234 Rowley alias Wittenham. 
Charles II., Rowley (with all the rest of the estates around Farley 
Castle) was bought by Henry Baynton, Esq., of Spye Park. A 
few years afterwards, in 1700, the whole was re-sold, out of Chancery. 
Mr. William Chandler, of Bradford, salter, bought (it is believed) 
besides the original Iford estate, then very small, so much of Rowley 
as had been thrown into the old park of Farley Castle, viz., that 
part which is now called the Wiltshire Park Farm. Mr. Chandler 
also bought the manorial rights of Rowley, chief rents, &c., above 
detailed. Many of these chief rents still belonged to the Iford 
estate when that property was sold by Mr. Turner to John Gaisford, 
Esq., about 1779. The owner of Iford now claims the manor or 
reputed manor of Rowley. 
Rowley Farm was bought by Mr. Barnard. Before the year 1732 
he had sold his purchase to three persons, Mr. Dyke, Mr. Zachary 
Shrapnell (of Midway),and Mr. Wm. Yerbury. Mr. Yerbury’s 
portion was afterwards bought by Thomas Cooper, Esq., of Winfield, 
and is now that part of Stowford Farm which lies in the parish 
of Farley. Rowley Farm-house was taken down many years 
ago. 
CuurcH AND ADVOWSON. 
The church was dedicated to St. Nicholas. It had a nave, chancel, 
and church-yard: and is said, by tradition, to have stood in Rowley 
Lane, about half-way between Farley and Westwood, at a spot where 
the lane widens into an open green, still called by some, Holy Green. 
No traces, however, of foundations have been detected in the lane 
itself, even in very dry seasons. Just at this point an old pack- 
horse road from Stowford to Iford crosses Rowley Lane, and in one 
of the fields at the crossing, a pond and certain traces of buildings, 
barton and orchard, mark the site of Rowley Farm-house. In 
another field on the opposite side of Rowley Lane are other in- 
dications of buildings. The church may have stood there, but no 
interments seem to have been met with. The spot is so lonely and 
the habitations, even in its most populous days, must have been so 
few, that unless some person of consequence or great piety once lived 
there, it is strange that a church should have been built at all, the 
