The Yale expositor., 1917-12-20

~ the ancient town of Cirences-
| ~ ter, with Its Roman memories
AMI, perhaps. the finest church
porch that England can show, and
! some three miles north of the quaint
tOwnlet OF Cricklade, redolent of An
glo-Saxon history, and Boosting a CEN
trail lantern tower TO its church I'M
matched In all Wiltshire, lies the
charming village of Down Ampney-
one of four Ampney villages that clus-
ter to the east of CirenceSter. The viii
lage is right away from the church and
the manor house. The trusting strang
or visiting Il from either of the above
mentioned towns should be warned
that he is coming to an inn-less Eden,
where the "good entertainment for
man and beast" that used to be the
boast OF our village hOstelrles is not
To be had; nor will he find it in the
neighboring village OF Latton, just
across the Wiltshire border. 1t is fair
to say that both villages seem to get
along very comfortably without inns;
only the stranger within their gates
suffers for the austere virtue of the ma
tlvos, writes Henry Martin Gibbs in
Country Life.
The beauty of the surrounding coun-
try, the limestone SOLVE are here on
the border Of the Cotswolds-and the
keenly bracing air must be taken as
cOmpensating natural advantages. 1t
is country of rich pasturelands, trout
streams and water meadows, where
"the, willows by the brooks" are a ia
miliar feature; and far away stretch
out blue distances, ranges of hills,
copses and church spires Il strangely
peaceful country. in which hardly n
sound seems to break the stiffness, and
in this wartime, bereft of its male
population, ii seems doubly deserted.
Yet the broad high roads are there. the
roads that were made near two thou
sand years ago by the Roman con-
querors. They stretch out across the
flat foreground into the dim perspec-
tive of the horizon-the Ermine Way
and the Fosse Way crossing each 9th
or at Cirencester like the arms of IL
st. Andrews cross.
Where the Romans Camped.
Naturally, such country is rich in
legends of titanic conflicts between Ro-
man and Brlton, Briton and Saxon,
Saxon and Dane. Cirencester, as its
name tells us. was a Roman castrum
of some Importance, and the town
abOunds i'm relics of the Roman occu-
patton. which took place about the
year 30 A. ID. At ChedwOrth, close TO
the Fosse Way, some II miles north Of
Down Ampney, the remains of Ro-
nan villa-one of the four firSt-ratc
Jnes found in this country-were dis
covered in 1864. The fuct that four
crosses were found herc-one of the
few positive evidences Of Romano-Brlt-
ish Christianity in GlOucestershire-
lends additional interest to this discov-
cry.
Cirencester, with the other No-
mano-Britlsh cities of Bath and Glou-
ceSter. fell To the Saxon conquerors In
SIT, but IL was the best part OF CEN
fury later before Christianity, crushed
out by this Hun invasion OF old time.
was reintroduced under the auspices of
Wulphere, king OF Mercia. A Inter
wave OF invnslon-this time by the
Daues-took place in 900, when Crick-
lade was plllaged, and the same town
was taken and plundered by the fol-
lowers Of Cnut a century later. The
Norman invasion seems 10 have been
more gradual affair-more like the
peaceful penetration" OF our own
times. No doubt the Saxon thane and
eori gave place to intrudlng Normans,
but the bulk of the population, serfs
and freemen, were probably but little
disturbed by the new order.
One other event of more than local
Importance occurred In those far-ont
times, which must not be left unre-
corded. At the northern end OF the
bridge or ford of the River Thames,
which takes it's rise not far from here
at place called Aust, in SOB st. Au-
gustine of Canterbury held his cele-
brated conference with the bishops
and doctors of the British church.
The House and. Church.
Down Ampney IS near enough to this
famous spot to be permitted to share
Its fame. Enough has been said to In
dictate the historical interest as well
as the natural charms OF the setting.
Let us turn to the house and church.
Doubtless both occupy the sites of
far older buildings. We may take 1t
that there was settlement here under
the Saxon sway, and probably during
the Roman occupation; how far earlier
! Il is useless to speculate. And though
the church has nothing to show of ear
lier date than the charming late
twelfth century arcades of its nave.
we may assume that these were pierced
through older Norman or Saxon wills.