By John U. Powell, M.A. 



247 



conspicuous part in affairs ; thus, a Ludlow represents Ludgershall 

 in 1597, Andover in 1601, Hindon in 1604, Heytesbiuy in 1620 

 and 1624. But the member of the family who comes prominently 

 into notice is Edmund Ludlow, who took a leading part as a Par- 

 liamentarian in the Civil Wars, and was one of the judges at the 

 trial of Charles I. In 1643 he was sent into Wilts by the Parlia- 

 ment to raise a troop of horse, and in the early pages of his Memoirs 

 he narrates how he was besieged in Wardour Castle by the Royalists : 

 it is a vivid and spirited account. There are several notices of brisk 

 encounters between his forces and the Royalists commanded by the 

 Sheriff of Wilts. To one of these skirmishes perhaps belongs the 

 tradition, which is still repeated, that the mill at Hill Deverill was 

 used as a headquarters. It is also said that the mounds and ditches 

 in the field facing the Church (marked in the Ordnance Map as a 

 British settlement) are the remains of houses in the village which 

 were battered down by Royalist cannon mounted upon what is 

 known as the Burnbake, between the Manor House and the road 

 from Warminster to Shaftesbiuy. It is said that the shots were 

 fired at the house, but that the elevation was too high, and the 

 shots passing over, hit the houses in the village. There is another 

 piece of tradition, namely, that the oval window in the manor house 

 facing the Church had cannon mounted at it 1 ; and that traitors 

 were shut up in the house. But although the Royalists may not 

 have succeeded in destroying the Ludlows' house at Hill Deverill, 

 their house at Maiden Bradley, where Edmund Ludlow was born, 

 is expressly stated by Aubrey to have been dilapidated in the Civil 

 Wars. Another encounter took place on the Heath, above War* 

 minster Common, on the Deverill road. We may notice that there 

 is still a tradition which says that the mound near the reservoir was 

 a position taken by troops ; and there are mounds at Pertwood and 

 Cold Kitchen Hill said to be earth- works. But the mounds men- 

 tioned here and above are far older, for some are barrows. As is 

 usual, they have had these later traditions attached to them : still, 

 traditions are never lightly to be set aside, and do, in themselves. 



1 This cannot be literally true, as the window itself is of later date. 



