Wiltshire

Hindon lies in the parish of Bishop’s Knoyle or East Knoyle, which constitutes a detached part of the hundred of Downton. Like the borough of Downton, Hindon belonged to the see of Winchester and was administered by the bailiff of the manor, borough and hundred of Downton. Hindon was not incorporated and no borough records are extant for the period. Elections were held under the supervision of the bailiff, who as far as is known never held them for Downton and Hindon on the same day. No indentures survive from the early part of the 16th century, but there are four of the reign of Mary.

At the beginning of the 16th century the manor of Heytesbury was held by the Hungerford family, as it had been when the borough first returned Members in 1449, but on the attainder in 1540 of Walter, Lord Hungerford, it was forfeited to the crown. In June 1541 William Sharington obtained a lease of the demesne lands and in March 1553 Henry Wheeler, a gentleman of the privy chamber, was granted the lordship of the manor.VCH Wilts. v. 73, 114; Hoare, Wilts. Heytesbury, 82, 103-4, 122; LP Hen. VIII, xvi. g. 947(24); CPR, 1553-4, p. 243.

Great Bedwyn had once been a prosperous centre of the Wiltshire woollen industry, whereas Leland found it ‘but a poor thing to sight’. At the beginning of the century the 3rd Duke of Buckingham was lord of the manor of Bedwyn and a year after his attainder in 1521 it was granted to Sir Edward Darrell of Littlecote, Wiltshire, vice-chamberlain to Queen Catherine of Aragon.

At Downton manorial business was dealt with in the manor court and matters relating to the burgage tenements in the borough court, both of which were presided over by the bishop of Winchester’s bailiff of the borough and hundred or his deputy: the bailiff was assisted by a clerk appointed by the bishop and three officers, an alderman (sometimes called a mayor), a constable and a tithing-man, chosen each year by the inhabitants. The bailiff was responsible to the bishop’s steward. In 1509 Sir Henry Borowe held the bailiwick, and during the 1540s and 1560s Sir John Bruyn.

Devizes grew up beneath the walls of the castle built before 1106 by a bishop of Salisbury ‘upon certain boundaries (devise)’. It became an important market town and textile centre and was probably at the height of its prosperity in the first half of the 16th century when Leland found it ‘most occupied by clothiers’. It had early passed into the hands of the crown, and from the 14th century the castle, manor, parks and borough were customarily granted, with the neighbouring manors of Marlborough and Rowde and certain forests, to successive queens in jointure.

Cricklade sent three Members to the Parliament of 1275 as a villa mercatoria and from 1295 was intermittently represented as a borough proper by two Members. It had charters going back to 1155, confirmed in 1510 and 1547, but remained under the control of the lord of the manor of the hundred and borough who appointed the bailiff.

Like nearby Calne, the market town of Chippenham was founded on ancient demesne land of the crown. Although it returned Members intermittently from 1295 it was a borough only by prescription until its incorporation in 1554, and even then it remained manorial. The royal manor had eventually been split up, but from the early 15th century the two chief manors were united in the possession of the Hungerford family which held them until the attainder in 1540 of Walter, Lord Hungerford of Heytesbury.

Two thirds of the prosperous clothing town of Calne lay within a prebendal manor held by the treasurer of Salisbury cathedral, and one third within another manor, usually described as the hundred of Calne which was owned by the Zouche family until 1554, when it passed to Thomas Long. In 1540 the fee-farm of £15 paid by the Zouche family was granted to Anne of Cleves.Guild Stewards’ Bk. of Calne 1561-1688 (Wilts. Arch. Soc. recs. br. vii), x-xi; LP Hen. VIII, xv, g. 144(2).

Wilton is situated in south Wiltshire, in a fertile triangle of land near the confluence of the rivers Nadder and Wylye. A local route centre, it also stood on the main road from London to Exeter. During the period under construction it was the second largest of the Wiltshire boroughs, its taxable population of 639 in 1377 being considerably greater than that of Marlborough or Malmesbury and more than twice that of Devizes or Chippenham. Wilton itself, however, was quite overshadowed by the city of Salisbury, only three miles away and five times as large.VCH Wilts. iv.

The city of Salisbury (often called New Salisbury to distinguish it from the much older settlement three miles away at Old Sarum), is situated in south Wiltshire, near the Avon and its confluence with the rivers Bourne, Nadder and Chalke. During the period under consideration it was an important route centre, and among the many roads passing through it were those from London to Exeter and from Southampton to the Midlands. Its taxable population of 3,226 in 1377 made it the seventh largest town in England.W.C. Hoskins, Local Hist. 238-9; VCH Wilts. iv.