By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 281> 
And, first of all, with regard to the peculiar tenure under which 
Draycote Cerne was held. No doubt this dated from ancient times. 
In the Exon Domesday for Wilts the owner of Draicote is called 
“Goisfridus Marescallus.’’ He is included among the “ Ministri 
regis,” or King’s officers, members of the royal household, or prin- 
cipal officers of the court, who held lands originally appurtenant to 
such office. (See Jones’ Domesday for Wilts, pp.147, 160.) This 
carries us back to the tenth, or eleventh, century. In those days, 
whatever accidental meaning may have been acquired by it after- 
wards, the word marescal (the equivalent of our marshal) had none 
which could appropriately be represented by the “ fetter-lock,” as an 
emblem of duties belonging tohim. The word, as Max Miller tells 
us, is derived from the German, where in the old dialect Marah-scale 
meant a farrier, from marah a mare, and scale a servant. The care 
of the royal stables, whether in person or deputy, would seem to 
have been his duty.? 
But, passing by the question of the appropriateness of the badge 
as regards the tenure of Draycote, is there any proof at all that it 
was so used, in ancient times, by the owners of that estate? As 
far as a somewhat diligent search has been able to ascertain, none 
whatever. In truth, not a single example of the use of this badge 
can be produced, which is necessarily of an earlier date than 1490, 
when for the first time Wraxall and Draycote were held by one and 
the same person—viz. by Sir Thomas Longe, who having first of 
all inherited Draycote, on the decease of his father John Longe, 
about 1479, (for whom the estate had been purchased,) succeeded 
to Wraxall also, on the decease, without issue, of his uncle Henry 
Longe, in 1490. 
Of any earlier owners of Draycote than the family of Cerne, from 
whom it derives its second name, we have no memorials. At 
Draycote church there is a large cross-legged effigy, which, according 
to tradition, is the memorial of Sir Philip Cerne, who is said to have 
built the church about the year 1260; but on no part of the effigy, 
1See some interesting remarks on the origin of this name and office in 
Hampson’s Origines Patricie, p. 289. 
