By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 



269 



possible to adopt or maintain any thing of the kind here is another 

 question. 



Old Bye- laws. 



A Charter was granted in A.D. 1554 by Queen Mary for the 

 better government of the inhabitants. Under it and in virtue of 

 the powers which it gave them, the Corporation enacted certain 

 bye-laws in some respects strange to modern ears, but no doubt 

 very useful at the time, nor would it be amiss if some of them were 

 even still in force. 



One law was that "if any person came to settle in the Borough 

 to buy and sell, without conforming himself to the rules and orders 

 of the Borough, or if he used any sort of defiance or disobedience 

 to the chief magistrate, he was to be forthwith fined 20 shillings 

 for the first offence, imprisoned for the second, and for the third to 

 be (in effect) expelled from the town without any remedy, until he 

 had learned better manners." Nobody was to take inmates in the 

 borough of Chippenham without the bailiff's leave. 



There was also a Body of Armed Men, liable to be called upon 

 for the defence of the Queen and country. Their number and the 

 condition of the public armoury are described in a list of 1544 as 

 follows : — 



" Imprimis. 9 Head-pieces :" (from which it might be supposed 

 that there ought to have been as many bodies to support them, but 

 it is not certain, for the list proceeds :) " 7 swords, 5 muskets, 

 4 pikes, 4 corslets, and 4 gorgets." The small force must have 

 presented a somewhat irregular appearance. There was also 

 besides these a body of archers, bow-and-arrow-men : and they 

 had their practising ground. For there is an order, "That as 

 often as it was needful to erect or repair the common butts, either 

 in the Ivy or beyond St. Mary Street, the bailiff for the time being 

 shall give notice to every householder to come, or send his deputy 

 to help to erect and repair the same : every one not doing so for 

 one hour after notice, to forfeit and lose fourpence." 



The armour belonging to the Borough was hung up against the 

 wall. Fortunately for the safety of the town, the heroes of the 



