28G 



Chippenham. Notes of its History. 



of Salisbury, and in presence of all these worshipful men here 

 being-, offer up my profession of hermit under this form : that I, 

 Hiehard, will be obedient to Holy Church : that I will lead my 

 life to my life's end, in sobriety and chastity: will avoid all open 

 spectacles, taverns, and other such places: that I will every day 

 hear mass, and say every day certain Paternosters and Aves : that 

 I will fast every Friday, the vigils of Pentecost and All Hallows, 

 on bread and water. And the goods that I may get by free gift 

 of Christian people, or by bequest, or testament, or by any reason- 

 able and true way, — reserving only necessaries to my sustenance, 

 a3 in meat, drink, clothing, and fuel, I shall truly, without deceit 

 lay out upon reparation and amendyng of the bridge and of the 

 common way belonging to y e same town of Maidenhead." It there- 

 fore seems not improbable, that the hermit on the Causeway at 

 Chippenham, may have been neither more nor less than a receiver 

 of voluntary offerings from the passers by, towards the mending of 

 it, and of the roads. 



I have certainly seen, in out-of-the-way places, some very miser- 

 able hovels, for the residence of modern collectors of tolls, on the 

 public roads ; and some very rough anchorites, and anchoritesses 

 too, come out to receive the 4|d. And I have also often had to 

 wait in a dark night under pelting rain, for the said anchorite, or 

 anchoritess, to turn out, light a lantern, and grope their way out, 

 half asleep, to unlock the gate. Under such circumstances, it is 

 perhaps lucky for the road-repairing, that the payment is no longer 

 voluntary : for if it were, I am sure it would not be given at all : 

 the hermit being generally very cross and impatient, and the travel- 

 lers still more so. But, as the voluntary system is said by some 

 people to be more successful than the compulsory, it is to be hoped 

 that it was successful on the Chippenham Causeway in ancient 

 times ; and that the public roads and paths were well kept. But it 

 is doubtful. For all the land, out of Chippenham, reaching 

 nearly to Calne, was forest ; and in old forests, roads were not 

 first-rate. Chippenham, or Pewsham Forest, (they were mixed 

 together) began immediately outside the present town. The bounds 

 of that forest were these. 



