The Transitional
nave becomes Early English at the east end and the transepts are made
up of Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular work. The chancel is
entirely of the last-named style and very fine in its proportions and
details. The Norman font of Purbeck marble should also be noticed. The
village was one of the old-time "rotten" boroughs and returned two
members to Parliament. Southey was once elected but declined the
honour. Downton was evidently of some importance in still earlier
days, for on the outskirts of the village, in private grounds, is an
earthwork used in Saxon times as a folk-mote, or open-air local
parliament. It is probable that this was originally a British fort,
for about a mile away is the ancient ford over the Avon where a great
battle was fought in the days of the West Saxon invasion and in which
the attackers were held. Thirty-seven years elapsed before any further
advance was made into Wiltshire. Downton is also one of the places of
which that curious myth story "The Pent Cuckoo" is told.
The road to the south can be followed down the river to Fordingbridge
(_see_ Chapter II), but it is proposed to return by the east bank of
the river past Burford Park and Trafalgar, the renamed Standlynch
Manor, bestowed on Earl Nelson in 1814, to the neighbourhood of
Alderbury, over three miles out of Salisbury on the Southampton road.
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