834 



Rood Ashton, 8fc. 



only holding for some one else : for two years afterwards, 1391, John 

 Crouchton dies owner. 



The manor of Ashton Griffard (then called Ashton Dunstanville) , 

 also belonged to this person : and as in 1396 he was succeeded in 

 that estate by Nicholas Temys,it is reasonable to suppose that Chapel 

 or Rood Ashton passed at the same time to the family of Temys, for 

 that is the next name we come to. In the pedigree of Temys, in the 

 Wilts Visitation dated 1565, the first name is John Temys, of Rood 

 Ashton, c. 1454. Of this family was Joan Temys, the last Abbess 

 of Lacock, and it was, I believe, her brother who sold Rood Ashton, 

 about 1530. The purchaser was Sir William Button, of Alton and 

 of Tockenham. His family sold it about 1600, to Edward Long, of 

 Monkton, in Broughton Gifford. 



That there was a house on the site in 1389 has been mentioned. 

 In the year 1814 some sound beams were taken out with a very old 

 date upon them. It has always been said that the date was 1178; 

 but I never saw them. The present house is an old one with new 

 front, &c, added in 1835. 



There is a very large field between Rood Ashton and Steeple 

 Ashton, called Abury. It was formerly a custom ground, into 

 which certain farmers and tenants had right of putting in cattle for 

 certain months. At the sound of this name, no wonder that Wilt- 

 shire Archaeologists prick up their ears, remembering the great 

 puzzle already on their hands, near Marlborough. But in the 

 " Abury" near Rood Ashton there is no graffe, and no mighty stones. 

 So why it is so called one can hardly say. My own impression is, 

 that this ground once belonged to the Priory of Abury, near Marl- 

 borough, because, when that priory was dissolved, its lands, wherever 

 situate, were bought by Sir William Sherrington, of Lacock ; and 

 it is curious enough, not only that in Mr. Long's survey of 1604, I 

 find the name of Sir William Sherrington as an owner of lands near 

 Rood Ashton ; but that the size of his estate was as nearly as 

 possible the size of the large ground called Abury. Further, in 

 the survey, Sir William is described as having bought his land near 

 Rood Ashton from the Crown in 1547, which was just at the time 

 of the Dissolution. The ground therefore may perhaps take its 



