THE WOLF. IS3 



Within the precincts of Savernake Forest, the pro- 

 perty of the Marquis of Ailesbury, near Marlborough, 

 there is stUl existing a very old barn and part of a 

 house, known as " Wolf Hall," or " Wulf-hall." It 

 was the ancient residence of the Seymours, and when 

 Henry VIII. married Lady Jane Seymour it was 

 here that he came a-courting, here that he was 

 married, and in this barn the wedding festivities are 

 said to have taken place. In reply to an inquiry 

 whether any tradition exists in the county to explain 

 the name " Wolf Hall," the Kev. A. C. Smith, of 

 Yatesbury Rectory, Calne, has obligingly written as 

 follows : — " It is supposed to have had nothing to 

 do with the animal ' Wolf,' but rather with ' Ulf,' 

 the owner's name, if there was such a person, and 

 in the Domesday record it is spelt 'UJfhall.'* At 

 the same time I must add that Leland in his Itine- 

 rary (ix. 36) calls it in Latin ' Lupinum villa 

 splendida,' and again in his poem on the birth of the 

 Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward YI., 

 Incoluit villam, quce nomine dicta lupinum.'i Bishop 

 Turner also ("Bibl. Brit. Hibern.") speaks of certain 

 epistles written by Edward, the future Protector, 

 son of John Seymour, ' de Futeo Lupino, vulgo Wolf- 

 hall.' So I am not so certain that the derivation is 

 not from the animal. At all events, it is quite clear 

 that no place could be more fitted for Wolves than 

 the wild extensive forest of Savernake hard by ; 

 indeed, if Wolves existed at all in England now, that 

 would be just the very harbour for them." 



* See Wilts ArchoBological Magazine, June 1875, p. 143. 



f " Genethliaoon illustrissimi Eduardi Principis Cambrise," 1 543. 



