By the Rev. Thomas Miles. 



199 



had issue, three sons and three daughters, viz. : John senior, John 

 junior, and Edward ; and Anne, Mary, and Elizabeth. The eldest 

 son John, senior, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Swayne of 

 Gunville, Dorset, by whom he left no surviving issue ; and on 

 his decease in 1660, he was succeeded at Stockton by his brother 

 Edward. It does not appear what became of John, junior. John 

 senior presented the 2 silver flagons to the church. Edward Topp 

 died in 1665, and left issue by his wife Frances, 4 children. John 

 his heir, married Catherine, daughter of Sir Ed ward Berkley, Knight; 

 of Alexander the second son, nothing is known. Elizabeth the 

 eldest daughter, married Richard Swaine of Gunville, and Eleanor 

 the second daughter, was the wife of Thomas Lambert of Boyton. 



John Topp and Catherine Berkley (who married secondly Thomas 

 Bennett of Pytt House, and survived him) had issue, four children, 

 of whom John the eldest son and two daughters, died infants. 

 Edward Topp, the second son, inherited Stockton, and married 

 Christiana, daughter and co-heir of George Gray of Nether 

 Stowey, Somerset. They had issue, five children, viz. : John 

 Topp, Barrister-at-law, who died without issue in 1745 ; Edward, 

 the second son, died s.p. in 1710; and Alexander, the third son, 

 died also without issue, 1738. The two daughters of John and 

 Christiana Topp thus became co-heirs of Stockton. Susan the 

 eldest, married Robert Everard of Nether Stowey, Somerset. 

 Christiana, the youngest daughter, married Richard Lansdown of 

 Woodborough near Bath, and died without issue. Robert Everard, 

 and Susan Topp had an only child, Susan, who was married to 

 Robert Everard Balsh of St. Audries in Somersetshire, who sold 

 the manor of Stockton to Henry Biggs,.Esq. The pedigree of the 

 Topp family is printed in Sir R. C. Hoare's " Heytesbury," 

 p. 242. 



The exact date of Stockton house cannot be ascertained. There 

 was a stone on the premises a few years ago, with this inscription, 

 "God save this House, built by John Topp, March " Un- 

 fortunately the date is broken off. Sir Richard Hoare mentions 

 a stone in the house on which is a part of the date, " 16. The 

 concluding figures defaced. This refers perhaps to the stone before 



