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THE SAXON LAND CHARTERS OF WILTSHIRE. I ~J\ Hides. 10. Names (1) in title, Bi Wilig, By YVylye (river) ' (2) in body of document, Biwilig. Ident. K. Wiley, Wilts. ; B. Wiley, Wilts. The extant copy of the survey is of AS. date, and may be the record of the survey made at the time of the grant. Survey. 1. Aerest on Codan Ford : ' First to Coda's Ford.' This ford gives its name to the neighbouring parish of Codford. It was evidently at the extreme N. point of Stockton where a road now crosses the Wylye river a short ^ m. S. of the church at Codford St. Mary. 2. Thonne an dune and lang Wilig on Hyssa 1 Pol 2 ·. ' Then down along the Wylye (river) to Warriors' Pool.'. . The by. goes down the Wylye. Hyssa Pol was probably near the NE. corner of the parish, perhaps on the river NE. of Stockton village. 3. Thaet on thaere Gebyge : ' Then to the Corner (or Bend).' What sort of a corner this was it is not possible to say. But it was certainly at the NE. corner of the parish, on the Wylye ; and the reference may be to a bend of the river at that point. 4. Thaet be eastan Cynelming Ham ofer tha Maede on Hafoewylle : ' Then on the east of the House of Cynelm's son over the Mead to Hawk Spring.' The reference to the mead shows that these landmarks are near the river. The house must have been somewhere about where the Wilton road crosses the E. by. ; and the spring was perhaps between that road and the railway. 5. Thonne and lang Maer Fyr on Greatan Thorn :• ' Then along the Boundary Furrow to the Great Thorntree.' The charters speak fairly frequently of furrows as boundaries. They indicate, of course, that ploughland came to the by. at the point where they occur. Probably the ploughed land was carried right to the by., so that no balk 1 Hyssa is the first element of the old names of Hurstboume Tarrant and of Hurstbourne Priors in Hants. I give the only translation which I can suggest, but without being convinced that it is the right one. 2 As far as my present experience of the charters goes, pol, and also pyll are always used of pools in rivers or brooks, not of any other kind of pool.
THE SAXON LAND CHARTERS OF WILTSHIRE. I ~J\ intervened between it and the ploughland of the neighbouring land-unit. Dead reckoning from the neighbouring landmarks would suggest that the furrow ran along the E. by. S. of the railway, and that the Great Thorntree was on the by. about 5 fur. due E. of Conygar Barn (OMi). 6. Thonne and lang Weges on Land Score Hlinc : ' Then along the Way (Track) to Boundary Lynch.' The lynch would, of course, be on a hill slope. The track is now represented by a remnant of a track which runs along the E. by. at a short bend in the by. (OM6) about 5 fur. ESE. of Conygar Barn (OMi). The lynch would be near the same place. 7. Thonne and lang (Land 1 ) Score Hlinces on Alercum : ' Then along Boundary Lynch to Alder Combe.' This was certainly the combe which the by. traverses 6 fur. SE. of Conygar Barn (OMi). 8. Thonne ofer Radune Sweoran ofer Nacum on Trind Lea : ' Then over Roedeer Down Neck over . . . Combe to the (Lea of the Round Quarry ? or, Lea marked by Balls or Boundary Mounds ?).' The neck of Roedeer Down is the ridge N. of Alder Combe. Nacumb is the combe now called Roakham Bottom (OM6) which the by. crosses i m. E. of Stockton Entrenchments (OMi). Trind Leah is the rough ground lying E. of Stockton Wood (OMi). 9. Thaet so on Wilafes Treozv ·. ' Then so to Wilaf's Tree.' This tree was probably near where the road crosses the by. on the S. edge of the rough ground above mentioned. 10. Thaet ofer thone Hethfeld on Die Geat 2 : 'Then 1 Land probably omitted owing to its similarity to the previous word lang. 2 The very frequent use of geat as a by. mark must strike, and may puzzle, one who is not acquainted with the known facts of AS. agricultural life. Live fences were either unknown or extremely rare in AS. times. The fence, where used, was made of wattle hurdles or built of timber. The wattle fences round the ploughlands were structures which were set up at the time when the crops were on the land, but removed partly or wholly after harvest, when the stubbles were thrown open to all the cattle of the holders in the community. But in these fences were gates which were permanent structures, remaining always in the same place. Gates were also placed at points where roads, local or otherwise> passed on to the lands of a neighbouring land-unit, to prevent the cattle of one communitv from trespassing on the lands of another. It is probable that it is gates of the latter class which appear as landmarks in the surveys of the great charters. But geat had also the meaning ' gap '; and such geats do, as in the present instance, appear in the charters, though they are undoubtedly rare as compared with the ' gates ' properly so called.
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It must be understood by all those who read these charters that this ...

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