Names from those of ancient Owners or Oceupiers. 91 
with the sepulchral ¢wmuli, to which reference is so constantly made 
in the charters, and which are still to be seen in such numbers on 
our downs. The present mode of burial in cemeteries set apart for 
the purpose, and then attached to churches, was not usual till nearly 
_ the end of the ninth century. At certain periods they observed the 
custom of solitary burial, under a mound or barrow, in the open and 
uncultivated ground which separated the possessions of different 
communities or settlers. Hence the very frequent reference to such 
mounds on the borders of ancient manors,—sacred land-marks they 
became,—the work of man indeed, but intended for his home, when, 
after his days of toil, he folds his hands and lays him down to rest. 
Perhaps in our zeal to interpret the past we are in danger of some 
irreverence in peering into these ancient sepulchres. It would be 
well for us, if, when engaged in what to some is the exciting chase 
of “ barrow-digging,” we bore in mind more frequently that in that 
* dust and ashes” are the germs of immortality. The old charters 
deal with a time when the names of a few past generations had not 
quite faded from men’s memories. In going through these records 
a feeling often comes over you, like that which, after a residence of 
many years in a village, you feel as you walk through the church- 
yard, and can tell, one by one, whose memorials the little turf-heaps 
are, and who sleeps beneath them. Frequent allusions are often 
found to older “ barrows:” a common expression found is “0d 8a 
hzSenan byrgelsas,” 7.¢., to the “ heathen burial-places :” 
the way in which mention is made of persons being placed in these 
_ “heathen barrows” seems to imply that the earliest Christians buried 
*. Oe 
1 
H 
moreover 
where the pagans had previously deposited the burnt remains ! of 
their dead. 
‘ 55. A few names selected from charters relating to Wiltshire 
may be interesting: possibly an intimate knowledge of the localities 
_ to which they refer may enable some of my readers to discover the ~ 
name still remaining in our county. 

CTE ee eee ————— ee 
_ 1'Kemble well observes that the Anglo-Saxon verb byrgian does not mean 
simply what we call burial, but has the more extended meaning of covering and 
- 0 does not exclude the idea of cremation. It corresponds to the Latin sepelire, 
_ which is applied to the urn containing the ashes, quite as correctly as to the 
_ burial of the unburnt body. See above, § 40. ‘ 
; M2 
