Elizabethan Inventor

Summary

This small group of late 16th century inventories, preserved in the County Record Office, supplements the early 17th century inventories published by the Society in 1938. The main group comes from the Archdeacon’s Court and was found tied together with a strip of parchment (probably contemporary) with Bedfordshire wills taken over from the Birmingham Probate Registry. No. 2 is an isolated inventory among the probate records of the Prebendal Court of Biggleswade. Nos. 1 and 15 come from private collections of Captain G. M. G. Wilshere and of the late Dr. Fowler.

The inventories present some difficulties of transcription; the handwriting of some of the appraisers is difficult to decipher, and the use of an extremely variable phonetic spelling (with rendering of local pronunciation) and of obsolete terms and local dialect words hides the precise nature and use of several of the items. With the following qualifications the full text is given : the names of the appraisers and the official note of exhibition in court are omitted; the headings have been abbreviated to a standard form; such phrases as “appraised at” have been omitted and the value only shown in arabic figures. The date given is that of the valuation unless otherwise stated.

The following notes are by way of commentary and explanation only, for the inventories are too limited in number and detail to enable generalizations to be made concerning the furnishing of Bedfordshire cottages and houses; at the end of the 16th century. The reader is, however, referred to Mr. Emmison’s excellent introduction, with analyses and detailed index in Volume XX, which also gives a useful bibliography. Reference may also be made to Farm and Cottage Inventories of Mid-Essex, 1635-1749, edited by F. W. Steer (Essex Record Office Publications No. 8, 1950).

THE DWELLING HOUSE

In only four cases is the occupation of the deceased person given, but apart from Robert Gostwick, gentleman, and the Vicar of Stevington, they all appear to have belonged to the farming, labouring, or artisan classes, and except for Robert Leay to have been householders. In only one instance has it been possible to identify any of the dwellings with surviving structures.