Clare Skinner writes: In 2009 we were able to secure ten out of twenty-three lots, comprising 95 deeds, with the kind assistance of the Friends of the National Libraries and Wiltshire Family History Society.
Our success in this initial acquisition came to the attention of one of the other purchasers at that auction, namely the bookseller Samuel Gedge Rare Books, who offered Wiltshire Archives the opportunity to acquire five of the lots (283, 287, 289, 291 and 292), comprising 33 items, which Wiltshire Archives had not been able to afford initially, which was helpful in reuniting part of the archive which would otherwise have been dispersed.
The earliest deed in the collection is almost a century earlier than its auction description had indicated: a grant by Reynold Roylly of Hullavington to Miles de Scyston and wife Sara, of Eastbery Grange, 1315. A few of the deeds relate to property in Gloucestershire and Somerset. These records are an important source of topographical and place name evidence as well as documenting the links and relationships between local families.