113 
This estimate does not include the value of Prior Park mansion. 
It would be curious to estimate the income now brought in from 
the above mentioned estates, 
Of the earlier title to the different estates, it is not convenient 
here to treat, although the history of the Bathampton estate, 
which formed a Royal manor in the reign of John, and was made 
the subject of numerous grants from that reign to the reign of 
James II., is replete with interest. In modern times the estate 
belonged to a Mr. Charles Holder, by whom it was much charged 
and encumbered, and a private Act of Parliament was passed in 
the year 1743, authorising its sale to Ralph Allen for £16,000. 
This estate was devised by Ralph Allen to his brother Phillip, in 
_ whose family it still remains. 
The Claverton estate was in ancient times the property of the 
Bassett family, who in the Civil Wars stood out so staunchly for 
King Charles, and whose name was fairly worshipped by the 
citizens of Bath. The Bassetts have been accused of extravagance, 
and, whether from this cause, or from the more noble one that 
their means were impoverished by their loyalty, their fortunes. 
decayed. The Claverton estate passed out of the family in 1701, 
and, after an intermediate purchase by Mr. William Skrine (a 
collateral relative of tle present owner), became the property of 
Allen in 1758. Many years afterwards, in the year 1825, a 
claim was made to the Claverton estate, which although in itself 
fruitless and even puerile, well illustrates how quickly a family 
may sink in the social scale. 
Sir William Bassett, the last Baronet, seems to have represented 
Bath from 1685 to 1690. He had no children, and after his death 
his widow sold to Mr. Skrine. It was said, however, that Sir 
William had a brother James, and that as the estate was a 
male fief under a grant of one of the Henries, there was no 
power to deal with it. In the investigation which followed, this 
theory was wholly upset, as it was demonstrated that the estates 
had only been entailed in the ordinary way, and that powers of 
