Penruddock Close on the west side of Salisbury is named after the Penruddock family, who were based in Compton Chamberlayne. There is a pub called the ‘Penruddocke Arms’ at Baverstock, which is nearby.
The most famous of the Penruddocks is probably John Penruddock.
John Penruddock
John Penruddock was a royalist colonel in the English Civil War, fighting for King Charles I against Oliver Cromwell. Two of his younger brothers were killed in the war, and much of the family’s land was confiscated.
At the end of the war, Penruddock did not privately accept the legitimacy of the Cromwell regime, and in the mid 1650′s he became involved in a Royalist conspiracy called ‘The Sealed Knot’.
The Sealed Knot attempted to stage co-ordinated uprisings all over the country on March 8th 1655. Penruddock, with a man called Sir Joseph Wagstaffe, was to lead the planned uprising in Winchester.
However the garrison at Winchester was re-inforced, so Penruddock and Wagstaffe switched their part of the uprising to Salisbury. ‘Several hundred’ conspirators assembled at Clarendon Park on the night of the 11th March. They rode into Salisbury and arrested the County Sheriff and the judges who were thetre for the county assizes sessions 1. They then rode through Dorset and Somerset, in the hope, that people would join them. Very few did, though, and the rebels were defeated and Penruddock captured at South Molton in Devon.
Penruddock was tried for treason at Exeter. He argued that because Cromwell’s regime was not legitimate, his actions could not be treasonable – he said ‘The law I am now tried by is no law, but what is cut out by the poynt of a rebellious sword’
Penruddock stated that the leader of the Roundhead force which captured him at South Molton had promised him his life if he surrendured. However, he was sentenced to death.
On receiving his sentence, Penruddock said that he hoped Cromwell would quash it. His wife campaigned for his life, travelling to London to see Cromwell personally.
Cromwell had demonstrated at both the siege of Drogheda and of Wexford that he was not prepared to be merciful to those who opposed him. Penruddock was beheaded at Exeter on 16 May 1655.
‘Pen’ – William Penruddocke Wyndham
William Penruddocke Wyndham seems to have been related to both John Penruddock (through his mother, Arundel Penruddock) and to one of people who had sat in judgement on him – Sir Hugh Wyndham had been appointed ‘oyer and terminer’ (judge of assizes) for the uprising 2
Sir Hugh Wyndham’s brother was Wadham Wyndham, who was the great grandfather of Henry Penruddocke Wyndham 3
I’m not sure of the exact family relationship between William Penruddocke Wyndham, but I’m sure that there is a relationship. Wyndham’s mother, Arundel Penruddock, had the same name as John Penruddock’s wife and she also came from Compton Chamberlayne. 4.
William Penruddocke Wyndham himself was born in 1736 and died in 1819. He was mayor of Salisbury from 1770 to 1771 and was Salisbury’s Member of Parliament in 1812.
Wyndham wrote a book called ‘Tour through Monmouthshire and Wales’ and published the diary of the politician George Bubb Dodington 5
Visiting Salisbury?
For accommodation, see the Hotels in Salisbury page.
Footnotes
- Oxford DNB article: Penruddock, John [↩]
- NationMaster – Encyclopedia: Sir Hugh Wyndham [↩]
- Wadham Wyndham – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [↩]
- Oxford DNB article: Wyndham, Henry Penruddocke [↩]
- Internet Archive: Details: The diary of the late George Bubb Dodington, baron of Melcombe Regis; from March 8, 1749, to February 6, 1761; with an appendix, containing some curious and interesting papers, which are either referred to, or alluded to, in the diary. Published from His Lordship’s original manuscripts [↩]
