296 Erlestoke and its Manor Lords. 
the boundary to Erlestoke. The area of Erlestoke is a little over 
two thousand acres, of which, roughly speaking, one-third is on 
the chalk of the plain, one third on the Kimmeridge Clay of the 
vale, and the remaining third on the Upper Green Sand, the Gault, 
and the Portland Sand that intervene in that order between the 
chalk and the clay. The village is situated, like those of its 
neighbours, near the foot of the downs, on the Upper Green Sand 
where the springs break out that have their origin in the chalk. 
Across the parish runs the county road that skirts this part of the 
plain, and further north the district road lately made in the track 
of an old bridle path to join East Coulston with Marston.’ To the 
north and south there is no access from within the parish except 
byarough track that runs from the top of the hill, along Brouncker’s 
Down to the parish of Imber and by a bridle read through Pudnell 
Farm to Bulkington and Keevil Wick. In coaching days the 
county road was the direct road to London by Upavon and Andover, 
by which route Erlestoke is ninety-three-and-a-quarter miles from 
London, but at the present day it is chiefly used for local traftic 
between the Westbury and Devizes districts, and a part of this 
traffic has been diverted to the new district road. On the west 
the nearest hard road to the south is at Westbury, seven miles off, 
and to the north at Edington, two-and-a-half miles; on the east 
the access to the south is at Littleton Panell, two-and-a half miles 
off; and to the north and north-west by the same road, which can 
be reached through Great Cheverell or Marston. The new line of 
the Great Western Railway from Patney to Westbury also crosses 
the parish, and has, to some extent, brought this quiet corner of 
Wiltshire into closer touch with the outside world, but Erlestoke 
is less affected than its neighbours, from the fact that the village 
is farthest removed from the two nearest stations, at Edington and 
Lavington. In its geographical relation to the different adminis- 
trative areas of the county Erlestoke is also in a remote situation, 

1 The grass slow-coach road from Bath to Salisbury also crosses the parish 
on the hill, but is not used for through traffic except by an occasional gipsy 
van. The half-way milestone stands at the junction of the track to Imber, 
and the distance to that village (34 miles) is cut on its south face. 

