| 1617 | An inn was recorded in or near Grasshills. Aldbourne was settled for 99 years on trustees for Charles, prince of Wales (Charles I) Right to hunt deer over the 1,400 a. of the chase was, as part of Aldbourne manor, settled for a term of 99 years on trustees for the prince of Wales |
| c1614 | William and Edward Walrond die. They had lived in the house of the Fraternity of St Mary the Virgin and have an elaborate tomb in the Lady Chapel |
| 1624 | James I settled Aldbourne Manor on Prince Charles (Charles I) |
| c1626 | Charles I sells the Manor to the City of London |
| 1629 | Charles I gives Aldbourne special market rights |
| 1631 | The City of London sold to Edward Nicholas demesne lands of Aldbourne manor in the south part of the parish, later Pickwood or Laines and Stock Close farms. Aldbourne warren was part of Aldbourne manor. In 1631 the City of London sold it to Philip, earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. |
| 1632 | The City of London sold the lordship of the manor to Thomas Bond |
| 1637 | Population of Aldbourne circa 800 |
| 18 Sep 1643 | Skirmish of Aldbourne Chase. A parliamentary army marching from Gloucester to London was attacked by Prince Rupert’s cavalry north of Dudmore Lodge, then driven into Aldbourne village |
| 11 April 1644 | A muster of some 10,000 royalist troops was held in Aldbourne Chase, and there is said to have been another skirmish near the village a month later [a] |
| May 1644 | Parliamentarian horsemen (300) lodged in the church |
| 1648 | Plague in Aldbourne |
| 1652 | Philip, earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, who held the right of warren, and the tenants of Aldbourne manor agreed that Dudmore and Southwood walks should be diswarrened. The earl was compensated with a several holding of 571 a. and parts of the warren were ploughed soon afterwards. By 1657 the agreement had broken down; the earl again claimed rights of warren and the resulting litigation continued until 1671 or later |
| 1659 | There were hunting rights over 1,400 a. of woodland and pasture, extending from the southern boundary to Snap and from Priors Wood to Southward Down |
| 1660 | Ed Witts introduces fustian manufacture into the village |
| 1665 | 18 died of the plague |
| 1666 | 26 died of the plague |
| 1667 | Thomas Fairchild, gardener, and pioneer of the hybridisation of plants, is born in Aldbourne |
| 1669 | A congregation of 200–300 non-conformists met at Court House to hear preachers such as Christopher Fowler and Noah Webb |
| 1672 | The house of Charles Gilbert, a Presbyterian, was licensed for meetings and another conventicle was held at Gabriel Martin’s house at Upper Upham in 1681 |
| 1674 | 20 parishioners were presented for failure to attend church |
| 1676 | There were 28 nonconformists in the parish |
| 1680s | Daniel Burgess, a dissenting minister, preached at Upham and at Aldbourne |
| 1694 | William & Robert Corr start the manufacture of bells and wooden buttons at Court House |
| 1706 | William Wild dies at age of 116 |
| 1713 | Robert Corr buys Court House from Elizabeth Bond, daughter-in-law of Thomas Bond who had bought the Manor from the City of London |
| 1715 | Aldbourne has an Independent Church; S.Oldfield is the Minister |
| 1720 | Rabbits were prized for both their flesh and their fur. There was then a stock of 8,000 rabbits, increasing annually to 24,000. They grazed on the poor grass of the downs in summer, and in winter were fed on hay and hazel cuttings |
| 1724 | 24,000 rabbits are counted on the Warren |
| 1732 | The Market Cross is fitted with an iron lamp |
| 1735 | Crown Inn first recorded |
| 1737 | Presbyterians met in a newly built house in West Street |
| 1739 | J.Corr, E.Gould and 100 villagers stone and harass the Constable, Adye Ayres for three nights |
| 1741 | John Starrs and Edward Read take over and run the Bell Foundry at Court House from the Corr family |
| 1760 | Fire destroyed 72 buildings, losses totalled circa £20,000. Market cross restored |
| 1761 | Another fire |
| 1764 | Market Cross restored (slanted cross dates from then) |
| 1772 | Houses were licensed for Methodist meetings in 1772, 1798, and 1802. In 1783, however, there was said to be no meeting house and ten or twelve people who met regularly to hear readings by a Methodist weaver all attended the parish church |
| 1777 | Second Great Fire: August 24thA great fire destroyed 80 houses and 20 barns to a value of £10,000 plus £3, 000 covered by insurance. Towns, villages far and wide (including Oxford colleges and London Livery Companies) donated money to the relief fund |
| 1778 | Two fire engines, Adam & Eve, were obtained for the village fire brigade |
| 1787 | No. 1 bell given to the church by Robert Wells and J.Pizzie and W. Gwynne give No. 2 bell |
| 1790 | Straw plaiting prospers in the village |
| 1801 | Population of Aldbourne was 1280 |
| 1802 | Aldbourne workhouse built at junction of Oxford St and South St (Aldbourne Workhouse and Overseers act was passed in 1800) |
| 1805-09 | Enclosure: The four open fields are surveyed and plots held by all landowners and tenants are consolidated into fields and farms |
| 1807 | A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1807 probably on the site of that in Lottage Road said to have been built in 1844 Lousa Poor, a slave, is baptized & buried in Aldbourne |
| 1809 | Enclosure Act. The open fields and downs, 3,933 a., were enclosed. That area included c. 2,200 a. of open fields, 800 a. in the North walk of the warren, and 1,000 a. of common pasture on Southward Down and within the former chase The Bell opened junc of Castle & Marlborough Rd closed 1958 The vicar was allotted Court House by exchange. |
| 1811 | A waterspout accompanies severe flooding in South Street |
| May 1817 | Fire destroyed 15 cottages, 2 malt houses, 3 barns, a carpenters shop, a smiths shop and corn |
| 1822 | Blue Boar opened, closed 1911, reopened 1931 |
| 1826 | Robert Wells, Bell-founder, declared bankrupt, last bells cast by Wells family |
| 1830 | Protesters, mainly from Ramsbury, smashed newly introduced threshing machines in Aldbourne In the 1830s the vicar’s net annual income was £367, about average for Salisbury diocese |
| 1832 | Population was 1385 according to William Cobbett’s Geographical Dictionary |
| 1833 | Strict Baptist prayer meetings were started by Thomas Barrett, whose house was licensed for meetings There were five day schools in Aldbourne attended by 84 children; none was free and most had recently opened. One may have been the dame school taught by a dissenter which survived until 1858 or later. It was attended by fifteen children in 1858 |
| 1835 | A brass and reed band was formed in Aldbourne by Richard Bunce Aldbourne became part of Hungerford poor-law union |
| 1837 | The rectorial tithes were replaced by a rent charge of £1,475 in 1837 There were eighteen farms of over 100 a. in the parish, Warren, 790 a., Dudmore Lodge, 637 a., Lower Upham, 627 a., Upper Upham, 577 a., and North, 515 a., were compact farms on each of which more than half the land was arable. Aldbourne farm, 480 a., East Leaze, 410 a., and Snap, 412 a., were also principally arable, and on most remaining farms, including Stock Close, 354 a., Hillwood, 346 a., Laines, 184 a., and Leigh, 120 a., there was very little pasture. The exception was the vicar’s glebe, 421 a., of which 321 a. were pasture in the former chase. The only extensive meadow land was that near Snap and surrounding Upper Upham House, 90 a., parts of Snap and Upper Upham farms Queen Inn between Back Lane & Castle St opened (between 1837 and 1848) |
 Some of the bells in our collection |
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