Opening extracts from The Story of Malmesbury
The Origins of Malmesbury
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Malmesbury, "a city built on a hill which cannot be hid" - John Betjeman reminds us of the biblical quotation when speaking of this old town in North Wiltshire. Indeed, Malmesbury has been a city, and a royal borough and now a town. It has ever been a place of "firsts": the first borough, according to the Guinness Book of Records; the burial ground of the first King of all England, Athelstan; the first manned flight by Eilmer; the first town in Wiltshire in Domesday Book - and all that by 1086 AD! |
The identity of the first inhabitants, seduced by many positive features, is unknown. This high place, almost surrounded by water and with deep ditches to add to its defences, would have been an important local focus and a safe haven for its earliest settlers. In fact, Malmesbury is a community of great antiquity. It can claim to be one of a very few sites which have been used continuously since the Iron Age
The first walls to encompass the hill would have been constructed of very large quarried stones some three metres in depth and possibly twelve to fifteen metres high. The tantalising foundations and first courses of stonework remain in situ some two to two-and-a-half metres below the surface and date from about 500 BC. Such dimensions revealed by a recent "dig" suggest a large settlement. Rather like a wonderful Christmas present, the dig had many layers of wrapping before the ultimate hypothesis could be made - confirmation by radio carbon dating of the remnants of a huge stone defence wall of Iron Age date. Have these archaeologists uncovered Caer Bladon? Is Caer Bladon Malmesbury?
Was there ever any Roman occupation in Malmesbury or the immediate area? Important shards of fine-quality basalt and red Samian ware have been dug up at Abbey House in the town, and the backfilling of the recently-excavated stone coffin in the garden of the House also showed considerable Roman pottery fragments. Silver coins of Constantine have been found around Malmesbury, one at the Maltings site and two on the high ground overlooking the East Gate at Holloway.
Malmesbury is almost timeless: a person from the late Anglo-Saxon period would know his way about the old town for the street structure within the walls has not changed. But Saxon Malmesbury was more than a large town. It was part of an inner ring-road (The Kingsway) around the estate of a Wessex king - probably King Ine, relative of the founder of Malmesbury Abbey, the monk St. Aldhelm.
So, how did the name Malmesbury arise? Maidulf means "the black prince" - a possible reference to the "man in black" (habit), Aldhelm. Was Malmesbury a mixture of "Maeldub" and "Aldhelm" - "the black prince, Aldhelm’s place"? It poses interesting questions.