By the Rev. W. B. Jones. 



281 



And, first of all, with regard to the peculiar tenure under which 

 Draycote Cerne was held. No doubt this dated from ancient times . 

 In the Exon Domesday for Wilts the owner of Draicote is called 

 " Goisfridus Marescallus.' 3 He is included among* the " Ministri 

 reg-is," or King's officers, members of the royal household, or prin- 

 cipal officers of the court, who held lands originally appurtenant to 

 such office. (See Jones' Domesday for Wilts, pp.147, 160.) This 

 carries us back to the tenth, or eleventh, century. In those days, 

 whatever accidental meaning may have been acquired by it after- 

 wards, the word marescal (the equivalent of our marshal) had none 

 which could appropriately be represented by the " fetter-lock/'' as an 

 emblem of duties belonging to him. The word, as Max Miiller tells 

 us, is derived from the German, where in the old dialect Marah-scalc 

 meant a farrier, from mar ah a mare, and scale a servant. The care 

 of the royal stables, whether in person or deputy, would seem to 

 have been his duty. 1 



But, passing by the question of the appropriateness of the badge 

 as regards the tenure of Draycote, is there any proof at all that it 

 was so used, in ancient times, by the owners of that estate ? As 

 far as a somewhat diligent search has been able to ascertain, none 

 whatever. In truth, not a single example of the use of this badge 

 can be produced, which is necessarily of an earlier date than 1490, 

 when for the first time Wraxall and Draycote were held by one and 

 the same person — viz. by Sir Thomas Longe, who having first of 

 all inherited Draycote, on the decease of his father John Longe, 

 about 1479, (for whom the estate had been purchased,) succeeded 

 to Wraxall also, on the decease, without issue, of his uncle Henry 

 Longe, in 1490. 



Of any earlier owners of Draycote than the family of Cerne, from 

 whom it derives its second name, we have no memorials. At 

 Draycote church there is a large cross-legged effigy, which, according 

 to tradition, is the memorial of Sir Philip Cerne, who is said to have 

 built the church about the year 1260 ; but on no part of the effigy, 



1 See some interesting remarks on the origin of this name and office in 

 Hampson's Origines Patricias, p. 289. 



