schemes and providing suitable advice where necessary.

Advising the County Architect of archaeological implications in County Council
building projects.

Advising the County Land Agent on archaeological and historical monuments on
land owned by the County Council.

To enable these responsibilities to be discharged successfully, it has been
necessary to begin a complete urban and rural survey of the County, so that a
comprehensive gazetteer and set of location maps of buildings, sites and finds can
be maintained. At the same time this programme is supported by extensive docu-
mentary research and topographical analysis. To assist the County Field Archaeology
Officer in these matters, and to make available to him a broad consensus of informed
opinion, prominent local archaeologists, museum curators, local historians and
industrial archaeologists have been invited to serve on an advisory panel, which
will be able to make appropriate recommendations; the views of the Department of
the Environment are also sought. Wiltshire’s annual excavation programme will
mainly evolve from these operations.

There are a number of methods open to local authorities which enable them
to protect archaeological sites, and under the Ancient Monuments Acts they have
concurrent powers with the Department of the Environment to purchase, accept as
a gift, or accept guardianship of an ancient monument. The County Council’s

39

policy, however, is at all times to seek amicable arrangements with landowners
and tenants, and to this end the Archaeology and Museum Section is undertaking
surveys of sites on specific estates in full co-operation with the owners. Under the
Town and Country Planning Act of 1971 it is also possible to come to an agreement
with a landowner which could restrict the use of land or regulate its development
outside the scope of normal planning, either in perpetuity or for a fixed term, and
some discussions along these lines have already taken place. The Civic Amenities
Act 1967 gives the local authority power to designate an area of special architectural
or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve
or enhance, as a ‘Conservation Area’. It is in this sphere that most progress has so
far been achieved and the following archaeological sites have been included in such
areas:

AVEBURY. The prehistoric complex, including the henge and stone circles (SU 173700).
Site of Priory (SU 09907001). Earthworks N. of Trusloe Manor House (SU 09657000).

BERWICK ST. JOHN. Sites of Easton Farm (ST 94752220) and Upton Farm (ST 94302192),
probable medieval settlement remains.

BIDDESTONE. Site of St. Peter’s Church (ST 86747334).
CHITTERNE. Sites of St. Mary’s Church (ST 98964390) and All Saints Church (ST

99154431).
CORSHAM. Probable extent of the medieval town (ST 872704). Corsham Court and
the western section of Corsham Park, including the north avenue (ST 87397067).

DEVIZES. Site of Devizes Castle and probable extent of the medieval town (SU
00246126).

Downton. Motte and bailey (SU 18102132). The old settlement (area centred
SU 18122148). The borough (area centred SU 17402140).

DURNFORD. Probable medieval or post-medieval settlement remains in the vicinity
of the manor house (SU 13803852).

HIGHWORTH. Probable extent of the medieval borough (area centred SU 20159245).
HINDON. Probable extent of the medieval borough (area centred ST 91053285).

Lacock. Probable extent of the medieval borough (area centred ST 91526850).
Monastic site (ST 91926843).

MAIDEN BRADLEY. Bowl barrow, G.1 (ST 80093868). Bowl barrow, G2. (ST 80203808).

MALMESBURY. Extent of the medieval borough (area centred ST 93328720). The
secondary plantation of Westport (area centred ST 93008750). Castle site (ST 93308739).
Abbey (ST 93248725).

MARLBOROUGH. Site of motte and bailey (SU 18376869). Site of St. Nicholas’s Chapel
(SU 18416860). Site of the White Friars Priory (SU 18756897). Site of St. John’s Hospital
(SU 19046909). Probable extent of the medieval town (area centred SU 18726900).

MERE. Medieval borough (area centred ST 81263233). Motte and bailey (ST 80953256).
Bowl barrows, G.1a and G.2 (ST 80833251).

RAMSBURY. Probable extent of the medieval borough (area centred SU 27577160).

SALISBURY. Medieval planned borough (area centred SU 14702996). City ramparts
(SU 14763042). Cathedral complex (area centred SU 143295). Water meadows W. of the
Avon (area centred SU 138295).

SHERRINGTON. Motte and bailey (ST 96003928).
40

SHERSTON. Area of medieval borough (ST 85258578).

STOURTON WITH GASPER. Site of castle (ST 78013428).

SUTTON VENY. Site of manor house (ST 90524155). Site of St. Leonard’s Church
(st 90864151). Round barrow, G.2 (ST 90704178).

WARMINSTER. Probable extent of the medieval borough (area centred ST 87404508).

WESTBURY. Probable extent of the medieval borough (ST 87305140).

WILTON. Saxon and medieval borough (area centred SU 09613118). Site of St.
Michael’s Church (SU 09533095). Site of St. Andrew’s Church (SU 09553120).

WOODFORD. Site of the bishop’s palace (SU 12623532).

41

EXCAVATION OF THE STONEHENGE AVENUE
AT WEST AMESBURY, WILTSHIRE

by GEORGE SMITH

SUMMARY

The excavation was carried out during the summer of 1973 for the Department of the
Environment in advance of building development. The area to be developed covered the presumed
path of the Stonehenge Avenue. One ditch of the Avenue was uncovered and a 35 metre length
of it excavated. No culturally diagnostic objects were found related to the construction of the
Avenue although some antler from the ditch may produce a radiocarbon date.

A narrow test trench nearby failed to find the other (western) ditch of the Avenue on tts
expected line but did uncover a small pit, in the fill of which was part of a New Forest ware
mortarium.

Two other pits on the site produced undistinctive, coarse hand-made pottery of probable
Tron Age date. There was also considerable more recent disturbance on the site, comprising a
number of fence post-holes, rubbish holes and the remains of two 19th to 20th century structures.

INTRODUCTION

THE sITE (SU 14184153) lies to the north of West Amesbury House and to the
south of the Stonehenge Road, about one mile west of Amesbury, and consists of a
small enclosure some 170 metres from the River Avon at the foot of a slope on the
edge of a dry valley (Fic. 1).

Although the Ordnance Survey geological map indicates that the bedrock
of the site is river gravel, in fact most of it is Coombe Rock with two smaller areas,
one of Greensand and gravel, the other of loessic soil.

On the Ordnance Survey maps the course of the Stonehenge Avenue is indicated
by a broken line. This course was plotted from oblique aerial photographs. If the
course was projected from its plots to the north of West Amesbury, the western
ditch of the Avenue would cross the site to be developed. The Inspectorate of
Ancient Monuments therefore organized a rescue excavation. This was justified
since, despite earlier excavations, no date for the Avenue has been produced.
Furthermore, the eventual terminal of the Avenue is of interest since it might produce
further structures or elaborations related to Stonehenge. Also, a trial trench in the
vicinity of the site by Professor R. J. C. Atkinson and Professor S. Piggott in 1956
failed to produce evidence of a continuation of the Avenue towards the Avon.

The excavation was carried out for the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments of the
Department of the Environment and directed by the author. The work was supervised
by Mr. R. A. H. Williams and photography undertaken by Mrs. K. Stanley. Thanks
must also go to Mr. and Mrs. D. Young and to Miss M. Rosner for their perseverance in
an excavation which produced few finds. A specialist soils report was prepared by Dr. S.

42

WEST AMESBURY, WILTSHIRE. Location maps

Chippenham

Avebury
e @ Marlborough

100 Miles

Melksham

@
Devizes

Marden

f
Andover
Durrington

Salisbury

Fe
500 Metres

500 Yards #¥

Excavations

AS
FI —

cM Stonehenge

1 1973
,/ Excavations

Fic. 1

Stonehenge Avenue; location maps.

43

Limbrey of the Ancient Monuments Laboratory of the Department of the Environment.
Mr. T. Wilkinson was also of assistance in interpreting the complex site-geology. Much
helpful advice was provided by Dr. G. J. Wainwright, both in the course of the excavation
and in the writing of this report.

The area to be excavated had been used within living memory as a farmyard and
in more recent times for kitchen gardening. As the topsoil was disturbed, it was removed
using a Drott B150. This did the job efficiently and the time taken was approximately
40 machine work-hours. The area stripped was approximately 1,000 square metres
(1,160 square yards).

On removing the topsoil, plough-marks were found in the natural subsoil indicating
that this enclosure was part of a field prior to the establishment of the present boundaries.
The area stripped sloped gently down from the north, levelling out at the south end of the
site. This level area turned out to be artificial, consisting of a marl floor. This floor buried
some 10 to 20 cms. of the old plough-soil which was underlain by the natural subsoil
which continued to slope gently down-hill towards the river (Fic. 2).

After excavation and recording, the fill excavated from the features was pushed back
by machine and then the topsoil spread back over the area.

The finds will be deposited in Salisbury Museum.

PREVIOUS EXCAVATIONS OF THE AVENUE

William Stukeley saw the eastern branch of the Avenue, presumably not
ploughed away in his time. He believed that after its first easterly run after leaving
Stonehenge it carried on straight to the River Avon at Ratfyn (Stukeley 1740, 35-40).
In the roth century there were still surface traces of the Avenue ditches. They were
marked on the original one-inch Ordnance Survey map of 1808 and Richard
Colt Hoare marked them on a plan in Ancient Wiltshire (Hoare 1812, 120).

The earliest excavation of the Avenue was by Lt.-Col. W. Hawley in 1922 and
1923 as part of his excavations of the Stonehenge entrance (Hawley, 1924 and 1925)
The distance between the ditches was 21 m. (68 ft.) while the ditches varied in
depth from 0.46 m. (18 ins.) to 1.15 m. (3 ft. 9 ins.).

The bulk of the evidence for the course of the Avenue has come from aerial
photographs. Its great length was first realized by O. G. S. Crawford when he
studied aerial photographs taken by the RAF in 1921 (Crawford, 1924). Crawford
and A. D. Passmore then dug three trenches across the Avenue in 1923 and confirmed
the evidence of the crop-marks in the photographs. From these excavations and
photographs the Avenue was shown to turn south-eastwards in the vicinity of the
King Barrows and to continue towards the River Avon. Crawford remarked ‘there
are no certain traces of the Avenue south of the Amesbury-Stonehenge road; but
in a grass field between it and West Amesbury Manor there are two banks. One of
them is clearly an old field boundary; the other (a few feet east of it) is quite different
and much wider and flatter. It is in exact alignment with the eastern side of the
Avenue and may be the bank of it. There can in any case be no doubt that the
Avenue was continued across the road down to the river at West Amesbury’. One
of Crawford’s trenches was somewhere not far north of the Amesbury-Stonehenge
road. Here the ditches were 35 m. (1193 ft.) apart.

In 1927 R. C. C. Clay did a trial excavation of the Avenue, probably immediately
north of the Stonehenge-Amesbury road although no plans were published (Clay,
1927).

Hae

WEST AMESBURY, WILTSHIRE. Area plan

GO, BUILDINGS & WALLS

De AVENUE DITCH

—— * —~ Site contours (0:20m interval)

tee ce eens Extrapolated contours

PIT 102 o12345 10 Metres
See eee

|

—S—e
= ae

—
a

ENUE

>
<
w
=
i
we
°
x
oO
=
a
b
wn
Ww
=
cs
°
WwW
=
a
a
we
2
a
>
n

Building Floor.
Not excavated
to natural

Fic. 2.
Stonehenge Avenue: area plan, 1973 excavation.

45

Other excavations, by R. J. GC. Atkinson in 1953, by R. J. C. Atkinson and
S. Piggott in 1956, and by Mr. and Mrs. L. Vatcher in 1967, are awaiting publication.
Atkinson’s 1953 excavation confirmed the first easterly turn of the Avenue after
leaving Stonehenge and disproved Stukeley’s theory that the Avenue at that point
bifurcated, with one arm running off north towards the Cursus (Atkinson, 1956,
56-7). Atkinson’s and Piggott’s 1956 excavation, somewhere not far north of West
Amesbury House, failed to find the continuation of the Avenue ditches (Atkinson,
personal communication). The Vatchers’ 1967 excavation was rescue work in advance
of construction of the Amesbury by-pass. No pottery was found but a date was
obtained by radiocarbon from antler. The date was much more recent than
expected and so was rejected as due to contamination (Mrs. L. Vatcher, personal
communication).

RESULTS OF THE 1973 EXCAVATION

A ditch of varying width was recorded running approximately north to south
across the site. The width varied from 0.36 m. to 1.80 m. and the depth from
0.15 m. to 1.06 m. The line of this ditch was within one metre of the line of the
east ditch of the Avenue as projected from the 25-inch O.S. map. (Note. The line of
the Avenue on this map, south of the Amesbury-Stonehenge Road, is wrongly
printed, producing an error of approximately 4.00 m. from the true projection.)

The Avenue ditch was sectioned at 3 m. intervals and alternate segments removed,
the sections recorded and then the remaining segments removed (Fic. 3). As finds were
negligible, water-sieving was tried in order to get a charcoal sample. ‘This was abandoned
when it produced only small quantities of minute charcoal fragments which could have
been incorporated by worm action.

The ditch was found to run through four separate areas of subsoil. At the north end
there was Coombe Rock, then an area of partially cemented Greensand and gravel, then
another area of Coombe Rock and finally an area of clay at the south end of the site
(later identified as loess by Dr. $. Limbrey). In the loess area the ditch was difficult to
find, partly as a result of a tree on its line which obscured the surface by root disturbance.
After invaluable observations by Professor R. J. C. Atkinson a geological cutting was
made through the loess, revealing the profile of the ditch in section.

The width and depth of the ditch varied according to the type of subsoil (Fics. 4

WEST AMESBURY, WILTSHIRE.
AVENUE DITCH toneiusivat pRorILe AND ITS RELATION TO SUBSOIL

(0)

ORME E2 = S45 10 metres
Ss |

1 Vertical scale doubled.

Coombe rock Greensand and gravel | Coombe rock
Fic. 4
Stonehenge Avenue: 1973 excavation.

46

\
@)106 \s5t eee

7
——-- Section Lines. Z Walls and Buildings

Ol} Pit [9] Post-Hole with Pipe

10 Metres

WEST AMESBURY, WILTSHIRE. SITE PLAN.

Fic. 3
Stonehenge Avenue: site plan, 1973 excavation. [face page 46

WEST AMESBURY, WILTSHIRE. Stonehenge Avenue, ditch sections
(@] flint [S]chalk&3 Clay we | 3 fe WEST

0 01 02 03 04 05 4 METRE

WEST

740302 -
te ‘

Fic. 5
Stonehenge Avenue: 1973 excavation.

47

and 5). In the hard cemented Coombe Rock it was shallow and narrow. In the Greensand
and gravel (pL. Ib) it was wider and much deeper. In the loess (pL. Ia) it was deep and
very wide, perhaps because of a larger weathering cone.

The finds from the ditch included one large oval flint scraper and one antler tine
from the upper layer. Near to the bottom of the ditch in its deeper central part were found
part of an antler and higher up a number of waste flint flakes. In the southern part (which
was not entirely excavated (see Fics. 3 and 4), further waste flakes and one fragment of
thin buff coloured pottery were found.

STRATIFICATION

The sections were lettered from A to M from north to south. ‘The Avenue ditch was
given the feature number 55. The segment south of each section was given the letter of
that section (FIGS. 3 and 5).

554A and B

Layer (3). Mid-brown clayey earth with numerous broken flints plus a few chalk
granules.

Layer (4). Mid-brown clayey earth, with only scattered chalk granules.

55C' and D

Layers (3) and (4). As 55A and B, (3) and (4).

Layer (5). Very compact light brown chalky clay with numerous small chalk lumps,
chalk granules and a few small angular flints. Within this layer and on the base of the
ditch were two bands of darker brown clayey earth with patches of chalky clay, representing
the incorporation of humus in the fill. Within 55D (5) was found part of an antler.

55E

Layer (3). As 55A (3).
Layer (4). Light brown, friable earth including patches of disaggregated Coombe
Rock on the western (or inner) side of the ditch.

5oe

Layer (3). Mid-brown clayey earth with very numerous flints. This layer took up
the major depth of the ditch at this point.

Layer (4). Chalk granules and chalk fragments in chalky earth. Probably a primary
silt and originating mainly from the western (or inner) side of the ditch.

55G

Layer (3). As 55F (3). .
Layer (4). Green-brown sandy earth with scattered flint nodules and chalk fragments.
Layer (5). Greensand with some flints and small chalk lumps.

55H, F and K
Layer (3). As 55A (3). In 55H (3) was found part of an antler tine.

55L and M

Layer (3). Dark brown clayey earth becoming more friable and including more small
angular flints. towards the base.
Layer (4). Dark grey sticky clay with numerous small angular flints.

48

DESCRIPTION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE AVENUE DITCH

For the most part the ditch had somewhat sloping sides and a rounded bottom.
Where it crossed the loess it was V-shaped with a narrow rounded bottom. The
upper part of this V-shape in the loess would be due to frost-weathering of the
ditch sides. The lower part was cut into the underlying Coombe Rock and this
would have been the original shape of the ditch, preserved by its silting. The grey
colour of layer (4) in 55L and M suggests reduction of the iron particles as a result
of water-logging.

There was at no point any evidence of re-cutting of the ditch.

Due to the narrowness of the ditch there appears never to have been a stable
point in the silting and therefore no development of a humic horizon in the fill.
The upper layer (3) was in general somewhat more humic than the lower fill but
without a true soil horizon.

In the deepest part of the ditch, in segments 55E, F and G, it appears that the
ditch was deliberately backfilled. In these segments, in layer (3), there was a large
amount of large flint nodules and smailer flints, more than could be expected to
have silted in naturally (Fic. 5). This backfilling would probably be to level the
ground for agriculture. This phase can hardly be later than the Iron Age since
106 waste flint flakes were found in 55E (3). It is unlikely that such a large number
of flakes could have been incorporated in the fill by chance, especially as waste
flakes are few in number in the rest of the ditch fill. The flakes must therefore have
been struck off at the time when the upper part of the ditch was filled.

As noted above, the ditch varied in width and depth according to the type of
subsoil. Thus, in the Greensand it is at its deepest. This material, although partly
cemented, will easily disintegrate when excavated ina way that the strongly cemented
Coombe Rock and the clayey loess will not. This feature of the ditch suggests that
it was dug as a quarry for a bank rather than as an object in itself. Such directional
silting as there was, in 55E and F, suggests that the bank was on the western {or
inner) side of the ditch, as at the Avenue’s approach to Stonehenge.

THE FINDS FROM THE AVENUE DITCH
FLINT

A number of waste flakes were found through most of the ditch fill but mainly in the
upper layer (3). Most were small chipping flakes of 2-4 cms. in length. A few were larger
core-shaping flakes averaging 6 cms. in length. The flakes were distributed as follows:

Segment: AY Ge D>, E fr 2G isle | Ks GL. M
Layer (3): 3 ) 7 BPO, On TO1. O. 4 2 3 2
Layer (4): 3 oO 9 a) 7 fo) oO - — - On or
Layer (5): - — ) fo) = = ) - = = = S

In 55C (3) there was one large scraper (Fic. 6), made on a thick oval flake. Some
cortex remained on the non-bulbar surface. The edge was carefully retouched although
broken in two places more recently as shown by the lack of patina in these places. The
bulbar surface was little patinated while the upper surface was strongly patinated, the
mid-grey flint being silver-grey to white on this surface. The difference in patination
between upper and lower surfaces suggests that the scraper lay exposed and undisturbed

49

Flint scraper from upper fill of the Stonehenge Avenue ditch.

on the surface of the soil for a considerable length of time before it became incorporated
in the ditch fill. This and the position of the scraper in the fill, only 10 cms. below the
level of the top of the natural, suggests that the manufacture of it was earlier than its
incorporation in the ditch fill. The majority of the waste flakes in 55C, D and E (3) were
only slightly patinated or fresh so it is unlikely that the scraper attained its patination while

lying in the ditch.
Burnt flints were found, as follows:
Segment: A Cc J M
Layer (3): 2 7 I fe)
Layer (4): fo) 2 - I
POTTERY

In 55M (4), one fragment of a thin ware of sandy red/buff fabric with very small
calcined flint grits.

BONE

55A (3). 1 unidentifiable fragment.

55D (3). 3 unidentifiable fragments.

55E (3). 1 cattle molar; 6 unidentifiable fragments.
55G (3). Half of the jawbone of a small bovine.

ANTLER

55C (5). 1 piece, having two tines.
55H (3). 1 tine only.

THE LATER REMAINS

I. In the main trench two pits (11 and 48) were uncovered (Fics. 3 and 7) which
contained sherds of a coarse hand-made ware. Pit 11 was oval in plan, 1.20 m. by
0.75 m. and flat bottomed, 0.12 m. deep. The fill was light grey-brown earth with
scattered chalk granules and small flints. Pit 48 was approximately circular in plan,
1.20 m. in diameter and 0.77 m. deep with sloping sides, and flat bottom. The fill
was grey-brown earth, greener in layer (4) and with less flint and chalk than in (3).

50

THE FINDS

Pottery. (a). Four sherds of a thick coarse hand-made ware with a dark grey-black
fabric (11 (3) 1 sherd, 48 (3) 3 sherds), slightly oxidized red on the inner surface. They
have a thin black slip which is slightly burnished. The fabric has a coarse calcined flint and
shell filler. (b). Five sherds of a thinner ware with a dark grey-black fabric (48 (3) 4 sherds,
48 (4) 1 sherd). One sherd slightly oxidized red on the outer surface. The fabric has a
small amount of fine calcined flint and shell filler but is light and vesicular, indicating an
organic temper. Lightly burnished.

Flints. Pit 11, 2 waste flakes; Pit 48, 20 waste flakes.

Bones. Teeth and bone fragments. Species identifiable are cattle, sheep/goat, pig and
fowl.

The pottery consisted only of unidentifiable body sherds but the fabric is probably
Iron Age. The bones suggest that these were domestic rubbish pits.

II. Pit 102 was uncovered in excavating a trial trench on the supposed line of
the western ditch of the Avenue (Fic. 2). Only one quadrant of the pit was excavated.
Its depth was 0.35 m. below the top of the natural which here was Coombe Rock
with some clay- or loess-filled hollows. ‘The pit had vertical sides and a flat bottom.
Projected from the quadrant excavated it would be circular in plan with a diameter
of 1.05 m. The fill was medium brown earth in layer (3) and dark grey-black earth

in layer (4) (FIG. 7).
WEST AMESBURY, WILTSHIRE. Pit Sections.

Oo O1 02 O03 0-4 O05 1 METRE

11 WEST

TURF LINE

102

Fic..7
Sections of Iron Age pits (11, 48) and Romano-British pit (102).

51

THE FINDS

Pottery. Layer (3). One rim-sherd of a mortarium. Cream-grey fabric with a few
large flint grits. A thin cream slip or wash on the outer surface (ric. 8). Layer (4). Two
fragments of a thick, coarse pink ware, possibly from a mortarium although of a different
fabric to the sherd in layer (3). One body-sherd of a thin mid-grey ware with fine micaceous
inclusions. One body-sherd of a hand-made ware. Mid-grey fabric with many fine flint
grits. Thin and oxidized red on one side with slight burnishing.

Stone. Layer (4). One fragment of a fine hard pink sandstone.

Bone. Layer (3). Cattle—2 molars and scapula fragments. Sheep/goat—1 molar.
40 fragments unidentifiable but including probably sheep/goat and fowl.

The mortarium fragment is the only identifiable sherd. It is of Romano-British New
Forest ware similar to that found at Crock Hill and Island ‘Thorns (Sumner, 1927, 110-13).
The sherd of hand-made ware in (4) is probably of Iron Age date on grounds of the
fabric type. The bones in (3) and the humic nature of the fill in (4) suggest a domestic
rubbish pit and the sum of the evidence suggests some domestic occupation nearby in the
late 3rd or 4th century A.D.

III. Gully 99 was a narrow but regular feature of L-shape in plan, 10 m. in
length but continuing further to the south of the trench. It averaged 0.30 m. in
width and 0.10 m. in depth with somewhat sloping sides and a flat bottom.

Gully 99 contained only 2 base sherds of a thick heavy grey ware of a vesicular fabric
which could be part of a mortarium of Romano-British date. The feature could be a gully
or, considering its precise and sharp right-angle bend might be a beam-slot. Possibly
associated with 99 are two nearby post-holes, 104 and 105 (FIG. 3). These were closely
similar features and 104 contained one body sherd of a thin mid-grey ware. Other features
which produced a similar ware were pits 10, 75 and 102 as well as the old plough-soil under
the southern building (91, FIG. 3).

IV. To the east of the southern building (g1) and cut into Gully 99 were a
number of pits (85, 96, 101 and 103). These varied from 0.10 m. to 0.25 m. in
depth, and were flat-bottomed and square with rounded corners in plan. The fill
of these pits was free of finds and their shape and close regular spacing (FIG. 3)
suggests that they were the foundation holes for square stone blocks, later removed.
Such blocks, known as staddles, are still in use in the area, serving as foundations
for barns and granaries. The pits are most likely therefore post-medieval in date.

V. The Southern Building (91). This consisted of part of a floor of chalk marl
(91 (5), FIG. 5) set into which were a number of post-holes (7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19,

Fic. 8
Rim sherd of a mortarium from pit 102.

52

21, 22, 24, 39 and 44, FIG. 3). This floor overlay the pits interpreted above as granary
foundations. More of these pits probably lie under that part of the floor which was
not excavated (Fic. 2). Associated with this floor were a drain of large flint nodules
loosely laid in a narrow gully (6) and an outlying wall-base of cemented cob (3)
with associated post-holes (4, 5, 42 and 43). The complete plan of this structure was
not uncovered as part must lie to the south of the trench. Associated with the post-
holes of the southern building were sherds of transfer-printed china, cream glazed
ware, yellow-green glazed stoneware as well as a clay pipe-stem and well-preserved
iron gate furniture. The date is therefore 19th to goth century although the building
pre-dates living memory.

VI. The central building (89 and 99, Fic. 3). This consisted of part ofa floor (89)
of chalk lumps packed in chalk marl and on the north side a wall (90) of chalk blocks
with an outer facing of flint nodules, all set in light brown cement. Associated with
this building were two post-holes, 77 and 78. Part of the floor (to the south) and
other enclosing walls had been removed by ploughing or gardening. The only find
related to the structure was a large iron wall-nail with little corrosion.

VII. Recent remains. A list of these is included as a record (FIG. 3): 26, 27,
33, 34; 35, 37, 40, 41, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 62, 71, 73, 80, 97.

VIII. Features with no finds or undatable: 8, 9, 13, 20, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34,
35, 36, 51, 52, 64, 67, 76, 82, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 92, 93.

DISCUSSION

The dating of the Stonehenge Avenue at present rests entirely on a tenuous
connection with the dating of the main ditch of Stonehenge itself (Atkinson, 1956,
66-7). Part of the main ditch of Stonehenge overlaps the line of the south-eastern
ditch of the Avenue as it approaches the entrance to Stonehenge. The Avenue
ditch stops short of the main ditch but the latter at this point appears to have been
backfilled with clean chalk rubble in order to make its causeway line up with the
Avenue. This backfilling is therefore correlated with the construction of the Avenue
and it predates a level in the main ditch in which were found two sarsen mauls.
Other similar mauls were found packing the sarsen stone-holes of period IIIa
(c. 1550 to 1450 B.C.), i.e. the five sarsen trilithons and the outer circle of thirty
sarsen stones. The Avenue is therefore ascribed to period IT, i.e. the double bluestone
circle in the Q and R holes. This period is dated from 1750 to 1550 B.c. by fragments
of Late Neolithic beaker pottery in the main ditch at this level.

The finds from the present excavation cannot help to confirm this date although
they do not contradict it. The fragment of pottery in the Avenue ditch (55M (4))
could be of beaker fabric. The oval flint scraper in 55C (3) is of a type found at
nearby Late Neolithic Woodhenge (Annable and Simpson, 1964, 37) and Durrington
Walls (Wainwright and Longworth, 1971, 165-6). However, similar but generally
thicker scrapers have been found associated with Early Neolithic sites, e.g. Windmill

53

Hill (Piggott, 1954, 78) and Robin Hood’s Ball (Thomas, 1964, 21). The present
scraper was not well stratified in the Avenue ditch, as explained above, but the
antler which was in the primary silt in 55C (5) has been submitted for radiocarbon
dating.

The construction of the Avenue has been related to the Bluestone Circles.
Lt.-Col. Hawley noted that there were ‘mason’s chips’ only in the top layer of the
Avenue fill and not below, suggesting that the Avenue ‘preceded Stonehenge by a
fairly long interval’. However, Hawley in the same report published a section of the
Avenue which showed bluestone chips in the upper part of the ‘yellow chalk rubble’
of the primary silts (Hawley, 1925, 24). R. GC. C. Clay in the 1927 excavation noted
that there were no sarsen or bluestone chips in the Avenue fill and as the dressing of
the stones probably took place at Stonehenge itself, no chippings could be expected
in the area of West Amesbury. An analysis of small stones (1-5 cm.) from the
Avenue ditch fill produced the following result:

55D (4): Flint go, chalk 9, iron pyrites 1.
55G (5): Flint 100.

The only other henge monument with an extant avenue in Southern England
is Avebury, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, where the West Kennet Avenue is
defined by standing stones rather than banks and ditches. Burials with bell beakers
were associated with some of the stones. The width of the West Kennet Avenue is
comparable to the width between the two internal banks of the Stonehenge Avenue:
West Kennet Avenue, average width 14.5 m. (50 ft.), Stonehenge Avenue, average
width 18 m. (60 ft.). Like the Stonehenge Avenue, the West Kennet Avenue does not
follow a straight course yet seems to have been laid out in a number of straight
sections.

The Beckhampton Longstones are the surviving members of a structure
apparently related to the destroyed Beckhampton Avenue, which appears to have
run westwards from the Avebury henge across the Winterbourne (Smith, 1965,
216-7). A burial with a bell beaker had been placed at the foot of one of the Long-
stones. The Stanton Drew stone circles, south ofBristol, have the remains of two
stone avenues which may have joined together to run to the River Chew (Grinsell,
1956).

There seems to be a frequent association between Late Neolithic henge monu-
ments and rivers, whether by proximity or by connecting avenues. There can be
little doubt that the Stonehenge Avenue was of a ceremonial nature and as such
provided. a formal approach to Stonehenge itself. From the River Avon there are
two viable routes to Stonehenge, one from West Amesbury and one from Ratfyn;
both are of similar distances. Stukeley believed that the Avenue terminated at
Ratfyn; considering the unexpected turn of the Avenue down to West Amesbury,
it may have been originally constructed with the aim of a terminal at Ratfyn and
then changed in plan during construction. This suggests that if the river was used
for transport the route was up the river, as by landing at West Amesbury the
circuitous meander south of Amesbury was avoided.

54

APPENDIX I

REPORT ON THE SOILS

In the area of the excavation, the Avenue, as it descends to the River Avon, crosses
what appears to be a river terrace of Pleistocene age. The geological substratum is complex,
solid Chalk being nowhere exposed and the ditch of the Avenue being cut into deposits
on the terrace which have been mixed and convoluted by periglacial activity. The deposits
are of the following types: river sand, derived in part from the Greensand through which
the Avon passes in the Vale of Pewsey; flint gravel, similar to the gravel deposits which
are sometimes found in the bottoms of dry valleys in the Chalk, where they also show
periglacial structures; loess. These deposits are involved in involutions with disaggregated
chalk, which are revealed in plan over the stripped area of the site and in section in the
side of the Avenue ditch. In the upper part of the site the involutions involve gravel, sand
and chalk, the sand being conspicuous in a zone running across the site and apparently
originally underlying the gravel. In the lower part of the site loess is mixed with chalk in
involutions which involve no sand and no gravel other than the flint fragments derived
directly from the chalk. A festoon of chalky loessic material extends over sandy and gravelly
material, but otherwise the loess and the sand and gravel appear to be mutually exclusive,
and in the exposure available it was not possible to establish their stratigraphic relation-
ships. The sand may be the remains of the river deposits associated with formation of the
terrace; it is possible that the river at that time ran north and west of Gallows Hill, through
the present system of dry valleys, and the flint gravel would have been formed in these
dry valleys in glacial times.

The soil over the site has been disturbed by building activity and cultivation, and
stripping for excavation has removed the recent cultivation soil, truncating the profile
to the C horizon of the shallower soils where sand and gravel predominate and to within
the B horizon in the loessic area. The loessic involutions contain lenses and festoons of
material having different proportions of loess and chalk; decalcification and soil formation
have proceeded to greater depth where there was less chalk, so the boundary between
brown soil and calcareous material is sharp and strongly convoluted, going down in
deep tongues and hollows. The soil of the B horizon may be described as follows:

Brown to dark brown, 7.5YR 4/4 moist, 6/5 dry, with very dark brown linings to all
fine pores, silty clay loam, structure porous fine granular; fairly hard, friable, sticky,
plastic, non-swelling. Becoming slightly paler, to strong brown, 7.5YR 5/6 moist,
downwards.

The C horizon varies:

Yellowish brown to light brown, toYR—7.5YR 6/4 moist, 7/4 dry, highly calcareous
silty clay with small chalk particles, to white, chalk lumps with a small amount of
interstitial chalky loess.

The B horizon shows strong signs of clay mobility. The soil disperses very readily on
wetting, and all pores are lined with dark brown humic soil which has come down from
horizons above. In the limited exposure available it was not possible to tell whether this
would have been a feature of the undisturbed soil or is associated with the artificially
imposed humic horizon represented by the ditch fill. Calcium carbonate deposition also
occurs in pores, showing some re-calcification as a result of spread of chalky material
from the shallower soils in the sandy and gravelly area into the ditch and over the surface
of the loessic soil.

Where the Avenue ditch is cut into the loessic soil it is difficult to see since it coincides
with a deep profile of decalcified soil and the same soil slightly more humic and containing
flint gravel derived from elsewhere on the site comprises its fill, and flinty soil has been
spread by cultivation over the truncated profile of the loessic soil.

SUSAN LIMBREY
Ancient Monuments Laboratory

55

APPENDIX II

REPORT ON MOLLUSCA

SAMPLES

55C 55C 55C 55D 55G

SPECIES 3 4 5 4 5

Cecilrordes acicula (Miill.) 16 103 9 50 22
Pupilla muscorum (Linn.) —- 9 oa 2 ——
Vallonia excentrica Sterki 4 12 — 3 2
Helicella itala (Linn.) — 12 — 4 2
Hygromia hispida (Linn.) — 5 — 3 I
Retinella nitidula (Drap.) — — — ~~ I
Cochlicopa lubrica (Mull.) I 2 — — —

An apparently depauperate fauna, which may merely reflect the sampling and extraction

procedures.

In general, a dry grassland fauna. The abundance of C. acicula should be treated with
caution; this animal burrows in soil and has been found live at depths of up to 2.0 metres.
Little more can be said, owing to the paucity of the data.

Annable, F. K., and Simpson, D. D. A. 1964.
Guide Catalogue of the Neolithic and Bronze Age
Collections in Devizes Museum.

Atkinson, R. J. C. 1956. Stonehenge.

Clay, R. C. C. 1927. Stonehenge Avenue, Antiquity,
I, 342-4.

Crawford, O. G. S. 1924. The Stonehenge Avenue.
Antiq. F.,1V, 57-9-

Grinsell, L. V. 1956. Stanton Drew Stone Circles,
Somerset (Ancient Monuments Guide, Ministry
of Works).

Hawley, W. 1924. Fourth Report on the Excava-
tions at Stonehenge, Antiq. 7., iv, 30-9.

Hawley, W. 1925. Report on the Excavations at
Stonehenge during the season of 1923,

K. D. THomas
Institute of Archaeology, London

Antiq. F., Vv, 21-50.

Hoare, R. Colt. 1812. Ancient Wiltshire, 1.

Piggott, S. 1954. Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles.
Smith, I. F. 1965. Windmill Hill and Avebury:
Excavations by Alexander Keiller, 1925-1939.
Stukeley, W. 1740. Stonehenge, A Temple Restored to

the British Druids.

Sumner, H. 1927. Excavations in New Forest Roman
Pottery Sites.

Thomas, N. 1964. The Neolithic Causewayed
Camp at Robin Hood’s Ball, Shrewton,
W.A.M., 59, 1-27.

Wainwright, G. J., and Longworth, I. H. 1971.
Durrington Walls: Excavations 1966-1968 (Soc.
Antiq. London, Res. Rep. XXIX).

EXCAVATION OF THREE POST-HOLES
IN STONEHENGE CAR PARK

by LANCE and FAITH VATCHER

THE CAR PARK area at Stonehenge was extended early in 1966 by the then
Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, now Department of the Environment,
as part of the improvements for accommodating the increasing number of visitors
to the monument.

The extension, on the western side of the original car park, was first stripped of
topsoil by a mechanical excavator of the JCB type, and examined archaeologically
by the writers on behalf of the Ministry, with the assistance of members of the
industrial staff at Avebury and Old Sarum. This work took place between 7th Feb-
ruary and 18th March 1966. No excavations had been carried out on the area of the
extension at a previous date.

The site lies on the Upper Chalk of the Salisbury Plain, on a northward-
facing gentle slope, at a height of between 314 and 326 feet above sea level. The
National Grid reference is SU 121424.

The area excavated for the extension measured 103.02 m. (338 ft.), tapering
to 96.93 m. (318 ft.), by 35.05 m. (115 ft.), with the long side parallel to the A344
Amesbury-Devizes road.

During the cleaning down of the surface to the chalk, three circular holes
appeared at the western end, in a line running approximately E-W, with a fourth
disturbed patch in the chalk of more irregular shape at the western end of the line.
These were all on the 315 ft. contour. (See Fic. 1.)

From west to east the distances between the three holes, centre to centre, were:
from A to B, 9.75 m. (32 ft.), and from B to C, 12.29 m. (40 ft. 4 ins.). The distance
between A and the irregular disturbance to the west was 13.72 m. (45 ft.). The holes
lay to the north-west of Stonehenge itself: a survey of their exact position in relation
to the monument, together with a contour survey of the site, was carried out by the
Ministry of Public Buildings and Works surveyors (FIG. 2).

THE EXCAVATION

The holes were excavated in two halves, to obtain a vertical section. For accuracy,
all vertical measurements were taken from the surface of the chalk; an average of 30 cms.
may be added for topsoil.

Hole A (pt. II), the westernmost of the three, was found to measure 1.93 m. in width
at the chalk surface where it had weathered back slightly; 1.58 m. across the top of the
chalk packing, narrowing to an average width of 81 cms. at the base of the hole, which
was 1.34 m. below the chalk surface. A recess in the chalk in the south-east side of the
hole, at a depth of 50 cms. from the top, may have acted as a seat for a wedging timber
for the post. Nee

Filling the base of the hole was a thick layer of fairly fine chalk, similar to the chalk

57

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a

BUSTARD TRIG PILLAR

45°35 37"

POSTHOLES Sse

KNIGHTON DOWN TRIG PILLAR

B (CenTae)
r —

NATIONAL GRID BEARINGS

BUSTARD ~ KNIGHTON DOWN — 10S” 49% 21"
STONEHENGE ~ BUSTARD 331° 24 58°
STONEHENGE ~ POSTHOLE A 313° 15° 09”
STONEHENGE~ POSTHOLE B.- 316° 45° 48"
STONEHENGE ~ POSTHOLE C Bib 58’ 14°

18° 0F 49”
1 37 10”

STONEHENGE 4 26 44°

LOCATION OF POSTHOLES ce:

“SL” STONEHENGE

PHOSPHOR BROWZE PIN
CENTRE OF CrReLE

Fic. 2

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| |
4 |
; !

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packing around the sides. Overlying this layer was a thin band of grey powdery replace-
ment soil, of the type frequently resulting from the earlier presence of decayed wood. This
band extended across the hole, under the side packing for the post, and under the site of
the post itself (FIG. 3, section A).

The filling within the chalk packing was clearly defined by its content of dark soil
with flecks of chalk, which would seem to have replaced the post. However, at a depth
of 75 cms. a circular layer of almost black organic material of varying thickness, with
fragments of charcoal, may represent decayed material from the post itself, and showed
more clearly in plan than in section. At this point the post would have been 66 cms. in
diameter (2 ft. 2 ins.). The dark replacement soil with some chalk, and a very little charcoal,
filled the upper levels of the hole, to the top of the chalk packing; above this a layer of
brown flinty soil extended across the entire space.

It would appear that the base of the hole had been filled back with a quantity of
chalk, having perhaps been dug too deep in the first instance. The thin band of grey
powdery material covering this is difficult to account for, and poses such questions as
whether this was worm action between two interfaces; some organic material such as
brushwood placed in the hole prior to lowering the post into its seat; or the remains of an
anti-friction device.

The centre hole, B (px. III), was the smallest of the three, varying in width across
the top at chalk level from 1.27 m. to 1.47 m. The chalk packing lay immediately beneath
the topsoil without the intermediate brown flinty subsoil which had filled the top of
hole A. The average width across the base was 76 cms., which was 1.27 m. below the
chalk surface.

A recess in the chalk in the south-east side of this hole, similar to that in hole A, may
also have supported a wedging timber for positioning the post, and in the chalk packing
at the sides of the hole traces of such timbers were found. On the plan, just north of the
section line, an elongated patch of grey powdery wood-replacement material is shown
along the side of the hole, at a depth of 30 cms. below the surface. The section has cut
across clear traces of two such positioning timbers, one easily distinguishable either side,
in the same material, at a depth of 30 cms. and 50 cms.: these can be clearly seen to extend
from the side of the hole to the side of the post (Fic. 3, section B).

A 5 cms. thick scatter of brown soil covered the base of the hole, indicating that it
had not been used immediately it had been dug. The chalk packing at the lower levels
was less distinct from the post-replacement than in hole A, and it appeared there had been
a certain amount of collapse from the sides into the centre after the post had decayed. A
thin trace of black decayed soil matter with charcoal fragments lay at an angle 25 cms.
from the base in the replacement material, which itself was just possible to distinguish from
the post packing by its greater content of dark soil, lesser compaction, and charcoal flecks.
An extremely small piece of burnt bone was found in this filling.

In the upper half of the post-hole, the difference was clearly marked, and the post-
replacement showed up as a circle of dark soil with flecks of chalk, together with a minute
quantity of charcoal crumbs. Part 0 a ring of grey powdery wood traces was visible in
plan, marking the outer edge of the post, possibly the bark, which here had a diameter
of 66 cms. (2 ft. 2 ins.).

The eastern hole, C (pi. IV), varied between 1.52 m. and 1.77 m. across at the top.
At 1.11 m. from the top, the average diameter was 1.06 m., and at this point a chalk
shelf or step extended around the hole, before it was completed, with a flat and smaller
base 61 cms. in diameter, at 1.50 m. from the chalk surface. Within this smaller base
were five thin layers of accumulated material. First, a very thin layer of charcoal flecks
and soil, overlaid by a 5 cms. thick band of dirty chalk. On top of this, a mixture of soil
and chalk, then fine compacted waterbound chalk with a few larger lumps, both these
layers being about 5 cms. thick. Finally, a very thin layer of brown soil right across the
step, before the chalk packing at the sides of the larger upper hole.

In the chalk packing of hole C also, grey powdery traces of a wooden wedging timber

59

GRASS VERGE

STONEHENGE CAR PARK

POS I mOUES
B

Kor

? TREEHOLE GRASS VERGE

ececececececececececmcececee FEET

Gop te te oleae aa
= J _ RECESS ea i

CHARCOAL FRAGMENTS, &
BLACK DECAYED MATERIAL, FROM POSTS

DARK SOIL REPLACING POSTS,

GREY DECAYED WOOD TRACES VARIABLE CHALK CONTENT, SOME CHARCOAL
ig

eas CHALK PACKING

LAYERS oF SOIL —__\o'ss
& CHALK —_—

CHARCOAL FLECKS —¥

—t — oS ee 2

Fic. 3

Stonehenge Car Park: sections of post-holes.

60

were found between the side of the hole and the post, on the south side (Fic. 3, plan and
section C), at a depth of 1.01 m. Immediately above this, part of a narrow ring of black
organic matter defined the edge of the post-replacement material inside the surrounding
packing. On the north-west side this black mark was very definite, as can be seen on the
plan; it is possible that this was the remaining trace of the bark of the tree-trunk post. It
was just possible to trace the ring at this level for almost the entire circumference, although
the remainder was extremely faint, shown mainly by the difference between post-replace-
ment and packing, but there were small patches of dark material, charcoal flecks, and one
tiny fragment of burnt bone. The diameter of the post, by the traces which remained, was
between 61 cms. and 83 cms. (2 ft. and 2 ft. 9 ins.).

The lower part of the post-replacement in this hole contained a greater proportion
of moderately fine chalk, and the section indicated that there had been some collapse of
this, possibly having been heaped up around the post in the first instance after it had been
erected. On top of this, several large flints lay in the centre; with the normal dark soil
containing chalk and a very few small charcoal fragments, similar to that found in the
other holes, filling the remaining space at the top up to modern plough and subsoil.

The irregular-shaped hole in the chalk to the west of the three post-holes measured
2.44 m. by 2.66 m. at its greatest dimensions, with a maximum depth of 71 cms. The
sides were sloping and uneven, with a rough shelf on the north-east side; the filling was
broken weathered chalk, somewhat yellow in colour, with a rough strip of earth about
30 cms. wide along the eastern side. It is possible that work was begun here to dig a hole
for a post and discontinued well before completion; certainly it would appear that trees
or bushes grew here, and this may have been the initial cause of the hollow rather than a
resulting factor. The shape at the time of the 1966 excavation was very dissimilar to the
other post-holes.

Before the holes were refilled with gravel, aluminium tubes were set to mark the
estimated centres of the posts: these formed the datum positions for the concrete markers
which were laid in the tarmac.

DISCUSSION

It is the proximity of the three holes to Stonehenge which gives them their
potential importance. By themselves, it is difficult to give them a purpose; to be
part of a structure, other posts would have been necessary in the vicinity, and although
a certain amount of weathering and erosion has taken place in this immediate area,
some traces would have remained, even of posts of smaller dimensions. By themselves,
the span between them is too great to support horizontal members: equally they
would seem too massive to be the centre-posts of tent-like structures.

It is unfortunate that no dating evidence was obtainable from the three holes
in the form of pottery. Certainly the holes themselves would appear to be Neolithic
in character, very similar to others excavated of this period, and they were apparently
dug out with antler picks. Comparable traces of posts have also been found in a
Neolithic context. Black organic stain outlines to posts of this period are a familiar
feature, an example in the vicinity being in a post-hole recently excavated in a
trench west of King Barrow Wood, where the post was 52 cms. in diameter set in a
hole 81 cms. in diameter, and the edge was marked by a narrow black stain for
part of its circumference: datable this time by a sherd of Late Neolithic pottery in
the packing. Such stains may be due to bark having been partially burnt, rather
than just decayed, possibly in connection with felling; not a sufficient amount of
burning to produce an outline of charcoal such as was found at Nutbane' long

61

barrow in one of the large post-holes: burning would be supported by the charcoal
fragments found at the same level in other places around the post outline in hole C.
Wooden wedging timbers are also a feature often found in post-holes and post
bedding-trenches on Neolithic sites: traces of rather larger horizontal positioning
wedges have been found at Normanton long mortuary enclosure,? and Kingston
Deverill long barrow, to name only two examples.

While it must not be forgotten that the post-holes have not been dated, the
theories put forward by Mr. C. A. Newham of an astronomical nature connecting
the holes with Stonehenge are extremely interesting. These he has published in his
booklet, The Astronomical Significance of Stonehenge, 1972. In this paper, the holes are
identified by the nomenclature used by the surveying team, 1, Centre, and 2;
now A, B, and G, in that order. To quote, ‘it appeared that all three holes were in
line with important setting phenomena of sun and moon when observed from the
Four Stations and Heelstone positions’ . . . ‘had the holes contained the posts to
align on the distant horizon, their height above ground level must have been in the
region of 30 feet’ (9.14 m.).

It is possible that these post-holes contained important astronomical markers
for use at Stonehenge in its early stages.

* Proc. Prehist. Soc., XXV (1959), 25-
? Proc. Prehist. Soc., xxv (1961), 164.

APPENDIX

IDENTIFICATION OF CHARCOAL FROM POST-HOLES IN STONEHENGE CAR PARK
It is surprising, in view of the chalkland environment, that most of the charcoal
should be pine. Pine has, however, been found at other sites where it would not be expected,
notably Woodhenge (identification by Woodhead in M. E. Cunnington, Woodhenge (1929),
74). The other charcoal cannot be identified more closely than ‘Crataegus type’, which
could include hawthorn, apple or whitebeam; the few, very small fragments, all appear to
be the same.

Three samples from Hole A

1. Depth 0.76 m. (2 ft. 6 ins.) in post ‘circle’.

2. Depth 0.35 m. (1 ft. 2 ins.) in central position of post.
3. Near base of post-replacement, with powdery grey chalk.
All pine.

Four samples from Hole B

4. Depth 0.91 m. (3 ft.) to base, in lower part of post.

5. Depth 0.76 m. to 0.91 m. (2 ft. 6 ins. to 3 ft.), lower part of post.
6. Lower part of replacement, immediately above no. 5.

7. Depth 0.76 m. (2 ft. 6 ins.); dark powdery material from post.
All pine.

62

Five samples from Hole C
8. Base layers, centre, 1.32 m. to 1.57 m. (4 ft. 4 ins. to 5 ft. 2 ins.).
g. Depth 1.19 m. (3 ft. 11 ins.), in post replacement.
10. Depth 0.91 m. (3 ft.); on edge of post, next to packing.
11. As above.
12. Depth 0.56 m. (1 ft. 10 ins.); edge of post and packing.
Nos. 8 and 10 included Rosaceae ‘Crataegus type’ in addition to pine.

SUSAN LIMBREY
Ancient Monuments Laboratory

63

SOME ROMANO-BRITISH MATERIAL
SALVAGED FROM WANBOROUGH, WILTSHIRE

by BRYN WALTERS, BERNARD PHILLIPS and KEVIN T. GREENE

THE SITE

THE EXISTENCE Of a Romano-British settlement at Wanborough, on the line of
the Ermin Street east of Swindon, has been recognized for several centuries. Aubrey
(Aubrey and Jackson, 1862, 194) recorded evidence of occupation and so did Colt
Hoare (1821, Roman Aera, 94-5 and plan) who thought it was the NIDVM of
the Antonine Itinerary. The identification of the site with DVROCORNOVIVM
was first suggested by Passmore (1948), although his arguments are now known to
have been based on inaccurate mileage assumptions; however, in his recent re-
assessment of the British section of the Antonine Itinerary, Rivet (1970, 58) con-
vincingly reached the same conclusion. Over many years Passmore amassed a
considerable quantity of material from the site (Passmore, 1921), but unfortunately
on his death only a fraction of this reached the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Indeed,
despite the obvious potential importance of the site, no systematic digging was
carried out until the expansion of Swindon and the realignment of roads in the area
necessitated rescue-excavation in 1966 and 1967 by E. Greenfield (W.A.M., 62
(1967), 125-6, and 63 (1968), 1og-10), and in 1969 and 1970, by J. S. Wacher
(W.A.M., 65 (1970), 204-5, and 66 (1971), 188-9). However, aside from these
seasons of planned excavations, during all construction work the site has generally
been under constant observation by two of the authors (B.W. and B.P.) and other
members of the Swindon Archaeological Society’s Rescue team (Archaeological
Review, 1968, 22; 1970, 30; 1971, 35). The material recovered, much of it salvaged
from the jaws of heavy earthmoving equipment, is largely unstratified. It falls into
two categories: (1) first century material rescued over the past few years in the
south-west part of the town (west of the old A419 road), mostly in the area of the
Dorcan Stream, in Nine Acre field, and on the Lyncroft estate, and (2) the contents
of an elongated depression or pit (‘Pit A’—perhaps part of a ditch) to the west of
Ermin Street.

In this first report, the unstratified material of the first category is discussed.
The second group—datable to the early 2nd century a.D.—comprises almost one
hundred drawable vessels of various fabrics and forms, and will be dealt with in a
subsequent publication. The unstratified material presented here provides a good
range of coarse and fine vessels, all assignable to a chronological range of ¢. A.D. 60
to certainly not later than c. A.D. 120. The samian ware is in agreement with the
fine wares; and with the exception of one Antonine vessel, none need be dated into
the 2nd century.

The discoverers are grateful to Mrs. Vivien Swan (R.C.H.M. (Eng.), Salisbury)

64

for initially sorting and recognizing the importance of this material, and particularly
to Dr. Kevin Greene (Staff Tutor in Roman Archaeology at the University of
Newcastle) for his specialist report below.

DESCRIPTION OF THE POTTERY
by KEVIN T. GREENE

SAMIAN WARE (FIG. 1)
Pre-Flavian

2 Dr. 15/17s, South Gaulish, Neronian.

I ,, 18 or 15/17, South Gaulish, Nero (to early Flavian).

215 29/998. >, » Neronian.

»» 24/258, 5 », Nero (to early Flavian) ; one has very heavy rouletting,
totally obscuring the bead of the rim.

Dr. 29, Central Gaulish (Fic. 1, no. 1), decorated with fine leaves in repeated pairs in a
straight wreath in the upper frieze; parts of other leaves are evident in the lower zone,
of which too little survives to indicate the layout of the decoration. Poorly moulded.

Dr. 29, Central Gaulish (Fic. 1, no. 2); this bowl, of very small diameter, bears fragmentary
decoration: one complete lobed rosette with a central dot survives. The rouletting is
coarse and faint.

Dr. 24/25, Central Gaulish (Fic. 1, no. 3); very faint fine rouletting on rim.

The last three vessels all have fine orange fabrics containing mica, and good but
rather thin glosses of a similar colour. They are typical early imports from Lezoux, where
production was in progress as early as in South Gaul, but those products were only exported
in small quantities before the 2nd century a.p. (Boon, 1967; Dannell, 1971, 266-8). The
decoration of no. 1 is closely paralleled by a bowl from Sea Mills, near Bristol, illustrated
by Boon (pl. VI, no. 9). The placing of repeated decorative motifs at the top of the upper
frieze, seen on my no. 2, is similar to that on a bowl from Silchester (ibzd., pl. VI, no. 2).

Flavian

Dr. 29, South Gaulish (rim only).

Dr. 42, South Gaulish; flange on handle fragment, with barbotine ‘tadpoles’ on flange
(Oswald and Pryce, 1920, pl. LIV, no. 2).

Dr. 42, South Gaulish; complete profile with handle (zbid., no. 8).

Dr. 46, South Gaulish; carination and wall only.

Curle 11, South Gaulish; flange trimmed off smoothly.

Fic. 1
Samian ware from Wanborough. Scale, 1 : 2.

aD
Oo

Antonine

Dt. 30, Central Gaulish; gladiator (Oswald, 1964, 1002) in double bordered medallion,
together with ‘factory stamp’ MERCATORM, retrograde, cf. Stanfield and Simpson,
1958, pl. 145. Potter—Mercator II, late Antonine.

FINE WARES
Lead glazed (FIG. 2)

1. White fabric, very fine. Pale green glaze. Barbotine dot decoration beneath glaze.

2. As 1; darker glaze.

3. Orange-brown fabric with grey core, a little coarse. Mottled green-brown glaze with
orange patches.

4. Hard grey fabric, rather coarse. Mottled green-grown glaze. ‘Compass-drawn’ curves,
circles and dot decoration beneath glaze.

5. Very hard grey fabric. Green-brown glaze, darker where thick in grooves and beneath
rim.

6. Grey fabric, with red external surface; coarse. Mottled green-brown glaze.

Colour-coated (FIG. 2)
7. Fine white fabric; black colour-coating with small brownish-yellow patches on rim.

Rough-cast externally with clay particles.

8. Grey fabric with thin orange-brown skin; poor blotchy brown matt colour-coating.

g. Pale orange fabric; black colour-coating; ‘metallic’ lustre externally.

10. Orange fabric, slightly coarse; poor matt orange-brown colour-coating. Decorated
with fine wavy grooves externally.

11. Orange-brown fabric with slight grey core. Matt black-brown colour-coating; rough-
cast with clay particles. Coating thin, and paler on extremities of rim.

12. Hard fine red-brown fabric; colour-coating matt brown-black externally, streaked
light-brown internally. Fine rouletting.

The lead glazed wares from Wanborough are notable. Nos. 1 and 2 are from Central
Gaul (Allier region) and are unlikely to have been imported after c. a.p. 70. For the
original carinated two-handled form, see Greene, 1971, 164, fig. 24, no. 1. Two body
sherds probably come from these cups, but a further sherd bears part of a barbotine
‘hairpin’ motif, and comes from a beaker of similar origin (7bzd., no. 4).

Nos. 3-6 are all British products, and may have been made relatively locally (Mrs.
Swan has informed me of glazed sherds from a kiln site at Savernake, Wilts.). No. 5 has
a finer appearance, and may come from further afield. British glazed wares are gradually
becoming better known and many must have been discarded from past Roman excavations;
the coarse fabrics and mottled glazes of these vessels could easily be confused with medieval
wares. A recent publication illustrates similar wares from Chichester (Down and Rule,
1971, pls. 14-16); two of these vessels are, like FIG. 2, no. 4, imitations of the samian
form Dr. 30. ‘The Wanborough vessels are probably of late 1st or 2nd century date.

A further sherd, not illustrated, comes from a rouletted hemispherical bowl.

The six colour-coated beakers selected for illustration include imports and Romano-
British vessels. Nos. 7 and g are Flavian—early 2nd century products of Central Gaul;
this is indicated by their flattened, pointed rims. They continue the tradition of pre-
Flavian beakers (Greene, 1972, 29, fig. 7, no. 3). Nos. 10-12 are of the familiar cornice-
rimmed low-girthed beaker form which began in the Flavian period and continued with
little change well into the and century a.p. The roughcast decoration of no. 11 and the
rouletting of no. 12 are not uncommon: the wavy-line decoration of no. ro is singular,
however. Five more cornice-rimmed beakers are not illustrated; all are roughcast, and
one is indented.

A small. sherd from a pre-Flavian beaker is not illustrable: it is from a Lyons ware
beaker of my type 26 (Greene, 1972, fig. 3, no. 26), a rare decorative variant of this beaker

type.
66

Fic. 2
Lead glazed and colour-coated wares from Wanborough. Scale, 1

: 2.

67

Mica-dusted ware (FIG. 3)

. Abraded, grey-brown fabric, with rough mica-dusting externally.

. Orange-buff with pale grey core. Gold mica-dusting externally.

. Orange-brown fabric; buff-brown surface with gold mica-dusting externally.

. Grey fabric; orange surface with gold mica-dusting externally and on rim.

. Grey-blue fabric; brown surface externally, dark grey internally. Mica-dusted.

All except no. 1 are well made, fine and hard; all may have the same source of manu-
facture. No. 1 may have suffered burning, and have originally been of similar quality to
the other vessels.

Not illustrated is a truncated conical foot, a little over 3 cms. high, tapering from
2 cms. to 1 cm. in diameter. The surviving part of the vessel to which it was attached
indicates that it probably formed part of a tripod bowl.

All vessels belong to an ultimately Continental tradition, with the possible exception
of no. 3, for which generic indigenous parallels are abundant. All could be comfortably
assigned to the late 1st to early 2nd century A.D. This is supported by the occurrence of
a mica-dusted flanged bowl of similarly Continental form in the ditch deposit (‘Pit A’).

obo N

Cream or white wares (FIG. 3)

7. Cream-white fabric with grey core. Handles joined by the insertion of a tongue of
clay through holes in the vessel’s neck and shoulder.

8. Buff; some slightly pink-brown patches on exterior of neck.

g. Cream; greyer core. From the shoulder groove to the internal level of the rim, the
vessel is coated with a red-brown burnished slip.

Nos. 7-9 all have hard fabrics, containing very fine sand.

10. Absolutely white.
11. White. Barbotine decoration executed in pale brown clay.
12. Very pale buff.

Nos. 10-12 are all extremely fine, and without filler, except for very fine mica in
no. 12:

Nos. 7 and 8 are perhaps most easily datable. No. 7 belongs to an early tradition, and
is almost certainly pre-Flavian, deriving from such flagons as those from Camulodunum
(Hawkes and Hull, 1947, pl. LXV). The ‘pulley-wheel’, no. 8, is more likely to be Flavian.

The beakers in these very pale wares could be placed at the end of Gallo-Belgic
traditions. A similar predilection for fine beakers of this nature, many with barbotine,
may be seen at Fishbourne (Cunliffe, 1971, 193, fig. 90, nos. 72-4). A Flavian to early
2nd century date would be appropriate for the Wanborough vessels; they would not be
out of place in slightly earlier contexts, however (see also vessels from Verulamium;
Frere, 1972, 275, fig. 103, nos. 130-1, dated a.p. 60-75).

Vessels with slip decoration (FIG. 3)

II. See above.

13. Pale buff with pale grey core. Very fine. White slip decoration on flange.

14. Orange-brown with grey core. Fine. White slip decoration externally.

15. Light orange-brown fabric, with cream external and buff internal surfaces. Fine,
with very fine sand filler. Diamond-shaped groups of thin diagonal streaks of barbotine
clay, of same colour as surface.

Painted slip decoration—often on imitations of samian forms such as nos. 13 and 14,
which copy Curle 11 and Dr. 30—was popular at the same time as mica-dusting, principally
in the Flavian-Trajanic period, on ‘medium-fine’ wares of ultimately Continental origin.
A further sherd, not illustrated, comes from the wall of a bowl copying Dr. form 37.

No. 15 copies the Flavian and later cornice-rimmed beaker form (see FIG. 2, nos. 10-11).

68

4

Fic. 3
Other fine wares from Wanborough. Scale, 1

4h

69

Miscellaneous (FIG. 3)

16.

ia
18.

19.

20.

Grey; fine. Surface colour varies irregularly from pale to dark grey. A Gallo-Belgic
imitation of Dr. 15/17, probably pre-Flavian.

Pale grey fabric with grey core near interior. Grey-black surface on exterior from
carination to top of rim, internal surface cream-white. Fine.

Buff-brown with thin grey core in thickest parts. Red-brown surfaces, with darker
patches externally. Fabric fine with some red-brown grog. This and the above bowl
are difficult to parallel, but would be perfectly acceptable in the late 1st or and
century A.D.

Coarse fabric, black near exterior changing to brown near interior. Surface black
externally, brown internally. Burnished externally, and to top of rim. A plain bead-
rimmed jar of Iron Age derivation.

Black surface, very thin ‘sandwich’ fabric; thin, grey-brown layer beneath internal
surface. Dark grey core. Burnished externally. Decorated with vertical rib, and rows
of small indentations. A large bead-rimmed jar of Durotrigian origin; the decoration
is more commonly found on ‘War Cemetery’ carinated bowls than on jars.

It is unfortunate that these vessels are unstratified. They do, however, indicate that

there was at Wanborough a settlement whose occupants utilized a respectable range of
good quality Roman pottery in the ?Neronian to ?Hadrianic period at least. ‘The ditch
group datable to the end of that chronological range, which will be illustrated in full in a
subsequent paper, is less spectacular in its contents, but provides what is more funda-
mentally important archaeologically: a range of coarse and some fine vessels associated
together with reasonably datable samian ware. ‘These coarse vessels provide a well-made

range of forms to back up the selection of fine wares contained in this report.

Aubrey, J. (ed.), and Jackson, J. E. 1862. The
Topographica Collections of F. Aubrey, A.D.
1659-70.

Boon, G. C. 1967. Micaceous Sigillata from

Lezoux at Silchester, Caerleon and other
Sites. Antig. F., 47, 27-42.

Cunliffe, B. 1971. Excavations at Fishbourne 1961-
1969, Il. The Finds. Rep. Res. Comm. Soc.
Antiq. London, xxvi.

Dannell, G. B. 1971. ‘The Samian Pottery’ in
Cunliffe, 1971, 260-316.

Down, A., and Rule, M. 1971. Chichester Excava-
tions, I.

Frere, S. S. 1972. Verulamium Excavations, 1, Rep.
Res. Comm. Soc. Antiq. London, xxv.
Greene, K. T. 1971. An Unusual Roman Glazed
Vessel from Woodcutts in Cranborne Chase.
Proc. Dorset Natur. Hist. Archaeol. Soc., 93,

163-6.

70

Greene, K. T. 1972. Guide to Pre-Flavian Fine
Wares c. A.D. 40-70.

Hoare, R. C. 1821. The Ancient History of Wiltshire, 11.

Hawkes, C. F. C., and Hul', M. R. 1947. Camulo-
dunum. Rep. Res. Comm. Soc. Antiq. London,
XIV.

Oswald, F. 1936-7. Index of Figure-Types on Terra
Sigillata. Supplement to Annals of Archaeology,
Liverpool, 23-4.

Oswald, F. 1964. Reprint of Oswald 1936-7, op. cit.

Oswald, F., and Pryce, T. D. 1920. An Introduction
to the Study of Terra Sigillata.

Passmore, A. D. 1921. Roman Wanborough.
W.A.M., 41, 272-80.

Passmore, A. D. 1948. The Roman Road from
Caerleon to Silchester.

Rivet, A. L. F. 1970. The British Section of the
Antonine Itinerary. Britannia, 1, 34-82.

Stanfield, J. A., and Simpson, G. 1958. Central
Gaulish Potters.

EXCAVATION AT THE SAXON CHURCH,
ALTON BARNES

by N. P. THOMPSON and H. ROSS

PART OF the north wall of Alton Barnes church was in urgent need of attention
because of rising damp. In view of the age of the church, the Parochial Church
Council sought advice and as a result the Archaeology Research Committee of the
Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society was invited to explore the
area alongside the north wall and to remove the soil which had accumulated against
it through the centuries. This provided an opportunity to examine the wall and
foundations of this Saxon building.

THE CHURCH

The present church consists of nave and chancel. The chancel is of brick and
was built in 1748. The nave is 7.40 m. long by 4.60 m. wide internally and 3.60 m.
tall to the eaves. It is covered with pebble-dash, presumably applied in the 1904
restoration, and leaves uncovered the stonework of the north (blocked) and south
doorways, the four corner quoins and the pilaster strips. There are two such strips
on the south and, until the recent excavation revealed another, only one on the
north wall, to the west of the blocked doorway. On the west wall is the lower part
of another, the upper part having been destroyed when the window and gallery
were inserted. The walls are about 0.70 m. thick, but until the excavation were
entirely covered and their fabric unknown. The two doorways are opposite each
other; the southern has post-Conquest moulding and is wider than the northern,
the stonework of which gave no indication of date except that the bulk of it was
obviously modern, having been sawn. The chancel arch is wide, but has re-used
imposts with moulding of Saxon type. In 1832 the Rev. Augustus Hare, the in-
cumbent, pulled down the earlier arch to widen it, in order, as his wife put it,
‘to enable the visitors from over the stream to be accommodated more satisfactorily’.*
At a distance of 180 m. is another church, that of Alton Priors serving its own parish,
but Hare found that its inhabitants had no church services and invited them to
attend his church, which he altered for that purpose. The existing windows in
Alton Barnes church all date from after the Reformation and there are no traces
of Saxon windows in the nave walls. This is either because they are hidden under the
rendering or were set higher than the present eaves. In the eastern gable wall of the
nave are twin openings for the bells; the stones of the sill and jambs are described
as Saxon by H. M. and J. Taylor, who suggest that this indicates that the nave
walls were taller than at present.

A number of features indicate that the nave is of Saxon date and it is accepted
as such by H. M. and J. Taylor? and by N. Pevsner.3 First, the proportions—tall,

71

narrow, thin-walled; second, the existence of pilaster strips composed mostly of
very large stones and about 0.30 m. wide up to the rendering, the stones not precisely
dressed and cut back to receive the rendering; third, the character of the four
corner quoins, made of large irregularly shaped stones; fourth, the tall, narrow,
round-headed doorway. All these features are found in pre-Conquest churches and,
taken together, present convincing evidence of date.

Other features supporting a Saxon date were revealed during the recent
excavation. The fabric of the wall was seen to be of mortared stone rubble, for the
most part irregularly coursed. Traces of the original rendering were found. A fifth
pilaster strip and a chamfered plinth were uncovered; the foundations of the wall
and the base quoins were revealed and the adze-dressing of the base stone of the
east jamb of the blocked doorway was clearly seen.

Most surviving Saxon chancels, whether rectangular or apsed, are narrower
than their naves, set back at least by the thickness of the nave wall. Very few are
not. Some, e.g. Iver (Bucks.), Norton (Co. Durham), Quarley (Hants.), are set
back only a very little.

What of post-Conquest chancels added to Saxon naves? A few are set back
very slightly, as at Darenth (Kent), Monk Frystone (W. R., Yorks.), and Great
Paxton (Hunts.), but others are not set back at all and present parallels to the
newly-found chancel foundations at Alton Barnes. These occur at Barholm and
Stow (Lincs.), Carlton in Lindick (Notts.), Kirkdale and Middleton by Pickering
(N. R., Yorks.), Ledsham (W. R., Yorks.), Witley (Surrey) and Wroxeter (Shrop-
shire). At least two others seem to have been set out from the line of the Saxon nave,
namely at Swavesey (Cambs.) and at Terrington (N. R., Yorks.); the analogy at
East Bridgford (Notts.) is more doubtful.

THE EXCAVATION

The excavation was begun during the autumn of 1971 and completed in the spring
of 1972. A cutting 2.0 m. wide was made along the north side of the church (Fic. 1),
great care being taken not to encroach upon burials. As was expected, most of the area
had been disturbed by grave-digging, but there were short stretches of the old ground
level close to the wall which were found to be untouched.

Above the present ground level the nave wall is rendered with a modern pebble-dash,
leaving a single pilaster exposed. Below ground level it is divided by pilasters and quoins
into four bays, each infilled with Greensand rubble. In the two western bays were four
courses of stones of various sizes, mortared together but keyed for plastering. ‘The original
plaster had long since fallen away, but fragments of it were found at the old ground level.
In the two eastern bays five irregular courses of stones were visible. Bulging had occurred
in both these bays and it was obvious that repairs had been undertaken at some time, when
a few sarsen stones had been inserted into the wall.

As was to be expected, a pilaster corresponding to that in the south wall of the building
was found to separate the two eastern bays. It was slightly out of vertical, inclined inwards ;
this circumstance would explain why it was later rendered over.

The quoins, pilasters and jambs of the doorway were composed of blocks of oolitic
limestone which, unlike the Greensand rubble infill, was not available locally. The two
base pilaster stones were large, 0.64 m. and 0.74 m. high respectively; both were 0.40 m.
wide. (The depth into the wall could not be measured). On the vertical edges a rebate
had been roughly cut, 0.05 m. laterally and 0.04 m. deep. This provided an overlap for
the wall plaster, leaving exposed a width of 0.30 m. as a decorative feature.

72

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73

The pilasters, the stones of the wall and the jambs of the door rested on a limestone
plinth which projected from 0.16 m. to 0.20 m. beyond the wall. The lengths of the large
plinth stones varied from 0.50 m. to 1.12 m. Their top edges were roughly and unevenly
chamfered. The plinth was flush to the outer edge of the foundation wall. This well-built
and still vertical rubble foundation consisted of sarsen stones, flints and blocks of Greensand,
with mortar still visible. Excavation to the base was made in two places, under the eastern
pilaster and the eastern quoin. The depth of the foundation under the plinth was 0.90 m.
and 0.64 m. beneath the basal quoin stone.

Excavation at the blocked doorway uncovered the base stones of the jambs; that on
the east appeared to be original, but that on the west, as shown by its Gothic moulding,
had been replaced.

Further excavation was undertaken along the north side of the 18th century brick
chancel in an endeavour to trace the foundation of the Saxon chancel. Unfortunately, any
evidence of the latter was masked by a later foundation which continued the line of the
Saxon nave foundation, although there was a small gap of 0.04 m. to 0.10 m. between
the two. The foundation was built of Chalk and Greensand rubble, flints and sarsens to a
depth of 0.80 m. Parts of it were bulging and there was evidence that attempts had been
made to strengthen it. Mortar with crushed flint had been placed at the base and a layer
0.20 m. thick still remained in an undisturbed section. One course only remained of the
actual wall; it was inset approximately 0.20 m. from the outer edge of the foundation.
Except for one dressed Greensand block, it consisted of Chalk blocks of various sizes
dressed on the outer face. A gap of 0.70 m. near the west end suggested the position of a
small door for the priest. Despite considerable disturbance by drainage pipes in the area
to the east of the existing chancel, it was possible to establish that the wall was 0.80 m.
wide. The east wall of the earlier chancel had been destroyed by a line of 19th century
graves. (The ground sloped sharply away to the east of these graves.) This chancel must
have been about 2.50 m. longer than the 18th century chancel.

In a narrow cutting in the only area free of graves evidence was obtained for a com-
parable foundation on the south side of the church.

DISCUSSION

The excavation has added further evidence that the whole of the nave is of
Saxon date. It revealed details of walling, foundations and structure that are of
great interest. Perhaps the most important feature revealed is the way in which the
rubble walling is framed in stonework—the quoin, the doorway jambs, the evenly
spaced pilaster strips and the plinth. This seems to show clearly that the pilaster
strips are not merely decorative features, as so many architectural historians have
proclaimed, but are an essential part of the wall structure.

It is unfortunate that a later foundation may mask the original foundation of
the Saxon chancel and we still do not know whether it was apsed or rectangular.
There are two clues to the continued existence of the Saxon foundation. The 18th ,
century chancel wall overlaps the earlier foundation by 0.25 m. (ric. 1). If there
had been only a single foundation, one would have expected the brick wall to have
been built flush to it; but if there were two foundations side by side, they could have
been used jointly for some distance from the west end. A slight crack in the middle
of the south wall of the brick chancel may suggest subsidence at the point where the
Saxon foundation terminates. Only excavation could prove this; further investigation
around, if not inside, this church might well add to our relatively sparse knowledge
of the plans and structures of Saxon churches.

74

The competent restoration following excavation has left exposed the top of the
plinth and the walling above. If the pebble-dash could be removed and the fabric
made good, the nave of Alton Barnes could be seen as one of the most complete
Saxon naves in England.

The discovery of the foundation running east from the nave was unexpected.
There is no visible evidence on the eastern butt ends of the nave quoins to indicate
that a wall had been bonded to them or even built against them. However, the
bulging outwards of the foundation suggests that it did carry a structure. The wall
which it carried, of which one course remains, is too thin to be Norman work and
must be of later date. With no further dating evidence, one can only assume that
the wall and its foundation were part of a large medieval chancel of which the
debris was completely cleared away when the 18th century chancel was built.
(An 18th century pocket-knife was found on the medieval foundation.) The nearby
church at Huish offers a parallel with Alton Barnes, for there in 1785 a chancel was
built shorter than the previous 13th century chancel.4

THE FINDS

A COFFIN-PLATE (FIG. 2 and PL. V)

During excavation the top of a child’s coffin was exposed. Although the wood had
rotted away the outline could be traced by brass studs. In the centre, also in studs, was
inscribed ‘17— AZ 6’. Some studs were missing and the third digit of the year could have
been 2, 3, 8 or g; the last digit had disappeared entirely. The Parish Register of Alton
Barnes records a baptism on 12th May 1793 of Mary, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth
Dowse, and the death of Mary Dowse on 15th October 1799. This is the sole record in the
Register throughout the century of the death of a child six years old. Members of the
family still live in the village and we can assure them that the grave was not disturbed.

The iron coffin-handles were heart-shaped and adhering to the inner sides of the
handles were fragments of the coffin-plates. The plate would have been attached to the
coffin and the handle would have rested on the plate. ric. 2 shows a reconstruction from
the fragments recovered. Coffin-plates of this period were made either of block-tin or of
Britannia metal, an alloy of tin and regulus of antimony. (Albion metal, tin on lead, was
not invented until 1804.) The plate was made by impressing the die on the thin metal by
means of a screw-press. ‘This method was first used for the manufacture of coffin furniture
c. 1760.5 :

Fic. 2

Partial reconstruction of a late 18th century coffin-plate, Alton Barnes. Scale, i : 1.

75

It is of interest to note the conservatism of the manufacturers in maintaining the
baroque designs over a long period. A pattern-book of 1783 (pL. V) is very similar to
another of 1830. In 1866 W. C. Aitken wrote of ‘these cherub-heads, bodiless but winged,
though guillotined, still smiling and puffy-cheeked’.7

POCKET-KNIFE (FIG. 3)

The knife was found on the medieval foundation. Mr. Hugh Shortt, who has examined
the knife, considers that the way the cutler’s mark (S over N) is placed—at right angles to
the blade and one letter over the other, as well as the form of the letters, suggests a date at
least earlier than the 19th century. The long metal ‘sleeve’ on the hinge side of the bone
plates also suggests a fairly early date. Subsequent research has confirmed this dating.
John Trickett, a Sheffield cutler and a Freeman of the Cutlers’ Company, was granted the
mark ‘S over N’ on 30th September 1749.8

POTTERY

The assemblage totalled 170 sherds, 34 of them glazed. Except for a single sherd,
probably of the 13th century, found in the undisturbed mortar outside the medieval
foundation, the remainder must be considered unstratified owing to disturbance by grave-
digging. The entire assemblage comprises pottery of two centuries only, from the early
12th to the late 13th.

The main forms of the coarse ware are those of cooking-pots and bowls. The fabric
is largely gritty, white-flecked and pock-marked, of the type usually found in North
Wiltshire. There are a number of sherds with white core and white inner surface, the outer
surface varying from brown to black. This ware is not present in the assemblage excavated
from the nearby village of Huish.9 The micaceous sandy ware of better quality, known from
both South and North Wiltshire, is well represented. A single scratch-marked sherd
represents a ware found frequently in South Wiltshire.

There are three basal angle sherds of a very large storage vessel. Mr. John Musty,
who examined them, suggested that the vessel appeared to be following the Saxon tradition
and might be of the early 12th century or possibly earlier. Later examples of storage jars
and cisterns, dating to the 13th and 14th centuries, are all considerably smaller.'°

The glazed pottery is represented by both 12th and 13th century examples. Of
interest are six sherds of a late 13th century jug with barbotine decoration. It can be
paralleled at Laverstock, Wiltshire,t* and Ham Green, Bristol.?

There are five rim sherds representing 40 cms. of the circumference of a flat circular

Fic. 3

Reconstruction of an i8th century pocket-knife, Alton Barnes. Scale, 1 : 1.

76

dish glazed olive-green internally. Dishes of similar shape were found at Lavertsock, but
the glazing suggests a different source.

As has been stated, the assemblage comprises pottery of 12th and 13th century date
only. The fact that no later pottery was recovered surely points to a change of usage in
the area immediately north of the church. That secular activity, probably buying and
selling, had continued until the end of the 13th century seems obvious, but what is not
so clear is the reason for the apparent termination. Perhaps after that date the area was
reserved for burials or possibly Alton Priors church, only 180 m. distant, became the
shopping centre and made Alton Barnes redundant.

Illustrated Pottery (FIG. 4)

1. Rim of a cooking-pot. Rim everted and pinched unevenly. Brown to fawn, with
white core.

2. Rim of cooking-pot or bowl. Olive-green glaze, similar to No. 5, on the interior;
red-brown exterior and white core.

3. Rim of cooking-pot. Orange outside; dark grey inside; core grey to white. Some
crushed flint additive.

4. Rim of cooking-pot. Light brown inside; grey outside; grey core.

5. Rim and part of the base of a circular dish. Olive-green glaze on the inside. Reddish-
brown fabric with grey core. Outside blackened by burning.

oh a
‘i )’ (

ice}

Fic. 4
12th-13th century pottery, Alton Barnes. Scale, 1 : 3.

Vl.

6. Rim, probably of a bowl. Micaceous sandy ware. Orange outside and inside, with
grey core.

7. One of two sherds from a jug. External decoration of applied pellets (glazed light
brown) on a band glazed dark brown. Remainder of sherd glazed light brown, the same
shade as the pellets. There are parallels for this form of decoration from Laverstock.

8. One of six sherds of a decorated jug. Orange inside; grey core; thickness 4. mm.
Patchy green glaze on the outside with a rather crudely applied spiral floral decoration.

9. Profile of the basal angle of a large storage jar. Diameter of base approximately
50 cms. The three sherds are not decorated, although this does not rule out the possibility
of decoration higher up the body of the vessel. The well-fired fabric is light brown outside,
with grey inner surface and core. Mrs. Margaret Barton reports on a thin section as follows:

‘Paste: brown and even with flow patterns marked by alignment of cracks and long
axes of detrital mineral grains. These are mostly fine quartzes, some rounded, some quite
angular and elongated. Mica occurs in scattered flakes and one or two felspars. All these
grains are uniform in size. Fill: the large grains which occur may do so naturally or may
be added as a fill. It is not possible to say which, but the large gap in the size-range between
the paste and these large grains is striking. Mostly they are well-rounded and much-
cracked quartzes and quartzites, some of them very cloudy with inclusions and some lightly
stained. There is one large grain of flint coated with iron concretion. In addition there are
a few large, rather angular, fragments of a ferruginous sandstone, the component mineral
grains of which are often iron-coated, and there are many iron-concretions. The siliceous
cement is also iron-stained and in some places seems to have traces of fossils—possibly
forams. It is possible that some of the oval grains are much-altered glauconite, but these
are so far unidentified. A few grogs occur.’

Mr. Thomas Barklem comments that the components of the paste and fill can all be
found locally, but they could just as easily have come from almost anywhere on or near
the Cretaceous outcrop in southern, south-eastern or eastern England.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The exemplary action of the Alton Barnes Parochial Church Council in seeking archaeological
advice when repairs to the church structure were contemplated is most welcome. ‘The P.C.C. has
generously given the finds to the Society’s museum at Devizes.

Our grateful thanks are offered to the following: Mr. John Hopkins, Master Mason for 'Tewkes-
bury Abbey, for advice on masonry; Mr. John Musty for his opinion on the pottery; Mrs. Margaret
Barton, Institute of Archaeology, University of London, for making a thin section from a sherd and
reporting thereon; Mr. Thomas Barklem for a further geological report; Mr. Hugh Shortt and
Mr. H. B. Crombie, Clerk to the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, for information about the
pocket-knife; Mr. Peter Spencer for his drawing of the plan and elevation (F1c. 1); and Miss Winifred
Evans for her reconstruction drawing from the fragments of the coffin-plate (ric. 2). Finally, thanks
are due to those willing helpers who regularly support any excavation in the Pewsey Vale, and to
Mr. G. Smith, who assisted in many ways, including the removal of our spoil heap.

1A. J. CG. Hare, Memorials of a Quiet Life, 1
(1874), 206-7, 440.

7H. M. Taylor and Joan Taylor, Anglo-Saxon
Architecture, I (1965), 24-5.

3 N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire
(1963).

4.N. P. Thompson, Huish Church: Excavation
of the Original Foundations and an Early Chapel,
W.A.M., 62 (1967), 51-66.

5S. Timmins (ed.), The Resources, Products and
Industrial History of Birmingham and the Midland
Hardware District (1866), 704-8.

6 Victoria and Albert Museum, Print Room
ref. M6ge and Mosf.

7 InS. Timmins, of. cit.

8 Record of marks of the cutlers in Hallamshire
at Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield. See also R. E. Leader,

78

History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire (1906)
374, 3rd line from bottom.

9 N. P. Thompson, Excavations on a Medieval
Site at Huish, 1967-68, W.A.M., 67 (1972),
THO Silt

nC G. C. Dunning, A Thirteenth Century
Stirrup and Storage Jar from Rabley Heath,
Herts., Antig. 7., x1x (1939), 305-12; D. A. Hinton,
A Medieval Cistern from Churchill, Oxoniensia,
Xxx (1968), 66-70.

J. Musty, D. J. Algar and P. F. Ewence,
The Medieval Pottery Kilns at Laverstock, near
Salisbury, Wiltshire, Archaeologia, cu (1969), 83-150:
cf. fig. 15: 98-104.

2K, J. Barton, A Medieval Pottery Kiln at
Ham Green, Bristol, Trans. Bristol Gloucestershire
Archaeol. Soc., 82 (1963), 95-126: of. fig. 3: 43.

A PRELIMINARY ACCOUNT OF A MEDIEVAL
POTTERY INDUSTRY AT MINETY,
NORTH WILTSHIRE

by JOHN MUSTY

SUMMARY

An area known to produce medieval pottery wasters was subjected to trial excavation in
an attempt to locate the kiln. Although no kiln structures were found, the wasters recovered in
the excavation represent the remains of approximately 400 vessels of 14th or 15th century date
and these are discussed and the site related to other medieval kiln sites in Wiltshire. The Minety
site is the first certain indication of medieval potting in the Forest of Braydon.

INTRODUCTION

FOR MANY YEARS it has been observed by Mr. R. Westmacott of Osborne Farm,
Minety, that a vegetable garden in a corner of one of his fields (SU o12911) covers
an area of black soil from which quantities of pottery sherds can be excavated from
quite near the surface. More recently he showed me sackfuls of pottery which he
had collected and it was evident that these were wasters. Therefore in September
1971 Mr. D. J. Algar and myself carried out a trial excavation with the enthusiastic
co-operation of Mr. Westmacott! in an attempt to locate the kiln. Although no
kiln structures were found the results were sufficiently explicit to demonstrate that
the area was the site of a medieval pottery industry. The pottery has been pro-
visionally dated to the 14/15th century (possibly earlier in the bracket than later)
and it is proposed to make a further attempt in the future to locate the kilns, although
a magnetometer survey of the immediate area has proved unrewarding. Meanwhile,
the range of pottery is of sufficient interest to make a preliminary account worth-
while at this stage, especially in view of our limited knowledge of the medieval
ceramics of North Wiltshire. It is also the first certain indication of medieval potting
in the Forest of Braydon.

HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY

Until 1844 the parish of Minety constituted a detached portion of Gloucester-
shire lying inside Wiltshire. However, the church and ‘Wiltshire Row’ which formed
the nucleus of what is now called Upper Minety and situated within the western
half of this detached portion of Gloucestershire belonged to Wiltshire. The site of
the pottery industry lies on the boundary between the two.

Contributing to this unusual situation is the fact that the church and Wiltshire
Row belonged to the Archdeaconry of Wiltshire whereas the Abbot of Cirencester
was Lord of the Manor. The entire parish also lay within the Royal Forest of

79

Braydon, the forest courts were held at Minety and the earliest reference to the
Royal Forest as such (in a Royal charter of 1197) refers to it as the Forest of Minety.

Minety is not mentioned in Domesday which led Grundy? to suggest that there
was no village community in 1086 and that it must have been uncleared forest land.
Morgan,3 referring to a charter of a.p. 844, considers that a grant of land ‘in loco qui
dicitur Mintih’ implies at least the existence of a place-name in 1086. Darlington,4
referring to the same charter and the 5 mansiunculae it mentions, suggests that
Minety was not lost at the time of Domesday but must be included in one of Malmes-
bury Abbey’s estates to the west. Possibly the finding of a Saxon stone cross in the
foundations of Minety Church can be seen as evidence at least for the village nucleus
existing at the time of the Conquest.5

These facts may seem to have little bearing on the site of a pottery industry
several centuries later. The reason for stating them here is because it is evidently
a state of affairs which arose due in part at least to the heavily wooded nature of the
area at that time and therefore it is not unlikely that areas of woodland remained
uncleared up to the time of the pottery industry and in its vicinity, thus contributing
to the reason for its siting. Braydon was disafforested in 1631, but Flistridge Wood
and Oaksey Nursery survived as remnants of the earlier more extensive woodlands
in the vicinity of Minety. These are on the western edges of Minety and straddle
the parish boundary; the adjoining fields are evidently the results of assarts into the
woodland. Despite its name, much of Oaksey Nursery lies within Minety parish
and is the site of a Roman tile kiln discovered in 1914.°

This earlier evidence for a tile industry within the parish is in eens with the
geology—Minety lies on Oxford Clay eminently suitable for potting. The newly
discovered pottery site is in the $.W. corner of a field known as ‘Long Meadow’. The
southern end of this field has an undulating surface—possibly the results of clay
digging—and also contains a small pond. The northern end is divided into two by
a small ditch running down its length and the eastern half is covered with ridge
and furrow.

EXCAVATION

Two trenches (1 m. and 2 m. wide respectively and 4 m. long) were cut at
right-angles to a slight scarp line at a point where it was judged a kiln might be
present. A hollow of ditch-like shape at least 2m. wide and 1.3 m. deep was located
in each, evidently one continuous feature. In each trench the fill of this feature
consisted of intensely black soil, large quantities of pottery wasters and lumps of
lightly fired clay. At the maximum depth, water seeped into the trenches. Inter-
pretation of the feature is not possible until there has been more extensive excavation
of the area. Although the fill was clearly debris from pot firing there was an insufficient
area of the feature exposed in these trial trenches to enable it to be related to a kiln
structure although its narrow-bottomed profile was such as to make it unlikely to
be part of a kiln stoke pit.

80

Ve 4
fe 3 /,
8
}
/
\ !
9 10
\
\
\ \
~ 1
ee ose Ul)
\
wey Seas
ss == a ea 14
_ 37S
Fic. 1

Medieval pottery from Minety. Scale, * : 4.

81

THE POTTERY

Approximately 2,000 sherds of pottery were retained for examination. The
fabrics of these do not show any great variation, the white flecking due to the
addition of particles of limestone being characteristic throughout. Some sherds are
extensively “‘pock-marked’ as a result of the weathering out of the backing particles
during burial.

The sherds represent the remains of at least 400 vessels (i.e. determined by
counting rims with handle stubs attached, counting the pipkin feet and dividing by
three, etc.). The principal forms represented, in a descending order of abundance,
are as follows: Pans, jugs, bung-hole pots, pipkins, lids, vessels with rims of cooking-
pot type, sub-rectangular and shallow dishes. In addition ridge-tiles with coxcomb
cresting and oven tiles are present, the former in considerable numbers.

A characteristic feature of the Minety pottery is the use of knife incisions
(often crudely done) in the decoration of vessels. Strap handles have a series of 3, 4,
5, 6 or 7 knife cuts at the junction of the handle with the rim and a series of obliquely
set knife cuts down the left-hand side of the handle spine. Knife cuts are also inserted
into the pipkin feet and at the base of the coxcomb crests on ridge tiles. Pan rim
flanges, when decorated (10%), have the decoration in the form of wavy line
scored with a knife; a similar decoration may also be applied to the pan body.
Applied thumb-pressed strips were also used to decorate vessel bodies and sometimes
the leading edge of out-turned rim flanges is decorated with a thumb-press. Stamp
decoration is noticeably lacking. Glaze is used sparingly and when present is usually
green. Strap handles are almost universally luted on whereas pipkin feet are pegged.
There is a noticeable lack of knife-trimming of vessel surfaces. Some vessels, especially
lids, show by a series of parallel lines on the vessel base that the thrown vessel has
been removed from a stationary wheel.

Features which are noticeably lacking from the pottery recovered so far are
tubular and bridge spouts (the only pouring device adopted is the pinched lip);
those only present in small numbers are rod handles and thumb-pressed bases. There
is also no evidence for white painted wares.

Although not a single sherd of earlier or post-medieval date was found in the
excavation it is of a special interest that there are two joining sherds from a foreign
import in white-firing clay. These sherds are of French origin (Saintonge).

Notes on the Illustrated Pottery (F1Gs. 1-3)

The selection of pottery illustrated is intended to demonstrate the main range of forms
present; no attempt has been made to illustrate the variants within the main range but
some reference is made to these in the accompanying notes. It has not been possible
normally to reconstruct complete profiles. Thus, for example, it cannot be determined
what kind of rim is to be associated with the bases of the bung-hole pots. NoTE: The
number in parentheses which follows the vessel type at the head of each section is the
minimum number of vessels of that type recovered in the excavation.

1. Pans (107)

Pans with wide flanged rims were exceedingly common. The width of the flange
normally fell into the range 3.2-4.2 cms. That illustrated (No. 1) is unusually wide

82

\ Vy
— Sf 11000000 100 z

ou i} 00

Fic. 2
Medieval pottery from Minety. Scale, 1 : 4.

83

(4.9 cms.). When decorated the flanges, like that illustrated, have a series of scored wavy
lines. Occasionally the decoration may take the form of a line of stamped individual
impressions; the leading edge of the rim flange may also be decorated with lightly thumbed
impressions. The inside of the illustrated example is coated with spoilt glaze; the outside
is unglazed.

2. Jugs (105)

Three jug necks are illustrated (Nos. 2-4), two with strap handles, the other with a
rod handle. Jugs with strap handles are by far the commonest and the majority of the
strap handles have the characteristic knife-cut decoration already mentioned. Jug bodies
are decorated either with linear and curvilinear scored lines or, occasionally, with a
circumferential strip of clay to which thumb impressions have been applied. Jug bases
are normally plain and undecorated (Nos. 5 and 8). There are, however, examples of
thumbing-down of the basal angle in the usual medieval manner to even up the base
(Nos. 6 and 7). An unusual feature is the thickening up of the underside of the base to form
an incipient foot-ring which is usually decorated. The thickening is achieved by either
fixing a strip of clay or thickening up the edge of the base during throwing. This is then
decorated by applying a series of thumb-presses (No. 12) or finger-nail impressions (not
illustrated) or, rarely, knife-cuts (No. 13)—in the latter case the result is a series of pyra-
midal serrations like those of a crested ridge-tile in miniature. There would seem to be a
strong resemblance between this decorated foot-ring feature and that observed by Dr.
Dunning at Bantham, Devon.7 Here cisterns of 14th/15th century date were found with
this form of decoration on the underside of the base.

3. Bung-hole Pots (64)

It has not been possible to reconstruct a complete profile and only one bung-hole is
attached to a base. From this example (No. 9) it can be seen that the bung-hole pots had
flat bases; the rims may be similar to those of the jugs and classified as such. One bung-hole
(No. 11) out of the 64 obtained is decorated with a series of stabbed holes, a feature
characteristic of the bung-hole pots made at the kilns of Lyveden in Northamptonshire, ®
which date to the 14th century. It is suggested in the report on the latter that the purpose
of the stabbed holes was to help the bung, possibly made of beeswax, to adhere to the
bung hole.

4. Pipkins (42)

The illustrated example (No. 10) is unglazed as are most of the remainder. As complete
profiles could not be achieved, the rim type is uncertain as is the form of handle. It is
likely that some, if not the majority, of rims identified as from cooking-pots are in fact
from pipkins. If so, the handle form would be of the strap type. There are also a small
number of lug handles which could have come from pipkins—these, like the pipkin feet,
are dowelled.

5. Lids (39)

These are in two main sizes, the smallest of which is illustrated (No. 14). The larger
has a rim diameter of 16.5 cms. (height 5 cms.); the smaller is 12 cms. in diameter and
3.5 cms. high. All examples are unglazed and also exhibit pronounced throwing marks.
Although approximately 40 lids were obtained there are only a few examples of rims with
provision for lid seating. However, many of the rims are outbent and, consequently, could
support a loosely fitting lid.

6. Cooking-Pots (19)

The illustrated example (No. 15) has been reconstructed with two handles (only one
was present on the section of the vessel found) as both would be required on a vessel of

84

Cie . Vii,

Fic. 3
Medieval pottery from Minety. Scale, 1 : 4.

this size. The identification of rims of this form as cooking-pots depends on the shape and
diameter being similar to those generally recognized as of cooking-pots. However, as
already pointed out, pipkins would have similar rims and possibly all the ‘cooking-pot’
rims may be those of pipkins. One or two examples have an internal lid seating; and a few
others an external beading at the base of the rim flange, and overshadowed by it, which
may be ornamented by lightly pressed finger decoration. On one example (No. 16) a
crude face is set on the body beneath the beading, a very unusual feature for a cooking-pot

85

7. Shallow Dishes (13)

The wall height of these is normally in the range 3 cms.—5 cms. The apparent diameter
is very large and it is likely that all examples are oval or sub-rectangular. Two examples
are illustrated (Nos. 19 and 20). One has a large triangular lug handle and possibly was
sufficiently large to require a pair of such handles. Others may have had a single handle
and be of the skillet type. Most examples are unglazed.

8. Bowls

These are to be distinguished from pans which have wide flanged rims and from
shallow dishes. The bowls are normally flangeless although there are one or two examples
with an internal flange which acts as a lid seating (Nos. 17 and 18). Also illustrated (No. 22)
is a thick-walled vessel with a pair of horizontal handles (one of these has been inferred).
No. 21 is an unusual form. Its base has three perforations roughly equidistant around the
perimeter and set partly into the basal angle. The vessel is therefore either some form of
strainer—although this seems unlikely as there are only three holes—or the holes are
intended to take feet. Possible parallels for the vessel type are a ‘cheese-press’ of early
14th century date from the Upper Heaton kilns, Yorkshire,9 which is a vessel of similar
dimensions with three holes in the base, and a ‘tripod dish’ of slightly larger diameter from
the collection of medieval pottery in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of New-
castle upon ‘Tyne.?°

9. Bottles

There is one example only of a possible bottle (No. 23). In its shape and surface
finish (especially absence of glazing) it is reminiscent of the earlier medieval examples of
this vessel type (see, for example, bottles from the late 13th century Laverstock kilns,
Archaeologia, cii (1969), 133, fig. 22, nos. 179 and 180).

10. Ridge- Tiles (400 fragments, including 160 coxcombh crests)

These are of the coxcomb crested variety. The crests (Nos. 24, 25) are shallow and
knife-cut, and approximately 50°%, are decorated with knife-cuts in the face of the coxcomb
point (either one or two cuts per joint). The vertical height of the tile fragment illustrated
is approximately 13.5 cms., and the width span at the base of the tile is 23 cms.

11. Oven Tiles

Only two examples (not illustrated) were found. Both are 2.8 cms. thick and the
largest is at least 16 cms. square.

12. Saintonge Jug

The reconstruction of this (No. 27), incorporating the two handle sherds, is based
on a complete example from Chester (No. 28). The latter from Goss Street, Chester, is in
a fine buff fabric with yellowy-buff surface and spots of glaze. The Minety handle is in
an off-white to pinky-buff very smooth fabric with a slight glitter from particles of mica.

DISCUSSION

Minety is the third medieval kiln site to be identified by excavation in Wiltshire
to date; the others are Laverstock!! and Naish Hill, Lacock.?? There is also abundant
documentary evidence for 13th century kilns at Crockerton near Warminster,
possibly a large industry of some 23 potters;13 and it is probably only a matter of
time before some of these kilns are revealed by chance discovery. Certainly, fieldwork
so far has failed to reveal the site of individual Crockerton kilns although Mr. David

86

Algar has located and excavated a later (16th century) example.14 However, more
relevant to the Minety find is pottery from a possible kiln site at Hunt’s Mill,
Wootton Bassett.15 Unfortunately, this pottery which was found in 1893 cannot be
located at the present time, although it was seen in Devizes Museum by Dr. Dunning
when he made notes of it some years ago. These notes (now in my possession) show
that the Wootton Bassett pottery has some affinities with that from Minety. Other
sites in the same general area as Minety and Wootton Bassett may be indicated by
the reference in the Wiltshire Crown Pleas'® to William le Poter and Hugh le Poter,
if the ‘Poter’ name is that of potters.17 These individuals are shown under the
Startley and Thornhill Hundreds respectively, and therefore from areas reasonably
close to Minety. There is also the recent find of pottery from Great Somerford?®
in association with blackish soil and lumps of red-baked clay which Mr. N. P.
Thompson suggests may indicate the existence of kiln sites working in that vicinity.

Except for Laverstock, a connecting feature between these sites is the Oxford
Clay which sweeps up the western edge of the county and provides a basic raw
material for potting. It is this area which is most likely to yield further evidence of
medieval pottery industries in contrast to the river valleys of the chalklands unless,
as at Laverstock, there is close proximity to Eocene deposits (e.g. London Clay
and Reading Beds). For all the sites it is likely that the principal kiln form will be
that of the double-flue type (my Type 2). Certainly this is the type in use both at
Laverstock and Naish Hill, although by the 16th century it has been supplanted at
Crockerton by the single flue (Type 1) kiln.

A further point of interest is a comparison of the types of product made at the
different sites. The Laverstock potters were evidently the principal suppliers of
domestic wares to nearby Clarendon Palace; jugs were also purchased for the
King’s use at Winchester. Roof furniture was made, but not floor-tiles. The latter
when required at Clarendon for specific flooring operations were evidently made on
the spot. On the other hand, at Naish Hill decorated floor-tiles were made on the
same site as domestic pottery and the tiles may have had a wide circulation to various
abbeys, including nearby Lacock which was possibly the principal customer and
initiator of the industry. Roof furniture was also produced, including crested
ridge-tiles.

As yet we know too little about the Minety industry to be confident that its
complete repertoire has been identified, but it is already clear that one of the
products was ridge-tiles and the market for these is not immediately evident as
Minety, being on the edge of the Cotswolds, is in a stone-using area. It seems likely,
therefore, that flat stone tiles had not been introduced at this time—unless these
were used without stone ridge-tiles—and local buildings had a thatch or shingle
roof with a ridge of ceramic tiles. Certainly excavation evidence at deserted medieval
village sites would support this—for example, at Upton in the Cotswolds.'9 As
regards a market for Minety products, pottery as well as roof furniture, it would be
noted that the towns of Cirencester, Tetbury, Malmesbury, Wootton Bassett and
Cricklade all lie within a 7 miles radius of Minety.

Finally, the finding of the handle of the Saintonge jug is noteworthy and should
have some significance although at present it cannot be explained. That the fragment

87

was found in intimate association with a group of wasters which contained not a
single sherd of other non-local pottery implies that it was in the possession of the
potters and not a stray which became fortuitously incorporated. Mr. McCarthy
also found what he believed to be a Saintonge vessel (in this case a lobed cup)
at Naish Hill. Although the idea of seeing in these finds some kind of physical
association with potters on the other side of the Channel is attractive it is not one
which can be advanced on such slender evidence.

tI am most grateful to Mr. Westmacott not
only for giving permission but also for actively
taking part in the excavation which was also
greatly aided by my wife, Mr. D. J. Algar and
Mr. A. E. S. Musty. I am also indebted to Dr.
Dunning for his advice on the Saintonge jug and
his drawing of it along with that ofa comparable jug
from Chester.

2 W.A.M., x~vut (1939), 554-

3 W.A.M., xLvit (1937), 68.

4V.C.H. Wilts., 1, 90.

5E. H. Goddard, W.A.M., xxx (1899), 230.
The fragments were found in the foundations of
the chancel during underpinning work. Goddard’s
account also mentions the removal of ‘scores of
cartloads of stone’ so evidently a considerable
structure was associated with the fragments of
the cross.

6 Antiq. F.,1 (1921), 238.

7In Aileen Fox, Antiq. F., Xxxv (1955), 55-67.

8 J. M. Steane, 7. Northampton Museums and
Art Gallery, 2 (1967), 24.

9'T. G. Manby, Archaeol. F., cxxt (1965), 92.

88

10 M. G. Jarrett, and B. J. N. Edwards, Archaeo
Aeliana, xu (4th series) (1963), 101, no. 67.

1 John Musty, D. J. Algar, and P. F. Ewence,
Archaeologia, cu (1969), 83-150.

11M. McCarthy, W.A.M., Lxvi (1971), 179-81.
Full report forthcoming.

13H. E. Jean le Patourel, Medieval Archaeol., x11
(1968), 105.

14 Post-Medieval. Archaeol., 11 (1968), 187-8.

15 W.A.M., xxvit (1895), 263-4.

16 Wilts. Archaeol. and Nat. Hist. Soc. (Records
Branch), xv1, 1960.

17 Professor Jope has pointed out the danger in
assuming that potters’ names necessarily refer to
working potters as, even by the mid-13th century
a trade surname could be borne by a man following
another trade, and also that in many places the
term potter referred to a bronze founder (Culture
and Environment (ed. Foster and Alcock, 1963), 329).

18 W.A.M., Lxv (1970), 167.

19 R. H. Hilton and P. A. Rahtz, Trans. Bristol,
Gloucestershire Archaeol. Soc., 85 (1966), 102.

THE PARLIAMENTARY ENCLOSURE
OF ALDBOURNE

by J. R. ELLIS

THE PARISH OF Aldbourne is situated near the eastern boundary of Wiltshire,
eight miles south-east of Swindon and six miles north-east of Marlborough, between
the Marlborough and Lambourn Downs. It covered 8,490 acres at the time of the
enclosure in 1809, and had a population of 1,280 in 1801 and 1,260 in 1811. Nearly
all the western half of Aldbourne was already enclosed, and the unenclosed arable
area covered most of the eastern half, comprising six fields radiating from the town.
Part of the North Field was pasture, and the area along the southern boundary was
mainly pasture with two outcrops of woodland (see map, Appendix 1).

According to the Land Tax Assessment? at the time of the Act, the parish was
occupied by thirty-nine persons, of whom nineteen were wholly or partly owner-
occupiers. The remaining twenty held land under fifty-three different absentee-
owners. The main people concerned in the enclosure were, the Vicar, J. Elderton;
the Dean and Chapter of Winchester, who owned the Parsonage Lands, and his
lessee, S. Neate; and the Lords and Lady of the Manors. J. Hancock was Lord of the
Manor of Aldbourne, T. Baskerville, Lord of the Manor of Aldbourne Chase
Warren, and Diana Caswall, Lady of the Manor of Upper Upham. Besides these
there were seven freeholders who owned land exceeding one hundred acres of whom
four were owner-occupiers; M. Brown, G. Church, T. Gould, and J. Wells, and
three were absentee-owners; W. Brown, J. Cook and T. Perfect.

The first evidence of the initiation of a Parliamentary Enclosure at Aldbourne
is dated 1803, but as early as 1571 a manorial survey? mentioned encroachments
‘hindering the depasturing’ of the commons, and a coppice which had been enclosed
‘to the hinderance of the tenants there to whome the herbage thereof appertayneth’.
By Articles of Agreement concerning the commons in 1724,3 fifty-two commoners
agreed for a term of four years, that they would ‘not put in more cattle to feed...
above two third parts of the number of his or her cattle’, for, ‘if every one of such
respective commons should full stock, the said commons would be of little value
as being over-charged’. Evidence of the other main spur to enclosure, widely-
scattered small plots of arable land, can be found for the later 17th and the 18th
centuries, as for example in the 1698 terrier of the lands of John Southby;4 a 1725
abstract of title of land belonging to the Corr family containing ‘several pieces of
arable land lying dispersedly in the several Common Fields’; and the 1738/39 sales
agreement between Corr and Brown.5 No evidence has been found of a permanent
enclosure agreement, and neither 18th century leases,® nor the claims for allotments
under the Act show any widespread movement towards open field severalty or
consolidation of holdings.

89

I

The incentive for Parliamentary Enclosure seems to have come from some of the
resident proprietors, referred to in the surviving draft of the notice7 of the intended en-
closure dated 1st September 1803, as ‘several of the principal proprietors’, who had earlier
instructed James Hall, a Hungerford attorney, to approach the Lords of the Manors,
Vicar, and Proprietor of the Great Tithes, none of whom lived in Aldbourne, which he
did in May 1803, writing, ‘several of the Proprietors of Lands in Aldbourne being desirous
of obtaining an act to inclose the Common Field Land...’.®

After obtaining these consents the initiators asked him to post a notice of their intention
on the Parish Church door, and obtain the consents of the ‘distant proprietors’. In this
correspondence a hint of previous activity given by Williams (one of the trustees of the
Lord of the Manor of Aldbourne) writing that he gave his consent, but, ‘I will never put
my name at the beginning of a petition, having already try’d it without success’, is
substantiated by Halles (an attorney) who wrote, ‘you must have known that for a con-
siderable time past an inclosure of Aldbourne has been in contemplation and that application
has been made by me to Mr Neate [lessee of the Great Tithes] Mr Williams [for the Lord
of the Manor of Aldbourne] and many other persons. I therefore learn with much surprise
that you have given notice of an intended application to Parliament. Mr Williams is also
much surprised at what has been done and thinks the whole premature.’!° Further surprise
was shown by J. Ashley of Aldbourne who remarked, ‘where this could originate I know
not... unless I have it from Mr Hall’s own mouth or his handwriting [I] can never give
credit to it.’*! But Ashley was probably in the Lord of the Manor’s clique because Halles
said that his name on the notice ‘must be a mistake’.1%2 The reply from Ludlow (agent for
J. Cooke, a principal freeholder) suggests that he had blocked the previous effort with an
attempted blackmail: ‘My idea was, that if the Lord of the Manor was very anxious for
the inclosure and my vote either way was important, I might have prevailed upon him to
regrant the tenement to us before I had given my consent.’13 R. Pearce probably voiced
the opinions of the rest of the absentee proprietors when he wrote, ‘I am very little acquainted
with the parish of Aldbourne, therefore can say very little about the Inclosure. I feel it
will be attended with heavy expense, but . . . will be to the advantage of the Parish.’™ It
seems probable that the resident proprietors, hearing of the scheming of a group of the
absentee proprietors, and well aware of the lack of interest amongst the others, decided to
protect their interests in what was rapidly becoming an inevitability (for as Holbrook told
Hall, ‘I have no doubt of your succeeding’!5) by taking the initiative themselves and
employing a local attorney whose knowledge and experience would later be invaluable to
the commissioners.

At the end of September, Hall took instructions on a draft Bill and read the proposed
clauses at a meeting held at the end of October, when it was resolved that he should
‘take the sense of the Proprietors at large’.'6

There the matter seems to have rested until February of 1804 when a petition was
drawn up, but as the petitioning proprietors insisted upon having Neate’s signature
which could not be obtained because he was impossible to locate, Hall decided to delay
the petition until the following year, although on 24th February the House of Commons
ordered ‘that leave be given to bring in a Bill [by]... Mr Graham and Mr Wyndham’.

February 1805, was the beginning of a hectic period for Hall, culminating in August
in the passing of the Act. Once instructed by the initiating proprietors he seems to have
been the driving force behind the movement and expended great effort obtaining signatures
of consent to the Bill.t7 During February he attended meetings with the proprietors in
Aldbourne, travelling around collecting signatures, and visited London to ask Wyndham,
Member of Parliament for Wiltshire, to present the petition, which he did on 28th February.
In April, Goodenough, the surviving trustee of Perfect, refused to sign without further
consideration, Hancock wanted copies of the Bill to peruse, and Burdette wanted time to
consult his steward, whilst the initiating proprietors were anxious for progress, and White,
the House of Commons Clerk wrote twice telling Hall in effect to hurry up, ‘it being

go

uncertain how long the session may last’.18 In May, Hancock raised the issue of tithe
exoneration which sent Hall journeying from Marlborough to Bath and Winchester to
seek the opinion of the Dean and Chapter of Winchester, interspersed with visits to
Huntingdon, Northampton, and London for further signatures, and on 26th May,
‘attending the House of Commons on the First Reading of the Bill’.

In mid-June, when nearly all the signatures were obtained, progress was upset by
the representatives of Diana Caswall, who claimed to be Lady of the Manor of Upper
Upham, taking offence at not being consulted earlier. Her attorney, Townsend, wrote to
Hall, saying, ‘Miss Caswall will of course be astonished at so late an application for her
consent to a measure in which she is so materially concerned.’!9 His threat to oppose the
Bill was allayed by the inclusion of new clauses naming her as claiming to be Lady of the
Manor of Upper Upham and holding certain common rights. The new clauses were
submitted, and the House of Lords Journals record that the Bill was ‘committed to the
Consideration of the Lords Committee .. .” on 28th June.

Lord Walsingham, Chairman of the Committee, objected to all the alterations in
the Bill and declared that fresh consents should be obtained from all the proprietors at
large before it pass into an Act. Hall travelled as far as Brighton and Worthing seeking
signatures, recording, ‘we were fearful Parliament would break up before fresh applications
could be made’, but the sentiments of his assistant, Cundell, who had earlier complained
at not returning home ‘till past eleven’, when collecting local signatures,!° are not recorded
on the occasion of his being instructed to retrace his steps. Lord Walsingham was persuaded
not to insist upon having Baskerville’s signature as he was too far away, and it ‘was expected
daily that Parliament would be prorogued’, but he insisted upon having Diana Caswall’s
signature which was evidently obtained, for on 2nd July he reported to the House that
he had ‘found the Allegations true’ and the ‘Parties concerned had given their consent to
the Satisfaction of the Committee’. No amendments were made and the Bill passed its
third reading on 3rd July, obtaining the Royal Assent on roth July.??

Obtaining the Act therefore seems to have followed the usual pattern where the
necessary preconditions were present, and a group of the larger proprietors, upon the
culmination of growing dissatisfaction with the existing state of affairs, recognized the
desirability and mutual benefit of improvement. In this instance a group of the larger
absentee proprietors appear to have made a similar attempt at an earlier date, but suffered
the delays of internecine rivalry. There seems to have been little opposition to the principle
of enclosure amongst those whose consent was required, and the relative smoothness with
which the Bill was passed was due in no small part to the organizing ability of Hall.

Surviving manuscript copies of the ‘consent’ Bill? show that it was signed by sixty
persons, declaring ‘we whose names are hereunder subscribed do consent to this Bill passing
into law .. .’. The Bill was printed with blank spaces for the Commissioners’ pay; periods
of notice required; and the proportion of waste land to be allowed for Right of Soil. A
printed Bill incorporating these additions in manuscript also shows the clauses added at
the last minute to satisfy Diana Caswall’s claim to the Manor of Upper Upham, previously
attributed to John Hancock.

II

The Act followed the usual pattern?3 of local private acts, citing the 1801 General
Act,?4 and provides a good particular example of the conditions laid down in these cases,
with the exception of there being no time-limits set for accepting or fencing the allotments.
The preamble called for the allotting of certain ‘Open and Common Arable Land, Com-
mon Meadows, Common Pastures, Common Downs, Waste and other Commonable
Lands and Grounds’, and ‘divers ancient Inclosures’, going on to estimate the area of
pasture at approximately 2,400 acres including old enclosures. The owners of the glebe
and the tithes were listed, as were the alleged Lords and Lady of the Manors; Baskerville
of the Warren; Caswall of Upper Upham; and Hancock of the remainder. The last-
minute claim of Diana Caswall was provided for in: ‘is, or claims to be, the Lady of the

gi

Manor of Upper Upham, and, ‘entitled to the Soil of any Common or Waste land lying
within the same .

The preamble ended with the familiar refrain of the usual apology: ‘the lands and
grounds of the respective Proprietors . . . be intermixed and dispersed and are so circum-
stanced as to render the Cultivation and Management thereof in their present state
inconvenient and incapable of any considerable Improvement’, and that the enclosure
‘cannot be effected without the Aid and Authority of Parliament’.

The Commissioners were named, and the conditions for appointing replacements
show that Stephen King of Overton was chosen by Hancock; George Barnes of Andover,
by Elderton, The Dean and Chapter of Winchester, Baskerville, and Caswall; and John
Williams of Baydon, ‘by a Majority in Value of the Proprietors or Persons interested in the
Said". lands’ 2 2.

The continuing representation of the interests of the latter was provided for by the
provision that ‘nothing herein mentioned shall extend to or authorise and empower
[Hancock, the Dean and Chapter of Winchester, Elderton, Baskerville, and Caswall] to
vote in the election of any Commissioner or Commissioners in the place of the said John
Williams’.

The Commissioners were to be paid £2.12.6d. per day, and were to appoint William
Church of Wantage as Surveyor, and a Clerk, ‘to assist them’. Notices of meetings were
to be posted on the Parish Church door and printed in ‘the Salisbury and Reading News-
papers’, at least eight days in advance. The Commissioners were empowered to assess
lands and to settle disputes, but not titles to land, and anyone dissatisfied with their
decisions could appeal to the Wiltshire Assizes within three months.

Then followed several clauses dealing with the allotment of land. The Surveyors of
the Highways were to have land for chalk and gravel pits, the herbage of which they could
‘let . . . for the best Rent that can be obtained’, and were to, ‘apply the Rents and Profits
thereof in repairing the Highways’. The Vicar (Elderton) was to have full compensation
for his glebe, common rights, and tithes, and the Lord of the Manor (Hancock) ‘not
exceeding one twentieth part in value’ of the waste lands for Right of Soil. As the ‘poor’
were to lose their right of ‘cutting furze on some of the commonable places intended to
be allotted’, they were to be allowed up to fifty acres to be held in trust, ‘to be cut as the
said ‘Trustees shall think proper’. Caswall was to have land adjoining Upper Upham Farm
on the Chase and Warren, and Baskerville, compensation for his rights,‘ in one entire
Piece’. The remaining land was to be allotted to ‘the several Persons interested therein’ in
proportion to their rights, and if ten or more of them applied on or before the second
meeting of the Commissioners, permission would be given for them to hold, in common,
land granted for cow commons. The Commissioners were empowered to direct the course
of husbandry during the making of the Award; render void all leases at Rack Rent, granting
compensation where necessary; and allow exchanges with the consents of the owners.

The expenses of the Act and Award were to be ‘borne and paid in a proportionable
Rate by all the Proprietors and Persons interested’, except The Dean and Chapter,
Rev. Elderton, Rev. Foxton, Baskerville, and Caswall in respect of the Warren; and if
anyone had lent any money towards paying the expenses of the Act, this was to be repaid
at 5°% interest per annum out of the ‘first monies’ raised. The Award was to be deposited
in the Parish Chest or ‘in any such other place as the Commissioners shall appoint’; the
Commissioners were to account to two Justices of the Peace each year; and any persons
aggrieved could appeal to the Quarter Sessions within four months of the cause of their
complaint.

III

The Commissioners’ Minute Book has survived,?5 so it is possible to reconstruct, in
detail, the execution of the Award. Their first meeting was held at the Crown Inn, Ald-
bourne, on 6th August 1805, when the oaths were taken; James Hall was appointed Clerk;
William Church Surveyor; and J. Hancock of Marlborough was chosen as Banker by a

92

majority in value of the proprietors. As before the passing of the Act, Hall appears as
the organizing force behind all the Commissioners’ business; busy preparing notices;
organizing claims; dealing with background correspondence; attending the Commissioners ;
collecting all the bills to be paid; dealing with the defaulters to the Rates; and preparing
the Award. He seems to have acted fairly and impartially as a professional attorney,
bearing in mind the interests of the proprietors at large, as when he refused to agree to
boundary fences being made between the Warren and Aldbourne Down at the expense
of the proprietors of common field land, saying, ‘I would not agree, as if it was suffered
it would cost them at least four or five hundred pounds’. He had personal knowledge of
the area, the trust of the local proprietors, and had previous experience as a Clerk in at
least one enclosure, at Lambourn (Award made 1806), where he acted with Commissioner
George Barnes.

There seems to be no evidence to suggest that Hall used his position to further the
interests of the claimants who were also his clients as an attorney, and whilst one could
argue that a partisan Clerk working for lazy, overworked, or careless Commissioners could
have had considerable influence on the equitable distribution of land, Hall took instructions
from the Commissioners at every stage. Considering the public nature of the business it
is difficult to imagine that any Clerk would act so as to risk a professional reputation, but
the Commissioners’ Clerk is a relatively neglected figure in enclosure history. Robson says
‘Attorneys formed a good proportion of enclosure commissioners’,?® giving two examples
of attorneys acting as Commissioners’ Clerks?7 and one of an attorney involved in soliciting
a Bill.28 It seems most likely that the aims of administrative efficiency and equitable
treatment were best met by the Commissioners leaving the day to day business to a Clerk,
thereby themselves being enabled to take a wider view of the problems as they arose.

At the second meeting the doubtful boundaries were perambulated and claims were
received. Notice of a further meeting on 21st October was given in the Reading and
Salisbury newspapers and on the Parish Church door, calling for ‘an account or schedule
in writing’, of outstanding claims. Up to 13th December, eight meetings were held, and
during October and November, the Commissioners were mainly concerned with valuing
the common field land and drawing-up a list of the claims. On goth December, they fixed
a deadline for claims of 12th February 1806, and stated that ‘non-compliance will be
totally barred and excluded from all Right or Title’. Eleven further claims were submitted
on 10th February, and the Commissioners gave detailed instructions on the course of
husbandry. These periodic instructions were issued to avoid a chaotic situation on the
actual date of the final extinction of common rights, before which elapsed a transitional
period. The Hammonds?9 mentioned this aspect of enclosure, saying “The life and business
of the village are in suspense and the commissioners are often authorised to prescribe the
course of husbandry during the transition’, which is a self-contradictory statement since if
the Commissioners were issuing husbandry instructions the life of the village could hardly
have been in suspense. Examination of the dates of the claims showed that apart from the
belated claim of T. Perfect’s trustees (dated 15th August 1806) the last one was submitted
on 22nd February 1806, so the proprietors had, in effect, five months to prepare their
claims.

In April, the public roads were appointed and a map prepared by the Surveyor which
was available for public inspection at Hall’s offices, together with copies of the claims.
Objections to both were delivered in May whilst the Commissioners were valuing the old
enclosures. The Commissioners’ decisions at their July meeting concerning objections to
roads are not recorded, but two Wiltshire magistrates viewed the roads and made altera-
tions, so some notice was presumably taken of these objections.

In August, the claimants were required ‘to substantiate and prove their respective
titles’; the late claim of T. Perfect’s trustees was allowed; and the valuation was finished.
The Commissioners were thus ready to make the allotments in September, when the
Vicar’s claim was objected to, delaying the business for a month, so that it was late October
before they began ‘scheming-out’ the allotments. In November, further road details were

93

published and objections invited, and it was declared that on 8th December Rack Rents
and Common Rights ‘shall be void’. By 19th December the allotments had been fixed and
a Rate levied, to be paid on or before 31st January 1807. Complaints about allotments
were heard in February 1807, and some alterations made, but the details have not
survived. The Rate defaulters were to pay 5°% per annum on the sums outstanding after
gth February.

In March, the preoccupation was with further roads, including one over the Warren,
concerning which legal opinion was sought; and fencing, to which some proprietors
objected because their proportions were too great, and consequently altered in the Award.
In April, the Surveyor placed boundary stones on the allotments, with the initials of the
respective holders, and the roads were finally settled as ‘no person objected’. A meeting
was held on 13th July to ‘examine and settle the Draft of Award’, and in October it was
decided to list in the Award the old enclosures exonerated, and those not exonerated, from
Vicarial ‘Tithes.

The draft Award was read to the proprietors at a meeting in Hungerford on 26th
January 1808, and the poor allotments agreed. No objections are recorded, and in May
the Commissioners met ‘to examine and settle the Award’. All the business hitherto had
been interspersed with meetings to issue banker’s drafts and to examine the banker’s
accounts, and in July a second Rate was decided upon. In September the Commissioners
‘corrected the Engrossment of the Award with the rough draft and reduced the Plan’,
holding several meetings between then and April 1809, to consider the defaulters to the
Rates and settle compensation for leases.

Notice was given on 26th May of a special meeting on 7th August, ‘for the purpose
of reading and executing the Award’, which took four days in all. The last Minute Book
entry is for 6th September 1809, giving the Road Rate, and adjourning until the 18th
October. Hall’s last action concerning the Award itself seems to have been around 29th May
when he recorded, ‘Attending to get award bound up, and several times afterwards for
same’.

Most of the Commissioners’ meetings were held at the Crown Inn, Aldbourne, with
a few at the Bear Inn, Hungerford, and The Duke of Marlborough Arms, Marlborough.
Altogether fifty-nine meetings were held between August 1805 and September 1809, but
of these, ten were adjourned without any action being taken as only one Commissioner
was present. The Commissioners seem to have been busiest, as one would expect, at the
beginning, when receiving claims and making valuations, but the frequency of active
meetings is evenly distributed, giving an overall average of one every month over the
period of four years.

All meetings were fully publicized in The Salisbury and Winchester Journal and The Reading
and Oxford Mercury, and by posting notices on the Parish Church door. Objections were
invited at every stage and full particulars of the proposed Award were displayed in Hall’s
offices. All the draft notices have survived and it is clear that Hall went to great trouble
to ensure that the spirit of the Act was complied with, even making weekly journeys to the
Parish Church to ensure that the notices there were still intact.

The meetings were not terminated, which accords with Beresford’s findings for
Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire,3® presumably because the Commissioners
could not be sure that further matters would not arise, and if their Commission had been
dissolved, then a further Act would have been necessary.

Five months seems ample time for claims to be submitted, and all those whose claims
were objected to were informed in writing, and requested to attend a meeting for a final
determination of rights. Altogether there were sixty-seven claims, of which only two
seem to have been disallowed, comprising only six acres, two cow commons, and seventeen
sheep commons. Most of the objections were to the numbers of cow and sheep commons
claimed, but that against the Vicar’s ‘tithes for cow white’ led the Commissioners to seek
legal advice. ‘The Award was delayed whilst this milch tithe issue was settled, and a copy
of the case, sent to Plommer of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, is endorsed ‘dispatch is earnestly

94

requested as the Commissioners are waiting in Town for the opinion and on no other
business’.3! Legal opinion was also sought on the matter of declaring a public road over
the Warren.

The individual valuations were listed in a “Statement of Property’, compiled by the
Commissioners, showing common fieid land, cow commons, and sheep commons, with
their annual values.3? They took the average for each person per year from 1800 to 1806
for the cow commons, which probably led to many of the objections to cow common
claims, but the method of estimating the annual value of common field land is not given.
Rough books survive showing that many amendments and alterations were made before
the final copy was prepared, and it seems that the Commissioners (or Hall) travelled around
seeking the consents of the various proprietors, recording the dates upon which they were
given. The replies quoted range from Baskerville’s: ‘I am not unaquainted with the
Clauses. But I shall give no personal Consent. My consent must be thro’ Mr. ‘Townsend’,
through W. Brown’s: ‘I shall not consent unless I am provided for against my lease being
made void’, to S. Slye’s: ‘I don’t understand it’. Eventually all the consents were given and
the final list of valuation was drawn up, following which the Commissioners invited written
requests for allotment situations, most of which seem to have survived.33

The drawing up and settling of the Award seems to have taken about two years,
which is not surprising considering the complexity of the land redistribution. J. Miller,
an Abingdon attorney, sent Hall a specimen copy of an Award, presumably to supplement
his Lambourn experience, saying, “You will see I am a friend of Recitals, though some
Commissioners discountenance them’.34 George Barnes was concerned that the Award
was being prepared too hastily at one stage, and writing to Hall on 28th August 1808, he
said, “The Award should be carefully examined for what I could see of it when last in
Aldbourne, it was very incorrect indeed.’35

Thus, so far as the arrangement of the business of the Award was concerned, it
appears to have been conducted according to the letter and spirit of the Act, and organized
at every stage by Hall.

Almost all the original bills of expenditure have survived and from these, together
with the Commissioners’ summaries, it is possible to reconstruct the full accounts of the
enclosure.3® The total general expenses were £5,766. 3. 9$d for which two rates of £4,045.
14. 2d and £1.795. 18. 5d were levied, showing an over-estimation of £75. 8. 94d, which
was presumably returned to the proprietors.

GENERAL EXPENSES

LS Oe fe Stace JMET Wok
Obtaining the Act

G. White, House of Commons Committee

Clerk’s fees for ‘passing the Act’. 244. 0. 8
J. Hall, Solicitor’s fees for ‘passing the Act’. 756. 7. 5
Mr. Bradford, mainly for mid-1805 for

obtaining consents and attending

House of Lords Committee. NOS 12s
Mr. King, mainly for mid-1805 for ‘travel-
ling to get the Bill signed’. 2 Gs, 6
J. Williams ‘to London to prove valuation
of Lands’. 7s aa Wet)
J. Allens ‘to London to prove the Bill
allegations’. 36.17. 0
D. Liddiard? (no individual bill found) 17-32. 6
Total for obtaining the Act 1927.7 Des

95

Commissioners

S. King

G. Barnes (for work as Commissioner only)
J. Williams

Total Commissioners’ fees

Clerk
J. Hall

Surveyors

G. Barnes (for work as Surveyor only)
Labourers and stakes, etc.

W. Church

Labourers

Total Surveyors’ fees

Miscellaneous

W. Simmonds for mere stones

T. Hodder for ‘Public’ (Crown Inn, Ald-
bourne)

Mr. Ashley ‘for attendances’ (possibly from
the banker)

L. Cook for stakes

Gen. Mead (see below)

Mr. Towsend for journeys for evidence
and on Legal issues

J. Wells for enquiries into Vicar’s tithe
claim

Reading Mercury and Salisbury and Wiltshire
Journal for advertisements

D. Liddiard ?

Bill for Public (The Commissioners bills for
travelling and subsistence have sur-
vived)

S. James for carrying mere stones from
Swindon

J. Storton for carrying stones

Interest on sums borrowed

Stamps and getting Award signed, etc.

Total Miscellaneous

23)
77.
200.

ee)

°

(oom oe)

792.18. 2
814. 5. 54
O53. 12. 1
1707217. 6%
668. 6. 8

Grand Total £5,766. 3. 94

General Mead’s Claim—‘Your surveyors having cut my wood in Love’s Coppice in a
very unusual manner in every direction. I send you the bill for cutting the wood close to

the stem.’

Of the total expenses, about 22° went to the passing of the Act; about the same to
the three Commissioners; about 13°% to the Clerk; about 30°% to the Surveyors; and the
miscellaneous items claimed about 12%. So far as individuals were concerned, slightly
over one-quarter of the total went to Hall in his two capacities of Solicitor and Clerk,
and Barnes received in his two capacities of Commissioner and Surveyor a total of about
one-fifth. Church got about one-seventh, and the other Commissioners about one-twelfth

96

each. Most of the miscellaneous charges were for the Commissioners’ travelling and
subsistence, drawing-up the Award, and interest on money borrowed, which at 5% per
annum must have totalled the equivalent of approximately £3,500 for one year.

Notices of the two Rates levied were posted on the Parish Church door, giving the
dates when payments were due. It is difficult to relate the Rate figures to original claims
or to allotments, which could give an indication of loss or gain per claimant, as allowances
for unexpired parts of leases were included here. The Commissioners tried to be scrupu-
lously fair in calculating the net sum due in each case, and a standard procedure was
adopted of which the following is a typical example:

Date grd May 1805
Parties J. Hancock, T. Clarke, and J. Gosling to T. Gould
Term From 11th October 1805, for 7 years
Annual Rent £120
Unexpired Term 6 years
pes d.
Common Field Land Foo VA 28
Old Enclosures 205 (Oe) 7
Sheep Commons 122-17. “6
Cow Commons 16, 72. 3
134 1257

OLD RENT 120. oO. oO

job, Ok,
6.
87:15. 26
Landlord to allow tenant 87. 15: 6
Deduct 3/— in the pound TOS syed:
Sum to be paid Ave 2s
Deduct interest for 4 years 14. +18: 0
To be paid 5O. I4- > 2

- “15% is deducted from our Valuation upon calculating the Compensation for leases
and the interest deducted from Mich’ 1808 for payment in ready money up to the End of
the Term.’

Also an elaborate table was constructed to show ‘Apportionment of Expenses as made
between the Lessor and the Lessee where leases were not terminated’.

The total Rates of £5,841. 12. 7d for 3,864 acres of land enclosed give an average
cost of about 30/— per acre. If the total annual value of land enclosed is calculated at
2,388 acres of arable at 13/— per acre plus 1,476 acres of pasture at 3/6d per acre, the
Rates for the general expenses were approximately three times the total annual land value.
If Elderton estimated the value of the improvements by enclosure correctly when he wrote
to Hall saying, ‘I have all along been in hopes the living would be doubled by the Inclosure’37
[his underlining] then the burden of the general expenses would have been eliminated
- in about three to four years. So if the individual private expenses approximately doubled
the total costs, the whole enclosure expenses would have been met in six to eight years,
on this optimistic expectation. Part of the settlement made by R. Wells for J. Wells,
which refers to an allotment of seventy-three acres, said ‘in consequence of the said division,

97

Allotment and Inclosure, and the Improvements already made, and about to be made it
was ascertained that the said hereditaments and premises were and would be greatly
increased in value so as to produce double the amount of the annual profit’.38

The first Rate was levied on 1oth January 1807, with payment due on or before
gist January 1807, and the defaulters after 9th February were charged 5°% per annum
interest. The second Rate was levied on 2nd November 1808, and the Commissioners
ordered that both Rates must be paid by 1st February 1809. The defaulters were further
warned on 19th April that proceedings would be taken against them if the outstanding
amounts were not paid by rst May 1809.

Lists of defaulters at various stages suggest that on average about fifteen people
owed about 10% of the total due. A list for 5th August 1807, shows fifteen defaulters on
the first Rate owing £508, and one for 26th June 1809, shows seventeen owing £483 on
both Rates, with seven only on the second. The defaulters do not appear to fall into any
groupings of proprietors, and the sums owed ranged from £1 to just over £100. By 19th
August 1809, the list had been reduced to five owing £321. 15. 7d as follows:

se Se asd

S. Chamberlain 79.10. 2
A. Mortimer 148. 15. . 0
S. Newth Gy Etore.
J. Coleman bE okie S
I

C. Gould 28F ONT
BO eas. vy

There is no apparent common factor in these cases, and a copy of a Warrant of
Distress sent to R. Walford for part of J. Hancock’s Rate in July 1817, suggests that either
this was a stray element, or the final collecting of the money took much longer than
expected.

IV

In their Award39 the Commissioners gave the total land enclosed as 4,040 a., less
106 a. of old enclosures, and 77 a. of roads, so leaving 3,857 a. of new allotments enclosed.
The actual total was 4,031 a., less 90 a. of old enclosures, and 77 a. of roads, leaving
3,864 a. of new allotments enclosed, of which 2,388 a. were arable, 1,470 a. pasture, and
6 a. woodland. There was a total of sixty-eight exchanges, containing 225 a. (29 old
enclosures totalling 89 a., and 39 new allotments totalling 136 a.). If allowance is made for
the 383 a. of Baskerville’s old enclosures included in the “Statement of Property’, and the
41 a. omitted from Coleman’s claim, the totals of common field land claimed by the
proprietors, and valued by the Commissioners roughly balance. The claims total 2,371 a.
(plus 41 a. gives 2,412 a.) and the valuation 2,768 a. (less 383 a. gives 2,385 a.) which
corresponds with the Award’s arable total of 2,388 a. ‘The Commissioners under-valued
the claims for cow commons by about 2°, and those for sheep commons by about 13%,
but most of the registered objections were to cow and sheep commons, therefore suggesting
that there was over-claiming, and in none of the 67 individual claims is there any evidence
of wide discrepancies.

By comparing the original values of the claims with those of the allotments, it is
possible. to estimate roughly the gain or loss on each. If the average value of common
field land is taken at 13/— per acre (calculated from the Commissioners’ aggregate valua-
tion, and supported by values given in an 1811 Survey Book4°), pasture at 3/6d per acre
(calculated from the Commissioners’ valuation of Elderton’s claim), one cow common at
4/9d (given in the Commissioners’ valuation), and one sheep common at 2.3d (calculated
from the Commissioners’ valuations giving cow and sheep commons together), and bearing
in mind whether the average value of the original land was above or below the overall

98

average, the number of cow and sheep commons claimed, and the amount of pasture land
allotted, the only unknown variable is the value of the land allotted. This cannot be
estimated precisely, but it does seem that the North Field was worth much less than the
others, and a guess at relative field values can be made, giving the East, Rookesbury and
Windmill Fields as above average, and the North, West, and South Fields as below average.
Whilst recognizing that a gain or loss on an allotment value could be for an above- or
below-average value of the original land, or for the different value of allotted land, and
that no net change cannot therefore be inferred to signify a balancing of values for before
and after in every case, the above conditions provide a basis for a consistent analysis
which reveals certain tendencies.

Even allowing for the relatively lower values of the North Field, Wells seems to have
gained very considerably, and Neate to have lost considerably (see Appendix 2). The
overall discrepancy between the gains and losses arises from the lack of precision in the
figures used, and it can be assumed that the overall net gain was probably spread over all
the non-gaining claimants, otherwise a corresponding single figure would have emerged
in the losses list. There may or may not be significance in the fact that Wells4t was one
of the principal resident proprietors and therefore probably one of the initiators of the
Bill, whereas Neate lived in Devizes, but no evidence has emerged to suggest that the
Commissioners explicitly recognized this.

This analysis throws attention onto the North Field. Wells originally held land worth
less than the average and received all his land allotted in the North Field, of which much
was over 700 ft. and much was pasture. Neate originally held land of above average value,
and all his land allotted was in the North Field, but not all over 700 ft., and none was
pasture. Weaver Smith says that mixed farming is difficult even at the present day, in
downland areas of Wiltshire over 700 ft.,42 and, as the map (Appendix 1) shows, the
North Field rose to over 700 ft., but most of the land in Aldbourne over 700 ft. was pasture
(i.e. Snap, Ewen’s Hill and the Chase) so the Commissioners probably had difficulty in
valuing the marginal land in the North Field, concerned in the allotment of arable and
pasture, above and below 700 ft., and allotted to Wells a large area of low-value high land
because his original land was of less than average value.

Thus it would appear that whilst there were four moderate gains, and three moderate
losses, the only serious discrepancy was with Wells, whose advantage, if any, appears to
have been short-lived as he went bankrupt in 1825.43

It is impossible to build up a picture of changing land tenures from the claims and the
Award because those stated are in some cases misleading, and one cannot be sure that land
claimed as freehold was not let out. The Land Tax Assessments#4 are also not very helpful.
Bearing in mind Mingay’s qualifications,45 following Grigg’s classifications4® and recog-
nizing that Aldbourne was entirely rural,47 the following table shows that the figures for
owner-occupiers as a percentage of the total proprietors fluctuated during the period the
Award was being made, then settled down, after 1810, to a lower level than formerly.
The value figures rose for the 1780s, fluctuated during the Award period, and were then
fairly stable after 1811, at a lower level than previously. ‘The lack of comprehensive
information and the inclusion of old enclosed land make it impossible to compare the
Land Tax with the Award, but the movements at least show that the period between the
Act and the Award was an unsettled one, because of buying and selling.

The requests for allotment situations+® have survived, and have been compared with
the respective actual allotment situations. Sixty-two per cent of the allotments were
situated either exactly, or nearly exactly, where requested; 63% are doubtful; and 23%
(13% if tithes are excluded) represent claims with no requests. This leaves 83% which
were definitely different, of which 4°% were totally different, but only one claimant
complained in writing.

If freehold and leasehold allotments are taken together, Hancock appears to have
been the worst sufferer, but his was the lowest percentage of land involved. More allotments
affected were arable than pasture, but this is not surprising as it reflects the composition

99

1792 to 1805 Owner-Occu-
piers not available

1810 onwards, only half
gave Owner-occupiers
(i.e. the ‘not redeemed’

list).

Claim Nos.

7O
73
72
79
I12
113
114
133
144
178
185
186
197
198 |
200
201

Names

G. Church
G. Church
G. Church
R. Church
J. Hancock
Hancock
Hancock
T. Hill

J. Neate

J. Smith

R. Walford
W. Warman
J. Wentworth
E. Witts

E. Witts

E. Witts

If
J.

LAND TAX ASSESSMENTS

Nos. of Owner-

Total Taxes

occupiers as Per- Owner-occupiers

Dates

1780
1781
1782
L783
1784
1785
1786
1787
1788
1789
1790
1791
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816

Tenures

Qala Oates
“<I

Proprietors
45
49
50
49
48
55
54
61
61
59
53
49
62
42
36
38
43
32
34
32
48
42
38
ALLOTMENT SITUATIONS
Land Types
and
Locations
(see map)
A; Rk. Fd.
A; Wd. Fd.
A; Rk. Fd.
A; Rk. Fd.
A; E. Fd.
P; Chase
A; E. Fd.
A;.N. Fd.
P; Chase
A; E. Fd.
A; E. Fd.
A; N. Fd.
A; Rk. Fd.
A; E. Fd.
A; E. Fd.
A; N. Fd.
Total

* Complained in writing.

10O

centages of Total as Percentages
of Total Taxes

Acreages

352-32
13-2-I
23-2-1 4.

(azar

2-0-0
2—-0-30
17—2—29

3-2-12

335057,
0-2-23

33-2-20
Geta)
1-3-8

nag |
22-I-3
4-3-3090
321—0-38

Percentages
of Claimants’
Totals

30
5D

22

100
100
100
100
100
100*

100

of new allotments. Seven people appear to have been seriously inconvenienced. Witts was
hit twice as not only was all his land affected but it comprised the largest in area. Hancock
was probably not seriously inconvenienced as he was an absentee landlord, and Church
had nearly all his other allotments in one unit. Thus it seems that Witts and the small men
were the real sufferers, comprising together about half of the total inconvenienced, and
affecting about 4.°% of the total enclosed area.

The exchanges+9 have been grouped into those with no apparent locational reason;
those which seem to have been positively disadvantageous locationally; those for road-
widening; those for convenience within the town; and those with apparent locational
advantage (see Appendix 3). There appears to be no logical reason for 70°%, but there is
an observable tendency, suggested by the low mileage figures and the relationships between
town and field holdings in those with apparent locational advantages, that the holders of
new allotments were near enough to the town to be interested in buildings there, and that
the owners of the latter wanted arable land, but not too far away from the town, so good
bargains were able to be struck. The North Field accounted for all the new allotments of
the group with no apparent locational reasons and seemingly disadvantageous, which
probably indicates that the holders were anxious to divest themselves of unattractive land.

V

So we can see that this enclosure concerned a fairly large number of independent
freeholders, both resident and absentee, none of whom was strong enough to dominate the
proceedings. Hall was the organizing force behind the obtaining of the Act, which con-
tained typical clauses. The Commissioners’ Minute Book and working papers show that
although their work was complex it was effected in a well-organized manner, thanks to
Hall, and there were no undue delays or excessive costs involved.

When the original claims and the Award allotments are compared, the redistribution
appears to have been made impartially, and the Land Tax evidence suggests that there
was no great overall change in owner-occupancy. The analyses of situation requests and
exchanges reveal certain inconsistencies, but nothing of any great concern.

The overall impression which emerges from this study is of a well-organized Award
which was fairly and impartially executed, within the requirements of the Act, as was found
for the Awards for parishes around Longleat.s° When all the evidence is considered,
Aldbourne appears as a typical, if not model, example of the process of peak-period
Wiltshire Parliamentary Enclosure, where the Parish was not owned by one or two
dominant freeholders.

1 1806, one year after the Act, as the 1805
Return did not distinguish between occupiers and
owners.

2 Wiltshire County Record Office (hereafter
W.R.O.), 130/77/2.

3 W.R.O. 562/13.

W.R.O. 3/3.

W.R.O. 700/20.

E.g. W.R.O. 130/46 and W.R.O. 36/39.
W.R.O. 211/5.

8 W.R.O. 211/13. Letters dated 23rd May,
1803, from J. Hall to J. Williams, S. Neate, and
J. Elderton.

9 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 27th May, 1803,
from J. Williams to J. Hall.

10 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 8th Sept., 1803,
from J. Halles to J. Hall.

mW.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 18th August,
1803, from J. Ashley to J. Hall.

2 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 8th Sept., 1803,
from J. Halles to J. Hall.

13 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 26th Sept., 1803,
from D. Ludlow to J. Hall.

4
5
6
7

™4 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 27th Sept., 1803,
from R. Pearce to J. Hall.

1 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 22nd August,
1803, from S. Holbrook to J. Hall.

16 W.R.O. 211/12.

17 This reconstruction of the soliciting of the Act
is based upon the detailed accounts book kept by
Hall from 1803 to 1809 in W.R.O. 211/12.

18 W.R.O. 211/13. Letters dated 15th and 30th
April, 1805, from White to J. Hall.

19 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 3rd June, 1805,
from Townsend to J. Hall.

20 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 18th June, 1805,
from J. Cundell to J. Hall.

21 45 Geo. 3, Cap. 59, and A. of C. Journals,
LIX, 113; LX, 101, 309 and 489. H. of L. Journals,
XLV, 358b, 363a, 375b, 378b, and 413b.

22 W.R.Q. 211/1/2.

23 This is discussed in detail in my unpublished
Ph.D. thesis, Parliamentary Enclosure in Wiltshire
(University of Bristol, 1971).

144 41 Geo. 3 Cap. 109.

a5 W.R.O. 2i1/1/t.

IOI

26 R. Robson, The Attorney in Eighteenth Century
England (1959), 111, n. 1.

27 Ibid., 68.

28 [bid., 80, 110.

29 J. L. and B. Hammond, The Village Labourer
(1912), 58.

30 M. W. Beresford, Commissioners of Enclosure,
Economic History Review, xvi (1946), 130-40.

31 W.R.O. 212B/14.

32 W.R.O. a11/i.

33 W.R.O. 2131/4.

34 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 21st April, 1807,
J. Miller to J. Hall.

35 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 28th August,
1808, G. Barnes to J. Hall.

36 W.R.O. 211/1/1, 9, 12, and 13.

37 W.R.O. 211/13. Letter dated 13th Sept., 1806,
J. Elderton to J. Hall.

38 W.R.O. 212A/36/40.

719 W.R.O. 154/5.

102

40 W.R.O. 105/7.

4" R. Wells claimed the land and subsequently
settled it upon J. Wells.

42M. Weaver Smith, Snap—A Modern
Example of Depopulation, W.A.M., 57 (1960),
386—go.

43 W.R.O. 212A/36/40.

44 W.R.O. Land Tax Assessments—Aldbourne.

45 G. E. Mingay, The Land Tax Assessment and
the Small Landowner, Econ. Hist. Rev., 2nd ser.,
xvut (1964).

46 D. B. Grigg, The Land Tax Returns, Agr. Hist.
Rev., X1 (1963), 2.

47 J. M. Martin, Landownership and the Land
Tax Returns, Agr. Hist. Rev., x1v (1966).

48. W.R.O. 211/8.

49 Listed in the enclosure Award.

5°'The Longleat enclosures are discussed in
detail in my unpublished Ph.D. thesis (see note 23 )

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103

APPENDIX 2
CLAIMANTS’ GAINS AND LOSSES

GAINS
Original Holdings Net Gains
Claim Nos. Names CEES. “C:G8: SCS. ~ CHES, “CiGs. S.CS,
8 W. Brown 97 18 20 10 2 20
19 S. Chamberlain 29 6 66 15 3 33
41 A. Mortimer 58 12 20 12 3 5
53 T. Stroud 8 5 4.2 8 5 42
61,
40, J. Wells 233 48 400 lay 24. 200
and 51
162 37 300
LOSSES
Original Holdings Net Losses
Claim Nos. Names CELLS. “CCS. S.CS.. (Ci.ES) +€.CS. S.CS.
33 M. Brown ) I (e) 4 ) 0)
Il W. Brown O 20 a) ) 7 )
14 J. Blackman Oo 7 Oo O 2 )
15 G. Church 209 414 591 15 3 42
23 D. Caswall ) 86 ) fo) 43 )
24 J. Coxhead Oo I Oo Oo 4 )
26 Rev. Elderton 26 6 60 8 2 20
28 J. Finch ) 2 @) ) 3 Oo
34. T. Hodder 18 4 40 13 2 30
36 YT. Ail 4 O ) I Oo )
42 S. Neate 103 QI 210 41 8 80
44 J. Neate O 61 Oo O 30 fo)
52 A. Read 3 fo) ) 14 @) ©)
58 R. Salt I ) O 3 Oo Oo
59 S. Slye 3 ) Oo 14 Oo )
60 G. Trueman 6 I 17 6 I 17,
102 99 189
(No estimates possible on (Discrepancy is approximately
Claims 30 and 64.) 30%, of gains total.)

104.

APPENDIX 3

I. NO APPARENT LOCATIONAL REASONS

Award
Nos.

39

for
60

61
for
106
139
for
159
166
for
167
IQI
for
125

Names

T. Baskerville

W. Brown
W. Brown

T. Gould
A. Mortimer

T. Perfect
T. Perfect

W. Powell
J. Wells

Rev. Elderton O.E.; Town

2. N.A.L.R. (SEEM DISADVANTAGEOUS)

Award
Nos.

108

for
165
127
and 128

for
136

195
for
24.

Names

C. Gould

T. Perfect

J. Hancock

E. Lovelock
J. Wells

Rev. Elderton

EXCHANGES
Land Types
and Acreages
Locations
(see map)
P; Warren g—0-39
P; Warren 16—0-20
A; W. Fd: 0—3-20
O.E.; Town O—I-I0
NAV Vehicle: 2-2-9
O.E.; Town 0-3-19
AGE. Ed: 0-0—30
A;-W. Fd. 0-0-4
AG IN. Fd. 50-25
0-0-25
I-1-9
340-27
Land Types
and Acreages
Locations
(see map)
O.E.; Preston 40-I-15
A; N. Fd. 27—-0-12
Wood: 8. Wd. 6—0-30
& A; W. Fd. 0—-2-10
A; Ewen’s 6—1-10
Hill
A;N. Fd. 39-2-12
O.E.; Town 3-0-14.
56-1-39

66—-2—24.

Old
Enclosures or
New
Allotments

N.A.

N.A.
N.A.

OLE.
N.A.

O.E.
N.A.

INVA.
N.A.
O.E.
O.E.s (3)
N.A.s (7)

Old
Enclosures
or New
Allotments

O.E.

N.A.

Distances
Apart
(Miles)

Very near

13

Average 1}

Distances
Apart
(Miles)

14

Yeo

Average 14

105

3. ROAD-WIDENING (Exchanges made before allotments listed)

Award
Nos.

106

Names

S. Chamberlain

Surveyor of
Highways
N. Wright

Surveyor of
Highways

J. Hancock

Surveyor of
Highways
S. Fishlock

Surveyor of
Highways
T. Liddiard

Surveyor of
Highways
W. Revell

Surveyor of
Highways

Land Types
and
Locations
(see map)

A;S. Fd.

O.E.; Town
A; W. Fd.

O.E.; Town
A; W. Fd.

O.E.; Town
A; W. Fd.

O.E.; ‘Town
O.E.; Town

O.E.; Town
A; W. Fd.

O.E.; Town

Acreages

O—-2-34.

0-0-23

O-I-19

0-0-4.

0-1-3

0-0-4

0-0-4.

o—o0-8

0—0-13

o-—0-16

0-0-4

o—0—6

O-I-34

I-I-24

Old

Enclosures

or New

Allotments

IN: A:

O.E.
N.A.

O.E.
N.A.

©O-E:
N.A.

O.E.
O.E.

O.E.

4. APPARENT LOCATIONAL ADVANTAGES (

existing O.E.s or N.A.s.)

Award
Nos.

ASS)

for
37

67

for
129

and
129

for

V7
75

for

82
80

for

189
81
for
188
27
for
158
168

for
156

174
for
23

199

for
206

Names

Sir F. Burdett

T. Baskerville
G. Church

T. Hancock

T. Perfect

T. Church

R. Church
R. Church

J. Wells
R. Church

J. Wells
Rev. Elderton

T. Perfect
G. Read

T. Perfect
J. Shepherd

Rev. Elderton
E. Witts

J. Woodley

Land Types
and
Locations
(see map)
Mdw

Pp
O.E.

A&P; W. Fd.

A; Lotage

O.E.; Town

A: W. Fd.
A; W. Fd.

O.E.; Town
A; W. Fd.

Mdw; O.E.;
Town

A;N. Fd.

A O.;
Town
A;N. Fd.

A; Lotage
A; N..Fd.

O.E.; Town

SORES.
Town

A; E. Fd.

Acreages

1-1-9
23-2-0

2-1-35

o-2-18

Old
Enclosures
or New
Allotments

O:E.

N.A.
O.E.

N.A.

N.A.

O.E.

Brought land near to one or both of the parties

Distance

Apart
(Miles)

=
toh

Bim

ts

5. CONVENIENCE IN TOWN

Old
Award Land Types Enclosures
Nos. Names and Acreages or New
Allotment Allotments
(see map)
152 LL. Pizzie O.E.; Lotage 0-2-3 O.E.
for
169 G. Read O.E.; Lotage 0-3-2 OE;
160 T. Perfect A;N. Fd. 2-2-7 N.A.
(nr. Town)
for
190 J. Wells Mdvw; O.E., I-I-21 O.E.
‘Town
28 Rev. Elderton —Bdgs; ‘Town 0-0-20 OE.
for
175 J. Shepherd Bdgs; ‘Town 0-0-19 O.E.
29 Rev. Elderton Bdgs; ‘Town 0-0-20 O.E:
for
176 J. Shepherd Bdgs; ‘Town 0-0-19 O.E.
30-24, @.E:s
2-2-7 N.A.s

108

DAVID HERBERT LLEWELLYN 1837-1864
by MARK BAKER

NEAR THE ALTAR on the south wall of Easton Royal church, just to the left of
the vestry door, can be seen a marble tablet erected to the memory of David Herbert
Llewellyn, who lost his life in the American Civil War at the age of 26. The glass
in the east window also forms part of the memorial to him; and there is another
tablet to his memory in the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School. Why was this
young man so well commemorated ?

The story of his life can be told briefly. Born on gth September 1837, he was
the third and youngest son of the Reverend David Llewellyn, who held the livings
first of Fonthill Bishop, then of Easton Royal, being perpetual curate of Easton Royal
for 29 years. As a boy, Llewellyn, like his two older brothers, was educated at
Marlborough College, then one of the newest public schools, founded in 1843
particularly, though not exclusively, for the sons of clergymen, and of course
conveniently near Easton Royal. After five years at Marlborough, he became in
1853 an articled pupil to a doctor in Richmond, then in 1856 a student at the Charing
Cross Hospital. Here he distinguished himself by winning medals in chemistry and
surgerv. He qualified as a doctor in 1859. A doctor’s training in those days was less
elaborate than it is now, and it was not unusual for a clever medical student to
qualify at the early age of 22. Unfortunately we do not know what Llewellyn did
during the next three years, from 1859 to 1862; if we did, it might help us to under-
stand why he took the final step in his brief career by signing on as surgeon on a
newly built steamer at Birkenhead, known as No. 290. On reaching the Azores,
No. 290 was christened the Alabama, and was fully equipped as a fighting vessel,
under the command of Captain Raphael Semmes of the Navy of the Confederate
States of America, then waging their war for independence against the Northern
or Federal States. The Alabama had in fact been built for the Confederate Navy.
Semmes brought with him his own surgeon, of the name of Galt, but Llewellyn
continued to serve in the Alabama as assistant surgeon; later Galt became paymaster,
and Llewellyn became surgeon, as he is correctly called on both the tablets erected
to his memory. After a sensational career as an armed raider—or should one say
‘cruiser’ ?—doing great damage to Federal shipping in the Atlantic and the Indian
Ocean, the Alabama was caught off Cherbourg by a more efficiently equipped
Federal armed vessel, the Kearsarge,t and on the morning of Sunday, 19th June 1864,
was sunk in a fight that lasted just over an hour. Llewellyn went down with the ship,
after refusing a place, which he had a perfect right to take, in the boat taking the
wounded men from the Alabama to the Kearsarge. The boat was full; he feared to
add to the weight; he had already prevented another unwounded man from jumping
into it. He could not swim; and he was last seen floating out into the water with an
empty ammunition box under each arm.

109

The fight between the Alabama and the Kearsarge was reported in the national
and local newspapers in England, and Llewellyn’s brave death became national
news. The battle, though short, had been a very nasty and bloody one for the
crew of the Alabama; Llewellyn’s operating table was shot away from him with a
wounded man on it. The Admiralty was indignantly told by reporters that the
Kearsarge had much better armour and guns than any vessel in the Royal Navy.
Much sympathy was expressed for the survivors, including Captain Semmes, who
were brought to Southampton in a private yacht. The excitement caused in this
country by the Alabama affair and by Llewellyn’s death is not so easy to understand
just over a century later. More lies beneath the surface than appears at first sight.

In the American Civil War (1861-1865) the sympathies of the British people
were divided. Nothing is more difficult to assess than movements of public opinion,
as opinion pollsters know to their cost; so perhaps we should regard with some
caution the generally accepted view that the working classes in the industrial north
favoured the Federal (Northern) cause, while the upper classes generally were
keen supporters of the Confederate (Southern) states, and the outcome of the war,
in which Lincoln and the Federalists defeated the slave-owners of the south, dis-
appointed the gentlemen of England in rather the same way as the defeat of an
amateur cricket team by a team of professionals would do. But that there was a
division of opinion is clear. The friends and relatives of thousands of emigrants
who had sailed from Liverpool and Bristol to New York during the previous twenty
years naturally enough were likely to support the northern side. What is surprising
is the amount of open and enthusiastic support that the southern slave-owners
received. For example, both Gladstone, just after the Alabama had sailed for the
Azores, and his sister, who violently disagreed with him on most matters, just after
the ship was sunk off Cherbourg, expressed views strongly favourable to the Con-
federates. Navy and Army officers subscribed to give a new sword to Semmes to
replace the one he had dramatically thrown into the sea when the Alabama sur-
rendered. Semmes claimed to have a fan mail from English schoolboys. ‘The owner of
the yacht Deerhound which picked up some of the Alabama’s crew was backed up by
the Royal Yacht Squadron for having refused to hand them over to the Kearsarge.
English country gentlemen felt they had more in common with the old families of
Virginia and Carolina than with the Yankee merchants of the north. But sympathy
for the southerners seems not to have been confined to the upper crust of society.
‘Every true Englishman,’ said The Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, ‘will regret to learn
that the gallant Alabama has gone to her last resting-place.’ The Devizes and Wiltshire
Gazette was widely read in this area, as its advertisements show, and it is unlikely
that the editor would have printed those words if he had thought that many of the
paper’s readers would be delighted to know that the Alabama had been sunk. Many
of the Alabama’s crew were English; the boys, for instance, as Captain Semmes wrote
later in his memoirs, ‘had been taken from the stews and haunts of vice about
Liverpool, and were as great a set of scamps as any disciplinarian could desire to
“‘lick into shape’’ ’—and lick them into shape he did, at least according to his own
account. Though most English people disapproved of slavery, the Confederates
had the strong appeal of being the weaker side; and slavery after all could be seen,

I1O

as the war went on, to be not the only or even the main issue. The main issue was
whether or not that union of states should survive which had broken away from
England at the end of the 18th century and had twice joined in with our enemies the
French against us—in the War of Independence itself, and again in 1812-14——on
both occasions causing us some humiliation. The British were an openly and un-
ashamedly patriotic people a hundred years ago, and that patriotism may indirectly
have had something to do with the sympathy expressed for the Confederates in
general and the captain and crew of the Alabama in particular. Llewellyn’s death
momentarily gave that feeling of sympathy a dramatic intensity.

We do not know exactly why Llewellyn decided to serve on a vessel which
was sailing for an unknown destination with a scratch crew and a temporary
captain. It seems fair to assume that he and the more intelligent members of the
crew had at least an inkling that this was a Confederate warship in disguise, and
would be treated openly as such when it reached the unknown destination which
turned out to be the Azores. ‘There Captain Semmes explained the position very
clearly to the crew; there guns and ammunition were taken on board. Llewellyn
could easily and honorably have come straight home from the Azores, if he had
wished to: he was going to be superseded as surgeon of the vessel, and could have said
he wanted a job where he would be in charge and fully occupied all the time. He did
not come back; he was content to be assistant surgeon on the Alabama, to serve under
Captain Semmes, and to give his life for the Confederate Navy. He worked success-
fully and willingly: Semmes pays tribute to him for his help in enforcing the health
regulations on the ship and, by implication, in cleaning up the Liverpool scamps:
there were no deaths from disease on the Alabama. Was Llewellyn’s motive the call of
adventure ? Or love of the sea (although he could not swim) ? Or a bit of both? Only
one of his letters has come down to us, the last he ever wrote, and that throws no
light on this point, though it shows he fully realized he might not survive the fight
with the Kearsarge. If we ask, however, why he did not join the Royal, as opposed to
the Confederate, Navy, a possible answer is provided by articles published in The
Daily Telegraph and The Lancet just after his death. “There has been a stupid jealousy
set on foot between “‘combatant”’ and “‘non-combatant”’ officers,’ said The Daly
Telegraph, ‘—as if the slayer were superior to the healer—which is having the effect
of utterly demoralising the medical division of our services . . . We are carefully
taking measures to keep men like Llewellyn out of our ranks, and drive them to
Confederate cruisers, foreign service—anything and everything sooner than the
regiments and ships where they are officially snubbed’. “Rarely, indeed,’ said The
Lancet, ‘is it that the virtues of our brethren meet with fitting honour. Under the
“cold shade” of an iniquitous system their services are ignored, and their deaths
recorded in a single line of a gazette... And yet Llewellyn was the type of a class
whom the Admiralty and the Horse Guards have thought fit, by every means in
their power, to degrade and insult. No wonder, under such circumstances, that the
service is now so unpopular that there are more than 200 vacancies which cannot be
filled up.’ These are strong words from a professional journal and suggest that
The Daily Telegraph’s criticisms cannot be written off as politically biassed and unfair.
While The Lancet seemed to be mainly concerned about professional snobbery in the

III

Army, The Daily Telegraph talked of doctors being ‘affronted by the regulations’,
evidently in both Services, and medical students being put off by ‘the action about
the Warrant of 1858’. Whatever the exact nature of the insensitivity shown by the
authorities towards the doctors of the Army and Navy, it is clear that both Services
had got badly on the wrong side of them: only the Indian Army, many of whose
doctors subscribed to the Llewellyn Memorial Fund, seems to have been in the clear,
which is perhaps not surprising. Miss Nightingale, an antagonist far more formidable
than The Daily Telegraph or The Lancet, had come near to breaking-point in her
struggle with the Army administration. Now, in spite of the improvements made in
the Army medical service since the Crimean War, owing to some muddle at the
top the status of doctors was being downgraded. Young men of Llewellyn’s stamp
would not readily submit to such treatment. The situation was all the more serious,
according to The Daily Telegraph, because ‘at this moment war is in the air’. In
what sense was war ‘in the air’ in the summer of 1864? The danger which Palmerston
in 1861 and 1862 had felt to be threatening Canada from the Yankee North seemed
to have passed, and it was now highly unlikely that the British Government would
intervene directly in North America. The Volunteer Forces formed in 1859 as a
protection against an imaginary threat from France were still in being and continued
to be so for some time yet. In Mexico French troops were busy propping up the
Emperor Maximilian on his rickety throne and trying to keep President Juarez’
guerillas at bay: indeed a small British force had assisted in the occupation of Vera
Cruz. But these were minor matters. Much more probably the writer in The Daily
Telegraph was thinking of the crisis over Schleswig-Holstein which, for Great Britain,
reached its crucial stage in that very month of June 1864. The two duchies had been
seized by Prussia and Austria in a brief war with Denmark during the winter and
spring: there followed an armistice and a conference, and the world waited to see
how Britain, involved as the signatory of a treaty, would react. On the same day on
which the Alabama was sunk by the Kearsarge the Cabinet had a disastrously in-
decisive discussion on the subject, after which the Foreign Secretary, Lord Russell,
gave the Danes the impression that we would back them up by force. Then a week
later Russell in the Lords and Palmerston in the Commons explained at some
length that they meant to do nothing at all. Great indignation was expressed in
both Houses. Meanwhile the Prussians advanced into Jutland and forced the Danes
to a humiliating peace. ‘An unseemly shuffle out of Schleswig-Holstein under the
grim contemptuous eyes of Bismarck’ the historian G. M. Young has called it. And
so it appeared at the time to many British people who, as in the American Civil War,
sympathized with the weaker side, and felt uncomfortable and angry at our failure
to back up the Danes and help the father of the popular Princess of Wales. It is
significant that the sinking of the Alabama was exactly contemporary with this crisis.
The crew of the Alabama, like the Danes, had fought a lone battle against heavy
odds, and Englishmen were among them. This was satisfying, and made the British
public all the more receptive to the news of Llewellyn’s heroism. So it is not surprising
to find a writer in a national newspaper at the time realizing this, and taking
advantage of it to point a moral and adorn a tale. And one can see how Llewellyn’s
death acted as a kind of catalyst for the doctors’ grievances. Here was a young

II2

‘non-combatant’ who had died gallantly in the middle of combat, not patiently and
inconspicuously coping with cases of cholera and typhus, though no doubt he had
done that too, nor binding up wounds, but deliberately letting himself be drowned
in order to make sure that the wounded men got away to safety. He had shown how a
‘non-combatant’ could make the supreme sacrifice; he had done great honour to his
profession; if the Horse Guards and the Admiralty and the rest of them thought
that doctors on war service were mere back-room boys with no active part to play,
second-rate hangers-on, professionally below the salt, they had better take a look
at the Confederate Navy and think again. Llewellyn was a gentleman too, the son
of a country parson, even thought by the captain of the Alabama to be the grandson
of a peer. No wonder the subscriptions poured in to the Llewellyn Memorial Fund.
The Victorians of the eighteen-fifties and sixties went to town over memorials.
Enormous trouble was taken to provide a suitable memorial for the Duke of Wel-
lington after his death in 1852, with the result that Wellington College in Berkshire
still provides education for the sons of Army officers. Ten years later Mr. Gilbert
Scott started work on that masterpiece of Victorian architecture, the Albert Memorial,
which it took him nine years to complete. Compared with these great projects the
Llewellyn Memorial was, of course, a much more modest affair. All the same it is
in its way surprisingly elaborate, and the money for it was raised not only by the
students and doctors of the Charing Cross Hospital but also by the two committees
in India, one at Calcutta and one at Bombay. Members of the general public sent
contributions, and so did some of the Alabama’s surviving officers, including Captain
Semmes. The memorial is partly in Charing Cross Hospital Medical School and
partly in Easton Royal Church, as already mentioned.? The most important part of
it is the Llewellyn Scholarship at the Hospital Medical School, still awarded to the
final year student who achieves the greatest distinction in his sessional examinations.
The plaque at the Medical School consists of an inscription framed inside a wreath
which looks as if it was made of a ship’s cable: the inscription says that “though
entreated by the wounded to join them in their boat he refused to peril their safety
by so doing and went down with the sinking vessel’. The Easton Royal tablet says
much the same thing less precisely: ‘nobly refusing to imperil the escape of the
wounded, he sank with his ship’. The Easton Royal tablet, made by W. T. Hale of
Baker Street, London, is more elaborate than the one in the Medical School: an
anchor and a cannon ball in relief stand above the inscription, and a stick with a
snake coiled round it, the sign of Aesculapius, leans against the anchor. At each of
the four corners of the inscription the letters C S are carved inside little stone circles,
to remind us that Llewellyn was serving the Confederate States. ‘The memorial glass
in the east window was made by Messrs. Lavers and Barraud, who unfortunately
got commissions to fill the east windows of several churches at this time, in Wiltshire
and elsewhere—for instance, at Great Somerford, at Blunsdon St. Andrew, and at
Lavenham in Suffolk. Miracles of healing are dutifully shown, and two small yellow
shields near the top of the window carry black anchors. The symbolism is satisfactory ;
but the execution is inferior, and the composition uninspired. The colours are now
beginning to fade. One cannot help regretting that the committee responsible for
this part of the memorial did not think fit to entrust the work to Messrs. Morris,

Irg

Faulkner and Co. William Morris had been a contemporary of Llewellyn at Marl-
borough, and his firm, which specialized in church decoration, made a very favourable
impression at the exhibition of 1862. An east window designed by Burne-Jones and
executed by Morris, Faulkner and Co. might by now have become a tourist attrac-
tion and have added considerably to the interest of a Victorian reconstruction of an
Elizabethan church.

The Llewellyn Memorial however was not the only consequence for this
country of the sinking of the Alabama. That vessel lived on in the memories of men,
and particularly of politicians, on both sides of the Atlantic, and the losses suffered
by the owners of the 70 Federal vessels she had destroyed embittered relations
between Great Britain and the United States for many years after the end of the
Civil War. The American grievance was twofold. First, it was argued that No. 290
should never have been allowed to escape from British waters after the Federal
Minister in London had twice submitted evidence to the British Government of her
being a Confederate naval vessel in the making. Secondly, since she had escaped,
and had done so much damage, the British Government ought to take seriously the
United States’ claims to compensation. Lords Palmerston and Russell were the
ministers at the receiving end of the first complaint; Russell, and after him Gladstone,
had to deal with the second. Palmerston and Russell, ‘those two dreadful old men’,
as Queen Victoria once called them, were rightly suspected by the Federal Minister
in London of favouring the Confederates, although they refused to recognize the
Confederate Government. In addition, over No. 290 there was a muddle, and she
got away on to the high seas just in time, escaping detention in British waters some
say by two days, some by only a few hours.3 When the war was over and only one
of the dreadful old men remained—for Palmerston died in 1865—the claims for
damages came in. Two other ships were involved, but the Alabama was by a long
way the chief offender. Russell played for time, and turned down the proposal for
an arbitration. When Gladstone became Prime Minister he agreed to arbitration,
and at Geneva in December 1871 a British representative and an American repre-
sentative met three neutral commissioners, one appointed by the President of the
Swiss Confederation, one by the King of Italy, and one by the Emperor of Brazil. It
was the first time that anything of the sort had happened. The proceedings lasted
nine months; then on 14th September 1872 the United States were awarded an
indemnity of 154 million dollars in gold. Gladstone paid up; and one cannot help
admiring him for facing the unpopularity which that payment brought on him.
The Alabama’s saga had come to an end at last. The ship’s name means little now to
most of the people who see it on one or other of the memorial tablets to David
Herbert Llewellyn.

: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In collecting material for this article I have been greatly helped by the Secretary of the Charing
Cross Hospital Medical School, Mr. Brian S$. Drewe. I should also like to thank Mr. E. G. H.
Kempson, Mr. G. H. Newsom, o.c., and Mr. W. F. Russell for reading my first draft and making
valuable suggestions. A full and graphic account of the battle between the Alabama and the Kearsarge
has been written by Mr. John Prebble, and was published in Holiday, December 1962.

114

t On both memorial tablets the name is spelt
Kearsage, but Semmes in his memoirs has Kear-
sarge, and I assume he knew the name of his
opponent correctly. The writer of an article on the
battle in History Today, March 1955, also has
Kearsarge.

2 Whether or not a separate subscription was
raised for the Easton Royal memorial we cannot
say for certain. The only direct evidence is the
wording of the two tablets: ‘erected . . . by his
fellow-students and others in England and India’
(Charing Cross Hospital) and ‘erected by voluntary
contribution’ (Easton Royal). This leaves room
for doubt whether there were one or two sub-
scriptions. The lack of any record of a contribution
‘to a memorial fund by the Marquess of Ailesbury

in the Savernake Estate accounts could possibly
be an indication that there was no separate fund
at Easton Royal. Lord Ailesbury and his father
were interested in the church, near which their
ancestors, the early Wardens of Savernake Forest,
had been buried, and the first Marquess had built
the vestry tower eleven years before. A local
subscription would quite probably have been
supported by the second Marquess out of estate
expenses, and in that case would have been
entered in the account book.

3The published accounts conflict on this
point. Compare Lord Palmerston, by Jasper Ridley,
P- 557, with The Alabama, by Arnold Whitridge,
in History Today, March 1955.

NOTES

SOME BEAKER HABITATION SITES IN NORTH WILTSHIRE

Until 1939 the downs from Rockley Park north to Hackpen, especially around Dean
Bottom, in the parishes of Preshute and Ogbourne St. Andrew, were for the most part
unploughed. ‘They were then a strikingly rich ground for archaeological fieldwork, with
many well-defined field systems, several Bronze Age enclosures yielding sherds of ‘Deverel-
Rimbury’ type, and later earthworks plainly visible. Perhaps the best surviving evidence
of this is in an air photograph by the late Major G. W. G. Allen (pt. VI; previously
published as an illustration for Mrs. C. M. Piggott’s paper, Five Late Bronze Age En-
closures in North Wiltshire, Proc. Prehist. Soc., vit. (1942), 48-61).

This photograph concentrates on the slope between the Marlborough-Broad Hinton
road and Dean Bottom valley (marked by a cart track) and shows one Bronze Age en-
closure on the right of the fir-belt (Mrs. Piggott’s ‘Preshute Down’ site, SU 142742).
Another, equally well-marked and slightly larger, was subsequently established by trial
trenching by Dr. L. Bussell and myself as being of the same period, with a typical V-shaped
ditch and “Deverel-Rimbury’ sherds; a contemporary sunken way approached it and ran
on down from one corner of the enclosure. It can be seen clearly in the photograph at
about the same level on the opposite side of the fir-belt (SU 147742). Yet a third similar
Bronze Age enclosure, detected from rabbit burrows in the filled-in ditch, was intersected
by the downland track from the corner of Rockley Park to Barbury (SU 158736); it lay
outside the area covered by the photograph but its position is shown in Fic. 1. It was
dated by sections made in the V-shaped ditch by the writer in 1946-7 with the assistance
of Mr. D. Grant King. The ditch on the east side of this enclosure was not visible, but its
course was traced by the late Mr. W. E. V. Young with a rammer, and the bank sub-
sequently showed as a line of chalk when ploughed in 1953. Not only around these en-
closures but over the greater part of the area under review, ‘Deverel-Rimbury’ sherds
were prevalent, suggesting habitation sites associated with these and possibly other en-
closures.

The well-preserved field systems covering most of the photograph are only a part of
the vast amount formerly spread over this stretch of downland. In the bottom left-hand
corner of pL VI is part of a field outlined by rows of sarsens, the lowest portion of an even
more conspicuous Romano-British system covering the opposite slope to that shown. This
survived till about 1956, when the sarsens were removed and the whole system destroyed
by ploughing.

As the chalk exposures show, the area was formerly overrun by rabbits, and sherds
and worked flints of various periods could be picked up freely. A remarkable feature is
the very wide range of occupation, as testified by the pottery. A handful of sherds, apparently
of Early/Middle Bronze Age Collared urn type, mostly plain with the characteristic soapy
feel, but including one rim with cord impressions, occurred between the road and Dean
Bottom valley, round some banks now ploughed out on the extreme right of the photograph.
There was a wide scatter of Early Iron Age sherds, predominantly of hand-turned bead-
rim form, but without any clear trace of earthworks of this period. Romano-British
pottery, including wheel-turned bead-rim, samian and New Forest painted wares, occurred
frequently over the greater part of the area but was notably absent from the slope between
Dean Bottom and the road to Hackpen.

Among the sherds collected were over 50 specimens of beaker pottery and these are the
main subject of this note. Throughout the area beaker sherds, sometimes several pieces
of different vessels close together, have been picked up at various points, mostly on gentle
lower slopes (FIG. 1). Living sites, which may not have been of a permanent character,

116

= 8

ig
|
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> g / Mile
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(e /
\o
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\ EN a Hea
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= 10
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e Beaker sherds /
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5 Neolithic sherd D
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* Round barrow O
(E] Bronze Age enclosure \ w s
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73— z oo
weseee Lynchet , : a SS 73
vs Hollow-way 0 el @issss \
= Ditch | \ N.S 52sscece=
é TWO MILES S
=|
Fic. 1

Distribution of beaker sherds around Preshute Down and Dean Bottom, in the parishes of Preshute and
Ogbourne St. Andrew.

must have been scattered at intervals here. In view of the general scarcity of beaker
occupation sites, this fact should be put on record, especially as the lower ground is now
all arable and practically all evidence of lynchets and other earthworks has been wiped
out in what is now, from an archaeological standpoint, a featureless waste. The most
prolific sites were on both slopes across the beech-belt north of Rockley Park. The find-
spots occur from the head of the valley to a site west of the Four Mile Clump-Old Eagle
track near B.M. 671.8 (around SU 166735), which is more on an upland plateau than
the other sites, though still below the 700 ft. contour line. Most of the finds have been
recorded for the Archaeology Branch of the Ordnance Survey and in V.C.H., Wiltshire, 1,
pt. 1; their distribution is shown on FIG. 1.

No attempt has been made to classify the beaker sherds into their various categories,
as they are mostly too small to indicate the shapes of the vessels, but all the usual decorative
devices appear to be included in the series. One of the best preserved and largest pieces
has the ornament still filled with white inlay. Rusticated ornament also occurs on one
sherd. Occasional examples of Peterborough ware have also been found, as well as a
barbed-and-tanged flint arrowhead, many scrapers and other implements.

Several of the barrows dotted about the down have been opened, some without
record, but sherds of a beaker were found under Ogbourne St. Andrew 8a (V.C.H.,
Wiltshire, 1, pt. i, 224). In addition, the writer picked up two beaker sherds on the nearby
bell barrow, no. g (ibid., 210), and another on a bowl barrow, no. 16 (zbid., 186).

Another site not far away producing beaker sherds is on the crest of the ridge south
of the barrow Avebury 30a, mainly thrown up along the brow where rabbits had
burrowed (SU 115702).

117

A further beaker concentration has been located by Mr. J. M. Prest and the writer
south of Easton Clump and west of Crowdown Clump in the parish of Easton (SU 209580),
mostly on a strip of arable around the 700 ft. contour on a westward-facing slope which
also has a scatter of ‘Deverel-Rimbury’ sherds. Two other beaker sherds were found midway
between this site and Crowdown.

With this list may be included a site which has yielded only a single beaker sherd,
plain or with very worn traces of decoration, but also two Peterborough sherds with very
well marked maggot pattern and several others thickly gritted which are probably of the
same date. ‘This site is in a narrow coombe in East Kennet parish, between Furze Hill and
the Ridgeway. ‘Towards the mouth of the coombe are a number of sarsens, including the
‘Langdean Circle’. Further south up the coombe another group of sarsens is shown on the
O.S. six-inch map (sheet SU 16NW). The sherds under discussion lay 20-150 yards
south of this group, along the foot of the western slope (SU 118654). Also about 20 yards
south of the group at the time of discovery were possible traces of an enclosure, three sides
outlined by rabbit burrows. This, however, may be of a much later date as a considerable
number of Romano-British sherds was found scattered over the coombe floor and on both
slopes. It is worth noting that the East Kennet long barrow is under a mile away.

O. MEYRICK

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am indebted to the Ashmolean Museum for permission to reproduce Major Allen’s air photo-
graph (pu. VI).

A WAISTED FLINT AXE FROM CORSLEY

The flint axe described in this note comes from the Lye’s Green area of Corsley
(ST 81674625). It was a stray find from a ploughed field, discovered by Mr. G. White
of Poole Farm, Corsley, in the autumn of 1968. We are most grateful to Mr. White for his
kindness in presenting it to the Society’s Museum, and also to Dr. Joyce Medcalfe for
first bringing it to our attention (accession no. 82.1970).

Fic. 1
Flint axe from Corsley. Scale, 1 : 2.

118

The axe (FIG. 1) has shallow flaking all over the surface, but has been ground at the
cutting edge and in its immediate vicinity. The butt end is missing and some flakes appear
to have been removed at the hinge fracture in order to tidy it up for re-use.t The flint
is of an orange-brown colour, probably acquired from the Gault clay which occurs in the
area in which the axe was found.

The apparent skeuomorphic relationship of this type to early metal axes is usually
held to suggest a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age dating, and this is supported by the
associations mentioned by Bruce Mitford in his discussion of the type. In this context, it
seems noteworthy that a high proportion of these axes show grinding at the cutting edge
while having been only partially ground on the faces. This selective use of grinding is
a trait shared with a large number of the polished-edge flint knives, and therefore streng-
thens the case for such a dating.

While the type is widespread in Britain, no other examples are known from Wiltshire,
with the posssible exception of an axe said to have come from the Salisbury area.3 Ex-
amples are, however, known from the adjoining counties to the south and east. An axe
of this type was found at Bere Regis, Dorset,4 and there are Hampshire examples from
Deane Down, Deane,’ Cupernham, Romsey,® and the Bournemouth area.7 In Berkshire
examples are known from Goring’ and Maidenhead.9 The type is a little more common in
Sussex and Surrey, and this would fit in the pattern of a type which is found in its heaviest
concentrations in the eastern counties of England.?°

ALAN BURCHARD

« The writer is grateful to Dr. I. F. Smith for
discussion on this point.

2R.L.S. Bruce Mitford, A Hoard of Neolithic
Axes from Peaslake, Surrey, Antig. J., 18 (1938),
279-84.

3 Red House Museum, Christchurch, acc. no.
91.1968.

4]. F. Smith, A Flint Axe from Bere Regis,
Proc. Dorset Natur. Hist. Archaeol. Soc., 91 (1969), 174.

5’ Hampshire County Museum, acc. no. WOCG
3518/11.

6 Liverpool Museum, acc. no. 44.23.227.

7J. Evans, The Ancient Stone Implements .. . of
Great Britain (1872), 67, fig. 21.

8 Reading Museum, acc. no. 150: 47.

9 Liverpool Museum, acc. no. 44.23.2; H. J. E.
Peake, The Archaeology of Berkshire (1931), 45, 210.

to In the course of a partial survey of these axes
the writer contacted a number of museums. He is
grateful to the staff of all of these, but most especially
to the following: D. V. Clarke (National Museum
of Antiquities of Scotland), T. H. McK. Clough
(Norwich Castle Museum), G. M. R. Davies
(Colchester and Essex Museum), D. C. Devenish
(Hampshire County Museum Service), Dr. D. M.
Downes (City of Liverpool Museums), Miss C. E. A.
Dudley (Brighton Museum), Mrs. M. Green
(Worthing Museum), Mrs. E. James (King’s
Lynn Museum), J. H. Lavender (Hampshire County
Museum Service), Dr. I. H. Longworth (British
Museum), Miss F. Marsden (Barbican House
Museum, Lewes), Miss S. M. Pearce (Exeter City
Museum), Miss N. R. Whitcomb (Kingston-upon-
Hull Museums), J. B. Whitwell (Leicester
Museums).

A MIDDLE BRONZE AGE PALSTAVE FROM PEWSEY

In 1971 on Pewsey Down a flanged bronze palstave was found by Mr. H. Hopkins
on ground churned up by cattle in the vicinity of a field gate (Pewsey parish, SU 17205680).
We are extremely grateful to him for placing it on loan with the Society’s Museum
(accession no. 20.1972), and also to Messrs. A. J. Briant and N. P. Thompson, who were
instrumental in bringing it to our attention.

The loopless palstave (FIG. 1), 115 mm. long, is reasonably characteristic of the ‘Middle
Bronze Age’ class of palstaves (Smith, 1959, 167-8). On either face of the blade a median
rib flanked by two sunken areas, just below the stop, gives the ‘trident’ pattern frequently
found on this class of palstave. Lower down the blade this median rib is prolonged as the
ridge dividing a pair of shallowly hollowed panels which extend laterally to leave only a
narrow rim-like margin at either blade edge. The smoothly curving flanges, no more than
23 mm. in overall width, show this to be an example of the ‘low-flanged’ type, most
commonly occurring in south-eastern and southern England, east of Somerset and Dorset

11g

Fic. 1

Palstave from Pewsey. Scale, 1 : 2.

(Smith, 1959, maps 2b and 3b). One feature of this example is the presence of sub-
rectangular raised bands, of a maximum width of 7 mm., on either blade side, just below
the stop and before the start of the blade expansion. Traces of the casting flashes are still
clearly evident on one side, but have been fairly thoroughly removed on the other.

ALAN BURCHARD

Smith, M. A. 1959. Some Somerset Hoards and
their place in the Bronze Age of Southern
Britain, Proc. Prehist. Soc., 25, 144-87.

ENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM THE RED SHORE BELL BARROW, ALTON

In September 1970 a soil-profile trench was dug into the ploughed-down bell barrow
near Red Shore (SU 11736488, Alton 17). The site lies on Upper Chalk but the immediate
subsoil is Clay-with-Flints.

The barrow was under grass until 1939 and Grinsell’s measurements! pre-date its
wartime and subsequent ploughing. The present dimensions of the mound are 18 m. in
diameter and 0.75 m. high (from the top of the buried soil to the surface of the modern
ploughsoil) ; the ditch is no longer visible. Grinsell’s measurements were 12.60 m. and
1.50 m.

The excavation was undertaken as part of a research programme incorporating a
study both of the archaeology of the Wiltshire Wansdyke and of the environmental history
of the Red Shore area. To date, environmental evidence is available from Knap Hill,
the Red Shore bell barrow (this paper) and the Wansdyke.3 These sites date early third
millenium B.c., mid-second millenium B.c. and mid-first millenium a.pD. respectively.

I20

The Excavation

The section, 1.50 m. by 0.90 m., was located on a bearing of 102° (E.S.E. of true
north) from the barrow centre, with its long side positioned radially at the point indicated
on FIG. I.

The following stratigraphy was revealed:

1. Modern ploughsoil.
. Clay-with-Flints derived from the surrounding ditch.
. Turf stack.

. Buried soil profile, divided into
4a. A stone-free zone variously pale grey and creamy-white in colour.
4b. Dark grey in colour with flint fragments and charcoal distributed throughout the
profile.
5. Natural Clay-with-Flints.

Between layers 2 and 4a an iron humus pan is indicated by a line of dots.

The interleaving of layers 2 and 3 suggests that different ditch sectors may have been
dug at different speeds, with one area down to clay whilst another was still being stripped
of turf and topsoil.

The central turf stack will have had a diameter of approximately 7.50 m. and was
probably originally capped by layer 2.

ob CF N

Environmental Evidence

Two pollen runs were taken by the writer and were examined by Professor G. W,
Dimbleby. Few pollen grains were found, but most important was a grain of cereal pollen
from the surface of layer 4 at the position marked in Fic. 1. This confirmed the original

Ww E

cereal
grain

Fic. 1
Location and section of soil-profile trench in the mound of the Red Shore bell barrow (Alton 17).

I2I

archaeological interpretation of layer 4 as a ploughsoil (based on the distribution of flint
and charcoal in the soil). It is possible that layer 4a might represent an unploughed field
edge, but only further excavation can determine this. Since cereal pollen is not normally
widely distributed by wind this occurrence is evidence for cultivation in the immediate
locality.4

No molluscan shells survived.

Wider Significance

The pollen analysis indicates early cultivation of areas of the downs mantled with clay
deposits. One might suppose that Bronze Age communities would have avoided these
heavier soils. It is important also that the barrow was sited on an arable, or recently
arable, field.

The above factors may indicate population pressures resulting in a full use of marginal
land during the Early Bronze Age.

H, STEPHEN GREEN

1 V.C.H., Wiltshire, 1 (i) (1957), 206-7. 4 Dimbleby, G. W., in Smith, I. F., Windmill

2W.A.M., 60 (1965), 19-20; Antiquity, 43 Hill and Avebury: Excavations by Alexander Keiller,
(1969), 304-5. 1925-1939 (1965), 37.

3 W.A.M., 66 (1971), 129-46.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The writer is indebted to New College, Oxford, and to Mr. A. G. Stratton for permission to
excavate. The work took place in September 1970 in conjunction with George Drew and the Bury
Wood Club. Tools were supplied by the Wiltshire Archaeological Society. I wish to express my
thanks also to Professor G. W. Dimbleby for work on the pollen samples and finally to my wife,
Miranda, for considerable assistance with the project.

THE LOCATION OF Brige

There appear to be grounds for identifying the lost Roman settlement of Brige with
Winterslow, Wiltshire.

The Antonine Itinerary places Brige XI Roman miles from Winchester and VIII
Roman miles from Old Sarum, a distance of 19 miles compared to an actual distance
between the terminals of some 23-24 Roman miles, depending on whether the measure-
ments are taken from the city centre at Winchester or the West Gate, and from the road
junction at Old Sarum or the Roman occupation site by the River Avon. A. L. F. Rivet
has analysed the errors in the Itinerary (Britannia, I (1970), 34-82) and suggests that the
VIII miles from Old Sarum be amended to XIII, placing Brige at Hildon House near
Broughton, Hampshire. Hildon House has now been demolished and I understand from
local enquiries that nothing Roman has been found there.

If, however, one accepts the VIII miles from Old Sarum as measured from the Roman
occupation site by the River Avon, one arrives at The Common, Winterslow, where the
sculptured head of a goddess (?) was found in 1960 (Salisbury Museum Annual Report,
1960-61, 15, pl. mB). Further Roman finds made in the area include the bronze handle of
an iron ‘scraper’ (originally identified as a mirror handle) engraved with the names
Avitus and Ausonius (Salisbury Museum Annual Report, 1954-55, 11). There is the site of
a Roman building opposite the church and the Victoria County History of Wiltshire (1,
pt. 2, 451-2) identifies an earthwork } mile south of the Roman road as a small ‘theatre’ and
suggests that Winterslow contained a Romano-British temple with associated ‘theatre’
and a well—a place similar to Nettleton, Wiltshire. If this is correct, then Brige could be
identified with Winterslow. The name is accepted as meaning ‘hill’ from the British briga,
and the Roman road rises sharply on approaching Winterslow from the direction of Old
Sarum. To the north, near East Winterslow, is the highest point along the road, 532 ft.
(O.S. Trig Station).

122

It is unlikely that both distances are wrong in the Itinerary and if one accepts the
VIII miles from Old Sarum (from the River Avon) and amends the XI miles from
Winchester to XVI (a V having dropped out), then the total distance agrees with the
24 miles given by Rivet. It cannot be XIV, as the Itinerary MS. gives IIII instead of IV.
Alternatively, it may be that a faded V in an original XV has been copied as XI. If it
were XV in the original, then the total distance becomes 23 Roman miles, but too much
precision must not be looked for in the Itinerary; errors of one mile are common.

It is still possible that Brige might be a mansio hidden in the woods near Hildon
House, but on the evidence available at the moment I think there is a case for Winterslow.

A. L. POTTRELL

BRADLEY: THE HOUSE NOBODY LIKED

Few great mansions have had a worse press than Bradley House, the home of the
Duke of Somerset at Maiden Bradley. Four descriptions exist before the majority of it
was pulled down in 1821. The first to record his impressions was the Rev. Richard Warner
in his Excursions from Bath, published in 1801. He said it was ‘a plain, substantial stone
mansion, with two large wings projecting at right angles from the body of the structure.
A bare, unadorned country spreads itself before the house, and nothing around it affords
any traces of that magnificence for which the family was once so remarkable.’: Richard
Fenton, the historian of Pembrokeshire, passed by in 1807: ‘We proceeded to Maiden
Bradley,’ he writes, ‘the present Duke of Somerset’s principal country residence; an old
house of no great size or pretensions for a nobleman of his high rank and situated close
by the road, in one of the most beggarly, sordid villages I ever passed through.’ Fenton
approved only of the park, and even that, he remarked, was ‘not large. . . but well stocked
and productive of good venison’. *

John Britton, the Wiltshire antiquary, who came seven years later, was not much
more enthusiastic. The house, he wrote, ‘still constitutes the chief ornament of the village.
It is a plain stone structure, and consists of a centre and two wings, which project from the
body at right angles. In front of the house is a small park . . .’.3 Writing in The Gentleman’s
Magazine in 1820, ‘an observer’ dismissed the mansion out of hand: ‘As an architectural
object, this mansion is of no importance, but the size renders it convenient.’ He did concede,
however, that ‘the rooms are handsome, lighted by large windows. ‘The grounds belonging
to it, although not extensive, are very pleasant’.4 Unlike Fenton, he found Maiden Bradley
extremely neat. Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who had much to say about Maiden Bradley
in his monumental History of Wiltshire, ignored the house altogether.

Those who care for Maiden Bradley have been tempted to dismiss Fenton’s strctures
out of hand. But there may be some truth in them. After the death of Webb, the roth Duke
of Somerset, in 1793, Bradley ceased to be the principal residence of the Seymour family
and, with the squire no longer living in their midst, standards in the village may have
slipped. Certainly, one gains this impression from the records of the Courts Leet and
Baron.s In 1805, for instance, ‘two sufficient persons’ had to be called out every night
‘to guard and watch over the said town’. It was recorded that the blind house (lock-up)
had been taken down and none other erected. Then take 1811, four years after Fenton’s
visit. The road in Mill Lane was out of repair, as were the posts and rails of the archway
in Kingston Lane. A place opposite Michael Water’s garden was exceedingly dangerous
to the public for want of a fence. There were no weights or scales for the breadweighers
or measures for the ale conners. All through this period there is constant complaint about
wells being out of repair or uncovered, chimneys being dangerous, drainages being a
nuisance and the sabbath being made unholy by badger-baiting or playing marbles.

The poor opinion Fenton and his contemporaries had of Bradley House is more
difficult to fathom. As it happens we have two representations of the house, one of 1717
and another of 1806. The later, a watercolour by John Buckler, as accurate a draftsman
as one is likely to find, is in the collection of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society at

123

Devizes.® It shows a superb Palladian mansion, just as Britten described it, with a recessed
centre flanked by two long wings. The south front is perfectly balanced and absolutely
regular. The roofs are hipped and broken by dormers. The facade could by no means be
described as plain. The ends of the wings have one large window upstairs. Below are two
charming niches with statues. Each wing has two rows of five windows with handsome
stone frames, capped upstairs with flat architraves and pulvinated friezes and below with
triangular hood moulds within which is carved some sort of bird, perhaps a phoenix rising
from the ashes. A dentilled cornice bound the whole together.

The same design is continued with the windows of the recessed fagade, which was of
seven bays. In the centre a flight of four steps led up to the main entrance, a round-headed
archway with fanlight. On each side two columns rose to support a broken pediment
holding armorial bearings supported by cherubs. Two lions recline on the top. This
somewhat baroque composition is a stroke of genius, making a splendid foil to the square-
ness of the house. The total effect is one of beauty, richness and immaculate taste.

It is interesting to compare this picture with the original design published by Colen
Campbell in his Vitruvius Britannicus.7 The elevation of the south front is (apart from a
couple of extra dormers) exactly the same as that painted by Buckler. But Campbell also
gives a ground plan and it is of a much greater house in which the front described is
balanced by another block of centre and wings facing north, the two halves being joined
by another range of buildings facing east across an immense courtyard. The total length of
the western side from wing tip to wing tip was more than 300 ft. It has been assumed
(by Professor Sir Nikolaus Pevsner amongst others’) that this was completed and taken
down in 1821. This seems unlikely. No doubt Campbell copied the original designs and is
unlikely to have visited the house at the time, although a few years later he came to know
the area well when architect of Stourhead. Bradley may have been in the course of con-
struction when Vitruvius Britannicus was being compiled, as it was probably built by Sir
Edward Seymour after he retired from Parliament in 1713. It is noteworthy that the
plan of the northern range is much less detailed than that of the southern, a mere outline
in fact. Buckler’s painting shows no sign of these ranges. Indeed, behind the house is an
ancient barn. As the road to the Deverills, the main highway between Bradley and the
rest of Wiltshire, then passed between the church and the house, it is doubtful if there was
even room for such an extensive building.

Nevertheless, the house was no cottage, the front being 119 ft. wide. An assessment
for window tax in 1818 lists 104.9 As we have seen, it was very elegant. Why then did the
antiquaries have such a poor opinion of it? Partly, I think, because Palladianism had gone
out of fashion. Gothic was all the rage and nothing was so boring as classical balance.
There was also an element of snobbery. A duke ought to live in the manner his inferiors
imagined. Nor was the duke there to win their golden opinions by his hospitality, as did
Sir Richard Colt Hoare at Stourhead. No one had a word of criticism for his unpretentious
Palladian villa, which, I dare say, handsome as it is, was architecturally inferior to Bradley
House. Beyond was Longleat, a palace which disguised its status as the first classical house
from their unbelieving eyes.

The 11th and 12th Dukes of Sacre used Bradley only occasionally between 1793
and 1885. In 1812 Duke Edward Adolphus bought Bulstrode Park from the Duke of
Portland and this became the principal Seymour residence. In 1818 a staff of seven male
servants, an under-gardener, plus four stewards, was still retained at Maiden Bradley.
‘There were also two four-wheeled carriages, three horses for drawing them or for riding,
and a house dog. Lord Seymour, the heir to the dukedom, came down occasionally and
kept a greyhound, setter and terrier there.*e Lady Seymour described it in a letter to her
brother, Brinsley Sheridan, on 18th August 1830: ‘I am since I wrote the other sheet
arrived in Wiltshire . . . It is only the wing of the old house, which was pulled down about
eight years ago, but it has some good rooms and extensive grounds. The large park extends
many miles; but was never anything but a shooting box, but might be made into a beautiful
place.’™

124

When the 12th Duke died he left Bulstrode to his daughters. His brother, ‘a man of
most economical habits’, succeeded to the title and made Bradley House his home, although
be retained the obligatory London house, in Berkeley Square. The family home it has
remained, through all the vicissitudes of the Dukedom, to this day.

« Richard Warner, Excursions from Bath (Crutt-
well, Bath, 1801), 89.

2 Richard Fenton, A Tour in Quest of Genealogy
through several parts of Wales, Somerset and Wiltshire
(London, 1811), 237-8.

3 John Britton, Description of Wiltshire (1814),
288.

4G. L. Gomme (ed.), English Topography:
Warwickshire, Westmorland and Wiltshire (Elliot
Stock, 1901), 284-5.

5s Among the materja! deposited at the County
Record Office by the Duke of Somerset. W.R.O.
697.

6 Ancient Buildings in the County of Wiltshire, drawn
by John Buckler, F.s.A., vol. x (1810), pl. 47. In the
library of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society.

7 Colen Campbell, Vitruvius Britannicus (1717).

8 N. Pevsner, Buildings of England: Wiltshire
(Penguin Books, 1963), 287.

9 Among the Scanes papers in the library of the
Wiltshire Archaeological Society.

to Scanes, op. cit.

™ W. H. Mallock and Lady Gwendolen Rams-
den (eds.), Letters, Remains, and Memoirs of Edward
Adolphus Seymour, Twelfth Duke of Somerset, K.G.
(Richard Bentley, 1893), 30.

MICHAEL MCGARVIE

™: Among the uncatalogued Longleat papers at
the County Record Office in Trowbridge is an
unpublished letter from Richard Baker, who
appears to have been the Duke of Somerset’s
steward, to an unnamed person at Longleat. It is
dated October 19, 1786, and is a reply to a list of
queries on the history of Maiden Bradley, the
answers to which were wanted by Lord Weymouth.
Among other things, Mr. Baker says that ‘Maiden
Bradley House was built by Speaker Seymour for a
hunting box’. Sir Edward Seymour, who was
Speaker of the House of Commons, died in 1708.
Through most of his life he lived at Berry Pomeroy
Castle in Devon. This was seriously damaged by
fire between 1688 and 1701 and henceforth Bradley
became Sir Edward’s chief seat and there he died.
The Seymours had a house at Bradley previous to
the construction of the Palladian mansion, so the
evidence is not conclusive. But it does seem plausible
that Sir Edward began a new house at Bradley,
which was nearer to the capital where he spent
much of his time, after the destruction of Berry
Pomeroy, possibly in that period 1694-1702 when
he was temporarily excluded from public office.
Mr. Baker admits that he was ‘but a fresh comer
into this country’, so his testimony need not be
taken as gospel, although it obviously represents
Seymour family tradition.

WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REGISTER
FOR 1972

MANY OF THE ENTRIES included in the register for 1972 have already appeared in
Archaeological Review, 7 (for 1972) and in the Annual Report of the Salisbury and South
Wiltshire Museum for 1971-2.

Accessions to museums are noted by the familiar short name of the museum, e.g. Devizes
or Salisbury, followed by the accession number. For objects in private collections, the
sources of information noted are museum records or individual informants, not necessarily
the owners. Particulars of attribution and location are as supplied by the museums, groups
or individuals named.

Acknowledgements to individual donors for those gifts to the Society’s Museum at
Devizes which fall within the chronological range of the Register (prehistoric to ¢. A.D. 1500)
will be found in the Curator’s report for 1972, together with the list of Natural History
and post-medieval accessions.

Attention is drawn to two additional sections at the end of this year’s Register: one
lists finds or earthworks which cannot be precisely dated and the other lists corrections to
the 1971 Register.

Abbreviations

C: century, as in C2, second century

CFAO: County Field Archaeology Officer

cm: centimetre(s)

diam: diameter

DoE: Department of the Environment

E, N, S, W, etc.: points of the compass

ha: hectare(s)

ht: height

m: metre(s)

mm: millimetre(s)

P (followed by a number): serial number of stone implement examined by the Implement
Petrology Survey of the South-West

PP: in private possession

RB: Romano-British

SAS: Swindon Archaeological Society

SMARG: Salisbury Museum Archaeological Research Group

SPAAG: Salisbury Plain Area Archaeological Group

VCH: Victoria County History: Wiltshire

WAM: Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine

WANHS: Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

PALAEOLITHIC

72/1 Melksham, W of R. Avon. ST 899638. Large flake with ochreous stain; retouch
along one edge may be original. Recovered from gravel disturbed during construction
of by-pass bridge. PP, Mr F. Peskett. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 546

MESOLITHIC
72/2 Aldbourne, ‘Aldbourne Chase II’. SU 22867536 (centre). Worked flints. SAS

126

72/3
72/4
72/5
72/6

72/7
72/8
72/9
72/10

72
72/12

72/13

Aldbourne, near Four Barrows. SU 24907728. Pick, core-rejuvenating flake and
another flake. PP, Mr E. R. A. Sewell. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 409

East Coulston, The Cottage, Coulston. ST 950544. Blades and flakes, including
retouched fragments, from garden. Devizes 34.1972

Etchilhampton, Manor Farm. SU 050605. Eleven waste flakes, including core-
rejuvenating flakes. Devizes 50.1972

Salisbury (New Sarum), 5 Wyndham Terrace. SU 146306. Serrated blade,
45 mm long, from garden. Salisbury 103/1972

NEOLITHIC

Aldbourne, ‘Aldbourne Chase IT’. SU 22867536 (centre). Worked flints. SAS
Alderbury. SU 1826. Oblique arrowhead, found before 1943. Devizes 58.1972
Ashton Keynes, Church Farm, NE of Clayhill Copse. SU 050951. Ground flint
axe, partially reflaked (Fic. 1: 1). PP, Mr K. Bowley

Bishopstone (South), Knighton Down. SU 066234. Flaked flint axe. Salisbury
137/1972

Cherhill, Yatesbury. SU 05857160. Scraper. Devizes 17.1972

Donhead St Andrew, near Ferne House. ST 925219 (centre). Flints from 4 fields
include a transverse arrowhead (FIG. I: 2), about 40 scrapers, 2 knives, a flake
from the side of a ground flint axe re-used as a borer, part of a small axe-roughout,
notched flakes, cores, many retouched and waste flakes (including 2 of Portland
chert and 6 of Greensand chert). PP, Martin Green, Down Farm, Woodcutts
Durrington, Larkhill. SU 147436. Radiocarbon dates for neolithic settlement
(WAM 66 (1971), 81) now suspected to be too young owing to contamination of
specimens: Proc Prehist Soc 38, 394, 396, 399

Fic. 1

1. Flint axe from Ashton Keynes (72/9, drawn by E. Machin). 2. Transverse arrowhead from Donhead St.
Andrew (72/12, drawn by M. Green). 3. Flint axe from Mere (72/16, drawn by N. Griffiths). Scale, 1 +2.

127

Durrington, Woodhenge. SU 15064338. Radiocarbon dates: Proc Prehist Soc 38,
396-7

Melksham, W of R. Avon. ST 899638. Rim sherd from bowl of Abingdon style,
decorated with twisted fibre impressions; recovered from gravel disturbed during
construction of by-pass bridge. Devizes 28.1972

Mere, Lord Meads Farm Estate, near Walnut Tree public house. ST 81603195.
Flaked flint axe (FIG. 1: 3), found ¢ 1967. PP, Mr G. Hillier. Devizes Museum
Daybook, no. 425

North Tidworth, Sidbury. SU 21515052. Five flint flakes from buried surface
beneath rampart of hill-fort (WAM 62 (1967), 116). Devizes 54.1972

Ogbourne St Andrew, Rockley Plantation. SU 15937268. Fragment of rim
from bowl in Mortlake style. SAS

Pewsey, Denny Sutton Hipend. SU 159577. Barbed-and-tanged arrowhead.
PP, Mr P. Bowerman. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 420

Salisbury (New Sarum), Old Sarum. SU 13823295. Two pits, 0.65 m diam,
0.55 m deep and flat-bottomed, were sectioned by a water-main trench. Sherds
with finger-tip impressions, flint flakes, a fine-grained stone polisher and animal
bones were recovered from one of the pits. See WAM 57 (1959), 179, 186, for
previous discoveries in the vicinity. D. J. Algar and J. D. Hadley

Tidcombe and Fosbury, W of Fosbury Camp. SU 31405678. Polished-edge
flint knife (WAM 67, 157-8). Devizes 26.1972

Winterbourne Stoke, near barrow 44. SU 090435. Flint core. Devizes 39.1972

BRONZE AGE

Aldbourne, Peaks Down. SU 263786 (area). Sherds from field system under plough,
with concentration at 26387874. SAS

Amesbury, barrow g1. SU 14843944. Fragments of skull and other human bones
found in ploughsoil. P. R. Saunders

Amesbury, barrow on Earl’s Farm Down. SU 178415 (approx.). Rim of Collared
urn with impressed cord ornament, from ‘D Barrow West’, one of 4 barrows excavated
in 1956 by P. Ashbee and J. D. Evans (WAM 56 (1956), 237-40). Salisbury 123/1972
Amesbury. Previously unrecorded round barrows noted on air photograph at
SU 17414173, 17724149 and 19194179. D. J. Algar

Bishopstone (North), Hinton Downs. SU 25357989. Concentration of sherds in
two fields. SAS

Broad Chalke, Knighton Hill, barrow 1. SU 04922403. Sherds from bucket
urn(s) (WAM 65 (1970), 79-82, fig. 7: 2-3). Salisbury 153/1972

Collingbourne Kingston. SU 23095385. An unrecorded round barrow, about
27.0 m by 0.6 m, spread by ploughing. Visible as a ring-ditch on Crawford AP
g140. N. V. Quinnell, Ordnance Survey

Highworth, Hampton Hill. SU 193924. Socketed axe with single loop. M. J. Stone
Laverstock, Bishop Down Farm. SU 15153232. Pit, o.4 m diam and 0.3 m deep,
cut by a water-main trench. The fill of fine grey soil and flint included sherds and
one fragment of cremated bone. Similar sherds found scattered along the trench.
D. J. Algar and J. D. Hadley

Melksham, W of R. Avon. ST 899638. Three socketed bronze spearheads and
tip. of a bronze sword recovered from material dredged from river. Devizes 9, 10,
II, 30.1972

Ogbourne St Andrew, Ogbourne Down. SU 17857450. Sherds collected. SAS
Ogbourne St Andrew, Rockley Down. SU 15037361 (centre). Sherds collected.
SAS

Ogbourne St Andrew, Smeathe’s Plantation. SU 17577456. Numerous sherds
collected. SAS

72/36
72/37
72/38
72/39
72/40
72/41

72/42
72/43

72/44
72/45

72/46

72/47

72/48
72/49
72/50
72/51

72/52
72/53

72/54
72/55

Pewsey, Martinsell Hill. SU 169642. Single-looped palstave. PP, Mr H. Attwood.
Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 423

Pewsey, Pewsey Down. SU 17205680. Loopless low-flanged palstave (see Notes,
WAM 68 (1973)). Devizes 20.1972 (loan from Mr H. Hopkins)

Shrewton, barrow 3. SU 10164608. Rim sherds with incised lozenge decoration
and sherds of a small Collared urn, from excavation directed by the late C. Green.
Salisbury 126/1972

South Newton/Quidhampton, Camp Down. See 72/65

Winterbourne Stoke, barrow 43. SU 09104344. Excavation report: WAM 67,
43-60. Finds: Devizes 38.1972

Wroughton, Fairhaven. SU 15008030. Plain flat-based pot found in garden.
Ht 82 mm, diam at internally bevelled rim, 102 mm. Pot found inverted; flecks
of charcoal noted in soil; uncertain whether from a pit or ditch. Animal bones and
later pottery found nearby (See also 72/132). Devizes 12.1972

PRE-ROMAN IRON AGE

Aldbourne, Aldbourne Chase. SU 225758. Numerous sherds and half a decorated
bronze ring from a ploughed-out enclosure (VCH I, i, Section E, no. 1). SAS
Aldbourne, ‘Aldbourne Chase I’. SU 22317543. Sherds from a settlement within
a circular enclosure (VCH I, i, Section E, no. 2), now ploughed out. See also 72/69.
SAS

Aldbourne, ‘Aldbourne Chase IT’. SU 22867536 (centre). Sherds, a saddle quern
and a sarsen rubber. See also 72/70. SAS

Aldbourne, Chase Woods. SU 21727538. Sherds, an iron tethering-ring and a
large blue glass bead found inside a ploughed enclosure (VCH I, i, Section E,
no. 5, ‘Round Hill Downs’). The enclosure, which measures 55 m by 64 m, has
an internal ditch and is approached by a hollow-way. SAS

Aldbourne, near Four Barrows. SU 24957730. Fragment of a discoidal sarsen
rubber, damaged by fire. PP, Mr E. R. A. Sewell. Devizes Museum Daybook,
no. 495

Berwick St James, Berwick Down. SU 04394027. During the reconstruction of
the A.303, earthmoving revealed a substantial V-shaped ditch, approx. 12 ft wide
and 8 ft deep, apparently part of an enclosure. Human skeletal remains accom-
panied by an iron arrowhead and several sherds of pottery were recovered. CFAO
Bishopstone (North), Bishopstone Downs. SU 25808071 (centre). Spread of
sherds. See also 72/79. SAS

Bishopstone (North), Bishopstone Downs. SU 25958152. A few sherds. See also
72/80. SAS

Brixton Deverill, Cold Kitchen Hill. ST 83313875. Bronze terret: WAM 67,
159-62. Devizes 15.1972

Clarendon Park, Cockey Down. ‘Celtic’ field lynchets, all running approx.
NW-SE, were revealed by a water-main trench at SU 17173113, 17193108,
17273079. D. J. Algar

Highworth, Bydemill Gardens. SU 196923. Scatter of sherds in gardens of housing
estate. See also WAM 63 (1968), 118. M. J. Stone

Highworth, Cricklade Road cemetery. SU 194923. Scatter of sherds found during
grave-digging. M. J. Stone

Highworth, Hampton Hill. SU 195923. Sherds found over a wide area. M. J. Stone
Laverstock, Old Sarum. SU 14283266 and 14173273. A ditch 4.5 m wide and at
least 3 m deep was revealed at two points by a water-main trench. The westerly
section also included two trenches 0.5 m apart, approx. 1 m wide and 0.7 m deep,
parallel to and on the inner lip of the ditch. Chalk quarrying had damaged the
area adjacent to the other ditch section where these features should have re-

129

72/63

72/64

72/65

72/66

72/67

72/68

130

appeared. No dating was obtained other than that one of the ‘revetment trenches’
had been cut into by a C12/13 cess-pit. Although the ditch appears to form the N
boundary of the medieval E suburb of Old Sarum, it is likely to be of Iron Age date.
D. J. Algar

Liddington, Liddington Castle. SU 209797. Sherds found where ramparts damaged
by cattle. SAS

Minety. SU 0091. Hoard of iron currency bars (VCH I, i, 90) discussed in Britannia
Sis oE

North Tidworth, Sidbury. SU 21515052. Sherds from section of rampart exposed
at SE entrance in 1957 (WAM 62 (1967), 115-16): Devizes 54.1972

Ogbourne St Andrew, Barbury Castle. SU 149763. Sherds found where ramparts
damaged by cattle. SAS. Ironwork hoard (WAM 58 (1963), 394-402) discussed in
Britannia 3, 231

Pewsey, Black Patch. SU 15555806. During excavation in the W portion of the
Anglo-Saxon cemetery (see 72/138) several Iron Age pits were located and excavated.
A particularly concentrated cluster occurred in a NW cutting. In addition to
pottery of All Cannings Cross type and some ‘A’ haematite ware, finds from these
pits include two iron knives, a ring-headed iron pin and three fragmentary clay
loomweights. Devizes Museum

Pewsey, ridge between Martinsell and Giant’s Grave. SU 172634. Six sherds,
including furrowed bowl fragments and incised wares. Devizes 40.1972

Pewsey, around Southcott Field Barn. SU 171586—181586. Pottery was collected
in fields 4, 7a, 7b, ga and 9b during the WANHS Pewsey Vale Field Walking
Project. The main concentration was in field 4, in the vicinity of the L-shaped soil-
mark at 179589. These are mainly coarse wares of the earlier phases of the period,
but also include some examples of furrowed haematite bowls and incised wares.
Most of the pottery was found in relatively small concentrations. See also 72/117.
Mrs K. Nicol

Purton, Dogridge. SU 081875 (centre). Sherds amongst RB material on site
previously recorded (71/95). SAS

South Newton, Camp Hill. SU 11103380. Further evidence for a C1 BC/AD
enclosed settlement was obtained from water-main trenches near the reservoir.
A double-ditched enclosure was sectioned at two points. The inner ditch was
4.75 m wide and possibly 3 m deep; 75 m beyond this, the outer ditch was 4.75 m
wide and approx. 2.5 m deep. A third ditch, 24 m beyond this again, was 1.25 m
deep and only exposed at one point. A quantity of wheel-turned pottery was
obtained from the inner ditch. For previous discoveries see WAM 46 (1933), 389-91.
D. J. Algar and J. D. Hadley

South Newton/Quidhampton, Camp Down. SU 11693358-11883349. A water-
main trench revealed a series of 15 features along 190 m of its length, mainly small
pits and ditches, some containing burnt stone fragments and animal bones. Two
features yielded fragments of biconical pots, tentatively dated to LBA or IA.
D. J. Algar and M. D. Truckle

Wanborough, Foxhill. SU 22358211. Sherds found in the back-fill of a water-
pipe trench. SAS

Westbury, Munaca, Station Road. ST 86475178. A Celtiberian bronze ace of
Saetabi, C1 BC (G. F. Hill, Notes on the Ancient Coinage of Hispania, Numismatic
Notes and Monographs 50 (1931), 128, pl. xxiv: 10), found in garden; possibly a
collector’s discard. PP, Master J. Lamb. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 408.
Wroughton, Uffcott Down. SU 14327651 (centre). Sherds found in a ‘Celtic’
field system under plough. See also 72/133. SAS

72/69

72/70

72/71
72/72
72/73
72/74

72/75

72/76

7A

ROMAN

Aldbourne, ‘Aldbourne Chase I’. SU 22317543. C1-2 sherds and part of the
lower stone of a quern from a settlement within a circular enclosure. See also 72/43.
SAS

Aldbourne, ‘Aldbourne Chase II’. SU 22867536 (centre). Extensive settlement
revealed by ploughing; buildings are indicated by numerous sarsen and flint
blocks. Finds include C1-—4 sherds, flue-tile fragments, iron slag, numerous frag-
ments of rotary querns, part of a decorated bronze bracelet and 3 bronze coins,
respectively C2, C3 and C4. See also 72/44. SAS

Aldbourne, near Four Barrows. SU 24807732. Four sherds. PP, Mr E. R. A.
Sewell. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 409.

Aldbourne, Peaks Down. SU 263786 (area). Sherds from a field system under
plough. See also 72/23. SAS

Aldbourne, Upper Upham. SU 22647697. A one-piece bronze brooch with
decorated bow and foot. SAS

All Cannings, All Cannings Down. SU 096654. Samian base fragment. SU 095659.
Group of sherds, including one of Savernake ware and a bead rim. PP, Mr E. R. A.
Sewell. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 495

Amesbury, Lynchets Road area. SU 159411. Five more coins from this site
(see 71/75): three Constantinian and a Galerius with a Tetricus adhering. PP.
D. J. Algar

Atworth, Roman villa. ST 856664. During the 3rd season of excavations spon-
sored by WANHS with the aid of a grant from DoE, an area of about 150 m
in the presumed courtyard was stripped and examined and two small sites were
completed in the main building. Rooms 35, 36, 17 and 18 were finished to clarify
some points in doubt in 1971.

Trenches 43 and 44 covered approx. the SE quarter of the courtyard in
conjunction with 20, 40 and 41 of 1971. This area produced: (i) a path or walk-way
extending approx. 7 m N of the SW corner of the N—S wing; (ii) an area of well-
bonded limestone cobbling—courtyard ?; (111) a wall (one course only surviving)
of obliquely laid limestone rubble about 0.80 m wide at an angle of about 45° to
the axis of the main building; (iv) a concrete and rubble feature associated with
the wall in (iii), almost certainly a roof-support base for an aisled building with
an aisle width of about 1.90 m; (v) a generally amorphous but roughly pentagonal
area of large roughly-laid stones on the S edge of the cobbling (not completely
excavated).

Trench 45, laid out where the air photographs and Shaw Mellor and Good-
child (WAM 49 (1940), 49) indicate the possibility of a perimeter ditch, produced
more cobbling and another wall of similar dimensions and construction to (ili)
above. A noticeable depression in the cobbling occurred where the ditch is presumed
to be; no further excavation was possible. This area produced a surprising amount
of finds, considering its distance from the main building.

Trench 46 was excavated as far W as was possible within the area provided
in order to check the extent of the cobbling and as a further search for the West
Wing, which was not located in 1971. This small trench (3 by 3 m) revealed the
cobbling going up to a wall at least 0.50 m wide of flat-laid limestone blocks with
no foundations. The construction and workmanship more closely resembles the
walls of the main buildings than the walls in 45 and 44. This wall is only slightly
off the axis of the main buildings.

The stoke-hole was located in Room 36; there was little evidence of burning
in the stoke-hole, the flue or between or under the pilae. ‘The hypocaust may never
have been used.

Excavation in 17 and 18 proved that the E—W wall at the N end of Room 17
(not recorded in WAM, of cit, pl. i) was earlier than the walls marked as Period 1

131

72179

72/78
72/79
72/80

72/81
72/82

72/83

72/84,

72/85

72/86

72/87
72/88

132

in the N-S building. The plan of the steps was clarified. Room 17A is a stair-well
leading from 17; this would have been put out of use when the floor in 17 was
raised by some 0.45 m of rubble and cement. .
Finds comprise 15 bronze coins (one of ?Caracalla in good condition under
cobbling), two penannular brooches and other ornaments, New Forest wares and
samian (including part of a mortarium and a stamped base), other mortaria
fragments, and numerous bones of domestic animals. J. G. P. Erskine
Avebury, S of Beckhampton Penning. SU 092678 (area). Four coins: (i) Silver
antoninianus of Postumus. Obv. Imp G POSTVMVS PF AvG. Radiate head facing right.
Rev. PROVIDENTIA AVG. Standing figure. (ii) Bronze coin of Claudius II Gothicus.
Obv. Legend only partially legible. Radiate head facing right. Rev. PAX AVGVSTI.
Standing figure. (iii) Bronze coin. Obv. Legend illegible. Radiate head facing
right. Rev. Legend illegible. Standing figure. (iv) Bronze coin of Constans. Obv.
Legend almost indecipherable. Head facing left, orb in hand. Rev. FEL TEMP
REPARATIO. Soldier leading boy from hut. PP, Mr L. A. Cable. Devizes Museum
Daybook, no. 503.
Berwick Bassett, NW of Gorse Copse. SU 078741. Nine sherds, C3/4. Devizes
51.1972
Bishopstone (North), Bishopstone Downs. SU 25808071 (centre). Spread of
sherds. See also 72/48. SAS
Bishopstone (North), Roman villa, Bishopstone Downs. SU 25958152. SAS
excavated two areas of the ploughed site of the villa: (i) An area where resistivity
survey had indicated the presence of a building. One wall was constructed of
flint and chalk and had a blocked entrance. (ii) In an area marked by a spread of
tesserae on the surface three rooms and part of a yard of a probable winged
corridor villa were found. Two rooms retained traces of mosaic flooring; the larger
one had been heated by a channelled hypocaust. The third room was probably
part of a corridor. See also 72/49. SAS
Bishopstone (North), Hinton Downs. SU 25357989. A few sherds in two ploughed
fields. See also 72/27. SAS
Bishopstone (North), Hinton Downs. SU 24828002 (centre). Spread of sherds.
SAS
Bishopstone (North), Russley Park. SU 27328014. The site of a substantial
building is indicated by chalk walls, oolite roofing tiles, iron nails, animal bones
and G2-4 sherds. SAS
Box, Hazelbury. ST 83606820. The precise site of the Roman villa is suggested
by a rectangular ‘terrace’ cut into the W-facing slope and possibly connected with
slight banks. Stone and tile fragments are concentrated in a small area. B. E. Vyner
Box, Sunnyview Cottage, Henley Lane. ST 82576763. An oolitic limestone head,
with raised lentoid eyes, a nose with hollowed nostrils, prominent moustache
and protruding ears, was found in the garden. The remains of a metal rod sunk
into the neck and some repairs in concrete demonstrate recent re-use. Devizes
5:-1972
Brixton Deverill, Cold Kitchen Hill. ST 83333876. Two coins found within a
few metres of the find-spot of the Iron Age terret (see 72/50): (i) Sestertius of
Marcus Aurelius. Obv. AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F COS. Rev. PIETAS AVG § GC.
Sacrificial implements. Rome mint. (ii) Coin of Constantine II, reported as:
Obv. CONSTANTINVS IVN N Cc. Rev. BEAT TRANQLITAS. Altar inscribed voris xx. PP;
information from Mr H. D. Kitching. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 379
Bromham, West Park Field. ST 97006622. Tesserae found in a private garden,
about 300 m N of the known villa site. B. E. Vyner
Clarendon Park, Cockey Down. SU 17103129. Observations of contractor’s
excavation for a new reservoir and of water-main trenches enabled an 18 ha enclosure
to be dated to C3/4. The ditch was 3 m wide and 1.75 m deep. Pottery scatter

72/89

72/90
72/91
72/92

72/93
72/94

72/95
72/96

72/97
72/98

72/99

72/100
72/101
72/102
72/103
72/104

72/105

72/106

7B

associated with pits, minor ditches and an oven occurred for 20 m outside the
enclosure. At 17113112 an unaccompanied extended inhumation lay face down
in a shallow grave. See also 72/51. D. J. Algar. In the area centred 170315 a
surface scatter of material mostly of C3~-4 included tile, iron slag and New Forest
and Oxfordshire wares. SPAAG

Clarendon Park. SU 17263080. Four graves of a late RB inhumation cemetery
were partially destroyed by a water-main trench and excavated by SMARG.
All the graves contained adult remains, three with coffin nails. D. J. Algar
Cricklade. SU 1093 (area). Summary account of RB material found during
investigation of Saxon borough defences: VAM 67, 89-90, 94-5

Devizes, Downland School playing-field. SU 007601. Rim sherd, C2/3. PP,
Master M. Sanders. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 427

Dilton Marsh, Ox’s Leaze. ST 84625214. Evidence of late RB occupation was
found on the west side of the coppice, a short distance from the extended inhuma-
tion discovered in 1960 (WAM 57 (1960), 402). Footings of a building and a
rubble floor were located, together with finds of samian and coarse pottery, iron
objects and a bronze ring. A samian bowl (Dragendorff 33), broken in antiquity,
had been mended with lead rivets. CFAO

Easton Grey, White Walls. ST 890870. Source of mortarium stamped DOCINVs:
Archaeol Ff 129, 88

Edington, W of village. ST 92245278. Finds from a road cutting S of the B.3098
on outskirts of village include sherds of samian and late C3/early C4 pottery,
fragments of bronze and iron-work, a bronze finger-ring, and wall plaster. A
bronze coin is probably of Constantine I. Obv. Legend illegible. Helmeted bust
facing left. Rev. Legend illegible. Victory on prow of a galley. Devizes 47.1972
Everleigh, Lower Everleigh. SU 190547. Bronze coin, probably of Constans,
found on road. Obv. Legend not fully legible. Diademed head facing right. Rev.
VICTORIAE DD AVGG QNN. Two victories with garlands. Trier mint. Devizes 7.1972
Everleigh, E of the Crown Hotel. SU 20605360. C1/2 sherds, including Savernake
ware, found during road works. A series of ditches was noted by N. P. Thompson
and sketched sections deposited with WANHS. Devizes 21.1972

Grafton, East Grafton. SU 25656045. Cylindrical flint bead, possibly RB, from
garden. Devizes 18.1972

Hannington, Hannington Wick. SU 18059584. Stone and tile fragments, tesserae
and coarse pottery from site of Roman villa with slight earthworks (VCH I, 1, 75).
B. E. Vyner

Highworth, Botany Farm. SU 197919. C2-4 sherds, probably from the same site
as material in Devizes (5/58/311). M. J. Stone ,

Highworth, Cricklade Road. SU 194922. C2-4 sherds from a road ditch. M. J.
Stone

Highworth, Grove Hill. SU 199931. Cr sherds found on open land before develop-
ment. M. J. Stone

Highworth, Roman Way. SU 197921. C2-4 sherds in gardens. M. J. Stone
Highworth, Vorda Road. SU 203932. Sherds, mainly of Savernake ware, from C1
pit on housing estate. M. J. Stone

Highworth, Wade Hill. SU 195922. Large scatter of C2—4 sherds, coins, tiles, in
gardens of housing estate. The RB site was first seen during construction of estate
in 1958. M. J. Stone

Highworth, Westhill Close. SU 198923. C2-4 sherds from gardens of housing
estate. Wall foundations said to have been exposed during construction of a
house. M. J. Stone

Highworth, Roves Farm. SU 209896. Sherds of late Cg/early C4, including
Oxfordshire wares. PP, Mr M. H. Buckley. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 497

133

72/107

72/108

72/109

72/110
72) TUN

72/112

72/113

72/114.
72/115

72/116

72/107

72/118

72/119

72/120

rPIpes|

72/122

134

Knook/Upton Lovell, Knook Down West. ST 958445. Late C1—C4 material
collected from ploughsoil on site of RB settlement includes samian, lead-glazed
ware, a mortarium of Gloucestershire origin and New Forest and Oxfordshire
pottery as well as tile and iron slag. M. Druce and SPAAG
Laverstock, Old Sarum. Two similar V-shaped ditches, 1.2 m wide and 0.7 m
deep, were sectioned by a water-main trench. Both contained a light brown loamy
soil with a few flints and chalk particles. (i) SU 14373258, orientation 275°. At
one point this ditch had been slightly widened at the base to take an extended
inhumation, head to SW and RB sherd beside skull. (ii) SU 14163274, orientation
185°. The fill contained a perforated samian sherd. D. J. Algar and J. D. Hadley
Lydiard Tregoze, Whitehill Farm. SU 11678433. Early C2—C3 pottery kiln
site indicated from grey ware sherds, black soil and kiln debris in field ditches.
A geophysical survey by DoE located the positions of possible features in advance
of rescue excavation. Material found on site in 1961 in Devizes (19.1966). SAS
Marston Meysey. SU 127971. C2 sherds in gardens. M. J. Stone
Melksham, W of R. Avon. ST 899638. Handle and neck of ring-necked jug.
Devizes 28.1972
Minety. ST 995922. Tile fragments were noted on site of known tile kilns (VCH
I, i, go). An area of close-set stone rubble may indicate the presence of ancillary
buildings. The site is still in danger of being ploughed out. B. E. Vyner
Nettleton, Nettleton Shrub (Scrubb). ST 822769. Coin analysis: Britannia 3,
269-76. The large collection of finds from the excavations of 1956—70, directed by
W. J. Wedlake, has been given by the Duke of Beaufort to Bristol City Museum
Ogbourne St Andrew, Ogbourne Down. SU 17857450 (centre). Sherds and a
whetstone. SAS
Ogbourne St Andrew, Rockley Down. SU 15037361 (centre). Spread of sherds.
SAS
Ogbourne St Andrew, Preshute Down. SU 14627473 (centre). Sherds in a
‘Celtic’ field system under plough. SAS
Pewsey, around Southcott Field Barn. SU 171586—181586. Quantity of sherds
found in fields 4, 7a, 7b, ga and gb during the WANHS Pewsey Vale Field Walking
Project, with major concentration in field 7b. The sherds are mainly early coarse
wares of C1/2, including products of the Savernake kilns, but some samian was
also found and occasional examples of late rim forms and New Forest wares. See
also 72/62. Mrs K. Nicol
Salisbury (New Sarum), Devizes Road. SU 123324. A worn sestertius of Ves-
pasian. Rev. JvpEA capTa. PP. D. J. Algar
Salisbury. SU 14853115 (approx.). Coin of Postumus found in garden. Obv.
IMP C POSTVMVS PF AVG. Cologne mint. Rev. Victory cos mm (i.e. 267 AD). PP,
Mr H. Jones, 38 Cornwall Road, Salisbury
South Newton/Quidhampton, Camp Down. SU 11693358-11883349. Scatter
of late RB sherds. See also 72/65. D. J. Algar and M. D. Truckle
Stanton St Quintin, Stanton Park. ST 897796. Trees have damaged visible walls
and floors of the Roman villa. Scatter of G2-4 sherds, nails, plaster, and a dense
area of very fine tesserae on site. R. Phillips and M. J. Stone. Pottery from villa,
mainly C3~4 but including samian rim and some girth-grooved sherds, Devizes
4021072

At 89657935, 300 m S of the villa, C2-4 sherds, nails, plaster, millstone grit
and a large quantity of rough tesserae were found after ploughing. R. Phillips
Swindon, Broome Manor Lane. SU 16898218. Ditches were exposed during
construction of new golf course; a small excavation showed that two linear ditches
contained C2-4 pottery. Further sherds were found at 16848227, 16608227,
16678236, 16658239 and 16918245. SAS

72/123
72/124

72/125
72/126

72/127

72/128

72/129

72/130
72/131

72/132
72/133

72/134
72/135
72/136
72/137
72/138

Swindon, Westlecott Road/Mill Lane. SU 14618315. From site of building
(VCH I, i, 112) stone and tile fragments and sherds. B. E. Vyner

Wanborough, Lyncroft Estate. SU 19338522. Further building work has un-
covered another 5 adult burials, one child burial, two infant burials and three
cremations (two in early C2 pots). A siliqua of Magnus Maximus was with one
of the adult inhumations. See also 71/102. SAS

Wanborough, Nythe Farm. SU 18868587. Road works revealed. the edge of
Ermin Street and C2~4 sherds. SAS

Wanborough, Sugar Hill. SU 23957905. Large collection of pottery from area
surrounding E part of Halfmoon plantation; maximum concentration at the
point indicated. PP, Mr E. R. A. Sewell. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 495
Wanborough, pvrocornovivm. SU 195853. Coin analysis: Britannia 3, 269-76.
Inscribed lead tablet: Britannia 3, 363-7. Source of mortarium stamped pDornvs:
Archaeol F 129, 88

Wilcot, West Wick Farm. SU 16636255. The existence of walls and of pottery,
including New Forest ware, was reported by a ploughman. Upon further investiga-
tion large nodules of flint and Pennant-type sandstone were observed. A wall was
located by probing and a cross-section of the top uncovered. The wall, 0.75 m
wide, was composed of chalk rubble like the foundations of the West Draycot
building situated about 1.6 km to the West. N. P. Thompson

Winterbourne Monkton, near Glory Ann Barn. SU 124724. Part of a rotary
quern, identified by Dr F. S. Wallis as Old Red Sandstone, probably from the
Mendips, was found in an area from which RB finds have been recovered (see
71/104). PP, Mr D. Parmenter. Devizes Museum Daybook, no. 490

Winterslow. SU 21723320. Roman road observed in section in water-pipe trench.
P. R. Saunders

Wroughton, Barbury Castle. SU 14757640. Sherds, mainly late C1/early Ca,
including Savernake ware, from an area about 6 m square outside N rampart
of hill-fort. Devizes 42.1972

Wroughton, Fairhaven. SU 15008030. Sherds, mainly C2-3, from garden.
Devizes 13.1972

Wroughton, Uffcott Down. SU 14327651 (centre). Numerous sherds in a ‘Celtic’
field system under plough. See also 72/68. SAS

EARLY MEDIEVAL (c. A.p. 450-1000)

Alton, Alton Barnes Church. SU 10796202. Report on 1971~—72 excavation:
WAM 68 (1973).

Bratton. ST 91245210. A Saxon bone spindle whorl, 36 mm diam, 13 mm thick,
with 10 mm central hole, found in a garden. L. Luckett

Cricklade. SU 1093. Excavations of defences of Saxon borough: WAM 67,
61-111

Laverstock, barrow on Ford Down. SU 172332. Potsherds, mostly of grass-
tempered ware (Antiq J 49 (1969), 110). Salisbury 145/1972

Pewsey, Black Patch Field. SU 15555806. During the 4th season of excavations
on the Anglo-Saxon cemetery, directed by F. K. Annable and A. M. Burchard
on behalf of WAHNS with financial assistance from DoE, work was concentrated
on the W portion of the site. Cuttings opened on the W and NW proved barren
of burials, but a third cutting on the SW was found to contain six. These included
three adult female inhumations accompanied by pairs of bronze brooches (of disc,
small-long and face-decorated button types) and an adult male with sword, spear
and shield fittings. This cutting was at the W edge of an area measuring about
150 ft by roo ft, in which the presence of a number of burials has been suggested
by a fluxgate gradiometer survey undertaken by Mr A. J. Clark of the DoE

135

72/139
72/140
72/141

72/142
72/143

72/144

72/145
72/146

72/147
72/148

Ancient Monuments Laboratory in 1971. To E of this cutting a seventh burial,
an adult male equipped with shield and spear, was also investigated. Devizes
Museum

MEDIEVAL (ce. A.D. 1000-1500)

Alton, Alton Barnes Church. SU 10796202. Pottery, mortar and plaster (WAM 68
(1973). Devizes 8 and 23.1972

Amesbury, Comilla House. Part of a tubular iron padlock from garden. Salisbury
58/1972

Clarendon Park, Clarendon Palace. Sherd with impressed shield motif. Salisbury
65/1972

Everleigh, E of the Crown Hotel. SU 20605360. Sherds. Devizes 21.1972
Highworth, Cricklade Road. SU 192922. C11~—12 sherds found in digging road
ditches. M. J. Stone

Highworth, Grove Hill. SU 199931. An occupation layer 22 m long was observed
in a deep drainage ditch. Excavation produced 7 pits, three parallel walls and
gullies, and a large quantity of C11—12 sherds, bones and ironwork. M. J. Stone
Highworth. SU 203930. A scatter of C12—13 sherds covers a wide area of gardens
and fields. M. J. Stone

Huish. SU 14476357. Five hone-stones from settlement near church (WAM 67,
124-5). Devizes 41.1972

Laverstock, Old Sarum. C12/13 cess-pit. See 72/55. D. J. Algar

Laverstock, Old Sarum. SU 142327. On the site of St John’s Hospital the floor
levels of two associated timber buildings aligned on Ford Lane were exposed
along 13 m in a water-main trench. Pits yielded C12—13 sherds. Levelled areas
extend NW from the buildings for a further 20 m to a boundary ditch, possibly
Iron Age. See 72/55. D. J. Algar and J. D. Hadley

Laverstock. SU 160298. Six C13 sherds with impressed shield motif from kiln 2
(Archaeologia 102 (1969), 83-150). Salisbury 64/1972

Laverstock, Milford Farm. SU 15862959. Trial trenches in a field adjacent to the
pottery kilns revealed occupation associated with chalk floors, iron slag and a
Cr11-14 pottery scatter, including one ?C11 stamp-impressed sherd. D. J. Algar
and G. Hill

Minety, Moor Farm. SU 02759175. Eleven C13 sherds recovered from ditch fill.
Devizes 22.1972

Salisbury (New Sarum), Old Sarum. SU 14333051. C1g iron door key, 15 cm
long, picked up on site of cathedral in 1918. Salisbury 122/1972

Salisbury, Castle Street. SU 14333051. Rammed chalk and flint floor levels and
chalk-lined well exposed in contractor’s excavation at Sadia Water Heaters Ltd.
P. R. Saunders

Salisbury, Catherine Street. Piece of a massive skillet handle from trench in
street, possibly c 1400 AD. Salisbury 140/1972

Salisbury, 9 Guilder Lane. Green sandstone mortar from beneath rear wall of
building, found during reconstruction. Salisbury 116/1972

Salisbury, New Street. Part of a C14 glazed jug with bridge-spout, from site of
Alexandra Rooms. Salisbury 63/1972

Salisbury, 20 Park Lane. SU 141314. C13 bronze casket key; bronze buckle
with centre bar, C15; part of a pottery jug handle with stabbed decoration, C13;
all from garden. Salisbury 75/1972

Salisbury, Scot’s Lane, Toone’s Court. SU 14403020. Re-used blocks of C12
carved stone, believed to come from Old Sarum (see 71/125), include four engaged
capitals, three engaged columns each with a carved panel on one lateral face;
seven columns of kidney section; diapered blocks; chevron mouldings, etc. Salis-

72/159

72/160

72/161

bury 21/1972. Other material from the same site includes: C13-14 glazed and
scratch-marked ware; parts of a ?C14 waisted vessel with yellow glaze; parts of
two ?Cr4 glazed roof-tiles; and parts of a C13 two-handled scratch-marked tripod
cooking-pot. Salisbury 3, 4, 7, 17/1972

Salisbury, Stratford-sub-Castle. SU 13303215. C14 spearhead found in garden
of 15 St Lawrence Close; similar to Salisbury 46/1968. PP, Mrs R. W. Gordon
Salisbury. Medieval features and finds recorded from observation of contractor’s
operations and from salvage excavations by SMARG during construction of the
inner ring road along the E rampart of the city were as follows:

(i) London Road/Rampart Road. SU 14872988-14813002. Evidence of C13
occupation was revealed at several points beneath the city rampart. Two buildings
were sectioned, one having three distinct mud floors. All structures were associated
with pottery from the Laverstock kilns. The greater part of one baluster jug
(Salisbury 146/1972) was recovered from a pit filled with ?potting clay.

(1) Milford Street. SU 14822989. A ditch 3.8 m wide and at least 2.3 m
deep was sectioned at two points. Running approx. NE, it was not aligned on the
city chequer plan and was probably a boundary connected with the settlement of
Milford. C12/i3 pottery occurred at a depth of 1.5 m.

(iii) Rampart Road. SU 14852982. The rampart and part of the ditch were
sectioned. The rampart, of dirty/clean river gravel, survived to a maximum
height of 2 m at 10 m from the lip of the ditch. There was evidence of one recut
of the ditch which is tentatively considered to be about 12 m wide and 6 m deep.
The fill here was of C18 building rubble and domestic refuse. Adjacent to the §
side of Milford Street the ditch had been filled with rubbish in the C15/16.

(iv) Winchester Street. SU 14813001. On the site of the Winchester Gate no
structure was revealed in situ, the only indication being a scatter of flints and
greensand blocks.

(v) Milford Street/Guilder Lane. SU 14812994. Bronze foundry site occupying
about 1000 sq m, partly in tail of rampart. Features included: (a) Bell-founding
pit at 1482829923 surviving to a height of 1.1 m, 2 m in diam, with several central
stake holes. ‘The bottom 14 cm of fill consisted of gravel burnt to a reddish colour
in the centre; above this was 16 cm of layered buff to black sand. These layers
were compressed fragments of cope, some bearing the impressions of bell surfaces.
The remaining part of the pit was filled with fragments of moulds from the produc-
tion of domestic vessels, including tripod skillets. Many samples of metal slag were
obtained. A furnace site adjacent had been robbed and could be only partially
explored. This yielded C14—16 pottery. (b) Many other pits filled with fragments
of moulds and slag, some possibly of C17/18. (c) Working floor? of layered mould
fragments on chalk rubble 0.25 m in thickness, spread across 13 m of trench. The
site is that indicated in the Will of John Barber, brasier, who died in 1404 (WAM 35
(1908), 351). Bell-founding is known to have been carried on in Salisbury from
at least C14 to about 1730.

(vi) Culver Street. SU 14812986. Bronze workers’ furnace and adjacent pits.
Brick-built up-draught furnace/forge, 0.6 m by 0.5 m, with a fine arch 0.5 m
by 0.35 m high in one of the shorter walls, was sectioned by contractors. Its sloping
floor gave a wall height of 0.4 m at front and 0.3 m at back. At this height, each
side wall contained a series of seven blind sockets to hold iron bars across the top
of the chamber. A twisted iron bar was found in the stoke pit. The stoking area
extended back at least 2 m from the flue arch. The stoke pit contained mould
fragments, slag, ash, black soil, charcoal fragments, and a few sherds of medieval
pottery, which were the only dating evidence obtained. There was evidence for an
earlier furnace on the same site. D. J. Algar
Sherrington, motte and bailey. ST 95953938. During drainage operations to W
of the motte a low linear mound and an accompanying shallow depression, thought

137

72/162
72/163
72/164
72/165
72/166

72/167
72/168

72/169
72/170
72/171

72/172
72/073

72/174

72/175
72/176
72/177

to be the northern arm of the bailey defences, were sectioned to reveal a substantial
ditch 25 ft wide. Tip lines were clearly visible to a depth of 5 ft, but there was no
dating evidence. CFAO

Southwick. ST 83555515. Bronze hammer-head with punch in form of an
animal head, found in an earthen bank during road-widening. Devizes 6.1972
Stanton St Quintin, Court Gardens. ST 906797. C12—13 sherds and bones found
during construction of sewer system. M. J. Stone

Stratton St Margaret, Church Way. SU 17948706. C14-18 sherds on a packed
stone layer exposed during building work. SAS

Swindon, Westlecott Road/Mill Lane. SU 14618315. Medieval sherds from site
of Roman villa. B. E. Vyner

Trowbridge, Castle Street. ST 85565788. During the construction of a new cellar
at Knee’s Department Store digging operations sectioned part of a large ditch.
Tip lines contained several stratified sherds of C13—17. The position of the ditch
strongly suggests that it was part of the castle defences. CFAO

Wanborough, Upper Wanborough. SU 21108258. C13-14. sherds and animal
bones found on a building site. SAS

Wroughton, Fairhaven. SU 15008030. Sherd with green glaze from garden.
Devizes 14.1972

UNDATED

Alton, Alton Priors. SU 10886216. Possible medieval or post-medieval settlement
remains close to the church. CGFAO

Bishopstone (South). SU 072256. Implement of uncertain function, 149 mm
by 34 mm, made of dark intermediate tuff (P 1583). Salisbury 151/1972

Calne Within, Castle House. ST 99737085. Substantial wall footings of indeter-
minate date were discovered in new foundation trenches on the S side of Castle
House. Some unassociated sherds of early medieval coarse pottery were obtained
from the site. An unlined well 30 ft deep, cut through solid rock, was also discovered
N of the house. CFAO

Calne Without, Calstone Wellington. SU 02686819. Possible medieval or post-
medieval settlement remains in field W of the church. CFAO

Clarendon Park, Cockey Down. SU 17143123. Graves containing crouched
inhumations were exposed by a water-main trench and excavated by SMARG.
The three graves with adult remains were 1.0 m diam, 0.34 m deep, with vertical
sides. One of these contained a confused mass of bone beneath large flints; the
remains were mainly those of one individual, but two atlas bones were present.
A fourth grave contained the bones of a ?new-born child. Two post-holes were
recorded near the graves. No dating evidence was obtained from any of the features.
D. J. Algar

Figheldean. SU 15354625. Brachycephalic skull from a water pipe-line trench.
Uncertain whether from a barrow, but further investigation possible. P. R.
Saunders

Holt. ST 862617. Possible medieval or post-medieval settlement remains along
line of trackway leading from Holt Church to Bradleys Farm. CFAO

Latton, Eysey. SU 11509401. Earthworks of medieval or post-medieval settlement
to W of the old church site. CFAO

Malmesbury. ST 93308726. During reconstruction of a cellar at the Abbey Tea
Rooms (formerly the Green Dragon Inn) the west wall collapsed inwards exposing
human skeletal remains. The section showed that the foundations of the present
building were resting on a layer of dark brown soil which contained fragments of
animal bone and coarse ware. This sealed a layer of mortar lying upon sandstone,
which probably provided a bed for a tiled floor. ‘This in turn covered a mainly
charcoal layer resting on an earlier rubble floor. This second floor sealed two

inhumations orientated roughly E-W. A pit discovered at this level yielded a
single sherd of coarse pottery with quartz inclusions, either Iron Age or Anglo-
Saxon in date. Several human bones were also encountered in a drainage trench
on the S side of the building; they included two skulls, one of which was resting
on a femur. It was not possible to determine whether these were found in situ.
CFAO

72/178 Melksham, W of R. Avon. ST 899638. Socketed iron spearhead, 225 mm long,
with central longitudinal rib; socketed leaf-shaped iron spearhead, 127 mm long;
both recovered from material dredged from river. Devizes 29 and 31/1972

REGISTER FOR 1971: CORRECTIONS

71/47. The NGR should be SU 133373, as given by P. R. Saunders, A Flanged Axe
from Durnford, WAM 67, 158.

71/86 Dr 'T. R. Thomson points out that the road seen in section at SU 13499264 is most
unlikely to be a Roman road and was in fact the normal route from Cricklade to
Highworth for some centuries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR 1972

Alcock, N. W. and Barley, M. W. Medieval Roofs with Base-Crucks and Short Principals.
Antiq F 52, 132-68.

Bonney, D. J. Early Boundaries in Wessex, in P. J. Fowler (ed.), Archaeology and the
Landscape: Essays for L. V. Grinsell (John Baker, London), 168-86.

Burleigh, R., Longworth, I. H. and Wainwright, G. J. Relative and Absolute Dating of
Four Neolithic Enclosures: an exercise in the interpretation of radiocarbon determina-
tions. Proc Prehist Soc 38, 389-407.

Butler, L. John Gildon of Hereford: a late sixteenth-century sculptor. Archaeol F 129,
148-53.

Castle, S. A. A Kiln of the Potter Doinus. Archaeol 7 129, 69-88.

Dickson, A. C. and Hinton, D. A. A Gazetteer of the Late Saxon and Medieval Anti-
quities, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Oxoniensia 37, 192-7.

Evens, E. D., Smith, I. F. and Wallis, F. $. The Petrological Identification of Stone
Implements from South-Western England. Proc Prehist Soc 38, 235-75.

Manning, W. H. Ironwork Hoards in Iron Age and Roman Britain. Britannia 3, 224-50.

Moore, C. N. and Rowlands, M. Bronze Age Metalwork in Salisbury Museum (Salisbury and
South Wiltshire Museum Occasional Publication).

Petersen, F. Traditions of Multiple Burial in Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
England. Archaeol J 129, 22-55.

Rea, J. A Lead Tablet from Wanborough, Wilts. Britannia 3, 363-7.

Reece, R. A Short Survey of the Roman Coins found on Fourteen Sites in Britain. Britannia

, 269-76.
Tayley H. M. J. T. Irvine’s Work at Bradford-on-Avon. Archaeol 7 129, 89-118.

139

REPORTS AND ACCESSIONS

REPORT OF THE CURATOR FOR 1972

ONE OF THE most significant aspects of the work of the museum this year has been a
continuing involvement in discussions with the Salisbury Museum Society and the Wiltshire
County Council aimed at achieving administrative union between the two Societies, and
the eventual creation of a single Council to negotiate with the county. During the year, a
joint committee composed of representatives of the two museums has acted as an advisory
and co-ordinating body concerned with the needs of museums within the county. It has
also submitted proposals to the County Council (1) for the establishment of a Conservation
Centre for Wiltshire, and (11) for refurbishing and increasing services in the two major
museums. To this end, your Curator was instructed to prepare memoranda concerning the
future requirements of Devizes Museum and, jointly with the Curator of Salisbury Museum,
on the function and requirements of a Conservation Centre for the county.

One further event of considerable moment for the Society and for Wiltshire archaeology
was the appointment by the County Council of an Archaeology Officer, Mr. W. J. Ford,
who took up his post in October this year. Your Council takes particular satisfaction in the
establishment of this post, for which it has been pressing for a number of years; it indicates,
furthermore, the County Council’s growing involvement with our own Society and Salis-
bury Museum, and of a policy of increased practical and financial help towards imple-
menting a fuller and more efficient museum service throughout Wiltshire.

MUSEUM FABRIC

Plans were prepared by the Curators and submitted to the Council for the conversion
of the museum flat into a laboratory/workroom and additional storage areas. Central
heating has since been installed and the construction of work-benches and shelving was
completed towards the end of the year by Messrs. D. D. Watts. Electrolytic tanks for metal
reduction and a small electric hot water geyser have also been incorporated within the
rooms. We are indebted to Miss S. Rooke for a generous gift of £50 towards construction
costs, and to Mr. Roy Bennett who dismantled a small porch within the flat area, thus
reducing considerably our overall costs. Our member, Mrs. R. E. P. Rooke, has also
kindly lent two antique tables for use by the Assistant Curator. The laboratory/workrooms
are now fully operational.

Dexion type shelving has been erected in a further room on this floor, thus creating
extra space for the storage of the growing quantity of finds recovered from the Society’s
Pewsey Vale excavations. Central heating has also been installed in the living room of the
caretaker’s flat.

THE COLLECTIONS

Work on the Roman Room has continued, albeit slowly, and exhibition stands have
been fitted within the majority of the cases. Considerable restoration of much of the pottery,
particularly Samian wares now on show, has also been effected during the year. Some
weapon finds from the Black Patch Saxon cemetery have been treated, but it is very much
hoped that before long this material can receive the specialist attention it requires. As
has been previously recorded, certain individual items are at present undergoing con-
servation at the laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology, London, and their return is
promised for the early part of 1973. The Council of the Society is deeply indebted to the
Institute for its valuable and timely assistance.

At the request of the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities, British Museum,

140

permission was given for minute sampling of the gold items from the 7th century Saxon
grave group from Roundway Down. The samples were required as part of a gold analysis
programme currently being undertaken by the Department.

Sherd fragments from the Romano-British pottery industry in Savernake Forest were
provided for thin sectioning at the request of Mr. Ian Hodder, Cambridge University,
who is studying Romano-British coarse pottery for a Ph.D. thesis.

Mrs. Betty Walker has continued her task of cleaning and assembling the Black Patch
skeletal material, a task which seems never-ending with the addition of another 13 inhuma-
tions from investigations carried out in 1973. Mrs. Eve Machin has made further progress
with the cataloguing of flint assemblages amongst our Mesolithic and Neolithic collections,
and part of the catalogue is now in typescript.

SPECIALIST VISITORS

A. Wardman (Queen’s University, Belfast), La Téne I brooches; Dr. A. F. Harding
(Corpus Christi, Cambridge), Wessex Culture grave groups; I. Hodder (Peterhouse,
Cambridge), Savernake wares and Iron Age pottery; Mrs. V. Swan (Royal Commission),
Oxfordshire wares; A. D. Bratt (Queen’s University, Belfast), Deverel-Rimbury pottery;
Miss G. Lawton (Cardiff University), Neolithic and Romano-British material; Miss Ann
Ellison (Cambridge University). Later Bronze Age pottery; Dr. M. Hughes (British
Museum), Anglo-Saxon gold work; D. W. Harding (Durham University), Iron Age
material; A. G. Shepherd (Edinburgh University), Bronze Age V-perforated buttons;
Mrs. M. Southerdon (Kingston-upon-Hull College of Education), museum and display
techniques; I. Goodall (Cardiff University), Medieval ironwork; Mrs. Beris Cox (Institute
of Geological Sciences, London), Oxford Clay ammonites; Mrs. C. M. Guido, Iron Age,
Roman and Saxon beads; Miss M. Harman (Trent Valley Archaeology Research Com-
mittee), Anglo-Saxon skeletal material.

The museum was also visited by, among other bodies, Ziirich Prehistoric Society and
students of Berlin University, and the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter, South-
ampton and Nottingham.

VOLUNTEERS AND STUDENT ASSISTANCE

Mr. Alan Cheese, a post-graduate student in the Department of Museum Studies,
Leicester University, worked as a trainee assistant for a fortnight at the end of December.
Miss Fiona Cameron continued to assist in the museum until late spring, when she left
the museum to read for a M.A. thesis at Birmingham University. We gratefully acknow-
ledge the assistance she has given us over the past year and wish her every success in the
future.

Miss B. Rycroft has spent some time preparing on our behalf an index to archaeological
notes in the Society’s Magazine.

Miss E. Stansfeld and Mr. R. Bartlett, both from Birmingham University, worked
in the museum as student/trainees during the summer and Christmas vacations.

Mr. S. Gadsby was again responsible for photography during the Society’s excavations
in August and September, and we are continually indebted to Mr. Francis Carver for his
services in dealing with the many photographic requests which have been received at the
museum. Further progress has been made through his assistance in the long-term task of
completing a photographic record of the Society’s collections.

LECTURE HALL EQUIPMENT

With the sum of over £100 acquired as the result of an appeal to Society members,
a 35 mm. ‘Unoscop’ projector, a large screen and projector stand were purchased for use
in the Society’s Lecture Hall, and have since proved excellent for lecture purposes.

141

MUSEUM REPLICAS

Early in the year an approach was made to Museum Casts Ltd., Kettering, to supply
facsimiles of selected items from the museum collections for public sale in the museum.
At the end of the year moulds were prepared of a varied group of objects, and delivery
has been promised early in 1973. The sale of facsimiles is a new venture for the museum,
but Society members will appreciate that we are compelled to keep on thinking up new
ways by which we can supplement our overtaxed resources.

PUBLICATIONS

The drawing of Iron Age material, amounting to over 2,000 individual items, for
eventual publication in the projected Iron Age Catalogue, has now been completed by
Mr. N. Griffiths.

The Assistant Curator has continued to edit the Bi-Annual Bulletin issued to Society
members.

Short notes provided by the Curators and included in W.A.M., 67 (1972), are:

F. K. Annable: Review, Bronze Age Metal Work in Salisbury Museum, compiled by
C. N. Moore and M. Rowlands.

A. M. Burchard: A Polished-Edge Flint Knife from Tidcombe and Fosbury; A
Bronze Terret from Cold Kitchen Hill.

A small illustrated souvenir booklet of Devizes Museum was produced during the
year in collaboration with the Bath Academy of Art, and is now on sale. We are grateful
once more to the Department of Graphic Design, Bath Academy, for their enthusiasm and
advice over the lay-out and printing, and in particular to Miss Lyn Lewis who was res-
ponsible for photography and design.

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATIONAL LOANS

Twelve groups of archaeological and geological exhibits were lent to Wiltshire schools
and individuals for teaching purposes.

EXCAVATION AND FIELDWORK

During late August and September, a fourth season of excavation was undertaken
by the Society and directed by the Curators at Black Patch Field, Pewsey. A further
seven Anglo-Saxon inhumations were recovered ; included amongst them were three females
with associated disc, ‘small-long’ and face-decorated button brooches. The two adult
male interments contained shield bosses and spear heads, one burial being accompanied
by a sword—the third sword-burial to be recovered from this site so far.

Further groups of Iron Age pits and post-holes were interspersed amongst the graves,
and it is of interest to record the first iron finds amongst pit material which included an
iron knife of All Cannings Cross type, and a small ring-headed pin; in a further shallow
pit were recovered three fragmentary chalk loom weights.

The Society again extends its thanks to the Department of the Environment for a
generous grant-in-aid of £300 towards the expenses of the dig; to the large number of
volunteers who willingly gave of their labour; and to Mr. Paul Bowerman for his willing
consent to investigations again being continued on his land.

There was a further short season of excavation at the Romano-British site at Atworth
under the direction of Mr. J. C. Erskine. The dig was under the administration of the Society
but financed by the Department of the Environment.

Field walking has continued with the help of Society members in the Pewsey area, in
connection with the long-term programme of field investigation within the Vale initiated
by the Archaeology Research Committee.

142

LECTURES

The Annual Open Meeting of the Society was held this year at the Salisbury College
of Technology, and attended by over 100 people. The guest lecturer was Dr. J. K. St.
Joseph, Curator in Aerial Photography, University of Cambridge, who spoke on ‘Air
Photography and Archaeology’. Messrs. H. C. Bowen and J. Hampton, both of the Royal
Commission on Historical Monuments (Eng.), also gave short talks before the tea interval,
and a small photographic display was arranged by the Commission to illustrate the general
theme of the meeting.

The annual winter lectures sponsored by the Society and Bristol University were held
in the museum Lecture Hall during February and March. The theme of the series was
“Wessex Archaeologists’.

The Curators delivered the following series of winter lectures to Bristol University
Extra-Mural groups respectively at Devizes and Chippenham:

“The Iron Age in Wessex’
“Wessex Archaeology’

The Curator also gave further lectures to schools and Societies within the county.
Both Curators led archaeological walks in the county for Society members. Facilities were
also provided in the museum Lecture Hall for additional courses arranged by Bristol
University.

GROUP VISITS AND SCHOOLS
Twenty-two groups from Universities, Training Colleges and Societies, and fifty-five
school parties (the latter totalling 1,556 school children) visited the museum during the
year, and were given guided talks by the Curators.
Excluding school parties, the annual attendance (with comparable figures for 1971)
was as follows:

1971 1972

Adults and Students DOTS 2,930
Children 2,059 1,627
45372 45557

Admission receipts amounted to £304.24.

It will be noticed that our annual museum attendance still continues to rise, a welcome
eventuality for which the publicity we receive indirectly through the national press and
from loans provided by the museum for B.B.C. Television is surely partly responsible. The
gradual dissemination of information through the national media must likewise encourage
the public to approach the museum with their enquiries. Society members may be surprised
to learn that over the past three or four years the quantity of requests for information, and
of finds handed in for identification, has increased six-fold, a factor which may serve to
emphasize the increasing pressures being put upon curatorial staff. It is also worth recording
that our sales of museum publications for this year rose quite dramatically from under
£300 in 1971 to nearly £450. With an ever-growing public demand for literature con-
cerning archaeology and Natural History, it is clear that we must in the future give much
time and thought to the provision of educational publications.

ACCESSIONS TO THE MUSEUM
Accessions of prehistoric, Roman and medieval material are listed in the Archaeological
Register for 1972, together with their accession numbers. Grateful thanks are extended
to the following individuals and organizations whose donations are here specified by their

reference numbers in the register :
M. E. Allard, Esq. (50); Alton Barnes Parochial Church Council (139); Master M.

Brend (95); P. E. Broomfield, Esq. (151); P. W. Crisp, Esq. (41, 132, 168); The Hon. Miss
143

Ellinor Cross (8); Master C. Doyle (21); R. A. Harrison, Esq. (94); J. Hicks, Esq. (162) ;
H. Hopkins, Esq. (37, loan); Miss L. Howe (4); Captain D. Mann (5); D. McAllister, Esq.
(131); M. Maude, Esq. (78); Professor J. V. S. Megaw (17, 58); Mrs. K. Nicol and H. R.
Bennett, Esq. (96); D. Parmenter, Esq. (61); R. Phillips, Esq. (121); Mrs. A. M. Rigby (85) ;
J. R. Roberts, Esq. (15, 111); Mrs. M. Robertson-Mackay and P. Ozanne, Esq. (22);
J. Rowles, Esq. (97); J. B. Strong, Esq. (146); I. M. West, Esq. (11); Wiltshire County
Council and Masters M. Lucas and R. Miller (32, 178).

POST-MEDIEVAL

Introductory brochure, instruction manual and sample sheets of type faces for
Blickensderfer typewriter (Accession No. 9.1971) Miss E. Miles U.1972

Lemonade bottle, “flat bottomed’ stoppered type c. 1880-1907. Inscribed: ALBERT
COOMBE, MELKSHAM, surrounding TRADE MARK. Omphalos base with raised cross design.
Said to have come from a stone wall, possibly in Bromham. ASV? Breech Esq:> 73.1972

Match box c. 1838-41. Inscribed ‘Superior Congreves from D. Hubard, Marlborough’.
Found below floor boards of a cottage at New Mill, Pewsey. J. Rowles, Esq. 19.1972

Welding crucible comprising two hollowed graphite blocks hinged together and
mounted on wooden handle. Probably 19th century. Found near Wroughton during
construction of the M4. motorway, SU 113825. W. A. Stanley, Esq. 25.1972

‘Shakespearian’ butter churn and wooden stand. 1gth century/early 20th century.
Made by Hathaway of Chippenham; Rd. trade mark No. 78880.

Scunthorpe Museum 32.1972
Pair of crude iron ?shop scales, trays missing. Late 19th/early 20th century found in
a bog at Plaitford, Hampshire. Mrs. E. M. Parkins 33.1972

Brass hand-bell with iron clapper and wooden handle. Interior of bell is inscribed

I : B. DEVIZES (James Burroughs, active 1738-1755).
The Managers, Oare Church of England Controlled School 37.1972.
Large collection of brown, green and yellow glazed wares, slip wares and china table-
ware fragments; fragments clay pipes; a fragmentary ivory knife-handle and small collec-
tion of glass of 17th and 18th century dates. From the site of the new library and car park,

Chippenham , ST 92107313.

Wiltshire County Council through Miss S. Rooke 43.1972
Clay pipe fragments with heel stamp RO/CARP/ENTER/BATH. Found in Chippenham,
from house near the hospital. F. B. Simpkins, Esq. 46.1972
Small collection of clay pipes with various stamps. Found in the area of Box during
field walking. Grid references are recorded in Devizes Museum Accessions Register for

1972: Mrs. E. Machin 48.1972
Five positive and negative plates prepared in connection with the analysis of faience
beads by the donor. See P.P.S., 22 (1956), 62—3. L. C. Thomas, Esq. 52.1972

Four spectrographic plates prepared in connection with the analysis of glazes of
Laverstock pottery by the donor. See Nature, 192 (1961), 1143-43 Archaeometry, 5 (1962),
L

38-52. . CG. Thomas, Esq. 53-1972
Iron fuel container of a ‘Beatrice’ type paraffin stove inscribed TRADE MARK REG.
NO. (1) 7698. Late 19th/early 20th century. R. C. Hatchwell, Esq. 55-1972

Green glass bottle of torpedo shape but with flattened base. ?Edwardian. Inscribed
CALEY TRADE MARK EAU ARTIFICIELLE, and BY APPOINTMENT TO H.M. THE KING, above and
below a crown. F. B. Simpkins, Esq. 57-1972

NUMISMATICS

Inn token, 19th century: Obv. E. LANSDOWN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE WHITE HORSE, CRICK-
LAID. Rev. MANUFACTURED BY T. POPE & CO. 14, NEWHALL STREET, BIRM.
C. A. Hewer, Esq. 2.1972
Token, 19th century: Obv. ‘GREEN DRAGON’ MARKET LAVINGTON, Id$. Rev. Blank.

i a

JE Rose farthing of Charles I, 1625-49. Single arched crown above rose. Seaby type II.
Both the above from the garden of The Cottage, East Coulston.
Miss L. Howe 16.1972
Bronze reckoning counter, Nuremberg type, 16th century: Obv. HANS SCHLTES IN
NVERNBERG. Rev. GLVCK KVMT VON GOT ALEIN. Found in the garden of “The Fennels’,
Bromham. P. A. J. Brown, Esq. 24.1972
Trade token, 17th century: Obv. BARNABAS. RVMSEY—Tree between 16 and 64. Rev.
IN COLLINGBORNE—T'ree between B and R. Wiltshire Number 56.
E. G. H. Kempson, Esq. 44.1972
White metal token, 1887: Obv. QUEEN OF ENGLAND EMPRESS OF INDIA—Head of
Victoria. Rev. JUBILEE CELEBRATION JUNE 1887. DEvIzEs—Castle on a heraldic shield.
E. G. H. Kempson, Esq. 45-1972

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY FOR 1972

Membership of the Society has risen from 1,049 to 1,094, made up as follows: Indi-
vidual 727; Family 188; Life 48; Student 15; Junior 18; and Institutional 94.

Since July, 1972, Mr. H. H. Townsend has been acting as Joint Secretary, each of
us working on a part-time basis. Mr. Townsend has taken over the Secretaryship of the
Amenity and Conservation Committee, and the House Committee. This has helped
considerably to offset the additional work relating to the Joint Committee concerned
with the merger with Salisbury Museum. As a result of progress made towards setting up
one body with whom the County Council can deal on museum matters this Joint Com-
mittee is now reconstituted as the Wiltshire Museums Council with an Hon. Secretary
to deal with policy matters, while the County Council has provided the secretarial staff
and facilities.

Once again the Society has benefited from the ready co-operation of the Wiltshire
County Council and the Department of the Environment, also the close liaison with other
kindred bodies.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 1973

The Annual General Meeting of the Society, covering the period ist January to
31st December 1972, was held on the afternoon of Saturday, 19th May 1973, at Urchfont
Manor College for Adult Education, by kind permission of the Warden, Dr. Alan Slee,
B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D.

In the morning members of the Society and their guests were taken, in two parties, on
a conducted tour of the village of Urchfont.

Seventy-two members were present at the Meeting which was chaired by the President.
In his address he referred to 1972 as another active and progressive year and, although
members would be receiving reports from the various officers, he wished to give emphasis
to some of the major issues. The first was that for 1972 expenditure had exceeded income
by slightly over £3,000, following a deficit of £1,730 the previous year. In consequence it
had been found necessary to raise £4,100 by realizing investments. In spite of this, thanks
to sound advice given by the Society’s Investment Managers, Messrs. Cazenove & Co.,
there had only been a drop of £600 on the overall valuation of the previous year. The main
cause of the deficit had been the heavy cost of maintenance work on the buildings. Further
essential work had been planned for 1973, and this situation could not be allowed to
continue. While every means of finding a way round this financial problem was being
examined, he appealed to members to enrol others in the Society which had so much to
offer people with varying interests. A great deal of work had gone on in the Museum, and
good progress had been made with the rearranging of the Roman Room. Additional
facilities had been provided upstairs where a first-aid laboratory and new offices had been

145

established. ‘The old work room, thus vacated, had been taken over as an addition to the
Library, and it had been named the ‘Goddard Room’ after Canon Goddard who had
done so much for the Society, and was librarian from 1909 to 1933. He thanked Mr.
Sandell for the substantial contribution he had made towards the cost of adapting this
room, also Mrs. and Miss Rooke for their contribution towards the additional museum
facilities. Turning to the matter of the Magazine, he stressed the desire of the Natural
History Section for Part A to be available as early as possible so that the best use of the
records might be made. He wished to assure members that ways and means for expediting
publication were being examined.

He was pleased to say that the Society’s excavation at Black Patch, Pewsey, had been
continued thanks to the ready co-operation of Mr. Bowerman, who farmed the land. The
Society was greatly indebted to him, not only for his interest but also for having agreed to
place the finds on indefinite loan at Devizes Museum. Thanks were also due to the Depart-
ment of the Environment which had made a grant of £300 towards this project. In paying
tribute to the work of the various Committees, he said that he wished to mention, in particu-
lar, the Amenity and Conservation Committee which had an exceptionally difficult task
in examining and evaluating threats which might be detrimental either to the environment
or to archaeology. The chairman of that Committee, Mr. Nicholson, had expressed a
wish to retire and, regretfully, we had to accede to this. During the past four years he had
done a splendid job for which the Society was indeed grateful. The charitable status of the
Society which enabled tax to be recovered on covenants and dividends had recently been
widened since it had been discovered that only a small trust within the Society had, in
fact, been registered. ‘This widening entailed some changes in the Rules and he hoped that
members would endorse these. On the subject of changes in the Rules he made a plea
that if any member wished to put forward a resolution for any such change they should
submit it early in the year so that it might be included in the Agenda for the Annual
General Meeting because all such changes had to be circulated to the whole membership.

He wished to remind members that, at the previous Annual General Meeting, approval
had been given in principle that discussions should continue to see if a recommendation
could be made for the merger of the museums at Devizes and Salisbury, and a number of
meetings had been held to this end. The proposal stemmed from the wish of the County
Council to have a single body with which to deal on museum matters. While the administra-
tive merger could not be brought about without considerable delay, even when the respec-
tive bodies had reached agreement, it had been decided that, in response to the increased
interest by the Wiltshire County Council, some positive action was needed so it was agreed
to form the Wiltshire Museums Council which, although it had no executive powers,
would co-ordinate requests for funds or other facilities from the County Council or other
bodies and pass them on with its recommendations. It was hoped that other museums
would join so that the Museums Council might become representative of the County as a
whole. He was pleased to say that the first tangible result had been the establishment of a
Conservation Centre at Trowbridge. The appointment of a County Archaeology Officer
was also warmly welcomed. He next referred to the reservations which both members of
the Society and Salisbury Museum had about merging the two museums until the policy
on a major museum for the County had been defined and its location settled. The Old
Mill site in the heart of Salisbury had suddenly become available and, after a working
party of the Wiltshire Museums Council had inspected it, it had been recommended that
steps should be taken to have the site purchased. This would, at any rate, give time in which
to examine in detail the practicability of establishing a museum there. He repeated the
assurance he had given the previous year that no commitment relating to a merger would
be made without full consultation with the Society’s members.

In conclusion the President spoke about the fate of the Pitt-Rivers Museum which,
although just across the border in Dorset, contained the finds from General Pitt-Rivers’s
excavations in the southern part of Wiltshire. Our particular interest was, naturally, that
this Wessex material and the relevant documentation should be kept together. Efforts

146

were being made in collaboration with Salisbury and Dorchester Museums, and with the
University of Southampton, towards this end.

The Treasurer, in presenting his report, underlined what the President had said
about the very considerable excess of Expenditure over Income, amounting to just over
£3,000, and he enumerated the major items as follows: removal of chimneys £340;
roof repairs £354; shoring up and underpinning a wall £379; conversion of the top floor
flat into a work room and offices £615; and extending the heating system to the top floor
£379. On the income side he was glad to report that subscriptions and donations had
increased by £295, and the interest on investments was up by £85. Postage, chiefly due
to careful planning of major circulations, was down by £141. As he had pointed out in
previous years, the steadily increasing cost of producing and distributing the Magazine was
a considerable recurring factor in bringing about an unsatisfactory financial situation.

After the accounts had been adopted, the Meeting received the reports of officers.

The following officers were re-elected to serve for a further year: Hon. Librarian,
R. E. Sandell, m.a., F.S.A., F.L.S.; Hon. Assistant Librarian, K. H. Rogers, B.A., F.S.A.;
Hon. Editor, I. F. Smith, B.A., PH.D., F.s.A.

Dr. I. G. Moore and Mr. R. B. Melland were elected to Council.

Recommendations by Council that, in order to meet the requirements of the Depart-
ment of Education and Science, also the Inland Revenue for the widening of the scope of
the Society’s charitable status, Rules I and X XI should be amended, and a new Rule XXII
added, were passed unanimously.

In view of the many important matters relating to the Society and its museum,
concerning which Mr. Blunt had displayed great negotiating skill, he was re-elected for
a further year as President.

A proposal submitted by Mr. Grant King that the Society should co-operate with
organizations, both inside and outside the county boundary, wherever serious damage to
amenity or antiquities is threatened, was carried unanimously.

ACCESSIONS TO THE LIBRARY

1972
BOOKS BOUGHT
The Strict Baptist Chapels of England. Volume 5: Wiltshire and the West
Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner; Henry Goddard
Oliver Goldsmith and the Moonrakers : G. Winchcombe
A Dictionary of Watercolour Painters ; Stanley Fisher
Sale Catalogue: Stroud Farm, Melksham
Lord Weymouth School, Register, 1707-1895
More Chapters from the Kilvert Saga
Wiltshire Landscape and Other Poems ; Andrea Hopkins
Impressions ; E.. J. Gillett
The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry; Brigadier J. R. I. Platt
Antiquitates Sarisburiensis ; E. Ledwich
History of Milton Lilbourne ; George Ferris
Description of Stonehenge, 1800
Setting my Watch by the Sundial; Marquess of Ailesbury
Lewesdon Hill; Rev. A. Crowe
Wilts and Berks Canal; L. J. Dalby
The Iron Age in the Upper Thames Basin; D. W. Harding
The Iron Age and its Hillforts : Essays presented to Sir Mortimer Wheeler ; ed. D. Hill and M. Jesson

147

BOOKS GIVEN

The Story of St. Mary's (Congregational Church), Devizes ;
F. Hards

Economy and Settlement in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Europe ;

ed. D. D. A. Simpson
Remembered Mercies ; Henry Lane
Some Aspects of Roman Settlement in Wiltshire North of the Chalk
(thesis) ; B. E. Vyner
The Directing of Archaeological Excavations ; J. Alexander
Bronze Age Metalwork in Salisbury Museum; C. N. Moore
and M. Rowlands
Short History of the Hospital of St. John, Heytesbury ;
Rev. P. Grubb
Lascaux Paintings and Engravings; A. Laing
The Neolithic Revolution; Sonia Cole
Man the Toolmaker; K. P. Oakley
Field Archaeology; R. J. C. Atkinson
Surveying for Archaeologists ; University of Durham
History of the Primates; W. E. Le Gros Clark
Archaeology and Society ; Grahame Clark
Brittany; P. R. Giot
Dating the Past; F. E. Zeuner
Wiltshire Orchids, painted by Myrtle Faskin
Glimpses into the History of the Priory of St. Mary and
St. Lazarus, Maiden Bradley; H. D. Kitching
ENstory of the Parish Church, Tisbury; R. H. Jackson
Hurdcott ; John Ayscough
Returns to the Bishop’s Visitation of 1783; ed. Mary Ransome
Treasure of Salisbury; Ven. C. E. Plaxton
Problems of Early West Saxon History; D. P. Kirby
National Trust: Prehistoric Properties

PAMPHLETS GIVEN

Gillman’s Popular Guide to Devizes

Prehistoric Remains of the Maltese Islands ; Sir 'T. Zammit

The Nicholas Family ; W. Hesket

Three photographs of pictures in the Town Hall, Devizes

Notebook : items from the 7. W. Brooke collection

Chippenham: Monkton Hill Methodist Church Jubilee

Photograph and account of Devizes Prison

Friends of Edington, Report for 1971-2

Order of Service for opening Savernake Hospital

Victorian Vignettes

Chippenham: print of church from drawing by F. Britton

Supplementary note on the Mints of Bedwyn and Marlborough ;
F. E. Jones

Byam family: portrait by Gainsborough in Marlborough College

Devizes: correspondence concerning Sussex Wharf

Edington Priory: rath century glass in Lady Chapel

The Athelete of God (St. Edmund of Abingdon) :
programme of a play

George Herbert’s Country Colleagues: Country Life,
February 1972

148

DONOR

Author

Publishers
R. J. Hetherington

Author
Publishers

Salisbury Museum

Author

. Willoughby
. Willoughby
. Willoughby
. Willoughby
. Willoughby
. Willoughby
. Willoughby
. Willoughby
. Willoughby
The late Miss Faskin

PRR RRR PRE
225555555

Author

Author

K. H. Rogers

Wiltshire Record Society

Author
National Trust

DONOR

F. Hards

E. H. North
Author

A. Baggs

J. Ghandler
K. H. Rogers
J. Girvan

K. H. Rogers
Miss O’Brien
Miss S. Rooke

Author
E. G. H. Kempson

R. E. Sandell
Mrs. G. B. Smethurst

Iford Manor Gardens: Country Life, May 1972

Bowood; articles by John Cornforth: Country Life,
September 1972

Selwood: a Forest under the Plough; G. Wright:
Country Life, February 1972

PAMPHLETS, ETC., BOUGHT
Map of Grittleton, c. 1780

ACCESSIONS TO THE COUNTY RECORD OFFICE, 1972

FAMILY AND ESTATE

Radnor (Pleydell-Bouverie) of Longford: marriage settlements, etc., Bouverie,
Duncombe and Mildmay families, 1714—1870; deeds, 1411-1940, Alderbury, Boden-
ham, Britford, Charlton in Standlynch, Coombe Bissett, Corston, Downton, Farley,
West Grimstead, Harnham, Homington, Lavington, Lyneham, Nunton, Odstock,
Patney, Pewsey, Seagry, Stanton St. Quintin, Urchfont, and Whaddon in Alderbury;
in London, Holborn and Whitefriars; and in Gloucestershire, Pucklechurch, etc.;
manorial records, Alderbury, 1663-1815, Downton, 14c.-1841, Homington, 1605-
1818, and Odstock, 1367—1696; estate papers, surveys, correspondence, vouchers, etc.,
Wiltshire, London and Pucklechurch (Glos.), 1580-1892; maps, Stanton St. Quintin,
1719, and Corston, 1720; papers concerning watermeadows in Downton and Alder-
bury, 1665-1809; legal papers, settlement of Duncombe estates, 1763-1806; Downton
borough election papers, 1757-96.

Hungerford of Farleigh and Heytesbury: cartulary (16c.) of deeds of estates in
Wiltshire and other counties, c. 1199-1470; deeds, 1291-16409, of estates in Wiltshire,
Upton Scudamore, Warminster, Tytherington, Winterbourne Stoke, Stockton,
Heytesbury, Horningsham, Sutton Veny, Codford, Chippenham, Biddestone,
Mildenhall, Hindon, Rushall and Salisbury; in Somerset, Farleigh, ‘Tellisford,
Wellow, North Cadbury, Newton St. Loe, Beckington; also Surrey, Devon and
Cornwall; surveys and rentals, 17c.; probate, legal and personal documents, 1416—
1651, including foundation deeds of Hungerford chantry at Salisbury, 1472.

Hinton and Everett of Sutton Veny: deeds, 1574-1882.

Hobhouse of Monkton Farleigh (additional): survey of Bradford, early 17c.; rentals,
1830-58; settlements, 1791-1810.

Corr of Aldbourne: deeds, 1616-1739.

Goldney of Chippenham: map, late 17c., of Sheldon; survey of Chippenham property,
1728, and of Bradenstoke, 1772; estate and personal papers, 19-20c.

DEEDS

Solicitors’ collection of ¢c. 1500 deeds of Swindon and other places in north-east of
county, 17-20c.; deeds (150) of estates in Boyton, Sherrington, Heytesbury and
Upton Lovell, 1670-1893; c. 100 deeds, Stanton Fitzwarren, Orcheston St. George,
Swindon, Bradford-on-Avon and elsewhere in W., 1566-1930.

CHARITY

Duchess of Somerset’s Broad ‘Town Charity; deeds and leases, 1722-1920; estate
papers, 19c.; apprenticeship records, 1714-1947.

149

PARISH AND PARISH COUNCIL
Burbage, 1750-1946; Clyffe Pypard, 1576-1965; Dauntsey, 1653-1812; Fugglestone
with Bemerton, 1568-1955; East Harnham, 1854-1959; Hilperton, 1818-1927;
Marlborough, St. Mary with St. Peter and St. Paul, 1602-1932; Seend, 13c.—1955;
Swindon St. Mark, 1845-1967; Wanborough, 1780-1933. Also additional deposits
from Bromham, 1701-1812; West Lavington, 1793-1887; Milton Lilbourne, 1813-
1924; Ogbourne St. Andrew, 1768-1952; Rodbourne Cheney, 1654-1907; Sutton
Veny, 1755-1959.

BUSINESS

Pattern books, dye books, and other business records of several Trowbridge clothiers,
1706-96; records of J. and T. Clark of ‘Trowbridge, clothiers (established 1801),
including partnership records, 1801-97, pattern books, c. 1850-1945, sale books,
1896-1953, stock books and misc. records, 1804~—1944, and deeds of property, 1743-
1856.

Account books of a Salisbury solicitors’ practice, 1828-1907.

MISCELLANEOUS

Poll book of county election, 1705; terrier of land in Chilton Foliat, 1758; sale particu-
lars, 1911-30.

ACCESSIONS TO THE DIOCESAN RECORD OFFICE

The Close, Salisbury
CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Plans and tracings of the Bishop’s Palace and Mompesson House in the Close, Salis-
bury, 1921-54

WILTSHIRE RECORD SOCIETY

The 1972 Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday, roth June, in the Medieval
Hall of the Old Deanery in The Close, Salisbury, and was attended by 57 members and
guests.

Professor R. B. Pugh, the President, Mr. M. J. Lansdown, the Hon. Treasurer, and
Mrs. N. D. Steele, the Hon. Secretary, were re-elected for the ensuing year. Mr. C. R.
Elrington, the Hon. Editor, who submitted his resignation after ten years of zealous and
tireless work for the Society, was warmly thanked by the President and presented with
a typewriter in recognition of his work. He had been responsible for bringing out eight
volumes apart from a great reprint programme. Ten volumes were in stages of preparation.
Dr. D. A. Crowley was elected Hon. Editor in his place. The Countess Badeni was elected
for a term of four years in place of the retiring member of the Committee, Mr. K. G.
Ponting.

1972 saw the publication in June of Volume XXVII for 1971, Wiltshire Returns to the
Bishop’s Visitation Queries, 1783, edited by Miss Mary Ransome. Volume XXVIII for 1972,
Mrs. Angela Conyers’s edition of Wiltshire Extents for Debts, Edward I-Elizabeth I, went to
the printers in the Autumn. Volume XXIX for 1973 will be Mr. Elrington’s edition of
Feet of Fines, Edward Il.

A steady sale of books was reported by Mr. Lansdown, the most popular still being
Volume VIII, Andrews and Dury’s Map of Wiltshire 1773, and Volume XXVI, Civil
Pleas of the Wiltshire Eyre, 1249, of which 31 went to Seldon Society members overseas.

150

The financial position after publishing two volumes at a cost of £2,300 and reprinting
Volume III, Antrobus Deeds, for £250, was a net reduction of balances of about £1,000.
Income included grants of £175 from Swindon Borough Corporation and £100 from
Wiltshire County Council.

The membership by the end of the year was 271. Of this number, 149 were individual
members, 63 were Institutional members from the United Kingdom, and 59 were Institu-
tional members from Overseas.

N. D. STEELE, Hon. Secretary

REVIEWS

Durrington Walls: Excavations 1966-68, by G. J. Wainwright with I. H. Longworth.

Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, No. XXIX,

1971 (distributed by Thames and Hudson). Pp. xiv-+421, 138 figs., 13 pls. £8.00.

The necessity to realign the course of the A345 road where it traverses one of the
major prehistoric monuments of the British Isles, and so to damage yet further a site
already defaced by ploughing and by the former road, must remain a matter for regret.
On the credit side must be set the massive increment of archaeological information that
has been recovered as a direct result of this contingency—information which, in other
circumstances, would not have been acquired in the foreseeable future. It is also a positive
gain that, the full potential of the site having at last been demonstrated in the course of
rescue excavations, steps have now been taken to prevent continued erosion by ploughing.

Durrington Walls, one of the four or five very large members of the class of Neolithic
earthwork enclosures which possess external banks and internal ditches (‘henges’),
stands one mile north of Amesbury and about 200 ft. north of Woodhenge. The bank and
ditch, effectively masked by ploughing round most of their circuit, enclose some 30 acres.
The true character and affinities of the monument were first recognized in 1929 by the
late O. G. S. Crawford (Antequity, m1, 45-59), who pointed to the formal similarity to
Avebury and some other well-known sites. At that time the only direct evidence for
the date of Durrington Walls was afforded by a single potsherd, allegedly from a beaker,
that had been found beneath the bank in a cutting made for a drain (W.A.M., xL, 95-103).
Crawford stressed the need for excavation to obtain more satisfactory evidence, particularly
as it then seemed probable that part of the bank would soon be submerged beneath a
refuse-tip. No further investigation took place until 1950-52, when pipe-trenches cut across
the enclosure were observed by the late Dr. J. F. S. Stone, Professor Stuart Piggott and
Mr. A. St. J. Booth, who also made some trial cuttings at the edge of the bank (Antiquaries
Journal, XXxXIV., 155-77). Material recovered in the course of this excavation permitted a
general correlation with Woodhenge, but much remained obscure or uncertain and the
only features revealed by the pipe-trench as it crossed the interior were pits of Iron Age
date.

Dr. Wainwright’s report on the excavations carried out on behalf of the Ministry
of Public Building and Works (now Department of the Environment) in advance of the
roadworks presents with exemplary speed a comprehensive account of the finds and
structures that came to light in 1966-68, together with specialist reports on a wide range
of topics and a full review of the implications and comparative material. The volume
is handsomely produced and the pull-out plans stand up well to handling. Minor criticisms
may be made of the over-reduction of some distribution maps and a tendency to repetitive-
ness in sections devoted to discussion; these might, here and there, have been compressed
to advantage.

The most noteworthy result of the excavations was the revelation of what lies within
the seemingly featureless interior of the enclosure. Along the relatively narrow strip to be
occupied by the new road, representing only a small fraction of the total area, were found
the sites of two circular timber structures, broadly comparable with those excavated at
Woodhenge and The Sanctuary by the late Mrs. M. E. Cunnington. A geophysical survey
carried out by Mr. A. J. Clark indicated the presence of ‘many more’ internal features at
Durrington Walls, but about these no further information is offered. As at Woodhenge
and The Sanctuary, the post-settings of the two excavated examples permit theoretical
reconstructions as circular roofed buildings; the possible alternatives are discussed from
the architectural standpoint by Mr. C. R. Musson. The balance of evidence suggests that
both buildings are likely to have been of a ceremonial rather than a purely domestic

152

nature. One was approached by an avenue of standing posts which passed through a
fagade; the evidently deliberate disposition of potsherds, flints and food refuse in selected
places within and outside the other, apparently over a long period of time, indicates that
one of its functions may have been that of an ‘offering-house’. In support of this idea Dr.
Wainwright adduces the close parallels offered by the council houses of the Creek Indians
of North America, known both from contemporary descriptions and recent excavations.

A series of radiocarbon determinations indicates that both the earthwork enclosure
and the two timber structures at Durrington Walls were in being c. 2000-1900 B.c. The
identity of the builders is established by the consistent presence of Grooved (formerly
Rinyo-Clacton) Ware in primary contexts. A particularly useful chapter, written in
collaboration with Dr. Longworth, reviews the distribution and associations of Grooved
Ware from the Orkneys to Southern England.

Readers who are concerned with the history of land-use in Wiltshire will find much
of interest in the discussion by Dr. J. G. Evans of the pre-enclosure environment and in
Dr. Wainwright’s calculation of the quantity of timber required for the most substantial
components of one of the circular buildings and the area of woodland likely to have been
cleared in consequence.

The carefully appraised results of the Durrington Walls excavations have greatly
enlarged our information about some aspects of life at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennia
B.c.—and have simultaneously emphasized our virtually total ignorance of the location
and nature of contemporary domestic settlements and dwellings.

I. F. SMITH

Diocese of Salisbury: Guide to the Records of the Bishop, the Archdeacons of
Salisbury and Wiltshire, and other Archidiaconal and Peculiar Jurisdictions,
and to the Records of the Bishop of Bristol’s Sub-Registry for Dorset,
compiled for the Records Committee of the Wiltshire County Council by Pamela
Stewart, 1973. Available from the Wiltshire County Record Office, Trowbridge;
75p plus postage.

The Records Committee of the Wiltshire County Council are to be congratulated on
the publication of Part IV of the Guides to their records, the first to issue from the Diocesan
Record Office. These records stretch over three counties and Miss Stewart has picked
her way unerringly amongst them. From 1542 to 1836 Dorset, one of the original portions
of the Diocese of Salisbury, was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Bristol. In 1837
Berkshire went to the Diocese of Oxford and in the next year the north of Wiltshire went
to the Diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, and in the Diocese of Bristol it remains, in spite
of an effort by Bishop Wordsworth to regain it. Few dioceses have such a complicated
history as Salisbury.

There are precedents for this guide in that for Lincoln by Professor Major, and those
for Chichester, Gloucester, and Bristol by Miss Kirby. It is to be expected that the publica-
tion of this guide will lead to new and interesting lines of research, perhaps moving away
from the modern shibboleth of sociology. Peculiar jurisdictions for one have long awaited
some definitive research, and Miss Stewart’s account of the varied types in this docese make
one eager for more information. How did that odd peculiar of Trowbridge come to be
gathered into the collection of Bishop’s peculiars, how indeed did it come to be set up in
the first place? How did the forest peculiars of the Lord Warden of Savernake Forest and
of Gillingham (sometimes called Royal) come to get their different status? Glimpses of
history are shown in the succession of the Dean and Canons of Windsor to the prebend
and lands of the Abbey of Bec in Ogbourne and Wantage. And how did the strange title of
Perpetual Vicar of Corsham arise? The semi-autonomous standings of the Archdeacons
of Dorset and Berkshire and the almost completely autonomous standing of the Dean do
not make matters any easier, nor does the fire in Blandford which destroyed all the records
up to 1730.

153

The Bishop’s Court papers are expertly dealt with, as are those in the Administrative
section. Miss Kirby has dealt more robustly with the Gloucester and Bristol records,
dividing them into fresh groups and renumbering them, but Miss Stewart’s more cautious
approach is none the worse for that and the different sections are clearly marked and
described.

It can be said without doubt that this will prove the greatest help in this field since
the publication of Canon Jones’s Fasti Sariesberiensis. Only one mild criticism: it would
have been nice to have running chapter headings as one is apt to mistake which section
one is in. It would be ungracious to ask for more, but it would be nice if Miss Stewart
would now turn her attention to the Cathedral records and produce a guide to them as
excellent as the one she has here produced.

R. E. SANDELL

OBITUARY

Dora H. Robertson (née Butterworth) died on 29th September 1972, in Salisbury.
She was born in Manchester on 4th November 1893. Her life was devoted to the care of
the boys of the Salisbury Cathedral Choristers School, where she was engaged as Matron
in 1925. Three months later another important engagement followed when she married
the Headmaster of the School, Ganon A. G. Robertson, and together they directed the
School until retirement.

Her affection for the school did not finish here, as she put pen to paper and proceeded
to record a history of the life and education of the Cathedral Choristers for 700 years,
published in her book, Sarum Close, in 1938. Two articles on the same theme followed in
W.A.M.: “Notes on some Buildings in the City and Close of Salisbury’ and (with Canon
Christopher Wordsworth), ‘Salisbury Choristers: their Endowments, Boy-Bishops, Music
Teachers and Head- Masters, with the History of the Organ’, both in Vol. XLVIII (1939).

Mrs. Robertson’s interests were not confined to the Close but also extended into the
City. She was a committee member of the Salisbury and District Society of Arts, which
came into being at the end of the War, and in 1948 became a leading member of the
Architectural Group which was then formed within the Society. This Group produced
City of Salisbury (Phoenix House, 1957) for which Dora Robertson wrote the chapter
‘Reformation in Salisbury 1535-1660’. With the demise of the Arts Society, the Hatcher
Society (local history and architecture) came into being and Dora became its Hon.
Secretary, a position which she held until her death. She also served on the committee
of the Salisbury and District Preservation Trust.

She was independent by nature and had a quick, witty and intelligent mind with a
sense of fun.

She left some unpublished work, notably the revealing story of John Farrant, the
Cathedral organist, and also her autobiography—a well-written and amusing piece of
work. Another unpublished work was her play, Sweet Wife, which was performed in
Salisbury’s Playhouse.

PETER R. BATT

INDEX TO VOLUME 68

Accessions: County Record Office, 149;
Diocesan Record Office, 150; library, 147;
museum, 143

_ Aldbourne, 89, 126-9, 131

Alderbury, 127

All Cannings, 131

Alton, 71, 120, 136, 138

Amesbury, 42, 128, 131, 136

Anglo-Saxon: barrow, 135; borough, 135;
cemetery, 135; metalwork, 135; pottery,
1353 spindle-whorl, 135

Ashley, J., 90

Ashton Keynes, 127

Atworth, 131

Avebury, 40, 117, 132

Barbury Castle (Ogbourne St. Andrew), 130

Baskerville, T., 89

Berwick Bassett, 132

Berwick St. James, 129

Berwick St. John, 40

Biddestone, 40

Bishopstone (N.), 128-9, 132

Bishopstone (S.), 127, 138

Blackman, J., 104.

Box, 132

Bradley House, 123

Bratton, 135

Braydon, Forest of, 79-80

Brige, 122

Brixton Deverill, 129, 132

Broad Chalke, 128

Bromham, 132

Bronze Age: enclosures, 116; environment,
120; fields, 116; metalwork, 119, 128-9;
pottery, 116, 128-9; round barrows, 40-1,
128-9

Brown, M., 89

Brown, W., 89

Burdett, Sir F., 107

Calne, 138

Caswall, Diana, 89
Chamberlain, S., 104
Charcoal identifications, 62
Cherhill, 127

Chitterne, 40

Church, G., 89

Church, R., 100

Church, T., 107

Church, W., 96

Clarendon Palace, 87
Clarendon Park, 129, 132-3, 136, 138
Clarke, T., 97

Clay pipes, 144
Collingbourne Kingston, 128
Cook, J., 89

Cook, L., 96

Corr family, 89

Corsham, 40

Corsley, 118

Coxhead, J., 104

Cricklade, 87, 133, 135
Crockerton, 86

Devizes, 40, 133

Dilton Marsh, 133
Donhead St. Andrew, 127
Downton, 40

Durnford, 40

Durrington, 127-8
Durrington Walls, 127

East Coulston, 127
East Kennett, 118
Easton Grey, 133
Easton Royal, 109, 118
Edington, 133
Elderton, Rev. J., 89
Etchilhampton, 127
Everleigh, 133, 136

Figheldean, 138
Finch, J., 104
Fishlock, S., 106
Fonthill Bishop, 109
Foxton, Rev., 92

Gosling, J., 97
Gould, T., 89
Grafton, 133

Great Somerford, 87

Hancock, J., 89

Hancock, T., 107

Hannington, 133

Hare, Rev. Augustus, 71
Highworth, 40, 128-9, 133, 136
Hill, T., roo

Hindon, 40

Hodder, T., 96

Holt, 138

Huish, 75, 136

Tron Age: bead, 129; ditches, 129; enclosures
and hill-forts, 129-30; fields, 116, 129-30;
metalwork, 129-30; pits, 130; pottery, 51-2,
116, 129-30; quern, rubbers, 129; settle-
ments, 129-30

James, S., 96

King, Stephen, 92
Kingston Deverill, 62
Knook, 134

Lacock, 40, 86

Latton, 138

Laverstock, 86, 128-9, 134, 136
le Poter, Hugh and William, 87
Liddiard, D., 95

Liddiard, T., 106

Liddington Castle, 130
Llewellyn, David Herbert, 109
Llewellyn, Rev. David, 109
Lovelock, E., 105

Lydiard Tregoze, 134

Maiden Bradley, 40, 123

Malmesbury, 40, 138

Marlborough, 40

Marston Meysey, 134

Mead, Gen., 96

Medieval: bishop’s palace, 41; boroughs, 40-1;
buildings, 40, 137; bronze foundries, 137;
castles, 40-1; cess-pit, 136; churches, 40, 71;
ditches, 137-8; gate, 137; hone-stones, 136;
kilns, 136; masonry, 136; metalwork, 136-8;
mortar, 136; motte, 40, 137; occupation,
136, 138; pottery, 76-8, 79-88, 136-8;
rampart, 137; settlements, 40; town, 40;
well, 136

Melksham, 126, 128, 134, 139

Mere, 40, 128

Mesolithic flints, 126

Minety, 79, 130, 134, 136

Molluscan fauna, 56

Mortimer, A., 104

158

Neate, J., 100

Neate, S., 89

Neolithic: flints, 49, 117-8, 127-8; long barrow,
62; pottery, 116-8, 128; radiocarbon dates,
127-8

Nettleton, 134

North Tidworth, 128, 130

Ogbourne St. Andrew, 116, 128, 130, 134.
Old Sarum (Laverstock), 129, 136

Palaeolithic flint, 126

Pearce, R., go

Perfect, T., 89

Pewsey, 119, 128-30, 134-5

Pizzie, L., 108

Pollen analysis, 120

Post-medieval: accessions to museum, 144;
coffin-plate, 75; pocket-knife, 76

Powell, W., 105

Preshute, 116

Purton, 130

Quidhampton, 129-30, 134

Radiocarbon dates, 127-8

Ramsbury, 40

Read, A., 104

Read, G., 107

Revell, W., 106

Reviews: Durrington Walls: Excavations
1966-68, by G. J. Wainwright with I. H.
Longworth, 152; Diocese of Salisbury:
Guide to the Records of the Bishop, eic.,
by Pamela Stewart, 153

Roads, Roman, 135

Robertson, Dora H., obituary, 155

Romano-British: buildings, 122, 131-3, 1353
burials, 133-53; coins, 131-5; ditches, 133-4;
enclosure, 132; fields, 116, 131, 134-5;
metalwork, 122, 131, 133; pottery, 52, 64,
116, 118, 131-5; pottery kiln, 134; quern,
135; sculpture, 122, 132; settlements, 64,
122, 131; temple, 122; tile kiln, 80, 134;
villas, 131-4. well, 122

Salisbury, 40, 127-8, 134, 136-7
Salt, R., 104

Seymour family, 123
Shepherd, J., 107

Sherrington, 40, 137

Sherston, 41

Shrewton, 129

Sidbury (N. Tidworth), 128, 130
Simmonds, W., 96

Slye, S., 95

Smith, J., 100

Soil analysis, 55

Somerset, dukes of, 123-5
South Newton, 129-30, 134
Southby, John, 89

Southwick, 138

Stanton St. Quintin, 134, 138
Stonehenge: Avenue, 42; post-holes near, 57
Storton, J., 96

Stourton with Gasper, 41
Stratton St. Margaret, 138
Stroud, T., 104

Sutton Veny, 41

Swindon, 134-5, 138

Tidcombe and Fosbury, 128
Trowbridge, 138
Trueman, G., 104

Upton Lovell, 134

Walford, R., 98
Wanborough, 64, 130, 135, 138
Warman, W., 100
Warminster, 41

Water, Michael, 123

Wells, J., 89

Wentworth, J., 100
Westbury, 41, 130

Wilcot, 135

Williams, John, 92

Wilton, 41

Winterbourne Monkton, 135
Winterbourne Stoke, 128-9
Winterslow, 122, 135

Witts, E., 100

Woodford, 41

Woodhenge (Durrington), 128
Woodley, J., 107

Wootton Bassett, 87

Wright, N., 106

Wroughton, 129-30, 135, 138

Ps

PLATE I

a. Ditch section 55L in the area where loess overlies Coombe Rock.
b. Ditch section 55G in the area of the Greensand and gravel.

STONEHENGE AVENUE

PLATE II

a. Post-hole A after excavation.

b. Post-hole A: section to level of post circle in plan.

STONEHENGE CAR PARK

PLATE III

a. Post-hole B after excavation.

b. Post-hole B: section.

STONEHENGE CAR PARK

PLATE IV

a. Post-hole C after excavation.
b. Post-hole C: section.

STONEHENGE CAR PARK

PLATE V

ante Bi Plate
y :
WhO Gre
eA

Linth, hells N06.
< J4 Silt
Aad Shulds

>

a |
a!

@

°

2
BL

Folio from a funeral furniture manufacturer’s pattern-book, 1783.
(See Excavation at the Saxon Church, Alton Barnes, Fic. 2.)

PLATE VI

a
ooh

Preshute Down and Dean Bottom, from the north-west.
Photograph by G. W. G. Allen Copyright, Ashmolean Museum
(See Some Beaker Habitation Sites in North Wiltshire, Fic. 1.)

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