THE SECOND WINTER MEETING. xliii. 



" I think this will make it clear. It shows why Puddle is a possible variant 

 and is, in fact, in use ; but the real standard form is Piddle." 



"With regard to "Trenthide" Professor Skeat writes : In the charters pub- 

 lished by Kemble Fidele occurs four times ; not a word about Trenthide, 



" Still there is evidence of the ' 30 hides ' ; and if you like to assume that the 

 name of ' Trente hide,' meaning 30 hides, was devised by some Norman after 

 the Conquest, that is reasonable. Domesday Book shows that Trenthide, as a 

 name, was quite unknown in 1080. 



" Briefly, the old name was simply Pidele, pure and simple, of which Pidrie is a 

 stupid Norman travesty. Obviously the place was named from the river." 



With reference to 2Elfgifu, JEthelred's bride (who is said to have bestowed the 

 manor upon the New Minster at Winchester), the Professor says " it is incon- 

 ceivable that "thirty "could have been expressed by " trente " before 1052, 

 when she died." 



In the absence, therefore, of any eleventh century authority, I suppose we 

 must not press our claim for the antiquity of the name the parish now bears. It 

 certainly did seem to me a likely thing that so ardent a supporter of matters 

 Norman, as ^Ifgifu was, would have bestowed such an appropriate designation 

 in her native tongue (for which a parallel occurs in the neighbouring "Fife- 

 heads ") ; but there is no evidence to support this theory. I feel that, as a Club, 

 we are deeply indebted to Professor Skeat for the light he has thrown upon 

 this interesting point. 



PAPERS. 



The following papers were also read : 



(i.) "British Arachnida," by the Rev. O. Pickard- 



Cambridge, F.R.S. (Printed.) 



(ii.) "Dorset Tokens of the i8th and ipth Centuries, and 

 Medals relating to the County," by Mr. Henry 

 Symonds. (Printed.) 



(iii.) "Hilton Church," by the Rev. E. H. H. Lee, 

 (Printed.) 



