Eastnor Probate Material 1581 - 1600

There are 14 surviving wills for Eastnor people, all men, between 1581 and 1600. Although none of them have accompanying inventories, they all contain a geat deal of information about farming (cattle, crops and implements), tools of trade and household goods. A number include detailed lists of debts owed by and to the testator, which help to piece together the dense web of connections between people in Elizabethan Herefordshire. Although the gap in the burial registers 1579-90 means that the deaths of many cannot be dated, other surviving documents (court rolls, rentals and deeds) can supply more information about some of the people. The wills are for:
Richard Bache, husbandman, 1591
Richard Gray, husbandman, 1591
Gilbert Collins, labourer, 1596
Gabriel Williams, labourer, 1596
Richard Braunche, husbandman, 1597