At the other end, next Chippenham, where the road joins those from Malmesbury and Draycott, is another stone, with the inscription—
“Hither extendeth Maud Heath’s gift,
For where I stand is Chippenham Clift.”
Midway, on the bridge over the Avon, is another stone—a pillar twelve feet high, erected by the Trustees in 1698, with the following facts recorded on it:—
“To the memory of the worthy Maud Heath, of Langley Burrell, Spinster: who in the year of grace, 1474, for the good of travellers, did in charity bestow in land and houses, about eight pounds a year, for ever, to be laid out on the highway and causeway, leading from Wick Hill to Chippenham Clift.”
Chippenham Clift. Injure me not. Wick Hill.
A statue of Maud Heath, a purely imaginary likeness of course, since no portrait of her is known to exist, was set up on a pillar on the summit of Bremhillwick Hill in 1838 by the Marquis of Lansdowne and a local clergyman.
The pillar is forty feet high, and the seated statue on the top of it represents Maud Heath in the costume of the period of Edward the Fourth, with a staff in her hand, and a basket by her side. An inscription bids—
“Thou who dost pause on this ærial height,
Where Maud Heath’s Pathway winds in shade or light,
Christian wayfarer in a world of strife,
Be still—and ponder on the path of life.”
The sentiments are admirable, if a little depressing: the verse atrocious.
IMPROVING SENTIMENTS