28 The Fall of the Friars’ Houses and Alien Priories in Wilts. 
the soil of England went to swell the resources of her rivals in time 
of peace, her enemies in time of war. The Plantagenet Kings, on 
discovering this, boldly seized the revenues of these Alien Priories 
in time of war between England and France. This was first done 
by Edw. I., and apparently repeated by Edw. II., for we find that 
one of the early acts of Edw. III. is the restitution of these priories 
to their owners. The same monarch, however, in 1337 once more 
seized the revenues of the Alien Priories, and retained them for the 
long period of twenty-three years, when, on the conclusion of the 
treaty of Bretigny, they were restored. Richard II. attempted to 
solve the difficulty by endeavouring, but without success, to induce 
the foreign abbeys to sell their English possessions; while his 
successor, Henry IV., made the arrangement that in time of war 
these priories should, as a matter of course, pay their revenues to 
the Crown of England. Henry V., in pursuance of his aggressive 
policy against France, obtained an Act of Parliament, appropriating 
the Alien Priories to the king’s use, some of the estates, including 
in this county Ogbourne and Avebury, being assigned to the support 
of the royal foundation of the College of Fotheringhay. This was 
confirmed by a charter of Henry VI., who further endowed his 
foundations of Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge, with 
more of the confiscated estates, while most of the remainder were 
granted to Archbishop Chichele, for his foundations at Higham 
Ferrers and All Souls, Oxford. Some few appear to have been 
given to private persons, chiefly among the nobility, but as a whole 
the suppression of the Alien Priories differed from that of the time 
of Henry VIII. in that the lands, etc., were still devoted to religious 
uses, including in that term the endowment of educational 
“establishments. The Alien Priories in Wiltshire, so far as I can 
ascertain, were as follows :— 
Ogbourne (Okebourne). Given by Maud de Walingford to the 
Abbey of Bec, in Normandy, about the year 1149. The 
manor was probably given to Fotheringhay, as I find the 
sale of Barbery leas in Ogbourne S. George as part of the 
possessions of that college to Sir William Sharington. 
