288 Chippenham. Notes of its History. 



considering the mode of warfare and the want of artillery in those 

 times, it probably was. The river winds round two sides of the 

 town : so that when there was no bridge, it was, so far, naturally 

 protected. An earthwork thrown across from water to water, on 

 the side facing Derry Hill would complete the defence. 



Names. 



A word or two about these. There is a little street in Chippen- 

 ham called " Ambry :" and the same name also is, or used to be, 

 found close to Westminster Abbey. There, it is said to be a cor- 

 ruption from "Almonry," the place at which in ancient times the 

 monks of that Abbey made their distribution of alms. Here, the 

 name seems rather to be a corruption of " Ave Mary." London 

 has a Paternoster Row, and very near it an Ave Mary Lane, both 

 of ecclesiastical origin. " Ave Mary," pronounced quick and short 

 would soon slide into Ambry. 



I believe there is also a thoroughfare here which rejoices in the 

 name of Rotten Row, which I mention not for its own merits, but 

 rather on account of its celebrated namesake in Hyde Park. It is 

 a very strange thing, that for so fashionable an equestrian promen- 

 ade, one, which in the height of the London season presents such 

 a spectacle as perhaps cannot be found elsewhere in the whole 

 world, so uninviting a name should be retained. There has been 

 a good deal of discussion in " Notes and Queries," ^ and publica- 

 tions of that sort, as to the origin of the name : but some of the 

 explanations given are very far-fetched and unlikely. It is not an 

 uncommon name. There is one in Glasgow, one in Bury St. 

 Edmunds, and there are several more in country places. A simple 

 account of the matter would seem to be, that the name was originally 

 given, merely from what it (rather coarsely) expresses, viz. the 

 softness of the ground, as distinguished from streets that were 

 pitched or paved, or macadamized. 



As to the names of places and parishes in the neighbourhood, 

 one great rule for finding out their meaning is easy enough. 

 In Wiltshire, almost all the names of places, towns and villages, 

 ^ See Notes and Queries, third series, vol. ix., p. 361. 



