Parish of Broad Chalke, Wilts. 215 
_  Botiller, but she retained the name of Verdon, and he was called 
Theobald de Verdon. The last Lord de Verdon died in 1316, 
without male issue, and since then the barony has been in abeyance. 
His widow was Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, daughter of 
Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, and previous widow of John de 
Burgh, son of the Earl of Ulster. This Elizabeth was the foundress 
of Clare Hall, Cambridge. Then again, a daughter of one of the 
Lords de Verdon matried Thomas, second Lord Furnival, and a 
descendant of the Furnivals married John Talbot, created first Earl 
of Shrewsbury in 1442. He was buried at Rouen, and one of the 
titles on his tomb is that of “ Lord Verdon of Acton.” In the 
reign of Henry VIII. the manor of Stoke Verdon was held by the 
Earl of Shrewsbury under the Abbess of Wilton at a yearly rent of 
£11. Later on it came into the hands of Sir William Herbert, 
afterwards Earl of Pembroke, to whose successors it has since be- 
longed. I have tried to discover any trace, or even tradition, of 
the site of the mansion of the Lords de Verdon, but hitherto without 
success. 
3. Gerardstone, corrupted into Gurston or Guston. The name 
is evidently derived from the fact that lands here were held by one 
Girard at the time when Domesday Book was compiled. A 
descendant of his, in the reign of Henry II., took the name of 
de Chelcha, of Chalk Parva, aad his daughter married a Maskarel, 
who, according to the “Testa de Nevill,” held a knight’s fee in 
Gerardstone under the Abbess of Wilton. The Knap Farm, in 
East Gerardstone, belongs to the Hospital of St. Nicholas, near 
Harnham Bridge, Salisbury, an institution that was at least in ex- 
istence in the time of Ela, Countess of Salisbury, in 1227. The 
old farm-house at Gurston still presents a picturesque appearance. 
4, Mount Sorrell, Mousehill, or Moulsell. Here formerly resided 
the family of the Gawens, who, according to Aubrey, had owned 
this property for upwards of four hundred and fifty years. Tradition 
connects them with the Sir Gawain of King Arthur. There are no 
remains of ancient buildings, the farm residence having been 
_ destroyed by fire some years ago. 
In the thirty-third year of the reign of Henry VILI. that monarch 
