By the Rev. A. C. Smith, M.A. 



327 



certain seasons, I may mention that in 1872 my rain-guage measured 

 47 inches, in lieu of the 26 or 27 inches which was more commonly 

 our usual fall of rain. I may also mention that during the period 

 of my observation my thermometers have ranged over no less than 

 one hundred degrees, the maximum having risen to the extraordinary 

 height of 96° on the fourteenth of August, 1867 ; and the minimum 

 having on Christmas Eve 1859, fallen to the no less remarkable 

 depth of 4° below zero (Fahrenheit) . Both thermometers were in an 

 open exposed spot, in a regular " Glaisher - " thermometer stand, the 

 bulbs of the thermometers exposed to currents of air while protected 

 from the sun, and at the orthodox height of four feet from the ground. 

 Such excessive readings prove how little reliable are the averages 

 taken even from the most accurate observations, unless they are 

 extended over a very long period of time : I would mention, how- 

 ever, in regard to the rainfall, that I incline to the opinion that 

 Yatesbury is not a very rainy spot, inasmuch as the heavy clouds 

 which come up from the west appear oftentimes to divide at Chip- 

 penham, part following the course of the Pewsey vale and part 

 passing on towards Wootton Bassett and Swindon. Neither do I 

 think that the thermometer for the most part sinks so low in severe 

 frosts as in the neighbouring parishes which lie below the hill, and 

 this notwithstanding our elevation and exposure to cold winds : but 

 then I attribute this immunity from severe frost to the greater 

 dryness of the soil, which is in great measure the effect of such 

 exposure : certain it is that we are oftentimes left unscathed, when 

 our neighbours are lamenting the loss of their evergreens under a 

 more than ordinary frost. 



Roads and Lanes. 



In regard to roads, of which I have said there were none in the 

 parish one hundred years ago, if there were no hard roads, there were 

 plenty of soft lanes : and these, diverging in every direction, are 

 even puzzling to the stranger from their number, and are pleasant 

 enough in the summer months ; while as sheep-droves they are in- 

 valuable to the farmer : and who — more especially amongst huntsmen 

 — does not know the lane, originally marked on the maps as "Corten 



