THE MID-PIDDLE VALLEY. Hx. 



a tradition that it represents some poor soul hanged at 

 Gallows' Hill a mile or two to the east ! 



CULPEPPER'S DISH. 



Climbing the steep hill from Affpiddle and gaining the 

 crest of the glorious heath, the party took advantage of the 

 opportunity to seek out Culpepper's Dish, the biggest and 

 most famous of the many natural depressions found on the 

 heath. It is conveniently close to the road. A large oak 

 grows in the bottom, and its topmost boughs are almost 

 level with the edge of the bowl. 



Captain ELWES made a short speech on this natural curiosity. As 

 for the name, Culpepper was a physician and apothecary living in 

 London who conferred benefit upon the public by translating into 

 English the Pharmacopoeia, which had hitherto existed only in Latin. 

 Another theory was that Culpepper was only a corruption of " Hurl- 

 pebblo." The cause of these depressions, running roughly in line 

 from east to west, was the washing out of the strata below sand 

 resting on chalk, which rested on other sand, and that ^fyclay. The 

 clay being impervious, the sand was washed away, and this created a 

 vacuum, into which the chalk fell. There were nearly 200 of these 

 holes on the heath, of various depths. They were sometimes called 

 swallowholes or swallicks, from the supposition that they swallowed 

 up streams. 



WADDOCK FARMHOUSE. 



On the way from Affpiddle to Warmwell House the party 

 passed Waddock Farmhouse, and here they alighted, by the 

 courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Budden, to view the ancient 

 cellars and that unique feature, the double staircases, one of 

 them of break-neck steepness. Ascending and descending 

 these staircases, the like of which nobody seemed ever to have 

 seen, afforded amusement as well as exercise, and everybody 

 left in excellent temper, after hearty thanks to Mr. and Mrs. 

 Budden. What was the idea in the ingenious mind of the 



