Bij J. U. Pmuell. 293 



from the map liow that range of hills, at the end of which is the 

 " Castle," rises like a long island out of the plains and woods 

 around it, and we have seen that another road from Somei'set, " the 

 Lead road," over the Meudips, comes up to Maiden Bradley, quite 

 close to the castle. Again, the boundary of Wilts and Somerset 

 runs over White Sheet Hill, and touches the northern entrench- 

 ment of the " Castle." 



These facts seem to answer the requirements better than the 

 boundaiy stone of the three counties at Bourton, in Selwood ; and 

 one would like to know about this Bourton Stone "now in a factory 

 pond." 



But can we get further than this ? 



Let us look at the words. Asser's expression is Echryhti Petra, 

 not " lapis." Now, a word commonly used in South Wilts foi' a 

 sheer escarpment of down is " clill, " and it is still in daily use, " on 

 the clift " (or clift). The name is attached to the following places 

 in the neighbourhood : — Dunclifi', Ecliff, near Gillingham, Donhead 

 Cliff, Swallowclitf, Whitecliff (in Brixton Deverell), Bayclift" (in 

 Hill Deverell, apparently a corruption of Baillesclilf ). It is also 

 commonly used in speaking of the steep escarpments above Mere, 

 so Mr. T. H. Baker informs me, at the end of which is White Sheet 

 Castle. 



This unusual word petra may be an attempt by Asser, in whose 

 diocese the district lay, to preserve a piece of local description. 

 For may not Ecbryhti Petra mean Ecbryht's cliff? : and may not 

 the name survive in the so-called clitt' above Mere, and include 

 the " castle " of White Sheet at the end of it, just as Aahclovjn,^ 

 in Berkshire, does not mean a single hill, but a range ? And as 

 Ecgberht was King of Wessex from 802 to 839, and there is good 

 reason for believing that most of Mere was always a royal manor,'- 

 the name of the royal owner would appear in the description of 

 this part of it. May we not then be wrong in looking for a " stone," 

 as Canon Jackson and Mr. Stevenson have done { 



But, it will be said, the Chronicle has Ecgbryhtes-s/««, and 



' Stevenson, Asser, p. 237. 

 = Wilts Arch. Mag., xxix., 22«. 



X 2 



