Tanyard Farm. Photograph Lucinda Bell-Tye
There is no doubt that a last will and testament can provide family historians with valuable information. However, it can throw up more questions than answers!
Here we look at the content of the will of Edward Gaskin dated the 15th October, 1763. A time when George III occupies the British throne. I do not know the population of Great Ellingham at that time. However, there were around 655 people in the village by 1800.
Some of Edward Gaskin’s contemporaries include Henry Hinsby, John Wilkins, Thomas Cady, Richard Cowles, William Barnard, Jonathan Dey, James Turner, Simon Warren, Layer Vynne and Jeremiah Ellis.
Edward Gaskin lived in Great Ellingham. In his will, he describes himself as a ‘yeoman’. Basically, he was a modest farmer cultivating his own land.
Death of Edward Gaskin
William Fox is also a contemporary of Edward Gaskin. He also lived in the village. Edward appoints Fox as his executor, and leaves him the sum of £5 for ‘his care and trouble’ in dealing with the subsequent probate and administration of his estate.
Fox proved Edward Gaskin’s will on the 25th November, 1765. Accordingly, we can be confident that Edward Gaskin died between 1763 and 1765. Unfortunately, I have not yet found a record of Edward Gaskin’s burial.
If we can assume that Edward had completed his ‘three score years and ten’, then Edward may well have been born around 1695. However, this is little more than a guess. Although the average lifespan back then was significantly lower than it is today, many individuals lived into their seventies and beyond.
He may well be the Edward Gascoigne, the son of Edward and Sarah Gascoigne, who was baptised in St James’s Church on the 12th September, 1686. This would make Edward around the age of 77 when he made his will. Nevertheless, Edward’s will mentions his grandson, Gaskin Yeomans, which suggests that he (Edward) was not a young man in 1763.
Gaskin Yeomans
Edward Gaskin gives all his messuages, lands, tenements and hereditaments in Great Ellingham (or elsewhere), to his grandson Gaskin Yeomans. However this legacy is conditional, and I will come back to this.
The will does not mention any other family members. However, Edward Gaskin also appoints William Fox as Gaskin Yeoman’s guardian until he (Gaskin) reaches 21. This suggests that Gaskin was under the age of 21 when the will was signed in 1763. We can also glean from this that Gaskin’s parents had both died.
Baptism
St James Great Ellingham
Postcard Attleborough Heritage Group
Gaskin is probably the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Yeomans. Baptised in St James’s Church, Great Ellingham on the 23rd November, 1747, he will have been 16 years of age in 1763. Unfortunately I have not yet found the record of the marriage between Jonathan and Elizabeth Yeomans to confirm that Elizabeth was formerly Elizabeth Gaskin.
Nevertheless, I do not believe that Gaskin Yeomans remained living in Great Ellingham for very long after his grandfather’s death.
Around the time that Gaskin reaches the age of 21, he sold his late grandfather’s property in Great Ellingham.
Burial
‘Gascoigne Yeomans’ was buried on the 5th December, 1834, in Rickinghall Superior, Suffolk. He was 87. The age concurs with the baptism in Great Ellingham in 1747.
Widow Sarah Coles
Turning back to the content of the will, Edward Gaskin provides widow Sarah Coles with an annuity. He left instructions that his grandson, Gaskin Yeomans, is to pay an annuity of £4 per annum to Sarah Coles ‘during the term of her natural life’. However in order to take the inheritance, she must be living with Edward at the time of his death.
Gaskin is to pay the annuity in four equal quarterly instalments. He should make the first payment within three months of his grandfather’s death. Edward charged his property with the amount of the annuity.
Sarah also inherits Edward’s “best bed as it stands with the furniture thereunto belonging and such other of my furniture as the said Sarah shall chuse to furnish a room with”.
The Remainder
Gaskin Yeomans inherits the remainder of his grandfather’s estate, which includes the rest of his grandfather’s goods, chattels and possessions. Nonetheless, Gaskin must settle Edward’s debts, funeral expenses, probate fees etc.
Great Ellingham Property
It is not unusual that Edward’s property is not fully described in the will. Accordingly, it can be difficult to determine what land and property Edward Gaskin actually owned at the time of his death.
Freehold & Copyhold
However, I had some luck here!
For centuries property and land were a mixture of freehold and copyhold tenure. For those which are freehold, we are solely reliant on property deeds to establish the names of the owners and, sometimes, the occupiers. Many of these old deeds do not survive the passage of time and, where they do, the chain of ownership can be incomplete.
However details of those properties or pieces of land which are copyhold will be recorded in the respective Manor Court Books. Reference to the Manor (or Manors) will also sometimes appear in the property deeds.
Many of the Manor Court Books for land and property in Great Ellingham survive. In addition, some copies are available to view on microfilm at the Norfolk Record Office. Further, some are freely available to view online.
Great Ellingham Manors
Great Ellingham had three Manors. Manor of Bury Hall, Manor of Ellingham Hall and Manor of Ellingham Rectory. In addition, some of the land in the village was copyhold of other Manors. These include the Manors of Buckenham Lathes, Buckenham Castle and Buckenham Close Outsoken.
Manors of Buckenham Lathes & Close Outsoken
As the Manor Court Books for Buckenham Lathes, Buckenham Close and Buckenham Castle Outsoken are available to view online (and there is a good date range), I decided to look at these Court Books. I particularly looked for details of Manor Courts held around the time of Edward Gaskin’s death i.e. 1763-1765.
As luck would have it, I found two entries relating to Edward Gaskin (also found as Gascoine and Gascogine), and the transfer of property and land to his grandson, Gaskin Yeomans.
Manor Court 12th May 1766
On the 12th May, 1766, Gaskin Yeomans (in the Court Books his name is Yemmans) came before the Court by his attorney, William Fox. Edward Gaskin had died before a Manor Court held on the 17th October, 1765. William Fox produced a copy of the probate and the will of the late Edward Gaskin dated the 15th October, 1763. This date concurs with the will I discovered.
Gaskin Yeomans ‘prayed’ to be admitted as a copyhold tenant of the Manor of Buckenham Lathes Outsoken in relation to:
.... one Messuage built with a yard and croft adjoining containing by estimation one acre and a half called Daddocks in Great Ellingham with the appurtenances ....
He also ‘prayed’ to be admitted as a copyhold tenant of the Manor of Buckenham Close Outsoken in respect of:
...half an acre of land copyhold late Caddy’s lying in Great Ellingham between the freehold land late of Simon Burman afterwards of Anthony Burman on the part of the East and the land called Barrow field now or late of Mary Martyne on the part of the West and abutt upon the land late of Richard Martyne now of [ ] towards the South with the appurtenances ...
Accordingly, we know from the entries that at the time of his death, Edward Gaskin owned a ‘Messuage with a yard and croft’ called Daddocks. It may well have been his home. However, the entry in the Manor Court Book does not tell us the location of the Messuage (dwelling house with outbuildings and associated land).
Tanyard Farm
I believe that the ‘Messuage with a yard and croft’ is Tanyard Farm. It is helpful that the description of copyhold land or property contained in the Manor Court Books, is repeated ‘word for word’ in the next transaction for that particular piece of land or property.
Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition. Surveyed in 1881. Revised 1904.
The name of the previous copyhold tenant is also included along with the date on which that copyhold tenant is ‘admitted’. Further, the name of next copyhold tenant (and the relevant date) is usually found in the margin.
Unbroken Chain of Ownership
Accordingly, I have been able to follow an unbroken chain of ownership for this Messuage from Edward Gaskin through to Samuel Warren in 1835. In fact, I have also been able to take the history back further.
I know that Samuel Warren owned and occupied Tanyard Farm, and that he also owned several cottages, including Tanyard Farm Cottages. Samuel Warren inherited Tanyard Farm from his father, John Warren.
The Manor Court Books for Buckenham Lathes & Close confirm that in 1789 John Warren purchased the ‘Messuage built with a yard and croft adjoining containing by estimation one acre and a half called Daddocks in Great Ellingham with the appurtenances’ and ‘the half an acre of land copyhold late Caddy’s’.
Accordingly, John Warren owned this Messuage and land (as well as other property and land) at the time of the Great Ellingham Inclosures c.1802.
The following is John Warren’s claim to the Commissioners under the Great Ellingham Inclosure Act:
One Messuage & 26 acres of land, occupied by himself
One Cottage & Garden, occupied by himself
One Cottage & Garden, occupied by T. Tooke & T. Chapman
One Cottage, occupied by John Phillips
Two Barns formerly Cottages, occupied by himself
OF WHICH
One cottage and a parcel of land without content, and 6 acres are copyhold of Ellingham Hall
One Acre & 2 Roods of Buckenham Close Outsoken
One Messuage, Yards and One Acre 3 Roods 20 Perches of Buckenham Lathes Outsoken
Daddocks is Tanyard Farm
Given that the statement of claim refers only to one Messuage (and this is the Messuage which is copyhold of Buckenham Lathes Outsoken), I have no doubt that the property called Daddocks which Edward Gaskin left to his grandson, Gaskin Yeomans, by his will of 15th October, 1753, is Tanyard Farm!
As mentioned, I know that John Warren (and subsequently Samuel Warren), owned and lived at Tanyard Farm.
Enfranchisement
Further, historical deeds to Tanyard Farm show that the copyhold parts to Buckenham Close Outsoken and Buckenham Lathes Outsoken were enfranchised (converted to freehold) in 1862.
Sources:
Manorial court rolls for Lathes, Close, Castle and Buckenham Priory, 1595-1847. Manorial Court rolls for the manors of Close, Insoken and Outsoken, Buckenham Priory and Buckenham Castle 1767-1909. Norfolk Record Office. Ref: MC 1813/32-45 840X6. Copies viewed via www.familysearch.org
Will of Edward Gaskin, yeomen of Great Ellingham. Viewed in microfilm at The Norfolk Heritage Centre, Millennium Library, Norwich. ANF 1764-1767 fo.174 MF230 Film GS0167154
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 609. Also available to view at www.ancestryco.uk and www.familysearch.org
1800 Inclosure Commissioner’s Particulars and Valuation. Great Ellingham. Norfolk Record Office MC2213/119
F.W. Horner, Records of the Surveyors to Commissioners for Inclosure in Parishes in Norfolk & Suffolk. 1799-1842. Great Ellingham (Act 1799). Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref BR 90/2
1802 Map of Great Ellingham. Russell James Colman Plans. Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref. C/Ca 1/84
1799 Statement of Claims. Great Ellingham Inclosure. Norfolk Record Office. Cat. Ref: MC 2213/118
Private Deeds Collection Lucinda Bell-Tye