We were now in "King Alfred's country," for he was born at Wantage in
849, but his palace, if ever he had one, and the thorn tree were things
of the past, and what traces there were of him in the town were very
scant. There were King Arthur's Well and King Arthur's Bath; the most
substantial building bearing his name was the "King Alfred's Head Inn,"
where we called for light refreshments, and where in former years the
stage-coaches plying between Oxford and London stopped to change horses.
Wantage must have been a place of some importance in ancient times, as a
Witenagemote was held there in the year 990 in the time of Ethelred, at
which the tolls were fixed for boats sailing along the Thames for
Billingsgate Market in London.
[Illustration: WANTAGE MARKET-PLACE.]
There were several old inns in the town, and many of the streets were
paved with cobble-stones. Tanning at one time had been the staple
industry, a curious relic of which was left in the shape of a small
pavement composed of knuckle-bones. Early in the century the town had an
evil reputation as the abode of coiners, and when a man was "wanted" by
the police in London, the Bow Street runners always came to search for
him at Wantage.
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