HE F F I E L D 1297 T O 1 54 . S . 5 CATALOGUE O F THE A NC IENT CHA RT ERS B ELO NG I NG TO T E E TWELV E CA PITA L BU RGESSES 8c C OMMONALTY HEFF I ELD O F THE TOWN A ND P ARI S H O F S , U R ESS ES SU ALLY K N OWN A S T HE C H U RCH B U G , WITH A BSTRACTS OF ALL SHEFFIELD WILLS PRO O VED AT YORK PRIOR T 1554. SEAL GRANTED TO THE CHU RC H BURGESSES ON INCORP ORATI ON BY ROYAL LETTERS P EN THE FI RST YEA OF u i n M ARY AT T IN R Q . P REPARED BY T WAL E . T R HALL SHEFF I ELD P RI NTED AND P U BLI SH D Y W N W E B J . ORTHEND, NORFOLK RO P E F A C E R . h ffield ITTLE is known of S e and its inhabitants , prior to the m iddle of the sixteenth century ; and With a view to throwing som e light on that early period of our history , m I have exa ined and catalogued , in the following pages , such I heffi eld records as have found available , relating to S prior to m 1554. m r m From that ti e forwa d , uch infor ation can be obtained f W 1560 rom the Parish Church Register , hich begins in ; The ’ m m ” 1 4 H istory o f the Cutlers Co pany of Halla shire , 56 ; The h ffi eld 1 r Records of the B ur ger y of S e , 566 ; and the Ha rison h ffi ld 1 ’ m Survey of the Manor of S e e , 63 7; also H unter s Halla ” ’ “ ” ’ “ W l h f heffi eld shire , Addy s a t eo , Leader s S in the Eighteenth ” ’ t s heffield Century , and G at y S Past and Present but not one of these local histories tells us m uch of the pe0 p1e Who lived in — — S he ffield other than the occupants of the Castle from the tim e m of Edward I to Elizabeth . I n the Report ade to the Charity mm mm 11th Co issioners , printed by order of the House of Co ons , 1 h ffi e ld 1 9 February , 897, following an I nquiry held at S e , June , 8 5, into Endowm ents subj ect to the provisions of the Charitable Trusts “ 1 Acts , it is stated , at page 03 , that The Church Burgesses have “ m 1 4 also in their possession so e 80 deeds of dates prior to 55 , in addition to m any others of a m ore recent date . They have m m m Mr been arranged at so e for er period by so e hand , probably . ’ f m ’ H unter s , and extracts rom a few of the appear in that antiquary s ‘ k m ’ 1 4 wor on H alla shire . The majority of those prior to 55 14 1 h belong to the th and 5t centuries , the earliest being dated 13 04. m m in Ti e has not allowed of a prolonged inspection of the , but with a few exceptions they appear to consist of grants of land and houses , without trusts , in som e cases to private individuals , ‘ h ’ in others to a person described as Chaplain of S effi eld , and i S heffield in others to the chapla n of and three or four others , ho W were probably the Churchwardens . N o doubt Mr . H unter looked through these early charters of the Twelve Capital Burgesses ; but at that tim e he was writing “ ff ” m ” the chapter on Ecclesiastical A airs , for Halla shire ; and his obj ect in exam ining these charters was rather to supplement heffi ld m m the ecclesiastical history of S e , than to extract fro the general information for the use of the topographer and genealogist . After obtaining the information he req uired for the particular purpose that he then had in view , he doubtless put the charters m m aside for other sources of infor ation , relating ore particularly to ecclesiastical matters . A schedule of these early charters was 1766 Mr . m prepared in by the late Ja es Wheat , law clerk to the Twelve Capital Burgesses ; which gives a short abstract of each charter , including several not now apparently in the possession of m the B urgesses . How these charters were lost or isplaced , it is m i possible to say ; it is , however , probable that the schedule was prepared from the originals , and not from copies ; as in the latter case the fact would have been stated in the schedule ; but it seem s r . m m doubtful if M H unter saw these issing charters , for in Halla " “ u d 44 shire , 2 edition , page 2 , he says , To prove this point as well as to bring the reader acquainted with certain altars and services S heffield m which were in the parish church of before the Refor ation , a few notices of evidences in possession of the Church Burgesses and m m extracts fro the , are here inserted . The use of the word “ extracts ” suggests that in som e cases he did not see the original mm m m charters , and his co ents in H alla shire on the two issing m charters to which he refers , do not give ore or better particulars of their contents , than are given in the schedule , as reproduced in m m italic type in this catalogue . I think we ay therefore assu e that the charters were lost or m isplaced subsequently to 1766 and prior ’ m 1 . to Mr . H unter s exa ination early in the 9th century Perhaps they m ay yet be found am ong the papers of the Burgesses or in m m so e public or private collection of MS S . and full infor ation as to their contents obtained . Through the kindness of the Twelve Capital B urgesses , I have been given every facility for exam ining and c ataJ oguing all the early S heffi eld charters now in their possession ; and in order to m m throw ore light on the people to who they relate , I have m catalog ued with the , all wills of S heffi eld testators , proved at 1554 few m York prior to , and a other docu ents relating to the same period . I n cataloguing each document (other than subsidy rolls) after giving the date , I have stated the purport of the docu m ent , using modern English , unless otherwise indicated by quota tion marks ; and the translations follow the originals , as closely as “ ” legibility perm its ; but under the headings N am es of Persons , “ " “ “ - - Witnesses , Place names , and Field names , the original spelling is used , with , when necessary , the English equivalent , or modern name . The bracketed numbers in the margin refer to the m nu bers attached to the charters of the Burgesses , as now arranged in their muniment room at the Parish Church . My thanks are due to the Twelve Capital Burgesses for granting m e permission to prepare this catalogue ; and to their Mr . law clerk , J ohn B ristow Wheat , for the facilities he has given m e m m m for exa ining, at y leisure , this ost interesting collection of local land charters . am m m m Mr . I uch indebted to y kins an , H ubert Hall , F m for any valuable suggestions ; also to my sister , and m y articled Mr . Mr . H m clerks , Cyril Wells and . Percy Phillips , for uch assistance . T. WALTE R HALL . 22nd May , 7973 . a S e G o S w “. E 0 E fl 5 m o o 2 E m 3 c w m m 0 3 o Q a o 5 a c o ” E w 2 $ c w h h m o 8 m a o 5 5 5 2 t m s 3 E m o m 5 5 c a u u 5 m S n a o s E m n h “ U o o « o S N n m w m w u m m m fi 5 o 5 m h s n h 0 9 a e S m a 5 u m u : q u w a S 0 8 5 c c u o o u o m : fl n B 8 w t w m m o m a 3 0 5 u e fi a e a a o 3 a $ 8 O o c S m $ 9 o E f fi a 9 5 a 5 fi Q n m n « 0 w A a N e . a a w e 5 o S m 8 m u 3 o a 1 u . o a E o m S $ a 5 « o c 2 8 “ E 9 n m m 5 t E E o 5 m m x h u E fi fi N o o 5 fi fi 2 5 u « £ o fi R Q S m 3 fi M o 5 m m E o v “ : v m 8 c o t “ 8 u E 5 u o 5 0 5 E § o 2 5 b 8 n m 2 m S § 5 a. v c a o A 5 m 3 o 5 5 o fi § m 5 w E o : 9 o fi 8 m 5 g m o m m M m o 8 m u E m g B a 6 m m v v S o _ 6 E .