Cliddesden Probate Material 1581-1600
Five wills and four inventories are extant from this period and contain examples of testators who had considerable wealth; goods and property valued at £240 in one instance and another who owned land and property in six parishes. A will and inventory of a warrener is of interest, the farming of rabbits being of local importance. Religious beliefs expressed at the start of most of these wills contain strong declarations of the Protestant faith.
These transcriptions have been made from copies of original probate documents supplied by HRO and TNA. Words have been modernized and punctuation added to make reading easier but names have been transcribed as written. Words in italics indicate omissions in the original document which have been added to make sense of the text. Words in square brackets indicate that they have been transcribed as seen but where the meaning is unclear. Cliddesden is described as being in the county of Southampton, the old name for Hampshire.
The wills of Cliddesden rectors are published in a separate section of Explore.
A glossary is attached of unusual words. Links to the documents are below.
Content derived from research undertaken as part of the Victoria County History project
