Schoolmasters and Schools

Cropredy had a school in 1524 for an apprenticeship indenture was made between William Butteler of Byfield and William Luddys of Cropredy, schoolmaster. The apprenticeship was for eight years and the master was to teach his craft which is called "schomacars crafte" to pay him a penny a quarter, to provide him "with mete and drynck cloth both olyn [woollen] lynyll, hosyn and sehone [shoes]," and in the last year to give him 26s-8d and "all manner of raynment made new to hys bake of ys maysters cost and charge." The apprentice is to serve his master, keep his secrets and "nothyr to use Tavornys, Cardys, dyse" or any other unlawful games. This was witnessed by Randall Herdley [Handley ?12], Roffe Hurst [?52] and Ricd Herdley [MS. ch Oxon. 3225].

We do not know how many scholars the master managed to teach for without a well endowed special building it would seem that education came and went. The Williamscote school having both these assets was secure for several generations, only closing in 1857. Other ways of locating schoolmasters was through their teaching licence. These may specify the master could run a petty school, to teach writing, reading and accompting, or latin grammar. However sometimes not even the churchwardens knew where the school masters had obtained their licences, and obviously had no wish to disturb them from teaching their children though some masters proved troublesome and these had to be included in the church wardens presentments. Some evidence was found in wills of students who went on to university and Dr. Thomas Loveday's article in the Cake and Cockhorse Vol.2 No.3. 1963.

Many years of silence cover a period when there must have been a petty school to prepare Cropredy boys to enter the Williamscote grammar. Then at the church court of around 1608 an entry reads "We have tow men teach children the one is Mr Deane teachinge the free schole at Wanscott [Williamscote], the other our clerke William reade, both are of honest conversation, but how they observe the catechesinge of ther schollers we do not presently know, but hear they do" [Oxon. Archd. papers Oxon b 52.161]. Schoolmasters also had to be licenced by the ordinary of the Peculiar church court. There he had to be "found meet as well for his learning and dexterity in teaching as for sober and honest conversation and also for right understanding of god's true religion..." [canon 77].

The Rede family took over the Carter's farm [32] when Richard Rede married Margery Carter (p599). Their son William married in 1578 when he was thirtythree. William never received an education and neither did his eldest son Richard who was to succeed to the holding. The second son William was sent to Williamscote school and although he attended during a gap in the Calcott register (so that we do not know how old he was when they accepted him as a pupil, or how long he stayed), William had enough education to become the teacher at the Cropredy elementary school. Schoolmasters earned very little and his father allowed him a chamber at home, no doubt in return for help on the land. His father left instructions (his brother Richard to find William meat, drink and a chamber) which extended his time at home until the lease expired in 1614. Where did he teach the children if not in the church porch?

At thirty he was made the parish clerk which gave him a little land, in lieu of wages, to grow his own food on. It must have helped to support a wife for he began to court Alice Bokingham [55] and on the 20th of April 1620 they were married "bewixt the houres of ix of the Clocke in the forenoon and a Leaven by Mr Edward Brouncker, vicar."

At around this time the vicar lived at Ladbroke and had not put in a curate for Cropredy. William would be fully aware he had no licence to take the service, but was not prepared to leave Sundays without one. He was certainly confident enough in his own abilities to manage not only the Sunday services, but the holy days as well. Had his education come to a halt and left him with higher ambitions? Preachers without a church were around in ever increasing numbers and some who preached without a licence were forced to be very careful where and to whom they spoke for fear of being summoned before a church court. The Archbishops also feared the layman's heresy and were ever watchful of such practices as taking services which William had done. He was presented in 1620 by the church wardens "for readinge devine servis upon Sundayes and holy dayes having not his letters or orders" [Oxon. Archd. papers, Oxon b.52. 181]. William had not managed to obtain an M.A. and therefore could not have a licence to preach. He was presented for taking the services sometime between the death of Thomas Holloway in November and his marriage to Alice in April.

William and Alice's son Edward Rede (1624-1691) became a manservant to "the Right Honourable North Chief Justis to his Majesties Court of Common Pleas." Edward also took over the parish clerks work, which changed during the interregnum.

Meanwhile Edward's father William may have encouraged his own brother Richard [32] to send their second son William (1656-) to school and it became a family tradition to allow the sons to attend Williamscote. This enabled Edward Rede to train his cousin William to eventually become the parish clerk, while the elder son Richard took on the farm. The tradition of education allowed Richard's son Richard (1668-1717) to go on to Oxford and be apprenticed to a barber chirurgion, as a side line to farming.

The Redes developed a reputation for writing wills. The first schoolmaster adding scribe after his name. They remained in Cropredy, principally because in the earlier generations they married late and had only one or two sons. The need to leave being unnecessary for the boys, but the daughters had to go.

The fortunes of the younger sons might have been quite different, but for the fact that Walter Calcott, a Merchant of the Staple by 1568, was able to purchase the Williamscote Manor. When Calais was lost to the French in 1558, the English wool staplers moved first to Middelburg and then to Bruges, but they never regained their earlier importance. The cloth trade was increasingly taking over and many staplers returned to build permanent residences in the Cotswolds.

Their sheep farms producing the best products possible for their trade. Walter Calcott found Williamscote manor in 1559.

The rising price of grain could have influenced Walter Calcott's urge to become a land owner, with sheep and corn going together in north Oxfordshire. Williamscote Manor which was sold to him by Mr William Babington, had many advantages besides good land. Through the hamlet of Williamscote came the Banbury Lane from Northampton and Daventry down towards Banbury, where Walter's father was a burgess. The house site was a few hundred feet from the ancient highway, facing south across the valley, over the land he eventually enclosed. Walter Calcott had found an area more independent than a market town, even though Banbury justices, market charters and rules did affect the outcome of his business.

Walter could not immediately enclose the land, but once he had secured his strips in one area around the house then he set about enclosing it. This took place before 1582. Walter was apparently very keen on mounds which must be set with hedges and trees all round his fields. Dykes and hedges of the "middle" period, and not "late" as many of Wardington's are, surrounded his closes (p18). These included a straight ditch and hedge at the bottom of the arable furlong below the Ladyswalk and another on the western boundary beside the bridle path to Lower Cropredy mill (Fig 10.2 p136).

Calcott upset the Bourton parishioners by tightening up the meadow dole rules and appointing a new Dolster [VCH p219]. The excellence of his own flock was vital to him and could only be achieved by keeping his flock separate. We will never know what hardship the exchange of land and enclosure caused the original tenants who had to exchange part of their yardland strips possibly in their families cultivation for generations.

Many years later in Chambres lifetime Dr. Brouncker noted that one close now called Mr Palmer's ground in "Wilscott" had "heretofore [been] taken out of the common field by" Mr Calcott as well as "the new closes [in] Wilscott" [c25/10 f4 & f2].

The Ladywalk had a double hedge and bank coming down the south side of the Williamscote Road to the Cherwell bridge and was presumed to be made for Walter Calcott and Alice to walk down to Saint Mary's church. One matter he organised was the taking of his manor into Cropredy so that Williamscote-in-Cropredy worshipped in the mother church at Cropredy where the vicar lived and preached his weekly sermon, rather than attend Wardington which had a non preaching curate. At some point in time the owners of Prescote had two thirds of St Fremund's chapel and Williamscote was allowed the remaining third .

After the school was built pupils from Cropredy would cross the river bridge and walk up Williamscote Road. The river Cherwell has a habit of flooding the valley and to enable the boys to arrive dryly shod they were allowed to use the foot bridge over the road dyke onto the raised Ladywalk between the "oldest" road hedge (ten species per thirty yards in the 1980's) and a second " middle" hedge which had been newly planted by Calcott on the field side. In the top field the walk was built upon the arable headland and again a "middle" hedge added on the field side (Fig 10.2 p136). A foot scraper beside the school door does suggest that this sort of detail was important to a meticulous man like Walter (note p156).

Walter Calcott's father was Richard, a Hook Norton man. There is a legend that Richard's singing ability so pleased the vicar Sir John Gibbons, around 1517, that he allowed him to farm half his Glebe land. Walter who was the eldest son may have attended the St John's Hospital school in Banbury, before being apprenticed to a wool merchant. Walter married Alice Wade also of Hooky. Their daughter Judith (d 1585) married George Chambre of Petton, Shropshire. The Chambres called both their sons Calcott, sending the youngest to school and on to university.

He became a puritan cleryman. When the eldest Calcott who had inherited the manor from his grandfather died, the younger Calcott took over the farm. At the time of the 1615 Easter lists he and his wife Lucy nee Gobert had two men and two maids at the manor house, but they may not have been in residence (pp35 & 142).

Walter Calcott had aspirations of becoming a gentleman and when the herald visited Oxfordshire Calcott must have had his family history ready hoping it would enable him to purchase a coat of arms, which it did [along with 4,000 others granted between 1560 and 1640. Pallister D.M. The Age of Elizabeth p82]. For the bay window in the hall chamber Walter ordered coloured glass showing the three arms of the staple merchants and dated 1568. Over the front door Walter put one of the earliest date stones with his new arms, which weathered badly being on the northern aspect.

In the burial register they wrote "Mr Walter Calcott," and a wall memorial complete with arms was put up in Saint Fremund's chapel when he died in 1582: "Give praise to god/ For Walter Calcot and Ales his wife/ Lord of Williamscote, without any strife,/ who is buried..[?].. her life." The stone was placed near their seat. Royce described the arms: "Or [gold] and gules [blood red] on a chief arg, three coots sable [black]: crest a demi-lion rampant, or" [Royce p49].

Walter Calcott's Williamscote house was built in stone with a thatched roof. A gentleman's residence with all the latest improvements of the time using local materials. He added the farmstead to the north west setting it back from the house (a new refinement). At some time a massive wall was built alongside the road. As the house was further down the slope this had the advantage of giving them more than usual privacy. Trees were planted to eventually hide the hamlet. Being wealthy he could order the fine south windows over looking his land towards the river. He built an oriel window on the north side, but this collapsed two hundred years later. Instead of the newer spine beams he kept to the earlier medieval floor supports and added a moulded ceiling. So as not to disturb the ceiling the chimney was built onto the outside of the eastern gable wall. He preferred the early type of hollow sectioned mullions for his windows, which are rare in the Banbury region (Had he reused the main ceiling timbers from an earlier building, or stone walled a timber house?).

The promoting of education was obviously very important to this ambitious man. It was also fashionable to endow a school. His will made a determined effort to immortalise his name, though as a member of the Woolstaple had he not already achieved a sufficient reward? The new industrious protestants were not doing good works on earth to achieve everlasting life, because they already considered themselves one of the elect company anyway, but they sincerely believed in working hard.

The school he ordered in the same beautiful local stone. The rows of coursed rubble on the long building being complimented by the spacing of the windows and twin doors on the south face (Fig. 10.1 p133 showing the master's house, two doors and part of the school). Both gable ends were imposing, with the gable coping that once edged the thatch, but they lacked kneelers. There were two four light school windows surrounded by cut stone and each had plain square drip moulds above the stone mullions. The glazed windows having presumably rectangular leads in the local fashion. The pair of high windows reached almost to the original thatch. The school's eastern gable window was higher still and also of four lights. Above this was another two light casement. Both had square drip moulds. These gave an excellent light to the school room and were aided by another lighting the gallery on the north side. The whole room, if originally undivided, was sixteen feet wide and thirtytwo feet long. The gallery (was this always there?) being at present ten feet wide at the west end. The chimney was placed outside on the rear wall and the lord's children had their seats next to the fireplace.

A pair of doors set next to each other provided the entrances. The school had the slightly wider door to the right of the house entrance. Both doors were surrounded by ashlar stone and had a rise of two stone steps. The very necessary foot scraper already mentioned being built into an arch in the wall to the right of the doors. Considering the state of the cowsey roads this was a very essential piece of equipment. Over the doors is a square label with drip moulds. Also above the doors Calcott put another coat of arms dated 1574.

This one has weathered better being on the south side and was one of the few date stones to be put up on the original building that has survived in Cropredy.

The master's front door led straight into the hall with the fireplace beside the perfect winding stairs. This went up to his lodging chamber, and on again to a cockloft for the few boarders. Each inner room measuring just under sixteen by fourteen feet. The lodging chamber had a fireplace for the master to retire to away from his students. The two main rooms being lit at the front by stone mullion casements each of three lights and again with a drip mould. They were placed one above the other. The stairs and chimney form a feature on the western gable by projecting outwards. The stairs having two small square lights with ashlar surround. One still retains the ancient glass. The cockloft had a one light window. The chimney lost its early top which has been replaced with blue bricks and the thatch by Welsh slates. The Lord of the manor paid for the maintenance of the building. It was expensive to run a house without a few arable acres or some access to commons. This was compounded for the masters were bachelors and had to employ help. The advantages for men of being married were very apparent to all at that time. The school masters must keep the lodgings in good order and their boundary mounds in repair and fell no tree which of course would belong to Calcott's House just along the road, out of earshot of the scholars. The dunces stool no longer stands near the cobbles leading from the two doors to the queen's highway and opposite the entrance to Walter's fine stone farm buildings surrounding the cobbled yard.

Walter Calcott having completed the school set up a trust with eight trustees and had an Indenture recorded in Chancery on the 14th of August 1575. When only two trustees remained they must elect six more from substantial and honest persons. They were granted an annuity of £13 to issue from land on Calcott's manor and all must go towards paying for a schoolmaster. The Lord of the manor retaining the right to choose and dismiss the master. To safeguard the quality of the teaching he stipulated that an M.A. from Oxford must come yearly to inspect the school and any master found insufficient would be dismissed. This was taken very seriously and William Wilson schoolmaster was removed. The master he required must be an honest, discreet and learned man. It was to prove very hard to fulfil as the value of the £13 fell and became in itself insufficent. At first with the increase in graduates there would be no shortage of applicants for the post. Endowments made sure of this while they kept their value. The Taylors who purchased the manor and their descendants the Lovedays continued to pay the charge of £13 on their land. There appeared to be no others who championed education for the husbandmen and craftsmen, since there had been a change in attitude towards such people rising in status, some saying, towards the end of the sixteenth century, that too many small schools were in danger of producing more of the "poorer sort" than there would be positions for. Husbandmen's and craftsmen's sons who graduated were not who the gentry wanted their sons to compete with for jobs. Another reason was that in many parishes, though not at Williamscote, the gentry were taking up the places for their sons as the costs of higher education soared beyond the reach of one or two yardlanders. Husbandmen's sons tended now to stay on in the parish rather than seeking higher education. Harrison in 1587 believed that by using the Lot system of choosing scholars it prevented the gentry from crowding out the lesser parishioners. It certainly worked in the 1610 group put up for the drawing by Lot from Cropredy. That year they put up two craftsmen's sons, Sutton the tailor's boy and Rawlins the shoemaker's son, as well as Evans the herd's boy and vicar Holloway's youngest son. All of whom were called Thomas and baptised by Thomas Holloway.

Providing a house for the schoolmaster was of course an added attraction. The clergymen straight from university were however hardly in a position to marry any gentlewoman they hoped would help them with a future vicarage. So bachelors did not stay long. To provide additional income masters could take in four boarders providing they did not impose on the teaching of the forty scholars and the Lord's children.

In the hall house he would need a servant maid to cook the boarders' meals and serve them at the table near the fire. She must also have kept the school clean. The maid could hardly sleep there in an all male household and arrived daily. Did the master buy enough coal at 10s a load for the two fires, or did the farm opposite allow him firewood? He had no land to grow his corn and must purchase this, but there was a little land for vegetables on the north side.

The one thing Walter Calcott wanted the master to take particular care of was the register book. He called it "Callcott's boke of Williamscote School." On f1 is written:

The book did not always remain a register for some of the leaves were later used as a household recipe book.

Some of the masters were not destined to stay very long for as soon as they had a chance of being inducted into a church of their own they handed in their notice. The first three masters who taught between 1574 and 1581 were Taylford of Gloucester Hall, Henry Ward and Mr Hook. Why William Wilson was dismissed we do not know, but in 1590 the pupils had the misfortune to have a change of master. Other known masters were Smith who replaced Wilson, Moreton, Rogers, Dean, Bowen, Palmer and John Ditchfield. The Revd Ditchfield was there in 1665 [MS. Wood D 11 fol 173 Bodly]. In 1701/2 he left an annuity of £2 to pay for two poor scholars rising out of a piece of land in Williamscote which included a hopyard measuring 42 ft by 33 ft [MS. ch. Oxon 4747]. Ditchfield moved to a vicarage at Wing in Berkshire.

George Chambres gave the school a bell which was hung in a roof turret at the eastern end of the roof and inscribed: "Oxon/ Georg Chambre of Williamskot/ 1588." The bell measures fourteen inches in diameter, eleven in height from the lip to the crown and was cast by Robert Newcombe III and Bartholomew Atton [Sharpe F. The Church Bells of Oxfordshire O.R.S. (xxviii 1949) p107].

It was last seen in this position in 1877 before being transferred to the Cropredy and Bourton school where it remains. This bell daily called the forty pupils into Williamscote from the surrounding parishes for Walter had allocated pupil places to each town in the ecclesiastical parish of Cropredy.

The first six of the Lord's naming, six from Williamscote, eight from Wardington and Coton, six from Cropredy, seven from the Bourtons, four from Mollington and three from Claydon

All these were to be educated free for it was a school for educating the public. If there were not enough students from any town then another in the Cropredy peculiar could take up the place, or if still insufficient boys from an adjoining parish. Any children of persons who "might dispend £5" of yearly freehold should be exempted from the right of drawing lots. Their children might be admitted on paying a reasonable stipend to the master, which the four boarders did, but again the master could take no more private pupils than he could reasonably teach.

One rule to be followed was the age of the scholars. They should be at least eight years of age and none should tarry there above eighteen years. The Holloway boys came earlier, so they must have been early achievers. The room was airy enough for forty plus boys who would not be too overcrowded.

If boys were not ready to enter into grammar, they should be occupied in writing until they were ready to join the grammar group. This included Latin which formed the backbone of the syllabus. Milton, who would have preferred to have been taught in the vernacular, called it "gerund grinding" for the method of teaching was by memorising and then repetition. The teachers who were expected to have sound morals had to teach "matters spiritual" as well as latin until the pupil was ready to enter university. Not all boys stayed the full number of years. Unfortunately the masters neglected to keep the register up to date, making it difficult to know how long each boy stayed. Many did go on to join the ever increasing number of scholars, from the hundred and thirtysix schools built in Queen Elizabeth's reign, who went up to Oxford or Cambridge. Those who thought that by educating the poorer sort they would help to combat the former popish ideas and promote protestant teaching, may only have succeeded in bringing in those protestants encouraged by their fathers.

For the few who managed to enter Oxford and Cambridge a further seven years took them to a B.A. and M.A. The student progressed through a set series of subjects designed primarily to train them for the ministry. Once at the College they were assigned to a tutor. The poorer scholars acting as servants to the gentlemen commoners.

Between the 1570's and the 1630's the poorer students who arrived from the grammars could have been sons of husbandmen, skilled craftsmen, or yeomen, then with costs rising the new freemen's sons from Wardington began to take up all the available places. The husbandmen's sons fell at university from being over half to a third by the 1630's and down again to 1% by the 1800's [Spufford M. Contrasting Communities 1979 Cambridge Univ. Press p171]. A lack of opportunities together with the deterioration of teaching due to a low endowment may have slowed down the number from Cropredy to reach the University.

Scholars must have had some education to be put forward to be drawn by lot whenever a vacancy arose. Before William Rede's time were they taught by a curate in the church porch, or the chancel and did another Rede take over after William died?

In 1615 George Watt's instructed his executor "do keepe and maynteyne my children at Schoole every of them till such tyme as they can reade 'englishe' and write yf they do defaulte in any one of them then they to give them when the defaulte ys £10 a peece." Did this represent the burden of education or loss of the child's labours, or else was the sum required to grant them an apprenticeship elsewhere? This Bourton man's children had a bible and one of Greenham's works [PCC 126]. His widow would send them to Rede's school unless Bourton had their own petty school at that time.

The vicar Thomas Holloway sent all his sons to school for they needed an M.A. before finding a parish. How though did the other parents decide they could spare a son? Each boy must arrive at school as early as 5am or perhaps 6am in winter, taking with him his breakfast and lunch, for they did not return until 5 or 6 at night. There was no question of such a son taking any share in the household routine. If he stayed only a few years as many would, did this help him to earn more and manage better during his life, even though he missed essential home training in the farm or trade? Those who appreciated their own schooling sent one of their sons, though many who went to the grammar were amongst those who left the parish (p143). At least two thirds of known pupils were leaving, later this changed as positions became scarce.

The Holloway boys who survived went on to Brasenose College to become clergymen and so did Palmer [1] and one of Mansell the miller's sons. Joseph Palmer returned to lease the new windmill from Calcott Chambres in Flax furlong on the Coton side of the Banbury Lane. He also kept on the Lower Cropredy mill (p468). In 1621 Calcott decided to buy some of the land King James was selling in Ireland and he borrowed money. Already by 1602 Calcott had sold his father's Wardington manor and by 1616 the Claydon manor. He had taken out a loan from his father-in-law John Gobert of Coventry in 1618. How did the Irish purchase help him? He had over stretched his borrowings and after his wife's father died in 1624 her family began to demand that the loan be paid back. By 1633 he had had to sell Williamscote house to Edward Taylor. Meanwhile in 1619 Mr and Mrs Chambres were living for a time with Joseph Palmer in his House at the Lower Cropredy Mill [1]. Both Palmer and Chambres had gone on to university and it would appear that they had formed a friendship.

The miller at Bourton's Slat mill was Robert Mansell. They had two sons Edward Mansell (1605-) and Nehemiah (1609-). Both were sent to the school. Edward went on to university and was King Charles 1's chaplain during the siege of Oxford. He was captured while taking a walk and taken into custody at Abingdon where he died in captivity. The younger boy Nehemiah returned to be a miller and to farm in Cropredy [35].

Dr.Thomas Loveday mentions in his article on Williamscote school [ Cake & Cockhorse vol 2 No 3, Jan 1963 pp40-8] that Peter Alybon (1560-1629) was educated at the school, but he was only just in time to receive three years before going in 1578 to Magdalen Hall, Oxford where he took his B.A. in 1581 and his M.A. in 1585. Peter Alybon was a puritan who like Thomas Gubbins of Wardington appears to have greatly disliked lax curates following older catholic ways. John Colman another Wardington boy attended and entered Brasenose College in 1606. Of the two paying scholars, William and Erasmus, sons of Sir Tobias Chauncy of Edgecote, William became Sheriff of Northants dying aged seventyone in 1644 [Baker. Northants p 494]. Thomas Robins (1612-1662) [26] of Cropredy went on to Oxford and Cambridge and is buried in Saint Mary's churchyard, Cropredy [Grave 248] (p166).

In Walter Calcott's book the names of scholars were listed with the parish they came from, though there are many gaps. Due to the clause about being chosen by lot, not all the boys put forward by their parents would receive a place. If a boy stayed from eight to when they went to college at fifteen or over, then Cropredy could put forward less than one a year. In later years some must have finished at an earlier age releasing their places.

When the registers were checked for the first pupils several years were missing. One gap from 1555 to October 1563 was particulary annoying as this meant some of the first scholars who were over the age of twelve in 1575 are difficult to place in families. The register from the 18th of October 1563 to the 20th of November 1569 was used to check the remaining Cropredy and Bourton pupils. They record fiftynine boys and thirtynine girls christened, over those incomplete and often out of order entries. Of these at least eleven boys were buried and three girls. The girls of course are not connected with the school, but added to show the numbers who survived (In this sample one in six boys died, but only one in thirteen girls. This makes 140 per 1,000, 10 less than Laslett, but the records are not good over this period. They improve once the Holloways arrive).

Twenty of the first batch of scholars represented two out of every five available boys which is an incredibly high proportion, for a town consisting of husbandmen and craftsmen. Their places were available at once and extra places were taken up from other towns who were without a petty school.

Only the boys which can be placed on Cropredy sites are given in the chart below. The site number is their fathers, or one which the student was to lease later in life. Their fathers status is given, the year of baptism (if known) and whether they stayed or left (again if known). They were all free scholars except those marked H who hired a place.

Site	Name	Father	Baptism	Stayed	Left
	1575
[26]	Thomas Robins	Husb.	1564		yes
[8]	William Nuberry	Husb.	1566		yes
[14]	Richard Lumberd	Husb.			yes
[41]	John Bostocke	Trade		?
[1]	William Palmer	Miller			yes
[14]	Edward Lumberd	Husb.	1564		yes
[1]	Thomas Palmer (H)	Miller	?1569	?
[4]	John French	Husb.	1569	yes
	Ffoulke Grene (H)	worked for Coldwell [50]

	1576
[16]	Symon Hunt	?			yes
[35]	William Hentlowe	Husb.			yes
[35]	Thomas Hentlowe	Husb.			yes
?[3]	Aleyzander Devotion	Husb.			yes
[26]	John Robins	Husb.	1570		yes

	1579
[21]	Randell Holloway (H)	Vicar	1574	died @ 21
[21]	George Holloway (H)	Vicar	1572
[8]	Anthony Nuberry(H)*	Husb.	1571		yes
[1]	Thomas Palmer Jnr (H)

	1580
[36]	Richard Hucksley	Shepherd	1575		yes

	1582
[44]	Charles Allen	Husb.		yes
[?60]	Richard Armett	Husb.	1576		yes

	GAP 1583-1597
	1598
[16]	John Hunt	Husb.	1585	yes
[24]	Richard Howse	Husb.	1586	yes
[34]	Arthur Watts	Husb.	1588	yes
[51]	Richard Cross	Miller		yes
[49]	William Cox	Trade	1588		yes
[36]	John Huxley	Shepherd	1590		yes
[34]	Richard Watts	Husb.	1589		yes
[34]	William Watts	Husb.	1591	Yes died @ 31

	1599
[21]	Gamaliell Hollowaye	Vicar	1584		yes

	1600
[28]	Thomas Howse	Husb.	1589	yes
[38]	Thomas Elderson	Carpenter	1592	yes
[27]	Thomas Watts	Weaver	1594	yes

	1604
[45]	Christopher Rawlyns	Shoemaker	1593		yes
[37]	George Breedon	Trade?			yes
[31]	John Kynd	Husb.	c1597		yes
[44]	Richard Tompson	Husb.	1597		yes
[16]	John Hunt	Husb.	1599	yes
	GAP 1605-1609

	1610
[42]	Thomas Sutton	Tailor	1602		yes
[21]	Thomas Holloway (H)	Vicar	1601		yes
[45]	Thomas Rawlins	Shoemaker	1601		yes
[54]	Thomas Evans	Herdsman	1601	yes
[14]	Edward Lumberd	Husb.	1602	yes
	GAP 1611-1616

	1617
[24]	Thomas Pratt	Husb.	1608		yes
[28]	Richard Howse	Husb.	1610	yes
[47]	Baptist Bryan	Labourer	1609		yes
[12]	Thomas Gorstelow	Husb.
	GAP 1618-1624

	1625
[47]	Baptist Bryan	(still at School)
[32]	William Read	Husb.	1613	yes
[44]	Arthur Allen	Husb.	1618		yes
[23]	William Vaughan	Yeoman	1613		yes
[51]	John Cross	Miller	1617		yes

The Calcott register began in 1575 by giving each town a page and then confusing it by adding 1576 to the same page. Mollington and Claydon released places to other parishes, so Cropredy and Bourton took up their lots. "There will be iij scollers more here in Cropredy by reason Cleydon had none redye att this drawinge and one more ys in Mollenton bye the same meanes" [f2]. A "newe drawynge" was made and several names added in 1576.

The "scollers by hyre" who must pay the master's fee were added to each town's page. Walter Calcott as the Lord also added some he had named as part of the ten Lord's scholars. After entering all the boys on their own town's page the entries move on to the adjacent parishes outside the ecclesiastical parish of Cropredy making a list for Chipping Warden written as "Chyppn Werden." Two boys on this folio were "scollers comyng." However some on this page eventually appear on other lists and certainly they did not all come from "Chippy" or "Esgeskott" [Edgecote] where Thomas Palmer is said to come from.

The Ellyett family lived next to the chapel in Great Bourton. The parents of a John Ellyett tried every way they could to get him into the school, for he turns up on several pages. In Cropredy's list he appears twice, being a "hyer scoller" as well as on the free list [f2]. Why was he not on Bourton's list? His next appearance is on the Chipping Warden page [f5b], then he is heading the Cropredy list of 1578 as a free scoller [f6b]. If this John was the son of John and Julian he died in 1581. They did not send the next two sons.

At this point Walter Calcott, or the school master, had chosen far too many students, so that a new order began on the 15th of February 1580 "As is ffree scollers accordynge to my order." First the boys put forward for the drawing of lots: fifteen for Cropredy and three extra places from Claydon. John Ellyett was again at the head of the list of boys followed by seven chosen for Cropredy of which only six are numbered "summa syxe scollers," and someone has added the seventh. Ellyett was not chosen [f7b].

The lists of boys do not always tally up. Having taken the allotted eight, four are added and two of the chosen had not even been put up to be drawn. Where did they spring from? One John Spyre is put on many lists, as Ellyett was, and became a hired scholar for his last year. In spite of Mr Calcott saying none must tarry after eighteen, one of the "scholemaster's schollers" (whose father Mr Timcock had the most yardlands in Wardington and whose brother married a Holloway) was there as a "xx yer old." William Timcock stayed for four years leaving in 1582 [f10]. Christopher and Nicholas Timcock brothers of William, also attended the school. John Odill of Mollington may have waited until he was nineteen for a chance to attend. The lack of places may explain the late start and age at leaving.

In 1604 someone wrote "Petytes [pupils] at thys tyme founde in" Williamscote are two: Gabriel and Richard Garner [f14]. Had the pupils begun to fall off? Or were they just checking the elementary school to see who was coming up to apply for being drawn by lot? Places not taken up were offered to other parishes so that students from Chacombe and Edgecote took up Mollington and Claydon places.

Presumably these two Cropredy parishes had none on the waiting list, being over three miles away which was quite a distance for a child to come for such a long day, even so a few did reach the school.

"The Election for the Scoole of Williamscote upon Trinity monday being the 16th of June 1617" [f18]. On this day there were six for Cropredy, six for Bourton and four for Wardington and none for Mollington and Claydon. Were these the boys chosen and ready to fill the vacant places? Or just those entered to be drawn, because one of them Baptist Bryan [47] was again on the list for 1625. Had he gained a place when he was eight in 1617, and had eight years of education, or been forced to wait until sixteen to enter school? Was his father one of the early baptists? If so he would want his son to have the advantage of a full education.

Some of the hired boys' parents were not necessarily all gentlemen. There was Anthony Nuberry [8] whose father was a husbandmen, and a labourer's son Thomas Palmer [59]. The Gorstelows from Prescote and Mollington who were gentlemen like the Chaunceys as well as the vicar's four sons all paid until a free place was available.

The Wardington children definitely have more free children attending, for they take any spare lot going. They vary from half yardlanders to those who had over three. Because it was possible to discover in which part of the parish of Wardington and Coton the various families lived in, it was found that more of the pupils in 1610 lived at the Nether end of Wardington town [Tithe book c25/5 for 1614-16].

Few boys are mentioned as scholars twice, though some have "gon" after their name as Mr Walter Calcott required. Thomas Walys and Thomas Palmer were there for 1575, but gone by 1582. There is no other way of telling how long each scholar was at the school. The lists of new applicants to be chosen by lot were only sometimes followed by a note saying which scholars were drawn. As the years went by good intentions lapsed and the masters forgot to enter new names and no-one was marked gone. The last entries appear to have fewer names, but we do not know how many scholars the school already had which had not been entered on their first year due to these gaps.

Sometimes a boy was allowed to have the place of a boy who was "comying," or "untyll he cometh." Were these paying students taking on a vacancy of a free place for a term? Or had a boy fallen ill, or been taken off to help with the farm due to a crisis there? This happened throughout the Cropredy and Bourton school log books in the second half of the nineteenth century and it must have been even harder to release sons for education in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

Randell Hollowaye was only born in 1574 and yet he was at the school as a hired scholar in 1579 and obviously not yet the required age of eight [f6b]. His brother George was only seven and must have taken Randell to school. These two do get a second mention in 1582 when George was ten and Randell eight. In this year they help fill two places after six Cropredy boys had left and been declared as "gon." The Holloway brothers were now both free scholars and would rejoin the class well advanced in their studies. William Barnsley had done the same with his brother Thomas. Annoyingly a gap follows, but we know Randell went on to enter Brasenose College where he received his B.A. at the age of twenty. The poor young man so soon to be ordained fell ill and after making a will died. His father recorded the burial of this son from his first marriage writing that he was only twentyone and five months (p154). Randell left £5 worth of books and his lease of part of the parsonage of Cropredy which he had shared with his brother Gamaliel. It took Gamaliel three years to get his B.A. at the age of twenty and a further three years for his M.A. (1607). The only record of him in the school register was for 1599 when he was already fifteen [f 12b].

Thomas Holloway junior went on to Oxford. His father mentions that he was there in 1619 (p551). Nothing more is known about George. He was not in his father's or step-mother's wills.

All the Cropredy boys were extracted from the school register from the beginning up to 1625, and sorted into households which proved that education had been encouraged in many farms and cottages, sometimes for several generations (p134). Thomas Palmer [59] who ran a milk business and did labouring work did not advance far, but the usefulness of being able to write meant he could take up collections of tithes for the vicar, and other tasks as well, such as accompanying the school master to write a neighbouring tailor's will [18].

The school register gaps mean several families escape our list, but other evidence produced households in which a member could write or left a bible. Valentyne Huxley's [36] father, a shepherd, sent his eldest and youngest son to Williamscote, but Valentyne did not go. However if two went to the petty school and learnt to read then this middle son surely went that far as well? William Rede [32] attended a petty school about the same time as Valentyne could have, and so did many others, who were not so fortunate in the drawing of the grammar school lots. Huxeley did not sign his will, but this does not mean he could not read or write. The other two Huxeley boys leave Cropredy so their brother Valentyne gains the copyhold which he was surely entered upon as a child. In 1650 Valentyne had his widowed daughter at home with her children John and Elizabeth Overy. Their grandfather leaves them 40s each, perhaps enabling John to attend the school in 1656 like his great uncles.

Truss [33] another shepherd does not go up to Williamscote, but he too had the copyhold and left a bible. The Lucas's [2] family of carpenters, both father and son can write, but they are not in the Calcott register due to the gaps, or did they come from Wroxton and receive some education from there? Richard Hunt [5], weaver, signed wills and must have had some tuition. He could have attended the school joining his two friends Richard Handley [12] and Richard Kynd [31], both of whom could write, but also attended during a gap in Calcott's book. Of the three only the weaver remained to die in Cropredy. Amongst the poorer tradesmen to witness a will with his signature was the whitbaker John Hill of Church Lane.

Around 1613/14 the church was tightening up on the parishioners' morals which led to an increase in presentments at the church court. It must have annoyed a great many people that they were unable to express themselves openly, so that journeymen travelling the country would have to be very careful when passing on their views of a freer type of religion. Those who were unable to swear allegiance at the church court because of their strong convictions were then excommunicated, and priests would be imprisoned. Many catholics, especially since the gunpowder plot of 1605, had to remain hidden, often in a widow's household disguised as a servant. Teenage pupils and young men, would be bound to pick up broadsheets from the market stalls and read it to themselves, but secretly to others for gatherings or conventions in households were forbidden to any except the immediate family. In the sixteenth century there was a steady increase in religious propaganda as more printed material became available. Much of this would eventually reach any reader eager to learn. It gave an alternative view to Holloway's sermons, a curate's reading of the homilies, or William Whately's market sermons [ Spufford M. Contrasting Communities 1974 Cambridge Univ. Press. Dr. Thomas Loveday's introduction, notes and transcript of the register printed in Cake and Cockhorse 1963. Vol.2 no. 3. and Cropredy Charity records].

There was a habit of listening and learning the history of their area from their father or grandparents in front of the fire, or from the local inn. The language of their forefathers came down the generations with little change. It expressed their thinking, gave voice to their deepest thoughts so that they aired their philosophies tutored well from the past. Learning well from observing and personal experience they inherited a very descriptive language. The oral history so important to everyone in the town was now being extended or changed by the written word.

Were the bibles valued by the appraisers of inventories just the authorised versions, which were available by 1611? The Geneva bible's marginal notes were anti-authoritarian and banned in Archbishop Laud's time (1633-1645) so that pocket editions were smuggled in from Holland. The householder would hardly show one to an appraiser, even if a friend, though people would be aware of their existance in a close knit group of readers, for the pocket Geneva bible encouraged thinking and discussion amongst trusted neighbours [Hill C. The English Bible p29/30]. A bible valued at 5s would be an authorised edition. Once more bibles had been printed, the price began to drop and it became central to their learning. Magistrates referred to the bible as a text book, clergy needed it to teach and husbandmen used it to back up their commands. For the period 1570 to 1640 the influence of the bible increased as more learnt to read and more families purchased one. The importance of the bible must be emphasised. It was the ultimate authority not only for politicians and clergy, but the head of the household. A Samuel Hieron wrote before he died in 1617 that the bible gave the master "direction for his apparel, his speech, his diet, his company, his disports, his labour, his buying and selling..." [Sermons of Master Samuel Hieron, pub. posthumously in 1624. p72-3. cf Hill C. The English Bible 1993. Penguin Press].

Bibles in inventories and wills had obviously been in the possession of the deceased for some time. They first began to appear when weaver Watts [27] died in 1616, and John Hentlowe [35] in 1617. Others like John Sheeler [50] had one in 1619 plus a small psalm book, Edward Bokingham had three or four books worth 12d (chapbooks?) in 1625, Robert Woodrose [8] left his grandson, who was later ordained, "all my books" in 1625, Edmond Tanner [39] had a bible and common prayer book in 1630, Richard Hall [34] had a bible and Truss [33] owned two bibles next door in 1634. Edward Lumberd [14] left a bible in 1635. We know that a Robert Cleaver from London left his master's wife, Joyce Hall [6] who could read, £5 and "all my books at London" in 1639 and Huxeley [36] left a Great Bible in 1651 to his brother William (could it possibly be the large edition of 1536?). For those who could read, but had no bible at home there was always the bible chained to the eagle lectern, once it could be safely raised from the river and reinstated in the church. Cropredy had an above average number of references to bibles. This may mean that the town had several families whose master was a strict protestant.

Fortyfour out of the sixty house sites between 1575 and 1640 are known to have had someone in the household who could write, and therefore read, which was a high proportion for a rural area. At least a quarter of these houses had either a bible, or a prayerbook. A few had both. If the appraisers who went round, describing the goods for the scribe sitting at the table, could not read then most books became "lumber," or were left amongst "all other implements there." The bible would however be recognised and written down. On one occassion at Rawlins [45], Ambrose Holbech and Charles Allen [44] who were both well educated, could have read the title, yet they only record "one bible and one other book" 3s-4d. Plenty remains invisible from the past when it might be expected to have been revealed especially expensive books, though not the tuppenny chapbook, or the penny ballad sheet.

Bibles and prayer books were not the only books in Cropredy. The "other book" which Rawlin's left to his son Thomas was a collection of Smith's Sermons. Could this be the Henry Smith whose book was published in 1592? Mr John Wyatt [31] farrier and vet had a library of books for his work. Charles Allen [44] who had attended Calcott's school left a "box of implements & certayne books" worth eleven shillings. Was he once apprenticed to a land surveyor? For many years before their wills were written these men were reading and using their knowledge not only as part of their work, but surely in discussions and other meeting places when they were about their business?

While the Cropredy husbandmen were educating their sons, the craftsmen were equally keen. Thomas Wyatt may not have been able to sign his will, but he was determined to send his sons to school, and judging by their signatures, books and grave rhymes they were benefiting from his persistence. His eldest son William who moved into Suffolk's house [60] had a small library of books. These he left to his grandson John Watts and grand daughter Elizabeth. Had she too been to elementary school? They included The Great Bible, Isaac Ambros words, Dr. Sutton's works, Reconciled to the Bible, Practice of Piety and Moses Unvieled which he left to John. The Margent Bible, Mr Wheatley's book upon Geneses, Henry Smith Sermons , Mr Thastack's works, Jeremiah Batingin's Works and The Great Assizes went to Elizabeth. The total value in 1671 was £2. Books explaining the bible and popular sermons increased during the interregnum as censorship was abandoned.

William Rede, schoolmaster, left old Bokingham's house [55] to his son and moved up Hello to live at Palmer's cottage [59], which was next door to William Wyatt, with his library. William Wyatt's father Thomas had moved up to Creampot [31], next to the Rede's farm [32], at about the same time as the schoolmaster left to get married, but both families had a keen interest in the welfare of horses and forwarding education. The schoolmaster was asked to write Thomas Wyatt's will not Ambrose Holbech. One of William Wyatt's books already mentioned was written by the Banbury puritan William Wheatley (1583-1639). This Banbury vicar had attended William Perkin's lectures at Cambridge and wrote many works expressing his own (often original) advanced views. A keen sabbath man he had long services which earned him the nickname of the "Roaring boy of Banbury." This vicar was presented by William Osborne at the church court in 1607 for not praying for bishops before the sermon. For "not reading divine service nor administring the sacrament of Baptisme." He also administered the communion to such as would not kneel and preached against the "Ceremonyes" [Oxon. Archd. Papers, Oxon b 52. 15]. The year before William Osborne had written to Lloyd because he was threatened with dismissal for not "Catachising on the Sabaothes" [b52. 11]. A battle between the bishop's men and the puritans was causing stong rifts within the congregations. How many others in Cropredy followed Wheatley? Holloway had his congregation's approval in 1619 when they described him as an orderly man who preacheth twice on Sundays. Where had his opponents gone, the younger mockers of puritan's and the old traditionalist's? [Oxon. Archd. papers, Oxon b.52. 39].

John Wyatt [31], farrier, son of Thomas and Ursula and brother of William [60], mentioned "my anvill and all my tooles instruments druggs, dyles, powders, medicines and all other materials whatsoever pertayning to my Erude. Together with my whole study of Books." He died in 1669. Had he been writing for farriers and horsemen or just poems? John's eldest son John also became a farrier and farmer. The family moving to the largest A. Manor farm [50], leaving Sarah the widowed mother living on at the farriers house [31] in Creampot Lane. John II left two dressers holding twentyeight books worth £1-5s and land in trust for his wife to maintain and educate his children.

Almanacs after 1640 could include astrology without interference from the clergy and at twopence each they sold faster than bibles. When the A manor landlord wanted them to send anything from Cropredy he suggested "Send it by the first opertunity of this carrier and his weeks and when you know anyone your alminack will direct, for they never alter their weeks" [Additional MS. 71962 p186].

Ballads once acquired might wait for a reader to teach the household the words. The tune would be picked up and rapidly spread. Those who wished to promote their godly beliefs used the ballad as one way of reaching the humbler reader. This began as early as the 1550's. Later in the century the puritans used them. In 1595 Nicholas Brownde wrote "In the shops of Artificers, and cottages of poore husbandmen...you shall sooner see one of these newe Ballades, which are made only to keepe them occupied...then any of the Psalms, and may perceive them to be cunninger in singing the one, then the other. And indeed...the singing of ballades is very lately renewed...so that in every Fair and Market almost you shall have one or two singing of ballades" [Brownde N. The Doctrine of the Sabbath 1595 London p242, in Spufford M. Small Books and Pleasant Histories p11 1981 Cambridge Univ. Press].

There are households of which we have few records, yet we know that Clyfton [7] and Ffendrie [43] used a mark which was their normal signature, because they were both still working, and not too ill to witness in their usual manner. Most adults in the first part of our period had missed out by being too old when the school opened, or because there was only room for two out of every five boys in the first draw, and less after that when pupils stayed on longer to reach university filling up the places. George Devotion signs his leases with a mark throughout a long period on his farm at the south end of the Long Causeway [3]. He was still at first amongst the majority in the town, though this was changing fast. George may not have felt too hampered by it, but his family fail to achieve a higher status. Sister Em may have been the exception (p102). Even those who had the advantages of petty schooling might not keep up the use of writing and only a grammar school would give enough confidence to tackle will writing, or even writing down a whole terrier. They would leave such matters to the better educated who remained in Cropredy.

At the manor house next door [8] several of the Nuberry children are sent to school, possibly prior to going away to an apprenticeship which would require writing, accompting and an understanding of latin. The eldest son John was not put through school for he was at home learning husbandry, but he fails to take over the lease and may have moved on to Wardington. All the Woodroses who live at the farm after the Nuberry's may be able to write, and yet no child is recorded as having been sent to the Williamscote school. Would they have a tutor? Robert Woodrose wrote his will and his daughter-in-law Martha is unusually witnessing Mr Arthur Coldwell's will [50], and much later one of his staff. Martha may have been used to visiting Mrs Coldwell at their manor house. Was she there one day in 1617 when Arthur Coldwell produced the will to be witnessed? He was either well prepared or else ill at that time and then recovered so that it was two years before he died. Many years later Martha wrote her own will in a very feminine style, which was witnessed by the Revd Harris of Hanwell. Robert Whettell, a member of staff first for Coldwells then Cartwrights [50] and later for Lakey's, obviously knew the Harris family at the vicarage, for he came from Hanwell. Could it have been Mr Harris who mentioned Martha's skill to Robert when he came over to visit him on his sick bed, or was Martha visiting the household and asked to write his will as he lay ill in the servants chamber. Did Martha lean over to hear his wishes and then retire to a table to write them down and for this act of kindness caught whatever ailed him and joined him in the churchyard nine days later (pp163 & 183)?

Those families which had received some education were known to call at each others houses. A regular visitor to Woodrose's house could have been the miller Joseph Palmer M.A. [1]. Another in their circle was William Hall from across the Causeway [6]. At the vicarage the Holloways approve of the Gorstelow family which had a branch in several parishes and sent sons to the school prior to being apprenticed to a master. Timcocks of Wardington, Clarsons of Horley, Robins of Cropredy all form suitable families interested in education for the Holloway girls to marry into. Another was Ambrose Holbech, a lawyer,who became involved in the town affairs (Was Ambrose the first to change over from writing a "vij" to "seven" or "7s" in inventories? This change from Roman numerals to £-s-d was not always complete. In Allens inventory it moves from "vijen" to seven, but the final totals are back to being written as "xs" instead of "10s").

Thomas Holloway must have been busy writing at his desk or standish for part of every day. A standish was a desk with compartments for inks and quills. Powdered gum, sandrac, blotting paper or sandpaper were also necessary. Some of his parchments for official documents would be nearby. These had an oily surface and had to be prepared by rubbing in sandrac. If a mistake was made he could use his penknife to erase it, sprinkle pounce on the patch and regain a smooth surface by rubbing the area with either a dog's tooth or an agate.

We know that Elizabeth Holloway and her daughters could write. Would the vicar and Elizabeth teach the girls or a curate? Could the petty school take a few girls with the boys? Anne Watts and her husband Richard [34] both write and may have been like the Rose's [60] acquaintances of the Coldwell's. Mr Arthur Coldwell [50] added his signature to deeds, but only twice acts as witness to a will, once to Rychard Watts and once to Wam Rose, for they were his neighbours. Rose's house was just across the churchyard and Watts down his farm track in Creampot lane. Arthur joined the vicar when Watts needed his will witnessed. Rychard Watts [34] asked his wife Anne to "take the care and education of my said children until... honestly provided for." Afterwards the three men whom the widow Anne chooses to take the inventory could all write and it would seem they mixed with all sections of townsmen: William Watt, weaver [27] (was he any relation?), Tanner the mercer [39], and Lyllee the husbandman [28]. The Watts three eldest sons had already managed to get to the school before their father died, but the gaps in the Calcott book make it impossible to see if George their last son was a scholar. Whether the wife taught Elizabeth, Joane and Annes and whether it altered the kind of work they would do afterwards we do not know. Arthur as the eldest marries at twentynine. Richard stayed home until he was twentyeight then leaves. William never left home dying aged thirtytwo in the 1622/3 fever while still a bachelor. George was home for four out of the eight years on the Easter lists, and was around in 1634 (p592-4). What apprenticeship had they undergone after school?

Richard Hall who managed the farm for Arthur's widow (also Anne Watts) was able to write as indeed was his neighbour John Hentlowe, who attended the school with his two elder brothers [35]. Also at Hentlowes lived Manasses who may have written Truss's will [33] ten years after he had moved to Banbury. This was confirmation of how people remained in touch. William Shotswell [1a] also came up to add his signature to Truss's will. Did they all belong to a group? Manasses Plyvie and his wife lodged in the farm house [35] and stayed on for two years after John Hentlowe died. Who employed him? A large number of old pupils were apprenticed to people like Coldwell with his large farm, mill and other ventures and yet John Hentlow does not farm. Prescote manor had taken on the land and John continues to live there presumably having a life interest in the house.

Plyvie goes on to farm at Williamscote (then Banbury) and like Foulke Grene who had worked for Coldwells, leased enclosed land on the Williamscote-in-Cropredy farm from Calcott Chambres or Taylors.

Who was it amongst the Wyatts who wrote the verses on their tombs copying Samuel? "Samuel King a loyall/ Subject & Souldier/ Faithfull to his/ Late Majesty King Charles the First," during the battle of Cropredy bridge, was also apparently something of a poet. He survived the battle, but was buried on March 7th 1658 aged only fortyfour. With a fellow pupil Thomas Wyatt had he begun a tradition of writing local verse which became established amongst a few of the past Williamscote scholars, as they sat waiting for their horses to be shod, or doctored by the Wyatts? Writing verses for gravestones or sweethearts was very much in fashion. Those who could not compose their own must seek out someone like Samuel, and for a fee have a verse written for them [Russell C. The Crisis of Parliaments p176. 1971 Oxford Univ. Press]. How much more would a family pay for a rhyming verse on a tomb? Was it a Wyatt who wrote Samuel King's, or did he leave one for his own stone?:

John Wyatt I, farrier, who died the 30th day of June 1669 was the son of Thomas and Ursula (p595). He once had a stone in the churchyard (which has gone or fallen and been covered by grass), written in capitals according to the Revd D. Royce in 1880[ Royce p28]:

His son John Wyatt II, farrier, grandson of Thomas died much too soon on the 7th of September 1676, leaving his son John III a young farrier to carry on. A large ledger tomb was put up with blacksmith tools carved on the side [Grave 313]:

Thomas Wyatt moved down to Brasenose manor farm [8] after first farming at Cattell's [30] farm next to the farriers in Creampot lane. Once near the damper river and moat air, Thomas and Mary lost at least three children. One stone, later moved to the edge of the path to face the church porch, has a marvellous carving of two of their little girls in long dresses complete with necklaces, who died in 1685 and 1687 [Grave 132]. Their brother Thomas died in 1682 and the family bard wrote this:

Prepared sheep parchments were specially finished and could be purchased at the market, if not from the tanner. Ink was made from the black bark of the blackthorn tree, or oak galls. Writing skills were used to express grief, write letters instructing bailiffs, making presentments, issuing citations, wills and inventories, terriers, rates and account books.

When Thomas Holloway added those unnecessary, but very meaningful "five months" to his son's age in the burial register, he was expressing his extreme sadness over the loss of yet another child from his first marriage. They mourned a child as keenly then as any would today. It was hard to console themselves for his loss and the strain on finances that education up to a B.A. would have made on a family, especially with two more to follow, and so many daughters to provide dowries for. Materially as well as emotionally Thomas would be affected at losing a well loved member of their family.

In 1684 Sir William sent word to his bailiff that "my deare child ffrancis Boothby is dead and buried so that I am under great trouble." "The great affliction I am in for the death of my son ffrancis Boothby who was buried Easter day is too just an excuse and yealds not any apology," for cancelling a visit to Cropredy. Again in 1688 "Since my last [letter] my deare sonne James is dead so that we are in great affliction" [Additional MS. 71960 & 3 p208 & p1]. The loss of children surely affected them all. Gentlemen who could write would still employ a clerk and have him keep a copy of all the letters sent out in a book. The A manor landlord, Sir William Boothby, did just that enabling us to still read them.

Apart from such tragic circumstances Boothby had been able to send letters to his bailiff John Wyatt who was capable of carrying out his instructions. John was highly thought of for his specialised knowledge of horses and to become the bailiff must also have earned the respect of the landlord. In our period the owner of the A manor lived in Clattercote immediatedly to the north of Cropredy's civil parish. They came to the church on Sundays and unlike the Principal and scholars of Brasenose College who owned the B manor they could arrive unannounced at any time on his or her horse to oversee their estate, collect any unpaid rent and find fault immediately with repairs or poor husbandry. Their presence on rent days expecting prompt payment was in their favour compared with later in the century when the absent landlords, educated gentlemen, increasingly managed their affairs by letters, leaving the onus of collecting rents to the tenant of the A manor farm, unless they brought in an outsider, as they did sometimes from Mollington. Living at a distance meant the Boothby's must send frequent instructions especially if they desired preparations prior to a visit. Unfortunately for them the next generation of husbandmen did not always respond and Sir William used this fairly new means of issuing instructions to blast away at John Wyatt's successors, his sons John and then Job Wyatt, for the slow collecting of his rents. Boothby had only allowed John's sons into the manor farm [50] "in Respect to memory of/ his dead father," though he charged a high rent [Additional MS. 71961 p240].

The two manor courts must always employ a scribe to write agreements on parchment. The estates still had to write copyhold indentures, bonds and terms of leases. At first tenants only signed with a cross, but more and more written work was required for the landlord's terriers and also for parish affairs. Terriers required the assistance of neighbours who must go out and help describe their land. Until several could write in the town the early ones must have been difficult to complete, although husbandmen would be able to verbally explain with complete precision the place, direction and neighbouring tenants for each of their strips. By the middle of the seventeenth century only a few husbandmen use a mark and many by the look of the terriers write their own, using the local spelling for all the place names (p288). Although spelling was still eratic, most of the words were written with a true Cropredy sound and are very important in conveying the Oxfordshire dialect of that period.

In 1653 and 1655 the B manor terriers survive with signatures. Apparently the tenants could choose neighbours to witness the description of their land from both the manors. Their hand writing is often difficult, and Mansell who attended the grammar before he farmed Hentlowes [35] down Creampot spoke and wrote with a broad accent. The two who were asked to help the most were James and John Bostock, father and son of the leather shop and possible alehouse [41]. By 1653 James's writing is getting shaky, but then he must have been born around 1587. His son would have gone to the Williamscote school in 1623 if a place was available. When John Blagrave married Elizabeth Robins in 1635 he came to live in Cropredy and after twenty years or so he was always present when a signature was required on a terrier. He had first to learn the distribution of all the strips and who farmed them. A few others help, such as his neighbours from the upper end of the town: Howes [28], many of the Wyatt men who went to school from [31], the "Creampot Redes" next door [32], and the "Round Bottom Redes" [55], and Watts from the bottom of Creampot Lane [34]. Thomas Gorstelow who went to school from Bourton came down to Handleys [12] and helped with the terriers. Hunts who went to school in the 1650's were carrying on their parents traditions of being available when required. Samuel King the soldier poet was able to help and Edward Pratt from Church Lane [24]. Nehemiah Gardner, born in Bourton, [39] who married Tanner's widow and Lordin who took over Lyllees [29] may not have been to school, but it did not apparently prevent them from having the terrier read out, or from accompanying various husbandmen round the land. Perhaps an outsider had fewer family quarrels to consider. Solomon Howes [9] who had learnt a beautiful script when he attended school in the 1640's wrote one of the surviving hearth tax accounts (p623). His neighbour John Allen [6] was one of the first gentlemen to take an active part around 1670. Each generation were able to find enough able scribes from amongst their fellow townsmen (p161).

Holbech as a lawyer was involved with the work of the church court, sometimes organising the administration of oaths and witnessing bonds. His son went on, according to his memorial in Mollington church, to become very eminent in the law, particularly in the art of conveyancing which he practised with great integrity. Ambrose Holbech had sent a note to Martha Woodrose when her husband died with a copy of the oath she would have to swear on the bible when exhibiting the inventory "of all ...his goods...credits and debts...And if here after any more shall come to your knowledge you shall add ye same unto this Inventorie... Soe helpe you god and ye contents of this booke."

There had been some advantages in old customs using a tally stick, the shaking of hands before witnesses when lending money to a trusted neighbour without a written bond, or the agreement on a sale of stock completed by a hand slap and the return of some "lucky" coin. Now the mercer and the blacksmith kept Shop Books and wrote in debts and crossed out those paid, leaving just the desperate debts, a witness in black and white which would not go away. Those hanging onto the past would grumble, but times were changing and some petty schools taught children to cast up accounts which was a tremendous advantage to all who lent or borrowed money. The husbandmen who had to record the new church and poor rates could not have managed without learning how to cast up an "accompt" accurately.

Credit had always been given. The baker could leave a loaf and notch a double piece of wood so that each knew how much the customer owed. Some would advance seed corn and collect their dues at harvest time. In many ways it was essential to help their neighbours. It did not always matter that a man could neither read nor write for his father would have taught them how to barter goods, to understand the ways of gaining credit and paying these debts. He would teach his sons how to value his own goods, to realise their worth at market and how to pay the rent. It was only when coins were in short supply, or he had nothing to barter with that the men must borrow money on a bond, or more drastically trade himself for a wage.

[Note on Lady walk/Madam's walk: Marianne Loveday (1832-1918) mentions in her Family History that her grand-mother Anne Taylor-Loder who married Dr John Loveday in 1777 "made the lower walk in line with the old ones, raising it higher than the Causeway, which was on the other side of the road [hedge?], and planting a hedge on each side of the walk, thus still further ensuring the safety of the children in times of flood." This information about Madam's walk was kindly given by Mrs S. Markham. Note: There appears to be no physical evidence of a raised walk to the north of the road. Could Marianne Loveday have meant "on the other side of the" hedge and not the road?].