glomerate, vulgarly called Rosebury or Rosemary Rock, the real name of it being Osebury or Oseberrow*. This in the Ordnance Map is by mistake called Woodbury Rock.

WHITBOURNE.

In Duncumb's "History of Herefordshire," Vol. i., p. 236, it is said that "within Whitbourne Court Park was a Roman intrenchment, and divided from it by a meadow and valley, were the lines of a circular British camp, but no vestiges remain of either. The latter, perhaps, formed, with Thornbury, &c., a chain of intrenchments which extended northward from Brangonium (Worcester) towards the country of the Ordovices, and were successively defended by Caractacus, who is supposed to have kept the Romans in check for a considerable time in these parts after they had taken Brangonium."

"Part of the Park is a beautiful remnant of an amphitheatre, and is supposed to have been a vineyard."

THE BERROW HILL.

The ancient name of this noble elevation, which lies in the parish of Martley, no doubt was either Burrow, which in the Saxon signifies a place fenced or fortified, or Barrow §, meaning an ancient place of sepulture, but most probably the former. It is of a fine oval form, and although a natural hill, its sides have evidently been artificially rounded into their present shape. There are two lines of intrenchment round the brow of the hill, which show it to be the site of an ancient camp. These trenches I first noticed in the year 1835, and they are still perfect in some parts, particularly at the north and south ends of the oval. In length the camp is about four hundred yards, and one hundred and ninety yards wide. Dr. Nash does not appear to have noticed the camp or the hill in his History of the county. The hill in its general shape resembles what is called a broad barrow.

• Vide further mention of this place in the chapter on Folk-lore.

+ MSS. Silas Taylor, Bibl. Harl.

The Saxons generally applied this term to those places which had been fortified by their predecessors.

From "birighe," (Saxon) to hide or bury.

66

WOODBURY HILL.

The name of this hill is probably derived from the Saxon Wude Byrig," the dwelling in the wood*, and refers to the camp there. It is vulgarly called Howbury or Oubury Hill. Dr. Nash, in speaking of it, says: "In the parish of Great Witley, the river Teme passeth under Woodbury Hill, remarkable for an old intrenchment on the top, commonly called Owen Glyndwr's camp, but which probably is of more remote antiquity." "The top of the bank on Woodbury hill contains twenty-six acres two roods and twenty-seven perches, and if the dimensions be extended to the centre of the ditch, it would measure at least two This hill is distant from Wassal Camp, in the parish of Kidderminster, about eight miles, and from Kenvaur Edge about eleven §." A plan of this camp, which is of a rather triangular shape, is given by Dr. Nash. A way passes through it from north to south.

acres more.

ABBERLEY HILL.

It is said that this hill was formerly called Abbotsley ¶. In Domesday Book" the name is written Edboldelege.

With respect to the etymology of the word ley, Sir William Dugdale, speaking of the etymology of Arley in Warwickshire, says "it is very often used for terminating the names of several villages. If we ascend to the British for its original, we shall find ile in that language to be the same with locus in Latin; but if to the Saxon ley, there signifieth ground untilled**.”

* See "Gent.'s Magazine," Nov. 1840, p. 512.

+ There are places called Howbury Meadow and Little Howbury in Suckley, and Woodbury in Upton Warren.

Vide a very interesting account of this chieftain in the " Analyst Quarterly Journal" for March, 1835, Vol. ii., No. 8, p. 73, entitled "Kenchurch Court, Herefordshire," by the late Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, K. H.

§ Vide Vol. ii., p. 465.

Also see the Ordnance Map.

See Lewis's "Topographical Dictionary," also the "Rambler in Worcestershire," published in 1851, p. 162. The prefix Ab may be a contraction of Abbot, as Habbe Lench, or Hob Lench, is of Abbot's Lench. It is called Hableah in the "Codex Dip.," No. 514.

** Tide Nash's "History," Vol. ii., Appendix, p. 1.

Dr. Nash, in his account of Woodbury Hill, states that he never could find any marks of intrenchments on Abberley Hill. Both these elevations are said to be nine hundred feet above the level of the sea. There is a parish called Abberton on the east side of the county; and a place called Aberold was on the AngloSaxon boundaries of Crombe*. There also is Habberley in Shropshire.

In Lewis's" Topographical Dictionary," published in 1848, it is stated that "on Abberley Hill, in the midst of a thickly planted wood, stands an oak, said to have been a sapling from the oaktree under which St. Augustine in the sixth century invited the Welsh bishops to a conference, as recorded by Milner in his 'Church History.' The parent tree was afterwards consumed by firet."

See Heming's "Cartulary," Vol. ii., p. 348, and Nash's "History," Vol. ii., Appendix, p. 46. Aber, in the British tongue, is a place where one river falls into another, or into the sea, and in the Welsh signifies every place where water meets with water. Aber, or Haber, in the Phoenician, has also the same signification. See "Britannia Antiqua," by Aylett Sammes, p. 68. Therefore it is possible that some of the above-mentioned places may be so derived.

+ Vide the remarks on St. Augustine's Oak in the accounts of Old Storage and Alfrick, pp. 901, 205, &c.

Ster V.

CRUCKBARROW HILL, IN WHITTINGTON.

THIS fine conical elevation is most probably an ancient British broad barrow. It is situated about two miles and a half southeast of the city of Worcester, in the hamlet of Whittington *, in the parish of St. Peter. It was in all likelihood used by the Romans as a signal station, as it overlooks Worcester, and the Roman camp at Kempsey, and is nearly opposite to Powick: a few Roman coins are said to have been found here. In shape it is elliptical, and measures 512 yards round, within the ring fence at the base, and about 180 yards round the crown. It is commonly said to contain about six acres of land; but, measured horizontally within the ring fence, it contains 4A. OR. 18P. The elevation is considerable. I consider this was partly a natural hill, but it owes its extreme regularity of contour to artificial means. The sides, which are sloped as evenly as a sugar loaf, are covered with a fine green turf. The ends of the oval stand east and west. According to the measurements which I have made, Cruckbarrow Hill is rather larger than Silbury Hill, in Wiltshire. Silbury Hill is said to be perfectly artificial, but Cruckbarrow only partially so.

Respecting the etymology of the word Cruckbarrow or Crookberrow, I have collected the following interesting facts:

In a communication made by Sir Thomas Phillips, Bart., to

See in the account of Astwood, as to this place probably having been one of the Anglo-Saxon marks.

+ At all which places Roman relics have been found.

See also the "Strangers' Guide to Worcester," by Ambrose Florence, p. 117.

the Royal Society, on the 11th June, 1834, relative to the Saxon derivation of various names, is the following :

:

"Segesberewe, in Worcestershire, the burial place of Segga. Crockberewe

Croc."

Now, in "Domesday Book," there are certainly entered as tenants in capite, Croch or Crock, venator of Hants; also of his son Rainaldus Croch; and likewise Croc of Wilts: but this of itself is no proof that Cruckbarrow Hill, in Whittington, took its designation from a person named Croc. We meet with various other places named Crookberrow in quite a distant part of Worcestershire for instance, in the parish of Pendock there are two pastures adjoining each other bearing that name, situated near Pendock village, on the roadside leading from Ledbury to Tewkesbury; adjoining thereto, in the Berrow, there are two pieces of land called Crookberrow, and another named Lower Crookberrow. In addition to this I was informed by the late Edward Ingram, Esq., of The White Ladies, that, in the oldest title-deeds of his brother relative to Cruckbarrow Hill, the name is spelt Crugbarrow. Now, as the word Crug in ancient British and Welsh, and Cruach in Irish signifies a hill or heap, the name Crugbarrow appears to prove that the elevation in question was. an ancient British hill barrow. It does not, however, follow that in all cases the word "Crug" as connected with "barrow" meant a natural hill or heap, it no doubt included artificial mounds also, which in time became removed, without any tradition of them being left; as, for instance, those pieces of land called Crookberrow in Pendock, and in the Berrow.

The name is spelled Crokbarrowe in an Inquisition in the Tower of London, temp. Henry VI. (vide Nash, Vol. ii., App. lxxx,); Cruckberew in a grant, 3rd Edward III.; and Crokeborrow in the first register of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester, folio 84.

There is a mountain called Cruckfalla in Ireland, Co. Donegal, Prov. Ulster, five miles north of Brinlach; Cruckton, a township in the parish of Pontesbury, hund. of Ford, Co. Salop; and Cruggion, a township, in the parish of Alberbury, Co. Montgomery.