VI & VII. The Washfield Saga: Land Tenure & Family History in Devon, 1275-1800
83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
101 102
103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115
The documents contained in the next two cases illustrate the interconnected fortunes of three families and the lands they held and worked over a period of 500 years. Here, as always, the very survival of these records provides a clue to their use as evidentiary documents. Many were probably preserved by the landholders as mumiments of title, proving their claim to the land should a dispute arise in court. By the 1540s and 50s most of the charters which make up this dossier had fallen into the hands of a litigious country squire called Simon Worth, who brought a suit in the Court of Common Pleas to claim certain messuages in Devon as his lawful inheritance. To demonstrate his title to these lands he probably presented the court with dozens of ancient deeds, many of which are displayed here. They tell the story of three Devonshire families, each representing a particular stratum of society: the Abbot/Beauchamp family, lords of the manor of Washfield; the Worth family, local gentry-on-the-make who eventually gain control of the manorial lands; and the Hobikyn/Juyl family, descendants of an ambitious and unfree tenant of the Abbot patriarch, who conserve and fight for their small patrimony against the superior strength of the all-conquering Worth clan. An interesting feature of the lands' history lies in the fact that the Abbot and Hobikyn lands are passed on by the females of the family for several generations.
The spelling of surnames has not been standardized in an effort to demonstrate the phonetic and orthographical changes they underwent over a long period of time. The lineage of persons whose names appear in capitals can be traced through the accompanying genealogical Chart.
83.
c. 1270
Manumission of ROBERT son of Robert de Washfield
by WILLIAM, lord of Washfield, so that he be free to go wherever he will with his family and goods; for this manumission John de Alba Mara has given one mark. Witnessed in the Wnal instance by RICHARD DE LA WORTHE. Because villeins were legally unfree, everything they owned belonged to their lord; thus, a villein could not "buy" his freedom, since the money he gave could not, in the eyes of the law, belong to him in the first place.20 In this instance, therefore, John de Alba Mara acts as a kind of sponsor for ROBERT--but there is no reason to believe that the money did not belong to ROBERT. It was not unknown for men of servile origins, perhaps Xourishing under the beneWcent neglect of their landlords, to accumulate enough capital for such purposes. Some comparatively wealthy serfs or villeins might even choose to remain "unfree," since it was cheaper.
84.
1275 January 12
Grant of land in Washfield by Sir Warin de Sicca Villa to JOHN LE ABBE, lord of Washfield, which land the grantor held of RICHARD DE LA WORTHE. Witnessed by Sir John de Alba Mara in the second instance. By this charter the lords of Washfield are entitled to more of the land outside their demesne, but they hold it in fee from the Worths.
Seal bearing the legend: S.JOHANNIS LE ABE
85.
c. 1290
Inspeximus by HENRY LE ABBE lord of Washfield of a charter of WILLIAM LE ABBE his grandfather (not extant in this collection), granting to ROBERT son of ROBERT DE WASHFIELD one furlong of his land in Washfield, which ROBERT father of the said ROBERT formerly held, he paying an annual rent of 5 shillings and being quit of multure (lord's right to make his tenants grind at his mill); which grant the said HENRY ABBE conWrms to THOMAS DE WASHFIELD son of the aforesaid ROBERT HOBEKYN. The said THOMAS in return has quit-claimed to HENRY all his land lying east of the ditch stretching to the land of "la Worthe". With a further grant by the said HENRY that THOMAS and his heirs shall have 6 acres of his land in Washfield. Witnessed in the Wnal instance by WILLIAM ABBE, clerk.
Seal bearing the legend S.HENRICI LE ABBOT.
86.
c. 1290
Quitclaim by THOMAS DE WASHFIELD son and heir of ROBERT DE WASHFIELD to HENRY LE ABBE his lord, of his lands in the demesne of the manor of Washfield (as above), in place of which the said HENRY has given him 6H acres of his land in Washfield. Witnessed in the first instance by ALEXANDER DE LA WORTHE and Wnally by the above-named WILLIAM ABBE, probably the younger brother of HENRY.
87.
1304 September 14
Grant by THOMAS HOBIKYN (a.k.a Thomas de Washfield) to HENRY called ABBE lord of Washfield and JOAN his wife of 6H acres of land in Washfield (the same as in the above charters), which he had in exchange for other lands (as above). Witnessed in the second instance by ALEXANDER DE LA WORTHE.
Note that Thomas, one generation removed from villeinage, has his own personalized seal: +S.TOME HOBEKIN
88.
1334 September 9
Appointment by ADAM DE HOBIKYN son and heir of THOMAS HOBIKYN of an attorney to put Thomas de Banrigot in possession of all his land in the manor of Washfield.
89.
1336 September 13
Grant (chirograph) by WALTER ABBOT lord of Washfield to ADAM HOBEKYN for his life of the grantor's meadow called "Tounmede" in the demesne of Washfield at a yearly rent of 5 shillings. Witnessed in the first instance by RICHARD DE LA WORTHE.
90.
1345 May 31
Quitclaim by John de Sicca Villa to WALTER ABBOT of Washfield of his right in all the lands in the manor of Washfield. Witnessed in the first instance by RICHARD DE LA WORTHE.
91.
1362 January 14
Notification by ALICE who was the wife of John de Shokysdon to all her tenants of Washfield and Loghetorr' that she has given her manors to her son HUGH.
92.
1362 January 21
Grant by ALICE who was the wife of John de Shokysdon to HUGH BEAUCHAMP her son of her manors of Washfield and Loghetorre with the advowson of the church of Washfield.
93.
1362 April 19
Grant by Hugh de Courtenay [tenth] earl of Devon and lord of Okampton to MAUDE who was the wife of RICHARD ATTE WORTHE of all the goods and chattels which the said RICHARD on another occasion gave to the grantor.
94.
1363 July 12
Quitclaim to ADAM JOEL and CECILY his wife by Walter Corse, son of William atta Stanterne of his right in lands in Washfield which ADAM HOPKYN and ALICE his wife previously held there. Witnessed in the last instance by HUGH BEAUCHAMP lord of Washfield.
95.
1384 May 9
Grant by HUGH BEAUCHAMP and JOAN his wife to WALTER BAKER and CECILY his wife of a meadow called "Tounemede" in Washfield for the life of the said CECILY, at a rent of 5 shillings. Witnessed by ROBERT WORTHE.
96.
1393 April 4
Letters of attorney from JOAN was the wife of HUGH BEAUCHAMP to ROBERT her son to recover seisin of two portions of her land in Washfield called "Scrapynhals" and "Mylham."
97.
1393 April 23
Grant by HUMFREY BEAUCHAMP to ROBERT BEAUCHAMP (probably his younger brother) and others of lands in his manor of Washfield with "Milham" and "Scrapynghals" together with the advowson of the church of Washfield, and the manor of Luchetorre.
98.
1403 September 29
Grant by HUMFREY BEAUCHAMP to WALTER BAKER and CECILY his wife for a term of nineteen years of a meadow in Washfield called "Tounmede" at an annual rent of one grain of wheat. Sewn to the face is a notification by Humfrey to the effect that he is renewing the original grant made nineteen years before.
99.
1404 January 10
Receipt from HUMFREY BEAUCHAMP to WALTER BAKER and CECILY his wife for 5 shillings as one year's rent for a messuage and forty acres of land in Washfield, which they hold of him for the term of nineteen years in right of CECILY.
100.
1410 November 11
Grant by John Baker and others to WALTER BAKER and CECILY his wife of all the lands in Washfield which they had of the gift of CECILY, to wit those which descended to her by the death of ADAM HOBEKYNS her father; with successive remainders to ALEXANDER JUYLL (son of ADAM JOEL, CECILY's first husband), to John Godwin and Gonilda, to ROBERT son of WALTER and CECILY, and to the right heirs of Washfield. Witnessed in the first instance by SIMON BERNEVILE.
101.
1428 April 7
Quitclaim by SIMON BERNEVILE of Washfield to JOHN BERNEVILE his son of his right in all the messuages in Washfield and Loghetorr which he held for life or by the courtesy of England (for his life, through the right of his wife after her death) or at will as of the right of RICHARD DYLINGTON and MAUD his wife, and MURIEL late the grantor's wife, or of ALICE BEAUCHAMP sometime the wife of HUMFREY BEAUCHAMP (and daughter of WALTER ABBOT lord of Washfield). In order to justify his right to the land, Simon must rehearse the history of his claim to it, which is his only through his wife. Witnessed in the first instance by THOMAS WORTHE, esquire, and by ALEXANDER JUYL. The interests of all three families have begun to coincide, in a process begun 150 years earlier with the manumission of Alexander's maternal great-great-grandfather.
102.
1429 September 28
Quitclaim by ALEXANDER JUYL to THOMAS WORTHE, esquire, of his right in all the messuages in Washfield which ought to descend to him from CECILY BAKER his mother, and conWrmation by him of two charters, i.e. the Inspeximus by HENRY ABBE lord of Washfield (No. 85) of a charter of WILLIAM ABBE his grandfather (cf. No. 83) to ROBERT son of ROBERT DE WASHFIELD; and the grant by CECILY BAKER, widow, to THOMAS WORTHE, esquire, of her messuages in Washfield (a charter not extant in this collection). Witnessed (among others) by John Juyl and William Juyl his brother21 and JOHN BERNEVILE.
103.
1438 April 18
Grant by ROBERT DYLINGTON to THOMAS WORTHE, esquire (his cousin), of all his messuages in Washfield and the advowson of the church of Washfield, that is all those messuages which SIMON BERNEVILE, ALEXANDER JUYL, and others lately held of him. Witnessed by (among others) SIMON BERNEVILE and JOHN BERNEVILE.
104.
1438 April 19
Surrender by SIMON BERNEVILE of Washfield of all his estate in Washfield which THOMAS WORTHE has of the gift of ROBERT DYLINGTON (as above, No. 103) and which SIMON holds for life of the demise of RICHARD DYLINGTON and MAUDE his wife (No. 101).
105.
1439 June 22
Quitclaim by THOMAS son and heir of RICHARD DYLINGTON and MAUD his wife to THOMAS WORTHE of Worthe in the county of Devon, of his right in the lands and advowson of Washfield which THOMAS BEAUCHAMP, knight, lately granted to ROBERT DYLINGTON his brother and which THOMAS WORTHE had of the gift of the said ROBERT (No. 103). Witnessed by JOHN BERNEVILE, among others. By the end of the 1430's, then, the properties which comprised the manor of Washfield, which had been divided among the daughters of Hugh Beauchamp, lord of Washfield, have been consolidated in the hands of Thomas Worthe, who has succeeded in buying out the interests of his Dylington and Bernevile cousins (see below, No. 107).
106.
1459 September 29
EnfeoVment to uses by THOMAS WORTHE, esquire, the elder, to JOHN BERNEVILE his cousin (consanguines) of all his share in certain buildings in Washfield, and of a meadow called "Tounemede" all of which JOHN holds of THOMAS. Witnessed by JOHN HAWKE and ALEXANDER GYLLE (a.k.a Juyl).
Seal bearing the legend: SIGILLUM THOME WERTHE.
107.
1465 January 28
Quitclaim by JOHN BERNEVILE son and heir of SIMON BERNEVILE and MURIEL his wife, daughter and one of the heirs of HUGH BEAUCHAMP and sister of HUMFREY BEAUCHAMP, to THOMAS WORTHE son and heir of THOMAS WORTHE, son and heir of MARGERY WORTHE, daughter and another heir of the said HUGH and sister of the aforewritten HUMFREY, of all his right in the messuages in Washfield and the advowson of the church there, in which THOMAS WORTHE the elder was formerly seised and THOMAS his son is now seised. Witnessed by JOHN HAWKENE.
108.
1477 August 18
Declaration by Robert Spurway of Teverton, Devon, gentleman; that at the session of peers holden at Exeter after Michaelmas 37 Henry VI [1458] he endeavored to persuade THOMAS WORTHE to agree to an equal partition with John Wynard of the lands of Humfrey Bevile (a.k.a. Devile) in Wolston (or Wolveston or Wolneston) as yet undivided. "Whereto the said Thomas agreed for his tyme with that Isabelle his wife [that they] wold thereto consent, [if] and also that all deedis contayning the inheritances of his owne descente whych wer a little befor taken away by the said John might be first to him devised again, upon which desire of deedis and of other thyngs the co-partyners varied and departed in wrath in my presence and hearing." The paper draft of the grant which should have settled this dispute appears in this exhibit as No. 28.22
109.
1487 April 1
Grant by JOHN HAWKYN (the younger) to JOHN HAWKYN the grantor's brother, among others, of the lands in Washfield which descended to him after the death of JOAN his mother, daughter of ALEXANDER JUYL. It was quite common in late medieval England for two or more children in the same family to have identical given names, since children were usually named after their godparents, rather than their parents. Given the relatively small pool of popular names, it was not unlikely that two successive godparents would be called "John."23 It also happened that the desire to preserve a family name would prompt parents to christen two or more sons "John"--just in case.
110.
1487 April 4
Declaration by JOHN HAWKYN, "franklyn," that in the grant which he made on 1 April last of all his lands in Washfield, his intention was that the grantees shall suffer him to enjoy the lands during his life; and after his death they shall make an estate of all the lands to JOHN his son and heir and the heirs of his body.
111.
1501 May 23
Certificate of John Brode, curate of Mynster in the county of Cornwall, the freeholders of which parish are suitors to Edward lord Hastings by reason of the honour of Botreaux Castle and Worthevale in the said parish, of which honour the manor of Wolston is held, that on the Sunday before Whitsunday THOMAS WORTHE of Worthe in Devon, esquire, "came and prayed me in my parish church to examine my parisshioners upon the name [of the said manor] to saie the trouth, Thay enswearing me with oon vois said Wolston & [that it was] not know[n]e by that name Wolneston by any of [them who] can remember and that thay alle praied me in ther behalf so to testiWe." This certificate appears to relate to the same dispute described in Nos. 28 and 108, here being carried out by THOMAS WORTH II, who was building on an already extensive patrimony in neighboring Devonshire. It sheds light on the type of jury vote which was often employed to determine the ownership or tenurial history of a piece of land. If the deeds held by Thomas described his lands as lying in a place which no longer existed, as far as public opinion was concerned, he might lose his right to them through the misnomer. It is also a perfect example of how place-names might change over time: the pronunciations of the original "Wolneston" or "Wolviston" had become unrecognizable, since the locals thought of their manor as "Wolston" (and probably pronounced it "Wooston").
112.
1514 December 31
Grant by JOHN HAWKYN of lands in Washfield, and declaration that the intent of the grant is that his feoVees should be seised to his use during his life and after his death should secure 8s. 4d. a year to PERNELL wife of THOMAS HAWKYN his son and heir, with remainders to the heirs of THOMAS and PERNELL.
113.
1545 November 26
Exemplification under the seal of the Court of Common Pleas of a recovery suffered in the Court at Westminster in Michaelmas term between SIMON WORTHE, esquire, by Thomas Hacche his attorney, petitioner, and PHILIP HAWKE, concerning land in Washfield in the county of Devon. Philip Hawke was thus the last descendant of the Robert Hobikyn, serf, to hold land in Washfield. Records of a court case from 1557 show Nicholas Hawke, Edmund Hawke, and Martin Burgis and Katherine his wife (née Hawke?) contesting the recovery by SIMON WORTHE, but to no avail. The Worth family continued to occupy its lands in Washfield, Devon and elsewhere until the nineteenth century. A few family mementoes are preserved in this collection.
114.
1606 August 3
Inventory of the goods and chattels of HENRY WORTHE, esquire, who died this day. Net worth: £1033.13.4.
115.
1800 March 26
Letter from Charles Worth to his nephew John Worth, esquire, of Worth House, Washfield, Devon.
Washfield Wednesday Noon
26 March 1800My Dear Sir:
The time draws near for my departure, therefore I am to beg your Afsistance in conveying me in your Chair tomorrow to Twiston [sic]. I should wish if it perfectly suits you to leave Washfield about 5 o Clock to avoid the cool of the Evening.
Will thank you for any cuttings of Geraniums or anything that you think will be Gay for my Garden Pots, and an Honeysuckle.
Yesterday brought me the melancholy account of the death of my Deer Child Henry last Sunday.
I have known nothing but trouble these 5 Years but we must submit. My Love to Mrs. Worth & the Children.
I remain Your Affte. Uncle
Charles Worth
Inscribed: My poor Uncle Charles's last Letter