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11. The Need for Wills.

Heads of household cared for immediate relations by giving them a roof over their heads and their wills showed concern for their own. The responsibility for the family must be passed on to the one they trusted most, by making them executors. Gentlemen, yeomen, husbandmen, day-labourers and servants, made wills proving they had some personal estate that they could pass on to help care for their bereaved children, father, mother or grand children. Not all wills written or spoken survived. The cost of proving them could be higher than the moveable goods, but if several pressed for possession then the issue had to be solved in the church court, even if they were below the legal amount for making an inventory.

Out of the fiftysix heads of household alive in Cropredy in 1624 thirty made wills or had inventories taken. Four left Cropredy and twentytwo wills are missing (if made). Only three widows left wills. Of the rest three remarry, one left and thirtyone women did not make a will that survived. Based on the published Oxon Inventories it has been suggested that a quarter were too poor to make a will. The majority were not poorly housed, but unable to earn more than their day to day needs. There were bound to be some at the end of their lives, but many of these Cropredy townsmen and women had not been able to avoid making earlier legal documents transferring leases, or possessions, after which they occupy a chamber with less than five pounds of goods, or money in their purse. To avoid any further expense for the family their estate was now too low to warrant proving any will.

Edward Lumberd [14] had to make both, because he continued to farm. At the time of making his will he was in "p'fect health and memory." He made it to enable his widowed daughter-in-law's second husband to enter the lease. Other early wills were made when a former bailiff wishes to marry a widow [34], or the testator was being extra cautious, perhaps after being ill. These were the fortunate families for those who had been excommunicated were not allowed to make a will. They died intestate like Cattell [30] and a relation had to take out an administration bond and agree to settle their affairs.

Only 7% made a will from two to six years in advance. Another 7% nearly left it too late and had to speak their will before witnesses. The rest relied upon there still being time at the end, and of course some died too soon. The advantage of leaving it to the last few days was they were then dealing with the immediate circumstances affecting the household. Death was a swift enemy rapidly changing the situation. 27% made wills as close as three days before burial, 19% within a week, 11% within a month and 15% within three months. Of the seventyseven surviving wills we know the burial date for only fiftytwo and it was from these that the percentages were taken.

Wills written by the Vicar and Others.

The most important record of a lifetime came at the very end of their lives. Wills were usually left until the testator was totally unable to sit at a table with a quill and ink laboriously writing out, even with the aid of a formulary book, instructions to whoever they wished to take over the responsibility of being head of the household. Instead it was easier to send for the vicar, who could add his prayers and write the will.

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He would arrive with another able townsman, such as William Rose [60] the grazier [Rose went four times with the vicar to 1,8,16,23].

For over fortyfive years the Reverend Thomas Holloway was involved with the making of at least thirtythree wills and inventories, five of which were proved in London. Thomas was repeatedly asked not only to act as the scribe or witness to the making of the will, but also to be an overseer, guardian, or trustee of the land. There were other educated townsmen, but no doubt a hierarchy existed. He received fees for doing this. In all the local wills that have survived between 1577 and 1617 for Cropredy Holloway was absent on only ten occasions. The wills the vicar wrote for parishioners were longer than those his parish clerk, William Rede [32] made, yet Thomas could be brief using a short preamble for his mother-in-law. Thomas followed a general format and may have used a formulary book though he appears willing to change the wording to suit various clients.

William Hall and Ambrose Holbech took over from the vicar when he gave up the task and between them they wrote another twenty [Holbech attended at sites 14,25x2,26x2,34,45 plus three more]. Not all gentlemen are offered large amounts for their pains. Norman [48] left only 6d for Mr Richard Cartwright [50].

John Hunt [16] was approached to witness wills by both Palmers [59], shepherd Truss [33], Fendrie [43] as well as his immediate neighbours and the Gybbs [25]. One old pupil who seldom went to write a will was Edward Lumberd [14], though he did act as overseer for a relation William Watts [27] and Sutton [42], and possibly to witness in the writing of their wills, as well as his step-sister's mother-in-law Alyce Devotion's will [3]. His neighbour from across the Green, Justinian Hunt's [16] son John, came to ask him to use his expertise to help list the deceased's goods and his father had previously asked him to act as overseer.

Many families kept entirely to their own level in society. William Hall [6] was only asked for help by husbandmen upwards [3,4,14,21,29,35] although he wrote a very neat inventory. The exception was Lyllee [29] who asked Thomas Elderson, carpenter [38] to be one of his overseers (Lyllee's passage entrance was opposite Elderson's house and barn). Broughton [9] was asked three times, but always by tradesmen [38,42,51]. The poorer townsmen sought out Thomas Palmer [59], Edmond Tanner [39] and weaver Hunt [5], while Sutton [42] invited Broughton, Tanner and Lumberd ignoring the wealthier Gybbs [25] and Robins [26] across the High Street. Gybbs [25] asked in Vaughan [23] Holbech [21] and John Hunt[16] as loving neighbours, but they themselves were not asked to act as witnesses for others, but only to help value the contents of five houses.

The schoolmaster William Rede born down Creampot lane [32], seldom went to husbandmen except as witness for the Toms [15], relations by marriage. He does however attend his old neighbour Richard Hall [34] at the bottom of Creampot. William also went to a former neighbour Thomas Wyatt's [31] to write his will. On another occasion he went round to the tailor's, Thomas Matcham in Church Lane [18]. Although the tailor appears to add his own codicil he may have required some guidance for the rest. William wrote a fair copy, sloping his words to the right and showing a tendency to hurry. His wills are easier to read than the vicar Holloway's, but lacked the penmanship shown by some of the gentlemen who would have more time.

James Ladd [40] was one of those possibly working for Kynd's [31] who were called in to witness a hurried will. Women are often available when most men would be out of reach on the land, and they would sign with a mark, or from their signatures we find that the town had several women who could sign their name and were probably able to read.

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Those who left a signature were Ann Watts senior [34], Anne Palmer [1], Joyce Vaughan [23] Joyce Hall [6], Joanne Holloway and her mother Elizabeth [21], Ellen Palmer, Anne Gorstelow [Prescote] and Martha Woodrose [8]. William Hall's mother Joyce also witnessed a will.

We will finish with Charles Allen who had sufficient status to be allowed to witness a Gybbs [25], a Robins [26] as well as Halls [34] wills. His two immediate neighbours, Rawlins to the south and Tanner to the west required him to help appraise their personal estates. There were others, but why had this young man related by marriage to Coldwell, who could enter any household, not been able to go higher in his education?

Overseers.

While the vicar was at the house the dying man or woman might ask him to act as overseer to make sure the executor fulfilled his wishes. Thomas agreed to this on twentyone occasions between 1578 and 1617. Nineteen of these were for husbandmen or their widows, the remaining two being a shepherd and a miller [at the following properties: 4x2,6x2,8,9,13x2, 15x2,16x2,24,26x2,28x2,33,35,51,60]. He received for his pains as little as 6d or as much as 10s, according to the wealth of the family.

Overseers were often elected to offer help and advice to the widow [60]. After Holloway people asked for Ambrose Holbech or other suitable Cropredy men. Was this a chance to summon up the help of relatives? Apparently not for they seldom do which avoided family confrontations. Like the choice of witnesses and scribes respect for a particular person's status, religious views, or being a comfortable neighbour drew them together to help each other out. We have very little evidence of the relations who emigrated to towns or other parishes coming back to help, offering to take care of nephews or nieces other than the lists, or the odd will reference in French, Coldwell and Woodrose's wills, though Fremund Densy [28] was able to play the full uncle's role with his nephews.

Amongst the eleven most popular overseers were John Hunt [9,14,15,24 x2,25 x2,33,43, 59 x2], and Tanner [26 x2,27,28,42,55]. The Robins family act for Howse, twice for Watts the weavers [27], once for Elderson the carpenter [38], and mother-in-law Elizabeth Holloway [21].

Inventories.

The apparitor would watch for funerals and post a notice on the church door, so that the executors would prove the will and exhibit an inventory at the next Church Court. The apparitor earned his livelihood from the court and was very mindful of his fees (p26). Half the inventories that were taken were delayed until a convenient time could be arranged. Only one was made in July, a month usually too busy for such obligations as inventory making.

[8 were made within a week, 11 within a fortnight, 22 within 31 days and the rest before the next court. 2 inventories were made the same day as the funeral: John Kendel [13?] in June 1596 and Justinian Hunt [16] 6th of April 1609. 7 inventories were taken the day after burial: Eliz. Gybbs [?25] Jany 1576/7, Eliz. Howse [9] May 1577, Alyce Devotion [3] March 1593/4, John Cross [51] Dec 1614, John Truss [33] Feby 1613/14, Wam Lyllee [29] Aug. 1623 and Edwd Bokingham [55] May 1625 [W.G.Hoskins wrote in Old Devon : "On the following day [after burial] as was customary, an inventory was made..."p 49].

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The obligation to produce an inventory was fulfilled in the form of a bond, half of which was still in latin. The executors or administrators appointed when no will was made, entered into the bond at the time they exhibited an inventory or else they back date the inventory to be the same as the bond. This means that some inventory dates are not quite what they seem, but we have only that date to work on. Besides who was there at Justinian Hunt's funeral to issue a bond? For at the end of his funeral feast an inventory was taken with unseemly haste. The reason can only have been that it had to be written up and exhibited four days later at the church court. Most courts were held twice a year, in the spring and autumn, either April or May, September or October. Rarely did they hold a court in June, but when so many died in 1631 they may have had to hold an extra court.

For inventories two or more appraisers would be called in, depending rather upon who you were and what position your family held in the town. The family paid them a fee and purchased the ink and parchment. Inventories were another way of helping each other and inviting in the neighbour of your choice. Gentlemen whom cottagers were not obliged to give fealty to, were not asked around to help with a will or an inventory. There was bound to be some grievances against the richer members of the town, especially as the gap between the cottagers and the wealthy increased. Smaller copyholders had to pay a far higher proportion of their income in tithes than the wealthier citizens and their discontent must have grown through the difficult sixteen thirties into the forties especially with a Royalist vicar appointed in 1642.

Going back to inventories in the last part of the sixteenth century, one of the strangers who came into the town already able to write was Edmond Tanner, the mercer. He kept in touch with the Clarsons of Horley. The Revd John Clarson had married Hester Holloway [21] of Cropredy (p547). Edmond Tanner [39] may never have written a will, but did witness three and acted as overseer when asked, one of whom was the widow Robins [26]. Tanner could do "accompts" and was invaluable at inventories and was called out to at least fourteen, not only to farms around him and down Creampot, but also to craftsmen. He went to Suttons [42], Coxs [47] and Bokinghams [55], but not Eldersons [38] next door.

William Lyllee [29] may have been a grazier like William Rose [60]. Lyllee had been brought up by a shepherd father who tended sheep in the enclosed fields of Prescote, and had been taught to value stock. Lyllee went to help value stock at all but one of the farms in Creampot: Howse, Kynds, Truss, Watts and Hentlowes, but not Redes. Neither Tanner nor Lyllee were asked to go to Gybbs [25] in the High Street. Twice shepherds, Clyfton [7] and Huxeley [36], were called in to value a neighbour's flock.

The miller and husbandman Henry Broughton married the widow Margery Howse [9] and they sent her son Thomas to school. Both adults could read and write and Henry was in some demand to value household effects, but not for local husbandmen as his "old" Cropredian neighbour Richard Handley [12] did, but to newcomers: a miller, a collarmaker, a tailor and a carpenter as well as for Widow Wood [56] in Hello. Had Broughton when he was a church warden in 1608 upset the educated majority whom he had to present at court? Amongst them were Vaughan [23] and Thompson [44] who were his wife's relations. The presented group ranged from Mr Arthur Coldwell [50] down to a "cotenger" Toby Kely from Bourton (p30). Or was he too new to be asked by the older Cropredy families? Perhaps he was too industrious and seized the main chance, for the Howse family on the Long Causeway [9] were at that time not poor and had freehold land elsewhere (p74).

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Richard Hunt [5], weaver who married Marian Howse, helped with three wills and an inventory. Although Richard Hall [34] was well educated he married late on in life and therefore was not master of a household and had no town status before 1627. He was only called in to be overseer to his friend and neighbour Truss [33]. His much younger wife Anne Hall witnesses the shepherd's will with her mark.

The Robins [26] and Hunts [16] became more and more in demand and by the time the third generation produced another Robert Robins and John Hunt they had achieved a good reputation for valuing effects and stock.

A list has been made of some of those who helped with wills and inventories:

"Whole in Mynde."

The testator must be sane and so a clause had to say they were thanks be to god. "I Elizabeth Howes wedow which was the wyffe of Thomas ... sicke in body and whole in mynde..." and Johan Robins in 1579 who was "off tymes vexed with sickness of bodie And now being perfect of mynd..." Huxeley "being weake" aged seventytwo [36], Fremund Denzie in his eighties [28], or as he says "being nowe greatly aged and callinge to mind the soden frailtye of man." His neighbour Lyllee was also in perfect health, but old and no doubt watched anxiously by relatives in case he died without a will, though he lived on for three more years [29]. Women left in control may like Ellen Rose [60] in 1611 "being greatly in age but p'fect in remembrance" also give thanks to god as was the custom and call to mind "the uncerten lyfe of man." Dyonice Woodrose "being aged and weake" was also over eighty [8]. Martha Woodrose who was younger wrote her own will "being all this time in good health praised be to god, but not knowing how soon or how suddenly it may please the lord to call me home" [8].

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Of two others who wrote their own wills Robert Woodrose was in good health, and Thomas Holloway felt "infirm."

"From Angels and Saints" to "Living eternally amongst the Elect."

Preambles to wills are the only source Cropredy has for discovering the slow changes taking place during Vicar Holloway's time. The catholic belief that they will ascend to heaven to be with the angels and saints. The protestant belief which Thomas must have preached about Sunday after Sunday that they left their souls in the hands of almighty god hoping and having full assurance by faith to have pardon and forgiveness of all their sins by the blood shedding (or death and passion) of Jesus Christ. The miller John Palmer in 1602 chose such a preamble to his will. Others such as Richard Norman [48] who had his will written by Mr Richard Cartwright [50] had a different approach which followed more puritan lines leaving his soul in the hands of "almightie god my maker, Jesus Christ my Redeemer and the Holy Ghost and comforter who although they be three distinct persons yet but one true god coequall and coeternall."

If the elect protestants following Calvin believed that only God knew whether a man was predestined to salvation or not, William Perkins a Cambridge Puritan maintained that "every man to whom the gospel is revealed, is bound to believe in his own election, justification, santification and glorification, in, and by, Christ." [Perkins W. Discourse of Conscience" ed Thomas F. Merrill p19. 1966. From Russell C. The Crisis of Parliaments "p168]. Archbishop Laud turned the tide in the middle of the 1630's and favoured the Arminians who were trying to deny or at least reduce the Calvin doctrine of predestination. They believed man's salvation depended on what man himself did and by this they were seen to be heading back towards catholism. The Arminians began in Holland and King James regarded them as enemies of God and yet by the 1630's they had the support of King Charles who appointed Laud as bishop of London and then archbishop of Canterbury. Laud then controlled the censorship of the London press. The Cambridge press had already swung to support the Arminians. The puritan's had to watch as their gains and hopes receeded and they were once again having to be more careful of their opinions.

As the end of the previous century approached most testators hoped to be "saved" and "stedfastly" believed they would be saved by the "blood shedding" of Jesus. The vicar went back to "death and passion". Wills with different scribes like Matcham's [18], Sutton's [43] both tailors and Watt's [27] the weaver bring the "Redeemer" clause of the puritans into their opening paragraph as Richard Norman had. Some were still remembering the pre-reformation church and others had moved onto a more disciplined church. The confidently elect christians, eagerly set about working hard to achieve in their life time and often succeeded in improving their status, which would not please the less fortunate or the ungodly that they tried to reform. They would however all be listening to Holloway's sermons, unless they departed early from church. King Charles I remarked that "people are governed by the Pulpit more than the sword in times of peace." In the decade before the battle of Cropredy Bridge Archbishop Laud was always ready to stop the licence of those who preached openly along lines not specified by their bishops.

In 1619 Sheeler, the young shepherd, "calling to mind the manifold blessings of Almightie God bestowed upon me in this world" had one of the few wills where the testator may have perhaps suggested the format he wanted.

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Thomas Holloway wrote in his own will, when he was dying of the same fever perhaps as his neighbour Coldwell and the shepherd Sheeler, that he had "hopes for full assurance of faith to have pardon and forgiveness of all my sinnes only by the passion of Jesus Christ." Thomas's wife Elizabeth was totally sure she was about to "live eternally amongst the elect servants of Jesus Christ." She was proclaiming belief in predestination and Cropredy's next vicar Dr Brouncker was there to witness this. Why then did he heartily dislike Calcott Chambres, clerk, who had inherited Williamscote house, calling him a "puritan" and using it as a term of abuse (p35)? Arthur Coldwell [50] was one who must have approved of Chambres for he had witnessed one of his deeds [MS.dd Loveday c4/6] with Joseph Palmer, clerk and miller of Mose Mill [1]. Coldwell also made an effort to fund those who had applied for help to become self supporting again (p173).

Some in the congregation wanted more discipline in the church and a chance to elect their own elders. They were hard working self disciplined men and women who wished to alter the church courts so that churchmen could run them and not lay lawyers who earned a living from it. They wanted to set a higher moral tone and keep a holy sabbath.

One such may have been William Rose, grazier, [60] who went with the vicar to witness wills. He was a religious man, keeping his marriage as a partnership and did not domineer his wife in the paternalistic way the majority thought was their right as head of a household. William knew that Christ in his great mercy "hath pardonned my sins and offences and by faith in him assured me of my salvation." He was one of the early Cropredy puritans. He hoped his wife Ellen "maie and will paie and discharge all due debts by me to be paide and that she maie the better doe and performe the same and releive herself I desire her to take the advice of Thomas Holloway, clerke, Arthur Coldwell [50], gentleman, William Hall [6] and Richard Gorstelow [Prescote manor]." He does not call the last two either yeomen or gentlemen leaving their status unsaid.

Not all wills take a definite line and some appear to mix up former catholic will formulas and the current protestant form. These may have referred back to copies of old family wills. Arthur Coldwell had employed Robert Whettell who later continued to work for Mr Cartwright at [50]. Robert was a Hanwell man and wished the Revd Harris of that town to preach his sermon. He speaks of Angels and Saints as his catholic grandfather would have done, yet Harris was surely one of the puritan ministers? When Martha Woodrose wrote her will the Revd Robert Harris came over to be a witness and later she wrote Whettell's (p151).

The Hanwell vicar became involved with Cropredy when their own vicar Brouncker resided in Ladbroke putting in a non-preaching curate. Having become used to sermons, which puritans were very keen to encourage, this was a singular blow (p36).

Preaching for nearly fifty years Thomas Holloway must have greatly influenced those parishioners who appreciated his sermons. The parish was one of the few places which had become used to regular Sunday and funeral sermons. His sons followed his example, for with no land to inherit they must go into the church. When Thomas Holloway died in 1619 he had a son at school, one away at university and one already ordained. Joanne the youngest Holloway daughter was to marry Ambrose Holbech who took over the will writing from her father. A generation later their daughter Elizabeth Holbech married Timothy Harris, Banbury's town clerk and son of the vicar of Hanwell, both puritan towns. The new Mrs Elizabeth Harris's mother-in-law had been born a Wheatley, and was sister to the famous puritan vicar of Banbury (1610-39), who had once preached the market sermons, listened to by many from the surrounding rural parishes [Banbury Historical Society Volume 15 pp 272 & 309 edited by J.S.W. Gibson & E.R.C. Brinkworth].

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In Cropredy some were bound to resent the church and especially when their tithes were no longer used to help their poor. Yet none were reported for not attending church. Many knew their bibles enough to use them in their speech and the skillful used quotes with double meanings to avoid making a treasonable statement. There were several kinds of belief alongside each other and from top to bottom different strengths so that no generalisation of the protestant faith will do. The extreme right and left. The middle and the indifferent. Those who followed their bishops guidance to the letter allowed it to dictate their religion and politics for the two could not be separated. A law abiding citizen paying tithes and never missing church, whether going voluntarily or by compulsion obeyed most orders. Others went because it cost a great deal not to go from fines imposed by the church courts. They could keep a low profile.

People complained of interference by their English church courts which prevented them from working on holy days, governed their private life and if accused of anything they must clear their own name (p27). Some of the poor who had never been convinced could neither pay the fines nor rise higher in life having to keep either a labouring job or leave to become a vagrant whenever work was scarce. A very few like Lord the fuller held up the payment of their tithes on purpose and so worked a protest against the ministers which were not of their choice. There were some who hated anyone who had come in contact, or been trained by clergy which meant all scholars. They wanted lay preachers and being able to meet freely together and although the law outlawed such conventions, journeymen travelling the country had increasingly begun to meet the illegal lay preachers and some of these towards 1640 were women. Beyond these were those who would dismiss all bishops and have lay elders elected by the parish. They were often very presbyterian in outlook and required a holy sabbath, and a full working week by reducing all the holidays on saint days. They stamped out the traditional festivals and customs (p37), still very necessary to a great many parishioners who enjoyed the ale and dancing and wished them to continue, but the puritan outlook had won. Many of the wealthier members of the parish had favoured ales providing the cost of the ale had been spread over the whole parish, but they were too few and their influence insufficent.

Religious phrases in wills which were of a set format cannot entirely convince us of a testator's point of view, except they could have chosen others, but some might have been overawed by the will writer and taken his advice. There may have been no conscious division amongst those who attended the compulsory services, and yet attitudes and disagreements must have taken place. Unfortunately by the 1630's the bishops were following Archbishop Laud (1633-45) and managing to discourage any preacher paid for by the congregation. For they were being told to suppress any individualism and especially preachers who strayed from the recommended line.

One thing the hierarchy could not stop was the persons freedom to pay for burial inside the church. Something that would hardly concern many today, but the parishioners used tombs to express grief and also to declare the qualities of the deceased to the world. It had become permissible to put length of marriage on memorials and if the wife had a coat of arms it too was included to show what an honourable marriage had been made. Their mutual love for each other being expressed on some brass memorials, but none of these, except part of Walter and Alis Calcotts, which Royce saw a century ago, now remain. Had there been any destruction of older church tombs in Edward VIths time? The lack of rich landlords in the town may have left room for less ornate inscriptions. Was Calcott leaving one in the south chapel as a visual reminder for the family to pray for him? Without months mind and obitt masses (p41), memorials would begin to take on more importance.

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Those of the gentry, like Cropredy's A manor owner Lady Judith Corbet living in Clattercote, would be expected to leave such a tomb stone after being buried in the church, but none survived. Sculptured tombs were of course very expensive and soon replaced by written memorials. The purpose of the old tomb was to plead for prayers for the departed soul which had been suppressed by the protestants. By the 1630's when Cropredy graves began to appear in the churchyard many of the townsmen could read. Gradually "poems" appeared on the back which mentioned the frailty of life and gave warnings to passers by. The most important function though was to help the bereaved by assuring them of a future life with the dear departed. Who then left memorials or expressed a wish to be buried inside the church?

To be Buried in Saint Mary's Church or Churchyard .

Thomas Lee of Clattercote died in 1572. He owned the A manor of Cropredy before the Corbets (p13). His mother Elizabeth was already buried in the church and he wished to be buried near her and a "toome or stone" put up in memory of his mother and himself by Marie "my well beloved wife" [PCC 23 Draper]. No sign of this remains.

Thomas Holloway wrote on the 29th of October 1619 only fifteen days before he was buried-

"My bodie I will maybe buried in the upper part of the Chancell, not fare from the vestry doore, and not to be kept but shortly after my departure to be buried and my funeral I will to bee at some convenient tyme within a fortnight or longer after my buriall."

Was this very unusual, or because the bishop would have to be notified and certain dignitaries be summoned? Often a death is closely followed by a burial preventing the coffin from standing in the house for too long especially in the summer. He fails to mention the first Mrs Holloway's grave, but his second wife desires to be "buried in the Chauncell...near adjoyning to the place where my husband lyeth." Thomas gave "towards the repayre of the Chancell in Cropredy in respect of my bodye there to be layd" 6s-8d. He left no instructions for a tomb stone.

Where did his parishioners choose to be buried, before the time when it became more seemly to leave it to the executors? From Bourton seven were buried inside Cropredy church between 1588 and 1634 [Wm Hall yeoman in 1588, Geo Gardner in 1591, Thos Plant yeoman in 1594, Thos Smyth husbandman in 1611, Elizabeth Gardner of Lt.Bourton in 1614, Nicholas Plant yeoman in 1617 and Thos Gill yeoman in 1634]. Elizabeth Gardner's instructions were for "her body"..."to be layd in the parish church of Cropredy near to her seat end" [MS. Will Pec. 39/3/18]. No stone memorial here either. Her estate was worth £9-10s while Thomas Smyth's was £145. She died of old age, but he was still farming.

Cropredy had six buried in the church between 1570 and 1640 that we know of and only two called themselves yeomen. Ralph Nuberry, a husbandman [8] could afford to, but it may have been his position as the Colleges main tenant that inspired this wish. In 1595 John French [6] "wished to be buried in a convenient place in the church." Anthony Hall in 1598 [6] had the same wish. In 1611 the church wardens finally received 3s-4d from William Hall for his brother Anthony's grave in the church [c25/3 f50v]. Was it the farming of the rectorial tithes that gave French [6] and Hall [6] this claim to being buried inside and were they obliged to help keep the chancel in repair?

Robert Robins a husbandman [26] decided in 1603 to be buried inside the church. He left a young widow Joanne who by 1627 having farmed with her son throughout her long widowhood, wished to "be buryed... as neare to the seate where I use to sit as the place will give leave."

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She must have fallen ill, having given up attending church, but over the years she had managed without her husband and makes no reference to him, unless she could not bear to think of what Robert's remains had become. Widow Joanne's only son Robert Robins having married a daughter from the vicarage, Anne Holloway, and become a yeoman, leaves the choice of where to bury him to his wife. Thomas their clerical son and his wife Elizabeth had ledger tombs outside: "A son of the church, a subject of the Kings and charitable to the poore, was here buried December 30th 1662" [Royce p51. Graves 247,248].

There was one more buried within the church before 1640 whom we must not forget. Edward Lumberd [14] was not sure where he might live after the remarriage of his daughter-in-law, yet he kept on farming for two more years in Cropredy. They buried him in the church in 1635. With him ended that branch of the Lumberds, husbandmen, living on the Green. Afterwards the Haslewoods were ploughing his strips and making hay on his meads and "leas."

Only two of the stones have survived, one in the south chapel "the body of Richard Gorstelowe gent.." buried in 1621 aged 63 and in the north chapel the almost lost "Joyce Hall, late/ wife of William Hall, Gent.." of Springfield [6] who died in 1662. Those inside the church have nearly all lost their memorials for this period, while outside the woolwinder's much simpler stone still struggles to grow lichens. Burials and memorials in the churchyard were entering upon the rector's freehold and needed permission. The vicar had the hay rights and grazing for his horse. This could have discouraged parishioners from applying for permission to put up memorials. The stopping of church ales in the church yard must have helped for before that there were perhaps fears for the safety of a memorial which may have been well founded. Timber memorials have long gone so that the people too have vanished, especially when their families could no longer have a yearly mass for their souls which were paid for in advance. Stone memorials for tenants of stone houses were seen to be the answer. Fiftythree remain from 1650 to 1699, others now missing were headstones and footstones which went to floor a bay at Redes house [32] and paths more recently at the vicarage [21] and clearly other places took some from time to time. Lack of space moved headstones to edge the church path, so that even these were none too safe. Those families whose memorials remain were the Wyatts who have eleven, Holloways four, Mansell the millers four, and Robins three.

Landmarks in the churchyard were used to pinpoint their family plot in the absence of any surviving wooden memorial. In 1605 Thomas Hall wished to be "nighe unto the yeaw tree" [MS.Will Pec. 41/1/39] and in 1622 Joane Townsend wanted to be "Buried and layed..neare unto the ewe tree" [MS. Will Pec. 52/3/38]. Both lived in Bourton and by 1633 Thomas Gardner yeoman of Little Bourton manor wanted to "be buried in the churchyard...about foure yards from the Chancell dore, southward" [PCC 164 Russell 102].

The epidemic of 1631 had carried off man and wife in several houses. In Bourton the Cleredge family put up the first stone which has weathered the centuries. "Christopher Clarage and his wife" (Joyce's name omitted), "were buried the last day of April" [Grave 173]. They had been married for twentyeight years and he was a husbandman, dealer and woolwinder living in Great Bourton. Their stone having been moved now faces the gate leading to Hello.

In 1619 Mr Coldwell [50] of the A manor farm wishes only to be buried in the churchyard to be "near to my sister and my good Mrs Calthropp."

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We can be sure his wishes were granted, for he left a widow whose staff stayed on year after year, and remained with her as a widow to help run the farm and carry out Arthur's last requests. No memorial survives.

Robert Woodrose left his place of burial in 1625 to the discretion of Dyonice which was now the way of marriages that had been a loving partnership, or the wife was a very obedient and "good" wife. She chose the churchyard and her affection shows through in her will when she brings up Robert's name at the disposal of his possessions. Her wish when her time came was to be buried as "near my well beloved and loving husband as possible." Her eldest son Nicholas who died three years after Robert wanted to be buried "neare unto my father." A close family and one which may have made family pilgrimages to the plot. Although Dyonice was buried in 1634 no memorial remains. Martha, Nicholas's much younger wife, having dutifully brought up and sent out into the world their large family, refrained from mentioning her burial place, except it was to be in whichever "place it pleases the lord to call me away." She died in Cropredy with several others in 1639. By then her nephew John Wilmer had been leasing and living in part of the manor [8] for two years, with his family (p552). John would have buried aunt Martha in the family plot. He and his wife Marie called their last son Luther Wilmer in 1650. Were they followers of Luther, or had this become a family name?

When the vicar was the scribe he first settled with the testator their final resting place and then started down a list of bequests needed to run their church and town. Only the former rate payers who were also leasers of land would leave such bequests. Did a husbandman with several yardlands contribute according to the land he held? A kind of customary tariff?

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Three transcripts from Thomas Holloway's Easter Oblations.