The churchyard contains the grave of one Joseph Scamp, executed for a crime to which he pleaded guilty; but really committed by his son-in-law.

The route is now by a lane that follows the course of the river through Charlton, with Clearbury Camp a mile away to the right, and on to Downton where we cross the bridge to the large and interesting cruciform church built at many different periods.  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.  The scenery of this part of the Christchurch Avon is very pleasant in a quiet way, the wide views towards the chalk hills on each side and the distant spire of the Cathedral, visible from every point of vantage, make the walk especially enjoyable.  Alderbury is said to be the original village of the “Blue Dragon” of Mrs. Lupin and Mark Tapley, immortalized by Charles Dickens, though some claim Amesbury to be the original of this scene.  It is difficult to say that any particular village could be in the novelist’s mind if, as seems probable, he had not seen Wiltshire when Martin Chuzzlewit was written.  St. Mary’s Grange, on the Salisbury road, is suggested as the original of Mr. Pecksniff’s residence.  Alderbury House was built from the demolished campanile of Salisbury Cathedral.

To obtain a really good idea of the hill country, apart from that of the Plain, a walk should be taken, by those who are impervious to fatigue, to Broad Chalke, about seven miles from East Harnham, or even farther to Berwick St. John, more than six miles higher up the stream.  The river Ebble itself, if river it can be called, is rarely in evidence, but the valley it drains is beautiful and, though it contains quite