By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 57 



Surewtox ; — this estate is accounted for in Domesday under the 

 name of Winterburne (W. Domesd. 242) and belonged 

 then to Edward of Salisbury, who held the office of Sheriff 

 of Wiltshire. In the Hundred Rolls (II. 254) and Test, 

 de Nev. 135 we have the entry as Wintreburn Scir eve-ton.. 

 We can hardly avoid the conclusion that the former part 

 of the present name is a corruption of Scir-gerefa i.e. Shire- 

 reeve (=Sheriff) and so a memorial of the office borne by 

 its Domesday owner. 



Somerford ~| The tenant of Sumreford (=Somerford) under the 

 Mauduit. S Abbot of Malmsbury, as chief lord, was at the time 

 of Domesday Gun/rid, who is, without doubt, to be identi- 

 fied with the Gunfrid Maldoith, who held Witelie (= Wit- 

 ley,) in the parish of Melksham. W. Domesd. pp. 122, 

 243. The occurrence of Somerford Mauduit, and 

 Witlee, among the manors held by successive generations 

 of the Mauduit family, seems clearly to prove the point, 

 and to suggest the real interpretation of the distinctive 

 name. (See W. Domesd. p. 235.) 



Tockenham ") The name Pinkney has been already explained as 

 Pinkney. J having been derived from that of William de Pin- 

 chengi. He held, under Edward of Salisbury, a portion 

 of Bradenstock (Bradenstoke), in which were included 

 Lyneham and West Tockenham. W. Domesd. 148. 

 The name Tockenham Pinkney is thus a memorial of the 

 Norman tenant. 



Enough, it is hoped, has now been written, to shew that we have 

 still, in Wiltshire Names, whether of persons or places, many 

 memorials of those who well nigh a thousand years ago, were 

 owners or occupiers of the land. Such an attempt must always be 

 more or less tentative, and no writer can hope in all cases to gain 

 the assent of critics to his conclusions. Still, despite of what have 

 been called, "ingenious examples of verbal engineering/' — (if any of 

 the instances given be deemed such) — it must freely be admitted, 

 that the memory of men who lived in the days of the Conqueror, 



