44 A STUDY ON BOCKLEY DYKE, AND OTHERS IN DORSET. 



the Latinized word " Oladia " represents the Keltic " Gledd,^ 

 an open pasture, or greensward. It seemed to answer all the 

 requirements of the Etymologist. It applies to the whole as well 

 as part of that open pasture which extends from Badbury to Bock- 

 ley and beyond it. I felt persuaded that I could recognise in 

 that Keltic word our English " glade " ; for this tract of pas- 

 ture land, bounded on the West by extensive woodland, and on 

 the East by other woods, and the stream, which having its head- 

 springs in the very heart of the pasture, flews on to its confluence 

 with the Stour, some ten or twelve miles distant, may with a 

 little exaggeration he called a " glade " on a large scale. The 

 Prefix '* Vindo " illustrates the way in which the Romans treated 

 Keltic words, when it suited their purpose, the original word 

 being unquestionably " Gwyn" or " Wyn" " Fw," " bright," 

 " clear, 1 ' which might be applied to the stream as well as to the 

 pasture. But there can be no doubt that " Gwyn" or " Wyn" was 

 the name originally given to Drayton's "cleere Allin," and there- 

 fore '' Vindogladia " may be reasonably interpreted as meaning 

 " The Pasture-land by the river Wyn." Allow me to say. I do 

 not think you get a better footing for the Etymology by 

 changing your stand-point to " Ventageladia." I must remind 

 you that this word is not to be found in the genuine text of 

 Antonine's Itinerary ; but you get it in that corrupt version 

 which has been falsely ascribed to " Richard of Cirencester." It 

 is simply one of the forger's many clever inventions which have 

 deceived Sir R. Colt Hoare, and many others before and after 

 him, to the great detriment of Archaeological Science. The old- 

 est and best codices of Antoninus, in The Vatican library and 

 elsewhere, have been subjected to critical examination aud colla- 

 tion, with this result, that " Vindogladia is the correct reading 

 of this Station in his 15th Iter. 



Allow me to say, I do not think you get a step nearer to the 

 true site of the Roman Station by placing it any where near 

 Bockley Dyke. 



Before I close my letter I wish to offer a few remarks on the 



