Place-Names
Six,—Sir Henry Bashford's article on place-names in Dorset and Wiltshire must have delighted all who know and love those counties. One does not look for poetry in a directory, but the list of parishes in the Salisbury Diocesan Directory (the diocese covers the whole of Dorset and the greater part of Wiltshire) would surely rejoice Sir Henry's heart. Let me quote a few: Maiden Newton with Frome Vauchurch; Whitechurch Canonicorum with Stanton St. Gabriel and Marshwood (to which Bettiscombe with Pilsdon is at present added); Owermoigne with Warmwell and Holworth; Sixpenny Handley with Gussage St Andrew and Pentridge; Ebbesbourne Wake with Fifield Bavant; Milton Lilbourne with Easton Royal.
It was once my good fortune to talk to a group of parochial church councillors from five adjacent parishes nestling below Bulbarrow in the heart of Dorset. It was a memorable quintet—Fifehead Neville, Hazelbury Bryan, Stoke Wake, Mappowder and Plush.—Yours
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