340 



Notes on Durrington. 



iiij d . 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 Eequiem ev'ry weke 

 upon the same day that I depted yn and ev'ry of thaym to have for their 

 labo r vj 8 . vij d . Also I bequethe to Elizabeth Parker my daughter in lawe a 

 co we a bullocke and xx li 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 r of greyne 

 pteyninge to me w'in the pisshe of Duryngton foresaid and c 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 r 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 s . of money. 



Thies being witnes — S r Thomas Broke, S r . Nicholas Bownde, John Matyn, 

 Robert Barbor, and William Dowse w l many other by me callyd and specially 

 desyred. 

 Probatum fuit 



xxiij 0 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 VIII. no less than forty-six paid subsidy 

 on an income of about £4182, Eobert Matyn being the chief payer. 

 (Subsidy Eoll, 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. I., 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 ; — 



