CASTLE HILL, CRANBORNE. 153 



Ipa Eccla tenet Boveric (Boveridge) ; Brihtric tennit T.R.E." 

 Here is proof of Saxon Manors of Brihtric granted by William 

 to his Queen Matilda. Still would I charitably hope that the part 

 which has been assigned to her in this tragic story has been 

 exaggerated by the apologists of her husband, who would avail 

 themselves of any plea to shift the onus of rapacity and cruelty 

 upon other shoulders than their patron's, even at the risk of 

 tarnishing the fair fame of his consort in the estimation of 

 posterity.* We have no evidence of any building here at any 

 period, as I have already stated; but there can be no doubt 

 that the Hundred and Manorial Courts, the Folkmote of that 

 period, were held here, under the Stewardship of Brictric's 

 representative. Such assemblies may be correctly denominated 

 "gorsedd" by a Cymric speaking people; but it would by no 

 means follow that the name indicated a Cymric origin to the place 

 or the institution. 



I will now proceed to corroborate the views which I hold of the 

 Saxon foundation of this earthwork, by comparison with two other 

 undoubted examples, which will be enough, amongst many other, 

 to illustrate my subject. 



LAUGHTON-EN-LE MORTHEN, CY. YORK, W. RIDING. 

 In the British Arch. Journal, p. 401, 1844, the late Mr. Daniel 

 Haigh, of Leeds, writes : " There is no mention in the Domesday 

 Survey of the church in this parish, but its importance in the times 

 of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers is proved by the fact there recorded 

 of its having been the residence of Earl Edwin * ibi ten comes 

 Eduin aulaum.' W. from the church, about 50 yards distant, are 

 the remains (as I believe them to be) of Edwin's Hall, consisting of 

 a high circular mound standing between the extremities of a 

 crescent-shaped rampart of earth." Reading this I was so struck 

 with its resemblance to Castle Hill, that I wrote to Mr. Haugh, 

 who very courteously sent me a sketch of the earthwork, which, to 



* "Matilda, a woman who was a singular mirror of prudence in our 

 time and the perfection of virtue." (Will-Malmesb, B. iii.) 



