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By the Rev. J. E. Tackson. 31 
comfortable: and all admirers of the lion-hearted king will be of 
opinion, that the rents of Rowdon were very well bestowed, in 
rewarding any “bonne,” who had undertaken to manage so un- 
manageable a young gentleman as he must have been. 
When nurse Hodierne ceased to require the pension, it was 
again used for similar purposes for two lives; and at length the 
estate was granted (subject to a rent to the Crown of £7 10s.,) by 
King Henry III. in 1250, to the Lady Agnes, widow of Sir Godfrey 
St. Maur, sometimes called “Agnes de Roudon.” Her son Henry 
St. Maur, being obliged to abscond in 1274, on a charge of felony 
and rebellion, Rowdon was forfeited. But it was afterwards restored, 
and Henry St. Maur sold it to Nicholas Husee. This family held 
it for 142 years, down to 1392. Their name in Latin is “ Hosatus,” 
signifying “hosed” or “booted,” and their armorial device was 
“three boots sable,” which is the second of the two shields now used 
by the Borough of Chippenham. What particular service the Husees 
may have rendered to the town does not appear, but the arms used 
by the town are clearly those of the two private families; Gascelyn, 
Lord of Sheldon, and Husee, Lord of Rowdon. Whence the palm- 
tree, from which the two shields depend, was borrowed, I know not. 
It is a tree remarkable for unfading verdure, and is often referred 
to in Scriptural language as an emblem of the prosperity of the 
upright. Finding it therefore introduced into your municipal 
blazonry, in association with the motto of “Unity and Loyalty,” 
I gladly regard the whole as a favourable omen, both of your 
flourishing condition, and of the principles which animate the 
heart of Chippenham. 
It was mentioned just now, that when King Henry III. granted 
Rowdon to the Husees, he reserved an annual rent of £7 10s. 
Out of that sum, his successor, King Edward I., granted a pension 
of £5 a year, to the Monastery of Ederose or Ivy-church, near 
Clarendon. In the Schedule of the property of that monastery, 
taken at the dissolution 300 years afterwards, this identical pension 
of £5 a year, appears as paid out of lands at Chippenham and 
Rowdon, formerly belonging to Nicholas Husee. There cannot be 
much doubt which were the particular lands that provided the 
