WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR. 



By the Rev. E. H. H. LEE, M.A. 



(Read 20th February, 190S.) 



HEN I have to inform you that the name of Hilton 

 is derived from the Saxon " Hell," and that the 

 larger of the two streams which rise in the parish 

 is called " the Devil," it might perhaps be con- 

 cluded that there is something foreboding about 

 the neighbourhood. On the contrary the people 

 are a quiet and homely folk, living in one of the 

 most lovely spots in a beautiful county, which, fortunately, can 

 still lay claim to be an old-world place. In the character of its 

 inhabitants " Helton " has probably not changed much since the 

 time when the parish was given by King Canute to Ore, his house 

 earle, who, with Dame Thole, his wife, gave it to " ye Church of 

 S. Peter at Abbotsbury." 



The parish stretches from Milton Park, close by the Abbey, 

 over the ridge of hill, culminating in Bulbarrow, then drops down 

 into Blackmore Vale, and reaches on its westward side as far as 



