By the Rev. J. Ward. 



267 



the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is about six feet 

 wide and twenty- three feet long, containing many miniature por- 

 traits, blazonings of arms, fac-similes of seals, deeds, grants, &c, 

 and an elaborate drawing of the celebrated horn just described. 



The Ecclesiastical History of Bedwyn, which comes next to be 

 noticed, is made up of scanty materials collected at various times, 

 as sources of information have sprung up. A church existed here, 

 as we have seen, as early as Edward the Confessor's time; and it 

 is supposed that the Prebend of Bedwyn was founded in the 

 Cathedral of Old Sarum, at the time of the consecration of that 

 building on the 5th of April, 1092, when the episcopal see was re- 

 moved from Sherborne by Bishop Herman. It certainly existed 

 prior to the foundation of the present Cathedral in a.d. 1220. 

 This prebend was dissolved, with some others in New Sarum, by 

 Henry VIII., and its possessions subsequently granted to the Duke 

 of Somerset, who, with his successors, continued to exercise the 

 privilege of the prebendary's archidiaconal jurisdiction (through the 

 medium of an official) down to the year 1847, when all peculiar ju- 

 risdiction was abolished within the limits of the Diocese of Sarum. 



Of the ancient ecclesiastical prebendaries, the names of only five 

 have been preserved, viz., Richard de Dynteworth, instituted in 

 1337: John de Gudwell, also of the time of Edward III. ; Nicholas 

 Wickham, who, in a.d. 1405, visited the church of Bedwyn parva; 

 Thomas Beckington, secretary and formerly tutor to Henry VI., 

 and afterwards the munificent Bishop of Bath and Wells; a*nd 

 Peter Vann, in a.d. 1534, who afterwards became Dean of Sarum. 



The Originalia Rolls in the Exchequer state that John de Gud- 

 well made a fine with the king (Edward III.) for 40s., to have the 

 restoration of certain liberties which had formerly been seised into 

 the king's hands; and, in a.d. 1340, he was allowed cognizance of 

 pleas in his court of Bedwyn, which had jurisdiction also in the 

 parish of Collingbourne Comitis, afterwards Collingbourne Ducis. 



The vicarage of the church has always been, unless by lapse, in 

 the patronage of the prebendaries, which is now. exercised by the 

 Marquis of Ailesbury. Its revenues in the year 1341 amounted 

 to £8 6s. 8d. In a.d. 1534, it was worth by the year clear 

 £8 10s. 8d. ; but in 1810, it had increased to about £90. Some 



