165 



dlesntngs farm % MEtsp« gomeskg* 



i. 



Evidence as to the Boundaries of the County being the same 

 now as at the time of domesday. 



By the Rev. W. H. Jones, M.A., F.S.A., 



Vicar of Bradford on Avon. 



HERE are some few matters of interest od which the 

 Domesday Record for our county incidentally throws much 

 light, when examined minutely, and compared with those portions 

 of the same Record which relate to neighbouring counties. To 

 the elucidation of one of these subjects this paper is devoted, — 

 namely, the evidence that can be derived from these documents 

 as to the boundaries of Wiltshire being in all essential particulars 

 the same now as in the eleventh century. 



We are possessed of two Records, each of which is designated 

 the Domesday for Wiltshire, — the one, the Exchequer Domesday, 

 in which we have the several manors named and classed under 

 their respective owners, but with no indication of the Hundred in 

 which they were situated, — the other, the Exon Domesday, in 

 which we have a list of the Hundreds and of the principal pro- 

 prietors of lands in them, together with a summary of the number 

 of hides held by them, but no specific mention of the manors 

 themselves. By a sort of exhaustive process, — by working, that 

 is, one Record against the other, — we arrive at certain conclusions, 

 and these are the more trustworthy from the indirect way in which 

 we reach them, inasmuch as we have in our process to submit them 

 to certain crucial tests of accuracy. 



One conclusion to which such an investigation leads is certainly 

 this, — that nearly every one of tbe present border-parishes of the 

 county is included in its respective Hundred. It is well known, 

 that, as a general, we might almost say universal rule, the bound- 



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