It must be understood by all those who read these charters that this ...

THE SAXON LAND CHARTERS OF WILTSHIRE. I ~J\
15. On thone Beorh to than Rigwege : ' To the Barrow
at the Ridgeway.'
16. Thonne eaest andlang Hrigweges : ' Then east
along the Ridgeway.'
The Ridgeway is undoubtedly the great ancient track
along the comb of the down along the S. edge of Hare
Warren (OMi). The barrow may be Neale's Barrow on
the S. edge of Wilton parish.
17. Ίο Bryt Fordingea Landscaere : ' To the Boundary
of the people of Britford.'
It will be noticed (OMi) that the Britford by. just
touches the Roman road on the Race Course (OMi).
This is the site of the landmark.
18. Thonne suth on Stretford·. 'Then south to the
Ford of the made way.'
The charter B.832 shows that the part of modern
Stratford Tony N. of the Roman road was not in AS. times
part of that land unit. This by. also runs down the Roman
road to the village of Stratford to the point where the survey
began.
It will thus be seen that the charter is of the parish or
land-unit of Bishopstone and that part of Stratford Tony N.
of the Roman road. As to the statement that it belongs to
Duntun (Downton), that is probably due to the fact that
this piece of land was part of a large estate belonging to
Winchester cathedral in the Downton neighbourhood.
The grouping of various land-units under one name is quite
common in the charters. Cf. in Wilts, the Malmesbury
lands under Brokenbarough. A nearer parallel is perhaps
supplied by a charter labelled Micheldever [in Hants]
which does not apply to Micheldever itself, but to a
part of Sutton Scotney which was in post-Conquest times
part of the manor of Micheldever. Large units, like this of
Downton, are probably the AS. forerunners of post-
Conquest manors. 1
1 1 do not propose to enter into an elaborate
discussion of the probable date of the
charters given in this collection. All that
I am concerned with is whether the survey
attached to any particular charter is of pre-
Conquest origin. Some conclusions on that
question may now and then be drawn from
the state of the text of the surveys attached
to charters. I shall therefore confine myself
to giving the reputed date, and to saying
whether the survey is or is not a post-
Conquest copy of an AS. original. In the
case of the present charter the survey seems
to -be of pre-Conquest date ; for the few
errors in it are merely mistakes that a Saxon
copyist might have made.