Week Street Down
Early-attested site in the Parish of Gussage St Michael
Historical Forms
- an lang wic herepaþes 935 ShaftR(S429) 15
Etymology
Week Street Down (ST 970130), 1842TA , flanking a stretch of the Salisbury-Blandford F. road which would seem to be the 'Week Street', also referred to in the AS bounds of Tarrant H. par. supra as an lang wic herepaþes 935 (15) ShaftR (S 429), 'along the highway to the wīc ', v. wīc , here-pæð. The el. wīc may simply denote 'a dwelling, a (dairy) farm' (in this or a neighbouring par., cf. Wyke Fm in Gussage All Sts par. infra , Geoffrey atte Wych '1332 SR (Tarrant H.)), but it is tempting to suppose that the wīc may have been the RB village (Lat vicus ) sited 1½ miles NE on Gussage Down in this par. (RCHM 524).An old track leaves the present main road just NE of Week Street Down (followed for some way by the W bdy of the par.), passing through the RB village to meet the Roman road (Ackling Dyke) that forms the E bdy of the par. In fact the Wyke Fm in Gussage All Snts par. already referred to is only a further ½ mile E of the same Roman road.