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

The Manor of Alderton 3 rd edition
No representation of the Eyre arms are given in Gore’s book as Thomas jun was
unmarried at the time of his father’s death.
Thomas and Frances had two sons and two daughters Charles, Walter, Mary
and Elizabeth
In one of the few documents that has been found Thomas is seen asking
Archbishop Sencroft to find a position for “Mr Tomlinson.. my kinsman” 289 .
There is no Tomlinson apparent in the family tree so far known; he may have
been a distant relation or related to his wife. The phrase “and [so] better
support himself and his family” may be just designed to engage the
Archbishop’s sympathy or it might indicate that Thomas was helping to support
the family.
Thomas obviously took an active interest in politics - there are records of a
couple of letters written by him to the MP for Chippenham, Walter White, the
owner of Grittleton. Walter White was elected as MP for Chippenham in
November 1695 and was a member of the Whig faction, who supported William
III and the Protestant succession. A number of his letters are in existence;
the earliest is of interest as it mentions Thomas’ support for the recent
introduction of coins with milled edges, which was done to stop the practice of
“clipping” and debasing the coins in circulation 290 . In the second, written in
early March 1695, the talk was of a recently foiled French-Jacobite invasion
plan 291 . Thomas died in 1697 292 and Frances in 1720, both being buried at
Alderton. His son, Charles, was born in 1685 and so was under age at Thomas’
death. From the Manor Court records it is known that the Manor was
administered by trustees set up by Thomas’ will, Mary Gore, Thomas’ mother,
289 Transcription of a letter from Thomas Gore, dated 19 th September 1681, to
Archbishop Sancroft bound into the back of the volume of the elder Thomas’s “An
alphabet in Blazon “ held in the British Library (See Appendix 1.6 for the text )
290 Marquess of Lansdowne (1929) Wiltshire Politicians (c 1700) WAM XLVI no CLVII
p64
291 Marquess of Lansdowne (1929) Wiltshire Politicians (c 1700) WAM XLVI no
CLVII p65
292 Alderton Parish registers W&SHC fiche died 15 th ,m buried 18 September 167.
90