270 Potterne. 



the seventeenth century in Potterne. In 1629 John Northey was 

 appointed to the vicarage by John Grubbe, who was the lessee of 

 the manor, and who in 16;38 served as Sheriff of the county. The . 

 deed is still to be seen by which King Charles I. called on. the said 

 John Grubbe for a loan of £200, pledging himself on his honor as 

 a king to return the same, a pledge fairly enough redeemed by the 

 bestowal of the manor of Easterton on his family. In 1639 we 

 meet with the name of Thomas Grubbe, Serjeant, as the largest 

 contributor to the subsidy-rolls of East Kennet.^ And then some- 

 what later in the century we have Walter Grubbe M.P. for The 

 Devizes, who, like many aspirants for Parliamentary honors in our 

 own days, got petitioned against, but unlike them was fortunate 

 enough to retain its seat. 



The following names of persons connected with Potterne and its 

 dependencies appear in a list of fi'eeholders for 1638 : Henry Bull, 

 Marston ; John Flower, Worton ; Thomas Grubbe (armiger), 

 Potterne ; Philip Harvest, Whistley ; William Hunt, Potterne ; 

 William Lye, Potterne ; Roger Long, Marston ; John Mereweather, 

 Worton ; William May, Marston ; John Ranger, Potterne ; Francis 

 Rooke, Potterne ; Richard Rooke, Potterne ; Philip Smith, Potterne. 



Of course great and stirring events happened during this century. 

 I do not mean to dwell on them, because much that I should say is 

 already printed in Waylen's Devizes, and in a number of communi- 

 cations made by him to a local journal under the title of " Wiltshire 

 during the Civil Wars." I may mention however, that during the 

 siege of Devizes, Waller is said to have disposed of his dragoons, 

 some 500 in number, on the Potterne side,^ and no doubt billetted 

 them on the good folks in the village. And further, that when the 

 storm, which had been raging against all persons and things ecclesi- 

 astical, reached the Bishop of Sarum, the court leet and royalties of 

 Potterne were sold July 12, 161.8, to Thomas Barton for £43 17*. 4^. 

 and the lordship of Potterne to Gregory Clement for £8226 7*. 2(/. 

 There is a traditionary tale in the village, that when the said Gregory 



' See the whole account in Waylen's Devizes, 352. 

 '^ Waylen's Devizes, 166. 



