134 



Swindon and its Neighbourhood. 



llall-placo, where dwelt the family of Archdeacon Polton, who 

 built the church tower. Aubrey was informed that, annexed also 

 to that house had been a Chapel, dedicated to St. Ambrose. I 

 have never met with any other reference to this. But as the site 

 of Hall-place is in a field still called Ambrose field, it is possible 

 that the tradition may have been true. If so, here would be 

 another clergyman. This, with the three at St. Katharine's and 

 the Yicar of the parish, would make five endowed clergymen in 

 Wanborough in former times. 



These particulars may, perhaps, help to clear up the tradition 

 about so many Churches. 



Near Nythe, or as it used to be called, the Nighs, have been at 

 times discovered a great many marks of Roman occupation. These 

 have been already alluded to. In the year 1689, some men making 

 a ditch on a common near Wanborough, found an earthen vessel, 

 containing nearly 2000 Roman coins, none of them later than 

 Commodus, A.D. 192. 



A little to the East of JNythe Bridge is a place called Lot Mead. 

 This is a name for a field, that often occurs in Wiltshire parishes ; 

 but at Wanborough, about 200 years ago, it meant something 

 more than a field. There used to be kept on the ground, about 

 mowing time, some kind of village festival, called the Lot Mead, 

 conducted with much ceremony. Aubrey says that " the proprietor 

 appeared in a garland of flowers, and the mowers were entertained 

 with a pound of beef and a head of garlic a-piece (O dura messorum 

 ilia !) and many old customs at the same time kept up. The spot 

 afterwards became famous for revelling and horse-racing." The 

 books that describe our old national ceremonies, do not seem to 

 mention a Lot Mead ; and we can only conjecture that it was some 

 ancient parish feast of great antiquity. Land certainly used to be 

 divided by lot, in various proportions, among Saxon settlers. The 

 Chronicle of Simeon of Durham, for instance, particularly mentions 

 that when St. Cuthbert's bones were removed to Durham, which 

 at that time was only a wood, " eradicata itaque silva, et unicuique 

 sorte distributa ; " i.e., the first care was to eradicate the forest 

 that covered the land : the next to distribute the clearings by lot. 



