Welsh Journals

RADNORSHIRE WILLS: ARCHDEACONRY OF BRECON By E. J. L. COLE THE early wills for the Archdeaconry of Brecon are deposited at the National Library of Wales and for the period up to 1589 are contained in two registers, the first of which, 1570-1578, does in fact contain wills of earlier and later date. Abstracts of a few of the Radnorshire wills from this source have already appeared in these pages (Transactions, Vols. XX, XXI), but there are many more-about 120, including inventories, in the first register alone-between 1543 and 1582, and these all reflect some- thing of the age that produced them. Most of the testators were engaged in husbandry of some kind, and much of the farming was mixed In some cases the inventories quote the acreage under cultivation and name the crops sown. Livestock is often listed in detail, with values set out, and the few prized household goods usually mentioned in the body of the will. One cannot tell if the stock and crop values were inflated or deflated by the appraisors, who would often be influential neighbours, well-disposed or otherwise, to the testator, but one must accept that, high or low, their figures would approximate to prices then current. In the matter of crops, the ranges per acre were rye, 3s. 8d. to 12s. oats, 3s. to 10s. wheat, 10s. to 13s. 4d. As to livestock, the ranges per head were cows, 6s. 8d. to £ 1.6.8d' calves, 2s. to 6s. 8s. heifers, 3s. to 16s. Sd. oxen, 10s. to £ 2 bullocks, 3s. 4d. to £ 1 mares, 6s. Sd. to £ 1 wild mares, 6s. 8s. to 28s. 4d. horses, 8s. to f4 colts, 3s. 4d. to 10s. sheep, Sd. to 3s. 6d. lambs, 6d. to Is. 4d. goats, 4s. to Is. 4d. swine, 6d. to 3s. 4d. geese, 3d. to Is. 6d. Sometimes favourite animals are named, as at Aberedw in 1576. Once, surprisingly (although it had been domesticated early in the century), that delicate, nervous, American-imported bird, the turkey, puts in an appearance on a Disserth farm (1572). Beds, blankets, coffers, pots, pans, pewter-all these, and much besides, are to be found here-the prized but, in retrospect, pathetic household goods and chattels of one's forefathers, rich and poor alike. They were prized for their utility. If any survive to this day their value lies in their antiquity. But all material things decay, even in a material- istic age, and the knowledge that all men come to dust was then, as now, a sobering thought. But, fortified by the rites of holy church, these almost unknown testators made their last wishes known in writing or by word of mouth, and, commending their souls to God, expired. The original wills have long since gone. The abstracts which follow are taken from the registered copies. 12 July 1543. David ap David ap Holl of Glascumbe parish. Sick. Soul to God. Body to p.ch. of Glascumbe. For forgotten tithes 12d. My aunt Mallt verch Holl ap M'edd hath bequeathed a cow to Our Ladye Service in Glascom price 6s. 8d., which I now bequeath to my wife & children during pleasure, paying 12d. yearly to Our Ladyes Service. Jevan ap David ap Jevn Goch bequeathed a cow to Alson my dau. Do testify that my father and I gave in mortgage upon lands of David Tomelyne 21 marks sterling. My father and I gave upon lands of Gwillim