24 On the History of Chippenham. 
In a.p. 866, (Alfred being seventeen years old, and not yet 
king), a swarm of these Danes settled on the east coast, under two 
leaders, Hungar and Hubba. They spent their winter where they 
landed ; and in the spring went to York, took it, and then came to 
Nottingham, where they wintered again. Then they turned their 
steps westward, taking Reading in their line; where they fought 
a battle at a place called, in the Saxon chronicles, Englefield, since 
called (probably from one of these two Danish chiefs) Hunger-ford. 
“After that,” says one of the Chroniclers, (and here is the first 
time that this town is named,) “they fought at Chippenham ; and 
there was Hubba slain: and a great hepe of stones layed coppid 
up, where he was buried.” . 
There are in the neighbourhood, two or three ancient mounds, 
or burial places, which had been piled up, no doubt in memory of 
some event of this kind. One, a hundred feet long, composed 
entirely of stones laid with the hand, is close to Badminton Park, 
on the side towards Alderton. Another stood, until lately, on the 
boundary of the parishes of Leigh Delamere and Castle Combe, but 
being made of earth, and not of stones, it had no claim to the 
distinction of containing the remains of Hubba. 
The place hitherto supposed to be the one alluded to, and 
long called Hubba’s Low, (Low being a corruption of hlaw, the 
Saxon word for a burial place), stands three miles north-west of 
Chippenham, by the side of the road leading to Marshfield, in 
Lanhill mead, the property of Mr. Neeld. It corresponds exactly 
with the description in the Chronicle, being a large pile of stones, 
now covered with bushes and moss. Part of it was taken away 
some years ago: what remains has been opened during the present 
meeting. 
The Danish wars continued ; Alfred becoming king in a.p. 871, 
defeated them in his first battle at Wilton; afterwards he was less 
fortunate. In the seventh year of his reign, a.p. 878, they had got 
possession of the whole kingdom north of the Thames; and even 
1 The Scala Chronica, quoted by Leland, (Collect. II. p. 521). Another 
account says, that Hubba was killed on landing, at Appledore, on the north 
coast of Deyon, 
