Mapledurwell Probate Material 1518-1831

Wills and inventories dating from 1518-1831 have been transcribed by the Wills Group of the New Victoria County of Hampshire project, based in Basingstoke.  These have been transcribed from copies of the original documents which were supplied by Hampshire Record Office. Words have been modernized and punctuation added to make reading easier. Names have been transcribed as written. Words in square brackets have been transcribed as seen but the meaning is unclear. Words in italics were missing and have been inserted to make sense of the text. Mapledurwell is described as in the county of Southampton, the old name for Hampshire. Analysis of these wills has contributed to the group's first publication, Mapledurwell. (The Victoria History of Hampshire, 2012).

Only wills and inventories from 1518 to 1720 have been posted here as after that date inventories are not preserved and probate records become less interesting.

A glossary is attached of unusual words.

The testators were mainly copyhold tenants of Corpus Christi College, Oxford who have been lords of the manor of Mapledurwell for 500 years. The college also owned some land in Up Nately and Newnham which was managed as part of the manor of Mapledurwell. The excellent estate records of Corpus Christi College have enabled some testators to be linked with the property they held and even with farmhouses still surviving today. The copyholds were let for three lives. The names of the three lives are recorded on the copy of the manorial court roll. If one life died, the second and third life could hold the property. For the detailed descent of all these properties, see the Waight papers in Hampshire Record Office (HRO, 83A02/10). Winchester College also owned some copyhold land in the parish.

The documents have been grouped into short chronological sections.  The links appear below.

• Mapledurwell Probate Material 1518-60
• Mapledurwell Probate Material 1561-80
• Mapledurwell Probate Material 1581-1600
• Mapledurwell Probate Material 1601-20
• Mapledurwell Probate Material 1621-40
• Mapledurwell Probate Material 1641-60
• Mapledurwell Probate Material 1661-80
• Mapledurwell Probate Material 1681-1700
• Mapledurwell Probate Material 1701-20