84 
Smith’s cave, and is described by Sir Walter Scott in his novel 
“Kenilworth ” with its fantastic legend, current from time 
immemorial in this country. It is said that anyone whose horse 
has cast a shoe, will find it replaced here by an invisible smith, 
provided the steed be left on the spot at night with a piece of 
money to reward the workman. This cromlech has its name 
evidently from Weland, who held the same place among the 
Anglo Saxon gods as Vulcan among the Latin. It is doubtless. 
the chambered sepulchre of some ancient chieftain. The rain, 
long threatening, here came down on the excursionists, and the 
remainder of the trip was marred by continuous showers, rendering 
a retreat to some shelter advisable, and all further search for 
Anglo Saxon antiquities impossible. At the fifth mile from the 
station at Uffington the first place of refuge was reached, the Rose 
and Crown at Ashbury, which provided the necessary cover and 
refreshment. Above the village rises an entrenched camp called 
Alfred’s Castle, but four or five fine specimens of British castra- 
metation lie around. The rain continued pitilessly, so the only 
vehicle in the village was hired by five of the party to take them 
to Swindon, eight miles distant, whence an express train could 
take them to Bath. The remainder of the party found their way 
to the station at Shrivenham, a two miles walk, and were finally 
brought back to their homes by a slow train arriving at Bath at 
a quarter to eight. 
Chapel Plaster and Ditteridge—On Tuesday, October 10th, a 
bye-excursion was arranged at short notice to visit these interesting 
relics of antiquity, and 23 members of the Field Club started from 
the Great Western Station at 10.5 a.m. for Box. Thence a mile 
walk up a very steep road brought the party to Haselbury Manor, 
now a farm house, but with many signs of its former grandeur. 
The first notice of this house is found in Leland’s “ Itinerary of 
Wilts.” He had received a commission from Henry VIII. to 
report on the Ecclesiastical and Monastic establishments in the 
West of England in 1532, and seems to have allowed several years 
