LUDGERSHALL, a borough and parish (formerly
a market-town) in the hundred of AMESBURY, county
of WILTS, 16 miles (N. N.E.) from Salisbury, and 71
(W. S. W.) from London, containing 477 inhabitants.
This place, formerly called Lurgeshall and Lutgashall,
was anciently of considerable extent, and is supposed
to have been the residence of some of the Anglo-Saxon
kings. A castle existed here soon after the Norman
Conquest, wherein, about 1141, the Empress Matilda
took refuge, in her flight from Winchester towards the
castle of Devizes: no mention of this fortress occurring
subsequently to the reign of Henry III., it is believed
to have been dismantled soon after that period, for the
purpose of curtailing the power of the barons: -there
are still some slight vestiges of it in a farm-yard in
the vicinity. The town, which occupies a delightful
situation on the verge of the county, is of inconsiderable
size; the streets are neither paved nor lighted. The market
was formerly held on Wednesday, but it has long been
disused. There is a small pleasure fair on the 25th of
July. Ludgershall1 is a borough by prescription, and
sent representatives to all the parliaments of Edward I.,
to three of Edward II., and to three of Edward III.;
between the 9th of Richard II. and the 9th of Henry V.
no return was made, but since the latter period the
returns have been regular. The right of election was
declared, by a committee of the House of Commons, to
be vested in "the freeholders and copyholders of the
borough houses, and in leaseholders for any term not
under three years; "the number of voters is about seventy,
and the bailiff is the returning officer; the bailiff is
appointed at the court leet held annually by the steward
of the manor on Michaelmas-day, when two constables
are also chosen. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Salisbury, rated in the king's
books at £11. 6. &., and in the patronage of Sir Sandford
Graham, Bart. The church, dedicated to St. James,
is in the early style of English architecture, and contains
some very ancient monuments. There is a place of
worship for Baptists. A charity school for educating
twenty boys and twenty girls, a certain number of
them being also clothed, was founded about three
years since, and is supported by the members for
the borough. Another school, for ten girls, is supported
by subscription. There is a small estate at
Longstock, near Stockbridge, producing £ 20 per annum,
which is applied for the relief of the poor during
winter and for occasionally apprenticing poor children;
it was bequeathed by an individual commonly called
"Beggar Smith," who, when In need, had been relieved
by the inhabitants of Ludgershall. A few years since,
the great seal of England in the reign of Stephen was
found in the vicinity.