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

THE SAXON LAND CHARTERS OF WILTSHIRE. I ~J\
Swymburnan, ad intra terminum latine vocitatum Niger
Puteus.
Badbury was the N. part of what is now the parish of
Chisledon. Its S. by. has vanished from the map. But there
can be little doubt that the earthen camp was on the W. by.
of Chisledon somewhere near the house at Burderop (OMi)
Park, a name the mediaeval forms of which (Burithrop,
15 c, Burderopp and Bury thorp, 17c) show that the name
was due to the former presence of a burh, or camp, in its
neighbourhood.
Symbroc is the brook at the NW. corner of the parish
and the NW. corner of Burderop Wood (OMi), a brook
which comes along the neighbouring part of the N. by. and
after leaving the Chisledon by. forms part of the NE. by.
of Wroughton. The black pit must have been just outside,
but close to, this NW. corner of Chisledon.
2. Of, etc. innan Dorceri: ' From the Black Pit inside
(Dorcerne ?) (Brook).'
Fro the Blake Pytte wythinne Dor kerne : Ab illo loco ad
intra terminum nuncupatum latine angulus tenebrosus anglice
the Dorkeherne.
In the first place references in the Wanborough charter
B.479, in the Liddington charter K.386, in the Chisledon
charter B.904, and in the present charter, make it quite
clear that this landmark is the great brook which goes along
the N. part of the W. by. of Chisledon, and supplies the
reservoir at Coate (OMi). But the name of the brook
appears in such variant forms that it is not possible to say
what the original name really was. In this charter it
appears as Dorceri, and in the ME. and Lat. forms Dorkerne
and Dorkeherne ; in the Wanborough charter as Dorcan ;
and in the Liddington charter as Dorcyn. It is almost
certainly a pre-Saxon name ; and the attempt of the composer
of the Latin copy of the present survey to interpret
its meaning as ' dark corner ' is merely one of those efforts
so common in dealing with place-names, namely to rationalise
an obscure name by giving it a meaning.
3. Andlang Dorceri on tha Straet: ' Along D ... to
the Street (Made Road).'
Along Dorkerne on the Stret: per longum Dorkerne . . .' 1
1 Reference to the street omitted, probably by inadvertence, from the Latin copy.