14 General Account of Inaugural Meeting. 
history of the county; whose inhabitants can never be too grateful 
for the munificence exhibited in its publication, and the persevering 
labours which it records—labours in which a near relative of our 
valued honorary Secretary, Mr. W. Cunnington, bore a prominent 
part. Still, after all that has been effected by their spirited efforts, 
there is ample room remaining for further research and discovery 
in the direction of our ante-Norman history. 
It is true, again, that to the liberality of the same generous indi- 
vidual, Sir Richard Hoare, and the industry and ability of his able 
coadjutors, the South of the county is indebted for descriptive 
histories of its several Hundreds inferior to few, if to any, topogra- 
phical publications. In this respect it stands proudly distinguished 
and exempt from the reproach which rests upon the Northern 
section. And hence, together with the honoured memory of Sir 
Richard Hoare, will always be associated in the regard of every 
cultivated Wiltshireman, the names of Offer, Matcham, Bowles, 
Cunnington, Wansey, Harris, Black, Nichols, Benson, and Hatcher. 
Indeed, even in the North, the Abbey of Lacock and some single 
manors have been examined and described. But these monographs 
are merely exceptions proving the rule, and it is still a sad truth 
that the history of more than one-half of the county remains 
inadequately investigated, and unwritten. Of its twenty-nine 
hundreds, fifteen have been described in the handsome (but rather 
costly) folios published under the title of Sir Richard Hoare’s 
“Modern Wiltshire.” But they are, speaking generally, neither 
the most extensive, nor the most important. The undescribed 
fourteen hundreds comprehend by far the largest moiety of the 
shire, and contain some of the most interesting subjects. 
The magnificent and early Monastery of Malmesbury, second 
only to Glastonbury in the whole West of England; those of 
Edyngton, Bradenstoke, Kington St. Michael, Bradfield, and 
Monkton Farleigh; the important town in which we are now 
assembled, with its castle of the 12th century; Marlborough, 
which also figured largely in the baronial wars of that period ; 
Corsham, the palatial residence of our Saxon kings; Chippenham, 
still retaining its pure Saxon name, the station of Alfred’s court 
and army for years, both before and after his decisive victory over 
the Danes in the neighbourhood; Calne, Cricklade, Highworth, 
Wootton Basset, Ludgershall, towns whose early possession of the 
elective franchise attests their ancient importance; Trowbridge, 
Bradford, and Melksham, for centuries past the flourishing seats of 
the staple manufacture of the county, and the cradles of some of 
our wealthiest proprietary families; the venerable and handsome 
churches which abound in the north of the county, as, to mention 
only a few examples, Bishop’s Cannings, Great Bedwyn, Steeple 
Ashton, Seend, Sherston, Lydiard, Purton, and Kington;—all 
this, and much more, remains, as yet, undescribed, or nearly so, 
