HEYTESBURY, a borough, formerly a market-town,
in the hundred of HEYTESBURY, county of WILTS,
3 miles (E. S.E.) from Warminster,
and 93 (W. S. W.)
from London, containing
1329 inhabitants. The ancient
appellations of this
town were Hegtredesbyrig and
Heightsbury, whence is obviously
derived its present
name. During the contest between Stephen and Matilda,
the empress is said to have occasionally resided
here. The town is situated in a pleasant valley, on the
south-west verge of Salisbury plain, and on the northern
bank of the small river Wily, on the high road
from London to Bridg-water. In its vicinity are several
bold eminences, which are for the most part crowned
with ancient encampments, British, Roman, Saxon, and
Danish. It consists principally of one long and irregular
street, of which the borough comprises the western extremity,
called in ancient records West Heytesbury, or
Heytesbury Magna; it is neither paved nor lighted,
but is supplied with good water. The manufacture
of cloth is carried on to a considerable extent, the
vicinity of the river affording a facility for the erection
of mills and factories; there are two manufactories,
one for broad cloth, the other both for cloth
and kerseymere, one of the proprietors having also an
Extensive establishment at Upton, about a mile and a
half distant, where the articles are finished. The
number of persons employed in the various branches of
the trade amounts to about eight hundred. There is
a small fair on May 14th, for cattle, sheep, &c. Heytesbury
is a borough by prescription, but not incorporated;
it first sent members to parliament in the 28th
of Henry VI., since which time two have been regularly
returned. The right of election is. in the burgageholders,
about thirty-three in number, and the returning
officer is the bailiff, who is appointed by Lord Heytesbury,
as lord of the manor, his lordship also appointing
the bailiff of the hundred, which is co-extensive with
the manor. A court leet is held annually at Michaelmas,
at which two constables and two tythingmen for
the town, and similar officers for the hundred, are appointed.
Heytesbury is within the jurisdiction of a
court of requests held at Warminster, for the recovery
of debts to the amount of £ 5.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the peculiar jurisdiction
and patronage of the Dean of Sarum, endowed
with £1000 private benefaction, £1000 royal bounty,
and £600 parliamentary grant. The church, situated in
the centre of the town, is a spacious, massive, cruciform
structure, with a square tower at the intersection: in
the choir are fourteen very ancient oak stalls. It was
made collegiate about the year 1165, by Josceline, Bishop
of Salisbury, and was rebuilt by Thomas, Lord Hungerford,
in 1404; there were formerly two chantries, to
which are now attached the prebends of Tytherington,
Horningsham, Hill-Deverill, and Swallowcliff. There
is a place of worship for Independents. An hospital,
begun by Robert, Lord Hungerford, was completed and
endowed, pursuant to his will, by his widow Margaret,
Lady Hungerford and Botseaux, who, about 1472, amortized
the manors of Cheverell-Burnell and Cheverell-
Hales for the latter purpose. The design of the institution
was to maintain a custos (who was to be a priest
in full orders, and to teach grammar), twelve poor
men, and one woman, nine of whom are nominated
by the Lord of the Manor, and three from the parish
of Cheverell. By the llth of Edward IV. this endowment
was confirmed, and the society invested with
power to hold lands, to plead and be impleaded, and
to use a common seal, &c., by the title of " The Custos,
Poor Men and Women of the Hospital of Walter
and Robert, late Lords of Hungerford and Heytesbury."
At the dissolution, it being discovered that daily
prayers were directed for the souls of the founders,
it escheated to the crown on the plea of superstitious
uses, and was granted, with all its possessions, to Sir
John Sharington; in the reign of Mary it was restored,
and afterwards exempted by Elizabeth from the payment
of tenths and first fruits. James I., at the request of
the Earl of Northampton, fully confirmed all its rights
and privileges by his charter of Inspeximus, dated in
1610, since which time its affairs have been and still
are regulated by this charter. In 1633, a body of statutes
for its government was framed by the Dean and
Chapter of Salisbury, who are visitors by appoint-
ment of the foundress, and a revision of them is now
in contemplation. The patronage is vested in the
Chancellor of Sarum, if resident, otherwise in the
Dean and Chapter: the present custos is the incumbent
of the collegiate church. The several annual
salaries are, £ 60 to the custos and £40 to the sub-custos,
whose offices are now united; that of the schoolmaster
is not paid, the school having ceased to exist for nearly
a century. All the buildings and furniture of the hospital
were destroyed by a fire which occurred in 1765,
and which consumed nearly two-thirds of the town;
but the whole was rebuilt in a very substantial manner.
The original costume of the poor men was a scarlet
gown, or cloak, with the greek characters I. H. S. in black
on the back, and X.P.s. on the breast; and to this has
been recently added a complete suit of blue cloth, with a
red cross on the left breast of the coat. The hospital possesses
the two manors of Cheverell-Burnell and Cheverell-
Hales, or Cheverell-Magna, with twenty loads of wood
yearly from Southley, which last is now commuted for
an annual payment of £14; also certain closes of land
in Warminster, and an allowance of wheat yearly from
lands in Upton-Scudamore, the gift of another branch
of the Hungerford family; in addition to these are the
manor of Churton, purchased many years since with
the surplus funds of the hospital, and other more
recent but very considerable purchases. On the summit
of Cotley hill, north-westward from the town, is a large
tumulus, surrounded by a circular ditch and low vallum,
and on another hill in the vicinity is the large ancient
encampment, called Scratchbury Camp, so named from
the British word Crech, signifying a hill; the circuit of
its rampart is one mile and eighty-six yards, and its
greatest height sixty-six feet, including an area of forty
acres. Mr. William Cunnington, an industrious antiquary,
was long a resident at this place, where he
died and was interred in 1810. Heytesbury confers the
title of baron on the family of ACourt.