Our road now runs northward past Lavington station to Potterne, three miles from the Lavington cross roads and eleven from Westbury.  This is one of the most attractive villages in Wiltshire; remarkable for its half-timbered houses of the fifteenth century, especially that known as “Porch House,” purchased and restored by the late George Richmond.  This is supposed to be identical with the old Pack Horse Inn that once stood in the village.  Potterne Church is a fine example of Early English, and the natural dignity of the building is enhanced by its domination of the village around it.  It is said to have been built by the same Bishop Poore who erected Salisbury Cathedral, and is the only church on the present site.  An earlier building was once in the old churchyard.  The Perpendicular tower will be admired for its proportions and detail.  When restorations were in progress in 1872 the archaic tub-shaped font, now standing at the end of the church, was discovered under the present font.  Around the rim are inscribed the words of the ancient baptismal office:—­SICUT.  GERVUS.  DESIDERAT.  AD.  FONTES AQUARUM.  ITA.  DISIDERAT.  ANIMA.  MEA.  AD.  TE.  DS.  AMEN. (Psalm xlii. 1).  There are several interesting brasses and memorials in the church and outside on the north side will be seen an old dole table for the distribution of alms.

Two miles of pleasant undulating road now bring us to Devizes upon its hill beyond the railway.  The town kept, until about a hundred years ago, its old style “The Devizes”—­Ad Divisas,[4] the place where the boundaries of three manors met.  This is the generally accepted explanation of the name, though there is still room for conjecture.  Remains, considerable in the aggregate, of the Roman period have been discovered in the town and immediate neighbourhood.  It is quite possible that a Roman origin of the town itself may be looked for; but it is as a feudal stronghold hold that Devizes began to make its history and as a humble dependency of that stronghold the modern town took its beginning.  The castle was built by Bishop Roger in the early years of Henry I, and its chief function seems to have been that of a prison.  Robert, the eldest son of the Conqueror, was shut up in it.  Soon afterwards, its builder, having taken the side of Maud in her quarrel with Stephen, was imprisoned in a beast house belonging to the castle, when the king, in one of his smaller successes, took possession.  Another notable prisoner was Hubert de Burgh, who escaped and flew to St. John’s Church for sanctuary; his gaolers recaptured him at the altar, but soon afterwards gave him liberty on being threatened with the wrath of the Church.  During the reign of Edward III the nephews of the French king were kept here as hostages.  Its last appearance in history was during the Civil War, when the keep was defended by Sir Edward Lloyd for the King, but according to Leland it must by that time have fallen into evil state, for, in 1536, he writes:  “It is now in