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Rowley alias Wittenham. 



Charles II., Rowley (with all the rest of the estates around Farley 

 Castle) was bought by Henry Baynton, Esq., of Spye Park. A 

 few years afterwards, in 1700, the whole was re-sold, out of Chancery. 

 Mr. William Chandler, of Bradford, Salter, bought (it is believed) 

 besides the original Iford estate, then very small, so much of Rowley 

 as had been thrown into the old park of Farley Castle, viz., that 

 part which is now called the Wiltshire Park Farm. Mr. Chandler 

 also bought the manorial rights of Rowley, chief rents, &c, above 

 detailed. Many of these chief rents still belonged to the Iford 

 estate when that property was sold by Mr. Turner to J ohn Gaisford, 

 Esq., about 1779. The owner of Iford now claims the manor or 

 reputed manor of Rowley. 



Rowley Farm was bought by Mr. Barnard. Before the year 1732 

 he had sold his purchase to three persons, Mr. Dyke, Mr. Zachary 

 Shrapnell (of Midway), and Mr. Wm. Yerbury. Mr. Yerbury's 

 portion was afterwards bought by Thomas Cooper, Esq., of Winfield, 

 and is now that part of Stowford Farm which lies in the parish 

 of Farley. Rowley Farm-house was taken down many years 

 ago. 



Church and Advowson. 



The church was dedicated to St. Nicholas. It had a nave, chancel, 

 and church-yard : and is said, by tradition, to have stood in Rowley 

 Lane, about half-way between Farley and Westwood, at a spot where 

 the lane widens into an open green, still called by some, Holy Green. 

 No traces, however, of foundations have been detected in the lane 

 itself, even in very dry seasons. J ust at this point an old pack- 

 horse road from Stowford to Iford crosses Rowley Lane, and in one 

 of the fields at the crossing, a pond and certain traces of buildings, 

 barton and orchard, mark the site of Rowley Farm-house. In 

 another field on the opposite side of Rowley Lane are other in- 

 dications of buildings. The church may have stood there, but no 

 interments seem to have been met with. The spot is so lonely and 

 the habitations, even in its most populous days, must have been so 

 few, that unless some person of consequence or great piety once lived 

 there, it is strange that a church should have been built at all, the 



