904: FROM LIKELAN TO CREDELINGHALES. FROM CREDELINGHALE TO THE SUWARDINGLEGH ON ITS EAST SIDE. TO WETHELEGH BROOK.

At this point the boundary could be seen following a diagonal hedgeline that cuts across the field layouts, to Worship's Farm and thence to Mazsegrove Coppice, at the top edge of the steep slope of Redhill. We, however, kept to the road and with the kind permission of Mr. and Mrs. J. Bendall crossed through Row of Ashes Farm to rejoin the boundary below Mazsegrove Coppice. Here we were joined by Mr. Bendall himself, who gave up a considerable part of his afternoon to give us a conducted tour of the "remains" in the second field to the south of the Coppice, and adjoining the boundary. His knowledge of the area made this the most interesting part of the afternoon's walk, and revealed a substantial and most promising new project awaiting archaeological study.

The principal field in which we were interested adjoins the boundary. It is covered with ridges and depressions. Although it is not easy to establish an idea of their plan without air photographs, it was noticeable how many of these ridges formed right angles with one another, and how others formed small 3- or 4-sided rectangles of varying sizes. Mr. Bendall pointed out to us one small area of level ground where, several years before, he had seen a very clear crop mark of a completely rectangular building or floor. This field has never, to his knowledge, been ploughed.

The whole area would certainly appear to be a complex of houses or huts, adjacent plots of land and small fields, with the ridges and lynchets of adjacent larger fields spreading over the hill from this centre in all directions. All are uphill from the Lye Hole Villa site (late Roman); all are, according to our charter, in the immediate vicinity of the Saxon "Credelinghales" (hollow-of-the-Crede-family) and "Suwardinglegh" (lea-or-clearing-of-the-Suward-family) (see below). Lye Hole itself as a place-name is the Saxon lea-hole: the "clearing-in-the-woods hollow". With the fact that the Lye Hole hamlet may well be one of the sub-estates mentioned in the Domesday Book survey of Wrington, all this evidence together would seem to suggest we have here a settlement of the Roman-Saxon era, awaiting expert examination.

[Which has since (May-June 1966) been undertaken in an excavation directed by Mr. P. J. Fowler, M.A., F.S.A., of University of Bristol Extra-Mural Department, and in which several members of this group participated]

The boundary runs down the hill from this point to Lye Hole. At the south-west corner of Mr. Bendall's field the path skirts round a sudden, almost cavernous hollow, much choked with scrub and small trees. The boundary goes right through the hollow. This site fits completely the Saxon charter's description of the next boundary point after Likelan, "Credelinghale", the Crede-family's-hollow.

This identification is supported by the obviously man-made remains in the field above. Parts of the scrub and natural woodland in this corner are being grubbed out at the moment. A heavy rainstorm forced the party to shelter under the thick trees along the boundary just below Credelinghale; an opportune point for tea and buns ! We noted how the adjoining field to our west must be the "Suwardinglegh" of the Saxon charter (the-clearing-of-the-Suward-family), situated as it is below Credelinghale, with the boundary on its east side, and yet before the brook which we were approaching.

When the rainstorm had ceased, the party moved on downhill, through a field heavily marked with terraces, although unlike normal lynchets these seemed to be running up and down the hill, rather than along the contours. It was noticed how these fields are shaped to suit the contours of the land, inter-locking in a much more irregular pattern of shapes, and probably considerably older than the 19th century enclosure fields of the hilltop.

At the foot of the hill we ducked a fence, scrambled over a small stream, and made our very muddy and cautious way across the bridge over the brook at the bottom, to assemble on the south side. This brook rises nearby and flows past Lye Hole and Cowslip Green to join the River Yeo near Perry Bridge. In the 904 charter it appears as Wethelegh Brook (sheep-clearing or sheep-field brook), an important and easily recognisable part of the boundary which, again, helps us to pinpoint the previous sites fairly satisfactorily. Despite its small size, the stream has cut itself a deep, wide channel at this point. From here, the party returned to Wrington via Redhill and Long Lane.

Walk II : Saturday 9th October, 1965. Lye Hole to Aldwick Court.

904: AND ALONG THE BROOK TO THE MEREWOLLEN. FROM THE MEREWOLLEN TO THE EAST MEADOW. FROM EAST MEADOW TO WULBIKAN HILL. FROM WULBIKAN HILL TO THE HEDGEROW BY SOUTH SUDDON.

The boundary walk was resumed in glorious weather. Starting from the bridge over
the Lye Hole brook (Wethelegh Brook of the Saxon charter), we followed the stream eastwards to its source, the "Merewollen". ("Boundary Springs") mentioned in the Charter and still marked on the O.S. map. One of these tiny boundary springs was identified, the other being lost in brambles. The springs are set in a sizeable ditch, backed by the first obvious boundary bank we had noticed, a short stretch, about 3' high, and flat topped. Perhaps it served to make the springs a more obvious landmark?

Then we followed the manor and the parish boundary "from the Boundary Springs to the East Meadow", up from the Merewollen to the corner of the field, and across the road from Lye Hole to Winford, to join the lane opposite. This is Sutton Lane which
runs right round the "Wulbikan Hill" of the charter, forming a smooth and continuous eastern boundary. Running as it does just below the skyline, it provides a natural contour division of the parishes and estates. These features of shape and siting, together with the way in which the fields on either side are aligned up to it, suggest that this stretch of Sutton Lane is of considerable antiquity. It has no obvious purpose or destination, other than acting as a boundary lane around this part of the manor -presumably since Saxon times.

The three points mentioned in this part of the Charter, East Meadow, Wulbikan Hill and Sutton, must all be contained within this "bulge" of the boundary. Sutton Cottage and Sutton Lane itself preserve the last mentioned name; and the lane took us right round to the next point in the charter, which is "south of Sutton". The lane at first had a hard surface, but after about three-quarters of a mile degenerates into a "fossilised" green lane, hedges grown together overhead, open for walkers only.

The path ultimately continues down to Butcombe and the Blagdon Lake so a scramble through to the field on the west kept the party on the boundary along the skyline marked by hedgerow and wood, probably the successors to the "Hedgerow south of Sutton" of the charter.

This stretch of the parish boundary contains two curious small bulges, one between Long Wood and Round Wood, the other between Round Wood and Hanging Wood. There was nothing to be seen on the surface of the relevant fields to show where the boundary had been, but a possible explanation is that it skirted two small copses of beech trees. Those on the Wrington side have been removed and the ground filled in; but in both cases there is a semicircle of trees standing on the Butcombe side of the boundary, at exactly the appropriate points, in support of this theory. The beech trees themselves are probably only 50-100 years old. They were perhaps planted by a Butcombe landowner as landscape- or fox-coverts, and so incorporated into Butcombe Parish.

The manor boundary in 1739 runs straight through these "circles ", which are therefore most probably 19th century. It has been suggested (University of Bristol Speleological Society Proceedings vol. 4, no.3) that these features might be prehistoric circles, half ploughed out. We feel, with respect, that our more prosaic suggestion is more likely.

From here the party moved along the side of Hanging Wood, where there was a ditch that certainly coincides with the boundary, though whether it is a boundary ditch of any antiquity, or merely the result of hedging-and-ditching around the wood, is difficult to say. A complex of brambles and wire was negotiated at the northwest corner of the wood; then a pause for rest and refreshment, with a magnificent view of Aldwick, the Mendips and the Vale of Wrington.

904: ...FROM THE HEDGEROW TO THE MERERIGGE. FROM THE MERERIGGE TO THE HAGENMEDEWE.

The boundary then descended over steeply undulating ground; an old quarry, perhaps, or a natural feature akin to the Credelinghale ? At the foot of the hill we followed it along a hedgerow which in fact masked a most impressive ditch about 4' or more in depth. Its antiquity is uncertain, but it seemed to serve no modern agricultural purpose. This brought us to the next part of the boundary, described in the charter as the "Boundary Ridge" (Mererigge) : a backbone of land, sloping gently away both to north and south, linking the "promontory" of Aldwick Court to the hill of Hanging Wood down which we had just come.

This backbone is much more easily seen on the ground than from the map; and the boundary in fact runs right along it. Apart from diversions to find gates, we followed the boundary along this ridge, across fields in course of ploughing (hard on the feet!) and occupied by a herd of extremely curious cows. Hedge-rows along the boundary which are marked on the 6" map have been grubbed out now, and no sign of them remains.

At the Aldwick end of the boundary ridge, however, stood an old hunting look-out tower or summerhouse, belonging to Aldwick Court. With two stories and a roof with parapet, it showed evidence of having been well appointed, and had seen better days; it is certainly well sited, with magnificent views to east, west and north.

A line of old trees marking the boundary took the party down into the meadow and park of handsome Aldwick Court, nudged on by a herd of inquisitive cattle - appropriate, perhaps, since the Saxon meaning of ald-wic is "the old dairy farm". At the foot of the drive from the house to the lane to Cowslip Green is a highly "Gothick" thatched wooden lodge. Here, with the next boundary point of Hagenmedewe just across the road, the boundary walk ended for the day.

Walk III : Saturday 13th November, 1965. Aldwick Court to Rickford.

904: ...FROM THE HAGENMEDEWE TO THE WRING, ALONG THE STREAM TO WRINGFORDE (or WYNDFORD).

At the entrance to Aldwick Court, opposite the lodge, is a possible boundary stone; no inscription was visible. The lane, which runs between the manorial boundary and the parish boundary, was followed down to Aldwick Farm. Northward, behind us, the line of this lane continues towards Lye Hole, as a sunken way of considerable antiquity, marked as a road on the 1817 O.S. map and on the 1738-9 map. The boundary makes a sharp angle as it approaches the River Yeo ; this is characteristic of an ancient field boundary, and suggests that we are in the vicinity of the "Hagenmendewe", according to Grundy "meadow near the game enclosure", though this seems a cumbersome translation of what appears a simple "Meadow-Hedge".

Meadow implies the hay-meads that usually bordered the river; and the boundary follows the sharp angles of the hedge, down to the River Yeo itself. This is the Saxon charter's river Wring, the twisting river. Yeo, in Saxon, meant simply river, water (cf. French l'eau), and it was originally probably called the Wring Yeo as others in north Somerset are distinguished as Land Yeo, Lox Yeo, and Cheddar Yeo. Wrington is the "settlement near the Wring".

We followed the north bank of the river, eastwards "along the stream". The river here runs in quite a deep bed, which would not have been so apparent prior to the construction of Blagdon Reservoir. In this vicinity, ancient narrow field-shapes are particularly well-preserved in the parish boundaries between Wrington and Burrington.

The boundary on the maps crossed the river from the north side to the south, at a point where a small stream joins the Yeo. Since the banks were far too steep and deep for us to follow suit, we had anticipated this changeover by crossing at Emley Bridge, and continuing along the south bank of the Yeo to this point. The "Wringford" of the charter must have been either at this junction of the river and the stream, as the Burrington parish and 1740 manor boundaries show, or perhaps at the shallower crossing of Emley Bridge; aJthough this latter would leave a long and somewhat complicated gap unfilled in the charter land-marks. Grundy seems to have wandered at this point, placing Wringford a mere quarter-mile upstream from Perry Bridge. Without the aid of the 1740 map, he seems to have turned down the Yeo, along the Wrington parish boundary.

At whichever point the Saxons crossed the river, however, the boundary thereafter turned south to follow the course of this small tributary stream. Long narrow field shapes, and another small divergence of parish and manor boundaries at this point, suggest some kind of splash-ford. A half-buried bridge over the stream led into one of these fields and appeared to be quite ancient; it was made of huge slabs of limestone.

One version of the printed text of the charter spells the ford "Wyndford". Which authority is misreading the original we would not like to say; but in fact, as "Wring" itself means winding or twisting, it makes very little practical difference to our project.

904: ...FROM WRINGFORDE TO THE HEDGEROW EAST TO THE LARGE SPRING OF SCHIREBOURNE.

From the identification of the "Large Spring", which flows into it, it became apparent that this little tributary of the Yeo which we were now following towards Rickford was in fact the "Schirebourne", the Clear Stream of the charter. We followed it to the vicinity of Bourne Farm - the name obviously surviving from the days of the charter -and then, avoiding an encounter with a field full of large pigs, crossed to Embly Lane. We walked along the lane to the road junction at Burrington (former) Station, and then turned east along the road through the hamlet of Bourne itself, until we again met the boundary at the bridge over the "Schirebourne".

From this point the boundary, a wall, bank and hedge, could clearly be seen striding uphill toward the line of the old railway. Following the east or outer side of the boundary, we crossed the old Burrington-Blagdon railway. The track has now gone, but a notice on the crossing-gates still cites the penalty of 40s., under Act of Parliament, for not closing them. Above the railway, the boundary describes a sharp westward, then southward angle. These again, as at Aldwick, suggest the line of a former hedge or enclosure; in this case, we suggest, the "Hedgerow" which is next mentioned in the charter.

In Rickford, there is a fine ford where the stream flows through the village. This stream turned a mill at the time of Domesday Book, and several references to mills at Rickford have been made in other papers. At one stage there was a paper mill there. The boundary, following the stream, splits the village in two - it must have belonged in two manors, rather as the settlement around Credelinghale seems to have done; an awkward arrangement, one would think. Two boundary stones are marked in this central part of Rickford on the 1738-9 map. One is called the Bakers Close Mearstone; the other, Mearestone 61 ( ? writing badly smudged, number unclear). But enquiry and search failed to find any trace of them today.

As the boundary comes out onto the Bath-Weston road, it turns sharply east - precisely as the charter describes - to the Large Spring, which is Rickford Mi]1 Spring, welling out of a culvert immediately south of the road at Rickford Mill Bridge. The culvert and stone facings are comparatively recent, but the spring does erupt naturally at this point, and is thought to have flowed right under the Burrington Ham massif from Goatchurch Cavern. This explains its sudden, remarkably "large" appearance. It is this spring which feeds, and so identifies, the "Schirebourne" stream.

As cars had been left-optimistically-at the top end of Burrington Combe, the afternoon's excursion finished with an assault "at the double" on Rickford Hill, and a crossing of Burrington Ham in almost complete darknessl-lan interesting experience! Examination of this part of the boundary was, in these circumstances, left until next time.

Walk IV: Saturday 5th March, 1966. Rickford to Burrington via Blackdown.

904: ...FROM THE LARGE SPRING TO CARSTIE, TO THE HEDGEROW.

For this, the longest walk so far, cars were left at the bottom of Burrington Combe and the party (ten adults, three children, one dog) walked through Burrington village to Rickford. Starting from the Spring at Rickford Mill Bridge, the boundary wall went straight up a very steep wooded hill, practically 1 in 1. The wall is founded on a marked bank and is probably 18th century. This part is marked as "Rickford Rising" on the 1738-9 map. Coming out of the wood, having climbed some 500', we reached what the 1738-9 map calls "The Top" : Burrington Ham. The boundary wall continued, and on its left was a small limestone quarry with a very noticeable white face.

This must have given rise to the name of "Whitestone" which is written across the
1738-9 map at this point: a good example of how a mysterious reference in a document can become plain on the ground. Attached to the quarry was an exceptionally well-preserved lime-burning kiln. From here we had an excellent view of Burrington Camp, part of the Mendip Iron Age defence system, showing up well in the afternoon light at this time of year.

The Saxon charter places "Carstie" next on the boundary after Rickford Mill Spring. This word has proved quite un-interpretable; but the most obvious feature to which it might refer is either the steep hill of Rickford Rising, or the high plateau of Burrington Ham itself.