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Boyton, Wiltshire

Boyton is a small village in the Wylye Valley with a cafe and gift shop, and a very fine church. Boyton Manor (not open to the public), which is adjacent to the church, was at one time the home of HRH Prince Leoplold, Duke of Albany, the youngest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The Giffard family came to England with William The Conqueror, who rewarded Osbern Giffard with lands in Gloucestershire, Hampshire, and 22 manors here in Wiltshire alone, including nearby Sherrington. Osbern's son, Ellis, inherited from him and acquired Boyton, it was he who founded the church, giving it to the monks of Gloucester, he himself later became a monk. A later descendant, John Le Ryche Giffard rose up with the Earl of Lancaster against Edward II, they were caught in 1322 and John was hung, drawn, and quatered and the Boyton estate was confiscated, though his mother was allowed to remain at their house in Sherrington. It is thought that John's bones are the ones found under the floor in the Giffard Chapel within the church.