Its owners and some historical connections - Lackham Countryside ...

The Manor of Alderton 3 rd edition
Much of the early history of Alderton is known from the writings of the seventeenth
century antiquarian, Thomas Gore 43 and the nineteenth century historian the Rev
Canon JE Jackson, who did so much to preserve and publish Wiltshire’s history. Much
of Jackson’s work on Alderton resulted from his possession of the Family Register
which Thomas Gore compiled 44 . This manuscript was given to Jackson by George
Poulett Scrope of Castle Combe (a descendent by marriage of Thomas’ sister Anna and
her husband John Scrope); the book itself appeared lost, although it was “fully
described and a copious pedigree given by Joseph Hunter” 45 . It was not in the
British Museum, which only has few works by Thomas 46 , although it is known he
published many more – The Dictionary of National Biography lists 7 in all 47 . The
author found a reference to it, however, in a footnote in Pafford :
43 Gore, Abbe (1999) reply at
htttp://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/FamilyAssoc/Gore?read=40
The English surname GORE is local in orgin being one of those surnames based on the place
where a man once lived or once held land. In this case the surname is derived from the Old
English word "gara" which in actual fact was a dress making term used to describe a three
cornered slip of cloth let in a slit to widen the girth of a garmet. This translation leads us to
believe that the orginal bearer of this surname resided near, or even on a triangular piece of
land, probably the piece of land left over after oblong plots had been allocated. It is also
interesting to note that GORE serves as a placename in Kent and Wiltshire, the placename no
doubt evolved in this fashion as the surname
44 This volume was entitled “SYNTAGMA GENEALOGICUM or a Genealogical Treatise of the
Family of the GORES of ALDRINGTON alias ALDERTON IN THE Hundred of Chippenham and
County of Wilts” (1666), but see next in main body of text.
45 BM Addit. MSS 24481 ff 45-8, in DNB ibid
46 one of which is BM Addit. MSS 28020 “An Alphabet in Blazon of the paternall Coates,
Crests, and Mottoes of all (or the Major part) of the Gentrey in the County of Wiltshire”
(1663) and BM Addit. MSS 28209 “Notes on the Family of Scrope, from 1389 to 1660” This
last was donated by G Poulett-Scrope and EC Lowdnes, it is a pity they didn’t include the
Syntagma Genealogicum at the same time! These manuscripts are now in the British Library
Manuscript Department.
47 Safely tucked away in Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre (W&SHC 1078/13) is a second
edition of one of these works – Thos Gore’s Catalogus In cera Capia, feu Classes Alphebetico
Ordine Concinnatus Pleoru nque Authorum (am antiquorum quam recenticorum) Qui de re
Heraldica Latine, Gallice, Italice, Hisspanie,, Germanice, Anglice, Scripserunt: Interspersis hic
illie, qui claruerunt in re Antiquaria & Jure Civili ea saltem parte qe Heraldriae facem ascendit
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