6 The Sistory of the Parish of All Cannings. 



thus under the plough, with of course a corresponding amount of 

 meadow and pasture, belonged to the demesne, or inland as it was 

 termed ; that is, was in the hands of the Abbess, as Lady of the 

 Manor or her representative ; the other tivo-thirds, or the outland, 

 was tilled by seme 27 " villans," — (by which name were designated 

 thechief of the undertenants) — and their dependents In estimating 

 the extent of the pasture, (which included all the down land,) and of 

 the wood, it must be remembered that the " leiica," by which it was 

 measured, represented a mile and a half. It may be observed 

 moreover, that the value of the estate, which in the time of King 

 Edward was £20, had in the time of the Domesday Survey increased 

 to £30, or at the rate of some 50 per cent. Meagre therefore as 

 the notice in the record may appear, it would seem to indicate a 

 state of quiet progress, and an immunity from many of those 

 disturbing causes with which, at the Norman Conquest, other parts 

 of the kingdom were agitated. The Conqueror professed to respect 

 the rights of the Church, and as far as Wiltshire was concerned, 

 he scrupulously adhered to his pledges. ' 



But though the Domesday Record is the earliest notice that we 

 now have of All Cannings, there are, within the limits of the 

 parish, several memorials of a much greater antiquity. There are 

 some ancient works which join it with the shadowy past, and proof 

 that on its surface strange events have occurred, and that a race of 

 men, differing widely in their habits from those now employed in 

 the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, once roamed over its downs. 

 Among the range of hills to the north of the Devizes road, whose 

 rounded forms, deep hollows, and wavy outline, are of singular 

 beauty, especially toward sunrise and sunset when the lights and 

 shades are strongest, the eye is arrested by a well marked circular 

 fosse which crowns the summit of Rybury Hill, Sir R. C. Hoare ^ 



' See on this subject, Domesday for Wiltshire, introduction, p. xxiii. 



^His words are, "A point of land projecting from St. Anne's hill aflfords 

 another specimen of ancient fortification, in an earthenwork that bears the mark 

 of great antiquity : it has a single vallum or ditch, with an out-work, which are 

 much worn down. The area is evidently excavated for a species of white stone 

 that is used for lining the inside walls of chimneys. This earthen-work is 



