mcst remarkable in England. It is now used as the Free-school, but is in fact a small church, probably the church of the abbey which formerly stood here, of which Aldhelm, the founder of Malmesbury Abbey, was also the founder and Abbot. This small church is entire, consisting of a chancel, nave, and N. porch. It was probably ruined with the rest of the abbey buildings in the year 1003, when Sweyn laid waste to Wiltshire. This little church deserves the especial notice of travellers and antiquaries, who should also not overlook two very ancient figures of angels on the porch of the master's house adjoining. These were lately discovered in the wall over the chancel arch. On the summit of Tory Hill are ruins of a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, built just above the spring which supplies the town with water. 3 m. S. W., on the road to Farleigh Castle, is the village of Westwood, with a very pretty church, exhibiting features of archæological interest in its tower, chantry roof, oaken seats, and stained glass. yard lies Ralph Allen, the Allworthy of Tom Jones; and adjoining the road are ancient terraces, remains of an Elizabethan mansion of the Bassetts; and on the brow of the hill Claverton Manor, the seat of George Vivian, Esq., now occupied by Rt. Hon. Jas. Wilson, the house by Sir Jeffrey Wyattville, commanding the fine valley of the Avon, and enriched by a gallery of pictures, chiefly of the Italian, Spanish, German, and English schools (see p. 170). The Avon valley and its branches present many examples of the subsidence of the strata. On the hills bounding the 1. bank of the river the effect of landslips may be observed in the inferior oolite, and from the commanding eminence of Hampton Rocks the spectator beholds below him rugged masses of great oolite, which, having slipped from the cap of the hill, now lie in picturesque confusion among the trees. Woolley House, m. E., is the seat of the Baskervilles. Turley House, N., was a residence of Edmund Burke. In the neigbourhood of the town are many pleasant valleys, embosomed in lofty hills- that of the Avon, with its verdant meads, and Avon Cliff Quarries rich in fossils, its winding river and prim canal, the former spanned by the frequent aqueduct; the valley of Freshford, with its rural village, long the residence of Sir William Napier, who here wrote his History of the Peninsular War; and that of Midford, more distant, leading to Dunkerton and to the busy coalfield of Radstoke. A short ride by railway (or the path by the canal) will bring you to Freshford, Limpley Stoke, or Claverton, three of the prettiest spots in the Avon valley. In Claverton church Farleigh Castle, 3 m., and Hinton Abbey, 4 m., are other interesting places which may be visited from Bradford. The best way is by rail to Freshford. Farleigh is 2 m. from the station, and the abbey ruins about 1 by a pretty path through the fields. Bath is 7 m. distant, and the main road to it passes, on 1. Warley, the castellated mansion of the Skrines, beautifully situated below the hanging woods of Monkton Farleigh Down; on the rt., Monkton Farleigh, seat of the late Wade Brown, Esq., occupying the site and built from the ruins of a priory of Cluniac monks. Bradford means broad ford; braden, Saxon. It has considerable claims to historic notice, as has been shown by the present vicar. Dunstan was here elected Bishop of Worcester; and in the neighbourhood Cenwalph, king of the West Saxons, defeated his rebellious subjects under Cuthred in the year 652. 109 Westbury Stat., where a line known as the Ham, in the vicinity passes off on the 1. to Salisbury, Southampton, &c. Westbury (Inns of the railway stat., many remains Lopes Arms; White Lion; Crown), probably so named from its position under the western declivity of Salisbury Plain, is an ancient but now insignificant town, once, but no longer, busy in the cloth manufacture. It is situated on the small stream of the Were, at the foot of the chalk hills, particularly of Westbury Down, which rises to the height of 775 ft. above the sea. It was early incorporated, and returned 2 M.P.'s before the Reform Bill, but that measure reduced the number of its members to one. In 1766 it was represented by Sir William Blackstone, the celebrated lawyer. Bryan Edwards, the historian of the West Indies, was born in the vicinity of Westbury, at Charlcott, formerly the manor-house of the Mauduyts, and purchased by his father. From Salisbury, Westbury is 26 m., from Warminster 4. In itself it contains little to interest the traveller, but it is within reach of Longleat, of the camps of Scratchbury and Battlesbury above Warminster, of the camp and White Horse at Bratton, and of the church of Edington. Its own Church is a fine building, dedicated to All Saints, and erected in the 13th century—at least the chancel, which is the oldest part of it. This contains the monument of Sir James Ley, Lord Chief Justice, Lord Treasurer, and President of the Council in 1629 "That good Earl, once President Of England's Council and her Treasury." Milton. He was created Baron Ley, of Ley in Devon, by James I., and Earl of Marlborough by Charles I. Some traces of the ancient inhabitants may be found in the neighbourhood. At Leigh, a village to the S., a moated site, called the Palace Garden, is pointed out by tradition as the residence of one of our Anglo-Saxon kings; and in a field, of Roman pottery and coins have been discovered. Brook, further to the N.W., was the seat of the Pavelys, lords of Westbury at a later period. It derived its name from a small stream which runs past it towards the Avon; and " in its turn," says Camden, "Brook gave the title of Baron to Robert Willoughby, who, on account of his descent from the Pavelys by the family of Cheney, was advanced to it by King Henry VII., with whom he was a special favourite." To this may be added that it also gave title to the Earls of Brooke and Warwick, by descent through Elizabeth, eldest daughter and coheir of Lord Willoughby de Broke the 2nd baron, and wife of Sir Fulke Greville. Bratton Castle crowns a hill about 2 m. E. It is an irregularly shaped camp of 23 acres, formed in part by a double rampart, in some places 36 ft. high. According to Camden, Gibson, Gough, and Hoare, it was the entrenchment to which Guthrun the Dane retired after his decisive defeat by Alfred in the battle of Ethandune (Edington, 1 m. off); and there is a tradition that the Danes were posted in the little valley, thence called Dane Leys, situated under the hill. Milner, however, has laid the scene of this fight at Heddington, near Devizes; and Whitaker, on Yatton, or Eaton Down, where a Slaughterford on a branch of the Avon would seem to record some bloody event. This victory secured to Alfred, who had been previously a fugitive in the Isle of Athelney, a firm seat upon the throne. He had compelled the Danes to surrender at discretion, but he treated them in a wise and generous spirit, and not only granted them their lives, but allowed them, on condition of embracing Christianity, to retire into East Anglia and Northumberland, and to settle in those districts which their own ravages had depopulated. Longleat, Marquis of Bath (shown Below the camp, on the S. slope of Wednesdays and Fridays). Above the hill, is the figure of a colossal Warminster are the entrenchments White Horse, formed by excoriating of Scratchbury and Battlesbury, and the turf-originally a rude design, between that town and Longleat and perchance (as long credited by the eminence of Cley Hill, on which enthusiastic antiquaries) a record of Alfred is supposed to have rested on Alfred's victory, but it was remo- his way to Edington. 115 Frome (Rte. 28). delled in 1778. The white horse was the Saxon standard, and is still borne on the coat armour of our Hanoverian kings. ROUTE 4. WORTH. Edington, 1 m. from Bratton Castle, FARINGDON TO SWINDON, BY HIGHand 3 from Westbury, is interesting for its priory-church, a structure of the The road from Faringdon in Berk14th century, and a most valuable shire to the border of Wiltshire passes illustration of that date (Transition) Coleshill House, seat of the Earl of when the Decorated was combined Radnor, built 1650, one of Inigo with, and yielding place to, the Per-Jones's latest and least altered works. pendicular. It was built by Bishop The adjoining church contains a moEdington, a native of this parish, nument, by Rysbrach, to one of the who immediately preceded William Bouveries, and some marble effigies of Wickham in the see of Winches- of the Pleydells and Pratts, Lord ter, and commenced the restoration Radnor's maternal ancestors. It has of that cathedral carried on by his a handsome Perp. tower, an excellent successor. It contains monuments of W. door, and in the nave some late Sir Edw. Lewys and lady, temp. Chas. Norman and good Dec. architecture. I., and of Sir Simon Taylor by Chan- In the Bouverie aisle window are a trey. At the time of the Dissolution pedigree of the family and a view of the priory belonged to a body of Coleshill in coloured glass. monks of the order of Bonhommes, and was granted to Lord Seymour of Sudeley, the Protector's brother. On his fall it was re-granted to Earl Poulett, first Marquis of Winchester, then Lord Treasurer, from whom it passed to the Dukes of Bolton. It is now the property of S. Watson Taylor, Esq. In Jack Cade's rebellion Ayscough Bishop of Salisbury was dragged from the altar of the church, and stoned to death on the neighbouring hill. Maver House, near Westbury, is a seat of Sir Massey Lopes, Bart. About 6 m. E. is Erle Stoke Park, the property of Simon Watson Taylor, Esq.; 1 m. N., Heywood House, seat of the Ludlows, built in the reign of James I. by Lord Ley, afterwards Earl of Marlborough; 14 m. S. Dilton Court, Colonel Phipps; and 6 m. S., the splendid park and mansion of Highworth (Inn: King and Queen). This is an old town, on a hill, commanding views over the counties of Gloucester, Berks, and Wilts. The church (St. Michael's) may interest the stranger by its antiquity. It is on an elevated site, like most of the edifices dedicated to the archangel, and contains monuments of the Warnefords of Warneford Place, near Sevenhampton. E. of the town is a pretty village, called Hannington, built in the form of a Y; and 2 m. W., Blunsdon Castle Hill, so named from a camp generally attributed to the Romans. Highworth is 40 m. from Salisbury, and 6 from Faringdon and Swindon. 2 rt. Stanton House, Rev. J. A. Trenchard. 1 Stratton St. Margaret's, on the Roman road called the Ermin-street. 2 Swindon (Rte. 1). ROUTE 5. SWINDON TO SALISBURY, BY MARL- Swindon (Rte. 1). Mail every night. A stranger should notice at Swindon the stone-quarries, and the view from the back of the Goddard Arms. Two roads run from Swindon to Marlborough, the old and the new, both about 11 m. The former crosses a wild hilly district, and is a rough one for carriages; the latter is the coach-road, and runs most of the distance through a valley. One on foot, bound to Marlborough by the old road, can shorten the way by pursuing the new road as far as the turnpike, where he will turn into a green lane, floored with Bagshot sandstone, which will lead him to the old road at Burdrop Park (J. J. Calley, Esq.). He will there find himself in a high open country, in view of the greater part of N. Wiltshire, and of Swindon crowning an outlying eminence. Proceeding towards Marlborough, he should glance about him at the following points. 3 Where the road approaches a crescent of hills, some 10 m. from horn to horn, roughened rt. and 1. by the prominent camps of Barbury and Liddington Castle. The hills are unenclosed, and bare of trees, with the exception of some beech-clumps, mere dots on the landscape. 1 Burdrop Racecourse. Here the road has reached the crescent, and climbs a formidable hill. You should diverge to the rt. by ascending the turfy down to Barbury. This is a large camp, in excellent preservation. It is nearly circular, and girdled by a double ring of ditch and rampart; the inner very strong, the massive rampart sloping full 50 ft. to the bottom of the ditch. The entrances are E. and W., and the diam. of the area 2000 ft. Barbury, in 556, [W. D. & S.] was the scene of an obstinate and sanguinary action between the Britons and the Saxons under Cynric. The savage warriors fought from the rising to the setting of the sun, when victory declared for the Saxons, and the camp was stormed. This defeat was decisive of the fate of Wiltshire, which became a province of Wessex. 2 Here the traveller has reached the culminating point of the road, in a country wild and lonely. Around him are the grassy sides of the hills, down which he may trace the long descent to Marlborough, and at a little distance the plantations of Rockley House (rt.), seat of the late Sir John Smith, and now of Mr. Tanner, to the W. of which lies a stony valley, called Temple Bottom, containing the remains of a cromlech. In about 3 m. the traveller arrives at Marlborough Racecourse immediately above the town. On the new road from Swindon may be noticed 1 rt. a reservoir of the Wilts and Berks canal, a sheet of water nearly 1 m. in length. 2 On a hill to the 1. the church of Wanborough, remarkable for having a spire at one end and a tower at the other. This peculiarity has given rise to a village tradition, that the church was erected by two maiden ladies, who, unable to agree whether it should have a tower or a spire, decided the matter by building both. It is a plausible story, but libellous on the ladies, as to the wall of the tower is affixed a tablet by which prayers are demanded for the soul of Philip Polton, Archdeacon of Gloucester, for those of his father, mother, brother, and sister, and of all others who contributed to build this campanile. This tablet is dated from the reign of Edward IV. 2 Red House. Here our route crosses the Ridge Way, an old British road running N.E. into Berkshire. 1. rises Badbury or Liddington Castle, a C British entrenchment, where, in the 6 Marlborough (Inns: Ailesbury that monarch in 1267. The name is supposed to be derived from the "A head like a snake, a neck like a drake, A back like a beam, a belly like a bream, A foot like a cat, a tail like a rat." The angler may enjoy himself on the banks of "The Kennet swift, for silver eels renown'd;" but equally famous for trout, the fishing near Hungerford being considered equal to that of any other river in England. It is strictly preserved. Among the natives of Marlborough were Henry Sacheverell, the political divine, "the sentinel Sir Michael Foster, the lawyer; and Marlborough has some other associations in connection with eminent men. In the parsonage house, when on a journey from Bath, died Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, Lord High later time the poet Thomson was a frequent visitor here, at the mansion of the Earl and Countess of Hertford, afterwards Duke and Duchess of Somerset, and here he wrote his 'Spring,' which he dedicated to the Countess, soliciting her marl or chalk hills in which the town lies embedded. The nearest railwaystation, Hungerford, is 10 m. distant, Swindon 11, Andover 21, Salisbury 27. Marlborough is well known to "to listen to the song sportsmen as a central point in a Which thy own season paints." coursing country. Matches are run, in particular, on Ashdown, near Lam- Again in 1767 this town was for a bourn, and the clumps of trees which time the quarters of the great Lord offend the eye by forming dots on Chatham, who had been attacked by the landscape are planted with the the gout on his road to London. view of sheltering the hare; the ob- "When he reached the Castle Inn," ject of the sportsman being the run- runs the story, "he stopped, shut ning of the dogs rather than the himself up in his room, and recapture of poor puss. The unin-mained there some weeks. Everyitiated may here gain some insight into the mysteries of training these animals, and into the off-hand mode of dealing with young dogs which disgrace themselves on the trial-day. To judge a good greyhound by the shape they should call to mind the proverbial doggrel— body who travelled that road was amazed by the number of his attendants. Footmen and grooms, dressed in his family livery, filled the whole inn, though one of the largest in England, and swarmed in the streets of the little town. The truth was that the invalid had in |