are really the title-deeds, and to enable the genealogist to sketch out the pedigrees of almost all the known families of the county down to the sixteenth century. To write the history only of the western peninsula of the county, or Gowerland, with its varying fortunes, culminating in the remarkable charter of privileges granted by Braose, its chief lord, early in the fourteenth century, would have been an impossible task prior to the publication of these volumes. Again, the history of Margam was unsatisfactory and fragmentary until Mr. Clark first drew attention to it in the pages of the Archæologia Cambrensis. The charters, however, which are preserved among the Harleian collections in the British Museum, when set side by side with those in possession of the owner of the site, furnish enough material to construct pretty fairly the general history of what was once one of the most noble Cistercian Abbeys of Wales. In the same manner the present work contains texts which throw new light upon the history of Neath and Ewenny, and even upon Llandaff itself. The credit which attaches to the preparation and publication of a series of county records such as this may, we hope, serve to stimulate others to imitate Mr. Clark's example. Brecknockshire, for example, is at present very poorly represented by any collection of printed deeds, and the same may be said, with more or less truth, for every county in Wales. A few years ago a small collection relating to Pembroke was published in our Journal, on the occasion of our Tenby Congress. With this exception we know of no other similar work. When it is considered that it is upon collections of early deeds that the historian and genealogist chiefly rely for trustworthy notices of events of local influence, and the descent of families, it will readily be conceded that it is no thankless task that Mr. Clark has performed in so able and conscientious a manner. Archæological Congress at Moscow. - The Society of Naturalists of Moscow is organising two international congresses of-(1), prehistoric anthropology; and (2), archæology, in that city; which will take place-(1), 13-20, and (2), 22-30 August. It is hoped that the attendance of delegates from kindred societies in England, at either of these meetings, may be facilitated; and we have much pleasure in inviting those of our members who desire to be present, either as delegates or as ordinary members, to communicate with the Hon. Secretaries. THE JOURNAL OF THE British Archaeological Association. SEPTEMBER 1892. SOME MEMORIALS OF WANDSWORTH, SURREY. BY G. PATRICK, ESQ., A.R.1.B.A. Or the people who dwelt in the district of Wandsworth in prehistoric times there are some evidences in the interesting collection of weapons and other implements kindly lent to me to illustrate this paper by Mr. Lawrence of Wandsworth town, who discovered most of them himself, and has promised to give the Meeting some description of them. They consist of arrow-heads, knives, scrapers, and other implements of flint, found on St. Ann's Hill and elsewhere in the immediate neighbourhood of the town, and are probably relics of that far-off time when the mammoth and other wild animals roamed over the district, and the river Thames extended, in a broad sheet of water, over the low-lying lands of Fulham and Putney, Wandsworth and Battersea. You may also see, at the British and other Museums, vestiges of a later age in the local history of Wandsworth; of a period, probably, not long anterior to the coming of the Romans, bearing mute but eloquent testimony to the belief that the district was frequented by the Britons; if, indeed, they had not established settlements here. These consist of the usual implements of war and the chase, instruments of domestic use, and objects of personal adornment, such as are generally associated with this early race; and they comprise such things as bronze celts and palstaves, bronze swords and 1892 13 spear-heads, pins of bronze used for personal adornment, of peculiar, and occasionally of very elegant shape, many of which have been found in almost perfect condition. These relics have been found in the bed of the Thames at Wandsworth, at the mouth of the Wandle, and in the river itself, not far from the High Street. Others, of similar character, have been discovered between Wandsworth and Battersea. These discoveries indicate that the Britons frequented this neighbourhood, and it is not unlikely that in those old days a path or trackway may have existed (perhaps in the line of the present highway), which led up to the ancient encampment, existing, until within a few years ago, on Wimbledon Common, locally known as the "Rounds" and "Cæsar's Camp". This encampment was acknowledged by antiquaries to have been a British earthwork, although very probably occupied by Cæsar's forces. It is recorded also that there formerly existed upon the Common many British tumuli, some of which bordered the high-road to Kingston; but the last of them were removed in the last century to provide material for roadmending. Some antiquaries have ventured to suggest that in the name "Mount Nod", which distinguishes the Huguenot Cemetery on the East Hill, we have a survival of an ancient British place of worship; and our Associate, Mr. Grover, reminds us, in alluding to this subject, that Lysons describes Nudd as the British Pluto, or Setting Sun; an altar, therefore, to that god may well have been erected on that spot, which would at that day have commanded so extensive a view of the country to the westward: local names often keeping alive memories of past events when every other trace has for ever vanished. I am not aware of any objects of Roman date having been actually found at Wandsworth, but only a few miles away, in the neighbourhood of Kingston Hill, many relics of that people have been discovered, including the foundations of buildings; and it is conjectured with considerable probability that the Roman station of Tamesa was situated close by. The Roman legions, as history tells us, were composed of many nationalities, and were distinguished by the names of the various countries from which they were recruited. During the long period of the occupation, therefore, they must have very considerably augmented the general population of the country as they settled down as colonists. Now it is found that the names of rivers are in many instances derived from the names of the earliest settlers upon their banks. I do not, then, think it an improbable suggestion that our river Wandle should have derived its name from a legion of Vandals, who we know were stationed in England in considerable numbers. If we allow this to have been the case, the name Wandsworth is easily derived; for as "worth", in the AngloSaxon (according to Lysons), signifies a village or a shore, so to these later invaders the place would become known as "Vandalsworth", or the Vandals' village. The Rev. Isaac Taylor, in Words and Places, says "worth" denotes a place warded or protected. The first known recorded mention of Wandsworth in the long story of the centuries carries us back to that remote period when the county of Surrey formed a portion of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. According to Mr. W. H. Stevenson, in a letter to The Academy of February 1888, "there is extant a very early mention of Wandsworth in a contemporary charter of A.D. 693. It is in Domesday Book, however, that we find the first descriptive account of Wandsworth. At the time of the Conqueror's survey it was held by one William Fitzanculf; previously, however, in the days of King Edward the Confessor, it had been held by six socmen (socmanni), who are described as being free to remove whither they would. In speaking of this class of tenants Mr. Justice Stephens says, in his Commentary on the Laws of England, "these socmanni are supposed to have been derived from the superior class of Anglo-Saxon carls, and were perfectly free from all marks of villeinage. They are regarded as the root of a noble plant, the free socage tenants, or English yeomanry." In the Survey Wandsworth was assessed at twelve hides. The ladies, perhaps, may like to know that a hide was so much land as could be ploughed with one plough, and was variously estimated, according to local usage, at from 60 to 80 or 100 acres. There were two halls, and the arable land consisted of 4 carucates. Anculf had this land after he received the shrievalty; but the men of the hundred said they never saw seal or livery, which looks as though Master Anculf had obtained it illegally. There were 2 carucates in demesne, and five villeins, and 22 acres of meadow. The whole manor, at the time of King Edward, was rated at 110s., which would be about equivalent to £16 of our money. It was afterwards reduced to 50s. Several tenants are mentioned in Domesday as holding smaller portions in King Edward's time, -as Eldred, who held 3 hides; Walter, the huntsman, 1 hide; and others. William the Conqueror appears to have taken this manor away from Anculf, for he gave it to the Abbot and monks of Westminster Abbey, and in 1291 their property at Wandsworth was valued at £17. In the Survey of Battersea, which was also held by the Abbot of Westminster, it is stated that the "toll of Wandlesorde" yielded £6 to the Abbot. This is supposed to have been the receipts derived from a ferry. The name Wandsworth is variously spelt in the old chronicles. In Domesday Book it is given as Wandelesorde, Wendeles-orde, and Wandes-orde. Other writers spell it Wennesworth, Wansworth, and Wandlesworth. Brayley says there were four reputed manors wholly or in part in this parish, viz., Battersea and Wandsworth Down, Dunsfold, and Allfarthing. The latter seems to be a corruption, and is suggestive of a colony of Northmen having at one time been established there. I have seen it once spelt Halverthing. These three names are still in use, as in Down Lodge, Dunsford Farm, and Allfarthing Lane. Dunsford was held by the Abbot of Merton, and on the suppression of that Monastery became the property of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who sold it to Thomas Cromwell for £436:6:8. It afterwards passed into the hands of the famous (or infamous) Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and to Lord Burleigh, and thence to the Brodericks, the ancestors of the present Viscount Middleton, of which family many members, during the past two centuries, have been buried in the parish church. I can find no record of the foundation of the church at |
