304 



Chippenham, and the Neighbourhood, 



An order for the sequestration of the rents of Draycot Manor 

 had already been issued by the Committee sitting at Malmesbury, 

 and one Thomas Yaughan, with a body of soldiers, had plundered 

 the house, and carried off property to the value of £400. When 

 tidings reached Draycot that its lord also was in the marshal's 

 custody, Lady Dorothy, (" a most elegant beauty, and witty lady," 

 says Aubrey,) thought it prudent to avert the entire ruin of the 

 estate, by making herself responsible for the submission of her 

 husband, and by expressing her willingness to make a composition. 

 A fine of £100 was at once enforced — £100 was to be paid annually, 

 and then (as the sequestrators' minute runs), "in reward of her 

 early submission, albeit the county was at that time overpowered 

 by the enemy, and none but Mistress Long dared to adventure 

 that undertaking," she received a certificate of protection for 

 herself and tenantry. 



In May 3rd, 1645, was buried in the church of Castle Combe, 

 John Scrope the younger, an officer of one of the King's regiments 

 of foot. "The Scropes of Castle Combe, (writes the late possessor 

 of that ancient property) were hereditary royalists, and in the 

 great Rebellion the descendants of every branch, with but one 

 exception, maintained their high character for unwavering devotion 

 to the Crown." They made a prodigal sacrifice of their noble 

 estates in the day of need, and Aubrey tells us sadly, that "in this 

 year, was felled in the park at Castle Combe, many a gallant oak." 



"Waller is now in Wilts for a third time. Aubrey notes an 

 incident that marks his course. "I do remember a great thorn in 

 Yatton Field, near Bristowe way, against which Sir William 

 Waller's men made a great fire, and killed it. Its stump long 

 stood near the cross roads between Yatton and Biddestone." The 

 antiquary notes also a piece of destruction of a different kind. 

 "At Westport, near Malmesbury, before the late wars was a pretty 

 Church, where there were very good windows ; and a fair steeple ; 

 and in it were five tunable bells, which Sir W. Waller melted into 

 ordnance, or rather sold, and the Church was pulled down that 

 the enemy might not shelter themselves against the garrison of 

 Malmesbury. "Athelstan's monument in the Abbey, (says 

 A. Wood) had its head knocked off in the civil wars; the 



