136 THE BEITISH ISLES. 



Abbey, to the soutli of Chippenluun, was the property of W. H. Fox Talbot, the 

 well-known inventor of Talbotypo. Cors/iani, an old residence of the Saxon 

 kings, lies to the east, and carries on an extensive trade in oolitic freestone, procured 

 from quarries in its neighbourhood. Melknltam, on the Avon, has «, thriving cloth 

 industry, but yields in importance to its neighbour Bradford-on-Avon, prettily 

 situated on the slopes of the hill, and rich in quaint gable-fronted houses. Its 

 most interesting building is the Saxon church of St. Lawrence, the only perfect 

 Saxon church remaining in England. Bradford has been noted for many cen- 

 turies for its fine broadcloth, and kerseymeres were first made here, but the cloth 

 industry is now carried on more extensively in the neighbouring town of Troic- 

 brid(jCy which crowns the summit of a lofty rock on the banks of the Bliss, a 

 southern feeder of the Avon. Higher up on that river are the iron mines and 

 furnaces of Westbiirij. 



The Thames, or rather Tsis, traverses the northern extremity of the county, 

 running past the ancient town of CrichJadc, the centre of an extensive parlia- 

 mentary borough. Old Sin'ndon, in a pleasantly diversified grazing country to 

 the south, is a pretty market town, which has risen into importance since the 

 construction, by the Great "Western Railway Company, of extensive workshops 

 and stores. Most of the men employed by the company live in Hew Swindon, 

 about a mile to the north of the old market town. 



The river Kennet rises on the Marlborough Downs, which are not less rich in 

 prehistoric remains than Salisbury Plain, and joins the Thames at Reading. Marl- 

 borough, the principal Wiltshire town in its valley, is a quaint old-fashioned place, 

 with a famous college occupying the site of the Norman castle, and in close prox- 

 imity to Savernake Forest, the domain of the Marquis of Aylesbury. Ascending 

 the Kennet for about 5 miles, we reach Silbury Hill, a gigantic artificial mound 

 rising to a height of 125 feet, and surrounded by a circle of sarsen stones. Tradition 

 is silent as to the events which this structure is intended to commemorate. Close 

 to it rises Avebury, girt by an earthen mound 170 feet in height, and an inner 

 ditch. The area thus enclosed was originally occupied by stone circles, similar 

 to those of Stonehenge, and perhaps of even greater antiquity, but as many of 

 the stones have been removed, it is difficult now to trace the original arrange- 

 ments.* 



HA:MPSinRE, SouTHAMPToNSHiRE, or Haj^ts, onc of the most agreeable counties 

 of England, has a varied surface and a mild and genial climate. A considerable 

 portion of it is occupied by chalky downs, whose northern escarpments f look down 

 upon the valley of the Kennet, whilst to the southward they slope towards the 

 level tracts which border the English Channel. The valleys which intersect these 

 downs contain much good land, and some of the finest water-meadows in England. 

 The south-western portion of the county is almost wholly occupied by the sparsely 

 peopled district known as the Xew Forest, where oak and beech trees abound, but 

 which also includes large stretches of heath. The most populous towns have arisen 



* Forbes Leslie, " Early Races of Scotland." 

 t liikpen here att lins a height of 970 ft et. 



