We continue to transcribe known Langham wills and associated documents from the 14th
century to the 19th century. Several are awaiting conservation so are not yet available.
Some wills were fairly easy to read like those of John Smith the Ironmonger and his father
Richard Smith the Blacksmith, both wills were proved on 12th March 1705 but John made
his in 1702.
Copying from film was often difficult, especially if the writing was bleeding through from
the previous page. Where we were allowed to photograph original wills the copy is
much clearer.
Richard Cheseldyn wrote his own will, and if you read the words aloud you will hear
speech as it sounded in Langham in 1689. He was of a good, local yeoman family so he had
been educated.
Writing a document in the seventeenth century was quite an undertaking, even if you did
not have to pay the local curate or a lawyer to do it for you. Parchment or paper would
have to be purchased and the ink made.
Henry Hornby signed his will in 1695 and may have written it himself, although it does not
have the same immediacy as Richard Cheseldyne’s. We get closer to Henry through his
inventory which tells us how many rooms his house had and what was in them, but it
doesn’t give details of his clothing. Henry was a Chandler, he was wealthier and had a
larger house than Henry Hornby the Butcher who died in 1698.
Many people in Langham did not make wills, they had too few of the world’s goods to
make it necessary and could not afford the expense. Those who did make wills have
provided us with a window to look into their world, but we should not forget the majority.
Select the Wills or Inventories links to the right of this text, the data is fully searchable.
Not all the buttons are linked to data, this work will be completed before the end of 2011.
Langham Village History Group
14th century Wills
15th century Wills
16th century Wills
17th+ century Wills
18th century Wills
19th century Wills
Inventories
