Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/383

BKRKSniRE ANTIQUITIES. 287 traces of some building or inclosiire of regular masonry, ■vitliiu which have been found Roman coins, pottery, tesseras, &c., and oyster shells in (|uantity sufficient to liave su[)[)lied fish for the appetite of Aj)icius himself. ]lore distant, on the south, and lost amongst the woods of Wellliouse, a hamlet of Hamstead Norris, is Grimsl)nry castle, a circular camp of extraordinary strength, never, until lately, even mentioned by antiquarians; while on the north-east appears Sinodnn hill, overhanging Dorchester, the ancient Dorocina ; both of which latter cam])s, if not constructed, were certainly used and occupied by the Romans. Turning to the west, and ascending to the Ridge- way, we come, a little beyond Ilsley, to the memorial of a Saxon prince, viz., Cuckamsley, Cwichelm's hla^w or hill, which still gives name to the eminence on which it stands ; and whether in- tended as a sepulchre, a boundary, or a beacon, is unquestion- ably a genuine piece of antiquity, having the privilege of being noticed in our earliest English history^. Lastly, close by Blew- bnry itself, and in a hamlet of it called Aston Uj)thorpe, is a remarkable hill called Blewburton", the sunnnit of which is crowned by an oval inclosure measuring 12.'25, by 440 feet across, which is defended by a single ditcli and vallum all round ; bnt on the west side, next Blewbury, Avhich is that of entrance, there are six terraces (as they may be called), and on g See the Saxon Chron., anno 1006, about Oxford, which from bearing the im- where the Danes are recorded to have priniatur of W. Delaune, Vice-Cl>ancellor, gone up to it from Wallingford and Choi- must liave been publislied between 1702 sey, along /Esccsdun. See also Robert of and 1705. If Cwiclielin really was in- Gloucester, p. 29G. Cwichelm, king of the terred here, he would not be burnt, as a West Saxons, was baptized at Dorchester Christian ; and as a Saxon, he would be in 636, and died the same year. In (JIS, laid in a cist below the suiface of the soil ; Kenwal, then king, gave his relation and since the researches have not yet pro- Cuthred, Cwichelm's son, 3,000 hides of ceeded so far, the discoveiy may still re- land by Ashdown, i.e. near t!iis district. main to be made. But circumstances ren- This remarkable barrow, which staiuls in der it improbable tliis was a place of sepul- the parish of East Hendred, is described ture at all. Eor a regular market was of by Sir R. C. Hoare, who saw it when per- old kept here, till abolished by .lames 1. in feet, to have bien of the bell shape, -i 90 1620, when, in his grant to Sir Erancis feet round, and in sloping heigiit 77, and Moore of a weekly market in East Ilsley, to have bad a vallum and ditch. Of late he prohibits all persons from assembling years, it lias been cut through dowu to the at the aforesaid place called Cutchinloe, to floor aiul fowercd by the proprietor Mr. buy, sell, exchange, or deliver cori), &c., W. Allin. but without finding any thing under pain of his royal displeasure. And except a few trifles, a stoue bead, an iron Dr. Hii.'kes quotes a record of a county buckle, some teeth of horses, and a large court holden here in the time of King post charred, and bound round with withs Eilielred. See Mr. Wise's Letters on the of willow and 'hazel. If the hill was in- White Horse. tended for a beacon, and Mr. Wise, writing ^ It is impossible that the Messrs. Ly- in 17i58, says that until lately there had sons could have seen or heard of tliis sin- stood here a post for it, this was ]>art of the gular work, for they take no notice of it ; nor apparatus: it is exactly represented in an indeed of Grimsbury castle, which is more early edition of the map of the country excusable.