154 
Bits about Combe Down. 
Lecture by the Rey. A. RICHARDSON, 
(Read March 16, 1909.) 
The Rev. A. Richardson first described the various means of 
access to Combe Down from the City. 
THE TRAM ROUTE 
was the most convenient of these, and it was an interesting 
fact that, with the exception of Holloway, this route followed 
the old Roman Fosseway as far as Bloomfield Road, where the 
Roman road pursued its course to Odd Down, Camerton, 
Dunkerton, and so on to Seaton in Devonshire. 
The lecturer alluded to Devonshire Cottage, the residence 
of Mr. T. Ashman, as possibly having been built on the founda- 
tion of the ancient abode of the De Berewykes, a family living 
there in medizval times, who rented the Berewyke estate 
from the Prior of Bath Abbey. 
Berewyke once possessed a hamlet extending probably on 
both sides of the road, and there was a chapel, a farm, now 
called ‘‘ Barrack’’ Farm, and a tithe barn, and the great 
tithes were paid to the Rector of St. Mary de Stalle Church, 
whose rector was always Prior of Bath. 
“The Somerset Feet of Fines” reveals many quarrels 
between the De Berewykes and the Priors about grazing 
rights ‘‘at Horscumb, Beechencliffe, and Dollesmedes ”— 
lands in Berewyke and Lincumb. 
Berewyke Hill is said to have been both a British and a 
Roman encampment. 
Mr. Richardson mentioned that the Lyn stream rose in a 
ditch on the left-hand side of the road ascending Wellsway, 
and flowing gently down the hill entered the beautiful Vale of 
Lyncombe under the bridge at the bottom of Entry Hill. 
Referring to the Lyncombe Valley, he said that in former 
days there were two celebrated places of amusement, one the 
Bagatelle Gardens, where Wilton Lodge now stands, the other 
St. James’s Palace, on the site of Lyncombe House, most 
likely named so because King James II. visited it when in Bath 
with his queen, Mary of Modena, just as Napoleon III., when 
staying at the Sydney Hotel, used to put in his time strolling 
