President's Address. 



299 



to draw your attention to the leading objects of interest, and 

 especially as I see some new members present to whom such lore 

 may be acceptable. Bradford takes its name from the broad ford 

 over the Avon below the bridge, and which was in use even up to 

 quite a late date. There is some proof that the Romans were in 

 this locality about the year A.D. 62, and in the upper part of the 

 town. The popular name of the " bed and bolster/'' given to their 

 earth works, in allusion to their shape, is not a very bad recognition 

 of a portion of their encampment. Bradford was the occasional 

 residence of our Saxon kings, and by one of them, Cenwealh, who 

 was King of Wessex, 652, Christianity was introduced into this 

 town. That accomplished Bishop Aldhelm, founded a monastery 

 here, and dedicated it to St. Laurence. It is just possible that a small 

 portion of this building may be incorporated with the edifice now 

 known as the Free School. The building itself was of the most 

 interesting character. The great council of the nation was held here, 

 and Bishops elected to vacant sees. Amongst others, Dunstan, 

 Abbot of Glastonbury, was appointed Bishop of Worcester. Tradition 

 speaks of a mint having been established at Bradford, but I find no 

 corroboration of this. King Ethelred, in the year 1001, bestowed 

 the manor of Bradford upon the Abbess of Shaftesbury, and by this 

 very materially increased her revenue. The troublous reign of 

 Ethelred proved disastrous to the monastery of St. Laurence, for 

 the turbulent Danes, disgusted by the treachery of the King towards 

 them, levelled it to the ground. Bradford under the Norman Con- 

 quest appears to have retained its Anglo-Saxon population. The 

 Abbess of Shaftesbury still had the manor, and the land was in 

 many cases held by military tenure under the King. It is curious 

 to note here that honey was made an article of payment, and that 

 vines were cultivated in vineyards. From the chronicle of William 

 of Malmesbury, we learn that King Stephen besieged the Castle of 

 Trowbridge, and it is probable that Bradford did not escape being 

 involved in the conflicts which were perpetually occurring in its 

 neighbourhood. In the year 1295 Bradford sent two members io 

 Parliament on the occasion of a proposed invasion of England by 

 the King of France. At the dissolution of the monasteries the lay 



