Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/420

 326 THE BATTLE OF ASHDOWN. route, between two points, I am induced to believe, that the range of hills extending from Compton or Ilsley westward to Aslibury, might have borne the name. On the hills, a little to the soutli of East Ilslej, is a wood called Ashridge, which is nearly synonymous with Ashdown ; and between the two extreme points above mentioned are several places, the names of which have the same initial syllable. The name of Cvvicchelmslawe 3'"et survives in Cuckhamsley, and is now limited solely to a large tumulus on the downs in the parish of East Hendred, and from this circumstance it has been supposed erroneously to have borne reference to a hill. The late Dr. Ingram, in his edition of the Saxon Chronicle, translated Cwicchelmslawe by Cuckhamsley Hill, thus assuming the point required to be proved, but the original gave him no such authority. The word implies the territory or extensive tract of land belonging to Cwicchelm, has no reference to a hill, and is entirely modernised in the word Cuckhamsley. Nearly all the names of places in England, excepting some very ancient towns or cities, have a Saxon origin, and are derived from two sources, either the name or rank of the proprietor, as Uffington, Uffa's or Ufl&ng's town, Aldermanston, the Alderman's town ; or the peculiar character of the locality, as Combe, a hollow between hills ; and the various names terminating in ford, from the situation on a fordable river or brook, or in burn, as lying on the banks of a brook, as Winterburne, Lambourne, Shalbourn, &c. Sometimes they partake of both. In this instance we have specific information from ancient historians. Cynegils, King of the West Saxons, had two sons, Kenwal and Cwicchelm, who reigned jointly in that kingdom. The latter was baptised at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, in 636, but died in the same year, whereupon Kenwal became sole monarch. He was vanquished and deprived of his crown by Penda, King of Mercia, but recovered it after the lapse of a few years, with the assistance of Cuthred, son of his brother Cwicchelm. In gratitude for this assistance, or perhaps as a measure of justice due to his nephew, he gave him 3000 hides of land in the vicinity of Ashdown.' By the w'ay, it may be observed, that Ashdown must have been of considerable note or extent, as identifying so large a territory. William of Malmesbury, alluding to this donation, ' "Be ^scesdune." — Sax. Chron., ad ann. 648.