Genealogy Chat

No its Broadclyst! Ive been poking at A2A but surprisingly a lot came up on ancestry. I think a lot of people dont use the full resources on there - check out the Probate and Parish Records. Yes mine seem to have been awkward sods too. Will be interesting, wish a few of them would come back now and help me out with current court case against neighbour from hell!

Heather Please tell me the village isn't Budleigh Salterton.... Have you been poking about on A2A? I always come off that site hysterical with excitement, having found YET ANOTHER Holden document from 1371 or whatever - oh, I am so glad I come from a long line of compulsive hoarders! I reckon they havent thrown away a piece of paper for more than 800 years. I know so much about them now that I feel I can actually see them. They were Awkward S*ds to a man - a trait which I have frequently been accused of. I laugh at their obvious fury when they are thwarted, and their cunning - so cunning in fact, that they often cut off their own noses to spite their face. My latest find is a long rambling squabble in the Consistatory Court. There was a big family falling-out in 1557 and the off-branch huffed off and built a new Manor, which they very cleverly called the Old Manor (to confuse the postman, perhaps?) For some unknown, but fishy reason, they then built an underground tunnel, nearly a mile long, which came up in the grounds of the Old Old Manor house. The poor clerk who scribed the documents calls the two dwellings 'The New Old House' and the 'Old Old House'. He loses it completely at one point and refers to the Oldens of the Old Old Ouse. Its wonderful, its better than champagne! Enjoy yourself! Olde Crone

Thanks Old Crone. Its SO interesting isnt it! I shall have to have a holiday in Devon come spring time I think. One member tells me you can get public transport from Exeter to the village as its only 5 miles outside. There was another interesting one about a Beare in the village challenging some Lord or other about '8 good men of the village'?????

Sorry, didn't hear you the first time, I'm a bit deaf!!! Erm, not absolutely sure on this one, they fined anyone at the drop of a hat, for anything in those days. Some possible 'Fines' were in fact what we would call taxes, these days. Window Fines, Hearth Tax Fines etc. Less likely, you could be fined for not going to Church - but I think it would have said so, in that case. You could be fined for Recusancy - in other words, insisting on being a Catholic rather than a Protestant. This was for the posh - the poor just got beaten up and evicted. You could be fined for not accepting a Knighthood - one of my Holdens was thus fined. He probably thought the fine was a cheaper option than the cost of being a Knight. You could be fined for not raising a Muster Roll - in other words, making your employees go off to War on the Sovereign's behalf - not everyone was a Patriot! There are other even more obscure reasons for fining. It may be that as a Freeman, he had not fulfilled the terms of indentured apprentices under his care. Really, the only way to define this is to look at the records of the Court in their entirety and GUESS!!! Olde Crone

Many thanks everyone. Its so NICE to find a branch of the family that actually did things that were recorded. Apparently another one took the local Lord to task over 8 good men from the parish of Broadclyst or something - this is hours and weeks of pleasure guys, if not months. Ill have a look at that Kate, thank you. How much would that be equivalent to now Geoff, do you know? It seems a lot of money. I guess the word 'fine' has changed over the years. I wondered what on earth he could have got up to to get a fine that big! Lovely after such a dearth of info on my other lines for 6 months or more.

Marjorie.............you're wanted! :-) Joy

Incidentally, 6s 8d was one third of a pound (£) - a coin called a 'noble', so £1 6s 8d would be 4 nobles.

Have a look at this: http://www.exeter.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3470 It looks as though the 'fine' may just have been the price he had to pay to become a freeman of the city. Kate.

LOL Heather! Why don't you put Olde Crone's name in the heading of the thread?? Then she'll see it straight away if she comes on here tonight!! You only need to say ''Court Roll'' for her to come up with an answer. I only know about cheese rolls! Merry

Was she there you reckon?? Blimey that was a fair bit of dosh to be fined wasnt it.

Calling Olde Crone........Olddddee Crrrroooooonnnnnnee... Where arrrreeee yooooouuuu??? She'll know what this is about, I think! Merry

Just when I thought I had come to an end of ever finding anything more, I went back and took a different line of my mums - I am inundated with stuff from Devon, these were wealthy people who seemed to have left wills at ever chance. Ive got so many to look through, dont know where to start, but any of you know what this means, I found it on ancestry's probate and parish records bit: 1670 Exeter Freemen 1301 Mayor's Court Roll 28-29 Edward I County: Devonshire Country: England Jan. 30 1301 John de Beare, fine of £1 6s 8d and at instance of mayor and community