258 



Ancient History of Shaftesbury. 



what becamo of this interesting relic? There is some reason to 

 think that it was removed to the Magdalene Hospital, which stood 

 to the West of St. Mary Magdalene (Maudlin) Lane, and very 

 near the old Chapel of St. Mary. Over the doorway, I am informed, 

 there was up to the time of its being pulled down 1848, an ancient 

 oblong stone with an illegible inscription, surmounted by another 

 stone of a somewhat triangular shape bearing on an ornamented 

 shield a coat of Arms, and a motto on a scroll. Part of this 

 latter stone with the Arms and motto, of course of comparatively 

 modern date, is still in existence, but the inscribed stone which 

 stood beneath is not to be found, and has most probably been 

 destroyed. Might not this have been the identical stone of Alfred, 

 so long preserved, which can be traced by contemporary testimony 

 from the days of Malmesbury to the time of Leland, in the reign of 

 Henry VIII. ? The inscription might have become illegible from 

 age and exposure for the last three hundred years, or if written in 

 the Saxon character and language, it might have appeared illegible 

 to persons not at all or but partially acquainted therewith. William 

 of Malmesbury indeed gives the inscription in Latin ; but this 

 does not prove that it was so on the stone. He was writing his 

 history in Latin and would very likely give the inscription in the 

 language which he was himself using. But Alfred was a great 

 adherent to the vernacular tongue ; and the Saxon inscription to a 

 similar effect on what appears to be the jewelled head of a sceptre 1 

 found at Athelney, affords a presumption that he would have 

 employed the same language in the other case. Camden also gives 

 an outline of the stone, copied either fnom Leland or Malmesbury, 

 as an oblong stone placed horizontally, which was the shape of the 

 inscribed stone over the Magdalene doorway. Alfred not only 

 rebuilt the town, but at the same time, viz. A.D. 880, laid the 

 foundation of its Abbey, which eventually became one of the 

 richest and most distinguished in the kingdom. It was not com- 

 pleted till A.D. 888. No long period when we consider the 

 probable magnitude of the work. From the first it was a fortified 

 Abbey. 2 Its lofty towers are specially mentioned by early writers, 



1 Preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 2 Dugdale. 



