Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society . to Great Sherston. We first hear of Sherston in 896, when, at a gemot held at Gloucesterby Ethelred, Ealdorman of the Mercians, Werferth, Bishop of Worcester,complained that certain woodland at Woodchester, which had been givento the See by King Ethelbald about one hundred and fifty years before, Sherston, 17 had been alienated to Bisley, Avening, Sherstone (Scorranstane), andThornbury. The Witan ordered that the land should be restored to the See. It next appears as the site of a battle between Cnut and EdmundIronside on
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society . to Great Sherston. We first hear of Sherston in 896, when, at a gemot held at Gloucesterby Ethelred, Ealdorman of the Mercians, Werferth, Bishop of Worcester,complained that certain woodland at Woodchester, which had been givento the See by King Ethelbald about one hundred and fifty years before, Sherston, 17 had been alienated to Bisley, Avening, Sherstone (Scorranstane), andThornbury. The Witan ordered that the land should be restored to the See. It next appears as the site of a battle between Cnut and EdmundIronside on a Monday and Tuesday after Midsummer—probably June 25thand 26th, 1016. With Edmund were the men of Devon, Dorset, and Wilts,west of Selwood. With Cnut fought the men of Hants, Wilts, east ofSelwood, and also those who were under the command of ^Ifmasr Darling,and iElfgar, the son of Meaw, father of firihtric of Tewkesbury. Thefighting was indecisive, but on Tuesday night Cnut departed to besiegeLondon, The lines of entrenchment still exist, and the church seems to. THE RATTLEBONE FIGURE. be built upon them. It would seem from the account of the battle givenby Florence of Worcester that the host of Edmund was the attacking side. Sherston is still dominated by the memory of a local hero, JohnRattlebone, who is said to have performed prodigies of valour in the Vol. XXVI. 3 i8 Transactions for the Year 1903. course of the action, and, though wounded early in the engagement, tohave succeeded in kilhng a skilhn-full of Danes. One of the principalinns in the place is still called the Rattlebone Inn, and an ancient stoneeffigy on the Church porch is ascribed by local tradition to the hero, andcalled the Rattlebone figure. Aubrey says that in his time {c. 1657) theSherston women and children had these verses by tradition : — Fight well, Rattlebone, Thou shalt have Sherstone. What shall I with Sherstone doe,Without I have all belongs thereto ? Thou shalt have Wyck and Willesly Easto
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