Town of Cropredy

This is a unique record of English cultural history, in that it manages to relate husbandmen's and craftsmen's wills and inventories, made in the late 16th. and early 17th.century, with present day properties.

This is not just a book about one town with less than 350 residents, but a positive way to set a study within the context of a particular parish while never forgetting to relate the information to the surrounding area, as well as a particular period. It provides one method of looking at the history of properties or a way to approach a family history.

Documents in an Oxfordshire parish chest encouraged this research into the town of Cropredy. The Reverend Thomas Holloway left many rare folios which included eight years of Easter Oblations. His lists made it possible to locate the sixty dwelling sites and use to advantage the inventories and wills proved at the Peculiar Court of Banbury. That Court's records raise some of the attitudes and religious changes the town had to accomodate.

Analysis produced unusual information about three generations of families, numbers of servants and adult children in the households. The vicar's farm and tithe accounts, inventories, Brasenose College records and a hedge survey all contribute to a section on the land. A house survey covering the sixty sites uses family reconstitutions to help compare the different types of property with their occupations.

The last part looks at halls, chambers and service rooms to discover which items were rare or readily available. The book ends with a chapter on apparel. The value and type of clothing can provide a link between the family and occupations, status in the town and perhaps the religious attitudes of the household. Every site has a number which is used in the text and on the map. There are diagrams, houseplans, family trees and maps; together with appendices, glossary and index.

A map of The Town of Cropredy, showing the 60 sites appears below, followed by a list of occupants. This will be useful throughout the book. The map reference for St. Mary's Church is SP 4689 4666.

[1]	Palmer	[17]	Haddock	[32]	Rede	[48]	Norman
[2]	Lucas	[18]	Matcham	[33]	Truss	[48]	Hudson
[3]	Devotion	[19]	Hudson	[34]	Watts	[49]	Cox
[4]	French	[19]	Bagley	[34]	Hall	[50]	Coldwell
[5]	Hunt	[20]	Hill	[35]	Hentlowe	[51]	Cross
[6]	Hall	[21]	Holloway	[36]	Huxeley	[52]	Thomson
[7]	Clyfton	[22]	Wells	[37]	Breeden	[53]	Mallins
[8]	Woodrose	[23]	Vaughan	[38]	Elderson	[54]	Evans
[9]	Howse	[24]	Howse	[39]	Tanner	[55]	Bokingham
[10]	Adkins	[24]	Pratt	[40]	Ladd	[56]	Hyrens
[11]	Page	[25]	Gybbs	[41]	Bostocke	[56]	Wood
[12]	Handley	[26]	Robins	[42]	Sutton	[57]	Carter
[12]	Gorstelow	[27]	Watts	[43]	Fenny	[58]	Pare
[13]	Wyatt	[28]	Howse	[44]	Thompson	[59]	Palmer
[13]	Denzie	[29]	Lyllee	[44]	Allen	[60]	Suffolk
[14]	Lumberd	[30]	Cattell	[45]	Rawlins
[15]	Toms	[31]	Kynd	[46]	Whyte
[16]	Hunt	[31]	Wyatt	[47]	Bryan

"The Town of Cropredy 1570 - 1640."

by A.P.Keegan