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Theydon Mount: Wills during the Reign of King James I (Part 1). The Last Will and Testamentof Thomas Bredge, 1612
Ten Wills survive in the Essex Record Office for Theydon Mount during the reign of King James I.4 Did any of them mention anything about the church rebuilding between 1611 and 1614?
The answer is ‘yes’.
Thomas Bredge devised the following Will5:
Bredge. Anno domini6 one Thousand six hundred and twelve dated the Seaven and twentith7 of Aprill.
In the name of god Amen. I Thomas Bredge of Theydon-Mounte in the Countie of Essex. First I bequeath my soule to Almyghtie God my creator and to Jesus Christ my redeemer and to the holieghos my santifier.
As for my bodie I bequeath to the Earth from whence it came. And to be buried in the churchyard of Theydon Garnone8 aforesaid9.
I give to the poore of Theydon Mounte ten shillings to be disposed accordinge to the discrecon10 of my Executors.
Item I give to the rep[ar]acon of Theydon mounte Church ten shillings.
Item I give and bequeath to my sonne James twentie pounde to be paid when he shall come to the full age of one and twentie years.
Item I give and bequeath unto my eldest daughter Margaret Bredge thirteene pounde six shillings and eight pence11 to be paid when she shall come to the full age of eighteene yeares.
Item I giue to my daughter Anne Bridge12 thirteen pound six shillings eight pence to be paid when shee shall come to the full age of eighteene yeares.
Item I giue to my daughter Elizabeth xiiiLi[bor] vis viiid13 to be paid when she shall come to the full age of eighteene years.
If it happen that any of theis my children should die before theie come to age, then my will is that theire porcion should be devided amonge the rest of my children.
Item if it happen that my wife to be w[i]th childe at the time of my decease my mynd and will is that it should have xiiiLi[bor] vis viiid at the end of eighteene yeares.
Item I give and bequeath to Agnes my wif all the rest of my moveable goodes w[hi]ch is unbequeathed, whom I make my full and whole Executor of this my last will and Testament.
Item I make my brother Robert and my brother Richard my overseers of this my last will and Testament.
The marke of Thomas Bredge, Richard Maynard, William Kobinet, Edward Aylett. The marke of Thomas Stevens.
Probatum …14
“Thomas Bridge of Thoidon Mount” was buried at Theydon Garnon on 30 April 1612, the register for that parish reveals15.
We can estimate Thomas’ age at the time of death as being at most in his mid-30s. This was quite common.
This will is typical of most. First the testator leaves his soul to Almighty God, then directs where his body is to be buried. The text is pretty standard.
When this will was written the word ‘aforesaid’ was included in error. Two parishes are mentioned: Theydon Mount and Theydon Garnon.
So was Theydon Mount an error? Where did Thomas Bredge live?
Here the Parish Register for Theydon Mount comes to our rescue because all his four children were baptised there:
“Margaret [th]e daughter of Thomas Bridge baptized the first of August 1602”;
“James Breages the sonne of Thomas Breages was baptized the 8 of July 1604”;
“Ann daughter of Tho Bridge was baptized [th]e 9 of December [1607]”;
and, “Elizabeth daughter of Tho Bridges was baptized [th]e 29 of Aprill [1610]”16.
We can deduce that Thomas Bredge was a Theydon Mount man. Also, that the writer probably used a template copy to complete the will. Would we want to commit to memory all those standard words?
Legacies to the poor and to the church follow the instructions for disposal of the body. In the case of Thomas Bredge he leaves 10 shillings for the repair of Theydon Mount church.
Then the inheritance is divided, often to his children first, then his spouse who is often appointed executor to the Will. At the end are the witnesses to the Will.
Many, including Thomas Bredge, are illiterate so sign the document with a squiggle or mark.
One of the most interesting marks I have seen is that of Richard Gladwin of Theydon Mount, a bricklayer, who signs documents with an oblong brick-shaped symbol.
There are two such documents: his own Will dated 14 December 162417 and as a witness to a terrier of glebelands, written by the rector, Thomas Juby, in the parish register on 1 December 162118.
Richard Gladwine was a sideman at the church. (See below.) I wonder whether this bricklayer had some responsibility for rebuilding the church?
Three further testators are not buried at Theydon Mount.
Robert Knoppe, a yeoman, who writes his Will on 1 May 1614, requests “my bodye to be buryed where it shall please my executrix”19. We can be confident that the church had reopened by then since the will was written on the very day of the baptism of Thomas Juby’s daughter.
Robert Hill’s undated will of 1612/13 merely bequeaths his body “to the ground”20.
William Winter’s will of 23 October 1613 requested his body “to be buryed in [th]e church yard of Theydon mount”21, but this was not carried out.
His widow, Susan Winter, who writes her will on 1 March 1624 (now 1625)22, bequeathing her body “to [th]e earth from whence it came”23, neither specifies a place of burial.
I looked at other registers in the locality – Stapleford Abbots does not survive – but could not find their resting places.
Six of the ten wills transcribed have been referred to in this note. More will be written about these in a future note.
On the basis of evidence, we can deduce that the church and churchyard reopened sometime between October 1613 and May 1614.
4 These have all now become available to view online through Essex Ancestors.
5 ERO D/AEW 14/218
6 Anno domini is Latin for ‘year of our Lord’
7 It was quite common to write dates in this way. We know the nursery rhyme “four and twenty blackbirds
baked in a pie” – this number is 24. Thomas Bredge wrote his will on 27 April 1612. Standardised spelling did
not exist.
8 Immediately recognisable as the neighbouring parish of Theydon Garnon.
9 ‘aforesaid’ implies a repetition of place name, which is not the case here.
10 Discretion – very often ‘c’ was substituted for ‘t’ and the letter ‘i’ omitted.v
11 £13.6.8d seems a strange sum of money to leave. However 13s.4d. was equivalent to one mark. So, for
people who don’t remember old money, £2 is 3 marks. £12 is 18 marks, and because there were 20 shillings to
£1, this meant £1.6s.8d. is 26s.8d or 2 marks. So, the bequest was for 20 marks.
12 Note a different spelling of the surname.
13 This is also £13.6s.8d. Pre-decimal money was divided into pounds (libor in Latin), shillings and pence (denari
in Latin). In sixteenth and seventeenth century handwriting a horizontal bar in the script represents a
contraction of a word, which palaeographers “fill in” by putting letters in square brackets. The symbol £, with
which we are familiar is a capital letter L crossed through.
14 Probate of the will is written in Latin.
15 ERO D/P 152/1/1
16 ERO D/P 142/1/1
17 ERO D/AEW 17/248
18 ERO D/P 142/1/1
19 ERO D/ABW 22/240
20 ERO D/AEW 14/292
21 ERO D/AEW 15/22
22 England adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Until then the Julian calendar placed New Years’ Day on 25
March. A will written on 1 March 1624 is occasionally referred to nowadays as 1624/25.
23 ERO D/AEW 17/296
