Wayland Smith's Cave
Early-attested site in the Parish of Ashbury
Historical Forms
- (be eastan) welandes smidðan 955 BCS908 c.1240
- Wayland Smiths Forge 1828 OS
Etymology
Wayland Smith's Cave, (be eastan ) welandes smidðan 955 (c. 1240) BCS 908, Wayland Smiths Forge 1828 OS. 'Weland's smithy'.smidðan represents the dat. sing, of smiððe . Wēland was the OE form of the name of the famous smith of Germanic legend, and there was a tradition that the smith would shoe horses in return for a groat placed on the roof slab of one of the three chambers of this megalithic tomb. The association with horses might be due to the proximity of the White Horse (380). Grinsell's suggestions (Grinsell 13–20 and Trans. Newbury and District Field Club viii, 136–9) that other characters in the Wēland legend are mentioned in other boundary marks in this part of the county are unconvincing, as the forms of the pers.ns. are not consistent with his identifications, v. Pt 3.
Places in the same Parish
Early-attested site
Other OS name
- Berry Croft
- Longmead Plantation
- Ashbury Hill
- Botley Copse
- Bourton Gate
- Claremont Villa
- College Fm
- Dean Bottom
- Down Folly
- Elm Tree Fm
- Featherbed Lane
- Fern Copse and Fern Fm
- Hailey Wood
- Ham Copse
- Honeybunch Corner
- Idstone Down
- Ivy Cottage
- Kingstone Barn, Kingstone Fm, Kingstone Folly, Lower Kingstone Mill and Upper Kingstone Mill
- Kingstone Coombes
- Ashbury Folly
- Kingstone Down
- Middle Wd
- New Rd
- North Mill
- Rectory Fm
- Red Barn
- Red Copse
- Rubbing Ho
- Ruffinswick Fm
- St. Hubert's Chapel
- Snivelling Corner
- Tanner's Barn and Tanner's Pond
- Three Barrows
- Tower Hill
- Trunk Pond
- Upper Wd
- Weathercock, Weathercock Hill
- Westleaze
- Whiteshere
- Winslow Bank
- Alfred's Castle
- Botley Bottom
- Manor Ho