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44 



Jtcewe to Cveitcllate. 



(Communicated by the Rev. E. Peacock.) 

 CRENELLATE" means to place a building or town 



France, signifies in its correct sense, " to indent " ; and the word, as 

 used in heraldry, seems synonymous with " embattle." 



With regard to buildings, the crenellation was the placing 

 battlements upon the walls, and hence became used in the general 

 sense of fortifying. 



Probably, after the Conquest no subject was allowed to place his 

 residence in a state to withstand attack, unless he previously obtained 

 permission from the Sovereign to do so. From the year 1255, this 

 was certainly the case, as the records of licences to crenellate are, 

 from that date, still in existence. A complete list of the licenses to 

 crenellate was given in the Gentleman's Magazine in the year 1856, 

 extracted from the Rolls, under the direction of Mr. Duffus Hardy. 



It may interest the readers of the Wiltshire Magazine, if the 

 licences to crenellate houses or places in Wiltshire, be extracted 

 from this list, and placed before them. 



These licences are of value, as they show who were the owners of 

 the properties at the date at which they were granted, and in some 

 cases the date at which a house was built, but not always, as the 

 disturbed state of the country, or some other cause, may have induced 

 owners to apply for a licence to place in a state of defence a house, 

 which may have been built many years previously. 



The record of licenses granted extends over two hundred and 

 twenty-eight years, commencing with the reign of King Henry III., 

 in the year 1255. 



The first licence to a Wiltshire landowner, dated the fourth year 

 of Edward II. (A.D. 1311), is to Nicholas de St. Maur, to fortify 



in a state of defence. This Norman word, still in use in 



