It flows east and south in a wide curve, through a broad upper valley past Chippenham and Melksham, after which it turns abruptly west to Bradford-on-Avon, receives the waters of the Frome from the south, and enters the beautiful narrow valley in which lie Bath and Bristol.
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Russell of Chippenham, Cambridgeshire, and was tutor at Oxford to two of his wife's brothers.
He seems to have remained at Oxford until 1630, when he became vicar of Chippenham.
But in January 878 they made a sudden swoop on Chippenham, a royal vill in which Alfred had been keeping his Christmas, " and most of the people they reduced, except the King Alfred, and he with a little band made his way.
The Danes on their side moved out of Chippenham, and the two armies met at Edington in Wiltshire.