East Grinstead Parish Register, 1558-1661
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SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY DIGITAL EDITIONS SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY VOL 24: THE PARISH REGISTER OF EAST GRINSTEAD, SUSSEX 1558-1661 Edited by R P Crawfurd First published 1917 This edition is a reproduction of the Society’s original publication and is copyright © Sussex Record Society Copies may be downloaded free of charge for personal use. Extracts may be copied and reproduced provided appropriate acknowledgement is given © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY. FOUNDED FOE THE PUBLICATION OF EECOEDS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE COUNTY. VOLUME XXIV. PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. Iter ntt a u : >Iitchell Hughes and Clarke, Printers, © SUSSEX1917. RECORD SOCIETY © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY THE PARISH REGISTER OF EAST GRINSTEAD, SUSSEX. 1558-1661. EDITED BY R. P. CRAWFURD. IsStTED TO StTBSCBIBEES OE THE SUSSEX ReCOBD SOCIETY FOB THB Yeab 1917. © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY — 128Q725 PREFACE. rpHE Parish Register of East Grinstead for the period -*- 1558 to 1812 is contained in five books, as follows : Vol. I. 1558—1661. Vol. II. 1662—1743. Vol. III. 1748—1791. Vol. IV. 1762—1789 (Marriages only). Vol. V. 1762—181 2 (Christenings and Burials only). With the exception of Vol. I. all the books are bound in vellum, and remain in a good state of preservation. During an interval of enforced leisure in the years 1889—1890 I transcribed from the original Register books all entries in Vols. I. and II., thus covering the period 1558—1743, and it is the contents of Vol. I. (1558—1661) which the Sussex Record Society has now undertaken to print. This Volume was, I found, in a sadly dilapidated state, without any cover or binding, and contained many pages so seriously defaced by damp and consequent decay as to render the work of transcription a very tedious process, with results often disappointing as regards the accuracy of the transcribed copy. The outside pages of the volume had become so frayed and mutilated that the Marriage entries from 1558 to 1568 were very imperfect, while inner pages containing the Burials from 1558 to 1574 had evidently become detached and had disappeared altogether. In many places the parchment itself was torn, leaving gaps large or small in the pages thus defaced, and even in the thirty years which have elapsed since my transcript was made it is plain that, in spite of careful treatment through- © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY VI PREFACE. out that period, many minute particles of the brittle parch- ment have peeled off and disappeared, carrying- with them names or portions of names now no longer legible. The entries from the year 1558 to 1598 are, as is fre- quently found, in the same clerkly handwriting throughout, and were evidently copied by a careful scribe, probably in the latter year, from the old and original Register, as in the course of his transcript of the Baptisms for 1578 occurs a note by the copyist to the effect that " one whole Leafe in the old Eegester is lost in this place." As the parish of East Grinstead comprised an area exceeding 15,000 acres down to the year 1894, when the district of Forest Row was formed into a separate parish, the Register entries for the period under notice are conse- quently numerous in comparison with those of most, if not all, other Sussex parishes. We have no record of the population of the parish in the Elizabethan and early Stuart period, but Mr. W. H. Hills in his " History of East Grinstead " (1906) computes it as probably 1110 in the year 1676, deducing this result from the religious census of the Province of Canterbury taken in that year, when the estimated number of persons in the parish above 16 years of age was returned as 800. In the national census of 1801 the population had reached 2659, and in 1901 the population of East Grinstead and Forest Row combined showed a total of 8610. The old Borough of East Grinstead, enclosed within the confines of the far more extensive parish, was roughly speaking conterminous with what might now be described as the Town, with its High Street as the centre of this relatively small area. According to an Inquisition taken in 1559, the Borough then included 48 burgages, 47 portlands and 24 cottages, besides a stable and a smith's forge. Specially prominent among the local family names in the early Register is that of Payne, and it is not surprising © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY PREFACE. Yll that genealogical enthusiasts have time and again found themselves hopelessly bewildered in the maze of entries belonging to this ubiquitous tribe, for in Vol. I. alone occur some 280 Payne entries, and probably the total would exceed 310, were the existing volume still in its perfect state. Students of the East Grinstead Register will find in the above-mentioned " History of East Grinstead " much useful and interesting information concerning the parish generally and its bygone families, gentle and simple, lending a touch of life and colour to many of the names which people the pages of this early period of the parish Register. Owing to the dilapidated condition of Vol. I., which, as already said, made the work of transcription unusually arduous, my special thanks are due to Miss Cooper of Tentercroft, Cuckfield, for her recent careful comparison of my transcript with the original entries, a work requiring much patience and skill, as well as for collating it with the Bishop's Transcripts, from which source many entries have been supplied and are now printed in italics. To Miss Cooper I am also indebted for her compilation of the Indexes. Thanks are due to Mr. W. W. Freeland of Chichester, until recently Bishop's Registrar, for allowing the Bishop's Transcripts to be inspected, without payment of a fee, at the office of Mr. W. Lintott, Custodian of Muniments, at Lewes; as also to the Rev. W. W. Youard, M.A., Vicar of East Grinstead, for permitting ready access to the Parish Register-books, which during his incumbency have been treated with the care due to these national treasures. ROBT PAYNE CRAWFURD, Baidland, Seapord, January, 1918, © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY Register OF THE Cartel) of €ast ©nnsttati, i^usst^ 1558 to 1661. Items printed in italics are taken from the Episcopal Transoripts. The Licences referred to in the footnotes are the Sussex Marriage Licences published by the Sussex Record Society, Vol. I. MARRIAGES. The new Regester in parchement of the mariages, christenings and Burialls within the pish of Estgrinsted synce the sevententh daie of November Anno dni 1558 that is to saie synce the Begynning of the Reigne of our most gracious Soveregne Ladie Queue Elizabeth commaunded by authoritee of certaine newe constitutions ecclesiasticall of the Archbusshop & Busshops & Clergie of the province of Cauterburie .... confermed by her M ties letters patent & under the greate Seale of England bearing date .... arie A Regni [iiii c*] quadrag. 1559. [The outside leaf is so mutilated that nothing is legible beyond fragments of a few dates ; in this year there appear to have been about 15 marriages. —R.P.C.] 1560. [As in the preceding year, the first 10 or 12 entries are torn away.—R.P.C.] Sep. 15 John Payne & Johane Wood Sep. 22 Harrie Cooper & Anne Humffrey Oct. 6 Roger Heathe & Ursula Alfrey Oct. 13 Thomas a Kent & Alice Boyes Oct. 20 John Huggatt & Elizabeth Humffrey Oct. 27 Alexander Coxe & Isabell Canawey Nov. 3 Edmund Soane & Dynnesse Page Nov. 10 Roger Spurway & Margrett ffoster * Possibly " n'ri," abbreviation for nostri. VOL. XXIV. B © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY 2 EAST GRINSTEAD PARISH REGISTER. 1561 May 11 Edward Payne & Elizabeth Cripps June 15 John [? Meesons] & Suzan Haton June 15 Edward Dungat & Dionesse King Aug. 14 Richard Humffrey & Margret Beven Sep. 22 Wilim Wilson & Margret" Stonstret Oct. 6 John [? G-odley] & Romane Lambert Oct. 13 & Elizabeth Comport es [? Mills], widow Elizabeth Payne nes Miller Elizabeth Swanne .... John Nicholl .... hane his wife .... Nicholas Harvie .... nes Bawdwen Arthur [? Kome] & Judith Duffeld [P Ptrige] & Anne Duffeld Alice Duffeld endell & Margrett Awcock peter & Dynnes Humffrey Browne & Johane Cole, widow Dane & Tomzen Innefeld [1563* May 10 John Luxford &*] Clemence Payne & Alice Milles & Annes Burley Marie Charte e Drewrie & Marie Wood [Oct. 19 Harry Payne &*] Elizabeth Humffrie Dugles & Alice Crippes & Marie Duffeld [1563-4 Jan. 25 Robert Payne &*] Anne Pickett arie Graye Elizabeth Jennans 1564 Thomas [? Th ....]... 156* Peter Torshee & ... Thomas Allin & . ... Richard Sheapard & . .. James Tyler & [? Charist ....].... John Stevens & Tomazin .... Edward Payne & Johane [Staples*] John Deverie & A ... Thomas Wood & [? Mar.] .... Richard Tye & . , John fford & . .. Willm. Watkins .... John Hilden & Mar ... Thomas Kidder & [? A . .] John Venne & Alice .... Leonard Roburds .... * Taken from Burroll MSS. © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY MARRIAGES. 1566 © SUSSEX RECORD SOCIETY EAST GRTNSTEAD PARISH REGISTER. 1571 Thomas Parrie & Rachell Baylie John Elby & Dorothee Barre, widow 1572 June . Drewe Jewell & Catherine Todde, widowe June . Nicholas Bisshop & Margaret Seale July . John Egerton & Tomazin Brian Aug. Richard Tree & Johane Girdling Sep. Richard Coxe & Johane Underill Oct. Harrie Grantum & Agnes Boone Oct. John Lees & Prudence Pelling, widowe Nov. Edward Britteyn & Catherine Baylie Nov. Robert Rose & Johane Humffrey 1578 Mar. 26 Richard Haselden & Agnes Luxford, widow May 17 John Hasting & Johane Lewes May 24 Humffrie Brusbaren & Margrett his wife June 8 Edmund Tompson & Johane Plawe June 8 Wiftm ffrauncis & Johane Anstie June 15 Richard Weller & Catherine Rolf July 14 Edward Alfrey & Johane Baldwyn Julv 22 Robert Johnson & Agnes Cooper, widow Aug. 25 Bartholomew Moze & Elizabeth Squier Oct. 4 John Allyn & Agnes Stiddall Oct. 4 Edward Esland & Alice Venner Nov. 15 John Drewe & Johane Wheeler 157| Jan. 24 James Goorley & Johane Tree Jan. 31 George Bodell & iVlice Toothe Feb. 4 John Vowsten & Margret Haven Feb.