From Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales, by John Timbs, Vol. II, re-edited, revised, and enlarged by Alexander Gunn; Frederick Warne and Co.; London; pp. 4-7.
The town of Malmesbury, on the north-western extremity of Wiltshire, was anciently rendered famous and flourishing by its Abbey, the most considerable monastic institution in the west of England, except that of Glastonbury. According to an anonymous history of Malmesbury Priory, compiled in the middle of the fourteenth century, and quoted by Leland, temp. Henry VIII., there was a town here with 5 a Castle, reputed to have been built by Dunwallo Malmutius, one of the British Kings, said to have reigned before the Roman invasion. The town was altogether destroyed by foreign invaders, but the Castle remained; and near its walls a Scottish monk, called Maildelph, who had been so plundered in his own country as to be induced to flee into England, established himself as a hermit, and afterwards founded a monastic community, which rose to the rank of a Benedictine Abbey. The chronicler gives to the Castle the British name of Bladon and the Saxon name of Ingleburn. He affirms that the neighbouring village had been the residence of Kings, both Pagan and Christian, but without distinguishing whether British or Saxon. This partly fabulous narrative may, perhaps, indicate that there were at Malmesbury, at a very ancient period, a Castle and a town. Maildelph founded his monastery in the seventh century, and from him the modern name of Malmesbury, a corruption of Maildelphsbury, appears to have originated. It is probable that the Abbey suffered from the Danish invasions in the ninth and tenth centuries, when the town was twice burnt; but it recovered; and being enriched by lands and rendered venerable by relics, became a most important monastery: its Abbot was mitred in the reign of Edward III. The borough had a charter as early as the reign of Athelstan, who in 939 defeated the Danes, when the men of Malmesbury contributed greatly to the victory. In the reign of King Stephen a Castle was built here, and the town was walled by Roger, Bishop of Sarum, who had, however, to surrender the Castle to the King. In the Civil War of Stephen and Maud the town and Castle were taken (1152) by Prince Henry, son of Maud, afterwards Henry II.; and by some the Abbey is said to have been built by Bishop Roger, who, however, died as early as 1139. Sir Richard Colt Hoare referred the Abbey to the Saxons.
At the Dissolution, William Stumpe, the wealthy clothier of Malmesbury, bought many Abbey lands thereabout, and the Monastery. When King Henry VIII. hunted in Bradon forest, Stumpe gave his Majesty and the Court a great entertainment at his house (the Abbey). The King told him he was afraid he had undone himself; he replied that his own servants should only want their supper for it. At this time, most of the Abbey buildings were filled with weavers’ looms; and Stumpe had liberally contributed to the purchase of the Abbey church, which was made parochial. Near it are the remains of the Abbot’s house; and in the centre of the town a richly-ornamented Market Cross, supposed to be of the age of Henry VII.; it has been judiciously restored. West of the Abbey is the supposed chapel of a 6 Nunnery, which tradition fixes on this spot. There are traditions of two other Nunneries in or near the town.
Leland calls the Abbey church “a right magnificent thing;” but only a small portion remains, and this stands in the midst of ruins. The interior architecture is Anglo-Norman and the English or Pointed style; here, inclosed by a screen, is an altar tomb with an effigy, in royal robes, said to represent King Athelstan: but the tomb is of much later date than that prince, and is now far from the place of his interment, which was in the choir, under the high altar of the Abbey church: besides this there were in the Abbey churchyard two other churches.
Three writers of eminence in their respective ages were connected with Malmesbury: St. Adhelm, a Saxon writer, was Abbot; William of Malmesbury was a monk of the Abbey, and librarian; and Thomas Hobbes, “the Philosopher of Malmesbury,” was born here. Oliver, one of the monks, having affixed wings to his hands and feet, ascended a lofty tower, from whence he took his flight, and was borne upon the air for the space of a furlong, when, owing to the violence of the wind, or his own fear, he fell to the ground, and broke both his legs.
Aubrey, in his Natural History of Wiltshire, gives this curious “digression” upon the dispersion of the Abbey MSS. in his time: — “Anno 1633, I entered into my grammar at the Latin school at Yatton-Keynel, in the church, where the curate, Mr. Hart, taught the eldest boys Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, &c. The fashion then was to save the forules of the bookes with a false cover of parchment, &c., old manuscript, which I [could not] was too young to understand; but I was pleased with the elegancy of the writing and the coloured initial letters. I remember the rector here, Mr. Wm. Stump. gr-son of St. the cloathier of Malmesbury, had severall manuscripts of the Abbey. He was a proper man and a good fellow; and when he brewed a barrell of speciall ale, his use was to stop the bunghole, under the clay, with a sheet of manuscript; he sayd nothing did it so well, which sore thought did grieve me then to see. Afterwards I went to schoole to Mr. Latimer at Leigh-delamer, the next parish, where was the like use of covering of books. In my grandfather’s dayes the manuscripts flew about like butterflies. All musick bookes, account bookes, copie bookes, &c., were covered with old manuscripts, as wee cover them now with blew paper or marbled paper; and the glover at Malmesbury made great havock of them, and gloves were wrapt up, no doubt, in many good pieces of antiquity. Before the late warres, a world of rare manuscripts perished hereabout; for within half a dozen miles of this place were the Abbey of Malmesbury, where it may be presumed 7 the library was as well furnished with choice copies as most libraries of England; and, perhaps in this library we might have found a correct Plinie’s Naturall History, which Camitus, a monk here, did abridge for King Henry the Second. . . . . One may also perceive, by the binding of old bookes, how the old manuscripts went to wrack in those dayes. Anno 1647, I went to Parson Stump out of curiosity to see his manuscripts, whereof I had seen some in my childhood; but by that time they were lost and disperst. His sons were gunners and souldiers, and scoured their gunnes with them; but he showed me severall old deedes granted by the Lords Abbotts, with their seales annexed.”
Abut six miles west of Malmesbury is Great Sheriton, the scene of an indecisive battle (1016), between Edmund II. (Ironside) and Canute, who engaged during the fight in personal conflict. The village is partly within the site of an ancient encampment. There is a local tradition of a conflict between the Saxons and the Danes, in which the Saxons were commanded by a warrior called “Rattlebone,” of whom a gigantic figure is seen on the sign of an inn. Rattlebone is thought to be a popular traditional name of Edmund II.