F.

Goodhart Gr.
With the Authors kind regards.

RECORDS OF CHIPPENHAM

RELATING TO THE BOROUGH,

OH. C.

From its INCORPORATION by QUEEN MARY, 1554,

To its RECONSTRUCTION by ACT of PARLIAMENT, 1889.

COMPRISING EXTRACTS FROM THE

MINUTE BOOKS AND REGISTERS OF ACCOUNTS

of the Corporation,

TOGETHER WITH COPIES AND REFERENCES FROM THE

CHARTERS, DEEDS, AND DOCUMENTS

In the Borough Chest.

BY

FREDERICK HASTINGS GOLDNEY,
Alderman and Mayor.

FOR PRESENTATION ONLY.

1889.

THE NEW YORK

PUBL

LIBRARY

407168

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1908

HARVARD COLLEGE

FEB 28 1908

LIBRARY

DUPLICATE

HARVARD
COLLEGE

LIBRARY.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY DIPROSE, BATEMAN AND CO.,

AT THE ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE PRINTING WORKS,

SHEFFIELD STREET, LINCOLN'S INN.

PREFACE.

HE reconstruction of the Municipal Borough of Chippenham, with enlarged boundaries and increased responsibilities, which in a few days will take place, under authority of Parliament, affords a fitting occasion to call attention to its history since its incorporation three-and-ahalf centuries ago; and to collect out of its Records the principal events affecting the town and its inhabitants, from the time of its chief benefactress, Queen Mary, down to the days of Queen Victoria's Jubilee celebration.

The subject has, no doubt, an interest for many who care to learn something more of the occupations, customs, and modes of life of former days, and to picture in their minds the domestic manners and sentiments of their forefathers at different periods, as far as these may be gathered from their Minute Books and Registers of Account; as well as to recall stirring scenes of English History, in which their ancestors played a part, which may be found recorded or referred to in the Charters, and documents in the Borough Chest.

Information too, which may be obtained from these sources, with regard to the lands, houses, roads and boundaries in and about the town, form additional links with the past, and are memorials of by-gone generations, which will be appreciated by local antiquarians.

The abundance of material has necessitated this volume being strictly confined to the Records belonging to the Corporation, leaving much to be written in connection with them, and illustrative of them, and much too with regard to the Ecclesiastical Manorial and Parochial History of the Town-the