298 The Wiltshire Possessions of the Abbess of Shaftesbury. 



tower. The living was left by will, at the commencement of the 

 18lli century, by one of the Hyde family, to the College of St. Mary 

 Magdalen, Oxford. Dr. James Hyde, a brother of Alexander 

 Hyde, Bishop of Salisbury, (1665 — 1667), was Principal of Mag- 

 dalen Hall about the same time, and his portrait still hangs in the 

 Hall of that Society. It was by his son, Robert Hyde, who for many 

 years was a Fellow of Magdalen College, that the bequest was made. 



Teffont Magna. 



Connected from time immemorial with Dinton, the next place 

 we visit will be Teffont Magna. In the 1 Nomina Yillarum* a 

 MS. in the Harleian collection containing the names of the Lords 

 of Manors at the commencement of the 14th century, the parish is 

 called 'Donyngton Teffont/ In the chartulary the word is com- 

 monly written Theo-funta as though it meant ' God's Fountain,' or 

 as we might say ' Holy Well. 1 This after all, however, may be 

 merely a conceit of the scribe who copied the various documents, 

 for certainly no other authority can be produced for such a mode of 

 spelling the word. 



Of Teffont Magna I have very little indeed to say. There are 

 two charters relating to it included in the Shaftesbury Register ; 

 by one, land at Tefunte is given by iEthelbald of Wessex (a.d. 860) 

 to his ' beloved and venerable minister Osmund,' 1 and by another 

 land here is bestowed by Edgar (a.d. 964), on 'his faithful 

 minister Sigestan.' 2 



The church at Teffont is described as being very small and barn- 

 like. Thirty years ago a portion of the Rood Loft was to be seen ; 

 and a pointed arched doorway on the North side was almost the 

 only memorial of the ancient church. There is still a circular 

 font, which is plain and massive. 



Keevil. 



The last place of the possessions of the Abbess which we shall 

 visit will be Keevil. I sho uld like to say a few words concerning 



1 Codex Diplom. No. 284. 

 2 Codex Diplom., No. 513. In this charter it is written Trofante, but it 

 seems evidently to mean the same place. 



