By J. U. Powdl. 291 



"Asser'sLife of Alfred,"^ decides that the stone was near Penselwood, 

 and is inclined to find it in a l)Ouudary-stone of the three counties 

 of Wilts, Somerset, and Dorset, now in a factory pond at Bourton;"^ 

 and in support of this view it may l)e noticed that the complete 

 shire-orgauization and division of Wessex into sliires appeal's to 

 date from Ecgberht's time.'' The difiiculty in this view seems to 

 me to be, that it locates the meeting-place in the heart of the 

 forest of Selwood. For Leland, writing about 1550, says that 

 Selwood stretched almost to Warminster, and in another direction 

 "on to the quarter of Shaftesbury."* Mr. Stevenson severely 

 criticises the views of Dr. Clifford, late Eoman Catholic Bishop of 

 Clifton, who makes the succeeding military operations take place 

 on the Polden Hills, in Somerset ; and he ridicules Dr. Clifford's 

 suggestion that the site of the " stone," ijetra, or rock, may have 

 been White Sheet Hill, above Mere ; mainly on account of an 

 unfortunate etymological guess of Dr. Cliftbrd's as to the origin of 

 the name White Sheet. But it is just possible that, although 

 Dr. Clifford may be utterly wrong in his general idea of the 

 military operations, his suggestion of White Sheet Castle may 

 be right. It is just the place for a meeting of men from 

 Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset. It lies, as those who 

 drove close under it at the recent Warminster Meeting of this 

 Society, cannot have failed to observe, on the most western 

 escarpment of the ridge of downs before they drop into the plains 

 of the Somerset border. Its position is remarkably striking. Set 

 at the end of the higher part of the great western road, the 

 " castle " with its earthworks has a bold appearance, and com- 

 mands an outlook over the whole of North Dorset and Evershot 

 range, the lowlands of Somerset, and, towards Wiltshire, to the 

 heights above Warminster. Again, the expression '' east of 

 Selwood " implies that the place was outside the forest ; but Mr. 



' A full discussion of the sites connected with Alfred's march will be found 

 in this book. 



' Op. cit. p. 266. 



^ Green, Conquest of England, p. 233 and index s.v. Ecgberht. 



* Ooiiira, Stevenson, p. 269. 



VOL. XXXIV. — NO. CV. X 



