Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/419

 THE BATTLE OF ASIIDOWN. 325 means so well agree with the description of the historian, and is quite deficient in local testimonies. Mr. Lysons adds, that ]3rompton"s manner of spelling the name (Asschedon) approaches very near to that of the Norman Survey ; but as Brompton, who Avas a monk of Jervaux Abbey, in the reign of Edward III., wrote above 450 years after the battle, and above 250 years after the Survey, his testimony on a point of orthography is not of much value. The strong arguments falling rather short, Mr. Lysons adduces as a collateral corroboration, the passage of the Saxon Chronicle, recording a march of the Danes from Wallingford, along iEcesdune to Cwicchelmslawe, which Bishop Gibson had cited in support of his own hypothesis. But it is remarkable, that each quotes the passage in a sense diametrically opposite to the other. Bishop Gibson, naturally enough, supposes, that it assists in identifying iEcesdune with Aston, because Aston lies in a direct line between Wallingford and the tumulus now called Cuckhamsley Hill. Mr. Lysons, on the other hand, also placing Cwicchelmslawe at Cuckhamsley Hill, fixes JEcesdune near Ashampstead ; but, being obliged to admit, that the aforesaid route would in this case be rather circuitous, discovers in the expression " along ^cesdune, " which he translates " by way of Ashdown," an implication that it was circuitous. On the map, if straight lines be drawn between Wallingford, Cuckhamsley Hill, and Ashampstead, they would form nearly an equilateral triangle. Li fact, both these writers seem to admit too hastily the identity of the places mentioned in the Saxon Chronicle {suh annis 871 et 1006) under the name of jEcesdune, a point which, as well as the identity of Cwicchelmslawe with the tumulus now called Cuckhamsley Hill, requires to be established, before the passage can be adduced as an evidence. Both are doubtful : the name of Ashdown is common to many places, and of course, the etymology of all is the same. From the expression, " andlang JEcesdune, " which implies traversing a length of country,^ rather than a circuitous ^ It is peculiarly applicable to the long naiTow ridee of Downs, on the summit of which runs the ancient Roman or British track, called the Ridgeway.