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By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 47 
Philip, eldest son of Sir Philip Meadows. Their son became the 
first Lord Manvers. He sold Kingston House in 1802, to Mr. 
Thomas Divett, who, with a keener eye for profit than architectural 
beauty, used it as a store-house for wool, teasels, &c. In 1848, the 
premises were sold to Mr. Moulton, and to him we owe the com- 
plete restoration, in such excellent taste, of all that remained of 
the North Wilts Hall of John Hall. 
Of the troublous times which ended in the death of King Charles 
I. we have several reminiscences. True throughout to the fortunes 
of the falling monarch, many of our leading men were obliged to 
compound for their estates on the establishment of the Common- 
wealth. Srr Tuomas Hatt, Knight, who at the commencement of 
the war had acted as Commissioner in Wilts for pressing men into 
the king’s service was, in 1649, fined £660. He asserted on peti- 
tion that he undertook the office of Commissioner through threats 
from the king and the Earl of Forth, and that he had used his influ- 
ence to save his neighbours from free-quarter. This, however, did not 
exempt him from a heavy penalty. At this time, he held the Manor 
of Bradford under the Marquis of Winchester, with demesnes, 
woods, and a watermill, altogether valued at £160 per annum. He 
also had house property in Bath. 
Epwarp YERsBuRY was another royalist who compounded in 1646, 
his fine being £190. He belonged more especially to Trowbridge, 
but he is mentioned here because a petition was got up from Brad- 
ford to prove his leniency and good neighbourhood whilst exercising 
the office of King’s Commissioner. The petition was signed by Paul 
Methwin, John Earle, George Godwin, George Grant, Walter 
Grant, Thomas Maltman, and Matthew Smith. The Yerbury family 
were afterwards implicated in the revolt against the Protector’s 
government, known as the Penruddock rising in 1655, but con- 
trived,—how it is not easy to say,—to escape the punishment that 
then overtook so many gentlemen in the south of Wilts. 
We must not omit to mention also, Micuarn Trocomsr, the 
Devizes attorney, who spent the latter part of his life in this parish, 
in which he possessed some little property, and whose tomb is in 
our parish church. He first got into trouble in December, 16438, 
