8 



The Tenth General Meeting. 



utility in supplying materials whether for the history of the county 

 generally or of the several parishes which compose it.' 



" But notwithstanding past progress, there is every prospect of 

 future developement. As I based my history of the past by referring 

 to Wyndham's Domesday as its real commencement, so I will ven- 

 ture to begin my hopes for the future by reference to a book of 

 similar character, which is now being prepared for the press by my 

 friend, the Rev. W. H. Jones, Yicar of Bradford-on-Avon. As the 

 contracted Latin of the folio was the origin of Mr. Wyndham's work, 

 so the late publication of the facsimile of Domesday suggested the 

 desirableness of an accompanying version, which, with the aids and 

 and helps afforded since Wyndham's time, should interpret it. It 

 is proposed that the volume should contain : — I. An accurate copy 

 of the Great Domesday for Wiltshire, printed in such a form as to 

 be easily understood, accompanied by a close translation, and illus- 

 trated, when necessary, by explanatory notes. — II. That portion of 

 the Exon Domesday which contains the 1 Inquisitio Geldi,' or 

 'Taxation of the Hundreds' of Wiltshire. — III. A complete 

 analysis of the preceding records. The modern names of the 

 estates, where they can be identified will be ghen, and the sources 

 indicated whence further information can be obtained respecting 

 them. — IV. A general Introduction, in which the results of the 

 survey, as far as Wiltshire is concerned, will be fully explained. 

 I can only express my hope that such a work, by opening up sources 

 of information, which to many of us will be new, may stimulate us 

 ail to fresh exertions in those subjects for the due examination of 

 which this Society was established. 



" This mass of information already furnished, or about to be 

 made available, suggests the probability of a complete history of 

 the county at no very distant date. Of any account of the Southern 

 Hundreds, Sir R. C. Hoare's History should be the basis, 

 though we must not forget that one of those Hundreds, — viz., that 

 of Kinwardston, — is wholly omitted from that work. Happily many 

 materials are at hand to supply the deficiency in Canon Jackson's 

 'Aubrey,' and Mr. Ward's 'Great Bedwin.' Of the Northern 

 Hundreds no history has as yet been attempted, though for them 



