HIGHWAY
Highway, which existed as a separate 'vill' in 1316, (fn. 1)
has for ecclesiastical purposes always been a chapelry
in the parish of Bremhill (see below—Church). In
1367 the manor of Highway was said to lie in the parish
of Bremhill. (fn. 2) Highway was, however, described as a
'parish' in 1702 (fn. 3) and may have been constituted such
by virtue of the Act of 1662 permitting the division of
existing parishes. (fn. 4) It remained a civil parish until 1890
when it was merged with the parish of Hilmarton. (fn. 5)
Highway lies 4½ miles north-east of Calne and the
former parish, although a detached part of the hundred
of Potterne and Cannings, lay locally in the hundred
of Kingsbridge. The village is situated on the Gault
and Greensand strip at the foot of the north-western
escarpment of the Marlborough Downs. To the east
of the village the chalk uplands of the Downs rise to
over 600 ft. To the west the land falls to less than
300 ft. on the flat lands of Kimeridge Clay at Highway
Common. (fn. 6) Only minor roads lead to the village which
comprises the chapel (see below), a few cottages and
Highway Farm lying just west of the chapel. Highway Farm was probably the manor house. It has been
much altered, rebuilt, and the interior modernized.
One gable end with a large chimney stack and an oak
door rehung to the porch are all that remain of the late
16th-century house.
In 1364 the capital messuage in Highway was said
to be wholly destroyed. In the manor there were 2
gardens valued at 3s. 4d. a year and 308 acres of arable
valued at 3d. an acre; 100 acres were valued at nothing
because they were sandy, lay fallow, and could not be
sown because they were in common. There were also
3 8 acres of several meadow valued at 12d. an acre;
12 acres of meadow in common valued at 8d. an acre;
pasture for 20 oxen, worth 6d. a head; 68s. 3d. rents
of free and bond tenants. The view of frankpledge and
perquisites of the courts were worth 6s. 8d. a year, and
the whole manor was valued at 11s. 3d. beyond reprises. (fn. 7) In 1366 the manor was valued at 13s. 4d.
clear. (fn. 8) In 1569 it contained 16 messuages and gardens,
16 orchards, 300 acres of land, 100 acres of meadow,
200 acres of pasture, 8 acres of wood, and produced £1
in rent. (fn. 9) The same figures were given when the manor
changed hands in 1640. (fn. 10)
Manor
The first reference to HIGHWAY occurs
in a deed of 1065 in which Edward the
Confessor confirmed the possessions of
Malmesbury Abbey. Highway was said to comprise
11 hides and to have been given to the abbey by King
Aethelred. (fn. 11) In 1086 Highway was amongst the
possessions of the abbey and had paid geld for 11 hides. (fn. 12)
Ralph Mortimer also held 1 hide in Highway which
Toti had bought from the abbey for the lives of 3 men.
'Within that term' he 'could go with the land to what
lord he pleased'. (fn. 13) Highway remained in the abbey's
possession until 1219 and was confirmed by Eugenius
III (1151) and Celestine III (1191). (fn. 14) In 1219 a
dispute between the Bishop of Salisbury and the Abbot
of Malmesbury was settled by the bishop surrendering
his claim to jurisdiction over the abbey and receiving
in return the manor of Highway and the patronage of
the church of Bremhill and Highway and the chapel of
Foxham (fn. 15) (see below—Church).
In 1220 Richard de Horton held the manor of the
bishop at a fee farm rent of £10. (fn. 16) William de Horton
held it in 1242–3. (fn. 17) In 1316 William de Highway and
John Quyntyn occur as the tenants of the 'vill' of Highway. (fn. 18) The origin and subsequent descent of John
Quyntyn's holding have not been traced. Other persons
styled 'de Highway' and possibly members of the same
family had held land in Highway. In 1268 a messuage
and a virgate of land there had been granted to Stephen
de Highway by Hugh de Gothyrst and Alice his wife. (fn. 19)
In 1281 Adam de Highway had conveyed a messuage
and 3 virgates to his son Nicholas and Agnes wife of
Nicholas. (fn. 20) William de Highway (possibly the tenant of
1316) had conveyed to Henry le Blund in 1287 a
messuage, a garden, a toft, and 64 acres of land and
4 acres of meadow. (fn. 21) Richard, son of William, put in
his claim. In 1327 a Richard de Highway, possibly the
same, settled the manor on his son John. Amongst those
holding lands for lives in Highway at the time of this
settlement were John son of William de Highway,
Robert de Highway and Agnes his wife, and Adam de
Highway and his wife Alice. (fn. 22)
In 1361 the manor of Highway was conveyed by
Walter Freyn and Philippa his wife to Robert Gundwene and William atte Chambre to be held of the chief
lord of the fee. (fn. 23) Robert and William assigned the
manor in 1364 to the rector and brethren of the house
of Bonhommes at Edington. (fn. 24) The property was then
described as 'all the lands and tenements in the vill of
Highway which make the manor in demesne and service' and was said to be held of Robert, Bishop of
Salisbury at fee farm. Highway remained in the possession of the Bonhommes for only two years, for in
1366 they conveyed it to Sir Philip fitz Wuryn and
Constance his wife in exchange for the manor of
Bremeridge (Westbury). (fn. 25) In 1380 Sir Philip fitz
Waryn and Constance his wife conveyed it to John de
Stanshawe. (fn. 26)
The manor is next heard of in 1478 when Thomas
Stanshawe, of Stanshawe (Gloucs.), acknowledged the
receipt of £126. 13s. 4d. paid to him by Thomas
de Leckhampton for the manors of Highway and
Clevancy. (fn. 27) No indication of lordship is contained in
the receipt.
The next mention of the manor of Highway is in
1569 in which year it was settled upon Ralph Cawley. (fn. 28)
By a new agreement made in 1571 the remainders were
settled successively upon Michael, Ralph, William,
Charles, and Thomas, the settlor's second, fourth,
third, fifth, and sixth sons respectively. (fn. 29) In 1603
Michael Cawley relinquished his claim to the manor
in favour of William Cawley, presumably his brother.
This is the last reference to the Cawley or Calley
family in Highway. (fn. 30)
The manor was evidently acquired before 1621 by
William Turner and Anne his wife. (fn. 31) In 1640 Richard
Turner and Lucy his wife sold it to John Glanville,
serjeant-at-law, for £600. (fn. 32)
The manor remained in the hands of the Glanvilles
until 1702. Serjeant Glanville had been prominent in
support of the parliamentary opposition to Charles I, but
after 1640 went over to the king. He was imprisoned
by the rebels (1645 to 1648) and later compounded
for his estates. (fn. 33) He died in 1661. His grandson John
Glanville of Broad Hinton sold Highway to Sir Charles
Hedges of Compton Bassett in 1702. (fn. 34) Hedges, a
large landowner in Wiltshire, was succeeded in 1714
by his son William, who survived until 1757. (fn. 35) The
manor of Highway, however, was conveyed in 1743
to William Hart and Robert Maundrell, by Thomas
Hedges, probably son of William. (fn. 36)
In 1805 the manor was in the possession of the Tonge
family. William Norris Tonge (1777–1844) then held
it along with his mother, Anne Eliza. (fn. 37) On his death it
passed to his eldest son Augustus Henry, and subsequently to his second son Louis Charles (d. 1895) and
his grandson Francis Henry. On the death of the latter
in 1936 the estate passed to the Hon. Raymond Anthony
Addington, son of the 4th Viscount Sidmouth, and
son of Ethel Mary, sister of Francis Henry Tonge. (fn. 38)
Church
The patronage of the 'church of Bremhill and Highway' (patronatus ecclesiae de
Bremel et de Hyweie) and the chapel of
Foxham were included in the grant of the manor of
Highway to the Bishop of Salisbury in 1219. (fn. 39) This
reference to what appears to be a combined church of
Bremhill and Highway suggests that Highway was by
this time annexed to Bremhill as a chapelry. It was so
annexed in 1583 when the Bishop of Salisbury presented a clerk to the vicarage of Bremhill cum capella
de Heighwaie, (fn. 40) and it appears to have remained a
chapelry annexed to Bremhill until the present day.
The chapel of ST. PETER comprises chancel, nave,
vestry, and south porch. At the west end is a bell-cote
roofed with shingles. It was originally built in the 12th
century but was almost entirely rebuilt in 1867 at the
expense of Archdeacon Harris (d. 1874), Vicar of
Bremhill, from plans by H. Butterfield. All that remains of the early church is part of the north wall of the
nave containing a plain round-headed blocked doorway
with a hood-moulding. Built into the later wall is part
of a 14th-century grave slab. A pair of oak bier stools
in the nave are probably of 17th-century date. A stone
screen in the chancel has an early 15th-century oak
capping richly moulded, painted, and gilded. The
registers begin in 1745 and, except for a few years
which have been torn out, are complete. The church
plate comprises a chalice hall-marked 1760 and inscribed 'Highway Chappie 1761', 2 patens, and a flagon
of plated metal'. (fn. 41) The late H. B. Walters writing in
1928 records two small bells uninscribed. (fn. 42)