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'A
poore man child, found dead on the Heath'
The Sussex Record Society is an
excellent organisation, dedicated to publishing
interesting and important documents which otherwise
would not be easily available to amateur and
professional historians alike.. There is nothing to
compare with reading from the original, of course, but
the original is not always obtainable – even in these
days of sophisticated transmission - and the next best
thing is to study a good and faithful transcription.
Great skill is also required to decipher early
scripts, and if someone has done the work for you –
all to the good.
As far as Horsham is concerned, the Society has made a
major contribution by publishing, in volume 21 of its
series, the town's Parish Registers (baptisms,
marriages and burials) for the period 1541 - 1635. Try
puzzling through these, for example, on the elderly
microfilm reader in the Library; it's well nigh
impossible. So we can now understand all the entries
in the comfort of our own home, thanks to R Garraway
Rice, barrister and antiquarian, who did all the
spadework and published the entries back in 1915.
These documents really are fascinating, and with the
help of a little imagination, help to provide a feel
for the town as it was emerging from the Middle Ages.
Generally the entries are short, but occasionally a
side note is added, and then it is as if a door has
been opened just a little, and a chink of light has
been cast into the sixteenth century. In a minute we
will peer though that crack in the door.
But first a little explanation about the Registers. In
1538, in the reign of Henry VIII, it was decreed that
such records be kept for the first time by the parish
priest, and they should be held in the parish chest.
Horsham's Registers, like most others, have not
totally withstood the ravages of time, and the first
16 pages of the earliest Register have been lost (and
indeed there are gaps elsewhere), with the consequence
that the first entry is for 25 February 1541: the
baptism of 'Elizabethe the doughter of Jhon Harman &
Marye hys wyfe'. The first burial, of 'Jhon Ede the
elder' comes shortly after, on 23 March, and the first
marriage (involving another Ede) on 8 May, when 'Wyllm
Ede, shomaker, maryed Margerye the wydow of Jhon Edsaw,
sawyere'.
Let us look in more detail at the Burial Registers,
and learn what we can. The first thing to be said is
that a reading of the entries can be immensely moving.
Who, for example, was the young boy in the title of
this article, found dead on the open land on the
outskirts of Horsham? No name and no family, and
no-one seemed to know why he was there – or care, for
that matter. Lost to history, except for this one
brief entry in the Register for 18 Novenber 1580. Such
entries were not uncommon, in those days when people
moved about in search of work, and means of formal
identification were unknown. And so 'a pore man,
unknowen, died in a barne' was buried on 7 December
1590, and 'a pore wandring girle, who died & was
buried on the Heath' was registered for 11 March 1609.
But it was not just the names of strangers that were
unknown. 'Bartyllmew Skyrne, gentyllman' had not a
clue what the surname of his servant Margaret was, so
she was buried with just her christian name to record
her, on 2 June 1551.
Typical entries referred to the buried simply as 'wyfe',
'an olde mayden', 'howsholder', 'wydowe', 'striplinge',
'an old man' and so on. But occasionally an extra and
telling description creeps in, and so we learn that
Joan Ellis (buried 20 February 1589) was 'a lame
woman', John Mose was 'an ould blinde man' (buried 29
June 1615) and John Edwardes was 'an olde lame man,
found dead in Roffie Parke' and was buried on 20
December 1607. 'Alys the wyfe of Wyllm Brown, callyed
Brown the begger' was buried on 20 May 1553, and three
days later we read of 'Wyllm Hunt, a man that was 4
yeres of age at the death of Kynge Henrye the Syxt,
aged 97'. Occupations were also noted from time to
time, such as 'smythe', 'barbor', 'tayler' and 'wever'.
'Mychaell Carter' was 'a plumber', which surprised me
a little, seeing as there wasn't any in those days
(but, of course, it meant a lead worker then), and
among the less familiar trades today were a 'butterman',
'a maker of buckettes', 'a trugger' and 'an armorer
and glasyer'; and what, I wonder, was a 'pynner'? – a
maker or carder of pins, as it happens. But no marks
for guessing what 'a moll katcher' did for a living.
Also interesting to note was that 'Jhon Rede' the
sexton, who was buried on 7 August 1553, was 'a
fletcher', a maker of bows and arrows.
Locations within Horsham were also given in some
cases, and a number will be familiar to us today, such
as 'Northe Hethe', 'Rowghethe', 'the Cawsye', 'Coole
Hyrst', 'Bysshoppricke', 'Skarfax', 'Pondtayle' and
'the Forest of Seynt Leonardes'. The Forest was a busy
place then, with an active iron industry, producing
among things cannon for the Navy, and it was here that
'Peter, a French man, a colier, was cruelly murdered'
and was buried far from home on 21 January 1556. Again
Elizabeth, the wife of Richard Sharpe, was found dead
'at Horningbroke' and was buried on 28 February 1579.
'Dome' Agnes lived in the Normandy, as did John Wood,
and I wonder where 'Denne Crosse' was situated?
Richard Cowper, a batchelor, was from there. And where
was 'Crips barne'? On 7 July 1599 Diana was buried, 'a
woman childe, borne of the body of Mary Milles or
Clementes, in Crips barne'.
Thomas Woolfe, gentleman of Chichester, died 'at the
signe of the George' and was buried on 15 September
1608, and sudden death also came to Thomas Marche 'who
was killed with a fall from his horse, being overcome
with drinke, as it was supposed'. He was buried on 12
July 1601. A sad entry is for 'Ursley Mascall, gent,
of Wilsfild, who dyed in this Towne in hir jorney,
riding to a wedding' (buried 1 August 1612). Ursley
never made the party.
A number of Frenchmen are recorded, such as 'Thomas
Nycholas, an old man, a shoemaker, a Flemyng' (buried
2 September 1551), 'Jhon Moyses, a Frenche man'
(buried 14 January 1552) and 'Jhon Sheron, a Frenche
man, a joyner'. Again one or two Welsh cattle drovers
failed to get home – for example 'Roger Lewis, a
Welchman, a drover of cattell', who was buried in
Horsham on 18 November 1609.
Between 1609-10 the plague swept through Horsham, and
the first recorded entry of such a death was that of
Blanch Dungate 'widdow' who was buried on 28 February
1609. The next month there were 10 further deaths,
including the wife and daughter of Israell Hitchurst,
and three children of 'Richerd Woolgers, of the
Windmill', were all buried together on 18 March. And
so it went on: young Thomas, Mark and Agnes Pledge
were all buried on 9 April, and Mark Pledge, possibly
their father, died six weeks later. Between 6-21 June
five members of the Bowers family were struck down,
Jane, John and a third child, together with their
mother Agnis and father Thomas. I counted 55 plague
deaths between February 1609 - November 1610, and
doubtless there were more; it seemed to be most
intense in the months of March, April and May 1609.
Records of prisoners dying in the local gaol are not
infrequent,which is not surprising given the
conditions, but one side note at the end of 1586 was.
It stated 'the prisoners that died in the goale, at
Horsham this yeare, and buried in the churchyard, were
not made known unto the Vicar, & therefore are not
here entred'. So presumably the prison staff were
simply carting the dead bodies down to the Church and
unceremoniously burying them wherever they could find
a suitable spot. A note was sometimes taken, however,
when an executed criminal was buried, and so we find
in one of the earliest entries that 'Rycherd Sowton,
of Nuthyrst, for coynyng of moneye, was hangyd att
Horsham & buryed' on 15 June 1541.On 29 July 1606
there was a mass hanging, and the entry reads 'buried
5 prisoners, all executed the same day, viz Thomas
Welch, Simon Ayers, Marget Squire, Robert Planer &
Elisabeth Waterman'. Later, on 10 October 1610,
'Laurence Lambert, alias Ounsteede , & Richard Harris,
both prisoners, executed on the Heath' were buried, as
were John Davis on 18 July 1614, Elizabeth Howell on 1
May 1620, and William Fludd and William Osborne -
together - on 25 March 1626.
Let us end this trawl through the Burial Registers
with one or two snapshots, a miscellany of the sad and
the bizarre, based on notes that one vicar or another
has thought fit to adorn the bare record of his
burials – and for which we must be grateful. Perhaps
most remarkably, on 21 May 1582 (note the month) John
Rowe alias Sparrowe was 'killed with the fall of a May
pole, as it was a settinge up'. Images of 'Merrie
England' might be conjured up – but not for John Rowe.
Richard Guye, of Warnham, was buried on 2 May 1591,
having been 'thrust into the thigh with a dagger', and
the hapless Edward Gatton was 'slayne with a gunne by
chaunce' and was buried on 17 October 1593. John
Edwards 'an ould man, that was found dead in a brooke
nere Whites Bridge' was buried on 15 March 1613 and
Thomas Dalken 'a bacheler, found dead in Warnham ponde',
was buried on 27 June the next year. John Friar of
Slinfold was 'barbarously killed by one English, nere
Bradbridge Heath' and was buried 28 November 1615.
Repentance Champion (her name seems not to have
availed her) died 'a poore prisoner' and was buried on
Christmas Day 1626, and the unlucky Elizabeth Stroode
'a mayde, was killed with lightening when the steple
was fired, shee standing under the belfrey doore with
thunder at the belfrey doore' was buried on 19 August
1615.
The eccentric and sometimes chaotic nature of
sixteenth century spelling is clear from all these
quotations. Why spell the same word the same way
twice, when another way can be found? My favourite,
courtesy the Horsham Burial Registers, for the most
convoluted goes to the following entry for 18 February
1550, which demands much concentration, both in the
copying and the reading. So let me leave you with this
record of the burial of one 'Elysabth Gryfythe,
gentyllwoman, servant to the Ryght Honorable Ladye An,
Cowntes of Arowndell'. |
