329 



Ijnbcnture for hilbtng a Jowse at jSalislmrg, 

 



Communicated by J. E. Nightingale, F.S.A. 

 ||HE following indenture, it will be seen, sets forth a contract 



jgBr^l f° r building 1 a house in the " blew bore " at Salisbury, in 

 1441, between William Ludlow, and John Fayrebowe, a carpenter 

 of Bishopstrow, near Warminster. The document is written in 

 English, and is in excellent preservation ; unfortunately the seals 

 have entirely disappeared. In making the transcript a few con- 

 tractions have been extended but the spelling carefully preserved. 

 The deed was lately found in a remote part of England, but seems 

 once to have been in the possession of Mr. Benson, late Recorder of 

 Salisbury, as it is quoted in two or three instances by Mr. Parker, 

 in his " Glossary of Architecture/'' in explanation of certain obsolete 

 building terms. It does not, however, appear to have been printed 

 in extenso, at least it is not mentioned by Professor Willis amongst 

 the authorities in his " Nomenclature of the Middle Ages/'' nor is 

 it found in the " Archseologia." 



All documents of this early period relating to the expenses of, 

 and terms used in building, are scarce and valuable, especially when 

 written in the vernacular. They are necessarily expressed in the 

 language of the workmen ; the greater part of the words had a 

 French origin, and many of them remain to the present day in France, 

 Several other contracts for elaborate architectural works of about 

 this period are in existence. In 1450 an indenture was made for 

 fitting up the Beauchamp Chapel, at Warwick, in accordance with 

 the will of the founder. It is preserved and printed in " Blore's 

 Monuments." Another excellent specimen of this kind of document, 

 and one little known, is found in " Halstead's Genealogies. " It is 

 an indenture for the tomb of .Ralph Greene, of Luffwick, Northamp- 

 tonshire, in 1419. The material of this magnificent tomb was 



23rd HENRY VI. 



