Mapledurwell Probate Material 1601-20

Five wills and eight inventories survive for this period. All were proved in Winchester except for the will of Roger Smith, tenant of the second largest Corpus Christi College, Oxford copyhold which was proved in 1607 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury and thus is held in the National Archives. Smith was a wealthy man with many business interests but all his interests appear to have been within the diocese of Winchester so why it was proved in the prerogative court is not clear unless the family opted for this for reasons of status.

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. Basingstoke is described as being in the county of Southampton, the old name for Hampshire.

A glossary is attached of unusual words.

The list of wills appears below

• Roger Smith, yeoman, 1607 (Will)
• Richard Swayne, husbandman, 1609 (Will and inventory)
• Richard Clifton, 1612 (Inventory)
• William Omeden, husbandman, 1613 (Will and inventory)
• Richard Ifold, millwright, 1614 (Will and inventory)
• Michael More, husbandman, 1614 (Inventory)
• William Eires, blacksmith, 1617 (Inventory)
• Peter Turner, 1618 (Inventory)
• William Frye. husbandman, 1620 (Will and inventory)