The Year’s Work In Archaeology 1921 published by the Congress of Archaeological Societies (in union -with the Society of Antiquaries of London) and printed by the Hampshire Advertiser Company Limited, 45 Above Bar, Southampton, 1922, included:
Codford. Mr. Crawford also reports that he has located the site of the “British village” on Clay Pit Hill.
The Warminster Herald, Saturday 9 September 1882, reported:
Successful capture of a stork at Codford.
On Monday last, Mr. Coles, brewer, of this village, shot a stork of large dimensions. It appears that while he was at dinner, this bird pitched in the yard of the George Inn, and flew from there to the chimney stack of his brewery. A messenger came for him, and informed him of the imposing object. He seized his gun, but on arriving at the spot the bird made its escape into some adjoining fields where, after a rather long chase, Mr. Coles succeeded in bagging it. The bird stands 4 feet high, and measures 6 feet 6 inches from one wing tip to the other, and weighs six pounds. Numbers of visitors have called on him to see the bird, which is being preserved. Another stork was also seen the same evening in the neighbourhood of the Rifle Butts.
The following notes, penned by C.E. Mathews, were originally published in the Warminster Herald, in December 1876:
Of all the romance derived from the distant past, I think that the fact of a hermit having anciently dwelt in one’s neighbourhood gives the greatest.
The Codfordian recluse does not enjoy such fame as Cuthbert, Guthlac, or even of St. Godric of Finchale; but, perhaps, if more were known about him, he would be equally interesting.
In the tower of London, is a Royal Charter, granted by King Edward II to Sir Oliver de Ingham, lord of the manor of Codford Magna (i.e. East Codford, or Codford St. Mary), dated 1317, enabling him to ‘give and assign’ two acres of land, in a place called Crouch – or Crossland, – to their brother in Christ Henry de Mareys, chaplain and hermit, to construct anew in that place a chapel in honour of the Holy Cross, and a hermitage.
The manor of Great Codford – Coed-ford (Welsh), English, Woodford – was carried into the De Ingham family by the marriage of Albreda (one of the last heiresses of Waleran, William the Conqueror’s huntsman, who procured a grant of the manor) with Sir Oliver de Ingham, who I imagine, was the father of our hermit’s patron.
This lady who secondly married William de Boterels, or Botereus, obtained a charter (37th and 38th Henry III) for a weekly market here. A relic of this ancient market, although disused for centuries, lingers still in the name of a by-lane, known to this day as Cheapside (Cheap-market).
The vulgar supposition, however, obtains that it was so named by a facetious Londoner; just as in some parts of England there are poor districts to which is given the name of ‘Little London,’ – in such cases, no doubt, given in derision, as was once explained in Notes and Queries. Heytesbury might have been added to the list of places, containing a ‘Little London.’
For most of the historical facts here brought forward, I am indebted to Dr. James Ingram’s Memorials of the Parish Church of Codford St. Mary, 8 vo, Oxford, 1844, a very scarce and valuable little topographical work. I have been tempted to turn the story of the hermit into rhyme, which I now venture to submit to the indulgence of readers.
From the Salisbury & Winchester Journal, Monday 15th June 1818:
Codford St. Peter, Wilts.
To be Sold by Auction, by Mr. Ryall, on Thursday the 9th day of July next, at three o’clock in the afternoon, at the George Inn, in Codford Saint Peter, near Heytesbury, in the County of Wilts (by order of the Assignees of Mr. Benjamin Rebbeck):- All the Freehold and Leasehold Estates and Premises, of the said Benjamin Rebbeck, situate in the said parish of Codford Saint Peter, consisting of a convenient Dwelling-House, sundry Cottages, about eight Acres of Freehold Land, and about eight Acres of Leasehold Land, for terms absolute and terms determined on lives; which will be offered for sale in ten lots, as fully described in hand-bills distributed in the said parish and its vicinity. – The premises may be seen on application to Mr. Richard Francis, at the George Inn, in Codford Saint Peter; and particulars may be known at the Office of Messrs. Davis and Davis, solicitors, Warminster, Wilts, Frome, Somerset.
