16 Bradford-upon-Avon. 
them. As late as the time of Edward IV. it was used for bows, 
every Englishman under seventeen, being directed, by an act of 
that reign, to furnish himself with a bow of his own height, made 
of ash or witch-hazel, to save the great consumption of yew.! 
Bupgury, or as it was anciently spelt Bode-berie, is probably de- 
rived from the Anglo-Saxon words béd? i.e. prayer, and burh a town 
or enclosed place. This portion of our parish which was, as has been 
already intimated, of much larger extent once than now, may have 
been so termed from the ‘ chapel’ built on part of it, and which in 
Anglo-Saxon would have been called béd-his, that is, prayer-house 
or oratory. The word beads for prayers is not an unusual one. 
Amongst documents issued by Archbishop Cranmer in 1534, is one 
which is entitled “An order taken for preaching and bidding of the 
beads in all sermons to be made within this realm.’ 
In some cases we have preserved almost the exact form of the 
Anglo-Saxon words. Michel-mead (or, as it is sometimes written, 
Muchel-mead) a considerable tract of meadow land in the Holt Tith- 
ing, close to Staverton, is simply the Anglo-Saxon mycel-meed, that is 
great meadow. In like manner Yea-mead, spelt in old deeds He-mede 
and L-med, is simply the Anglo-Saxon ed med, that is water meadow ; 
this is a portion of land on the banks of the river lying to the south 
of Bradford Wood, near Lady Down Farm. Culver-close, moreover, 
which is the name given to a field immediately adjoining Barton 
Farm House is so termed from the Dove-cot that was formerly 
situated in or near it, from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘culfre’ which 
signifies a ‘ dove’ or ‘pigeon.’ 
These examples are enough to show how abundant, in the names 
of places, are the traces of the Anglo-Saxon occupation of our 
Parish. We will now return from our digression to the regular 
course of our narrative. 
From a.p. 1000—1086. 
The last great person we spoke of as incidentally connected with 
1 Brand’s Popular Antiquities. ii. 260, note. 
2 It has been suggested to me that'f the word ‘béd’ be taken in a secondary 
sense, to mean, that is, ‘ watching’ instead of ‘prayer,’ the whole word may 
mean ‘ Watch-tower.’ Its situation on the highest point of the hill gives some 
colour to the supposition, but I incline rather to the one suggested above. 
5 Remains of Archb, Cranmer, p, 460, Parker Society edition. 
