William Bayly (barrister)

[3] He was the son of John Bayly, a lawyer at Lyon's Inn[4] and Joan or Jone, both of Castle Cary, Somerset.

[5] On 27 November 1559, aged 19, William was admitted to the Middle Temple for training as a barrister.

[6] Completing his tuition, he was called to the Bar and subsequently granted the lease to Chippenham's Monkton House and half its estate (400 acres) in 1567 by Gabriel Pleydell,[7] an infamous politician who had once conspired to exile Queen Mary I.

[8] Bayly became Pleydell's son-in-law through his marriage to Gabriel's only daughter, Agnes, in St Andrew's Church, Chippenham.

The section of the church in which they married was formerly named "Bayliffe's Aisle" in their honour.