256 pbesident's addhess. 



He wore, from which as he had chaufifed bcene 



The sweat did drop ; and in his baud he bore 



A boawe and sliaftes, as he in forrc3t greeno 



Had hunted late the libbard or the bore, 



And now would bathe his limbes with labor heated sore." 



It is difficult to pass over a place like "WTiittingham, Saxonice 

 Hwittingham, one, both politically and ecclesiastically, of such 

 great historical interest, to say nothing of its local charms, with- 

 out some fitting notice beyond what has been said of the Castle 

 Inn. It is said to have been anciently called Twiford, from 

 there having been two fords there over the river Aln, and there 

 are now two bridges where those fords must have been ; one of 

 stone, for the high road, running from south to north, through 

 the village, the other, for foot passengers, of wood, a little higher 

 up, leading fi'om that part of the village and tower, south of the 

 river, to the church, which stands west and north. 



The village itself is about a mile and a half west of the Eoman 

 road called the Devil's Causeway, wliich crosses the river close 

 to the Bridge of Aln. 



In reference to Wliittingham, alias TNvyford, we find in Kemble's 

 "The Saxons in England," Vol. II., p. 244, the following pass- 

 age of interest, in a list of Witenagemots known to have been 

 held under Saxon rule. 



" Ecgfrid of Northumberland, A.D. 684. There was a gemot 

 at Twyford on the river Alnc, and Cuthberht was elected Bishop of 

 Hexham." Bede, Hist. Ecclcs., IV., 28." See Note A supra. 



If it be true that the place under notice was called Twiford 

 in 684, it must have changed its name before the middle of the 

 next century, for Ccolwolph's name for it was Hwitiiigaham. 



It has been said that in the neighbourhood of Whittingham 

 was the celebrated place called Brunanburh, where a great battle 

 was fought and won by Athelstan against the invaders of Noilh- 

 umberlaud. Keniblc, however, says, in a list of Suxon towns 

 given in "The Saxons in England," Vol. II., p. 551, Append. C, 

 " Brunanburh, Brunanbyrig, and sometimes Brunanfeld. The 

 site of this place is unknown, but here Ethelstan and Eadmund 

 defeated the Scots. Chron. 937 ;" others say that the Danes were 



