Mapledurwell Probate Material 1641-60

Seven wills and four inventories survive for this period. They include the wills of successive owners of the 60 acre freehold and the tenant of the chief Corpus Christi College copyhold.  The three wills of the 1650s were proved in London as bishops and the consistory court were abolished from 1646. Surprisingly Cowper’s will was proved in Winchester in 1649 despite the abolition of bishops three years previously.

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.

Links to all the wills and inventories are below:

• John Cannar, yeoman, 1641 (Will and inventory)
• Henry Smith, yeoman, 1645 (Will and inventory)
• Nicholas Mathew, yeoman, 1646 (Will and inventory)
• Anthony Cowper, 1649 (Will and inventory)
• John Sumner, yeoman, 1656 (Will)
• John Porter, gentleman, 1658 (Will)
• William Clapshaw, yeoman, 1658 (Will)