180 The Rise and Fall of Steeple Ash ton as a Market Town, 



which were used as cramps to keep the various pieces together 

 being re-placed in their original positions. The MANOR HOUSE, 

 close to the Church, was also inspected, and then the carriages 

 drove on the charming little CHURCH OF BRATTON. where again 

 Mii. PONTING described the architecture. BRATTON CAMP was 

 also on the programme, but the hill- was steep, the day was hot, 

 the time was short, and the company preferred to return directly 

 to lhatton or Trowbridge Stations, on their way to their respective 

 homes. 



%\t Mi.sc anb fall of Steeple Stab ton as a 

 IHarkct (Lofon. 



By the Rev. E. P. Knuhlky, M.A. Vicar of Steeple Ashton. 



[Read at the Trowbridge Meeting, Jul if Sth. H)0L] 



HOUGH now but a village. Steeple Ashton 1 was once a 

 prosperous market town, with its several streets — The 

 Strand, Church Street, Tunball Street, High Street. Silver Street, 

 and others, and it is of its vicissitudes as a market town that 1 

 propose to treat. 



The original name of the manor was Ashton simply. It is 

 probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon word .-AV, which may 

 mean water. The Biss, a stream which bounds part of the parish, 

 owes its name to the same derivation. On the other hand, this 

 same Anglo-Saxon word may mean the ash-tree ( Fru.ri nas t\,<r/sior). 

 A former Vicar, the liev. Samuel Hey. evidently leaned t<» this 



1 For the k'cner.'il history of Steeple Ashton unci Hood Ashton, the manors 

 and subsidiary estates, and the connection with the family of Lon-, see u 

 paper by Canon .Jackson, in Wilts Arch. Mag., vol. xiii., pp. 318— W.V.). 



