406 Notes on the History of Wroughton. 



" From the thorn to the brook, thence to the Elder stumps, from the 

 Stumps to the Church highway, thence to Rhudwylle, from Khudwylle to 

 Hrysanbeorge, from the barrow to Cold barrow, from the barrow and along 

 the way to the Stone, from the Stone again to the heathen burial place." 



It would be of very great interest if the first point,- " The heathen 

 burial place," could be found. The Mercians who fought and were 

 defeated at the battle of Ellendune were probably heathen in 823, 

 when the battle was fought ; and before 956, when this " Land 

 Limit " was written, the heathen Danes had overrun a great part 

 of this country, leaving traces of settlements in such names as 

 Burderop and Salthorpe (both ending in " thorp " — which means a 

 village). There is, however, no known tumulus, or grave, which 

 could be attributed to them near Ellendune. The second point in 

 the land limit may be translated Cresscombe, and may possibly be 

 the place where watercress still grows in the warmer water coming 

 out from under the hill, in Markham or Marcombe Bottom, When 

 we come to the Eidgeway, however, we are on surer ground ; we 

 know where that is, and by knowing where the Eidgeway crosses 

 the old Winchester property we can make it our more definite 

 starting-point in both directions, 



^Rext to the Eidgeway we come to Ealhere's grave, which is 

 probably one of the large tumuli close to the Eidgeway. 



Perhaps one of the most interesting of the points described is 

 the " Church highway," showing the existence of a Church here at 

 that remote date. 



The Battle of Ellendune, 



The story of this battle is told in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 

 the year 823 A.D. The Winchester Annals given in Dugdale also 

 tell the story of the battle ; from them we gather that there was 

 a " challenge and the two kings (Egbert of Wessex and Beornwulf 

 of Mercia) chose the time and place." " Beornwulf deriding the 

 ambition of Egbert was the first to try whether the taught or the 

 untaught does the better when the game is played with the dice 

 of Mars." "Egbert's lords being consulted thought it more 

 honourable to have their heads cut off, than to lay their free 

 necks beneath the yoke. The time pleased them in the summer. 



