In 1735- another change occurred in the ownership of part of the estate when Sir John Astley of Patteshull, Staffordshire, Member of Parliament for Shropshire for nearly half a century, purchased that part of it known as Lower House. It is said that he became attracted to the district while paying a visit to his mother, the dowager Lady Astley, who had then become the wife of General Webbe, of Biddesden House, near Ludgershall. Twenty-nine years later in 1764, he completed the purchase of the rest of the property comprising 3,275 acres, with 100 acres of woodlands, 50 acres of young plantations, and 19 acres of glebe land allotted to the Church, and made the Manor House his home.

Although measured against the background of 600 years or more, the Astleys can be regarded as comparative latecomers to the scene, the changes they wrought, and the impact 0f their wealth and social standing undoubtedly left its mark on Everleigh, and for this reason no apologies are made for devoting some space to their history.

Their arms (azure, a cinquefoil pierced ermine) are reproduced on the Manor House, the Church, West Everleigh Farm House, and various other parts of the parish, and their motto "Fide sed cuivide," or "Trust, but see whom ye trust" sounds a note of caution which contrasts oddly with some of their exploits.

Representative of this famous family and possessing an honourable and ancient lineage, this first Sir John could trace his descent from Sir Thomas de Astley, who was also of Patteshull, and who was slain at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Sir Thomas could himself claim descent from Phillip de Astley, or Estele, Lord of Estele in Warwickshire. Sir John's residence at the Manor was not destined to last many years as his death took place in January 1772 and his body was taken back to Patteshull for burial.

Having no direct heir to succeed him, he bequeathed his vast estates in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, and Wiltshire to a distant kinsman, Francis Dugdale Astley Esq., and it was this man who in his later years carried out a considerable number of changes. He was elected High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1775 and lived to enjoy his inheritance for 46 years, dying in May 1818 and being buried in the new Church he had erected only three and a half years before. His son, John Dugdale, who succeeded him was created a baronet in 1821, thus reviving the title which had passed into abeyance in 1772.

An ardent politician, as was his forbear of Patteshull, he fought and won representation of North Wiltshire in the General Elections of 1819 and 1832 and as a consequence of the vast sums he is said to have spent on his campaigns, large areas of his estates, including nearly all the northern portion had to be sold to meet the cost. It is said that these contests ran away with £100,000 of which fantastic sum "ribbons" accounted for nearly £5,000. In a notebook which he left behind him, his various: payments are methodically tabulated, and it would seem that the servants in all of the Tory hotels in all the principal towns of the Division were very handsomely "tipped" indeed! He also, like his father, was elected High Sheriff in 1836.

The next baronet Francis Dugdale no doubt left the strain of this lavish expenditure, for he ceased to live regularly at the Manor after 1856, and retired to a smaller place near Warminster. His death took place in July 1873 and both he and his wife are buried in Everleigh churchyard, she having predeceased him by six months.

He was succeeded by his eldest son, another John Dugdale, and during this man's eventful life he became a leading figure in the world of sport, making a name for himself as a runner, excellent shot and first class amateur rider. His book "Fifty Years of My Life" published in 1890 contains a wealth of anecdotes both grave and gay, of war and of peace.

His only son, Francis Dugdale, assumed the title as 4th baronet in October 1894 and as a condition of inheriting his maternal grandfather's estates at Brigg, Lincolnshire, he was required to add the surname of Corbett to that of Astley. Gazetted to his fathers old regiment he saw service in Egypt in 1885, against the Mahdi, and was severely wounded. The ownership of Everleigh by the Astley's ceased in 1917, Sir Francis, like many other agricultural landlords, being compelled to sell his patrimony owing to economic pressure.

At that time the estate comprised some 4,500 acres, parts of the neighbouring parishes of Milton Lilbourne and Collingbourne Kingston being included, and when the Manor House and the shooting were let produced a small income. During 1915 and 1916 they were unlet and selling was inevitable. Sir Francis Astley-Corbett died in February 1939 and his son and heir having pre-deceased him in 1937, he was succeeded by his grandson,

Francis Henry. A Captain in his father's and grandfather's old regiment, the Scots Guards, he was killed in action in Italy in October 1943. The present holder of the barontecy is Sir Francis J. D. Astley, only son of the Rev. Anthony Aylmer Astley, youngest brother of the sporting Sir John mentioned earlier. Born at Everleigh Rectory and spending his early years in the parish he assumed the title consequent on the line of five uncles and two generations of cousins becoming extinct.

Having traced the descent of this family and its connection with Everleigh over a period of one hundred and eighty-two years, perhaps we may now be pardoned if we go back to their earliest times and record what is known of some of their more outstanding personalities, although so far as is known up to 1735 none of them had any local ties.

Among the earliest and most celebrated was Sir Thomas de Astley, a descendant of Phillip de Astley or Estele, Lord of Estele in Warwickshire. In September 1236 he married a certain Editha Constable, an heiress of Melton Constable, Norfolk, and founded that branch of the family, the head of which is Lord Hastings, and which, until recently, occupied Melton Constable Hall after 700 years and and more of unbroken male descent. Taking sides with his cousin, Simon de Montfort, and the insurgent barons against King Henry III this bold Sir Thomas fell fighting on the disastrous field of Evesham in 1265. As the centuries unrolled his descendants could still be found fighting their way through English history. A Sir Ralph fought beside the Black Prince at Crecy on August 26th, 1346, and as a reward for his valour was permitted to bear ostrich feathers as his crest, in a fashion only slightly different from the Prince's own. Ten years later another Astley, Sir James, followed Edward III and the Black Prince to France and distinguished himself at the Battle of Poitiers on the 19th September, 1356.