III. 



THE CHURN. 



29 



The CJmrn. Springing from a higher level than the Thames, 

 and flowing through a longer and more diversified valley, the 

 Churn, or Cern %, descends from under the crest of the Cotswolds, 

 near Cheltenham, and passes by Cirencester, the ancient Corinium 

 (Caer Corin), the renowned British settlement and Roman camp. 

 Its claim to be called the true source of Thames is admitted 

 by inconsiderately impartial persons who do not reverence the 

 opinions of antiquity. Two main sources indeed contribute to 

 the Churn, both issuing from a dale under the rocky hill three 

 miles south of Cheltenham, called Leckhampton. Does this name 

 contain the British ' Llech/ stone, combined with a Saxon 

 suffix? 



These springs rise in a part of the country where formerly no 

 houses were. One of the sources is close to a large farm named 

 ' Ullen/ the other is distinguished as the ' Seven Wells/ The 

 former, probably ancient, name belongs to the more considerable 

 or at least the longer branch, but popular favour has preferred the 



Diagram XI. The Seven Wells. 



latter. This favour was not ill deserved by one of the purest 

 sources of the clearest water ever seen, bursting up in joyous 

 activity through joints in the solid rock, in a dell almost buried 



K Sometimes referred to the British root chwyrn, ' rapid.' 



