256 Potterne. 



Devizes." For by degrees the town grew up round the castle, and 

 what is now included in this borough was formerly a castle and 

 its demesne. 



But Bishop Roger's ambition, or as some will have it his faith- 

 lessness, brought him like others to ruin. Having pledged his 

 allegiance to Matilda Empress of Germany, daughter of Henry I., 

 he quickly transferred it to Stephen, who by a bold stroke usurped 

 the throne of England on his uncle's decease. Differences afterwards 

 ensued which ended in the arrest and imprisonment of Bishop Roger 

 and the beseiging of his castle at Devizes. All his castles — at 

 Sarum, Malmesbury, Sherborne, and Devizes — fell into the hands 

 of the King, together with much of the property belonging to his 

 church. The Bishop died, almost immediately afterwards, broken- 

 hearted — like Wolsey, some four hundred years subsequently, " left 

 naked to his enemies." 



That goodly slice of Potterne and Cannings which was thus taken 

 to form the castle and its demesne was lost to the see for ever. 

 Indeed for some eighteen years the manors of Cannings and Potterne 

 were held by the crown. In the year 1157 a final settlement was 

 made, by which most of the property was restored to the Bishop 

 Jocelin de Bohun, but the castle and lordship of Devizes were 

 irrecoverably detached from the see. 



In one of the deeds relating to this transfer, there is a clause 

 which incidentally throws light on the meaning of a local name, 

 about which not a few have been somewhat exercised,' There is a 

 piece of rising ground of pasture land close by Eastwell, called 

 " Barborne," though in a survey of 1656 spelt " Barberen." In the 

 instrument to which I refer, which is a deed of restitution dated 

 April 1149, we have the following clauses : — " Excepting the five 

 hides of the said manor occupied by Robert Fitz-Ralph," and inter 

 alia " half a hide which Barlehen the porter holds." I have little 

 doubt of the said worthy porter Barleben having bequeathed his 

 name to what is to this day called " Barbons." 



(A.D. 1200-1300). For the next fifty or sixty years little can 



* See Waylen's " Devizes," pp. 51, 52. 



