PR

Deeds Deposited by Preston & Redman of Bournemouth, Solicitors

Introduction It has not been possible to establish how the collection came to be in Bournemouth. It seems likely that they relate to the later property of the Wade-Gery family in Great and Little Staughton, but no direct link has been found. Robert Gery and his wife Barbara were deforciants in a Final Concord of 1601 (PR253) but this establishes nothing The collection is one of peasant charters and relates, in the main, to the properties of the Dean, Bulmer and Crowe families in Little and Great Staughton, which were built up in the 14th and 15th century. Much of this land was purchased in or around 1530 by William Saunder of Keysoe, yeoman, and the collection ends in 1581 with an apparently unsuccessful attempt by William's grandson Roger to settle the property on his sons Robert and Walter (PR251-2). The single deeds for Clapham, Eaton Socon and Goldington and the mediaeval Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire deeds (except those for Great Staughton), together with the 17th century deeds relating to London and Kent have no relation to the main deposit. Families: 1) Dean: No member of this family occurs in the Subsidy list for Little Staughton in 1309, but they appear to have been resident there from the 12th century [for notes on early members of the family cf. BHRS xxii, p.98]. Two undated grants to William filius Robert Diaconus (PR35, 36) probably relate to a member of the family; the form 'Dekene' is used as late as 1423 (PR157). Roger filius Nicholas Dean appears frequently as a witness from the late 13th century to 1320 (PR22, 24-6, 28-47; cf.BHRS xxii, pp 106-9). At his death in 1320/1 his son Thomas granted life-tenancies in portions of the family holding to his brothers John, Robert and William (PR48-51), covering a total of 19 selions (which does not include the holding of Thomas himself). Thomas acquired a messuage in West end in 1322 (PR55) and one selion in 1324 (PR59); he is found as a witness in PR56-75 and last appears in 1337. Subsequent deeds relate to the holding of his brother Robert. Robert acquired two adjoining messuages in Fremancroft (now Green End) in 1336 and 1341-2 (PR74-5, 83, cf. 62, 65, 67, 70, 73). His wife Elena seems to have married Adam Bulmer by 1364/5, when Robert's son Roger granted them ½ acre in Babwell field for life (PR107). This Roger lived in Green End and is a party in PR111, 117, 120, 129, 268, 269, 271-2. The last certain reference to him (as a witness) occurs in 1386 (PR133). Another Roger Dean appears for the first time in 1378, when he granted 1 acre to Thomas Crowe (PR118); he is distinguished as 'junior' from his namesake, but his relationship is not made clear. He was the recipient of several grants of land in Little and Great Staughton between 1381 and 1403 (PR124, 126, 131, 132, 133, 140, 275, 277). In 1394 his lands were settled on himself and his wife Beatrice by feoffees (PR136-7) and in 1415 he conveyed his lands to feoffees (PR147), who regranted them to his son John in 1421 (PR152). John acquired a messuage in Overend in 1423 (PR157), lands late of John Laurence in 1433 (PR174) and all lands late of John Raad in 1438 (PR179). After this date it becomes impossible to trace the descent. A William Dean was granted land in 1453-5 (PR189,191), and in 1531 Henry Dean granted to feoffees 6¼ acres land late of his father William (PR245). Members of the family appear frequently as feoffees and witnesses in the 15th century. 2) Bulmer: The family originated from the lost hamlet of Bolmere in Pertenhall. Roger and John Bulmer were prosperous inhabitants of Little Staughton in 1309 (Two Bedfordshire Subsidies, p.96). Richard Bulmer and his wife Joan were acquiring land steadily in Little Staughton between 1340 and 1373 (PR80, 89, 91, 99, 106, 113, 116). In 1353 he granted all his lands to Adam Raad for life at 50s per annum (PR95-6); these were granted back to him in 1361 (PR103). At some time Richard had been bailiff of the Hospitallers at Little Staughton, since a receipt for £8 arrears was issued to his executors in 1383 (PR127). In 1382 he settled his property on feoffees (PR125), who granted it to his wife Joan or (seu) daughter Joan in 1385 (PR130). Richard's son William was granted 2 selions by his father in 1351 (PR93), and acquired 1 selion of John le Wolf in 1361 (PR102). A William Bulmer received property late of John Gullivere from feoffees in 1403 (PR141) and was granted 2 acres land by Joan Bulmer in 1406 (PR143). Another son, John, obtained 8 selions between 1363 and 1381, and in 1378 his father settled a messuage and 5 acres of land on him by Final Concord (PR105, 108,116, 119, 123). There was however another John Bulmer in the parish at this time (PR109). Adam Bulmer appears in 1364/5 (PR107). After the death of Richard Bulmer probably 1382-4, his property was held by his widow Joan until 1417/8, when she settled it on feoffees (PR150). In 1428 John Lawe as feoffee, conveyed this property to his son John (PR164). Bulmers appear throughout the 15th century, but the descent of the property is obscured by the use of feoffees. In 1481 Agnes Bulmer granted 5½ acres land and pasture called Fordole to feoffees (Pr224), who presumably settled it on Thomas Bulmer and his wife Margaret, who acquired 3½ roods in 1493 (PR228) and 11½ acres in Green End of Robert Smyth of Stamford (late of Little Staughton) in 1506 (PR233-5). In 1531 Thomas Bulmer of Little Staughton, husbandman, sold 17 acres land and the pasture called Fordole to William Saundre for £14 (PR241-4). 3) Crowe: Thomas Crowe first appears in 1373 (PR113). In 1380 he received a messuage and 5 acres from John ate Halle, chaplain, who was probably acting as a feoffee of Thomas's father John (PR121). In 1384 all the lands which he had acquired of Roger Gregory and others in Great Staughton were settled on him by William ate Halle, chaplain (PR273; for lands acquired by Thomas cf. PR113, 118, 121, 274, 280). John Crowe, perhaps a son of Thomas, appears as a witness between 1396 and 1416 and was dead by 1422, when feoffees settled the property on his son John (PR156). It then consisted of a messuage in Over End, a croft called Wardyscroft, 11¼ acres in Little Staughton and 12¾ acres in Great Staughton. John was apparently a man of some substance; in 1439 he was a farmer of the rectory of Pertenhall (PR11). In 1431 14 inhabitants of Little Staughton, with the consent of the whole vill, quitclaimed to him 6½ square perches of land next his messuage (PR168). Between 1432 and 1450 he acquired 9¾ acres and all the lands of Roger Merysoule in Little Staughton (PR171, 172, 176, 177, 178, 185). In his last will of 1446 (PR181) he directed his feoffees to allow his wife Katherine a life estate in all his lands with remainder to the more suitable of the sons of his brother William. This son was to expend £20 on pious works within 4 years of the death of Katherine. In February 1449/50 John settled all his lands on feoffees and was dead by July 1450 (PR186,187). John's brother William is first mentioned in 1422 (PR156). In 1428 William Clopton of Barnwell (Cambridgeshire), chaplain, settled on him a messuage and 30 acres in Little and Great Staughton, probably under the last will of his father (PR163). He is a grantee in PR169, 175 (1431-3) and last appears in 1467/8 when involved in trouble over a bond with Ripley Turner of London (PR206, see below). After the death of John Crow in 1450 his widow apparently remarried, since she must be the Catherine Hardy mentioned in 1468 (PR210). Thomas, the son of William Crow, probably acquired some right in his uncle's property by 1453 (PR188). He lived at St Neots, and first appears in 1450 (PR185). He received 4½ acres from feoffees in 1463 (PR198). In 1468 the executors of John Crowe leased to William Crowe junior, presumably the son of Thomas, all the property late held by John Crowe, to the use of Catherine Hardy for life and thereafter in tail male (PR210). The descent then becomes complicated by the existence of two William Crowes and the use of feoffees. Margaret, possibly the wife of William, had by 1503 remarried Thomas Richard, since the latter surrendered her dower lands to William Crow (PR232). In 1520 John Crowe conveyed his lands to feoffees to the use of his last will (PR237). Later members of the family appear in 1601 and 1660 (PR13, 253) 4) Saundre: Though members of the family appear in Pertenhall (PR7, 9, 10, 12) and Little Staughton from 1321 onwards, references are too scanty to construct a pedigree. Their main holding seems to have been in Pertenhall (cf. PR7, an unusual instance of a free tenant receiving land of the lord of the manor, after a surrender by his father, cf. Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law, i, 326, ii,228), and until 1431 they appear in Little Staughton only as witnesses. Arthur Ormesby, lord of Pertenhall, leased closes in Little Staughton to John Saundre in 1431 and 1447 (PR170, 182). The title deeds of their Little Staughton holding begin in 1515, when John Saunder granted a messuage and 9 acres there to his son Robert. In 1531 William Saunder of Keysoe, yeoman, acquired the Bulmer holding (see above); 4 acres were acquired from Edward Parell in 1534 (PR246) and one acre from Henry Deen (PR244); In 1548 they were settled on his son Roger (PR249); the latter in 1582 attempted to settle his property on his sons Robert and Walter, but the deeds are cancelled (PR251-2). Miscellaneous 1) Early instances of right to devise land: In a number of the undated 13th century deeds the grantee is given power to devise the property. Normally this is indicated by the word legare in the Habendum clause (PR18, 19, 21, 25, 29, 32, 36, 37, 260, 262). Occasionally a more specific phrase is used - vel in testament reliquere voluerit (PR15); seu in testament assignare vel legare (PR22); seu in extremis legare (PR23) 2) Early instances of the use: Although groups of feoffees do not appear here until 1369 (PR109), it seems clear that from the early 14th century a single person, usually a priest, would occasionally act as a feoffee in the conveyance of property; though in no case is it clear that he was employed to defeat the laws of inheritance. In January 1328/9 John (Arewelle) of Bekkele and his wife Joan conveyed a messuage in Fremancroft (which they had acquired in 1326) to Bartholomew le Eyr of Dean, chaplain, who in May 1329 had conveyed it to wido filius Adam Pynchbek and Beatrice daughter of John Anekous (PR62, 65, 67; cf. 67, 73, 83). The Bulmer family seem to have used John ate Halle, chaplain as a feoffee from 1358 to 1382 (PR99. 106, 108, 114, 123, 125); Richard le Cartere, chaplain appears in a similar capacity in 1373 and 1388 (PR116, 134). In the first conventional feoffment to uses in 1369 there are two clerical and two lay feoffees but two feoffees only were more common until after 1400 3) General words of grant: The conventional 'dedisse concessisse' is general until 1420. Thereafter a number of variant forms are used. These have been noted in an abbreviated form in the catalogue, but their significance, if any, is not apparent. They are used in direct grants as well as in feoffments to uses. The following are the forms used:- dim. conc. = dimississe concessisse; dim. lib. = dimississe liberasse; the most common form used dim. lib. feoff. = dimississe liberasse feoffavisse; (first used 1447; PR183) trad. lib. feoff. = tradisse liberasse feoffavisse (first used 1450; PR185) dim. feoff. = dimississe feoffavisse (first used 1456; PR194) trad. dim. = tradisse dimississe (first used 1522; PR239) 4) Individual items of interest: Several deeds throw light on family affairs. PR10, 164 contain clauses designed to defeat or evade claims for dower. PR30 is an early example of provision made for a daughter; Custance daughter of Henry Rolt is granted a placea in her father's toft, next the messuage of her sister Isabel, and 2 acres land; 2 other daughters have already been provided for. PR34 is a similar arrangement between Agnes and Richard, children of John Alexander. PR39 is endorsed "Walter Sale est magu(s)"; the subject of this abuse (de Aula, atte Halle) appears frequently as a witness in the earlier deeds (cf. Feud.Aids, i, p.5; BHRS, xxii, pp.122-4) PR34-6 contain clauses relating to the celebration of masses in Little Staughton church. The last will of John Crowe (PR181, see above) makes provision for money to be spent in making and painting the ceiling of the porch in the church, and in making and repairing two causeways in the parish; one of these, running to the church, is to be made according to the form and making of the causeway at Graffham, Huntingdonshire. Leases to John Saunder in 1431 and 1447 (PR170, 182) contain clauses for hedge-cutting, and a lease in English to William Money in 1482 reserves to the lessor a chamber over the dor(ter) and a 'mowestede' in the barn, the right to pasture a cow from 'Elmasse' to Lammas, and to have a pig, 3 hens and a cock running in the tenement and half the fruit (PR226). PR206 is an English petition by 15 inhabitants of Little Staughton to the Justices of the Peace, or Justice of Assize of 1467/8, made on behalf of William Crowe (see above) who was being sued by Ripley Turner of London over a bond, for which, they claimed, William had already obtained an acquittance. 'Mayster Hartshorne' seems from the context to have been a St Neots lawyer. He may be William Hartshorne, Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire in 1449, 1450 and Justice of the Peace in Bedfordshire 1461, 1467-71 (BHRS, xxix, pp.48-9) PR254: appointment of William Russel as his attorney general and steward by Henry de la Dale of Catworth (Huntingdonshire), 1356. The Dale family held the manor of Everton Mossbury, 1372-1537 (Victoria County History, Bedfordshire, ii 227),but their main property lay in Catworth and neighbouring villages (Henry does not appear in Victoria County History, Huntingdonshire). The term 'attorney general' does not appear in its modern connotation until the 16th century (cf. Oxford English Dictionary). In this context it implies that William Russel was to represent his master in all courts. PR285: licence to Joan Smyth to choose a confessor, 1361. On the diplomatic of the document cf. Lincolnshire Regiment 5 (terms the same but language differs); note on the 'proper confessor' as distinct from one chosen by oneself in Lyndwood, Provinciale, lib.v.Tit.17, p.334 (Oxford edition 1679) a.v proprio sacerdoti. No Joan Smyth appears in the deeds at this period, but numerous members of this family occur in Little and Great Staughton in the 14th century. On the other hand a John Faber is acquiring land at Caxton (Cambridgeshire) in 1345 (PR256-8), so that deed may refer to his family. PR239: Nicholas Smyth, Prior of Bushmead is acting as executor of Robert Pymond, chaplain 1521/2

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