By Mr. Edward Kite. 231 



The whole of this, with the exception of the flagon, was a few 

 years since re-cast. 



The flagon was repaired in 1804, and appears to have received, 

 at that time, a considerable addition of metal (possibly the rim on 

 which it now stands) as its present weight is seventy- and- a-half 

 ounces. On it beneath the crest and arms of Ernie, impaling Erie, 

 is the following inscription: — 



" Ex dono Sr- Edward Ernly, Bar^t-i 

 to y e Church of St. John ye Baptist 

 in the Devizes 1704." 



Underneath — 



Robert Townsend, Rector. 



Jeremiah Williams, ) ™ i j 

 Richard Smith, ' j Churchwardens. 



Repaired 1804. 



Church Chest. — Neither this, nor its contents, are of much 

 value. It contains little of interest with the exception of an 

 Overseer's book, commencing in 1613; and a Churchwardens' in 

 1762. 



Royal Arms. — These are at the east end of the nave, over the 

 western arch of the tower; their date is temp. James II. 



Two other coats of arms, painted in frames, are fastened to the 

 wall above the north and south arches underneath the tower. One 

 of these contains the arms of the town, the other those of the three 

 guilds — viz., the mercers, drapers, and leather-sellers, with sup- 

 porters, and the motto " Justitia veritate et unitate." They were 

 probably placed in their present position in the early part of the 

 seventeenth century. 



Ancient Paintings. — Some traces of paintings were discovered, 

 many years since, in the nave of this church, but no record of them 

 seems to have been preserved. 



1 Sir Edward Ernie, of Etchelhampton, was descended from Edward Ernie, Esq., of Etchelhampton, 

 son of Michael Ernie of Bourton, (lineally descended from Richard de Ernie, of Ernie, living temp. 

 Henry III.) Sheriff of Wilts 22 Elizabeth, by his second wife, Susan, eldest daughter of Sir Walter 

 Hungerford of Farley. He was one of the representatives in parliament for the Borough of Devizes 

 in 1695, and died in 1728-9, leaving, by his wife, Frances, only daughter and heir of General the 

 Right Hon. Thomas Erie of Charborough, two daughters, Frances and Elizabeth, the latter married 

 to Henry Drax, Esq., of Ellerton Abbey, Yorkshire. 



2h2 



