PERKINS, John Sr b. 21 Dec 1583 Rugby Borough, Warwickshire, England d. 23 Sep 1654 Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, British Colony America

1583 - 1654 (70 years)

Submit Photo / Document

Set As Default Person

Restore Site Default Person

Expand all | Collapse all

Personal Information | Media | Notes | All | PDF

Name	PERKINS, John
Suffix	Sr
Birth	21 Dec 1583	Rugby Borough, Warwickshire, England
Christening	23 Dec 1583	Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England
Gender	Male
Burial	Sep 1654
Death	23 Sep 1654	Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, British Colony America
WAC	15 Jun 1928
_TAG	Reviewed on FS
Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
Person ID	I52608	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

Father	PERKINS, Henry , b. 1536, Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England Hillmorton, Warwickshire, Englandd. 11 Mar 1609, Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England (Age 73 years)
Mother	SAWBRIDGE, Elizabeth , b. Abt 1550, Gloucester, England Gloucester, Englandd. Bef 1609, Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England (Age < 58 years)
Marriage	29 Nov 1576	Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom
Family ID	F23587	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family GATER, Judith , b. 19 Mar 1588, Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England Hillmorton, Warwickshire, Englandd. Aft 26 Sep 1654, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age > 66 years)

Children 1 son and 1 daughter

+	1. PERKINS, Judith Elizabeth , b. 3 Mar 1611, Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England Hillmorton, Warwickshire, Englandd. 18 Sep 1670, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 59 years)
	2. PERKINS, Deacon Thomas Sr. , b. 20 Apr 1622, Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England Hillmorton, Warwickshire, Englandd. 7 May 1686, Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 64 years)

Family ID F26085 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Last Modified 24 Jan 2022

Photos At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.

Notes

John is mentioned in the book, "The Family of John Perkins of Ipswich, Mass: Complete in Three Parts," which can be found online here: https://archive.org/details/familyofjohnperk00perk . There are a few obvious errors in the manuscript, especially in the first book, some of which were corrected later. The author believed the family to likely be from Newent in Gloucestershire [this is likely untrue]. According to this same source, John brought his wife and 5 children aboard the ship Lyon, leaving from Bristol, England, Dec. 1, 1630, bound for Massachusetts. The family lived in Boston for about two years, and John's youngest daughter, Lydia, was born there. The family moved to Ipswich in 1633. John was primarily a farmer, and had several grants of land. John died in 1654, leaving behind a will. A transcribed copy of John's will can be seen on page 5. He mentions son John, son Thomas, daughter Elizabeth Sargent, daughter Mary Bradbury, daughter Lidia Bennitt, and son Jacob. His wife Judith was executor of his will.
This family history was written by George A. Perkins, I believe, over a number of years (first published in 1884) and published in more than one piece. It covers the original immigrant, John Perkins in Part I, which I believe was published first and alone, and then two more pieces were added, regarding Deacon Thomas Perkins (Part II) and Sergeant Jacob Perkins (Part III). Each part has separate pagination, which is a little confusing, and some errors made in Part I were corrected later in the other parts.
More recently, the book "The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635" (Volume 3, p. 1431) which can be found on ancestry.com, lists many details of John's life. His parents are listed as on page 1432 as Henry Perkins and Elizabeth Sawbridge of Hillmorton, Warwickshire. This fact is attributed to Walter Goodwin Davis, who published this information in 1959. I am not sure that this has totally been accepted by all involved parties as fact. Nevertheless, a christening record for a John Perkyns, 23 December 1583, son of Henry and Elizabeth Perkins, is attached below under Sources. Two other pieces of information give us an indication of when he might have been born. The first is his death record in Ipswich vital records, which said he died in 1654 at age 64 years. This would give us an estimated birth year of 1590, which is 7 years off of a proposed christening date of 1583. Also, in Essex County records (see page 1431) there is mention in 1650 of John Perkins, Sr., "being above sixty years old, is freed from ordinary training," meaning the militia. If he were 60 in in 1650, that would also give us a birth estimate of 1590. This doesn't necessary disprove that the 1583 christening record belonged to a different man of the same name, but does give us something to think about, and perhaps a little doubt. It also may or may not be significant that John had no son named Henry.
The Great Migration Series is the "gold standard" for information on early Massachusetts settlers. In this source, noted author and historian Robert Charles Anderson lists the following children for John:
1. John
2. Elizabeth
3. Mary
4. Anne
5. Thomas
6. Jacob
7. Lydia
I haven't yet accepted the christening record for John as correct yet. On the other hand, the marriage record in Hillmorton between John Pyrkyns and Judith Gater on 9 October 1608 is, I believe, well accepted as likely belonging to this John Perkins. This marriage record is attached below under Sources. There are also christening records attached below under Sources for John in 1609, Elizabeth in 1611, Mary in 1615, Anne in 1617, Thomas in 1622, and Jacob in 1624. Anne is believed to have died before the family moved to Massachusetts, as she does not appear on the Lyon's passenger list.
John brought his family to Massachusetts in 1631 on the first trip of the Lyon. He remained in Boston two years and removed to Ipswich in 1633. His last known daughter, Lydia, was born in Boston and her birth was recorded there in 1631 or 1632. Her birth recording can be found on ancestry.com (I haven't been able to locate it in FamilySearch yet.)
In 1633 John and his family removed to Ipswich, where he was largely engaged in agriculture. There is a nice discussion of the original lots owned by John in Ipswich in a book entitled "Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony," which can be found online here: https://archive.org/stream/ipswichinmassach00water#page/400/mode/2up . See especially page 401.
John's will was dated 28 March 1654 and was proved 26 September 1654, indicating that he died between those two dates. An excerpt of his will is mentioned in the above-referenced book on page 1431. His youngest son Jacob ended up inheriting the family's home.
It is likely, although not known for certain, that he was buried in the Old Burying Ground aka the Old Burying Hill in Ipswich. No headstone remains. Judith outlived her husband John, but it is not known for how long.
John was a very early settler of Boston and Ipswich. I have many ancestors who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but I believe John may be the earliest. Boston was founded in 1630 by English Puritans fleeing religious persecution. On 29 March 1630 a fleet of 11 ships carrying 700 people sailed from England to Massachusetts. They were led by John Winthrop (1588-1649). At first the people settled at Charlestown, which had been founded the year before. However fresh water was short so most of the new settlers moved across the river to a peninsula called Trimountaine. In 1630 the new settlement was named Boston after Boston in England from which many of the settlers came. By 1631 John and his wife and 5 children joined this small community. His daughter Lydia was one of the very earliest children born in Boston - perhaps one of the first 20 recorded. The Mayflower came in 1620, so John and his family were only a few years after.
John's daughter Mary has her own Wikipedia page. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to hang as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. However, she managed to evade sentence until the trials had been discredited and died of natural causes in 1700, aged 85. She was already 77 at the time of the trial.
John lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony at the time of the Pequot War. The Pequot War was an armed conflict between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the English colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their Native American allies (the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes) which occurred between 1634 and 1638. The Pequots lost the war. At the end, about seven hundred Pequots had been killed or taken into captivity.
Ipswich was originally called by the Indian name Agawam. On Aug. 4, 1634, the Court of Assistants decreed that the place be called Ipswich. John was among the very first settlers there, where he remained for the next 20 years and died.
Several authors have attempted to piece together the siblings and parents of John Perkins. I am not entirely convinced that this has been accomplished, for reasons discussed above. However, if you would like to see where this has been attempted, see for example the book "English Origins of Six Early Colonists by the Name of Perkins" by Paula Perkins Mortensen. On page 5 she lists a family she has put together for Henry Perkins and his wife Elizabeth Sawbridge, including 15 children, which seems quite large. These include Alice (1581) Thomas (1582) John (1583) Francis (1585) Francies (1586/7) Margaret (1588) Edward (1590) Agnes (1592) Sara (1594) Francies (1596/7) William (1598/9) Luke (1600) Elizabeth (1602) Elizabeth (1604) and Jacob (1607). This book can be found in its entirety online. Also see the book, "The Perkins family in ye olden times" which can also be found online. See especially the "tentative pedigree" on page 78. This information looks to be somewhat different from the previously-mentioned book.

s/o Henry Perkins / Elizabeth Sawbridge
died March 1654 Ipswich, Essex Co., Massachusetts.

Some of the earliest known records of this family are from the records of Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England.

John Perkins, senior was among the earliest emigrants from the mother country, sailing from Bristol, England 1 Dec 1630/1 in the ship "Lyon" William Pierce, master, with "about" 20 passengers and 200 tons of goods, and arrived 5 Feb 1630/1 at Salem, MA. John Perkins, of Hilmorton, Warwick, bound for Boston Mrs. Judith Perkins, John, Elizabeth, Mary, Thomas, Jacob. Of historical note, Rev. Roger Williams, afterward of famous divine, was a fellow passenger. Upon arrival in the Americas in Nantasket 5 Feb 1631 John and his family spent the following 2 years in Boston.

The 18th of May 1631 he took the oath of freeman, admitting him to all the civil rights of the colony. He removed from Boston with his family in 1633 to the colony then newly founded by John Winthrop and others at Ipswich. Here he was largely engaged in agriculture, and had several grants of land; the location of his house was near the river, at the entrance to Jeffries neck, on what is now East Street, where he had considerable land granted him.

m 9 Oct 1608 Hillmorton, Warwickshire, Eng
John Pyrkyns and Judith Gater

They had children - Elizabeth , John, Mary, Ann d/y in England, Thomas, Jacob, Lydia
_________________________________
Estate of John Perkins, Sr. of Ipswich = Essex Probate Docket # 21337 28th of ye first mo called March, 1654 64yrs Will probated 26 Sept 1654 Signed in the presence of - William Bartholmew Thomas Harris Proved in court held at Ipswich 27 [7] 1654 by the oath of William Bartholmew and Thomas Harris per me Robert Lord, cleric.

ref: Marriage Record - Have copy; The Great Migration Begins 1620-33 Robert Charles Anderson; Frederick Lewis Weis Ancestral Roots of 60 Colonists AR6, AR7; MA VR; MA Wills/Probate; The Family of John Perkins of Ipswich, MA by George A. Perkins 1889
_________________________________

*c/b buried near his son Abraham Perkins [Sr.]
Old North Burying Ground est' in 1634, the same year as the town of Ipswich and is the town's oldest cemetery -+Hillmorton an area of the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England
_________________________________

(https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115817316/john-perkins)

The following is research done on the Internet (through Google Books, Wikipedia, Ufton Manor's website, Warwick Castle's website, and Ancestry.com) on the Perkins Family History back in England. This research focuses primarily on the the history from 1320 (when Peter de Morlauix's life begins and comes from France to England, through 1495 when Lord William Perkins ( of Ufton Robert Manor /Ufton Court) moved from Ufton, England to Warwick, England. There is interesting history on the Perkins family of Ufton Court after 1495 (mid 1500's that relates to them protecting priests in the Roman Catholic Church from persecution) as well as in the 1600's when Francis Perkin's beautiful wife, Arabella Fermor lived and inspired Alexander Pope's poem "Rape of the Lock" however I haven't included it here because it happens after my direct lineage moves from Upton to Warwick in the service of the Earl of Warwick.

A little background as to how all of this relates to John Perkins (1583-1654) who came on the ship Lyon to emigrate from England to America. His lineage is is as follows:

John Perkins (1583-1654) - born Warwick, England, died Ipswich, MA, America

Henry Perkins (1555-1608) - born Warwick, England

Thomas Perkins (1500-1546) - born Warwick, England

Henry Perkins (1500-1546) - born Warwick, England

Thomas Perkins (1475-1528) - born Warwick, England

Lord William Perkins (1454-1495) - born Warwick, England, died Warwick, England

Thomas Perkins (1420-1478) - born & died Ufton, England (his patron was Earl of Warwick who took arms against Edward IV)

Lord William Perkins (1395-1447) - born & died Ufton, England (Lord of Ufton Robert manor)

John Perkins (1375-1399)- born & died Ufton, England (senaschal / managed the estates of Thomas Despencer, Earl of Gloucester, 1398, recorded in an old Court Roll of Madresfield Manor, Thomas Despence was also owner of Ufton Robert manor / Ufton Court (Thomas Despencer was beheaded for treason against King Henry IV)

Henry Perkins (1345-) born & died Ufton, England

Peter Morlauix (1320-1380) - born in Normandy France, died in Ufton, England - Pierre de Morlaix, High Steward of the estates of Hugh DeSpencer. He is suppose to have been a younger son of the Morlaix family who fled to England in the train of the DeSpencers. Whether he was the scion of French nobility or the Shropshire man that many genealogists suggest, he is recorded as Peter Morley, alias Perkins of Shropshire, "sevients" to Lord Hugh DeSpencer of the manor of Shipton in Oxfordshire, and husband of Agnes Taylor. The DeSpencers droppd the "de" when being French was not in favor in England due to war. They became Spencers as in Lady Diana Spencer (married to Prince Charles).

I stumbled across information on the Internet (via Google Books) on how the Perkins descendents of Ufton Court in England were bold, early setters of America, the first Perkins being John Perkins (1583-1654 born in Warwick, England and dying in Ipswich). It piqued my interest because this John Perkins is responsible for my family settling in New England.

Excerpts from this Book: The history of Ufton Court: of the parish of Ufton, in the County of Berkshire (England)
(this book includes the history of the Perkins family which is tied to Ufton and Warwick, England)

In describing the history of the town/parish of Ufton, the book describes the various owners of one of the family homesteads Ufton Robert Manor (which now is in ruins & ruins are still visible in Ufton Nervet, a village in County of Berkshire, west of London).

From Wikipedia on the subject of Ufton Nervet "Ufton Robert manor house was just west of the current village and had a moat, which still survives. Excavations in the 19th century found bridge piles, a gateway and other foundations. The moat is also part of a set of linked medieval fishponds fed from an artificial stream which flowed into the south pond. The water was controlled to the ponds and moat by a series of sluices.[3] The manor came into the hands of thePerkyns family around 1411. When they bought the manor of Ufton Pole in 1560 the two manors were combined and the main residence moved to Ufton Pole, which is now Ufton Court, a large Elizabethan manor house south-west of the village.

In 1434–35 the parishes of Ufton Nervet and Ufton Robert were merged and Ufton Robert's parish church of St Peter became the church of the merged parish. Although the original parish of Ufton Nervet had ceased to exist, this eventually became the name of the current village and parish."

From Wikipedia on the subject of Ufton Court:

"The history of Ufton Court can be tracked back to the Domesday Book, where it is referred to as 'Offetone', with land for five ploughs, forty acres of meadow and wood for one hog. "

From Wikipedia on the subject of Domesday Book:

Domesday Book (pronounced /ˈduːmzdeɪ/ or sometimes /ˈdoʊmzdeɪ/),[1][2] now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086. The survey was executed for William I of England (William the Conqueror): "While spending the Christmas of 1085 in Gloucester, William had deep speech with his counsellors and sent men all over England to each shire to find out what or how much each landholder had in land and livestock, and what it was worth"

In August 2006 a limited online version of Domesday Book was made available by the United Kingdom's National Archives, charging users £2 per page to view the manuscript. In 2011, the Domesday Map site made the manuscript freely available for the first time.[4]

The importance of Domesday Book for understanding the period in which it was written is difficult to overstate. As H. C. Darby noted, anyone who uses it "can have nothing but admiration for what is the oldest 'public record' in England and probably the most remarkable statistical document in the history of Europe.

From book:

The history of Ufton Court: of the parish of Ufton, in the County of Berkshire(England)

describing the history of the ownership of Ufton Court (Ufton Robert, Ufton Pole, and now Ufton Court - see Wiki page on this, it's still a manor house used for education and events including weddings...

"In 1339 Richard Pagnel, as patron of the living of Ufton sarum Regr. Robert, presented Thomas de Ofton, the son of William, his predecessor, as Rector, an appointment which leads one to suppose that there may have been some relationship between
the two families.

In 1348 Thomas Pagnel, son of Richard, had succeeded Thomas his father. Anagreement exists, dated on the Saturday next Pacnel. after the feast of St. Leonard, between him and Henry, by the Hari. Mss., Grace of God Abbot ofRadyng, concerning a certain piece of land & moor which is parcel of the manor ofOfftone Nervnt, called le Carpenteres lond, containing 9 acres of land lying nextthe Park of the said Thomas in Offtone Robert, between the moor which is called clarissemore on the one part and land zohich is called Hethlond on the other part,which piece of land Thomas Pagnel and his heirs were to rent of the abbey for sixty years, for the annual payment of 3s. The agreement is witnessed by Sir Philip Englefield, Sir Michael Beleth, Knts., Roger Atte More, John Banastre, Nicholas Kenetvvode, and others. Unfortunately, not one of these local names has survived to help us to fix the boundaries of the two parishes of Ufton, or to know the locality of the originally enclosed park.

In 1379 Thomas Pagnel was accused at the Reading Assize Roil, Assizes ofhaving unjustly disseised John, son of John Pagnel, fe'SaTM"" of his free tenement in Ufton Robcrd. But here again the historian is at fault, for no sooner was the inquiry begun, and just when one might have hoped to have gathered from the proceedings some interesting family details, when thereupon came theAbbot of Redyngesby, Reginald de Sheffield, his attorney, to challenge, prosecute, & defend all his liberties. And he says that the manor put in view & theparties of the assize aforesaid are within the Bailiwick of the same abbot, & therefore he demands his Court—that is, the hearing of the case; and we hear no more of it.

In the diocesan register, in which his presentations to sarum Regr. the living of Ufton Robert are recorded, Thomas is styled

Donzell, an equivalent title to Esquire, and signifying a man of good birth, but not knighted. He lived to be an old man. "If he was already of age when he came into his inheritance in 1348, he must have been nearly eighty in 1406, the date of his last presentation to the living.

In 1410 his name drops out of the list, and one Alice Pagnel acts as patron. She may have been his widow. There was an Alice, widow of a Thomas Pagnel, who died in 1437. But there was also, at this time, another widow in the family, who is named in more than one deed as holding rights over lands in Ufton. In 1408, and again in 1455, it was stated in Inquisitions that Sir John Lovell, and alter him his son William, held certain lands in Ufton and the neighbourhood m. 30. ofDame Constance Pagncll, lady of Ufton. Where nothing Constance further is recorded one can only conjecture. These rights Pacnel. may have been of thenature of a jointure, and Dame Constance may have been the widow of John or ofsome other member of the family who was knighted. Thomas, as we have seen, is only called Donzell. He had no son to succeed him, and his manors and estates passed to William Parkyns, the first of his name of Ufton.

EARLY DESCENT OF THE FAMILY OF PARKYNS OF UFTON.

Peter Morley, alias Perkins,* (wife: Agnes Taylor) of co. Salop, servus (manager of the estates),
to Lord Hugh Despencer, Lord of Shipton, co. Oxon; living 1380 and 1381.

Henry Perkins.*

John Parkyns, seneschal to Thomas Despencer, Earl of Gloucester; living 1397 and 1400.

From Wikipedia of Thomas Despenser, EofG: A supporter of Richard II against Thomas of Woodstock and the Lords Appellant, he was rewarded with an Earldom as Earl of Gloucester in 1397.

However, he supported Henry Bolingbroke on his return to England to become King Henry IV, only to be attainted (deprived of his Earldom because of a capital crime) for his role in the death of Thomas of Woodstock.

He then took part in the Epiphany Rising, a rebellion led by a number of Barons aimed at restoring Richard to the throne by assassinating King Henry IV; this quickly failed when the conspirators were betrayed by Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York to Henry. After fleeing to the western counties, a number of the Epiphany Rising conspirators were captured and killed by mobs of townspeople loyal to the king; Despenser was captured by a mob and beheaded at Bristol on 13 January 1400.

William Parkyns, Lord of Ufton Robert, Margaret, bailiff to Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester; daughter living 1411 and 1447. of ... .<
Thomas Parkyns, living 1452 and 1479.

John Parkyns, living 1495. =f Margaret Collee.

Thomas Parkyns, living 1495 ar,d i524=Dorothy More

* The names of the founder of the family and of his son are here spelt in the modern way, for the reason that they are so given in the Visitation Pedigree, 1623, the only document in which mention of them has been found. The names of their descendants are spelt as in contemporary records.

Of the Family of Perkins

In the Heralds' Visitation for Berkshire of 1623 this family is said to have been descended from a certain Peter Morley, alias Perkins, of Shropshire, "servus" to Hugh Despencer, Lord of Shipton in Oxfordshire, who was living in the year 1380, and who married Agnes Taylor. The word "servus" is considered to mean bailiff, and its use here seems to imply that Peter Morley was the bailiff, or manager, of the estates belonging to Lord Despencer at Shipton. "Perkin " was an old English form for the Christian name of Peter, familiar to everyone in the instance of Perkin Warbeck. Perkin, Wilkin, Jenkin, etc., are all frequently found in early times as diminutives and synonyms of Peter, John, and William, etc., the "kin " being of Flemish origin.

The addition of the s seems to be a characteristic common in Wales. In England, when the patronymic was used, the word son was usually affixed, as John A damson. In Wales, on the contrary, no affix was used, but the paternal name was put in the genitive, as Griffith Williams or David Johns, which have becomeWilliams and Jones. Perkins is, therefore, merely a Welsh or western county form for Perkins son; in England, Perkinson or Parkinson. Perkin Morley, as it has been seen, came from Shropshire, on the borders of „ : Wales. It is, therefore, natural to find that his son was called Henry Perkins.

The name of the Berkshire family, however, though so spelt in the Visitation pedigree, is in other and earlier deeds generally found written thus—Pkyns, and the abbreviation, when extended at any date before 1600, was Parkyns or Parky nnes. It was only from the time of James I.—that is, shortly before the date of the Visitation, when the influence of classical literature made itself felt even in the orthography of proper names—that the^, unknown in Latin, was changed for i,and Per substituted for Par. The very same pedigree referred to, where the name is given as Perkins in the official copy, is signed on behalf of the then representative of the family, Frauncis Parkyns. In the following pages the name will be given as far as possible as spelt in records contemporary with the history.

It has been ascertained that within a not very extended district, including the adjoining parts of Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire, many families of the name of 1873, 'Perkins or Parkyns were settled from early times. In particular, the manor rolls of Madresfield, in Worcestershire, record that one John Parkyns held some land there called Parkynscroft, conjointly with a Richard More. The names of More and Perkins here occur very constantly together, while Morley is not to be found at all, suggesting the idea that it was More, not Morley, which should have been written in the pedigree.

In these rolls, in 1388, Agnes, daughter of John Tyler, is mentioned as one of the smaller tenants. It will be remembered that Agnes Taylor was the name of the wife of Peter, or Perkin, the founder of the family.

In the immediate vicinity of Madresfield, in Worcestershire, were the estates of Hanley Castle and Malvern Chase, which, about the year 1340 became the property of Hugh Le Despencer, the third of that name, by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury. It is not, therefore, surprising to find that there existed the connection of master and servant between the great lord and his humble neighbour, a connection which, as A.D. 1380. will be seen in the sequel, was continued through several generations.

This Hugh was the son of Hugh le Despencer, commonly called the Younger, who had been executed at Bristol in the same year as his father, known as Hugh the Elder, when their vast estates had been forfeited to the Crown. Alianore, the widow of Hugh Despencer the younger, was the eldest sister and coheir of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Clare, Hertford and Gloucester. She had inherited the estates of Hanley Castle, Malvern Chase, in Worcestershire, and the manors of Bisley, Tewkesbury, and Fairford, etc, in Gloucestershire, and she married secondly William La Zouche of Mortimer. She died in 1337, leaving her property to her son by her first husband, Hugh Le Despencer (the third of the name), then twenty-nine years of age.

He was at the time in disfavour with the King and kept in prison at Bristol, in the custody of Roger Mortimer. However, after the death of his mother, as Dugdale says: Dugdaies "the beams of the King's favour beginning to shine upon him,iB^Df*"'vo1 fie did homage, and had livery of the lands of her inheritance" and betook himself to the King's service in the wars in Gascony and Scotland. He behaved himself so well during these campaigns that the King bestowed upon him a discharge of all the debts he then owed or should owe to the Exchequer to the ensuing Michaelmas. He was summoned to Parliament from 12 Edward III. till 22 Edward III. inclusive, and died February 8, 23 Edward III. (1349), being seised of the manors of Great Marlow, in the county of Buckingham; Maple Durwell and Ashleigh, in the county of Southampton (Hampshire); Caversham, Shipton, Burford, and Chadlington, in Oxfordshire, and many others. He was buried at Tewkesbury, near the high altar.

If Peter Morley, or Perkins, was living in 1380, he must have been quite a young man when in the service of Hugh Le Despencer.

The following slightly sketched table of descent will help to explain the further connection of the Despencers and their descendants with this story <>:

Hugh Despencer (3rd) died without issue 1349, Peter Morley bailiff (wife of Hugh Despenscer: Elizabeth, dau. of Edward, Earle of Salisbury <>

Hugh's brother was Edward Despencer, died 1342 (wife Anne, daugther of Lord Ferres)

Son of Edward: Edward Despencer (died 1375) married to Elizabeth Baroness Burgersh

Son of Edward was: Thomas Despencer, created Earl of Gloucester(beheaded 1400 for plotting to kill Henry IV -plot is described in Shakespeare's writing) John Parkyns senaschal (definition: The steward or major-domo of a medieval great house)

Heir to Thomas was his daughter, Isabel, died 1439, husbands:

1st husband, Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester.

2nd husband, Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, Earl of Warwick; died 1439.

Isabel Despencer left 2 co-heirs (her daughters from 2 husbands)

Elizabeth, co-heir with half-sister fromher first husband Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester

(Isabel and Elizabeth's brother, Henry Beauchamp, died without issue 1445)

Anne, co-heir with half-sister, of Despencer and Beauchamp estates died 1470 ; ; (married Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury and Warwick, the "Kingmaker.''Thomas Parkyns co-trustee.)

Thomas Parkyns - Lord of Ufton Robert

Excerpt from Wikipedia on the Earls of Warwick
<
1088 creation of Earl of Warwick

The medieval earldom created in 1088 was held to be inheritable through a female line of descent, and thus was held by members of several families. It was traditionally associated with possession of Warwick Castle. The heraldic device of the Earls of Warwick, the bear and ragged staff, is believed to derive from two legendary Earls, Arthal and Morvidus. Arthal is to mean "bear", while Morvidus was to have slain a giant "with a young ash tree torn up by the roots."[1]

The first Earl of Warwick was Henry Beaumont, younger son of Roger, count of Meulan and brother to Robert, 1st earl of Leicester. This family was also known as de Bellomont, de Novo Burgo and de Newburgh. Henry changed his named to de Newburgh, after his home in Normandy (Castle de Neubourg). Hutchins, John,The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, Vols. 1-4,1815.

Henry became constable of Warwick castle in 1068 and Earl in 1088 as reward for his support for the king during the Rebellion of 1088.

The title passed through several generations of the Beaumont family until Thomas, the 6th earl, died in 1242 without a male heir. The earldom then went to his sister Margaret and her husbands and on her death to her cousin William Maudit.

When he died also without a male heir the title passed to his daughter Isabel and her husband William Beauchamp and thence her son William, who became 9th earl.

During this period the earldom and the Beauchamps were elevated to the highest levels until Henry, the 14th earl was created Duke of Warwick with precedence over all except the Duke of Norfolk.

This precedence was disputed however and with Henry’s death in 1445, also without male heir, the dukedom was extinguished. The earldom went to his infant daughter, and on her death a few years later passed to Henry's sister Anne and her husband Richard Neville, who became 16th earl and was known to history as "Warwick the Kingmaker".

After Richard Neville’s death the title was created for his son-in-law, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, husband of Neville's eldest daughter Isabella Neville, on 25 March 1472.[2] It then passed to Richard and Anne’s grandson Edward, son of George, Duke of Clarence, and with his death in 1499 the title became extinct.
Earls of Warwick; First creation (1088)

Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick (c. 1048–1119)
Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick (c. 1102–1153), son of Henry
William de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Warwick (before 1140–1184), son of Roger
Waleran de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Warwick (1153–1204), son of Roger
Henry de Beaumont, 5th Earl of Warwick (c. 1195–1229), son of Waleran
Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick (1208–1242), son of Henry
Margaret de Beaumont, 7th Countess of Warwick (d. 1253), daughter of Henry (5th)
John Marshal, jure uxoris, 7th Earl of Warwick (d. 1242)
John du Plessis, jure uxoris 7th Earl of Warwick (d. 1263)
William Maudit, 8th Earl of Warwick (c. 1220–1268), grandson of Waleran
William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick (c. 1240–1298), great-grandson of Waleran
Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick (d. 1315), son of William (9th)
Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick (d. 1369), son of Guy
Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick (c. 1339–1401), son of Thomas (11th) Convicted of Treason against Richard II and pardoned by Henry IV

John Parkyns senaschal (definition: The steward or major-domo of a medieval great house)

Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick (1382–1439), son of Thomas (12th) Supervised the execution of Joan of Arc.[1] Endowed St Mary's Church to build the Beauchamp Chapel where his effigy takes centre stage.

Richard was the 2nd husband of Isabel Despencer (who descended from brother of Hugh Despencer, Edward Despencer, the original Perkins - Peter Morley was the bailiff, aka household manager for Hugh Despencer)

Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (1425–1446), son of Richard, Died without a son aged 21, so the Dukedom expired and Earldom passed to his baby daughter, Anne.
Anne de Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick (1443–1449), daughter of Henry
Anne de Beauchamp (1426–1492), daughter of Richard
Richard Neville, jure uxoris 16th Earl of Warwick (1428–1471) ("Warwick the Kingmaker")
Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick (1475–1499), grandson of Anne (16th)

**** End of excerpt from Wikipedia on Earl of Warwick

The grandson of Peter Morley, alias Perkins, John Parkyns, was, according to the Visitation pedigree, seneschal (The steward or major-domo of a medieval great house)<
The two dates mentioned in connection with John Parkyns coincide with his patron's- installation as Earl and with his disgrace, from which it may be supposed that he was in some way connected with both events.

On February 23, in the year 1400—that is to say, a few weeks only after the death of <> the Earl of Gloucester, John Parkyns. with one Thomas More, received from King Henry IV. the custody of one Water-Mill & one carucate of land in Shipton under Wichewode, in the County of Oxford, which Anne, late Queen of England, deceased, held for the term of her life as parcel of her dower . . . so that the aforesaid Thomas & John may always have sufficiency of Timber for the construction, repairing, & sustaining of the Mill aforesaid, as often & where it shall be necessary. This small property must have been adjoining or very near to the property of John Parkyns' late master, but whether the grant had any connection with the forfeiture of the estates of the Earl of Gloucester does not appear.

In 1390 John Parkyns, as we learn from the Madresfield court roll before referred to, had held one messuage and eighteen acres of land there, for which he did homage to the lady of the manor, Johanna Bracey, showing that he had then only recently acquired the property.

William Parkyns, the son of John, was the first of the William family who was lord of Ufton Robert. From 1411 he is Parkyns. named in the diocesan registry as patron of that living, and is styled variously Lord of Ufton, Donzell, and True Patron. Sarum Reg.

<
"Ufton Robert manor house was just west of the current village and had a moat, which still survives. Excavations in the 19th century found bridge piles, a gateway and other foundations. The moat is also part of a set of linked medieval fishponds fed from an artificial stream which flowed into the south pond. The water was controlled to the ponds and moat by a series of sluices.[3] The manor came into the hands of the Perkyns family around 1411. When they bought the manor of Ufton Pole in 1560 the two manors were combined and the main residence moved to Ufton Pole, which is now Ufton Court, a large Elizabethan manor house south-west of the village. ">>

He <> was attached to the service of Humphry Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, as bailtious, or agent, and it was probably in that capacity that he was concerned in an agreement by which one William Leyreconfirmed the lordship of Child's Manor, East Barsham, Norfolk, to Humphry, Duke of Gloucester, Alianore his wife, and William Parkyns, Esq.; for immediately afterwards, in another deed, he released his right therein to the Duke. He sealed this deed with the arms, or, a fesse dancette between eight billets ermines. This is the first time in which the armorial bearings of the family appear. They differ from the later shield in the number of the billets, which were afterwards increased to ten. Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester, was brother to Henry V., and uncle and guardian to the young Henry VI. during his minority—" the good Duke Humfrey," as he was called, whose disgrace and tragic death suggested to Shakespeare the lament which he puts into the mouth of Henry:

For in the shades of death I shall find joy, in life but double death, now Glosters dead.

William Parkyns is said in the Visitation pedigree to have been living in the year 1419; that is, during the French wars. On May 29 of that year, soon after Rouen had capitulated to the English, a meeting took place at Menlau between the French Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Burgundy and Henry V., to arrange conditions of peace, the most important of which was to be the marriage of the King with the French Princess Catherine. Henry was on that occasion accompanied by his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, and from the special mention of the date in connection with William Parkyns it may have been that he also was present in attendance on his patron.

In 1426 and the two succeeding years his name appears in the accounts of the Corporation of Reading as follows (translated):

For payment at games given before the Mayor at William Parkyns', 6s. 8d. For ale given at the same, 2d. To the minstrels of the Duke of Gloucester at the Mayors breakfast at Parkyns', 20d.

Whether the Mayor came out to Ufton is not clear, or whether William Parkynsentertained him in Reading. One is reminded of a passage in one of Margaret Paston's letters to her husband in which she tells him that the Mayor and Mayoress of Norwich sent their dinner this day. . . . they dined here. I am beholden to them, for they have sent to me divers times since ye went hence.

In William Parkyns' case the Mayor only paid for the ale and the music and the games provided for the entertainment. William married a lady whose Christian name was Margaret, and conjointly with her, in 1424, he was party to an agreement with John Collee and Elizabeth his wife, which the manor and advowson of Ufton Robert and a moiety of lands in Borwardescote were settled on the same William and Margaret, and in case of William's death then on Margaret and her heirs male; subject to the yearly payment of eight marks of silver to Elizabeth Collee. It is certain that the manor and advowson of Ufton Robert had been already for some years past the property of William Parkyns. This deed may, therefore, perhaps be considered as of the nature of a marriage settlement on his wife. From the fact that Elizabeth Collee had a charge on the Ufton Estate, it seems probable that she was in some way a relation of William Parkyns—perhaps his own or his wife's sister. But this is only conjecture.

John Collee was the owner of a manor in the neighbouring parish of Padworth, called Hussie's Manor, and his name appears, with that of William Parkyns, in a list of gentry of Ashmoie, the county of Berks, returned in 1434 by Robert Nevil, Bishop of Sarum, and his brother, Sir William Lovel, commissioned by Henry VI. to administer the oaths.

In 1427 and during several succeeding years William Parkyns served as escheator for the counties of Berks and Oxon. The most important event, however, in which he took part—at least, as regards the history of Ufton—was the ecclesiastical union of the two parishes of Ufton Robert and Ufton Richard or Nervet. In 1435 an agreement to this sarum Reg. effect was sanctioned by the Lord Bishop of Salisbury, and signed respectively by William Parkyns and the Prior of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who with his brethren had owned the advowson of the smaller living (see p. 10). This they now resigned, and William Parkyns and his successors henceforth for several generations held the patronage of the united living of Ufton as it now is.

In 1444 William signed his name as a witness to a deed of grant, made by Henry VI. to the Provost and College of Eton, of lands in New and Old Windsor and in Clewer.

In 1447 he is mentioned in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Bray as still holding the office of ballious to the Duke of Gloucester. The manors of Bray and Crookham had been granted to the Duke by his father, Henry V.

William must have died not very long after this date, for in 1451 his son Thomas presented to the living of Ufton as true patron. He continued to do so on successive occasions till 1474.

These dates include the time of the Wars of the Roses, which culminated in the final triumph of the Yorkist party in 1461, supported by Richard Nevile, the Earl of Warwick, the King-maker.

There is a deed of that date by which Thomas Parkyns, in conjunction with the Earl of Warwick and his brother John, Lord Montague, received from Bernard Brocas, of Horton, co. Bucks, a Lancastrian, certain manors in Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hertfordshire, in which Thomas Parkyns probably acted merely as co-trustee. By the light of contemporary events one may guess that it was an amicable transaction, such as was frequently practised at the time by which the adherents of the conquered party saved their estates from confiscation by handing them over temporarily to some friendly opponent.

Some such arrangement was probably made in the case of Thomas Parkyns himself later on, when his patron, the Earl of Warwick, having taken arms against Edward IV., had been defeated and slain at the battle of Barnet. For though it is certain that he had inherited his father's estates, and also that his son held the same after him, yet at the inquisition taken after his death in 1478 it was declared that

THOMAS PARKYNS Armiger held no lands nor tenements of the King in Capite; nor was seized, the day on which he died, in demesne as of fee nor in service in the county: of Berks of any lands or tenements. And further, that the same Thomas Parkyns was seised & held on the day of his death in demesne as of fee, of the Abbot of Redyuge, as of his manor of Foxell's Court in Sulhamsted Abbotts, one messuage & divers lands & tenements with their appurtenances in soccage. And that the said Thomas Parkyns held no other lands or tenements in Capite, nor was seised on the day of his death or any other in demesne or in service except the messuage, lands & tenements aforesaid.

His manor and other possessions had probably been made over for the time to some friend in trust for his family. It is to be noticed that the only property of which he was declared to have been possessed was the land he held of the Abbey of Reading, and the more likely to be safe from confiscation on account of being Church property.

Thomas Parkyns is a person of some interest in the family history, as he is referred to in the records of the Nottinghamshire branch as their ancestor. He is there called "Thomas Parkyns, of Ufton and Mattisfield, co. Berks." There is no such place as Mattisfield, in Berkshire. The place so named, both here and in the Worcestershire Visitation of 1569, must evidently be considered as Madresfield, where, as it will be remembered, John Parkyns, the grandfather of Thomas, had owned property which doubtless had passed to his descendants. Thomas Parkyns, of Ufton, would, therefore, be rightly described as also of Madresfield, in Worcestershire. In the Appendix will be found a further notice of the Nottinghamshire family.

John Parkyns, the son of Thomas, << my notes: and brother of Henry Parkynswho is in our direce lineage) was 28 years of age when he inherited his father's manor of Ufton Robert. He was already married to Margaret Collee, and through her he came into possession of Hussie's Manor in Padworth and also of West Court in Finchampstead, with an alternate right to the presentation to the living. A settlement which she made her property, dated November 6, 1519—probably after her husband's death, since no mention is made of him in a subsequent Chancery Inquisition. In it she gave the whole over to trustees for her use during her life, and for three years afterwards to carry out her will, and afterwards to her son Thomas Parkyns.

The additions thus made to the landed property of the family remained for a long time in their possession; indeed, Hussie's Manor is still to this day attached to the Ufton estate, being that part of Padworth parish which adjoins the parish of Ufton. The old manor-house was still standing on the slope of the hill between Padworth Rectory and Ufton Court almost within the memory of those now living, and was then known as Pam Hall.

An account of the descent of Finchampstead Manor is given in the Appendix.

Margaret Collee's arms, argent, a cross sable wavy, are quartered with those of John Parkyns on a monument erected in 1560, which will be described later on.

John Parkyns presented to the living of Ufton three times between the years 1504 and 1511.

Thomas, the son of John Parkyns and Margaret Collee, married Dorothy, daughter of Edward More, of Wichwood, co. Hants. The Chancery Inquisition, taken six years 'later, in 1524, at the time of his death, gives a very full and interesting account of the property belonging to him, and incidentally of the neighbouring gentry. Thomas, it states, had held the manor and advowson of Ufton Robert and lands in Borwardescote in demesne as of fee tail. Ufton Robert held of Thomas Englefield as of his manor of Tidmarsh, by fealty and a pound of cummin, Borwardescote of Thomas Fettiplace, services not known. Then comes the settlement already quoted, made by Margaret Collee, his mother. Another deed is then quoted, dated July 13, 10th Henry VII. (1495), by which William Parkyns, Esq., and other trustees gave a certain Edward More lands, etc., in Woolhampton and Aldermaston to the use of the said Edward More for seven years, and afterwards to the use of Thomas Parkyns (as son and heir of John Parkyns) and of Dorothy, wife of the said Thomas, and their heirs. (This would be Dorothy's marriage settlement. She was living, and in actual possession of this land, at the time of the In- A.D. 1518. quisition. The land in Woolhampton was held of the of St. John of Jerusalem by fealty and 4s., and that in Aldermaston of Sir George Foster. And, further, it is stated that Thomas had held lands in Beenham and Bradfield of Thomas Stafford as of his manor of Bradfield, and also lands in Ufton of Richard Parkyns by fealty and is. 6d., as of his manor of Ufton.

Also, that he had held Hussie's manor of Padworth and other lands and a messuage in Padworth of Peter Cowdray, as of Cowdray s Manor in Padworth by fealty and 6s. 8d.

And, finally, that he had held a messuage and lands in Ufton Nervet called Pangbourne's land, and land in Sulhamstead Abbotts of the Abbot of Reading.

In this account of the property it is to be noted that the chief lordship of Ufton Robert had now passed away from the manor of Bradfield, and was attached to that of Tidmarsh with merely a very nominal service, namely, the yearly payment of a pound of cummin.

In these ante-Reformation days the Brotherhood of St. John of Jerusalem, with its establishment at Woolhampton and the Abbey of Reading, appear among the large landowners of the district.

The ancient family of Cowdray was still at Padworth. The parish had been divided since the time of the Conquest into the two manors afterwards known as Cowdray's and Hussie's. The latter has been already mentioned; the former was granted to Fulke de Cowdray by King Henry III. in chief by the sergeanty of holding a rope on the Queens ship inq. P.m., when she shall cross over between England and Normandy. Peter Cowdray in 1524 was the last lord of Padworth of his name. At his death his property was divided between his three daughters—Joan, who married Peter Kydwelle, Elizabeth, wife of Poulet, and Margery, wife of William Hythe.

The shares of Joan and Elizabeth eventually passed to the Brightwell family, and that of the third sister, Margery, was
finally purchased by Sir Humfrey Foster, grandson of the Sir George Foster, of Aldermaston.

Sir George Foster was the first of his family settled at Aldermaston, which property he had acquired by marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John de la Mere. His is the beautifully carved alabaster monument still to be seen in Aldermaston Church, on which he is represented in armour with his wife by his side, and his very numerous family and sons and daughters standing in niches below. He died in 1532.

A reference to the table of descent in the Appendix, will explain the probable identity of William Parkyns, who acted as trustee for Dorothy More's marriage settlement. Also that of Richard Parkyns, of whom Thomas held land in Ufton as of his manor of Ofton. He was probably the representative of the Madresfield family, still holding apparently some share of the Ufton property. Thomas Parkyns of Ufton, whose possessions have been here recapitulated, had a large family, as set out below.
Thomas Parkyns, died 1524 Dorothy, dau. of Edward More,of Wichwood, co. Hants.
<
Perkins Shields:

The precise directions that he gave as to the place of his burial have a significance. By the sepulcre that he mentions was intended the shrine which in all old churches stood against the north wall of the chancel at the extreme east end; that is, immediately by the side of the altar, but at right angles with it. Pugin says that it was a place where the Blessed Sacrament was solemnly reserved from Good Friday till Easter Sunday. Sometimes these sepulchres were merely temporary erections of framework and hangings, set up for the occasion, but frequently they were permanent, built into the north wall of the choir or chancel, and adorned with a rich canopy and appropriate imagery. Of this kind two beautiful examples may be seen at Heckington and Navenby Churches, Lincolnshire, and at Hawton Church in Nottinghamshire. "But," as Pugin goes on to say, "there are few parochial churches which are not provided with a tomb on the north side of the chancel, which served for the sepulchre, and was adorned on these occasions with hangings and other decorations. Devout persons erected these tombs with the special intention of their serving for the sepulchre, that those A.d. 1560. who came to visit it might be moved to pray for their souls." -—; A very good instance of this latter arrangement may be seen 'v' in the Parish Church of Englefield in the neighbourhood. Richard

Just such a tomb was the monument erected shortly after Parkvns. his death to the memory of Richard Parkyns by his widow— afterwards Lady Marvyn—on the spot which he had selected. It was an imposing structure, and till within a few years ago it was still to be seen in situ and almost in its original condition. Its history, however, is a disastrous one. Before it had been in existence a hundred years it had suffered defacement and injury at the hands of the iconoclast Puritans of the time of the Commonwealth. Elias Ashmole, who saw it sometime previous to 1660, states that then already the Ashmoies figures of Richard Parkyns and his wife were broken down. ^SS'B^d.' Lib.

His very careful description is in its wording and arrangement so important to the understanding of the full purport of the monument that a facsimile copy of the page from the MS. notes in the Bodleian Library is here given on page 56.

On the opposite page (57) an attempted restoration of the whole, partly from Ashmole's description and partly from the still existing remains, is also given.

There was never any inscription on the monument, although two ornamental panels in the stonework seem to have been intended for the purpose. The numerous shields, however, that adorn it were intended to tell their story, and require some notice.

The three shields described by Ashmole as having been on the north side all have reference to the wife's family, Elizabeth Mompesson. The centre shield belonged to her father, Sir John Mompesson, impaling the arms of his wife, Alice Leigh, and those on the right and left are her father's parents, Mompesson and Watkins, and her mother's, Leigh and Lucy. These are given separately at the head of this chapter. The other set of three, described as " on the fore-side," will be seen, by a glance at the illustration of the restored monument, to form a line with the two on the pedestals of the columns.

Taking them thus in order, and beginning from the left— that is, the reader's right hand, these five shields will be found to represent a genealogical sequence of five generations of the family.

At the extreme left the shield marked No. 1 in the illustration gives the arms of Richard Parkyns himself, quartered
Chap. iv. with those of his heiress-wife, Elizabeth Mompesson. No. 2 . D i 6o is the arms of his father and his father's wife, Dorothy More.

'J 'No. 3 quarters the Collee arms, and represents the shield of
Richard John Parkyns, whose wife Margaret Collee brought the PadParkyns. worth and Fenchampstead manors into the family (see p. 43).

No. 4 impales blank. This of itself is a convincing proof of the intention with which this row of shields was arranged. Had there been no intention of describing the descent of the family, any coat of arms connected with Richard's ancestors would have been represented; but here, when Thomas, the great-grandfather's place, is reached in the sequence, his wife's arms not being known, nothing is put, and the impalement of the shield is left blank.

The father of Thomas was William Parkyns, the first of the family who was lord of Ufton, and therefore very suitably his shield, No. 5, occupies the first place in the series. His wife's Christian name was Margaret, and the deed of settlement which has been quoted (see p. 41) is fair evidence of her having been an heiress; but the arms here represented in the quarterings are borne by several families of possible connection with the Parkyns, and it is difficult to identify her family with any certainty.

The same arms, or very nearly so, were borne by Mitchells, and a family of the name owned a manor called Mitchell's Court at Borwardescote. William Parkyns, we know, owned a moiety of lands in Borwardescote, and if we may suppose this to have been the property that Margaret brought to her husband, probability seems to point to her having been a co-heiress of that name.

Above the columns, on an upper row, are two shields— Nos. 6 and 7—which from their position might be supposed to refer to early ancestors or founders of the family. From the marks of cadency, they appear to represent two brothers, and the shield of the second brother occupies the place of honour; from which one might infer that the Ufton family descended from a second son. But here we have no other record to support the hypothesis.

The last shield—No. 8—described by Ashmole as on the west end of the monument, bears the arms of Sir Francis Chap. iv. Englefield, the chief lord of the fee of Ufton Robert. D~t~6o

There remains to be noticed the coat of arms and crest of 'J 0

Richard Parkyns, with his name attached, which, as Ashmole Richard describes it, surmounted the whole. It is still in existence, Parkyns. though without the inscription.

This was probably the first occasion on which the crest was used by the Ufton family, for it was only on August 18, 1559—that is, the year before Richard Parkyns' death— that the grant of the crest had been made by William Hervey,alias Clarenceulx King-of-arms, to another Richard Parkyns, who was the representative of the Madresfield branch of the family—the same who has been already mentioned (p. 46) as having some rights over part of the Ufton lands.

A copy of the grant and an account of the Madresfield family are given in the Appendix.

From the fact that the crest was so soon made use of at Ufton, it seems possible that the grant may perhaps have been applied for, at the instigation of Richard Parkyns, of Ufton, or of that of his widow, with the express intention of its display on this monument. Perhaps also the unusually elaborate genealogical arrangement of the coats of arms with which it was decorated, may have owed something to heraldic researches made at the time on their behalf by their relative, Richard Parkyns, the younger, who was then a barrister, living in London.

All this, however, has been described from Ashmole's account of what was, but is no more. I have said that the history of this monument is a disastrous one, nor did its misfortunes end with the ill-treatment of the Puritans. It probably remained much as Ashmole saw it till i860, when the old church was replaced by the present building. Then the architect seems to have judged it out of keeping with his plans for the new church, so it was pulled down and its broken fragments were cast out. They would have utterly perished and been lost had not Dr. Fraser, the then rector, collected some of the carved stones and built them up again in some sort of fashion, as an arbour in his garden; but five out of Chap. iv. the twelve shields have disappeared, and such as remain have in the rearrangement lost half their significance. To make • '21- ' the catastrophe complete the centre stone of the beautiful Richard frieze which decorated the canopy was somehow missed, and Parkyns. lacking this, and in default of any inscription, the memory even of those to whom the monument had been erected was completely lost. Some time afterwards, when Mr. Erskine was rector, a visitor whose genealogical tastes led him to take an interest in the pedigree of the Perkins family, came to Ufton to hunt for their relics. After examining the church and the above-mentioned arbour, he was further told of some old bits of carved stone in a neighbouring farm, and there in the yard (to use his own words) / found the centre stone with the initials R. E. P. in a sort of trefoil, meant for a true lover s knot, supported by two angels or cherubs. It was used to prop up one end of a pig trough, that the little pigs might feed the easier! I inquired whether a certain Lady Marvyn had been heard of, & learned that she was remembered as a benefactress to the Parish, & then—/ preached a sermon!! & was faithfully promised that the stone should be put in a safe & more proper place, pending the hoped-for restoration of the tomb.

But, alas, this sermon was no more heeded than many others. Mr. Erskine's health obliged him to be a great deal away, and after his death, in 1878, the centre-stone had been again forgotten. It was found again by Mr. Fraser Cornish, the son of the present rector—not in quite so ignominious a position as before, but lying out of doors among some rubbish in the farm-garden, and unfortunately very much cracked and damaged by the frost. However, its rediscovery came, happily, in time to help to the identification of the dismembered monument. A subscription was got up, and the beautiful canopy, at all events, has been moved into the church under safe shelter, and re-erected as nearly as possible in its original place. One cannot but hope that all the remaining fragments may as soon as possible be also replaced.

Unfortunately, as has been said, a great deal is hopelessly lost, and the architectural work is so broken up that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to understand its original design.

The destruction is all the more to be deplored because the Chap. iv. parishioners continue to this day to benefit by a charitable endowment bequeathed to them by Richard Parkyns' widow, A P' 1558 Lady Marvyn, whose effigy was originally on the tomb; nor are they in any way disturbed in their enjoyment of her gifts by the fact that they have forgotten the donor, and that her monument has been turned out of their church.

Richard Parkyns' second brother William had probably William married late in life; for his wife Anne was niece to his sister- Parkyns. in-law Elizabeth Mompesson, her mother being Sir John Mompesson's second daughter Mary, wife of Thomas Wells, of Bambridge. He died in 1558. In his will he describes himself as William Parkyns, of Brympton, in the countie of Barks, gentilman. Brimpton is about six miles distant from Ufton. As it does not appear that the Parkyns family ever had any estate there, it is probable that William had no more than a lease of the house he occupied in that parish. He says that—

Being seeke of bodie, & hole & parfite of mynde & memorie, I make this my present last will & Testament in manner & forme following. First, I bequeath my soule unto Almightie God & to Jesus, his only sonne, my Maker & Redeemer, <2f to the blessed Ladie the Virgin, & to all tholly company of Heaven; & my bodie to be buried in the Chauncell of the churche of Sainte Peters of Ufton Robert, in the countie aforesaide, in the left side of my mother, where as she lieth buryed. Item, I will that within one year after my decease, thatt my executours or their assignees doo buye one marble stone of the price of 531 \d, & to cause it to be laid upon my saide mother & me; & thies wourds to be graved upon him: Of your charitie pray for the soule of Dorothye Parkyns, who died the . . . day of in the yere of our Lorde God 1550 & fiftie; <2f William Parkins, her sonne, who deceased the . . . day of in the yere of our Lorde God 1558, sometyme gentilman Ussher to the Right honourable Ladie Margarette Countess of Sary, & after her decease gentilman Ussher to her sonne, The Lord Cardinalles Poles grace. Item, I bequeath to the poor people 40V that is to say, 20s at my buriall, & thother Chap. iv. 201 at my monnethes mynd. Item, I bequeath to the mother ^"churche of Safy Item, I bequeath to the hie altar of _ 'Brympton, for tithes forgotten, 31 4rf. Item, I bequeath to the William hie altar of Thateham, for tithes forgotten, 3' 4/. Item, I will Parkyns. that mine executours buye one new pall, price 13* df, the whiche I give unto the parishe churche at Brympton to be laide uppon any personne or personnes that shall die within the said parishe & be broughte to the churche. Item, I bequeath to Saint Peters churche of Ufton Robert 13' 4rf. Item, I will that some honiiest priest pray & say a trentall of masses for my soule immediatclie after my buriall, & another trentall after my yeres mynde, & they to be rewarded as my executours thinke meete & convenient. Item, I will that myn executours i