LAYCOCK, a parish in the hundred of CHIPPENHAM,
county of WILTS, 3 miles (S.) from Chippenham,
containing 1682 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage,
in the archdeaconry of Wilts, and diocese of Salisbury,
rated in the king's books at £8. 4*. 2. W. H. F. Talbott,
Esq. was patron in 1814. The church is dedicated
to St. Cyriack. There is a place of worship for Independents.
An abbey of nuns, of the order of St.
Augustine, was founded here, in 1232, by Ela, Countess
Dowager of Salisbury: it was dedicated to the Virgin
Mary and St. Bernard, and at the dissolution its revenue
was valued at £203. 12. 3. The remains of the
conventual buildings have been fitted up as a private
residence belonging to a branch of the family of Talbot:
in a room, in which records are kept, is an original copy
of the great charter of Henry III., deposited here by
Ela, Countess of Salisbury, at the time when, during
her widowhood, she held the shrievalty of the county of
Wilts, being, as its endorsement imports, a copy of the
principal charter sent to her in that capacity, for the use
of the knights and military tenants of Wiltshire. A
weekly market and an annual fair were granted to
this abbey, but the former has been disxised; fairs
are held on July 1st and December 21st. In the centre
of one of the streets of the village is an ancient stone
cross.