Discovering Oxygen at Wiltshire's Atlantis

Anyone who has studied chemistry will be familiar with the name Joseph Priestley (1733 - 1804). Priestley was the clergyman chemist who is credited with the discovery of oxygen in August 1774.

Oxygen, which Priestley called "dephlogisticated air", was only one of the "airs" that he discovered during his experiments. Priestley also isolated: nitric oxide (NO); hydrogen chloride (HCl); ammonia (NH3); nitrous oxide (N2O); carbon monoxide (CO); and sulphur dioxide (SO2). Priestley also conducted electrical experiments, and his dabblings with charged spheres lead him to propose that the electrical force followed an inverse-square law. This relationship was formalised and published in 1784 by French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb, and became known as Coulomb's law.

Priestley's greatest gift to the world was probably his method for making soda water. Thinking that soda water might cure scurvy, he provided the method to Captain James Cook for his second voyage. If only he had provided them with some lemons and limes to go in it, his idea may have worked!

When Priestly discovered oxygen he was resident at Bowood House near Calne in Wiltshire, as a guest of Lord Shelburne who had provided him with lodgings and a laboratory.

Bowood House today is a shadow of its former self. At its peak the house consisted of the "Big House" and the "Little House" which were connected by a huge drawing room. In the modern era Bowood become too expensive to maintain, so in 1956  the "Big House" and the drawing room were demolished. During this rationalisation of the house a dining room designed by Robert Adam was auctioned off to Lloyd's of London.  Lloyd's had the drawing room rebuilt in their London offices, and  today this part of Bowood House can be found on the 11th floor of their Lime Street offices. All that remains of Bowood house today is just the "Little House", but this name does a disservice to what is still a rather substantial country residence.

The grounds of Bowood House were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown, and the centerpiece of his design was a sizeable lake. However, one thing stood in the way of Capability Brown's lake, and that was the village of Manning's Hill!

To enable the lake to be constructed the residents of Mannings Hill had to be relocated, and in 1766 they were persuaded to move to nearby villages such as Sandy Lane. Once the former village was empty Capability Brown had it flooded to form the sinuous lake that is seen today. A lake that is almost 1 km long covering an impressive area of 45 acres.

It seems that parts of the village remain submerged in the lake to this very day and in 2007 divers found the remains of two cottages and stone walls in the lake's murky depths.

So not only does Wiltshire boast its own ghost town, it also boasts its own version of Atlantis!

Bowood House.

The laboratory where Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen.

Bowood's Lake, but what lies beneath its surface?

A Doric temple folly on the lakeside. 

Pictures: Wiltshire (August 2016).

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The Sarsen and the Trap Door

Previously in this blog I have visited Knowlton Church and earthworks in Dorset, where a 12^th century Norman church resides within the confines of a much older Neolithic henge monument (dating from circa 2,500 BC). Knowlton Church and earthworks is cited as an example of a newer religion (Christianity) trying to assimilate an older religion (Paganism), by  adopting and repurposing the older religion’s place of worship. Recently I came across another possible example of this repurposing of an ancient religious site, when I visited All Saints Church in Alton Priors, Wiltshire.

All Saints Church also dates from the 12^th century and over the years it has undergone a number of major refurbishments and improvements. In the early 1970’s the church was declared redundant and today it only hosts three services a year. The church is however still open to visitors and based on the day of my visit it is rather popular! The day I visited there was a coach load of foreign tourists also exploring the church and its grounds.

The church itself is a relatively small barn like structure and the floor is home to two trap doors, both of which hide sarsen stones. It seems that the church was constructed over these sarsens, and presumably they were originally part of a much older place of worship. The hidden sarsens are not the only indication that the site of the church may have once held religious significance prior to the construction of the present day church. The churchyard is also home to a yew tree that is estimated to be 1700 years old. The aforementioned foreign tourists seemed to be captivated by the yew tree, with some of them taking turns to stand in its hollow trunk, others pressing themselves flat against its outer trunk, some leaving votive offerings, and even a few standing cupping the trees branches and needles in their hands! Clearly to these particular visitors the tree held some spiritual significance.

The other main feature of the church is a monument to local landowner William Button who died in 1590. The monument includes an unusual ornate brass plaque that shows a young man rising from the grave and looking towards the gates of what is presumably heaven. The inscriptions on the plaque and its overall design is somewhat complex, and it seems out of place in what is otherwise a rather simple and plain church. These complex inscriptions have led some to speculate that the plaque conceals a hidden meaning, as opposed to just being a grand attempt at a monument to a wealthy local!

All Saints Church.

Inside the church.

A trap door.

A hidden sarsen.

The monument to William Button.

Button's plaque. 

The churchyard's 1700 year old yew tree.

The yew's split trunk.

Pictures: Wiltshire (July 2016).

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A Robbery at Gore Cross

On the side of the A360 near the hamlet of Gore Cross in Wiltshire there is a small, easy to miss, memorial to an event that occurred near the spot in 1839. The stone is denoted on the Ordnance Survey map as the “Robbers’ Stone” and it commemorates an attempted robbery that had an unfortunate end for the bandits in question.

The events described on the stone occurred on the evening of the 21st October 1839 when a Mr Dean, a farmer, from the now deserted ghost town of Imber was making his way home from the market at Devizes. As he approached Gore Cross along the Lavington Road he was accosted by four highway men. Apparently Mr Dean had the wits to pretend that he was not alone (he called out to an imaginary companion) and also went on the attack, using his horse-whip to fend of the robbers. Surprised by their potential victim’s response the robbers fled and Mr Dean gave chase, pursuing one of the robbers for three hours across the countryside.

It seems that the fleeing robber, Benjamin Colclough, was not up to the task of escaping Mr Dean and he eventually fell down dead in his tracks upon Chitterne Down. His three accomplices Thomas Saunders, George Waters and Richard Harris were eventually captured and tried for the attempted robbery, with their sentence being transportation for a term of 15 years.

The death of Benjamin Colclough on Chitterne Down is commemorated with a second “Robbers’ Stone”. Unfortunately however, the site of this second stone is today inside the “Danger Area” that is the Imber live firing range on Salisbury Plain, and as such access to the stone is strictly limited. An image of the stone can however be found on the Geograph website.

The stones were erected as a warning, to other potential highway men. To remind them that crime does not pay, and presumably also to warn them not to mess with Mr Dean the Farmer.

The inscriptions on the Gore Cross stone reads:

AT THIS SPOT

Mr. DEAN, of Imber. was

Attacked and Robbed by

Four Highwaymen, in the

evening of Octr. 21st. 1839.

After a spirited pursuit of

three hours one of the Felons

BENJAMIN COLCLOUGH

fell dead on Chitterne Down.

THOMAS SAUNDERS,

GEORGE WATERS, &

RICHARD HARRIS,

were eventually Captured,

and were convicted at the

ensuing Quarter Sessions at

Devizes, and Transported for

the term of Fifteen Years.

This Monument is erected

by Public Subscription

as a warning to those who

presumptuously think to

escape the punishment God

has threatened against

Thieves and Robbers.

The inscriptions on the Chitterne Down stone reads:

This Monument is erected

to record the awful end of

BENJAMIN COLCLOUGH

a Highway Robber who fell

Dead, on this Spot, in

attempting to escape his

Pursuers after Robbing

Mr Dean of Imber, in the

Evening of Oct 21st 1839,

and was buried at Chitterne

without Funeral Rights.

The robbery of the wicked

shall destroy them.

     Prov. 21. 7.

His three companions in

Iniquity

THOMAS SAUNDERS

GEORGE WATERS &

RICHARD HARRIS.

were captured & sentenced

at the ensuing Quarter

Sessions at Devizes to

Transportation for the

Term of Fifteen Years.

Though hand join in

hand the wicked shall

not be unpunished

     Prov 11. 21

The "Robber's Stone" at Gore Cross.

Pictures: Wiltshire (May 2015).

When a "moot point" was not quite so "moot"

The below memorial can be found on the White Horse Trail footpath in Wiltshire where it intersects the Woodborough to Pewsey Road, just to the south of the Kennet and Avon Canal.

The memorial reads:

"29th July 2000. A gathering was held at this site of families who bear the Swanborough name and whose origins can be traced to this location."

-----

"Swanborough Tump

Swinbeorg. C.850

Meeting Place of The Hundred of Swanborough"

-----

"Here in the year 871 the future King Alfred the Great met his elder brother King Aethelred I on their way to fight the invading Danes and each one swore if the other died in battle the dead man's children would inherit the lands of their father King Aethelwulf."

Swanborough Tump is a small hillock which today is marked with a memorial and a standing stone, which are shown below. The Tump would originally have been the moot (the meeting point) for the Swanborough Hundred, where people would have come together to debate and discuss important issues. The memorial refers to one such meeting in 871 A.D. when King Alfred and his brother Ethelred assembled their troops at the Tump, prior to going to fight the raiding Danes at the battle of Ethandun. Unsure if they would survive the coming battle Alfred and Ethelred made their wills at the Tump to ensure that their lands and children would be provided for in the event of their death. Alfred eventually went on to finally defeat the Danes seven years later at the battle of Edington.

So what was the Swanborough Hundred? In Saxon times a "Hundred" was a unit of land that was divided into one hundred "Hides". A "Hide" being a parcel of land that was able to support one family. The size of a "Hide" varied however, depending on the quality of the soil and the size of the family it was intended to support. So in Saxon times a 'Hundred Hide' was an administrative area that could comfortably support one hundred families.

Similarly in the Norman era, land was divided into three levels of administrative district. These were the "Shire", the "Hundred", and the "Vill". Which are roughly comparable to today’s Counties, local districts, and villages. Each "Hundred" had a designated meeting place and the Swanborough Tump was the meeting place for the Hundred Moot of Swanborough. Moots were assemblies or councils where points of local governance and other issues could be debated. In such assemblies points which were put up for discussion were said to be mooted. This practice gave rise to the original definition of a “moot point", a point worthy of debate and discussion.

Interestingly however the modern common meaning of a "moot point" is exactly the opposite, with a "moot point" these days being one that is not worthy of debate and discussion. It seems that this modern day meaning may have arisen from the legal profession and the introduction of "moot courts". A "moot court" being a training court where law students can argue hypothetical cases and particpate in simulated court proceedings, but which ultimately led to no real outcome. Well except for helping to change the meaning of a "moot point".

Swanborough Tump, a public meeting place from the Saxon era until as recently as 1764.

Even though Swanborough is not the name of a local town or village it seems that in the thirteenth century, when the fashion of having a surname began in Britain, that the name of the Swanborough Hundred’s meeting place began to be used as a local surname.

Pictures: Wiltshire (March 2016).

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Raking The Moon

As a resident of Wiltshire I was recently interested to learn that local people have in the past been called “Moonrakers”, a term that can be used in a derogatory manner.

The derogatory use of this nickname has its roots in a version of a legend that recounts how a traveller encountered some drunken Wiltshire men one moonlit night. These drunken local men were apparently trying to rake a round glowing object out of a pond. When questioned about their behaviour the rakers claimed that they were trying to retrieve  a big round cheese from the pond, which to the wise and intelligent traveller was clearly the reflection of the moon. So off the traveller goes,  having had a good chuckle about the stupidity of the locals.

The people of Wiltshire would however, point out that this nickname is derived from a different version of the legend, one that shows just how clever and cunning the locals really are.

The more readily recounted version of the legend, which predates 1787, is that on a moonlit night some local smugglers were observed by customs officers using their rakes to retrieve barrels of contraband which they had previously hidden in a pond. When challenged by the customs officers as to what they were up to, the locals played dumb by pointing to the moon’s reflection and saying that they were trying to retrieve the big round cheese! The customs men, baffled by the stupidity of these yokels, laughed at them and left. The smugglers, amused by the gullibility of the customs men, laughed at them and carried on retrieving their contraband.

This version of the legend is immortalised in the town of Devizes by a little plaque that sits near the town pond, which is known as The Crammer. The plaque reads:

The Crammer and its Legend

The origin of the Crammer is not known and neither is its name, which was probably derived from Cranmere, meaning Crane Pond. However it has often been associated with the famous Wiltshire Moonraker Legend, bestowing this nickname on the county’s inhabitants.

The story goes that some Wiltshire smugglers who had concealed kegs of brandy in the pond were observed by Excisemen in the moonlight in the act of trying to retrieve the kegs. The moon was reflected on the water and the smugglers said they were trying to rake out “Thik gurt yaller cheese.” Convulsed with Laughter, the Excisemen rode on. While the smugglers chortle “We were too vly for they. There baint no vlies on we.”

The pond is owned by Devizes Town Council.

This plaque was the gift of Mr John Drake. Mayor of Devizes in 1972/73, who was made an honorary freeman of the town in March 1996.

So which version of the legend should be believed? Well I guess that depends on whether you are a customs officer or traveller who suspects that the residents of Wiltshire lack intelligence, or if you are a resident of Wiltshire who considers themselves clever and cunning!

The Devizes town pond, known as "The Crammer".

The plaque explaining the "Moonrakers" legend.

The local "Moonrakers" public house.

Pictures: Wiltshire (January 2016).

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The Great Flood of 1841

People who live outside of Wiltshire will probably have never heard of the Great Flood of 1841, which saw extensive flooding across parts of Salisbury Plain and the destruction of many homes in the surrounding villages.

The flood occurred in January 1841 and was triggered by an extremely wet autumn followed by a period of heavy snow across Salisbury Plain. Snow which fell onto solidly frozen ground. On the 13th January the snow covering the plain began to melt and because the ground remained frozen the water could not soak into the ground. This melt water began to flow down the valleys and eventually found its way into the various local watercourses. On the 16th January the River Till at Shrewton suddenly rose by an astonishing seven and a half feet. Similarly, small streams such as the Chitterne Brook became a raging torrent that burst their banks and had enough power to sweep away bridges.

Most of the properties in the area at the time were built from clay or cob (a mixture of soil and straw) and their foundations were no match for the force of water that assailed them.

The low-lying villages of Shrewton, Orcheston, Tilshead and Chitterne bore the brunt of the flooding and all told around 72 houses were destroyed, leaving around 200 to 300 people homeless and at least three people dead. Had the flooding occurred in the dead of night the death toll would have been much higher.

In the wake of the flooding a relief appeal was organised that raised enough money to rehouse all of those that had lost their homes and even had a surplus that enabled the construction of 14 “Flood” Cottages across the local villages. The rents from these properties provided money to buy fuel, groceries and clothing for local poor people. Examples of these Flood Cottages can be found in Shrewton, Orcheston and Tilshead, and each bears a plaque which reads:

These Cottages

Builded in the Year of Our Lord

1842

From a portion of the fund subscribed by the public

to repair the losses sustained by the poor

of this and five neighbouring parishes in  

The Great Flood of 

1841

Are vested in the names of

Twelve Trustees

Who shall let them to the best advantage

and after reserving out of the rents

a sum sufficient to maintain the premises

in good repair

shall expend the remainder in 

Fuel and Clothing

and distribute the same amongst the poor of the 

Said Parishes 

On the 16th day of January for ever 

being the anniversary of that awful visitation. 

For those that want to get a feeling for how high the waters rose, there is an another monument to the flooding that is set into the wall of Mill House on Orcheston Road in Shrewton. A marker stone in the wall shows the level to which the water at Shrewton rose, it marks 4 foot 6 inches above ground level and 7 feet 6 inches above river level!

The Tilshead "Flood" Cottages.

The Orcheston "Flood" Cottages.

Pictures: Wiltshire (October 2015).

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The Fosse Way Standing Stones

Alongside a section of the Fosse Way in Wiltshire, three standing stones surmounted by a cap stone can be found arranged in the style of an ancient burial chamber.

The Fosse Way is an ancient Roman road that ran for 182 miles linking the Roman settlements at Exeter and Lincoln, via the other Roman settlements at Ilchester, Bath, Cirencester and Leicester. The name of the Fosse Way derives from the Latin word for ditch and for the early part of Roman rule in Britain the Fosse Way marked the western border of Roman control. The Fosse Way may have started life as a defensive ditch and then latterly been converted into a road, or the initial construction may have been a road supported by a ditch - the jury is still out on that one.

The standing stones in question can be found on the Bannerdown Road as it passes between Batheaston in Somerset towards Colerne in Wiltshire. Whilst these standing stones look like an ancient monument they are actually a fairly modern construction that marks the point where the boundaries of the counties of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Somerset historically met. The stones were erected in February 1859 and were erected over three slightly older stones dating from 1736, each of which are said to be inscribed with the initials of one of the three counties (i.e. G, W & S).

A quick Internet search reveals that this is not the only “Three Shires Stone” in the country and other tripoints (a point where three counties meet) are also marked with monuments, whether these be standing stones, oak trees or a wood!

If you ever visit the Three Shires Stones on the Fosse Way, do keep your eyes peeled. Apparently nearby in a dry stone wall there are a few carved words that tell the story of an unfortunate person who was murdered on the Fosse Way. My brief inspection of the wall failed to uncover the inscription, but a more careful eye may be able to discern the inscription and the tale that it tells.

The Three Shire Stones on the Fosse Way.

Pictures: Wiltshire (August 2015).

The Devizes Millennium White Horse

Following on from my previous visits to the Westbury, Cherhill, Broad Town and Hackpen white horses in Wiltshire, here is another of the county's white horses, this time on Roundway Hill on the outskirts of Devizes.

The Devizes White Horse is also known as the Devizes Millennium White Horse as it was cut in 1999 as part of the celebrations for the new millennium. The Devizes horse (which is approximately 150 ft by 150 ft) is unique amongst Wiltshire's white horses as it is the only one that faces to the right, all of the rest face in the opposite direction.

The Devizes Millennium White Horse is not the first white horse to grace Devizes. In 1845 a local shoemaker cut a white horse into Roundway Hill beneath the hill fort known as Oliver's Castle - to the west of the location of today's horse. This original horse was locally known as the "Snobs Horse", with the word "snobs" apparently being a local word for a shoemaker. It seems that the Snobs Horse only survived until around 1922, when it was eventually lost due to a lack of regular maintenance and slowly encroaching turf.

The ghost of the Snobs Horse can still occasionally be seen however, when the weather conditions are just right. The Snobs Horse was made using a technique called "trenching", where a trench is dug and filled with chalk to create the white horse. This approach is used when the local chalk is not sufficiently near the surface to enable the horse to be created by just peeling back the overlying turf. This trenching means that the chalk that formed the white horse is at a different level to the surrounding chalk, this enables parts of the long overgrown old white horse to be seen from time to time when the weather is just right. From these sightings it has been determined that the original Snobs Horse was about half of the size of the present day white horse.

So if you ever visit Devizes and see the current white horse, be sure to make the effort to go a little further west to Oliver's Castle and try to see if you can see any trace of the Snobs Horse. If you do I would love to see your pictures!

The Devizes Millennium White Horse in the distance.

Looking a bit grubby!

Pictures: Wiltshire (August 2015).

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Weird Wessex is here!

Weird Wessex: A Tourist Guide to 100 Strange and Unusual Sights is a journey across the English counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Berkshire seeking out the weird and sometimes little known sights that wait to be discovered. Have you ever heard of:

• Somerset's standing stones - the second largest circle of standing stones in Britain?
• The murderous tale behind Berkshire’s Coombe Gibbet?
• The Dorset building with a Civil War cannon ball buried in its wall?
• The Devon village that flips a boulder each year to keep the Devil trapped below ground?
• The Hampshire shop that once fought in the War of 1812?
• The home of Wiltshire’s most famous poltergeist?

If not then let Weird Wessex take you there, and treat you to over 200 full-colour photographs of these weird and wonderful locations. You are certain to discover an unusual location that you never knew existed!

Written by Andrew May (of the Retro-Forteana blog) and myself, Weird Wessex is now available at Amazon here!

Please note this book is printed on demand. So if it shows as being “temporarily out of stock” on Amazon do not be perturbed, the printing press will fire up as soon as your order is placed!

Happy exploring!

The Gypsy Curse of Odstock

The pictures below show a grave in St Mary’s churchyard in the village of Odstock in Wiltshire. The grave belongs to a man named Joshua Scamp who was a gypsy and a convicted criminal.  The inscription reads:

In memory of Joshua Scamp

Who died April 1st 1801

May his brave deed be remembered

To his credit here and hereafter

Joshua Scamp's death and his subsequent burial in St Mary's churchyard are linked to an odd local legend, a legend about a gypsy curse. The details of the story differ slightly, depending on the source, but the general theme is as follows. In 1801 a local  gypsy named Joshua Scamp was condemned to death and hanged at Fisherton gaol in Salisbury for the crime of the theft of a horse.  As it turns out Joshua was not the perpetrator of the crime, it was his son-in-law who actually stole the horse. It is said that Joshua decided to take the blame for the crime and suffer the associated punishment to protect his daughter (presumably from losing her husband).  When it became clear that Joshua was in fact innocent of the crime he became a local hero to the gypsy community and the anniversary of his passing was celebrated each year by a party at his graveside.

Not being too keen on gypsy revellers holding their annual celebration in the churchyard, the church officials of the time, supported by local authorities, uprooted a rose bush planted by Scamp's grave and locked the church door to keep the gypsies out. In retaliation to this affront, a Gypsy Queen supposedly placed a curse on the church, so that anyone who locked the church in the future would die a sudden and untimely death.

Any untimely deaths of church key-holders clearly cannot be attributed to the gypsy curse with any degree of certainty. However it seems that the legend of the curse may have left a lasting impression. It is said that in the 20th Century, following the untimely deaths of two Church Wardens, that the Rector threw the key to the church door into the River Ebble where it presumably remains to this day.

St Mary's Church was unlocked when I paid my visit, so perhaps the current Church Warden is taking a cautious approach to the legend?

St Mary's Church, Odstock.

Joshua Scamp's grave stone and rose bush.

The inscription.

Inside the church.

Pictures: Wiltshire (August 2015).

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