munificentiam augere et amplificare voluerit, augeat Deus partem ejus in libro vite. Si vero, quod absit, aliquis tyrannica fretus potestate temerarie tenere aut minuere voluerit, sciat se in tremendo examinis judicio horribiliter incidere in manus dei viventis. Et hec acta sunt in monte qui vocatur Biohchandoune anno incarnationis domini nostri Jhesu Christi DCCXCI cunctis astipulantibus et confirmantibus nominatis atque infra descriptis. "Ego Ealdwlf qui donavi primum signum sancte crucis expressi +-Ego Eadelwlf consentio et subscribo +-." As no localities have been hitherto assigned for the residence of this Sussex chieftain, or for the wood granted, we may endeavour to add them to Sussex topography. I venture therefore the suggestion that "Biohchandoune" is now known to us as "Buncton," and it is very gratifying to have received for it the assent of the very ablest Anglo-Saxon scholars. Situated a few miles from Ferring, for whose benefit the grant was made, about three miles west from where Saxon kings dwelt in their stronghold of Bramber, and two from Steyning, the selected abode of St. Cuthman, where, according to Asser, Ethelwulf King of Wessex was buried,17 Buncton was convenient for communication with the Downs, and looks up to the prominent point of them, crowned with the earthen entrenchments of Chanctonbury, exactly opposite on the south. Although that camp had been occupied by the Romans, its natural advantages were not likely to be overlooked by succeeding warriors. The hill, on the top of which Buncton Chapel stands, is now a portion of Ashington parish entirely insulated within that of Wiston, a fact which in itself seems to denote an important proprietor in old times (as again in the case of Sedgewick Castle, near Horsham), and it slopes gently into the Weald on all sides, except on the north-west, where it sinks more precipitously into a woody glen, through which runs a small brook. There is a gable-ended house, at the north-east foot of the hill, surrounded by a moat. The accompanying woodcut of the steeper side from the north-west (for the drawing of which I am indebted to the Rev. Mr. Medland of Steyning, whom I had the pleasure of accompanying to the spot) will sufficiently explain the position of the chapel on the VIII. 17 See Mr. Medland's Paper, Sussex Arch. Collections, V, p. 115. 24 hill. In the structure of this small chapel, so simple and so massive that it might almost have been formed from the hall of a Saxon chief, many Roman tiles appear, derived probably from the ruins of that Roman villa, the hypocaust of which were recently discovered half a mile eastward.18 Mr. Earle, whom we have already had occasion to thank, has most kindly favoured me with his opinion, that the contraction of the name into its modern appearance, "the hill called Biohchandoune" of the eighth century now changed into Buncton," is a probable modernism, and that the original name meant Birch Down. Instances of similar compression of ancient names are readily found in this vicinity, where the Donechitoune, Botechitoune, and Wistanestun of Domesday have become Duncton, Burton, and Wiston, while Buncton appears there in an intermediate form as "Bongetune, with a wood of ten hogs." The identity of the names is also considered more than probable by the eminent Anglo-Saxon scholar, Benjamin Thorpe, Esq., to whom I am much indebted for his communication on this and other points of this subject. Being thus authorised to establish our chieftain of the South Saxons on the hill of Buncton, we must endeavour to 18 For an account of this discovery in 1848, see Sussex Arch. Collections, II, 315. find "the place called Cealtborgsteal" within the probable extent of his territory. In this research neither the Rev. Henry Dixon, the present vicar of "the church of St. Andrew at Ferring," nor the Rev. T. Medland of Steyning, have been able, by their local knowledge, to trace any name corresponding to "Cealtborgsteal." It is however easy to recognise in this word the description of one of those steep ways leading up the northern face of the Downs from the Weald, which still familiarly retain the name of Borstals, and of which there are several in the neighbourhood, and indeed almost within sight of Buncton. Steyning Borstal, Chantry Borstal, Washington Borstal, Amberley Borstal, are thus situated; and of these Washington Borstal, as the road which must in all ages have been the easiest and most natural pass in the Downs, would seem to answer best to the description of "the upper road from south to north, lying on the west of the wood' given to Ferring. Mr. Dixon has also kindly pointed out another locality, a field of eighteen acres, four miles from Ferring, and insulated in Angmering parish, the small tithes of which are received by the vicar of Ferring, while the prebend of Ferring in Chichester Cathedral is endowed with the great tithes.19 This field, having on its west side an old road running north and south, may have some claims to be the gift in question in "Cealtborgsteal;" but if so, it would be the only instance of any Borstal in Sussex being found on the southern slope of the Downs. The derivation of the word Borstal from the Saxon words beohr, a hill, and stigele, a steep ascent, has been already discussed in a former volume,20 on the occurrence of "Robert atte Borstalle" in the Subsidy Roll of the Rape of Lewes, A.D. 1296, and to this origin both Mr. Earle and Mr. Thorpe The latter quotes Lye's Dictionary, "Burgstal, burgstol, clivus, Cott. 209;" and in the present instance we may consider the prefix cealt to signify cold, so that it was a part of the "Cold Borstal" which was granted by Adelwlf. Mr. Earle directs attention to the many cases in agree. 19 In Domesday it is said, "the Bishop holds Feringes in domain: it had a wood f 4 hogs, and for herbage every seventh p. 115. Translat. Domesd. 20 See Sussex Arch. Collections, vol. II, p. 292, where this explanation of the word was suggested by S. W. Walford, Esq., and J. M. Kemble, Esq. which the same form of "beohr" for hill has stereotyped itself in Sussex names, as Cisbury, Edburton (Ecg, beohr, tun, town on the hill edge or side), Burpham, Burton, Bury, Chanctonbury, while Chiltington (Cilletune, Childetune, in Domesday), may perhaps be an instance of the same prefix of cealt now changed, as also Cold Waltham. The word Borstal seems to be implied in a passage of Domesday (p. 134) relating to East Sussex-"Essewelle Hundred-in Burgestaltune tenuit Ulsi unam virgatam, liber homo fuit." And the same word, applied to a steep hilly ascent, appears frequently in Textus Roffensis, referring to a locality in Kent still retaining such name-" De Borestealle, Coenuulf King of the Mercians gave 3 acres to Rochester,' p. 96; "Kenulfus Rex Merciorum dedit Borchstalle," p. 152; "Robertus de Borcstealle omnem suam decimam de terra sua concessit S. Andreæ æternaliter," p. 166. This latter instance resembles that in the Subsidy Roll of Sussex, before referred to, where the Borstal had given name to the person. A grant of land, with the custody of Bernwood in the county of Bucks, was made by Edward the Confessor by the tenure of the Borstal horn.21 The latter half of the word has clearly an analogy with the modern German "steigen," to ascend or mount, and "steig" in Norway means a ladder, as does "stee," used in the North of England. "Stile" seems used by Chaucer in an extended sense, as in some measure representing the country, in contrast with "street," which is used to represent the "Is it swiche peril with him for to mete, I shal him seke by stile and eke by strete." 21 See Kennett's Paroch. Antiq. p. 51; Blount's Tenures, p. 41. ON THE SAXON COLLEGE OF BOSHAM. BY THE REV. EDWARD TURNER. READ AT CHICHESTER, JULY 13, 1853. THE exact date of the foundation of this college is not known; but that it was of Saxon origin, and in existence previous to the year 681, we learn from the Venerable Bede,1 who tells us, that when St. Wilfrid arrived among the South Saxons about that time, he found a small and poor establishment of secular canons settled here under the government of an Irish monk named Dicul, who was probably an early Roman missionary. His words are, "Erat autem ibi monachus quidam de natione Scottorum,2 vocabulo Dicul, habens Monasteriolum permodicum in loco qui vocatur Bosenhamm." Of this college, he further tells us, he had frequently heard from the priest Acca, who had known the monks of Bosham when under the presidency of Eappa, thereby making his testimony of a Saxon monastery here more especially to be relied on. At the time of Wilfrid's arrival in Sussex, but little had been done by Dicul and his associates towards enlightening this part of the county. "In eo monasteriolo," continues Bede, "fratres quinque vel sex in humili et paupere vita Domino famulantes; sed provincialium nullus eorum vel. vitam æmulari, vel predicationem curabat audire." Bosenham or Bosham was situated at the point of a small creek issuing out of Chichester Harbour on the one side, and on the confines of a large forest district on the other" sylvis et mari circumdatum," as Bede describes its position; and hence its name, "Bosen-ham," which Lye interprets in his Saxon Dictionary, "forte a sylva sumptum." The inhabitants of this 1 Ecclesiast. Hist. lib. iv, c. 13. 2 The Saxon annalists apply the term "Scottus" to the native Irish. |