Names denoting Land- Divisions. 83 
‘Chippenham a Srantzy, both of which explain themselves. Stowe 1, 
9 or as it is sometimes spelt StawELL, is from the Anglo-Saxon stan- 
‘ wyll (=stone well). Collinson gives “ Stan-well” as a form in 
which he meets with the name of what is now commonly called 
: “ Stowell,” near Wincanton, in Somerset. 





























II:—Names derived from the division of the land among the 
settlers in the country. 
47. We now advance astep further. As soon as the new settlers 
have made themselves secure in the land which they have won, they 
begin to divide it among themselves; and hence another class of 
names is introduced, those that derive their origin from the nature 
of the settlement, or from circumstances connected with such partition 
of territory among the conquerors. 
It is no part of our purpose in this essay to trace out the way in 
_ which the ancient marks were occupied by the men of a family ora 
_ ¢lan, or the gradual means by which manors were granted out to 
_ various owners, or how these manors or estates were formed into 
tithing’s and hundreds, and these subsequently into shires. We have 
only to do with such subjects so far as the names we meet with 
throw light upon them or are illustrated by them. 
It will not however be irrelevant, if, on one of these points, inas- 
_ much as the ancient names in Wilts seem to sri some light upon 
it, I make a few remarks. 
In the oldest list of the Wiltshire Hundreds, that contained in 
_ the Exeter Domesday Book, out of forty which are enumerated, there 
are but twelve which are called from a chief town within their limits. 
zs hese are: —Ambresbury, Bradford, Cricklade, Chippenham, Calne, 
al lownton, Heytesbury, Melksham, Mere, Ramsbury,and Warminster. 
The comparatively small places Alderbury, Damerham, and Worth 
a ik Highworth) give names to hundreds, but neither Bedwin (un- 
less, as is possible, Kinwardston may be another designation of 
it) , Wilton, or Malmesbury are found assigning theirnames to such 
_ divisions of territory; and of the rest, the meaning of some of the words 
| is so obscure as to be beyond our power to explain, whilst of others 
: the interpretation seems to point to a remote time when the country 
