By the Rev. W. G. Clark- Maxwell, F.S.A. 433 



Mary, in the first year of her reign, restored to him Bromham and 

 the whole Baynton inheritance. 



The story outlined above sounds almost past belief, but every 

 stage in it is supported by documentary proof. On one step only 

 is it silent, namely, by what means Seymour, having made an 

 unequal bargain with Baynton, and made him fulfil his share 

 while neglecting his own, finally managed to anticipate its provisions, 

 and obtain possession of Bromham during Andrew's lifetime. He 

 is said to have been a person of extraordinary persuasiveness, and 

 he must have been so, thus to succeed in ousting the rightful owner 

 within the brief space of four years. This consideration may help 

 to explain, though it may not excuse, the complete ascendancy 

 which Sharington allowed him to obtain, alike over his moral sense 

 and better judgment. 



Andrew Baynton left a daughter and heir, Anne, who was 

 married to William Anstie, and in November, 1574, they alienated 

 by royal licence the manors of Bromeham Baynton, Chippenham, 

 and Chippenham Stanley, to Sir Edward Baynton (the younger : 

 brother to Andrew), to whose heirs they subsequently descended. 

 {See Memoranda Boll, 20 Eliz. Hilary Term, vol. 52). 



Bromham House, as left by Sir Edward Baynton the elder, was 

 a magnificent structure of the time of Henry VIII. , as one may 

 judge by the one surviving fragment, i.e., the gate-house now 

 serving as an entrance to Spye Park, having been removed from its 

 ; original site, and re-erected in its present position in 1753. The 

 house had been built largely with stone brought by Sir Edward 

 from Devizes Castle, as Leland tells us, and as on the accession of 

 Edward VI. Lord Seymour of Sudeley had a grant of the Castle of 

 Devizes (see Wiltshire Gazette for August 28th, 1913), it seems 

 reasonable to suppose that he in his turn used it for the same 

 purpose, and that the stone for the additions, on which Sharington 

 tells us that he laid out £1500, was obtained from this source. It 

 is small wonder that popular tradition asserted that old Bromham 

 House was nearly as large as Whitehall ! The house was burnt in the 

 Civil War,and rendered uninhabitable; the family afterwards taking 

 up their residence at Spye Park. (See, for further information, 



