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Underditch Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles

Middle Woodford, Wiltshire Ogbury Camp Hand Long Barrow St Lawrence's Church, Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire Woodford 2 Long Barrow Ell Barrow Lake House, Wilsford Wilsford Henge

Underditch Hundred, Wiltshire is in Wiltshire.

Great Durnford, Wiltshire, Underditch Hundred, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

Ogbury Camp, Great Durnford, Underditch Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

Ogbury Camp is also in Iron Age Hill Forts Wiltshire.

Colt Hoare 1812. I am again happy to do justice to the accuracy of the learned Doctor's description as to the general appearance of OGBURY CAMP [Map], but I cannot attribute the same consequence, or antiquity which he does, to the little square work, which "as no bigger than a tent," for I dug into it, and found no ashes, no bones, no pottery: and I can consider it only as a slight embankment to protect some trees which might have been planted on this very conspicuous eminence in former years. I dug also in several parts within the area of the enclosure, but found no one symptom of ancient residence: but that it was connected with some British establishment in this neighbourhood, can have doubt: and I was fortunate during my researches in these parts to discover and investigate that settlement of the Britons, which existed on some high ground adjoining the camp, and whose site is marked on the map annexed to this Station. The extraordinary verdure of the turf induced me to try the efforts of the spade and pick-axe, for the plough bad at some very distant period nearly levelled the excavations so usually concomitant with British villages; and I was not deceived by these outward appearances; for we immediately, under a rich and black soil, dug up numerous bones of animals, with fragments of the rudest British pottery.

Colt Hoare 1812. From this camp, I descend into the vale of the Winterbourns, which is thickly strewed with villages: the adjacent lands are all in a state of cultivation, and afford no food for the antiquary. Crossing the Roman road, whose line is but faintly to be distinguished, I direct my course to the adjoining vale of the river Avon, on the eastern banks of which is a spacious earthen enclosure, bearing every mark of remote British antiquity, and known by the name of OGBURY CAMP [Map]. On this hill we recognize the very early and simple handiwork of the Britons, unaltered by their successors and conquerors, the Romans and Saxons. Here we see a large tract of 62 acres enclosed within a single rampart, and without any fosse to strengthen it against the attacks of an enemy; and we see within the area the evident marks of enclosures, and only one entrance towards the east. On the northern side the ramparts followed the windings of the hill, and are interrupted by the plantations belonging to Lord Malmesbury's demesne at Great Durnford1 in which parish this earthen work is situated. The area contains 62 acres and a quarter: the circuit of the outward ditch is one mile, one furlong, and fifty-five yards, and the depth of the vallum is 33 feet. On the south-east and west sides, the ramparts are very much mutilated, and in some places nearly levelled. I cannot consider OGBURY as a camp, or work of defence against an invading enemy, but rather as an asylum or place of refuge, whither the Britons, in times of danger, retired with their families and herds of cattle. Such I am glad to find it was considered by the learned Stukeley, who, in his Itinerarium Curiosum, page 138, thus notices it. "On the east side of the river Avon, by Great Durnford, is a very large camp, covering the whole top of a hill, of no determinate figure, as humouring the height it stands on: it is made entirely •without any ditch, the earth being heaped up very steep in the nature of a parapet, when dug away level at the bottom. I doubt not but this was a camp of the Britons, and perhaps an oppidum, where they retired at night from the pasturage upon the river, widl their cattle; within it are many little banks carried straight, and meeting ane another at right angles, square, oblong parallels, and some oblique, as the meres and divisions between ploughed lands; yet it seems never 10 have been ploughed; and there is likewise a small squarish work intrenched, no bigger than a large tent; these to me seem the distinctions and divisions for the several quarters and lodgments of the people within; for I have, upon the downs in Dorsetshire, often remarked the like of too small a compass to be ploughed fields. This camp has an aspect very old; the prominent part of the rampart in many places quite consumed by time, though the steep remains perfect; one being the natural earth, the other factitious. I know not whether we ought to derive the name of it: from the British OG, signifying the hurdles and pens they fence their cattle in with, which perhaps stood upon those meres, or little banks, to distinguish every man's property.

Note 1. The parish church of this little village deserves the antiquary's notice. The north and south doorways present curious examples Saxon decoration, and the font is richly oroameilted with sculpture in the same style.

This church also retains another relick of ancient usage, though not of so remote a date. John Jewel, consecrated Bishop of Salisbury in the year 1560, published, in the year 1562, an Apology for the Church England, to which Harding published a Confutation in the following year. This was answered by Bishop Jewel, in 1564, in a book, entitled A Defense the Church England work was held in such estimation both abroad and at home, that an order was issued by Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles the First, and by four successive Archbishops, that it should bc read and chained up in all parish churches throughout England and Wales. One of these books in a wooden binding, and chained to a reading desk, still exists in the parish church of Great Darnford.

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Middle Woodford, Wiltshire, Underditch Hundred, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire, Underditch Hundred, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

St Lawrence's Church, Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire, Underditch Hundred, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

St Lawrence's Church, Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire is also in Churches in Wiltshire.

On 24th April 1881 Francis Glanville (age 84) died. He was buried in the churchyard of St Lawrence's Church, Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire [Map].

On 29th May 1886 Sarah Newell (age 62) died. She was buried at St Lawrence's Church, Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire [Map] on 2nd June 1886.

Upper Woodford, Wiltshire, Underditch Hundred, South-West England, British Isles

Woodford 2 Long Barrow, Upper Woodford, Underditch Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

Woodford 2 Long Barrow is also in South England Neolithic Long Barrows.

Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine 1913 V38 Pages 379-414. Woodford. 2. [Woodford 2 Long Barrow [Map]] S. of Druid's Lodge, on the E. side of Devizes — Salisbury Road, and about one-fifth of a mile S. of 6th milestone from Salisbury. Length 64ft.; S. and N. No recorded opening, but it looks as if it had been dug into in more than one place. It is short and broad, and lies on a steep slope on an uncultivated down; the ditches are fairly distinct. On the O.M. it appears as an almost round barrow. O.M. 60 SW.; Arch. xlii. 173, note b. Not shown by Hoare.

Wilsford, Wiltshire, Underditch Hundred, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

Ell Barrow, Wilsford, Underditch Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

Ell Barrow is also in South England Neolithic Long Barrows.

Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine 1913 V38 Pages 379-414. Wilsford. 3. (N.Wilts) "Ell Barrow [Map]," on Black Heath, near the Wilsford — Charlton parish boundary. Length 170ft.; E. and W. Opened by Thurnam, but it had been rifled before, and he only found the remains of skeletons. No particulars are given. He also found a secondary Saxon burial of a large male skeleton at full length, a foot or so under the turf. The skull was cleft, but the wound was of a different character from the breakages of skulls in primary burials in "Long" barrows, and had apparently been inflicted by a sword. (Arch. xlii. 196, note).

This conspicuously situated barrow stands on un ploughed down, and its ditches are still quite distinct. It has been much trampled about in the last few years by mounted soldiers, who seem to use it as a look-out post. A flagstaff for flying the danger signal of the artillery range has been planted in the mound. O.M. 46 NE; A. W. I. 175; Arch. xlii. 180, 196, note; MS. Cat. 148 (the entry is that of the secondary interment only).

Lake House, Wilsford, Underditch Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

All About History Books

The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

On 24th September 1779 Reverend Edward Duke was born to Edward Duke of Lake House and Fanny Field at Lake House, Wilsford [Map].

Druidical Temples in the County of Wilts. To Archaeologists Of Great Britain And Ireland; Especially To The Fellows Of The Antiquarian Society, To The Members Of The Archaeological Association, And To The Members Of The Archaeological Institute, This Book, (The Amusement And Occupation Of His Leisure Hours,) Is Respectfully Dedicated, By Their Obedient And Humble Servant, The Author. Lake House [Map], Amesbury, August 13th, 1846.

On 28th August 1852 Reverend Edward Duke (age 72) died at Lake House, Wilsford [Map]. The eldest son, Edward, who had also entered the church, succeeded to the estates.

Wilsford Henge, Underditch Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles [Map]

Wilsford Henge is also in South England Henges.

Wilsford Henge [Map] is a Neolithic Henge on a gently sloping spur of land about 500m south of the River Avon West, Wiltshire around 43 metres internal diameter. Excavation in 2015 discovered early Bronze Age crouched burial of an adolescent child which included sherds of beaker pottery and a collection of necklace beads.

The River Avon West, Wiltshire rises around All Cannings, Wiltshire [Map] in the Vale of Pewsey being formed from many streams from where it flows past Patney, Wiltshire [Map], around Marden Henge aka Hatfield Earthworks [Map] and Wilsford Henge [Map], Rushall, Wiltshire [Map] where it joins the River Avon East, Wiltshire to form the Wiltshire River Avon.