Some wills have been transcribed in full, whereas others are a paraphrased transcription. If they are paraphrased, they contain the names of all those mentioned in the will, with the gist of what they were (or were not!) bequeathed, but to find the full details, such as the names of property, requests as to how they were to be buried etc., please contact the relevant archive. The wills are either from the Suffolk Record Office (ERO), the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC), or the Norfolk Record Office (NRO).
- Cardynall, Edward, of Stratford, 1638
- Cardinall, Margaret, of Bramford, 1567
- Cardynall, Richard, clothier of East Bergholt, 1574
- Cardinall, Stephen, of East Bergholt, 1573
- Cardynall, William, of Great Wenham, 1551
- Clerke/Clarke, John, clothmaker of Hadleigh, 1556
- Clarke, Walter, gentleman of Hadleigh, 1554
- Coale, Peter, grocer of Ipswich, 1641
- Cole, William, tanner of Ipswich, 1626
- Cracherode, Matthew esqr the elder of Cavendish, 1615
- Cutler, Robert, of Nayland, 1549
Cardynall, Edward of Stratford, 1638
Wife Susan
Brother Henry Walker of Bury St Edmund’s, gentleman
Executors: wife Susan, and brother Henry Walker
Witnesses: Daniel Wall, William Cartwright
Written 24 August 1637, probate 31 May 1638
PCC
Transcriber’s notes: The testator is probably the son of William Cardinall (d 1606) and Jane Maynard, mentioned in the 1612 Suffolk Visitation for Cardinall. The Visitation mentions that William and Jane had a daughter called Tomasen, who married Henry Walker of Bury St Edmund’s – the “brother” in this will. Whether Henry was Susan’s actual brother isn’t clear.
Susan married Edward Clarke in Washbrook on
Cardinall, Margaret of Bramford, 1567
On the day of my burial, £10 to be distributed amongst the poor of Bramford, at 12d per house. The rest to be spent on meat and drink for the rest of the poor who attend my burial. To the poor of Newton: 20s? £8 more to be distributed at Bramford, at 20s? a year
To Kateren Sorell, the daughter of my daughter Jhone [Joan] Bacon: £10 to be paid at Michaelmas next coming three years. To Marye Sorell her [meaning Jhone’s?] daughter: £10 to be paid when she is 18. To Elyzabethe Sorell her daughter: £6 8s 4d to be paid at the age as her sister should receive her part. To Agnes Sorell her daughter £6 13s 4d to be paid her at the same time. To Margaret her daughter, the wife of John Drane of [email protected] £6 13s 4d. To Thomas Bacon, her [Jhone’s?] son: £6 13s 4d at the age of 20, and my house called Instedes in Bramford Street. To Marye Sorell: my house that Deddam dwells in, when she is 18.
To Johne Bacon and Ellen Bacon, her daughters: £6 13s 4d each to be paid when each is at the age of 20. If any of my daughter’s children die before they become of age, half their legacy is to go to the poor of Bramford, and one 6s 8d to the poor of Nawton.
To Margaret Cannon, wife of Wylliam Cannon deceased: 6s 8d. To her three children, Edward, Susan and Margaret 3s 4d each. To Alice Cannon, her daughter: 2s.
To Sara Boll and Margaret Boll, the daughter of Henry Boll of Hadleye 3s 3d each. To William Boll his son: 2s. To Steven Modde, son of John Modde deceased: 2s.
To Margaret Branson of Barfold [East Bergholt], my goddaughter: 3s 4d.
To Kateren Cardnall, Agnes Cardnall and Rychard Cardnall, the children of Rychard Cardnall, 3s 3d each.
To Thomas Ellit, otherwise Collyn, butcher of Ipwich, 3s 4d.
To Steven Cowell 3s 4d. To Jhone Johnson, my ‘gurlle’ [servant girl?]: £10 10s? to be paid when 18. To Margaret Copsey, sometime Margaret Game: 2s
To Margaret Smithe, my goddaughter, 2s. To all the rest of my godchildren, 10s 10d each.
To Margaret Cuffe: 2s
To Henry Boll: 3s 4d.
To Margaret Dalle: 2s
To Margaret Wyles: 3s 4d
To Margaret Sycklemer: 3s 4d.
To my goddaughter, the daughter of Robt. Smithe: 3s 4d.
To John Carter, my tenant: 3s 4d.
To Kateren Sorell, aforesaid: various furniture and household goods. To her sisters: a cow each. To her brother Thomas: a cow. The rest of my household stuff to be divided between the other six daughters [of Jhone Bacon?]. To daughter Jhone: certain household goods
All servants living with me at the time of my death: 2s. All servants of my son-in-law Thomas Bacon at the same time: 12d each.
I forgive Druowlde, my tenant dwelling at Nawton, one half year’s rent. [Is this a Derehaugh?]
To Alice Jhonson and Margaret Jhonson, daughter of John Jhonson 3s 3d each.
Executors: Thomas Bacon my son-in-law and Henry Siclemer, and Robt. Snellinge of Whatfyld my supervisor – to be paid an angel each.
Witnesses: Roger Payne, Thomas Cobboulle, Robt. Snelling the younger
Written: 2nd January 1566/7, probate: 8th March 1567/8
SRO ref: ICAA1/20/93
Cardynall, Richard, clothier of East Bergholt, 1574
To my brother Adam Cardynall: my house at Gascons with barn, stable, orchard etc, and four pieces of land adjoining the house (one in occupation of Westow? Lawrence, and one in occupation of Robt. Dawson; a little tenement adjoining said house, in occupation of Symon Cooke, on the condition that Adam pays £20 as following:
To John Branston, Willm Branston, Thomas Branston, Katherine Branston, Mergett
Branston, Anne Branston, Alice Branston, Edith Branston, Richard Branston and
Edmunde Branston (the children of my sister Branston) 20s each
To Stevyn Cardynall, Mergett Cardynall, Adam Cardynall and Christopher Cardynall
(children of the aforesaid Adam Cardynall) 20s each.
To Thomas Dawson, Steven Dawson, Anne Dawson and Christopher Dawson (children of my sister Dawson) 20s each.
To Richard Mellys and Katherine Mellys (children of my sister Mellys) 20s each.
To be paid to each child on reaching 21.
To Anne Dawson, the said daughter of my sister Dawson: £5 on top of the 20s, when 21, to be paid out of the tenement occupied by Edwarde Harwicke. To be paid to her father, Robert Dawson, until she is of age.
To my sister Branston: £10, to be paid to my brother-in-law Thomas Branston.
To my brother-in-law Christopher Mellys: £10. To my sister Mellys: one parcel of land called Ferthings Fennes, in Foxolend?, in occupation of Robert Wylles.
To my brother-in-law Robert Dawson and Agnes his wife: one house and a tenement called Gentryes, in Gascon Ende; the pightles Weston Lawrence and John Stevyn now farm; one pightle called Wrights Croft occupied by the said Robert Dawson; the chapel field called the Pkefeylde? Now in occupation of John Borowe; to Robert I also give his dwelling and occupation of the house and land for half a year rent free after my decease.
To Richard Brewer: 20s
To the poor of East Bergholt: £6 13s 4d
To Margett Leman, daughter of Robt. Leman, all such things as she has of mine, and my cloth in token of my goodwill.
To Edwarde Harwicke: a year’s dwelling in his house after my death rent free.
Rest and residue to my brother Adam Cardynall, my executor.
Witnesses: Thomas Cole, Westow Lawrence, John Cocke
Written: 30th April 1574, probate: 11th December 1574
SRO ref: IC/AAI/23/103
Transcriber’s notes: it’s difficult to identify who this man is. No Richard Cardinall is mentioned in the Essex or Suffolk Visitations. An Adam Cardinall is mentioned as a son of Stephen Cardinall – see his will just below – the visitation saying he “died young”, so perhaps had no children. Neither does Stephen’s will mention a son called Adam, although an Adam Cardinall witnesses his will.
The Essex Visitation, however, mentions two Adam Cardinalls – they may be the same man, or father and son. Edith, the daughter of John Coo of Gestingthorpe apparently married Adam Cardinall of “Bardfield, Suffolk”, perhaps East Bergholt. I haven’t found this marriage, but her nephew, Edward Coo, died in about 1624.
Then the Kirkeby family of Castle Hedingham visitation mentions Mary, daughter of Thomas Kirkby and Lettice West, who married an Adam Cardinall of “Barfolde, Suffolk, gentleman” (again, this seems to be East Bergholt). Adam and Mary married at Belchamp St Paul, Essex, in 1578. The register spells Adam and Mary’s surnames Gardnall and Kirby, but “Gardnall” could be a misspelling from when the 1500s register was written up in the early 1600s.
Lettice’s father, Edmund West, died in about 1531. His marriage and wardship had been bought by Margaret (née Felton), the widow of John Drury, and she married Edmund to her daughter, Dorothy. I don’t know when Thomas Kirkby died – the Kirkbys weren’t fond of leaving wills – but Lettice was widowed again by 1549, when her second husband, John Fastolfe of Pettaugh, Suffolk, died (wrote his will in 1548, probate 1549). She’d had three children by her second husband, so presumably married him in the early 1540s, which means Mary was probably born in the 1530s and was therefore in her forties when she married Adam.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the two Adams in the Essex Visitations are the same man – that he married Edith and had the children mentioned in Richard’s will, then Edith died and he married Mary. Of course, without the early East Bergholt register we will never really know, unless manorial records can shed some light. It seems possible that Richard’s niece Edith Branston was the goddaughter of Edith Coo/Cardinall, bearing in mind that at the time, children were often named after their godparents.
We know, for instance, that Judith, daughter of Stephen Cardinall and Ann Grith, married John Branston, so the “sister Branston” in Richard’s will isn’t Judith – his brother-in-law was Thomas Branston. But perhaps Judith and John Branston’s wife were cousins, and John and Thomas were brothers – certainly John Branston’s will (PCC, John Bramston of East Bergholt, 1582) does mention a brother Thomas, who had a son called John.
Cardinall, Stephen of East Bergholt, 1573
£20 to the poor of East Bergholt
Bound to George Fisher and others for £400 to leave to my wife Marie after my deceased, property with the yearly value of £20 in recompense of her dower, and to give to her son William Spencer 100 marks if he reaches 21. In performance of this bond and in recompense of the dower, I give Marie my property, free and copyhold, in the salt valley in East Bergholt, late in the occupation of John Fynner and Thomas Bragge, and one messuage, late in the occupation of Thomas Smith in East Bergholt, which I bought from Thomas Abbott, and a meadow called the town meadow, late of Phillip Brettons. For her natural life. And £60 sterling, and £40-worth of household stuff.
To son William: all my property in East Bergholt not bequeathed to my wife, and in Lawford, Essex, and the reversion of the property bequeathed to my wife.
To sons Stephen, Robert, Humphrey and Phillip: £100 each when they each reach 22
To daughter Anne, Elizabeth and Mary : £100 each when they each reach 20
To daughter Judith: £40 within one year of my decease
I lately had by right of my late wife, Ann, Dynes? Land, sometime of Thomas Grithes of East Bergholt, which I sold to Christopher Lust of East Bergholt, and other property in East Bergholt which I still hold. The inheritance by custom of the manor of East Bergholt and Taddingstone, out to belong to John, my youngest son, heir by this custom to the said Ann. So that William and his heirs can enjoy this property, John instead to inherit property in Blakenham?, Bramford in Suffolk. [this part has not reproduced well – it is quite hard to read and appears to be very involved in various manorial customs as to inheritance, and what happens if John dies in his minority].
Mentions land in Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex, which he sold to Robert Smith.
Marie, my wife, to bring up my three youngest children: Humphrey, Phillip and Marie. She to receive £20 a year until they each reach 16.
Executor: son William Cardinall with Ralph Scrivenor of Ipswich, gent, supervisor
Witnesses: Robert Wilis the elder, Adam Cardinall, Robert Wylis the younger.
Written: 19th April 1568, proved: 26th October 1573
PCC will
Cardynall, William of Great Wenham, 1551
To be buried in the parish of St. Mary Elms, Ipswich
To son Edward: £40; a silver salt [cellar?] or 40 shillings
To daughter Faith: £40 on the day of her marriage, if she marries with the consent of
my son William Cardynall
To son William: rest and residue, he to be executor.
Witnesses: John Gardon & his wife Anne, Robert Dereaugh, Sir? Robert Body
Written: 8th October 1543, proved: 22nd November 1551
PCC will
Clerke/Clarke, John, clothmaker of Hadleigh, 1556
To be buried in the parish church of Hadleigh, beside previous wife.
Wife Alice (still living): various properties and household goods
Nephew Edward Clarke
Niece, wife of Roger Appleton
Humfrey, Christopher and Dorothy Harmonde, and Michael Hall: £10 each
Gregory Daniell £40
Robert Townes, Agnes Gardener, and Elizabeth Clarke: £6 8s 4d each
George Clarke £40
Alice Clarke £20
Rose Clarke, late wife of Thomas Clarke deceased, property
Emme Clarke, late wife of Robert Clarke deceased, 40 shillings
To Roger and Agnes Appleton: the debt owed by Reignolde of Canterbury
Legacies to Appletons: Henry, William, John, Edmund, Alice, Margaret and Mary
Niece Mary, wife of Edward Clarke £10
Servant Roger Inman
Nephew George Clarke, under 21.
Written 18 Feb 1555/6, probate 23 April 1556
PCC
Transcriber’s note: brother of Walter Clarke, below. His widow Alice also left a PCC will, 1576.
Clarke, Walter, gentleman of Hadleigh, 1554
Son Edward Clarke
Daughter Agnes Appleton, son[-in-law] Roger Appleton
Brother John Clarke
To be buried in the church at Hadleigh beside late wife
Mary Clarke, widow, late the wife of son Stephen Clarke, deceased
Edith wife of Edward Clarke [his daughter-in-law?]
Sister Hermond
Nephew George Clarke (under 21), son of my brother Simond Clarke
Niece Alice Clarke, daughter of my brother Simond Clarke
Agnes wife of Peter Syse
Walter Ambrose and his wife Elizabeth: house brought from John Cordy for life, then to their children. If they have no issue, the house to Edward Walter and his heirs.
£3 a year rent from my mansion house in occupation of Peter Syse, to Mary, widow of my son Stephen, and some other properties
Grandson Henry Appleton, son of Roger Appleton and my daughter Agnes £100
Granddaughter Alice Appleton 100 marks
Grandson William Appleton £20
Granddaughters Margaret, Anne and Mary Appleton: 20 marks each
Son-in-law Roger Appleton £20
Daughter Agnes Appleton 20 marks
Servants Thomas Webbe and William More
Brief codicil written 15 March in the 1st year of Queen Mary:
Another codicil, undated: grandson John, son of daughter Agnes Appleton, £20 [presumably John was born after the first will was written]
PCC
Transcriber’s notes: Walter’s daughter Agnes married Roger Appleton of Dartford. Their son Henry married Faith Cardinall in 1561 in Great Bromley, after the death of her husband [William?] Derehaugh.
Coale, Peter, grocer of Ipswich, 1641
Wife Mary, exec: property, named in the will, and land in Little Oakley, Essex, which was Mary’s before their marriage
“I have given my four former children some small portions formerly which doe unable me to given them over againe.”
Son Peter
Son William
Son Steven
Daughter Mary
Son Nathaniel
Son John
Daughter Elizabeth
Witnesses: Edward Mann senior, Steven Cooale, John Nightingall, Thomas Hinsom
Written 9 May 1641, sealed 4 July 1641. Date of probate unclear.
SRO
Transcriber’s notes: Peter’s wife Mary was a daughter of Anthony Mannock and his wife Bridget Pannell/Hopton. It appears that Peter’s “four former children” were by a previous wife. The three last children mentioned, Nathaniel, John and Elizabeth, are mentioned in Arthur Hopton’s will as his niece Mary’s three children.
Mary’s sister Dorothy married Edward Mann, which might explain why he’s one of the witnesses to this will.
See the will below of William Cole, 1626 – perhaps the testator’s brother.
Cole, William, tanner of Ipswich, 1626
Of St Clement’s, Ipswich.
Cousin Alice, wife of Coddenham, linen weaver.
Anne Greene, widow
Robert Mormett
Hard, a “gardiner”
Prudence Jackson, widow, and her son, Francis Smith
Margaret Early, widow
Mr Samuel More, preacher
Mr Thomas Scott, preacher of St Clement’s
Brother Philip Cole
Son William Cole, under 24: property in Wetheringsett
Daughter Hester, under 21
Nephews, the sons of his brother Peter Cole (executor): William Cole, the younger son, Peter Cole, the eldest son [Peter, the father, is perhaps the testator of the will written in 1641 – see above].
Wife Elizabeth
Daughter Elizabeth
Fathers-in-law: Stephen Cooke, Nicholas Culham?, executor.
Written: 14 Jan 1620/1, probate 13 June 1626
PCC
Cracherode, Matthew esq, the elder, of Cavendish, 1615
To be buried at Cavendish
Money to the poor of Cavendish, Glemsford, Melford, Clare and Pentlow
Friend Ambrose Biggs the elder
Friends Mr William Ferners, curate of Cavendish
Cousin Bryan Smythe
My brothers (unnamed)
My sons-in-law and daughters (unnamed)
Daughter Mary, wife of George Abbott, gent
Daughter Elizabeth
Son Matthew Cracherode, and his wife Anne
Son-in-law George Kempe
Son-in-law Christopher Kempe
Written 15 March 1613/4, probate 8 Feb 1614/5
PCC
Transcriber’s notes: the testator was a son of William Crachrode (1505-1585) and Elizabeth Ray (1510-1588).
Cutler, Robert of Nayland, Suffolk, 1549
Wife Cristian £50
nephew Nicholas Cutler, brother Thomas’ son: a featherbed
Anne Gorbowlte
Servant Alice Cryssall
Wife’s sister Margaret Sowle
Wife’s daughters Rose and Anne
Wife’s sons John Gorbowlte and James Bocking
Money to the poor of Hadleigh and Nayland
Brother-in-law Thomas Howlton
Nephew William Cutler, son of brother Thomas
Brother William Cutler
Children of brother Thomas: Roger, John, Annys
Children of brother William: Laurance Cutler, Johane Cutler
Richard Manoke [Mannock?]: grove in Boxted, as long as he pays executors £16.
Executors William Cutler, Thomas Cutler
Supervisor: brother-in-law Thomas Howlton
Written 12 Mar 1548/9, probate 5 April 1549
PCC
Transcriber’s notes: possibly a relative of Joane Cutler, who married John Walton, then William Vesey. The Suffolk visitation for Cutler says her father was Robert Cutler, as does the visitation for Vesey. It’s possible that this is her father and she wasn’t mentioned in the will as she had been provided for on her marriage.