speaks of it as an old British camp. Inside the vallum the ground is broken up into a great number of cavities, which some have imagined to indicate a mode of shelter resorted to by some of the ancient inhabitants of this spot. Sir R. C. Hoare, however, received information from some quarter, that a peculiar white stone used in the lining of chimneys was once dug here, and that these cavities were a succession of small quarries. Generally the chalk is far too soft in this spot to admit of its being used for any such purpose. To the north of Rybury, rising to a greater altitude, is the conspicuous eminence, the loftiest of this range called commonly St. Anne's Hill, or by a natural corruption, Tan Hill. Here an annual fair is held, chiefly for the sale of sheep and horses on August 6th, (26th July old style) the festival of St. Anne, mother to the Blessed Virgin. Many have been the theories respecting the first origin of this fair, and the real meaning of the name. given to the hill. The late Mr. Bowles would fain tax our credulity, by assuming that the original name was Tan Hill, and St. Anne's hill a perversion of it, and that in this fair we must recognize the ancient holiday of some Celtic Jupiter whom he calls Tanaris, to whom he believed the hill had once been sacred. And the late Mr. Duke would fain lead us on a similar track, when he says "The fair of St. Anne, the successor nearly in name and nature (as I suppose) to the feria of the goddess Diana, is well known by fame throughout the county of Wilts, whose rural population recognize as Tan Hill fair, that which is evidently the fair of St. Anne's Hill."?

It will not be deemed presumptuous, it is hoped, if we venture to pass over with a smile these lucubrations of very worthy men. We are in a position, it is believed, to give a far less romantic mentioned by Mr. Aubrey in his MSS. under the title of Rybury Camp." Hoare's Ancient Wilts, Vol. ii., p. 12.

In like manner Tooley Street, Southwark, is so called from the church of St. Olave, which is situated in it; thus, St. Olaf contracted gradually into 'Tolaf and Tooley. The like change has taken place in a name at Bradford on Avon. A small chapel, dedicated to St. Olave, stood in what is now called Woolley Street: originally however it was called Tooley Street, and is described in Latin deeds as "vicus Sancti Olavi."

2 Duke's Druidical Temples, p. 95.

reason for the name of the hill, and one which involves no belief in strange deities like the Celtic Tanaris. Fortunately we have three ancient Anglo-Saxon charters relating to the neighbouring parish of Stanton Berners, some expressions in which throw light on the subject. It is true that these charters are copies and not originals, and have come down to us in a corrupt form, still in the matter before us the evidence may be regarded as tolerably complete. Thus in the Codex Diplomaticus (No. 335) we have this description of a portion of the boundary,—“ donne of gemérstáne on gemar beorgas; donne of langan dene neodewearde tó Anan stane; donne ofer Wódnes dic; dæt tó ðáre eorðbyrig; donne donan to Oxnamére middeweardne; donne donan on lytlan beorg tó Anan stáne; donne donan tó Eást-móre tó dære burgilsan: donne donan tó Bromlace."-[Thence from the mere-stone to the mere-barrows (boundary-barrows); thence from Long-dene downward to Anne's stone; thence over Wansdyke; then to the earth-barrow; thence to Ox-mere midward; thence by the little barrow to Anne's stone; thence to Eastmore to the burial-places; thence to Bromlace.]1

Now these extracts shew clearly that in olden time (the dates of the charters respectively are A.D. 903, 957, 960,) there was an owner of land in the immediate neighbourhood of All Cannings,

1 In the other two Charters, (Nos. 467, 483) the latter of which, with very slight variations of spelling in one or two lines, is clearly a copy of the former, we have the same portions of the boundary given with greater detail. Thus Charter No. 467, reads:-On Sane mærstán; of dán stáne on a foxhola; donon on done stánigan beurh on Corndúne nordewearde; of dan beorge on da stánes andlang dene; neodeweard of dám stane on Anne-stán; donon on Anne-porn; donon on da wearhróda on Wódnes-dic; donan on da ealdan burgh middewearde; of dáne ealdan (burgh ?) on Oxnamére; donne on Anne-crundel on liðan stán; of dám stáne on done midmestan hrycg on Eástcumbum; donon on Eástmóres heafod tò dam hædenan byrgelse on Brómlace."-[At the merestone; from the stone to the fox-hole; thence to the stone-barrow on Thorndown northward; from that barrow to the stones along the dene; downward from those stones to Anne's-stone; thence to Anne's-thorn; thence to the hoar-cross? on Wansdyke; thence to the old barrow midward; from the old barrow to Ox-mere; thence to Anne's-crundel by the sloping stone; from that stone to the midmost ridge by Eastcomb; thence by the head of Eastmore to the heathen burial places at Bromlace].

the boundary-points in whose property are in several cases designated as Anne's-stone,-Anne's-thorn,-Anne's-crundel. Further from the mention of the Wansdyke and also of "the stones along the dene," we are able with tolerable certainty to identify many of these points of boundary, and some of them were certainly at no great distance from the hill which is called St. Anne's Hill. Let it be observed however, that the charters give no warrant whatever for the assumption of the canonization of this ancient owner of lands. Nor, it may be added, is there any documentary evidence, as far as we have been able to ascertain, of the church of All Cannings being dedicated to St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. The only indication we have on such a point is that already alluded to as contained in the Wiltshire Institutions, where under the date 1492, it is designated as the church of Cannings All Saints (Cannyngs Omnium Sanctorum). And then further it seems unreasonable to suppose that a dedication feast should be held, not in the village and near the church, but on a bleak eminence some three miles distant, and within the limits of what, though its lords owed feudal allegiance to the chief lord of All Cannings, was nevertheless itself a distinct manor.

Our belief is that the name of this ancient owner lingered in the neighbourhood long after even tradition could preserve any memorials of his race. The hill was still termed Anne's-Hill. The spirit of medieval times would easily interpret this name as that of the mother of the Blessed Virgin. It was not unnatural that

1 We have similar instances of this tendency to see memorials of Saints in local names, in the designations of other parishes in Wilts. Stanton Berners (the neighbouring parish to All Cannings) which like Alton Berners (or Barnes) derives its distinctive name from some members of the Berners family (the lineal descendants of Edward of Salisbury, the Domesday owners of the latter) has been transformed into Stanton St. Bernard; whilst Stratford Toney, which is so called from Alice de Toni, Countess of Warwick, in whom the lordship vested in the 13th century, has been gravely intrepreted as Stratford St. Anthony. In like manner Martin, near Bedwyn, which has been supposed to have derived its name from a chapel lately discovered, and presumed to be dedicated to St. Martin, was originally mar-tún, that is, boundary village, and formerly spelt Marton, or Merton. In one document indeed it occurs as Mar-thorn, as though it were called from some boundary thorn planted there. Anyhow the name has nothing to do with any medieval Saint.

when the great fair on the downs was first established, the day dedicated in the calendar to the supposed saint to whom the hill was sacred should be chosen. In due time, the old dedication-feast of the village would be merged in this large annual gathering, and then the Sunday nearest to the great fair was chosen as the especial day for this annual rejoicing. It was no difficult step then in course of time to assign to the Church the same patron saint as the hill, and to speak of All Cannings as dedicated to St. Anne. It may be so ;-but, beyond mere tradition, there is no proof of such a fact. Our explanation disperses at once the halo of romance with which the old "hoar hill" and the "rugged down," have been so repeatedly encircled by successive writers. How far we may have grounds for our opinion, we leave to the candid judgment of our readers.

Before we leave the consideration of "St. Anne's hill," it may be mentioned that in the autumn of 1844, a labouring man of Allington, digging for flints, found a gold torque of singular grace and beauty. It passed, first of all, into the hands of R. Falkner, Esq., of Devizes, but was afterwards claimed as treasure trove by Lord Ilchester, the Lord of the Manor of Allington, within the limits of which it was found. Mr. Falkner writes respecting it, "It may be said to be only a single coil of such a torque as was found entire in Cheshire, which weighed 4lbs. and was of the sort called Brachialis. The Allington torque was of fine gold, and weighed 2ļos. It appeared to have been severed from a larger portion, and afterwards bent into an irregular form. It had not suffered in the least from oxidation, but retained all its original beauty." Mr. Falkner showed it to a goldsmith, who remarked "that the person who made such an ornament must have known how to produce the greatest effect possible, and by the most simple means. It may have been a torque for the neck or for the body,-it being only a

1 In Bradford on Avon there is an exact parallel to the case we are supposing. About a century ago it was determined for public convenience to establish a cattle fair. Following the precedent of dedication feasts, it was determined to have it on or near some festival, and so the Monday next after the feast of St. Bartholomew was selected.

fragment. The mark of the instrument which severed it was distinctly seen." 1

To the north of St. Anne's hill, intersecting the upper portion of the parish, is the well known territorial line of demarcation, at the first no doubt the border-line of a kingdom, Wansdyke, or—as it is in the original, Woden's-dyke-such great works being supposed to have been carried out in part by supernatural power, or perhaps designating the sacredness of boundaries by placing them under the protection of one of their chief deities. There the Wansdyke may be seen in almost its original perfection,—the deep vallum and agger extending east and west as far as the eye can reach over miles of velvety down. Probably there is no place where this ancient work can be viewed to greater advantage, or where, amid the surrounding solitude, and general absence of man's handywork, its effect is more impressive.

THE MANOR.

The Lordship of the Manor of All Cannings was vested in the Abbess of St. Mary, Winton. Its owner exercised the rights of chief lord over the subordinate manors of Allington and Etchilhampton; to this day indeed the lord of the manor of All Cannings receives £1 per annum, by way of quit-rent from the manor of Allington. As in similar instances, the rights and privileges were leased out from time to time to sundry persons, who, as firmarii, or Lord Farmers, as they were termed, acting in the name and under the authority of the Abbess. Thus in one record, we find that Dame Jane Ligh (or Light), Abbess of St. Mary, it is conjectured, about 1497, granted a lease of the manor to John Burdon, who

1 Archæologia, (1844). It may be mentioned, whilst on the subject of antiquities, that a series of about 80 coins, medals, and tokens some of which were found at All Cannings, is in the Museum of the Wiltshire Archæological Society having been presented to it in 1860, by the Rev. H. H. Methuen.

* In the following extract from the Chamberlain's accounts for Devizes, for the year 1637, we seem to have the same acknowledgment of the rights of the chief lord of All Cannings over the subordinate manor of Allington, within the limits of which the fair alluded to is held :-"The sum of £2 10s., was by Mr. Mayor's appointment paid to Captain Nicholas, as an indemnity for the not keeping Tan Hill Fair, which was interdicted this year in order to prevent the dispersing of the plague." Waylen's Devizes, p. 192.