1157 



WILTSHIRE. 



WILTSHIRE. 



1138 



which is obliterated. The church at Sheraton is a very large cruci- 

 form building, comprising a nave, two aisles, transept, and large ?outh 

 porch. It is partly Norman, partly of later date. The Independents and 

 Baptists have chapels, and there are National and British schools. 



JXvifitmtfor Ecclttiattical and Legal Purpotts. About three-fourths 

 of the county are included in the diocese of Salisbury and archdeacon- 

 ries of Sarum and Wilts. The other fourth is in the diocese of Glou- 

 cester and Bristol, and archdeaconry of Bristol. By the Poor-Law 

 Commissioners the county U divided into 18 Poor-Law Unions : 

 Alderbury, Amesbury, Bradford, Calne, Chippenham, Cricklade and 

 Wootton-Basset, Devizes, Highworth and Swindon, Malmeabury, Marl- 

 borough, Melksham, Mere, Pewsey, Salisbury, Tiabury, Warminster, 

 Westbury and Whorwelsdown, and Wilton. These Unions contain 

 307 parishes and township*, with an area of 773,713 acres, and a 

 population in 1851 of 240,460. Wiltshire is in the western circuit : 

 the spring astizes ore held at Salisbury, the summer assizes at Devizes. 

 The Kpipbany quarter sections for the county are held at Devizes ; 

 the Faster sessions at Salisbury; the Midsummer sessions at War- 

 minuter ; and the Michaelmas sessions at Devizes. County courts are 

 held at Bradford, Calne, Chippenbam, Devize*, Malmesbury, Marl- 

 borough, Melksham, Swindon, Trowbridge, Warminster, and Westbury. 

 Before the Reform Act 34 members of Parliament were returned from 

 Wiltshire namely, two for the county, two for the city of Salisbury, 

 and two each for the boroughs of Great Bedwyn, Calne, Chippenham, 

 Crickladr, Devizes, Down ton, Beytesbury, Hindoo, Ludgershall, Malines- 

 Marlborongh, Old Sarnm, Westbory, Wilton, and Wootton- 

 BatMt. By the Reform Act Great Bedwyn, Downton, Heytesbury, 

 i. Ludgershall, Old Sarum, and Wootton-Basset were altogether 

 JhftiiiiiliiMd ; and Calne, Malmwbury, Westbury, and Wilton reduced 

 to one member each. The county was formed into two divisions, each 

 I hnning two members ; so that the number of members is now 18. 



Iliiiory and Antiquitia. Wilt-hire U probably the richest of all 

 the English counties in memorials of the earliest historic period, and 

 also of the ante-historic period of our country. This pre-eminence it 

 owes to the wide extent of its chalk downt, unbroken by inclosure*, 

 and untouched by the plough, on which the earthen or rude stone 

 memorials of the remotest ages have remained: uninjured, except by 

 the mouldering touch of time, or by rare and occasional interventions 

 of the caprice and violence of man ; exempt in a great degree from 

 the more systematic and complete destruction which the extension of 

 building or cultivation has caused. 



It is difficult to determine exactly to which of the ancient British 

 nations the various parts of the county belonged. A large portion, 

 there can be no doubt, belonged, to the nation or nations mentioned 

 by Ptolemsros under the generic name of IWL-.-c. Itolemsro* assign* 

 to them the cities of Iscnali* and Aquic Calidst, now llcbester and 

 Bath in Somenetahirr, on the one band, and Vents, now Winchester 

 in Hampshire, on the other. We may therefore assign to the Belgae 

 that part of the eoniity which lie* between these place*. Other parts 

 of the county may probably have been occupied by the Durotrige*, 

 the Atrebatii, the Dobuni, and the Hedui. It is likely that the county 

 wss included in the scene of Vespasian's operations in the reign of 

 Claudius. In the Roman division of Britain, Wiltshire was included 

 in the province of Britannia Prims. 



After the departure of the Roman* Wiltshire was the scene of 

 eoals< between the Britons and the Saxon*. The site of the asserted 

 i of the British nobles by Hengist is placed on Salisbury Plain, 



but the event itself and its locality are alike doubtful The great 

 victory which Cerdie, founder of the kingdom of Wetsex, obtained in 

 508 over the Briti-h king Natan-leod, or Xaxaleod, brought the con- 

 querors to the south-eastern border. Chart! ford, the Cerdire's-ford 

 of the ' .Saxon Chronicle,' on the Salisbury Avon, above Fording- 



. in Hampshire, but close on the Wiltshire border, was the limit 

 of the territory ' Xatanleaga,' to which Natan-Uod gave name. In 

 552 we find Cynric, son of Cerdie, in successful conflict with the Britons 

 at Searobyrig, or Old Sarum. The West Saxons, of whose kingdom 

 Hampshire formed the nucleus, appear to have sought to extend their 

 power northward, to and even beyond the Thames, rather than west- 

 ward. However, before or in 677, they must have overrun Wiltshire, 

 a* we fin.l them in that year, under their king Ceawlin, fighting with 

 the Britons in the north of Somersetshire and in Gloucestershire, to 

 reach which they must have crossed Wiltshire. In 591, according to 

 the 'Saxon Chronicle,' " there wa* a great (laughter of the Britons" 

 at Wodneat'eorge, or Wanborougb, near Swindon. In 652 Cenwalb, 

 king of the West Saxons, " fought at Brsdan-forrla by Afene," obviously 

 (he-Avon. In715 Ine, orlna,king of Wrssex, andCeolred, 



' Mercia, fought at Wodnesbeorhe, or Wanborough, near Swindon. 



the battle which gave to Wessex the permanent superiority 



among tin; Anglo-Saxon aUtea wa* foughtatoronEllendune, probably 



iniurne, near Amesbury, or Ellington Wroughton, now 



. Wroughton, near Svcindou. 



Th Brut notic- I A by that name in the 'Saxon Chronicle' 



occurs u'ndrr 870, just before the accession of Alfred, when it in record* d 

 that the liishop of Wiltshire, Kthered, was translated to the metro- 

 politan " of Canterbury. It is obvious that the name, which is written 

 Wiltiin scire, wss taken from the town of Wiltuu, or Wilton. Alfred's 

 first battle with the Danes, after his acce/sion, was fought at Wilton 

 early in 871, before he had been on the throne a month. His ardour 



0100, DIT. T0(. IT. 



lid him to engage the enemy with too small a force, and he was 

 defeated. Just at the beginning of 87S, Cyppanhamme, or Chippen- 

 ham, was surprised by the Dane?, and Alfred wai driven from his 

 kingdom. When he emerged from his retirement amid the marshes 

 of Athelney, he met the men of Somersetshire and Wiltshire at 

 Ecgbyrhtes-stane, or Egbert's-stone (probably Brixton Deverhill, near 

 Warminster), on the east side of Seal-wuda, or Sel-wood ; whence 

 ho itarched to Iglea (Hey, or Highley, near Melkaham), and from 

 thence to -Ethandune, generally supposed to be Eddington, near West- 

 bury, under the escarpment of the southern (or Salisbury Plain) chalk 

 district, where he gave the Daues so complete a defeat as to compel 

 them to surrender their cimp and submit to him. He thus recovered 

 his kingdom with little difficulty. The Danish army, which appears 

 to have retired by agreement to Chippenham, marched after some 

 months (879) to Ciren-ceastre, or Cirencester, and next year (880) into 

 East Anglia, where they settled. 



When the East-Anglian Danes revolted against Edward the Elder 

 (905). they forded the Thames at Cricklade, and overran and plundered 

 the country as far as Bradon, between Crioklado and Malmesbury, but 

 retired before the king could gather his army to attack them. In the 

 year 978 a council of the chief nobles on ecclesiastical affairs was 

 convened by Dunstan at Calne, which became mournfully celebrated 

 from a fearful disaster which distinguished it. The floor of the room 

 where the council was assembled gave way ; some were killed, others 

 dreadfully bruised, but Duustan was unhurt. In 1003 Wiltshire was 

 ravaged by the Daues, who plundered anil burnt Wilton, and occupied 

 Old Sanim ; the men of Wiltshire and Hampshire assembled to meet 

 them, but the treachery or cowardice of their commander, Ealdermau 

 Klfric, enabled the enemy to withdraw without loss. For several 

 yean the Danes continued to harass the district In 1016, soon after 

 midsummer, a severe but indecisive battle was fought between 

 Edmund Ironside, who had become king of the Anglo-Saxons, and 

 Canute, the Danish king, at Sceorstane, now Great Sherstou, about 

 six miles west from Malmesbury. 



The Roman road from Calleva (Silchester) to Isca Silurum (Caerleon ) 

 probably entered the county at or near Hungerford, but there do not 

 appear to be any traces of it east of Maryborough. It is still to be 

 traced from FynVld, two miles went of Marlborough, with little inter- 

 ruption, fur 22 miles acrora the downs by West Kennet, Silbury hill, 

 and HeddingtonAVick, through Spy Park, almost to the border of the 

 county near Bathford. The remains of baths, tesselated pavements, 

 medal*, pottery, glass, &<x, have been dui; up in Spy Park and in Bowood 

 Park, near the supposed site of the station Verlucio. This road is 

 included in the twelfth Her of Richard of Cirencester. 



A Roman road from Calleva (Silchester) and Veuta Belgarum (Win- 

 chester) to Isca Dumniorum (Exeter), coincident with the fifteenth 

 Her of Antoninus, and included in the sixteenth Iterof Richard, enters 

 the county across the Hampshire border, about two miles east of the 

 village of West Winter-low, passes by the hamlet of Middle Winteraluw 

 (near which its remains are oiled the Devil's Causeway), across Winter- 

 bourne- Down, and thence to Old Sarum; from which place the road 

 run* south-west by Stratford-Dean, Bemerton, and Vernditch Lodge, 

 and across Vernditch Chace, into Dorsetshire, where it is in one part 

 known as Achling Ditch, or Atchling Street. 



The Roman Foss Road touches the boundary of the county on the 

 north side, about two miles from Cirencester ; it runs south-west about 

 23 miles upon or within the boundary of the county, coinciding 

 throughout with existing roads, and showing its Roman origin by the 

 directness of its course. There are traces of a Roman settlement .it 

 Easton-Grey on the Fosv, where a profusion of medals has been found. 



Another Roman road enters the county on the north side, and 

 runs south-east, coinciding with the modern road from Cirencester to 

 Cricklade, near which it crosses the Thames, just however avoiding 

 the town. From near Cricklade, it runs still south-east by or near 

 Water-Eaton, Wanborough, and Baydon, into Berkshire, uniting at 

 Spinso or Speen with the Roman road from Londinium to Aqua; Sulia, 

 or Bath. It is comprehended in the thirteenth Iter of Antoninus, and 

 is coincident throughout its Wiltshire course with modern roads or 

 lanes. Numerous minor roads evidently of Roman construction have 

 been traced in the county. 



Of the station Cunetio traces are found both at Mildenhall on tho 

 north side of the Kennet, and Folly Farm on the south side. The 

 hill on which Folly Farm stands is covered with a variety of banks 

 and earthworks, probably belonging to the period before tho Roman 

 dominion, and within these more ancient works are traces of the 

 Roman settlement. A portion of the rampart, which was quadrangular 

 with roundtd angles, may be seen ; and funeral remain", coarse tesse- 

 lated pavement', medals, and other relic.) have been dug up. 



The earthworks of SorModunum, now Old Sanim, are very conspi- 

 cuous. They are on the right of the Marlborough rond, about a mile 

 and a half from Salisbury, and consist of a circular or rather oval 

 intrencbmeut ; a smaller intrenchment of similar form within the 

 6rt; and some earthen banks extending from the inner to the outer 

 iutrenchment, and subdividing the area between them. Numerous 

 roads met here, of which traces are still distinguishable. 



At Stockton Wood Corner, 10J miles from Sorbiodunum (Old 

 Sarum), on the road which leads into Somersetshire by Kingston 

 Deverhill, are some indication* of a Roman settlement, pottery and 



4 D 



