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(Read there before the Wiltshire Archaeological Society, August 19th, 1863.) 



By the Ret. Canon J. E. Jackson, M.A., F.S.A 



JS you have between now and dinner-time a great deal to 

 do; the site of a castle, two fine churches, and one or two 

 private collections to inspect ; it is not my wish to encroach very 

 long upon time that may be more pleasantly employed. There is 

 also the less necessity for doing so, because the ©pportunity of 

 knowing the History of this Town does not depend upon a casual 

 paper. Devizes has a historian of its own. His name, however 

 well known, must not be declared, because he has not thought 

 proper to declare it himself: and when a champion comes into the 

 field with his visor down we arc bound to respect the incognito. 

 But it does not prevent our acknowledging the good service that 

 he renders, and at an Archaeological meeting held in the very town 

 for which he has done so much, there will be no dissentient voice 

 when we take the opportunity of thanking, for his patriotic labours, 

 the A.uthor of "The History, Military and Municipal, of the 

 Ancient Borough of Devizes." 



There is a good deal of obscurity about the Origin of Devizes : 

 and as it is the special business of Arch geologists to enter into, or 

 to listen to, the discussion of things that are obscure, you shall 

 hear, first of all, what are the conjectures upon that subject. A 

 few of the principal events connected with the sites you are about 

 to examine may perhaps add a little interest to your examination 

 of them : and then there will be one or two points, more or less 

 connected with the History of the town, on which a few remarks 

 may be made. 



As to the origin of this place ; one thing is certain, that we 

 have no authentic account of it before the reign of Henry I., — say 

 A.D. 1110. The name of Devizes does not appear to have been 



