66 



By SiE Chaeles Hobhouse, Bart. 



CHAPTER I. 



Situation — C limate — Productions. 



^HE parish is situated on the extreme north-western bend o£ 

 an isolated chain of hills. At the one end of this is the 

 town of Bradford and at the other that of Chippenham. The ground 

 on which the village stands is from 6 to 700 feet in height, the 

 tower on the down being, at its summit, 733 feet above the level of 

 the sea. 



The village is six miles from Bath, four from Bradford, seven 

 from Melksham, ten from Chippenham, and two-and-a-half from 

 Box ; and, standing on Farleigh Down, the landmarks are as 

 follows : — east, the Church tower at Derry Hill, Lord Lausdowne's 

 tower and the "White Horse above Calne, Roundway Down, Devizes, 

 and Etchilhampton Hill ; south, Salisbury Plain, Stourton Tower, 

 and the Mendip range by Cranmore and Mells ; west, Beckford's 

 Tower, on Lansdowne, and the hills that descend to the Bristol 

 Channel by Bristol, Clevedon, and Weston-Super-Mare ; north, the 

 high ground towards Malmesbury. 



The River Avon and the Box Brook, or Weaver, encircle the hills, 

 at one end of which our village stands, and probably in all Wiltshire 

 there is no place where the combination of scenery — hill and valley, 

 wood and stream, distance and home views — is more varied and 

 beautiful. 



" Perhaps the most striking feature of Monkton Farleigh," says 

 Canon Jackson, " is its geological situation — standing on the down 

 and looking round, the view on all sides is not only beautiful but 



