Communicated by Mr. James Waylen. 83 



held the rectory of Tilshead, in Wiltshire ; and when the troubles 

 arose, appears to have resisted a claim for rent issuing thereout due 

 to William Mewe. H opton's father and grandfather having in 1600 

 acknowledged a statute-merchant of £600 to William Mewe, 

 granted a rent-charge out of the rectory for ninety-nine years, 

 dependent on three lives; but on Mewe's death in 1642 Lord 

 Hopton stopped payment to the son and heir, William Mewe, 

 who, owing to his daily attendance on the Assembly of Divines was 

 unable to prosecute his claim, till by order of Parliament he re- 

 covered it ; although the Wilts Committee had in the meantime let 

 the impropriation for £160 to William Crabb and John Randell. 

 The Mewe family, it may be inferred, were Parliamentarian ; Richard 

 Mewe was a lieutenant of horse in Fairfax's army ; commission 

 granted by the Rump Parliament in 1659. 



Another property which Lord Hopton owned in this county was 

 Fitzurse Farm, at Kington Langley, near Chippenham, with its old 

 moated house on the summit of a rising ground, long the abode of 

 the ancient family of the Fitzurses, one of whom is known in 

 English history as among the murderers of Thomas a Becket. 

 Near this house stood a chapel dedicated to St. Peter, which in 1670 

 was converted into a private dwelling-house, though not a trace of 

 it is now discoverable. The revel of the village was kept on the 

 Sunday following St. Peter's Day (29th June), on which occasions 

 a temporary officer called " the Peter-man " used to be appointed, 

 bearing the office, it may be presumed, of master of the sports. A 

 new Church was raised here in 1855. The estate of Fitzurse was, 

 during the Protectorate, sold by the Hopton family to Mr. Bampfield 

 Sydenham, from whom it has descended to the children of the late 

 Mr. Sydenham Bailey. (Canon Jackson.) 



Thomas Howard, Baron Howard of Charlton, and Earl of 

 Berkshire. The breaking out of hostilities must have been emi- 

 nently distasteful to this nobleman. He was considerably advanced 

 in life, his family was very numerous, and his domestic affairs were 

 disordered ; but neutrality was out of the question, as he was bound 

 to the King's interest by a variety of ties, personal and official. 

 Though long past the age of military service, yet on the mere 



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