and on the Battles of Cynuit and Ethandun. 77 
below Bratton Castle, can have no reference (as is often thought) 
to these events, unless in the fancy of those who formed it, in quite 
recent times. 
NPA) WAY My 
INN Yj p PI \\\ Wi 
~ \\ eM wif 
wea ANY SS 
es Dy Wy 
Pansat, D ee 
inne oN 
eS 
‘o Edington. 
| wv Za 
oy Y Vig <= 
" 
eS 
SS 
Bratton Camp. Scale 266 yards to 1 inch. 
Rather might it be supposed, with Dr. Pauli,’ that at Chippen- 
ham itself was the fortress to which the Danes retreated. That 
Chippenham was their head quarters, there can be no doubt. It 
was such in the previous winter, and continued to be so in that 
of the following year, when in accordance with their treaty, they 
departed for Cirencester. Chippenham was a villa regia, and as such, 
may have been defended, not only by the winding stream of the Avon, 
is clearly that on the south side, and it is by no means certain that originally 
any other existed. Earthworks of this kind, situated on the brows of hills, 
seem to have been so placed for the sake of the natural advantages for defence, 
which such situations afford, and were not usually weakened by approaches on 
the side of the declivity. 
1 Figures of a horse, cut out in the side of the chalk hills, are common in 
Wiltshire: no fewer than eight might readily be named. The only figure of this 
kind, with a genuine ancient aspect, seems to be that of the Vale of White 
Horse in Berkshire. Their supposed significance, as to events in the Anglo-Saxon 
history of this period, is at once set aside by the fact that a dragon, not a horse, 
was borne on the standard of the West Saxons. The white horse is supposed 
to have been the standard of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent. 
2 “Tife of King Alfred,” 1852, p. 180. 
