By Rev. Chr. Wordsv.iorth, M.A. 253 



that it may have been but a humble tenement in those days, before 



Sir Erasmus WiUiams Bart's architect enlarged it in stone, cut to 



look like bi'ick, but with false windows cut to make it look taller 



than it is. Where the Vicars of St. Mary's dwelt, before Mr. Tucker 



lived in a little house near Mr. May's, on the Green, I cannot say. 



Of Mr. Daniel's whereabouts there is, I believe, no question. 



Leland, in his Itinerary, [vii., 82], about 1540 — 42, wrote: — 



"There was a priorye of white chanons caullyd S. Margaret's a little (half 



a quarter of a mile) by southe of the towne, over Kenet (on the right hand), 



where now dwellythe one Master Daniell." 



The Daniell family occupied St. Margaret's from the time of 

 King Henry VIII. to 1698, and produced Members of Parliament 

 representing Marlborough in 1661 — 79, and 1695 — 8.^ 



Mr. Waylen says that the Daniells of St. Margaret's became 

 extinct in 1698. It is, however, stated of Stephen Duck, the poet, 

 who was born in 1705 at Charlton, in Pewsey Vale, that he was at 

 one time " thresher for Mr. Daniel of St. Margaret's, Marlborough." 

 In fact Mr. Waylen himself says so ;^ but as he spells the name 

 with a single " 1," in this case, perhaps we are to conclude that a 

 family with a similar name occupied the farm in the 18th century. 



The house, I believe, does not now stand as it was, though the 

 ancient materials may be seen in that noticeable building which is 

 situated on Mr. Eobert Merriman's property near his modern 

 house, appropriately called " Sempringham." 



For the property on which those two buildings stand was that 

 known as " St. Margaret's, ' which gave its name to the district, 

 south of the Kennet, near the railway stations of the present day. 



I must venture to detain you for a few minutes with a short 

 sketch of the earlier history of St. Margaret's in its monastic days. 



To say nothing of religious houses and hospitals near at hand — 

 the Military Templars and the Hospitallers at Eockley, Trinitarians 

 (or English Mathurines,who laboured for the redemption of captives) 

 at Easton in Burbage, the alien priories of Ogbourne, Clatford, 



' James Waylen, Eist. of Marlhorovgh, 140, 500—502, 522. 

 - Ih., 504. The inverted initials Q- AV- may be noticed on a stone near the 

 south door of the building. 



