Edward Hutton, in his book Highways And Byways In Wiltshire, written before the outbreak of the First World War, first published in 1917, reprinted 1919, noted:
” . . . Heytesbury. This old town stretched all along the road is a pleasant and quiet place of very great antiquity. The Saxons called it Hegtredesbyri, and the Normans, according to Domesday Book, Hestrebe. For long it played a not inconsiderable part in the history of the county, and sent a member to Parliament; but in 1832 it was disfranchised.”
“In the time of Henry II, Heytesbury was divided into four parts, which belonged to the four families of Dunstanville, Montfort, Badlesmere and Burghersh, but in the time of Richard II the four were united in the hands of the elder Hungerfords, who took their title from the place in the time of Henry VIII. It was as lords of Heytesbury they bought Farleigh Castle in Somerset; but in the troublesome times of the Dissolution they lost the place, and never recovered it. Their old house has disappeared, but the almshouse they founded in 1449 remains, and still bears their arms. It is a charming building of red brick, forming three sides about a court.”
. . . .
“Heytesbury is a place to linger in, a good centre too for exploring all these downs strewn with barrows and camps, and for visiting these churches and villages of the upper Wylye valley.”