By O. Poulett Scrape, Esq., M.P. 301 



must observe that Mr. Matcham is not justified in throwing any 

 doubt on the statement of Dr. Thurnam that "the Danes had their 

 head-quarters at Chippenham both before and after the battle." 

 Asser and the Chronicle unite in declaring that their army passed 

 the previous winter at Chippenham, and there is not the slightest 

 ground for supposing that it had moved to any considerable dis- 

 tance from thence by the beginning of May, which all agree to be 

 the date of the battle of Ethandun.^ Nothing however, can be more 

 probable than the supposition that at the commencement of the 

 summer the army was stationed at one or other of the many strong 

 camps which then formed a connected chain of defence along the 

 hill range west of Chippenham, (a prolongation of the Cotswolds) : 

 more especially as it must have been well-known to their leaders 

 that Alfred was somewhere in the west, collecting forces to attack 

 them. Of these camps Bury Wood is one, Castle Combe another, 

 Ebdowne, in West Kington parish, a third ; to which Banner-down 

 and others might be added ; all within a few miles west of Chip- 

 penham. On the other hand, it appears improbable that the entire 

 army of Ghithrum should have quitted Chippenham for any spot so 

 far removed to the south as Bratton camp ; separated moreover from 

 it by the intricate forests of Pewsham and Melksham, and the 

 deep and miry vale of the Avon; inasmuch as such a removal 

 would have left Chippenham, the royal vill and their head-quar- 

 ters, open to easy capture by an enemy from the west. 



I return, however, to the main argument relating to Alfred's line 

 of march. All parties concur in considering Brixton Dcverill as the 

 position of Ecgbright's stone, the ' trysting place ' of his forces. The 

 divergence of opinion begins with regard to the site of Iglea, the 

 place to which he marched his army on the first day. Asser whose 

 statement is more full than that of the Chronicle, expressly says 



' Tho words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are, "A°. 878. This year during 

 mid-winter, . . . the army stole to Chippenham, . . . and sat down there." 

 " Et ihi hiemavit" says Asser. Again of the next year, " A". 879, This year 

 the army went to Cirencester /rom Chippenham," (A.S.C.) " Anno Hid, . . . 

 exercitua Pajanorum du Cipanhamme ut promiserat, consurgcns, Cirencestre 

 adiit." Asser. Surely these passages afl'ord tho moat complete conlirmation of 

 Dr. Thurnam'fi statement. 



