DOWNTON, a borough town and parish, in the hundred
of DOWNTON, county of WILTS, 6 miles (S.S.E.)
from Salisbury, and 88 (S. W.) from London, containing
3114 inhabitants. The town consists principally
of one long irregular street, neither lighted
nor paved, extending from east to west, in the course
of which there are three bridges over the Upper Avon,
which is here divided into three channels. It appears
to have been anciently a place of importance, having given
name to the hundred in which it is situated. Here was
a castle, the iutrenchments of which may still be traced
at the south-east extremity of the town; and in the
centre of them is a large conical mount, upon which
the keep is supposed to have been erected. King John
is said to have had a palace at this place; and in taking
down part of an old building, called the Court House, or
King John's Stables, were found two wooden busts,
imagined to be representatives of that prince and his
consort. Downton is a borough by prescription; it first
sent members to parliament in the 23rd of Edward I.,
and continued to exercise that privilege till the 38th of
Edward III., after which there was only one return
(in the 1st of Henry V.) until the 20th of Henry VI.,
since which they have been regularly continued. The
right of election is vested in persons having a freehold
interest in burgage tenements holden by a certain rent,
fealty and suit of court to the Bishop of Winchester,
who is lord of the borough, and paying reliefs on descent
and fines on alienation. The number of voters
is about twenty; the twenty established burgage tenements,
which are all numbered, were sometimes divided
at contested elections, so as to malce the number of voters
amour.t to one hundred or more j but after repeated
contests, the late Lord Radnor obtained, by purchase,
the entire patronage of the borough; and the deputy
steward of the lessee of the hundred, who is chosen at
the "court leet, and commonly styled mayor, is the returning
officer. On the Avon are several paper and gristmills;
and there is a large tan-yard; malting is carried
on to some extent, and several persons are engaged in a
branch of the silk manufacture, and in making strawplat.
A market was formerly held on Friday, which
has been discontinued. There is a fair on April 23d,
for cattle, and another on October 2nd, for sheep and horses.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Salisbury, rated in the king's books at £20,
and in the patronage of the Warden and Fellows of
Winchester College. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence,
is a spacious edifice, consisting of a nave, aisles,
transept, and chancel, with a central tower, which in
1791 was raised thirty feet higher, at the expense of the
late Earl of Radnor, who also largely contributed to the
cost of some subsequent repairs in the body of the
church; and, more recently, a neat organ and gallery
have been erected by subscription. There is a chapel
of ease at Nunton, in this parish. There are places of
worship for General and Particular Baptists, and Wesleyan
Methodists. A free school was founded in 1679,
by Joseph Ashe, for the instruction of twelve poor
boys, the sons of free burgage holders, or in default
of such, the children of other inhabitants of the borough,
and endowed with a school-house, the rent of the ground
on which the fairs are held, and the interest of £130 in
the funds. In 1784, Mrs. Emma Noyes left by will £200
to the vicar and churchwardens, to be placed in the funds,
and the interest to be applied in payment of a schoolmistress,
for teaching six or eight children to read and work,
and for the support of a similar school at East Downton.
A parochial school is supported by voluntary contributions,
for which a school-room has been erected
through the exertions of the present incumbent of the
parish, the Rev, Liscombe Clarke, Archdeacon of Salisbury.
In 1627, William Stockman gave Chadwell farm
in Whiteparish, now producing between £40 and £50.
per annum, for the benefit of poor persons of Downton,
" surcharged with children." Here is an ancient cross,
called the borough cross, as being the place for elections,
except when a poll is demanded: in 1797, it was repaired
at the expense of the burgesses. About two miles
from Downton is Standlinch, or Trafalgar House, bestowed
by the nation, as a token of gratitude for distinguished
services, on Admiral Lord Nelson.