254 Potter ne 



I have told you of a priest " passing rich " on a glebe worth /or^y 

 shillings by the year, and helped also it is to be hoped by the offerings 

 of a grateful people. So too there was a church ; and there is still 

 to be seen the font which, as I believe, belonged to it. I shall have 

 occasion to speak more hereafter of this interesting relic of the past ; 

 all that I will say at present is, that it is certainly not later than 

 the tenth century. 



(A.D, 1000-1100). "We are now to tell how Potterne fared in 

 the days of St. Osmund. This great and good man was a nephew 

 of William the Conqueror. It was through his exertions that the 

 cathedral at Old Sarum was completed. Among his liberal benefactions 

 to the cathedral, with the sanction of King William, were estates in 

 various parts of Wilts and elsewhere, together with the churches 

 of Potterne, Wivelsford, Lavington, Ramsbury, and Bedwin. 

 The Potterne Manor, either in whole or in part, constituted the 

 " prebend " (or provision,) of the canom-y in the cathedral church, 

 which was and still is appurtenant to the bishopric. In virtue of 

 the said canonry (so endowed) the Bishop always presented to the 

 vicarage of Potterne. On the principle I presume that direct 

 access to the landlord rendered unnecessary the intervention of any 

 inferior officer, however venerable or dignified, we find the authori- 

 ties announcing that "The Archdeacon of Wilts hath no jurisdiction 

 in Potterne.^' ^ The Bishop, we may charitably presume, provided 

 for the spiritual interests of the people here by the appointment of 

 a fit and competent priest, and no doubt also took sufficient care of 

 the temporalities of his manor, so that he did not need his "eye" 

 (the " oculus Episcopi,^'') in the shape of an Archdeacon, to look to 

 matters here. Happily now, though all such peculiars have been 

 abolished, there will be no danger, we will hope for some years to 

 come, of any personal collision between the Vicar of Potterne and 

 the Archdeacon of Wilts. 



In these early days I hardly think it likely that there was any 



^Tbe other Peculiars ia Wilts over which the Archdeacon formerly had no 

 authority, and which were visited by the Bishop's Vicar General twice every 

 year, were Marlborough, Preshute, Devizes, Lavington Episcopi, Stert, Trow- 

 bridge, and Berwick St. James. — Bacon's " Liber Regis, " p. 869. 



