290 The Vale of Warminster. 
newspaper) Brent Knoll, a well-known hill, “has from time imme- 
morial exhibited, on the first Sunday in May, a spectacle sufficient to 
make Sabbatarians shudder. Formerly it was the habit to indulge 
in all manner of games, whilst shows, nut-stalls, &c., were not 
wanting, and folks from all the country round assembled in thousands 
to join in the revelry. To stop these unseemly gatherings many 
attempts have been made without effect, time having legalised the 
custom, the origin of which is unknown; but we are glad to note 
the fact that the affair seems falling into decay.” 
I have read! that in the last century the youth of this neighbour- 
hood used to assemble on some particular day at the top of Bidecombe 
Hill, for the special purpose of eating “furmity,” an agreeable 
composition of boiled wheat in the grain, and sugar: a dainty, 
which, in more northern counties, in my early days, was specially 
reserved for Christmas Eve. A great hole at the top of Bideombe 
Hill used to be called “ Furmity Hole.” Whether the “ Furmity” 
custom, or the name, survives I know not, but the gathering to- 
gether of people did continue some few years ago on Palm Sunday, 
in some way connected with the maintaining of bounds, as in the 
ease of Cley Hill. 
The name of Bidcombe Hill brings up other recollections. You 
have heard, no doubt, of the famous hill of old Grecian poetry, 
Parnassus, the favourite abode of Apollo and the Muses. To have 
been so fortunate as to climb towards the top of it meant to be a 
respectable poet, a favourite with Apollo and the Muses. You may 
perhaps not know that the Parnassus of Wiltshire is “ Bidcombe 
Hill’ A poem with that title was written many years ago by a 
worthy curate of Horningsham, whom I knew very well, the late 
Mr. Skurray. He was an admirer of what he used to call hill 
poetry, of the class well known as Cooper’s Hill, by Denham. To 
those who have any knack of writing verses, and who wish for a 
subject, allow me to recommend a high hill, where you can see 
pretty well to a distance all round. Take a field-glass, and you will 
soon find plenty of topics to write about. You will see monastic — 
1 Notes and Queries, Fifth Series, y. 273. 
