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Newnham Probate Material 1521-1720

Extract of 1537 Newnham will

Newnham is a small and pleasantly rural parish located in the north-east of Hampshire approximately 24 miles (37 km) to the north-east of Winchester and 4 miles (6 km) to the east of Basingstoke. In the 16th century, it was a small farming settlement. Newnham is mainly on the north Hampshire clay so cattle rearing accompanied sheep farming in this period. The church which dates from the Middle Ages is dedicated to St Nicholas. The lords of the manor by the mid 16th century were the Paulets, of whom, William was created marquess of Winchester in 1551. The Paulets lived nearby at Basing House. Newnham included the hamlet of Hook from the Middle Ages. The land called Hooklands, Owen’s Farm in 2014, was owned by Corpus Christi College, Oxford from 1524.  A minor estate, Hurstlands, was owned by Winchester College as part of their manor of Andwell.

Wills and inventories survive for Newnham in Hampshire Record Office (HRO) and The National Archives (TNA). These are being transcribed by the Wills Group of the New Victoria County of Hampshire project based in Basingstoke and will be published in the near future. 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. Newnham is described as being in the county of Southampton, the old name for Hampshire.

The history of the parish of Newnham, which will incorporate analysis of these probate records is being published on the Hampshire section of the VCH website.

A glossary is attached of unusual words.

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

An additional will, inventory and accounts are included here for John Hamerton, a paper miller in Hook Mill in 1743.  The goods listed in his inventory are a detailed illustration of his trade as well as mentioning the geographic spread of some of his suppliers and customers.  An account of paper making and a photograph of the mill can be seen at:

http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/explore/items/john-hamerton-paper...

 

 

 

Content derived from research undertaken as part of the Victoria County History project