LAVINGTON***


Transcribed from the 1855 Frederick A. Blake edition by David Price,
email ccx074@pglaf.org

                          [Picture: Book cover]

                   [Picture: Church of East Lavington]

                              Reminiscences.

                                * * * * *





                                    A
                          TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT
                                    OF
                            MARKET LAVINGTON,
                                  WILTS,
                     ITS PAST AND PRESENT CONDITION.


                      ALSO, THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF
                          THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH
                              IN THAT PLACE.

                                   AND
                 THE AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF DAVID SAUNDERS,
                                   THE
                    Pious Shepherd of Salisbury Plain.

                                * * * * *

                           WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

                                * * * * *

                          BY THE REV. H. ATLEY,

          AUTHOR OF “DRUIDICAL ANTIQUITIES,” “FAMILIAR SCENES,”
                        “HAPPY JAMES,” ETC., ETC.

                                * * * * *

                                SALISBURY:
                    FREDERICK A. BLAKE, MARKET PLACE.
                    Stiff Covers, 1s. 6d.  Cloth, 2s.

                                M DCCC LV.

                                * * * * *

                                SALISBURY:
                           FREDERICK A. BLAKE,
                                 PRINTER,
                              BLUE BOAR ROW.

                                * * * * *




CONTENTS.

Introduction—What History is, and how divided                       v.
SECTION I.—The Etymology of the place—Its                            1
situation—Geological character—Antiquity—Architectural
features—Traditions—Commercial status
SECTION II.—Ecclesiastical and Denominational                        7
accommodation—Literary and other advantages—Educational
facilities—Scenery
SECTION III.—Past religious state—Feeble instrumentality of         12
its reformation—DAVID SAUNDERS, the pious Shepherd of
Salisbury Plain—His early life—Correction of error in former
narratives
SECTION IV.—His early efforts—Appearance before a                   19
Magistrate—Anecdotes—Cornbury mill—Death—Funeral—Inscription
SECTION V.—Verbatim copy of two Original Letters—Poem to his        28
memory
SECTION VI.—Immediate results—Rev. H. GAUNTLETT—Cottage             34
Services—Persecution—Anecdotes
SECTION VII.—The encouragement from neighbouring Ministers—A        42
Church formed—Sabbath schools—Chapel purchased—Opening
services—Enlargement—First pastor—Separation—Second and third
pastors
SECTION VIII.—Cross-roads chapel—Ebenezer chapel—Fourth             51
pastor—Chancery suit—Debt paid—Fifth, sixth, seventh, and
eighth pastors—Improvements—Jubilee
Conclusion                                                          57




Illustrations.

Church of East Lavington                               _Frontispiece_.
Ladywood Vale, with Shepherd’s Cottage                              21
Cornbury Mill                                                       24
Church of West Lavington, with the Shepherd’s                       26
Grave
Cottage in Parsonage Lane                                           37
Old Parsonage                                                       44
Independent Chapel                                                  48




INTRODUCTION.


NEVER in the history of this country has literature assumed so prominent
a position as it does at the present time; not in one department only,
but in the ample circle she travels, each presenting its own peculiar
claims to attention and regard, thus catering to the diversified
necessities of the human family.

Among the various intellectual viands, none is more generally acceptable
than History; and simply for this reason, in other departments or
productions of the pen we have abstract principles and theories, which
require to be worked out by mental or manual processes ere they assume a
form to be capable of appreciation by the general mind.  In History
truths are progressively elaborated and developed under the immediate
influence of time and circumstances, by which their qualities become
known, and their value tested and proved.

In the first class we may be said to have presented to us a subtle spirit
so ethereal and liable to evaporation as to be difficult of retention to
any important purpose, and so versatile as to be susceptible of any form
at the will of the operator; in the latter we possess a definite tangible
reality, in which we see reflected as in a mirror the principles,
feelings, motives, and results, not only of the several actors, but of
the times in which they lived, all which become fixed or Daguerreotyped
for the benefit of those that come after.

The term History is of a general and extensive character, admitting of a
very minute subdivision.  In the first place it may be simple or
compound, pure or mixed, as it embraces persons, times, or things, taken
singly or in their combination in the mutual influence they exert.  This
is the general form in which it is presented.  In the next place, it may
range as universal, national, provincial, local, or individual.  Another
division will give us