TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

ESSEX

ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY

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VOL. II.,
NEW SERIES
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COLCHESTER:
PRINTED BY W. WILES, TRINITY STREET
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M.DCCC.LXXXIV





EXCERPTS FROM ANCIENT WILLS.

By H. W. KING

(No. 2.)


... (pages 55 to near the bottom of 63 of this article omitted as they are are on families other than the Barringtons.)

In Harl. MS 5195 is the following record, "On a marble tomb are erected the portraiture of a man and his wife in brass with the epitaph underneath":--

Orate pro aibus Johis Barrington, armigeri, et Thomasine ux'is eius expectantiu miam Dei, qui qudm Johes obiit viii die mensis Novembris Ao Dni 1416 & p'dea Thomasina obiit 15 die mensis Septembris 1420, Quoru aibus propicietur Deus, Amen.


   This monument was seen and the inscription imperfectly copied by Weever (Fun. Mon. 1632), but, singularly, he does not mention the effigies. It was also extant when Dr. Salmon wrote in 1740. There are some grounds for believing that it existed in Morant's time, 1768. I am of the opinion that the two very detrited effigies, (the male figure headless), which I found in 1846, evidently removed from their original site, and lying North and South at the North-West entrance to the church, exposed to constant attrition by passing feet, are those of John and Thomasine Barrington; an opinion I expressed to the late Rev. Herbert Haines, when he examined my collection for the purposes of his work on the monumental brasses of England and which opinion he has adopted.
   It would hardly be possible to determine the point from the execution and costume, as there are so few years difference between the date of this monument and that of William Sutton, Valet of the Crown, who died in 1428, also extant in Weever's time. As the writer of Harl. MS. 5195 does not describe the effigies of John Barrington as in armour, though he particularises another figure, which, from the description, could not have been Sutton's, as "in complete armour,"* the natural inference is that the effigy of John Barrington was in civil costume, which, in the existing brass, is in perfect accord with the date indicated.
   The Barringtons of Rayleigh were a branch of the very ancient family of Barrington, of Barrington Hall, and held the office of Keepers of the King's Park at Rayleigh, having their residence here, as at Hatfield, in a house called after their own name.
   It has never been previously determined who Thomasine,

   * The writer says "in Rayleigh Church, a man kneeling in complete armour and this coate on his breaste, Arg, a chev. az. A woman kneeling with these 2 empaled on her breast, Arg. a chev. Az.; Gu. 3 chev. Arg."
   The attitude is not that of a sepulchral effigy of the early part of the 15th century; and it seems to me perfectly certain, from the arms, though there are errors in the blazonry (specially the omission of the label in each case), that these figures are those of John Hopton and Thomasine (Barrington) his wife; that these are not sepulchral (neither of them having been buried here), but were depicted in one of the painted windows of the church about the end of the 15th century. With this view the description is perfectly consistent, and it may have been that they were represented in the window which this lady by her will gave to the church.


the wife of this John Barrington, was. Morant has left the point in obscurity. The will, however, of Thomasine Hopton, daughter of John Barrington, leaves no doubt that he married Thomasine daughter and heiress of William Totham of Lambourne Hall in Canewdon, and this being so, goes far to fill the chasm which the historian says he was obliged to leave in the descent of the manor of Lambourne Hall, finding nothing upon record concerning it from 28 Edward I, when William Lambourne died, leaving James his son and heir, until the reign of Henry VII., when it was in Thomasine the daughter of John Barrington, for whose possession he is unable to account. It is clear, however, from her will, that this lady inherited in the right of her mother from her grandfather William Totham,* and in all probability, though we are unable to substantiate the conjecture, it passed by an alliance between the Lambournes and Tothams to the latter family, for Shower has preserved a memorial (though without date) of one Lambourne Totham and his wife, who were buried in Canewdon Church.+
   Thomasine Barrington, who was a considerable heiress and of an ancient house, was thrice married, 1. to William Lunsford (Lunsforthe or Louseworthe), Esq., 2. to William Kidney, of Stoke Daubernon in Surrey, 3. to John Hopton, Esq. Her first husband made a brief will in Latin, dated the 10th and proved the 24th of April, 1445, wherein he describes himself as William Lonesforde de Bello (Battle), Co. Sussex, and desires to be buried in the Church of Battle in the Chapel of S. Catherine, and gives. "To Thomasine my wife all my goods and chattels in the parish of Rayleigh, Co. Essex." His wife as an only child and heir retained the inheritance from both her parents. It was as the widow of her third husband that she made her own will, dated the 3rd of Nov. 1497, and proved 10th Feb. 1497-8, in which she describes herself as Thomasine Hopton, widow, of Yokkingfeld, Co Suffolk.#

   * Obviously the William Totham who witnessed the will of John Chanceux in 1393.
   + Trans. Essex Arch. Soc., Vol. I., p.117, New Series.
   # Sic in Reg. but I am unable to identify it with the modern name of any parish in the county.


   To be buried in the church of Blythebourne in a tomb where my late husband John Hopton, Esq., lieth,* or else, if it fortune me to decease in Essex, then to be buried in Reileigh church. "I bequeath to the church of Moche Stanway my portous, an awter cloth of Weluett and gold brawderied with gawters. It'm I bequeth to the Church of Stanway to helpe bye a coope with xvjs. viijd. It'm I bequeth to the said church to therep'acions where moost nede is xls.+ It'm I forgive Robert Coppessherft all the money that he owith me at the day of making of this my p'nt testament. It'm I bequeth to Jane Wentworth to make her a noune at Broseyers, to her profession x marks."
   Will that my feoffees which have been enfeoffed of and in the manors of 'Lambrorne' [Lambourne] Hall and 'Crixeth halle' and 'Castelmersh' with their appurtenances and in 40 acres of land and 30 acres of pasture, 254 acres of marsh, 66 acres of wood, with their appurtenances in Canwedon, Railegh, Hoklegh. Wilkeford, Dounham, Rammesdon Belous, Rammedon Cray, Much Maldon, Little Maldon and Rochford Co. Essex, that they stand and be feoffees to the use and behoof of Edward Knyvet, Esq., his heirs and executors, and when he shall have fully received of the issues, revenues and profits of the said manors, then they to stand possessed thereof to the use and performance of my will to pay thereout to Dorothy Tendering, daughter of William Tendering £25 at marriage.
   Testratix mentions Thomasine Tendering my dau. deceased, my Grandfather Totham, Jane Lunsford and Emelyn her sister, Philippa dau. of Edward Knyvet. A bequest o John Hopton. "To making of the way from Lambon Hall to Canydon church xxs." Mentions also, Dame Alionora Townsende, William Lunsford, Anne Townsende. Thomasine dau of Nicholas Sydney, Dame Elizabeth Lunsford, nun, Elizabeth Knyvet, William Clopton, Dame Jane Blakeney, Dame Margery Caltharp [and gives legacies to them and many others]. She continues "I bequeth to the church of Railegh for the glasing of a wyndowe of the lief of Saint Thomas to the some of v marcs."#

   With respect to her Essex manors it was ordered,

That there be levied £20 to the marriage of Thomasine Sydney, conditionally that Nicholas Sydney her father endeavour to aid the

   * I am informed by the Rev W. W. Tyler, the Incumbent, that there is no absolute certainty about the burial-place of any of the Hoptons at Blytheburgh. The tomb usually assigned to the family is situate between the chancel and Hopton chapel. But the record of names, &c., has been removed long ago. There are a considerable number of heraldic devices belonging to the Hoptons.
   + These bequests may be accounted for by a connection between the families of Lunsford and Knyvet, a branch of which lived at Stanway. John Knyvet of that place in a Latin will made in 1476 gave xxs. for a tabula of alabaster for the high altar. The church is now desecrated and has long stood a ruin. The Knyvets had also land in Rayleigh.
   # This window, of course, perished in 1539, when after the insane process of citing the Archbishop, 400 years after his death, to appear in Westminster Hall, he was adjudged guilty of rebellion, treason and contumacy, his bones ordered to be burnt and every memorial of him ordered to be destroyed throughout the country.


executors of my will. After Edward Knyvet hath levied 200 marks and £26 above all charges then William Lunsford to have and enjoy all the said lands in Ramsden Belhouse and Ramsden Cray to him and his heirs. Will that William Lunsford my son's son have no estate, possession or interest in the manor of 'Crixeth halle' and 'Castel marsh' in Co. Essex, and also of my lands in Rayleigh, Hockley, Wickford, Downham, Rocheford, Ramsden, Belhouse, Ramsden Cray. Will that debts, legacies, &c., be satisfied, and the Priest found for the space of 15 years which be behind for my grandfather Totham's soul--this Priest to sing for my grandfather Totham, his wife, his father and all souls that my grandfather was bounded to pray for; then said manors lands & tenements with their appurtenances to remain to the right heirs, the which is William Lunsford and his heirs, and, in default, then to his successors Jane and Emelyn, & then for want of issue of them, to the right heirs of my body according to Totham's will, except that I will that Nicholas Sydney have 12 marks for life, then to Son Lunsford, and his heirs according to the Totham will, and for default of any heirs of my body then to be sold according to the Totham will. Appoint executors Edward Knyvet, William Doune, Edward Harvie and William Alyn of Rayle, yeoman.

The reader may compare this settlement with the very accurate narrative given by Morant sub Rayleigh (Vol. I, p. 278). It clears up the obscurity in which the learned historian was compelled to leave the descent of the manor of Lambourne Hall, and, I may add, supplements in a small degree the valuable memoir of the Barrington Family, edited by the President, which immediately precedes this paper.

(Continues with wills of other families)