340 Notes on Durrington. 
iiij’. Also I will that iiij preests shall say placebo and dirige ev’ry day in 
the monethe aft’ my deptinge and to synge a Masse of Requiem ev’ry weke 
upon the same day that I depted yn and ev’ry of thaym to have for their 
labo’ vj‘. vij’. Also I bequethe to Elizabeth Parker my daughter in lawe a 
cowe a bullocke and xx“ sheppe and a singeler bede. Also I bequeth to 
Robert Tourner my godson a cowe and a singeler bede. Also I will that 
Christiane my wif shall have all hir stuff of household the which she brought 
wt hir. More I will that she shall have the whole crappe of alman’ of greyne 
pteyninge to me w'in the pisshe of Duryngton foresaid and ¢ sheppe ij kyne 
ij sowys. The Residue of all my goods not bequethed I geve and bequeth 
unto Thomas Matyne my sonne And I make him my sole executo' to dispose 
it as he thinketh most necessary for the helth of my sowle trewly. 
The ov’seers of this my testamet I ordeyne and make Mr. John Skylling 
and Mr. Willm Webbe and eche of theym to have for their labor xx*. of money. 
Thies being witnes—S' Thomas Broke, S'. Nicholas Bownde, John Matyn, 
Robert Barbor, and William Dowse wt many other by me callyd and specially 
desyred. 
Probatum fuit 
xxiij? Februarij 
Ano Dni 1509 (i. q. 1510.) 
In the first part of Henry the Eighth’s reign prosperity had 
returned : Durrington, far from being desolate, was more prosperous 
than it had been before; but it was short-lived happiness, and 
ceased with the dissolution of its great neighbour the Abbey of 
Amesbury. In 14 Henry VIIL. no less than forty-six paid subsidy 
on an income of about £4182, Robert Matyn being the chief payer. 
(Subsidy Roll, 22). Unfortunately the corn return ordered 1527 
is defective, and the quantity returned by Matyn has perished. 
John Hewetson, farming the parsonage, after providing for his own, 
had ten quarters of wheat and thirty quarters of barley for sale. 
Altogether five people had forty-seven quarters to sell; and one 
hundred people had none. The quantity is very small, even 
allowing for the home consumption, including that of all farm 
labourers; and in the one hundred having none to sell were the 
many small copyholders who lived on the poverty of the land 
(Hen. 8, vol. L, pt. 2, No. 3665). The sixteen archers or billmen 
of the place would be fed elsewhere (Cal. Domestic p. 300). 
The local wills which survive show at once the small meshes of 
the net cast by courts ecclesiastical and the poor possessions of the 
the little copyholders. Take two or three specimens from Somerset 
House :— 
