By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 



171 



originally, held like others in different parts of the county, by the 

 tenure of being latiner, i.e. interpreter, between the different races 

 that once dwelt there side by side ? Dr. Guest, in a learned paper 

 contributed to the Journal of the Archaeological Institute, con- 

 jectured that the valley of the Avon was one of the boundaries 

 between the Welsh and the English in the sixth century. May 

 not these tenures, if our conjecture be true, (and certainly it is not 

 unreasonable) confirm his opinion ? In the immediate neighbour- 

 bourhood we certainly have names still remaining which indicate 

 the same state of things, in Wal-cot and English-comb, the posses- 

 sions respectively of the Welsh and the English. 



Once more, in the Wilts Domesday we have Urso holding an 

 estate at Deverel, 1 under Ernulf de Hesding. This manor was a 

 portion of the present parish of Hill Deverel, on the western bor- 

 ders of the county. The same tenant is recorded in the Domesday 

 for Dorset as holding an estate at Melesberie 2 (Melbury), under 

 the same chief lord Ernulf de Hesding, — and this was just on the 

 Dorsetshire side of the borders. 



It is right to add, that in one or two cases we are not able so 

 accurately to identify the holdings that seem to have been on the 

 limits of the several counties. Thus, in the Wilts Domesday, we 

 have a small manor at Gelingeham, 3 which, by comparing the 

 entry with others in the Dorset Domesday, we are sure refers to 

 Gillingham. JSTo portions of the present parish, or of any of its 

 chapelries, appear to be in Wiltshire. In this case either the name 

 has ceased to be applied to any land on the eastern side of the 

 border, or, as is not improbable, there has been an exchange of 

 lands, the more so as at one time the property on either side be- 

 longed to the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall. The con- 

 clusion nevertheless to which we may fairly come is this, that in 

 all essential particulars the boundaries of the county of Wilts 

 remain just as they were at the time of Domesday. There may 

 have been a few mutual interchanges of land on either side of the 

 border, — but that is all. 



It may not be out of place to add, that a collateral proof of the 

 ' 1 Fol. 70a. 2 Fol. 84a. 3 Fol. 736. 



