The Bohun family at Trowbridge. 



215 



of the manor, about which I need not trouble you, it descended to 

 no less a personage than John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the 

 friend and protector of Wiclif. His son, Henry of Bolingbroke, 

 succeeded to it, and when he became King Henry IV., the Duchy 

 of Lancaster, to which the manor of Trowbridge then belonged, 

 was merged in the crown. 



It is very remarkable that by the marriage of Henry of Boling- 

 broke, afterwards King Henry IV., with Mary de Bohun daughter 

 of Humphrey de Bohun, tenth Earl of Hereford, the manor and the 

 estates at Trowbridge, which were severed as early as the commence- 

 ment of the twelfth century, were again held by one and the same 

 person — in this case King Henry IV. 



The Manor remained in the crown as part of the Duchy of Lancaster 

 for some 136 years. It was then granted in 1536 by King Henry 

 VIII. to Edward Seymour, afterwards the Protector Somerset. On 

 his attainder in 1552, it reverted to the Crown for a time, but was 

 soon afterwards granted to his son Edward Seymour, created Earl 

 of Hertford and Baron Beauchamp in 1559. It descended through 

 the Seymour family, one of whom was created Baron Seymour 

 of Trowbridge. In 1 748 it came to Algernon, seventh Duke 

 of Somerset and fifth Baron Seymour of Trowbridge. He died 

 without male issue in 1750, and his barony became extinct. His 

 sister Frances married John, first Duke of Rutland, and carried the 

 manor into that noble family. In the year 1809, it became by 

 purchase the possession of Thomas Timbrell, Esq., the patronage 

 of the rectory being then severed from it and retained by the Duke 

 of Rutland. The present Lord of the Manor is W. Stancomb, Esq., 

 of Blount's Court, Potterne, who purchased it in June, 1851, from 

 the representatives of Mr. Timbrell. 



But we must now return to the Bohun family, who seem to have 

 been the principal owners of property here. They obtained it 

 through the marriage of Humphrey de Bohun (surnamed the 

 Great) with Matilda, daughter of Edward of Salisbury. Amongst 

 the endowments of Monkton Farleigh, which was founded by them, 

 were " ten shillings from the church of Trowbridge, and the tithes of 

 the lordship of Staverton." It was most probably this nobleman that 



