medieval church steeple Archives

Transcript fo. 5v: Building a late medieval church steeple

Transcription of Tudor Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts (1525-6)

1. Item payde to John Smethe ffor ye scaffalde tymber [Item paid to John Smith for the scaffold timber]	iis vd
2. Ite[m] for iiij day warke of Thomas Ventu[n] & won[e] off lad [Item for 4 days work off Thomas Ventun & one off lad]	ijs iiid
3. Ite to John harvuy & Wylyem barcar for a br\a/yde [Item to John Harvey & William Barker for a braid (rope)]	iijd
4. to helpe to make ye wynlas [to help make the windlass]
5. Item to John Marryou for won day werke [Item to John Mayor for one day’s work]	vid
6. to help make shorye ffor yt vyce [to make shore(??) for its vice)
7. Ite[m] payde ffor a toob & ij bells to fett watte[r] [Item paid for a tube & 2 bells to fetch water]	viid
8. Item payde for xij c [quart] of bykke [Item paid for 12 quarts of bricks]	iiijs viiid
9. Item payde to john smethe ffo carryyng of xiiij fote sto[n] from dytt[o]n [Item paid to 10. John Smith for carrying 14 foot of stone from Duton (Duton Hill – a nearby village)]	iiijs viijd
11. Item payd to More off chemysfford when he have ye bell [Item paid to More from Chelmsford when he have the bell]	viijs iiijd
12. Item payd to Wylla[m] & Arnolde ffor makyng inquer ffor ye ston att dytto[n] [Item paid to Wiliam & Arnold for making enquires for the stone at Duton (Hill)]	iiijd
13. Item payde to john skytto[n] ffor caryyng off sande & scaffald tymber [Item paid to John Skylton for carrying the sand and scaffold timber]	iijs iiid
14. Item payde to ye maso[n] ffor makying off ye steple	vii li vijs vjd [ie £7 7s 6d]
15. Item payde to M kynwelmerche for xij okys & for hardell rodds [Item paid to Mister Kynwelmarshe for 12 oaks & for hardell(??) rods]	xviijs

16. Laydeowte for ye belframe & ffor ye bell [HEADING – Laid out for the bell-frame & for the bell]
17. In primis ffor fellynge of xvj okys pryce [First, for felling of 16 oaks (trees) price]	ijs iiijd
18. Ite[m] ffor fellyng of viij okys in ye downe croft prce [Item for felling of 8 oaks in the Down Croft price]	xd
19. Item to Thomas Weytt ffor takyng down of ye olde belframe [Item to Thomas White for taking down of the old bell-frame]	vs
20. Item payde to harry longe ffor caryynge p[ar]te of ye tymber [Item paid to Harry Long for carrying part of the timber]	xxd
21. Item ffor ye borde ye same day [Item for the board (ie maybe accommodation?) the same day]	iid
22. Item ffor ij t[o]n of ston[e] yt lyis styll att Dyttin [Item for 2 tonnes of stone, it (or ‘which’) lies still at Duton (Hill) (ie it was still at Duton Hill at the time of this entry)]	xvs
23. Ite[m] ffor xiiij fote of ston yt John Smethe browte [Item for 14 feet of stone which John Smith brought]	vs
24. Ite payd to john skylto[n] for a dayes caryynge & a halfe [Item paid to John Skylton for a day and a half of carrying]	iijs
25. to carry tymber for the clotchall to say ye pesyd bell in [to carry timber for the ?? to say the ?? bell in]
26. Item payde to Robard kelynge & john marryou ffor [Item paid to Robert Kelynge & John Mayor for]	viijs
27. viij dayes wark abowte ye ffayde clochall ye su[m] [8 days work about the said clochall(??) the sum]
28. Item to Thom[a]s Savege ffor ix dayes wark [Item to Thomas Savage for 9 days work]	iijd
29. to helpe to cary ye tymber ffor ye bell fframe [to help to carry the timber for the bell frame]
30. & ffor ye clahall & to se ye warkemen have fyche thyngs as was nedfull [& for the clochall?? & to ?? the workman have fetched things as was needful]
31. Item ffor Sawynge to Wellem george [Item for sewing to William George]	viijd
32. Item ffor makynge clene of ye stepell [Item for making clean of the steeple]	vjd

33. Thys Sum xviij li xvii s [This sum £18 8s]
34. S[um]ma All?? xviij li xvs ixd [Summa of £18 15s 9d]

Commentary
Line 4 – Windlass – a device used for moving heavy weights. This link shows a reconstruction of a Medieval Builders’ Windlass.

Line 6 – Vyce (or vice). According to A Dictionary of the Architecture and Archaeology of the Middle Ages(1), this was a winding or spiral staircase. Was it a spiral staircase up the outside of the church, which, along with the windlass, was used in the construction of the building the spire?

‘Tower of Babel showing an external staircase used during the construction of the Tower’ from Egerton Genesis Picture Book (England, 3rd quarter 14th century),
shelfmark Egerton 1894 f.5v, © British Library Board.

Line 14, 33 & 34 – the text ‘li’ is the abbreviation for the Latin word libra i.e. ‘pound’ £.

Line 25, 27 & 30 – can anyone help me with this? I’m totally stuck on the word ‘clotchall’ or ‘clochall’?

Line 34 – summa Latin word which today is abbreviated to ‘sum’ i.e. total.

Great Dunmow’s church steeple
Once again, we return to the fact that Great Dunmow doesn’t appear to have a church steeple in the modern era but the churchwardens’ accounts consistently refers to one. As can be seen on this folio, there was a lot of building work to make this steeple, which was constructed with a large amount of stone, timber and manual labour. Great Dunmow’s church does not have a steeple in the conventional sense of a steeple (i.e. there isn’t a spire). Could our Tudor scribe actually be describing the construction of the tower that is still there today? The Dictionary of the Architecture and Archaeology of the Middle Ages describes a steeple as being ‘a lofty erection attached to a church and intended chiefly to contain its bells’. As can be seen on this folio, there are many entries regarding the bell frame, so this definition would fit Great Dunmow’s church. The dictionary continues:

‘Steeple is a general term and applies to every appendage of this nature, whether its form classes it as a tower, or as a spire; or if it exhibits the ordinary arrangement of a tower surmounted by a spire’.(2)

The Victorian vicar of Great Dunmow, W T Scott, writing in the 1870s certainly puzzled over the steeple-less/spire-less tower at the church and supposed that a wooden spire had been constructed which had subsequently been destroyed. This implies that in his living memory (and the living memory of people purchasing his book), there wasn’t a steeple or spire. If the 1525-6 parish collection for the church steeple resulted in the construction of a wooden spire, if that original wooden spire was destroyed by, for example, fire, then surely that spire would have been rebuilt. Thus, there would be a record somewhere of the rebuilding of that Tudor spire and Victorian Scott most certainly would have known about it. But there isn’t. Nearby Thaxted’s and Saffron Walden’s churches both had their spires rebuilt after damage. Evidence of the rebuilding of both of these church spires survive. However, nothing has been documented about a spire in Great Dunmow. I am beginning to think that there was never a spire and that the building work paid for by the 1525-6 parish collection resulted in the ‘tower’ that can now be seen in the church.

The steeple-less/spire-less tower at St Mary the Virgin, Great Dunmow.
© Essex Voices Past 2012.

(above) St John the Baptist church, Thaxted.(3): The tower was built in the late fifteenth century.(4) This 1776 engraving shows Thaxted’s original spire. The spire was rebuilt after it was hit by lightning in 1814, and remodelled on the original.(5)

Footnotes
1) John Britton, George Godwin, and John Le Keux, A Dictionary of the Architecture and Archaeology of the Middle Ages (2010), p239.
2) Ibid, p221.
3) Robert Goadby, Cooper Engraving of Thaxted Church (1776).
4) James Bettley and Nikolaus Pevsner, Essex, The Buildings Of England (2007), p764.
5) Nikolaus Pevsner, Essex, (2nd edn.,1965), 380.

All digital images from the British Library’s Online Images archive appear by courtesy of the British Library Board and may not be reproduced (© British Library Board).

Notes about Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts
Great Dunmow’s original churchwardens’ accounts (1526-1621) are kept in Essex Record Office (E.R.O.), Chelmsford, Essex, D/P 11/5/1. All digital images of the accounts within this blog appear by courtesy of Essex Record Office and may not be reproduced. Examining these records from this Essex parish gives the modern reader a remarkable view into the lives and times of some of Henry VIII’s subjects and provides an interpretation into the local history of Tudor Great Dunmow.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following
– Index to each folio in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts
– Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts: transcripts 1526-1621
– Tudor local history
– Building a medieval church steeple

Great Dunmow’s local history: Tudor parish’s administration

Jan 29,2012 4 Comments Tudor Local History dunmow, dunmow local history, great dunmow, great dunmow history, great dunmow local history, great dunmow medieval manors, medieval church steeple

The entries detailing the collection for Great Dunmow’s church steeple are a fascinating window into the lives of our ancestors of 500 years ago. This is not only because of the names that are listed but also because the collection gives an amazing opportunity to analyse the administration of a small parish in late medieval/early Tudor England. The next few blog posts will unpick some of that administration and show how innovative, thorough and diligent our ancestors of 500 years ago were in the management their finances.

The collection was written into the accounts on ‘ye dedicacion day the yere of owre lorde god mcccccxxvi’ [Dedication day, 1526]. The parish church was (is) dedicated to St Mary the Virgin who had several saints days in Catholic Tudor England, so this date could have been one of several days including her two major feasts; the Annunciation (25 March) and the Assumption (15 August). However, this was not the date that the collection took place but just the date the contributions were formally written into the account-book. The collection must have taken place over a period of time previous to this – perhaps as long as a year. So the true dating of the collection for the parish steeple was 1525-6. It may seem pedantic to clarify the date to such a fine level. However, Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts have been examined by many historians over the last hundred years or so and many of these historians have misdated events that happened in the town. Thus some fascinating connections between Great Dunmow and events that occurred elsewhere in Tudor England and Scotland have been totally ignored or misinterpreted. (These events will be discussed in future blogs.)

The church clerk (named in the list as Robert Sturton), and the churchwardens took great care in documenting each contribution to the church steeple. Maybe at the end of each church service, the clerk set up a table near the church’s exit and collected each parishioners contribution and recorded their contribution in rough within notebooks or on scraps of paper as the parishioners left the church. Those rough scraps would later have been collated into the list that we see today. This list, as entered into the account-book has been written in strict social-hierarchy order of the parishioners: named first are parish clergy, followed by the elite, and then everyone else (as shown in the table below).

Postcards displayed on this page in the personal collection of The Narrator.

Notes about Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts
Great Dunmow’s original churchwardens’ accounts (1526-1621) are kept in Essex Record Office (E.R.O.), Chelmsford, Essex, D/P 11/5/1. All digital images of the accounts within this blog appear by courtesy of Essex Record Office and may not be reproduced. Examining these records from this Essex parish gives the modern reader a remarkable view into the lives and times of some of Henry VIII’s subjects and provides an interpretation into the local history of Tudor Great Dunmow.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following
– Index to each folio in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts
– Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts: transcripts 1526-1621
– Tudor local history
– Pre-Reformation English church clergy
– Building a medieval church steeple

Great Dunmow’s local history: Tudor vicar William Walton

Jan 28,2012 2 Comments Tudor Local History dunmow, dunmow local history, great dunmow, great dunmow history, great dunmow local history, medieval church steeple, Pre-Reformation church clergy

St Mary the Virgin church, Great Dunmow: The tower was built in the fifteenth century.(2)

The opening pages of Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts contains a list of all the house-holders within the parish (165 names) along with the amount each house-holder contributed towards a collection for the parish church’s steeple. It cannot be coincidence that this, the first of seven parish collections which took place in the 1520s and 1530s, occurred approximately two years after the arrival of a new vicar, William Walton. Walton (vicar 1523-40) was a pluralist who from 1524 also held the larger Essex parish of All Saints, Maldon. It is likely Walton, newly appointed to his second living, decided his parishes should have impressive and admired religious artefacts. Thus the commissioning of the beautiful leather churchwardens’ account-book, to record monies raised for a steeple, was a visible method that demonstrated his authority and piety. It can also be conjectured the laity and clergy cast an envious eye on the magnificent steeple of nearby Thaxted’s church before deciding they too wanted the same. Moreover, Walton’s Maldon parish had an outstanding medieval steeple (as shown in the picture below). It is likely Great Dunmow, under the guidance of Walton, wanted to assert its piety, wealth and importance by building a new steeple and then record its benefactors within the handsome churchwarden account-book under its dedication to ‘Jhesus Maria’. This was a visible method of demonstrating the parish of Great Dunmow’s piety and expressing their community pride. However, the donations were not enough to build a substantial steeple and it has been suggested the work undertaken was merely for repairs, new windows and a wooden spire.(1) The photo above (taken by The Narrator in 2011) demonstrates that indeed the church does not have a steeple, and if a wooden spire was built, it has not survived.

All Saints church, Maldon.(3): The hexagonal steeple was built in the thirteenth century.(4)

St John the Baptist church, Thaxted.(5): The tower was built in the late fifteenth century.(6) This 1776 engraving shows Thaxted’s original spire. The spire was rebuilt after it was hit by lightning in 1814, and remodelled on the original.(7)

Footnotes
1)W. T. Scott, Antiquities of an Essex Parish: Or Pages from the History of Great Dunmow (1873), 21.
2) James Bettley and Nikolaus Pevsner, Essex, The Buildings Of England (2007), 401.
3) Maldon Archaeological and Historical Group, Recent Projects (2010), MAHG Recent Projects.
4) Bettley and Pevsner, Essex, 579.
5) Robert Goadby, Cooper Engraving of Thaxted Church (1776).
6) Bettley and Pevsner, Essex, 764.
7) Nikolaus Pevsner, Essex, (2^nd edn.,1965), 380.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below. Or like my page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KateJCole/

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following:
– Index to each folio in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts
– Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts: transcripts 1526-1621
– Tudor local history
– Pre-Reformation English church clergy
– Building a medieval church steeple

Transcript fo.4r: Great Dunmow’s collection for the church steeple (part 5)

Jan 25,2012 Leave a Reply Great Dunmow 1526-1621, Tudor Local History dunmow, dunmow local history, great dunmow, great dunmow history, great dunmow local history, medieval church steeple

Transcription of Tudor Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts (1525-6)

1. Item John Sweynge	iiij [4d]	[John Sweeting]
2. Item John Chaplin nichell	[blank]	[John Chaplin, none]
3. Item Thom[a]s Stonam	iiijd [4d]	[Thomas ??]
4. Item wylyem carpent[e]r	iiijd [4d]	[William Carpenter]
5. Item Thom[a]s Smethe	iiijd [4d]	[Thomas Smith]
6. Item Wyllym maggott	iiijd [4d]	[William Maggot]
7. Item John maggott	ijd [2d]	[John Maggot]
8. Item john Whale	iiijd [4d]	[John Whale]
9. Item Wyllem Swetynge	vjd [6d]	[William Sweeting]
10. Item John powll	ijd [2d]	[John Paul]
11. Item Wellem ballett	ijd [2d]	[William ??]
12. Item Wyllem kempe	iiijd [4d]	[William Kemp]
13. Item Robard kempe	iiijd [4d]	[Robert Kemp]
14. Item John Stonerd	iiijd [4d]	[John Stone?]
15. Item Robard Sturton minor	iijd [3d]	[Robert Sturton, minor]
16. Item John prestmery	iiijd [4d]	[John Prestmary]
17. Item Thom[a]s Ramsolde	ijd [2d]	[Thomas Ramsolde]
18. Item Thom[a]s iggrom	id [1d]	[Thomas Ingram]
19. Item John larkyn	iiijd [4d]	[John Larkin]
20. Item Wylem raynold	iiijd [4d]	[William Raynold]
21. Item Thomas bacar	[blank]	[Thomas Baker]
22. Item Wellem Morres	id [2d]	[William Morris]
[the remaining entries on this page will be transcribed on this blog post fo.4r (bottom)]

Commentary
Line 2: Nichell – Latin for ‘none’ ie this household did not contribute any money towards the collection.

Notes
Text in square [brackets] are The Narrator’s transcriptions. Line numbers are merely to assist the reader find their place on the digital image.

The early-modern spellings of the inhabitants of Great Dunmow have been transcribed into modern English so that family historians and other researchers can pick up these names via internet search engines. Please leave a comment if you can improve the modern-day spelling or transcribe any of my question marks. The other hundred or so names written within this list will appear over the next few days, followed by an analysis of the names on the list and the reason for the church collection.

Notes about Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts
Great Dunmow’s original churchwardens’ accounts (1526-1621) are kept in Essex Record Office (E.R.O.), Chelmsford, Essex, D/P 11/5/1. All digital images of the accounts within this blog appear by courtesy of Essex Record Office and may not be reproduced. Examining these records from this Essex parish gives the modern reader a remarkable view into the lives and times of some of Henry VIII’s subjects and provides an interpretation into the local history of Tudor Great Dunmow.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following
– Index to each folio in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts
– Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts: transcripts 1526-1621
– Tudor local history
– Building a medieval church steeple

Transcript fo.3v: Great Dunmow’s collection for the church steeple (part 4)

Jan 23,2012 Leave a Reply Great Dunmow 1526-1621, Tudor Local History dunmow, dunmow local history, great dunmow, great dunmow history, great dunmow local history, medieval church steeple

Transcription of Tudor Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts (1525-6)

	1. Item Thomas chapman	iiijd [4d]	[Thomas Chapman]
cherche end	2. Item Rychard bowyer	xij [12d]	[Richard Bowyer]
	3. Item Thom[a]s Dostetur	ijs [2s]	[Thomas Dowsetter/Dowset]
	4. Item Robard Mede	ijs [2s]	[Robert Mead]
	5. Item Thomas Wolray	ixd [9d]	[Thomas ??]
	6. Item Robart kekynge	viijd [8d]	[Robert Keking?]
	7. Item Rychard Wales	viijd [8d]	[Richard Wales]
	8. Item Mother skylton	iiijd [4d]	[Mother Skilton]
	9. Item margarytt Sawlen	iiijd [4d]	[Margaret Sawlen]
	10. Item Wyllem phelyp	iiijd [4d]	[William Phillip/Phelp]
	11. Item john bokk	[blank]	[John Book]
	12. Item John kynge	iiijd [4d]	[John King]
	13. Item john Akkynsone	iiijd [4d]	[John Atkinson]
	14. Item Robart Aschebye	iiijd [4d]	[Robert Ashby]
	15. Item Robard Rolfe	iiijd [4d]	[Robert Rolf]
	16. Item Wyllem Aylett	iiijd [4d]	[William Aylett]
	17. Item Father braybroke	iiijd [4d]	[Father Braybrook]
	18. Item harry rerdlay	ijd [2d]	[Harry ??]
Bygwod quart	19. Item John Matkyn	iiijd [4d]	[John Matkin]
	20. Item Thom[a]s More	viijd [8d]	[Thomas Moore]
	21. Item Robard Melburne	vid [6d]	[Robert Melbourne]
	22. Item Rychard Sanders[o]n	viijd [8d]	[Richard Sanderson]
	23. Item henry sharpe	viijd [8d]	[Henry Sharpe]
	24. Item John Carver	ijd [2d]	[John Carver]
hywode qter	25. Item Wyllem longe	iiijd [4d]	[William Long]
	26. Item \John/ playell	iiijd [4d]	[John Playel]
	27. Item Robard p[ar]car att caunare	iiijd [4d]	[Robert Parker at ??]
	28. Item Jone glascokke	viijd [8d]	[Joan/Jane Glascock]
	29. Item father howchy[n]	viijd [8d]	[Father Hutchinson?]
	30. Item Robard hochyn	viiijd [8d]	[Robert Huchinson?]
	31. Item John hankyn	iiijd [4d]	[John Hankin]
	32. Item Rychartt P[ar]car	iiijd [4d]	[Richard Parker]
bosshopwode qter	33. Item John longe junior	xxd [20d]	[John Long, junior]
	34. Item Henry longe	ijs [2s]	[Henry Long]
	35. Item John Nyghtyngale	iiijd [4d]	[John Nightingale]
	36. Item Rychartt carpentr	vjd [6d]	[Richard Carpenter]
	37. Item Thom[a]s kyunt[o]n	iiijd [4d]	[Thomas ??]

Commentary
Line 17 & 29: Father = ‘old man’ ie a local aged man

Line 8: Mother = ‘old woman’ ie local aged woman, probably a widow as this is a list of heads of households.

Line 2: Church End, the area of the parish where the parish church is located (nearly one mile from the main town)

Line 19: Bigods Quarter – an area in the north of the parish. Bigods was one of Great Dunmow’s medieval manors.

Line 33: Bishopswood Quarter – an area to the south of the parish.

Notes
Text in square [brackets] are The Narrator’s transcriptions. Line numbers are merely to assist the reader find their place on the digital image.

The early-modern spellings of the inhabitants of Great Dunmow have been transcribed into modern English so that genealogists, family historians and other researchers can pick up these names via internet search engines. Please leave a comment if you can improve the modern-day spelling. The other hundred or so names written within this list will appear over the next few days, followed by an analysis of the names on the list and the reason for the church collection.

Notes about Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts
Great Dunmow’s original churchwardens’ accounts (1526-1621) are kept in Essex Record Office (E.R.O.), Chelmsford, Essex, D/P 11/5/1. All digital images of the accounts within this blog appear by courtesy of Essex Record Office and may not be reproduced. Examining these records from this Essex parish gives the modern reader a remarkable view into the lives and times of some of Henry VIII’s subjects and provides an interpretation into the local history of Tudor Great Dunmow.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following
– Index to each folio in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts
– Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts: transcripts 1526-1621
– Tudor local history
– Building a medieval church steeple

Transcript fo.3r: Great Dunmow’s collection for the church steeple (part 3)

Jan 21,2012 Leave a Reply Great Dunmow 1526-1621, Tudor Local History dunmow, dunmow local history, great dunmow, great dunmow history, great dunmow local history, medieval church steeple

Transcription of Tudor Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts (1525-6)

	1. Item Wyllem barcar	viijd [8d]	[William Barker]
	2. Item John hrady(??)	iiijd [4d]	[John ??]
	3. Item mother hotte	iiijd [4d]	[Mother Hot]
	4. Item John Maryou	iiijd [4d]	[John Mayor]
	5. Item Thom[a]s myllett	ijd [2d]	[Thomas Millet]
	6. Item John Scoryar \nichell/	[blank]	[John Scoryar]
	7. Item Cateryn Lott	viijd [8d]	[Catherine Lot]
	8. Item Wyllem Davy	iiijd [4d]	[William Davy]
	9. Item Mother Longe	xxd [20d]	[Mother Long]
	10. Item Jone palgrave wedow	id [1d]	[Jane/Joan Palgrave, widow]
	11. Item Wyllem baysy	xijd [12d]	[William Bass?]
	12. Item Robard Fest	iiijd [4d]	[Robert Fest]
	13. Item baldwyn tyler nichell	[blank]	[Baldwin Tyler]
	14. Item Thomas Farethe[??]	iiijd [4d]	[Thomas ??]
	15. Wyllem Nyghttyngale	iiijd [4d]	[William Nightingale]
	16. Item Robard bothe	ijd [2d]	[Robert Both]
	17. Item Stevyn Sturt[o]n	ijd [2d]	[Steven Sturton]
	18. Item Wyllem Sewerd	viijd [8d]	[William Seward]
	19. Item Edmund Fuller	iiijd [4d]	[Edmund Fuller]
	20. Item Nycolas Aylett	xvid [16d]	[Nicholas Aylett]
	21. Item Nycolas parcar	viijd [8d]	[Nicholas Parker]
	22. Item Wyllem p[ar]son	iiijd [4d]	[William Parson]
	23. Item John Exylby	iiijd [4d]	[John Exilby?]
	24. Item Jamys Stowte	iiijd [4d]	[James Stout]
	25. Item Wyllem mede	iiijd [4d]	[William Mead]
	26. Item Rychard Cokke	xijd [4d]	[Richard Cook]
	27. Item Wyllem tayler glover	viijd [8d]	[William Tayler, glover]
p[ar]sonage downe	28. Item Thomas Dygby	iiijd [4d]	[Thomas Digby]
	29. Item John Alyn	iiijd [4d]	[John Allen]
	30. Item Thom[a]s kyng	iiijd [4d]	[Thomas King]
	31. Item George owr nychell	[blank]	[George Ower?, none]
	32. Item John Weste	iiijd [4d]	[John West]
	33. Item Thom[a]s Thake	ijd [2d]	[Thomas Thake]
	34. Item John Harvy	iiijd [4d]	[John Harvey]
	35. Item Robard mason	iiijd [4d]	[Robert Mason]
	36. Item Rychard storyer	iiijd [4d]	[Richard Story?]
	37. Item mother bowyer	iiijd [4d]	[Mother Bowyer]

Commentary
Line 3, 9, & 37: Mother = ‘old woman’ ie local aged woman, probably a widow as this is a list of heads of households.

Line 6, 13, & 31: Nichell – Latin for ‘none’ ie this household did not contribute any money towards the collection.

Line 28: Parsonage Down, an area of the parish next to St Mary the Virgin parish church.

Notes
Text in square [brackets] are The Narrator’s transcriptions. Line numbers are merely to assist the reader find their place on the digital image.

The early-modern spellings of the inhabitants of Great Dunmow have been transcribed into modern English so that family historians and other researchers can pick up these names via internet search engines. Please leave a comment if you can improve the modern-day spelling or transcribe any of my question marks. The other hundred or so names written within this list will appear over the next few days, followed by an analysis of the names on the list and the reason for the church collection.

Notes about Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts
Great Dunmow’s original churchwardens’ accounts (1526-1621) are kept in Essex Record Office (E.R.O.), Chelmsford, Essex, D/P 11/5/1. All digital images of the accounts within this blog appear by courtesy of Essex Record Office and may not be reproduced. Examining these records from this Essex parish gives the modern reader a remarkable view into the lives and times of some of Henry VIII’s subjects and provides an interpretation into the local history of Tudor Great Dunmow.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following
– Index to each folio in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts
– Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts: transcripts 1526-1621
– Tudor local history
– Building a medieval church steeple

Transcript fo.2v: Great Dunmow’s collection for the church steeple (part 2)

Jan 21,2012 Leave a Reply Great Dunmow 1526-1621, Tudor Local History dunmow, dunmow local history, great dunmow, great dunmow history, great dunmow local history, medieval church steeple

Transcription of Tudor Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts (1525-6)

	1. Item myles doklay	iiijd [4d]	[Miles Dorkley]
	2. Item John Swetynge	viijd [8d]	[John Sweeting]
	3. Item Robarde Suttun	iiijd [4d]	[Robert Sutton]
	4. Item myles pumfrett	iiijd [4d]	[Miles Pumfret]
	5. Item Roba\r/d parcar bocher	iiijd [4d]	[Robert Parker, butcher]
	6. Item Thomas veutun	iiijd [4d]	[Thomas Ventun ??]
	7. Item John Carvar	iiijd [4d]	[John Carver]
	8. Item Wellem George	vid [6d]	[William George]
	9. Item \[illegible]/ John P[ar]car tyler	[blank]	[John Parker, tyler]
	10. Item John kynge habbardasshar	iiijd [4d]	[John King, haberdasher]
	11. Item John Saucum	ijd [2d]	[John ?]
	12. Item Thomas Clerke	viijd [8d]	[Thomas Clark]
	13. Item Rychard Fuller	xijd [12d]	[Richard Fuller]
	14. Item Father best nichell	[blank]	[Father Best, none]
The hye strete	15.Item John Decon	viiijd [8d]	[John Deacon]
	16. Item Essabeth barun	iiijd [4d]	[Elizabeth Brown/Baron]
	17. Item Andrew Powlter	ijd [2d]	[Andrew Poulter]
	18. Item Thomas Averett	xijd [12d]	[Thomas Everit]
	19. Item Thomas harvy	xvid [16d]	[Thomas Harvey]
	20. Item father Dane	iiid [4d]	[Father Dane]
	21. Item Elisabeth grene	iiijd [4d]	[Elizabeth Green]
	22. Item Rychard Dyctatt	viijd [8d]	[Richard Dowsett]
	23. Item John p[ar]car whelere	viijd [8d]	[John Parker, wheeler]
	24. Item Mother skypton	xijd [12d]	[Mother Skipton]
	25. Item John hunwykk	iiijd [4d]	[John Hunwick]
	26. Item John vyntner	iiijd [4d]	[John Vintner]
	27. Item John bykner	xijd [12d]	[John Bikner]
	28. Item wylyem hotte	iiijd [4d]	[William Hot]
	29. Item Rycharde prentyc	viij [8d]	[Richard Prentice]
	30. Item Robard Draper	xijd [12d]	[Robert Draper]
	31. Item Mother parcar wedow	viijd [8d]	[Mother Parker, widow]
	32. Item Wylyem blythe	iiijd [4d]	[William Blyth]
	33. Item Thomas hert nichell	[blank]	[Thomas Heart, none]
Bullok rowe	34. Item John Suttun	iiijd [4d]	[John Sutton]
	35. Item Thom[a]s Godsalfe	ijd [2d]	[Thomas Goodself]
	36. Item harryy keme	iiijd [4d]	[Harry Kemp]

Commentary
Line 14 & 19: Father = ‘old man’ ie a local aged man

Line 23 & 30: Mother = ‘old woman’ ie local aged woman, probably a widow or spinster as this is a list of heads of households.

Line 14 & 32: Nichell – Latin for ‘none’ ie this household did not contribute any money towards the collection.

Line 15: The High Street, an area of the town about one mile away from the parish church.

Line 34: Bullock Row, a street in the town behind the area of the High Street.

Notes
Text in square [brackets] are The Narrator’s transcriptions. Line numbers are merely to assist the reader find their place on the digital image.

The early-modern spellings of the inhabitants of Great Dunmow have been transcribed into modern English so that family historians and other researchers can pick up these names via internet search engines. Please leave a comment if you can improve the modern-day spelling. The other hundred or so names written within this list will appear over the next few days, followed by an analysis of the names on the list and the reason for the church collection.

Notes about Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts
Great Dunmow’s original churchwardens’ accounts (1526-1621) are kept in Essex Record Office (E.R.O.), Chelmsford, Essex, D/P 11/5/1. All digital images of the accounts within this blog appear by courtesy of Essex Record Office and may not be reproduced. Examining these records from this Essex parish gives the modern reader a remarkable view into the lives and times of some of Henry VIII’s subjects and provides an interpretation into the local history of Tudor Great Dunmow.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following
– Index to each folio in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts
– Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts: transcripts 1526-1621
– Tudor local history
– Building a medieval church steeple

Transcript fo.2r: Great Dunmow’s collection for the church steeple (part 1)

Jan 20,2012 Leave a Reply Great Dunmow 1526-1621, Tudor Local History dunmow, dunmow local history, great dunmow, great dunmow history, great dunmow local history, great dunmow medieval manors, medieval church steeple

Transcription of Tudor Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts (1525-6)

1. Thys ys the cownt of thomas savage John
2. Skylton John nyghtyngale & John clerke cherchwardens
3. of myche Dunmowe electe & choes be ye hole p[a]rysche the
4. upon ye dedicacion day the yere of owre lorde god m cccccxxvi [1526]
[gap]
5. Resaynyd of ye perrysche to the makyng off ye Stepyll
6. \Imp[ri]mis/ M[aster] Robard Sturt[o]n sumtyme vycar of a late tyme	vs [5s]	[Robert Sturton, retired vicar]
7. mayster vycar thatt now ys	vis viijd [6s 8d]	[William Walton, vicar]
8. Item for Sur John mylton	iijs [3s]	[Sir John Milton, parish priest)
9. Ite[m] for Sur Wyllyem Wree	xxd [20d]	[Sir William Wree, parish priest]
10. Item M[r] kynwelmerche	xviijs [18s]	[Mr Kynwelmarshe]
11. Item Robard lovedaye	vs [5s]	[Robert Loveday]
12. Item John parcer Fletcher	xxvjs viijd [26s 8d]	[John Parker, fletcher]
13. Item John longe the elder	xs [10s]	[John Long, the elder]
14. Item Wylyem Whale	iijs iiijd [3s 4d]	[William Whale]
15. Item Wylyem Struttan	ijs viijd [2s 8d]	[William Sturton]
16. Item Raff Melburne	xxd [20d]	[Ralph Melburne]
17. Item wylyem fyche	xxd [20d]	[Willliam Fitch]
18. Item John Dygby	xiid [12d]	[John Digby]
19. Item Wylyem Sauder	xxd [20d]	[William Sauder]
20. Item John Ramsolde	xijd [12d]	[John Ramsold]
21. Item Grefyn Apryce	ijs [2s]	[Griffin Aprice]
22. Item John Colen	xxd [20d]	[John Colen]
23. Item John Cokke	xxd [20d]	[John Coke]
24. Item John Bemyche	[blank]	[John Bemish]
25. Item Thomas Bemyche ye elder	xviiijd [18d]	[Thomas Bemish, the elder]
26. Item Thomas Bemyche junior	xiijd [13d]	[Thomas Bemish, junior]
27. Item Thomas Weytt Wheler	iijs of iiijd [3s 4d]	[Thomas White, wheeler]
28. Item Thomas Weytt otherwyce callyd turner	xijd [12d]	[Thomas White alias Turner]
29. Item Thomas Savage	iijli vis viijd [£3 6s 8d]	[Thomas Savage, churchwarden]
30. Item John Joye	xxid [21d]	[John Joy]
31. Item John Freke	xijd [12d]	[John Freke]
32. Item John Foster	xijd [12d]	[John Foster]
33. Item John Tottryche	viijd [8d]	[John Tottrich (or Dottrich)]
34. Item John raynolde dyer	viijd [8d]	[John Reynold, dyer]
35. Item Thomas moyne	viijd [8d]	[Thomas Moyne]
36. Item John Skylt[o]n	iijs iiijd [3s 4d]	[John Skilton, churchwarden]
37. Item Robard maye	xijd [12d]	[Robert May]
38. Item Robard sturt[o]n cherche clark	viijd [8d]	[Robert Sturton, church clerk]

Notes
Text in square [brackets] are The Narrator’s transcriptions. Line numbers are merely to assist the reader find their place on the digital image.

The early-modern spellings of the inhabitants of Great Dunmow have been transcribed into modern English so that family historians and other researchers can pick up these names via internet search engines. Please leave a comment if you can improve the modern-day spelling. The other hundred or so names written within this list will appear over the next few days, followed by an analysis of the names on the list and the reason for the church collection.

Notes about Great Dunmow’s churchwarden accounts
Great Dunmow’s original churchwardens’ accounts (1526-1621) are kept in Essex Record Office (E.R.O.), Chelmsford, Essex, D/P 11/5/1. All digital images of the accounts within this blog appear by courtesy of Essex Record Office and may not be reproduced. Examining these records from this Essex parish gives the modern reader a remarkable view into the lives and times of some of Henry VIII’s subjects and provides an interpretation into the local history of Tudor Great Dunmow.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in the following
– Index to each folio in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts
– Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts: transcripts 1526-1621
– Tudor local history
– Building a medieval church steeple

Tag Archive medieval church steeple