Burbage

Go to the HOME PAGE | Go to the Local History index | Back to the Contents Page

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

i Late-Saxon Charter

The earliest evidence for Burbage as a settlement is documentary and occurs in a Saxon charter of 961 A.D. extant as an early-13th century copy in the Abingdon Chronicle. It records a grant of 20 hides of land by Edgar to the monks of Abingdon and as such a perambulation of all but the eastern boundary of the township is given. For 968 A.D., in the same chronicle, a perambulation of Bedwyn, today the neighbouring parish, is given which encompasses Burbage and includes the points mentioned in the latter's bounds. For c. 999 A.D. there is the following entry: "Ethelred, king of the English, to Abingdon Abbey. Grant of lands at Farnborough, Wormleighton (modern Warwicks.) and South Cerney (modern Glos.) to make up for the withdrawal of lands granted to the Abbey by King Edgar at Hisseburne (modern Hurstbourne), Bedwyn and Burbage".
Ethelred explains that after the death of Edgar and accession of Edward the magnates assigned the lands belonging to the princes of the royal house to Ethelred himself and wrongfully included Hurstbourne, Bedwyn and Burbage with them. Thus, although these charters are recorded in the Abingdon Chronicle, they refer to land which the monks no longer held and this fact may have some bearing on the incomplete nature of the Burbage charter.

Nevertheless, in spite of its incomplete nature the Burbage charter provides a wealth of detail which does aid a possible reconstruction of the township's bounds. The basic assumption in the interpretation is that, following Bonney, "the pattern of ancient ecclesiastical parishes and churches is established largely on the basis of secular estates and that perhaps these boundaries have been recognizable entitites for a thousand years or more", (Bonney 1969:74). Therefore on map IV, the modern boundaries and those suggested by the charter are traced in an attempt to indicate the degree of correlation between the two. The parish of Savernake to the north of the village itself is a 19th century creation. The following is a copy of the charter as it appears in Cart. Sax. In 1067 A.D. and the translation is by Mr W.H. Stevenson (WAM 1922 41:297) which appears with O.G.S. Crawford's interpretation of the bounds.

ærest on weall weg thonne on tha eorthburg thæt forth be wurt walan to mearcwege thonne on wifles ham westweardne thæt forth andlang burg beces thonne to wad leage westwearde thonne to mearc weg: thæt west to ig fled wege on tha ac on fileth cumbe thonne andlanges hagan on bidan ham eastewearde thæt and langes hagan ut to rodleage westwearde thonne to heathfield geate.

First to Weale-weg; thence to the earth bury; thence forth by the tree roots to the boundary (mearc) way; thence to the west of Wifel's "ham"; thence forth along Burg-bec; thence to the west of Wad-leah; thence to the boundary way; thence west to Igfled way; to the oak in Filethcomb; thence along the haw to the east of Bida's "ham"; thence along the haw out to the west of Rod-leah; thence to Heathfield gate (or gap).

1. ærest on weall weg

This element occurs in the Bedwyn charter (Appendix I) as thonan on penderes clif forweard and on wæl weg. Following Bonney and Crawford (WAM 1969 64:63), penderes clif seems identifiable with the steep north-facing slope overlooking Southgrove Farm and transversed obliquely by the parish boundary. This is corroborated by the fact that the two fields taking in the slope immediately south of the farm are known as "Penceley". Thus the weall weg is probably the track running along the ridge or one nearby which the parish boundary now follows (Plate 2). The exact meaning of weall weg is a matter of dispute - Crawford sees the first elements of the Bedwyn charter as being derived from wealh meaning foreigner and concluded that it was "the way of the natives" but A.H. Stevenson pointed out that the wealh meant serf as wll as Welshman and not foreigner in general. However, as it stands in the Burbage charter as weall, it would be more likely to mean "wall way". This was the interpretation that Grundy favoured although he situated it along the east side of Southgrove wood. "Wall way" would however fit in with the nature of the steep escarpment along which the track is presumed to have run.

2. thonne on tha eorthburg

This is the modern Crowdown Clump, a roughly elliptical Iron Age enclosure, (Plate 3). Crawford claimed that on the east side the remnants of a filled-up ditch could be detected which he suggested was either the ancient bound mark or the hollow track of the weall weg. In 1978 this was no longer visible - the only remains of a ditch are on the west side.

3. thæt forth be wurt walan to mearcwege

Assuming that the ancient bounds followed the same general direction as the modern, the bounds ran north from Crowdown Clump. The reference to tree roots (wurt walan) suggests a line along the dry valley, or foot of the spur on the south end of which the eorthburg stands and along which a track runs today (Plate 4). It is visible in Hill Field as a deep cutting and nick in the 600 foot contour. Crawford considered the mearcwege to be visible in the old way called Bishop's Walk which remains as a footpath between Easton Royal and the Pewsey-Burbage road. Grundy believed it to be the lane running from the Pewsey road south along the western boundary of Burbage which now remains as a track along the edge of a field but which does align with the cutting in Hill Field. Whichever interpretation is accepted the bounds are still basically continuing northwards.

4. thonne on wifles ham westweardne

Crawford suggested that rather than meaning that the bounds turned westwards this detail should be interpreted as to mean that Wifel's "ham" lay to the west of the bounds but the "ham" itself cannot be identified - nor does it remain in field names. An alternative suggestion is that the reference arises out of hamm/ham meaning river-meadow (Eng. P.N. Soc. Wilts. p.46) - the fields immediately south of the Pewsey road all contain the element "mead" and are fed by a small stream. The present parish boundary along what is imagined to be the equivalent of this stretch is now marked by a continuous hedge-line.

5. thæt forth andlang burg beces

The identification of this stretch depends on the interpretation of burg beces (see discussion in Chapter 1). The present parish boundary marked by a continuous hedge-line does run along the highest area of land through Bowden Farm sited at 550 metres. This correlates with the idea of bece meaning ridge - nevertheless it is not the ridge on which the present village stand. Taking the alternative interpretation of bece/bæce as stream, a stream does at present run alongside the boundary so it is virtually impossible to say which of the two interpretations is more relevant. All that can be said is that both seem to indicate that the bounds continued northwards.

6. thonne to wad leage westwearde

This probably indicates that the wad leage lay to the west of the bounds and the leage element suggests a newly cleared area. This cannot be identified from the field patterns/names of today. Crawford suggested that it referred to the west part of the burg beces in the region of Conygre Farm and Breach Cottages. The surrounding land is known as the Breaches which certainly does suggest relatively new clearance - on the other hand the name does not appear until the 18th century.

7. thonne to mearc weg

The implication within this is that the mearc weg is crossed but no trace remains in footpaths or cuttings in the field. However there is a track running from Bowden Farm to the Ram Alley road which Grundy saw as an extension of the mearc weg mentioned in #3. Depending on the interpretation of ig fled wege in the next point it could also be seen in the road between Ram Alley and Easton Royal which, at this point, does run between high banks suggesting some antiquity (Plate 6). The basic conclusion however is that it cannot be identified.

8. thæt west to ig fled wege on tha ac on fileth cumbe

In the Bedwyn charter (Appendix I) this point appears as ig felda and consequently both Grundy and Crawford amend the Burbage version to ig feld wege meaning "the track of the open land of the island". Grundy comments that ig signifies any piece of land surrounded or partly surrounded by water or marshy ground, i.e. it could be a hogback. The valley along which the canal runs is marshy ground and from this valley Ram Alley appears to stand on an island, the eastern side being delimited by the stream running through Burbage Common. Further weight is added to this interpretation if the derivation of Alley from ig la through illey/lley is accepted. Crawford however prefers to see the ig element as describing the high ground to the north of the canal but this does not form a true hogback. However, this area formed a park in medieval times known as Iwode which again might be derived from Igwode. The actual identification of the wege is not possible although there are a number of footpaths running north across the valley along this stretch. In Ram Alley copse there is a deep cutting which Crawford identifies as a pack trail but which could equally well be a boundary ditch. The oak in fileth cumbe is obviously no longer there but the cumbe can be identified with the valley along which the canal runs. A. H. Stevenson translates fileth as hay rather than anything derived from Old English fulth meaning foul but there seems no reason why a marshy, boggy valley should not be described as foul.

9. thonne andlanges hagan on bidan ham eastewearde

Crawford interprets the eastewearde as meaning that the points described lie to the east of the boundary. Biden ham survives in Bitham's Pond and Bottom (Map IV). Crawford goes as far as to suggest that the hammes remain in the group of ancient cottages further south at Leigh Hill but since there were extensive kilns in Bitham Bottom during the Roman period this may not necessarily be so.

10. thæt and langes hagan ut to rodleage westwearde

In the Bedwyn charter this stretch appears as thonne with rodleage mæres which Crawford identifies again with Bitham Pond suggesting that the lea element survives in Leigh Hill. Basically the bounds cannot be accurately restored once they enter the forest but there is a sunken track/ditch running in a northeast direction through this portion of the forest which may have some relevance.

11. thonne to heathfield geate.

This appears in both the Great and Little Bedwyn bounds as hæthfeld geat and hadfeld geate respectively and its position in their bounds suggests that it was a gate/gap onto Crabtree Common just north of the Duke's Vaunt which was on the 18th century Burbage bounds. The line from #10 to #11 is very close to the present bounds but the area to the north is a modern parish and therefore may have once been included within the Burbage bounds following the course outlined in the Bedwyn charter (Appendix I).

INTERPRETATION

If the identification of the points in the charter is correct, it can be seen that there is a fairly high degree of correlation with the modern parish boundaries (Map IV). However, this is not surprising if the view put forward by Taylor (?:74) is accepted that ecclesiastical parishes bear some relationship to estates belonging to Saxon settlements, being primarily economic land units organized for agriculture. However, the charter also raises a number of problems which, although not open to definite solutions, can in part be answered by a series of suggestions. The basic questions are:

when were the present bounds fixed ?
how old were the boundaries in 961 A.D. ?
why is no eastern limit given ?
did the northern boundary extend further into the forest ?

All that can be stated in answer to the first question is that they appear on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in this form. In 1762 A.D. the hollow oak known as the Duke's Vaunt (Plate 6) was on the parish boundary. It was large enough to hold twenty choir-boys who were traditionally taken on perambulations of the parish - the reasoning being that the profound effect would aid them in remembering the course of the bounds for future generations. The Duke's Vaunt no longer stands on the Burbage bounds but is close to the probable course of the Bedwyn bounds (Appendix I) and this bears some relevance to the question of the northern boundary. It does not seem unreasonable to assume that since the rest of the Burbage boundary is included within the Bedwyn charter, its northern limit originally followed the course outlined in Appendix I and that this was altered in the 19th century when the parish of Savernake was created - St Katherine's church, Savernake was consecrated in 1861. Alternatively, the northern boundary may always have run in the general direction it does now and this area in the forest may have been and outlier of Bedwyn, thus allowing the latter settlement economic resources in the forest (Taylor WAM 62:79) but this seems less likely since there was already ample woodland within its bounds.

The lack of the eastern boundary is more puzzling - D. Bonney regards the Burbage charter as incomplete suggesting that a portion was lost in copying through lack of care since the monks at Abingdon would have been recording land which they no longer held. An alternative suggestion is that the area through which the boundary runs was commonable to both Bedwyn and Burbage - the names of fields such as Earl's Heath support this idea - and that the wasteland formed the boundary so that there was no need for a fixed line. However, as D. Bonney points out, West and East Grafton to the south are mentioned in the Domesday Book, representing later Saxon estates or vills and their presence does not suggest the presence of a sizable, uninhabited commonable area. Bonney feels that it is most unlikely that the boundary was not closely defined by the tenth century and certainly on the map it does not appear to be an arbitary line defined at a late stage since it respects a number of features.

In the north it follows exactly the western edge of Tottenham Park which was enparked in 1548 A.D., but whether the park boundaries followed the Burbage boundaries or visa versa it is impossible to say and therefore this does not aid the dating of the boundary. Continuing southwards it skirts the eastern edge of Ladywell Copse which, in the 16th century, belonged to the manor of Wolfhall. The footpath from the Burbage-Crofton road to Wolfhall Farm starts on the parish boundary and the road from East Sands to Sudden Farm (formerly Suddene park) shows a pronounced change of direction on the boundary. Possibly at this point it coincides with the original western limit of the 16th century Suddene Park. The final stretch of the eastern boundary runs along the eastern edge of Southgrove wood which had become detatched from the rest of the forest by the mid-14th century.Thus, the present boundary does seem to bear some relation to the parks and forest boundaries but whether the latter was more influenced by the original boundary or the modern parish limits were determined to respect the older enclosures it is difficult to say. Tentatively, it could be stated that since the parks, whose creation was later than the Saxon charter, were associated with the occupants of Wolfhall and later Tottenham House which lie outside the parish that they were created with respect for the neighbouring parish, i.e. Burbage. In addition, if the eastern boundary is not old it is difficult to explain why it is where it is and what the relationship between Bedwyn and Burbage would have been.

There is a growing tendency (cf. G.Jones & P.Sawyer) to see the Saxon settlement of England as the redistribution or fragmentation of large multiple estates surviving from the Roman period or possibly earlier. This obviously bears some relevance to the nature and age of Burbage as an economic unit. There are two Roman villas within the Burbage/Bedwyn area, one very close to the Burbage bounds in Tottenham Park and it is tempting to see the two units of Burbage and Bedwyn as being the successors of sites which could have formed the centres of economic units. However, it would be rash to take the Burbage bounds back beyond the late Saxon period unless the eastern boundary could be shown at one time to have included the villa site. This is based on the assumption that Burbage always was separate from Bedwyn. R. Darlington (V.C.H. Wilts. II:97) suggests that, alternatively, Bedwyn, later a Saxon borough, once formed the centre of an ancient royal estate of about 100 hides, comparable to that of Calne, which would aid the interpretation of the inclusion of Burbage within the Bedwyn bounds. However, this could also be explained by the purpose of the charter, viz. to define land held in both Burbage and Bedwyn by Abingdon Abbey.

The general picture is one of continuity of economic units to the present day from the late Saxon period.

Go to the HOME PAGE | Go to the Local History index | Back to the Contents Page