Newnham Probate Material, 1521-40
There are three surviving wills for this period which reveal a farming community. All are made in the Catholic pre-Reformation tradition with the soul bequeathed to the lady Saint Mary and God. Provision is made for executors to care for the wealth of the soul as it goes through purgatory.
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.
Content derived from research undertaken as part of the Victoria County History project
