By T. Story-Ma skelyne. 431 



observance on July 26th ; and lier name is not found in any ancient 

 Church calendar. 



The Eev. A. C. Smith, of Yatesbury, and Canon Jones both 

 suppose that the name St. Anne's Hill originated in that of a 

 landowner in the neighbourhood. They quote a recitation, of the 

 tenth century, of the boundary of an adjoining parish, where the 

 name " Anne " occurs several times. But the reading of this 

 document (Cod. Dipl., 483) has been corrected by Mr. W. H. 

 Stevenson, of Exeter Coll., Oxford, who says, " the scribe of the 

 Wilton Chartulary copies Anne for the accusative singular of the 

 indefinite article." "Anne-torn" should read a tliorn and "Anne- 

 stan " a done, etc., etc.^ 



Tan hill now forms part of the property of Sir C. Furness. In 

 1637 A.D. it seems to have belonged to one Captain Nicholas, who 

 received the sum of £2 10s. "as an indemnity for the not keeping 

 Tan Hill fair; which was interdicted this year in order to prevent 

 the dispersing of the plague." - 



I am told that shepherds coming in former years to these fairs, 

 when they were held at very early hours in the morning — before 

 daylight — were guided to them by beacon lights, lit for that 

 purpose. 



The name of Tan Hill has been the subject of many discussions, 

 and I have quoted Canon Jones' and the Eev. A. C. Smith's theories 

 about St. Anne, as well as Mr. Stevenson's refutation of the 

 arguments on which these theories were based. 



W. H. E. M.(in Wilts N.and Q.), as well as Mr. Bowles, of Bremhill 

 (and I think Sir R. C. Hoare, too), looked on Tan Hill as repre- 

 senting in name an ancient Celtic fire festival, and in this they 

 anticipate all I have said on the subject of its name. Eecords of 

 August _^re festivals are scarce (though we have so many accounts 

 of the May and November fires), and Sir Norman Lockyer says that, 

 excepting the fire festival held at Nemi on Diana's day (13th 

 August), he had so far found no record of August fires, though 



' Wilts Notes and Queries, No. 28. 

 - Waylen's Devizes, p. 192. 



