#1248 The Blake Family - Gloucestershire Notes and Queries Volume 3

1248. The Blake Family (Discussion inserted)

1. In St. Stephen's Church, Bristol, there is a marble tablet with the following inscription: "Near this place, in the same vault with his father and mother, William and Rebecca Blake, lie the remains of Richard Blake, Esquire, who died August 6th, 1829, aged 69." And above, on a small tablet, is an inscription to his widow, Anne Augusta, described as the daughter of the Very Reverend Charles Harward, of Hayne, County Devon, Dean of Chichester, etc. She died November 4th, 1847, aged 84. Arms - Ar. a chev. between 3 garbs sa. empaling gu. a crosse crosslet or. Creet - On a cap of maintenance gu. turned up erm. a martlet sa.

The will of Anne Augusta Blake was blogged:

 http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2014/04/will-of-anne-augusta-blake-widow.html

Richard Blake, husband of Anne Augusta Blake, was the son of William and Rebecca Blake according to the memorial in St Stephen's Church, Bristol. Now, the question is, can I discover the parents of William Blake. Richard would have been born circa 1760. The coat of arms mentioned on the memorial tablet do not appear to be the registered arm of the Harward family. The first mentioned coat of arms does belong to the Blake family. An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families ....., volume 2 has "Gu. on a cross croslet arg. betw. four gouttes d'eau five annulets az. Harward, Hayne, Co. Devon; a heiress m. Blake." I have little knowledge of heraldry although I am starting to look at a little because of the Blake coats of arms.  I did find on Family Search the baptism of Richard Blake 1 Dec 1760 at Bristol with parents William and Rebecca Blake. They also baptized a son William 3 Dec 1757 and a daughter Rebecca 21 Apr 1759 both at Bristol. Interestingly there is a marriage of a William Blake to Rebecca Milles 12 Jun 1754 at Duloe, Cornwall. Since this is a known Blake area it is possible that this line is from Cornwall. There is a will for William Blake (1792) at Bristol to come.

2. In St. Werburgh's Church, Bristol, there was this inscription: "To the memory of Mr Richard Blake, many years an inhabitant of this parish, who died the 3rd day of January, 1771, aged 70. In the same vault where his remains are deposited, also are interred Mary Blake, his mother, Samuel and Mary Greenway, whose ony daughter he married, and five of his children, who died in their infancy. Likewise the remains of Mary, his wife, who died the 21st October, 1781, aged 82."

I found this reference most interesting as I am in the midst of transcribing the will of Mary, the widow of this Richard Blake who was the father of Susanna Woodward and Hannah Deverell. The mother of this Richard was Mary Greenway and in the will of Mary there is mention of a Joseph Greenway.  Put together with the reference at Chipping Sodbury, is this the same family? That Richard would have been born circa 1646, died 1724 (aged 78).  Chipping Sodbury is nine miles ENE of Bristol. Still to come is the will of Richard Blake who died in 1771 and another Richard Blake will from 1642 which may help to fill this family line in.

3. In Chipping Sodbury Church there are (or were) the following inscriptions: " To the memory of his father, Richard Blake, late of this town, and of his brothers Joseph and Samuel, whose remains are interred near this place. This monument is erected by Richard Blake, of the city of Bristol." "In memory of Richard Blake, Senior, who was buried April 19th, A.D. 1724, aged 78." "In memory of Joseph Blake, son of Richard and Mary Blake, of this borough, who deceased the 18th day of May, A.D. 1715, in the 23rd year of his age." "Thomas Coombe died September 26th, 1724, aged 42. Joanna Coombe, his wife, died February 27, 1748/49, aged 63. Joanna Blake, relict of Robert Blake, and daughter of Thomas and Joanna Coombe, died April 20th, 1790, aged 82."

From Aubrey's Collections for North Wilts I find that Robert Hungerford, of Studley, near Calne, by his will (1754) bequeated his parsonage of Avon (between Chippenham and Christian Malford) to his nephew George, after of Studley, for his life - in tail to Robert Blake, of Sodbury, who had married one of his nieces.

4. In St. John's Church, Glastonbury, there was an inscription to Elizabeth, the wife of Francis Blake, of Clifton, Gent.; she died January 1st, 1736, aged 50. This Francis Blake died at Glastonbury in 1768, having been ten times mayor of that borough, from 1717 to 1768. He had a son William, who predeceased him, having resided in the parish of Clifton.

For Francis Blake buried at Glastonbury this is a known Blake line which is collateral to the Admiral Robert Blake line according to the Potbury Blake website:  http://www.portbury-hundred.co.uk/admiralreport.htm . This Francis Blake who was married to Elizabeth Porch 14 Feb 1708 at Wells. He was the son of Roger Blake and Susannah Taylor with Roger's father being Humphry the elder who married Elizabeth Upton. This Humphry was the son of Humphry Blake who married Elizabeth Giles. Continuing back this Humphrey was the son of Humphrey Blake and Agnus/Ann James. Then John Blake the elder and his wife Johan were the parents of Humphrey and this John Blake was a brother to Admiral Robert Blake. I have blogged on this line several times and I am confident that indeed this Francis Blake is related to Admiral Robert Blake.

I shall be glad to be supplied with any information relative to any of these Blakes, and particularly as to the parentage of Francis and Elizabeth Blake, and whether they were connected with the Bristol and Gloucestershire family. Francis was, I know, related to the Blakes of Spaxton, Somerset, and bore for arms, Ar. a chev. between 3 garbs, sa.

Edward Fry Wade, Axbridge, Somerset.

Will of Henry Blake of Hungerford, Wiltshire - Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office P23-809, probated 4 Aug 1798

The testator is Henry Blake, husband of Mary Blake, whose will is also blogged today. I decided to do them together. The one having been probated at PCC and the other at Windsor. The will of Mary Blake is probated at PCC because it discusses people in more than one diocese and hence has to move to a higher court for probate.

Henry has asked to be buried in Ramsbury Church yard and a review of British History online found the following at Ramsbury:

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66514

BLAKE'S farm in Park Town tithing was in 1328 settled by Walter Blake on the marriage of his son Ralph (fl. 1341). (fn. 242) The farm descended in the Blake family, possibly with East Hayes manor in Ogbourne St. Andrew. (fn. 243) Thomas Blake held it in 1462 (fn. 244) and it descended to William Blake (d. c. 1550). (fn. 245) It belonged to the owners of East Hayes until, in the 18th century, it was acquired by one of the Pophams of Littlecote. Dorothy Popham, relict of Francis Popham (d. 1780), held it in 1780 when, as Ambrose farm, it was said to be in Ramsbury Town tithing. (fn. 246) The land has since remained part of the Littlecote estate. (fn. 247)

And a second reference:

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=115441

The second freehold in Stoford, 1¼ yardland, which was held with 1 yardland in South Newton, belonged in 1462 to William Stourton, Lord Stourton (d. 1478). (fn. 136) In 1468 William gave it to his son John (Lord Stourton from 1478, d. 1485) and John's wife Catherine (d. 1494), later wife of Sir John Brereton. (fn. 137) It passed in turn to John Stourton's brothers William, Lord Stourton (d. 1524), and Edward, Lord Stourton (d. 1535), and with the Stourton title to Edward's son William (d. 1548), that William's son Charles (d. 1557), Charles's sons John (d. 1588) and Edward (d. 1633), Edward's son William (d. 1672), William's grandson William Stourton (d. 1685), and that William's son Edward, (fn. 138) who sold it to Henry Blake between 1693 and 1704. In 1704 Henry conveyed it to John Blake, who sold it in 1720 to John Powell (fn. 139) (d. 1737). It passed in turn to Powell's son (Sir) Alexander (d. 1784), Alexander's son Francis (d. 1786), and Francis's son Alexander. (fn. 140) Between 1815 and 1820 Alexander sold the estate, 112 a., to George, earl of Pembroke and of Montgomery, who added it to South Newton manor. (fn. 141)

The Wiltshire Poll Book of 1772 has been put on line:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pobjoyoneill/ENGPOLLS/wil1772.html

Blake     Edward     Woottton Bassett     Uphaven
Blake     John         Burbage         Burbage
Blake     John         Millford         Ford
Blake     John         Purton             Rodborne Cheyney
Blake     John         Stratford         Stratford
Blake     Joseph         Sarum             Sarum
Blake     Richard     Woottton Bassett     Wootton Bassett
Blake     Robert         Woottton Bassett     Wootton Bassett
Blake     Thomas     Langford Steeple     Wishford
Blake     William     Bishopston         Bishopston
Blake     William     Woottton Bassett     Wootton Basset

I did check the Calendar of Patent Rolls to see if I could find Walter Blake at Ramsbury but need to have a little more time (scarce at the moment!) to really think about this Blake family. It is quite exciting finding them as they are living in the border areas of Wiltshire and Berkshire and not that far from where I found Blake in Berkshire in the 1500s on and this group were known to the Andover, Hampshire Blake family. The Berkshire Blake family rented land from the Andover, Hampshire Blake family. The 1328 period is coincidental with the time that the Blake family is first noted at Calne (1286 although I have not yet personally found this published reference to the Blake family there) by other authors.

This Blake line daughters out and Henry does not indicate that he has any brothers. If the James Blake he mentions at Overton is also the James Blake at Preshute he would be more of the age of Uncle to Henry and the rather interesting marriage of Henry Blake and Ann Dismore mentioned in the will of Mary Blake, wife of the present testator, does make one wonder if he is related to this family – perhaps cousin. More research, as always, is needed. The records are there. It is finding the time to pursue them that is lacking.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 20 Dec 2013
Source:  Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office P23-809
Name of testator: Henry Blake
Place: Hungerford, Wiltshire, England
Type of Record: Will
Dated: 6 Apr 1797, probated 4 Aug 1798
Read: Electronic file images

1    This is the last Will and Testament of me Henry Blake of
2    Charnham Street in the parish of Hungerford in the County of Wilts Victualler First
3    I desire that all my Just Debts and General Expences may be fully paid and ie
4    discharged by my Executors hereinafter Named And I desire that my Body may be buried
5    in Ramsbury Church yard near the Spot where my Father and Mother were laid I Give and
6    Bequeath unto my Friends James Blake of Overton in the County of Wilts Gentleman
7    and Francis Williams of Baydon in the same County Gentleman All that my personal
8    Estate Goods Chattels and Effects of what Nature or kind soever To hold to them
9    the said James Blake and Francis Williams and the Survivor of them his
10    Executors and Administrators Upon Trust that they my said Trustees and the Survivor
11    of them his executors and Administrators shall and will as soon as Convenient
12    next after my Decease Sell and Dispose of my Stock and Effects and call in and
13    Receive all Sum and Sums of Money that shall be then due and owing to me
14    and the Money arising thereby to place and lay out the same upon
15    Government or other good Securities and pay and Apply the Interest Dividends
16    and Annual produce thereof to my Dear and Loving Wife Mary Blake during
17    her live to and for her Sole use and Benefit but in case my said Trustees
18    and the Survivor of them his Executors and Administrators shall think it more
19    for the benefit and Advantage of my said Wife to continue in the Business at
20    the Red Lion Inn or any other that shall be for her Advancement in Life
21    Then I do hereby Authorize and Impower my said Trustees and the Survivor
22    of them his Executors and Administrators to act in such way and manner
    [Page 2]
23    As they in their Judgment shall think most expedient And from and
24    immediately after the Decease of my said Wife I direct my said Trustees and
25    the Survivor of them his executors and Administrators to pay unto my Daughters
26    Martha Ann and Hannah the Sum of Forty Pounds apiece out of my principal
27    Stock or Land and as to the Rest Residue and Remainder of my said personal Estate
28    and Effects I Give the same unto all and every my Daughter Namely Elizabeth Gould
29    Mary Pike and my said Daughters Martha Ann and Hannah to be Equally
30    divided between them Share and Share alike but as to the Share of my said
31    Daughter Mary Pike I desire my said Trustees and the Survivor of them
32    his Executors and Administrators to place out upon Government or other good
33    Security as aforesaid and permit and suffer my said daughter Mary Pike
34    to Receive only the Interest dividends and Annual Produce thereof for and
35    During her Natural Life and from and immediately after her decease I Give
36    and bequeath the part or Share of her my said Daughter Mary Pike unto
37    her Children Mary Ann and Elizabeth to be Equally Divided between them
38    Share and Share alike But in case it shall happen that any or
39    other of my said Daughters shall Depart this Life before she or they shall
40    become Intitled to her or their Share or Shares of my Personal Estate and
41    Effects as aforesaid leaving Issue of her or their Body or Bodies Lawfully
42    begotten Then it is my Will and Mind and I hereby Direct that the Child
43    or Children of her or them so dying as aforesaid shall have Receive and take
    [Page 3]
44    The like Share and proportion of my said Personal Estate and Effects as his her or
45    their Mothers would be intitled to if living under law by virtue of this my Will And
46    Further I hereby declare it shall be lawful for my said Trustees to deduct and
47    reimburse himself and themselves All Costs Charges and Expences incurred in the execution of the Trusts
48    hereby in them reposed And that they shall be Answerable Respectively only for such
49    Monies as shall come to their Respective Hands and not for the Receipts or acts of Each other
50    And lastly I hereby make Constitute and Appoint the said James Blake and Francis Williams
51    Sole Executors of this my Will hereby Revoking and making void all former and other Wills by
52    me at any Time heretofore made and Do declare this present Writing Contained in three
53    Sheets of Paper to be my last Will and Testament In Witness whereof I have to the first and
54    Second Sheet Set my Hand and to this last Sheet my Hand and Seal this Sixth day of April
55    in the year of our Lord one thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Seven
56    Signed Sealed Published and Declared by the Testator
57    as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us
58    who at his Request in his Presence and in the Presence of each
59    other have Subscribed our Names as Witnesses hereto
60    James Hall
61    Jos. Cundell
62    Henry Blake
63    At Ramsbury on the 4th day of August 1798
64    Francis Williams one of the joint Exors above named
65    (the like power being reserved to James Blake the other
66    joint Exor) was duly sworn before me
67    Henry Hesly Official dio:
68    Effects under 300£

Will of Mary Blake, widow, Hungerford, Wiltshire - The National Archives PROB 11/1496/

Mary Blake is the testatrix and within her will below she mostly quotes from the will of her husband Henry Blake who was a victualler at Hungerford and his will was probated within the diocese of Windsor and not at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. It is available and I shall acquire it to go along with this will of Mary Blake his widow. P23/809 – it is a scanned will of six pages and he was located on Charnham Street in Hungerford. The Wiltshire record office has wills available for £5.00. Most of my comments are with this will since I transcribed it first but also some commenting on Henry’s will which will also be posted today.

I am becoming enthusiastic again that I will complete the Wiltshire Wills by the end of December and hence move on to Hampshire wills in January. I have quite a number for Hampshire since I will receive 14 of my most wanted oldest wills for Blake in Hampshire for a Christmas present, I already have ten from the PCC not yet done and another twenty one of the oldest wills from Hampshire Record office. One of my coveted 14 wills is for a William Blake at Andover in 1831 and he is possibly the brother of my Thomas Blake of Upper Clatford (and I will likely at least read that one first of all). That remains to be seen of course but it would be a nice fit and give me details I am currently missing perhaps. In total I appear to have 45 Hampshire wills at hand and another ten to 15 during the time period that it will take to transcribe them (60 wills in total). I always think in terms of one will per day but can sometimes do two so looking at two months work before moving on to Gloucestershire where there are about twenty wills. From there I move back to Durham and then Essex just to bring me back to my alphabetization system. I dither on my path actually and will let it flow as it seems best at the time.

A James Blake of Overton is mentioned in this will and will also be mentioned in Henry’s will which is now downloaded and ready to transcribe when this one is complete. This one is lengthy, eight pages in total.

The children of Henry Blake and Mary Williams all baptized at Baydon, Wiltshire (Mary’s brothers live at Baydon):

Mary baptized 28 Oct 1769
Martha baptized 17 Jul 1774
Mary baptized 7 Feb 1776
Ann baptized 5 Sep 1779
Hannah baptized 28 Nov 1782

One of these Mary baptisms is perhaps Elizabeth and an error in transcription since the daughters are Mary, Martha, Elizabeth, Ann and Hannah.

An interesting marriage shows up on Find My Past for Henry Blake and Ann Dismore at Ramsbury, Wiltshire 7 Aug 1749; Henry is a yeoman and Anne a widow. Bondsman was James Blake, yeoman of Ramsbury.

Is James the brother of Henry? Is this Henry the father of Henry who later marries Mary Williams? Then found the marriage of Henry Blake, gent of Froxfield, Wiltshire and Mary Williams of Lambourn, Berkshire 22 Apr 1765 and the bondsman William Williams, gent of Lambourn. So not the parents of Henry who married Mary Williams. Interesting to find Mary from Lambourn and I begin to wonder if the James Blake at Preshute who left his will is the same James as the executor of Henry’s will. Henry asks in his will to be buried near his parents in Ramsbury Churchyard.

Marriages for the daughters of Henry and Mary Blake:

Elizabeth Blake of Baydon spinster married Thomas Gould of Aldbourne 25 Apr 1796. Bondsman William Warman, Aldbourne.

Mary Blake of Hungerford, spinster, married William Pike, of Hungerford 27 Jun 1791 with bondsman Robert Holloway, Hungerford

Martha Blake of Hungerford, spinster, married William Lye of Hungerford 7 Oct 1797 with bondsman Robert Miller of Ramsbury, Wiltshire.

Ann Blake of Hungerford, spinster, married Stephen Pullen of Bray, labourer 26 Jul 1802 with bondsman Timothy Webb, gent, Taplow, Buckinghamshire.

Mary Pike of Wantage, widow, married Francis Bartholomew of Wantage bachelor 28 Apr 1800 with John Reynolds, baker, Wantage as bondsman.

Mary, the testator, also mentions two of her grand children Mary Ann Pike and Elizabeth Pike.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 20 Dec 2013
Source: The National Archives, PROB 11/1496/284
Testator: Mary Blake, widow
Place: Hungerford, Wiltshire, England
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 4 Aug 1808, probated 15 May 1809
Condition: 19th century English, legible copy

[Margin]: Mary
[Margin]: Blake

1    This is the Last Will
2    and Testament of me Mary Blake of Charnham
3    Street in the parish of Hungerford but in the
4    County of Wilts widow First I desire that all
5    my just debts Funeral and Testamentary
6    Expences be paid by my Executors herein-
7    after named as soon as Conveniently may
8    be after my decease and Whereas my late
9    husband Henry Blake did in and by his
10    last Will and Testament in writing bearing
11    date the Sixth day of April one thousand
12    seven hundred and ninety seven in trust
13    give and bequeath unto his Friends James
14    Blake of Overton in the County of Wilts
15    Gentleman and Francis Williams of Baydon
16    in the same County Gentleman all that
17    his personal Estate Goods Chattels and
18    Effects of what Nature or kind soever to
19    hold to them the said James Blake and
20    Francis Williams and the Survivor of them
21    his Executors and Administrators upon
22    trust that they his said Trustees and the
23    Survivor of them his Executors and Admors
24    should and would as soon as Convenient
25    next after his decease sell and dispose of
26    his Stock and Effects and Call in and
27    receive all Sum and Sums of money that
28    shall be then due and owing to him and
29    new money arising thereby to place and
30    lay out the same upon Government or
31    other good Securities and pay and apply
32    the Interest dividends and annual
33    produce thereof to me during my Life to
34    and for my sole use and benefit but in
    [Page 2]
35    Case his said trustees and the Survivor of them
36    his Executors and administrators should think
37    it more for the advantage of me to Continue
38    in the Business at the Red Lyon Inn or
39    any other that should be for my advancement
40    in Life then my said late husband
41    authorized and impowered his said trustees
42    and the Survivor of them his Executors and
43    administrators to act in such way and
44    manner as they in their Judgement should
45    think most expedient and from and
46    Immediately after my decease he directed
47    this said trustees and the Survivor of them
48    his Executors and administrators to pay
49    unto his daughters Martha Ann and
50    Hannah the Sum of Forty pounds apiece out
51    of his principal Stock or Funds and as to
52    the rest residue and Remainder of his said
53    personal Estate and Effects he gave the
54    same unto all and every his daughter
55    namely Elizabeth Gould Mary Pike and
56    his said daughters Martha, Ann and
57    Hannah to be equally divided between
58    them share and share alike but as to the
59    Share of his said Daughter Mary Pike
60    he desired his said trustees and the Survivor
61    of them his Executors and administrators
62    to place out upon Government or other
63    good Security as aforesaid and permit and
64    suffer his said daughter Mary Pike to
65    receive only the Interest dividends and
66    annual produce thereof for and during her
67    natural Life and from and immediately after
68    her decease he gave and bequeath the part
69    or share of his said daughter Mary Pike
70    unto her children Mary Ann and Elizabeth
71    to be equally divided between them share and
72    share alike but in Case it should happen
73    that any or either of his said daughters should
74    depart this Life before me or they should
75    become intitled to her or their share or
76    shares of his personal Estate and Effects as
77    aforesaid leaving Issue of her or their body
78    or Bodies lawfully begotten then it was his
79    Will and mind and he thereby directed that
80    the Child or Children of her or them so
81    dying as aforesaid should have receive and
82    take the Like share and proportion of
83    his said personal Estate and Effects as his
84    her or their Mothers would be intitled to
85    if living under and by virtue of his said
86    Will and whereas my said late husband
    [Page 3]
87    Henry Blake departed this Life on or about the
88    thirty First day of January one thousand Seven
89    hundred and Ninety Eight and the Letters of
90    Administration of his personal Estate and
91    Effects with his Will annexed were afterwards
92    duly granted to the said Francis Williams one
93    of the Joint Executors thereof (reserving the
94    like power to James Blake the other
95    Executor also named in the said Will) who
96    afterwards Caused an account of the personal
97    Estate and Effects of the said Henry Blake
98    to be taken which amounted in this
99    whole to the Sum of Three hundred and
100    sixteen pounds Sixteen Shillings and
101    whereas the several Legacies of Forty
102    pounds each to Martha Ann and Hannah
103    Blake three of the said testators Henry
104    Blake’s daughters amount to the Sum
105    of one hundred and Sixty pounds and the
106    respective shares of the said Martha Ann
107    and Hannah Blake and of the said
108    Elizabeth Gould and Mary Pike (now
109    Mary Bartholomew) respectively of and in
110    the residue and remainder of the said Testator
111    Henry Blake’s personal Estate and Effects
112    amounts to the Sum of thirty one pounds
113    seven Shillings and two pence Farthing
114    making in the whole the Sum of Three
115    hundred and Sixteen pounds Fifteen Shillings
116    and Eleven pence Farthing and whereas my
117    said daughter Elizabeth Blake intermarried
118    with Thomas Gould of Aldbourne in the
119    said County of Wilts Farmer and my said
120    daughter Mary Blake hath also intermarried
121    with Francis Bartholomew of Wantage
122    in the County of Berks Victualler and my
123    said daughter Martha Blake hath
124    also intermarried with William Lye of
125    Hungerford in the said County of Berks late
126    Victualler and my said daughter Ann Blake
127    hath also intermarried with Stephen Pullen
128    of Colnbrook in the County of Bucks Victualler
129    and my said other daughter Hannah
130    Blake is now living with me at Hungerford
131    aforesaid and unmarried Now I do hereby give
132    and bequeath unto my two Brothers John
133    Williams of Baydon in the County of Wilts
134    Gentleman and Francis Williams of the same
135    place Gentleman all and Singular my
136    Estate and Effects whatsoever and wheresoever
137    of what Nature or kind soever To hold to
138    them the said John Williams and Francis
    [Page 4]
139    Williams and the Survivor of them his Executors
140    and administrators upon trust that they my
141    said trustees or the Survivor of them his
142    Executors or Administrators shall and do as
143    soon as Conveniently may be after my
144    decease sell and dispose of my said Stock in
145    trade Estate and Effects whatsoever and
146    wheresoever (if necessary) and Call in and
147    receive all and every Sum and Sums of
148    money that shall be due and owing to me
149    at the time of my decease and out of the
150    money arising thereby to pay unto my said
151    daughter Martha Lye the Sum of Forty pounds
152    to my said daughter Ann Pullen the Sum of
153    Forty pounds and to my daughter Hannah
154    Blake the Sum of Forty pounds being the
155    Specific Legacys given and bequeathed to
156    them my said daughters in and by the
157    said Last Will and Testament of my said
158    late husband Henry Blake deceased and
159    also to pay unto my said daughters Martha
160    Lye Ann Pullen and Hannah Blake and
161    to the said Elizabeth Gould the Several and
162    respective Sums of thirty one pounds Seven
163    Shillings and two pence Farthing being
164    their Several and respective shares of and
165    in the residue and remainder of my said
166    late husbands personal Estate and Effects
167    so as aforesaid given and bequeath to
168    them in and by his said Last Will and
169    Testament to and for their several uses
170    and Benefit and as to the remaining Sum
171    of thirty one pounds Seven Shillings and
172    two pence Farthing so as aforesaid given
173    and bequeath by my said late husbands
174    Will In trust for my said daughter
175    Mary Pike (now Martha Bartholomew)
176    being her share of and in the residue of
177    my said late husbands Estate and Effects
178    as aforesaid I do hereby direct my said
179    trustees or the Survivor of them his Executors or
180    administrators as soon as Conveniently may be
181    after my decease by and out of the monies
182    arising from my said personal Estate
183    and Effects to lay out and invest the said
184    Sum of thirty one pounds Seven shillings and
185    two pence Farthing in the purchase of
186    Government or other good and Sufficient
187    Security in their Names or in the Names
188    of the Survivor of them his Executors or
189    administrators and to pay apply and dispose
190    of the Interest dividend and annual proceeds
    [Page 5]
191    thereof from time to time when and as the same
192    shall become due and payable unto my said
193    daughter Mary Bartholomew or her assigns
194    for and during the term of her Natural Life
195    and from and immediately after her decease
196    upon trust to pay assign and transfer the
197    part of share of her my said daughter Mary
198    Bartholomew and the Interest dividends
199    and proceeds thereof unto her Children
200    Mary Ann and Elizabeth Pike in equal Shares
201    and proportions but in Case it shall happen
202    that any or either of my said Daughters shall
203    depart this Life before she or they shall have
204    received her or their Legacy or Legacies given
205    and bequeathed to her or them as aforesaid
206    in and by my said late husbands will or
207    her or their share or shares of and in the
208    residue of the personal Estate and Effects of
209    my said late husband leaving Issue of her
210    or their Body or Bodies lawfully begotten then
211    it is my Will and mind and I do hereby
212    direct that the Child or Children of her or
213    them so dying as aforesaid shall have and
214    receive the like share and proportion thereof
215    as his her or their Mother or Mothers would
216    be intitled to, if living under and by virtue
217    of the will of my said late husband
218    Henry Blake deceased or of this my Will and
219    I do hereby direct my said trustees to transfer
220    and pay the same to her or them accordingly
221    which said Sums of Forty pounds apiece to
222    my said three daughters Martha Lye, Ann
223    Pullen and Hannah Blake and the said
224    Five several Sums of thirty one pounds Seven
225    Shillings and two pence Farthing to my
226    said daughters respectively are to be received
227    and taken by them respectively as and in
228    Full for their several and respective Legacies
229    given and bequeathed to them in and by
230    my said late husbands Will and their
231    respective Shares of and in the residue of my
232    said late husband Henry Blakes personal
233    Estate and Effects and upon further Trust
234    that they my said Trustees or the Survivor
235    of them his Executors or Administrators do
236    and shall in the next place pay thereout
237    unto my said daughter Elizabeth Gould the
238    further Sum of one hundred and Sixty Eight
239    pounds twelve Shillings and Nine pence
240    three Farthings and for her own proper
241    use and Benefit and that the same shall
242    not be liable to the debts Controul Contracts
    [Page 6]
243    or Engagements of her present or any other taken
244    husband she may intermarry with and
245    that her own receipt only shall be good and
246    sufficient discharge to my said trustees for the
247    said trustees for the same and upon further
248    trust to pay thereout unto my daughter
249    Mary Bartholomew the like Sum of One
250    hundred and Sixty Eight pounds twelve Shillings
251    and Nine pence three Farthings to and for her
252    own proper use and benefit and that the same
253    shall not be liable to the debts Controul
254    Contracts or Engagements of her present or any
255    after taken husband she may intermarry with
256    and that her own receipt only shall be good and
257    Sufficient discharge to my said trustees for the
258    same and upon further trust to pay unto
259    my said daughter Martha Lye the Sum of
260    one hundred and twenty Eight pounds twelve
261    Shillings and Nine Pence three farthings
262    to and for her own proper use and benefit and
263    that the same shall not be Subject or liable to
264    the debts Controul Contracts or Engagements of
265    her present or any after taken husband she
266    may intermarry with and that her own
267    receipt only shall be a good and sufficient
268    discharge to my said trustees for the same
269    and upon further trust to pay to my said
270    daughter Ann Pullen the like Sum of one
271    hundred and twenty Eight pounds twelve Shillings
272    and Nine pence three Farthings to and for
273    her own proper use and Benefit and that the
274    same shall not be Subject or liable to the
275    debts Control Contracts or Engagements of her
276    present or any after taken husband she may
277    intermarry with and that her receipt only
278    shall be a good and Sufficient discharge to
279    my said trustees for the same and upon
280    further trust to pay unto my said daughter
281    Hannah Blake the Sum of one hundred and
282    twenty Eight pounds twelve Shillings and Nine
283    pence three farthings to and for her own
284    proper use and Benefit and upon further
285    trust that they my said trustees or the
286    Survivors of them either Exors or Admors of such Survivor do and shall as soon as Conveniently
287    may be after my decease by and out of the
288    monies to arise from my said personal
289    Estate and Effects lay out and invest the
290    Sum of one hundred pounds in the purchase
291    of 3 p[er] Cent Consolidated securities of
292    the Bank of England or on other good Security
293    or Securities in their Names or in the Name
294    of the Survivor of them his Executors or
    [Page 7]
295    administrators upon trust to pay assign
296    and transfer the said annuity or
297    Security so to be purchased unto my two
298    Grand daughters Mary Ann and Elizabeth Pike
299    to and for their own respective use and benefit
300    in equal Shares and proportions when and
301    as they shall respectively attain their age of
302    twenty one years and in the mean time to
303    pay apply and dispose of the Interest dividends
304    and annual produce thereof for and during
305    their Maintenance Education and Support and
306    in Case either of my said Grand Children shall
307    die before she attains the said age of twenty
308    one years then upon Trust to pay assign and
309    transfer the Share of her so dying to the
310    Survivor of my said Grand Children when
311    and as soon as she shall attain her Age
312    of twenty one years the dividends Interest
313    and annual profits thereof in the meantime
314    to be paid applied and disposed of by my said
315    Trustees or the Survivor of them his Executors
316    or administrators for and towards the
317    Maintenance Education and Support of the
318    Survivor of my said Grand Children all the
319    rest residue and remainder of my Estate and
320    Effects both real and personal whatsoever and
321    wheresoever I give devise and bequeath the
322    same to my said daughter Hannah Blake
323    her heirs Executors and administrators to
324    and for her and their own use and benefit and
325    I will that my said Trustees and Executors
326    shall not be answerable the one for
327    the other or for the acts deeds or defaults
328    of the other nor shall either of them be
329    answerable or accountable for any part of
330    my Estate and Effects but such as shall
331    Come to his or their respective hands and
332    I do hereby authorize and impower my said
333    Trustees to retain and Satisfy themselves
334    by and out of my said Trustees to retain and
335    satisfy themselves by and out of my said
336    Estate and Effects all such Costs Charges
337    damages and Expences as they or either of them
338    shall be put unto in or about the Execution
339    of the trust of this my Will and I do hereby
340    revoke all other Wills by me heretofore
341    made and declare this only to be and
342    taken as and for my last Will and
343    Testament and I do hereby appoint my said
344    Brother John Williams and Francis
345    Williams joint Executors of this my Will
346    In Witness whereof I the said Mary Blake
    [Page 8]
347    have to the five first Sheets of this my Will contained
348    in Six Sheets of paper set my hand and to this
349    the Sixth and last Sheet thereof my hand
350    and Seal the Fourth day of August in the
351    year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred
352    and Eight Mary Blake Signed Sealed
353    published and declared by the said Testatrix
354    Mary Blake as and for her last Will and
355    Testament in the presence of us who in
356    her presence at her request and in the
357    presence of each other have subscribed
358    our Names as Witnesses thereto (the words
359    or in other good Security or Securities” being
360    first interlined between the twenty Fifth and
361    twenty Sixth Lines from the Top of the Fifth
362    Sheet hereof and the Words “or Securities”
363    written on an Erasure on the Twenty Eighth
364    Line from the Top of the said Fifth
365    Sheet James Hall Joseph Read
366    This Will was proved at London the fifteenth
367    day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand
368    Eight hundred and Nine before the Right honorable
369    Sir John Nicholl Knight doctor of Laws Master
370    Keeper or Commissary of the Prerogative Court
371    of Canterbury lawfully Constituted by the Oaths
372    of John Williams and Francis Williams the
373    Brother and Executors named in the said
374    Will to whom administration was granted
375    of all and Singular the Goods Chattels and
376    Credits of the said deceased having been first
377    Sworn by Commission duly to administer

Old Lackham House and its owners by Edward Kite (Wiltshire Notes and Queries, Volume III, 1902)

From Wiltshire Notes and Queries: An Illustrated Quarterly Antiquarian and Genealogical Magazine: Volume III 1899-1901. Devizes by George Simpson, Gazette Office, Published: London: Phillimore and Company, 124, Chancery Lane, W.C. 1902 (the bracketed numbers refer to the endnotes).

OLD LACKHAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS

by Edward Kite

    The present mansion, known as Lackham House, in the parish of Lacock, is described by Mr. Britton (1)  as " a plain modern edifice, situated in a rich and fertile vale, near the banks of the Avon."

    It is not to this building, however, that the following notes refer, but to its predecessor a fine old manor house dating at least from mediaeval times for many ages the residence successively of the Bluet, Baynard, and Montagu families but now numbered among the historic houses of Wiltshire past and gone. A few gleanings, therefore, relating to its history, as well as that of its owners, may not be unworthy of a record in the pages of Wilts N. and Q. The earliest sketch of Old Lackham House known to the present writer appears in Dingley's History from Marble, a most interesting manuscript in the possession of Sir Thomas E. Winnington, of which a facsimile in photo-lithography was published in two volumes by the Camden Society, with introduction and notes by the late Mr. John Gough Nichols, F.S.A., in 1867-8. Dingley's sketch, which is here reproduced, was  taken at the close of the reign of Charles II, probably in 1684, his sketch of Lacock Abbey being dated 30 April in that year. It represents the house, an irregular structure, evidently of various dates,(2)  enclosed within a large courtyard, and completely embosomed in woods.(3)  The river (the lower Avon) close by, formed the ancient boundary of the royal forest of Pewisham, in which the lords of Lackham enjoyed the right of hunting by grant from Edward III which grant continued in force until the disafforesting of Pewisham in the reign of James I.

    The second sketch, which more fully illustrates the details of the central portion of the building, is from a drawing by Grimm, taken in August 1790, and now in the British Museum (Additional MSS. No. 15,547). The porch, which is here shewn in perspective, forms a principal feature. A shield on the gable is apparently carved with the arms of BLUET and BAYNARD and another shield at the base of the projecting window over the entrance (4)  bears BAYNARD quartering BLUET, with two unicorns as supporters. The great hall was apparently to the left on entering the porch. Its embattled parapet and large windows of three lights, occupying the whole height of the wall, are shown more clearly in the earlier sketch by Dingley. It was hung round with armour, and was evidently in Aubrey's mind when, at Easton Piers, in 1670, he wrote the well-known masterly and  delightful preface to his Wiltshire Collections. Speaking of lords of manors and their houses in still older times, he says : "The lords of manners never went to London but in Parliament time, or once a yeare to do their homage and duty to the king. They kept good howses in their countries, did eate in their great gothique halls, at the high table, or oriele, the folke at the side tables." "Oriele," he adds in a note, " is an eare, but here it signifies a little roome at the upper end of the hall, where stands a square or round table : perhaps in old time was an oratorie. In every old gothique hall hereabout is one, as at Draycot, Lekham, Alderton, etc."

    The gable immediately on the right of the porch, with its large projecting window and buttress, most probably included the banqueting room in which Henry VIII was entertained when visiting Lackham for several days on his way to Wolfhall, before his marriage with his third Wiltshire queen Jane, the daughter of Sir John Seymour. (5) The room was newly floored for the occasion with oak grown on the estate, and on the stonework underneath the window is seen the royal badge of Henry VIII a crowned rose, with lion and dragon as supporters no doubt introduced here in commemoration of the royal visit. At Lackham, as well as in the immediate neighbourhood, distinct traces of Roman occupation have been discovered from time to time. The Roman road from Bath (Aquae Solis) to Marlborough (Cunetio) passed a short distance to the south of Lacock, and, near it, at Wick, were found traces of a Roman villa. The frequent discoveries of Roman coins here are also mentioned by Leland, Camden, and Aubrey. 

    At the time of the Domesday Survey (1083-6), " Lacham " belonged to William de Ewe, a Norman baron,(6)  who was subsequently attainted of treason.

    In the reign of Henry III (1216-72) the family of Bluet appear as owners.(7)  They were also lords of Silchester, co. Hants, and Leland's notes relating to the latter place may here be quoted as referring also to the descent of Lackham :

"Silchester lordship after the Conquest came to one Blueth, and then one of the Blueths leavyng no sons, the land not entaylid to the heire (male or generale) came by mariage to one Peter de Cusance, and after to one Edmunde Baynard, cumming out of the house of the Baynards, of Essex, whose name is now [1540] ther obscured. The lands of the Blueths entaylid to heyre male of that name yet remayning in Devonshere. Leccham longgid to Blueth [and was used by Bayn]arde  as his principale how[se]." (8)

   Edward I granted to John Bluet (9)  the privilege of holding a fair at his manor of Helmerton (Hilmarton) and free warren in his lands there, and at Lackham. This was confirmed to one of the Baynard family, his successors 1 Henry, IV (1399). Patent Rolls.

    Attached to the manor of Lackham was a Chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. By an undated deed preserved in the Lacock Cartulary, Edward Sweyn, of Lacock, gave to the nuns there the land and tenement which Richard his father  had of the gift of Richard de Wyck in Lacock and Lacham, and the land which his father had of William Clovegiffre, and two acres of land in Stretforlonga, and one croft called Wodecroft, in Lacock and Lacham, paying thereout yearly to the heirs of Richard de Wycke twelve pence and one halfpenny (obolus) to the heirs of William Clovegilofre and half a pound of cummin to the heirs of Richard White (Albi) and one halfpenny to the heirs of Sewell and one penny to the Chapel of Lacham, to the light of the Blessed Mary and one halfpenny to the heirs of John, the son of Jordan, for all service, etc.

    By another deed, now in the British Museum (Add. Charter No. 1533), dated 2 Edward II (1308), Sir John Bluet, knt, granted to Robert Delebrig' (of the Bridge), clerk, certain rents for his life, subject to a yearly payment of two pounds of wax to the Chaplain of the Blessed Mary the Virgin, of Lackham.

"Sciant presentes et futuri quod Ego Joh'es Bluet Miles and Dominus de Lack'm dedi concessi and p'senti carta mea confirmavi Roberto Delebrig' clerico (10)  duos solidos and sex denar' annui reddit' in feodo meo de Lack'm papiend annuati videlic' de Matild' hobekins octodeci denar' and de Joh'e le Colt duodecim denar' p' mesuag' and curtilag' que de me tener' consueverunt. Preterea dedi concessi p'dicto Roberto septemdecim cum dimidia acra terre arrabil p'nt jacent in diversis locis quar' sex acr' jacent sup' le Leye and una acr' cum dimidia sup' Nethe'cote and una acra sup' Cockelegh and una acra apud Godelegh cum Rammesbrok and ap'd Manneslane dimidiam acram. Et apud pensedone una' acr'm, and apud Wynt Welle (11) una' ac'm sup' Elrig' duas acr' and jux' terr' damehawys in le inlond una' ac'm and juxta le Weylete una' ac'm and sup' fflexlegh una' ac'm and di'am. Preterea dedi concessi predicto Roberto una' ac'm prati que vocat le Meleh'mme.  Habend' and tenend' p'dictum Reddit' annul Reddit' cu' p'dcis septemdecim cu' di'a acr' terr' and cu' una' acr' p'ti de me and heredibus vel meis assignat p'fato Roberto ad terminum vite sue libe quiet' bene and in bona pace. Reddend' inde and fac' annuatim ad Capellani be Mar' virginis de Lack'm duas libras Cere and michi and he'dibus meis sex denar' p' mesuag' sup'i p'noiat. Et ego vero p d'ctu' Joh'es Bluet and heredes mei p'dictum Redditum annui Reddit' cum p'dictis septemdecim cum di'a acr' terr' arrabil et cum una' acr' prati ut predictum est predicto Roberto del Elrigg clerico ad terminum vite sue warentizabim' acquetabim' and defendem' In cui' rei testimonium huic p'sent scripto ad mod' Cyrog'phi confecto sigilla n'ra a'ra alternatim sunt appensa hiis testibus Alano Brecon, Alexand'r de fraxino cl'ico, Will'o Thomas, Thorn' le Whyte, Nicho. Page et aliis. Dat' anno r' r' Ed' fil'Ed' s'c'do (no seal).

    Sir John Bluet had, with the Abbess of Lacock, the alternate right of presentation to the rectory there, which right he gave to the Abbey. His tomb was in the Lady Chapel of the Abbey Church, where an obit was celebrated until the Dissolution. See Valor Ecclesiasticus. 

    In the Nomina Villarum, compiled 9th Edward II (1316), we find other names of Bluet as owners of property in Wilts : (12)
 
Kingsbridge                                               Will'us et Johannes
Elyngdon, in parish of Wroughton                     Bluet

Littlecote, near Hilmarton                        Radulfus Bluet

    From an Inquisition taken 1347-8 on the death of Alianora, wife of John Bluet, it appears that she was seised of Silchester manor, co. Hants, of the manors of Lacham and Hilmarton, with Chippenham forest,(13)  co. Wilts, and lands in Berks and Essex ; also of fees in Gataker (now Goatacre), Cherloweswyk (now Wick Farm,(14)  in Lacock), and Natton (now Notton). Inq. post mortem, 22 Edw. Ill, No. 30.

    Leland, in his brief notes on the descent of Silchester, mentions Peter de Cusance (15)  as owner there, in right of his wife.(16)  He also appears at Lackham in 1352, and the arms of BLUET and CUSANCE - the latter Sable, a bend lozengy argent - were afterwards quartered by the Baynard family as their representatives. The accompanying sketch of the Baynard (17)  shield, as tricked by John Withie (Harleian MS. No. 1443), includes also the quarterings of UFFORD alias WILLOUGHBY and BEKE, with the Baynard crest a demi-unicorn rampant and motto " VIVE UT VIVAS."

    In 1346 the name of John de Peyton occurs as an intermediate occupier between Bluet and Cusance.  In that year he obtained a licence from Robert Wyvil, Bishop of Salisbury, to hear divine service in his house at Lackham. (18)

    About the year 1349 Edmund Baynard, of an Essex family, seated at Dunmow, married Elinor, daughter and heiress of Sir John Bluet,(19)  and their descendants in the male line continued for ten successive generations owners of Lackham and the other estates of the Bluets. He obtained a grant from Edward III, for himself and his heirs, of the right of hunting in the neighbouring forest of Pewisham,(20) with power to kill and carry away either stag or fallow deer, as also to command the King's keepers to assist in the chase after the deer was wounded by cross-bow, etc., notice being given to the lodge (21)  by winding a horn, etc." The exact date of his death has not been ascertained, but his son and heir.

    Philip Baynard presented to the Chapel of Lackham, as lord of the manor, in 1410. His will, in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (32 Marche), was proved in 1415. From an Inquisition post mortem taken in the same year, it appears that he died seised of Lacham manor and advowson of Chapel, held as of the manor of Hampsted Marshall, a moiety of the manor of Silchester, under the same tenure, Hilmarton manor,  and assart lands in the forests of Pewisham and Pambere, the latter in co. Hants.

    Robert Baynard, his son and heir, by a deed now in the British Museum (Add. Charter, No. 1534), dated 9 Hen. VI (1430), enfeoffed his manor of Lackham, with his appurtenances, to William Brocas, John Swetcok, clerk, and John Benger, on condition that they should, when required, re-enfeof the same to the said Robert, Jocosa his wife, and their heirs male ; and if it happen the said Robert to die without an heir male, then the manor of Lackham to remain to his own right heirs for ever :

" Per istam indentur' factam apud Lach'm in com' Wiltes die Jovis prox' ante festu' apostolor' Simon and Jude anno regni regis Henrici sexti nono testat' quod licet Rob'us Baynard p' cartam suam feoffamenti dedit and concessit Will'o Brocas Joh'i Swetcok cl'ico and Joh'i Benger manerium suum de lacham cum p'ti'n p'nt in quadam carta inde consecta plenius continet sub tali condicione tamen quod predicta Will'm's Joh'es and Joh'es Benger refeoffabunt aut unus eorum refeoffabit p'fat' Robertum and Jocosam uxorem suam and hered' mascul' p'dictu' Roberto quando cunque requisit fu'int aut unus eorum requisit fuit p' p'fat' Robertum and Jocosam uxorem suam. Et si contingat p'dictum Robertum sine herede masculo de corpore suo legitime procreat' obiere tune predictum manerium cum omnibus suis pertin' remanebit rectis heredibus predicti Roberti in perpetuum. In cujus rei testimonium p'tes p'dicte sigill' sua alternatu' apposuer'. Dat die loco and anno sup'dict'." (Circular seal of red wax, broken, with arms of Bluet, and part of marginal inscription in black letter" ne . rofaertu . bayna . .")

    The inquisition taken on the decease of this Robert, and his wife Jocosa, is dated 16 Hen. VI (1437). His property included Lackham manor ; a moiety of the manor of Silchester, with advowson of the church ; and assart lands within the forest of Pewisham.

    The south transept of the parish church of Lacock appears to have been used for many ages by the owners of Lackham as a place of burial,(22)  and some of their funeral achievements and penons were hanging there when the church was visited by Dingley in 1684. In his History from Marble, vol. ii, p. cccccxiii, he gives a drawing of an altar tomb of which no visible portion now remains. He describes it as standing "against ye south wall of the south cross isle," the inscription on the verge cutt in stone :
SEQUERE . IVSTITIA' . ET . INVENIES . EAM . AVDI . ALTERA' . PARTE'.

    In the front, in three compartments, as many shields, with these arms :

1. A fess between two chevrons - BAYNARD ; impaling a chevron engrailed between three fleurs-de-lis - BROWN.
2. Quarterly, 1 and 4 - BROWN ; 2 and 3 a chevron between three pears pendant - STEWKLEY.
3. An eagle with two heads displayed - BLUET ; impaling BROWN.

    At the end of the tomb, in another compartment, is a shield with the arms of BAYNARD, quartering BLUET, and two unicorns as supporters. (23)

    The late Mr. John Gough Nichols, F.S.A., the able editor of Dingley's manuscript, ascribes this tomb to Philip Baynard, but, from a careful comparison of its heraldry, as given by Dingley, with that still remaining on the wooden tablet to Edward Baynard (who died 1575), also in the south transept of Lacock Church, the present writer is rather inclined to believe that Robert Baynard, who died in 1437, and his wife Jocosa (Brown ?) were the individuals commemorated by this now missing tomb.

    Philip Baynard, the second of that name, appears to have inherited Lackham, as son and heir of Robert and Jocosa. His name occurs, 22 Hen. VI (1443), as witness to a deed relating to the manor of Easton Piers, in Kington St. Michael. (Wilts Collections, Aubrey and Jackson, p. 441). Six years later,  28 Hen. VI (1449-50), he filled the office of Sheriff of Wilts. From the heraldry on the later monument of Edward Baynard in Lacock Church, it appears that his wife belonged to the family of Abarow, whose arms, Azure, two swords in saltire between four fleurs-de-lis or, also appear quartered on the fine brass of John Webbe, A.D. 1570, in St. Thomas' Church, Salisbury, his mother having been an heiress of Abarow.

    Robert Baynard, son and heir of Philip, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Ludlow, of the family of the name long seated at Hill Deverill. His arms - BAYNARD and BLUET quarterly, impaling LUDLOW, Argent, a chevron between three martens heads, erased sable - were formerly in Corsham Church, in the north window of the Neston Chapel. (24)  (Wilts Collections, p. 81.) In 1 Edw. IV (1461-2) he, with John Crycklade, Walter Samborne, and John Lane (probably as trustees) granted lands in Stokeley, Chittleworth, and Blakelowe, co. Wilts, to Thomas Pucklechurch and his wife Agnes, also other lands in Ampney Crucis, co. Gloucester. The deed is dated at Ampney, two of the witnesses being Edmund Hungerford and Edward Stradling.

    His will is in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (3 Blamyr). He died 26 August, 1501, and his fine brass in the pavement of the south transept of Lacock Church represents him bare-headed, with long hair reaching to the shoulders, and wearing over his suit of armour a tabard as worn by the Heralds, embroidered with the arms of BLUET and BAYNARD quarterly. His wife is also represented in an heraldic mantle reaching to the feet and bearing the arms of BAYNARD quartered with those of her own family LUDLOW. From the inscription (in Latin) we learn that he was "vir egregius et legis peritus in armis bellicis multum strenuus dapifer precipuus inter primos pacis conservator diligentissimus" a distinguished man and skilled in the law, a very active soldier, an excellent housekeeper, and a zealous promoter of peace. In looking for a moment at the historical events of the time we find that his father's term of office as Sheriff of Wilts (1449-50) was marked by the breaking out of Jack Cade's insurrection, and the consequent murder of the Bishop of Salisbury (Ayscough), which took place at Edyngdon (a few miles from his own residence at Lackham) in June of the latter year. Next followed the wars of the Roses, in which his two near neighbours at Bromham the Lord St. Amand, and Sir Roger Tocotes taking part with the Duke of Buckingham against Richard III were both attainted, and sacrificed their estates.(25)  In some of these struggles of his earlier days between the rival Yorkists and Lancastrians the lord of Lackham himself, as an active soldier, may also have been engaged. His advancing years, however, saw more peaceable times, and the accession of Henry VII in 1485, with the quiet which followed until his own death in 1501, must have given him an opportunity of attending to the requirements of his numerous household, and to the dispensing of his hospitality among his neighbours as well as the more immediate dependants of his Wiltshire manor, justifying the words of his epitaph, which describe him as " dapifer precipuus " an excellent house-keeper. 

    By Elizabeth Ludlow, " devotissimam uxorem " his most devoted wife, he appears to have had no less than eighteen children thirteen sons and five daughters, all of whom, in accordance with a singular custom often indulged in by the mediaeval engravers of monumental brasses, are represented of precisely the same height, excepting the eldest, who appears much taller than the rest, and wears the gypcière, or large external purse of the period, suspended from his girdle an appendage which, together with his additional stature, may have been intended to denote his heirship.

    Of the whole of the effigies on this brass a drawing and description, by the present writer, will be found in Wilts Archceological Magazine, vol. iv, and Wilts Brasses, plate xi, p. 39. That of the second son an ecclesiastic has, however, been reproduced here on a larger scale for the purpose of shewing a peculiarity in his costume, of which very few examples are to be met with. Instead of the hood and cape usually worn over the cassock ; a kind of short scarf is here thrown over the shoulders arid fastened, apparently by a button, to the front of one of them.(26)  A rosary is also represented hanging from the right side of the girdle. 

    Some of the eighteen children may have died young. Three of them only are mentioned in the Heralds' Visitations of A.D. 1565 and 1623, viz. : Philip the eldest, a younger son George, and a daughter Jane, married to William Temmes, of Rood Ashton, to which family also belonged Johanna Temmes, the last Abbess of Lacock a preferment which she might have owed to this connexion through marriage with the Lackham family. To these three we may perhaps add Richard, a Winchester scholar, admitted 1479; William, who was M.P. for Hindon 1491-2; and Henry, to whom Sir Edward Hungerford, (27)  in 1520, confirmed land in .Sheldon, near Chippenham. The will of Henry Baynarde, gent., Lacock, was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in 1551 (F. 35 Bucke). There is also in the same office the will of Elizabeth Baynard, Chippenham, proved in 1540 (F. 15 Allenger).

    Philip Baynard, the third of that name, and next heir of Lackham, appears to have been M.P. for Chippenham in 1491-2, during his father's lifetime. In 1519 he was trustee, with Sir Edward Hungerford, just mentioned, and John Ernley, of Bourton, in Bishops Cannings, for a minor of the Tropenell family to whom Great Chalfield owes its fine old mediaeval manor house, still standing. (Additional MSS. No. 6363, p. 175.) He married Jane, daughter of Nicholas Stewkeley, of Affeton, co. Devon. His will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1522 (3 Ayloflfe).

    Robert Baynard, his son and heir, was Sheriff of Wilts 26 Hen. VIII (1534), and his will was proved in P.C.C. (1 and 7 Crumwell) two years later. He married Ann, daughter of  Robert Blake, a family who resided for some four hundred years, until the last century, at Pinhill, an old moated dwelling in Calne. (28)  He had, according to the Heralds' Visitations, one sister Mary Baynard married to Roger (or Robert) Blake, also of Pinhill. His own family consisted of five sons and three daughters : 1, Edward ; 2, Robert, (29)  of Silchester, who married and had issue ; 3, Lawrence ; 4, Richard, died without issue ; 5, Thomas, of Barton, co. Gloucester, whose descendants were at Wanstrow, co. Somerset, Colerne, Wilts, and Cliff House, co. Dorset. Of the three daughters, Gertrude, Ann and Cicely, the first married Ambrose Adlaine, of Westbury, Wilts ; the second, John Willoughby, of Turner's Piddle, co. Dorset ; and the third was twice married, first to Robert White, secondly to Thomas Berington, of co. Herts. To these may be added another daughter, Jane, who married Leonard Knoell, of Sandford Orcas, co. Somerset, and appears in the pedigree of that family, although not entered in the Visitation of Wilts.     Edward Baynard, the eldest son and heir, was born about the year 1512, and must have been nearly or quite 24 years of age when he succeeded to the Lackham estate in 1536 the same year that the marriage of Henry VIII with Jane Seymour took place and the royal visit here is presumed to have been paid. In 1539, three years afterwards, upon receipt of information that the Pope had, by means of Reginald Pole, incited the Princes of Christendom to invade the realm, King Henry visited the coasts in person, caused block-houses and  fortifications to be made, put the navy in readiness at Portsmouth, under the Great Admiral of England, the Earl of Southampton, and issued commissions throughout the kingdom for the muster of the people, and view of harness and weapons. From "the Certyfycatt of the vewe of abull men, as well Archars as Byllmen," for several of the hundreds in North Wilts, taken 10th April, 1539, by virtue of the royal commission, and preserved in the Public Record Office, we learn that upon this occasion the " Tithing of Lackham " was prepared to furnish seven archers, and eight billmen, and had in readiness a horse and harness, with other small weapons. (30)

    This lord of Lackham, following the royal precedent of his day, was thrice married. His first wife was Mary, daughter of Leonard Poole, of Sapperton, co. Gloucester ; the second, Eleanor, daughter of Edward Walsingham, of Chislehurst, co. Kent, both of whom died without issue. The latter was buried at Lacock, 20th August, 1559. He subsequently married for a third wife a Wiltshire lady, Elizabeth, daughter of John Warneford, of Sevenhampton, near Highworth, who became the mother of ten children, all baptized at Lacock between the years 1561 and 1575. 1 Edmund, 2 Robert, 3 Nicolas, 4 John, 5 Giles, 6 Philip, 7 Edward, 8 Benjamin, 9 Mary, 10 Anne. Of these, Edmund, the eldest, died an infant, Robert became the heir, Giles and Edward married and had issue.(31) Of the two daughters, Mary and Anne, the first married Edward Perce (Pierce ?), the second Edward Reade, of Corsham. (32)

    Within a few days of the death of King Edward VI, on the 6th July, 1553, followed that of Sir William Sharington, the grantee from the Crown of the site of Lacock Abbey, as well as other monastic property in the neighbourhood. Sir William was at the time .Sheriff of Wilts, and there is still extant among the Public Records an order dated 14th July, 1553. for the making of letters patent to constitute Edward Baynard, the Lord of Lackham, Sheriff in the place of Sir William Sharington, late sheriff, deceased. This document is signed "Jane the Queene," and is of especial interest from the fact of its being the only signature of Lady Jane Gray as Queen. It was, of course, superseded by another similar order from Queen Mary, antedated 6th July, 1553, the day of Edward VIth's death, and the claim of Lady Jane Grey to the throne having been set aside, the lord of Lackham became Sheriff of Wilts for the first year of the reign of Queen Mary. He was M.P. for the neighbouring borough of Chippenham in 1559 and dying in 1575 was buried with his ancestors in the Baynard aisle of Lacock Church.

    His monument is a curious one. It is a mural tablet, not of stone or marble, but of panelled oak, well-seasoned, and doubtless the growth of the Lackham estate. It was erected by his eldest surviving son in 1623,(33)  nearly half-a-century after his father's death, and in the very year of one of the Heralds' Visitations of the county. Its armorial display was evidently arranged under the superintendence of a skilled officer of arms. Around the central inscription are eight shields, with single impalements, showing the marriages of the deceased, and five generations of his ancestors, the whole being surmounted by the quartered shield and crest of the Baynard family, as shown in the accompanying illustration. The epitaph is a quaint production of the time of James I.

"Heare lyeth ye Body of Edward Bainarde
Esquire who for the space of many yeares
Yeven to his dyinge day was Justice of
Peace and Corum and sometimes Custos
Rotulorum and Hygh Sherriffe of the
County of Wiltes : A Bountifull friend
to his brethren and sisters and to
his servants liberal ; and an enemy
 to noe man : he lyved to the age of
63 yeares and dyed (34)  and was buryed
 the 21 day of December 1575.

Lett envy saye what it can,
This was an honest man :
Whoe in his life did many goode
And to the trueth firmely stode :
Religious, wise, and just was hee,
And ever lyved worthylie."

    Two years after Edward Baynard had succeeded to the Lackham estate came the dissolution of monasteries, but from this source he does not appear, like some of his near neighbours, to have profited by any direct grant of Abbey lands from the Crown. His forty years' ownership saw the close of Henry VIIIth's reign, with those of Edward VIth, Mary, and the first two decades of that of Queen Elizabeth, and the successive changes in our national religion which took place during this unsettled period. He seems to have maintained his own private chaplain at Lackham, for in the parish register of Lacock we find the following entry of burial :

"1565, Sir Michael Brickett, Chaplain to Edward Baynard, Esq., May 7."

    Of his family, the eldest son, Edmund, baptized at Lacock, 3 January 1561, died an infant, and the second son, Robert, afterwards Sir Robert Baynard, who was about twelve years old at the time of his father's death, became heir to the Lackham estate. He was M.P. for Chippenham 1584-5, and for Westbury 1586-7. In January, 1618, he was knighted at Theobalds by James I (35) ; the monarch who, whilst hunting on one occasion in Pewsham Forest, is said to have been challenged by Sir Robert for a deer which he happened to kill within a certain distance from the river Avon, the latter alleging a royal grant from Edward III to his ancestor, as already mentioned.

    Sir Robert married a lady, who, although descended paternally from an old Yorkshire family, must have been tolerably well acquainted with the neighbourhood of Lacock. She was a daughter of Sir Robert Stapilton, of Wighill [or Wighall], co. York, by his second wife Olive, daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Sharington of Lacock Abbey,(36)  and widow of John Talbot, Esq., of Salwarpe, co. Worcester.

    By the Lady Ursula [née Stapleton], who was baptized at Chelsea 10 July, 1587, Sir Robert Baynard had two children, Edward, baptized at Lacock, 19 August, 1616, who died an infant; and Mary, baptized 26 March, 1621, who subsequently became heiress of Lackham. Two years after the birth of the latter, their mother, the Lady Ursula, died at the early age of 36, and was buried at Lacock, 9 November, 1623.

It was on the occasion of his wife's death that Sir Robert caused to be set up on the east wall of the "Baynard's Aisle" in Lacock Church, two quaint wooden tablets emblazoned with heraldry, one of which, to the memory of his father, has been already described.(37)  The second tablet, the memorial of the Lady Ursula, is precisely similar in outline. The eight shields, around the central inscription, bear single impalements showing the successive marriages of the Stapilton family, the whole being surmounted by the quartered shield of STAPILTON and FITZALAN DE BEDALE, enclosed within a Garter, with the crest of the former - Out of a ducal coronet or, a Saracen's head ajffronty, round the temples a wreath knotted behind, all proper.

1. STAPILTON - Argent, a lion rampant sable; impaling, Sable, fretty or - BELLA AQUA.
2. STAPILTON ; impaling, Cheeky or and azure, a canton ermine within a bordure gules - BRITTANY.
3. STAPILTON ; impaling, Barry of six or and gules - FITZALAN DE BEDALE.
4. STAPILTON; impaling, Bendy of six argent and azure S- T. PHILIBERT.
5. STAPILTON ; impaling, Argent, on a fess azure three fleurs de lis or - USFLETE. 
6. STAPILTON ; impaling, Ermine, a lion rampant azure - PICKERING [Dingley]
7. STAPILTON ; impaling, Or, three bars azure - ASKE [Dingley]
8. STAPILTON ; impaling, Gules, between two flanches cheeky argent and azure, as many crosses patty in pale of the second fimbriated or - SHARINGTON.(38)

    The inscription is as follows :

" Heare lyeth the Body of the Lady
Vrsula Baynard, Daughter of Sir
Robert Stapilton of Wyghall in the
County of Yorke, Knight, and wife
to Sir Robert Baynard, Knight, by
whome shee had Issue Edward her
Sonne heare buryed, and Mary hir
Daughter. She lyved to the age
of 36 yeares, and departed to God
in most firme fayth in Christ in
the yeare of our Lorde God 1623.

Gods goodness made her wise and well beseeming,
Discreet and Prudent, Constant, True and Chaste,
Hir virtues rare won her much esteeming,
In Courte and Country, still with favour graste,
Earth could not yelde more pleasing earthly blisse,
Blest wth two babes, though Death brought hir to this."

    Sir Robert was Sheriff of Wilts in 1629 [5 Charles I]. His will is dated 16 March, 1635-6, and dying soon after, he was buried at Lacock, on 7 June (39)  in the latter year, without either monument or inscription.

    From an Inquisition taken at Marlborough, 6 October, 1636, it appears that besides his manor of Lackham, Sir Robert died seised of "divers messuages, lands, tenements, pastures, woods, etc., in the fields, parishes, and hamlets, of Laycocke, Lackham, Notton, Bewley, Reybridge, Chippenham, and Bowdon, parcels of the said manor; divers closes or parcels of pasture situated within the parish of Laycocke, called Dene Hill, Pennesdowne,(40)  the Pyke and the Lukehorne, containing 217 acres," given to his father by [Sir William or Sir Henry] Sharington,(41)  of Lacock Abbey, in exchange for other lands within the parish, then parcel of Lacock manor ; also the tithes of grain, and hay of all the demesne lands of Lackham manor, likewise given by Sharington to Edward Baynard, deceased [father of Sir Robert], and his heirs. The whole of this property is stated by the jurors to have been, at that time, of the value of £41 6s 8d, and held of the king in chief by the service of one twentieth part of a knight's fee.

    By deed 16 February, 1628, eight years before his death, Sir Robert gave to Anne Fisher, spinster, daughter of Joan Fisher, of Lacock, apparently his housekeeper, who survived him, an annuity of £10 out of a messuage and land in Lacock, called Arnoldes, to have the same immediately after his decease, full possession thereof being given her on payment of sixpence.

The writer of these notes was for a long while in possession of a vellum roll, sixteen feet in length; the original Inventory of all goods, chattels, cattles, heirlooms, etc., in Lackham House, taken in 1637, after the decease of Sir Robert Baynard. This document has now found a more appropriate place among the many valuable records preserved in the muniment room at Lacock Abbey. It enumerates in detail the  contents of the old mansion with its private chapel and many apartments, the massive old oak furniture, and rich hangings, the arms in the great hall, the old fashioned vessels, wooden trenchers, etc., in the kitchen, buttery, and minor offices, together with the goodly array of pewter, which alone constitutes a very considerable item.

    Mary Baynard, the surviving daughter and sole heiress of Sir Robert, shortly before her father's death, and when only fourteen years old, married Captain the Hon. James Montagu, third son of Henry, first Earl of Manchester. The marriage took place at Lacock, 11 November, 1635. Her father, by his will, bequeathed the manor of Lackham, with its appurtenances, and all other his lands in Wiltshire, to them both for their lives, with remainder to their eldest son and his heirs male, for default successively in tail male to their second and younger sons, for default to the use of all the sons successively of the said Mary by any other husband, for default to her daughters by any other husband, and their heirs, for default to his nephew Robert, only son of his brother, Giles Baynard, and his heirs male, for default to another nephew, Edward, only son of his younger brother Edward, lately deceased, and his heirs male, and lastly for default to his own right heirs for ever.

    But Lackham was not without a male heir, and that in the direct line, for Captain James Montagu had issue by his wife Mary, eleven sons and two daughters, the names of the eldest ten of which, viz., 1. Walter, 2. James, 3. George, 4. Robert, 5. Henry, 6. Sidney, 7. Edward, 8. Charles, 9. William, and 10. Mary,(42)  appear among the additions to the printed Wilts Visitation of 1623, which continue the pedigree to the year 1650. Two younger sons, Thomas and John,(43) with another daughter, Katharine, are mentioned on a monumental tablet in Lacock Church.

    The Hon. James Montagu died in 1665, at the age of 57, his widow surviving him nearly twenty years. The funeral penon, here reproduced, was at the time of Dingley's visit to Lacock Church, in 1684, hanging in the Baynard Aisle. It bore at the staff end, the arms of MONTAGU - Argent, three lozenges conjoined in fess gules, within a bordure sable (differenced by a mullet for a third son) impaling BAYNARD, as already blazoned. Dingley has also preserved sketches of other shields which he saw on the funeral achievements and streamers of Montagu, in the Baynard Aisle

1. MONTAGU, with bordure and mullet, as on the penon, quartering Or, an eagle displayed vert, beaked and membered gules - MONTHERMER.
2. MONTAGU singly, and crest, with mullet, but without the bordure sable.(44)

    Of Captain Montagu's eleven sons, Walter, the eldest, died young, and James, the second son, aged 12 in 1650, and consequently about 27 at his father's death, became the heir. He  married in 1671, Diana, daughter of Anthony Hungerford, of Black Bourton, afterwards of Farley Castle. (45)

"James Montagu, of Lackham, co. Wilts, Esq., bachelor, about 32, and Mrs. Diana Hungerford, of Black Bourton, co. Oxon., spinster, 21 ; consent of mother, Mrs. Rachel Hungerford, widow, at Black Bourton aforesaid, 30 May, 1671." Chester's Marriage Licences.  

Endnotes:
(1)  Beauties of Wiltshire, Vol. iii, p. 246 published in 1825.

(2)  Some portion of the old building is traditionally said to have belonged to the Norman period.

(3) The arms in a lozenge underneath, MONTAGU impaling HUNGEBFORD, are those of the widow of James Montagu, the late owner of Lackham, who had died at an early age in 1676. She was the daughter of Anthony Hungerford, of Farley Castle.

(4)  The hatchment which nearly covers this window is that of James Montagu (grandson of the lady whose arms are given by Dingley). He was buried at Lacock 3 May 1790 three months before the date of Grimm's drawing. The arms are those of MONTAGU and MONTHERMER quarterly, impaling HEDGES quartering GORE his wife Eleanor, who predeceased him, having been the daughter of William Hedges, of Compton Basset, by the heiress of Gore, of Alderton.

(5)  This must have been in 1536 for Henry's marriage with Jane Seymour took place on the 20th May in that year the day after his second wife, Anne Boleyn, had been brought to the block. There is said to be extant a curious old print representing in different compartments the preparations at Lackham the rats and mice running away from the servants, who with mop and broom are cleansing the house in readiness for the reception of the royal guest. 

(6)  This William de Owe, or Ewe, also held, at the same date, the lordship of Hilmarton, which afterwards passed with the Lackham estate to its later owners the Bluets and Baynards.

(7)  They probably held here under Bigod, Earl Marshal; for in the Inquisitions post mortem 35 Edw. I. (1306-7) we find Roger le Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and Marshal of England, and Alice his wife, seised of knights' fees in Lackham, Hilmarton, Goatacre, and other places in Wilts.

(8)  Itinerary, vi, p. 53.

(9)  The arms of BLUET Or, an eagle with two heads displayed gules in stained glass were formerly in one of the hall windows of South Wraxhall Old Manor House (Aubrey and Jackson, P. I, No. 10); and those of COWDREY impaling BLUET in a chamber there (Ib., P. III, No. 35). 

(10)  Among some early grants to the Cistercian Abbey of Stanley, printed in Bowies' History of Bremhill, is one (p. 105) from Robert de la Hebrigge conveying to the monks his right to common of pasture in the wood called the More, without the said Abbey, on the south part thereof.

(11)  Samuel Michell the elder, of Notton, clothier, by will dated 1694, bequeaths to his grandson, Thomas Colborne, his term in two grounds at Winterwell in Lacock, purchased of Nicholas Gore and John Grist; "and the lease of the grounds at Winterwell, and the little ground at Notton, which I purchased of Sir Edward Hungerford ; in trust for the use of my daughter, Anna Warn, and her children." 

(12)  A Devizes deed, dated 26 Henry VI (1447-8), also mentions " Bluette's Court," in Southbroom. This document came into the hands of the writer with some leases relating to the Drewe family, from which it may perhaps be inferred that " Bluette's Court " afterwards passed to Drewe and became part of the Southbroom property.
    By this deed Alice, daughter and co-heir of John Gilbert, sen., late of Southbrome, near Devizes, deceased, quit-claimed to Richard Gilbert, Margaret his wife, and their heirs, her right and claim of and in the whole of that court called Bluette's Court, with its appurtenances, in Southbrome, in the Hundred of Canynges Episcopi, between a tenement late of Henry Clakke on one part, and a tenement late of Henry Webbe and the King's highway on the other. Witnesses: John Coventre, sen., of Devyzes aforesaid, Thomas Coventre, John Spycer, John ffauconer, Thomas Haukyn', Peter Dayster, William Rede, and many others. Broken seal of red wax (circular), with shield bearing apparently a chevron, and part of marginal legend illegible.
    Three cottages, called Blewitt's, with land in Southbroom, were leased by William Page, of Devizes, in 1545.

(13)  Probably the assart lands (i.e., lands reclaimed from a forest or waste, and cultivated) in Pewisham forest, mentioned in later Inquisitions post mortem of the Baynards.

(14)  The name of Richard de Wyck occurs in one of the early deeds above quoted. In some interesting notes on the pedigree of Croke and Bonham, later owners of Wick Farm (Wilts N. and Q., vol. ii, p. 311), Mr. Talbot, its present owner, identifies this property with a second manor at Lacock, mentioned in Domesday, as having been held by Carlo in the time of Edward the Confessor.

(15)  William de Cusancia, knt., was seized, 19 Edw. Ill [1344-5], of the manors of Wyke, Dounamney and Kynemaresforde, in co. Gloucester. Inq. post mortem. The same name occurs in the Inq. post mortem of Thomas de Holand, Earl of Kent, and his wife Alesia, 20 Rich. II [1396], as holder of a fee at Temple Sutton, co. Essex. A Gerald de Cuzance was presented to Rectory of Hilperton in 1299. Wilts Institutions. 

(16)  Bishop Gibson, in his edition of Camden's Britannia, published 1695, thus describes three shields of arms seen by him in the windows of Silchester Church :
    " In a small church of modern building (Silchester) I searched for ancient inscriptions. I found nothing but some coats of arms in the windows, viz., in a field sable, seven fusils argent bendwise ; as also, in a field sable,afesse between two chevrons or, and in afield or, an eagle displayed with two heads gules. I find these last to be the arms of the Blewets, to whom this estate came after the time of William the Conqueror ; the second are the arms of the noble family of Bainard, of Leckham ; and the first is the coat of the family of Cusanz, by whom this estate pass'd hereditarily from the Blewets to the Bainards."

(17)  In a paper entitled "Notes on the Walpoles," which appeared in the Genealogical Magazine for May, 1899, the writer suggests that the Baynards probably derived their arms a fess between two chevrons from the Fitz Walters, under whom they appear to have held at an early date the bearing itself being derived in turn from the three well-known chevrons of De Clare.

(18)  A similar licence was granted by Bishop Wyvil, in the same year, to Galfridus le Eyr, at Bromham.

(19)  Sir John probably had several daughters, on the death of one of whom, without issue, the property passed to the other, and eventually came to Baynard and his heirs. This would account for the temporary ownership, through marriage, of Cusance, and also perhaps for that of Peyton.

(20)  See Britton's Beauties of Wiltshire, iii, p. 247, where the name is printed Edward Baynard. Aubrey, writing 1659-70, gives a somewhat different version, but apparently from hearsay. " There is a report," he says, " that if the king should happen to kill a deer in the forest, so near to the river Avon that one might throw a horne, the lord of Lackham, by custome, could challenge it for his own, which Sir Robert Baynard did in King James' time, and alleged his graunt for it from a King - query his name." O my soule," said King James, " he was a wise king that made such a graunt." Wilts Collections, p. 95.

(21)  Mr. Britton mentions two buildings, on the banks of the river Avon, opposite to Lackham, known as the Great and Little Lodge ; formerly lodges in Pewisham forest. 

(22)  Aubrey, Wilts Collections, p. 93, calls it " Baynard's Aisle."

(23)  Aubrey, Wilts Collections, p. 93, notices the same monument, but appears to have been much less successful than Dingley in deciphering its heraldry. He describes it as "a gothique altar monument of ... Bluett," without even noticing the principal coat of Baynard, with supporters at the end. It was probably seen by him in a hurry and by a bad light, for, in his notes on the Abbey, he writes, " Mem. Desire my brother William to visit this for me, for it was late when I was there, and could not stay."

(24)  Aubrey says that this shield and two others were taken out of the window of Corsham Church in 1675, and placed in the great parlour windows of Neston House, by William Eyre, Esq., its then owner. From Neston they were afterwards removed again by Sir William Hanham to his house in Dorsetshire.

(25)  Richard Beauchamp, of Bromham, son and heir of William Beauchamp, buried at Market Lavington in 1457, by Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Gerard Braybrooke, and heiress of the Barony of St. Amand, which had previously been in abeyance since the death of her great grandfather, Almeric de St. Amand, without male issue, in 1402. She married secondly Sir Roger Tocotes, of a Yorkshire family, whose fine altar tomb, with effigy, is still in the centre of the Lady Chapel at Bromham, where by his will, dated 1492, he desires to be buried. Both Sir Roger and his son-in-law, the Lord St. Amand, were among the " greate compaigny of noble menne " mentioned by Richard Grafton, in his continuation of Harding's Chronicle, who in 1496 went with Edward, Duke of Buckingham, to meet King Henry VII at Taunton, the latter being then in pursuit of Perkin Warbeck.

(26)  The late Rev. Herbert Haines, of Paddock House, Gloucester, in the second edition of his Manual of Brasses, 1861, the most valuable work on the subject hitherto published has noted ten instances only of the hood thus worn, in slightly varied forms, between the years 1500 and 1530 the Lacock example being the earliest. In one of them, at Northleach, co. Gloucester, the hood is represented fastened to the surplice instead of the cassock.

(27)  This Sir Edward Hungerford died in 1522, leaving a second wife, Lady Agnes, who a year afterwards was hanged at Tyburn for the murder of a former husband. In the inventory of her goods, etc., forfeited to the Crown, she mentions a debt from one of the Temmes family, mentioned above :
       " Item. Robert Temmes, gentleman, dwelling in Red (Rood) Aston, owyng to me xviij li and more to be payd at Penticost last past.

(28)  In the British Museum (Harl. MS., No. 1443, fol. 258) there is a drawing of two kneeling figures copied by John Withie, in the year 1616, from the chancel windows of Calne Church. The male figure is represented in a tabard with the arms of BLAKE singly. On the mantle worn by the female is Gules a bend argent, with a crescent for difference. See also Aubrey, Wilt's Collections, plate iv, p. 37, who adds a portion of an inscription: "ORATE . P . . . . BLAKE . DE . PINHILL . A . . "

(29)  Robert Baynard. aged 11, was admitted a Winchester scholar in 1532, was scholar of New College, Oxford, and Fellow in 1541.

(30)  Lacock could, on the same occasion, muster 22 archers, 27 billmen, 2 horses, 6 harness, 4 bows, 4 sheafs of arrows, and other small weapons.

(31)  Edward had lately died in 1636, leaving an only son of the same name. Giles, who was living in Ireland in 1623, also left an only son Robert, and the following entry in the Parish Register of Rowde apparently records a collection made there for his widow in 1647 :
       " Aug. 15, Collected for Mr. Giles Baynard's widdow 9s. 9d."

(32)  She died 23 August, 1615. On her monumental tablet in Corsham Church, she is described as " ex inclyta familia Baynardorum de Lecham Oriundae."

(33)  On the occasion of the death of his own wife, which happened in that year and to whom he erected a similar memorial emblasoned with the heraldry of her own family.  

(34)  The day of his decease had evidently been forgotten, and that of burial was supplied from the Lacock Parish Register.

(35)  James I appears to have been in this neighbourhood in 1616, 1618, 1621, and 1624. Pewsham was soon afterwards disafforested.

(36)  Sir Robert Stapilton was M.P. for Yorkshire, and High Sheriff in 1580. He died 1606, and Lady Olive appears to have resided, during her second widowhood, at Lacock Abbey, and, dying at an advanced age in 1646, she was buried at Lacock. Besides Lady Ursula Baynard, she had four sons and three daughters. Her second son, Robert Stapilton, who matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, 19 June 1607, aged 17 [see Foster], was, in 1616, presented by her to the rectory of Lacock.

(37)  The writer has already remarked that the armorial display on these tablets must have been the work of a skilful hand. The Baynards were, it appears, in possession of a vellum pedigree, drawn up by John Philipott, Somerset Herald temp. James I, showing their Norman descent (see Gents. Mag., May 1826, p. 418); but he would here suggest that the arrangement and execution of the heraldry on the Lacock tablets was probably the work of John Withie, "Citizen and paynterstayner of London", the transcriber of the fine manuscript volume now in the British Museum (Harleian MS. No. 1443) containing a copy of the Wilts Visitation of 1623, engrafted on the earlier one of 1565, with the arms beautifully tricked - a manuscript well known to Wiltshire genealogists. Withie's father, through a first marriage into the family of Nicholas, of Calne, resided in that town, as did also his own half-brother, by the same marriage. His grandmother was a sister of Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury [1560-1571], the friend of Sir Henry Sharington, of Lacock Abbey, the grandfather of Lady Ursula Baynard ; a link which, at least, seems to connect him pretty closely with the neighbourhood. He made some Church notes at Calne in 1616, and was 30 years of age in 1623, when the heraldic tablets in Lacock Church were set up. He obtained from Richard St. George, Clarenceux, a confirmation of arms Per pale ermine and or, a lion rampant gules previously granted to his family, in 1615, by the antiquary Camden.

(38)  In a paper on the Baynard Monuments in Lacock Church by the present writer (Wilts Arch. Mag., iv, p. 6) the coats No. 2 and 7, here impaled, are ascribed to DB RICHMOND and CONSTABLE. The subsequent publication of Dingley's History from Marble, and the pedigree of Stapilton, in the Genealogist, makes it more probable that they are BRITTANY and DE ASKE, as here given.

(39)  See Lacock Register ; but the Inq. p. m. gives 14 April as the date of his death.

(40)  Spelt " Pensedone " in a deed of 1308. See p. 5.

(41)  Both names appear in the inquisition. Edward Baynard, of Lackham, and Sir William Sharington, of Lacock Abbey, had both married into the family of Walsingham.

(42)  She afterwards married Thomas Ewer, of the Lee, co. Herts.

(43)  He became Rector of Upton Scudamore, near Warminster, where he was buried in 1691.

(44)  These arms, either with or without the bordure sable, were borne by the Montacutes, Earls of Salisbury. John de Montacute, Lord Montacute, second son of the first Earl of Salisbury of that name, married the heiress of Monthermer, and they appear with the bordure on his tomb in Salisbury Cathedral. He died in 1389-90 ; since which time all succeeding Montacutes, and, on questionable authority the Montagus, have quartered the arms of Monthermer.
      Dingley notes that the coat of Montagu in the heraldry at Lacock is given both with and without the bordure sable. He also remarks that the griffin's head in the Montagu crest is here, in one instance, beaked sable and langued gules, and in the other is all or a kind of fanciful variation by no means unknown in other instances of undertaker's heraldry.

(45)  Son of Sir Anthony (of the Down Ampney Branch of Hungerford), who settled at Black Bourton, by a second marriage, and half-brother of Sir Edward, of Corsham, the Parliamentary Commander. He sat for Malmesbury in the Long Parliament until disabled in 1644, when he was heavily fined for delinquency, though he had not borne arms for the king, and thrown into the Tower. In 1648 his estates were seized. Cromwell wrote him a sympathetic letter dated 30 July 1652, which was formerly in the chapel at Farley Castle (see Carlisle's Cromwell, p. 216). The next year he succeeded to Farley, and dying in 1657, was buried in Black Bourton Church. His widow, Rachel, was a Jones, and his spendthrift son, Edward, who sacrificed a noble fortune to the follies and vices of the reign of the second Charles, sold Farley Castle, which had been for three centuries the residence of the Hungerfords, in 1686.
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