194 



Short Notes. 



the glebe land, Wootton Fields, formerly called Rudhills (53£ acres).' 



' At the time of the restoration of the Church the lead coffin of Henry 

 Hyde, Earl of Clarendon and Rochester was found. He must have been a 

 very tall man, and the coffin was singularly narrow where the shoulders 

 would be. The inscription, of which the writer has a tracing, was 1 The 

 Right Honble. Henry Hyde, Earl of Clarendon and Rochester, Died 10th 

 December, 1753, in ye 83rd year of his age.' There was also the coat of 

 arms and the motto ' Soyez Ferme.' 



" In a Terrier dated 28th July, 1783, the Old Vicarage— which stood on a 

 site some distance below the present one— is thus described :— ' The Yicarage 

 House Built with stone, and covered with thatch, a hall on the first floor 

 with stone pavement, pantry with earth floor, scullery with stone pavement, 

 on the first floor ; a dining room wainscotted chair high, a drawing room, 

 and three bed rooms, all ceiled, on the second floor; three garrets ; brewhouse 

 29ft. by 24ft. Stable, 19ft. by 17ft., stone walls, and covered with thatch. 

 Barn, 47ft. by 19ft. weather boarded, and covered with thatch.' 



" The parish was formerly divided into two ty things, Woodshaw and 

 Greenhill. Each appointed its own tythingman or constable until 1839, 

 when the rural police took over their duties. When the new Highway Act 

 was adopted in the Swindon Division, in 1864, surveyors of highways 

 ceased to be appointed. The Borough of Wootton Bassett appointed its own 

 surveyor. The amount levied was to the full extent of that authorised by 

 law, namely, three ten-penny rates in a year, and there was always much 

 squabbling among the inhabitants. Once a year the road scrapings were 

 sold, about Christmas time, at one or other of the inns, and the money was 

 spent in jollification. This was called the ' Dirt Supper.' 



" The rates in Woodshaw tything seldom exceeded sixteen pence in the 

 pound, and those levied in Greenhill were about sixpence, but— as may be 

 expected — the roads were in a wretched state. 



" The area of the parish in which the tything of Woodshaw was comprised 

 was the north and east side of the stream, the correct name of which is the 

 ' Lower Avon,' and the Greenhill tything the south and west sides of the 

 same. Among the roads which have ceased to exist in the parish may be 

 mentioned one called ' Pudding Lane,' which led out of the Chippenham Road 

 to Dunnington Common, and now forms part — at the west side— of an arable 

 field called Muxon Close, on Dunnington Farm. Those people from 

 Brinkworth and elsewhere who came up Whitehill Lane, could, if they 

 wished, go to Marlborough without passing through the borough, thus 

 avoiding the two hills by which it is approached. There was also another 

 road which was abolished when the enclosure (about 1820 or 1821) of the 

 common land within the parish took place. It led from Dunnington 

 Common by a bridge built over the canal, down to the brook into a large 

 field called Ford Close, or Cruse's Field (now belonging to Mr. George 

 Twine), and went over, up under the hedge, into what was Greenhill 

 Common, thence to Caloe, Chippenham, &c. It was only used for a bridle 

 road, but it is quite evident from the quantity of earth in the track — which 

 has vanished, the ground being much lower — that it must have been 

 used to a great extent in ancient times. By going from Dunnington Common 



