By the Ven. Archdeacon Macdonald. 141 



east window which was executed by Wailes at the expense of 

 the present incumbent, are filled with stained glass, two of them 

 being erected in pious memory of J. Schomberg, Esq. (late of Wans 

 House) by his widow. The situation of the church, and indeed of 

 the whole district, is almost unrivalled for picturesque beauty. In 

 the latter are comprehended Sloperton Cottage, the last residence 

 of Thomas Moore the poet, and Nonsuch House, formerly Mr. 

 Norris's, now the property of the Rev. Meredith Brown, the in- 

 cumbent of Chittoe. But the principal feature of this kind is Spye 

 Park the seat of J. B. Starky, Esq., which may be fairly considered 

 one of the most beautiful parks and residences in the county. The 

 house is a structure of stone, in the Italian style, with a handsome 

 pediment; and is situated on the brow of an eminence, commanding 

 from the back, or south side, a prospect towards Bath, which the 

 cultivated and fastidious John Evelyn has pronounced to be incom- 

 parable. " On the 19th July 1654," says Mr. Evelyn, " went to 

 Sir Edward Baynton's, Spie Pank, a place capable of being made 

 a noble seat, but the humorous old Knight has built a long sin- 

 gle house of two low stories on the precipice of an incomparable 

 prospect, and landing on a bowling green in the park." 1 The 

 gateway by which the park is entered from the Lacock or Bowden 

 side deserves attention. It is considered a perfect specimen of 

 a Tudor Arch, and is said to have been presented to the Baynton 

 family by one of the Queens of Henry VIII. It formerly stood 

 at Old Bromham House, long since levelled with the ground. 

 The park consists of about 500 acres, and contains every element 

 of the picturesque. 



Ecclesiastical History. 

 Tho church "of Cannings" with glebe, great tythes, and a cer- 

 tain portion of the small tythes, was granted April 1091 by the 

 munificent Bishop Osmund to the Dean and Canons of Salisbury, 

 with episcopal jurisdiction over the parish ; which jurisdiction con- 

 tinued and was exercised by the present incumbent as Official of 

 the 1)' .in and Chapter until within these few years past, when all 

 the Peculiars in the Diocese were merged in the jurisdiction of the 



" ' Vol. i. p. 2 



