Fay Sampson’s Family History
This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines, and some go back 30 generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from my own as (1)
RICHARD BOWLE and ANNIS HERRING (13)
RICHARD BOWLE. From the date of his marriage in 1568 we would assume that Richard was born around 1540 in the closing years of Henry VIII’s reign. He brought up his family in the East Kent village of Ringwould, so it is likely that this was his birth parish. The Ringwould registers go back to the 1560s, too late to include Richard’s birth.
We have found no other marriages for Bowle(s) in the Ringwould area around this time, suggesting that Richard was not part of an extended family there.
Ringwould is a village on the high ground SW of Deal. The road from Dover to Deal ran through it. It was once a market town. In medieval times it was regarded as a ‘limb of Dover’ in the confederation of Cinque Ports. Over time, the fishing village of Kingsdown within the parish grew in importance.
ANNIS HERRING. Similarly, we have not been able to find Annis’s baptism. Since she married in Deal, it is likely that she was living there. In 1563 we have a burial there for Roger Hering. He may be her father.
Deal was a more important harbour, once the busiest port in England.
Deal Castle, with it rose floor plan, was built by Henry VIII about the time of Annis’s birth.
Richard Bowle married Annis Herring at St Leonard’s in Deal on 27 July 1568.
This was ten years into the reign of Elizabeth I.
We have found no Bowles records in the early Deal registers.
The couple set up home in Ringwould and had seven children baptised at the church of St Nicholas. Only four of them survived infancy.
Baptisms. St Nicholas, Ringwould
1575 Nov 30 Felix Bowle son of Richard
1577/8 Mar 11 Agnes
1580 Dec 21 Richarde.
Richarde, son of Richard, is recorded as being buried on Sep 29 1580. Clearly, either the baptism date or the burial is wrong, but these are the dates in the register.
1581/2 Jan 1 Sarah.
Sarah lived for nearly two years. She was buried in Dec 1583. The state of the register means that the day of her burial cannot be read.
1584 Dec 4 Anthony
1587 Nov 19 Margerye.
Margerye lived only two months. She was buried on 26 Jan 1587/8.
1589 Aug 10 John
In 1588 the Spanish Armada attempted to invade England. This must have caused great anxiety in Ringwould, lying so close to the Channel coast. Fortunately, bad weather swept the fleet on round the coast past Deal and up the North Sea.
Richard and Annis lived another five years.
Annis was buried back in her home parish of Deal.
Burial. Deal.
1593 May 28 Avis Bowle
She may have gone back to be nursed by her family.
Later that year, Richard was buried in Ringwould.
Burial. St Nicholas, Ringwould.
1593 Aug 11 Richard Bowles
Both would have been around 53.
[1] https://www.whitecliffscountry.org.uk/Images/Things-to-do/Other/Deal-Castle.jpg
NEXT GENERATION: 12. BOWLES-PELHAM
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: