THE WILD BOAR. 89 



exhumed, eight or ten feet from the surface, out of 

 the peat meadows, half a mile west of Newbury in 

 Berkshire, presented by Mr. Alexander, surgeon, 

 Newbury. 



A good account of this locality, under the name of 

 the " Peatpit near Newbury," is contained in a letter 

 dated February 24, 1757, from Dr. John Collet to 

 the Bishop of Ossory, which is printed in the " Philo- 

 sophical Transactions" for 1757 (p. 109). 



Many localities seem to indicate by their name 

 the former haunts of this once common animal. 

 Brancepeth Castle, Durham, appears to have derived 

 its name (Bran's path), from a noted Boar which 

 infested that neighbourhood. Swindon, Swinford, 

 Swinfield, and Swindale ;* "Wild Boar Fell" in 

 Westmoreland, particularly described by Pennant,t 

 and " Wild Boar Clough" in Cheshire, are all. names 

 suggestive of the ancient haunts of this animal. So 

 also are Hogmer (Hants), Eversham and Everley, 

 (from eofor, a boar), Boarhunt (Hants), and Boars- 

 ford (Hereford). 



Prior to the introduction of Christianity into 

 Scotland, the country by which St. Andrews is 

 surrounded wore the aspect of a forest, in which a 

 few patches of cultivated ground seem to have been 

 interspersed. In this forest the hog or swine in its 

 wild state abounded ; and from this circumstance it 

 was denominated by the Picts, who at that period 



* Some interesting notes on the names of places commencing with 

 " Swin" will be found in The Antiquary, vol. i. pp. 47, 94, 139, 234, 

 and vol. ii. p. 84. f " Tour to Alston Moor," p. 134. 



