THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 v

 
 OF 
 
 THE DEVIZES, 
 
 BEING A 
 
 HISTpRY OF THE 
 
 OF THAT NAME ; 
 WITH NOTICES 
 
 STATISTICAL, PARLIAMENTARY, ECCLESIASTIC, AND 
 BIOGRAPHICAL, 
 
 BY JAMES WAYLEN. 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD BY 
 
 LONGMAN AND CO.. PATERNOSTER ROW 
 
 AND T. B. SMITH, DEVIZES. 
 
 1839.
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY J. H. STARIE, 
 
 59, Museum Street.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The object and character of a work bearing the title 
 of the present must be so obvious to all, that preface 
 seems hardly necessary except for the purpose of saying 
 a few words on the sources of information, and paying 
 that just tribute of respect which is due to the gentlemen 
 who have assisted me in the undertaking. 
 
 The history of this Country during the middle ages 
 has already derived much elucidation from the publishing 
 of the Tower- Records; and although it will remain com- 
 paratively defective till that publication is complete, yet 
 to have deferred the history of Devizes till such a doubt- 
 ful period should arrive, would have been a virtual re- 
 linquishing of the task. 
 
 The observations in the municipal department are taken 
 in a great measure from the reports lately published by 
 Government. With regard to such as are not, I think 
 it only necessary to say that they have been drawn up 
 with considerable care, and with an anxious desire to 
 offend no living man. 
 
 A great deal has been written about Wiltshire and its 
 antiquities, but I cannot help thinking that no writer has 
 sufficiently studied the moral influence which its inhabi- 
 tants and principal families have ever exercised in the 
 revolutions of the state. With this view, much might 
 have been added and many names introduced in the pre- 
 sent work, with reference to the great civil wars : but I 
 willingly leave this point to be more ably discussed by 
 Mr. Hatcher, in his forthcoming work on Salisbury. To 
 this gentleman I am indebted for the whole of the docu- 
 ments relative to the disposal of the Castle under Bishop 
 Joceline's prelacy. 
 
 The other gentlemen who have supplied me with 
 valuable materials are the Rev. Edward James Phipps, 
 Mr. Paul Anstie, Mr. George Anstie, and Mr. T. B. 
 Smith, of Devizes and Mr. Britton of London.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OPENING REMARKS OPINIONS OF DR. DAVIS AND 
 
 OTHERS ON THE ORIGIN OF THE TOWN DEATH 
 
 OF WILLIAM BAXTER SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 FAMILY OF STUKELEY RECEIPT FOR ANTIQUA- 
 RIES, AND CRITIQUE ON THE SCHOOL OF MEDI- 
 CINE OF THE LAST CENTURY. 
 
 WHEN undertaking to give the history of 
 nations or smaller communities, historians and 
 biographers have always exhibited the very 
 natural desire to begin if possible at the begin- 
 ning. Their repugnance to the idea of raising a 
 " baseless fabric " is such, that when unable to 
 discover a legitimate and undoubted origin ; 
 their next step has been to set about manufac- 
 turing one. Such practices, to be sure, are 
 becoming less and less available in the present 
 day, when writers who presume to venture into 
 doubtful paths, without suitable provision and 
 armour of proof, are liable to sudden and dis- 
 graceful defeat. Even if this were not the case, 
 there is something so unsatisfactory to the mind, 
 in putting forth statements, or only suggestions, 
 of the truth of which we feel not fully assured, 
 that at first sight it appears surprizing that real 
 lovers of history should so often have indulged
 
 10 HISTORY OF 
 
 in such a course. It is however undoubtedly 
 true that many who have made the most laborious 
 researches to ascertain truth for themselves, have 
 in many cases been the same persons not only to 
 profess a belief in the vain fancies of hoary 
 legends, but to attempt to foist on mankind other 
 figments of their own brain. The moving prin- 
 ciple in such must be, a desire to serve the pur- 
 poses of some party feeling, or else to be regarded 
 as oracles by the unlearned. Hector Boethius 
 for instance must have shared pretty largely in 
 this latter gratification, when he garnished the 
 annals of Scotland with his comely catalogue of 
 kings before the fifth century ; furnishing for 
 each of them, a life, character, and eventful 
 reign ; and basing his " History " on such autho- 
 rities as Cornelius Hibernicus and a variety of 
 other authors whom the world had never known, 
 or heard of. 
 
 On the other hand it is necessary to guard 
 against becoming the victims of our own incre- 
 dulity, and of rejecting statements, the truth of 
 which we have never taken the trouble to inves- 
 tigate ; merely because they appear improbable. 
 This cautionary process, it will probably be 
 thought, is an unnecessary introduction to the 
 examination of a subject so unimportant as the 
 present ; but the fact is, that the interest attached 
 to such enquiries, is frequently not at all in ac- 
 cordance with the importance they possess. In 
 fighting about a mere word, men have been as 
 guilty of violent language and party spleen, as if
 
 THE DIVIZES. 11 
 
 disputing their claim to an estate ; and questions 
 of a philological nature, have often appeared 
 arrayed in additional dignity in proportion to the 
 cramped and limited extent of the orbits to which 
 they were necessarily confined. The reader must 
 not therefore feel himself aggrieved, if a problem 
 which has already perplexed so many heads, 
 though its object be nothing more than the origin 
 of a country town, should be once more fairly 
 hauled over ; and that the very circumstance of 
 its having been so often and so unsuccessfully 
 treated, should of itself be regarded as investing 
 it with an interest sufficient to claim his attention 
 for many pages to come. 
 
 Without further comment therefore I shall 
 proceed, first, to specify what \vas the primitive 
 spelling of the modern word Devizes ; and then 
 to detail the various hypotheses and conjectures 
 to which the singularity of that name has given 
 rise. The word made use of by William of 
 Malmsbury, and in most of the public records, 
 by all such authorities, in short, from whom we 
 might reasonably expect accuracy, is one in the 
 plural number. It is Castrum Divisarum Villa 
 Divisarum Burgenses Divisarum, and if the 
 former words are omitted for brevity, it becomes 
 Divisse. This plurality it has retained almost to 
 the present day, the prefixing of the definite ar- 
 ticle, in the case of public documents, having be- 
 come totally laid aside, only within a few years. 
 Without referring to the numerous readings which 
 a copious Italian dictionary will furnish under
 
 12 - HISTORY OF 
 
 the head Divisa ; it seems the most legitimate 
 course, to adopt the ordinary and natural ren- 
 dering of the past participle of Divido, and trans- 
 lating Divisse as divided partitioned off or 
 alienated, connect it with some such word as 
 terra or partes. This gives it the exact meaning 
 of the Saxon Kenninga from Kennan to cut, and 
 has given rise to the following theory. That 
 Divisse is only the Latin expression (made use of 
 in legal documents) of Kannings, and entertaining 
 this view, Devizes may be the " Kainingham " of 
 Domsday book. It has been usual to regard 
 this name as the ancient one of the present village 
 of Bishop's Cannings, but it seems very unneces- 
 sary to go to Kainingham for this latter, when 
 we possess the much more suitable name of 
 " Kaninge" which has remained almost unmuti- 
 lated down to the present day. The termination 
 " ham " from originally signifying a house, came 
 to imply a street or town, and still exists in many 
 names, as Nottingham, Shoreham, Chippenham, 
 East and West Ham. Kainingham or Kanning- 
 ham it is therefore presumed may mean the 
 principal town in Kanings. Or the " Borough of 
 Bishop's Cannings " an expression which actually 
 occurs in a document of Charles Ist's time written 
 by John Kent, Esq. This opinion however is 
 only thrown out as a plausible conjecture ; it is 
 incapable of any substantial proof, and still leaves 
 in obscurity the reason which first occasioned the 
 idea of partition being attached to the spot or to 
 the district. That such however was the idea
 
 THE DEVIZES. 13 
 
 intended to be conveyed, is evident from the cir- 
 cumstance of Florence of Worcester always wri- 
 ting it Divisio. The greater part of the other 
 conjectures on this subject have been brought 
 forward in so amusing a manner by Dr. Davis, a 
 Physician of Devizes, in his " Origines Divisianse" 
 that I make no scruple of relieving myself of the 
 task of so much recapitulation and arrangement 
 by just transcribing the whole of that portion of 
 his little work which refers to this pomt. A step 
 which will also possess the advantage of exhibiting 
 the style of that writer, and of laying before the 
 inhabitants of Devizes, no inconsiderable portion 
 of a treatise on their town, which is now become 
 so scarce that it is probable not three copies could 
 be found in the place. The " Origines " were 
 compiled in the form of letters to a friend and 
 written in the years 1750 and 1751. The design 
 of the work being, not only to narrate the prin- 
 cipal incidents connected with the early history 
 of the Town, but also as a satire on Dr. Stukeley, 
 Dr. Musgrove, and others, and on credulous an- 
 tiquaries in general. In the following extracts, 
 the plan of the letters will necessarily be over- 
 looked. He opens the subject with the following 
 remarks. 
 
 " There is a particular fondness in all mankind 
 that I have yet met with, for the places of their 
 nativity. Whether this preference be woven in 
 our constitutions or is the effect of education, 
 cannot certainly be determined. Other incidents 
 may fall in, connexions with relatives and friends,
 
 14 HISTORY OF 
 
 particular interests, or the pleasing remembrance 
 of the innocent amusements and diversions of 
 childhood, may have their share in forming it. I 
 am not therefore surprised at your affection for 
 The Devizes, nor at the constant enquiries you are 
 making among your friends, concerning its an- 
 tiquities. This passion Virgil seems to have felt 
 in a natural manner when he makes his shepherd 
 complain so feelingly, 
 
 " Nos dulcia linquitrus arva." 
 
 And when the course of the Georgick brings him 
 in sight of his Mantua, he laments its ruin in the 
 following passionate line, 
 
 ' Et qualem infelix amisit Mantua campum." 
 
 " To gratify this desire of yours I have catched 
 at every thing relating to ycur town, which casu- 
 ally offered itself in the progress of my studies, 
 and if any particulars occurred, I thought myself 
 possessed of a valuable acquisition, because it 
 would give you pleasure. The few that have 
 come to my knowledge I communicate to you/' 
 
 " Those who are but moderately acquainted 
 with the study of the early English antiquities, 
 must soon have been convinced that they are en- 
 gaged in a dry uncomfortable task, and obliged to 
 plunge through many difficulties, and puzzle 
 through a variety of perplexities ; the originals of 
 facts lying confused and involved, and are to be 
 found out only, like rattle snakes, by their tails. 
 Here truth is as closely blended with error, as 
 lights and shades in painting, it being very diffi-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 15 
 
 cult even to a discerning eye, to determine in a 
 well executed picture, where the shade ends or 
 the light begins. The monuments which the 
 Romans left behind them in Britain are greatly 
 disfigured and changed by the barbarity of the 
 succeeding conquerors : they left no traces or acts 
 of sciences behind them, and indeed nothing but 
 what is now become valuable ruins. These though 
 they have greatly advanced the prices of estates, 
 yet have embarrassed the English antiquary. 
 His curiosity however is not to be censured for 
 making attempts towards explaining them, if his 
 views are but properly regulated. Would the 
 writers upon these subjects permit modesty and 
 reason now and then to step into their minds, 
 they would restrain their loose imaginations, and 
 keep within the bounds of useful and beneficial 
 knowledge. Their readers too would be freed 
 from perusing long and lifeless books, made up 
 chiefly of fanciful suppositions instead of well 
 grounded 'facts ; which has been too much the 
 case in the point before you." 
 
 " The later authors, who mention this town are 
 desirous of giving it an early original. I will 
 acquaint you with their sentiments, and leave 
 them to your own decision as well as the cursory 
 remarks that lie intermixed. Some would have 
 this town British some Roman, and others 
 Saxon. They who contend for its being British 
 assert Dunwallo to have been its founder, or Di- 
 visus. The first opinion has had the ill fortune to 
 be supported, neither by facts, nor even by pro-
 
 16 HISTORY OF 
 
 babilities. Dr. Stukeley is a kind of a sort of 
 patron of the last. Though in his Itinerarium 
 Curiosum (page 136) he earnestly contends for 
 this town, being the same with the " Punctuobice" 
 of an anonymous writer of Ravennas, and by this 
 gives it the honour of a Roman structure ; yet in 
 his Stonehenge (page 48) he is in some distress 
 to determine, whether it might not have been 
 built by an old British king, whom he himself 
 christened Divitiacus. These curious suggestions 
 will by and bye regain an attentive consideration 
 when your friend has nothing else to do/' 
 
 " I know of no authorities relating to the 
 British affairs, that go farther back than the ac- 
 count delivered by Julius Caesar ; and the suc- 
 ceeding classical authors themselves assure us that 
 he knew little more than their outlines. The 
 subsequent writers are too general to be proper 
 evidences for the doctor. I never heard of any 
 ancient books remaining of the Britons : they are 
 all lost, if they ever subsisted. The language 
 only remains, and the recondite antiquary founds 
 facts of history upon the radixes of this, as the 
 mysterious Hutchinsonian builds systems of phi- 
 losophy upon Hebrew ones. These etymologies 
 have furnished out great attempts for wonderful 
 discoveries, the words having been tortured and 
 woven into a delicate contexture of flimsy pro- 
 babilities." 
 
 " Musgrave thinks it a Roman town, but the 
 ancient name lost (see Belgium Britannicum, vol. 
 1. page 124.) He has produced some grounds
 
 THE DEVIZES. 
 
 for his conjecture, from the many Roman anti- 
 quities found in its neighbourhood. I wonder 
 that the antiquaries have not availed themselves 
 of the advantages that arise from its name ; from 
 hence might start a pregnant hint for a visionary 
 in antiquities. The word Devizes is very near 
 the Latin Divisee. This looks something like a 
 Roman word, and indeed could the word be traced 
 clearly back to the Roman times, it would be a 
 reasonable proof of the place itself being a Roman 
 work. The Romans left Britain about the year 
 476 ; the Saxons and Danes kept possession till 
 1066 ; barbarous and ignorant nations, who ex- 
 tirpated the people, and almost the language of 
 Rome. The Monks however preserved some 
 relics of the tongue out of this general devastation. 
 William of Malmsbury the most accurate and 
 sensible writer of all the Monkish historians, has 
 retained some Roman names of towns. Among 
 others, he calls the Bishop of Lincoln, Episcopus 
 Lind-colniensis, that is Lindi colonise. This 
 writer all along calls this town Divisa?. But 
 Roger Hoveden, under the years 1063 and 1072, 
 and Dugdale's Monasticon use this word for 
 boundaries ; and the ancient lawyers as Bracton 
 and Fleta. Whether these intimations are cre- 
 dible, or what these boundaries meant, the author 
 will not take upon him to determine." 
 
 " It is by no means probable that this town was 
 a Saxon building hi the time of Alfred, as the 
 annotator on his life is reported to have advanced ; 
 for the name would then have had some Saxon
 
 18 HISTORY OF 
 
 termination, which no one has yet ventured to 
 assert. Nor can it be allowed to have had its 
 name from a division of lands between king 
 Stephen and Roger, Bishop of Salisbury ; because 
 the grant of these lands was made to Roger before 
 Stephen was king ; and no division of lands ap- 
 pears to have been made, or possibly could be 
 between Stephen and Roger, as will appear below. 
 So that all the scene here laid before you is, like 
 Milton's Chaos, 
 
 ' As dark as Erebus, or Night.' 
 "The Roman coins and Penates found in its 
 neighbourhood, do not prove the town Roman, 
 because these might have been hid in fields. It is 
 very reasonable to believe it a town not known in 
 or near Antoninus's time, because no traces can 
 be found of it in his Itinerary. That it was the 
 Punctuobice of Ravennas wants clearer proofs than 
 can be wire-drawn from an unmeaning, unac- 
 countable, and an absurd Etymology. Though 
 the Via Icena, according to Mr. Wise, (see Wise's 
 White Horse, p. 43) points to Abury, it does not 
 prove that it passes through the Devizes. There 
 are no marks left of any Roman works in or near 
 the place, unless that near Roundway-hill be a 
 Roman camp ; which would prove as well Calne, 
 and all the towns under The Downs, which have 
 Roman camps in their neighbourhoods, to have 
 been Roman. Another reason why it could not 
 be so, may be derived from the nature and situa- 
 tion of the place. The Romans were too well 
 instructed to build a town at such a distance from
 
 THE DEVIZES. f9 
 
 a river, unless upon a causeway ; at which Mr. 
 Wise has made a fair point, but nothing arose. 
 Mr. Camden with his usual prudence and judg- 
 ment has kept clear of all intimations that might 
 carry this place into any remote antiquity. We 
 can indeed go no farther back than where you 
 have often formerly played, the Castle ; which 
 engages you even now in amusements almost as 
 trifling and insignificant as the diversions of child- 
 hood. But since we are come to this spot, here 
 you may set your foot upon firm ground. I am 
 obliged however to tread with caution, and to 
 follow the footsteps of the earliest Monkish his- 
 torians ; for their successors are very busy in 
 adding largely to their facts ; they are not con- 
 tented to deliver them as they were handed down 
 without intruding some of their own unac- 
 countable inventions into the situations of their 
 predecessors. You may hence conclude that I 
 have a strong passion for antiquities ; yet there 
 is no one that gives me so much pleasure as an 
 old friend, which I am satisfied you are to 
 him, &c., &c. 
 
 11 " *' An old woman who shewed 
 
 Lord Bathurst's fine place by Cirencester, was 
 asked by a gentleman that came to see it, ' Pray 
 what building is that' ' Oh sir that is a ruin a 
 thousand years old, which my lord built last year, 
 and he proposes to build one this year, half as 
 old again.* This absurdity i& scarce greater than 
 what is seriously practised by modern antiquaries. 
 Dr. Stukeley is for carrying the Castle of. The
 
 20 HISTORY OF 
 
 Devizes into the legendary state oif the old 
 woman." 
 
 " You have seen that castles have 
 
 their periods ; they rise, flourish, and decay ; and 
 seem as mortal as the man that built them. 
 Though they were once noble and amazing struc- 
 tures, they were, as Rome has been, and as my 
 Lord Mayor's house will be, ruined by their own 
 greatness. They ought not however to dazzle 
 our eyes so much as to make us conclude upon 
 the greatness of their age from that of their bulk. 
 No further allowance "should be given to their 
 years than that which is justified by authority ; 
 and this will not allow you to go one step farther 
 back for the origin of your castle than the year 
 1132. Then it was certainly built. But what 
 weight can so puny an author as your friend is, 
 who never yet published a sixpenny pamphlet, 
 have against so ponderous an author of some 
 Folios? Mine is like the fate of Hector in 
 Homer, or Turnus in Virgil, or the Devil's in 
 Milton, which 
 
 * Flew up and kick't the beam.' 
 " I acknowledge myself to be a mean Cockney 
 to that great hunter after objects of antiquity, 
 the renowned Antiquary of Lincolnshire, the in- 
 incomparable incomprehensible incon vincible 
 Doctor Stukeley, who affirms very peremptorily 
 affirms ' That the town was enclosed by the 
 Romans with a vallum and ditch/ though no 
 traces of a vallum and ditch appear to any eye 
 but his own. That ' this town took in the castle,
 
 THE DBVIZES. 21 
 
 which was originally Roman, but afterwards 
 rendered impregnable by Roger, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury." I humbly conceive, the Roman castle, 
 here mentioned, did not formerly stand on the 
 hill where the windmills are now placed, but in 
 the air." 
 
 " You see the town is not only Roman, but the 
 castle too, without the least probability or the 
 shadow of a proof. If the town must be linked 
 with the castle the former had better be fixed to 
 the true date of the latter. This I confess will 
 degrade it in the eyes of all zealots of antiquity, 
 by paring it down from a Roman to a Norman 
 structure, yet this is the most reasonable opinion. 
 The extent and magnificence of the castle must 
 have furnished a number of attendants suitable to 
 its greatness. Bread, meat, herbs, clothes, and 
 utensils are the calls of necessity ; which must be 
 supplied by bakers, butchers, brewers, gardeners, 
 shoemakers, taylors, manufacturers and mecha- 
 nics. You see there is instantly a set of inhabi- 
 tants fixed without the walls, to answer the exi- 
 gencies of those within. The cloistered monks 
 indeed kept arts and sciences close within their 
 walls, which were scarce ever known to come 
 abroad but once at the Reformation ; but this 
 was not the case with castles. This great one 
 then produced the town, as naturally as a Palace 
 begets a village ; or a great Lord, villians."* 
 
 " As 1 am just come to the town after a fatigu- 
 ing pursuit, it is necessary to pull in and enter 
 coolly. I shafl take a peep over the pales at your
 
 22 HISTORY* OF 
 
 villa, which is one of the most natural modern 
 antiquities that has yet been seen, &c. &c." 
 
 " As to your town, no doubt but it was 
 
 ancient, as has been asserted above, but not quite 
 so old as the Flood, Babel, Babylon, or Rome. 
 The inhabitants are not the worse for not having 
 long pedigrees of Roman blood in their veins ; 
 they may be contented with a descent no earlier 
 than the Normans. It is honour enough in these 
 days to derive our blood from the French, for we 
 are not like to draw it from them any other way. 
 Surely that nature was the common stock of all 
 the Europeans ; who are all dwindling into beaux, 
 dancing masters, musicians, fribbles, and games- 
 ters. Witness the genteel pig- tail, the graceful 
 movement, the harmonious hum, the jessamy cock 
 of the hat, and the tradesmen's books. They 
 seem very much like your gallipots, which are 
 lately gilded and newJettered by order of the 
 College of Physicians. They are all gold without 
 but bitterness within. The complexion of the 
 present age you see, pleads strongly for this ori- 
 ginal, and carries this hereditary claim still farther. 
 Not only the cut of their clothes and their diet, 
 but their language is brought irresistibly into 
 fashion. I hope for the sake of old England, that 
 our acts of parliament will continue some time 
 longer in English, though it is to be feared they 
 may not do so, since the articles of a late peace 
 have been penned in French; and since an able 
 speaker at the head of the War office is fond of 
 crowding French phrases into English parliamen-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 23 
 
 tary debates. You, sir, in your place, have par- 
 taken of this degeneracy, and expelled the few 
 remains of the old honest laborious Saxons ; who 
 early submitted to, and were incorporated with 
 the Normans. They were wool-pickers, wool- 
 combers, weavers, clothiers, and dyers. The in- 
 dustry of these brought riches into your town, 
 which were preserved under the faithful custody 
 of frugality. But now how are you changed into 
 delicacy and poverty into embroidery on one day 
 of the week, and dirtiness on all the rest sacks 
 are thin hi your market-place on Thursdays, but 
 thick in your churches on Sundays. You have 
 turned the grating of your wool-combs into the 
 scraping of fiddles ; the skreeking loom into the 
 tinkling harpsichord, and the thumping fulling- 
 mills into a glittering and contentious organ. 
 Scents of perfumes are in your churches ; your 
 houses are ornamented with Bath stone, wrought 
 into pediments, entablatures, and pillas trades ; 
 your market-house a stranger to wool-packs is 
 metamorphosed into a theatre for balls, concertos 
 and oratorios. So much for the present liberties 
 of the Town, &c. &c." 
 
 " You must now give me leave to ad- 
 dress myself to you in a more particular manner, 
 with that old fashioned frankness that would not 
 flatter an enemy to make him his friend. You 
 had always a natural taste for antiquities, especially 
 for the English. Your honest passion has been 
 steady to the roast beef and strong beer of old 
 England. You love the roughness of the old in-
 
 24 HISTORY OF 
 
 nocent and hearty ages, better than the modern 
 gay, refined, effeminate manners. Your integrity 
 has made you open, undisguised and sincerely 
 blunt; and has given an antique cast to your 
 whole composition. You have constantly retained 
 a veneration for the Druids of your country and 
 have amused yourself some years within the hollow 
 of a tree. This is your cave of contemplation, 
 lined with slabs, and stuccoed with moss. Your 
 couch is covered with the same and matted with 
 the peelings of the bark of trees. Your table is 
 a chopping-block, your dishes platters, your plates 
 trenchers, and your chairs are chumps of wood. 
 Nature having given you two hands, supplies you 
 with knives forks and spoons. Every noon and 
 night, you sacrifice to your god Pan a goblet of 
 barley wine. Your eyes every day are feasted 
 sufficiently with a peep at the outside of three 
 churches. Your ears are entertained with the 
 sweetest of all musick, a natural oratorio of birds. 
 Flowering shrubs perfume your nostrils, and you 
 enjoy the conversation of your faithful Houy- 
 hnhnms. The gratification of all the senses lies 
 within your reach ; you live in the fruition of 
 nature, without envy or restraint. With you I 
 go back to distant ages two thousand years ago, 
 and admire virtue in its original simplicity. To 
 you therefore I address myself, who are formed by 
 inclination to be an antiquary ; to you I bequeath 
 these sheets, not as a dedication, which among 
 authors is a preamble or prelude to thinking ; but 
 as a codicil, the result of my most mature delibe-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 25 
 
 ration It is not a gift of value, but may serve as 
 an amusement for a vacant hour, whenever you 
 are disposed to be grave, or take a nap." 
 
 "Your friend has been an old stager in the 
 tedious and uncomfortable tracks of antiquity, 
 which have wanted mending, ever since Batteley* 
 finished his Rhutupium. I whip through thick 
 and thin, till I come to a convenient place to bait 
 at. There I stop to refresh with proper neces- 
 saries ; the conversation of the Landlord, and the 
 information of the Clerk of the parish, the most 
 conversable and intelligent person left in it ; who 
 keeps the records of it, and knows most of the 
 antiquities in the neighbourhood. The squire, 
 formerly a Fox hunter, is now generally slinking 
 to London to hawk off a daughter, or in strong 
 scent of a half-pay place, or a quartered pension. 
 The parson is so perpetually engaged with his 
 neighbouring brethren, that his parishioners never 
 see him, but of a Sunday ; unless the squire come 
 post from Town for a week, to wreck his tenants 
 and carry away every farthing in the parish. After 
 the information of my learned friends, and the 
 mug is emptied, I jog on in search of antiquities ; 
 sometimes I stop to take a view of a barrow, an 
 old dyke, a ruined wall or tottering steeple. If I see 
 a camp any where, I ride full gallop, examine and 
 carefully measure it. If it be a square I can tell you 
 to an inch, where stood all its gates, the Ara, and 
 Pretorium, and how many people it contained 
 
 * " The ingenious, sensible, and polite author of the Anti- 
 quitates Rhutupinoe."
 
 26 HISTORY OF 
 
 exactly 1500 years ago. In the evening before I 
 go to bed, I recollect the important events of the 
 day, and write down my observations in the first 
 words that offer, for that produces an easy diction. 
 I express my thoughts as fast as they flow, for 
 that makes a simplicity of sentiment. I avoid all 
 revisals and corrections, for they render a compo- 
 sition stiff and laboured ; in short I write just as 
 you see, without thinking, without connexion, and 
 without design. I make frequent bold, abrupt, 
 eccentrical, and characteristical excursions, like 
 my Lord Shaftsbury or a Comet. You see I am 
 thoroughly qualified to execute on the minute and 
 plebeian antiquaries the office of 
 
 "Censor castigatorqr.e minorum." 
 
 " These as you have seen above, think your 
 town at least Roman, and carry its age, as the 
 Welsh do their pedigrees, beyond the utmost 
 stretch of human conception., We have observed 
 that Dr. Musgrave was of this opinion, who affirms 
 the village must have been a large one ; and he 
 advances a step farther, and calls it a very ancient 
 little town : but he imagines the ancient name 
 lost. He proves, from the wine-vessel found here 
 with Alexander's name upon it, that one Alexan- 
 der a great man certainly resided in it, attended 
 by his household gods. But this is not to be 
 understood to be Alexander the Great or Alexander 
 the Coppersmith, but -an Alexander Alexander 
 what's his name a certain Alexander, a maker 
 of crockery- wares. These hasty steps are nothing 
 to the large ones of Dr, Stukeley. Believe me,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 27 
 
 sir, at one progressive stride, he stalked over Dr. 
 Musgrave's head, the line of right reason, and the 
 extensive bounds of probability, with as much 
 ease as Rich in the boxing match, jumped over 
 the head of the Carman. The ancient name Mus- 
 grave had lost, Stukeley has found. Where ? 
 why where all antiquities lie concealed in rub- 
 bish. He found it indeed with as much quickness, 
 as Mrs. Squire found the longitude, and with an 
 equal certainty. It was you must know, the 
 Punctuobice of Ravennas. This Ravennas, I 
 must inform you, is an anonymous writer, and 
 upon that account is presumed to be better ac- 
 quainted witli the highways than any of his pre- 
 decessors. He has recorded some stages that the 
 Romans travelled in order to let his contempo- 
 raries and then- posterity know where they could 
 be readily supplied with proper entertainment and 
 post chaises. From Leucomagus you go to 
 Cunetzio alias Cunetio alias Marlbro' ; then 
 you proceed to Punctuobice, that is, Vies Aye, 
 there it is, in the very two last syllables ; lay aside 
 Punctuo and you have it in Bice.*" 
 
 * Stukeley's own language is the following " I suppose here 
 is a remnant of the former part of the word Punctuobice in 
 Poulshot a little village hard by ; Pottern another ; Pottern 
 Wood, and the name of the hundred Pottern, taken in the first 
 time of their divisions from such a corrupt appellation of this 
 place ; the last syllables bice subsist in the present name De- 
 vizes, vulgarly called vies." Itinerarium Curiosum. page 136. 
 So persuaded was Stukeley at the time, of the truth of this 
 conjecture, that in his engraved view of the Town, executed in 
 1723, it is denominated by this forgotten name. Instead of
 
 28 HISTORY OF 
 
 " You see how subjects of this kind are to be 
 managed ; it is not however in the power of every 
 body to have such a command. Dr. Stukeley is 
 in possession of a true Roman Securis ; it is his 
 companion, friend, and guard. He uses it upon 
 all occasions ; if he meets with but an odd word, 
 he lays it down fairly transcribed in capitals, and 
 with one slight chop divides it ; whatever remains 
 on the right of the securis, is the right word. He 
 pursues this religious opinion of the Romans with 
 great exactness. The Grecians indeed valued 
 the left side most, but the Romans after a com- 
 plete conquest, changed hands with them. This 
 sort of torture is usual among critics, but never 
 carried to so severe a degree before, as to treat 
 words as Procrustes did men This gentleman is 
 in the same instant Judge, Jury, and executioner ; 
 even as soon as the learned juggler blows, Bice is 
 turned into vice and vice into vies. So that all 
 that is left of this unfortunate word Punctuobice 
 is the tail, which is looked on, as in vipers, as 
 the only sensible part. Mr. Pope seems to have 
 pointed out such minute critics to the life in the 
 following line. 
 
 ' They catch the eel of science by the tail.' 
 
 An elderly gentleman, witness to this sad catas- 
 trophe, broke out into the following pathetic speech 
 of condolence. ' Alas, poor Punctuobice ! thou 
 
 seeking an explanation of the first part of the word in Pottern, 
 it is rather surprizing that he did not found a theory on the 
 apparent analogy between Divisse, and punctum-biceps a point 
 divided.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 29 
 
 who hadst lain untouched a thousand years, wrapt 
 up in obscurity and dust, in the corner of a library 
 of monks, wert at last dragged out of thy snug re- 
 tirement, and impressed into an army of virulent 
 Literati ; but in a little time you disappeared, 
 afterwards wert caught and brought out as a traitor 
 upon the scaffold of criticism, without one friend 
 to support thee, for thy own Ravennas was not 
 known. Thou wert executed by the order and 
 hands of the Inquisitor- general of words. Thou 
 hadst not the honor of being beheaded, for that is 
 only reserved for capital bodies ; but to be halved, 
 the ignominious fate cf diminutive ones. How 
 do I commiserate and share thy grief, when I re- 
 collect thy fondness and regret for the poor misera- 
 ble orphan thou hast left behind thee mayst thou 
 oh Bice, meet a better fate.' Thus ended these 
 melancholy words, with the sad solemnity ; the 
 execution was performed at one blow : the priestly 
 butcher retired to some invisible place like a Druid 
 I beg pardon, I mean a Celtic, to his oak. 
 However he repented, took care of the orphan, 
 bred him up and put him out in the world after 
 having properly bound him ; for the poor thing 
 had lost his father and mother, and had not any 
 one relation left in the world except one cousin- 
 german whose name was Pooghen, of whom you 
 will hear something by and bye. * 
 
 * " The foundation of these painful lucubrations, which are 
 humbly submitted to the reader's judgment, may be found in a 
 book full of uncommon erudition, ycleped Itinerarium Curiosvm 
 at the 76th and 108th pages ; composed at night under the in-
 
 30 HISTORY OF 
 
 " My regard and veneration for this incom- 
 parable Doctor oblige me to wait upon him a little 
 farther, to shew you how artfully he tries to ex- 
 tricate himself out of this unsurmountable puzzle. 
 In another learned book written by him, we are 
 informed that one William Baxter, a profound 
 antiquary, a haberdasher of hard words, well 
 skilled in his native language, Welsh, and possessed 
 with a national itch for verbal criticism, was at an 
 uncommon loss to account for the word Punctuo, 
 and confessed his ignorance on his death-bed. 
 This distress threw him into a sedentary life, and 
 a steady train of meditation. Under this situation, 
 he received a visit from his old friend Dr. Stuke- 
 ley, who stalking in, very dirty, just after his re- 
 turn from Stonehenge, enquired into the occasion 
 of his melancholy and dejection of spirits ; and 
 talked with him as an antiquary and friend, and 
 something like a Physician. As soon as the 
 Doctor found the cause of his disease, and that the 
 seat of it was in his gizzard, he cried aloud 'Poogh ! 
 the word comes from pooghen, which in German 
 signifies an arduous work, as much as to say the 
 castle, which is said to have been the strongest in 
 Europe.' * Baxter did not acquiesce in this 
 peremptory decision, but replied, that William of 
 Malmsbury and Matthew Paris give this character 
 
 fluence of painful dreams by Master William Stevckele. This 
 book has a great many divertizing things in it ; there are maps 
 and pictures and tail-pieces, but upon turning it very atten- 
 tively over, I could not find in the whole book one single head- 
 piece." 
 
 * See Stukeley's Stonehenge. p. 48.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 31 
 
 to Roger's castle only, and never hinted the least 
 at any other castle more ancient, upon the same 
 spot of ground. Baxter kept his temper for the 
 present, for his spirits were not high enough to 
 rise immediately into a passion. These two had 
 been old friends and intimate acquaintances, formed 
 nearly out of the same materials ; their minds 
 were much alike, so that they valued each other, 
 as Virtuosos should do, for the antique cast of 
 their manners, and the venerable rust that stuck 
 close about them. They imparted to each other, 
 the important discoveries that they had made, long 
 before they went to the press. Their friendship 
 was closely connected by a chain of hard words. 
 They perpetually disputed, but never convinced ; 
 their disagreements served for a constant fund of 
 conversation, and kept them as steady in their 
 affections, as a court balance exactly poized by 
 different parties. Thus they had lived for years, 
 till this fatal catastrophe happened, which was the 
 unfortunate occasion of the death of poor Baxter, 
 but evidently without any malice prepense. The 
 Doctor made no other answer to Baxter's remon- 
 strances, but cried aloud thrice contemptuously, 
 Pooghen ! A warm dispute ensued, and Baxter 
 was treated with such unusual freedoms and such 
 an inveterate asperity for his ignorance in the 
 German tongue, and want of faith in an infallible 
 Doctor, that all his Welsh blood flew instantly up 
 into his face. He puffed powerful protestations, 
 and poured plenty of proverbial parallogisms with 
 pestiferous perfumes, into poor Pill's physiognomy.
 
 32 HISTORY OF 
 
 The Docter started, retreated and spewed. In the 
 same interim Baxter's adust constitution, having 
 been almost reduced to touchwood, was thrown 
 into such a violent fermentation, as to set fire to 
 the brimstone he had been larded with, so that he 
 died in a sudden combustion, and the man multi- 
 nominis, the phoenix of the age, was reduced to 
 ashes by his own odours." 
 
 " This indeed is a very tragical exit, but let us 
 compose our grief, and return to the survivor of 
 this nobile parfratrum. When Baxter was dead, 
 his friend reigned alone and commanded words. 
 But words have natural rights as well as men ; 
 they do not care to be turned out of possession 
 without the previous forms, and some reasons 
 offered for an ejectment. It is but just that they 
 should have their titles examined, and evidence 
 heard, before judgment is given. They have often 
 had good success in courts of justice, and have 
 recovered large costs from their plaintiffs mis- 
 nomers. The Doctor it must be confessed, in 
 another place acknowledges himself in some dis- 
 tress about this cumbersome word Punctuobice, 
 but like an old staunch hound, will not give it up. 
 ' Anonymous Ravennas ' says he ' may possibly 
 call it Punctuobice, but we have no certainty that 
 his copy remains uncorrupt, or that he transcribed 
 it right, nor what alterations the Romans made in 
 the original word Devizes, nor what was made in 
 the later or barbarous times. However there seems 
 enough therein, as well as in the present name of 
 the town, to countenance our conjecture ! You
 
 THE DEVIZES. 33 
 
 see at last he is not clear that the word ever was 
 in Ravennas ; and if it was, it might possibly have 
 been altered by the Saxons, Goths, Vandals, or 
 Franks ; yet there is enough left to justify his con- 
 jecture ; it is still therefore vies from vice, from 
 Bice, from Punctuobice. Did you ever see such 
 a Welsh or rather Irish pedigree does it not put 
 you in mind of that of king Pepin ? 
 
 " The Doctor must be acknowledged to have 
 been more fortunate in the following etymology, 
 and very happy in the application of it. ' The 
 Devizes is a town in the middle of Wansdyke, 
 and very probably erected, among others, to secure 
 the ditch or fortification. It seems to have been 
 the capital fort or frontier town, and to have had 
 its name from the king, as a trophy or monument 
 of his power, built by him in person." * A 
 little below he adds ' They tell us legendary tales 
 about its being built by an old British king Di- 
 visus was probably the name of this Belgic mo- 
 narch, or Duiguis. As Gluiguis king of Demetia 
 in Wales is wrote Glivisus by Toland. And the 
 termination may have been framed into Latin from 
 the Celtic word Tseog i. e- dux. Whence perhaps 
 the Etruscan ' Tages ' so much boasted of in their 
 antiquities ; likewise the modern f Doge ' of Ve- 
 nice. To that Divitiacus may well be Divisus 
 dux.' f Believe me sir, a most perspicuous and 
 incontestible inference." 
 
 " As there are some things mentioned above in 
 
 * Stonehenge, page 48. f page 186.
 
 34 HISTORY OF 
 
 a catachrestic style, which I do not thoroughly 
 apprehend, I took the liberty once of asking the 
 Doctor the following questions. Is the town in 
 the middle of the length of Wansdyke ? Yes surely, 
 it is but four miles west from it Perhaps Doctor 
 you mean that it stands opposite to the middle of 
 the length of Wansdyke ? Yes most assuredly, as 
 does Newbury and Kingston and Rochester, fyc. 
 Is it certain that this was a frontier town to the 
 Dyke ? As certain as that the Romans never built 
 a station nearer to the place to be defended, than 
 four miles. Was it built as a Trophy to the king's 
 power ? As sure as Dido built Troy ; and William 
 the Conqueror, King's College Chapel Was it 
 built by the king in person ? Without all question, 
 and by the very same king that erected Stonehenge 
 with his own hands, for the Celtic kings were hewers 
 of wood and drawers of water, and bricklayers, and 
 stone-cutters and Free-masons. Did the Celtae 
 ever build their towns so far from rivers ? Often ; 
 witness their metropolis at Stonehenge, and their 
 large town upon Marlborough Down, called now 
 the Grey Wethers ; you ought to know that the 
 characteristic of a Celt was to be patiens solis atque 
 sitis." 
 
 " These answers quite silenced me, so that I 
 have scarce more than one word left to say, that 
 i am Sir &c. &c." 
 
 " In my last I was struck dumb. This taci- 
 turnity was attended with an amusing reverie, in 
 which a method darted into my mind of propa- 
 gating the species of this set of incomparable
 
 THE DEVIZES. 35 
 
 writers. It is enclosed in the following short re- 
 ceipt, which I am sure is as infallible for making 
 a complete modern antiquary, as Mrs. Stephen's 
 dissolvent for the stone, or Dr. James's powder 
 for a fever. I send it in English, because your 
 wife may put it into her family receipt-book, for 
 the benefit of your son who is just going to the 
 University. It is in the taste of the last Dispen- 
 sary, the like of which, according to the general 
 opinion never was, nor ever will be seen. 
 
 Conserve of hoary legendary tales 2 Ounces 
 Probably 's preserved .... 6 Drachms 
 
 Flowers of Monkhood ... 4 Drachms 
 Seems to be may be sprink-1 
 
 led over the whole . . . -j 2 Drachms 
 Roots of Hebraic, Celtic, Saxon, ^ 
 all finely powdered but not 
 searched . . . . . . . ) i Drachm 
 
 Species of Reasons .... 2 Scruples 
 
 Syrup of sweet credulity, as much as will make 
 it into an Electary. 
 
 Take the quantity of an owl's egg every morning 
 fasting, and at nine at night, drinking after each 
 dose, a bottle of Cerevisia Celtica, i. e. Barley- 
 Wine. The morning dose will create an easy 
 digestion, and the night one, pleasing and roman- 
 tic dreams There must be added to it a careful 
 diet of roots, and a constant course of riding 
 through all winds, weathers and roads, in the way, 
 or out of the way. Mr. Wise will furnish you 
 with a horse &c." I acknowledge an owl's egg
 
 36 HISTORY OF 
 
 3X? ':*'' ' ' 
 
 is an unusual magnitude for a medicinal dose, but 
 it was thought here not too large, because all stu- 
 dents who are formed by nature for antiquities, 
 are furnished with large swallows. I would have 
 them like the family of the Stukeleys. You must 
 be informed that there were two Williams, one 
 was a physician at Grantham, the other a divine 
 at Stamford and London. They both descended 
 from the ancient house of Stevekele, both their 
 Christian and surnames were the same, and though 
 they were both as like as Virgil's twins ; 
 
 ' proles 
 
 Indiscreta suis gratusque parentibus error ;' 
 
 Yet they were very different men. The Physi- 
 cian believed nothing but the most incredible 
 things of the Celtic Gods ; the other as appears 
 by a late sermon preached before the College of 
 Physicians avowedly believes in the Devil and all 
 his works. The Physician had a particular affec- 
 tion for an aged owl, probably because it was a 
 symbol of one of his goddesses, whom he adored 
 by this representative ; though he often prayed to 
 her, his prayers, like his practice, soon vanished 
 into air. This owl was a present from a noble 
 Dutchess (Ancaster,) whether as a curiosity, or a 
 reproof ; by way of civility or satire is a point not 
 determined to this day. However, the master 
 made the bird the companion of his studies, and 
 the confident of his soliloquies. He perpetually 
 gazed at the eyes of his bird, as if it had been his 
 looking glass, and indeed that was the only one 
 he ever used. This rara avis was his bona avis,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 37 
 
 always stood fixed upon a perch on his right 
 hand ; but the master was unfortunately cursed, 
 as Virgil says, with a left handed mind. An oil 
 extracted from the faeces of the auspicious bird, 
 was given to his Apothecary at Stamford, as a 
 nostrum for the gout. The Doctor, from the sa- 
 cred gravity, or lulling composure in the counte- 
 nance of his friend, commenced instantly an errant 
 Antiquary ; but it cannot be asserted whether 
 from inspiration, intuition, or ab ovo." 
 
 " I must ingenuously confess," that the above 
 " Recipe was not entirely my own. I think 
 nevertheless that I have some share in the pro- 
 perty, as I have taken immense pains to decypher 
 an hieroglyphical hand, and used the utmost cau- 
 tion and precision to whittle the medicine into the 
 present fashionable taste. I met with the original 
 in a manuscript of brother Symons, a monk of the 
 Abbey of St. James in Northampton He had 
 collected a great many receipts from Hippocras, 
 Gallienus, and Kelsus, authors I imagine now 
 lost ; but this probably was taken out of some 
 Arabian Physician. In the original there were 
 several nuts, as chesnuts, cypress, walnuts, &c. : 
 these I threw away /as all kernels may be suspected 
 to be poison, and no antidote is left in the present 
 Dispensary to expell it. To make the medicine 
 efficacious, I ejected all simples heterogeneous to 
 my own private opinion ; to render it palatable, 
 I banished a few indeed efficacious ingredients ; 
 to make the remaining efficacious ones creep se- 
 curely into the offices of digestion, chylification,
 
 38 HISTORY OF 
 
 and sanguification, I doubled the quantities of 
 some as the probable seem to be may be ; which 
 have very little taste, yet serve as sheaths to carry 
 the others down, and dark-lanterns to light them 
 through all the alleys to their places of destination. 
 I preserved the spices in the species in a moderate 
 quantity, enough I hope for the hysterical ladies, 
 the whetters, the slipslops and the freethinkers 
 I put in but a small quantity, lest they should fly 
 to the head, to which I would have nothing aimed 
 but the two bottles of barley wine. I think I have 
 now adapted it to the applauded simplicity of the 
 very last Dispensary. Simplicity, sir, is the beauty 
 of architecture ; the delicacy of gardening ; 
 the expression of music ; the soul of painting ; 
 the true basis of morality ; in philosophy it is 
 experiment ; in geometry, demonstration : in 
 medicine, longevity : in composition, sublimity ; 
 but in metaphysics, a chimcera."
 
 THE DEVIZES. 39 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 REPLY TO DR. DAVIS ROGER, BISHOP OF SARUM, 
 
 BUILDS A CASTLE AT DEVIZES KING STEPHEN 
 
 WRESTS IT FROM HIM DEATH OF ROGER AND 
 
 REMARKS ON HIS CHARACTER CASTLE SEIZED 
 
 BY ROBERT FITZ HERBERT EMPRESS MATILDA 
 
 COMES INTO POSSESSION YIELDS POTTERNE AND 
 
 KANNINGS TO THE SEE OF SARUM BUT RETAINS 
 DEVIZES. 
 
 IN attempting a short reply to the observations 
 in the preceding chapter, less regard will be had 
 to the establishing of any new theory than to over- 
 turn the position that the origin of the town 
 is to be dated from the erection of Roger Pauper's 
 Castle. And before examining more particularly 
 into the circumstances connected with that period, 
 it may be observed en passant that if the difficul- 
 ties of proving it to have been a Roman station 
 are such, as to render absurd any serious attempt 
 to establish that point ; it is easy to shew that the 
 objections heretofore raised against that view, are 
 by no means conclusive. True, it was on no 
 causeway or line of march, as far as we can now 
 judge, but if this is to establish its non-existence 
 at the time, we may just blot out the names of 
 nearly half the towns, villas, or forts, scattered 
 over the Roman Empire. But it is urged that the
 
 40 HISTORY OF 
 
 distance of Devizes from any river disproves the 
 idea of that people having made choice of the 
 spot. This is to suppose that of all nations, the 
 Romans were the only people since the days of 
 Adam, who made the astonishing discovery that 
 the bank of a river was a suitable place for the 
 commerce and convenience of a town. But with- 
 out going to Italy and detailing the numerous 
 elevated spots along the foot of the Appenines, 
 which were adopted as the sites of fortified towns, 
 and where the difficulty of obtaining water must 
 have always been far greater than at Devizes, we 
 have abundant proof in our own country that they 
 frequently allowed this consideration to occupy a 
 very subordinate place in their estimation of a 
 favourable position Sir Richard Colt Hoare 
 indeed agrees with some other antiquaries in sup- 
 posing that during troublous times, the Romans 
 actually adopted as residences the bleak, howling 
 entrenchments on our downs, popularly called 
 camps ; and proves it from the remains of their 
 workmanship found in those places. 
 
 But let us shift the ground, and draw an argu- 
 ment or two from circumstances connected with 
 the period subsequent to the Norman Conquest. 
 
 The history of the proceedings attendant on 
 the dismemberment of the Castle, Town and park 
 from the manor of Kannings which will hereafter 
 engage the reader's attention, distinctly shew that 
 immediately previous to that event, that is to say, 
 while Roger held the Castle, it was considered an 
 integral part of the said manor lying within its
 
 THE DEVIZES. 41 
 
 bounds, and in no shape separated from it. Now 
 if the name Devizes as significative of alienation 
 had been given to it at this crisis, we should doubt- 
 less have been made acquainted with the circum- 
 stance by the documents attesting that transaction ; 
 But we know certainly from still older ones, as 
 also from the language of historians, that such 
 was its name before that dismemberment or alie- 
 nation was meditated, which seems to involve the 
 inference that the circumstances, whatever they 
 were, which occasioned its name, were anterior to 
 its being held in the Bishop's hands. 
 
 But there is another point more deserving of 
 attention one of the above mentioned charters 
 of agreement drawn up between Henry, duke of 
 Normandy, and Bishop Joceline, when the latter 
 was endeavouring to regain possession of Devizes, 
 stipulates on the part of Henry, that while he 
 holds the castle, town, &c., he shall pay to the 
 Church of Sarum the same amount of revenue on 
 the Borough, as it had formerly rendered to 
 Bishop Roger. This proves that it possessed the 
 title and immunities of a corporate body before 
 the Empress Matilda granted that charter " to her 
 Burgesses of Devizes," which has always been 
 regarded as the earliest they received. Indeed it 
 is very possible that it was the earliest so granted, 
 since the charters of several succeeding monarchs 
 appear to be little more than confirmations of her's, 
 and expressly allude to it in that sense. Neverthe- 
 less it is evident that it was not her charter which 
 made the inhabitants of Devizes burgesses since
 
 42 HISTORY OF 
 
 she came not into possession of the plaee till se- 
 veral years after Bishop Roger's death, and we 
 may add that there is nothing in the language of 
 the instrument itself which bears the character of 
 a charter of creation. We are then thrown back 
 upon two alternatives ; either that the Borough's 
 representation (such as it was in those early times) 
 was a real privilege, and founded upon Saxon 
 burgage tenure from time immemorial ; or else, 
 that the construction of Roger's Castle called 
 into existence in an incredibly short space of time, 
 an important community, invested with the name 
 and privileges of a Borough, and sufficiently po- 
 pulous as to require two parish churches, and all 
 springing up from the few artizans who we are told 
 usually settled outside the walls of a newly erected 
 castle. 
 
 William of Malmsbury, the bishop's biographer, 
 assures us that he built a castle at Devizes but in 
 no place does he assert that he built the town 
 itself, founded its churches, and obtained a royal 
 grant for the constitution of its liberties. Surely 
 his devoted admirer while panegyrizing the acts 
 and deeds of his superior would not have omitted 
 to chronicle so important a circumstance what he 
 does state is ; that the Bishop erected, or was in 
 process of erecting four castles at these four places, 
 Salisbury, Malmsbury, Sherbourne, and Devizes.* 
 
 * In the erection of Devizes Castle, the bishop is stated to 
 have included a large piece of ground which he adorned with 
 turrets. By this expression is merely to be understood the en- 
 closure of the level space lying without the moat and separa-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 4-3 
 
 The three first mentioned of these were large and 
 flourishing places, and the advantages of building 
 in their vicinity were perfectly understood and 
 appreciated by the worthy prelate. A castle could 
 not possibly suffer by the proximity of a thriving 
 community, whom it overawed, and from whom 
 it derived constant and easy supplies, not only in 
 the way of barter and purchase for necessary 
 commodities, but more especially, on account of 
 the important revenues thence derivable in the 
 shape of the tariff or tribute which Burghers were 
 hi the habit of paying to the Lord under whose 
 patronage they thus lay in doubtful security^ 
 And why was this system departed from in the 
 case of Devizes ? how came it to pass that the 
 sagacious bishop should have chosen for the site 
 of his fourth, and (by the united testimony of all 
 the monkish writers) the most splendid of all his 
 military works, a spot of ground far afield from 
 any human habitation, a place at which no man 
 could live, because it was not on the bank of a 
 river ? 
 
 Admirably adapted as was the Castle-hill at 
 Devizes for the purposes of fortification, this was 
 not the only, and perhaps not the principal in- 
 ducement which operated in the selection of the 
 locality. The system of castrametation introduced 
 by the Normans was vastly different to that which 
 had originally prevailed in this island. They 
 
 ting the castle from the town, that being the most assailable 
 quarter. The proofs that the plot of ground in question was 
 BO enclosed and fortified, are apparent to the present day.
 
 44 HISTORY OF 
 
 placed far more reliance on a gigantic keep, a miry 
 moat and a ponderous port-cullis, than in the la- 
 borious earthen defences adopted by their prede- 
 cessors ; and they stationed their robbers' dens 
 just in those spots which appeared to offer the 
 greatest facilities for the exercise of oppression on 
 the industrious or defenceless classes. It would 
 therefore be a far more warrantable conjecture 
 to assume that Roger chose those places for the 
 erection of his four castles which happened to be the 
 most populous in his diocese, and that of these 
 four, Devizes was the most so.* 
 
 To those however who may still feel a persua- 
 sion that the town acquired its municipal distinc- 
 tion under Roger's prelacy, it must be conceded 
 that there is no positive proof to the contrary, only 
 they are requested to bear in mind two things. 
 First. That populous communities did not start 
 into existence in England in those days, with the 
 rapidity with which they now do in the forests of 
 the new world and secondly. That what few 
 privileges unchartered Boroughs were in the pos- 
 session of immediately after the Conquest, they 
 were held by the Burgesses from no good will on 
 the part of their Norman lords, whether lay or 
 spiritual, but were the remains of what they had 
 long enjoyed under the Saxon Dynasty, and which 
 they were still suffered to retain solely on account 
 of their insignificance, for as Blackstone observes, 
 
 * Wilton was probably more populous, but Bishop Osmond's 
 charter to the Cathedral does not appear to have embraced 
 that town,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 45 
 
 a hundred of their burgage tenures together would 
 hardly have amounted to one knight's fee. The 
 other estates of the realm had suffered the loss of 
 their all, except these dwellers in towns, " who in 
 their burgage and socage tenures" (he observes in 
 another place) " retained some points of their 
 ancient freedom." It is almost unnecessary to 
 add that of this description of property, numerous 
 instances have always existed in Devizes. Some 
 Boroughs are distinctly stated to derive their title 
 from burgage tenure, and this is always regarded 
 as proof of great antiquity : but Mr. Hallam 
 thinks that the representation of all unchartered 
 Boroughs is founded in like manner upon tenure. 
 
 Such are the premises therefore on which our 
 presumption is founded that Matilda's charter was 
 only a formal renewal of the privileges which the 
 Burgesses of Devizes had enjoyed previous to the 
 Conquest granted by her for the purposes of 
 conciliation, at a period when her own power in 
 England was very precarious ; and finally that if 
 the town really derived its existence from a castle 
 in whose vicinity it lay that castle was not 
 Bishop Roger's. 
 
 Of the two principal objections to this view that 
 may be anticipated, the first to be noticed, is de- 
 rived from the fact of the original parts in both 
 the churches of Devizes being of the age of Bishop 
 Roger. If coincidence of style is proof of con- 
 temporaneous date, this is undoubtedly true. But 
 while it no more establishes the point that churches 
 did not previously stand there, than in the case
 
 46 HISTORY OF 
 
 of Salisbury Church, which the Bishop is said to 
 have "built anew from the ground;" it affords 
 very satisfactory evidence that there was a popu- 
 lation to require them. And one of those churches 
 too was of no inconsiderable size, for though St. 
 John's appears to have been constructed in the 
 first place without side aisles, yet an examination 
 of the foundation courses of St. Mary's which 
 Mr. Phipps has lately laid bare, plainly shew that 
 such was not the case with this latter. 
 
 This however will be met by the second and by 
 far the most serious objection of all viz. that 
 neither Churches, Borough, nor Castle bearing the 
 name of Devizes occur in Doomsday book. 
 
 As to Churches, Sir Henry Ellis is clearly of 
 opinion that Doomsday book cannot be appealed to 
 for the non-existence of Parish Churches at the 
 age in which it was compiled. The whole num- 
 ber mentioned, falls considerably under what there 
 are grounds for concluding they must have 
 amounted to at the time of the Conquest, and in- 
 deed, unexceptionable evidence has been adduced 
 to corroborate this statement, in the case of several. 
 Under Edward the Confessor, there had been a 
 great increase of parish Churches, as appears from 
 a notice to that effect in one of the laws ascribed 
 to that monarch, wherein it is stated that three or 
 four churches were now standing where formerly 
 ohly one had existed. It has been further re- 
 marked that if it was the landed property of the 
 Clergy which was the object principally in view, 
 we need not be surprised that those churches and
 
 THE DEVIZES. 47 
 
 their incumbents should frequently be omitted, 
 which did not possess any quantity of glebe.* 
 The church or churches of Devizes were free cha- 
 pels and do not appear at this early period to have 
 derived their revenues from any sources but those 
 of voluntary contributions ; but on this point see 
 the subject more at large in the 9th Chapter of 
 this work. 
 
 With reference to the omission of the name as 
 that of a Borough, Devizes stands in the same 
 situation as Marlborough or Sarum. No one will 
 pretend to dispute their existence as corporate 
 communities, previous to the writing of Dooms- 
 day book, yet no allusion is therein made of the 
 Burgesses or Borough of Sarum or of Marlborough 
 as a Borough. These two instances alone are 
 adduced, because they lie in the vicinity. 
 
 And the same line of argument may be adopted 
 in relation to the castle, some other most impor- 
 tant ones having been omitted, which are well 
 known to have been in existence at the time of 
 the survey ; such as Dover, Nottingham, Durham, 
 and the Tower of London. 
 
 After all it is to be feared that whichever view 
 of the matter be entertained, it stills remains im- 
 practicable to make out a perfectly clear case. It 
 is one of those questions, to be decided by a pro- 
 cess of general induction and comparison, rather 
 than by the evidence of any one individual cir- 
 cumstance which can be brought to bear on the 
 
 * See Sir Henry's essay on Doomsday Book.
 
 48 HISTORY OF 
 
 merits of either side. It is certain that the an- 
 tiquity of the town is an idea which was long uni- 
 versally prevalent. Dr. Stukeley as we have 
 seen above, and several others regarded it as be- 
 yond controversy, and Dr. Ledwich the ingenious 
 author of the Antiquitates Sarisburienses asserts 
 that Roger merely " re-edified " the Castle. The 
 Latinity cf its name was no doubt a point of con- 
 siderable weight in their conclusions and it is pro- 
 bable that this might still be made the basis of 
 a better argument than can be drawn from any 
 other source. Stukeley's conjecture relative to 
 Punctuobice, as well as his derivation of Divitiacus 
 from Divisus dux are perhaps deserving of all the 
 raillery with which Davis has assailed them. Di- 
 vitiacus himself however is no mere name or man 
 of straw, as the latter gentleman seems to hint. 
 That he was a Belgian warrior of considerable 
 note, who made three descents upon this island, 
 each time pushing his conquests farther than be- 
 fore ; and that he transported hither the use of 
 several names from his own country, such as 
 Belgse, Parisii, Attrebati and others that the li- 
 mits of his last conquest, which he maintained, 
 were bounded by a line equivalent to, or very 
 near the Wansdyke, and that he was intimately 
 known to Cicero and Caesar, are historical facts 
 which do not owe their origin to Stukeley's powers 
 of invention. 
 
 In a work entitled " Gait's pictures of history," 
 the writer has dubbed two or three other Roman 
 Generals " Dukes of Devizes/' Whether or not
 
 THE DEVIZES. 49 
 
 the validity of this fine title is based on any better au- 
 thority than Stukeley's supposition does not appear. 
 
 But whether Bishop Roger of Salisbury be re- 
 garded as the original founder or only as the Nor- 
 man re-edifyer it now becomes necessary to pro- 
 ceed to some particular notice of his life ; more 
 especially as the passages of that life were the im- 
 mediate causes of giving to the name of Devizes 
 that prominent position which it occupies in this 
 dark Chapter of English History. Here we are 
 principally indebted to William of Malmsbury ; 
 for the age in which he lived, a most enlightened 
 historian The intelligent reader however will bear 
 in mind that William was a hooded monk, and 
 that therefore it is no matter of surprise, if from 
 his reverence for the cloth, his narratives occasion- 
 ally exhibit a leaning towards the ecclesiastical 
 merits of the case. Who is the historian indeed, 
 who could ever boast of having shaken himself 
 entirely free of party bias? 
 
 Malmsbury's account of Roger commences not 
 till after the latter was settled in England, but 
 from other sources we learn that his origin was 
 obscure and that he became known by chance to 
 Prince Henry while officiating as priest in a church 
 near Caen in Normandy. It is added that the 
 rapidity with which he performed the service was 
 the circumstance which gained for him the favour- 
 able notice of his volatile patron and his mili- 
 tary companions, who unanimously pronounced
 
 50 HISTORY OF 
 
 Roger the fittest chaplain they had ever known 
 for men of their profession. He accordingly be- 
 came one of the Prince's retinue, who in coming to 
 the throne appointed him first to the Chancellor- 
 ship, subsequently to the see of Sarum and even- 
 tually committed to his care the administration of 
 the entire kingdom while he himself was abroad in 
 Normandy. 
 
 The family of the Bishop also shared in his ad- 
 vancement. A son by his lady Matilda of Rams- 
 bury succeeded him as Chancellor of England ; 
 and two of his Norman nephews obtained the 
 sees of Ely and Lincoln, Nigel who was also the 
 the king's treasurer was presented to the former, 
 and Alexander to the latter. 
 
 King Henry shortly before his decease obtained 
 the oath of his nephew Stephen, the Earl of Blois, 
 and that of the other leading men of the realm to 
 support the succession of his daughter Matilda. 
 But hardly were his eyes closed, before those very 
 men, bishops and all, leagued to extinguish her 
 claims for ever, by solemnizing the coronation of 
 the usurper Stephen, in Westminster Abbey, 1 135. 
 This stroke of crooked policy, brought about, as 
 we shall presently see, a most sanguinary retri- 
 bution on its agents ; and of them, the bishops 
 were the first to find themselves caught in an evil 
 net. The monarch whom their influence had been 
 mainly instrumental in placing on the throne, was 
 no sooner seated there, than he ungenerously lent 
 his power to trample on and persecute them. His 
 poverty caused him to envy their vast riches, and
 
 THE DEVIZES. 51 
 
 the slender character of his pretensions to the 
 crown made him dread their power and influence 
 among the people. The Bishop of Salisbury in 
 particular, though no longer the first minister of 
 the Crown, was still one of the most influential 
 men in the nation. His nephew, Alexander, had 
 built a castle at Newark, and himself one at Sher- 
 born and another at Devizes, enclosing a large 
 tract of ground with many buildings adorned with 
 turrets. He had also begun one at Malmsbury, 
 while a fourth at Salisbury which had been granted 
 to him by Henry I. was occupied as his usual 
 residence. These castles were strongly fortified 
 and plentifully provided with warlike stores ; a 
 numerous retinue of knights accompanied him 
 wherever he appeared, and his two nephews, Alex- 
 ander and Nigel, imitated the secular pomp and 
 military parade of their uncle.* In appearance, 
 
 * During the preceding reigns, few of the nobility had been 
 permitted to fortify their castles. It was a privilege granted 
 with a sparing hand and confined to the royal favorites. But 
 since the accession of Stephen, every petty cheiftain erected 
 his fortress, assembled a body of military retainers, and con- 
 fident in his own strength, provoked the hostility of his neigh- 
 bours, or defied the execution of the laws. Godwin and some 
 other authors assert that not less than eleven hundred and seven 
 castles were erected during the early part of this reign To 
 suppress the local tyrants occupying so many strong holds, 
 was a task of some difficulty and perpetual recurrence. It was 
 necessary to levy armies, to surround each fortress, and to 
 conduct the siege according to all the forms of war. The re- 
 duction of the castle of Exeter belonging to Baldwin de Red- 
 vers occupied the king three months, and cost him no less than 
 fifteen thousand marks. Whether it were from policy or
 
 52 HISTORY OF 
 
 nothing could exceed the obsequiousness of the 
 three prelates to the king, but he suspected that 
 under this mask they concealed a secret attach- 
 ment to his rival, Matilda. His favourites, the ene- 
 mies of Roger, watched and nourished his jea- 
 lousy ; they observed that Stephen's mind was 
 irritated by the repeated rumours of an approach- 
 ing invasion ; and they convinced him that the ruin 
 
 disposition, Stephen in general treated the vanquished with 
 lenity ; hut his indulgence appeared to multiply the number 
 of offenders, and to encourage their obstinacy, till in a mo- 
 ment of resentment, he ordered Arnulf of Hesdin and his 
 ninety-three associates to be hanged (Orderic 917.) By the 
 monkish writers, the particulars of these petty wars are narra- 
 ted at considerable length ; the Saxon Chronicle thus alludes 
 to this wretched period. " In this King's reign all was dis- 
 sension and evil and rapine ; against him soon rose rich men ; 
 they had sworn oaths, but no truth maintained, they built castles 
 which they held out against him. They also cruelly oppressed 
 the wretched men of the land with castle work ; they filled 
 the castles with devils and evil men ; they seized those whom 
 they supposed to have any goods, threw them into prison, and 
 inflicted on them unutterable tortures. This lasted the nine- 
 teen years that Stephen was king and it grew continually 
 worse and worse " Such is the picture of tyranny and anarchy 
 with which the annals of this reign present us, nor were the reli- 
 gious orders, free from the universal contagion. " The Bishops " 
 says a contemporaneous writer "the bishops themselves, I 
 blush to say it yet not all, but many, bound in iron, and 
 completely furnished with arms, were accustomed to mount 
 warlike horses, with the perverters of their country, to partici- 
 pate in their prey, to expose to bonds and tortures the 
 knights whom they took in the chance of war, or whom they 
 met full of money ; and while they themselves were the head 
 and cause of eo much wickedness and enormity, they ascribed 
 it to their knights" Gesta Stephani. p. 962.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 53 
 
 of the Bishop of Salisbury was necessary for his 
 own security. A pretext was not long wanted for 
 effecting his ungenerous design : in the month of 
 June, 1 140, Stephen summoned a great council 
 of prelates and barons to meet him at Oxford, and 
 Roger and his nephews were commanded to attend. 
 The old bishop pleaded age and infirmity, and en- 
 treated the king to dispense with his presence, but 
 as this was steadily refused, he resolved not to go 
 unprotected, and accordingly summoned to his 
 attendance, the chancellor his son, and a numerous 
 body of his retainers weU armed. The " Bishop 
 of Salisbury" says William of Malmsbury " set 
 out on this expedition with great reluctance, for I 
 heard him speak to the following purport. By my 
 Lady Saint Mary, I know not why, but my heart 
 revolts at this journey ; this I am sure of, that I 
 shall be of much the same service at court, as a 
 foal is in battle." Here, in consequence of a pre- 
 concerted plan, a quarrel about a right to quarters 
 was excited between the retainers of Roger and 
 the servants of two foreign noblemen, Allan of 
 Bretagne and Hervey of Leon. The next day the 
 bishops of Sarum and Lincoln were arrested, the 
 former in Stephen's chamber, the latter hi his own 
 lodgings. They were confined in separate dun- 
 geons, accused of violating the king's peace in his 
 own court, and informed that he would accept of 
 no other reparation than the surrender of their 
 castles. By the advice of their friends they gave 
 up Newark, Salisbury, Sherborn and Malmsbury. 
 Devizes however remained in the possession of the
 
 54 HISTORY OF 
 
 Bishop of Ely, who when the other bishops were 
 arrested, had escaped from his pursuers, and re- 
 tiring to that fortress, garrisoned it with all the 
 retainers he could collect, and defied the power 
 of his sovereign. Confident in the strength of the 
 place, he trusted that he should be able to keep 
 it till the arrival of the Empress Matilda in Eng- 
 land, and with this view, made preparations for a 
 vigorous defence. Immediately upon this, Ste- 
 phen having secured the other three castles, came 
 with his prisoners and sat down before Devizes ; 
 but perceiving that the place was of great strength, 
 and aware of the difficulty and loss of time that 
 would attend a protracted seige ; instead of 
 making a hostile attack on the castle, he resorted 
 to the following expedient whereby to obtain his 
 end without delay. Having ascertained that 
 Matilda of Ramsbury was also in the castle, he 
 erected a tall gibbet on an opposing eminence, 
 and forthwith announced to the dame that its 
 object was for the immediate execution of her son 
 the Chancellor, unless she prevailed on the bishop 
 of Ely to surrender the place, adding also that 
 neither was her lord the Bishop of Sarum to be 
 suffered to eat or drink until the terms were com- 
 plied with. To heighten the scene, he caused the 
 unhappy Chancellor to be arrayed in irons, and 
 with a halter hanging about his neck, to be led in 
 company with his father to the very gates of the 
 castle, for the purpose of exercising their personal 
 influence on her feelings. She herself was anxi- 
 ous to comply with Stephen's demand, but the
 
 THE DEVIZES. 55 
 
 bishop of Ely remained inexorable. For three 
 days, although the execution of death was delayed, 
 the king subjected his unfortunate prisoners to all 
 the privations of ignominy and famine. The old 
 bishop, says one authority,* was confined in the 
 crib of an ox-lodge in The Devizes, and his nephew 
 in a vile hovel more loathsome than the other. 
 At the end of the above mentioned period how- 
 ever, Matilda herself contrived to deliver up the 
 keep or chief place of strength, and thereby com- 
 pelled Ely to surrender the other parts of the cas- 
 tle. Even these were not yielded, except on cer- 
 tain terms ; he retained his liberty, but Stephen 
 took possession of every thing. Forty thousand 
 marks were found in the castle, besides plate and 
 jewels to an incredible amount. Knyghton and 
 Matthew Paris add, that the treasures found in 
 this and the bishop's other castles, were made use 
 of for the purpose of negociating a marriage for 
 Eustace the king's son with Constantia, sister of 
 Louis, King of France, and thus securing the co- 
 operation of that monarch. 
 
 On the aged Prelate this blow fell very heavily. 
 Ruined both in body and estate, he was oppressed 
 to the grave, and in the December following, died of 
 a broken heart after having sat 39 years. To save 
 what remained of his treasures from the royal 
 rapacity, he gave them to his Church, causing them 
 to be placed on the high altar. They were carried 
 off by Stephen's order, even before the bishop's 
 
 * The Continuator of Florence of Worcester.
 
 56 HISTORY OF 
 
 death. We cannot better complete the page of 
 this remarkable man's history, than by reciting 
 the pathetic summary of his career given by his 
 biographer, William of Malmsbury. " To me it 
 appears that God exhibited him to the wealthy, as 
 an example of the mutability of fortune, in order 
 that they might not trust in uncertain riches. With 
 unrivalled magnificence in their construction as 
 our times may recollect, he erected splendid man- 
 sions on all his estates : in merely maintaining of 
 which, the labours of his successors shall toil in 
 vain. His Cathedral he dignified to the utmost 
 with matchless ornaments and buildings, on which 
 no expence was spared. He attempted to turn 
 abbeys into bishopricks and bishopricks into ab- 
 beys. The very ancient monasteries of Malmsbury 
 and Abbotsbury he annexed as far as he was able, 
 to his see. But fortune who in former times had 
 flattered him so long and so transcendently, at last 
 cruelly pierced him with scorpion sting. Such 
 was that instance, when he saw those whom he 
 dearly regarded, wounded, and his most favoured 
 knight killed before his face ; the next day him- 
 self, and his nephews, two powerful bishops, the 
 one compelled to fly, the other detained, and the 
 third, a young man to whom he was greatly at- 
 tached, bound in chains. On the surrender of 
 his castles, his treasures pillaged, and himself 
 afterwards in council, loaded with the most dis- 
 graceful reproaches. Finally, as he was nearly 
 breathing his latest sigh at Salisbury, the residue 
 of his money and utensils, which he had placed
 
 THE DEVIZES. 57 
 
 on the altar, for the purpose of completing his 
 church, was carried off against his will. The 
 height of his calamity was, I think, a circumstance 
 which I cannot help commiserating ; that though 
 he appeared wretched to many, yet were there 
 very few that pitied him, so much envy and hatred 
 had his excessive power drawn upon him, and 
 undeservedly too, from some of those very per- 
 sons whom he had advanced to honor." 
 
 We must now recur to the events immediately fol- 
 io wing Stephen's despotic seizure of the episcopal 
 castles. The intelligence of the outrage committed 
 by the king, was received by the clergy with sur- 
 prise and consternation. To them he had been 
 mainly indebted for his succession to the throne ; 
 they still contributed to support him on it. Yet 
 now he had shown himself the enemy of their 
 order ; he had illegally usurped the property of the 
 church, and he had impiously laid violent hands 
 on prelates whose persons had hitherto been 
 deemed sacred. His brother Henry bishop of 
 Winchester, whonvjnnocent II. had lately invested 
 with the authority of papal legate, foreseeing the 
 evil consequences that would result from the dis- 
 affection of so powerful a body, repeatedly con- 
 jured the king both in public and in private, to 
 offer satisfaction to the injured prelates. Stephen 
 was inexorable, and the legate summoned him to 
 justify his conduct in a synod of bishops. 
 
 On the second day of the assembly, Alberic de 
 Vere, a nobleman who appeared as counsel for the 
 king, forbade them under pain of the royal dis-
 
 58 HISTORY OF 
 
 pleasure, to proceed any further Upon this sig- 
 nal, the knights who had followed him, drew their 
 swords, and the legate was compelled to dissolve 
 the assembly. The mention of these circum- 
 stances is not irrelevant, since we shall presently 
 have to refer to them again. 
 
 Stephen's triumph was but of short duration. 
 Within a month after this transaction Matilda and 
 her brother Robert landed on the coast of Suffolk, 
 and England was speedily engaged in a most bloody 
 pastime Each rival competitor had numerous 
 partizans, but the majority of the barons, shut up 
 in their castles, either affected to observe a strict 
 neutrality; or under the mask of submission, main- 
 tained a real independence. This was the case 
 with the castle of Devizes, which about this time 
 was seized by a young Norman named Robert 
 Fitz-Herbert ; one who appears to have very an- 
 xiously coveted the character of a genuine ruffian. 
 He is said by the author of " Gesta Stephani," to 
 have taken the place by means of scaling ladders, 
 made of thongs of leather ; a circumstance which 
 tallies with an observation of William of Malms- 
 bury, viz. ' ; that he was a man well versed in the 
 stratagems of war." A few other of the acts and 
 deeds of this worthy from the same narrative, are 
 as follows " When at any time, which was ex- 
 tremely rare, he liberated his captives without 
 torture, and they thanked him for it on the part 
 of God ; I have heard him reply, " Never let God 
 owe me any thanks". He was accustomed to 
 boast of having been present at a place on the Con-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 59 
 
 tinent, where 24 monks were burnt together with 
 their church ; declaring that he would do the like 
 in England. Shortly previous to his taking De- 
 vizes castle, he had surprized that of Malmsbury, 
 and pillaged the town for a fortnight. The ap- 
 proach of Stephen's army however compelled him 
 to shift his quarters, when he made an unsuccess- 
 ful attempt on the Castle of Trowbridge, then in 
 the occupation of Humphrey de Bohun. But be- 
 ing now in possession of Devizes, he is said to 
 have boasted that he was master of all the coun- 
 try from London to Winchester ; and sent word 
 to the monks of Malmsbury, that so soon as he 
 had a little leisure on his hands, he intended to 
 visit them for their allegiance to Stephen, with the 
 total demolition of their Abbey, and the slaughter 
 of themselves. Ere however he could carry this 
 benevolent scheme into execution, his career was 
 fated to sustain a slight check. Though he had pos- 
 sessed himself of Devizes in the name of the Em- 
 press Matilda, his conduct soon rendered it mani- 
 fest that he held allegiance to no one. Accordingly 
 when she came and demanded the place for her 
 particular use, he refused to surrender it, where- 
 upon John Fitz- Gilbert (governor of Marlbro' 
 castle,) who had also declared for the Empress, 
 undertook to avenge her cause ; but aware of the 
 strength of Devizes Castle, instead of attempting 
 to reduce it by open force, he laid a snare for its 
 ruthless captain, and having secured his person, 
 condemned him in irons 
 
 " Without pi tie, hanged to be 
 And waver with the wind."
 
 60 HISTORY OF 
 
 Matilda's cause after this, gained the ascendant 
 for a short period. Stephen was defeated in bat- 
 tle, and confined in irons to Bristol Castle, while 
 his fair rival was crowned in London, as sovereign 
 lady of England and Normandy. But her bright 
 hopes were soon defeated by the impolicy of her 
 own conduct. Naturally haughty and vindictive, 
 she indulged those passions in the pride of power 
 which in her previous condition she had carefully 
 smothered. This conduct alienated her friends, 
 and exasperated her enemies, and in the course of 
 a few weeks we find her a fugitive from Winches- 
 ter where she had been beseiged, and seeking 
 shelter in the castle of Ludgershall. Here she 
 thought to repose herself awhile, after the fatigue 
 of a perilous and precipitate flight ; but was 
 quickly compelled; to pursue her way to Devizes. 
 Her retainers however not arriving in sufficient 
 numbers to render the Castle tenable, it was 
 deemed necessary to continue the route to Glou- 
 cester, a step which was not effected without con- 
 siderable difficulty, It is affirmed by one writer* 
 that in order to elude the vigilence of her pursuers, 
 she was conveyed out of the castle in a coffin, and 
 that the road was so beset, that she was compelled 
 to remain a prisoner in it, all the way from De- 
 vizes to Gloster. 
 
 Stephen now regained his liberty, and parties 
 were again placed on a more even footing. The 
 period of Lent which immediately followed these 
 events, produced a temporary cessation from arms, 
 
 * The Continuator of Florence of Worcester.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 01 
 
 and the Empress embraced the opportunity of 
 holding two Conferences or Parliaments at the 
 Castle of Devizes, whither were summoned her 
 retainers and partizans from all quarters, to deli- 
 berate on her future movements. The principal 
 transaction at the first of these, was a resolution 
 to despatch an embassy to Geoffrey Plantagenet, 
 Earl of Anjou, (the Empress's second husband) 
 and endeavour to engage his services in her cause. 
 That nobleman however, to whom his wife had 
 long been an object of dislike, was moreover ta- 
 king occasion from Stephen's imprisonment to 
 overrun Normandy, and was but ill able therefore, 
 to co-operate in the more distant views of Matilda. 
 Nevertheless he finally consented to send his son, 
 Henry, (afterwards Henry II.) and three hundred 
 men, under the guidance of the Earl of Glocester, 
 who had conducted the embassy from Devizes, 
 and who on his return thither, again met his mis- 
 tress at the Castle, and gave occasion to the se- 
 cond Conference there. At its conclusion, Matilda 
 retired to her head-quarters at Oxford, which pre- 
 sently after, became the seat of war ; but as none 
 of the subsequent transactions of that struggle in- 
 volve any mention of Devizes, it would be foreign 
 to our purpose to take any farther notice of them, 
 otherwise than in reference to the disordered state 
 into which some of the Church's possessions were 
 thereby thrown, and in which the district of 
 Devizes or Kannings pre-eminently participated. 
 
 The castle having been torn from the See of 
 Salisbury by king Stephen, we have already seen
 
 62 HISTORY OF 
 
 that the Synod called by the Bishop of Winchester 
 (Stephen's brother) to deliberate on the justice of 
 that measure, was dissolved by the king's authority 
 before they arrived at a determination. This 
 property therefore, as well as some others, though 
 retained by a despotic act in the hands of the 
 crown, and passing almost immediately afterwards 
 into those of the Empress or her partizans, were 
 still liable to be claimed by the Bishops as former 
 dependencies of their sees. That they were so 
 claimed, we shall presently have occasion to see ; 
 but in the first place, it may not be uninstructive 
 briefly to contemplate the position which the clergy 
 occupied in relation to the crown at this crisis. 
 
 The above arbitrary proceedings of Stephen had 
 greatly exasperated the Bishop of Winchester, and 
 when Matilda shortly afterwards enjoyed her brief 
 hour of triumph through the victory of Lincoln, 
 she laboured hard to complete the alienation of the 
 Brothers, and to secure to herself the allegiance 
 of a Prelate, who in his office of papal legate was 
 ipso facto at the head of the English clergy, and 
 able through their means to exert an almost un- 
 limited influence on the Barons and people. Ac- 
 cordingly she waited upon him in person at 
 Winchester, and though he for a long time affec- 
 ted to regard her overtures as totally inadmissible, 
 yet upon her offering him the disposal of all the 
 church preferments, he at last agreed to throw 
 up the cause of the king his brother without farther 
 reserve, and to obtain for Matilda the suffrages 
 of the clergy. On the morrow he received her
 
 THE DEVIZES. 63 
 
 with great pomp in the Cathedral church, where 
 he solemnly excommunicated all the King's 
 friends, and absolved all such as would abandon 
 his party, and come over to the Empress. The 
 Archbishop of Canterbury soon followed in the 
 Legate's train, but was so squeamish as to procure 
 the king's consent first, to obtain which, he visited 
 Stephen himself in prison. 
 
 After this, the bishop of Winchester soon be- 
 became disgusted with Matilda's conduct, and 
 indeed was the principal agent in causing the ig- 
 nominious expulsion from her throne to which we 
 have already adverted. Excommunication was 
 now thundered from the same oracular mouth, 
 against all her adherents, as so many enemies to 
 the public peace. Nevertheless no long time 
 elapsed, before it became evident to the bishops, 
 that though the power of Stephen was nominally 
 paramount, yet that his cause was in reality daily 
 on the wane. They had renounced and re-re- 
 nounced that of Matilda, yet they entered into 
 close engagements with her aspiring son, the 
 young Duke of Normandy ; and when Stephen in 
 order to secure the crown to his son Eustace, was 
 anxious to have him crowned before his own 
 death, the Archbishop of Canterbury flatly refused 
 to comply with his request, and fled into Nor- 
 mandy to escape his vengeance. 
 
 Such was the game in which these crafty 
 churchmen were now engaged; favoring each par- 
 ty by turns, only to play into their own hands, 
 and by the skilful application or withdrawing of
 
 64 HISTORY OF 
 
 their powerful aid, to endeavour to bring both into 
 subjection. While the succession was thus hang- 
 ing in doubtful suspense, Matilda had been grie- 
 vously assailed by them on the subject of the 
 lands she had ravished from the church. In this 
 cause they engaged some of the Norman clergy, 
 and by way of urging the justice of their claims, 
 entertained her with a view of the heinousness of 
 her trespass, and reminded her of the woes with 
 which they would feel it their duty to visit her, in 
 case of her obstinate refusal. As an illustration 
 of this point, and as being more immediately con- 
 nected with our present enquiry, since it involved 
 the fate of Devizes, we now proceed to notice 
 the case of Potterne and Kannings. Matilda in- 
 deed had done nothing more in the matter than 
 carry out the line of conduct adopted by those who 
 had preceded her in the possession of the castle, 
 or at any rate what they would doubtless have 
 pursued, could they have retained that strong 
 position in their own hands. The Canons of 
 Salisbury, it is true had obtained various conces- 
 sions and redresses from Stephen, but then they 
 were made at a period when he had almost en- 
 tirely lost his power in these quarters. Soon after 
 the death of Bishop Roger, Stephen had nomi- 
 nated his own chancellor Philip de Harecourt to 
 the vacant seat, but the Canons having united 
 with the Legate, in opposing his election, Ste- 
 phen to punish them, withheld for a long time the 
 nomination of any other Bishop and seized upon 
 all the remaining revenues of their Church. On
 
 THE DEVIZE?. 65 
 
 the elevation of Joceline de Bailul however, which 
 took place in 1 142, he is said to have " re-instated 
 the affairs of the Church," as mentioned above, 
 but this re -instating could not have applied to De- 
 vizes, or the district which it commanded, since it 
 does not appear that the castle passed out of the 
 hands of Matilda or her adherents, at any one pe- 
 riod after its seizure by John Fitz-Gilbert of Marl- 
 borough. 
 
 Against the Empress it was therefore, that the 
 clergy directed their artillery of Candle, Bell and 
 Book, to recover these lost estates : and though 
 they succeeded in inducing her to relinquish the 
 adjunct lands at Devizes, yet her partizans on the 
 spot were by no means disposed to resign the 
 eagle's nest itself. This proved the principal dif- 
 ficulty in the affair, and caused its final adjust- 
 ment to remain in abeyance for many subsequent 
 years. The earliest document preserved on this 
 subject at Salisbury, is one without date, but it 
 must have been executed in 1148. It runs thus. 
 
 " Matilda Empress, and daughter of King Henry 
 To her son Henry and all her faithful followers, 
 health and prosperity, Know that I by the com- 
 mand of the Lord the Pope, have restored to God 
 and to the Church of Salisbury, that is to Joceline 
 her bishop, all those lands which I held in my 
 hand, the Cannings and Potterns, (terras Caningas 
 et Poternas) with all their appurtenances as well 
 in men as in land ; And this restoration I have 
 made in the presence of the Lord Hugh Arch- 
 bishop of Rouen, and of many Abbots of Nor-
 
 66 HISTORY OF 
 
 rnandy, and of my barons, before whom it was 
 made, to the intent that I will never, either of 
 myself or by my signature abstract the said lands 
 from the Church of Sarum, or disturb their quiet 
 possession. Therefore I command you, and thee 
 my son Henry, that on your parts, you adhere to 
 this my act of restoration, by delivering in peace 
 the said lands to the Bishop, and holding me DS- 
 soiled from sin and excommunication. Thus shall 
 ye seek your own welfare and my honour." Wit- 
 ness. Hugh Archbishop of Rouen at Falaise in 
 Normandy. 
 
 This dignitary then advertizes the Canons at 
 Sarum of the step taken, in the following missive 
 entitled, " A Charter of the Church of Salisbury 
 given by Hugh Archbishop of Rouen for the con- 
 firmation of the Act of restitution made by the 
 Empress Matilda," &c. &c. 
 
 " Hugh by the grace of God Archbishop of 
 Rouen. To the Dean and entire metropolitan 
 Church of Sarum health and grace. Know all 
 that we, by the command of the Lord the Pope, 
 have convened with the Empress, that with regard 
 to the lands which she abstracted from the Church 
 of Sarum and held ; she will restore them. Also 
 she hath verily acknowledged in our presence the 
 audacity of the said inroad on the Church's pos- 
 sessions, hath openly recognized the rights of 
 the said Church, and in obedience to the mandate 
 of our Lord the Pope, she hath restored the Can- 
 nings and Potterns &c. &c. to God and the Church, 
 and with her own royal han<i, resigned them whole
 
 THE DEVIZES. 67 
 
 and entire into the hand of our venerable 
 Brother Joceline who was then present. Also 
 she hath declared before us as before her spiritual 
 adviser, that neither she nor any one over whom 
 her influence extends, shall infest or seize the said 
 lands, but that she will preserve them to the Church 
 in all freedom and integrity." 
 
 Made in our presence and in that of our venerable 
 brother Joceline, Bishop of Sarum of Walter the 
 Lord Abbot of Foulencia The Lord Abbot of St. 
 Almand of Salop William Prior of St. Barbara 
 Ganfred Dean of Rouen Richard Dean of Bay- 
 eux, and others, June, A.D. 1 148, at Falaise. 
 
 In the following year, prince Henry who had 
 been absent more than two years, returned into 
 England with a choice body of troops, with a view 
 to the more vigorous prosecution of his own and his 
 mother's cause. At the same time he formed the 
 resolution of visiting his great uncle David the 
 Scottish king, to concert with him measures for 
 the accomplishment of his designs. On his way 
 thither at the head of a numerous escort of knights 
 and infantry, he sojurned at his Castle of Devizes, 
 and on that occasion signed a ratification of the 
 above act of his mother, which is preserved in the 
 following interesting document. 
 
 " Henry the son of the Duke of Normandy and 
 Earl of Anjou, To the Archbishops, Bishops, &c. 
 Health I will you to know that I have restored 
 to God, to the Church of Sarum, and to Joceline 
 her bishop, his Manor of Canings with the hun- 
 dred thereof, and its liberties, customs, and all
 
 68 HISTORY OF 
 
 other its appurtenances in lands and waters, in 
 wood and plain, as freely and quietly as ever his 
 predecessors, Osmund and Roger best and most 
 fully held it in the time of my grandfather Henry 
 and his predecessors. Excepting the Castle of 
 Devizes which is situated in the aforesaid manor 
 of the Church of Sarum, and the Burgh and Park. 
 Excepting also the services of the knights of the 
 said manor which on account of my necessity I 
 have hitherto retained in my hands by the good 
 suffrance of the Bishop, till God shall so magnify 
 me, that I shall be in a condition to give them 
 back. Excepting also five hides of the said manor, 
 which Robert Fitz-Ralph holds, and two hides 
 which Gregory holds at Rindeveram, and half a 
 hide which Barleben the Porter holds. These 
 three albeit shall hold under the suffrance of the 
 Bishop from the next feast of St. Michael for a 
 year, and then their tenure shall return to him 
 quietly and without opposition." 
 
 This Charter was written and restitution made 
 at the Castle of Devizes, in the Ides of April 1 149 
 in presence of the following, viz : Roger Earl of 
 Bedford, Patrick Earl of Sarum, John Fitz-Gil- 
 bert, Goro Dinant, William de Bello-Campo, 
 Elias Giffard, Roger de Berkley, John de St. 
 John, Herbert de Vallibus, Thomas Bassett, 
 Henry Hoescat, Humphrey Fitz-Otho, Menasser 
 Byset, Hugh Fitz-Richard and Ralph Fitz-Rich- 
 ard, Clerks. Robert Dean of Sarum, Gregory 
 the Cupbearer, Henry Archdeacon of Sarum, 
 Willibert de Bello Fago, and Robert de St. Pantio.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 69 
 
 Notwithstanding the declaration contained in 
 the above charter of Henry's willingness to restore 
 the Castle as soon as he should be able, we cannot 
 suppose that he seriously meditated any such step. 
 He was not yet however all-powerful in England, 
 and though the Bishop appears never to have 
 come into actual possession of the Castle, he 
 nevertheless possessed sufficient influence over its 
 tenure as to be able three years afterwards to im- 
 pose sundry other conditions on its occupation by 
 the Prince, as will be more fully seen in an agree- 
 ment dated 1152 and styled " A convention be- 
 tween the Lord Henry Duke of Normandy and the 
 venerable man Joceline bishop of Sarum, and his 
 church of Sarum." From the circumstance that 
 the length of the term during which Henry was to 
 hold the Castle is not specified, there is reason to 
 think that this document is either imperfect or at 
 least has reference to some former one which has 
 escaped us. It goes on to state "That the said 
 Earl shall hold the Castle of Devizes for a term 
 from the present passover, with this understanding, 
 that if within that period he shall have recovered 
 his right, then by the advice of the Lord Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, Henry B. of Winchester, 
 Richard B. of Bath, William B. of Chester, he 
 shall retain the said Castle ; but that if within the 
 aforesaid time, he shall not have recovered his 
 right, then at the termination thereof, he shall re- 
 store it to the Church of Sarum. And if any of 
 the above mentioned Bishops shall die in the in- 
 terim, the advice of the survivors shall avail for
 
 70 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 the restoration of the said Castle together with 
 the Park, Borough, and all the Soldiers as belong- 
 ing to the see of Sarum. In the interim neverthe- 
 less, the Earl shall pay out of the Borough to the 
 Bishop, the same amount as it formerly rendered 
 to Bishop Roger, and at the end of the term, the 
 Church shall recover all her lands free of all royal 
 customs, tallages, operations, exactions and all 
 other things excepting what shall be justly due to 
 the Earl from the personal services of his men with- 
 out payment of money for loss. Also it is under- 
 stood that within the given period above referred to 
 the Earl shall by advice give to the Bishop ten li- 
 bratas of land, in full and perpetual right to be 
 possessed by the Church of Sarum ; and in case he 
 shall recover his right to the Castle, then other ten 
 libratas* To this Convention for the peace of 
 the Bishop, of his Clergy, and their men, the said 
 Earl hath given his Coiporal oath, by the hand of 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, to be held by the 
 Earl, as this Charter testifyeth, without fraud or 
 evil reservation. Also the Bishop of Sarum hath 
 sworn in like manner, as far as regards himself. 
 
 * The editor does not take upon him to vouch for the ac- 
 curate rendering of the passages printed in Italics, owing to 
 the difficulty of decyphering the original Latin. Some others 
 also are translated somewhat liberally, hut he believes that if 
 the full extent of the primitive sense be not given in each in- 
 dividual sentence, yet that no false impression is conveyed. 
 This explanation he presumes will be considered preferable to 
 the plan of presenting the reader with a transcript of the 
 original, with all its contractions and illegibilities for his own 
 perusal.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 71 
 
 And the Archbishop grants that if either party 
 shall endeavour to escape from these conditions, 
 he shall be restrained by Canonical Law. 
 
 " This Charter was made by the hand of Theo- 
 bald Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of Eng- 
 land, and Legate of the Apostolic Seat, in the pre- 
 sence of the folio whig Bishops, Henry of Winches- 
 ter, Richard of Bath, and William of Chester, 
 in the Ides of April in the year of the Incarnation 
 1 152 at the Ford of Stockbridge" (Hants.) 
 
 The fifth and last instrument on this subject 
 to which the reader's attention is invited, is one 
 executed three years after Henry had succeeded to 
 the throne of England, and which set the matter 
 finally at rest, by entirely separating the Castle, 
 Town and Parks from the Cathedral Establishment. 
 
 "Thomas by the grace of God Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, Primate of England and Legate of the 
 Apostolic see, to all to whom this present Charter 
 shall come ; Greeting. Know all, that in the pre- 
 sence of our venerable brothers, Richard Arch- 
 bishop of York, Richard Bishop of Lincoln, and 
 Henry Bishop of Chester, for the adjustment of 
 the quit-claim of our Lord the king in the matter 
 of the Castle of Devizes, with the two Parks and 
 the Burghj as the same are at present divided 
 and enclosed by the Dykes, the king hath agreed 
 to deliver over to Joceline Bishop of Sarum in ex- 
 change, thirty libratas of the king's Royal demesne 
 Lands, which shall be entirely free from all in- 
 cumbrance. At the same time the king gives 
 in his favour and love towards the Bishop, the
 
 72 HISTORY OF 
 
 power of recalling all the distracted and dissipated 
 portions of his Bishoprick, in order that it may be 
 established on the same footing at which it stood 
 i a the days of Bishop Osmund, and in the day 
 when King Henry was alive and dead, (i. e. the 
 day of his death) and in these revocations the king 
 will offcr no impediment, but will assist and 
 maintain the Bishop. Moreover the king restores 
 to the Church of Sarum, the Church of Westbury 
 with its appurtenances, the Churches of Fighel- 
 dean, Odiham and Godalming, and the preben- 
 daries of Bedminster and Ramsbury" 
 
 Sealed in the year of the Lord 1157 on the 
 morrow after the feast of St Luke the Evangelist.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 73 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER II. 
 
 This seems as suitable a place as any, for adverting to the 
 circumstance of Devizes having been so long included in the 
 hundred of Swanborough, and for describing the limits of that 
 hundred according to the most ancient maps. If the reader 
 will take in hand a modern map of Wiltshire, the following 
 definition will be rendered intelligible. 
 
 Commencing at the Southern point near Imber, follow the 
 present boundary to the extreme easterly point near Wotton 
 Rivers. Thence trace a course through the following points, 
 Fifield, East Kennet, Stanton, and All-Cannings. The line 
 then dips very near to Devizes and goes away north towards 
 Sandy lane embracing Bromham and Whethampton and skirt- 
 ing Spye-Park. Thence by a line midway between Poulshot and 
 Devizes to Urchfont, which it includes. Thence to the two 
 Chevrells, including them, and thence to Imber according to 
 the present boundary. 
 
 The hundred of Potterne consisted only of the southern 
 portion of what is now the hundred of Potterne and Cannings, 
 and was completely separated from the hundred of Cannings 
 by the narrow strip of Swanborough hundred which contained 
 Devizes , 
 
 In some ancient documents, Devizes is described as being in 
 the county of Southampton ; but probably when this expression 
 occurs, it must be regarded as an inadvertency. 
 
 A name very similar to Devizes occurs in an ancient poem 
 celebrating the seige of Rouen in Henry 5th's time. 
 
 " There wonne he (Clarence) worship and great honour, 
 Of Princehood he mote be the flowre ; 
 For when all princes are y mette, 
 Next to the best let Clarence be sette, 
 And on the tother side him betwene, 
 Sette Exeter that knight soe keen ; 
 For at the Porte-Devyse he lay, 
 Whenas the Frenchman came out every day, 
 He bett him in with manful brunt, 
 And wonne him worschip as he was wont." 
 
 The porte-Devyse was on the north side of the City. It was 
 otherwise called porte Devisyne, and also Porte -Beauvais, by 
 prose writers.
 
 74 HISTORY QF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PRINCE JOHN HOLDS THE CASTLE DURING HIS BRO- 
 THER'S ABSENCE IN PALESTINE FORTIFIES IT 
 
 ON THE APPROACH OF THE FRENCH DURING 
 
 HIS OWN REIGN EXTRACTS FROM THE ROLLS, 
 
 ON THIS SUBJECT HISTORY OF SOME OF THE 
 
 WARDENS OR CONSTABLES SKETCH OF THE 
 
 EARL OF KENT'S LIFE HE is IMPRISONED IN 
 
 THE CASTLE PART OF THE GARRISON MUTINY, 
 
 AND DELIVER HIM DEATH OF THE EARL. 
 
 THE Castle and Lordship of Devizes being now 
 fairly established in Henry's hands, soon became 
 one of the most important grants in the gift of the 
 Crown. On which of the king's servants it was 
 bestowed during this reign, does not appear, but 
 since in the following reign we find it in the hands 
 of prince John, while his brother Richard was in 
 the Holy Land, it is probable that it had been 
 entrusted to him during his father's life time. On 
 coming to the throne himself, he appointed Tho- 
 mas de Sandford to the Constableship, a post 
 which was maintained with unshaken fidelity by 
 that trusty soldier throughout the desolating strug- 
 gle which darkened the close of this monarch's 
 reign.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 75 
 
 While the French troops under prince Louis, 
 in conjunction with the disaffected part of the 
 English Barons, were overrunning the country, 
 and Dover was on the point of surrender ; the 
 only castles which held out in this part of the 
 island, were those of Bristol, Wallingford, Corf, 
 Wareham and Devizes ; into all of which John 
 threw additional troops, and furnished them with 
 arms and provisions. From the closs rolls we 
 glean a variety of interesting documents, all ten- 
 ding to exhibit in a striking view, the importance 
 which the king evidently attached to the preser- 
 vation of this fortress. It is manifest also that it 
 was made the depot of the major part, if not of 
 the whole of the royal treasure, a proof that John 
 regarded it as the most secure place in his domin- 
 ions, and fully accounting for the numerous sums 
 of money, perpetually authorized by him to be laid 
 out in its defences and reparations. To present 
 the reader with the whole of such extracts, how 
 amusing soever they might prove to the genuine 
 antiquary, would in the present case be a super- 
 numerary task, more especially as a large portion 
 of them are of a kindred class. A specimen or two 
 however will doubtless be perused with interest. 
 
 7th year of John. The King to the Barons of 
 his Exchequer greeting Apprizing them that 
 a portion of the yearly rents of the town and cas- 
 tle were remitted to Thomas de Sandford to be 
 expended in the fortifying of the said castle 
 dated at Lambeth. 
 
 8th John. The king to the Barons of his Ex-
 
 76 HISTORY OF 
 
 chequer, &c. Pay to Thomas de Sandford for the 
 carriage of eight hogsheads of wine, from South- 
 ampton to Devizes, 60 shillings and two pence 
 dated at Cranbourn. 
 
 13th John. The mayor of Bristol is com- 
 manded to send twenty hogsheads of wine thence 
 to Devizes this time the king dates from Trow- 
 bridge. 
 
 1 5th John. The king to William, clerk Tho- 
 rnas de Sandford is commanded to deliver to you, 
 to be given over to Brian of the Isles, the sum of 
 20,000 marks of the moneys lying in our castle of 
 Devizes Stodland. 
 
 15 John. The king to the Barons of his Ex- 
 chequer, &c. Pay to Simon and Hugo de Cuvier 
 one hundred shillings for the conveyance of 50,000 
 marks from Bristol to the castle of Devizes, to the 
 care of Thomas de Sandford London. 
 
 16th John. The king to Thomas de Sandford, 
 We have sent unto you Nicholas Faborum and his 
 associates, that you may cause them to make quar- 
 rels, (cross-bow-bolts,} in our castle of Devizes. 
 They will find their own necessaries London. 
 
 16 John. The men of Bristol are commanded 
 to send unto the castle of Devizes, 60 hogsheads 
 of wine Trowbridge. 
 
 1 7th John . The King to Thomas de Sandford and 
 his treasurers We command you to receive into 
 our castle of Devizes, our faithful Briton the cross- 
 bow-man with his wife, child, and household, 
 giving them safe protection Wareham. 
 
 This year also, a large parcel of the royal jewels
 
 THE DEVIZES. 77 
 
 were deposited in the castle. They are minutely 
 detailed and described 
 
 18 John. The Earl of Gloster is directed to send 
 to Devizes 20 carts loaded with corn and two 
 pigs of lead ( '120 stone each} by the hands of Hugh 
 de Nevill, (Lead in those days was deemed a 
 very requisite article in the defence of castles. 
 Loopholes were pierced in the roofs of the gang- 
 ways, and through them, the lead in a molten state 
 was poured down on the heads of assailants.) 
 
 18 John. The king to Thomas de Sandford. 
 We command you to credit the message of our 
 beloved and faithful brother Allan Martell, on our 
 part Namely that you deliver up the great gate 
 of the Castle to be defended by Oliver deButeville 
 Geoffrey de Buteville* and their men ; and that 
 your own post, with the assistance of Richard de 
 Rivers, be the gate of the small tower (Janua 
 Castelletti) as our brother Allan will more fully 
 explain . Wareham . 
 
 18 John. Thomas de Sandford is to receive 
 and entertain the Countess the wife of Earl Al- 
 banem, with her children, giving them chamber 
 room, &c. 
 
 From these extracts it would appear that if the 
 castle did not during some part of this reign, ac- 
 tually sustain a seige from the French army, it was 
 nevertheless in daily expectation of such an event. 
 
 On the year of the last mentioned date (1216) 
 King John died, and Thomas de Sandford became 
 
 * These were two generals who commanded John's auxiliaries 
 from Poictou and Gascoigne.
 
 78 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 a knight-templar and resigned the wardenship of 
 Devizes. This latter circumstance we learn from 
 an entry similar to those given above, wherein is 
 refunded to the abbot of Malmsbury the sum 
 of 100 marks which he had advanced to the said 
 Thomas for the repairs of the castle ; this is a 
 patent letter dated 1217. His successor was John 
 Marschall, one of the eleven barons who with four 
 earls and a few other persons, constituted the en- 
 tire retinue appearing on John's side at Run- 
 nymeade. He had also assisted the earl of Pem- 
 broke at the coronation of the young prince 
 Henry after his father's death. Pembroke in the 
 character of regent of the kingdom was the 
 bestower of the grant on this occasion, and it 
 appears even at this period to have comprized 
 nearly its full complement of manors, appurte- 
 nances, &c. The repairs of the castle going on 
 during this governor's term were of a very ex- 
 tensive nature, and argue that some serious dam- 
 age had been sustained during the war. Long 
 lists are preserved of the several payments made 
 to the workmen, who are distinguished as miners, 
 carpenters, fossators and masons. 
 
 In the 3rd of Henry III we find Philip de Al- 
 bini Earl of Sussex and Arundel made constable 
 of the Castle. He also had sided with John at 
 Runnymeade and assisted Pembroke at Henry's 
 coronation. On this occasion the grant was made 
 to him for life ; this was not always the case, as 
 it was sometimes held merely during the Mo- 
 narch's pleasure. On the death of this governor,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 79 
 
 the post was enjoyed successively by William 
 Brewer, and Walter Fitz-Ralph ; after whom in 
 1224 John Marschall was again put into posses- 
 sion. This baron also acquired the title of Earl of 
 Warwick in right of his wife Margery sister and 
 co-heiress of William de Newburgh sixth earl of 
 Warwick. He left one only daughter and heiress 
 Margery whom we shall have occasion to notice 
 hereafter. During the period when he first held 
 the castle, he appears to have excited the indigna- 
 tion of the worthy burgesses of the town, by some 
 unjustifiable captures or "prizes" made upon them; 
 but after his second arrival amongst them, an 
 accord or settlement was effected between the 
 parties, and the matter entered on the exchequer 
 rolls. 
 
 Ralph Lord Willington, of Willington in De- 
 vonshire, was the next governor, 16th Hen. III. 
 1 23 1 . He previously held Bristol castle, with the 
 wardenship of the forest and chase of Keynsham, 
 but on the death of the Earl of Warwick, obtained 
 for his active support in the king's service, this 
 castle and that of Exeter. He was succeeded by 
 Walter de Godarville, soon after which, occurred 
 the most interesting of the events which it comes 
 within our province to record ; viz., the incarce- 
 ration of the celebrated Hubert de Burgo, Earl of 
 Kent and grand justiciary of England. The story 
 of his life and the circumstances which led to his 
 imprisonment at Devizes, exhibit a picture of the 
 vicissitudes of fortune equally remarkable with 
 that which we have already contemplated in the
 
 80 HISTORY OF 
 
 case of Roger of Sarum : indeed in many points 
 there exists a considerable resemblance. It is pre- 
 sumed that a short sketch of those circumstances 
 can neither be deemed irrelevant, nor prove unac- 
 ceptable to the intelligent reader, especially if to 
 his recollection be summoned the interest that he 
 must always have felt attaches itself to Hubert, in 
 common with every other character, which the 
 hand of Shakespeare has traced. Perhaps also 
 from the narrative of his conduct, as well in the 
 hour of prosperity, as in the time of his manifold 
 sufferings, we may be disposed to form a more fa- 
 vourable judgment of the character of one who 
 has so long been implicated in the matter of Prince 
 Arthur, and learn to give him better credit for 
 sincerity than we have heretofore done, when he 
 exclaims in the presence of the king 
 
 " This hand of mine 
 
 Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand, 
 
 Not painted with the crimson spots of blood. 
 
 Within this bosom never enter'd yet 
 
 The dreadful motion of a murd'rous thought, 
 
 And you have slandered nature in my form, 
 
 Which howsoever rude exteriorly, 
 
 Is yet the cover of a fairer mind, 
 
 Than to be butcher of an innocent child." 
 
 Allusion has already been made to the attack 
 on Dover castle, during the reign of King John. 
 Hubert de Burgh was then holding the command 
 of that important fortress, and he opposed with 
 such determined bravery all the efforts of Louis 
 to reduce it, that the prince was finally compelled 
 to abandon the undertaking. In the mean time
 
 THE DEVIZES. 81 
 
 John had died, and by the victory of Lincoln, the 
 Earl of Pembroke had secured the crown on the 
 head of young Henry. But the hopes of the 
 French king to establish a footing in England, 
 were not yet extinguished. In a few months a 
 large armament of more than eighty vessels put 
 to sea from Calais, under the command of a cele- 
 brated Pirate called Eustace the monk. To op- 
 pose this formidable fleet, Hubert de Burgh had 
 collected forty sail from the cinque-ports, but the 
 disparity of force was so alarming, that several 
 knights refused to embark, under the pretence that 
 they were unacquainted with the manner of naval 
 engagements. Nor was Hubert himself unaware 
 of the danger. Before his departure he received 
 the sacrament in private, and left the most posi- 
 tive orders that the castle of Dover should be sur- 
 rendered on no terms whatsoever, not even to save 
 his own life in the case of his being made prisoner. 
 The event rewarded his valour ; after a desperate 
 fight, only fifteen of the enemy's fleet escaped, 
 and an incredible number of knights and inferior 
 officers were taken prisoners.* This victory 
 which totally dashed the hopes of the French 
 prince was speedily followed by his departure 
 from the island. 
 
 The brilliance of these patriotic services natu- 
 
 * Eustace the old pirate was discovered in the hold of 
 his vessel, he prayed for his life and offered a large ransom, to 
 which Richard Fitzoy one of John's illegitimate sons replied by 
 striking off his head, which was afterwards carried on a pole 
 from town to town.
 
 82 HISTORY OF 
 
 rally dazzled the public eye, and Hubert forthwith 
 became the favorite of both prince and people. 
 He was made guardian of the realm, married Mar- 
 garet the sister of the Scottish King, and was 
 finally elevated to the Earldom of Kent, each 
 succeeding year bringing some accession to his 
 wealth and honours. But in a few years the scene 
 of his prosperity and greatness closed. By a potent 
 and invidious party, headed by his rival the bishop 
 of Winchester, he was undermined in the favour 
 of the young king, nor can it be denied that while 
 endeavouring to consolidate his own power, he 
 had not unfrequently supplied his enemies with 
 weapons of annoyance by instances of rapacity 
 and ambition. An unsuccessful expedition into 
 France, in which he accompanied the king, gave 
 the first shock to his power, and shortly after, 
 when on occasion of an inroad by the Welsh, 
 Henry lamented his want of money, he was told 
 that he might easily extort it from Hubert and his 
 relatives, who for years had been accumulating 
 wealth at the expense of the crown. The advice 
 was adopted ; the inferior officers of government 
 were called to account, and Hubert received an 
 order to answer for all the wardships which he 
 had held, all the rents of the royal demesnes which 
 he had received, and all the aids and fines which 
 had been paid into the exchequer, from the day 
 of his appointment to the office of Justiciary, a 
 period including the whole of the present, and a 
 great part of the late reign. Whether it were that 
 he despaired of justice or that he was conscious of
 
 THE DEVIZES. 83 
 
 guilt, lie fled to the priory of Merton. At first 
 the king determined to take him away by force, 
 and for that purpose dispatched the Mayor of 
 London with an armed body of citizens ; but on 
 more nature deliberation and at the .petition of his 
 only friend the Archbishop of Dublin, the space 
 of five months was granted him to prepare for his 
 trial, 
 
 Hubert finding himself at liberty, left his sanc- 
 tuary and proceeded towards Bury St. Edmunds to 
 visit his wife ; but the king who had been persuaded 
 that it was dangerous to permit him to remain at 
 large, dispatched a body of three hundred horse- 
 men with orders to arrest and convey him to the 
 Tower. The Earl was in bed when he heard of 
 their approach ; he arose in haste, fled naked to 
 the parish church of Boisars, and on the steps of 
 the Altar, with the host in one hand, and a cross 
 in the other, awaited the arrival of his pursuers. 
 They had no order to take his life, but placing him 
 on horseback, and tying his feet under the belly, 
 proceeded with their captive towards the metropo- 
 lis. Henry however was aware that this violation 
 of the privileges of the church would excite re- 
 monstrances and opposition. The prisoner was 
 carried back to his sanctuary ; and the sheriff of 
 Essex was charged, under penalty of death, to 
 seize his person, whenever he should attempt to 
 escape. That escape indeed was rendered im- 
 practicable by a deep moat which had been dug, 
 and a line of palisades, which had been drawn 
 round the church ; and on the fortieth day hunger
 
 84 HISTORY OF 
 
 or despair induced the unfortunate Earl to surren- 
 der himself to his guards, by whom he was con- 
 ducted to the Tower. Henry ordered him to be 
 set at liberty, and to appear in Cornhill before a 
 court of his peers. When the accusations against 
 him had been read, Hubert replied that he should 
 offer no defence ; but that he placed his body, his 
 lands, and his chattels, at the king's pleasure. The 
 judges deliberated ; they agreed that if judgment 
 were pronounced, they must condemn him to for- 
 feiture and death, and therefore recommended his 
 case to the consideration of the king. Henry, base 
 as his ingratitude had already been, could not con- 
 template the death of a man, from whom himself 
 and his father had received such signal services ; 
 and an award, to which all parties consented, was 
 at length given ; the Earl forfeited to the crown 
 his goods and chattels, with the lands which he 
 held in chief of the king, retaining for himself and 
 his heirs, his patrimonial inheritance, and the lands 
 which he held of mesne lords ; and to prevent fu- 
 ture rupture, the Earls of Cornwall, Warren, Pem- 
 broke and Lincoln became sureties for his good 
 behaviour, though at the same time he was com- 
 manded to remain in the Castle of Devizes, under 
 the custody of four knights respectively appointed 
 by the aforesaid Earls, until he should either enter 
 the order of the Knights-templars, in the event of 
 his wife's death ; or be acquitted by the general 
 consent of the king and council. He and his 
 guardian knights were accordingly sent forthwith 
 to Walter de Godarville then governor of Devizes
 
 THE DEVIZES. 85 
 
 castle, where according to the terms of the stipula- 
 tion, he was "to be kept in honorable freedom 
 from the mean severity with which he had hither- 
 to been treated." This honorable freedom how- 
 ever turned out to be no great boon. The Dun- 
 geon of the Castle was allotted for his habitation, 
 and all communication with him was strictly pro- 
 hibited, except to the archbishop of Dublin who 
 on one occasion only, was permitted to visit him 
 alone, to hear his confession, and converse with 
 him on the safety of his soul. His confine- 
 ment indeed was so rigorous, that the person who 
 daily supplied his wants, was allowed to approach 
 no nearer to him than the grating of his prison 
 would permit. Matthew of Westminster in his 
 History, (page 135) gives the following anecdote 
 as illustrative of the generosity of Hubert's dispo- 
 sition. " Having been informed one day while 
 lying in his dungeon, of the death of the Earl of 
 Chester one of his sworn foes, the imprisoned 
 Earl fetched a deep sigh, ejaculating, ' The Lord 
 have mercy on his soul.' Then calling for his 
 Psalter, he stood devoutly before the Cross, and 
 ceased not till he had sung it all over, for the 
 good of the departed soul." 
 
 But while he thus pined under this abominable 
 and unmerited confinement, a political storm was 
 brewing, which endangered the throne itself, and 
 proved in the issue the means of releasing him from 
 the tyranny of his enemies. The overbearing 
 conduct of his rival the Bishop of Winchester (a 
 Toictevin by birth) had rendered him odious to
 
 86 HISTORY OF 
 
 the nation, while the introduction of foreigners 
 into almost every post of emolument and trust 
 had occasioned so general a discontent, that the 
 very garrison of Devizes began to manifest dis- 
 gust. From the following letter it appears that 
 the knights to whose custody the Earl had been 
 committed, ventured to refuse admittance to some 
 of the king's messengers, on the plea that by vir- 
 tue of their commission, the whole of the fortress 
 was placed in their keeping. 
 
 "The king to the soldiers, the guardians of 
 Hubert de Burgh. Ye ought to recollect, touching 
 the articles of agreement made between us and 
 your generals (the four earlsj to whom we ap- 
 pointed the Donjon of the Castle of The Devizes 
 for the safe keeping of Hubert de Burgh ; that 
 the Castle itself with the exception of the said 
 Donjon, should still remain at our disposal, for 
 us and our people, as often as we might send 
 thither ; and whereas it hath been certified to us, 
 that to our liege-men whom we lately sent to the 
 said Castle, ye have hitherto denied entrance, to 
 our great scandal and rebuke ; we have now sent 
 unto you Aylmer of St. Amand, commanding 
 you to admit into the castle the soldiers whom 
 we sent, according to our order. And unless ye 
 return word by him, a sufficient reason wherefore 
 ye have acted on this wise, know, that we will see 
 in our own person, God willing, who will forbid 
 admission into our Castle." 
 
 Dated at Wallingford, 2, June, 1233. See 
 Rymer's Foedera.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 87 
 
 A fortnight after the receipt of the above letter, 
 the King then lying at Woodstock sent another 
 to Walter de Godarv'lle, warning him neither to 
 quit Devizes, nor to suffer provisions or ammuni- 
 tion of any kind to be carried into the Castle. 
 Two days after, a third missive arrived, enforced 
 by the presence of five knights and fifteen Ser- 
 geants and Bailiffs, who were commissioned to 
 preserve the peace iii the neighbourhood of Devizes, 
 and to see that the only importations into the 
 Castle, were such as were required day by day for 
 the sustenance of the soldiers therein serving. 
 That as to the men appointed to guard the Earl 
 of Kent, they should be at their own charges, on 
 account of their disobedience to the royal precept. 
 Albeit that if the Sheriff of Wiltshire should 
 signify to Walter de Godarville that he require* I 
 his assistance to go to the house of Gilbert Basset 
 of Compton to enforce the king's command, that 
 the said Walter should assist him with force and 
 aims, provided that during his absence, provisions 
 were not carried into the Castle. And finally it 
 was commanded to the men of the town of Devizes 
 that they should look to, and take care of the 
 king's affairs, an office they no doubt felt duly 
 proud [of, but one which they have occasionally 
 discovered to be attended with rather less profit 
 than loss. 
 
 It was not long before Henry had still stronger 
 reasons for suspecting the fidelity of the Garrison. 
 Dissension was spreading in various quarters ; the 
 Earl of Pembroke, one of Hubert's sureties, was
 
 88 HISTORY OF 
 
 taking up arms in the West of England, and in 
 Wiltshire where rebellion first i eared its head, the 
 powerful family of the Bassets were conspicuous 
 for their resistance to the king's unadvised inno- 
 vations. The principal representatives of this 
 house were Gilbert Bassett and his brother-in-law 
 Richard Siward, both being partizans of the Earl 
 of Pembroke, and it is possible also, two of Hu- 
 bert's guardian knights. They were speedily made 
 to feel the vengeance of the Bishop of Winchester ; 
 Gilbert Bassett was stripped of the manor of 
 Netheravon in Wiltshire which had been conferred 
 on his house by King John, and on his repairing 
 to court to vindicate his righls, Henry rejected his 
 claim with scorn, and stigmatizing him with the 
 name of " Traytor," threatened him with hanging 
 if he did not instantly leave his presence. He also 
 ordered Siward to be apprehended for having pre- 
 sumed to marry Gilbert's sister without th.3 royal 
 leave. The Earl of Pembroke now retired into 
 Wales and joined the forces of Prince Llewellyn, 
 and the King followed him as far as Hereford with 
 a view to seize on the Earl's castles in that county ; 
 but his ardour was quickly abated by the resistance 
 he encountered from the very first he assailed ; 
 and after a few more unsuccessful adventures, he 
 was surprized and attacked at the Castle of Gros- 
 mont and compelled to retreat to Gloucester. 
 
 During the progress of these disorders, the 
 Bishop of Winchester manifested great anxiety 
 for the preservation of the prisoner at Devizes. 
 Fully sensible that if the Earl should by any
 
 THE DEVIZES. 89 
 
 means effect his escape, his own power and in- 
 fluence would be greatly lessened, he had been 
 strenuously endeavouring to obtain for his nephew 
 Peter de Rupibus (also a Poictevin) the govern- 
 ment of Devizes Castle for a limited period, in 
 order to assassinate his fallen rival, before such a 
 step became practicable. But Hubert, though in 
 adversity, still possessed the services of that valu- 
 able agent, a friend at Court. Intelligence of 
 Winchester's treacherous design was instantly 
 conveyed to him by a secret hand, and the Earl 
 perceiving that no time was to be lost, revealed 
 the perilous situation in which he stood, to two of 
 his guardian knights, and threw himself on their 
 generosity. They were but too well disposed to 
 aid in any scheme to join the standard of the 
 Earl of Pembroke, and it is probable that they 
 would have abandoned their charge long before, 
 but for the conviction that in so doing, they would 
 have exposed Hubert to almost certain destruc- 
 tion. Accordingly on Michaelmas eve, 1233, it 
 being their turn to watch, they thus conducted 
 his escape. One led the way, while the other 
 taking the Earl on his shoulders, who was unable 
 to walk on account of the irons with which he was 
 loaded, carried him safely through the Area of 
 the Castle, went out through the " Ostium," 
 passed with great difficulty the foss, ascended to 
 the parish Church of St. John, and deposited him 
 on the steps of the High-altar. The escape was 
 almost immediately made known to the Governor, 
 and he instantly dispatched in pursuit a body of
 
 90 HISTORY OF 
 
 his ruthless castellans, who finding the Earl in his 
 place of refuge, clasping a Benedictine Cross, 
 dragged him thence with great violence, and con- 
 veyed him back to the Castle. Intelligence of 
 the circumstance coming to the king who was then 
 at Oxford, he immediately sent directions to the 
 Governor of Devizes, that the Earl should be 
 safely kept in the vault which he had previously 
 occupied, that his keepers should place upon him 
 three pair of iron fetters, and that none of his 
 friends should be permitted to hold any commu- 
 nication with him. But the matter was not suf- 
 fered to rest here. The event as in the former 
 instance at Merton, excited the indignation of the 
 Clergy, who naturally regarded this reiterated 
 breach of the privilege of sanctuary, as a most 
 dangerous precedent. This at least is the motive 
 usually assigned for I heir conduct on this occasion, 
 but it is clear that they were also actuated by feel- 
 ings of personal enmity against the Bishop of 
 Winchester, who on the authority of his ordination 
 by the Pope, was setting all the Clergy of England 
 at defiance. 
 
 As the outrage had been committed in a church 
 within the diocese of the Bishop of Salisbury, it 
 was resolved that the cause should be undertaken 
 by that prelate (Robert Bingham.) He accord- 
 ingly repaired to Devizes Castle, and threatened to 
 exercise his spiritual sword on the governor and all 
 his men, if he did not forthwith acknowledge the 
 authority of the Church by sending back the Earl to 
 his sanctuai v. But the Governor was deaf to all
 
 THE DEVIZES. 91 
 
 solicitations, and the Bishop having solemnly ex- 
 communicated the whole garrison, quitted the 
 Castle for London The prelates then in a body 
 carried their cause before the king, and were so 
 urgent in their suit, that he was compelled to yieid 
 to their request. The Earl was permitted to be 
 reconveyed to the Church, but Henry at the same 
 time sent the following secret despatch to the 
 Sheriff of Wiltshire. 
 
 " It is commanded to the Sheriff of Wiltshire, 
 that as he loves his own body, he be at The De- 
 vizes in propria persona with the posse comitatus, 
 on Wednesday the morrow of St. Luke, the Evan- 
 gelist, in the early morning, and by keeping Hu- 
 bert de Burgh within the Church of St. John, 
 both day and night, to prevent his escape by any 
 means." Teste Rege ap. Westminster, 15 Oct. 
 17 Hen. III. 
 
 He also dispatched two of his Justices, Ralph de 
 Bray and Ralph de Norwich, to the prisoner, with 
 a commission, either to receive his oath to quit 
 the kingdom for life, or to offer him a fair hearing 
 in the king's court, in accordance with the condi- 
 tions of his imprisonment. But in case he refused 
 to accede to either, then the Sheriff's men were to 
 guard the Church and Cemetery with all diligence. 
 
 But the disordered state of the country render- 
 ed all these precautions unavailing. Hubert was 
 carried back into the sanctuary, and the church 
 was instantly environed, to prevent his exit ; but 
 assistance was nearer at hand than his enemies 
 looked for. Gilbert Bassett and Richard Siward,
 
 92 HISTORY OF 
 
 had in the meanwhile got together a troop of horse, 
 and on the morrow after the Earl had been re- 
 stored to the sanctuary, they suddenly made their 
 appearance in the Churchyard, and charged the 
 Sheriff's men in full career. The prisoner was 
 then extracted shivering from the Church, his 
 shackles were knocked from his limbs, and his 
 friends having seated him on a mailed steed, bore 
 him off in triumph. They all then escaped into 
 Wales and joined the standard of the Earl of Pem- 
 broke. 
 
 In the early part of the succeeding year, that 
 nobleman fell by the dagger of a false friend, at 
 the instigation of the Bishop of Winchester ; and in 
 the following month, an amnesty was agreed upon 
 at Gloster, by which Hubert with the other insur- 
 gents was received into the royal favour, and re- 
 covered the greater part of his estates. He died 
 eleven years afterwards, and was buried in London, 
 at the monastery of the Friers -preachers, now 
 called Blackfriars. 
 
 Of the other agents in the events we have re- 
 lated, Gilbert Bassett and Richard Siward were in 
 like manner reinstated in their possessions, and 
 were even constituted, in conjunction with Hubert 
 de Burgh and Gilbert Marshall the Earl of Pem- 
 broke's brother, the king's privy councellors. 
 As to the Bishop of Winchester, his villiany and 
 rapacity became so flagrant, that Henry at last 
 summoned resolution enough to throw off his 
 iron yoke, and rendered the Bishop's situation 
 so humiliating, that in the course of t\vo years, 
 he found it expedient to beat a retreat to Rome.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 93 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE GOVERNORS AFTER 1233 STATE 
 
 OF THE REVENUES OF THE CASTLE IN EDWARD I. 
 REIGN, WITH MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES ON THE 
 
 SUBJECT OF ITS MANAGEMENT CONTINUATION 
 
 OF ITS HISTORY DOWN TO THE PERIOD OF ITS 
 DESTRUCTION IN THE TIME OF HENRY VII. DES- 
 CRIPTION OF THE CASTLE BY LELAND,LAMBARDI, 
 
 AND OTHERS ESSAY ON ITS ARCHITECTURE AND 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE RECENT EXCAVATIONS ON THE 
 CASTLE-HILL. 
 
 IN resuming the mention of the Wardens of 
 the Castle, the name which occurs next to that of 
 Walter de Godarville is John de Plessitis. Origi- 
 nally he was but a domestic servant at Court, but 
 on becoming one of Henry's favourites, was ap- 
 pointed to the custody of this fortress in 1235. 
 By the king's persuasions, Margery the above 
 mentioned daughter and heiress of John Marschall 
 Earl of Warwick, was induced to become his wife, 
 in whose right therefore he took the title himself. 
 In 1253 he attended Henry in an expedition into 
 Gascoigne his death happened ten years after. 
 
 The grant was then conferred on Robert Lord 
 Neville of Raby. He was one of the barons who
 
 91 HISTORY OF 
 
 pledged themselves to the king's observance of the 
 ordinances, usually known by the name of " Pro- 
 visiones Oxonienses," and during that turbulent 
 year, was made General of all the king's forces 
 beyond the Trent ; but Henry having reason to 
 suspect that the intrigues of Montfort Earl of 
 Leicester had seduced him from his allegiance, 
 displaced him from all his posts, whether of 
 honour or emolument, transferring that of the 
 Lordship of Devizes to Philip Lord Bassett of 
 Wicombe. This nobleman had greatly distin- 
 guished himself before the walls of Northampton, 
 when held out by the Earl of Leicester, and 
 eventually taken the place. But in 1264, the 
 year following his appointment to Devizes Castle, 
 the battle of Lewes was fought, which cost the king 
 his crown and liberty. Philip Bassett who fought 
 near the person of Henry, long maintained by his 
 courage and example, the combat with Leicester's 
 forces ; but sinking through loss of blood, his re- 
 tainers fled, and the king, whose horse had been 
 killed under him, was compelled to surrender to 
 the Earl. He was confined to the Priory of Lewes, 
 and the royal castles fell into the hands of his 
 enemies. 
 
 Hugh le Despencer, who had married Aliva, the 
 daughter of Phillip Bassett, then obtained the 
 castle of Devizes, by the authority of Leicester 
 and the twenty four Barons-regent as they were 
 termed ; into whose number he was also admitted. 
 Lord Bassett was imprisoned in Dover Castle, 
 where he remained till the victory at Evesham in
 
 THE DEVIZES. 95 
 
 1266, which restored his master to the throne. 
 Despencer had fallen on the field : all his estates 
 were confiscated to the crown, and Lord Bassett 
 again became the king's military tenant at Devizes. 
 He is presumed to have died shortly after, as we 
 find the trust confided to the hands of Ralph de 
 Sandwich during the early part of the succeeding 
 reign. (Edw. I.) And after him in succession ap- 
 pear the names of John de Haverings, 1 1th. Edw. 
 I, and John de Ewelesham 13th Edw. I. During 
 the wardenship of this latter, one John Flamel, is 
 charged before the king with t he offence of having 
 refused to send into the castle certain provisions 
 which he had been commanded to furnish for the 
 use of the king, at a fair valuation alledging in- 
 ability ; whereas it appeared upon examination, 
 that a sufficient supply was then lying at his house. 
 John Flamel was found guilty of the offence, and 
 sentenced to a fine of 20 Marks. CSee Abbrev, 
 PlacitJ Th's probably arose on the occasion of a 
 purveyance, on Edward's passing through Devizes, 
 a circumstance of frequent occurrence. When- 
 ever the kings of England travelled in former 
 days ; the inhabitants for several miles on each 
 side of the road, were always compelled to furnish 
 horses, carriages, lodging, and provisions, for him 
 and his suite, a company which seldom amounted 
 to less, often to more than a thousand persons ; 
 and although it was professed that the owners re- 
 ceived legal payment, yet numberless frauds and 
 extortions were perpetually practised by the Pur- 
 veyors, who took whatever they pleased, fixing
 
 96 HISTORY OF 
 
 the price themselves, and often eluding paymsnt 
 altogether. This intolerable grievance was some- 
 what mitigated by Edward III., though three cen- 
 turies more elapsed, ere it was entirely abolished 
 under the reign of the second Charles . 
 
 During the reign of Edward I. were collected 
 the returns known by the title of " Rotuli Hun- 
 dredorum." They were taken soon after his re- 
 turn from Palestine, in pursuance of a special 
 commission issued under the great seal, for the 
 purpose of enquiring into the state of the demesnes, 
 and of the rents and revenues of the Crown ; 
 and concerning the conduct of the Sheriffs and 
 other officers and ministers who had defrauded 
 the king, and grievously oppressed the people. 
 The Rotuli contain two notices of Devizes, one of 
 which had been drawn up in the preceding reign, 
 viz. in the 39th Henry III. for some reason not 
 stated. The remarks which apply to Devizes as 
 a Borough will be noticed in another place. Those 
 relating to the castle, and which are included in 
 the report of Henry's reign are as follows. 
 
 Concerning the keeping of the Castle, the Jury 
 declare That the Castle of Devizes can be kept 
 in a state of defence for the sum of 25 marks per 
 annum, and no less. 
 
 Then follows a list of Knights holding manors, 
 lands, tenements, &c. of the castle by military 
 tenure ; of whom, those who held at 20 pounds 
 or a whole knight's fee, were bound, in time of 
 war, to do suit to the Lord of the Castle for the 
 space of forty days in the year, in propriis per-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 97 
 
 sonis, and at their own charges ; and those who 
 held at half a knight's fee, or less, to do service in 
 proportion accordingly. 
 
 Walter de Dunstanville, for lands at Stert, by 
 one knight's fee or service. 
 
 John Fitz-Alan. Houses at Keevil, by one 
 knight's service. 
 
 Robert de Maundeville. Houses and lands at 
 Bratton, by one knight's service. 
 
 William Paynell, Richard Esturmy, and Hum- 
 phrey de Schoverille. Lands at Littleton, by one 
 knights's service conjointly. 
 
 Robert de la Mare. Houses in Lavington, by 
 one knight's service. 
 
 Richard de Rock ell. Houses in Lavington, by 
 one knight's service. 
 
 Ralph de Wilton. Lands at Calstone, by half 
 a knight's service. 
 
 Richard de Hetchilhampton. Lands at Het- 
 chilhampton, by half a knight's service. 
 
 Robert de Salceto. Lands at Bishop's Laving- 
 ton, by half a knight's service. 
 
 Also the jury declare that the knights here fol- 
 lowing, originally made ward to the castle, but 
 have withdrawn their services for about thirty 
 years. 
 
 Robert de Horcheleya, (Horseley.) Lands at 
 Horcheleya in Somerset, by one knight's service. 
 
 Earl Richard. Lands at Mere, by one knight's 
 service. 
 
 Roger de la Folye. Lands at Bishop's Laving- 
 ton, by one knight's service.
 
 98 HISTORY OF 
 
 Peter de Hymmesburgh. Lands at Lavington 
 and at Hurst, by two knights' service. 
 
 Roger Gernun. Lands at Steeple Lavington, 
 by one knight's service. 
 
 James de Potterne. Lands at Potterne, by one 
 knight's service. 
 
 William de Cotes. Lands at Cotes, by two 
 knights' service. 
 
 William Fitz-Luce and Roger de Horton. 
 Lands at Cannings and at Horton, by half a 
 knights' service each. 
 
 Allan de St. George, William de Derham, and 
 Owayn de Immere. Lands at Horton, by the 
 third part of a knight's service respectively. 
 
 William Quintin and William Bubbe. Lands 
 at Clyve, by one knight's service. 
 
 These lists, we must conclude, contain all the 
 manors, lands, and houses held of the Castle of 
 Devizes, at that particular period ; but another 
 compilation, the Calendar inquisitionum post mor- 
 tem* furnishes us with several others, of which 
 the owners died seised during subsequent reigns, 
 and which may be regarded as additions subse- 
 quently made to the resources or appurtenances 
 of the Castle. The following extracts contain the 
 mention of the places alluded to, other than those 
 already detailed. 
 
 * These irquisitions were taken by virtue of writs directed 
 to the Escheator of each Count}', to enquire what lands any 
 person died seised of, and by what rents or services the same 
 were held, who was the next heir, his age, and many other 
 points which render them the best evidences of the descents of 
 families and property.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 99 
 
 1st Edward III. m. 85. Henry Estmond and 
 others. One hundred and twenty acres of arable 
 land at Devizes, and in a place called the New- 
 park there, for suit done at Devizes castle. 
 
 5thEdw. III. m. 13. John de Poulshot. Thirty 
 acres of arable land at Chitmarsh, by half a 
 knight's service. 
 
 7th Edw. III. m. 17. William de Maundeville. 
 Houses and lands at Edyngton. 
 
 23rd Edw. III. m. 74. Henry de Willington. 
 Asserton near the town of Berwick. 
 
 2nd Henry IV. m. 40. John Roches. Knight. 
 Certain messuages and lands at Yatesbury. 
 
 6th Henry. V. m. 23. John Lavington. One 
 capital messuage called Lavington's Place, with 
 other messuages. 
 
 9th Henry. V. m. 44. Ancareta, daughter and 
 heiress of Gilbert Talbot, Knight. Half of the 
 manor of Broughton. 
 
 13th Henry VI. in. 37. John Earl of Arundel. 
 Half of the manor of Bulkingdon. 
 
 The manor of Calstone is stated to have ap- 
 pertained to Totness Castle, though held " as of 
 Devizes Castle " The manor of Mere in the 
 reign of Henry III, was a cause of contention be- 
 tween the Governor of Devizes Castle and the 
 Earl of Salisbury, but was decided by the king to 
 belong to the former. To (he above may be add- 
 ed the manors of Earlstoke, Cufleya, Haklestone, 
 and Hesthorpe, near Highworth. 
 
 Under the head of " Villa de Rudes" (town of
 
 100 HISTORY OF 
 
 Rowde) occur the two following entries, in the 
 Rotuli Hundredorum. 
 
 " Richard de Benacre and Juliana his sister hold 
 three virgas (roods) of land in Rudes, by ser- 
 geanty viz. for finding a soldier equipped with 
 haubergeon, doublet, sword, morion, and lance ; 
 to be at the castle of Devizes in time of war, for 
 forty days, at his own charges." 
 
 " Henry the Falconer, deceased, formerly held 
 one hide of land in Rudes, by sergeanty ; that if 
 the king should chance to be in these parts during 
 the forty days succeeding the feast of St. Michael, 
 he should attend him with his hawks ; but in the 
 absence of the king, the constable of Devizes 
 Castle was at liberty to make use of his birds. 
 Also the Jury declare lhat Roger the son and 
 heir of the aforesaid Henry the Falconer, being 
 yet a minor, is in the custody of the constable of 
 the castle, together with his lands, worth per 
 annum one mark."* 
 
 The grant of the Castle and Lordship of De- 
 vizes with its rights, members and appurtenances ; 
 when made entire and without reserve, appears 
 to have comprized the following; The Castle 
 
 * It is almost unnecessary to remind the reader that this 
 practice termed, Wardship in Chivalry, was that by which the 
 Lord was entitled to the guardianship of the body and lands of 
 heirs during their minority ; that is, till the age of twenty-one 
 in males, and fourteen in females. It gave him the power also 
 of disposing of them in marriage, or at least of tendering him 
 or her a suitable match, without disparagement or inequality, 
 which if the infants refused, they were liable to a fine called 
 " valor maritagii."
 
 THE DEVIZES. 101 
 
 of Devizes body and members ; the Towns of 
 Devizes and Rowde with the advowsons of two 
 churches in the former, and one in the latter, and 
 the custody of the Forests of Melksham, Chip- 
 penham, Peveshani, La Cofaud, and the Warrens 
 at Marlborough. The nominal return or rent for 
 the whole was 40. All these immunities how- 
 ever were not in every case made to accompany 
 the mere holding of the Castle. In cases where 
 they were not, the Sheriff of the County was 
 authorized to take the charge of all appurtenances, 
 and collect the revenues in the king's name. The 
 nomination of the Earl of Warwick, by Henry III. 
 whicli occurs above, is a case in point. By the 
 first grant, " the king gives to John de Plessetis 
 Earl of Warwick, the body of the Castle of De- 
 vizes to be held during the royal pleasure, saving 
 the royal demesnes, and all other things pertain- 
 big, extra muros ; and the king wills that the 
 Sheriff of Wiltshire shall take charge of the royal 
 demesnes,'' &c. Some years after " The King 
 grants to the Earl, the manor of Rowde and villa 
 /of Devizes, with appurtenances." 
 
 The fortress of Devizes was one of the class 
 termed Royal Castles, to which certain privileges 
 and honors were annexed. * It was also a state 
 
 * The royal castles were those of Dover and the other cin- 
 que ports, Northampton, Corfe, Scarborough, Bamborough, 
 Newcastle on Tyne, Hereford, Devizes, Exeter, Sarum, 
 Hadleigh, Winchester, Porchester, Bridgnorth, Oxford, 
 Sherbourn, the Tower of London, Rochester, Gloster and 
 Horestan.
 
 102 HISTORY OF 
 
 prison ; on which point, let us see what Mr. King 
 advances in his " Munimenta antiqua," vol. III. 
 p. 251. " When a grant was made to a castle to 
 become a state prison, it is not to be understood 
 as implying that the whole building was a prison, 
 but merely that the lower story of the keep, or 
 dungeon was by royal authority appointed to be 
 a public and privileged prison at all times ; where- 
 as the dungeons of other castles were permitted 
 to be used as such, only in time of war. The 
 upper stories of the keep continued in both cases 
 to be constantly used as state apartments for the 
 residence of the Lord of the mansion, notwith- 
 standing the prison underneath ; and hence per- 
 haps arose the practice in early times of commit- 
 ting state prisoners to the custody of different 
 Lords at pleasure, which custom continued down 
 to the time of Henry the 8th and even of Queen 
 Elizabeth." This privilege appears to have been 
 granted to Devizes at a very early date, if we may 
 credit the assertion of Lambardi a writer of the 
 sixteenth century, who assures us that Robert 
 Duke of Normandy was confined thereto by his 
 brother Henry the first "as to a most free and 
 liberal prison," Lambardi neglects to mention 
 his authority for this assertion ; it is however con- 
 siderably favoured by a passage in the Saxon 
 Chronicle, where allusion is made to the Duke's 
 being removed on one occasion from the custody 
 of Roger bishop of Sarum to that of the governor 
 of Bristol castle, and we have already seen that 
 Devizes at that time was in the Bishop's hands.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 103 
 
 It would appear from the various entries on the 
 Rolls, relative to the transmission hither of falcons, 
 hounds, &c., and from other circumstances ; that 
 the neighbourhood of Devizes formed a very consi- 
 derable chase in the days of the first Edwards. The 
 number of attestations dated from this place, es- 
 pecially by Edward I. fully proves that the spot 
 was one of favorite resort. Once if not oftener, he 
 dates from Poulshot. If the Devizes Old-Park did 
 not formerly extend to Poulshot, it was doubtless 
 all forest-land there, and the place from which the 
 king wrote, was very probably a hunting-lodge. 
 Speed asserts thatwhen Edward spent his Easters at 
 Devizes, he was in the habit of visiting his mother, 
 the Queen dowager, who resided with the Lady 
 Prioress of Amesbury. 
 
 Chippenham forest, the guardianship of which, 
 as above stated, was usually attached to the Castle 
 of Devizes, is supposed to have been originally an 
 appendage to the Palace of the West Saxon Mo- 
 narchs when they resided at Chippenham. Its 
 direction appears to have been north- west from 
 that town, and was probably all one with Braden 
 forest. Melksham forest lay between Chippen- 
 ham and Melksham. The Forest of Pevesham 
 or Pewsey is delineated in Speed's map of Wilt- 
 shire, and in others of the date of James I. Jn 
 what modern name La Cofaud is preserved, it is 
 difficult to determine ; but the fact is that so much 
 of the face of the country was forest land in former 
 times ; that we can form no idea in the present 
 day, of the extent or limits of the chases with which
 
 104 HISTORY OF 
 
 the island abounded at any given period. It has 
 even been asserted by some writers, that Devizes 
 once formed the extremity of the New Forest. 
 But though, as Mr. Britton observes " early his- 
 tory informs us that a great part of Wiltshire was 
 covered with forest trees, the statement must have 
 applied chiefly to the north western division of 
 the County, as little doubt can be entertained, but 
 that the high lands of its southern district have 
 remained in their present open and unsheltered 
 condition, from the most remote ages. North 
 Wiltshire is particularly noticed by the ancient 
 writers on British affairs, as opposing many diffi- 
 culties to the conquests of Vespasian, from the 
 close and woody nature of its surface." 
 
 The expenses and materials for the repairs of 
 the Castle, were usually (though not always) sup- 
 plied by the proceeds of the Forests : of which 
 the following extracts from the Rolls may serve as 
 illustrations. 
 
 7th Henry III. The King to the barons of 
 his Exchequer. Know that we have assigned to 
 our beloved Phillip de Albini for the defences of 
 our Castle of The Devizes, the sum of 44 shillings 
 arising from the poll of the inhabitants of the 
 forest of Chippenham. Teste, Hubert de Burgo, 
 Westminster. 
 
 8th Henry III. The king to the salesmen of 
 the underwood in the forests of Melksham and 
 Chippenham. We command you to allow our 
 beloved William Brewer, constable of Devizes 
 Castle to apply the proceeds of the underwood of
 
 THE DEVIZES. 105 
 
 the said forests to the repairing of the Drawbridge 
 and Palisadoes of the Castle, and of the houses 
 therein. Teste, Rege. Devizes. 
 
 8th Edw I. The king having appointed that 
 the reparations of his Castles of Devizes and Odi- 
 ham shall be expedited ; Ralph de Sandwich, 
 constable of Devizes, is commanded to sell in the 
 king's forest of Dean, large timber and underwood 
 to the value of 30 to be applied to that purpose. 
 
 29th Edw. III. The king has ordained that 
 the value of the reclaimed parts of the forests of 
 Chippenham, Pevesham and Melksham, shall be 
 assessed and levied at 18. 14s. per annum ; 
 and that during the life-time of Roger de Bello 
 Campo, constable of the Castle of Devizes, that 
 sum shall be paid by the Prioress of Amesbury 
 collectrix for the king, unto the porter of the said 
 castle, year by year ; by him to be expended in 
 the repairs of the same ; and also in the enclosing 
 of the king's park there, under the supervision of 
 the parson of the Church of Devizes, and of the 
 Mayor of the Borough." 
 
 Returning to the point in the narrative, from 
 which the above digression on the nature of the 
 grant was made ; John de Ewelesham appears to 
 have been succeeded by Matthew Fitz-John, Lord 
 of Stokenham, as Warden, Constable, or Governor ; 
 for all these terms are nearly synonymous with 
 " Lord of the Castle." Edward I. bestowed it on 
 him in the 15th of his reign, "to be held for life,
 
 10G HISTORY OF 
 
 on the same terms as those by which Ralph de 
 Sandwich had formerly possessed it, except that 
 the king remits the payment of the annual rent of 
 *40," Pat. Rolls. 15 Edw. I. m. 9. During 
 the same year Lord Stokenham "did homage in 
 the king's court for the town and castle of Devi- 
 zes, the manors ofRowde, Earlstoke, Haklestone, 
 and divers others, on which occasion, the King 
 and Queen confirmed to hirn the said possessions, 
 whether in demesnes, homages, services of free- 
 men, wards of the Castle, or advowsons ; to hold 
 for life, by the yearly payment of ,40 with all 
 services, whether by custom or exaction." More- 
 over the Forests were then given into his hands 
 with their appurtenances for " the safe keeping of 
 the king's deer, and the maintenance of the royal 
 prerogatives there." Eleven years after, we find 
 him deprived by Edward of this bailiwick or juris- 
 diction of the forests, in consequence of his having 
 abused the trust, both " in vert and venison/' It 
 was however afterwards restored to him. 
 
 A grant of privileges made about this time to 
 one John de Tregoze, then engaged in an expe- 
 dition into Gascoigne, stipulates (inter alia) that 
 his wife and family shall abide safely in Devizes 
 castle, and have firewood from the forests. 22. 
 Edw. I. An order arrives in the 25th of the same 
 reign, to the Governor of the Castle, to liberate 
 Edmund de Ramsay, and William Olifard ; most 
 probably two Scottish prisoners. 
 
 Edward being anxious to settle the property on 
 Margaret of France his second queen, induced
 
 THE DEVIZES. 107 
 
 Matthew Fitz- John in 1305, (33rd of his reign,) to 
 surrender and release the same into his hands, and 
 to receive in exchange the manor of Wrexhall in 
 the Isle of Wight. The queen nominated as her 
 Seneschall at Devizes, John Bluet, who in the 
 first year of the following reign, was compelled to 
 surrender it into the hands of Hugh le Despencer, 
 the luckless favorite of Edward II. 
 
 In the 6th Edw. II. a commission arrived, di- 
 recting the Governor or his locum-tenens "to put 
 the castle into a defensible state, for the preser- 
 vation of the safety and honor of the king." This 
 order was on account of the factions then raging 
 between the king and his barons. David de Lind- 
 say a Scottish General was at this time lying in 
 the Castle, a prisoner of war, and in the 8th of 
 the reign, Hugh le Despencer was ordered to libe- 
 rate him, and give him safe conduct through the 
 realm to his own country. This was just after the 
 defeat at Bannockburn had been sustained. 
 
 On the rebellion of the Barons in 1320, the 
 Despencers both father and son were disinherited 
 and banished the kingdom, after which Sir Oliver 
 de Ingham, one of the king's most faithful adhe- 
 rents, succeeded to the grant in the room of the 
 former. The ancestors of Sir Oliver were seated 
 at Ingham in Norfolk in the twelfth century. He 
 himself is described as a young lusty and valorous 
 soldier, and in his effigy, which is still in excellent 
 preservation in Ingham Church, he is represented 
 grasping his spear with both hands, and reposing 
 on a bed of large stones ; a position by which is
 
 108 HISTORY OF 
 
 designed to indicate the martial hardihood of the 
 knight. He was long engaged in the wars with 
 Scotland, and on the breaking out of Leicester's 
 rebellion, accompanied the king at Cirencester, 
 Gloster and Shrewsbury. Shortly after his ap- 
 pointment to this castle, he was made Seneschall 
 of Aquitaine, whither he proceeded at the head of 
 7000 men. * 
 
 The appointment of William de Berwick to the 
 Lordship of Devizes is the next circumstance that 
 meets our notice, 4th Edward III. Subsequently 
 it was again included in the dowry of the queen 
 consort, Philippa of Hainault, who dying in 1369, 
 it was transferred to the hands of Roger de Bello 
 Campo, (Gallice, Beauchamp) Baron of Bletsho 
 and grandson of Walter de Bello Campo of 
 Alcester. This nobleman was renowned as being 
 one of the most accomplished knights and emi- 
 nent warriors of the chivalrous days of "Edward 
 the third. In 1346 we find him serving in France, 
 and in the following year, the king confirmed to 
 
 * While commanding at Bordeaux, he completely cut to 
 pieces a French army sent against him ; having brought them 
 within his power by stratagem. The means by which he 
 effected this were as follows. He armed the citizens, and re- 
 tiring with them into the castle, caused the city-gates to be 
 thrown open, a feigned tumult to be excited, and then planted 
 the French standard on the summit of the keep. The enemy 
 presuming the place to be already captured by some of their 
 own party, entered pell mell, and meeting with but little op- 
 position, fell to pillaging the town ; when the valiant 
 Seneschall issued from the castle, and put them to a direful 
 rout.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 109 
 
 him and his wife Sybil, the manor of Lediard Tre- 
 gooze in Wiltshire. He was afterwards made 
 Captain of Calais, and accompanied the king into 
 Gascoigne. 
 
 In the course of his wardenship at Devizes, the 
 castle was allotted for the habitation of two royal 
 hostages in the persons of the sons of Charles de 
 Blois, a nephew of the king of France. Charles 
 was taken prisoner in a contest which he was 
 maintaining for the dukedom of Bretagne, with 
 his own uncle John Earl of Montford, who was 
 assisted by Edward of England. The sons were 
 exchanged for their father, and they appear to 
 have remained in England for several years, even 
 long after the quarrel had been set at rest by his 
 death in 1364. Entries in Rymer's Faedera, 
 shew them to have been committed to the custody 
 of Lord Beauchamp at two different periods. 
 
 In the last year of Edw. III., Roger, being then 
 Chamberlain of the household ; in consideration of 
 his long and eminent services, received a pension 
 of a hundred marks per annum, arising out of the 
 fee-farm of the Castle and Town of Devizes, his 
 son who bore the same name, succeeded him in 
 the personal occupation of the said Castle. 
 
 From an entry in the Calendar inq. post mor- 
 tem, it appears that during some part of Lord 
 Beauchamp 's wardenship, the premises must have 
 been farmed by William of Edyngton the Bishop 
 of Winchester. The inquisition is dated 6th of 
 Richard II. (1382) but this was sixteen years after 
 the Bishop's death. It describes him as having
 
 110 HISTORY OF 
 
 died seised of " The manor of Steeple Lavington. 
 The Castle and wards of Devizes. The manor 
 of Tinhead and the manor of Edyngton, (which 
 last remains to the Bishoprick), for the mainte- 
 nance of the Church of Edyngton, and of the cha- 
 pels therein. " 
 
 In one of the Exchequer Calendars, occurs a 
 singular memorandum, dated 25 February 1379 
 crd Rich. II ; certifying that " John de Waltham, 
 clerk, has deposited in the Treasury of the king 
 for safe keeping, an indenture made between the 
 aforesaid Lord the King of the one part, and Nich- 
 olas SharnefFeld of the other part ; for the holding 
 of the Castle, Town and Park of Devizes, and of 
 the forests ofMelksham and Chippenham with 
 their appurtenances, by the said Nicholas put out 
 to farm for the rest of his life. And the Inden- 
 ture is deposited in a certain chest above the re- 
 cess, in a pixis with the following mark " 
 
 Uc 
 
 In 13 90 we find it settled on the lady Anne, 
 Richard the second's first Queen. She died in 
 1395 ; four years after which, the king was de- 
 posed by the Earl of Lancaster, who mounted the 
 throne as Henry IV. ; when Devizes was most 
 probably again included in the queen's jointure. 
 It is certain that such was the case in 1412 when 
 Henry espoused his second wife Joan of Navarre, 
 the dutchess dowager of Bretagne.
 
 THE DEVIZES. Ill 
 
 Subsequently it passed through the hands, and 
 became the occasional residence of Humphrey 
 duke of Gloster (popularly known as " the good 
 duke") the younger brother of Henry V, and 
 protector of the realm of England during the 
 minority of his nephew Henry VI . This generous 
 prince had to experience, what many others have 
 also discovered that the people's favourite is not 
 always the favourite at Court. It is a matter of 
 no great difficulty to perceive the causes of the 
 deadly animosity with which he was pursued by 
 such men as Suffolk and Cardinal Beaufort ; or 
 by " England's dear-bought Queen" the haughty 
 Margaret of Anjou, but it is less easy to under- 
 stand how he should ever have come to be an ob- 
 ject of dislike and suspicion to the mind of one so 
 kind hearted as was the young king, and so tho- 
 roughly persuaded as he appeared to be at one 
 time that " Whoever might be the traytor, Glos- 
 ter was none/' Dr. Lingard conjectures that the 
 Duke harassed by the accusations of his enemies, 
 may possibly have formed a plan to make him- 
 self master of the royal person ; or that Suffolk to 
 screen himself from the resentment of the Duke, 
 for his having ceded away the provinces of Maine 
 and Anjou to the French, infused into the mind 
 of Henry, suspicions of the loyalty of his uncle. 
 However this was, Henry was induced to summon 
 a parliament to meet, not at London, which was 
 supposed to be too well affected to the Duke ; but 
 at Bury St. Edmunds, where his enemies trusted 
 that he would lie entirely at mercy. The precau-
 
 112 HISTORY OF 
 
 tions that were taken, excited surprize and gave 
 birth to numerous conjectures. The knights of 
 the shire received orders to come in arms, the men 
 of Suffolk were arrayed ; numerous guards were 
 placed around the king's residence, and patroles 
 during the night watched all the roads leading to 
 the town. The Duke of Gloster left his Castle of 
 Devizes on Feb. 10. 1447, and was present at the 
 opening of Parliament. The next day he was ar- 
 rested in his lodgings, on a charge of high treason, 
 by the Lord Beaumont Constable of England, and 
 seventeen days after, was found dead in his bed, 
 without any external marks of violence; reports 
 were spread that he died of apoplexy or of a bro- 
 ken heart ; suspicion whispered that he had been 
 privately murdered*. 
 
 * In opposition to the popular rumour of the day, and the 
 authority of Shakespeare as to the treacherous designs of Suf- 
 folk and the Cardinal Beaufort in this matter ; Lingard infers 
 from the narrative of Whethamstede, abbot of St. Albans, that 
 Gloster died a natural death. The Doctor however, be it re- 
 membered, is a Roman Catholic. " That writer" says he " who 
 had received many benefits from the duke, was much attached 
 to his memory, which he vindicates on all occasions, and equally 
 prejudiced against his enemies, whom he calls canes scorpi- 
 ones, impii susurrones ; and yet though he wrote when the 
 royal party was humbled in the dust, and he had of course 
 nothing to fear from their resentment, he repeatedly asserts that 
 the duke fell ill immediately after his arrest, and died of his 
 illness. He could not then have been in perfect health on the 
 evening preceding his death, as we are told by some writers. 
 Again Whethamstede says. " This great warrior and second 
 David, prse tristitia modo deposuit arma sua, recescitque ad 
 regionem illam ubi pax est et tranquilla requies sine inquietu- 
 dine ulla" After the duke's death, several knights and esquires
 
 THE DEVIZES. 113 
 
 The castle and manor of Devizes were then 
 settled on Queen Margaret, though we may rea- 
 sonably presume that the former must have occa- 
 sionally changed hands, in the confusion that na- 
 
 in his service who had assembled at Greenwich on the very day 
 of his arrest, and purposed to join him at Bury, were made 
 prisoners and five of their number were tried, and convicted on 
 a charge of having conspired to come to the Parliament in arms , 
 to destroy the King and raise Gloster to the throne, but the 
 humanity of Henry did not permit them to suffer. They were 
 tied up, instantly cut down, stripped and marked for dismem- 
 berment by the knife of the executioner. At this moment 
 Suffolk announced to them the king's pardon. All this has 
 been represented as but an artifice of Suffolk to lessen the 
 odium which he had incurred by the murder of Gloster, 
 but it is well known that Henry's humanity abhorred the pun- 
 ishment usually inflicted for treason. One day seeing the 
 quarter of a person who had been executed, fixed on the Tower 
 he exclaimed, Take it away, it is shameful to use any Chris- 
 tian so cruelly on my account (BlacJcman 301) In the present 
 case the king asserted that the pardon had not been suggested 
 to him by any person either lay or clergymen, but that it origi- 
 nated from religious considerations, principally because God 
 seemed to have taken the cause into his own hands, having dur- 
 ing the late year " touched and stricken certain of those who had 
 been disloyal " Rym XI 178. Who were the persons whom 
 God had stricken ? of course Gloster was one, and the expres- 
 sion is a proof that he died a natural death, for this religious 
 prince would never have used it if the duke had been murdered. 
 Finally it is observed, in allusion to the charges brought against 
 Suffolk when the popular indignation rose against him in 
 1450 that in neither of the impeachments was there any allu- 
 sion to the death of the duke. See Lingard, Vol. 5. Glos- 
 ter's remains were interred in the abbey church of St. Albany, 
 where his monument and that of his biographer Whethamstede, 
 form two of the principal decorations of chat venerable fabric. 
 The body which remained long undiscovered, was found in 
 1703 in entire preservation, but exposure to the atmosphere
 
 114 HISTORY OF 
 
 turally arose out of the civil wars of this reign. 
 In the "Act of Resumption" of the king's de- 
 mesnes appearing on the parliamentary rolls, dated 
 34th Hen. VI. among numerous exceptions and 
 provisoes, is one in favour of Sir Edmund Hun- 
 gerford,knt. as being in possession of the said castle 
 and manor. The proviso secures that the act of 
 resumption shall not extend to the grant made to 
 Edmund Hungerford, knt. for the term of his life 
 " of the constableship of Devizes in the County 
 of Wilts, the keeping of our forests of Melksham, 
 Pevesham, and Chippenham the office of porter of 
 our said castle, the office of parker of our parks, ne 
 of allmanner and singular offices of foresters and 
 raungers of our said forests, with allmanner wages, 
 fees, profits, and commodities, to the said offices 
 and keepings, of old time due, accustomed, and 
 appertaining." Provisoes of a similar character 
 occurring in acts dated 1461 and 1464. (1st and 
 4th of Edw. IV.) present us with the fact that 
 Richard Beauchamp bishop of Salisbury was then 
 in possession ; but in this case, only for a term of 
 years. The original agreement between this 
 
 soon wasted the flesh. The skeleton was found to correspond 
 in its proportions, with the gigantic height, which tradition had 
 ascribed to him, but bone after bone began to be pilfered by the 
 curious, till now there is nothing left of " Good Duke Hum- 
 phrey " but the skull and three or four other bones. These 
 are still displayed by the local antiquary, in the vault where 
 they were discovered. A packet of Duke Humphrey's letters 
 written from Devizes, are confained in the Michael Record, 
 7th. Hen V. Rot. 1.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 1 15 
 
 bishop and the king is preserved at Salisbury, but 
 it contains nothing of sufficient interest to render 
 its entire insertion in this place necessary. The 
 castle, manor, parks, borough, demesnes, and 
 forests were to be held for 20 years at s46 13s 
 4d per annum, and the Bishop was to "keep in re- 
 pair the walls, enclosures, and houses, and to un- 
 dertake all the other burdens and responsibilities, 
 usually attendant on the post. An entry in the 
 " Calendar of post mortem inquisitions " shews 
 however that in the interval between the two last 
 mentioned occupants, should be introduced the 
 name of William Beauchamp, who died seised of 
 the Castle in the 35th Henry VI. He was grand- 
 son of John Lord Beauchamp of Powyke, and him- 
 self, Baron of St. Amand : from his sister Eliza- 
 beth, who was married to Sir John Bayntun, knt. 
 descended the family of that name, so long -dis- 
 tinguished in this county. 
 
 From the same Calendar it appears also that 
 two other persons had in the early part of the same 
 reign, died seised of the " members of Devizes 
 Castle" viz : Walter Beauchamp in the 9th, and 
 Matilda Countess of Arundel in the 15th year. 
 In 1467, 6th of Edward IV. the estate was settled 
 (inter alia) by that monarch on his queen Eliza- 
 beth, and she appears to have enjoyed it without 
 interruption until the year 1486, the period at 
 which she was despoiled of all her possessions by 
 her son in law Henry VII., under pretence of 
 punishing her for the part she had taken in Richard 
 Illrd's reign, in delivering up to him the prin-
 
 116 HISTORY OF 
 
 cesses her daughters. Devizes was then settled 
 on Henry's own queen, Elizabeth of York as she 
 was called. 
 
 So far as we have been able to learn, neither 
 Devizes nor its Castle, formed the scene of any 
 event of importance, during the wars of the roses, 
 which had been desolating the realm, during the 
 reign of Henry VI. It appears to have remained 
 all along, in the king's interest, and no doubt 
 exercised a considerable influence on the adjacent 
 country. The people of Wiltshire, generally 
 speaking, were attached to the Lancastrian side, 
 and great numbers of them were at the battle of 
 Tewkesbury. Holinshed observes that Margaret's 
 last army was principally raised in Wiltshire. 
 
 It is very probable indeed, that the reign of 
 Henry VII. which followed shortly after these 
 events, forms the sera when the Castle was ordered 
 to be dismantled. We know certainly that it was 
 still a princely residence in the days of Humphrey 
 Duke of Gloster, and we feel disposed also to 
 think that it continued to be occupied as such by 
 Elizabeth the Queen Dowager, up to the period 
 when, as stated above, she was ungenerously des- 
 poiled of her estates by Henry VII ; but this is 
 only conjecture. As there is therefore no evidence 
 to warrant its existence as a residence, later than 
 the period in question, but much presumptive 
 proof to the contrary (though included by name 
 in subsequent grants) , we shall not be far wrong 
 in attributing its demolition to a monarch who 
 lent his hand to the removal of so many other of
 
 THE DEVIZES. 117 
 
 these obnoxious nests ; the constant scheme of 
 whose policy, in short, was to depress the great, 
 to encourage commerce, and to exalt men who 
 might be more dependent on him. The numerous 
 inland fortresses with which England formerly 
 abounded, though very necessary in the hands of 
 the Normans for the purpose of maintaining the 
 subjection of the Saxons, soon proved terrible 
 thorns in the side of the reigning sovereigns. The 
 stability of the Crown was perpetually shaken by 
 the powers afforded by these castles to their lordly 
 owners, who, surrounded by troops of retainers, 
 in constant readiness to assist them in all wars, 
 insurrections, and riots ; frequently defied the 
 authority from which their own descended, and 
 gave occasion to violent civil commotions. Edward 
 III. dismantled several castles, but their numbers 
 were not relatively much diminished, till Henry 
 VII. laboured by this and other means to strike 
 a final blow at the powers of the Barons. His 
 efforts were in a great measure successful, and 
 were not a little aided by a law enacted during his 
 reign, whereby the nobility and gentry acquired 
 the power of breaking the ancient entails, and of 
 alienating their estates. This power joined to the 
 increasing influence of luxury and the arts of 
 peace, tended greatly to dissipate the vast fortunes 
 of the barons (who were already half swept away 
 by the civil wars) and to exalt the condition of the 
 commons. 
 
 " The Castle, Lordship, and Manor of Vyze" 
 were afterwards settled by Henry VIII. on Katha-
 
 118 HISTORY OF 
 
 rine of Spain his first wife, and subsequently on 
 Katharine Howard his fifth queen. 
 
 (In the year 1536, we find Anne Bulleyn at De- 
 vizes.) 
 
 In 1st Edward VI. the king reciting the above 
 grant to Queen Katharine, grants to Thomas Lord 
 Seymour, (inter alia) the revenue of the said pre- 
 mises to hold for life. 
 
 In 34th Elizabeth. The Queen grants the Park 
 to three persons of the name of Compton, Wright, 
 and Meyrick. 
 
 From these extracts, and from other records 
 preserved in the Augmentation office, of leases of 
 premises in Devizes, parcels of the manor, borough 
 and castle, we may infer that these had not passed 
 from the crown in fee and perpetuity earlier than 
 the reign of Edward VI. when the castle was 
 granted, as stated above, to Lord Seymour of 
 Sudeley, who was afterwards attainted of high 
 treason. After his attainder, the old and new 
 parks remained in the crown till granted at 
 the request of the Earl of Essex, to Compton, 
 Wright and Meyrick. 
 
 Afterwards the inheritance came to William 
 Earl of Montgomery. Matthew, afterwards Baron 
 Eweng, and other daughters of the Earl made 
 several leases of it. In 7th James I. the Earl 
 with others, in consideration of 5000, and by 
 deed dated 8 July, 1609, enrolled in Chancery, 
 conveyed the same to Sir Peter Vanlore and his 
 heirs. Sir Peter had issue, among other children, 
 Mary, upon whom and the heirs of her body, the
 
 THE DEVIZES. 119 
 
 Devizes parks were settled, with the remainder 
 to the right heirs of Sir Peter. 
 
 Mary married Sir Edward Powell, who when 
 his wife was on her deathbed (by force and fraud) 
 procured fines to be levied by himself and her, 
 with warranties by which the remainders were 
 barred. Sir Peter Vanlore the eldest son and heir 
 of the above Sir Peter, had issue three daughters, 
 who as the heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore the elder, 
 exhibited their petition in parliament to reverse 
 the fines levied by their aunt Mary ; and the same 
 were reversed by act of parliament Hth Charles II. 
 
 Afterwards by deed of partition 11 June, 1 6th 
 Charles II. certain parts of the premises were al- 
 lotted in severalty to Henry Alexander Earl of 
 Sterline, (son and heir of Henry Earl of Sterline 
 deceased, by the lady Mary his wife who was one 
 of the daughters and co -heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore 
 the younger,) Another part to Robert Crook and 
 Dame Susan his wife (another of the daughters of 
 Sir Peter Vanlore) and the heirs of the said Dame 
 Susan ; and the remainder of the premises to 
 Henry Alexander Esq. and Jacoba his wife (the 
 other daughter of Sir Peter) and her heirs. 
 
 In resuming the account of the Castle itself, 
 after the period of its being dismantled, the earliest 
 notice which meets our attention is one of a 
 graphic kind, from the pen of the antiquary Le- 
 land. He visited Devizes during the reign of
 
 120 HISTORY OF 
 
 Henry VIII. and thus describes the place in his 
 "Itinerary" Vol. VII. p. 80. (The spelling is 
 modernized) " The town of Vies standeth on a 
 hill somewhat clyving (declining) and mostly oc- 
 cupied by clothiers. The beauty of it is all in one 
 street ; the market is very celebrated. There is 
 a castle on the southwest side of the town, stately 
 advanced upon a high ground, defended partly by 
 nature and partly with the dykes, whereof is cast 
 up a slope, and that of a great height, to the de- 
 fence of the wall. This castle was made in Henry 
 Ist's days by one Roger bishop of Salisbury, coun- 
 cillor and treasurer to the king ; such a piece of 
 castlework was never before nor since set up by 
 any Bishop of England. The keep or donjon of 
 it, set upon a hill cast by hand, is a piece of work 
 of an incredible cost. There appear in the gate 
 of it six or seven places for portcullises, and much 
 goodly building was in it. It is now in ruin, and 
 part of the front of the towers of the gate of the 
 keep, and of the chapel in it, were carried full un- 
 profitably to the building of Master Bayntun's 
 house at Bromham scant three miles off. There 
 remain divers goodly towers yet in the outer wall 
 of the Castle, but all going to ruin. The principal 
 gate that leadeth into the town is yet of great 
 strength, and hath places for seven or eight port- 
 cullises. There is a fair park by the castle. The 
 forest of Blakemore lyeth in a bottom toward the 
 north-west, not far from the town." 
 
 Lambardi who wrote his "Dictionary of the 
 chief places in England " in the reign of Elizabeth,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 121 
 
 about the year 1570, thus alludes to Devizes. 
 " The market continueth, but the castle, from being 
 the most gorgeous in Christendom, for so was it 
 sayeth Matthew Paris, is become fellow with the 
 most decayed." Camden who wrote in 1586 bears 
 a similar testimony. 
 
 Leland speaks above of the erection of old Brom- 
 ham Hall. That edifice was constructed partly with 
 stones furnished from Devizes Castle, and partly 
 from the ruins of an old manor-house at Corsham ; 
 but having been destroyed by fire, near the com- 
 mencement of the last century, the family of the 
 Bayntuns removed to Spye-Park, one of the lodges 
 of which park was composed of the stones which 
 had survived the conflagration. The tradition 
 that the lodge in question primitively formed part 
 of Devizes Castle is still preserved among the pea- 
 santry of Lacock. 
 
 Another part of the above description by Leland 
 stands perhaps in need of a little explanation. 
 By the expression " the gate thatleadeth into the 
 town" he must not be supposed to allude to what 
 we should now understand by a city-gate or town- 
 gate ; but to the long protected passage reaching 
 from the mound on which the keep stood, to the 
 main-entrance near what is now the Bear-Inn- 
 yard ; and in the same sense must also be taken 
 the previously mentioned " gate of the keep," 
 being the passage from the portal over the moat 
 to the entrance of the keep ;* which entrance as 
 
 * The word gate in Leland's time seldom or never meant 
 the mere portal or bar, but was synonymous with passage,
 
 122 HISTORY OF 
 
 in other Norman towers, we may presume to have 
 been connected with one of the upper stories, and 
 approached by a steep flight of steps against the 
 face of the wall ; unless indeed the reader prefers 
 to picture in imagination a circular Saxon tower, 
 (like that of Coningsburgh,) as the distinguishing 
 feature of this part of the work, and thus dignify 
 it with a foundation by Alfred the Great, in ac- 
 cordance with the assertion of Dr. Walker, in his 
 edition of Spelman's life of that monarch. But 
 of what form soever the keep was, the approaches 
 and outworks were no doubt the work of Bishop 
 Roger, and the above allusion to the number of 
 portcullises by which they were defended, affords 
 presumptive evidence that the language of the 
 olden writers was not overstrained, when they 
 celebrated the impregnable character of this " Mai- 
 den Castle." 
 
 Tt is astonishing indeed, how uniformly these 
 same writers all agree in characterizing it as a struc- 
 ture of more than ordinary magnificence. Their 
 expressions are so perpetually in the superlative 
 degree, that if one only of them had lived during 
 its existence, we might be almost tempted to throw 
 the evidence of the others aside, and conclude that 
 they had all copied from him. But as the keep 
 is known to have been standing as late as the time 
 of Charles I. these various writers all possessed 
 
 gangway, or road, and in this sense is still understood and ap- 
 plied in Scotland, as in the proverb A wilful man maun gang his 
 ain gate. A runagate is a runaway, and many other expres- 
 sions of the same kind will instantly recur to every one.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 123 
 
 the opportunity of amending their authority, if 
 that authority had been defective. Among others 
 that might be cited, Matthew of Westminster and 
 Matthew Paris declare it to have been the most 
 stately castle in Christendom ; Holinshed, that it 
 was the strongest hold in England ; while William 
 of Malmsbury, and following him, Henry of Hunt- 
 ingdon agree in describing it as the most formidable 
 in Europe. To these may be added the quaint 
 testimony of an old French writer who says "C'etoit 
 jadis un Chasteau magnifique, fortifie d'assiete et 
 de travaux, maintenant defigure par 1'injure de 
 temps. Roger de Sarisbury le fit bastir avec de 
 grands frais afin qu'il elevast la teste par dessus 
 tous les autres chasteaux d'Angleterre." 
 
 Having said thus much, there is little more that 
 can be added. The keep was no doubt the part 
 which attracted the principal admiration, but as 
 this has been razed to the ground for more than 
 a century, it were idle to attempt any minute ex- 
 amination of the points of a structure, of which 
 every architectural feature has so long been swept 
 from recollection. Mr. Leach the present pro- 
 prietor of the estate (1839) has with a laudable 
 zeal, caused extensive excavations to be made on 
 and around the Castle Hill, with a view to ascer- 
 tain the extent and range of the walls. The foun- 
 dations he has laid bare, embrace an irregular 
 quadrangular area varying from about 80 to 120 
 feet across ; but the tliinness of the walls yet dis- 
 covered, together with another fact with which we 
 are acquainted, viz. that the works were consider-
 
 124 HISTORY OF 
 
 ably modified at the time of Charles' Civil wars, 
 in order to suit the altered mode of defence, render 
 it a matter of considerable difficulty to decide upon 
 their exact form, from present appearances. The 
 Royalists appear to have thrown up breastworks 
 all round the area, and more particularly on the 
 side facing the town (being the part on which the 
 two windmills were subsequently erected). This 
 is seen from the circumstance that the external 
 earth reposes against the face of well-executed 
 walls, from which, the windows are defended by 
 means of lateral arches or semi-cones, and these 
 arches are of very rude construction, evidently 
 not co -temporary with the wall itself. There was 
 also discovered a quadrangular cell or pit, which 
 opened only from above. This was immediately 
 conjectured to be the dungeon of Hubert de Burgh, 
 and such indeed it might rationally be taken for, 
 if it could be proved that the keep stood over this 
 part ; for it is almost unnecessary to remind the 
 reader that the original word donjon, in its proper 
 signification, means the strongest part of a feudal 
 castle, and is synonymous with the keep, being a 
 high square tower, with walls of tremendous 
 thickness, situated in the centre of the other 
 buildings, from which however it was usually de- 
 tached. Here in case of the outward defences 
 being gained, the garrison retreated to make their 
 last stand. The donjon contained the great hall 
 and principal rooms of state for solemn occasions, 
 and also in its lowest story, the prison of the for- 
 tress ; from which last circumstance we derive the
 
 THE DEVIZES. 125 
 
 modern and restricted use of the word dun- 
 geon. * 
 
 Since the above was written, additional frag- 
 ments of the walls have been brought to light. It 
 now appears manifest that the basement stories 
 were originally laid at a level considerably lower 
 than the altitude of the earth works would lead a 
 casual observer to suppose at the present day. It 
 was at first intended to illustrate these remarks by 
 a Plan of the Castle in which the portions now 
 remaining would have been used as guides to an 
 attempted restoration of the whole ; but as nearly 
 all that has yet been discovered, serves rather to 
 show how extensively both fabric and entrench- 
 ment have been altered at various times, than to 
 exhibit the forms they originally assumed, such a 
 task is thereby rendered as difficult, as it must of 
 necessity prove unsatisfactory. 
 
 There is one feature hi the Norman Castles 
 which was universally prevalent, yiz. the large 
 square keep alluded to above, within the bounds 
 of the other buildings. Some of these keeps had 
 walls 1 5 and even 1 8 feet thick ; others, as at 
 Rochester, were formed with double walls. There 
 is nothing however in the present ruins of Devizes 
 
 * See Notes to Marmion. Sir Walter Scott^adds that 
 Ducange conjectures plausibly that the name is derived from 
 these keeps being usually built upon a hill, which in Celtic is 
 called Dun.
 
 120 HISTORY OF 
 
 Castle which seems to recall this characteristic of 
 the Normairstyle, for the partitions which are re- 
 garded as belonging to the keep are attached to 
 an outer wall, unless we suppose that as the base 
 was once lower as stated above, it was also wider, 
 though the keep would still retain its relative 
 position. Possibly however the remains in question 
 are not those of the keep. As the case therefore 
 seems hopeless, the accompanying plan simply 
 displays Mr. Leach's discoveries, without any re- 
 gular attempt to adjust the various parts. 
 
 A. Represents the supposed keep. b. The pit 
 above alluded to, of vast depth and floored with 
 cement, a. The semicones for the defence of the 
 windows opening into the adjoining chamber. 
 This room was plastered throughou t. 
 
 B. Is the principal entrance. 
 
 C. C. Two windmill towers supposed to have 
 been erected at the commencement of the last cen- 
 tury. They were originally used for making rape 
 oil, and subsequently employed in the manufacture 
 of snuff. 
 
 D. The moat. 
 
 But besides the parts here delineated, there was 
 evidently a glacis and extensive curtain, stretching 
 between the Castle and the Town, that being the 
 most assailable point. Some idea of the direction 
 which the main entrance here assumed, as also of 
 the form of the external defences at that point, 
 may be gathered from Dore's plan of the Town.
 
 D 

 
 128 HISTORY OF 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PROGRESSIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE BOROUGH UNDER 
 
 THE TUDORS BREAKING OUT OF THE CIVIL 
 
 WARS IN CHARLES I. REIGN DEVIZES SUSTAINS 
 
 A SEIGE FROM THE PARLIAMENT^ FORCES 
 
 BATTLE OF ROUNDWAY-DOWN SIR HARDOLPH 
 
 WASTNEY MASSACRES 5 PERSONS AT DEVIZES 
 THE KING RE-FORTIFIES THE CASTLE CROM- 
 WELL STORMS AND TAKES IT THE PARLIAMENT 
 
 ORDERS THE WORKS TO BE DEMOLISHED MAS- 
 
 SEY'S BRIGADE DISBANDED MODERN OWNERS 
 
 OF THE CASTLE LANDS EXTRACTS FROM THE 
 
 CHAMBERLAINS' BOOKS. 
 
 WITH the decadence of the Castle, the impor- 
 tance of the borough had gradually advanced, 
 and the thriving inhabitants, forgot in the clatter 
 of looms and spinning-wheels, what a trouble- 
 some neighbour their forefathers had long known. 
 Now, Mr. Mayor, instead of being second in de- 
 gree, came to have precedence at all times and 
 places. The awful mace was shaken with new 
 energy in the faces of misguided men, and many 
 an instance existed to shew that if its paternal 
 jurisdiction did not command the lives of those 
 who fell within its sweep, it claimed at least the
 
 THE DEVIZES. 129 
 
 disposal of their ears. In this flourishing and 
 palmy state did things continue during the days 
 of Queen Elizabeth, the honest burgher experien- 
 cing but little cause of annoyance beyond the limits 
 of his own municipality, under the serene sway of 
 a princess who was too politic to practice on her 
 faithful commons, those extortions which her pre- 
 rogative really gave her the power to inflict. But 
 with the accession of James came a new sera, and 
 the good people of Devizes were reminded that 
 the distinction of being termed the king's liegemen, 
 was one of which they would be occasionally 
 called upon to testify their grateful sense, We 
 allude to the practice of extorting loans and bene- 
 volences from the subject, though it must be con- 
 fessed that it was but very partially resorted to in 
 this reign, compared with the system pursued by 
 the imprudent Charles, who by attempting to re- 
 vive these and other enormities, kindled in the 
 breasts of so many of his subjects that hatred 
 which finally drank up his blood. Killing the 
 king however was a charge never laid to the town 
 of Devizes. They had been so long drilled in the 
 school of loyalty that they suffered that virtue to 
 be taxed to the utmost during the period of these 
 cruel wars. All former benevolences and loans 
 were nothing compared with the sums which under 
 various colours and pretences, were now drained 
 from them, and handed over to the king's officers. 
 The incessant and heavy demands made at this 
 time on the helpless natives, must have driven 
 them almost to madness, and it is more than pro-
 
 130 HISTORY OF 
 
 bable, that when Cromwell came to batter down 
 the Castle, and by thus destroying the nest to 
 drive away the rooks, he was hailed as the greatest 
 deliverer which the town could possibly know. 
 To the circumstances of that unhappy period in 
 so far at least as Devizes is concerned, it now be- 
 comes necessary to direct our attention. The 
 sources from which the following narrative of them 
 is extracted are Clarendon, Whitelock, and the 
 newspapers of the time. The statements in some 
 of these are necessarily of a conflicting character, 
 which has rendered it a matter of some difficulty 
 not only to reconcile the details given by opposite 
 parties, but to dispose of each circumstance in its 
 proper order of time. 
 
 To render the account intelligible, it is necessary 
 to begin by stating that the Marquis of Hertford, 
 was in the summer of 1643 commanding the 
 king's forces in the west of England. Receiving 
 intelligence, while lying at Taunton, that Sir Wil- 
 liam Waller the Parliamentary general was near 
 Bath, he hastened to meet him, and an engagement 
 ensued at Lansdown near that city, July, 1643. 
 The victory was claimed by both parties, but the 
 advantage was clearly possessed by Sir William. 
 With a forlorn remnant of five hundred horse, 
 (out of two thousand) and about 2000 foot, the 
 Marquis found it absolutely necessary to com- 
 mence a retreat towards Oxford the king's 
 head quarters, and took the rout through Chip- 
 penham, Rowde and Devizes, (a rather crooked 
 way of getting there, we should think now-a-days.)
 
 THE DEVIZES. 131 
 
 At Chippenham Waller came up with him but was 
 repulsed, and again at Sir Edward Bayntun's at 
 Spye-park, from which place a running fight was 
 maintained on the rear, all the way to Devizes. 
 The royalists gained the town first, and as night 
 was approaching, Waller drew back to Rowde. 
 
 The difficulty with which the king's party had 
 resisted, during this march, the attacks of Waller's 
 numerous horse, convinced Lord Hertford that 
 for the infantry to attempt to continue the retreat 
 to Oxford across the open downs, would be a most 
 desperate undertaking. It was therefore deter- 
 mined that he and Prince Maurice should that 
 same night break through with the Cavalry to 
 Oxford, and that Sir Ralph Hopton at the head 
 of the infantry and the Earl of Maribro' who com- 
 manded the artillery, should remain in Devizes 
 and endeavour to hold the place out until assis- 
 tance arrived. In accordance with this resolution 
 therefore, the greater part of the horse got away 
 during the night and reached Oxford on the mor- 
 row, though the manoeuvre was not executed with- 
 out danger, for a party of skirmishers fell on their 
 rear a short distance from Devizes, and took 
 eighteen prisoners. 
 
 Very early the, next morning, Sir William 
 Waller receiving intelligence that the Earl of Craw- 
 ford was on his way from Oxford with a supply of 
 powder for the king's troops, broke up from 
 Rowde, and leading his whole force over Round- 
 way, stationed them on the downs north east of 
 Devizes. He then sent forward a detachment
 
 132 
 
 of dragoons under Major Dowett, to intercept the 
 convoy which was by this time understood to be 
 within two or three miles of them. The Earl who 
 little suspected that his enemies were so near at 
 hand, was overpowered at the first charge, and 
 fled with precipitation, leaving behind him five 
 loads of ammunition and two hundred prisoners. 
 
 Meanwhile, Waller drew back the main body 
 towards Devizes, and on descending the hill for 
 that purpose, discovered a party of Hopton's 
 troops, who, anticipating Crawford's approach, 
 were coming forth to meet him. But on perceiv- 
 ing their mistake, turned about and were chased 
 into the town. 
 
 Waller then drew all his forces about it and be- 
 leaguered it as closely as possible. He likewise con- 
 structed a battery of seven guns on a hill near the 
 town, and thence poured in shot without inter- 
 mission.* It is a matter of some doubt whether 
 or not Devizes at that time could boast of any thing 
 in the shape of a wall of defence, or line of circum- 
 vallation. Clarendon asserts that there was none, 
 though from such entries of payment, in the 
 Chamberlain's books as the following, viz. " for 
 mending the town-wall, and for chaining and 
 blocking up the towns-ends at various times," 
 one might be led to infer that the place was sup- 
 plied with some better defence than could be fur- 
 nished by the " small ditches and hedges," which 
 
 * By this hill must be meant, the rising ground to the east 
 of Devizes, immediately beyond the Green Church; a spot 
 which commands an extensive view of the whole town.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 133 
 
 that writer tells us constituted the only available 
 fortification. The above entries are in 1642, the 
 year preceding the events we are narrating, and 
 to them others might be added, referring to the 
 purchase, mounting, and fixing of heavy ordnance. 
 Devizes was no doubt a strong-hold of the king, 
 and numerous officers and men appear to have 
 been constantly quartered here. 
 
 Whatever these defences were, it was found 
 necessary by the royalists on the present occasion 
 to make the best possible use of them. On them, 
 says Clarendon, the foot were stationed, and some 
 guns conveniently planted. The numerous ave- 
 nues and approaches were also barricadoed with 
 ditches, blocks of timber, and other bulky mate- 
 rials, to prevent the entrance of the horse, whose 
 effects were chiefly lo be apprehended. But the 
 great extent of ground they attempted to defend, 
 rendered the royalists but ill able to withstand the 
 repeated assaults of Waller's men. In four hours 
 he carried the outworks and drove the beseiged 
 into the streets. In the afternoon, being reinforced 
 by the return of Major Dowett from the capture 
 of Lord Crawford's convoy, he renewed the at- 
 tack, and attempted to force his way into the 
 streets at various points, but was unable to make 
 any further impression. 
 
 He then sent a trumpeter into the town with the 
 intelligence, that having cut off their supplies, 
 they were now at liberty to consider their case 
 quite hopeless ; withal advising them to surren- 
 der forthwith to the mercy of the Parliament,
 
 134 HISTORY OF 
 
 with whom he promised to mediate on their be- 
 half. The proposal for an armistice was any 
 tiling but disagreeable to Sir Ralph Hop ton ; not 
 that he intended to close with any terms, but 
 felt that a short respite was now become absolutely 
 necessary, to recruit the jaded spirits of his men ; 
 for the points of defence were so numerous and 
 widely extended, that his whole force was upon 
 . perpetual duty together. He therefore eked out 
 the period of capitulation as long as possible, in 
 order not only to gain some little time for sleep to 
 the troops, but to save the expenditure of ammu- 
 nition, an article which was rapidly failing them. 
 During the night which followed, officers were 
 employed to search every house in the town and 
 collect all the bed cords and matting that could be 
 found. These by being beaten and boiled, were 
 by the morning, converted into match for the use 
 of the musqueteers. The roofs of the churches 
 were also robbed of their lead to furnish bullets. 
 
 Hostilities were about to recommence on the 
 next day, when the face of things became changed 
 by the return of Lord Hertford from Oxford, who 
 reached the downs at noon, accompanied by Lord 
 Wilmot with a reinforcement of fifteen hundred 
 dragoons and two small field-pieces. When with- 
 in two miles of the town, a signal was made with 
 these two pieces to indicate to their friends the 
 arrival of assistance. Waller however was in no 
 need of such intimation ; the activity of his scouts 
 had rendered him fully sensible of the enemy's 
 approach, and accordingly without sound of drum
 
 THE DEVIZES. 135 
 
 or trumpet, he had promptly drawn up his whole 
 army to the brow of Roundway-down, with the 
 view of preventing their juncture with Hoptpn's 
 infantry. 
 
 These latter had heard the discharge of the 
 signals from the plain, but concluded both that 
 and the drawing off from the town by their op- 
 ponents, to be merely a feint for the purpose of 
 enticing them from their lines. Intelligence how- 
 ever presently arriving as to the real state of 
 things, they instantly put themselves in motion 
 to join in the affray ; but ere they could arrive 
 at the scene of action, Waller from his anxiety to 
 prevent the union of the two parties, had already 
 commenced an engagement with Lord Wilmot's 
 troop. The attack was led in a somewhat disor- 
 derly manner by Sir Arthur Hazlerig at the head of 
 a body of cuirassiers in complete armour,* a troop 
 which had hitherto been deemed invincible, but 
 which on the present occasion was encountered 
 in so spirited a manner by Sir John Byron (an an- 
 cestor of the peer and poet of that name) that it 
 was totally routed, and in full career dashed upon 
 
 * This troop was called the regiment of lobsters. The use 
 of complete suits of armour had fallen into partial disuse at the 
 time of these wars, though it was still pretty generally worn 
 by leaders and generals. The battle of Dettingen in 1743, 
 was the last occasion on which English dragoons wore defensive 
 armour. The cuirasses used on that occasion were then laid 
 up in the tower of London, and are the very same now again 
 adopted by the household trcops. This circumstance was 
 ' stated at the examination of some officers lately, as to the com- 
 parative expenses of the Guard?, and other troops of the line.
 
 136 HISTORY OF 
 
 their other horse. The affair then became more 
 general, and an obstinate contest was maintained 
 around the artillery, in the course of which it was 
 captured and retaken three several times. In the 
 end, the parliament's horse fled in confusion, and 
 as Clarendon tells us, "were in half an hour so 
 thoroughly dispersed, that not one of them was 
 to be seen on that large and spacious down" each 
 man shifting for himself, and encountering greater 
 danger by descending the steep sides of the hill 
 than he could have risked by engaging his enemy. 
 But the nature of the ground, unfavourable for 
 flight, was equally perilous for pursuit, and after 
 the rout, more perished it is said, by contusions 
 and falls from their horses down the precipices, 
 than had been slain in the fight. 
 
 But the battle was not yet over : Waller's foot, 
 to the number of nearly 3000 had hitherto taken 
 no part in the engagement, and were still standing 
 on the defensive. Now came the Cornish infantry 
 from the town, panting up the hill : against whose 
 arrival, in order, says our authority, that they 
 might be refreshed with a share of the conquest, 
 Lord Wilmot had intentionally delayed charging 
 the troops that yet maintained their ground. To 
 the execution of this coup-de-grace they now 
 therefore proceeded in concert. The captured 
 cannon was directed against the devoted battalions, 
 who being assailed both in front and rear, were 
 soon subjected to a severe carnage. 
 
 Clarendon in his account of the order of battle 
 which Waller had assumed, says, that he had strong
 
 THE DEVIZES. 137 
 
 wings of horse to his foot, a good reserve placed, and 
 his cannon usefully planted ; but that from the con- 
 fidence which he entertained of victory over such a 
 handful of men as his opponents appeared, he quit- 
 ted this posture and marched the cavalry forward 
 unprotected by the rest. Another account adds 
 that " the foot were stationed on a hill behind the 
 artillery." By this hill, it is hard to say whether or 
 not allusion is made to the ancient earthwork, po- 
 pularly called Oliver's Camp, since it is impossi- 
 ble to determine what part of the downs would be 
 chosen to intercept a route from Oxford, unless 
 we suppose that route to have lain between Hed- 
 dington and Calstone, through Calne andWootten- 
 Bassett. That the reserve spoken of, might have 
 been stationed there, or that the infantry might 
 have retreated behind its embankments, in order 
 there to make their final stand, are conjectures 
 thrown out simply for the purpose of adding, that 
 supposing this spot to have really formed the 
 theatre of some part of the transactions of this 
 day, such a circumstance is the only one which 
 gives any colour to its being coupled with the Pro- 
 tector's name. In that general's subsequent pro- 
 ceedings in and about Devizes during the two 
 following years, he had no need of such an out-of- 
 the-way place as this to cool his troopers' choler. 
 May it not be said indeed, that in hardly a single 
 transaction of the war, do we find him standing on 
 the defensive : he was no Fleming "rampant be- 
 hind walls, and rubbish in the field" but led the 
 van till his dying day.
 
 138 HISTORY OF 
 
 In the above recital, Lord Clarendon's account 
 has been chiefly followed, It is but fair to add 
 that all the parliamentary papers assert Lord Hert- 
 ford's force to have been at least 2000 horse or even 
 2500 ; and Major Byron one of Waller's pri- 
 soners is said to have acknowledged that there 
 were three or four other regiments in ambush 
 (though this latter it must be confessed is a doubt- 
 ful assertion.) Waller's horse, it is added, were 
 so jaded with having for two whole days assaulted 
 the Devizes, that both horses and men were tired 
 and hungry, and ready to fall down for want of 
 sleep. Nevertheless Sir Arthur Hazelrig's and 
 Waller's regiments fought very bravely, though 
 the Western Horse fled with precipitation. The 
 foot besought them to stay and succour them, but 
 in vain ; and so finding themselves deserted, they 
 gathered into a dense body and repelled with their 
 pikes several charges of the Cavaliers. In this 
 battle (continues one report) only 50 horse were 
 lost, and the greater part of the foot, by the indus- 
 try of a little Scotchman were brought off bravely. 
 Sir William Waller carried with him 60 Cavaliers 
 prisoners to Bristol, whereof Sergeant-major By- 
 ron was one. The noble Commander Sir Arthur 
 Hazelrig deserves a second Homer to set forth 
 his valour in this action, for notwithstanding the 
 perfidiousness and cowardice of the Western 
 troop that fled, he charged right through the ene- 
 my, recovered four pieces of Cannon, and beat 
 2000 of them to the foot of the hill ; but then, 
 500 that were fresh, set upon him and worsted
 
 THE DEVIZES. 
 
 him. Captain R. Baugh at the first onset that he 
 was to make, most cowardly took his flight, and 
 his Lieutenant Richard Baugh did the like. " 
 
 It is said that Sir Ralph Hopton, or some in his 
 name, offered during the seige ,30.000 to be al- 
 lowed to depart with bag and baggage ; which Wal- 
 ler refused Alas for the poor townsmen, if Sir 
 William had not felt quite so sure of victory : it 
 makes one quake to think how they would have 
 bsen pinched to furnish forth the necessary sup- 
 plies. As it was, they came off badly enough 
 even by Clarendon's account ; and a passage in 
 "Wednesday's Mercury" dated shortly after, seems 
 to hint at something worse. Speaking of the out- 
 rages committed by the "popish and foreign troops, 
 in the king's army, it is added "A late, yet sad 
 example we have of their inhumanities, cruelties, 
 insolencies, and rages committed upon divers in- 
 habitants of the Devizes, and in other towns of 
 these Western parts, not only upon the well-af- 
 fected, but upon many of their own friends; by 
 which they do proclaim, what all other places 
 are to expect from them, if they should become 
 conquerors." 
 
 Roundway fight happened on the same day, and 
 at the same time of the day that the King met 
 the Queen near Edge-hill coming towards Oxford 
 after her return from the Continent. In one of 
 the numerous poetical addresses which the loyalty 
 of that city poured forth on the occasion of her 
 Majesty's return, this coincidence is made to form 
 the grand climax of the successes which ushered
 
 140 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 in the event. The following is an extract from 
 the address alluded to. 
 
 When once the members shrunk to four, 
 
 When Hopton brought his Cornish o'er, 
 
 When as eternal Greenville stood, BATTLE OF 
 
 And stopt the gap up with his blood ; LANSDOWN. 
 
 When the sly Conqueror durst not stand, 
 
 We knew the Queen was niyh at hand. 
 
 When great Newcastle so drew forth. 
 
 As in nine days scoured all the North ; 
 
 When Fairfax' vast perfidious force BATTLE OP 
 
 Was turned to five invisible horse, ATHERTON MOOR 
 
 When none but Lady staid to fight, 
 
 We knew the Queen was come in sight. 
 
 But when Carnarvon, who still hit 
 
 With his keen blade and keener wit : 
 
 Stout Crawfurd, Wilmot, Byron, who BATTLE OP 
 
 Stroke yesterday's great glorious blow ; ROUNDWAY. 
 
 When Waller could but bleed and fret, 
 
 THEN THEN THE SACRED COUPLE MET. 
 
 The following oration or thanksgiving is in ano- 
 ther style. 
 
 " Our soul shall praise thee while we live ; yea as long as 
 we have any being, we will magnify thy name, because thou 
 hast helped him to right, who suffered the wrong : thou hast 
 conquered him that was called The Conqueror, and hast given 
 the king a most glorious victory over him at Roundway on the 
 13th July, 1643."* 
 
 * The above is quoted from memory, and having mislaid 
 the reference, I am unable to say for what object it was com- 
 posed, but believe it was never authorized to be either sung or 
 said. Waller was sometimes styled "William the Conqueror," 
 J. W.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 141 
 
 The victory at Roundway produced for a long 
 while after, the most beneficial influence on the 
 king's affairs in these parts, and the terror of Sir 
 Ralph Hopton's name and of his adjutant Sir 
 Francis Doddington, appears to have been sufficient 
 to keep all Wilts and Somerset hi awe. The 
 Sheriff of Wilts acting in the King's name at this 
 period was Sir James Long, sou to Sir Walter Long 
 of Draycot, who had previously sustained the post, 
 but who lost his life by falling from his horse near 
 Cirencester. The Sheriff under the authority of 
 the Parliament was Colonel afterwards General 
 Edmund Ludlow, a most active officer and inde- 
 fatigable agent in then- cause* and the rivalry be- 
 
 * Edmund Ludlow, of Hill-Deverill was the son of Sir Henry 
 Ludlow, and representative of this County in the parliament 
 which brought the King to his end. He was even one of the 
 twelve Commissioners who signed his death warrant. At the 
 Restoration he retired to Switzerland where he wrote his Me- 
 moirs and died in the year 1693. His remains were interred 
 by his widow in the Church of Vivay where a very long epitaph 
 records his deeds and praises. Of the king's sheriff Sir James 
 Long, a fe*r words must also be added. He was a slashing 
 young soldier of an open and generous disposition, and was 
 the lineal ancestor of the great heiress Catharine Long, who 
 married in 1812 William Wellesley Pole, afterwards William 
 Pole Tilney Long Wellesley M.P. Cromwell when Protector 
 was hawking with him one day on Hounslow Heath, and dis- 
 coursing with him, fell in love with his company, and com- 
 manded him to wear his sword and to meet him a haw king ; 
 which made the more strict Cavaliers look afterwards on Sir 
 James with an evil eye. This is related on Aubrey's authority 
 who was a great admirer of the knight, and describes him as
 
 142 HISTORY OF 
 
 tween these two gentlemen kept the county in 
 perpetual movement. Ludlow was at first engaged 
 in the northern expedition, but shortly before the 
 battle of Roundway, he had been requested by Sir 
 Edward Hungerford, the Commander of the forces 
 of Wiltshire, to raise a troop of horse in this 
 county, and accordingly met him for that pur- 
 pose at Devizes. He was near Warminster, at the 
 time of the battle, but fell back on hearing of the 
 check his party sustained on that occasion. 
 
 Twelve months after that affair, a spirited ac- 
 tion occurred in this neighbourhood, the foUowing 
 description of which is given in the language of 
 the king's party. About this time, a new Com- 
 mittee in the County was in rearing up, composed 
 of Captain Ludlow the Mock-Sheriff of the Coun- 
 ty, the two Pophams, Stroud, and one Bennett. 
 (Colonels Popham and Stroud had fought at 
 Roundwayj These worthy Commissioners sat 
 down about the Devizes, and began to entice the 
 country in. They were about to put an obstinate 
 fellow with some foot in Master Arundel's house 
 at Hornesham, (A r ear Longleat,) but Sir Ralph 
 Hopton having intelligence of their proceedings, 
 dispatched from Bath towards Devizes, Sir Fran- 
 cis Doddington, with orders to disperse them. 
 But their numbers encreasing more rapidly than 
 he had expected, Sir Ralph Hopton found it ex- 
 pedient to come in person, and joining Sir Fran- 
 
 an excellent swordsman skilled in faulconry and horseman- 
 ship of ready oratory great memory and well acquainted 
 with the science of natural history.
 
 THE DEVIZES. . ]43 
 
 cis, repaired to Sir Ralph's own house at Whi- 
 tham, there to defend themselves, in case they 
 were attacked ; and if not, they purposed to fall 
 on the enemy the next night at the Devizes. But 
 the Commissioners thinking fit to retire towards 
 Hornesham, the parties came to a collision three 
 miles from Warminster, where the scouts met and 
 fought. The Royalists then broke their main 
 body, and Sir Francis pursued their cavalry 
 across the plain through Salisbury to the very 
 borders of Hampshire ; so that out of a body of 
 350 horse, only 37 crept into Southampton. Al- 
 exander Popham being hard pressed, his horse 
 fell with him in a street at Salisbury, and had he 
 not worn a better head-piece than his own, his 
 brains had been dashed out. But his man, being 
 so ready to horse him again, for his pains was taken 
 with the horse that fell, and his master's pistols. 
 Sure Master Popham hath an annual race this 
 time of the year, for this very day twelvemonth, 
 the incomparable Earl of Carnarvon set the man 
 on- running at Rundall Hill, and had just such a 
 chase as this through Wells and other towns." 
 The " obstinate fellow" here mentioned appears 
 from Ludlow's memoirs to have been Major Wan- 
 sey ; the house was named Woodhouse and had 
 been purchased of Sir Henry Ludlow by Lord 
 Arundel's brother ; from the " Memoirs" it also 
 appears doubtful whether it really was Colonel 
 Popham who fell in the streets of Salisbury. 
 
 Mr. Ludlow's troopers were soon scouring the 
 county again, and in revenge took Witham House
 
 144 HISTORY OF 
 
 belonging to Sir Ralph, and Lord Stourton's House 
 at Stourton, capturing in the former place 100 
 cattle ; and on the 23rd. September wrote to the 
 Parliament that he had also just taken four score 
 sons of Belial, members of the King's Committee 
 in the County. Three months after, ascertaining 
 that a party of the Royalists had sat down at 
 Warminster and were levying heavy contributions 
 on the neighbourhood, he instantly went in pur- 
 suit, broke them up and pursued them to Salisbury 
 into the Prebends' Close (where the Bishop and Sing- 
 ing-men did live.) Thence the Royalists retired into 
 two Inns, the Angel at the Close-gate and theGeorge 
 at Sand-gate, but Ludlow fired the houses and com- 
 pelled them to surrender, taking many prisoners and 
 arms, with 200 horses. The officers who served with 
 him on this occasion were Col Norton, Major 
 Dowett and Major Wansey ; it took place on the 
 5th of December 1644. The next object of at- 
 tack was the royal horse-quarters at Rushall park 
 near Uphaven, and Major Dowett was commission- 
 ed to beat them up, but though he came off from 
 the attempt without loss, he failed in his princi- 
 pal endeavour. Colonel Ludlow himself was en- 
 gaged just then at Taunton, and on his return to- 
 wards Salisbury in the same month (Dec 21) he 
 fell in with Sir James Long near Wilsford who was 
 conducting a convoy towards Oxford ; they imme- 
 diately came to blows, but the Royalists were too 
 powerful for him, and though he carried off Sir 
 James's forlorn hope Cor advanced guard^he lost 
 fourscore of his own men.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 145 
 
 The king now thought seriously of rendering 
 Devizes an impregnable post, in order to maintain 
 the influence which he still commanded in the 
 west ; and about Christmas, the Lords Hopton 
 and Goring with 3000 troops came through the 
 town, passed on to Bristol, and almost imme- 
 diately returned to Devizes to superintend the for- 
 tification of the place, " the army (it is said) 
 marching with heavy hearts, and cursing the un- 
 natural war which would not allow them to rest 
 even in their winter-quarters." " Hopton (says 
 the Mercurius Britannicus 18th January,) is forti- 
 fying amaine at the Devizes, but all the Devices in 
 the world will never keep him from the reach of 
 a Parliament. This is he that first designed how 
 to ruin the kingdom by levying forces in the west ; 
 since which, he hath used all the shifts and devices 
 which could be imagined to make himself and his 
 country miserable ; and now when the people lan- 
 guish in expectation of peace by a Treaty (that of 
 Uxbridge) he, to lengthen the war, is fortifying at 
 the Devizes in Wiltshire, but I fear greater forti- 
 fying at the Devizes in Oxford." 
 
 This step of Lord Hopton was a source of con- 
 siderable annoyance to the garrison at Malmsbury, 
 and in order to counteract in some measure its 
 effect in this district, they made choice of Rowden 
 House the seat of Sir Edmund Hungerford, be- 
 tween that town and Devizes ; and also of a strong 
 moated house at Pinnel near Calne belonging to 
 a Mr. Blake. Each of these they garrisoned with 
 strong parties of musketeers, but before the forti-
 
 146 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 fications at Pinnell House were completed, Goring 
 issued out of Devizes, and just as he was about to 
 fall on, the inmates beat a parley and surrendered 
 at discretion. Now as this occured in Wiltshire, 
 Colonel Ludlow burned to make amends for it by 
 a counter-stroke, and accordingly made another 
 attack on the horse-quarters at Rushall then under 
 the command of Colonel Anderson and Sir Mar- 
 maduke Langdale. The assault was conducted 
 in so heedless a manner that Ludlow's troopers 
 were not only beat off with loss, but chased to 
 Salisbury, where they shut themselves up in the 
 old Belfry in the Close. Some infantry from 
 Longford House then joined with their assailants, 
 and Ludlow breaking through, was compelled once 
 more to escape to Southampton with the loss of a 
 great part of his troop. 
 
 Tn February, a few weeks after this event, Lord 
 Hopton, then at Bath, sent his regiment under 
 the command of Lieut. Col. Bovell to form a gar- 
 rison at Lady Stapylton's house at Laycocke ; who 
 on arriving at the mansion, discovered to his sur- 
 prize that it had just been appropriated to that 
 useful purpose by the opposite party. Where- 
 upon Colonel Bovell went forward to the Devizes, 
 and consulted with Sir Charles Lloyd the gover- 
 nor thereof, and Sir James Long who happened to 
 be there with his regiment of horse, how they 
 might go back and dispossess the rebels. An 
 united force then marched away for Chippenham, 
 and on arriving there, ascertained that the enemy 
 had deserted Lacocke and .were ensconced in
 
 THE DEVIZES. 147 
 
 Rowden House. Thither therefore the Royalists 
 repaired, but being unprovided with cannon, dis- 
 patched a message to Lord Hoptoa for his train, 
 and though their numbers greatly exceeded those 
 of the beseiged, they delayed the attack for two 
 days. Meanwhile 150 horse from Malmsbury 
 bearing supplies and ammunition, broke through 
 the assailants and joined their friends in the house. 
 At this juncture Sir Bernard Astley arrived from 
 Ciciter with 400 horse and foot to aid Sir Charles, 
 and at the same moment, also the artillery from 
 Bath. So upon a second summons to surrender, 
 the beseiged capitulated, as the place was totally 
 untenable against such a force. Sir Charles Lloyd 
 then dismantled the mansion, and Colonel Bovell 
 occupied Lacocke House. 
 
 But not a month clasped before these successes 
 were totally eclipsed by a most disastrous blow, 
 occasioned by the capture of Sir James Long, 
 with his entire troop of 400 dragoons, constituting 
 it was said, the very best regiment then remaining 
 in his Majesty's service. The events which attend- 
 ed it were as follows. The king deeming the west 
 the most secure part of his dominions, determined 
 on dispatching thither his son the young Prince of 
 Wales with the title of General, giving him direc- 
 tions, that if he were hard pressed by the enemy, 
 he should make an immediate escape into a fo- 
 reign country, and in the execution of this impor 
 tant step, Sir James was summoned to conduct the 
 convoy from Oxford to Bristol, with his whole 
 force. Accordingly the Prince, in company with
 
 148 HISTORY OF 
 
 the Lord Colepepper, the Marquis of Hertford, 
 Sir Ralph Hopton, the Bishop of Armagh, with 
 many other of the Oxford nobility, came through 
 Devizes in the early part of March ; having part- 
 ed from his father on the fourth of that month, 
 and arriving at Bristol in the course of a week. 
 
 Sir James having fulfilled his commission, and 
 being about to return into his own county, in- 
 telligence of the whole transaction was conveyed 
 to Sir William Waller, (then lying at Andover 
 with Cromwell at the head of a large force) who 
 upon being informed that Sir James was on his 
 way back, and was coming towards the Devizes 
 with a gallant regiment of horse, instantly put his 
 army in motion with a view if possible to intercept 
 the Sheriff before he reached the town. But Sir 
 James arrived before him, and took up his quarters 
 with Sir Charles Lloyd the Governour for about 
 two days, by which time Sir William made his 
 approach. The various recitals of this affair differ 
 slightly in their details, but by comparing and 
 combining them, the following description of Wal- 
 ler's movements may be regarded as a correct 
 statement, in which also the original language is 
 to a great extent preserved. On the 10th of 
 March, he quartered with his whole force about 
 Amesbury, Normanton, Lake, Durnford and Der- 
 rington ; and that very day, a strong party was 
 commanded forth, out of which were drawn divers 
 scouts, which were sent towards the Devizes, 
 Shrewton and other parts, to discover the enemy 
 and ascertain what strength they were of, for it
 
 THE DEVIZES. 149 
 
 was expected that after passing through Devizes, 
 their object was to quarter about the Lavingtons. 
 Some of these returned in the evening with the in- 
 telligence that Colonel Long was in the Devizes, 
 with the pose comitatus of the County's forces ; 
 (for this Long, is the King's High Sheriff of the 
 County of Wilts, son to Sir Walter Long, who 
 lately deceased, who being in drink, fell from his 
 horse near Chichester, and broke his neck ; and 
 his son hath been a very active man against the 
 Parliament ever since he hath begged his ward- 
 ship, which put him to much travail and pains, for 
 which he almost spurred the horse to death that 
 had broken his father's neck ; for he had vowed 
 before he came off his back, to get his wardship. ) 
 This intelligence caused Sir William to advance 
 towards Devizes that same eight, having also ad- 
 vertizement that the works about the town were 
 very slight. The army commenced their march 
 at midnight, and when about a mile from Ames- 
 bury, they halted, and Sir William, drawing them 
 up into a body, chose four out of every troop, to 
 go on the forlorn hope and ride forward in advance 
 of the rest towards the Devizes. The route taken 
 was through Shrewton, Lavington, and Potterne, 
 and on Tuesday morning very early, the forlorn 
 hope gave the enemy an alarum, who were per- 
 ceived to be quartered in and near the Devizes (pre- 
 sumed to mean at Old-Park and Southbroom) and 
 who on discovering the near approach of an en- 
 emy, immediately formed into a single body. 
 Sir William Waller, being made acquainted with
 
 150 HISTORY OF 
 
 this movement, made a stand, as though he in- 
 tended to act on the defensive rather than make 
 an assault : but suspecting that the Sheriff would 
 leave the town and escape to the Bath, he divided 
 his army into three brigades ; one, formed of 
 two united troops commanded by Captain But- 
 ler, and Sir Hards, or Hadzer or Hardress Wal- 
 ler, (a kinsman of Sir William) was ordered to 
 wheel about, and fetching a large compass in order 
 that they might not be espied by the enemy from 
 Devizes, to faltin between that town and the Bath ; 
 a second brigade under the command of Lieuten- 
 ant-general Cromwell lay in the neighbourhood 
 of Potterne, while Waller himself took up a station 
 near Lavington. These three companies were all 
 Cavalry. The event turned out as Sir William 
 expected: Sir James Long, not feeling disposed 
 to risk his small body of men against the heavy 
 numbers of his opponents, resolved on making 
 the best of his way out of the town, and Sir Charles 
 Lloyd with the foot regiments, despairing of being 
 able with such diminished forces to keep the whole 
 place, slighted the out-works which defended the 
 town and retired into the castle. The Royal Ca- 
 valry then took the route through Melksham and 
 Bradford, but when they were a little past Melks- 
 ham, going at full speed as they thought in ad- 
 vance of their enemies, they suddenly discover the 
 first mentioned brigade in their van, lying between 
 themselves and Bradford. Having notice of this, 
 Colonel Long would have returned back again, 
 but instead of retracing the same road, he and his
 
 THE DEVIZES. 151 
 
 troopers wheeled to the left towards Steeple Ash- 
 ton and Potterne, in broken parties ; and by thus 
 entering the valley where the other brigades were 
 posted and where their movements could be observ- 
 ed, they threw themselves into the very jaws of 
 the enemy, and could make no way of escape, the 
 passes being narrow, and the country so fortified 
 with quickset hedges, that they found themselves 
 as it were, in a pound. At length their whole 
 force, with the exception of 30, were taken, in- 
 cluding Sir James Long, their commander, Captain 
 Webbe, and seven other captains, seven cornets, 
 and also the under Sheriff, together with 340 arms 
 and 300 prisoners recovered. The affair was com- 
 paratively bloodless, as only four troopers fell on 
 the sheriffs side, and two on the other. Sir 
 William Waller's letter on the subject, written on 
 the 18th to the speaker of the House of Commons 
 is too curious to be omitted. 
 
 Sir. These lines are to certify you that upon 
 intelligence that Colonel Long lay with his regi- 
 ments about the Lavingtons, I marched from An- 
 dover on Monday last to Amesbury, and there 
 refreshing my troops till midnight, I advanced 
 from thence in three parties. The first command- 
 ed by General Cromwell fell in between those 
 quarters and the Devizes ; the second, command- 
 ed by Sir Hards Waller fell in at Trowbridge to 
 cut off their retreat towards Bath and those parts : 
 with the third I fell in at Lavington. It was my 
 fortune to find an empty fourme, the enemy being 
 drawn off to Westbury and Steeple-Ashton, but
 
 152 HISTORY OF 
 
 the rest had better fortune, and in the end I had 
 my share too. Cromwell lighted upon two troops 
 at Potterne : Sir Hards Waller upon the rest of his 
 regiment at Westbury and Steeple- A shton, who 
 beat the enemy in upon my quarter, when my 
 regiment lighted upon them. Of 400 horse there 
 escaped not thirty ; the Colonel with most of the 
 officers, and 300 soldiers taken prisoners ; with 
 about 340 horses and a good store of arms. Bles- 
 sed be the Lord for this success, which I hope will 
 be the earnest of a further mercy. 1 was enforced 
 to refresh our horse, after this toilsome march and 
 service in the worst of ways and basest weather 
 that ever I saw. I am this day marching towards 
 Holborn (then at Taunton) to join with him so 
 soon as possibly I can. I have no more to add 
 but that I am &c. 
 
 West Lavington WlLLIAM WALLER. 
 
 13 March 16445. 
 
 The whole of this transaction appears to have 
 taken place in the great valley south-west of De- 
 vizes ; and judging from the present state of things 
 in that district whenever the weather happens to 
 be particularly " base," we may well credit Wal- 
 ler's assertion that it was " amongst the worst of 
 ways.'* The peaceful vale had not for centuries 
 been the scene of such racing and chasing ; the 
 adventure almost recalls the days of Robin Hood 
 and the Sheriff of Nottingham. 
 
 Another account goes on to say. " Colonel 
 Ludlow is now, thanks be to God, sole Sheriff of
 
 THE DEVIZES. 153 
 
 the County, his competitor being now taken prison- 
 er, is in Custodia Marescellorum with the greatest 
 part of his commanders and officers, and his whole 
 regiment utterly extirpate. Colonel Ludlow's 
 approach hither is now most earnestly desired, to 
 join with us in regard to this county, in which we 
 hope there will now be found but little opposition, 
 though we have been lately heavy-laden with in- 
 finite numbers of barbarous villians." 
 
 By this victory, it was observed, " a fair way 
 was made for the regaining of the west, and an 
 entrance withall into other victories ;" and it seems 
 rather surprizing that Waller and Cromwell did 
 not follow up so signal a success by an immediate 
 attempt on the castle of Devizes. The event 
 shews what was their estimation of the strength of 
 the place, or, perhaps it should rather be said, 
 that owing to the hastiness of their march from 
 Andover 1 , they were totally unprovided with the 
 heavy ordnance and materiel necessary to bombard 
 a citadel. If therefore the Sheriff had not quitted 
 the town, there is reason to think that with the 
 assistance of Sir Charles Lloyd's garrison and 
 Goring's troopers, he might have remained there 
 in perfect security. As it was, the garrison re- 
 mained unmolested for the present, and Waller 
 continued his route to meet at a general rendez- 
 vous with others of the Parliament's forces near 
 Taunton where Goring was ravaging the country in 
 person. He there again divided his troops. Crom- 
 well went towards Bristol, and another company 
 came back towards Devizes, who skirmishing with
 
 154 HISTORY OF 
 
 Captain Jones the commander of a body of Gor- 
 ing's troopers left there, lost some few men, who 
 were carried into the town. Waller shortly re- 
 joined this advanced company at Calne, and under 
 the impression that Goring himself was in his rear, 
 intended to go on straight through Lavington to 
 Salisbury, but as he passed near to Devizes, he 
 was assailed by Jones's company, who no doubt 
 were too elevated by their partial success the day 
 before. It is evident that Waller was adopting at 
 this moment, the road between Rowde and Pot- 
 terne (which before the construction of the Kennet 
 and Avon canal, was almost a perfectly straight 
 line.) He was not long in punishing the temerity 
 of these men who had endeavoured to impede his 
 march, but after a spirited action, chased them up 
 into the town, where both parties entered pell 
 mell, and dashing through the market-place, made 
 for the Castle. Here many of Jones's men saved 
 themselves behind the works, leaving 200 horses 
 500 arms and a considerable booty in the hands 
 of " The Conqueror." In his letter to the Parlia- 
 ment on the subject, dated from Downton 26th 
 March, he adds, that if he had had a few infantry 
 with him on the occasion, he had bid fair to have 
 taken the castle itself.* 
 
 * In an absurd book called " The Looking-glass for malig- 
 nants," published during this spring, occurs an anecdote con- 
 nected with this event, which it would be a pity to give in any 
 other than the writer's own language. It runs therefore as 
 follows " Captain Jones a Welshman who had a command in 
 the Devizes in Wiltshire, and led out the forces which Sir
 
 THE DEVIZES. 155 
 
 On the 25th of April, Goring arrived here in per- 
 son with the other portion of his army, but irnme- 
 
 William Waller there lately took and routnd : on the night 
 before he went out to encounter Sir William's brigade, drank 
 divers healths of strong waters and wine at an inn in the Devizes 
 to the confusion of the Parliament, Sir William Waller, and the 
 Roundheads, on his bare knees, and did beat three or four in his 
 company who did refuse to pledge them. The next morning 
 some of Sir William Waller's men who were taken prisoners 
 by this Captain Jones his men, were sent to the same inn and 
 lodging, where Jones drank those healths. But soon after, Sir 
 William's forces routing Jones, took 200 of his horse and pur- 
 sued Jones into the Devizes, who flying on horseback towards 
 the same inn, one of Sir William's soldiers there imprisoned, 
 just as he came before the inn -door, seeing him flying, and the 
 parliament's forces pursuing, having his pistol charged, shot 
 him in the head. Whereupon he fell down from his horse at 
 the same door where he drank those healths more to his own 
 than Sir William's confusion. There he lying dead in the 
 street, the innkeeper informed Sir William what healths he had 
 there drank overnight before, and what a just judgment was 
 now befallen him in that very place. With which, Sir Wil- 
 liam and divers gentlemen with him were much affected. This 
 is attested by one Captain Brummidge a gentleman of quality, 
 an ear and eye-witness to all these premises, who was present 
 with Sir William in the Devizes, when this judgment befell 
 this health- quaffing cavalier." 
 
 The Compiler of this somewhat unpolished Looking-glass 
 adduces many other instances of equally manifest judgments 
 which befel the unfortunate Cavaliers ; the most notable of 
 which occurred in Salisbury in July 1 644, when a party of 
 roaring boys propose to drink the health of the Devil, who 
 forthwith acknowledged the compliment by making his appear- 
 ance and an unpleasant smell, and then walking off with the 
 gentleman who had suggested the toast. But "the full and 
 true account" of this transaction would occupy more space than 
 it merits.
 
 156 HISTOIIY OF 
 
 diately quitted on receiving an express from his 
 Majesty who required his assistance near Oxford. 
 These Gorians it is asserted by all parties, even 
 by Clarendon, were some of the most graceless, 
 wanton and tyrannical marauders throughout the 
 war. They disgusted men with the king's service, 
 and spared neither friend nor foe. The troopers 
 and garrison in Devizes became a perfect hornet's 
 nest in the county, pillaging the market people 
 and pressing men into a service which they 
 loathed. Many of these pressed men are said to 
 have escaped out of Devizes about this time, no 
 doubt when Waller defeated the above troop, and 
 the events of this period may also furnish a plau- 
 sible date for another circumstance, mentioned in 
 Collins's Baronetage, relative to one George 
 Wastney, third son of Sir Hardolph Wastney of 
 Headon, Bart, who it is said " rendered himself 
 memorable by slaying five persons in Devizes on 
 the behalf of Charles I. in whose service he lost 
 his life," certes a doubtful mode of expression ; 
 and one which seems to bear upon the face of it, 
 an allusion to some rather cold blooded affair. 
 
 All this while, as may well be supposed, the 
 Clothiers of Wiltshire had great difficulty in safely 
 transporting their goods to London. During the 
 former year, Massey had been able to keep the 
 Country open for them, (see Vicar's Chronicle J 
 but the numerous garrisons* of the King along 
 
 The policy of quartering so many of his troops in gar- 
 risons about the west was not adopted by the King till rather 
 late in the war. The Parliamentary Scout 20tb Dec. 1644, says,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 150 
 
 the road now rendered his assistance unavailing. A 
 large party of them in May 1645 obtained a pass 
 from the Governour of Devizes to London, and 
 entered into a bond to pay him more than ^"400 
 for excise on the cloth they were to carry to Lon- 
 don ; but as they approached Newbury, Sir John 
 Boys the Governour of Donnington Castle, sallied 
 out on them and demanded the full amount in the 
 King's name, though it was not due till their re- 
 turn, and even then, not to him. But no expos- 
 tulations could avail the poor Clothiers ; they 
 
 in reference to the fortifications going on at Devizes. " We 
 see they intend to reduce the West into the state of the Ne- 
 therlands, and have a garrison at every five miles, and not to 
 fight so often in the field." The subjection in which this part 
 of the island was kept by the Royalists, is grievously lamen- 
 ted in a book called " Job in the West" being two sermons 
 preached by John Bond, on the occasion of two public fasts for 
 the five associated Western Counties. He thus calls to mind 
 to the inhabitants of this county the sins which had brought 
 so much calamity on their heads. " And as for the other Bel- 
 gae, those of Wiltshire so rich in corn, let them search the re- 
 cords of their own hearts and memories, whether that crjing 
 and cursing sin of corn-hoarding hath not been found amongst 
 them ; seeing the great commodity of their county did espe- 
 cially tempt them thereunto ; and where they find this great 
 act of oppression, let them lay to heart that terrible proverb of 
 the wise man, ' He (that is, every one) that withholdeth corn, 
 (that is, to raise the market,) the people shall curse him,' and 
 that curse must needs fall heavily which comethfrom a multi- 
 tude. And so much for a hint to them." Farther on, the Re- 
 verend Gentleman exclaims. " Would you know the longitude 
 of this map of miseries Truly I must answer that the calami-
 
 158 HISTORY OF 
 
 were forced to raise the money in Newbury, and 
 after some delay again started on their expedition. 
 They had not gone far, before some troopers from 
 Wallingford castle pounced on them, seized their 
 teams, baggage and all, and carried them into the 
 Castle, where the Commander Blake to crown 
 their mishaps, not only appropriated their goods 
 to himself, but suffered his troopersHo search their 
 pockets; after which they were allowed to pro- 
 ceed. By this adventure, the Governour of Devizes 
 lost his share of the plunder, but not long after, 
 he succeeded in capturing a number of packs of 
 cloth from some western carriers not far from 
 Devizes. With this booty his men were making 
 for the Castle, when the Country people (who had 
 lately been exasperated by the wanton killing of 
 one of their numbers, at a marauding excursion 
 of the Garrison to Collingbourne) fell on them, 
 but could not prevent the Carriers from being 
 
 ties of the Kingdom and the calamities of the West do bear the 
 same date ; even from August 1 642 hath the fire of war been 
 blown up and down in these counties , and ever since July 
 1643, when the West received her death's wound at the Devi- 
 zes, hath the enemy been master of the field in that little king- 
 dom. Only I confess, some blood did run to the heart in Exon 
 after that blow, and it was cherished to the utmost by that 
 poor beleaguered city." " And ever since that last blow, the 
 state of the West hath been as follows" Then we have a reca- 
 pitulation of events, the result of which is stated thus, that in 
 five counties, only seven towns were not in the King's interest. 
 John Bond had been lecturer at Exon, but was now minister of 
 the Savoy in London . Job in the West was published near 
 the close of 1644.
 
 TflE DEVIZES. 159 
 
 taken into the Town, whence they were compel- 
 led to redeem themselves and their goods by a 
 sum of money. 
 
 To narrate in full all the achievements of this Gar- 
 rison would occupy many pages and only fatigue 
 the reader ; they must therefore be simply touched 
 upon. In May, while a party was beating up 
 for subscriptions about Salisbury, they were en- 
 countered by the Club-men,* and several of them 
 were hackt and slain. They bullied the Mayor 
 of Marlborough for non-payment of his arrearages, 
 and threatened to fire his town. They pulled 
 down Justice Drew's hous3 in Devizes Green, and 
 one account adds " they have pluckt down the 
 Tower of Devizes, a stately place, and are now 
 pulling down the Church" (May 1645,) but what 
 this refers to, it is difficult to imagine. During 
 the same month, a small garrison who kept 
 Bromham House, deeming it more prudent to con- 
 fine themselves to Devizes, set fire to that mansion 
 and thus rendered it unserviceable to either party. 
 The erection of this house had cost (says the nar- 
 rator of the circumstance) 15,000. The iron- 
 work about the house, being near as big as White- 
 hall, cost 5000. King James lay in it, being a 
 palace fit to entertain a king." 
 
 In the July following, a detachment from the 
 
 * The Club-men were a body who rose in Wilts, Dorset and 
 Somerset : they professed to be neutrals, and prompted by no 
 other motives than simply to put an end to the war; which 
 pretext obtained for them the encouragement of many names 
 of distinction and even of some few of the Clergy.
 
 160 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 Garrison ventured to molest some of the enemy's 
 troops lying at Charlton, but Captain Sadler is- 
 sued out of Malmsbury with three regiments, and 
 gave them chase all the way to Rowde-close, where 
 concluding that the proximity of Devizes would 
 save them from further pursuit, the weary fugi- 
 tives got into a meadow, unbridled their horses, 
 and stretched themselves on the grass. They had 
 not enjoyed the sweets of repose many minutes, 
 before Sadler was amongst them, and the troopers 
 leaving most of their horses, were compelled to 
 escape through bye ways and over the fields into 
 the Devizes. 
 
 On the 12th of August, Sir James Long, with 
 the assistance of part of the Devizes Garrison and 
 Colonel Bovell's men from Lacocke, stormed and 
 took Chippenham. The royalist account which 
 is very explicit, describes it as a very spirited ac- 
 tion, though they acknowledge to have brought off 
 only 80 prisoners ; they add that " the inhabitants 
 lost not a farthing, though the town was taken 
 by assault." 
 
 During this summer's campaign, the king's 
 affairs were fast going to ruin in all quarters, and 
 furnished but very few occasions of bonfiring and 
 rejoicing to Oxford and the other garrisons in the 
 West who still maintained their allegiance. The 
 Paroclral accompts for this year show that when 
 the Prince of Vv r ales was coming to Devizes, as 
 stated above, the worthy Mayor had not failed to 
 put in requisition the usual demonstration, of 
 "ringing bells till steeples almost tottered down" to
 
 THE DEVIZES. 139 
 
 celebrate his approach ; but this may be regarded 
 as almost the last occasion on which their noisy 
 aid was invoked to give eclat to the Royal cause. 
 The name of Cromwell was already becoming a 
 tower of strength, and town after town were throw- 
 ing open their gates to the very echo of his dreaded 
 approach. 
 
 After the battle of Naseby, Fairfax and Crom- 
 well, who unitedly commanded the parliament's 
 army in the West, rapidly reduced Taunton, Slier- 
 bourne, Bath and Bristol. The latter place was 
 disgracefully surrendered by Prince Rupert almost 
 without striking a blow ; after which the two 
 generals divided then- forces, Fairfax marched 
 westward to complete the subjection of Cornwall 
 and Devonshire, while Cromwell laid siege to 
 Farley and Berkeley castles, the former of which 
 surrendered on the 15th September. On the 17th 
 he was at Trowbridge, and on the day following 
 marched to Devizes, leaving orders for the artillery 
 to follow him. One of the Newspapers favouring 
 the Parliament's cause, asserts that this sudden 
 movement of the General was in order to save 
 the town from being burnt by the garrison of the 
 castle, who had already consumed four houses. 
 There is little doubt from this as well as other ex- 
 pressions, that the means resorted to for the pur- 
 pose of furnishing and fortifying the castle were of 
 an oppressive and arbitrary character. 
 
 The following extract is from a similar source, 
 and is part of a letter from Fairfax's army. "Co- 
 lonel Rainsborough the Terrible is gone to assist at
 
 140 HISTORY OF 
 
 Berkeley Castle ; he will make the dust fly before 
 long and their brains too, if they take not heed. 
 The foot regiments of Colonels Montague, Picker- 
 ing, and Waller are at The Devizes. Colonel 
 Roches and others are commanded towards New- 
 bury to assist the convoy from Reading ; and 
 though the news at The Devizes was, that the 
 king was at Worcester with his horse, yet lest it 
 should prove otherwise, the horse that went with 
 the lieutenant-general to The Devizes were com- 
 manded to Caning Hill to march towards New- 
 bury to strengthen the convoy. They of the town 
 of Devizes said to our men, that the garrison 
 prayed heartily to send them either an army of 
 devils or 30,000 Turks, or they should never 
 overcome these terrible Fairfaxians." 
 
 The Garrison at this time was composed of 400 
 Welshmen (other accounts say 300) commanded 
 by Sir Charles Lloyd ; the works were described 
 as very strong, mounting five large and several 
 smaller pieces of artillery with good store of am- 
 munition, &c. " A good engineer," says one 
 writer " had added to the strength of the natural 
 situation, having cut out of the main earth, several 
 works commanding one another, and so strong 
 that no cannon could pierce them. Besides that 
 being palisaded and stoccadoed in most places, it 
 was a matter of extreme difficulty to storm it." 
 
 A party of the king's horse, stationed near the 
 town, under the command of major Dowett, (an 
 officer whom during the former affair at Devizes, 
 we found serving the Parliament,) had quitted
 
 THE DEVIZES. 141 
 
 their post at Cromwell's approach, and fled to 
 Salisbury, in consequence of which Sir Charles 
 Lloyd dispatched a messenger to secretary Nicholls 
 imploring succours, but the letter was intercepted 
 by the general, who forthwith then proceeded to 
 bombard the castle. Batteries having been con- 
 structed on the evening of the 20th in the Mar- 
 ket-place, within pistol-shot of the castle, the 
 governor was next day (being Sunday) summoned 
 to surrender the place for the use of the king and 
 parliament. To this he replied that the king his 
 master having put him in trust, he desired ten 
 days truce to send to him, and that in the mean 
 time he would do his best to keep it for his 
 majesty. Cromwell in return counselled him not 
 to let slip so good an opportunity as that which 
 now presented itself, for serving his king and 
 country, assuring him that none were so fitting to 
 keep strong-holds, forts, castles and the like for 
 the use of the king as himself, the general ; though 
 at the same time he politely intimated to him, that 
 if he were resolved to hold out, he was at liberty 
 to send forth his lady, and such other gentlewo- 
 men as might be in the Castle, promising that 
 they should be used with all due civility. Sir 
 Charles Lloyd's final reply of " Win it and wear 
 it" put an end to this facetious parley, and the 
 batteries began to play from the market-place. 
 
 The Mercurius Civicus, detailing these events 
 gives the following narrrative. On receiving the 
 summons, they returned answer that they would, 
 not deliver up the place while one man was alive
 
 142 HISTORY OF 
 
 and in defiance sent out a dog which had formerly 
 belonged to Prince Rupert, with the following 
 verses attached, to his neck. 
 
 " To THE TUNE OF / tell thee Jack" 
 Believe it friend we care not for ye, 
 And therefore Roundhead I am sorry 
 
 To see you play the fool ; 
 Go get you packing home, 'tis fit, 
 And there be pleas'd to learn more wit ; 
 
 The Briton heels to cool. 
 
 'Tis not your three score waggons, no, 
 Nor all those things that make a show, 
 
 As though your men were pedlars : 
 Can us affright, nor Deverseux * 
 Nor Carrill nor the men in blue, 
 
 That yerreclipsed our sadlers. 
 
 Nor yet your cannon six in number, 
 That fain would make us think of thunder, 
 
 Can startle our commanders, 
 Our officers have served the States 
 Of Holland, and have broke men's pates, 
 
 As I have heard in Flanders. 
 
 You tell us that we robbed the Town, 
 You lie my friend, it was our own, 
 
 We bought the beef and bacon : 
 The townsmen they will lie a little, 
 What, do you think we'd rob the Spittal.f 
 
 Oh man you are mistaken. 
 
 What, will her storm us ? then fall on, 
 But have a care, my name is Shon ; 
 Her's ready to receive you ; 
 
 * Alluding to the French engineers in Cromwell's army. 
 
 | That is " Hospital." This is said in derision of the towns- 
 people as though they were too contemptible to be pillaged, 
 and by Welsh theives too a pretty story.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 1 43 
 
 The Welshmen they do swear apace 
 They'll die before they yield this place, 
 And make your hopes deceive you. 
 
 Her loving friend if her mend her manners, 
 Shon ap Morgan Gent. 
 
 For Mr. Hope, to communicate 
 this to her friend in the Leaguer." 
 
 On the inditing of these verses we have the 
 following comment, "It is much that in this 
 height of danger, they had so much leisure as to 
 poetize." 
 
 The circumstance of a dog of Prince Rupert's 
 being chosen as the bearer of this classic missive, 
 was, we may suppose, intended by the beseiged to 
 signify their contempt of that general's conduct in 
 the surrender of Bristol. Whether or not the 
 exalted tone assumed by themselves on the pre- 
 sent occasion, was altogether borne out by the for- 
 titude they subsequently exhibited, is left to the 
 reader's own decision. But we must not forget 
 the sequel to the above tale. As the order of 
 the day seemed to be to infuse as much humour 
 into the affair as possible, the following reply was 
 promptly transmitted. 
 
 Poor Cavaliers it was my chance of late, 
 
 To view some brawling lines, come from a blockish pate, 
 
 Wherein you call us fools but stay, 
 
 You'll prove the fools before we go away. 
 
 To carry out this threat therefore, the cannons 
 and mortars continued playing all that day and 
 the night following. A grenadoe discharged in 
 the morning, appeared to do great execution ; " it
 
 144 HISTORY OF 
 
 fell in the castle which was open above, and owing 
 to this circumstance, killed several men, and had 
 like to have blown up the magazine." Allusion is 
 here evidently made to the keep, and the mention 
 of this incident, it may be observed, en passant is 
 evidence that though dismantled, the principal 
 part of the castle was in a state of comparative 
 preservation at this time. 
 
 The garrison, who now began to feel the diffi- 
 culties of their situation, at eight o'clock sounded 
 a parley, and the governor sent out Captains 
 Challenor and Garroway to propose honourable 
 terms of capitulation. In three hours Cromwell 
 sent them back with two of his own officers bear- 
 ing the following propositions. 
 
 1st. That the Town and Castle of The Devizes 
 with all the ordnance, arms, and ammunition 
 therein should be surrendered for the use of the 
 Parliament. 
 
 2ndly. That all officers and gentlemen should 
 march to Oxford or any garrison of the king's 
 within thirty miles, with both their horses and 
 arms. 
 
 Srdly. That all private soldiers should march 
 away without arms, only with sticks in their 
 hands, and that they might go to Worcester, 
 but not to any garrison to which their comman- 
 ders repaired. 
 
 4thly. That all private gentlemen in the castle 
 should have liberty to go to their own homes or 
 beyond the sea. 
 
 5thly. That all such persons as were in the
 
 THE DEVIZES. 145 
 
 Town of Devizes, who having once served the par- 
 liament, had gone over to the king, should be left 
 as prisoners to the mercy of the lieutenant-ge- 
 neral ; and that all such others as would consent 
 to take up arms for the parliament should be en- 
 tertained. 
 
 These propositions were backed by an intima- 
 tion that if they were not speedily agreed to, the 
 General would carry the place by storm, and give 
 no quarter. Sir Charles Lloyd therefore consented 
 to deliver it up, and accordingly the next morning 
 he marched out, three wains and a safe convoy 
 having been allowed him to carry away his lady 
 and his goods. In the castle were found beside 
 the artillery mentioned above, 400 stand of arms, 
 and provisions that would have lasted a whole 
 year ; five hundred barrels of beef, and five hun- 
 dred flitches of bacon, with much wheat and malt. 
 This was the beef and bacon, touching which they 
 had sung to the tune of " I tell thee Jack." The 
 worthy townsmen of whom it had been " bought" 
 had perhaps as little reason as themselves to be 
 merry on the score. 
 
 Hitherto we have principally consulted the par- 
 liamentary prints in reference to this transaction, 
 as they contain the only copious accounts of it; 
 but the reader is now presented with a royalist's 
 version of the affair, in the form of an extract 
 from the manuscript memoirs of John Gwyn, an 
 officer of the Royal Guards, during the reigns of 
 Charles I. and II. " I was in the garrison of The 
 Devizes, (says he,) when Fairfax and Cromwell
 
 146 HISTORY OF 
 
 were at a stand whether or not they had better 
 meddle with us ; until they came to understand 
 that the horse in quarters thereabout, were not 
 come into it. Then they laid close seige. One 
 or two of our soldiers had run over the works and 
 told the enemy how things stood with us, or they 
 had not beseiged us. The enemy with incessant 
 peals of muskets, great guns, and mortar pieces 
 played upon us, that it passed us 'all day and all 
 night at the line without the least reserve. As 
 we could do no better, though we might have done 
 better with our expected number, we resigned." 
 The memoirs from which the above is taken, were 
 written by the desire of the Duke of Mon mouth, 
 but were never published. 
 
 Devizes Castle was taken on 23rd Sept. 1645. 
 The number of men who fell in the defence is not 
 stated ; Cromwell lost but five. He remained at 
 Devizes for three days, and then marched with 
 his whole army to Dunnington Castle near New- 
 bury. What became of the castle he left behind 
 him, may be gathered from the following entry 
 or two, appearing in the 4th vol. of the "Commons' 
 Journals." 
 
 23 Sep. 1645. A letter from one of the scout- 
 masters servants of 22 Sep. relating to the taking 
 of The Devizes upon surrender, was this day read. 
 It is ordered that the Committee of the West do 
 pay unto the messenger that brought the good 
 news of taking The Devizes, 10. 
 
 25 Sep. A letter from Lieutenant-general 
 Cromwell of 22 Sep. relating to the taking of The
 
 THE DEVIZED. 147 
 
 Devizes and the proceedings against Berkeley Cas- 
 tle were this day read. Ordered That Curtys 
 the messenger shall have slO bestowed upon him 
 by the Committee of the army. Ordered That it 
 be referred to the Committee of the West to con- 
 sider what is fit to be done with the Castle and 
 Garrison at Devizes, and to report their opinion 
 with speed to the house. 
 
 4 May, 1646. Upon Sir John Evelyn's report 
 from the Committee of the West. Tt is resolved 
 That the Castle-hill and works of The Devizes, and 
 the works about Longford House in the county of 
 Wilts be forthwith slighted. Ordered also That 
 one troop of horse only shall remain in the county. 
 Mr. Ludlow to be captain. 
 
 28 May. Ordered That all such materials as 
 are now remaining in the Castle of The De- 
 vizes, and which wero part of, or belonging to the 
 Church of St. John, or to the parsonage house 
 belonging to the said church, shall be forthwith 
 restored to the churchwardens there, for the re- 
 edifying of the said church and parsonage house. 
 Ordered also That in like manner, all such tim- 
 ber and other materials as have been taken away 
 from any of the inhabitants of the said Town, and 
 are now remaining in the said Castle, shall be like- 
 wise forthwith delivered to the particular owners 
 thereof." 
 
 Here therefore the history of fc the castle neces- 
 sarily arrives at a conclusion. The work of des- 
 truction was forthwith commenced, though it 
 seems not to have been fully completed even at
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 the time that Stukeley wrote about it, many years 
 afterwards. He observes in his Itinerary in 1723. 
 " The castle is ignobly mangled and every day des- 
 troyed by persons who care not to leave a stone 
 standing, though for a wall to their gardens." 
 
 In 1646, the year in which part of the above 
 resolutions were passed in the House of Com- 
 mons, the Brigade of Major-General Massey, 
 then lying at Devizes, was disbanded by Fairfax, 
 and the town was at last relieved from the imme- 
 diate presence of war. 
 
 The Castle lands, during the early part of the 
 last century, were in the hands of Wadham Wynd- 
 ham Esq. who in 1735 conveyed them in settle- 
 ment on the marriage of his son Henry. At the 
 death of the latter in 1786, they passed (inter 
 alia) into the hands of his son Henry Penruddocke 
 Wyndham, who conveyed them in 1793 to Wil- 
 liam Salmon, Esq. from whom in 1809 they des- 
 cended to his son William Wroughton Salmon, 
 Esq. Mr. Salmon conveyed them in 1813 to 
 Thomas Tylee, Esq. who again conveyed them to 
 Valentine Leach, Esq. the present proprietor, in 
 1838.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 149 
 
 Allusion having been made above, to the nu- 
 merous heavy contributions with which the re- 
 sources of the Borough were burdened, in aid of 
 the king's service during the civil wars ; the fol- 
 lowing extracts taken from the Chamberlain's 
 Books of that period, are intended to illustrate the 
 remark. But as there are also several entries in 
 the same journal, possessing considerable interest 
 in themselves, as historical documents of another 
 kind ; we will begin with a few, belonging to the 
 close of Elizabeth's reign. 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 1598 Paid for constructing the Bench in the Castle 172 
 
 1599 Item for mending the Castle Bench 017 
 
 (These entries allude to the Quarter Sessions. 
 
 Others which will follow, shew the accom- 
 modations on those occasions to have been of 
 a very second-rate order ; the erection was a 
 temporary one, and not always sufficient to 
 screen the parties from the effects of the 
 weather.) 
 
 1 607 The Profits of the Shambles for one year ap- 
 pear to have been 30 
 
 1608 At a taxation of the second payment of the 
 second subsidy of three entire subsidies grant- 
 ed to James I. are the names of twenty three of 
 the principal inhabitants out of whom is ex- 
 tracted the sum of 77 
 
 1 609 Paid for a dinner, and gratuity bestowed on 
 the Bishop of Waterford when he preached 
 
 here 5 
 
 Item for an aid towards making of the prince 
 a knight for all the lands belonging to the
 
 150 HISTORY OF 
 
 . *. d. 
 Chamber, Churches, Alms Houses, and Ways 
 
 within the Borough 1 
 
 Item to William Hillier for setting up the 
 place for the Quarter Sessions of the County 
 and for levelling of the ground 017 4 
 
 1610 Paid the King's Majesty's rent for Cardma- 
 
 ker's Chauntry for one year 6 3 8 
 
 This yearly entry continues till the 18th 
 century or later. 
 
 Paid Mr. Barrett for the Lord Chief Baron's 
 charges for a supper and breakfast when he 
 lay in the Town 4 2 10 
 
 1611 Paid for building the tent and benches for the 
 holding of the Sessions 013 4 
 
 1612 Given to the Queen's Majesties' Players by 
 
 order of the Mayor 010 
 
 Item for a messenger to Andrews the carpen- 
 ter, and for his pains in coming over and 
 
 drawing the Plot 4 
 
 Item to Will. Hillier for making a place in the 
 Castle for the Justice and in the market-place, 
 and for cleaning the Weaver's Hall 2 6 
 
 1613 Paid to the Lady Elizabeth's Players 1 
 
 Item to Mr. Barrett for a supper which the 
 
 Mayor and his brethren had at the King's 
 
 coming ......*.................. 1 2 
 
 Item for Wine and Sugar had to drink with 
 
 the King's Us^er..../ 050 
 
 Item for the Lady Elizabeth's aid 1 
 
 Item to Mr. Northey for fees which he gave 
 
 to His Majesty's officers 20 15 4 
 
 1614 Paid thro' Mr. Kent for his Majesty's bene- 
 volence towards this Borough 22 
 
 Item for lime towards building the Sessions 
 
 House ... .... 16
 
 THE DEVIZES. 151 
 
 . s. d- 
 
 1615 Paid Mr. Kent for the Painting of the Con- 
 stitution hook for the Town 6 
 
 Item to Mr. John Erwood for carrying the 
 
 Cross 14 
 
 Received one year's rents of the Streets and 
 
 Town ditches 1 6 6 
 
 Paid for a Proclamation for prohibiting the 
 
 eating of Flesh during Lent ............ 3 4 
 
 1618 Paid to Will. Barrett for the carriage of 
 eighteen loads of stones and rubble out of the 
 
 Castle 7 
 
 Item to the Sheriff of the County for an 
 amercement set on the town at the time of 
 
 the Assizes for the escape of a felon 6 8 4 
 
 Item to William Dicke for the carriage of his 
 Majesty's wine to Charlton .............. 2 
 
 1619 Paid for wine and sugar when my Lord Bishop 
 
 went into the Castle, and for a wether .... 018 6 
 
 1 620 Paid for a Pottle of Muscadine given to Sir 
 
 Edw. Bayntun , 2 4 
 
 1626 Paid for five Muskets furnished together 
 with head pieces.bandeliers, pike, and moulds ; 
 and for five halberds and four corslets with 
 
 pikes 21 2 
 
 Item for the carrying down thereof 18 10 
 
 Item to Henry Barrett for 200 boards to board 
 the end of the Guildhall where the armour is 
 
 hanged 17 8 
 
 Item for three-score pounds of powder in bar- 
 rels and match and the carrying of them down 316 8 
 Item to Henry the Joiner for boarding and 
 
 making the frame for the armour 10 
 
 Item to the Constables for powder and match 
 
 for training of the Souldiers... 134
 
 152 HISTORY OF 
 
 1 629 Paid to the Carpenter for five turned pillars 
 
 for the market house ...., ............... 1 5 
 
 1 630 Paid to Christopher Jones for half a year's 
 
 dressing of the Town-armour .......... .. 5 
 
 Item to Thomas Stephens for drumming on 
 Gunpowder- treason day ................ 1 
 
 Item to Rob Brunsden for powder and match 
 
 same day ............................ 14 3 
 
 1631 Paid to the Churchwarden of St. John for the 
 relief of some inhabitants of Poole who had 
 
 been taken prisoners at Angler .......... 9 
 
 Item for two Sugar loaves, a gratuity to my 
 
 Lord Bishop .......................... 1 6 6 
 
 Item to Henry Barrett for one quart of sack 
 and one of claret given to a doctor that 
 preached ................. . ...... .... 1 8 
 
 Item to the King's players ......... ..... IP 
 
 1632 Paid for a tilt in the time of the sessions to 
 
 keep away the wind from the Justices ...... 6 
 
 1636 Paid to the Sheriffs' Messenger who brought 
 
 the King's writ for ship-money ......... 5 
 
 Item for filling up a hole at the Corn-hill ..004 
 1639 Paid towards the reparation of the Church of 
 
 St. Paul in London .................... 10 
 
 (The same contribution was paid nextyear also) 
 
 Item for powder for the training of the soul- 
 
 diers appointed for the expedition to York ..040 
 
 Item for a proclamation concerning the heal- 
 
 ing of the^King's evil .................. 1 
 
 1 640 Paid for powder to exercise the souldiers prest 
 into the king's service for the northern expe- 
 dition ............ . .................. .. 020 
 
 Item to the Constable for Coat and Conduct 
 
 money for the said souldiers .............. 20
 
 THE DEVIZES. 153 
 
 . s. d. 
 
 Item to one Biggs of Marlbro' being the fifth 
 part of money by him recovered against the 
 hundred of Potterne and Cannings for a rob- 
 bery done upon him. 4 3 2 
 
 1641 To Mr. Nicholas as a gratuity for his pains 
 
 and expenses in parliament 20 
 
 Item to Will. Dicke the elder, being money 
 disbursed by him, when Constable, for the 
 sending of soldiers into the north, and for 
 belts and bandeliers for the Town's use .... 34 1 7 7 
 
 1 642 Paid to Mr. Bennett the remainder of an un- 
 paid rate for Came in the time of the plague. 016 
 Item to a messenger which brought a procla- 
 mation about the king's assenting to the par- 
 liament 5 
 
 Item for mending of the Town-walls 3 9 
 
 Item for the making of a new Gallows 5 
 
 Item for bringing powder from Chippenham 
 
 and powder and match from Bradford. ..... 1 1 6 
 
 Item for chaining and blocking up the Town'a- 
 
 ends at several times 1 8 4 
 
 Item Expenses of Walter Bead's going to 
 Bristol about bringing of ordnance thence.. . 050 
 Item to Michael and Whitinghame for beat- 
 ing a drum for volunteers. ............... 6 
 
 Item for making a place for a magazine for 
 the powder and for carrying of it up into the 
 
 church 1 19 4 
 
 Item for mounting of the pieces of ordnance. 010 
 Item for making a place for the great ordnance 1 810 
 
 Item for the repairing of the Brittox 18 9 8 
 
 Item in part purchase money for the ordnance 
 
 and carriage thereof 24 
 
 1643 Paid for 24 swords and belts 568 
 
 Item to Powell for mending the four lesser
 
 154 HISTORY OF 
 
 . *. d. 
 
 wheels of the ordnance. 11 
 
 Item for hay and oats for Colonel Lunsford's 
 
 troopers when they came to raise 400. ... 6 
 
 Item for three scouts sent by Sir Edw. Hun- 
 
 gerford 14 2 
 
 Item to the Lord Crawford and his officers 
 
 when they were here. ...126 
 
 Item to the Prince's Trumpeters 110 
 
 Item to Dismore for making the iron for the 
 
 Barricades 13 4 
 
 Item towards making up of the composition 
 money for the Borough, paid to the king's 
 
 commissioners 50 
 
 1 644 Paid into Colonel Hambleton 30 
 
 Item to Mr. Jackman, for dressing wounded 
 
 soldiers left by Lord Hopton 500 
 
 Item for and towards a rate for the Governor 
 
 ofMalmsbury 20 
 
 Item for oats for Captain Gifford's company 
 when they came for money given by Mr. 
 
 Mayor's orders 6 
 
 Item to Mr. Will. Powell for his horse sent 
 
 to Sir Will. Waller 400 
 
 Item for Summer's horse 2, for Thomas 
 Clack's 3 I5s. for Samuel Kent's 4, and 
 
 John Flewellyn's 2 10^ 12 5 
 
 Item towards the relief of poor people during 
 
 the sickness, and for the pest houses... . ... 32 
 
 1 645 Expenses of 3 soldiers who came for 3 horses 100 
 Paid to Brunsden for powder, bullets, and 
 match for the centinels when the watch was 
 
 in the Town 1 1 
 
 Item for wood and candles for centinels .... 36 6 
 Item for powder and bullet had in Sir Edw. 
 Bayntun's time * . 618
 
 THE DEVIZES. 155 
 
 . *. d. 
 
 Item for Workmen and provisions for prison- 
 ers 57 18 
 
 (Other payments then occur for horses sent 
 
 to Sir William Waller, as above.) 
 
 Item for carpets pewter' and certain linen 
 
 presented to the Governor of the Town .... 11 10 
 
 Paid to John Wordall for his expences when 
 
 600 Soldiers were in the Town 2 2 7 
 
 Item out of the Market house and Shambles 
 towards quartering a troop of horse who re- 
 mained 15 days I 6 7 
 
 Item for wine given by Mr. Mayor, and for 
 beer given to the townsmen at a rendezvous 
 
 on the Green 5 
 
 Item for quartering Colonel Temple's soldiers 116 
 1 649 Paid to William Bancroft at two several times 
 for going to Marlboro ugh about the Castle 
 (of Devizes) and for demolishing thereof .... 1 
 Item for the purchase money of the fee- farm 
 
 of the Borough 280 
 
 1654 Paid to John Wintworth and Rob. Ings for 
 
 maintenance of Dutch prisoners ..........157 10 3 
 
 About this time the entries are very numerous 
 of relief given to disabled seamen whom our san- 
 guinary contests with the Dutch had scattered 
 over the land. Alms are frequently given also to 
 another class of his majesty's subjects, not quite 
 extinct in our own day, who are described as 
 "travellers from Ireland." 
 1654 Paid to JohnWilks for mending the windows 
 
 broken by the Dutch prisoners 058 
 
 Item Expenses in getting the money in Lon- 
 don for the Dutch prisoners. ............. 100 
 
 1656 Paid to Thomaa Whitaker for ringing of the
 
 156 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 . a. d. 
 9 o'clock bell for 3 months 3 6 
 
 1659 Item for cakes and wine when Richard the 
 Lord Protector was proclaimed chief Magis- 
 trate 
 
 1660 Item for fire-lock and stock for the Town- 
 musket and for cleansing and dressing the 
 
 Town halbert and sword 2 9 
 
 1661 Item to Richard Bennett for the loan of pikes 
 
 and halberts at the king's coronation day ..030 
 1669 Item for 2 year's coming of the flying post 
 
 from Marlborough to this town with letters .200 
 1675 To three distressed parsons 1 4 
 
 To a poor scholar 8 
 
 1688 For 100 faggots at the proclamation and 
 
 coronation of the King and Queen (William 
 
 and Mary) and for the music 1 17 6
 
 THE DEVIZES, 157 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN GRANT OF 
 
 CHARTERS CONSTITUTION OF BOROUGH ACT 
 
 FOR IMPROVEMENT CANAL WHARF ALTER- 
 ED CONSTITUTION COURTS OF RECORD AND 
 
 QUARTER SESSIONS OLD PARK DEFINITION 
 
 OF BOUNDARY LINES RETURNS MADE IN 1836 
 
 OF HOUSES, INHABITANTS, VOTERS, &C. 
 
 HAVING discussed at the commencement of 
 this work, the subject of the grounds on which the 
 franchise of the Borough was probably based in 
 the first instance ; it remains to trace its history 
 as a corporate body, from the earliest period of 
 which we possess information of a more positive 
 kind. The oldest Charter in existence is that of 
 the Empress Matilda, granted no doubt at the 
 time, when, as we have already seen, the Castle 
 was hi the hands of her partizans, during her 
 struggle with Stephen for the crown of England. 
 The brevity of this instrument is such, that 
 it is here given unmutilated. It is without 
 date. 
 
 " Matilda Imperatrix Regis Henrici filia et An- 
 glorum domina, justiciary's, vicecomitibus et
 
 158 
 
 omnibus ministiis suis totius Anglise et portuum 
 maris. Salutem &c. Concede burgensibus meis 
 de Divisis, quod pro servitio suo, quieti sint de 
 Theolonio, Passagio, et Lestagio, et omne alia 
 consuetudine per totam terram meam et per por- 
 tus maris. Et volo et prsecipio quod ipsi et 
 homines sui et omnia mercata sua, meam firmam 
 pacena habeant ; et super hoc, nemo eos usquam 
 injuste disturbet. Super foris factur. Teste 
 Episcopo Ely ; apud Reading. 
 
 These liberties were successively confirmed by 
 Henry II. John, and Henry III. Edward III. be- 
 sides such confirmation, granted a guild-merchant, 
 and that no burgess should have his goods dis- 
 trained for a debt of which he was not either bail, 
 or principal debtor ; together with all such liber- 
 ties as were enrolled in the Charter of Marlborough, 
 with a general reservation of the liberties of the 
 City of London. The burgesses had in the early 
 part of this reign presented a petition to the crown 
 complaining of great injustice practised towards 
 them, and praying that their privileges might be 
 put upon the same footing as they were in the 
 time of the good King Edward I. Amongst other 
 things they allude to the return of writs having 
 been taken from them, an evil which the charter 
 of the succeeding monarch Richard II. was in- 
 tended to remove, by granting to the Mayor and 
 Bailiffs the return of writs in all matters touching 
 the burgesses of the town. Another of its pro- 
 visions was that they should henceforth have a 
 Coroner, one of themselves, and a third bound all
 
 THE DEVIZES. 159 
 
 defensible men between the ages of 1 6 and 60, to 
 the defence, if need were, of the Castle of De- 
 vizes . 
 
 Henry IV. V. and VI. Edward IV. Henry VIII. 
 Edw. VI. and Elizabeth confirmed the Borough 
 charters without making any material alterations. 
 The Coroner continued to be elected in pursuance 
 of that of Richard II. until the grant of a new 
 one by James I. after which period the office ap- 
 pears to have been discontinued. 
 
 During the reign of Elizabeth and up to the 
 time of obtaining the last mentioned charter, the 
 corporation consisted of three bodies, called the 
 Mayors, the Twelve, and the inferior burgesses, 
 but the body called the Twelve did not uniformly 
 consist of that number only. In 1581 there are 
 entered in the council book, 10 mayors at the head 
 of whom is one called by preeminence "The 
 Mayor " of whose name the proceedings are en- 
 titled, 14 of the Twelve, and 28 inferior burgesses. 
 At the time of obtaining James's charter, the en- 
 try is of the Mayor by himself, 1 1 Magni, including 
 one designated as Mayor elect, 21 of the Twelve 
 or Common-Council, and 32 inferior Burgesses. 
 A memorandum written in 1628, by John Kent 
 the first town-clerk under James's Charter, states 
 that at the accession of James, there were, one 
 Mayor 9 chief Burgesses and Councillors (in- 
 cluding the Mayor elect) 23 Burgesses called " the 
 Twelve " or Common Council and 30 Inferior 
 Burgesses. 
 
 The Charter of Charles I. confirms that of his
 
 160 HISTORY OF 
 
 father, where not specifically altered. On the 
 10th Nov. 1684, in consequence of Charles II. 
 having issued writs of quo warranto against the 
 corporations of several Boroughs, for the arbitrary 
 purpose of calling in their charters ; the Common- 
 Council of Devizes, following the example of 
 many others, determined on making a voluntary 
 surrender of theirs, in order to escape a compul- 
 sory one ; and in the following March, a new 
 Charter of 1st James II. was accepted, under 
 which the Corporation continued to act for rather 
 more than three years. There is an entry in their 
 books dated 12th Oct. 1688, containing a list of 
 officers appointed according to its provisions ; but 
 on the 20th of the same month, they availed them- 
 selves of the royal proclamation for restoring 
 Charters ; and again resorting to those of James 
 I. and Charles I. continued to be regulated by 
 them, till the late municipal act came into opera- 
 tion on the 26th December, 1835, the day to 
 which the elections ordered (by 5th and 6th Will. 
 4, c. 76) to be held on the 1st of November in 
 every year, were postponed by an order of the 
 privy council for that year. 
 
 All former Charters to Boroughs, inconsistent 
 with the provisions of this act, are now therefore 
 rendered obsolete ; but as matter of history sim- 
 ply, a short outline of that constitution under whose 
 guidance Devizes remained for more than 200 
 years, will not be deemed altogether uninteresting. 
 
 The body corporate then, consisted of a Mayor, 
 a Recorder, 36 Capital-Burgesses (including the
 
 THE DEVIZES. 161 
 
 Mayor and Recorder) and an indefinite number 
 of Free-Burgesses. 12 of the Capital-Burgesses 
 (including the same) were distinguished by the 
 name of Capital-Burgesses-Councillors, the re- 
 maining 24 being called Capital-Burgesses of the 
 Common-Council. The Mayor, Recorder, and 
 Capital-Burgesses when assembled together, con- 
 stituted the Common-Council. The style of the 
 Corporation was " the Mayor and Burgesses of 
 the Borough of Devizes." 
 
 The Mayor was chosen by a majority of the 
 Common-Council out of the Capital-Burgesses- 
 Councillors. He was the head of the Corporation, 
 the president at all their meetings and the return- 
 ing officer of the Borough. He was ex offitio one 
 of the Justices, and had to preside as Magistrate 
 at the Borough Quarter Sessions, assisted by the 
 Recorder and one of the Councillors ; and lastly he 
 was Judge at the Court of Record, together with 
 the Recorder (or his deputy) and some others of 
 the Councillors. There was no specified salary 
 attached to this office, but a custom prevailed, of 
 allowing him a certain sum annually to provide 
 " an entertainment" on the first day of his mayor- 
 alty, for the members of the Corporation, to which 
 he also invited his friends and the magistrates and 
 professional gentlemen of the town and neigh- 
 bourhood. The amount of this allowance was 
 originally 30. It was afterwards increased and 
 remained for a long period antecedent to 1798 at 
 40 per annum, when it was ordered to be discon- 
 tinued during the war. This order was renewed
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 in 1803, but before the arrival of peace, and when 
 in 1809 the Corporation began their occupation 
 of the new Town Hall, it was finally rescinded, 
 after having been in 1808 both rescinded and re- 
 newed. The allowance continued the same, but 
 the obstacle which this custom imposed, owing to 
 the allowance being greatly insufficient for its pur- 
 pose, added to the burdensome nature of the 
 mayor's duties, rendered the post so obnoxious in 
 the eyes of many, that previous to the first enter- 
 tainment having been given in 1809, no less than 
 5 members of the Common-Council, rather than 
 be made Capital-Burgesses-Councillors, and thus 
 become eligible to the mayoralty, preferred paying 
 the fine of j30 each, imposed by the Bye-laws of 
 1741 for refusal to accept the said post of 
 Councillor when duly elected thereto. In 1810 
 two others paid the same fine, and three in 
 1812. 
 
 The Recorder's office was instituted by Charles's 
 Charter, in the place of that of Town-Clerk by 
 James's. His duties however were the same with 
 a slight variation in their extent. Although one 
 of the Council, his attendance was not generally 
 required at their meetings except on the making 
 or rescinding of bye-laws. He was elected by the 
 Common-Council for life, or during their pleasure, 
 with a salary of 10. but latterly, this had not 
 been received for many years. Mr. Addington, 
 when made Lord Sidmouth, had held the post 44 
 years, and even while speaker of the House of 
 Commons. Mr. Estcourt on permanently leaving
 
 THE DEVIZES. 163 
 
 his residence in the neighbourhood, preferred re- 
 signing the office. In 1707 The Recorder was 
 unseated, but on what grounds, does not appear ; 
 he was restored the following year. 
 
 The 12 Capital- Burgesses-Councillors were 
 elected by a majority of the Common-Council out 
 of the Burgesses thereof. 
 
 The Capital-Burgesses of the Common-Council 
 whose duties were confined to attending the 
 meetings, and bearing part in elections and other 
 votes, were chosen by a majority of the Common - 
 Council from the Free Burgesses. The number 
 of these latter, who were also elected by the Coun- 
 cil, was indefinite. In 1688 there were 34, in 1 740 
 only 4. 
 
 The Borough- Justices were three. The 
 Mayor and Recorder ex officio, and one from 
 among the Councillors who was denominated " the 
 Justice." Their duty was to hold a petty ses- 
 sions once a fortnight, and the extent of their 
 jurisdiction within the Borough was such as to 
 render nugatory that of the County Magistrates, 
 except in the licensing of public houses and a few 
 other cases. 
 
 The Steward and Clerk of the Courts was one 
 of the Common-Council. He attended its meet- 
 ings and registered the proceedings. At the 
 General Quarter Sessions, he acted as Clerk of 
 the Peace, attended the Magistrates at the Petty 
 Sessions, and was Registrar in the Court of 
 Record. The salary was nominally 2 13s. 4d. 
 besides the fees of the Courts of Record and of
 
 164 HISTORY OF 
 
 Quarter Sessions, and those paid on the admission 
 of Free-Burgesses ; but his principal emolument 
 arose from his being the Solicitor of the Corpora- 
 tion. Tn 1765 an instance occurred of this office 
 and that of Mayor being combined in the same 
 individual. 
 
 The Two Chamberlains were chosen annually, 
 one from among the Councillors, and one from 
 the Common-Council. They were the treasurers 
 of the Corporation, received the rents and other 
 revenues, and made all disbursements. Their 
 responsibility was of course joint, but it was long 
 arranged between them, that virtually, one only 
 should fulfil its duties. Salary 2 each. 
 
 The Wardens of the Alms-houses were the 
 treasurers of that part of the charitable property 
 of which the Corporation were the Trustees. 
 These were chosen from the CommonCouncil, two 
 for each parish, and were entitled to no salary, 
 A Chamberlain has occasionally been a Warden. 
 The Corporation were also Trustees for the lands 
 belonging to the Parish Church of St. John. Their 
 other charitable trusts were of monies which they 
 had thrown into their own funds, and of which 
 they paid the interest. Many of the debts 
 thus created, are of very remote date, the most 
 recent being no later than 1786. 
 
 Two Constables two Sergeants at Mace, two 
 Bailiffs, and four Sub-Bailiffs, complete the list of 
 officers acting under the old regime. The limits 
 of the jurisdiction of the Corporation were co-ex- 
 tensive with the two parishes of St. John, and St.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 
 
 165 
 
 Mary, including a rural district lying in the former, 
 called the Old Park. The date of the annexation 
 of this to the Borough, it is now difficult to deter- 
 mine, but this point we shall have occasion to dis- 
 cuss hereafter. The observations which it will be 
 necessary to make on the property and income of 
 the Corporation are also reserved, until, having 
 taken some short notice, first, of the improve- 
 ments effected in the Town by a local Act, and 
 then of its present altered constitution as a 
 Borough ; we may examine in a connected form, 
 the financial arrangements of that body, in con- 
 junction with the system pursued by the present 
 Council. 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS OF THE BOROUGH. It is not 
 intended here to detail the proof that all and 
 every department of the public expenditure con- 
 nected with the Borough was formerly in the 
 hands of the Corporation ; or to revive the official 
 dignity that once attached to the post of " Sca- 
 venger." In pursuance of the present subject, it 
 will merely be necessary to remark that the ap- 
 pointment of officers, including that of Surveyor 
 existed down to a period as late as that, at which 
 the first trace of the nomination of parochial Sur- 
 veyors is discoverable. These last have long 
 ceased to act, but it appears to have been neces- 
 sary in order to abolish the office of " Surveyor 
 for the Borough," to insert a special clause to that 
 effect, in the first act for improving the Town,
 
 166 HISTORY OF 
 
 viz. that of 21st George III., as well as other 
 clauses, to make way for the new powers given to 
 the commissioners. The Scavengers were ap- 
 pointed and paid by the Corporation even after 
 the office of Surveyor had expired, and every part 
 of the accounts exhibits abundant proof that the 
 corporate fund was applied to the repairs of the 
 streets and highways, to such extent at least, as 
 was deemed necessary by the worthy Corporators 
 of the olden time, and that the revenue from part 
 of their property was especially devoted to this 
 purpose. 
 
 It is nevertheless true, that certain notices, 
 appearing in the minutes of the Common Council 
 relating to the deplorable state of the streets, oc- 
 cur in some cases, in connection with severe re- 
 solutions directed against the inhabitants of par- 
 ticular streets, for "contumaciously" refusing to 
 obey the orders of the Corporation to repair them 
 at their own expense. To what extent the streets 
 were repaired by parochial authority is not known, 
 but such authority must have been at all times ex- 
 tremely limited, and never applicable to the wants 
 of a town. When the above act was obtained 
 " for amending, regulating, cleansing, lighting, and 
 keeping in repair the streets, lanes, &c." its pre- 
 amble no doubt very correctly describes the said 
 streets as "being in general out of repair." 
 
 Nothing however was effectually done under 
 this act, and no general or uniform system seems 
 to have been adopted in the administration of the 
 funds which it empowered the Commissioners to
 
 THE DEVIZES. 167 
 
 raise. Added to this, its management was too 
 exclusive, and its powers far too limited, to allow 
 of its affording much satisfaction to the inhabitants 
 in general. Notwithstanding its existence there- 
 fore, the state of the Town remained up till the 
 year 1825 the most dirty and uninviting, both to 
 residents and strangers, that can well be ima- 
 gined ; not even bearing a comparison with other 
 towns of the same size. Hardly a square yard of 
 flagging was to be seen from one end of it to the 
 other ; the occasional occurrence of posts and pave- 
 ment before some solitary door, rather tending to 
 trip up the public, and render the long intervals 
 of sharp pebbles appear all the more toilsome ; 
 while the proximity of the houses in wet weather 
 was so dangerous, that the affrighted foot-passen- 
 ger had to cast up a hasty balance between the 
 advantages of careering in the middle of the street 
 or of running the gauntlet of a score of water- 
 spouts. 
 
 A proposal to apply for a new Act of Parlia- 
 ment, giving powers to Commissioners to raise 
 funds for paving, lighting and improving the 
 streets, &c. was about this time taken up with 
 great warmth, and rendered popular by a very ex- 
 tended list of Commissioners. The Commissioners 
 named were the Mayor and Burgesses and nearly 
 a hundred other individuals, whose qualification 
 was required to consist in the receipt of rents 
 arising from lands &c. within the Borough either 
 freehold or on a lease of which 30 years were un- 
 expired, of the yearly value of 20 ; or in the
 
 168 HISTORY OF 
 
 occupation for six months of houses or land within 
 the Borough of the value of 20 such value to 
 be determined by the poor-rate. The application 
 of the act extended only to the limits of the Old 
 Borough. 
 
 The expences of procuring the act were paid by 
 the Borough Members, Mr. Estcourt and Mr. 
 Pearse, who in addition also presented ^1000 each 
 towards the undertaking, and on the resignation of 
 Mr. Estcourt soon afterwards, and the election of 
 Mr. Watson Taylor, the latter gentleman pre- 
 sented another sum of 1000. A similar sum 
 was also raised from the inhabitants by voluntary 
 contributions. 
 
 The act authorized a rate upon landlords to 
 the amount of half the cost of the foot pavements, 
 which was raised by instalments to the amount 
 of 2522, and the remainder of the whole cost of 
 the improvements was raised by loans, and by the 
 application of the rate for general purposes during 
 the progress of the improvements, and amounted 
 to more than 13,000. The power of rating was 
 4 shillings in the pound, and it was found neces- 
 sary to levy it to the full amount allowed by the 
 act. 
 
 The Borough was paved throughout, and the 
 carriage-roads either pitched, or macadamized. 
 The streets were lighted with gas, and new cul- 
 verts for drainage were laid down under nearly 
 every street, communicating with the ancient 
 sewers. These improvements, with divers others 
 of a minor nature have tended to a decided in-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 169 
 
 crease of the trade of the town, and to the acces- 
 sion of respectable inhabitants in its neighbour- 
 hood. But the effect produced in another depart- 
 ment was quite extraordinary, namely, in the 
 enhancement of the value of Borough property. 
 In an estimate made and alluded to by the Council 
 in their Memorial for leave to sell property for the 
 reduction of the Debt, it is stated that the amount 
 laid out by lessees of the Corporation on their 
 leaseholds since the period referred to, was more 
 than 14,000, and it could easily be proved to 
 amount to 20,000. This is corroborated by the 
 large additional amount of Fines received for re- 
 newals since 1825. The receipts from the mid- 
 summer of that year to the midsummer of 1 833 
 having risen to an average of 390 8s. 9d. per 
 annum which had been before, not quite 85 
 per annum, taken on an average of 1 6} years 
 from December 31, 1808. The receipts for fines 
 since 1833 to 1836 were 297. 
 
 Some progress has been made in paying off the 
 Debt created by these improvements, chiefly by 
 the profits derived from the Gas Works, which 
 the Commissioners were authorized to erect, and 
 which in addition to the outlay above mentioned 
 cost 4,000. These "Works are under the manage- 
 ment of a Committee appointed from among the 
 Commissioners. The act prescribed that for the 
 public lamps, a charge was to be made upon the 
 rate for general purposes, to the same extent as 
 would be made by a private company, and as there 
 can in this case be no competition, in practice this
 
 170 HISTORY OF 
 
 charge has amounted to the actual cost per lamp, 
 estimated by the quantity of gas manufactured, 
 and deducting the amount sold by measure to pri- 
 vate consumers, upon which alone the profits have 
 arisen. The Corporation granted a lease of 99 
 years of the land for the Gas-works, at a nominal 
 rent without fine, covenanting to renew also with- 
 out fine, if the works were still held by the Com- 
 missioners. The land had been purchased by the 
 Corporation of the Wharf Company for the sum 
 of 500. 
 
 The improvement act furnished no powers to 
 bring water into the town, a supply of which had 
 been needed for centuries. The deficiency had 
 previously been designed to be met by a clause 
 inserted in the Kennet and Avon canal act 34 
 Geo. III. cap. 90. By the 13th section the canal 
 company were required within one year after the 
 canal became navigable, at or near Devizes, at 
 their own cost, to erect a reservoir sufficient to 
 hold one quarter of a lock at the least, and of a 
 sufficient height that the water might run thereout 
 through pipes into the streets and lanes of the 
 Borough, together with a pump to raise water 
 from the reservoir. The Mayor and Burgesses 
 were to keep the pump in repair, and were em- 
 powered to raise so much water daily as would fill 
 the reservoir, and in addition to this, so much 
 might be carried away by pipes or otherwise, as 
 might be necessary for the use of the inhabitants 
 of the town. No reservoir however was made by 
 the Canal Company in pursuance of this act, but
 
 THE DEVIZES. 171 
 
 about 1828 the Corporation were in treaty with 
 them to supply water for the use of the town in a 
 mode differing from that pointed out by the act, 
 the plan therein devised being considered inade- 
 quate to the purpose. About the same time the 
 Canal Company were threatened with proceedings 
 by an individual of the Town unconnected with 
 the Corporation, to compel them to construct the 
 reservoir according to the act. The Canal Com - 
 pany therefore professed themselves willing to 
 complete the work in the manner proposed by the 
 Corporation on receiving an indemnity from the 
 latter for deviating from the prescribed course. 
 This demand of indemnity not being acceded to, 
 the scheme was abandoned. A difficulty was also 
 experienced in the circumstance that the Com- 
 missioners of the paving act had no power to ap- 
 ply any part of the rates to the purpose of laying 
 pipes, &c. even if the reservoir and pump had been 
 provided by the Canal Company and the Corpo- 
 ration. In 1836, however, in consequence of a 
 new demand made by the Town Council, the Com- 
 pany at length erected a Tank on a level with the 
 Canal, into which they now let off daily a quarter 
 of a lock according to their stipulation. They are 
 now (January, 1839,) also erecting another Tank 
 (with a pump to raise the water into it) of the re- 
 quired altitude, viz. to convey the water into all 
 the streets and lanes of the old Borough. The 
 expense of keeping the upper Tank and the pump 
 in repair will fall on the Council, but that of raising 
 the water must be supplied from other funds, there
 
 172 HISTORY OF 
 
 being some doubt whether they possess the power 
 of appropriating the Borough fund to such a pur- 
 pose. 
 
 It may here be remarked, though not exactly 
 coming under the head of late improvements; 
 that the water communication with London and 
 Bristol effected by means of the Canal in question 
 has proved the occasion of no small advantage to 
 the commerce of Devizes. A very considerable 
 additional outlay in the cost of that undertaking 
 was incurred by bringing it so close to this town, 
 owing to the rapidity of the ascent which it is 
 made to surmount in order to gain the high ground 
 just at this particular spot ; whereas the attain- 
 ment of the same level might have been accom- 
 plished by pursuing a line of much more gradual 
 acclivity. Whatever may have turned out to be the 
 result of this arrangement, whether to the interest 
 of the shareholders on the one hand, or those of 
 Devizes on the other, it is not generally known 
 that the Corporation of the town, through the in- 
 fluence of their representatives in parliament, 
 were the main instruments in bringing it about. 
 
 The Canal passes by Devizes just at the termi- 
 nation of a level line of fifteen miles extent, and 
 immediately falls by the inclined plane above 
 alluded to, through 295 feet by means of 29 locks 
 till it meets with the Wilts and Berks canal. The 
 steepness of the ground rendered it necessary 
 to famish several of these locks with retaining 
 basis of considerable magnitude, by which the 
 water is suffered to expand itself, and is thus pre-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 173 
 
 vented from being wasted. .The continuous 
 series of locks and basins thus produced, presents 
 a coup-d'oeil, which when viewed from below, is 
 particularly striking ; and may justly be regarded 
 as a great work of art. The effect even at night 
 is not devoid of interest, owing to the long des- 
 cending line of gas lamps, which here protect the 
 passage. The canal after its junction with the 
 Wilts and Berks, traverses five miles on level 
 ground descends 10 feet by one lock at Bradford 
 continues another level course of 9 miles, and 
 just before entering Bath descends (in a length of 
 1 750 yards) 36 feet by means of 7 locks. A canal 
 parallel with the Avon establishes the communi- 
 cation between that City and Bristol, and thus 
 completes one end of the line. Returning to the 
 level space of 15 miles near Devizes, where we 
 set out, the canal after pursuing an exceedingly 
 devious course by Horton and Bishop Cannings, 
 skirting the hill at Allington and that at Wood- 
 borough rises 33 feet at Wooten-Rivers by four 
 locks to the summit level at Burbage common. 
 It had been originally intended to avoid this last 
 heighth of 33 feet, by means of a tunnel of 5,000 
 yards in length, but rather than incur so great a 
 labour, it was subsequently determined to rise to 
 the present level, and to supply by a steam-engine 
 the want of the usual resources furnished by rain- 
 water, a resource unavoidably lessened in propor- 
 tion to the elevation of the site. In the execution 
 of this plan, the present tunnel is 700 yards in 
 length, and the summit level extends to 2 miles
 
 174 HISTORY OF 
 
 and a half only. Thence the canal travels 16J 
 miles in descending 212 feet, and forms a com- 
 munication with the Kennett near Newbury. 
 Throughout this line the channel is 45 feet in 
 breadth at the surface, and 5 feet in depth. It is 
 in large section, and its locks are 80 feet in length, 
 and 14 in width. It is one of the principal works 
 completed by the late John Rennie, an engineer, 
 the principal merit of whose plans, certainly did 
 not lie in the cheapness with which they were 
 executed. The Kennett and Avon canal was 
 commenced in 1794, and completed in 1805. 
 
 The WHARF at Devizes, situated on this Canal, 
 demands also, some particular notice. By the 
 134th section of the Canal act 34 Geo. III. c. 90, 
 proprietors were empowered to make Wharfs upon 
 their land adjoining the canal. By section 125 it 
 was arranged that if the Corporation of Devizes, 
 should think fit to exercise this power on their 
 lands here, no other person was at liberty to con- 
 struct a Wharf within a mile of the Borough 
 Wharf. The Corporation were unable to bear 
 the expense of one themselves, and therefore as- 
 signed the privilege to a Company of lessees, 
 twelve of whom were corporators, and the thir- 
 teenth, the brother of a corporator. The lessees 
 covenanted to level the ground and erect a ware- 
 house and cranes at their own expense, the Coun- 
 cil undertaking to grant them a lease of the 
 ground for 60 years. The lessees were bound to 
 keep them in good repair, and deliver them up in 
 the same state, at the expiration of the term, with-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 175 
 
 out receiving any consideration for the same. 
 They were lo pay 20 shillings quit-rent the first 
 two years, and after that, one-eighth of the profits, 
 after deducting 5 per cent, interest on the amount 
 of their investment. 
 
 The large outlay of money however, with which 
 it was deemed necessary to commence the estab- 
 lishment, defeated to a considerable extent the 
 hopes of the lessees. It was found that the Wharf 
 could not pay 5 per cent on the outlay, the only 
 amount received by the Corporation being the 
 sum of 2 under the head of quit-rents, in lieu of 
 the eighth of profits above 5 per cent. The Cor- 
 poration having refused to seal a lease, until the 
 accounts of profits should be produced, the 
 Lessees drew up a statement embracing the 
 amounts of capital they had advanced, and of 
 dividends received ; shewing the amount of the 
 deficiency of 5 per cent, which they had received, 
 and a claim for compound interest on the principle 
 of annual rests, in account with the Corporation. 
 This was presented to the Council of that Cor- 
 poration on the last occasion of their meeting 23 
 Dec. 1835, and being deemed sufficiently explicit 
 a lease was thereupon sealed. 
 
 When this account was examined by the Fi- 
 nance Committee appointed by the present Coun- 
 cil in Feb. 1836, it was objected to as insufficient ; 
 but in Aug. 1838, a more circumstantial one was 
 rendered, the acceptance of which however has 
 not yet (January 1839) been made known. The 
 large outlay in the construction of the wharf has
 
 176 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 almost precluded the hope that the Corporation 
 will derive any advantage from their eighth share, 
 adverted to above, until the expiration of the pre- 
 sent lease, but when that period shall arrive, the 
 receipts will in all probability form an important 
 addition to the revenues of the Borough. 
 
 CHANGE OF CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT. 
 Having described the effects of local acts of 
 Parliament, which appear to have supplied defi- 
 ciences arising partly from the want of Corporate 
 funds, and partly from the want of better manage- 
 ment ; we have next to contemplate the moral 
 transformation which Devizes has sustained in 
 common with other English Boroughs, by the in- 
 strumentality of the 5th and 6th Will. IV, com- 
 monly called the " Municipal Corporations act." 
 and by the amended acts 6 and 7 Will. IV, and 
 1 st Victoria. 
 
 The first actual step taken towards remodelling 
 the Boroughs of England was an act passed in the 
 3rd year of Will. IV. to settle and describe their 
 respective limits, in so far as respected the election 
 of members to serve in parliament. These limits 
 were by the 5th and 6th Will. IV. c. 76, made 
 the new municipal boundaries in the case of the 
 Boroughs named in the first section of Schedules 
 A. and B. and of which Devizes was one. It will 
 not of course be expected that in a work like the 
 present, possessed of only local interest, any 
 lengthened account should be given of the provi-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 177 
 
 sions of a bill equally designed to regulate all En- 
 glish Boroughs, and a copy of which, most per- 
 sons therein interested, are presumed to have in 
 their hands. A statement however of the most 
 prominent changes brought about by it in Devizes, 
 forms a necessary sequel to that which has gone 
 before. 
 
 The Corporation is now styled " The Mayor, 
 Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of De- 
 vizes." The grand change effected by the act, is, 
 to make all the Burgesses members of the body 
 corporate; having the collective power through 
 the medium of the elective franchise, to controul 
 the distribution of its revenue, and being on the 
 other hand rendered liable together with the rest 
 of the inhabitants, to supply the funds necessary 
 for the maintenance of municipal government. 
 
 Qualification of Burgesses. Every male person 
 of full age, who on the last day of August in any 
 year shall have occupied any house, warehouse, 
 counting-house or shop within the Borough during 
 that year and the whole of each of the two prece- 
 ding years, and also, during the time of such oc- 
 cupancy shall have been an inhabitant householder 
 within the Borough or within seven miles of it ; 
 such person is a Burgess of the Borough and mem- 
 ber of the body corporate, provided that the above 
 qualification be accompanied by the payment of 
 all parochial and borough rates, granted within 
 six months previous to the 3 1st August. The 
 Burgess may acquire his title by virtue of succes- 
 sion in the case of promotion to a benefice, or
 
 178 HISTORY OF 
 
 by descent, marriage, marriage-settlement or de- 
 vise ; but he is disqualified if he be an alien, or 
 has received parochial relief or other alms, or any 
 pension or allowance from any fund in the hands 
 of the charitable trustees of the Borough. Tt de- 
 volves upon the Burgess to ascertain whether his 
 name is inserted in the Burgess-list delivered an- 
 nually to the Town Clerk on the 5th of September 
 by the overseers of the parish ; and if it has been 
 omitted, he must claim to have it added ; he must 
 also in this case prove his title in the Mayor's and 
 Assessor's Court, which he is required to do, if 
 any other Burgess disputes it, after insertion. Ve- 
 ry clear and intelligible forms and directions are 
 given for these claims and objections in the sche- 
 dules of 5th and 6th Will. IV. c. 76, and the 
 Burgess is thus left to prove the value at which he 
 estimates municipal rights by his own watchful at- 
 tention in securing them. No person in future 
 can be elected or admitted a Burgess by gift or 
 purchase ; all such modes are now abolished, but 
 the franchise must be admitted to be so extensive, 
 as to embrace all persons who by continued resi- 
 dence, and full participation in the public expenses, 
 can be said to have any claim to it. The elective 
 franchise is now exercised by the delivery of a 
 voting-paper, which is signe*d by the Burgess and 
 exhibited by him at the polling-places. 
 
 The Borough is divided into two parts, denomi- 
 nated the north and south wards (whose limits 
 will be hereafter specified) and the Burgess lists, 
 when revised, are also divided into Ward lists,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 179 
 
 which the Town Clerk is required to keep for the 
 inspection of the Burgesses. Each Ward is re- 
 presented by 9 Councillors, of whom 3 are elected 
 annually on the 1st Nov. On t^e 1st March the 
 following appointments are also regularly made- 
 two Revising Assessors, whose duty it is to revise 
 the Burgess lists with the Mayor two Ward- 
 Assessors for each Ward, who preside with an 
 Alderman of their Ward in the municipal elections 
 of the succeeding year ; and two Auditors of the 
 Treasurer's accounts. Extraordinary elections to 
 supply vacancies in any of these offices, must also 
 be held within ten days after they have occurred. 
 The Qualification of Councillors, Auditors, and 
 Assessors (who are elected by the Burgesses), as 
 also of the Mayor, the Alderman and the Coroner 
 (who are the choice of the Council) is as follows. 
 They must be Burgesses, and either be the occu- 
 piers of premises rated at 15 per annum to the 
 relief of the poor, or be possessed of real or per- 
 sonal estate, or both, to the amount of 3500. 
 They are disqualified however, if in holy orders, 
 or the regular ministers of dissenting congre- 
 gations, or if they accept any office of profit in 
 the gift of the Council, or share directly or indi- 
 rectly in any contract or employment from them, 
 which last proviso however does not extend to 
 their being proprietors or shareholders of any 
 company contracting with the Council to light or 
 supply the Borough with water. Any Alderman 
 or Councillor although chosen, becomes disquali- 
 fied, whenever he ceases to be on the Burgess
 
 180 HISTORY OF 
 
 lists, and the Council are required to declare him 
 such also, if he become a bankrupt, if he com- 
 pound with his creditors, or take the benefit of 
 the Insolvent act. 
 
 The number of Aldermen is six, of whom three 
 are elected for each Ward by the Council. Their 
 term of office is six years ; half of their number is 
 chosen every three years on the 9th November, 
 on which occasion, the practice is to nominate 
 two for one Ward and only one for the other, 
 which is of course reversed in respect of the 
 Wards, at each successive triennial election. 
 Aldermen may be taken from among the Coun- 
 cillors, or from Burgesses qualified to be Coun- 
 cillors ; if from the former, the consequent vacan- 
 cies to be forthwith supplied. 
 
 To form this new representative body in the 
 year 1835, it was necessary 1o make nine Coun- 
 cillors at once ; those elected by the highest num- 
 ber of voles to remain three years, and those by 
 the lowest, to go out of office at the end of one 
 year. In the case of Aldermen, the Council had 
 to declare who was to go out in 1838, and who 
 were to fill the office for the usual period of six 
 years. The second Election of Aldermen has 
 now occurred and the whole order of successive 
 elections is established. In the greater number 
 of instances, it appears that the same persons have 
 been re-elected. 
 
 The election of the Mayor by the whole 
 council, is its first business on the 9th Novem- 
 ber in every year, and in order to invest the act
 
 THE DEVIZES. 181 
 
 of nominating the Chief Magistrate, with all 
 befitting importance, the hour of election is fixed 
 for 12 at noon. 
 
 The Council thus constituted and made uni- 
 form in number by a constant and regular pro- 
 vision for the supply of vacancies, has the power 
 of making bye-laws, subject to the approval of 
 the Secretary of State ; the election of all officers 
 (excepting the Recorder and the Justices, who are 
 appointed by her Majesty's Government) and the 
 fixing of their salaries. They are the administra- 
 tors of the revenues derived from the freehold 
 property of the Borough and from the Tolls of its 
 markets and fairs, and have in addition, the new 
 and responsible power of levying rates to supply 
 all deficiences in the Borough fund for certain ex- 
 penses which the municipal bill has transferred 
 from the County to the Borough, and which were 
 formerly met by County rates. One third of the 
 Council may act in ordinary business, but two- 
 thirds are necessary in making, altering, or res- 
 cinding bye-laws. Members of the Council are 
 exempt from serving in Juries. 
 
 The fines for refusal to accept the various offi- 
 ces above referred to, unless the person elected 
 can claim exemption from being 65 years of age, 
 or from having already served it within five years, 
 and also for absence from the Borough, are fixed 
 by the Bye-laws in Devizes, as follows. In the 
 case of Mayor at 50 in that of Alderman, Coun- 
 cillor, Auditor or Assessor at 25, and the same 
 amount of fines must be paid before any of these
 
 182 
 
 offices can be relinquished while the term appointed 
 is unexpired. 
 
 The Executive offices of the Council are 1st. 
 The Mayor. Who may be chosen either from 
 among the Aldermen or the Councillors. Be- 
 sides being the Chief Magistrate and the returning 
 officer, as formerly, at all elections for Members 
 of Parliament, he is the president of the Council ; 
 their medium of communication with her Majesty's 
 Government, and his signature usually accom- 
 panies the Corporate seal. His duties are much 
 increased by the enlargement of the Borough and 
 by the municipal elections, but as yet no salary 
 has been attached to the office. 
 
 2nd The Treasurer, who cannot be one of the 
 Council. He has none other duties than the re- 
 ceipt and payment of monies, and he can only pay 
 money on a written order of the Council signed 
 by three members of it and by the Town Clerk. 
 His accounts are examined in the months of March 
 and September by the two elective auditors and 
 one Councillor nominated by the Mayor on the 
 1st. March. The fund to which his accounts re- 
 fer is now termed " The Borough Fund." 
 
 3rd. The Chamberlains. These are no longer 
 the Treasurers, though they still have charge of 
 the property of the Corporation. They are the 
 persons named in the leases of the Corporation 
 as having the power to survey the property. The 
 collection of rents and tolls is under their manage- 
 ment ; and since the payment of monies is neces- 
 sarily subject to their previous examination, and
 
 THE DEVIZES. 183 
 
 as complete accounts must be kept for the infor- 
 mation of the Council, their duties are increased 
 rather than lessened by the appointment of Trea- 
 surer. At present the Chamberlains happen 
 to be members of the Council and therefore can 
 have no salary. 
 
 The office of Steward and Clerk of the Courts 
 is now abolished and its duties are divided as 
 follows. 
 
 4th. The Town Clerk is the responsible legal 
 adviser of the Council. He attends at their meet- 
 ing and records their proceedings. He also acts 
 as their solicitor, and by certain provisions of the 
 municipal act, has other duties specifically devolv- 
 ing on him alone, chiefly in connexion with the 
 Municipal Elections, in which capacity he must 
 be considered, properly speaking, as acting for the 
 Burgesses at large. But perhaps the most res- 
 ponsible of these special duties, is the keeping of 
 the Muniments and Records of the Corporation ; 
 which previous to 1 835 were in the nominal cus- 
 tody of the Mayor and the two Chamberlains, who 
 each had a key of the three different locks of the 
 Borough Chest. 
 
 5th. The office of Registrar of the Court of 
 Record is held in Devizes by the same person as 
 that of Town Clerk. A few observations on the 
 history and practice of this Court will be made 
 hereafter. The Registrar will be paid by fees. 
 
 6th. The Clerk of the Peace who is elected by 
 the Council and remunerated by fees cannot be 
 the same person as the Clerk to the Justices. This
 
 184 HISTORY OF 
 
 latter officer is appointed by the Justices them- 
 selves and is in like manner paid by fees. 
 
 The old office of Wardens of the Alms Houses 
 is now merged in that of Trustees of Charities. 
 These however are not of the Town Council, who 
 therefore have no duties of this nature to perform. 
 
 A Collector of Rates has been appointed under 
 the 6th and 7th William IV. c. 104, whose duties 
 are confined to the issuing of precepts for Watch- 
 rates and Borough-rates, and to the receiving 
 these rates from the parish officers and paying 
 their amount into the Treasurer's hands. Besides 
 these there are no other executive officers of the 
 Council except those who act as Collectors of 
 tolls and rents under the direction of the Cham- 
 berlains. 
 
 Committees. The standing Committees of the 
 Council, are 1st The Watch Committee, the ap- 
 pointment of which is made imperative by the 
 76th section of 5th and 6th William IV. and of 
 whom the Mayor must be one, and the quorum 
 consist of not less than three. They have distinct 
 powers given them for the appointment and 
 management of the police, and are required to 
 make returns on that head to the Secretary of 
 State on the first day of the months of January, 
 April, July, and October respectively. 
 
 2nd. The Finance Committee, who were ap- 
 pointed to consider and report upon all matters 
 touching the property and income of the Corpo- 
 ration, the salaries of officers, and in short, on all 
 matters relating to accounts.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 185 
 
 The Police force is thus regulated. There are 
 two chief Constables appointed annually by the 
 Council from among the respectable inhabitants, 
 who are usually nominated by the Mayor on his 
 election to office. These are without salary. The 
 number of Day-Policemen employed is four, who 
 are also the Bailiffs, and act in the court of Quar- 
 ter Sessions in delivering summonses to juries, 
 &c. which they will also do in the Court of Record 
 so soon as it is re-established, as well as serve 
 processes in it. There are now no Sergeants at 
 Mace. Their peculiar duties are dispensed with 
 for the present, by one of the early resolutions of 
 the new Council. A box prepared for the Maces 
 is now their state coffin, and is likely to remain 
 such, unless it shall be found necessary to revive 
 the office in the Court of Record for the purpose 
 of legal arrest. One of the first resolutions of 
 this Council 1 Jan. 1836 was this " Resolved, 
 That the maces be not used, and that all distinc- 
 tions of dress be abolished." 
 
 There are four Watchmen and one night Con- 
 stable who acts as superintendent of the night 
 watch ; and this arrangement is found to be suffi- 
 cient for the ordinary protection of the Borough. 
 Thirty others, however, called special Constables, 
 are appointed in October of every year, to be 
 called out in case of tumult. 
 
 Lastly, some notice must be taken of the an- 
 cient office of Bedell. At present he is one of 
 the policemen above mentioned, but is distin- 
 guished from them by his costume. Few will
 
 186 HISTORY OF 
 
 regret that in this instance, the new Council have 
 not entirely abolished distinction of dress, and 
 that the present stalwart official is still allowed to 
 ruffle it in the ancient hunting garb, which has so 
 long rendered the office familiar to our eyes. 
 (The Bailiffs of the Forest were formerly called 
 Bedells) 
 
 The following are the judicial and magisterial 
 appointments. 
 
 The Recorder of the Borough is appointed by 
 the Crown. He is the sole Judge in the Courts 
 of Record and Quarter Sessions, but he cannot be 
 either a member of the Council, or representative 
 of the Borough in Parliament. He can act as 
 Magistrate in all cases except in licensing public 
 houses. His qualification for the office consists 
 in his being a Barrister of five years standing. 
 Salary ^31 10s. 
 
 The Coroner for the Borough. This office is 
 instituted by virtue of a separate Court of Quarter 
 Sessions being held within the Borough. In De- 
 vizes it is the re-creation of an appointment which 
 the reader will remember, existed from the period 
 of Richard the second's Charter, but which appears 
 to have been discontinued when that of James I. 
 was received. The Coroner is now appointed by 
 the Council, by whom, the fees he is allowed to 
 give to jurymen and summoning officers are fixed, 
 and to whom his accounts are submitted for pay- 
 ment. Both his fees and those of medical wit- 
 nesses have been lately increased by special acts 
 of Parliament.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 187 
 
 The Justices of the Peace or Magistrates of the 
 Borough, who must be either residents in it, or 
 within seven miles of it, are appointed by a spe- 
 cial commission from the Crown. They have all 
 the powers within the Borough of County Magis- 
 trates, except that of levying rates. They hold a 
 petty sessions every three weeks, and by a recent 
 act are empowered to try appeals against the 
 rates. 
 
 The Gentlemen to whom his late Majesty's commission was 
 first assigned in 1836, were, The Mayor for the time being The 
 honourable Buncombe Pleydell Bouverie of Cliffe-Hall Thomas 
 Henry Sutton Bucknall Estcourt of New-Park, Esquire Ro- 
 bert Herbert Brabant of North- Gate Street, Physician Thomas 
 Scott of Park-Cottage, Esquire William Hughes of St. John 
 Street, Banker Charles Lewis Phipps of Wans-house, Esquire 
 and Henry Stephen Olivier of Manor-house, Esquire. 
 
 The first Aldermen chosen were, for the North Ward, Dr. 
 Brabant, J. W. Wall, and Robert Waylen, Esquires. For the 
 South ward ; James Thomas Heard, William Cunnington, and 
 Richard Biggs, Esquires. 
 
 Town Clerk. William Salmon, Esq. 
 
 Recorder. W. H. Ludlow Bruges, Esq. 
 
 Treasurer. William Hughes, Esq. 
 
 Chamberlains. Paul Anstie and William Tanner, Esquires. 
 
 Clerk of the Peace. William Salmon, Esq. 
 
 Clerk to the Justices. George Anstie, Esq. 
 
 Coroner. Charles Felix Sartain, Esq. 
 
 THE COURT OF RECORD. This court for the 
 trial of civil causes, to which allusion has been 
 made above, was first established in Devizes by 
 the Charter of James I. and underwent some 
 slight modification by that of Charles. It was de-
 
 188 HISTORY OF 
 
 signed to extend to all causes of action arising 
 within the Borough, not only concerning matters 
 of debt and contract, but also in trover, detenue, 
 ejectment, and in causes personal or mixed, pro- 
 vided that the debt or damage should not exceed 
 40 ; appearance to be enforced by capias, and 
 judgment levied on body, lands, or goods. The 
 Court was to be held every Friday, and to be ad- 
 journed from week to week, or for a longer time, 
 before the Mayor, the Recorder (or his deputy) 
 and the Capital Burgesses Councillors, or before 
 four of them at the least, of whom the Mayor and 
 Recorder (or his deputy) were to be two. It was 
 also provided in the Charter of Charles, that no 
 trial or verdict should be had or taken, nor any 
 judgment given unless in presence of the Recorder 
 or his deputy. The proceedings and the form of 
 pleading in this Court, were the same as in the 
 superior Courts, with this exception, that in eject- 
 ment, it had been thought that the Court had no 
 power to compel the defendant to admit lease, 
 entry and ouster, and in order that this form of 
 action might be maintained, it was necessary that 
 a lease should be actually executed- on the pre- 
 mises, notwithstanding which inconvenience, such 
 procedure had on one occasion been contrived, and 
 ejectment brought thereupon. 
 
 One of the early laws passed on the subject of 
 this court in the time of Charles I. imposed the 
 penalty of 20 shillings on any Burgess who with- 
 out the consent of the Mayor or Town Clerk 
 should sue another Burgess in a court out of the
 
 THE DEVIZES. 189 
 
 Borough in cases cognizable in the Court of Re- 
 cord, except by writ of error upon a judgment 
 given in the said Court, or removing a plaint out 
 of it, by habeas or other writ of that nature. 
 
 The business of the Court began to decline 
 very much about 1 776 ; before that time, there 
 were usually ten or twelve causes subsisting at 
 once. The decrease continued in such a manner 
 that in 1813 there were only two causes tried, and 
 in one of them the defendant was hi the course of 
 the next year discharged under the insolvent act. 
 From 1813 to 1830 no causes were tried, and the 
 court fell into almost total disuse, except for the 
 purpose of quickly arresting a party. In 1 833 a 
 single action came to trial, and as the sittings had 
 lately come to be held but once in six weeks, and 
 as each stage of the proceeding could only be en- 
 tered or filed on a court-day, a considerable time 
 of necessity elapsed (in this instance almost six 
 months) between the first issuing of the writ and 
 the final judgment and execution. The delay in 
 this case was greater than it would otherwise have 
 been, in consequence of the resignation of the 
 then Recorder just about the time that the cause 
 was coming on for trial. 
 
 One reason for the decline of its practice was 
 that there were no rules of court extant, and the 
 practice being so little known, attorneys were 
 afraid of irregularities in it. Added to this, the 
 fees allowed, were less than one-third of those in 
 the superior Courts, and the taxed costs far too 
 low to remunerate solicitors from practising in
 
 190 HISTORY OF 
 
 it. Since the municipal reform bill came into 
 operation, this court has continued to be adjourn- 
 ed from time to time by the Mayor, but no causes 
 are at present (January, 1839,) tried. The Re- 
 corder who is now the sole Judge, has made out 
 a new set of rules, which are under the consider- 
 ation of the Judges, who are also determining the 
 rules of the Courts of other Boroughs at the same 
 time. A new table of fees has also been revised 
 and sanctioned by the Secretary of State ; and 
 when in addition to this, the decision of the Judges 
 shall be made known, the Court will be re-estab- 
 lished in such a manner as to present every pro- 
 bability of its becoming much more efficient than 
 at any former period. Some provision will then 
 no doubt be made for the confinement of debtors. 
 Great inconvenience long arose formerly for the 
 want of this appendage, in the cases of persons 
 arrested, or taken in execution under process 
 issuing out of this Court ; and may be regarded 
 as having been one of the principal causes of the 
 delay of the business there ; since, when such 
 cases occurred, the parties were committed to the 
 custody of one of the Sergeants at Mace, who had 
 in general no place of security at his command, 
 and who was not a person of sufficient substance 
 to be responsible for an escape. Persons there- 
 fore thus in execution or under arrest, appear to 
 have been frequently at large. This was the case 
 with the defendant in the cause already alluded 
 to, until upon remonstrance being made, he was 
 put into confinement. The means of doing this
 
 THE DEVIZES. 191 
 
 were only effected by the accident of the Sergeant 
 at Mace being also keeper of the County Jail in 
 the Town. 
 
 The office of Registrar of the Court appointed 
 under the act, is as before observed, held in the 
 case of Devizes, together with that of Town Clerk. 
 Neither he however, nor his partner or clerk are 
 at liberty to practise as attorneys in the Court, nor 
 can such partner or clerk act as agent for any 
 other attorney in it. With these exceptions, the 
 practise is open to every attorney of her Majesty's 
 superior Courts at Westminster. The jurisdic- 
 tion remains the same as before the passing of the 
 Municipal Reform Act. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the Court of Sessions of 
 the peace of the Borough is by the new act exten- 
 ded to all cases cognizable by any Court of quar- 
 ter sessions of the peace for Counties in England. 
 A change too has taken place as to the expenses of 
 prosecutions. Under the old system, prisoners 
 sentenced to hard labour at the Borough sessions 
 were sent to the County bridewell, and there 
 maintained at the County's expense, a charge 
 which fell on them, because Devizes paid to the 
 County rates. Prisoners committed for trial at 
 the Borough sessions were sent to the County 
 jail within the town, and the expense, of pro- 
 viding for them also, fell upon the County, as 
 well as the expense of the prosecutors at the Bo- 
 rough Sessions. The new grant of Quarter Ses- 
 sions, having exempted the town from the pay- 
 ment of County rates for the future, the cost of
 
 192 HISTORY OF 
 
 the maintenance and prosecution of offenders has 
 now to be defrayed from the Borough fund. This 
 charge is found to be a heavy one, and has occa- 
 sioned a small increase in the amount of Rates ; 
 but it must be remembered that it is the condition 
 on which the advantage of a separate Court of 
 Quarter sessions was obtained. All criminals 
 committed by this Court, or by the Borough Ma- 
 gistrates are now provided for in the New Coun- 
 ty Jail, by a contract made between the Town 
 Council and the County Magistrates. The Old 
 Bridewell is abolished. 
 
 The persons qualified and liable to serve on 
 grand juries in the Borough, or upon juries for 
 the trial of issues joined either in the Court of 
 Quarter Sessions or in the Court of Record, are 
 all the Burgesses of the Borough, (unless exempt 
 or disqualified otherwise than in respect of proper- 
 ty, by virtue of the jury act of 6th George IV cap. 
 50) , to be summoned in the one case by the Clerk 
 of the Peace, and by the Registrar of the Court of 
 Record in the other. Burgesses are not liable to 
 be summoned more than once a year (unless all 
 have been called) and they are exempt from ser- 
 ving on juries of County quarter sessions. Mem- 
 bers of the Council are exempt from all.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 193 
 
 THE BOUNDARY LINE which now forms the mu- 
 nicipal and parliamentary limits of Devizes, em- 
 braces the two parishes of St. John the Baptist and 
 St. Mary the Virgin ; also a part of the parish of 
 Rowde, and a part of the chapelry of St. James 
 which is a tything in the parish of Bishop's Can- 
 nings. The extreme length of the Borough from 
 North-East to South- West is about two miles its 
 greatest breadth one mile. The whole of the Bo- 
 rough may be said to be strictly connected with the 
 town except the South-West portion called the Old 
 Park. This district which was the site of the an- 
 cient castle of Devizes and of a royal park attach- 
 ed thereto (long since disparked) has been the 
 subject of much curious enquiry as to the period 
 when it was first included in the jurisdiction of 
 the Borough Magistrates. That jurisdiction has 
 certainly not been called in question within the 
 memory of any person living, though there is every 
 reason to believe that the park could not have 
 been regarded as forming part of the Borough at 
 the time that it was held with the castle in the 
 hands of the Crown, the nature of its connexion 
 with that castle as in the case of other districts 
 similarly circumstanced, rendering the exemptions 
 and privileges granted to the borough inapplica- 
 ble to it. Even after the castle had long been 
 dismantled, it would seem from a passage in an 
 old rate-book of St John's parish that the park 
 though treated as lying within the said parish, was 
 not equally considered to be part of the Borough. 
 The passage referred to is dated 23 April. 1 2th
 
 194 HISTORY OF 
 
 of James T, and is the entry of a rate levied on the 
 inhabitants " as well in that part of the said parish 
 which is without the limits and precincts of the 
 aforesaid Borough, as that part of the said parish 
 which is within the said Borough and liberties, 
 limits and precincts thereof" and this rate is al- 
 lowed separately by two justices of the Borough 
 for the one part, and two of the County for the 
 other. The part here spoken of as out of the 
 Borough must necessarily mean the Park, that 
 being the only portion of the parish, about which 
 any dispute could possibly arise. However, as 
 custom had in effect long settled the point before 
 the passing of the late acts, and as those acts have 
 only confirmed the usage by irrevocably including 
 the premises in question, within the Borough 
 boundary line, it simply remains to state, what is 
 the compass of that line. 
 
 The new limits therefore comprize " The Old 
 Borough of Devizes, including the respective 
 parishes of St. John the Baptist and the Blessed 
 Virgin Mary, and also so much of the chapelry 
 of St. James and of the parish of Rowde as lies 
 between the boundary of the Old Borough and the 
 following boundary ; (that is to say,} From the 
 point at which the boundary of the parish of St. 
 John would be cut by a straight line drawn from the 
 Dairy-farm-house on the Chippenham road called 
 Ox-house to the Round Tower of the new County 
 Bridewell, in a straight line to Ox-House, thence 
 in a straight line to the house called Brow Cottage, 
 thence in a straight line to the point at which the
 
 THE DEVIZES. 195 
 
 towing path of the Kennett and Avon canal 
 meets Dye-house lane, thence eastward along the 
 towing path to the point where the canal turns 
 northward near the bridge on the London road, 
 thence in a straight line drawn due east to a point 
 one hundred yards distant, thence in a straight 
 line to a house on the Salisbury road, at the 
 South West angle of South-broom park, called 
 the Half-moon house, thence in a straight line to 
 the southernmost point at which Gallows-acre 
 lane is met by the boundary of St. John's parish. 
 
 The district thus enclosed is again divided into 
 two Wards, or parts nearly equal both in numbers 
 of inhabitants and in superficial extent. It has 
 also been so drawn as nearly equally to divide the 
 park lands. This division is substantially that 
 adopted by the Revising Barristers, in whose 
 award the Commissioners were prevented from 
 fully concurring only by the circumstance (hat 
 their description of the line of division appeared 
 to be ambiguous in one direction, and referred to 
 the plan deposited with the Town Clerk as the 
 standard by which that description (in case doubts 
 arose) should be understood. To remedy which 
 inconvenience, they suggested a straight line from 
 one point to another, by which the necessity of any 
 reference to the plan alluded to in the Revising Bar- 
 rister's report (except for illustration) is avoided. 
 
 No. 1, or North Ward contains so much of 
 the Borough as lies to the north of the following 
 line, (that is to say) from the point at which the 
 Salisbury road crosses the boundary of the Bo-
 
 196 HISTORY OF 
 
 rough, northward along the Salisbury road to the 
 point at which the same meets Sidmouth Street, 
 thence along Sidmouth St. to the point at which 
 the same meets the boundary of the parish of St. 
 Mary, thence northward along that boundary to 
 the point at which the same meets the South- 
 eastern boundary wall of the Church-yard of St. 
 Mary, thence westward along the said boundary 
 wall to the point at which the same meets Mon- 
 day Market Street, thence in a straight line to the 
 eastern end of the Brittox, thence along the Brit- 
 tox to the point at which the same meets Wine 
 street, thence along Wine street to the point at 
 which the same meets St. John's Street, thence 
 northward along St. John's Street to the point at 
 which the same meets Castle Lane, thence along 
 Castle Lane to the Western end thereof, thence 
 in a straight line to the old Tower on Castle- 
 mound, thence in a straight line to Marsh bridge 
 in Marsh Lane. 
 
 No. 2, or South Ward, Contains so much of the 
 Borough as lies to the south of the line just des- 
 cribed. 
 
 The report of Will. Salmon Town Clerk 
 
 6th April 1836. 
 
 No. of persons qualified to vote for mem- 
 bers of Parliament VV;*- ..... 335 
 
 No. Ditto for Councillors 328 
 
 No. Ditto in each list either for Members 
 
 of Parliament or for Councillors . . 257 
 321 were on the register at the general election 
 in 1835 but only 260 actually voted.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 
 
 197 
 
 RETURN MADE IN 1836. 
 
 
 
 
 Houses 
 
 
 
 
 
 | 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a . 
 
 
 
 S, . 
 
 o 
 
 Q 
 
 fi 
 
 3*4 S 
 
 -O J; 1 ~- 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 8-jf 
 
 i 
 
 
 PARISH. 
 
 ,2 oo 
 
 1 
 
 '3 
 
 1 1 
 
 _ 
 3 
 
 O 
 
 ILlll 
 
 a s 
 
 o\2 _g s 
 
 Ji 
 
 M 
 I 
 
 S 
 
 r-i 
 
 w u 
 
 'S 
 
 B 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 % 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 1* 
 
 s 
 
 M 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,^ a 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 St. Mary in part 
 
 1274 a 
 
 269 
 
 6 
 
 103 
 
 13 
 
 41 
 
 114 
 
 1 
 
 450* 
 
 2,600 
 
 
 
 
 St. James in part 
 
 1265a 
 
 204c 
 
 
 47 
 
 3 
 
 134 
 
 18 
 
 2 
 
 200(7 
 
 1,920 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 St. John in part 
 
 488 a 
 
 79 
 
 2 
 
 69 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 __ 
 
 _ 
 
 498e 
 
 6,000 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 Rowde 
 
 40 a 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 50/ 
 
 270 
 
 
 
 
 
 3067 
 
 572 
 
 9 
 
 239 
 
 22 
 
 188 
 
 132 
 
 3 
 
 1198 
 
 10,770 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 St. Mary 
 
 1315 a 
 
 278 
 
 18 
 
 114 
 
 13 
 
 49 
 
 104 
 
 20 
 
 6205 
 
 3,500 
 
 
 
 "3 
 
 St. James 
 
 500 a 
 
 81^ 
 
 1 
 
 29 
 
 8 
 
 45 
 
 
 
 
 \ I'nl 
 
 7,400 
 
 
 
 > a 
 
 St. John 
 
 1485 a 
 
 241 
 
 13 
 
 115 
 
 28 
 
 93 
 
 
 
 
 774e 
 
 8,000 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 3300 
 
 600 
 
 32 
 
 258 
 
 49 
 
 187 
 
 104 
 
 20 
 
 1539 
 
 12,900 
 
 
 9 
 
 * 
 
 Total of the Wards 
 
 6367 
 
 1172 
 
 41 
 
 497 
 
 71 
 
 375 
 
 236 
 
 23 
 
 2737 
 
 23,670 
 
 277 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a. Signifies approximate numbers. 
 
 6. Rated at 12 shillings in the pound. The best 
 houses are rated at one third of the rack rent ; an 
 inferior class and public houses at one fourth : cot- 
 tages &c. at one fifth. 
 
 c. Of these, 163 houses are rated under 6. 
 
 d. Five rates each 1 s on land and 6d on houses 
 assessed on two thirds of the actual value. 
 
 e. At 6s 6d in the pound, assessed on a propor- 
 tion between one third and a hah of the rack rent. 
 
 /. At 6s in the pound assessed on two thirds of 
 the value. 
 
 g. Of these, 50 are rated under 60.
 
 198 HISTORY OF 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SKETCH OF THE FINANCIAL HISTORY OF THE 
 
 BOROUGH ORIGIN AND INCREASE OF DEBT 
 
 MODE OF LIQUIDATING THE SAME ENLARGE- 
 MENT OF THE MARKET BUILDINGS COMPARI- 
 SON INSTITUTED BETWEEN THE OLD SYSTEM 
 AND THE NEW. 
 
 THE Mayor and Burgesses of Devizes held the 
 Bailiwick of the Borough, consisting of the Law- 
 day and View of Frank-pledge, the profits of fairs 
 and markets, fines, perquisites, waifs, estrays, 
 and a variety of other emoluments arising within 
 the Borough (with a few exceptions) by a yearly 
 rent of a hundred shillings until about the 32nd 
 year of Henry VIII. at which time the Manor and 
 Borough with appurtenances were parcel of the 
 Queen's jointure. At a survey then taken by her 
 commissioners, upon which it appeared that the 
 then Mayor and Burgesses could make out no 
 title to the Bailiwick, otherwise than by Prescrip- 
 tion, which it was contended was of no avail when 
 opposed to the King's right ; they were urged to 
 take a lease of it from the Queen, which they 
 therefore did, at the same rent as formerly, hold-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 199 
 
 ing it in terms of twenty one years. This con- 
 tinued till the 7th of James I., at which time, not- 
 withstanding that eighteen years had to run to 
 complete a term, one Edward Wardour of St. 
 Martin-in-the-fields, Middlesex, Esquire but af- 
 terwards Knight, obtained a lease thereof, for a 
 term of forty years from the king, in reversion of 
 the lease then in existence. This new lease how- 
 ever, on the payment of no less a sum than 300 
 to Edward Wardour, was in turn assigned and set 
 over to the Mayor and Burgesses, who in order 
 to preclude the possibility in future of leases being 
 obtained over their heads, petitioned the Crown 
 for a grant of the fee-farm of the Bailiwick, which 
 after much vexation and delay and the further 
 payment of ^120 was at length made, to be held 
 as before, as of the manor of Estgrenwith in Kent, 
 in free and common socage, and not by knights' 
 service or in capite ; the rent of a hundred shil- 
 lings to be still paid . This was the occasion of 
 the new grant of Charter also, from James. 
 
 At the period of the suppression of the Chaun- 
 tries and the arbitrary appropriation of their re- 
 venues by the ministers of Edward VI. the diffi- 
 culties experienced in so many cases, in coming 
 at the full knowledge of the premises from which 
 those revenues were derived, would appear from 
 the following extract, to have involved the pro- 
 perty of the Corporation of Devizes in some slight 
 difficulties.* The document in question, which 
 
 * The Chauntries in Devizes, most or all of which seem to 
 have been attached to St. Mary's parish, are particularly spe-
 
 200 HISTORY OF 
 
 is dated 1626, sets forth that the Corporation 
 of Devizes having from time immemorial been 
 seised in their demesnes of fee and right in divers 
 messuages, burgages, lands, tenements, and here- 
 ditaments within the Borough of Bishop's Can- 
 nings, Rowde, Meeke and Marlborough, and hav- 
 ing had several other demesnes in and near the 
 Borough drawn from them by colour of concealed 
 lands ; they, on the 23rd of Elizabeth, in order to 
 prevent similar mischiefs in the residue of their 
 possessions, did, without advice or consent of Coun 
 sel, entitle the Queen to them. Whereupon a grant 
 of them from her was obtained as concealed lands 
 unto William Erwood, to the use nevertheless of the 
 Borough-fund by a yearly rent of 10 to the 
 Crown, notwithstanding that the said lands had 
 ever been in charge before the auditor of the 
 county, and could never therefore be said to have 
 been concealed. 
 
 The property held in the hands of the body cor- 
 porate, deriving its commencement probably from 
 a few insignificant burgage tenures in the first in- 
 stance, and with the rising commerce of the Town, 
 gradually expanding itself by the aid of various 
 augmentations made at different periods, came in 
 the cousre of time to be very considerably inter- 
 mixed with that of individuals, as well as partially 
 changed in character. It would however be quite 
 impracticable to trace the alterations it has thus 
 undergone, and the majority of readers will think 
 
 cified in the department devoted to the ecclesiastical history 
 of the Town.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 201 
 
 it equally uninteresting to enter into any specifi- 
 cation of its various parts as now existing. All 
 that is designed, is to exhibit in as few words as 
 the nature of the subject will admit, and with as 
 little of reference as possible to individuals or to 
 collective bodies, a view of the past resources and 
 future prospects of the corporate revenue. 
 
 INCOME. The ordinary revenues of the corpora- 
 tion have at all times arisen from rents of various 
 kinds, and from the tolls of its Fairs and Markets. 
 Some of these however have become quite extinct : 
 for instance, under the head of Rents, it formerly 
 received some from certain lands at a distance 
 from the Borough, which rents were denominated 
 Castle-Guard. This on all probability was a con- 
 sideration granted to the Borough for the defence 
 of the Castle of Devizes, to which the inhabitants 
 were bound by the Charter of Richard II already 
 adverted to. These rents varying from 6 to 10 
 appear to have been received so lately as 1689, 
 but have entirely ceased for many years, and little 
 is now known of them. So also under the head 
 of Tolls, the income was at a time within the 
 memory of persons living, considerably swelled 
 by the market for wool and yarn. Entries of re- 
 ceipts for " Rents of the Wool-Hall" appear as 
 late as 1800. (This Hall which stood where the 
 present Town Hall is erected, was taken down in 
 1 803.) The yearly revenue from wool and yarn,
 
 202 HISTORY OF 
 
 which is supposed to have consisted in charges 
 for weighing and warehouseing, amounted at one 
 time to 50 ; a fact forming in itself a sufficient re- 
 cord that one, valuable branch of industry has been 
 lost to the Borough, which once numbered six or 
 eight establishments for the manufacture of diffe- 
 rent cloths from English wool. 
 
 The other sources of income which have re- 
 mained comparatively unchanged were first, 
 
 Chief Rents or small annual charges upon free- 
 hold property. Entries of these appear on the 
 books to a very remote period, accompanied by 
 descriptions evidently applicable to houses within 
 the Borough, on which they are paid to the pre- 
 sent hour. These rents are very numerous, but 
 trifling in amount, some of them being as low as 
 one penny. In 1835 they amounted to only 
 Q 19s. 
 
 Quit Rents : these are small payments for en- 
 croachments on the streets, and for vaults under 
 them ; also for land over the course of the Town 
 ditches, and in situations which were originally 
 public thoroughfares. An entry dated 1615 in 
 the Chamberlain's accounts denominates these lat- 
 ter as" Rents of Streets and Town-ditches." The 
 quit rents have usually averaged about 14 per an. 
 
 Though Chief rents are properly those which 
 arise from freeholds, yet in some cases they have 
 become payable upon leaseholds also, in addition 
 to the quit rents. This appears to have been occa- 
 sioned by the liability of the corporation to pay 
 chief rents on some of the property so leased by
 
 THE DEVIZES. 203 
 
 them, and thereupon a special reservation was 
 made of a sum to the extent of their own liability. 
 
 The third and last description of Rent to be 
 mentioned, is that paid on property held by lease 
 from the Corporation ; consisting of yearly 
 amounts reserved on granting the leases and of 
 Fines, which were in effect a sale of all the re- 
 mainder of the rents to the end of the term. In 
 some cases in the minutes of Council, the grant- 
 ing of renewals for a lengthened term, is called 
 the " Sale of leases " The amount of rent reserved 
 upon each successive lease appears to have re- 
 mained unaltered, until within a few years back. 
 It is stated in the Municipal Commissioners' re- 
 port that the practice of the Corporation was to 
 renew their leases when half the term was expired. 
 This plan however was not universally adopted. 
 They did not refuse a renewal, if this time had 
 passed, and there are numerous instances of re- 
 newals made, when an unexpired term existed, 
 much longer than the half. Neither did they 
 covenant to renew them at all ; so that it is im- 
 possible for Lessees now to avail themselves of 
 the provisions of the 95th section of the Munici- 
 pal act, which permits the granting of leases for 
 more than 31 years, without a special covenant 
 for improvements, on the ground of custom. 
 
 The terms on which renewals were effected un- 
 derwent two changes within the space of 50 years. 
 Before 1790 the fines were computed by reference 
 to the poor rates for the annual value, and allow- 
 ing interest at 6 per cent. After the above date
 
 204 HISTORY OF 
 
 the tables were altered to 5 per cent, and in 1808 
 the standard of the poors rates was given up, and 
 the yearly value was ordered to be taken at rack- 
 rent. In practice one and a half year's rent was 
 usually taken as the amount of the fine on leases 
 which had an unexpired term of 50 years, and if 
 the reserved rent was encreased, a proportionate 
 deduction from the fine was made. 
 
 The houses of the late corporation as well as 
 some of the lands on which their quit rents were 
 received were let for 99 years ; the remainder 
 of their leaseholds for 60. The practice of 
 letting for 99 years absolutely is of ancient 
 usage in Devizes ; it has been traced to the 
 time of Queen Elizabeth, and leases are extant of 
 7th James the 1st. which recite the surrender of 
 former leases. By an unrepealed bye-law passed 
 in 1 722 it was ordained that all leases should be 
 for 99 years on one, two, or three lives, notwith- 
 standing which, the late Corporation had not a 
 single lease on lives. 
 
 The reduction of the term on leases of land, to 
 60 years, took place about a century ago ; and 
 this is the term of all such as at present remain 
 unexpired. 
 
 The system of renewing leases under such un- 
 favourable circumstances, by Corporate bodies 
 who adopted it, as well as that of commuting fu- 
 ture rents for a fine paid on granting the lease, 
 having occasioned the introduction of a clause 
 which is now the 94th section of the Municipal 
 Corporation act ; a good deal of discussion arose
 
 THE DEVIZES. 205 
 
 upon the question in Devizes while the bill was 
 before the house of Lords, and a petition was 
 adopted against the clause by a small majority of 
 a very small meeting of the Inhabitants. It is 
 unnecessary now to renew such a discussion since 
 another clause, by the permission to grant leases 
 for 75 years under a contract for building, has 
 made sufficient provision for the improvement of 
 Corporate property. The circumstance that no 
 leases can be renewed for many years to come 
 (except for building) would have made the loss of 
 fines as a source of income certain, even if the 
 Town Council had not resolved on abandoning 
 them for economical reasons. 
 
 The reserved Rents which had been encreased 
 about 15 per annum since 1825, were stated in 
 a memorial presented by the New Council to 
 the Lords of the Treasury in 1836, to be 96 
 14*. 2d. The fines between 1808 and Midsum- 
 mer 1825 were an average of s85 per annum ; 
 from 1825 to 1833 they were a390 8s. 9d. per 
 annum, and for 1834 and 1835 297. 
 
 The Tolls of the fairs and markets which next 
 demand our notice, constitute a description of 
 income of a much more variable kind than the 
 former. As chronological indices of the advance 
 or decay of particular branches of commerce, they 
 possess considerable interest. Allusion has al- 
 ready been made to the loss of the tolls on wool : 
 the corn market however, has on the other hand 
 greatly increased ; so much so indeed as to have 
 become the principal feature in the trade of the
 
 206 HISTORY OF 
 
 town. The toll on corn is the only one which is 
 taken in kind ; it consists of a bowl of the corn 
 or seed taken from every sample sack pitched in 
 the market for sale. There are other tolls for 
 pitching or standing on the soil, which apply to 
 all commodities offered for sale, and to horses, 
 sheep, and pigs ; nothing is exempt, but cattle, 
 upon which no dues have yet been demanded, ex- 
 cept on the Fair-days, when it is always taken. 
 Even the ancient basket women have the honour 
 of contributing to swell the public purse by the 
 payment of twopence, which is levied on every 
 basket containing articles for sale. The cheese 
 market is held in the Town Hall and the charges 
 in this department are for weighing, as well as for 
 pitching and warehousing between the market 
 days. The profits of the Butchers' market, which 
 have experienced considerable reduction, arose 
 from rents paid for stalls and standings. The 
 butchers were restricted by a bye-law from selling 
 in their own houses, either on Thursday or Mon- 
 day, in order to enforce their attendance at the 
 public mart. This they lately resisted and the 
 dispute gave rise to an action, which terminated 
 in their defeat in 1835. The verdict thus obtained 
 by the late Corporation, was suffered to remain 
 a dead letter, and the hesitation thus manifested 
 in enforcing what they considered their claim, 
 naturally tended to increase in the opposing party 
 that unwillingness to comply with the verdict, 
 which a law-suit would hardly serve to mitigate. 
 It is but fair also to add, that the buildings .in
 
 THE DEVIZES. 207 
 
 which the markets had been held, were to a great 
 extent unsheltered, and in so dilapidated a state, 
 as to make the justice of compelling an attendance 
 much more than questionable. The adjustment 
 of this point formed one of the many difficulties 
 which encompassed the new Town-council, on 
 coming into office. 
 
 The total amount of Tolls has been so variable, 
 and they have been let in such different portions, 
 that it would be next to impossible to state any- 
 thing approaching to a fixed annual amount. The 
 market days were formerly on Thursdays and 
 Mondays ; the latter which has given its name to 
 one of the streets, has long been abandoned. The 
 two principal fairs are held on Holy Thursday 
 and on Candlemas day. 
 
 The revenue derivable otherwise than through 
 the channels already described, may be briefly 
 stated as " Donations and Legacies Sales Fines 
 for refusal to take office in the Corporation, and 
 for non-attendance at Council meetings Fines on 
 contracts and a few fees for uses. 
 
 Such being the sources of income, it remains 
 to offer a few observations on the expenditure 
 of the late Corporation of as popular a kind, as 
 the subject will admit. Whatever the expences 
 were, they had for a very long time exceeded the 
 means of defraying them, and occasioned the 
 creation and gradual augmentation of a debt, 
 chargeable with heavy interest. Of the data and 
 origin of this debt it is now impossible to speak 
 with any degree of certainty, but from a variety of
 
 208 HISTORY OF 
 
 extracts from the Chamberlain's books given in a 
 former chapter, it is evident that if there was any 
 period in the history of English Boroughs which 
 warranted the creation of a local debt, it was that 
 of the civil wars of Charles I. That such a debt 
 was then forming, is evident from the entries of 
 payment of interest on different sums borrowed, 
 but then these payments are in perpetual contact 
 with so many others, of the ruinous demands 
 made by the Royal paity on the resources of the 
 poor little Borough, as to present an excuse 
 for their conduct, which no one could well dis- 
 allow. Whether or not then* continuance of the 
 practice in later days, admits of an equal justifi- 
 cation, can best be gathered from a careful ex- 
 amination of the nature of their payments. For 
 such examination the reader is referred to the 
 report published in 1 836 by the Finance Com- 
 mittee. The appointment of this Committee was 
 one of the first acts of the new Town -Council, 
 and whatever may have been the feelings naturally 
 occasioned at the time, in the minds of some, by 
 the exposure of their accounts ; it will surely be 
 admitted, that the diligence displayed by the 
 Committee, and the moderation and candour with 
 which their strictures are conveyed, entitle them 
 to the thanks and good opinion of all parties. 
 
 The few notices which here follow on this sub- 
 ject are necessarily taken in a great measure from 
 the above report. 
 
 The fixed charges on the corporate income, 
 were, 1st the Fee-farm Rents amounting to abou t
 
 THE DEVIZES. 209 
 
 30 being payments made to grantees of the 
 Crown, though it has long been unknown on what 
 property it was first chargeable. 2nd. The Land- 
 Tax on public buildings, 6 13s. 7d. 3rd. Rent 
 charges payable almost wholly to Charities, 5. 
 10s. in addition to the Interest of the Debt which 
 of course varied at different times, according to 
 its aggregate amount and the rate of interest. 
 Previous to 1 833 this was wholly payable on ac- 
 count of Charities, either for loans from the War- 
 dens of the Alms houses, or for specific Charitable 
 bequests which had been thrown into the funds of 
 the Corporation previous to 1786, (except a small 
 amount on an arrear of Fee-farm rents) and was 
 in some cases paid at the rate of 7 and 8 per 
 cent. But in the above year, after the visit of 
 the Charity commissioners, a committee of the 
 Corporation investigated these Charities, and it 
 was determined to pay off the sum of 300 which 
 was found to consist only of loans for charitable 
 funds, of which the parish officers were trustees ; 
 and to reduce the interest on the remainder to 4 
 per cent. In that year also it was that a bond was 
 given for 41 years amount of arrears of Fee-farm 
 rents and interest, being together 600, to the 
 late Mrs. Sutton and another to Mr. Salmon for 
 1500, the amount of his law expences. The 
 interest on the whole debt after this period amoun- 
 ted to 141. 12s. and after 23 December, 1835, 
 to 171. per annum. 
 
 The annual and occasional expenses consisted 
 in salaries of officers repairs and insurance of
 
 210 HISTORY OF 
 
 public buildings expences at the Town Hall and 
 that long list of others, which like the customary 
 allowance for the Mayor's dinner, are now not 
 only considered unnecessary, but happily are for- 
 bidden by the strict definitions of the 92nd section 
 of the Municipal Act. Of the above charges, 
 only those which come under the head of salaries, 
 admit of being given as fixed amounts. Those 
 already enumerated are the ridiculously small 
 sums of 2. 13s. 4d. paid to the Steward and 
 Clerk of the Courts, and 4. divided between two 
 Chamberlains. The Bedell and Hallkeeper re- 
 ceived 15 ; while the other inferior officers were 
 paid in the aggregate 50. 8s. beside 8 shillings 
 each for their attendance at the Quarter Sessions. 
 These last mentioned functionaries consisted of 
 two Sergeants at Mace, bedecked in cloaks and 
 cocked hats, two Bailiffs and four Sub Bailiffs ; 
 their principal occupation was to figure in presence 
 of the Mayor on Sundays, and of the whole Cor- 
 poration on occasions of particular solemnity \ but 
 the sergeants had also the duties of constables who 
 act only when called upon, and also attended the 
 Council meetings. Half of their whole number, 
 were discharged by the present Council, and the 
 other half retained as policemen and bailiffs. 
 
 A variety of circumstances are detailed by the 
 Committee, respecting the decay of the income 
 arising from tolls, but as they rather relate to the 
 practice of the Chamberlains and the conduct of 
 their collectors for the time being, they are only 
 noticed here as parts of a system, which could
 
 THE DEVIZES. 211 
 
 allow of accounts remaining unaudited, for nearly 
 50 years, viz. previous to the year 1832. 
 
 This year was the period when the Corporation 
 at length awoke. The representation of the 
 Borough in parliament was no longer in their 
 hands, and having the discernment to perceive 
 that municipal reform would soon follow the re- 
 form in the house of Commons ; their auditing 
 committees which for nearly half a century had 
 been deaf to the call for accounts, now presented 
 them with a sight of their debts and obligations. 
 The visit of the commissioners in the following 
 year, disclosed to the public the amount of the 
 Debt then bearing interest, as 3815 and for the 
 first time convinced the inhabitants, of Devizes 
 that the mystery which had always enveloped the 
 affairs of the Corporation had never been adopted 
 to conceal their riches. This sum was reduced 
 as already stated above, by 300 in 1834. The 
 last addition made to it was on the 23 Dec. 1 835 
 the occasion of the last meeting of the old Corpo- 
 ration, when 560 the amount of Mr. Salmon's, 
 law bills was added, and also 100 each to two 
 gentlemen who had filled the office of Mayor, 
 but who had hitherto been unable to obtain 
 the allowance for their annual " entertainment " 
 so overburdened had the resources become. 
 
 The following is a brief sketch of the progres- 
 sive increase of debt from the year 1785. 
 
 In October of that year it consisted of Loans at 
 
 Interest 1555 
 
 An old debt to Messrs J. and T. Eadea 345 10 
 
 1909 10
 
 212 HISTORY OF 
 
 . *. d. 
 
 Besides other amount of floating debt which can- 
 not now be ascertained 
 
 In Oct. 1803 it consisted of Loans at Interest. .1515 
 Arrears of fee-farm rent and Interest due to the 
 
 New Alms houses 151 2 
 
 1666 2 
 Floating Debt 321 
 
 1987 2 
 
 In Oct. 1816 it consisted of Loans at Interest. .1715 
 Arrears of fee-farm rents and Interest due to the 
 
 New Alms Houses'. . . 522 2 
 
 2237 2 
 Floating debt, about 399 
 
 2636 2 
 
 On the 31 Dec. 1835 it consisted of Loans at 
 
 Interest 4325 
 
 Floating debt exclusive of expenses incurred by 
 
 the operation of the Municipal Reform Bill. 21819 9 
 
 Expenses to this date of said bill 68 17 3 
 
 4612 17 
 
 Other claims received after the report was pub- 
 lished, about 82 8 4 
 
 4695 5 4 
 Deduct debts due to Corporation 28 8 
 
 4667 4 8 
 
 Being the total ascertained after the actual payment of nearly 
 the whole amount
 
 THE DEVIZES. 213 
 
 The finance committee have in their report par- 
 ticularly distinguished the donations presented to 
 the Borough ; these principally came from the 
 gentlemen who from time to time represented the 
 Borough in parliament, though there are other smal- 
 ler ones from private individuals ; and they appear 
 to have formed (during a certain aera, in the history 
 of English boroughs,) no inconsiderable part of the 
 revenue. Neither the erection of public buildings 
 nor any extensive plans for repairs or improve- 
 ments, were ever undertaken without such aids. 
 They are alluded to in this place more particularly 
 for the purpose of reciting the minutes of council 
 relative to the liberal proposals of Mr. Estcourt, 
 and Mr. Smith, for the liquidation of the debt. 
 A committee had been appointed on the 19th 
 June, 1812 "to collect and examine all Chamber- 
 lain's accounts, and all other accounts concerning 
 the Chamber, and for taking account of the debt 
 due from the Chamber, and of the probable means 
 of discharging them." This committee was or- 
 dered to act immediately, and the day was fixed 
 for their first meeting. On the 25th Sept. 1812, 
 they made their report, which contained a declara- 
 tion that the debts of the Corporation could not 
 be less than 4700, and the following is the 
 minute of Council on the 29th of the same 
 month. 
 
 "Mr. Estcourt previous to entering on the bu- 
 siness of the day, adverted to the report made by 
 the Committee on the subject of the debts of this 
 Corporation at the last Court of Common Coun-
 
 214 HISTORY OF 
 
 cil, and offered to take upon himself to discharge 
 one half of the amount of such debts, provided 
 that the sum necessary to discharge such half did 
 not exceed 2500. It was therefore unanimously 
 resolved that the said offer be accepted, and that 
 the thanks of this Corporation be given to Mr. 
 Estcourt for his very liberal and generous offer, 
 and for the very honourable manner in which the 
 subject was brought forward by him, as well 'as 
 for his unremitted attention to the interests of 
 this Borough on all occasions." 
 
 Mr. Smith soon after contributed the like sum 
 for the liquidation of the other half of the Debt. 
 These two gentlemen had also presented a thou- 
 sand pounds each towards the erection of the New 
 Town-Hall, making altogether 7000, being 
 about 584 more than the cost of the Town-hall 
 and its furniture. 
 
 Having said thus much on the subject of the 
 formation of the debt, we have next to contem- 
 plate the measures which the new Town Council 
 adopted to shake off so troublesome an appendage. 
 The embarrassments which fettered their move- 
 ments at the very commencement of their official 
 existence arose from a variety of causes. In the 
 first place they found an exhausted treasury and 
 the whole of the Borough-property on leases for 
 long terms of years ; the income from rents was 
 consequently perceived to be incapable of increase 
 to any great extent, even on the supposition 
 which appears at first to have been entertained, 
 that the practice of renewing 99 year leases at
 
 THE DEVIZES. 215 
 
 the end of 50 years, might be continued ; for 
 there were only eight leases of less unexpired 
 terms than 50 years, and the average of the whole 
 unexpired terms was more than 70 years. They 
 felt great unwillingness also, to continue the 
 system of taking fines on renewals, nor did it re- 
 quire much calculation to show, that if the rents 
 not due until a period, which could only commence 
 after 50 years were received, with the deduction 
 of compound interest for all the intermediate 
 period (which is the proper method of estimating 
 it,) in order to spend them for present ordinary 
 expenses ; the resources of the Borough would 
 continue to be wasted. Part of the Market also 
 was found to be totally unproductive. The cause 
 of this has already been described, while speaking 
 of the market for Butchers' meat. Moreover a 
 difficulty existed in levying any rate to supply 
 these various differences. All the parishes were 
 assessed to the poors rates in a different proportion 
 of the annual value of the properties rated, and 
 when the grant of Quarter sessions was made, 
 the Council had to decide, whether they would put 
 the parishes to the expence of a special survey, or 
 allow a debt to accumulate for the new expences, 
 (which occasioned the balance against the Council 
 on the 31st. Aug. 1838), until the poor-rate as- 
 sessment act, then recently brought before par- 
 liament should come into operation. The only 
 rate granted therefore was the Watch rate, the 
 amount of which, they knew would form a de- 
 duction from the rates levied under the Improve-
 
 2 1C HISTORY OF 
 
 ment-act, in those parts of the Borough at least, 
 to which the powers of that act extended. 
 
 Such being the state of things, it appeared that 
 the only means of removing the main difficulty, 
 lay in the power given to sell Corporate property 
 by the 94th section of the Municipal act, provided 
 such sale were sanctioned by three of the Lords 
 Commissioners of his Majesty's treasury. 
 
 Accordingly a careful estimate of the whole of 
 the Borough property was forthwith set on foot : 
 as the result of which, the Committee reported 
 the annual value to let, to be 4769 and the nett 
 annual value, after deducting all outgoings, (in 
 which repairs and insurances were included) to be 
 4028. The estimated present value of the re- 
 versions, and the reserved rents of the Leaseholds 
 was given as 13112, besides that of the public 
 buildings and the toUs. The deficiency of income 
 was estimated at 172 per annum, or about the 
 amount of the interest of the debt, in addition to 
 the amount of an annual Borough-rate sufficient 
 to cover the expenses formerly paid by the County, 
 and charged upon the parishes as County-rates. 
 The sum proposed to be raised by the sale was 
 7000, to be applied not only to the paying off 
 of the debt, but also to the improvement of the 
 markets. 
 
 A memorial to this effect was therefore for- 
 warded to the Lords of the Treasury, by a Coun- 
 cil which sat on the 23rd Dec. 1836 and this was 
 followed by many other communications: but in 
 the month of May 1837, the Council determined
 
 THE DEVIZES. 217 
 
 on sending a deputation to wait on their Lord- 
 ships, in consequence of their having expressed 
 great unwillingness, to allow of such a manifest 
 sacrifice as would be incurred, by the sale of re- 
 versions in fee whose average length of term was 
 70 years. 
 
 On the return of the deputation (o Devizes, 
 they dispatched another missive to the Lords of 
 the Treasury, for the two-fold purpose of keeping 
 them awake to the subject, and of urging the jus- 
 tice of the petition. In the September following, 
 the Treasury allowed of sale to the amount of 
 4922 for the payment of debt due up to the 26th 
 Dec. 1836, but refused the request to sell for the 
 improvements of the market buildings. 
 
 An examination of the memorial and other 
 communications both personal and in writing, 
 which were made with his majesty's government 
 on this subject shew that the most untiring exer- 
 tions were made, both in the first step towards a 
 sale, and in the subsequent labour of valuing the 
 reversions of about 126 Leaseholds obtaining the 
 wishes of their proprietors and selling the whole 
 on favorable terms to the lessees, without compe- 
 tition. But that which it is most desirable to re- 
 cord, is the nature of the arguments used, for 
 selling property of such a kind, and the proof 
 given, that this decided course, was taken upon 
 sound principles. 
 
 1st. It was contended that the reversionary 
 value of the Borough property in lease, was four 
 times as much as any future probable expenditure.
 
 218 HISTORY OF 
 
 The extent of this property had previously been 
 hidden from the public by the smallness of the 
 aggregate amount of rents reserved on granting 
 the leases ; viz, ,96 14s. 2d. and the practice 
 which had so long prevailed of raising funds for 
 current expenses, by selling the rents of future 
 and remote periods. 
 
 2ndly. That this value had been encreased as 
 the effect of the recent improvements of the 
 Borough, by the investment of more than 14,000 
 by the lessees on their leaseholds ; occasioning 
 since the commencement of those improvements, 
 an encreased revenue from fines, averaging four 
 times as much as those of any former period. 
 
 Srdly. That the improvements were of a kind to 
 which the borough property had beenap plied previ- 
 ous to the time when the inhabitants became rated for 
 them. That they had occasioned the expenditure 
 of more than .13,000, raised partly by subscrip- 
 tion, partly by rates, and the remainder by loans 
 which were still unpaid : and 
 
 Finally. That in the opinion of the Council, it 
 was unjust that the Borough should be further 
 taxed to pay either the principal or the interest of 
 a debt of the late Corporation the effect of which 
 taxation could only be, to preserve a reversionary 
 value in the Borough property, in which the pre- 
 sent inhabitants could have no interest. 
 
 These arguments were accompanied with the 
 assurance that it was the wish of the Council to 
 abandon the system of receiving fines on renewals, 
 and since their request has been complied with,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 219 
 
 at least to an extent sufficient to pay off the debt ; 
 ihe future Councillors of the Borough will doubt- 
 less consider themselves bound in honour to act 
 in accordance with that declaration. 
 
 A proposal had been made in the same year, 
 to build a covered corn market, and 1 78 farmers 
 and dealers united in requesting the Council to 
 provide such a building. Notwithstanding how- 
 ever that this proposal was included in the state- 
 ment of the intended improvements of the market 
 buildings, and was eagerly pursued by ail parties 
 interested ; when the condition imposed by the 
 Treasury of raising by subscription 1400, or the 
 one halfofthe sum necessary, was made known, and 
 members of the Council had offered to subscribe 
 200 themselves ; only a few of the agricul- 
 turists beyond their committee offered any as- 
 sistance at all, and the plan was in consequence 
 given up. 
 
 The Lords of the Treasury as already asserted, 
 refused of sale for this purpose, but allowed the 
 Council to raise a sufficient sum to reconstruct 
 and enlarge the market buildings. This object 
 so desirable for the agricultural interest of the 
 neighbourhood, no less than for the restoration of 
 an essential branch of income to the Borough, 
 was carried into effect in the year 1838, and it 
 now devolves on the inhabitants generally, to 
 prosper an undertaking which called forth the 
 manifestation in a few individuals, of no ordinary 
 liberality and public spirit. 
 
 An additional remark or two on the expenses
 
 220 HISTORY OF 
 
 incurred under the auspices of the present Town 
 Council will bring this subject to a close. 
 
 The proceedings of this body being open to the 
 inspection of all the burgesses, are presumed to be 
 generally known ; but on the occasion of granting 
 the first Borough-rate in October 1838, it was 
 deemed desiratle, in consequence of misrepresen- 
 tations publickly made, to publish an explicit 
 view of their accounts from the 1st of January 
 1836, to 31st of August 1838, together with those 
 of the last Chamberlain of the late Corporation ; 
 by which it appeared that the ordinary income 
 from the Borough property had been sufficient 
 during a space of two years and eight months 
 not only to pay the ordinary expenses to which 
 the late Corporation would have been liable (ex- 
 clusive of interest) but also to pay 333 7s. lOd. 
 of the additional expenses which the Mu- 
 nicipal act and the grant of the Quarter-sessions 
 had thrown upon the Borough-fund ; whereas the 
 ordinary income of the previous 5i years (of 
 nearly the same amount according to time) had 
 proved insufficient to meet ordinary expenses 
 (exclusive of interest) by 621 19s, 5d. and cal- 
 culating the comparative length of the two periods, 
 this was shewn to be an economy of the monies 
 arising from the Borough property of at least 
 217, per annum. * 
 
 * It would be premature, on the basis merely of a few re- 
 sults, which become in a manner obsolete as each successive 
 year rolls round, to enlarge to any extent on the present con- 
 dition or future management of the Borough resources. The
 
 THE DEVIZES. 221 
 
 Such are the observations which it has been 
 deemed necessary and unavoidable to make on the 
 
 following recital of the principal points contained in the State- 
 ment of the Council are not therefore given with that view, 
 but simply as an explication of the circumstances in which that 
 body stood, in consequence of the expenses attending the 
 most important change which the Borough has ever experienced. 
 These new expenses were stated at 1104. 15s. 8d. against 
 which the new income from Watch rates (previously levied by 
 commissioners) and fines on summary convictions before the 
 magistrates was given as 350. Is, 6d. and if the sum of 
 333. 7s. lOrf. the balance of the ordinary income be consi- 
 dered as paying a part of these new expenses the balance of 
 the deficiency must be 421. 6s. 4d. 
 
 The extraordinary expenses amounted to 295, 12s. 4d. 
 after deducting money received as a credit in account, to which 
 sum was also added the interest of the Old Debt 446. 8s. Id. 
 as not belonging to the period, making together 742. Os. 5d. 
 The amount of the sales of Freeholds, and the interest on 
 those which remained unsettled on the 31st. August, was 
 4924. 8s. Wd. : but the Debt on the 31st. Dec. 1835 being 
 only 4667. 4s. 8d. it appears that 257. 4s. 2rf. of the expen- 
 ses^classed as extraordinary since 1835, and of the interest on 
 the Debt was paid by the sale of property. 
 
 The balance shewn to be due at 31st, August, 1838, in con- 
 sequence of the delay of the Borough Rate, appears therefore 
 to have been created thus 
 
 s. d. 
 
 By the accumulated balance of the Annual ex- 
 penses 421 6 4 
 
 By the extraordinary expenses and 
 
 Interest of the Debt 742 5 
 
 Less by 257 4 2 
 
 484 16 3 
 
 906 2 7
 
 222 HISTORY OF 
 
 financial affairs of the Borough. Beyond what 
 has been already stated, it would be invidious to 
 enlarge on the causes which led to so great a 
 change in the actual composition of the Council. 
 All parties must admit that some change was ne- 
 cessary ; and if the existence of a Debt without 
 the possession of means to pay even ordinary ex- 
 penses, is to be regarded as an evil, and if the 
 accounts on this subject have been put forth by 
 upright men none can have more cause to re- 
 joice in this change than the members of the late 
 Corporation. The objects which have recently 
 been accomplished, were valuable and important 
 to all parties : that it would have been next to im- 
 possible to accomplish them under the old system, 
 few will dispute : and even those who may feel 
 disposed " to cast a longing, lingering look be- 
 hind " towards that system, must feel sensible 
 that it had become worn out, and incapable of 
 much longer continuance : while those who have 
 promoted the success of the new, must admit in 
 favour of their predecessors, the sanction of for- 
 mer precedents, and the influence of a variety of 
 feelings incident to our common nature, which it 
 is more easy to deprecate, than to shake off. 
 
 Of all topics, that of public accounts, while it 
 is the most unsocial and uninviting, generally 
 proves also the least satisfactory ; remaining after 
 each successive attack, in much the same con- 
 dition as poor Peter Peebles's law suit, which 
 notwithstanding the many learned efforts made to 
 get at the bottom of the affair, proved totally
 
 THE DEVIZES. 
 
 223 
 
 bottomless to every successive aspirant that ven- 
 tured to try his hand at it. Nothing therefore 
 could have induced the introduction of so much 
 of this description of matter into a work intended 
 to lighten a passing hour, but the conviction that 
 some notice of the late proceedings would be ab- 
 solutely required, in order to render it complete 
 as a whole. Entertaining these views, the writer 
 can feel no possible chagrin if this Chapter be 
 found as dry an entertainment in the perusal as 
 it has proved in the compilation : or indeed that 
 the majority of his readers have when half 
 through it, rejected the rest, exclaiming " Ohe 
 jam satis."
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF DEVIZES MARTYR- 
 DOM OF WILLIAM PRIOR AND OF JOHN BENT 
 
 PETITION OF THOMAS HALL INSTITUTIONS TO 
 
 THE RECTORY CHANTRIES PRIORY OR HOSPI- 
 TAL OF ST. JOHN INSTITUTIONS TO PRIORY 
 
 DISPUTE WITH THE RECTOR OF THE PARISH. 
 
 THE rectory of Devizes comprizes the parish of 
 St. John the Baptist and that of the Blessed Vir- 
 gin Mary. These are wholly distinct one from 
 the other as to all parochial purposes in general ; 
 each possessing a parish Church, but forming an 
 united rectory, not in charge, in the archdeaconry 
 and Diocese of Salisbury. The living is in the 
 patronage of the Crown, and the incumbent is 
 said to have been usually presented in accordance 
 with the wishes and choice of the inhabitants of 
 the town. The designation of the establishment 
 is " The rectory of St. John the Baptist with the 
 chapel of the Virgin Mary annexed. Its net 
 annual revenue estimated on an average of three 
 years ending on the 31st December 1831, is stated 
 in the report of the ecclesiastical commissioners 
 to be j518. 
 
 Of the two parishes thus embraced, that of St.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 225 
 
 John, is by far the largest in extent, as it includes 
 the rural district of 600 acres, called the Old 
 Park. It is less populous than St. Mary's, but 
 its superior wealth is indicated by the circum- 
 stance, that in the assessment for a county rate, 
 though the population of St. Mary's in 1831 was 
 2,589 with 514 houses, and that of St. John was 
 only 1 ,973 with 239 houses ; yet the former was 
 assessed at little more than half the rate levied on 
 the latter ; a result which accorded also with the 
 proportion of the population to the houses, being 
 six to a house or nearly so in St. John's, and only 
 five in St. Mary's. Lately the inhabitants of the 
 park claimed it to be extra parochial, but the Rec- 
 tor succeeded in establishing his right to the tithes 
 there, as part of his parish.* 
 
 Whatever St. John's may now be termed, it is 
 certain, that for many centuries, it was but a free 
 chapel, and continued occasionally to be so called 
 until the time of Edward the sixth ; perhaps much 
 later. Its origin as such, is involved in much 
 the same obscurity as is the early history of every 
 thing else connected with Devizes. The aera of 
 the construction of the architectural fabric is a 
 question discussed in another place. 
 
 Not the least mention is made of either Church 
 or Chapel in Devizes in any of the ancient eccle- 
 siastical surveys or taxations. There is no such 
 allusion in Pope Nicholas's Taxation in 1291, nor 
 in the Nona Roll of 1342, nor even in the general 
 
 * Southbroom or Devizes Green is under the episcopal juris- 
 diction of the Dean and Chapter by their Comtnunar.
 
 226 HISTORY OF 
 
 parliamentary survey of 26th Henry VIII. 1535 ; 
 The scanty information which we happen to pos- 
 sess on the point, being principally derived from 
 accidental notices occurring in inquisitions made 
 relative to the state of the town, on two or three 
 occasions, or from the Chapter records of the 
 Diocese. From the omission of it in the last men- 
 tioned survey viz. that of Henry VIII. (sometimes 
 called the king's book) the living is not in charge 
 to pay first fruits and tenths, so that although 
 called a rectory, a doubt has been suggested whe- 
 ther or not it was originally more than nominally 
 so, unless indeed so constituted by act of parlia- 
 ment. Accordingly when the Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, in 1809 made his return to the Governors 
 of Queen Anne's bounty, he certified that St. 
 John's at Devizes was a rectory augmented and 
 discharged, and that its yearly value was 132 
 arising from voluntary contributions, rent of cot- 
 tages and augmentation. 
 
 The incumbent could certainly rejoice in the 
 title of Rector as far back as 1325 but then he has 
 also been called " Capellanus." In fact, consid- 
 erable confusion of terms is observable among 
 these early notices. We read of the " Two 
 chapels" the parish of St. Mary with the chapel 
 of St. John annexed, " the chapel of St. Mary 
 within the parish of St. John" " The vicarage of 
 St. Mary" and others. The annexation of one 
 to the other, (no matter which,) is presumed to 
 have taken place in the 14th Century, as the in- 
 stitution of 1398 is the first to mention it. The
 
 THE DEVIZES. 227 
 
 presentative advowsons both of these and of the 
 Church at Rowde used to be involved in the grant 
 of the respective manors in which they existed ; 
 and this grant was invariably made either to the 
 Lord of Devizes Castle or to the Queen. The 
 following entries from different sources constitute 
 nearly all the traces we now possess of their early 
 history. 
 
 In the " Abbreviatio Placitorum " under the 
 head "Hundred de Divisis " we read that the 
 churches of Devizes were in, the gift of William 
 Furneaux through Prince John, and were worth 
 1 1 1 marks. 
 
 In Henry Ill's reign (Rotuli HundredorumJ 
 " The churches of St. John and St. Mary are in 
 the gift of the Crown, and are worth per annum 
 ten pounds : Henry of Winchester holds them. " 
 
 The same authority in the reign of Edw. I. 
 terms them chapels. 
 
 For the petition of Thomas de Yutflet relative 
 to the tithes of the park, made in the following 
 reign ; see the municipal history of the town, in 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 A certificate of 37th Henry VIII returns " the 
 free chapel of St. John within the parish of the 
 blessed Virgin in the Borough of Devizes, the 
 founder said to be unknown, and that it possessed 
 certain lands and tenements in the hand and dis- 
 position of the Mayor of the Borough. By ano- 
 ther of the same date, a more full description 
 appears of these premises ; which seem to have 
 been principally in Bishop's Cannings.
 
 228 
 
 The certificate of 2nd Edward VI, describes it 
 under a similar title ; and from another of the 
 same date as to charities is extracted the follow- 
 ing entry. " Also the Borough of Devizes, a 
 great town, wherein be but two parishes and but 
 one parson, in which two parishes be the number 
 of 900 people, which receive the blessed Com- 
 munion, and no priests besides the parson, to 
 help in the administration of the word of God and 
 sacraments, saving the Chauntry priests. Where- 
 fore the Mayor and Brethren of the saH Borough 
 desire the king's most honorable council to con- 
 sider them accordingly." 
 
 A dispute which existed between the Rector of 
 the parish and the Prior of the Hospital of St. 
 John will be noticed in the account of that insti- 
 tution. Other than this, there is little to add on 
 the subject of the ecclesiastical history of Devizes. 
 Its inhabitants never bore a character for any high 
 degree of sanctity rather the reverse though 
 there is some reason to hope that the state of feel- 
 ing which once gave rise to a rhyming district not 
 greatly to the credit of the Town, is becoming as 
 obsolete as the proverb itself. It does not appear 
 that many of the inhabitants figured in the fire 
 and faggot proceedings of the sixteenth century. 
 The " Bishop's Register" at Salisbury, chronicles 
 the names of only two natives of Devizes, as hav- 
 ing rendered themselves conspicuous in those try- 
 ing times, (at least they are the only ones which 
 the writer has chanced to become acquainted with,) 
 William Prior having embraced doctrines opposed to
 
 THE DEVIZES. 229 
 
 the Roman tenets, was induced to recant them; but 
 afterwards relapsing into heresy, was committed to 
 the flames at Salisbury in the year 1507. Henry 
 Shercot in 1 5 1 7 having abjurated similar principles, 
 received absolution accordingly, and of him we hear 
 nothing more. Fox in his martyrology makes men- 
 tion of one John Bent a tailor of Urchfont, who for 
 denyingthedoctrine oftransubstantiation, was burnt 
 to the death in the market-place of Devizes, about 
 the year 1533. Another sufferer here, was a 
 farmer named John Maundrell, a native of the 
 village of Rowde, who having been heard to speak 
 slightingly of certain Romish rites, was arraigned 
 before a conclave in Eddyngton Abbey, and con- 
 demned to walk about the market at Devizes, 
 clad in a white sheet, and bearing a candle. This 
 took place in Henry VIII's reign ; after which he 
 remained in peace in his house at Beckhampton, 
 till the restoration of popery under Mary com- 
 pelled him to seek safety in obscurity. But be- 
 coming bolder he repaired to Devizes to the house 
 of a friend named Anthony Clee, to whom he an- 
 nounced his resolution of abandoning all further 
 concealment of his principles. By this determi- 
 nation therefore, notwithstanding the entreaties of 
 his friend, his subsequent conduct was immediate- 
 ly influenced, and his martyrdom finally accom- 
 plished. He was burnt with two other of his 
 friends named Spicer and Coberly, on the plain 
 between Salisbury and Wilton, 24 March, 1556. 
 
 At that unsettled period, when the claims and 
 pretensions of laymen and clergy were perpetually
 
 230 HISTORY OF 
 
 by turns gaining the ascendancy, the affairs of 
 most parish churches must have been in great 
 disorder. St. John's we find from the public re- 
 cords was bestowed on one occasion by Edward 
 VI. on Richard Roberts to be held in fee, and 
 sometimes its affairs appear to have been placed 
 in the hands of trustees, as will be more fully seen 
 by the following letter, being the petition of one 
 Thomas Hall, to the bishop of Salisbury, written 
 from Devizes in Queen Mary's time : the date of 
 year is not given (one of the burgesses returned 
 for the Borough in 1555 was named Thomas Hall, 
 it may therefore very probably be the same per- 
 son.) The letter is as follows : 
 
 " In most humble wise I commend me unto 
 your good lordship whos3 prosperous state God 
 preserve, most humbly beseeching your honor to 
 stand good lord unto these my neighbours the 
 bringers hereof, for that they have been much 
 misused by certain men of this parish which have 
 been the Churchwardens, to wit, John Smyth, 
 Edward Haynes, James Francys, John Adl'ngton, 
 John Blandford and Edward Helear : these afore- 
 said persons having the custody and bearing of 
 the parish church, stock plate, jewels and other 
 ornaments, have sold and otherwise consumed 
 from the church and parish by .... (obliterated) 
 means, within ten years or thereabout, all these 
 parcels following, that is, One fair great cross 
 with Mary and John, by estimation well worth 
 thirty pounds. One pair of candlesticks by esti- 
 mation worth fifteen pounds. Five Chalices
 
 THE DEVIZES. 231 
 
 worth twenty pounds Two censors worth twenty 
 pounds One great Pyx worth five pounds two 
 cruets worth forty shillings. One sylvate worth 
 four pounds One shep with a spoon worth five 
 pounds Two great bells out of the Tower worth 
 twenty five pounds/andas much brass and iron as 
 go through to the worth of ten pounds, and the 
 rent of the said Church which is by the year eight 
 pound ; all which goods and moneys is not at the 
 present time in the Church stock, above five 
 pounds that doth remain in their hands aforesaid ; 
 and thus have led the parish forth with fair words, 
 promising to pay it at certain days ; but nothing 
 is brought forth, and now of late they have craf- 
 tily used such days of meeting or recovering, 
 when they are sure that the wealthiest and chiefest 
 of the parish be from home, as they did now upon 
 Monday being twelfth market at Salisbury, and 
 did know all the chief of the chiefest of the parish 
 (who could these have been) to be there, made a 
 recovering among themselves, and so have shor- 
 tened the debt, as they thought meet for their 
 purpose. These things considered, 1 humbly be- 
 seech your honour to have regard unto these 
 parishioners, for that they be most credible men. 
 And of these men as beareth more charges in the 
 town to the Queen, and other necessary charges, 
 one of them more than all the company, before 
 writing this matter, is before Master Chancellor in 
 your Court ; wherefore I humbly desire you to 
 move Master Chancellor in it. The cause that I 
 write so earnestly is that the parish hath a good
 
 232 HISTORY OF 
 
 opinion in me, thinking that by your good lord- 
 ship's favour towards me, that I may do them 
 some pleasure therein. Thus being over much 
 bold with your good lordship, I commit you and 
 all yours to the everlasting God Amen. 
 
 From The Devyses, this present Monday 
 being the 1 5th day of January, by the hand 
 of your poor humble servant, 
 
 THOMAS HALL. 
 
 The early books of the overseers and church- 
 wardens of St. John are missing, but in those of 
 St Mary, antecedent and subsequent to the Refor- 
 mation it is interesting to observe, the opposite 
 purposes to which the money was applied as differ- 
 ent rulers dictated different faiths to their people. 
 Beginning at 1499 for example, we meet with such 
 objects of expense as the following, " paschall and 
 font lights pries! s' garments making canopy on 
 Corpus Christi day boards for constructing a 
 sepulchre; midnight watching of said sepulchre, 
 a book of the visitation of our Lady, and so 
 forth. But immediately after the Reformation 
 "Thomas Maundrel" is paid " for making clean 
 of our Lady" and others soon after are paid for 
 "plucking down of the side altars " and the high 
 altar. On the very year of Mary's ascension 
 one Bartlett is employed to " set up the altar 
 again ; the Scriptures and ten commandments 
 written on the wall of the church during the pre- 
 ceding reign are then ordered to be defaced, and the 
 rood-loft is re-erected for the reception of the large 
 cross and the images of Mary and Joseph. Then
 
 THE DEVIZES. 233 
 
 follow in the old track, items "for timber for 
 making Mary and Joseph " "for holy oil, holy 
 water pots, rochets and green banners." Queen 
 Elizabeth ascends, and down comes the rood-loft 
 with Mary and Joseph ; "the studds off the coats" 
 and " the brandering about our Lady's coat " 
 are all sold off, together with organ-pipes, bellows 
 and candlesticks. 
 
 An abbreviated account of the institutions to 
 the Rectory, taken from the registry at Salisbury 
 will conclude this part of our subject. 
 
 1310 on the 1 1th of the Kalends of Nov. John de Aune was 
 presented to the Church of Devizes by the lady Margaret, 
 the Queen Dowager. 
 
 1312 6th Ides of August. Master Thomas de Yutflet or 
 Yeongeslete was presented by Queen Margaret, on the resig- 
 nation of the previous incumbent. 
 
 1349 May 29. Stephen West a deacon was presented by 
 Philippa (Edward Ill's queen.) 
 
 1361. Sep. 3. The Bishop of Sarum admitted John de 
 Botiler priest, presented by Queen Philippa to the Church of 
 Devizes which was void by death. 
 
 1391. 22 May. At Sarum William Stoke, clerk, was pre- 
 sented by the lady Anne (Richard II's Queen) 
 
 1392. 17 May. Master Thomas Kynewyk, chaplain, was 
 presented by the same Queen. 
 
 1398. 25 Nov. The Bishop admitted Master John Wyther to 
 the " Church of St. John the Baptist in Devizes, with the chapel 
 of St Mary in the same town, to the church of St John annexed" 
 to which he had been presented by king Richard II. This as 
 before observed contains the earliest notice of the annexation. 
 
 1400. 16. Oct. The same bishop admitted Master Andrew
 
 234 HISTORY OF 
 
 Swyneford to the parish church of St. John void by resig- 
 nation. 
 
 1402. 30 July. The rector of Devizes made an exchange 
 with Henry Netherhaven the vicar of Bedminster signed at 
 Sherbourne. 
 
 1412. 7 March. The Bishop admitted Thomas de Tibbay, 
 presented by Joan Queen of Henry IV. 
 
 1417. 26 March, Robert de Tibbay succeeds on the resigna- 
 tion of Thomas de Tibbay. Presentation by the same queen. 
 1420. John Almote on the presentation of Humphrey duke 
 of Gloster succeeds Robert de Tibbay, in the " Church of De- 
 vizes," void by resignation. 
 
 1426. The rector of Devizes exchanges with William Gold- 
 smith rector of Estwreth in the same Diocese. 
 
 1429. Dec. 28. William Goldsmith exchanges with Gilbert 
 Crede rector of the church of Smerdon in the diocese of Can- 
 terbury. 
 
 1433. April, 1 1 . John Wygrynne is presented by Humphrey 
 duke of Gloster to the Church of Devizes, vacant by death. 
 
 1468. April 17. Henry Booste master of arts, succeeds, on 
 the presentation of Elizabeth the queen of Edward 4th. Void 
 by death. 
 
 1474. July, 16. John Smith, elk, is admitted, on the re- 
 signation of the former same Patron . 
 
 1475. John Bishop of Rochester succeeds, presented by 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 1479. He having resigned, the Bishop of Sarum by the con- 
 sent of the lady Elizabeth, presents John Bishop of Tyne, 
 (" Tinensis Epis." probably one of the suffragan bishops) to the 
 " Church of St. John," in the person of John Giles licentiate, 
 who acts as his proctor, and a mandate is issued to Edward 
 Godfrith vicar of Wilsford, and John Hulet of Devizes, chap- 
 lain, to induct either the said Bishop or his proctor accordingly. 
 
 1480. Jan. 28. Henry Boost B. D. Provost of the Queen's 
 College of Eton, is admitted on the presentation of Queen 
 Elizabeth, to the " Church of Devizes" void by death.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 235 
 
 1502. May, 1. Edmund Chollerton succeeds to the rectory, 
 void by the resignation of Henry Boost, same patron. 
 
 1526. August 31. John Craffbrd B. D. priest is presented 
 by Katharine of Arragon, Henry 8's queen, on the death of 
 Edmund Chollerton. 
 
 1533. June 14. William Dawson was admitted (absolutely) 
 in the person of John Scott his proctor. Patron, Queen Ka- 
 tharine. 
 
 (1540. Circiter. Robert Peade was the Incumbent, though 
 not mentioned in the Registry.) 
 
 1570. Queen Elizabeth presents Patrick Blare to the Church 
 of St. John void by the death of John Beare. 
 
 1590. Circiter. Nicholas Stranguidge appears to have fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 1602. The Queen presents John Davies, on the resignation 
 of Nicholas Stranguidge. 
 
 1644. Nov. 9. John Prestwick, A. M. is admitted and in- 
 stituted into the " Vicarage of St. Mary the Virgin." 
 
 (A deficiency occurs in the Registry from October, 1 646, till 
 June, 1660.) 
 
 1681. Nov. 23. The Bishop admitted James Dyer, elk. to 
 the " Rectory of St. John with the Chapel of St. Mary an- 
 nexed." Patron King Charles II. 
 
 (Robert Townsend was the next incumbent, though his name 
 does not occur in the Registry.) 
 
 1721. Oct. 14. John Shergold, A. M. was admitted on the 
 presentation of George I. The living void by death. 
 
 1738. Nov. 8. William Wells, A. M. was admitted on the 
 presentation of George II. void by resignation. 
 
 1774. March 3. Edward Innes, A. M. succeeds on the 
 presentation of George III. void by the death of William 
 Wells. 
 
 1789. January 8. James Lediard is presented by the King 
 on the death of Edward Innes. 
 
 1833. April 5. Edward James Phipps succeeds on the 
 death of Mr. Lediard. Presentation by the Lord Chancellor.
 
 236 HISTORY OF 
 
 CHANTRIES. The Churches of Devizes, like many 
 others during the Catholic ages, possessed certain 
 appendages, known by the name of Chantries. 
 These were endowments for one or more priests, 
 bestowed on condition that they should sing 
 masses, and perform other divine offices for the 
 benefit of the soul of the founder, and also the 
 souls of such others,, as might be specified in the 
 institution. The spots appropriated for this pur- 
 pose were sometimes merely private altars erected 
 in the side aisles or other parts of the Mother 
 church, though not unfrequently, small chapels 
 were partitioned off, or annexed to the body of 
 the church. The traces of the former are now 
 therefore seldom visible in protestant churches ; 
 the latter of course remain unchanged, as they con- 
 stitute essential parts of the fabric. 
 
 The return of a commission made in the reign 
 of Henry VIII. and dated 14 February, 37th of 
 that reign contains an account of the revenues of 
 the following chantries in Devizes. First, a chan- 
 try founded by John Coventry in the parish 
 church of St. Mary in the Borough of Devizes 
 worth after deducting reprizes 6 10s. 2d. per 
 annum. Another chantry of the said John 
 Coventry, founded in the same Church,] worth 
 deducting reprizes 14 10s. lid. (These repri- 
 zes are rent resolute to the Queen issuing out of 
 the said lands as being within her manor of Devi- 
 zes, and the like rent resolute paid yearly for 
 a tax called "Castle Ward" for such lands 
 as were held in the park.) Thirdly, a chantry
 
 THE DEVIZES. 237 
 
 founded by William Coventry, founded also in 
 St. Mary's Church, reprizes to the manor and a 
 Charity to the alms houses deducted, leaving 6 
 65. 6d. per annum. Fourthly, a chantry within 
 the chapel of St. John the Baptist, in the parish 
 of St. Mary the Virgin in the said Borough of 
 the foundation of Richard Cardmaker, worth per 
 annum 6 3s. 4d. We learn the existence of a 
 fifth from an inquisition of 2nd Edw. VI. descri- 
 bing it as founded by John Cardmaker within the 
 parish Church of St. John, It goes on to state 
 that " the said John Cardmaker gave certain lands 
 and tenements within the Borough of The Devizes 
 unto the Mayor and brethren thereof and to their 
 successors for ever, to the intent that they should 
 find one honest priest to sing at the altar of St. 
 Leonard within the said church for the soul of the 
 said John Cardmaker for ever, and the same to 
 have, for his yearly salary or stipend. And the 
 incumbent Thomas Hancock is a right honest 
 man, well learned and right able to sustain a cure- 
 Albeit a very poor man, and hath none other 
 living but this salary ; also he hath occupied him- 
 self in and about the preaching of God's word 
 ever since he had the same chantry.'' 
 
 Soon after the Reformation, chantry endowments 
 met with the fate of the larger monastic institu- 
 tions, and went to the wall as relics of Catholic 
 superstition. They were effectually abolished by 
 Statute 1st Edward VI. c. 14, which declares all 
 entry into the lands or other revenues in terms of 
 the foundation, unlawful ; and confiscates the
 
 238 HISTORY OF 
 
 property to the king with some exceptions in fa- 
 vour of universities and other seminaries. In the 
 2nd year of Mary and Philip the king and 
 queen granted the lands and messuages belonging 
 to the chantries of the two Coventrys to two 
 persons of the names of William and Roger Allen 
 to hold in fee. At this period also, our learned 
 friend above, Thomas Hancock on losing his 
 post as incumbent of Cardmaker's chantry was 
 charged with a yearly revenue of . Mr. Brit- 
 ton mentions this last circumstance in his Wilt- 
 shire, but he states that Hancock was the incum- 
 bent of William Coventry's chantry. This arose 
 from his supposing that chantry to be one and 
 the same with the chapel constructed in the north 
 east angle of St. John's church ; but the Coven- 
 try-chantries appear to have been all in St. 
 Mary's, and moreover Mr. Phipps has disclosed 
 an inscription against the east window of the said 
 chapel which seems to point out one Richard 
 Lamb as the founder. Three of these sort of ad- 
 ditions have been made to the body of St. John's 
 church, but we have no decisive proof that they 
 were ever designed as chantries, though it is 
 highly presumable that such was the case. 
 
 PRIORIES. It now remains to speak of the 
 eleemosynary institutions of Devizes. These were 
 only two in number being Priories or Hospitals, 
 which Bishop Tanner in his " Notitia Monastica" 
 describes as having been situated in or near St.
 
 THE DEVIZES, 239 
 
 John's churchyard in his own times. One of 
 them he adds was founded for leprous persons 
 A.D. 1207, and cites a closs roll, directing the 
 Sheriff of the County to allow them to hold a fair ; 
 and a patent one which institutes Nicholas Coven- 
 try chaplain, to the wardenship of the said Hos- 
 pital in the time of Hen. IV. 
 
 This description of establishment was conducted 
 by a Master bearing the title of Prior, whose as- 
 sistants were a Chaplain and a certain number of 
 monks ; and the foundations like those of the lar- 
 ger monastic corporations, were made capable of 
 receiving gifts and grants by patent. Though 
 Tanner mentions two as having existed in Devizes 
 we meet with the specific mention of only one, in 
 the institutions to the government thereof, and 
 the other fragments of its history which have 
 reached us ; a circumstance that induces the sup- 
 position that unless the other was one of the nu- 
 merous class termed Alien-priories, it must have 
 been erected at a comparatively recent date, and 
 possessed of no foundation at all. No vestige 
 now remains of either, unless it exist in the name 
 of a messuage in the neighbourhood of Devizes, 
 still called Spital-croft. 
 
 Concerning the one founded for lepers, the first 
 historical notice we have of it is contained in the 
 closs letter mentioned above, dated 1207, and ad- 
 dressed by King John to the Sheriff, thus " Know 
 that we have granted to the lepers of Devizes, 
 that they shall have at their house, a fair year by 
 year, to continue during two days, viz. the vigil
 
 240 HISTORY OF 
 
 of the blessed Dionysius and the day following, so 
 that it may not interfere with the neighbouring 
 fairs, and we command you to publish this through- 
 out your bailiwick. Witness James of Potterne 
 dated at Devizes. 
 
 1314. 8th Ides of May. The Mayor and burgesses of De- 
 vizes presented John de Wyt of Potterne, priest, to the Priory 
 of the Hospital of St. John at Devizes, the same being vacant 
 and the presentation belonging to them. 
 
 1321. 4th Nones of Sept. At Sonnyng, the Mayor and 
 burgesses of Devizes presented William le Trappe, Priest, to the 
 priory of St. John. 
 
 1336. 2nd Ides of Sept. at Cherdstock, Queen Phillippa 
 and king Edward presented Elias de Ely, clerk to the Warden- 
 ship of the Hospital. 
 
 1399. Henry IV. presented Nicholas Coventry, chaplain, to 
 the government of the hospital of St. John, " in the king's town 
 ofVyze." 
 
 1468. 28 April. At Ramsbury, the Bishop of Sarum ad- 
 mitted Thomas Cleve priest, to the office, to which he had been 
 presented by John Raynold the elder, Mayor of the Borough. 
 
 1513. 27 May. Bishop Audley admitted Mr. Thomas Wil- 
 kynson, chaplain, and he, most probably was the last incum- 
 bent, bearing the title of Prior. 
 
 In the episcopal registry at Salisbury is pre- 
 served a document bearing date 1325 and termed 
 " an ordination of the Bishop for the Rector and 
 Prior of Devizes " It is an instrument drawn 
 up for the adjustment of various disputes previous- 
 ly existing between the Rector of the parish church 
 and the Prior and Brethren of the Hospital as to 
 the fees received at the celebration of masses ; and 
 sets forth to all sons of holy mother Church, 
 that whereas William called Trapp, Prior of St.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 241 
 
 John's by virtue of certain apostolic receipts, had 
 lodged sundry complaints against the Rector of 
 the church of Devizes; And that in consequence 
 thereof, the Prior of Bradenstock and the Abbot of 
 Stanley as his commissary having been delegated 
 by the apostolic see, to cite the parties before them; 
 the said Prior had on that occasion delivered cer- 
 tain propositions delivered to writing, reciting a 
 list of benefits, of the which he and his precursors 
 had long lived in the peaceful possession, but of 
 which the Rector had latterly evinced an anxiety 
 to claim the lion's share ; inducing in consequence, 
 sundry passages between them, not calculated on 
 the whole to draw the bonds of union unnecessarily 
 tight That now however the mutual desire of 
 peace and good order, inducing them " highly and 
 lowly to submit themselves unto the decree and 
 ordination of the Abbot and Prior aforesaid " they 
 were willing to bind themselves to the observance 
 of a variety of regulations which are therein set 
 down. An abridgement of them is as follows. 
 
 "In the case of funerals or burials and anni- 
 versaries of whatsoever persons deceased, after the 
 
 same Rector and his parish priest for 
 
 the deceased and present bodies, or like anniver- 
 saries ; it shall be lawful for the said Prior, after 
 the readings of the gospel and oblations made in 
 the masses aforesaid, to celebrate the third mass 
 in the parish church ; and the moiety of the obla- 
 tions at the same mass, by whatsoever persons 
 given, without fraud or design, to receive and have. 
 But the money or bequests for any particular mass-
 
 242 
 
 es, to wit, in honor of any saint, or for any per- 
 son living or dead, or for other divine offices by 
 him celebrated, or by any one who ought to do 
 duty in the parish church, and which to the Rector 
 and parish priest belong of common right, or 
 which are due for tithes, and accustomed to be 
 paid in their name, and in no manner by way of 
 donation or legacy, or in any other way under any 
 colour whatsoever, shall receive, unless perchance 
 on the same day when such monies to him are 
 offered for masses and celebrations, the Rector or 
 his parish priest for similar celebrations on the 
 same day being present, hath received ; on which 
 said day, the Prior, before the celebration so made 
 hath been fully satisfied : in which case, it shall 
 be lawful for the Prior so to do, but withoit pre- 
 judice to the mother church, as to which money 
 or oblations the said Rector or his parish priest 
 shall certify if required the Prior hereupon. 
 
 And in days for feasts and holidays and all 
 others except those above mentioned, it shall be 
 lawful for the said Prior by himself, or by any other 
 person of his house, to celebrate divine offices and 
 caiise the bells to be rung, but without prejudice 
 to the Mother-Church, viz. that the oblations what- 
 soever, made to hirii or to any other person cele- 
 brating on such days in his house, by devotion of 
 those hearing masses, as well that which, is offered 
 by the Parishioners of the Church in the like mass- 
 es, or on a sudden offered, he do restore to the 
 Rector ; in return for which, he the Rector is 
 bound to behave himself courteouslv ; on which
 
 THE DEVIZES. 243 
 
 said days, every one willing to attend from devo- 
 tion to hear the divine offices or to pray, without 
 prejudice to the parish Church, shall be freely 
 admitted ; but the oblation if any there be, on the 
 same days, to wit, on simple holidays and profoasts 
 from new-comers or strangers, shall be restored to 
 the Rector as before stated, though ostensibly such 
 comers shall be beholden to the Prior in his cha- 
 racter of a religious person, though in his own 
 proper person he shall not assume any thing, but 
 content him with the common vestments after ithe 
 manner of secular priests religiously, though not 
 after the regular manner in his own house ; he 
 shall live sparingly and decently, and shall pay 
 all manner tythes great and small of the lands, 
 curtilages, and gardens within the aforesaid parish 
 being as the other parishioners thereof. 
 
 And the said Prior, as to sepulture only, if liv- 
 ing elsewhere, shall not elect ; but all and singu- 
 lar other persons, as well Familiars as others 
 dwelling in his house, with ail things touching the 
 parochial rights, ;shall be regarded truly and per- 
 petually as parishioners of the Church of Devizes, 
 and no parishioners shall be admitted to hear di- 
 vine offices in the aforesaid Priory on the Sundays 
 and greater holidays, nor to receive sacraments or 
 sacramentals, unless with the licence of the Rector 
 or his parish priest. JSIor in cases of danger of 
 death, shall he the Prior minister unto them, con- 
 trary to the form underwritten, nor on the same 
 days shall he celebrate mass for them publickly 
 or cause the bells to be rung ; but if he will he
 
 244 
 
 may do so privately, after that divine offices in the 
 aforesaid church shall have been Derformed, or at 
 
 C 
 
 least after the elevation of the body of Christ made 
 in great mass, and not before, unless by licence 
 of the Rector or his parish priest, and in form 
 underwritten. Neither shall any bread or holy 
 water be administered to the said parishioners, 
 nor to those of the villages, nor to strangers hear- 
 ing mass there ; no oblations under whatever 
 name shall be received there or elsewhere in the 
 parish, except the moiety of the oblations to the 
 said house and those presented on the nativity of 
 John the Baptist, arising as well from the parish- 
 ioners as from strangers by devotion being there, 
 and willing to make offering. These which the 
 Priors being present, have been, as they assert, 
 in the habit of receiving, that is to say, the moiety 
 thereof, they may continue to receive, surrendering 
 the other moiety to the Rector. And in case of be- 
 quests made for the sustentation of the house afore- 
 said whether to the Prior thereof or to the sick there, 
 provided there be no deceit or fraud in this tehalf, 
 that is, provided the bequests bear the character 
 of oblations for their prayers, and not that of 
 tythes due or accustomed, or of parochial rights 
 conferred or bequeathed ; then the Prior shall be 
 at liberty, saving first the ordination aforesaid, 
 to take and have all such gifts, alms, &c. and to 
 pray for all the benefactors of his house and its 
 founders daily in the mass by way of general com- 
 memoration. 
 
 But if it chance on the Sundays or greater holi-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 245 
 
 days, that the Constables (of the Castle) or other 
 burgesses of the townships, or strangers shall wish 
 to hear mass in the church, for them or for any of 
 them only ; it shall be had early, without the ring- 
 ing of the great bells, but only of the small bell ; 
 and the celebration thereof shall be with a low 
 voice at the elevation of the body of Christ ; and 
 provided no other parishioners be knowingly ad- 
 mitted, bread and holy water shall be conferred ; 
 the oblations to be disposed of according to the 
 above definition, this only being added, that if 
 the lord the King or the lady the Queen or their 
 children or servants whether knights or any 
 other strangers making stay on Easter day, 
 are willing to communicate oblations at the due 
 time as though made by parishioners of the 
 church ; such communications witlT effect to be 
 restored to the Rector. 
 
 The Holidays which the Prior before the ele- 
 vation as aforesaid shall not celebrate, unless in 
 the cases above excepted are as follows, to wit. 
 The Nativity Circumcision and Purification The 
 Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Easter As- 
 censionPentecostAssumption, and Nativity of 
 the blessed Virgin All saints Holy Trinity 
 Corpus Christi and Palm Sunday, together with 
 certain Sundays of the whole year and other days 
 which the parishioners by way of espousals, dedica- 
 tion of the church or other matters, ought by cus- 
 tom or of right to keep, when solemn processions, 
 congregations, or sermons are had in the Church ; 
 of which espousals, processions, &c. the Rector or
 
 242 HISTORY OF 
 
 es, to wit, in honor of any saint, or for any per- 
 son living or dead, or for other divine offices by 
 him celebrated, or by any one who ought to do 
 duty in the parish church, and which to the Rector 
 and parish priest belong of common right, or 
 which are due for tithes, and accustomed to be 
 paid in their name, and in no manner by way of 
 donation or legacy, or in any other way under any 
 colour whatsoever, shall receive, unless perchance 
 on the same day when such monies to him are 
 offered for masses and celebration-, the Rector or 
 his parish priest for similar celebrations on the 
 same day being present, hath received ; on which 
 said day, the Prior, before the celebration so made 
 hath been fully satisfied : in which case, it shall 
 be lawful for the Prior so to do, but withoi.t pre- 
 judice to the mother church, as to which money 
 or oblations the said Rector or his parish priest 
 shall certify if required the Prior hereupon. 
 
 And in days for feasts and holidays and all 
 others except those above mentioned, it shall be 
 lawful for the said Prior by himself, or by any other 
 person of his house, to celebrate divine offices and 
 caitse the bells to be rung, but without prejudice 
 to the Mother-Church, viz. that Ihe oblations what- 
 soever, made to him or to any other person cele- 
 brating on such days in his house, by devotion of 
 those hearing masses, as well that which, is offered 
 by the Parishioners of the Church in the like mass- 
 es, or on a sudden offered, he do restore to the 
 Rector; in return for which, he the Rector is 
 bound to behave himself courteouslv ; on which
 
 THE DEVIZES. 243 
 
 said days, every one willing to attend from devo- 
 tion to hear the divine offices or to pray, without 
 prejudice to the parish Church, shall be freely 
 admitted ; but the oblation if any there be, on the 
 same days, to wit, on simple holidays and profoasts 
 from new-comers or strangers, shall be restored to 
 the Rector as before stated, though ostensibly sucli 
 coiners shall be beholden to the Prior in his cha- 
 racter of a religious person, though in his own 
 proper person he shall not assume any thing, but 
 content him with the common vestments after-ithe 
 manner of secular priests religiously, though not 
 after the regular manner in his own house ; he 
 shall live sparingly and decently, and shall pay 
 all manner tythes great and small of the lands, 
 curtilages, and gardens within the aforesaid parish 
 being as the other parishioners thereof. 
 
 And the said Prior, as to sepulture only, if liv- 
 ing elsewhere, shall not elect ; but all and singu- 
 lar other persons, as well Familiars as others 
 dwelling in his house, with all things touching the 
 parochial rights, ;;shall be regarded truly and per- 
 petually as parishioners of the Church of Devizes, 
 and no parishioners shall be admitted to hear di- 
 vine offices in the aforesaid Priory on the Sundays 
 and greater holidays, nor to receive sacraments or 
 sacramentals, unless with the licence of the Rector 
 or his parish priest. .Nor in cases of danger of 
 death, shall he the Prior minister unto them, con- 
 trary to the form underwritten, nor on the same 
 days shall he celebrate mass for them publickly 
 or cause the bells to be rung ; but if he will he
 
 248 HISTORY OF 
 
 19th Henry II. Under the head of Wardships 
 and Escheats, Guido the Dean accounts for forty 
 shillings received of the men of Devizes. 
 
 23rd Henry II. A talliage was assessed on the 
 king's demesnes in Wiltshire, and paid under the 
 name of a " gift " Devizes paid 8. 12. 10. 
 
 5th Richard I. During this year the first tax 
 was levied on the kingdom as an aid to the re- 
 demption of King Richard then in captivity The 
 Borough of Devizes paid 3 marks : and on the 
 occasion of the second tax for that purpose 100 
 shillings and 8. pence. 
 
 1 Oth Richard I. Another general talliage De- 
 vizes paid 13 marks. 
 
 1st. John. Another talliage. The return states 
 that Devizes is in arrearage by 5 marks. 
 
 2nd. John. The king confirms the Charter of 
 privileges granted to the Burgesses of Devizes by 
 his father Hen. II. on the payment of a fine of 12 
 marks and one palfrey. 
 
 20th. Henry III. At a general talliage, this 
 year, the town pays 100 shillings. 
 
 30th Henry III. The town is in arrearage by 
 12 marks. 
 
 The following notices relating to the Borough 
 or its inhabitants are of a more miscellaneous cha- 
 racter, and are derived from a variety of sources. 
 It was necessary thus to combine a number of in-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 249 
 
 congruous events and arrange them chronologi- 
 cally, in order to avoid the necessity of travelling 
 too often over the same ground ; which the rea- 
 der will readily conceive, is a matter of some diffi- 
 culty to escape in a work like the present. 
 
 Hen. II. The king grants to Richard Ruffe 
 (inter alia) the forest of Seend, and the houses 
 which he holds in Devizes. Confirmed in 1st 
 Rich. I. and 5th John, confirmed to Thomas, 
 nephew of the said Richard (C/oss Rolls.) 
 
 14th John. At a levy raised this year to aid the 
 war against Prince Louis, the town furnished 10 
 men. ( Writs for Mil Ser.) 
 
 6th Henry III. William Brewer constable of 
 the castle of Devizes is commanded to permit the 
 men of Richard Bishop of Sarum to remain free 
 from customs or tolls in the town of Devizes. T. 
 R. (Closs rolls m. 18.) 
 
 7th Henry III. The King to the Sheriff of 
 Wilts. Know that we will that a fair be held at De- 
 vizes, once a year, viz. on the vigil, the day and 
 the morrow of St. John the Baptist for ever. 
 And we command you to publish the same through- 
 out your bailiwick. Teste Hubert de Burgh, at 
 Calne. (Closs Rolls, m. 15.) This privilege 
 was obtained by Richard Poore, Bishop of 
 Salisbury. 
 
 3rd. Edward I, In the early part of this reign, 
 Inquisitions were held, and the returns made, 
 known by the name of the Rotuli Hundredorum, 
 to which we have already had recourse. Under 
 the head of " Burgus de Divisis " are a variety of
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 queries put to the Jury, some of whose replies are 
 as follows : 
 
 They return That the king holds the Borough 
 of Devizes, of ancient royal demesne, together 
 with the advowsons of two chapels worth 10. 
 
 That the Borough with the rents arising from 
 the herbage and pannage of two parks, with two 
 gardens, the rent of a little park and meadow, 
 and the tolls arising from the market and from 
 hawkers, makes a return to the king of 29. 2s. 
 4d. Another jury specifies these returns thus. 
 The tolls of the market 9. 11s. perquisites of 
 the Court 16. and from two bedells (bailiffs of 
 the forest] 100 shillings. 
 
 That the Borough has the return of burgesses 
 or of briefs, (tirivmj 
 
 Concerning lands held of ancient royal demesne 
 they declare That Walter Fayrenture who had 
 held of the king a certain burgage in capite, sold 
 it to Thomas Revell, and that the abbot of Stanley 
 now holds it. 
 
 Who claims to have the return of briefs? That 
 the constable of Devizes (Castle) has the return, 
 and the burgesses playne much of unlawful de- 
 straints. Item, the king has here a gallows ^cri- 
 minal court,} the rents arising from bread and 
 venison, with other things that to the crown per- 
 tain CdoubtfulJ 
 
 Concerning concessions granted to individuals, 
 which have tended to impede the course of jus- 
 tice That the burgesses of Devizes have a privi- 
 lege granted by the king's predecessor, that no
 
 THE DEVIZES. 251 
 
 market should beheld within seven miles fleucasj 
 of the Borough. That nevertheless Richard de 
 Rokell had instituted one to be holden in the ma- 
 nor of Steeple-Lavington on the day preceding 
 the market day of Devizes, to the detriment of the 
 latter, as shewn by the fact that the tolls though 
 formerly amounting to 16. were now but 12. 
 
 Concerning encroachments made upon the king 
 That certain stalls had been erected in the mar- 
 ket-place by Earl Warwick and Phillip Bassett 
 formerly constables of the Castle, and being placed 
 at a reduced rent, tended to the injury of the said 
 market. 
 
 The following names are those of the Justices 
 of the Borough, constituting one of these juries 
 viz. William Gray, Henry Procar, Geoffrey Bol- 
 hard, Robert Gray, Philip Goring, Nicholas My- 
 mhym, Hugh Honan, William Estmond, Geoffrey 
 Edward, William Godio, John Tynctor, John 
 Clark. 
 
 10th Edw. 1, At a muster at Rhudlan in Wales 
 this year, William of The Devizes performed 
 military service due from the Abbot of Malinsbury, 
 for lands held by him. (Writs for MIL Ser.) 
 During the same year, he performed the office for 
 John de la Mare also. 
 
 10th Edw. I. The King caused Ralph de Sand- 
 wich constable of the Castle, to convert the mea- 
 dows in the Park of Devizes into pasture land for 
 the support of the King's deer and other animals. 
 
 8th Edw. II. Thomas de Yutflet parson of 
 the church at Devizes, complains to the king in
 
 252 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 parliament That his predecessors had the tenth 
 part of the hay in the park : which meadow has 
 lately been turned into pasture, and sold to divers 
 persons for the feeding of their beasts. From 
 which he claims redress. Response. John de 
 Foxle, Master John Waleweyn and William de 
 Harden, or two of them, are ordered to make in- 
 quisition as to whether or not the king when the 
 park was in his hands, was in the habit of giving 
 away the tenth part, and in what shape or form. 
 Also, to enquire, that if the said meadow has been 
 changed When, and by whom, and to what ex- 
 tent, and what that tenth part is worth. The 
 inquisition to be made in the presence of the par- 
 son and reported to the king. No report (Par- 
 liamentary Rolls.) 
 
 4th Edw. IIT. On the same rolls is a petition 
 from the Burgesses of Devizes, praying for the 
 restitution of their former privileges. In the ori- 
 ginal Norman French it reads thus " A notre 
 seigneur le roi, et a son conseil, Prient les bons 
 gentz de la ville de Devisis qu'il pleise de sa grace 
 graunter a eaux 1'avaunt dit ville pur le aunciene 
 estent, come ils solent avoir en temps be bone 
 Roi Edward ; car ils sount enpoveritz et destrutz 
 par fermours et estraungers qui fount execucion 
 par bailiffs nient conuz, la ou ils duissent avoir 
 eleccion de leur mesmes. D'altre parte, ils duis- 
 sent avoir playne returne du Briefs lequele est ore 
 par fermours detenu, a graunt damage de eaux, 
 parquoy ils prient, pur Dieu, qu 'ils puissent 
 avoir les usages et custumes sicome ils averunt 
 en temps passe."
 
 THE DEVIZES, 253 
 
 Response. "Soit ceste peticion mande en Chaun- 
 celrie, et illocqes monstrent comeut ils soleient 
 tenir la ville, et droitleur soit fait." 
 
 20th Edw. III. On the occasion of a terrible 
 tempest which destroyed the King's fleet at Ports- 
 mouth this year, writs were issued to the various 
 cities and towns to equip and send an appointed 
 number of horsemen to meet tha king at Ports- 
 mouth for the defence of the realm. The Mayor 
 and Burgesses of Devizes are to furnish four men 
 at arms. * (Writs for MIL Ser.) 
 
 24th Edw. III. On the occasion of another 
 muster which took place at Sandwich in Sussex. 
 Devizes sent one man at arms. 
 
 1 5th Rich. II. John Waltham Bishop of Sarum 
 obtained a grant of free warren at Potterne, and at 
 the same tune a confirmation of the privilege of 
 holding the fair at Southbroom " without the town 
 of Devizes." (Cal Chart.) 
 
 1510. The Borough representations were this 
 year (2nd of Henry VIII.) chosen in the County- 
 Court. 
 
 Circiter, 1573. Among proceedings in Chan- 
 cery of the reign of Elizabeth, occurs a case in 
 which the Mayor and Burgesses of Devizes are 
 plaintiffs, and Henry Grubb defendant. The ob- 
 ject of the suit was a bill to stay proceedings at 
 law ; the bill respected a claim made by Defen- 
 
 * The numbers mentioned in the other writs to Wiltshire 
 are by way of comparison here subjoined. Salisbury was to 
 send 30 Malmsbury 5 Marlborough 4 Amesbury 2 Chip- 
 penhara 2 Bradford 2.
 
 254 HISTORY OF 
 
 dant of wages from the town of Devizes for his 
 services in parliament, notwithstanding his pro- 
 mise to the contrary. 
 
 35th Elizabeth 1593. The warlike part of the 
 feodal system may be said to have been abolished 
 so soon as personal service was dispensed with for 
 a pecuniary commutation. Afterwards came the 
 assize of arms (not to leave the kingdom without 
 defence.) Then commissions of array, and by 
 degrees under the Tudors, the system of lieuten- 
 antcy. On the Chamberlain's books of the above 
 date we accordingly meet with a notice of the 
 order of a " taxation for armour " arriving at 
 Devizes, wherein are given the names of those who 
 bore arms in the town. In lists which are given 
 on the arrival of similar orders in the years 1595 
 1599 and 1608 appear also the names of such 
 others of the townspeople as were compelled to 
 equip them. For instance, about 20 persons are 
 appointed to 7 soldiers ; two, three, or four having 
 the charge of one, whom they are to arm with 
 weapons, pay for his training, and keep his corslet 
 cleansed and scoured. In one instance, another 
 individual still, has to furnish his supplies. 
 
 These soldiers are divided into 4 companies of 
 five or six men each, and are distinguished as, 1st. 
 those who bore " Corsletts and bills " 2nd. 
 "Corsletts and Pikes "3rd. " Calivers "and 
 4th. "Archers." In the last instance which oc- 
 curs, viz. in 1608, the archers are exchanged for 
 musketeers. The statutes of armour were repealed 
 by James I.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 255 
 
 Among the state-papers in the Library of the 
 British Museum is preserved an interesting collec- 
 tion of letters and other documents relating to 
 the mustering of the trained-bands, and some few 
 other matters, at the time that Edward Earl of 
 Hertford was Lieutenant of the County during 
 the early part of James 1 's reign. The periodi- 
 cal arrangements for the reviewing of the troops 
 appeared to have been entered into in this town, if 
 we may draw such a conclusion from the only in- 
 stance which occurs in the Collection. The de- 
 puty lieutenants of the county at that time were 
 Sir Thomas George Sir James Mervin Sir 
 Walter Long, and Sir William Eyre. One of the 
 troops was called " the horse-troop of the Clergy 
 of the county" and by a letter dated 31st. Au- 
 gust 1609, Lord Hertford commits to the Bishop 
 of Sarum the nomination of its Captain. In the 
 same coUection there are two or three long letters 
 from the King on the subject of the growth of silk- 
 worms in Wiltshire, a project which James ap- 
 pears to have taken up with considerable warmth. 
 He directs Hertford as an influential person in 
 the County to persuade the Gentry (but not the 
 poor) at Quarter sessions or other occasions of 
 public meeting, to grow Mulberry trees through- 
 out the County. The young plants were to be 
 raised at Salisbury, and sold in the ensuing spring 
 to such as would purchase them, at the rate of 
 three farthings the plant, or six shillings the hun- 
 dred (containing five score.) 
 
 1622. The Governors and Company of the Plan-
 
 256 HISTORY OF 
 
 tation of Virginia having drawn and finished a 
 lottery in the Borough, left 40. to be lent out 
 to poor tradesmen dwelling therein. 
 
 1625-6. Feb. 28th. In the House of Commons, 
 it is " Ordered, that a writ shall issue for a new 
 choice of a Burgess for the Borough of Vizes, in 
 the room of Sir Henry Lee, called by writ to the 
 upper house sithence his return hither." 
 
 1645. The resolutions passed in the House in 
 this and the following year relative to the slight- 
 ing of the Castle, and the restitution to the inhab- 
 itants of their goods contained in it, have already 
 been recited in the narrative of those events. 
 
 1 658. In the " Catalogue of the Lords, Knights, 
 and Gentlemen who compounded for their estates 
 under Cromwell's administration, occur the names 
 of two Gentlemen of Devizes viz. 
 
 Richard Pierce, amerced in 426. 
 Michrel Tidcombe in . . 217. 
 
 "This tax, called the tenth-penny, was imposed 
 upon all those who were considered hostile to the 
 Commonwealth, and obstinately attached to the 
 cause of Charles II : not as has been stated by 
 some historians, the tenth part of a man's capital 
 and property, but the tenth of the annual income 
 it produced. It was further directed that none 
 should be subjected to it who did not possess an 
 estate of one hundred pounds a year in land, or a 
 personal property to the value of fifteen hundred 
 pounds." (See Godwin's Commonwealth.) 
 
 1660. April 27. In the House of Commons 
 Mr. Turner reports from the Committee for pri-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 257 
 
 vileges and elections, touching the double return 
 from the Borough of Devizes. That William 
 Lewis and Robert Aldworth Esquires are return- 
 ed by the Mayor under the common seal, and 
 William Lewis and John Norden by the Burgess- 
 es only. The opinion of the Committee is that 
 Robert Aldworth Esq. ought to sit in the house 
 until the merits of the cause touching the said 
 double return be determined. Resolved accord- 
 ingly to that effect. 
 
 1678-9 March 22. A petition from the Com- 
 mon Councilmen and inhabitants of the Borough 
 was read in the House, complaining of undue and 
 illegal practises used by the Mayor of Devizes in 
 electing and returning Sir Edward Bayntun and 
 Sir Walter Earnly to serve in parliament, in in- 
 jury of the petitioners. Resolved That the said 
 petition be referred to the consideration of the 
 Committee of privileges and elections. No report. 
 
 1680 Nov. 1. A petition of Sir Walter Earnly 
 and George Johnson Esq. was read. No report. 
 
 1680-1. March 24. A petition of Sir Edward 
 Hungerford and John Eyles Esq. touching the 
 election for the Borough, presented. Ordered 
 That the said petition be referred as above. No 
 report. 
 
 1685. During this year, which was the first of 
 James II., that monarch paid the town a visit, and 
 remained here a fortnight. For certain particu- 
 lars connected with that event, see the last chap- 
 ter of this work. 
 
 It may not be amiss in this place, for the pur-
 
 258 HISTORY OP 
 
 pose of affording in some measure a key to the 
 irregularities which characterized elections at this 
 period, to add a short extract from Burnet's ac- 
 count of James's first parliament. 
 
 " Complaints came up from all parts of Eng- 
 land of the injustice and violence used in Elec- 
 tions, beyond what had ever been practised in 
 former times. And this was so universal over 
 the whole nation, that no corner of it was neg- 
 lected. In the new charters that had been grant- 
 ed, the election of the members had been taken 
 out of the hands of the inhabitants and restrained 
 to the corporation men, all those being left out 
 who were not acceptable at court. In some Bo- 
 roughs they could not find a number of men to be 
 depended upon, so the neighbouring gentlemen 
 were made the Corporation men, and in some of 
 these, persons of other counties, not so much as 
 known in the Borough, were named. This was 
 practised in the most avowed manner in Cornwall 
 by the Earl of Bath, who to secure himself the 
 Groom of the Stole's place which he held all King 
 Charles* time, put the officers of the Guards' 
 names in almost all the Charters of that County." 
 " The Boroughs of England saw their privileges 
 now wrested out of their hands, and that their 
 elections which had made them so considerable 
 before, were hereafter to be made as the court 
 should direct. So that from henceforth, little re- 
 gard would be had to them, and the usual prac- 
 tises in courting, or rather in corrupting them, 
 would be no longer pursued." " The Duke of
 
 THE DEVIZES. 259 
 
 Monmouth's agents made great use of this. It 
 was resolved to bring up petitions against some 
 elections that were so indecently managed that it 
 seemed scarce possible to excuse them ; but these 
 were to be judged by a majority of men who knew 
 their own elections to be so faulty, that to secure 
 themselves, they would justify the rest." 
 
 1688-9 Jan. 22. A petition of Sir John Eyles 
 and William Trenchard was read, complaining of 
 an undue return of burgesses for the Borough. 
 Ordered to be referred as above. 
 
 March 21. Colonel Birch reports from the 
 Committee to whom the matter had been referred, 
 That the state of the fact appeared as followeth. 
 
 Upon the petition of Sir John Eyles and Wil- 
 liam Trenchard against the return of the sitting 
 members, Sir William Pinsent Bart, and Walter 
 Grubb Esq. That the question was whether the 
 Mayor and the Burgesses as a select number had 
 the right of Election, or all the free Burgesses of 
 the Borough. That the petitioner's counsel insis- 
 ted that the Borough was a Borough by prescrip- 
 tion, but not a Corporation by prescription, and 
 that all the Burgesses had a right to elect. And 
 produced a Charter of 15th Edw. Ill, being a grant 
 to the " Burgesses and their successors " and an 
 Indenture of a return of 2nd Hen V. of Burgesses 
 by the Sheriff of the County, as chosen for the 
 Community of the Borough, and another Inden- 
 ture of 1st Mary, wherein it was said that " The 
 Mayor pro se et Communitate Burgi " had return- 
 ed the Burgesses. Also an Indenture of a return
 
 260 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 of 3 1st Charles II made by the Mayor and Bur- 
 gesses in general. And the counsel said, They 
 had copies of other returns between these times, 
 but that the record could not be found, to ex- 
 amine them therewith. 
 
 That the petitoners also produced another wit- 
 ness who said that a Poll was now demanded by 
 the Petitioners for all the Burgesses, and was de- 
 nied, and upon cross examination said. He had 
 lived near 60 years in the Town, and known several 
 elections, but none that was by the popularity, 
 but one about eight years since : when Sir Giles 
 Hungerford and Sir John Eyles (one of the now 
 petitioners) were returned by that choice, against 
 Sir Walter Earnly and George Johnson Esq. who 
 were chosen by the select members. And the 
 petitioners did not make out that any other elec- 
 tion but that, had been by the Populacy or Bur- 
 gesses in general. 
 
 For the sitting members it was insisted that De- 
 vizes was a Corporation by prescription, and that 
 the right of Election was in the Mayor and Bur- 
 gesses as a select number. And produced returns 
 of 43rd Eliz. 1st JasI 21st Jas I. 1st CharlesI, 
 by the Mayor and Burgesses And that they said 
 they had several others Also a Charter of 3rd Jas. 
 I, wherein it was recited that the Mayor and Bur- 
 gesses had time out of mind, divers immunities 
 franchises and privileges ; and therefore it was 
 insisted that it was a Corporation by prescription. 
 
 And as to the election of 1679 that it proved 
 that Sir Walter Earnly and Mr Johnson petitioned
 
 THE DEVIZES. 261 
 
 against it, but that it was not decided. And then 
 the now petitioner Sir John Eyles gave to the 
 then Mayor (one Whatton) a bond of 2.000 
 dated 15 Sep. 1679 (which was proved by that 
 Mayor himself) to save him harmless against all 
 damages by reason of his making that return of 
 Sir Giles Hungerford and Sir John Eyles. And 
 that he said further, that he was fearful to make 
 that return by the election of the Burgesses in 
 general ; it having been never done before that he 
 knew ; and therefore being pressed to make, took 
 the Bond. 
 
 And that thereupon the Committee came to two 
 resolves, as follows : Resolved, that it is the 
 opinion of this committee that the right of election 
 is in the Mayor and a select number of burgesses 
 only and 2ndly That it is their opinion that 
 Sir William Pinsent, Bart, and Walter Grubb, 
 Esq. are duly elected, With both which the 
 House agreed. 
 
 1689, March 24. A petition of the burgesses 
 of the Borough was read, thereby setting forth. 
 That at the election of Burgesses for the said Bo- 
 rough on the seventeenth of March last, a poll 
 was taken, whereat 59 of the burgesses and no 
 more, appeared either at the election or poll, of 
 which Walter Grubb Esq., had 55 voices, John 
 Methuen Esq., 36, and Sir Thomas Fowles, 23 : 
 whereby the two former ought to have been re- 
 turned by indenture under the common seal. 
 Yet notwithstanding Richard Hillier the present 
 Mayor took upon himself privately, without the
 
 262 HISTORY OF 
 
 common seal (according to constant usage) but 
 by his own seal to make a return as the act and 
 deed of the burgesses : and to countenance such 
 his proceedings, adjourned the poll, and caused 
 eight persons who were elected burgesses by virtue 
 of the new Charter of the late King James, and 
 were not living in the town, and had no right of 
 election, to be polled for the said Sir Thomas 
 Fowles ; and notwithstanding the majority were 
 for Mr. Grubb and Mr. Methuen, yet the said 
 Mayor hath returned Sir Thomas Fowles, though 
 unduly elected And praying that the merits of 
 the election may be examined, and the right of 
 Election preserved as it ought to be. Ordered to 
 be referred, &c. 
 
 1689-90 March 27. Mr John Methuen's peti- 
 tion to the same effect was read. Ordered to be 
 referred, &c. 
 
 March 29. Mr. Gray reports from the Com- 
 mittee, That upon inspection of the pre- 
 cept, it was found to be directed by the Sheriff to 
 the " Mayor of Devizes, " and that therefore Sir 
 Thomas Fowles and Walter Grubb Esq., are duly 
 returned. To which the house agreed, and the 
 Clerk being at the door, was called in, and at the 
 table he amended the return by taking off from 
 the file the indenture of the return of Mr. Grubb 
 and Mr. Methuen. 
 
 October 6. Mr. Methuen's petition is again 
 read, and the matter again referred to the Com- 
 mittee of privileges and elections. 
 
 December 22. Mr. Gray reports- That the
 
 THE DEVIZES. 263 
 
 right of election appears to be in. the free burgesses 
 of The Devizes, and there are in The Devizes a 
 Mayor, Recorder, 12 major capital Burgesses and 
 24 minor capital Burgesses, as they are called, 
 which are in the nature of a common-council. 
 
 Richard Hope on behalf of the petitioners, said 
 he was Clerk of the Court of Record there, in na- 
 ture of a town Clerk, and took the poll with the 
 consent of the Mayor; that upon the poll the 
 numbers were thus : 
 
 For Sir Thomas Fowles 23 
 For Mr. Methuen . . 36 
 
 On the behalf of the sitting member Dauntsey 
 Brouncker said he took the poll by order of Sir 
 Thomas Fowles, and with the consent of the 
 Mayor ; and that upon his poll the numbers were 
 For Sir Thomas Fowles 31 
 For Mr. Methuen ... 36 
 
 That afterwards Sir Thomas Fowles and Mr. 
 Methuen came to the Mayor's and agreed that the 
 poll should be scrutinized by two of the Council 
 as they call it and two gentlemen. And the not 
 taking the oaths appointed to be taken by the 
 officers before the first of August, was admitted to 
 be a good exception ; Mr. Methuen being present 
 and not opposing it. That upon the scrutiny it 
 appeared that nine of those who voted for Mr. 
 Methuen had not taken the oaths, and five others 
 had not signed the Declaration of the Test, where- 
 as only three of Sir Thomas's voters had not taken 
 the oaths and one only had not subscribed to the 
 Declaration.
 
 264 HISTORY OF 
 
 Charles Danvers Recorder of the Borough for 
 twenty years past, said That the new burgesses 
 used to take the oath according to the I3th 
 Charles I, and if not, were put out ; and also used 
 to take the Test ; and that in particular Sir John 
 Eyles (for instance) after he had taken the oath of 
 a freeman, was put out for not taking of the other 
 oaths. 
 
 John Bolles said, That after 36 had polled for Mr. 
 Methuen, and 23 for Sir Thomas Fowles, the 
 Town Clerk said there was an end to the poll, but 
 the Mayor told him, ' ' that was not his business" 
 Whereupon there was a great tumult, which occa- 
 sioned the Town-clerk not to go on. But after- 
 wards eight more polled for Sir Thomas. 
 
 Francis Paradise, John Rogers and Francis 
 Paradise Jun. testified that the Recorder had de- 
 clared it his opinion that the free burgesses were 
 not obliged to take the oaths ; but the Recorder 
 rebutted the charge before the Committee. 
 
 Francis Sadler said, The Recorder had ordered 
 the sergeant to go to all the free burgesses and 
 acquaint them, they must come in and take the 
 oaths or they would be put out. And Richard 
 Bundy said that the Quarter Sessions were ad- 
 journed several times for swearing free-Burgesses. 
 Francis Paradise said that the five objected 
 against, for not subscribing the Declaration, had 
 taken the oaths and their money ; but not being 
 able to write, had desired that their hands might 
 be put to the Declaration. 
 
 Upon the whole matter, the Committee came
 
 THE DEVIZES. 265 
 
 to the resolution that Sir Thomas Fowles' election 
 ought to stand ; but the House negatived this de- 
 cision, the Yeas being 149. The Noes 157. 
 Upon which it was resolved that the return should 
 be again amended in favour of Mr. Methuen. 
 
 1695. December 7. A petition of Sir Francis 
 Child, knt., was presented to the house and read, 
 setting forth that Sir Edw. Earnly and the peti- 
 tioner, being elected Burgesses to serve in parlia- 
 ment ought to have been returned ; but that by 
 the undue practices of John Methuen Esq. that 
 gentleman is returned with Sir Edw. Earnly, to the 
 petitioner's injury No report. 
 
 1697. The Borough sends an address of con- 
 gratulation to King William III. on his safe re- 
 turn to England after concluding the treaty of 
 Ryswick.* 
 
 1696. The clothiers and others of the Town 
 petition the House complaining of the scarcity of 
 coined money Referred to Committee on coinage 
 bill. 
 
 1697. Another petition of the inhabitants sets 
 
 * This treaty concluded the long war with Louis 14th, and 
 neter had a people more reason to congratulate, if not their 
 gracious sovereign, at least themselves, at the arrival of a peace 
 which had it been delayed much longer, could hardly have 
 brought a blessing with it, so utterly were wasted as well their 
 patience as their resources. Smollet observes on this subject 
 that " though William's ambition and revenge remained unsat- 
 isfied, yet he reaped the solid advantage of seeing himself firm- 
 ly established on the English throne " and the encroachments 
 of the French king put a stop to The English nation no doubt 
 felt much obliged to him.
 
 forth that many thousand makers of yarn are 
 thrown out of employment, owing to the great 
 growth of wool-broggers or Ingrossers of wool. 
 
 1699. The mayor, aldermen, and other inhabi- 
 tants oppose the bill for making the Avon navi- 
 gable between Bath and Bristol. 
 
 1701. The French king having countenanced 
 the claims of the pretended Prince of Wales as he 
 was styled ; The mayor, recorder, and burgesses 
 of Devizes, forthwith send an address to the crown, 
 declaring their readiness to peril their lives in be- 
 half of the reigning sovereign. 
 
 1702. At a court of common council this year 
 in consideration that the well-water of the Borough 
 was not considered sufficiently good, and an offer 
 being made by one Mr. Yarnold to convey better 
 into the town through the medium of pipes, it 
 was voted needful that a lease and liberty should 
 be granted for the laying of pipes in such of the 
 waste parts of the Borough, as should be deemed 
 desirable, for a term not exceeding 99 years No 
 decided step was taken. 
 
 1 706-7 Jan. 8. Tn the house of Commons a pe- 
 tition of Thomas Webb sergeant at law, was read 
 setting forth that the petitioner was duly chosen 
 a burgess to serve for the Borough in the room of 
 John Methuen Esq. deceased. But Josiah Diston 
 Esq. prevailed upon the high sheriff to deliver the 
 precept to one Richard Hope gentleman, who took 
 upon him to act at the election as mayor, though 
 he was not ; and hath returned the said Mr. Dis- 
 ton, in wrong to the petitioner Ordered to be
 
 THE DEVIZES. 267 
 
 referred to the Committee, &c. The petitioner 
 withdrew his claim on the 29th. 
 
 1708. November 27. A petition of Thomas 
 Webb Esq. on the behalf of himself and others 
 being the majority of the Common Council of the 
 Borough, was read, setting forth that a writ issuing 
 to the High Sheriff for choosing two members, 
 Josiah Diston a Blackwell-Hall factor prevailed 
 upon Robert Payne gent, the under Sheriff, to 
 deliver his precept to John Eyles Esq. as mem- 
 ber of the said Borough (although Mr. Eyles was 
 not Mayor nor so much as a member of the Body 
 Corporate, there being at that time no Mayor) 
 who at the instigation of the said Mr. Diston un- 
 dertook and did execute the said precept, and 
 hath returned Paul Methuen Esq, and the said 
 Mr. Diston to serve in parliament. That the pe- 
 titioner is, and when the precept was executed 
 was Recorder of the said Borough and one of the 
 Common Council, and as the Recorder is (by the 
 Charter of the said Borough) the chief officer in 
 the vacancy of a Mayor ; and that he and others 
 of the common council making a majority thereof 
 (before the said John Eyles executed the precept) 
 sent to forbid the same, and demanded the pre- 
 cept, and for the reasons aforesaid not only refused 
 to attend and give their votes, but sent a protes- 
 tation in writing against such proceedings. And 
 therefore the said Borough is not duly represented 
 in this parliament : and praying the House to take 
 the matter into their consideration. 
 
 The merits of the said Election were ordered ta
 
 268 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 be heard on the 28th day of April next Five 
 months after. No report. 
 
 1710. Dec. 1. A petition of Sir Francis 
 Child and Mr. Sergeant Webb, was read, setting 
 forth that at the late election, the candidates to 
 represent the Borough being Paul Methuen Esq. 
 and Josiah Diston, Blackwell-Hall factor, besides 
 the petitioners. That James Sutton, Gent, having 
 gotten the precept, proceeded to execute the same 
 as Mayor, though he was not the legal Mayor, and 
 was guilty of many indirect practices ; and hath 
 returned Mr. Methuen and Mr. Diston as duly 
 chosen, though the petitioners were djuly elected 
 by a majority of legal votes, and ought to have 
 been returned ; and Mr. Diston and his agents 
 and also Mr. Methuen's agent were guilty of 
 bribery and other corrupt practices. And pray- 
 ing &c. 
 
 Another petition followed this, from the same 
 parties and of the same import. 
 
 A petition of Paul Methuen and Josiah Diston 
 Esquires was then read, setting forth that though 
 Sir Francis and the Sergeant with their agents, 
 had by corrupt practices obtained divers votes, 
 yet the petitioners were duly elected and returned 
 by James Sutton, Gent. Mayor of the said Bo- 
 rough ; yet the sheriff of Wilts (being indirectly 
 prevailed upon) hath annexed to the writ, with 
 the said return of the petitioners, an undue re- 
 turn of Sir Francis Child and Sergeant Webb 
 pretended to be made by one John Child (brother 
 of the said Sir Francis) who was not the proper
 
 THE DEVIZES. 269 
 
 officer, nor did preside or act as such at the ge- 
 neral election. And praying &c. 
 
 Ordered That the matter be heard at the bar 
 on Tuesday come-seven-night 12 Dec. It was 
 not heard however till the 
 
 1 6 Dec. When the counsel and witnesses, after 
 examination, having been withdrawn, and Mr. 
 John Child being offered as a witness to what he 
 had heard Mr. Diston say of his judgment touch- 
 ing ten new votes, which being objected against ; 
 Resolved That Mr. John Child be admitted to 
 give evidence of what he has heard Mr. Diston 
 say of the elections of Common Council men and 
 free-burgesses that have been at the Devizes since 
 20 April 1706. 
 
 Then the counsel and witnesses having been 
 again examined and withdrawn, the question was 
 put. That Sir Francis Child^Kat. was duly elect- 
 ed; and on the division/, the yeas were 216 ; the 
 noes 96. So it passed in the affirmative, which in- 
 volved the resolution that Josiah Diston also was 
 duly elected . The return was accordingly amended. 
 
 1713. March 5. Several gentlemen of this 
 neighbourhood petition for a bill to* amend the 
 roads hereabout describing them as so ruinous that 
 it was dangerous to all that passed them. They 
 particularize the road from Shepherd's Shord to 
 Horseley upright gate, through Sandy lane From 
 Rowde-ford to the same gate, and between Devizes 
 and Andover. 
 
 March 5. The same complaint is again repeat- 
 ed, touching the election of representatives ; Josiah
 
 270 HISTORY OF 
 
 Diston and Francis Eyles Jun. Esquires charg- 
 ing Mr. Robert Child, and Mr. Nicholas the sit- 
 ting members with undue practises, and petitioning 
 to be heard thereon Ordered to be referred &c. 
 No report. 
 
 1720-21. Jan. 19. The Master of the Rolls ac- 
 quainted the House that he was directed by the 
 committee of secrecy to move that Francis Eyles 
 Esq. member for Devizes, with three others, being 
 directors of the South Sea Company, be examined 
 before the house in the most solemn manner 
 Ordered That they be directed to attend the 
 Committee appointed to enquire into all the pro- 
 ceedings relating to the execution of the Act.* 
 
 28 Jan. A motion was made and the ques- 
 tion proposed. That Francis Eyles Esq, a mem- 
 of this house is guilty of a notorious breach of 
 trust as a director of the South Sea Company ; and 
 has thereby occasioned a very great loss to great 
 numbers of his Majesty's subjects, and highly pre- 
 judiced the public credit. 
 
 Mr. Eyles was heard in his place ; and being 
 withdrawn, it was Resolved that Francis Eyles 
 Esq. is guilty &c. And that for the offence he 
 be expelled the house. On the 31st. a new writ 
 
 * This act was entituled. " An act for enabling the South 
 Sea Company to encrease their present capital, stock, and fund, 
 by redeeming such public debts and incumbrances as are there- 
 in mentioned : and for raising money to be applied for lessen- 
 ing several of the public Debts and incumbrances, and for call- 
 ing in the present Exchequer Bills, remaining uncancelled, and 
 for making forth new bills in lieu thereof, to be circulated and 
 exchanged upon demand, at or near the Exchequer."
 
 THE DEVIZES. 271 
 
 was accordingly ordered. This fate befell many 
 other members also. 
 
 1719. 3 Dec. A petition from the Borough, 
 complaining of the encreasing importation of prin- 
 ted calicoes and East India prohibited goods, has 
 the following statement among others ; that the 
 cloth at that time made in Devizes was generally 
 sold to be exported to Italy, the amount of which 
 was returned hither in raw silk from the respec- 
 tive places where it was sold. 
 
 1724. A bill was this year obtained to renew 
 an act for amending the road from the top of Ash- 
 lington hill to Rowde, and from Devizes to Shep- 
 herd's Shord, It was stated in Committee that 
 " part of the road within the Borough was so bad 
 that many carriages were broken on entering the 
 Town. " 
 
 1723. The Borough petitions and complains, 
 relative to the decay of the Woollen Manufacture. 
 
 1765. Feb. 14. " On this day" says the Gen- 
 tleman's Magazine " a tumultuous mob assembled 
 in the Borough, and being armed and disguised, 
 assaulted the houses of several of the principal 
 inhabitants ; particularly those of the Mayor, the 
 under Sheriff, the Town-clerk, the distributor of 
 Stamps, the Post master's and the excise office 
 with divers others ; demolishing the windows, de- 
 stroying the 'furniture, and threatening the lives of 
 the inhabitants, but on what pretence, the gazette 
 from which this article is taken, does not say." 
 
 1765. April 30. The House of Commons was 
 informed, after the order to issue the warrant for
 
 272 HISTORY OF 
 
 a new writ in the room of William Willey Esq. M.P. 
 for Devizes had been made, that owing to sub- 
 sequent reports, it was uncertain, whether or not 
 Mr Willey had been dead at the time. The 
 Clerk of the Crown was therefore ordered to 
 make out a supersedias of the said writ, and the 
 messenger of the great seal to forbear delivering 
 it. On the 5th May, the House was informed 
 that Mr Willey was alive. So the order was 
 discharged. 
 
 Circiter 1779. Southbroom House caught fire, 
 on which occasion, great unwillingness was mani- 
 fested on the part of the labourers of the Town to 
 extinguish the flames. The fact was, they had no 
 objection to see a house burning, which had been 
 built by masons and others hired from Bath to the 
 prejudice of themselves. It was erected about the 
 year 1770 by Josiah Eyles Heathcote Esq. 
 
 1 783 James the son and heir of James Sutton 
 of New Park, Esq. was christened at the Green- 
 Church ; to celebrate which event, rejoicings were 
 instituted on Roundway hill. Oxen were roasted 
 whole, and booths erected for glee-singers &c. 
 and the whole town was invited to the entertain- 
 ment. The subject of it however survived but one 
 year. 
 
 1 797. One James Brewer, stabbed on Devizes - 
 Green, another man named William Staples, and 
 on being committed to Fisherton Jail, himself 
 died suddenly. 
 
 1797. July. The Gentleman's Magazine for 
 this month gives an account of a newly discover-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 273 
 
 ed plant found in the neighbourhood of Devizes, 
 stated to be indigenous, and belonging to the Class 
 Pentandria trigynia, and of the genus Turnera. 
 
 1798. April 22. A meeting was held at the 
 Town-Hall, of the Lieutenancy of the County to 
 proceed in the execution of the act of Parliament 
 for public defence and security against the threat- 
 ened invasion from France. The Earl of Pem- 
 broke as Lord Lieutenant taking the chair. 
 
 In. the August of this year, a fierce tempest 
 visited the Town. The electric fluid set fire to 
 the warehouses of Mr. Knight upholsterer, which 
 communicating with the stables belonging to the 
 Black Swan Inn, compelled the inhabitants to pull 
 down several houses, in order to check its further 
 ravages, The Devizes Armed Association remain- 
 ing on duty the whole of the night. 
 
 4th August. Mr. Pitt returning to London from 
 Burton Pynsent, spent some time with his friend 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Sutton, at New park the seat 
 of the latter, where he dined in company with the 
 Speaker, the Hon. Henry Addington. Mr. Pitt 
 was in the habit of annually visiting his mother 
 the venerable Lady Chatham at Burton Pynsent, 
 and it was on these occasions that he passed 
 through Devizes. On the 2 1 st of the same month, 
 we find him here again, residing for several days 
 at New park. On the honourable gentleman's 
 entering the Town, the inhabitants vied with each 
 other in demonstrations of esteem. The bells 
 were rung, and the Associated-Householders re- 
 ceived him under arms.
 
 274 HISTORY OP 
 
 13th Nov. The Speaker presented to his Ma- 
 jesty an address from the Mayor and Burgesses of 
 Devizes, and another from the inhabitants, con- 
 gratulating his Majesty on the recent successes of 
 his arms, and the brilliant victory obtained by 
 Rear Admiral Lord Nelson. 
 
 1799. In the periodicals of this period, we met 
 with such announcements as the following. " At 
 St. Ann's hill near Devizes, to be played for at 
 back-sword on the 7th day of August 1799, a 
 prize of six guineas. Wrestling on the same day 
 for a prize of three guineas, and there will be nu- 
 merous other sports in the course of the day." 
 The glories of back-sword, quarter-staff, single- 
 stick, and such like pastimes, are now fading into 
 dim distance. A veteran of this school, who at 
 one period could exhibit many a trophy of the 
 laurels he had thus won in Devizes during his 
 lusty youth, has lately breathed his last. His 
 early prowess in athletic sports will be well cre- 
 dited by those who recall the venerable aspect and 
 manly bearing of Robert Fidler of Rowde. 
 
 Sept. 16. On this day, the colours provided for 
 the Devizes Local Volunteers by the Right Hon- 
 orable the Speaker, were presented to that corps 
 by Mrs. Sutton of New-Park, on Roundway-down 
 at a spot overlooking the Town. Marquees and 
 a booth were erected for the accommodation of the 
 numerous company who assembled on the occa- 
 sion. The ground was kept by the Devizes troop 
 of Wiltshire Yeomanry, assisted by a detachment 
 from two troops of the 17th Light Dragoons at
 
 THE DEVIZES. 275 
 
 that time stationed in the Town, under the com- 
 mand of Major Gore. A brilliant day gave ani- 
 mation to the scene. At 12 o'clock Mrs. Button 
 arrived on the hill, attended by Mr. and Miss 
 Sutton, the Honourable the Speaker, and Mrs. and 
 Miss Addington, and as she passed on to the Mar- 
 quee, was saluted by the line. The Corps then 
 advanced, and the Colours were submitted to the 
 action of consecration under the hands of the Rev. 
 James Lediard, after which Mrs Sutton addressed 
 Captain Salmon, commandant of the volunteers, 
 who having bandied a few compliments with the 
 fair lady, and received the colours from her, de- 
 livered them to Mr. Wadham Locke and Mr. W. 
 W. Salmon the two ensigns, accompanied with a 
 short address, expressive of his confidence that in 
 their hands, they would never be tarnished. 
 Whereupon the Volunteers incontinently pro- 
 ceeded to the exhibition of their newly acquired 
 skill in the art of manoeuvre and evolution, before 
 the admiring eyes of the assembled ladies, in con- 
 cert with whom they next advanced to the attack 
 of the viands, after which they marched into the 
 Town in order (query) and deposited the Colours 
 in the Town-Hall. 
 
 1800. 19 Dec. In consequence of the great 
 scarcity then prevailing, a meeting of the inhabi- 
 tants was called by George Sloper the Mayor, 
 when a variety of articles were agreed upon by the 
 householders present with a view to prevent the 
 superfluous use of corn. Among others, that the 
 consumption of bread should not exceed the rate
 
 276 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 of one quartern loaf a week for each person in their 
 respective families, and to abstain altogether from 
 pastry. To continue in force till Oct. 1801. 
 
 1805. On the creating of Lord Sidmouth a 
 peer of the United Kingdom, a common council 
 of the Corporation of the Borough was held and 
 resolutions of thanks voted to his Lordship for his 
 past services as Recorder and Representative 
 thereof for so many years. 
 
 1810. June 7. A mutiny broke out among 
 the 2nd. Wilts local militia stationed at Devizes, 
 instigated by one of the corps, who persuaded the 
 others that they were too severely disciplined. 
 One of the Sergeants having in consequence been 
 committed to the Guard-room by the Command- 
 ing Officer, a party of the Regiment after evening 
 parade, with fixed bayonets, forced the Guard- 
 room and released the prisoner. But by the 
 prompt and ready assistance of nine troops of the 
 Wilts Yeomanry Cavalry, and the Draycot troop 
 of Yeomanry with their Colonel Lord Bruce whom 
 the Mayor had called upon in aid of the civil 
 power, the mutiny was quelled and the ringleaders 
 punished. 
 
 1813. 11 August. On this day was held the 
 first anniversary meeting of the British and Fo- 
 reign Bible Association, in the Assembly Room 
 Town-Hall. T. G. Estcourt Esq. in the Chair. 
 
 1813. 27 Jan. A meeting of the freeholders of 
 Wilts took place in Devizes to consider the Catho- 
 lic claims. J. H. Penruddocke Esq. in the Chair 
 on which occasion the eloquence of the Marquis
 
 THE DEVIZES. 277 
 
 of Lansdown, Lord Holland and Lord Viscount 
 Andover with their friends, effected a demonstra- 
 tion of feeling, which can hardly be said to have 
 been responded to by the County at large. 
 
 CURIOSITIES &c. In the opening chapter to 
 this work, allusion was made to certain Roman 
 antiquities discovered from time to time, in 
 Devizes and its neighbourhood. Those of which 
 we have any positive information are as follows. 
 
 On Dec. 4. 1699. A person digging in some 
 ground belonging to Sir John Eyles, near Devizes, 
 (presumed to mean South-broom) discovered 
 about two feet from the surface, a pot or urn, with 
 an extremely narrow mouth. The circumference 
 of the vessel was 18 inches, and its depth 10. 
 The pottery was of a bluish colour, and of such 
 composition that it appeared almost uninjured by 
 time. Several hundred Roman coins of the Em- 
 perors were deposited in it, most of them of cop- 
 per, the rest being of a mixed metal, and many 
 washed with silver, which in numerous cases re- 
 mained uneffaced. 
 
 About the same time and within a few yards of 
 the same place, were found a number of pots of 
 grotesque figure, but mostly differing one from 
 another, as well in the clay composing them, as in 
 shape. One of them was described as resembling
 
 278 HISTORY OF 
 
 an oyster-pot of modern construction, (though 
 perhaps even this might be pronounced Roman, 
 if we should chance to stumble on it now.) It 
 was 9 inches round, and 5* deep, and for strength 
 and compactness scarcely to be equalled. 
 
 Another person had in his possession a pot, 
 which was found to contain a whitish powder, 
 supposed to be the ashes of human bones. To 
 decide this question, the supposed bone- ashes 
 were placed in the bowl of a clean tobacco pipe and 
 submitted to a fierce heat, when the matter im- 
 mediately kindled into a bright flame and sent 
 forth a scent somewhat resembling that produced 
 by the combustion of hoofs and horns, though 
 when first discovered, the smell emitted was per- 
 fectly fragrant. This experiment appears to have 
 convinced the writer of the account, that the pow- 
 der hi question had never been bones. See Phil- 
 osophical Transactions Vol. 22. No. 268. Com- 
 municated by Mr. Clark. 
 
 In 1714 One William Cadby brought to light 
 a whole set of Penates or pocket gods, They were 
 enclosed in a capacious urn, holding about six 
 English Gallons, (dimensions which bring it very 
 near to the Roman Amphora) the whole found 
 buried near the ruins of an old house in the Green. 
 To secure so large a vessel from pressure, it was 
 found to have been encompassed with tiles or 
 bricks of the Roman fashion, and secured with 
 Roman Cement. The supposed names of the se- 
 veral images, together with their respective sizes 
 are here given.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 
 
 279
 
 280 HISTORY OF 
 
 1. Jupiter Ammon, in length 4J inches. 
 
 2. Neptune with his trident, 4 inches. 
 
 3. Bacchus, of similar dimensions. 
 
 4. Vulcan, holding the broken handle of some 
 weapon in his right hand, 3^ inches. 
 
 5. Venus, 6^ inches in length and weighing 1 1 
 oz. 4dr. This figure is of excellent design. 
 
 6. Momus, 4 inches (doubtful) 
 
 7. Ganymede, 4 inches. He holds in one hand 
 Jupiter's wine cup, and in the other a platter, and 
 his head is furnished with small wings. 
 
 8. Hercules, 4j inches. He grasps two ser- 
 pents which are wound round his legs. 
 
 9. Minerva with helmet, shield and spear, 3-J 
 inches. The lower part however is broken off. 
 
 10. A vestal Virgin, 3% inches, holding in one 
 hand a dish, in the other a roll of parchment. 
 
 11. She- wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, 1-J- 
 inches. 
 
 12. Mars 3J inches, a helmet is on his head. 
 
 13. Apollo, 4J inches (doubtful) 
 
 14 and 15. Two other figures too imperfect to 
 be described. 
 
 16. Bust of a Matron. 
 
 1 7. Bust of Venus, based by a sort of cup, 2 
 inches in height. 
 
 18. A figure possessing no distinguishing mark, 
 4 inches. 
 
 19. Apis the Egyptian Bull, 4 inches long. 
 
 20. Anubis the Egyptian Dog, 3^ inches. 
 
 21. Pegasus, 2 inches.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 281 
 
 The annexed engraving represents some of the 
 best executed of them. 
 
 These figures were composed of the mixed me- 
 tal generally used for that purpose, but one of 
 them viz. the vestal virgin is particularized as 
 being of Corinthian brass. A single Coin of the 
 Emperor Severus was also found in the jar with 
 the penates ; on one side the inscription being 
 IMP. SEV. ALEXAND. AVG. and on the re- 
 verse, PAX AVG. 
 
 At the time these were discovered, the curiosities 
 from Herculaneum and Pompeii, had not yet 
 found their way into this country, and they were 
 consequently regarded with so much interest as 
 to be carried about the country for exhibition, and 
 representations of them were engraved of two 
 different scales. One of these representations, on 
 a folio sheet was at the expense of Sir Robert 
 Eyre, it was published by William son to Dr. 
 Musgrave, who also inserted an account of them 
 in his " Belgium Britannicum. " In Moll's Geo- 
 graphy they are engraved in the margin of the 
 Counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset- 
 shire, the writer explaining his reason for placing 
 them in the latter counties by adding that they 
 were " inserted in counties destitute of antiqui- 
 ties, we being unwilling to omit such great curi- 
 osities." 
 
 Dr. Davis, while alluding to them in the "Ori- 
 gines" observes " The reason why the Romans 
 hid their treasures was to secure them from their 
 enemies. The truth of this mav be inferred from a
 
 282 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 passage in Spartianus's life of Pescenninus Niger.* 
 Every soldier carried with him his money and por- 
 table things of value. When they were called out 
 upon long hasty marches, dangerous expeditions, 
 or to a determined action, they deposited their valu- 
 ables under a strong presumption of finding them 
 again ; this occasioned some to have been hid in 
 fields. But when attacked in their fortification, 
 they deposited their treasures in the earth where 
 they were stationed : (qua data fossa,) upon this 
 account, much of their money has been hid in 
 their camps and towns. They were determined 
 that their treasures should not fall with their 
 bodies into the enemy's hands ; but chose to leave 
 them, if they died, a legacy to posterity, for an 
 amusement, or rather an employment for some 
 grave and indefatigable Virtuoso." From all 
 which the Doctor infers, " that it is too hasty a 
 conclusion, to pronounce a town to be Roman, 
 from the circumstance of a few Roman relics being 
 found in its neighbourhood." Though the infer- 
 ence is certainly not one of the clearest. Dr. 
 Stukeley affirms that in his time, Roman antiquities 
 were being " found here everyday" and mentions 
 two others which were in the possession of Lord 
 Winchelsea, viz. a brass key which he concluded 
 to be Roman, and a brass Probus, having on the 
 reverse " Victoria Germ." with a trophy. 
 
 * Casaub. Edit. p. 144, D.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 283 
 
 A periodical of the last century alludes to an 
 ancient wooden monument which stood near De- 
 vizes, bearing the following singular inscription. 
 
 "A LEG IS INTERRED HERE." 
 
 Whereupon the writer moralizes in the follow- 
 ing strain. 
 
 " A leg alone within a grave ! 
 Graver I fear thou'rt some arch knave, 
 Or else some dull poetic noddy , 
 Pray had this leg nor head nor body ? 
 Tis true some men have such odd notions, 
 Such real conceit, such false devotions, 
 From post to pillar ever starting, 
 In every service to take part in ; 
 And so addicted are to kicking, 
 When'ere detected in their picking ; 
 Of such it justly may be said, 
 That they are legs without a head." 
 
 The following is a translation of the last will 
 and testament of one William Salter clothier or 
 weaver of Devizes. It was executed in 1404, and 
 considering how very few wills of private indivi- 
 duals, of so ancient a date, are now to be met 
 with ; it will doubtless bd regarded as claiming an 
 additional share of interest on that score. It is 
 preserved at Salisbury, and the copy was furnished 
 by the kindness of H. Hatcher Esq. of that city. 
 
 " In the name of GOD, Amen. On Wed- 
 nesday preceding the feast of St. Thomas the 
 Apostle A.D. 1404. I William Salter of Devizes 
 order my last testament after the following manner. 
 
 Imprimis. I leave my soul to the Blessed Virgin
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 Mary, and to all the saints ; and my body to be 
 buried in the church of St. Mary, at Devizes 
 aforesaid. Item. I leave to the fabric of the Ca- 
 thedral-church of Sarum 12 shillings To the 
 church of St. Mary at Devizes, 3 shillings and 4 
 pence To the church of St. John in the same 
 town, 2 shillings To the High- Altar in St. 
 Mary's church, 4 pence To the High-Altar in 
 the church of Rowde, 2 shillings To the High- 
 Altar in the church of Bishop's-Cannings, 2 shil- 
 lings To the Brethren at Marlborough, 10 shil- 
 lings To the Prior of the House of St. John at 
 Davizes, 2 shillings and sixpence To Master 
 John, chaplain of the parish church of St. Mary 
 there, 2 shillings and sixpence To Master Tho- 
 mas Newman, Master Richard Friend, Master 
 Richard Zely, Master Thomas Michell, chaplains, 
 2 shillings and 6 pence each To the Lord John 
 Colewelle, 20 shillings To Master John Merun, 
 13 shillings and 4 pence To my cousin Agnes 
 Haynes, 10 marks of lawful money To my cousin 
 William Haynes, 9 marks To my cousin Richard 
 Haynes, 1 1 marks To Agnes my sister, 3 .... 
 (The words are obscured but seem to refer to a quan- 
 tity of ivool.) To John Wethara, after the de- 
 cease of Margaret my wife, one loom with its 
 apparatus To John Webb my apprentice, after 
 the death of my wife aforesaid, one loom. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath unto Robert Chand- 
 ler Webbe, and Alice his wife, that tenement, sit- 
 uated in Old-Port, between a tenement belonging 
 to the Mayor and Commonalty of this town, of
 
 THE DEVIZES. 285 
 
 the one part, and a tenement of Thomas Goldham 
 of the other part, to hold for the term of their lives, 
 paying annually from it, after the death of Marga- 
 ret my wife, to the Mayor for the time being of 
 Devizes and to his successors, 3 shillings of law- 
 ful money, for the reparation of the ways existing 
 in the town ; and to the Capital Lord of the fee 
 annually 1 2 pence for all other services and de- 
 mands. And after the death of the said Robert 
 and Alice, 1 give and bequeath the tenement with 
 its appurtenances to the Mayor and his successors 
 for ever, for all services thence due, whether by 
 custom or right, that they may appropriate the 
 rent of said property to the reparation of ways, as 
 is expressed above, for ever. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath to Margaret my wife, 
 all the other lands, tenements, and burgages with 
 their appurtenances which I possess in Devizes, to 
 hold them for the term of her life, paying to the 
 Capital Lord of the Fee the service thence due by 
 custom or right. And after the decease of Mar- 
 garet my wife, I give to my sister Agnes, one 
 tenement which is situated in Old Fort, between 
 my other tenements of either part, to hold the 
 same for her life, paying to the Lord &c. &c. And 
 after her death, I give and bequeath the said tene- 
 ment to her son Richard Bytefinger &c. And 
 after the death of the said Margaret, Agnes, and 
 Richard, I leave the whole of my possessions 
 whether in lands, tenements, or burgages, to my 
 executors or their assignees, to be by them sold, 
 and the produce thereof without any diminution
 
 286 HISTORY OF 
 
 to be well and faithfully applied for the benefit of 
 ray soul, and the souls of my friends. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath to said Richard 
 Bytefinger 20 Ewes. And as to whatever residue 
 of my other effects may appear, after my lawful 
 debts and the expenses of my funeral shall be paid, 
 I give them to my wife Margaret. But in the 
 event of her marrying again, I will that half of such 
 residue, without any loss, be faithfully applied 
 by my executors or their assignees, to the good of 
 my soul, and be expended by them in the manner 
 that shall seem to them best and most fitting. 
 
 And for the good and faithful execution of this 
 Testament, I ordain, make, and constitute as my 
 executors, The Lord Walter Lage, Vicar of 
 Rowde, Margaret my wife, and John Nappre. 
 
 Given in the day year and place above writ- 
 ten 
 
 CHARITABLE BEQUESTS &c. On this topic it 
 is not intended to dilate, or even to attempt a 
 sketch. Most ample accounts of the nature of 
 the properties and of the final decision of the Com- 
 missioners have been published by Government. 
 The one termed the " Coventry Dole" may claim 
 a passing notice, more from the enquiry to which it 
 gave raise than from any importance attached to it. 
 It is said to have derived its origin from a feeling 
 of gratitute entertained towards the town by a 
 man or boy, who on passing through it in a desti- 
 tue condition was relieved by a baker. Afterwards,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 287 
 
 becoming wealthy in London, he bequeathed a loaf 
 to every person in Devizes, resident or traveller, 
 to be delivered once a year. It is added that an 
 archduke of Austria with his suite passing through 
 on one of these Coventry-dole days, was presented 
 with the accustomed donation in 1786. 
 
 Mr. Salmon's father who was a member of the 
 Corporation from 1770 till his death in 1826, had 
 told him that he had taken considerable pains to 
 ascertain the truth of this tradition, but that nei- 
 ther his father again, who also was a member of the 
 Corporation, nor any other old person in the bo- 
 rough had been able to give any explanation of it. 
 
 The name of Coventry is of frequent occurrence 
 in Devizes in former days, and it is far more 
 likely that the Charity descended from one of them 
 than from a stranger. It is now considered as 
 lost. 
 
 THE GUILD-MERCHANT OF DEVIZES. The 
 first mention made of this institution is in the 
 Charter of Edward I. The fraternities composing 
 it have long become extinct, and even the fact of 
 their existence is almost forgotten. The account- 
 book of the company of Drapers is the only docu- 
 ment at present remaining in the Chamberlain's 
 hands. From it we learn that at a meeting of 
 Common Council in the 20th James I, it was 
 ordained that the Guild of Merchants within the 
 Borough should be divided into three Fraternities
 
 288 HISTORY OF 
 
 or Companies, viz. the Company of Drapers, the 
 Company of Mercers, and the Company of Leather 
 sellers. This it would seem must have been only 
 a confirmation of what already existed, for the 
 same book contains an account of the Brethren 
 constituting the Company of Drapers, of a date 
 antecedent to the above. These members belong- 
 ed not only to the Borough but in many instances 
 to surrounding towns and villages. 
 
 The Drapers held their meetings in what was 
 termed the Weaver's Hall which appears to have 
 comprized the whole length of building forming 
 the north side of Wine Street, though perhaps the 
 first floor only was used for the purposes of the 
 Company. The day of Convention was the 5th 
 of November. The fraternity was governed by one 
 Master, 2 Wardens and 2 inferior officers em- 
 ployed to collect fines, who were called Yeomen. 
 It embraced the following trades and crafts Clo- 
 thiers, Weavers, Woolmen, Drapers, Taylors, 
 Hosiers, Fullers, Shearmen, Spinsters, Coopers, 
 Carpenters, Masons, Tylers, Joiners, Cutlers, 
 Smiths, and Ironmen. The account closes in 
 1731. 
 
 There is no mention made of what the Mer- 
 cers company comprized, but from various peti- 
 tions to parliament sent by the Leather-sellers we 
 are able to give a better account of them. Under 
 this name were enrolled Dealers in hides, Patten- 
 shoe, boot, and bellows makers, Girdlers, Saddlers, 
 and Harness makers. 
 
 Amongst the entries relative to a " visitation
 
 THE DEVIZES. 289 
 
 of the County of Wilts " in 1 570 preserved in the 
 Harleian Manuscripts 1565-68 ; The state of the 
 Guild is given thus, that " Edward Haynes Mayor 
 was chief head and governor. William Ruttye 
 and Richard Dunne, were Wardens of the Clo- 
 thiers and Weavers William Preston and John 
 Smith, Wardens of the Drapers and Taylors 
 John Chappel and Thomas Fitzall, wardens of the 
 Mercers. 
 
 At the same time the state of the Borough it- 
 self is thus described " George Heynes Mayor- 
 Thorns Hull Coroner Richard Gait, Robert Le- 
 wen, John Blandford, Henry Morris, Anthony 
 Clee, John Burde and John Willis, Aldermen- 
 Henry Grubb and Nicholas Allen, Constables- 
 Richard Gifford and Henry Smith bailiffs, and 
 John Hardent, Recorder. 
 
 According to the return made at another visi- 
 tation in 1623. John Allen the Mayor is reported 
 to be chief head and Governor of the Guild. Of 
 the Clothiers, Weavers and Drapers, John North 
 was Master and John Batt and John Eyles the 
 Master- Wardens. Of the Company of Mercers 
 Nicholas Barrett was Master and John Hope and 
 Marmaduke Birde the Wardens Of the Leather- 
 sellers, Thomas Clarke was Master, and Charles 
 Pulley n and Henry Deane, Wardens. From these 
 two visitations it appears that the classification of 
 the trades was different at the two different times, 
 neither is there in the first mentioned, any allu- 
 sion to the leather-sellers.
 
 290 
 
 " The Arms appertaining to the Fellowship and 
 Corporation of the Burgesses and Merchant-ad- 
 venturers, Clothiers and Weavers, Drapers and 
 Taylors, and others using any art or facultie within 
 the Town and Borough of the Devyses." 
 
 BOROUGH MEMBERS. 
 
 Devizes sent representatives to all the parlia- 
 ments of Edward 1. but their names during that 
 period appear to be lost. We begin therefore 
 with the reign of Edward II. whose first parlia- 
 ment was held at Northampton in the year
 
 THB DEVIZES. 291 
 
 1307. Thomas le Bodere, and Thomas Auveray. 
 
 Westminster 1309. For this Borough amongst others in 
 which the Sheriff had no entry, the writ was returned to the 
 Queen's bailiff for the said " Liberty of Devizes" who had 
 given no answer. 
 
 London 1311. No answer returned to the writ. 
 
 Lincoln 1312. The Sheriff makes returns for Salisbury. 
 Wilton, Dounton, and Marlborough, and adds that there are 
 no more cities or boroughs in his bailiwick. 
 
 Westminster 1313. Three parliaments this year. No return 
 for Devizes in either. 
 
 York 1314. William Noble and Gilbert Swift. 
 
 Westminster 1314. William de Codio Hugo de Cartere. 
 
 York 1318. Answer as in 1312. 
 
 York 1319. Same answer. 
 
 Westminster 1320. No return. 
 Do. 1321. No return. 
 
 York 1322. The writ was returned to the Constable of the 
 Castle, who gave no answer to the Sheriff. 
 
 Ripon 1322. Return if any, torn off the writ. 
 
 Westminster 1323. The names of Walter Bochard and Hugh 
 Estmond are entered on the original pawn or docket as bur- 
 gesses appearing for the Borough. 
 
 Westminster 1325. Thomas Mumham and John Mymyng. 
 Do. 1326. No return. 
 
 The publication of the Parliamentary Writs after 
 this period, has not yet (1839) made its appear- 
 ance. We must theretore complete the list, or 
 rather arrive at the end of it, by striding over two 
 centuries and beginning again with the 7th Ed- 
 ward VI. on which year the parliament sat at 
 Westminster and continued to do so afterwards. 
 
 1552. One member only viz. Thomas Hall. 
 
 1553. William Read and Thomas Hall. 
 
 1554. Thomas Higate and Henry Leke.
 
 292 HISTORY OF 
 
 MARY and PHILIP. 
 
 1554. Thomas Hall mayor and Edward Haynes, 
 
 1555. Thomas Hall and James Webb. 
 
 1557. Thomas Hall and Henry Morris. 
 ELIZABETH. 
 
 1558. John Younge and Edward Haynes. 
 1563. Hugh Powell and Edward Haynes. 
 
 1571. Edward Bayntun and William Clark. 
 
 1572. George Reynolds and Henry Grubb. 
 
 1585. Henry Bayntun and Henry Brounker. 
 
 1586. The same. 
 
 1588. Henry Leven and John Brounker. 
 
 1592. Henry Bayntun and Richard Mompesson. 
 
 1597. John Kent and Robert Drew. 
 
 1601. George Fettyplace and Robert Drew. 
 JAMES I. 
 
 1603. Sir Henry Bayntun and Robert Drew. 
 
 1614. Sir Mervin Audley and Sir Carew Reynell. 
 
 1620. Sir Henry Lee and John Kent. 
 
 1623. Sir Edward Bayntun and John Kent. 
 
 1625. Sir Henry Bayntun and Robert Drew. 
 CHARLES I. 
 
 1625. Robert Long and Sir Henry Lee. 
 
 1628. Robert Long and Thomas Kent. 
 
 1640. William Bayntun and Henry Danvers. 
 
 1640. Sir Edward Bayntun and Robert Nicholas This was 
 Charles's last parliament. After this no names occur till 6th 
 CHARLES II. 
 
 1654. Edward Bayntun. 
 
 1656. Edward Scotten. 
 
 1658. Chaloa Chute Jun. and Edward Scotten. 
 
 1660. William Lewis and Robert Aldworth. 
 
 1661. William York and John Kent. 
 
 1678, Sir Walter Earnly, and Sir Edward flayntun. 
 1680. Sir Giles Hungerford, and John Eyles. This parlia- 
 ment was held at Oxford.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 293 
 
 1681. Sir Walter Earnly, and George Johnson. 
 JAMES II. 
 
 1685. Sir John Talbot, and Walter Grubb. 
 WILLIAM Ill's convention took place in 
 
 1688. Sir William Pinsent and Walter Grubb. 
 
 1689. Walter Grubb, and John Methuen. 
 1695. Sir Edward Earnly, and John Methuen, 
 1698. Sir Francis Child, and John Methuen. 
 
 1701. Sir Francis Child, and Sir Francis Merewether. 
 
 1701. Sir Francis Child, and John Methuen. 
 QUEEN ANNE. 
 
 1702. John Methuen. 
 
 1705. Sir Francis Child, and Josiah Diston. 
 
 1707. First parliament of Great Britain. Sir. Francis Child, 
 and Josiah Diston. 
 
 1708. Paul Methuen, and Josiah Diston. 
 1710. Sir Francis Child, and Thomas Webb. 
 
 GEORGE I. 
 
 1714. Robert Child, and John Nicholas. 
 
 1715. Josiah Diston, and Benjamin Haskin Styles. 
 1718. Francis Eyles, and Benjamin Haskin Styles. 
 1722. Sir Joseph Eyles, and Benjamin Haskin Styles, 
 
 GEORGE II. 
 
 1728. Captain Francis Eyles, and Benjamin Haskin Styles. 
 
 1735. Francis Eyles, and Sir Joseph Eyles. Remitter for 
 the Crown; died. new writ ordered 18 Feb. 1740. John 
 Garth, Recorder of the Borough. 
 
 1741. John Garth, and Francis Eyles; the latter being 
 made superintendent of his Majesty's foundries a new writ or- 
 dered 13 July 1742. George Lee, L. L. D. 
 
 1747. John Garth, and William Willey, E. Ind. Director. 
 
 1757. Willim Willey, and Samuel Garth. 
 GEORGE HI. 
 
 1761. John Garth died new writ ordered 10 Jan. 1765. 
 James Sutton, was elected. William Willey, reported to be dead 
 new writ ordered 29, April, 1765. Writ superseded Mr. 
 Willey dying new writ ordered 29 Mayl76o Charles Garth.
 
 294 HISTORY OF 
 
 1768. James Sutton, and Charles Garth. 
 
 1774. The same. 
 
 1780. Sir James Tylney Long, Bart, and Charles Garth 
 The latter being made a commissioner of the Excise. New 
 writ ordered Dec. 1780. Henry Jones. 
 
 1784. Sir James Tylney Long, and Henry Addington, the 
 former, made Steward of the Chiltera Hundreds, new writ or- 
 dered Dec. 1788. Joshua Smith, chosen. Henry Addington, 
 Recorder of the Borough was chosen Speaker of the House 
 of Commons, 8 May, 1789. 
 
 1790. Rt. Honourable Henry Addington, and Joshua Smith. 
 
 1801. The same. First parliament of Great Britain and 
 Ireland. 
 
 1804. Thomas Grimstone Estcourt, and Joshua Smith. 
 
 1806. The same. 
 
 1807. The same. 
 1812. The same. 
 
 1819. Thomas Grimstone Estcourt and John Pearse. 
 
 1820. The same. 
 GEORGE IV. 
 
 1820. The same. 
 
 1829. George Watson Taylor, and John Pearse. 
 
 1830. The same. 
 WILLIAM IV. 
 
 1831. The same. 
 
 1833. Wadham Locke, and Montague Gore. 
 
 1835. Wadham Locke, and Admiral Sir Philip Durham. 
 
 1836. Captain James Wbitley Deans Dundas, and Thomas 
 Henry Sutton Bucknall Estcourt. 
 
 VICTORIA. 
 
 1837. The same.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 295 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE OF THE TOWN ST JOHN'S CHURCH 
 
 ST MARY'S CHURCH ST JAMES* CHAPEL 
 DISSENTING PLACES OF WORSHIP TOWN HALL 
 
 MARKET CROSS OLD AND NEW JAILS 
 
 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS BRITTOX AND OTHER 
 
 ANCIENT NAMES CENSUS OF POPULATION 
 
 GEOLOGICAL NOTICE ROUNDWAY HILL WANS- 
 DYKE NEW PARK. 
 
 IN an architectural point of view, there is little 
 now remaining in Devizes, with the exception of 
 the Churches, calculated either to engage the at- 
 tention of the antiquary, or to attract the eye of 
 taste. Placed at a considerable distance from any 
 freestone quarries, the substitution of brick and 
 timber long imparted to its domestic architecture 
 an aspect not the most dignified. But the ener- 
 gies of a few past years have done much for the 
 town ; by supplying deficiencies which had long 
 been lamented by paring down that which was 
 irregular without being picturesque and by infu- 
 sing into the social body, a spirit of improvement 
 which a folio of bye-laws could never have instilled. 
 The disposition of the streets is somewhat sin- 
 gular, and possibly exhibits traces of original de- 
 sign. Those which are curved, may almost be
 
 296 HISTORY OF 
 
 said to be segments of circles described about a 
 point on or near the keep of the Castle. What 
 the original limits of the Town were, if it ever had 
 any walls ; or in their absence, what was the first 
 outline of the Borough, it is now impossible to 
 determine. It was stated in the Devizes Gazette 
 in 1826 that in Westgate Street, the foundations of 
 a gatehouse were discovered by workmen employ- 
 ed in excavating for culverts, and that other tra- 
 ces of a wall were discernable in a right line be- 
 tween that point and the Eastern port. 
 
 Stukeley pretended to trace a Roman vallum 
 round the town, and asserted that the inhabitants 
 had converted the ditch into a road : perhaps he 
 had an eye to what is termed Backlane, which was 
 formerly much deeper than at present. As it would 
 require uncommon penetration to perceive any such 
 vestiges now, or to pronounce from the existing 
 state of things whether or not Devizes was found- 
 ed by Normans, Turks, Indians, or Heathen 
 Gods, it were idle to pursue the investigation any 
 farther ; and as the streets were never noted for 
 offering much inducement to loiter in them, we 
 will proceed to the examination of the Churches 
 beginning with. 
 
 ST JOHN'S. The ground on which this struc- 
 ture stands, appears to have been carefully chosen; 
 being a small platform at the head of a valley, im- 
 proved and modified by embankment and level- 
 ing. The building itself has undergone so many 
 alterations, and these alterations have been made 
 at such distant periods of time, that its present
 
 THE DEVIZES. 297 
 
 aspect presents as incongruous an architectural 
 jumble as this island produces. The original 
 parts of it were long supposed to be Saxon, and 
 entertaining this favourite conjecture, the local 
 antiquary of St. John would feel himself to be 
 within most reasonable limits which dating back 
 its infancy at least a thousand years. But a bet- 
 ter knowledge now prevails on these points, and 
 if the Saxon origin of such Churches as those of 
 Hedingham, Barfreston, Iffley, Stukeley, Castle- 
 Rising, St. Peter's at Northampton, and St. Pe- 
 ter's at Oxford must now be regarded as untenable, 
 there seems nothing left for those of Devizes, but 
 to be classed in like manner as Norman structures 
 of the 12th Century. 
 
 In a certificate returned in Edward VI's time, 
 relative to the state of this church, the founder is 
 said to be unknown. Mr. Britton in his " Archi- 
 tectural Antiquities," conjectures that St. John's 
 Church was one of the works of Roger Pauper of 
 Salisbury, the well known founder of the Norman 
 Castle of Devizes. His words are " From the 
 coincidence of style in the original parts of this 
 Church, with those of Malmsbury abbey ; from 
 the military and national importance of the Castle 
 of Devizes during the reigns of Henry I. and 
 Stephen, and from the contiguity and probable 
 connexion of this church with the castle ; I am 
 inclined to believe that the Tower, east end, and 
 two transepts were erected some time during 
 Bishop Poore's prelacy. In this opinion I feel 
 supported by the learned Anglo-Saxon professor
 
 298 HISTORY OF 
 
 of the Oxford university, who in a letter to me on 
 the subject, says that in the parts of the build- 
 ing above referred to, he long ago recognized the 
 magnificence of Roger of Sarum, whose works in 
 architecture were the wonder of the age in which 
 he lived ; the small arcades used as a facing to 
 the outside of the tower, as well as those within 
 the belfry, the nail head, the chevron or grand 
 diagonal ornament, the embattled fret, and the in- 
 tersecting arches, are so many ocular demonstra- 
 tions of the age of this curious building." 
 
 The plan of the building was a simple Roman 
 Cross, formed by four plain gables projecting from 
 the four sides of a quadrangular tower, two of 
 these constituting the chancel and nave, and being 
 of the same width one with the other, the other 
 two forming the transeptum or smaller bar of the 
 cross. The tower which was by far the most ela- 
 borate and important feature of the whole, is sin- 
 gularly curious in one respect. It is rectangular 
 but not square, and in accordance with this pecu- 
 liarity, while the east and west arches supporting 
 it are semicircular, the north and south ones are 
 pointed : this involved the circumstance of the 
 transept being rather less wide than the chancel 
 and nave, as all these members were made to par- 
 take of the proportions of the tower from which 
 they would appear as it were, to emanate. Though 
 a tower of this form cannot be pronounced unique, 
 if we embrace the whole architectural range of 
 Christendom, it certainly is of rare occurrence.* 
 
 * At Wanninster and Bratton are two other specimens.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 299 
 
 The arcades and other ornaments on the outer 
 face of St. John's tower are similar to those we 
 meet with in other buildings of the same aera, 
 though not exactly like, in any one instance. Its 
 elevation on the eastern and western fronts " is 
 divided into two compartments, separated by a 
 cable and plain string moulding, the lower divi- 
 sion containing two semicircular headed windows, 
 with single mullions, and cinque and quatrefoil 
 dressings ; and the upper, a series of five semi- 
 circular arches, only two of which appear to have 
 bean intended as windows,'' on the north and 
 south fronts, in consequence of the irregularity 
 of shape above mentioned, there are two less of 
 these arches in the upper series, and one less in the 
 lower. The angles of the Tower are tinished with 
 a staff-beading or three quarter column at three 
 points, while the fourth is furnished with a circu- 
 lar staircase turret. This turret in the original 
 plan rose sheer from the ground, as there were no 
 side aisles to interfere with its perpendicular as- 
 cent, and must have formed a particularly pleas- 
 ing adjunct to the whole, by producing in the 
 mind of the spectator an effect of continuity to 
 
 the tower. 
 
 
 
 The body of the church was of the same length 
 as at present, but the principal porch of entrance 
 is presumed to have been at the west end, as in 
 other parish churches of the same date. A mould- 
 ing inserted about midheight, traversed the outer 
 face of the walls throughout : plain where it ran 
 along the side walls ; but at the gable ends, of
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 the description termed double-billet : the windows 
 in this part reposing on the moulding, while in 
 the case of the nave and chancel, they were cut 
 through it.. Just enough still remains, to satisfy 
 the curious observer as to all these points. A so- 
 litary window in the north wall of the Chancel is 
 yet to be seen in its primitive state, and at each 
 end of the transept, where two small windows have 
 been filled in, and the pilaster buttresses which 
 divide them, cut away in order to admit of a large 
 window of the style of the 15th Century, fragments 
 of the billet moulding have in each case been left 
 untouched, as well as sufficient portions of the 
 windows themselves, to testify what were their 
 style and ornaments both within and without; while 
 two very small remnants of the same moulding 
 are also discernible on the wall at the western 
 extremity of the church, one on each side of the 
 present window. The last feature to be mentioned 
 is the row of grotesque brackets which supported 
 the courses immediately under the eaves through- 
 out, and of which the north wall of the chancel 
 and the north part of the transept still exhibit 
 specimens. 
 
 Having now completed the description of the 
 exterior of the Church,*it is worthy of remark be- 
 fore proceeding to examine the interior, that the 
 masonry of these ancient parts, particularly of the 
 tower, is of most workman-like description, and 
 retains in consequence, an admirable surface and 
 sharpness of detail, unimpaired to the present day. 
 Those who may think fit to ascend to (he roof of
 
 THE DEVIZES. 301 
 
 the Hungerford Chapel for the purpose of exam- 
 ining the tower, will be struck with the uniformi- 
 ty and precision of the courses of stone, and the 
 finish bestowed on the mouldings and ornamental 
 parts of the arcades. 
 
 Passing thence into the interior of this part of 
 the building, that is to say, into the story of the 
 belfry used by the ringers, it is perceived to 
 possess another interesting feature, viz. a series 
 of intersecting arches of the zigzag pattern which 
 however are far from being uniform ; those at- 
 tached to the east wall, differing from those of the 
 north and south, both in size and character. The 
 former unlike all other intersecting arches, are 
 constructed in such a manner that each semicircle 
 is made to embrace two columns, and thus to 
 form with the aid of its associates, three acutely 
 pointed subordinate arches. See the annexed en- 
 graving. The remaining ones, which are also the 
 smaller set, follow the ordinary method ; that is, 
 each semicircle overstepping one column only, and 
 forming but two subordinate arches. The capitals 
 are all ornamented with figures resembling volutes 
 of the Corinthian order, and the abacus of each is 
 peculiarly thick. The flooring here is no part of the 
 original design, it is a wretched contrivance as far 
 as appearance goes, and constitutes one of the worst 
 of the numerous alterations the church has under- 
 gone. It greatly impairs the effect from below, giv- 
 ing it an aspect of gloom and confinement instead of 
 a lofty and cheerful one. The flooring in the Tower 
 ought to be no lower than the level of the cable-
 
 302 HISTORY OF 
 
 moulding-course outside, or about 15 feet higher 
 than at present, so that to the spectator in the 
 body of the church, standing under the Tower, 
 there might be visible, not only the intersecting 
 arches traversing the face of the wall, but also the 
 series of lights above them ; and these lights 
 should be kept fully open. The present plan was 
 no doubt adopted for the convenience of ringing 
 the bells, and to avoid the necessity of the ropes 
 hanging into the body of the church, as at 
 Edyngton. 
 
 There is another respect, in which the original 
 plan, as of a place of worship, is lost in modern 
 alterations. It is pretty certain that in all small 
 parish churches of the cruciform kind, like St- 
 John's for instance, the altar was placed right 
 under the tower. In many other larger churches 
 and in Cathedrals, where the width was greater, 
 the spot usually chosen was the middle of the 
 part hence denominated the Choir,* though the 
 
 * Choir or chorus is said to be derived from the circumstance 
 of the multitude standing round about the altar, modo coronas 
 in the form of a ring or circle. Though perhaps we ought 
 rather to say that corona is the offspring of the former. The 
 argument in either case is the same. In the ancient liturgies 
 was a prayer " for all those that stood round about the altar." 
 The priests and deacons surrounded it when they officiated, 
 and Durandus a Catholic writer informs us that when a bishop 
 consecrates a new altar, he must encompass it seven times, 
 from which it was manifest that it could not have stood against 
 a wall. Additional evidence to the same effect might be cited 
 on the authority of Eusebius, Dionysius the Areopagite, Chry-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 303 
 
 first mentioned or Gregorian plan is observable in 
 numberless instances on tbe continent. In the 
 case of a small cruciform church, such a position 
 was particularly appropriate, as it afforded a direct 
 and uninterrupted view to the worshippers, whe- 
 ther standing in the transept, nave, or chancel. 
 
 The intersecting arches which now form so dis- 
 tinguished an ornament in the chancel were long 
 plastered over and hidden from view, until Mr. 
 Phipps the present Rector, brought them to light 
 and directed their careful restoration ; but the 
 task will not be completed till the removal of the 
 tablets &c. from the east wall shall have disclosed 
 that part of the series also. It may be observed, 
 en passant, that the arches attached to this wall, 
 or east-end, as well as the window above them 
 (now blocked up) furnish additional proofs that 
 the altar did not originally stand there. These 
 arches, which closely resemble those in the belfry, 
 may serve to shew us what was originally the pre- 
 vailing characteristic ornament of the interior of 
 the church. The side aisles were added appa- 
 
 sostom, Athanasius, and in our own country Austin first Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, and the venerable Bede. A central 
 position for an altar was it is well known, that adopted by the 
 Jewish church. Railing them in, is usually dated from the 
 period of the Council of Aix, held in 1583, one of whose 
 canons ordains " unumquodque altare sepiatur omnino septo 
 ferreo vel lapideo vel ligneo." At the reformation, when altars 
 were changed into tables, the position was retained. See the 
 controversy relative to the charges brought against Archbishop 
 Laud, in Tulk's edition of Neale's Puritans.
 
 304 HISTORY OF 
 
 rently about the time of Henry 5th or 6th and 
 occasioned the present bungling contrivance of 
 arriving at the turret stair-case. If the lower part 
 of this turret had been left standing, it would have 
 blocked up the end of one of the aisles, and there- 
 fore it was thought necessary to cut it away, leav- 
 ing a spine or central shaft ; and to carry the 
 approach over the arch opening into the Transept, 
 which in consequence had to be made of unusual 
 thickness. Another reason may have been to 
 preserve a separate entrance into the Belfry. 
 
 The four arches supporting the Tower are all 
 moulded into the zigzag form, one of the distin- 
 guishing features of the Saxon and early Norman 
 styles. The capitals of the columns from which 
 they spring, are sculptured with vine foliage, the 
 abacus of each being figured with a double row of 
 triangular indentations, resembling the impression 
 produced by the point of a trowel on clay or mor- 
 tar. Representations of these, as also of various 
 other details of the Church, are engraved in Brit- 
 ton^ Architectural Antiquities. 
 
 Of the chapels which have been added to this 
 church, that on the south side of the chancel, ap- 
 pears at some period to have been either extended 
 or to have formed two separate portions. It has 
 hitherto been termed the Hungerford chantry, but 
 Mr. Phipps prefers the name of Beauchamp. The 
 character of its windows, buttresses, pinnacles 
 and a niche over the eastern window, all proclaim 
 the age of its construction to be that of Henry 
 VIII. With regard lo the other chapel, built in
 
 THE DEVIZES. 305 
 
 the opposite angle of the church, the date may be 
 stated as that of Henry VI. 
 
 The marble monuments in this church are very 
 numerous, and in many instances, well executed. 
 They exhibit the usual display of broken pillars, 
 and mournful nymphs employed in opening and 
 shutting urns * in short, of the whole stock in 
 
 * I cannot refrain from indulging for a moment in the li- 
 cense which a note confers, for the purpose of reciting an ob- 
 servation or two of Henry Fuseli's on the introduction of Al- 
 legory into works of art. 
 
 " Among the paltry subterfuges contrived by dulness to pal- 
 liate the want of invention, the laborious pedantry of emblems 
 ranks foremost, by which arbitrary and conventional signs have 
 been substituted for character and expression. If the asser - 
 tion of Dr. Johnson that the plastic arts " can illustrate but 
 cannot inform " be false as a general maxim, it gains an air 
 of truth with regard to this hieroglyphic mode of exchanging 
 substance for signs, and the story which he adds in proof, of a 
 young girl's mistaking the usual figure of Justice with a steel- 
 yard, for a cherry woman, becomes here appropriate ; and it 
 might as well be pretended that one, not initiated in the 
 Egyptian mysteries, should discover in the Scarabseus of an 
 Obelisk, the Summer solstice, as that a child a girl or a man 
 not acquainted with Coesar Ripa or some other emblem comer, 
 should find in a female holding a balance over her eyes, 
 in another with a bridle in her hand, in a third lean- 
 ing on a broken pillar, and in a fourth loaded with Chil- 
 dren, the symbols of Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, said Cha- 
 rity. The Night of Michael Angelo on the Medicean Tombs 
 might certainly be taken for what she professes to be, without 
 the assistance of the mask, the poppies, and the owl at her feet ; 
 for the dominion of sleep is personified in her expression and 
 posture ; perhaps even her beautiful companion whose faintly- 
 atretching attitude and half opened eyes, express the symptoms
 
 306 HISTORY OF 
 
 trade with which monumental sculptors have 
 for ages laboured, in conjunction with the engra- 
 ver, to convince posterity of the unheard-of vir- 
 tues of the deceased. The excess with which this 
 sort of homage has ofttimes been lavished, is well 
 satirized by the observation of an eminent mo- 
 dern writer. " Ces eloges graves sur la pierre 
 prouvent bien moins les vertus des morts, que la 
 faussete des vivans. " While this is true of the 
 many, of others it may be said that their memory 
 is more eloquent than the most elaborate epitaph. 
 Without entering into any description of the 
 various monuments of St. John we will simply 
 run through the names of the persons they com- 
 memorate, beginning with 
 
 John Eyles Esq. of Southbroom who died 1752, aged 75. 
 Mary his wife died 1744, aged 62, and three of their children 
 Francis, Joseph, and Elizabeth Thomas the brother of John 
 Eyles, died 1735, aged 56 Maria Heathcote, daughter of 
 George Heathcote died 1747, aged 2 Also Joseph Turner, 
 who died 1761, aged 50, and his widow Eleanor daughter of 
 John Eyles, died 1762, aged 45. 
 
 Small brass plates on the floor near this monument, mention 
 some earlier members of this line viz. Joseph Eyles, (son of 
 John Eyles, of Southbroom and grandson of Sir John Eyles ,) 
 who died 1739 aged 27, and Elizabeth his sister died 1715, 
 aged 1 Mary wife of John Eyles, of Southbroom, Esq. and 
 daughter of John Eyles, of Chalfont, Esq. she died 1744 
 aged 63. 
 
 of Approaching Morn might be conceived for its representative ; 
 but no stretch of fancy can in their male associates, reach the 
 symbols of Fullday and Eve, or in the females of the Monu- 
 ment of Julio II. the ideas of Contemplative and Active 
 Life. " (See Fuseli's fourth lecture .)
 
 THE DEVIZES. 307 
 
 A monument on the other side of the Chancel mentions 
 Edward Eyles, fourth and only surviving son of John Eyles 
 Esq. He spent the greater part of his life in foreign service 
 and died 1792, aged 78. 
 
 Rt. Hon. George Heathcote. Lord Mayor of London on 
 one occasion, and thrice representative of this Borough in par- 
 liament, died 1768 aged 68. 
 
 Maria widow of George Heathcote, and daughter of John 
 Eyles, of South broom, died 1792 aged 85. 
 
 Katharine wife of George Flower, and daughter of John 
 Eyles, of Chalfont John her infant child died in 1725. 
 
 Josiah Eyles Heathcote, of Southbroom Esq. son of George 
 Heathcote of London, by Maria eldest daughter of John Eylea 
 of Southbroom, died 1811 aged 63. 
 
 Solomon Hughes died 1791 aged 79 Elizabeth his widow, 
 died 1813 aged 77. 
 
 Sir John Drew, died 1660 aged 26. 
 
 Thomas Middleton Trollope eldest son of Sir Thomas Trol- 
 lope of Casewick Lincoln, died 1779, aged 59. 
 
 Stephen Powell died 1825 aged 72 Katharine his wife, 1823 
 aged 67. 
 
 Henry Headley *vl. D. of Devizes, died 1830 aged 82 
 Susannah his wife. 
 
 Thomas and Elizabeth Wilde, and John and Anne tw> of 
 their children, tablet erected in 1778. 
 
 Thomas Thurman, died 1777 aged 86 and his two wives Su- 
 sannah, and Anne John Thurman, his son, died 17 64, aged 43. 
 
 William Wraughton Salmon Esq. of Southbroom, died 1826 
 aged 78. This monnment is by Bailey. 
 
 Thomas Payne, M. D. died 1674, Willoughby his wife. 
 
 George Willey Esq. of New Park, died unmarried 1770 
 aged 75 William Willey, his brother who represented this 
 Borough and resided in London, died 1763 aged 61. 
 
 James Sutton Esq. of New Park, died 1801 aged 68. He 
 married Eleanor second daughter of Anthony Addington, of 
 Reading M. D. and sister to Lord Sidmouth. (This marriage 
 was the occasion of the introduction to the Borough, of his 
 Lordship, then Mr. Addington.)
 
 308 HISTORY OF 
 
 James the son and heir of the above family, died in 1781 
 in infancy This monument also commemorates George, 
 William, and Mary, other of their children. 
 
 Prince Sutton, Justice of the Borough died 1779 aged 78 
 Mary his wife, sister of George and William Willey and 4 
 children, Willy, Mary, Sarah and Anne. 
 
 James Sutton, died 1 778 aged 63 Anne his widow. Lying 
 in the Beauchamp Chapel, are James Sutton died 1803 aged 45 
 and John died 1826 aged 58. 
 
 John Dick, M. D. died 1817 aged 29. 
 Robert Bruges, died 1815 aged 67, Alice his wife 1810 aged 
 59 and Robert Bruges Junr., 1815 aged 23. 
 
 Eleanor Holdsworth, widow of Winch Holdsworth of Chal- 
 font Bucks, and daughter of John Merewether of Devizes, 
 M. B. died 1758 aged 62. 
 
 John Merewether, died 1724 aged 69, his wife Jane, 1725 
 aged 69, Francis their son 1716 aged 22. 
 Anne Merewether, died in 1690. 
 
 Charles Innes, of London, second son of Edward Innes, Rec- 
 tor of Devizes died |in 1824 His wife Anne, daughter of 
 Thomas Neate, of Devizes. 
 
 The name of Robert Byng D. D. who died 1658 is rudely 
 carved on a wall near the Chancel. 
 
 
 
 Edward Innes. Rector died 1788 aged 67, Elizabeth his 
 wife 1809 aged 81. 
 
 Joseph Needham died 1778 aged 75 Mary wife of Joseph 
 Needham Junr. died 1732 aged 19 Penelope a second wife 
 1736 aged 22. Also Samuel Taylor five times Mayor of this 
 Borough and Captain Commandant of the Devizes Volunteers 
 died 1818 aged 82. Sally his wife, and Captain Thomas Tay- 
 lor and Lieutenant Samuel Taylor the former of whom died in 
 the East Indies and the other in Portugal. Also Penelope and 
 Elizabeth two of their daughters and Sally a third daughter 
 who was married to Joseph Goodwin. 
 
 James Dyer.'Rector of the parish lies in'the Chancel also the 
 Rev. John Walton \?ho died 1745 aged 39 and possibly many 
 other of the incumbents.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 
 
 309 
 
 Elizabeth the wife of John Shergold, M. A. Rector, and 
 John their son both died in 1726. 
 
 Intersecting arches in St. John's Belfry. 
 
 ST. MARY'S CHURCH. In speaking of this 
 church also, Mr. Britton's account is to a certain 
 degree consulted he says, " It consists of a nave, 
 a chancel, two side aisles, a north and south porch 
 and a tower at the west end, though from the dif- 
 ferent styles prevailing in its architecture, it has 
 evidently been erected at various and distinct pe- 
 riods." The chancel which is evidently the oldest 
 part of the whole, being in the earliest Norman 
 style, has an arched roof formed with bold ribs, 
 similar to that of St. John, a strong presumptive 
 proof that the rera of their construction was one 
 and the same Intersecting arches also formerly 
 adorned the chancel of St. Mary as in the other
 
 310 HISTORY OF 
 
 church, and whereas in St. John's chancel, the 
 walls have been so torn away as to preclude the 
 possibility of ever restoring its primitive form ; 
 in St. Mary's the case is different, and when the 
 restoration of the intersecting arches shall be com- 
 pleted here, the ^effect will be pleasing in the ex- 
 treme. 
 
 The nave of this church is large and lofty, as 
 well as the aisles, from which it is separated on 
 each side by a series of five pointed arches spring- 
 ing from octagonal columns. The roof is con- 
 structed of dark timber of extremely elegant work- 
 manship and is supported by large bracket-heads 
 of Kings, Bishops and Ladies. A curious inscrip- 
 tion on a part of this frame work reads as follows. 
 
 Orate pro ata totlmi empty ant tjanr mlonam 
 fieri fecit et qui ofitt prt moOte nuneio matt 3nno 
 mni. MCCCCXXXVI. 
 
 " Pray for the soul of William Smyth who 
 caused this church to be built, and who died on 
 the first day of May, in the year of the Lord 1 436. " 
 It should have been written " re-built" as the 
 porch is probably two hundred years older than 
 the parts built by William Smyth, and the chancel 
 older still. This porch which is on the south side 
 of the building has a pointed arch with five zigzag 
 mouldings, and is a specimen of the struggle 
 which took place between what are commonly 
 called the Saxon and Gothic styles. It is incon- 
 veniently placed, being nearly opposite to one of 
 the pillars in the nave, shewing its existence to 
 have been anterior to the body of the church.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 311 
 
 There is another entrance under the tower, and 
 the lower part of the tower appears to have been 
 originally thrown open to the nave, by means 
 of a very lofty and elegant arch. This effect has 
 been restored by the present Rector, so far as the 
 existence of the gallery will permit. 
 
 This church is entirely constructed of good 
 firm stone but is much inferior in its masonry to 
 that of St. John's. On different parts of the ex- 
 terior are displayed sculptured heads and grotes- 
 que figures of men and of various animals. Under 
 a canopy on the top of the east end, is a statue of 
 the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus in her arms 
 placed on a pedestal having shields sculptured 
 on the plinth, and inscribed with the initials of 
 William Smyth. The Tower which is quadran- 
 gular is finished with four purfled pinnacles and 
 a spire. It is 91 feet in height (not including the 
 pinnacles,) and together with the turret by which 
 it is ascended, forms an elegant and striking ob- 
 ject. Similar battlements and pinnacles are dis- 
 posed around the summit of the body of the 
 church. From entries in the church-wardens 
 books it would appear either that some of these 
 pinnacles had to be restored, or else were erected 
 for the first time about the year 1 620. One pay- 
 ment is " for horse hire to see the pinnacles of the 
 church" and might possibly furnish a hint to some 
 antiquary of the turf as to the origin of steeple- 
 chaces. 
 
 The monuments of St. Mary's church are but 
 few in number. They commemorate
 
 312 HISTORY OF 
 
 John Garth M. P. Recorder of the Borough who died in 
 1764 aged 63. His son Charles Garth also represented the 
 Borough. In the chancel are two other monuments to the 
 memory of his widow and children. 
 
 Abel Filkes a medical practitioner in Devizes for many years, 
 has a tablet on the north side of the church. He died 1815, 
 aged 65. 
 
 Near the south door of the chancel, outside the 
 building stands a tomb, evidently of high antiqui- 
 ty. It displays a number of sculptured shields, 
 charged with crosses and placed in quatre foil re- 
 cesses ; but having no inscription, the name of 
 the deceased has long been lost. 
 
 ST. JAMES CHAPEL, commonly called the Green 
 Church, is a chapel of ease belonging to the es- 
 tablishment, and under the parochial jurisdiction 
 of Bishop's Cannings. The Chapelry is called 
 Southbroom or Devizes Green, and is, properly 
 speaking, a suburb of the town. Whether the 
 suburb or the town be the older of the two is a 
 question involving much difficulty and no less 
 interest. As to the church itself, the Tower is the 
 only part which has not undergone recent change. 
 It is probably as old a? Henry V's time. The 
 upper part of it is highly decorated, resembling in 
 this respect many of the Welsh Towers Cardiff 
 for instance. 
 
 Of the monuments in this church, several are 
 to the memory of the family of Nicholas who for- 
 merly possessed considerable interest in the town 
 and neighbourhood. The following are some 
 of them. 
 
 Robert Nicholas, Esq. died in 1667, and Griffin Nicholas.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 313 
 
 Sir Robert Nicholas. Justice of the Borough "des les De- 
 vizes" died in 1725 aged 64. 
 
 Robert Nicholas son of the above Sir Robert Nicholas died 
 in 1712, 
 
 Oliffe Richmond Nicholas, son of Edward Nicholas, who 
 died in his youth in 1767. 
 
 Bridget wife of Edward Nicholas, and daughter of Oliffe 
 Joan Richmond of Ashton Keynes also Jenny, wife of Edw. 
 Robert Nicholas, and daughter of William Neate, of Devizes. 
 Some later branches of the family are mentioned on the pros- 
 trate slabs in the aisle. 
 
 William Clare, Surgeon. Coroner for the County, died 1 829 
 aged 82. 
 
 Henry Flower, died 1768 aged 51 Mary his wife died 1748 
 aged 70 Sarah Jones, her sister died 1743 aged 56. 
 
 John Flower, died 1788 aged 75. For some time Father of 
 the Corporation. He resided in the house next to the present 
 Mr. Ellen's, in the Green. 
 
 A pair of simple slabs against the west wall, mention the 
 names of Robert Drew, and of his son Robert, and daughter 
 Anne, the latter dying in 1693. 
 
 Jane Harrison, died 1837 aged 68. 
 
 Richard Reid, died 1790 aged 88. His wife Susannah died 
 1766 aged 64. Richard their son died 1792 aged 52. 
 
 Comparative dimensions of the churches of De- 
 vizes. The height of the Tower of St. John, mea- 
 sured to the summit of the staircase-turret is 73, 
 feet the extreme length of the church is 1 14 feet, 
 width 68 feet. 
 
 The height of St. Mary's, to the top of the tur- 
 ret is 91 feet extreme length 132 feet ex- 
 treme width 65 feet. 
 
 The height of St. James to the top of the turret 
 is 67 feet length 85 feet width 60 feet. 
 
 4 4
 
 814 HISTORY OF 
 
 The other places of Public Worship in Devizes 
 are, 
 
 1st. ST. MARY'S CHAPEL, belonging to the Inde- 
 pendent denomination, and situated in North Gate 
 Street at the North West extremity of the Town. 
 It was erected for Mr. Robert Sloper in 1776, and 
 was enlarged in 1810. A tablet to the memory of 
 that gentleman is placed over the pulpit which he 
 occupied for so many years. Another monument re- 
 cords the death of the Rev. William Priestley minis- 
 ter of Fordingbridge who died at Devizes in 1 827. 
 Mr. Sloper was succeeded by the Rev. Richard 
 Elliott the present pastor. For the charities and 
 bequests connected with this and the other insti- 
 tutions of Devizes, the reader is referred to the 
 parliamentary reports published by Government. 
 
 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHAPEL in Sheep Street, 
 was erected in 1 792. Mr. Fenner was then pastor, 
 who was succeeded in 1796 by James Biggs M. A. 
 and subsequently by Mr. John Stacey Bunce. 
 
 THE BAPTIST CHAPEL in Mary-Port Street was 
 built in 1780. Long previous to this however, 
 the members of this denomination had worshipped 
 in a meeting-house in the Brittox. It is presumed 
 that they are the oldest Dissenters in Devizes, and 
 their origin is said to be coeval with the period of 
 Cromwell's soldiers being in the town, when the 
 Castle was taken. In 1705 there appear to have 
 been 62 members, meeting in the above mention- 
 ed spot, Mr. John Filkes being then Pastor. In 
 1727 the name of Jacob Broadmead occurs, as 
 occupying this post, and in 1729 that of Banja-
 
 THE DKVIZES. 315 
 
 min Fuller. Mr. Fuller resigned in 1^74 and was 
 succeeded by Mr. James Pine in 1 778, soon after 
 which, the new Chapel was commenced. In 1 792 
 in consequence of the decease of the last mention- 
 ed minister, James Dyer was ordained, and died 
 in 1797. The names of Peter Feist in 1807. 
 John Handforth in 1813, and Jacob Hitchcock 
 in 1827 conclude the list, since which period there 
 has been no regularly instituted pastor. 
 
 Besides these, there is a Wesley an Chapel in 
 New Park Street The Quakers' Meeting House 
 in High Street is now appropriated to the use of 
 the Devizes Literary and Scientific Institution. 
 The Quakers were formerly much more numerous 
 in the neighbour! lood of Devizes than they are at 
 present. A small plot of ground at Hilworth is 
 still called the Quakers' burial ground, and one 
 of the roads leading to Round way, bears the name 
 of the Quakers' Walk. 
 
 THE TOWN -HALL, is a handsome edifice of 
 modern erection, having a projection in front 
 forming the segment of a circle, with four Ionic 
 pillars attached, and a basement of rustic work. 
 The ground floor is used on Thursdays as a Cheese 
 market, and above is a large room in which public 
 Meetings and Assemblies are held : also a court 
 room and the other requisite offices for the trans-
 
 316 HISTORY QF 
 
 ^action of the business of the Borough. The ar- 
 chitect was Thomas Baldwin of Bath. The old 
 Town-Hall occupying the corner cf Wine Street, 
 is now converted into dwelling houses and shops, 
 and belongs to William Cunnington Esq. 
 
 " THE MARKET CROSS, was erected in 1814 at 
 the sole expense of Lord Sidmouth as a memorial 
 of his Lordship's attachment to the interests of the 
 Borough which he represented in several succes- 
 sive parliaments previous to his elevation to the 
 peerage. It is built entirely of Bath stone by 
 Benjamin Wyatt. The lower part of the struc- 
 ture is plain, with a buttress at each angle sui- 
 mounted by an enriched pinnacle. The spire is 
 an octagon with ribs and crockets at the several 
 angles" and is otherwise tastefully decorated. The 
 only fault of the structure is the small number of 
 steps at the basement, and judging from the nu- 
 merous beautiful crosses of the same kind which 
 this country possesses, perhaps the lower com- 
 partment should have been open instead of solid- 
 work, but these are matters of taste, in which 
 every one must judge for himself. 
 
 On the west side is the following inscription. 
 
 THIS MARKET-CROSS WAS ERECTED BY 
 
 HENRY VISCOUNT SIDMOUTH 
 
 AS A MEMORIAL OF HIS GRATEFUL ATTACHMENT 
 
 TO THE BOROUGH OF DEVIZES 
 
 OF WHICH HE HAS BEEN RECORDER 
 
 THIRTY YEARS 
 
 AND OF WHICH HE WAS SIX TIMES UNANIMOUSLY 
 CHOSEN A REPRESENTATIVE IN PARLIAMENT. 
 
 ANNO DOMINI 1814. 
 
 On the east side is inscribed the following. 
 
 The Mayor and Corporation of Devizes a vail themselves of the stability of
 
 THE DEVIZES. 317 
 
 this building to transmit to future times the record of an awful event which 
 occurred in this market place in the year 1 753 ; hoping that such record 
 may serve as a salutary warning against the danger of impiously invoking 
 divine vengeance or of calling on the holy name of GOD to conceal the 
 devices of falsehood and fraud. 
 
 On Thursday the 25 January 1753, Ruth Pierce of Potterne in this 
 county, agreed with three other women to buy a sack of wheat in the 
 market, each paying her due propoition towards the same ; one of these 
 women in collecting the several quotas of money, Discovered a deficiency, 
 and demanded of Ruth Pierce the sum which was wanting to make good 
 the amount. Ruth Pierce protested that she had paid her share, and 
 said " She wished she might drop down dead if she had not." She rashly 
 repeated this awful wish, when to the consternation and terror of the sur- 
 rounding multitude, she instantly fell down and expired, having the money 
 concealed in her hand. 
 
 The narrative of this event was formerly in- 
 scribed on a tablet which hung in the market 
 house. When that house was taken down, Mr. 
 Halcombe who kept the Bear Inn, in order that 
 the remembrance of it might not be lost, had it 
 displayed on the base of a pillar supporting his 
 sign which stood out in the market-place. In 
 1801 this sign was taken down, and the original 
 tablet was re-erected. 
 
 The old market cross stood on a spot much 
 nearer the entrance of St. John Street than the 
 present one does. From the Chamberlain's books 
 it appears to have been finished in the year 1674 
 and one John William is paid for a "neck stone 
 and globe" to crown it withal. 
 
 It is singular that there is another monument in 
 Devizes to record the untimely death of individu- 
 als in a manner which has been regarded almost 
 equally in the light of a judgment as the case of 
 Ruth Pierce. It is a small obelisk in St. John's 
 church-yard, reposing over the remains of five
 
 318 HISTORY OF 
 
 persons who were drowned at Drew's -pond on a 
 Sunday in the year 1751. 
 
 THE OLD BRIDEWELL, in Bridewell Street is now 
 disused. Howard the philanthropist does not give 
 a very cheering account of it in his description of 
 the Lazarettos, of Europe published 1788. He 
 adds " A prisoner named Thomas Platt, lately died 
 in one of the solitary cells, and the verdict of the 
 Coroner's jury was Died by hunger and cold" 
 After this the allowance was augmented. The 
 situation was never proper for a jail, being much 
 too confined. 
 
 THE NEW COUNTY JAIL, on the Bath Road, 
 was constructed under the direction of Mr. Ingle- 
 man, and is built partly with stone and'partly with 
 brick. It is of a polygonal shape and the Gover- 
 nor's house occupies the centre. The last official 
 report furnishes the following particulars. 
 
 " The Governor's house overlooks all the yards, 
 and the building is very secure. There are eleven 
 wards and eleven yards, 10 belonging to the men 
 and one to the women. Total number of cells 
 210. Dimensions of what are termed single cells 
 are 10 feet high, 7ft. Sin. wide, and 8ft. Sin. long. 
 That of the women's 7ft. high, 5ft. wide, and 7ft. 
 5in. long. These form the chief blemish of the 
 Jail. They are placed just opposite to one an- 
 other on each side of a narrow passage, and over 
 each door is a large aperture by which means they 
 can converse commodiously. The women use a 
 day-room common to all. No slates or writing 
 are commonly permitted. The turnkeys, miller,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 319 
 
 and porter are chosen by the Governor, and their 
 salary fixed at the Quarter Sessions. During 14 
 years there has occurred no attempt at suicide, nor 
 any alarm of fire. Two endeavoured to escape but 
 were re-taken. The average number of prisoners 
 is about 700. 
 
 Salaries. To the Governor per annum s250. 
 The Matron ^"30 Sub-Governor 60 -Turnkey 
 and Miller 46 each Three Turnkeys at 42 each 
 one Porter 25 Chaplain 150 Surgeon 80 
 No Officer has any perquisite. 
 
 The diet consists of 21b. of wheaten bread and 
 one pint of gruel made of oatmeal and potatoes. 
 On Wednesdays and Fridays, in lieu thereof, 
 vegetable soup. Those on the wheel are allowed 
 an extra biscuit. This wheel grinds corn for the 
 prison and for the public. There is also a crank 
 for raising warer. Other occupations are white- 
 washi*ig, baking, cooking, and cleaning. The 
 hours of labour are in summer 9J and during the 
 rest of the year never less than 6|> The profits 
 of the labour are about 30 which is appropriated 
 to the County. 
 
 The present Chaplain (Mr. Mayo) has been in 
 office since 1822 and he also assisted the former 
 Chaplain 2 years. He reads prayers daily besides 
 preaching once every Sunday. (The Commis- 
 sioners have recommended that in the Chapel 
 every prisoner should be isolated, in order to avoid 
 recognition.) The Chaplain keeps two Journals, 
 one private and the other public, in the former of 
 which he takes note of the birth, education, and
 
 320 HISTORY OF 
 
 character of the prisoners. He visits all, on ad- 
 mission, and converses with them ; he forms them 
 into classes of from 15 to 18,, and after reading the 
 lessons every day assembles them for the purpose of 
 instruction. He makes the remark that in no case, 
 in which he has interrogated them as to whether 
 or not they had ever received the sacrament, has 
 he ever received a reply in the affirmative. On 
 the subject of re-committals he says, that he has 
 observed that those who have been flogged, often 
 return to the prison ; and adds that flogging is 
 usually deferred to the last period of the term of 
 confinement, instead of being inflicted at the first. 
 The culprit accordingly leaves the place, degraded 
 in his own estimation, angry, excited, hating all 
 mankind and ripe for future mischief. Those also 
 who have been placed in the infirmary often re- 
 turn to the prison, and he believes it to be a fruit- 
 ful source of corruption, and thinks that the in- 
 firmary should be attended by a wardsman who is 
 not a prisoner. Some time ago, the Chaplain 
 applied to the magistrates to give permission that 
 certain ladies in the neighbourhood might act as 
 teachers to the females, but this was declined. 
 The women rarely ask to see the Chaplain, but 
 when they are ill, he visits them of his own ac- 
 cord. He himself is friendly to short imprison- 
 ment with confinement to the cell, without work, 
 for 20 days.* 
 
 * Since the above was written, our esteemed friend and 
 townsman, has with his family quitted England for the new 
 World. They left Devizes in May 1839.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 321 
 
 The Surgeon's regular visits are twice a week. 
 A table which he has drawn up, proves by the 
 comparative weight of the prisoners on admission 
 and dismission, the favourable effects of the disci- 
 pline and diet on their health. Out of 500 
 weighed from the 25 March, 1835, to 25 March, 
 1836, there were hardly a dozen who had not 
 gained in flesh. 
 
 The Literary and Scientific Institution of Devi- 
 zes was established in 1833; Mr. Estcourt, the 
 President, delivered the inaugural address, on 
 which occasion he was supported by Captain Tay- 
 ler (who had exerted himself considerably, to 
 found the Society) Rev. R. Elliott, Rev. C. Lucas, 
 Rev. G. Majendie, Dr. Brabant, Mr. Salmon and 
 Mr. Paul Anstie. 
 
 The Board of Health established in the town 
 for the purpose of taking means to prevent the 
 progress of the Cholera, had this dreadful disease 
 unhappily visited the neighbourhood, discontinued 
 its meetings and discharged the persons employed, 
 as soon as the malady had fairly left the kingdom. 
 The whole expense from Nov. 1831 to March 
 1833, including the rent of a house for a year, use 
 of furniture, half the salary of a Street Keeper (the 
 other half being paid by the Mendicity Society) 
 salary of a servant, advertising &c., amounting 
 to 65 was paid by the overseers of the two pa- 
 rishes of the Town and of the chapelry of St. 
 James in proportion to their rates. 
 
 The Mendicity Society was established for the 
 purpose of relieving and transmitting paupers and
 
 322 HISTORY OF 
 
 has fully answered the expectations of its suppor- 
 ters. Nearly 1 600 were relieved during the first 
 year of its existence. Besides these, a variety of 
 other institutions of a civil, charitable and re- 
 ligious nature have from time to time been found- 
 ed in the Town, such as the Benevolent Society in 
 1829. The Dispensary in 1832. Several Schools 
 A Bank for Savings A fund for supplying the 
 poor with Goal at a reduced price, &c. &c. 
 
 The County Subscription Reading Room and 
 Club was established Oct. 1, 1828. Held at the 
 Bear Inn. Mr. T. B. Smith, Secretary. 
 
 COUNTY HOSPITAL. The desirableness of erect- 
 ing a Hospital at Devizes for the benefit of the 
 northern and central parts of the country has 
 long been acknowledged, and notwithstanding that 
 the scheme has been agitated for many years, and 
 most liberal subscriptions have been tendered from 
 various quarters, it has hitherto fallen through. 
 The proposal was, first brought forward by Dr. 
 Headley at a meeting of the town's people in 1824 
 but remained in abeyance till 1832 when it was 
 resolved to give the matter another examination, 
 and a meeting was accordingly held at Devizes in 
 February of that year, which however resulted in 
 little more than the former one had done. 
 
 TRANSFER OF THE ASSIZES. This like the 
 above, was a question arising out of the respective 
 localities of Devizes and Salisbury in the County. 
 On the 9th of April 1 834 a requisition signed by 
 nearly 200 of the inhabitants of Devizes was presen- 
 ted to the mayor, requesting him to solicit the at-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 323 
 
 tendance of the gentlemen of the vicinity, for the 
 purpose of forwarding the proposed plan of pro- 
 curing one at least ot the Assizes to be held at 
 Devizes instead of Salisbury ; and a meeting was 
 accordingly convened, when Sir Philip Durham, 
 M. P. for Devizes, (who on this as well as many 
 other occasions exhibited great alacrity in pushing 
 the interests of the Borongh,) opened the proceed- 
 ings by putting his name down ior 500. So spi- 
 rited a commencement could not fail of produc- 
 ing a corresponding demonstration of liberality in 
 others. Several of the neighbouring gentry con- 
 tributed 200 each, nor were the inhabitants them- 
 selves slow to manifest a similar good will to the 
 cause, many gentlemen adding 50. The speakers 
 on the occasion, other than Sir Philip, were Mr. 
 Sloper, Mr. Locke, Mr. T. B. Smith, Rev. Thos. 
 Methuen, Dr. Tomkins, Mr. Trinder, Mr. Wall, 
 and Mr. W Tanner. 
 
 THE BRITTOX The original signification of 
 this unique name for a street, has been the occa- 
 sion of frequent discussion and hypothesis ; though 
 a very satisfactory solution is to be found in several 
 of the old French and Latin dictionaries and glos - 
 saries of the middle ages. The French word is 
 Breteche, Breteque or Bretesque, principally used 
 in Flanders, and signifying the public spot in a 
 town, from which the Crier made proclamations 
 of justice, or other announcements. Nothing can 
 be more simple, but should this not be deemed 
 sufficiently explanatory, there are a variety of 
 other meanings. One authority states it to signi-
 
 324 HISTORY OF 
 
 fyalso an embattled tower fune fortresse a ere" 
 neauxj and derives it from an old Italian word 
 Bertesca, which was applied to a species of bar- 
 rier ordinarily placed before the gates of palaces. 
 In Dufresne's glossary we meet with another mean- 
 ing, viz. that it was used for the projecting parts 
 of a building, whether constructed of wood or 
 stone, and quotes from " Consuetudo Scabenatus 
 Atrebat. Art. 15. Un possesseur d'un heritage, 
 ou de plousieurs, ne peut faire bretecques, bontures, 
 saillies, ne outres choses sur la rue a 1'endroit 
 desdits heritages, ou prejudice de ses voisins." 
 In the Latin of the middle ages, it is written Bre- 
 tachia, and its signification sometimes embraced 
 even the walls of a town or castle. In a passage 
 in " Gulielmus Armoricus de gestis Philippi 1202" 
 it is evidently applied to temporary fortifications 
 constructed for the purpose of taking some cita- 
 del. The passage, (translated) is this. " He 
 caused to be built double Bretecques (Brestachias 
 duplices) in seven different spots, viz. fortified 
 wooden castles, uniformly distant one from the 
 other, surrounded with double quadrangular ditch- 
 es and furnished with draw-bridges thrown be- 
 tween. He filled with men, not only these cas- 
 tles, but also the whole intervening space of the 
 ditches, and thus encompassed the beseiged party, 
 While on the subject of ancient names, it may 
 be observed that the appellations of Gallows-Acre 
 and Gallows-Ditch belonging to a field and road 
 at Hillworth, have been explained by the supposi- 
 tion of that elevated spot having been chosen as
 
 THE DEVIZES. 325 
 
 the Tyburn of Devizes, at the period when the 
 jurisdiction of life and death was attached to the 
 Castle. This jurisdiction was typified by the ex- 
 pression Furca et fossa, gibbet andfoss or gallows 
 and ditch ; the first mode being adopted in the 
 case of men, and the latter, or drowning, in that 
 of females ; or for purposes of ordeal. 
 
 Crammer Pond may mean Merchant's or Mer- 
 cer's Fond ; or it may be derived from one Dame 
 Cramer who formerly inhabited Southbroom, and 
 conveyed certain lands to the parish of Bishop's 
 Cannings, (this latter is Mr. Thomas Smith's sug- 
 gestion.) Many former names of spots in the 
 town mentioned in the recitals of the Chantry re- 
 venues are now lost ; such as Scammell in the 
 Old Port, 'Lulle-ditch and others. Old Port is 
 synonymous with St. Mary's parish, New Port 
 with that of St. John. 
 
 Mr. Hatcher of Salisbury considers that All- 
 Cannings is a corruption of Eccl. Cannings, an 
 abbreviation which the scribes would naturally 
 make both in speaking and writing of Ecclesia 
 Cannings. It was so called in contradistinction 
 to Episcopi Cannings i. e. Bishop's Cannings. 
 
 The subject of the ancient sewers of Devizes is 
 one which has given rise to much enquiry and hy- 
 pothesis. The vast size of these aqueducts and 
 the extent of ground which they traverse certainly 
 render them objects of considerable interest ; but 
 the absence of any account of their origin leaves 
 little more to be said about them, than that the 
 construction of such an expensive work, at so re-
 
 326 HISTORY OF 
 
 mote a period, affords very palpable evidence of 
 the importance which the town had acquired at an 
 early age. The preamble to Charles I's Charter 
 to the Borough alludes to its decayed splendour, 
 attributing it to the interference of foreigners in 
 the manufactures ; notwithstanding which, in 
 Fuller's" Worthies of England" written in Crom- 
 well's time, Devizes is stated to be " the best and 
 biggest town for trading in the Shire." This is 
 certainly not the case at the present day ; though 
 it may perhaps be added with truth, that what im- 
 portance, relatively speaking, the town has lost in 
 matters of trade, has been re-derived through 
 other channels. 
 
 The manufacture of cloths became extinct about 
 the year 1828. The process of malting was for- 
 merly carried on extensively, and the manufacture 
 of snuff has been established for many years. 
 The Windmills on the Castle Hill were at one 
 time used for this purpose, previously to which 
 they were employed in making rape-oil. The 
 population of the two parishes in the old Borough, 
 was latterly as follows. 
 
 Year. 1801 1811 1821 1831 
 
 St. John's. 1570 1769 1972 1973 
 St. Mary's. 1977 1981 2236 2589 
 
 Total. 3547 3750 4208 4562 
 
 The proportions of females to males being 
 about thirteen to twelve.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 
 
 327 
 
 TABLE shewing the registered Baptisms, Burials and 
 Marriages within the limits of the old Borough du- 
 ring 20 years. 
 
 
 BAPTISMS. 
 
 BURIALS. 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Marr. 
 
 1811 
 
 44 
 
 52 
 
 96 
 
 37 
 
 20 
 
 57 
 
 41 
 
 1812 
 
 44 
 
 34 
 
 78 
 
 20 
 
 24 
 
 44 
 
 26 
 
 1813 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 85 
 
 26 
 
 34 
 
 60 
 
 14 
 
 1814 
 
 39 
 
 43 
 
 82 
 
 37 
 
 42 
 
 79 
 
 13 
 
 1815 
 
 52 
 
 39 
 
 91 
 
 36 
 
 36 
 
 72 
 
 31 
 
 1816 
 
 39 
 
 43 
 
 82 
 
 37 
 
 47 
 
 84 
 
 30 
 
 1817 
 
 45 
 
 47 
 
 92 
 
 33 
 
 34 
 
 67 
 
 29 
 
 1818 
 
 34 
 
 37 
 
 71 
 
 22 
 
 29 
 
 51 
 
 29 
 
 1819 
 
 38 
 
 34 
 
 72 
 
 27 
 
 36 
 
 63 
 
 27 
 
 1820 
 1821 
 
 42 
 
 43 
 
 85 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 
 49 
 
 22 
 
 48 
 
 36 
 
 84 
 
 31 
 
 37 
 
 68 
 
 44 
 
 1822 
 
 47 
 
 42 
 
 89 
 
 42 
 45 
 
 36 
 
 78 
 
 25 
 
 1823 
 
 33 
 
 41 
 
 74 
 
 36 
 
 81 
 
 23 
 
 1824 
 
 44 
 
 36 
 
 80 
 
 37 
 
 27 
 
 64 
 
 25 
 
 1825 
 
 33 
 
 43 
 
 76 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 64 
 
 27 
 
 1826 
 
 38 
 
 38 
 
 76 
 
 41 
 
 38 
 
 79 
 
 32 
 
 1827 
 
 46 
 
 57 
 
 103 
 
 35 
 
 39 
 
 74 
 
 31 
 
 1828 
 
 60 
 
 39 
 
 99 
 
 29 
 
 20 
 
 49 
 
 20 
 
 1829 
 
 42 
 
 53 
 
 95 
 
 61 
 
 41 
 
 102 
 
 22 
 
 1830 
 
 52 
 
 31 
 
 83 
 
 33 
 
 23 
 
 56 
 
 31
 
 328 HISTORY OF 
 
 In a geographical sense, Devizes stands on the 
 edge of an irregular extent of elevated land of con- 
 siderable altitude, which land nevertheless forms 
 the base of a vast valley running up due-west for 
 several miles. The height of the town above the 
 level of the sea in the Bristol Channel is about 
 500 feet, and this circumstance combined with 
 the exposure of its situation, renders it perpetually 
 subject to the effects of winds. The air in conse- 
 quence is characterized as cold and sharp, but is 
 not unfavourable to health, if a judgment to that 
 effect may be formed from numerous instances of 
 longevity. 
 
 In a geological point of view, it stands upon the 
 formation called the green sand, one of the series of 
 beds reposing between the chalk and the oolites, 
 and which is of considerable thickness at this spot. 
 Being of a porous nature, it is necessary to pierce 
 to a great depth to obtain a sufficiently abundant 
 supply of water many of the wells in Devizes 
 are in consequence more than 90 feet deep. 
 That at the parsonage of Potterne is 126 feet. 
 
 The Iron-sand or lowest bed of this series often 
 contains brown oxide of iron f in such consider- 
 able proportions as to have rendered it in former 
 days, worth the working as an ore of that metal, 
 while the forests of the country were still in a state 
 to afford a ready supply of fuel on the spot. Se- 
 veral tracts in the neighbourhood of Devizes tes- 
 tify by the quantities of scorice of melted iron 
 scattered over them, that such was the case in these 
 parts. Under Beacon-down Hill in particular,
 
 THE DEVIZES. 329 
 
 and the vicinity of Bromham, as well as in some 
 fields in the Old-park, these traces are visible. 
 The character of this formation may be best esti- 
 mated, where it emerges from beneath the clay at 
 Foxhanger west of Devizes. It there consists of 
 a pudding stone, composed of rounded quartz, 
 whose cement is siliceous with a red calx of iron, 
 containing ore formerly in much request for the 
 furnace and forge, and constituting the material 
 whence the ancient Britons wrought their Quern 
 Stones. * 
 
 ROUNDWAY-DOWN is the abrupt termination of 
 a long ridge of Chalk hills which stretch westward 
 from the south of Marlborough. We have al- 
 ready had occasion to notice it in connexion witli 
 the decisive action of which it was the scene, but 
 it is difficult to refrain from adding a few words 
 on the subject of the ancient entrenchment popu- 
 larly called Oliver's camp, a spot to which so 
 many early footsteps have been directed, and 
 which will continue to form the terminus of many 
 an agreeable ramble to successive troops of visi- 
 tants. The following notices of it are from the 
 pen of Sir Richard Colt Hoare. 
 
 " From thence I directed my course to the 
 very conspicuous eminence above Devizes, called 
 Roundway hill, on which there is an earthen work 
 commanding an extensive and delightful view. 
 A few barrows dispersed over the hill remind us 
 of former times, but I could not discover any de- 
 cisive settlement of the Britons. Amongst the 
 
 * See Philips' and Conybeare'sGeology.
 
 ~330 HISTORY OF 
 
 papers of the late Mr. Cunnington I find the fol- 
 lowing remarks made by him relative to the 
 ground. * This little earthen work is situated on 
 the western extremity of the hill upon a high 
 point of down projecting towards the village of 
 Rowde. It has an entrance from the down, 
 guarded by a single rampart ; on the other sides 
 it is rendered inaccessible by nature. The whole 
 area of the camp does not contain above two or 
 three acres. It has not the appearance of a very 
 old work, and was probably no more than a sig- 
 nal post, as it commands a large extent of coun- 
 try. It might have been an exploratory camp of 
 the Romans, attached to the^neighbouring station 
 of Verlucio. Upon the highest point of the hill 
 near the stone quarries, we found coarse pottery 
 and nails, but the former is not of the ancient 
 British manufacture. ' 
 
 ' We opened two Barrows on the Hill, the first 
 was a small circular tumulus on the right hand as 
 you reach the summit from Devizes. At the depth 
 of 4 \ feet it produced a skeleton lying from North 
 to South, but without any accompaniments either 
 of arms or trinkets. The second barrow lies far- 
 ther to the East and near to the stone quarries, it 
 is circular in its form and about 2^ feet in eleva- 
 tion. At the depth of 4^ feet we found a skeleton 
 lying from West to East, and with it an iron ring 
 and thirty bits of ivory, in form and size like 
 children's marbles cut in two. These articles were 
 intermixed with a large quantity of decayed wood 
 which was probably once attached to the ivory.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 331 
 
 This earthen work has been assigned both by 
 Camden and Aubrey to the Romans the former of 
 whom thus mentions it in his description of Wilt- 
 shire. 'On the utmost part of Roundway Hill 
 which overlooks the town of Devizes, there is a 
 square single trenched camp, that seems to point 
 out to us the presence of the Romans in these 
 parts, and there have been discovered in the neigh- 
 bourhood of this place, several hundred pieces of 
 ancient Roman coins of different Emperors, and 
 within a fe\v yards, several pots without coins, but 
 supposed to be of the same antiquity." 
 
 Mr. Aubrey in his manuscript collections says 
 " On Roundway down is a Roman Camp. It is 
 situate upon the end and promontory of the hill 
 looking over the town. At the angles, the tumps 
 are higher and bigger than the rest of the rampire. 
 This Camp seems to have for its antagonist, 
 Oldbury." 
 
 After the opinions of so many antiquaries, it 
 would be idle to propose any further conjectures. 
 Sir Richard Hoare conceives that the removal of 
 British residences from the high to the low ground 
 took place at a considerable time after the inva- 
 sion of the Romans, "for on some of the highest 
 points of land, (he observes) we find the most evi- 
 dent traces of Roman workmanship, in painted 
 walls of stucco, fragments of Hypocausts &c. a 
 convincing proof that the Romans had associated 
 with the Britons in these their elevated and pas- 
 toral abodes." 
 
 The height of Roundway above the level of the
 
 332 HISTORY OF 
 
 canal at Devizes is 310 feet at the spot occupied 
 by the smallest plantation. The summit of Mor- 
 gan's hill is 520 above the same level, or nearly 
 1 000 feet above the level of the sea. In Stukeley 's 
 time a gibbet stood on that eminence, and the ap- 
 pellation of Morgan's hill may possibly have been 
 derived from the name of the felon who hung there- 
 on. The engraved view which the Doctor made 
 of (his hill was for the purpose of delineating the 
 remarkable junction which there takes place be- 
 tween the Wansdyke, and the Roman Bath-road, 
 occasioning the former to forsake its serpentine 
 irregular track, and suddenly to adopt the straight 
 forward line of the Romans. This looks as if the 
 Wansdyke must be the more recent formation of the 
 two, and renders very doubtful Dr. fStukeley's sug- 
 gestion, that it formed one of the limits of three dis- 
 tinct conquests by the Belgoe. An old French wri- 
 ter thus disposes of the question in very few words. 
 "Les habitans 1'appellent Wansdyke qu'ils disent 
 avoir este creuse par un mauvais Demon un Mer- 
 credi." That it was the boundary of some Roman 
 territory, is as difficult to substantiate from history 
 as to deduce from the character of the work itself. 
 The route ever Roundway Hill, or more pro- 
 perly, over Beacon-down Hill from Bath, which 
 was commonly adopted in former days, was the 
 occasion of the Sovereigns in their western journies 
 or progresses, passing through Devizes less fre- 
 quently than they would otherwise have done ; 
 and the castle as a royal abode, having ceased to 
 exist, the town itself cannot be supposed to have
 
 THE DEVIZES. 333 
 
 possessed many accommodations for the residence 
 of a Court. Laycock and Bromham House were 
 the more usual stopping places for royalty in this 
 vicinity, the latter place lying immediately upon 
 the route. In April 1613, Anne the queen of 
 James T. made a progress to Bath for the benefit 
 of the waters. On her way back, in the June fol- 
 lowing, we learn from Anthony a Wood, she 
 passed through the parish of Bishop's Cannings 
 very near to Devizes. " The vicar of the parish 
 George Ferebe M. A. of Magdalen college Oxford, 
 was a Glostershire-man born, and being well 
 skilled in musick, did instruct divers young men 
 in his parish in that faculty, till they could either 
 play or sing their parts. On the llth of June, 
 the Queen on her return from the Bath, did in- 
 tend to pass over the downs at Wansdyke within 
 the parish of Bishop's Cannings ; of which, Ferebe 
 having timely notice, he composed a song of four 
 parts, and instructed his scholars to sing it very 
 perfectly, as also to play a lesson or two which he 
 had composed, on their wind-instruments. He 
 dressed himself in the habit of an old Bard, and 
 caused his scholars whom he had instructed, to be 
 clothed in Shepherd's weeds. The Queen having 
 received notice of these people, she with her re- 
 tinue made a stand at Wansdyke. Whereupon 
 these musicians drawing up to her, played a most 
 admirable lesson of four parts, with double voices, 
 the beginning of which was this 
 
 Shine oh thou sacred Shepherd's Star 
 On silly swaynea, &c. &c.
 
 334 HISTORY OF 
 
 Which being well performed, the band con- 
 cluded with an Epilogue, to the great liking and 
 content of the Queen and her company." 
 
 This lesson, as it was called, was published 
 soon after. It is described in the books of the 
 Stationer's Company as " A thing called The 
 Shepherd's Song before Queen Anne, in four parts 
 complete musical, upon the playnes of Salisbury." 
 These sort of pageants, which were quite the 
 fashion at that time, appear to have been any- 
 thing but disagreeable to the persons for whom they 
 were got up. " The Queen (writes a Mr. Cham- 
 berlain from London, 10th June see Winwood's 
 memorials) is not yet returned from Bath and 
 thereabouts, having been at Bristol, and received, 
 great entertainment at divers places, with which 
 and the country sports they made her, she is so 
 well pleased, that it is thought she will make more 
 such progresses. " 
 
 Master George Ferebe was afterwards sworn 
 Chaplain to his Majesty King James " and was 
 ever much valued for his ingenuity." He pub- 
 lished in 1615 "Life's Farewell" being a sermon 
 preached in St. John's Church Devizes, from 2nd 
 Samuel xiv and 14, at the funeral of John Drew, 
 Esq. (See Nicholas Progresses.) 
 
 James I may be said to be an exception to the 
 remark made above relative to the passage through 
 Devizes, as there is certain evidence of his having 
 come through it on three occasions viz. in 1613, 
 1618 and 1623. The object of his progresses was 
 as much to display the schoolmaster as to dazzle
 
 THE DEVIZES. 335 
 
 with the blaze of royalty, and accordingly we find 
 him often turning aside to examine objects which 
 claimed attention. He was frequently in these 
 parts, and his route from Lord Pembroke's seat 
 at Wilton * to Sir Edward Bayntun's at Brom- 
 ham House would naturally lead him through 
 this town. While stopping at Bromham in 1618 
 he knighted Sir Rawlyn Bussey on the 1st. of Au- 
 gust ; and while on another visit there in 1623, 
 he writes to his " sweete Steenie " announcing to 
 him a present of s2000 from the East India Com- 
 pany, (printed in Ellis's historical LettersJ It was 
 stated a short time since in the Devizes Gazette, 
 that " the mansion at Bromham is reported to 
 have been bombarded by Lord Wihnot after the 
 battle of Round way, and beaten to the ground " 
 " That Sir Edward Bayntun the then proprie- 
 tor, acted at the period of the Civil Wars as Com- 
 missioner to the Parliament, and in that capacity 
 might have rendered himself obnoxious to the 
 victorious party. " The papers of the time do not 
 mention any such bombardment just then, and 
 it is therefore presumable that the circumstances 
 
 * Inigo Jones, relates that in 1 620 he was discoursing one 
 day with king James, and the Earl of Pembroke at Salisbury 
 on the subject of Stonehenge. Whereupon "I icceived, (he 
 continues,) his Majesty's command to produce out of mine own 
 practice in architecture and experience in antiquities abroad, 
 what possibly I could discover concerning this of Stonehenge " 
 He accordingly set about the task, and made the astonishing 
 discovery that it was erected to Ccelus the father of Saturn, 
 between the ages of Agricola and Constantine, and had been 
 constructed in the Tuscan order.
 
 336 HISTORY OF 
 
 which occurred there in 1645 and which have 
 already been noticed in the transactions of that 
 year constitute the origin of the tradition. Speak- 
 ing of the site of this ancient seat, the writer 
 (Mr. Money of Whetham) adds " The traces 
 of extensive building are very discernible, though 
 little of the antique remains with the exception of 
 a carved corbel or two, and a subterranean pas- 
 sage leading, no one knows whither (though it is 
 said, to Lay cock Abbey) This passage runs under 
 the garden, where the entrance was filled up a 
 few years ago. A rampart of earth called " The 
 Battery " enclosing an area of about seven acres, 
 surrounds the premises, from which it may be 
 inferred that the house was castellated. " 
 
 In the account appended to Dore's Plan of De- 
 vizes, the name Round way is regarded as a cor- 
 ruption of " Roman- way " in consequence of the 
 comparative proximity of one of those ancient 
 tracks ; though there seems small reason why the 
 designation of this part of the Downs in particu- 
 lar should bear allusion to a line two miles dis- 
 tant from it ; the name of Roundway being pro- 
 perly applicable only to the headland immediately 
 over against New-Park or the village of Round- 
 way. May we not rather assume that this hill de- 
 rives its name from the village, and that this again 
 is so termed ; as lying in the ancient road from 
 Horton to the town of Rowde, thence denomina- 
 ted Rowdeway or Rowndway. The spelling of 
 the name of this latter place in the public records 
 is very various : we meet with Rudes or Ruda
 
 THE DEVIZES. 337 
 
 Rondes Rowndes and Ruges ; though the most 
 ordinary mode of expression is undoubtedly, "Villa 
 de Rudes." The part of the hill outlying imme- 
 diately beyond Oliver's Camp is called Beacon- 
 down Hill, corrupted to Bagdon Hill ; and the 
 engagement above referred to, has sometimes been 
 designated by it. It is so called in an entry in 
 the parish register of Rowde, which Mr. Money 
 lately presented to the public, (See the Devizes 
 Gazette 25 July 1839.) The extract is as follows. 
 
 " 1643. William Bartlett the son of Mr. Robert Bartlett of 
 Churton, who was slain in the fight on Bagdon Hill, was buried 
 July 14th." 
 
 In connexion with this, is appended another 
 entry from the Churton Register, as follows. 
 
 " July the 13th, being Thursday, 1643, was the great fight 
 on Roundway Hill, in the which William Bartlett was shotte 
 in the forehead, and was buried iu martial wise at Rowde. He 
 was chief quarter- master to the noble Colonel Sands, and he 
 was baptized (ut patet) 26th March, 1615. A cloud like a 
 lyon rampant azure, was on the armye fighting." 
 
 This latter entry, it was observed, was incon- 
 sistent with Lord Clarendon's account, since he 
 describes the Earl of Hertford as escaping from 
 Devizes on Sunday night, the 9th July, and Lord 
 Wilmot returning and fighting the battle of 
 Roundway on Wednesday. It is the historian 
 who is at fault in this case, and from trusting to 
 his apparent fidelity in details, the error was over- 
 looked in the present narrative, (see Chapter V.) 
 but a more careful examination of the accounts 
 published at the time, shews distinctly that Hert- 
 ford left Devizes on Monday night, and that the
 
 338 HISTORY OF 
 
 cavalry returned on Thursday at four in the after- 
 noon. A short but very explicit statement of those 
 events with their dates, is contained in " A true 
 relation of the late fight between Sir William 
 Waller's forces and those sent from Oxford, writ- 
 ten by a Colonel in his army at Bristol to a friend 
 in London," 1 643. By the assistance of that and 
 other accounts, we will briefly recapitulate the pro- 
 ceedings of each day. 
 
 July 9. Sunday, Lord Hertford leaves Chippenham, but is 
 overtaken at Sir Edward Bayntun's park, where a skirmish 
 ensues, and the Royalists are chased from hedge to hedge till 
 they reach Devizes Waller retiring to a large moor at Rowde. 
 
 July 10, Monday, Waller goes over Bagdon hill, and des- 
 cends to the village of Roundway sends Major Dowett to en- 
 counter Lord Crawford coming from Marlborough returning 
 to Devizes perceives the whole body of Hertford's cavalry with 
 the foot, posted on the rising ground N.E. of the town, looking 
 out for Crawford's arrival. They retreat into the town, and 
 Waller takes up his own position on the said hill falls on the 
 town during the night " though coldly." " Hertford retreats 
 privately from the Vize through his park (perhaps New-Park) 
 towards Oxford." 
 
 July 1 1 , Tuesday, The seige is carried on with vigour, and 
 the place defended with great bravery. 
 
 July 12, Wednesday. Heavy rains during the day, never- 
 theless Waller forces the outworks and guards grants a parley 
 of 2 hours which is extended to 8 hours. 
 
 July 13, Thursday. It was intended to make a desperate 
 assault on the evening of this day, when 2000 or according to 
 others 2, 600 horse suddenly arriving from Oxford, engaged with 
 Waller and put him to the rout. 
 
 Recurring once more to the old Bath road over 
 the hill (not the Roman road) a trifling circum-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 339 
 
 stance may be added, viz. that in or near the year 
 1689 the Princess of Orange with a long train of 
 baggage waggons, passed by this route over the 
 downs ; and such was the excitement prevailing 
 by reason of the events which had just unseated 
 James II, that tradition says, so many persons 
 went out from Devizes to see her pass, that the 
 town was literally emptied of its inhabitants. Ow- 
 ing to the severities of Judge Jefferies, the people 
 of the West had lately seen swimming before their 
 eyes (to use an expression occurring in a letter of 
 that period) " the visions of so many gibbets/' 
 that we cannot wonder at the eagerness with which 
 the Prince's arrival in England was greeted in 
 this and the neighbouring counties. Among the 
 accompts of his receipts and disbursements imme- 
 diately after his landing (preserved in the Harleian 
 MSS.) is the following entry. 
 
 Received of William Trenchard as being presented to his 
 Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, his now Majesty, by the 
 Clothiers of Wiltshire, 250. 
 
 The name of William Trenchard occurs in page 
 259 of this History, as a petitioner to the House 
 of Commons, about that same time, relative to an 
 alledged undue return of Burgesses. 
 
 NEW PARK. At the foot of Roundway hill, 
 and one mile distant from Devizes, is situated 
 the Mansion of New Park. The present house 
 was built by Samuel Wyatt, architect, for the late 
 James Sutton Esq. at whose death it came to 
 Thomas Estcourt Esq. in right of his wife, only 
 daughter and heiress of James Sutton, and niece
 
 340 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 to Lord Sidmouth. It contained a few good pic- 
 tures, 1st. A Portrait of the Rt. Hon. Henry Ad- 
 dington (afterwards Lord Sidmouth) in his robes 
 as Speaker of the House of Commons, painted by 
 Copley 2nd. Rustic figures in a landscape, by 
 George Morland, and 3rd, A landscape with figures 
 by Gainsborough. Thomas Estcourt Junr. Esq. 
 who quitted the house in 1837, carried the paint- 
 ings to his residence of Bowden House. 
 
 The park was thus described many years ago, by 
 Mr. Repton a landscape gardener. " All the ma- 
 terials of natural landscape seem to be collected 
 if not actually displayed within the pale of this 
 beautiful park. It presents every possible variety 
 of shape in the ground, from the cheerful and ex- 
 tended plan, to the steep hill and abrupt precipice. 
 The surface is every where enriched with wood of 
 various growth and species, either collected in am- 
 ple masses, tor lightly scattered in gfoups and sin- 
 gle trees. Such are the natural advantages of fore 
 ground, to which must be added the richest pros- 
 pects of distant country ; and while nature has 
 been thus bountiful, art] has also lent assistance 
 under the direction of Mr James Wyatt, to decor- 
 ate the scene with a building of the most elegant 
 form. The house at New Park, in a lasting mon- 
 ument of the contrivance and good taste of that 
 ingenious architect." 
 
 Mr. Repton, was a man of some considerable 
 notoriety in his profession. When consulted about 
 the improvements and embellishment of parks and 
 other pleasure grounds, his practice, after survey-
 
 THE DEVIZES. 
 
 341 
 
 ing the whole, was to write a description of the 
 same in a book bound in red morocco, which was 
 then left with the proprietor of the estate, and cal- 
 led the Red Book. In these descriptions, he illus- 
 trated his precepts by numerous drawings, depict- 
 ing the various scenes as they actually were, and 
 also as they would appear, if altered according to 
 his suggestions. fSee Beauties of Wiltshire.^ 
 
 If the water from Roundway could possibly be 
 so applied as to constitute a prominent feature in 
 this Park, their are few estates in England with 
 which it might not vie, as far as natural beauties go.
 
 342 HISTORY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES RICHARD OF THE DE- 
 VIZES JOHN OF THE DEVIZES ROBERT DE 
 
 VISE WILLIAM PRIOR DR. PHILIP STEPHENS 
 
 JOSEPH ALLEIN THOMAS THURMAN DR. 
 
 JAMES DAVIS JOHN COLLINS JOHN ANSTIE 
 
 EVAN THOMAS SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. 
 
 It now remains to cull from past generations 
 the names of such of the natives or residents in 
 Devizes, whose memory, from local associations 
 it may be interesting to preserve, though but few 
 of them can be said to have assumed any degree 
 of prominency in the page of history. We be- 
 gin with 
 
 RICHARD OF THE DEVIZES. The extract period 
 of his birth is unknown, but it must have been 
 near the middle of the twelfth century. He was 
 bred in Winchester, and subsequently entered the 
 order of Benedictine Monks in that city, amongst 
 whom he acquired considerable distinction by his 
 learning. His principal works are a " History of 
 the reign of King Richard," and of his exploits in 
 Palestine" and an " Epitome of the British affairs," 
 both of which he dedicated to Robert Prior of 
 Winchester. The former of these, in manuscript
 
 THE DEVIZES. 343 
 
 is preserved in the Cottonian library in the Bri- 
 tish Museum, under the head Domitian No. 13. 
 This Monkish historian died at the commence- 
 ment of the thirteenth century. 
 
 JOHN OF THE DEVIZES, was made a Citizen of 
 Salisbury, and became a person of considerable in- 
 fluence there, during the reign of Edward II. His 
 name appears, among the parliamentary writs, as 
 a Burgess returned for that city in 6th. Edw. II. at 
 Westminster. He is also mentioned as one of the 
 arbiters in the adjustment of a fierce controversy 
 which took place about that time between the 
 Bishop of Salisbury and the Burgesses of the City. 
 
 ROBERT DE VISE, is mentioned in " Weever's 
 funeral Monuments" as having in conjunction with 
 two other individuals, founded a College at Brad- 
 gare in the diocese of Canterbury. The date is 
 not mentioned. 
 
 WILLIAM PRIOR, is the name of a native of this 
 town, who in the days of Henry VII. fell under 
 ecclesiastical censure, for holding Lollardy or pro- 
 fessing the principles of Wickliffe (for these terms 
 were synonymous.) He was cited at Salisbury and 
 induced to recant, but repenting of the step, and 
 resuming his own professions, was delivered to 
 the flames in that city as an incorrigible heretic, 
 in the year 1507. 
 
 DR. PHILIP STEPHENS, was born in Devizes in 
 the early part of the seventeenth century. He 
 was educated for the profession of medicine at 
 St. Alban's Hall, Oxford, where he took his de- 
 grees and shortly after was elected fellow of New
 
 344 HISTORY OF 
 
 College, by the visitors in 1655, whence he was 
 translated as principal to Hart-Hall. He was 
 conjointly with a Mr. Brown the author of a work 
 entitled " Catalogus Horti Botanici Oxoniensis" 
 published in 1658. He died in London, a short 
 time subsequent to the Restoration. 
 
 JOSEPH ALLEIN, a distinguished non-conformist 
 divine was contemporary with the above, having 
 been born in 1633. According to tradition, his 
 birth happened in a house occupying the site of one 
 near the market house (lately occupied by Mr. 
 Fowler.) Mr. Allein was early in life educated for 
 the ministry of the established Church, and at the 
 age of 16 was sent to Lincoln College, Oxford, 
 whence he was removed in 1651 to Corpus 
 Christi College on a Wiltshire-scholarship. In 
 1655, we find him acting as assistant to Mr. New- 
 ton a clergyman of Taunton, where he continued to 
 officiate till ejected for his nonconformity in 1662. 
 He now commenced preaching privately, but his 
 zeal speedily attracting the malice of his persecu- 
 tors, he was thrown into Ilchester Jail, tried at 
 the assizes, and sentenced to pay one hundred 
 marks, or remain in prison till the fine was dis- 
 charged. He lay there accordingly upwards of a 
 year, and when at last set free, attempted to renew 
 his ministerial labours with his former ardour, 
 and was again subjected to an imprisonment which 
 lasted sixty days. These two trials broke his 
 constitution ; he survived the last but three years 
 and died in 1668 at the age of 35. His body was 
 buried in the church of St. Magdalen at Taunton .
 
 THE DEVIZES. 345 
 
 The writings of this divine are numerous, and 
 some of them have been frequently reprinted. 
 His " Alarm to the Unconverted," is the work by 
 which his name is most popularly known. 
 
 THOMAS THURMAN, was a man who was held 
 by his fellow towasmen in vast esteem during the 
 day in which he lived. His residence was the 
 house in Wine Street, now (1839) occupied by the 
 North Wilts Banking Company, where he amass- 
 ed considerable property in trade. He was father 
 of the Corporation for many years, and a leading 
 ma a in the town, by whom he was looked up to 
 as a patriarch, and consulted as a kind adviser, and 
 his name appears in most of the executorships of 
 the day. His monument in St. John's Church is 
 inscribed with a long list of his benefactions and 
 charities to the poor ; besides which, he contributed 
 considerable sums towards erecting the altar piece, 
 and embellishing the chancel of the church. He 
 died in 1777, aged 86. 
 
 JAMES DAVIS, M.D. practised as a physician 
 in this town during a portion of the early and 
 middle part of the last century. Whether or not 
 this gentleman was a native of Devizes is uncer- 
 tain. His work on its antiquities, so large a por- 
 tion of which has already come under our notice, 
 was written in the years 1750 and 1751, in the 
 form of familiar letters, and was published in 1754 
 and afterwards reprinted in Charles Dilly's " Re- 
 pository of wit and humour" in 1783. From a 
 note in that work, it appears that he had travelled 
 as far as Greece, and that he stole on that occa-
 
 346 HISTORY OF 
 
 sion from a library at Mount Athos, a Greek ma- 
 nuscript of Soranus on medicine, at the imminent 
 peril of his life. Among what are termed the 
 " additional manuscripts," in the British Museum, 
 are some other of Davis's letters from Devizes, of 
 a date antecedent to the above. They are ad- 
 dressed to Professor Ward of Oxford, and were 
 written with a view to aid him, in a projected sup- 
 plement to Horsley's Britannia. He intended to 
 publish other letters after writing those about De- 
 vizes, but failed in obtaining the requisite number 
 of subscriptions, " He left a large book," says his 
 publisher " about Stonehenge, not quite finished. 
 He seems only certain that it was erected by some 
 of the sons of Adam, but whether by Danes, 
 Saxons, Romans, Britons, or Antediluvians, he 
 left undetermined, till he had perused Geoffrey of 
 Monmouth," and others. In character, Dr. Davis 
 appears to have been of a warm and friendly dis- 
 position, and to have possessed a considerable 
 share of real candour and openness. As a satirist, 
 the " Origines" place him far above mediocrity, 
 either in his own or the present day. 
 
 JOHN COLLINS is a name familiar to many still 
 living in Devizes. He was an antiquary in mind, 
 manners, and dress. Instead of detailing the va- 
 rious anecdotes which keep alive his memory, a 
 letter of his is here appended which unfolds the 
 man in his own words. It is addressed to Mr. 
 Edw. Poore of Queen's College Oxford, and pro- 
 fessed to be an account of his (Collins's) ancestry, 
 but whether or not he had sufficiently good autho-
 
 THE DBV1ZES. .'547 
 
 rity for claiming kindred with all the persons 
 therein mentioned, does not appear. One inci- 
 dent which he recites, claims considerable interest, 
 viz. James IPs visit to the town, a circumstance 
 which must have happened in the first year of his 
 reign, and just before the landing of the Duke of 
 Monmouth. The king appears from the narra- 
 tive, to have reposed great trust in the loyalty of 
 the Borough ; concluding, no doubt, that the 
 dissenting interest was not quite strong enough 
 in Devizes to have given the Duke much counte- 
 nance, however the neighbourhood might have 
 been affected. The letter in question, or at least 
 the principal part of it is as follows ; 
 
 " Sir. As there is in most a curiosity to be 
 acquainted with the rise, progress, and if it so 
 happen, with the declension of their acquaintances, 
 the purport of this epistle will be to transmit to you 
 such printed or traditionary historical anecdotes 
 of the Collinses of whatever character or profes- 
 sion, rogue, villian, or honest, as have come to 
 my knowledge, I begin with 
 
 " James Collins. Wool-comber of the Devizes" 
 (This character is not worth reciting) 
 
 " Collins ; he that wrote the " Scheme of Lite- 
 ral Prophecy" I know not his other name, nei- 
 ther have T read his works, but I find he is like a 
 Jackdaw with borrowed feathers, for Chandler, 
 Brown, Newton, and others have been pecking of 
 him, and saith that he is a retailer of scraps from 
 others, as Porphyry, Grotius and others, and hath 
 not advanced any thing of his own. I find he is
 
 348 HISTORY OF 
 
 an author on the side of those falsely called free* 
 thinkers, so of consequence, a denier of the neces- 
 sity and usefulness of a divine revelation ; and 
 for which I am sorry that any of my name should 
 be so wicked thus in defiance of the Almighty 
 Just Jehovah, to undertake the cause of the 
 Devil, and openly declare himself his advocate. 
 1 ' My soul come not thou into their secret ; unto 
 their assembly mine honour be not thou united" 
 (The writer then goes farther into this subject, in 
 which it is hardly necessary to follow him.) 
 
 " Dr Samuel Collins, was one of the College of 
 Physicians, and wrote a " Treatise of Comparative 
 Anatomy" 2 vols. folio. With excellent plates 
 yet it sells for a trifle. 
 
 " William Collins the poet. His writings seem to 
 shew him to be a person of fine sensations, such as 
 his "Ode on the Passions" and the "Ode onMusic" 
 his " Oriental Eclogues" &c. 
 
 " John Collins, D. D. Apresbyterian minister 
 at Norwich, author of many treatises on Divinity. 
 One on Providence. I have his picture which 
 Mr. Overton sent to me from London." 
 
 " John Collins, F. R. S. The English Maecenas, 
 a valuable man in his days, not only a theoretical 
 writer, but a practical workman ; I have his 
 " Geometrical dialling" and his " Epistolse Com- 
 merciales." Tis said of him that he was one of the 
 first promoters of the Royal Society ; but if not, he 
 was one of the first members at its institution." 
 
 "John Collins, one of my ancestors, said to 
 have been a soldier in the civil wars in Charles Fs.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 349 
 
 reign ; been taken prisoner, and put in a church, 
 there was a Cartel of thirty, and he being the last 
 called, was so transported to be released from his 
 confinement and hard keeping (having horseflesh 
 for meat, and scarce enough of that) that he leaped 
 clean over one of the pews into the alley." 
 
 " Hercules Collins, another of my ancestors, a 
 minister turned out of his living at Wapping, 24 
 Aug. 1662 (called Black Bartholemew Day) was a 
 prisoner in Newgate on account of his religious 
 principles. He was skilled in the Latin, Greek, 
 and Hebrew, as appears by his writings, some of 
 which 1 have ; particularly a controversial piece 
 against Mr. Mence on the subject of Baptism." 
 
 " Henry Collins My great grandfather, on ac- 
 count of his religious principles was cited in the 
 Bishop's Court, where the process went on till 
 it came to an excommunication, which actually 
 took place, and he died under excommunication, 
 when my grandfather was about 16 years of age, 
 who gave orders to the sexton to dig a grave to 
 bury his father, but the rector of the parish for- 
 bad it. So the sexton come and brought him 
 word, who said that his father must be buried 
 "somewhere, and that if he were not suffered to lie 
 in the church-yard, he would dig a grave and bury 
 him in his own garden. The sexton unwilling to 
 lose his perquisites, goes to the Rector and ac- 
 quaints him with what had passed ; and at last 
 obtained leave that he might be buried in what 
 was called the unconsecrated ground if Mr. Col- 
 lins approved of it, which when my grandfather
 
 350 HISTORY OF 
 
 heard, he very readily acquiesced thereto. After- 
 wards it became the burial place of others that were 
 strangers or excommunicate, and so had no other 
 consecration than the burial of an excommunicated 
 person. It is in St John's parish Church- Yard 
 on the right hand side, as you go along the south 
 walk from the steps."* 
 
 " John Collins, my grandfather, after his father's 
 decease, sold the effects, being the eldest child, ap- 
 prenticed his sisters and then himself, to the same 
 master to whom his father had, Mr. Jeremiah Wil- 
 liams, a glazier who lived at the corner of Morris's 
 lane. In the time of Monmouth's rebellion, a party 
 of King James's soldiers were coming to town 
 who had taken a guide to direct them from Laving- 
 ton to Devizes, who (as well as most men in the 
 Western parts) being disaffected towards the King, 
 had them through New Lane, a lane about half a 
 mile on this side of Potterne, in order to have then* 
 carriages to Devizes ; for the public road that now 
 is, was since the memory of many now living, only 
 a sack and pack road, But he might have direc- 
 ted them over Potterne-Clay, and so along Dog- 
 Kennel-Lane to Devizes. When they were come 
 into the middle of this lane, it being a descent 
 from both ends of it, towards the middle, where 
 a small stream of water runs across it ; the ground 
 being partly swampy and partly clayey f the 
 
 * This is information of an exceedingly valuable kind, and 
 the present inhabitants of Devizes are earnestly recommended 
 to ascertain without delay the precise limits of this dangerous 
 spot. 
 
 t This road is still known as New-Lane, branching off as
 
 THE DEVIZES. 35 1 
 
 Carriages stuck; which detained them till midnight, 
 and in the confusion, the guide eloped ; which gave 
 the inhabitants of Devizes time to secret some of 
 their effects. My grandfather hid his vice (which 
 is an instrument to draw the lead that is used to 
 separate the quarrels of window lights) in a dung- 
 hill, that, and a diamond to cut glass, being his 
 whole treasure ; then put out his candle, opened 
 his doors, and walked about the town." 
 
 " The soldiers continued here about two weeks, 
 and king James with them ; his head-quarters 
 being at the Pelican, where he dined in public 
 every day, (mem. In that house I imbibed some of 
 the principles of my erudition, learning there the 
 foundation of all literature, the alphabet.) On 
 Sunday, the arms of all the soldiers were grounded 
 in the Hall, with the ammunition and baggage, 
 and no sentry to guard it, being gone to church. 
 There was some of the common people talked of 
 seizing them for the service of the Duke, but as 
 nobody attempted it, nothing was done." 
 
 "I forgot to mention to you when writing 
 
 stated above, from the high road, half a mile from Potterne 
 and crossing the valley straight lo Furze hill, the remainder of 
 the route to Devizes lying in consequence through Hartmore, 
 Probably the guide's conduct on this occasion was not owing 
 to any great love for the Duke, or unwillingness to serve his 
 employers ; for (judging from present appearances) the choice 
 between New Lane and what Mr. Collins terms Dog-kenne 
 lane might be pretty well estimated by the New-England ex- 
 pression of" which and t'other"
 
 352 HISTORY OF 
 
 about the free-masons, that when the war with 
 France was ended, the French officers who were 
 at Chippenham on their parole ; on iheir way 
 home, came through Devizes, and had twenty one 
 chaises to carry them." 
 
 Written from Devizes J. COLLINS. 
 
 In June, 1771. 
 
 JOHN ANSTIE was an eminent woollen manu- 
 facturer, and a citizen in the best sense of the 
 word born in Devizes about the year 1745 He 
 was chairman of the " West of England associa- 
 tion of Clothiers," and during many years, exerted 
 an influence of which he commanded an extensive 
 share, in the advancement of objects of a patriotic 
 kind, principally in the cause of the growth of 
 British wool. The only works of his, at present 
 in the British Museum Library, are 1st. A general 
 view of the bill for preventing the illicit exporta- 
 tion of British wool and live sheep. Bath, 8vo. 
 1787 2nd. A letter to the Secretary of the Bath 
 agricultural society on a premium for the improve- 
 ment of British Wool. London 1791. 
 
 EVAN THOMAS, styling himself " Astronomer 
 in Devizes, successor to the late celebrated Dr. 
 Henry Season, and member of the Hon. Society 
 of Ancient Britons," was the publisher of an 
 Almanack which being built upon Murphy's model, 
 and attracting notice by the fortuitous realization 
 of some of his conjectures, enjoyed for awhile a 
 considerable share of popularity. 
 
 SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. The father of this
 
 THE DEVIZES. 353 
 
 distinguished artist left Bristol and settled at De- 
 vizes the same year in which his son was born, 
 1769. Though the former city claims the dis- 
 tinction of his birth-place, yet the earliest notices, 
 and precocious buddings of his subsequent cele- 
 brity are all connected with the town of Devizes. 
 His father had taken the Bear Inn, a house at 
 which all the rank and fashion of the country were 
 accustomed to stop on their way to Bath, then in 
 the height of its celebrity and vogue, and it was 
 here that the infant artist attracted the notice 
 of many of the most celebrated men of the 
 day among others, Edmund Burke, Sheridan, 
 Garrick, Foote and Wilkes. Much of this atten- 
 tion was owing to the obtrusive pertinacity of his 
 father, who perceiving the graces of his little son, 
 was too fond of exhibiting him, not only in the 
 character of a draughtsman, but that of an actor 
 as well. Garrick loved to retire with him to a 
 summer house in the Bear garden, and there lis- 
 ten to his recitals by the hour. His father per- 
 sisted in refusing to suffer him to receive any in- 
 structions in the art for which he appeared more 
 decidedly destined, and has been very much 
 blamed for his conduct in this respect ; though 
 after all, it is very likely that he had the penetra- 
 tion to perceive that the poicts in which his son 
 excelled were just those which no precept would 
 confer. 
 
 The first picture of Lawrence of which there 
 is any distinct record, was one painted at Devizes, 
 when about 7 years of age. It consisted of two
 
 354 HISTORY OF 
 
 portraits, Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon, and was exe- 
 cuted like all his others at that time, in the most 
 unpremeditated manner, during the brief sojourn 
 of the originals at his father's house. During the 
 three subsequent years he had many opportunities 
 of practising his art in connexion with persons of 
 influence and distinction in life ; and at the age of 
 10 he was in possession of sufficient celebrity, to 
 command a public notice and panegyric on his 
 pretensions, in a work retaining its popularity to 
 the present day, the Miscellanies of the Hon. 
 Daines Barrington. The family of Lawrence left 
 Devizes in 1779, the elder Lawrence abandoning 
 the occupation of Innkeeper, with the intenlion 
 of sharing the fortunes of his rising son. They 
 first went to Weymouth, which was then visited 
 by Royalty, but met with but little encouragement. 
 In 1782 being then only 13, he was established at 
 Bath, and extensively occupied. Six years after- 
 wards, he went to London, and took a house in 
 Leicester square, near that of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 At the age of 24, he was made an Academician, and 
 finally became President of that institution. Fuseli 
 who was in the habit of depreciating Lawrence, 
 admitted that his mode of painting the eye had 
 never been equalled, affirming " By Jupiter, he 
 paints eyes better than Titian." Another of his 
 beauties lay in the dreamy, spiritual, unutterable 
 character of his children, notwithstanding that they 
 are full of life and sprightliness. His imitators 
 ill this walk, catch at the latter expression but 
 always miss the former.
 
 THE DEVIZES. 355 
 
 The following anecdote of his boyhood appears 
 in Williams's account of his life. Having been 
 invited to join an evening party in Devizes, he 
 took with him as usual, the books from which he 
 was in the habit of reciting; having been previous- 
 ly warned by his father to avoid a certain speech of 
 Satan's in Milton, in which he was not considered 
 sufficiently perfect. While going through his ex- 
 hibition before the company, a slip of paper drop- 
 ped from his Milton, which a gentleman picking 
 up, read aloud. " Tom, mind you dont touch 
 Satan." The desire to hear him on the forbidden 
 topic was just so much the more encreased, but 
 Tom was inexorable, and refused to advance a step 
 tih 1 those present had offered fully to guarantee 
 him from his father's displeasure. Whereupon 
 the fiend was handled, and to the general satis- 
 faction. 
 
 There lived at that time a reverend gentleman 
 at Whistley-house, who was known by the name 
 of Dr. Kent, noted for his eccentric habits, and 
 that he rarely stirred abroad unless mounted on a 
 veteian white charger. One day he drew his 
 bridle at the door of the Bear Inn, and summon- 
 ing the Landlord, demanded to be shewn a repre- 
 sentation of himself and horse, which he under- 
 stood had given birth to much merriment at his 
 expense. Mr. Lawrence expressed his entire ig- 
 norance of the circumstance, but suspecting the 
 truth, sent for his son, who forthwith leading his 
 father and the Doctor up stairs, exhibited to them 
 on the wall of one of the bedchambers, a sketch
 
 356 HISTORY OF 
 
 which both were fain to knowledge was a verita- 
 ble likeness. The Doctor so far from entertaining 
 any remaining resentment towards its author, led 
 him to the shop of Mr. Burroughs (Mr. Smith's 
 predecessor) and requested him to make choice of 
 a variety of books, at the same time urging on 
 his father the propriety of fostering a talent so 
 prominently displayed. 
 
 Lawrence's early pictures were executed either 
 in crayons or water colours : two or three good 
 specimens of this latter style may be seen in the 
 Dulwich Gallery. A similar one was for many 
 years in the possession of Mr. T. B. jSmith of De- 
 vizes, being the portrait of a Miss White, of the 
 Castle Inn, at Marlborough. At the period of the 
 sale of Watson Taylor's effects at Stoke park, her 
 Majesty, then the Princess Victoria, while stopping 
 for a tew minutes at the Bear Inn Devizes, recall- 
 ed the circumstance of its having been the scene 
 of Sir Thomas's juvenile career, and enquiring if 
 any of his early productions were still extant, was 
 informed of the existence of the one in question. 
 It was accordingly conveyed to her, and remained 
 in her possession while the party visited Stoke. 
 The Princess even made a copy of it just before 
 leaving that seat in her progress to Stoneheoge. 
 It now forms part of the royal collection, having 
 been very recently purchased by her Majesty ; on 
 which occasion she well remembered the circum- 
 stances connected with her first sight of it, and al- 
 luded to the sketch she had then taken. 
 FINIS.
 
 APPENDIX. 357 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 The following is an abridgment of the petition of Sir 
 Peter Vanlore's heirs relative to the notorious conspiracy 
 to deprive them of their inheritance of the Castle and 
 Parks of Devizes during the Protectorate. "To the 
 Honourable the Parliament of the Commonwealth of 
 England Ireland and Scotland The humble petition of 
 Mary Countess of Sterling and John Blount her husband ; 
 Sir Robert Crook knight, and Dame Susan his wife : 
 Henry Alexander alias Zinzan, and Jacoba his wife : 
 Sackville Glenham and Peter Glenham, all being the 
 grand-children and right heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore the 
 elder, and of Dame Mary Powell his daughter, (late the 
 wife of Sir Edward Powell deceased) that is to say, 
 daughters and heirs of Sir Peter Vanlore the younger, 
 deceased, only son and heir of Sir Peter Vanlore the 
 elder. SHEWETH 
 
 THAT the said Peter Vanlore the elder did in his life 
 time settle the Castle and Parks of the Devizes in Wilt- 
 shire (worth 600 yearly) and the fifth part of divers 
 others his manors and lands (worth 2500 yearly) upon 
 the said Lady Powell his daughter and the heirs of her 
 body ; and for default of such issue, the reversion of the 
 said Castle and Parks to his own right heirs, which your 
 petitioners are ; and entailed the said fifth part of his 
 other manors and lands upon all your petitioners and divers 
 other his grandchildren by name, and died ; and the said 
 Lady Powell about the 6th day of October 1651 died 
 without issue, and your petitioners ought to be thereby 
 entitled to the said Castle and Parks and to proportion- 
 able parts of the fifth part aforesaid. 
 
 THAT because the said Sir Edward Powell could not 
 prevail with his said wife (by whom he had no issue) to
 
 358 APPENDIX. 
 
 disinherit her own heirs, and settle her estates on him- 
 self and his kindred, he threatened and in many ways 
 abused and evil-entreated her, so that their differences 
 becoming implacable, they lived apart, keeping each a 
 several house for fifteen years before her death. 
 
 THAT one Thomas Levingstone having married Anne 
 Caesar alias Adelmare a neice of Lady Powell, divers 
 unlawful means and practices were attempted by her 
 and by Robert Levingstone) brother or kinsman of the 
 said Thomas) and John Preston a servant, to induce 
 Lady Powell to dispose of her estates to Anne Leving- 
 stone, as namely, tampering with a witch, and delivery 
 of Lady Powell's hair, and paring of her nails, to be 
 made use of in some unlawful ways in order to obtain 
 the ends aforesaid. Moreover the said Anne Leving- 
 stone (being without issue) in order to interest Lady 
 Powell in her behalf, having purchased a dead infant, did 
 solemnly lay in therewith and sent word to her that she 
 had been delivered of a child. But Sir Edward Powell, 
 Thomas Levingstone and his wife all failing in their sin- 
 gle attempts, and the Lady about the beginning of Sep- 
 tember 1051 falling dangerously ill of the sickness where- 
 of she soon died, at a house in Chelsea which had been 
 * purchased by her mother the Lady Vanlore and wherein 
 she had long lived sole and separate ; these persons to- 
 gether with one William Hynson alias Powell (a Justice 
 of peace in Middlesex and a nephew of Sir Edward Pow- 
 ell) Robert Levingstone, John Preston, Adam Brown, 
 Honour Emet, Anne Barnes and other their servants 
 and confederates did on or about the 7th of September 
 forcibly enter and take possession of the said house at 
 Chelsea, to which none of them had any title, and guarded 
 it with divers desperate persons armed with swords grena- 
 does and pistols and hired to do execution on any that 
 should venture to enter without leave. They chained up 
 the doors and made shuts for the windows of the Lady's
 
 APPENDIX. 359 
 
 Chamber lest she should make her complaints known 
 through that means. They discharged her Apothecary 
 employed by her Physician Sir Theodore Myhern, and 
 introduced another unacquainted with her numerous in- 
 firmities. They caused all her servants to be arrested by 
 the Under Sheriff of Middlesex whom they brought with 
 them, upon false and feigned actions of many thousand 
 pounds at the suit of Sir Edward, (which of course were 
 never prosecuted) and though sufficient bail was offered, 
 they refused to take it. One infirm old woman they shut 
 up and kept close till she died, and when Mr. Under 
 Sheriff removed the other servants, Mrs. Levingstoue cried 
 out with great joy, " The plot hath taken The plt hath 
 taken" 
 
 THAT on the 18th of September they induced the late 
 Judge Warburton one of the Judges of the Common 
 Pleas, to come from London to the house, who procured 
 the Lady (as the late Judge testifies) to levy seven seve- 
 ral fines of the Castle and Parks and fifth part aforesaid 
 unto one Anthony Bassett, an Apothecary, a recusant 
 Papist, of Mrs. Levingstone's acquaintance, but a meer 
 stranger to Lady Powell ; which fines, as the complotters 
 affirm, were declared by some writings sealed by the 
 lady, to the use of Sir Edward Powell, '\ homas Leving- 
 stone and his wife. And Levinggtone at the same time 
 framed another writing whereby as he pretends the Lady 
 gave unto Mrs. Levingstone and her confederates, a per- 
 sonal estate to the value of 40,000, which had belonged 
 to your petitioners' grandfather, though it is well known 
 that Lady Powell utterly detested Levingstone and his 
 wife, as persons of an evil and dangerous conversation, 
 and had been ofttimes heard to lament that Anne Le- 
 vingstone was one of her kindred ; whereas she was heard 
 to express herself with much affection towards the Lady 
 Crook, saying " she must and would do well for her neice 
 Crook who had ever been loving to her, and besides had
 
 360 APPENDIX. 
 
 many children." And the said confederates, suspecting 
 (as they had cause) that the sudden death of the Lady 
 Powell, who died thus imprisoned on the 6th of October, 
 might render all their fines ineffectual, they procured by 
 William Garner and Attorney several writs of Covenant 
 and Dedimus protestatem for passing the said fines, 
 to be made out with antedates of the first and second 
 days of Trinity-term before, and made returnable the 
 same Trinity-term. And to deprive your petitioners of 
 all possibility of relief by writ of Error or otherwise they 
 caused the same fines to be enrolled of record as ac- 
 knowledged and levied in the said Trinity-term (being 
 about four months before themselves pretend they were 
 acknowledged) and contrary to the intent of the Statute, 
 23rd Elizabeth, and ancient practice ; which course is so 
 dangerous, if admitted, as tendeth to the deceiving of all 
 such as shall purchase land, and may tend to the disinhe- 
 rison of many others. 
 
 THAT in order to cover their wicked designs with the 
 mask of godliness, they procured one Thorold (a seques- 
 trated divine and a stranger to the Lady, to reside in 
 the house; and excluded the minister of the parish, 
 though Lady Powell much affected him, and especially 
 his wife with whom she had lived many years in the 
 Lady Vanlore's house. After Lady Powell's death, Tho- 
 rold preached her funeral sermon and published from 
 the pulpit her reconciliation with Sir Edward her hus- 
 band, and that she had made Mrs. Levingstone her heir 
 according to former promises. And they afterwards 
 gratified the said Thorold for so doing. Mr. Levingstone, 
 also wrote with his own hand a certificate of Sir Edward's 
 kindness to his lady, to which he pretends she subscrib- 
 ed ; though on the very day after the certificate bears 
 date, she is known to have cried out for relief, and said 
 that she knew they were plotting to make her disinherit 
 her right heirs, but that she would be torn with wild
 
 APPKNDIX. 361 
 
 horses first. And this Certificate having been produced 
 and read in the Court of Common Pleas, did appear to 
 the Judges of so strange a nature, that they publickly 
 told Levingstone, he had overacted his part therein. 
 
 THAT the said Hynson alias Powell, and his uncle Sir 
 Edward were bound by recognizances to some persons 
 in trust for the Lady Powell's sole and private benefit, 
 in the sum of 8000 with defeazance to be void by pay- 
 ment of 4000, and that 2000 (part thereof) was to 
 have been paid by the said Sir Edward and Mr. Hynson, 
 (for the Lady's benefit) on the very month wherein she 
 died thus imprisoned; by which it is evident they sought 
 their own advantage in aiding Levingstone and his wife 
 who have power to discharge this debt of 8000 if the 
 writings thus unduly obtained, be upheld. Moreover 
 the complotters had during the life time of Lady Powell, 
 requested one Mr. Vandenbemden a grandchild inter- 
 ested in the lands in question, to join them, but he re- 
 fused, and conscious of their own insufficient title, they 
 have since (by articles ready to be produced) agreed with 
 Mr. Vandenbemden, to re -convey unto him, or to his 
 use, his share of the lands in question. 
 
 THAT your petitioners having addressed themselves 
 unto the late Judge Warburton, to stop the passing of 
 the fines, he had lamented to them that it was out of his 
 power to do so now, but if he had known so much before 
 he would not have taken them. That your petitioners 
 therefore on the first day of the next ensuing term com- 
 plained to the Court of Common Pleas, when the Chief 
 Justice and Judges Paliston and Atkins, though they did 
 vehemently express themselves against the foulness of the 
 said practice, yet said that it was now too far proceeded 
 in ; but that there was a Parliament then sitting that 
 might and they believed would relieve them. Your pe- 
 titioners did therefore address themselves unto the two 
 late Parliaments, but both were dissolved before the re-
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 port was made, though the case had been fully heard and 
 proved on oath. 
 
 Your petitioners therefore, being the parents of above 
 twenty children, do humbly beseech your Honours to 
 vouchsafe them relief that the said fines may be nulled 
 and vacated and offenders punished, to the discourage- 
 ment of all such as may hereafter attempt a deathbed 
 disinherison by so foul a practice." NOVEMBER 1654. 
 
 Note. By old Sir Peter's settlement, Mistress Levingstone, though she 
 hath no child, is to have a fourth of the fifth part aforesaid, although the 
 fines be vacated. 
 
 The above is extracted from the " King's Pamphlets" 
 in the British Museum. 
 
 JAMES II. AT DEVIZES. It is rather difficult to say, 
 how much credence is to be reposed in Mr. Collins's tra- 
 dition on this subject. None of the King's letters (at 
 least of those in Sir John Dalrymple's Collection) are 
 dated from Devizes. It may have been only one of his 
 officers, here or perhaps the circumstance was connected 
 not with Monmouth's, but the Prince of Orange's in- 
 vasion. When the King ordered his army westward on 
 that occasion, (Nov. 1688) it was divided into three por- 
 tions and stationed at Marlborough, Warminster, and 
 Salisbury. James arriving at Salisbury on the 19th and 
 hearing that the enemy was advanced to Axminster and 
 Chard, intended to go towards them with the regiments 
 from Warminster, but his nose fell a bleeding the evening 
 before he purposed starting and continuing to do so for 
 three days, the design was abandoned and he determined 
 on falling back towards the Capital. An order was sent 
 to Major General Kirke then commanding at Warmins- 
 ter, to march to Devizes and thence to secure the country 
 towards Reading, but that officer, under some frivolous 
 excuse neglected to execute the command, and the King 
 in consequence instantly ordered him under arrest. The 
 retreat was then continued to London and Windsor. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY J. H. STARIE, 59, MUSEUM STREET.
 
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