13. CULMER-GAWNTE

 GEORGE CULMER and ALICE GAWNTE (13)

 

GEORGE CULMER was the second of the three sons of Alexander Culmer and his wife Margaret. He also had a sister.

The family home was the large parish of St where the parish church was, but the fishing village of Broadstairs.

We do not have a birth date for George, but he was an adult when his father made his will and testament in 1551. This means that he cannot have been born later than 1530. But his younger brother John was also an adult. This pushes George’s birth date still further back. We estimate that he was born sometime in the 1520s, in the reign of Henry VIII.

We do not know his father’s occupation. George himself became a yeoman, and his father may have been one too, but there is no evidence in his will and testament that he was engaged in farming.

George grew up in the heady days when Henry VIII broke from Rome and set up the Church of England, sweeping away many aspects of Catholic life, including the monasteries, that had contributed healthcare and education for some of the people.

When his father died in 1551, much of his testament was given to the disposal of his clothes.[1] He evidently had an expensive wardrobe. To George he left the gown that was his father’s, his second chamlet jacket and his blue chamlet doublet. Chamlet or camlet was an expensive fabric of silk and fine wool, such as angora. He also received two silver spoons.
  George was one of the executors, together with his mother and two brothers.

Alexander’s dwelling house, and the associated buildings were to go George’s mother, and after her death to the eldest son Thomas.     George received his tfather’s tenemnt and land in Broadstairs, after his mother’s death, as well as a tenement and 4 acres of land in Dumpton, just SW of Broadstairs.

After his father’s death, his mother married the yeoman Michael Webb.

 

ALICE GWANTE. We know Alice’s first name from George’s will and her maiden surname from her mother’s will. The latter shows that she was the daughter of Thomas Gwante, yeoman, and his wife Elizabeth. Their home was in the village of Ringwould, between Deal and Dover  Deal. It is 12 miles south of St Peter’s.

She had at least one brother and two sisters, but we do not know the order of their births.
Her sister Jone married Richard Pettit the elder of Ringwould. They are also our ancestors.

The village and parish church of St Nicholas stand high above the sea, but the parish slopes down to Kingsdown on the coast. 

We do not have a record of their marriage, but we learn about it from the will of Alice’s mother, Elizabeth Gawnte, who names her son-in-law George Culmer. It is likely that the wedding took place in 1562 or 1563, in the early years of Elizabeth I’s reign.

Writing of Broadstairs, known formerly as Bradstowe, the historian John Lewis tells us:[2]
“According to two Indentures of 1564 and 1586, it appears, that this Pier and the Way leading thereto, was the Estate and Possession of the Family of Culmer of this Place, and that by Mychell Webb and Margaret his Wife, late the Wife of Alexander Culmer, and George Culmer, one of the sons of the said Alexander, Leave and Privilege of using the said Way was granted and confirmed to the Inhabitants and Parishioners as well Fishermen as others, on Condition of their rendring and paying to the said George Culmer, his Heirs or Assigns for ever, half a Man’s Share of every Boate appertaining to the said Parishe, of all such Profits, &c, which shall happen to them, by Wreckes of the Sea, or by any other Casualltie or Meanes whatsoever, by them or any of them saved, gained, or taken up there, or near adjoining. And also in Consideration of ten Pounds paid to George Culmer they have granted and confirmed to them all that the Pier of Bradstow, with all the Rights, &c of the said George Culmer to hold for ever, for the good of the whole Common Weatlth with them, on their paying to the Wardens of the Pier for the Maintenance of it, such Dues as have been accustomed, only that George Culmer and his Heirs, living in his House at Bradstow, shall pay only one half-penny for every Load, being ten Seams of Lime, that he shall load: That the Inhabitants shall have room on George Culmer’s Land to frame Timber, &c for the Repair of the Pier; that a Rule of Government be kept up for ever on the Feast of Christmas, and John Evangelist, in the Afternoon, at the Parish Church of St Peter’s and there be chosen two Wardens, one at least, to be a Fisherman, who shall gather up the Duties for the Maintenance of the Pier, and if any Damage happens, repair it on Notice given, within two Year at further, on Pain of voiding the Agreement: And lastly, that the great Gates entring in at the same Pier, made and there placed by George Culmer, shall not by the Fishermen be spoiled or hurt.”

This leads us to ask why George would want to take frequent cartloads of lime along the Harbour Street. They must have been numerous, to warrant a special clause in the agreement The most likely answer is that he was taking limestone to a lime kiln to turn it into quicklime, which had many industrial uses.
This was not his main occupation. In his will and testament. he describes himself as a yeoman. But he evidently had more than one string to his bow.

These indentures also raise the question of how George came to own the Harbour Street and the pier, and his relationship to his namesake the shipwright George Culmer, who played a significant role in Broadstairs history.

In medieval times a chantry chapel dedicated to the Virgi Mary was built on the clifftop at Broadstairs overlooking the English Channel.[3] It housed the Shrine of Our Lady Star of the Sea, a painted wooden statue of the Virgin Mary. Its twin towers served as seamarks and a light was lit inside to guide mariners. The blue glass gave it the name “ The Chapel of Blue Light”. Ships used to dip their topsails as they passed, as a mark of respect. The Shrine brought many pilgrims to Broadstairs.
During the early 1500s a severe storm lasting several days swept into Viking Bay. The storm surge badly damaged the Chapel and destroyed the Shrine. In 1520, the shipwright George Culmer rebuilt the Chapel and replaced the Shrine. Along with other chantry chapels, this was destroyed in the Protestant Reformation under Henry VIII.

In 1538, the shipwright George Culmer rebuilt the 15^th-century wooden pier. It is said that this was to protect his shipyard, though it also benefited the local fishermen.
At the same time, he was instrumental in making the road leading to the pier, known as Harbour Street. It was cut through the rough chalk that Broadstairs is built on. This is the road referred to as “the Way” in the indenture.
In 1540, he also built the York Gate. This was a portal that still spans Harbour Street to this day, but it then held two heavy wooden doors that could be closed in times of threat from the sea. It originally held a portcullis.

The shipwright George Culmer was evidently a man of means, and public spirited enough to spend his wealth for the benefit of the people of Broadstairs.

We assume this shipwright owned the land on which he built the harbour road. By 1564, the land was in our George’s hands. The fact that Margaret was co-owner suggests that this was part of the lands in Broadstairs that Alexander Culmer left to Margaret for her lifetime, and afterwards to George.
It is only a short time from the construction of the road in 1538 to Alexander;s will in 1551. We do not have a death date for the shipwright. The most likely scenario is that he died in the 1540s and left this land to Alexander. This implies a close relationship between them, but we do not know what this was.

We also learn from this document that George was living in a house in Broadstairs. This was probably the tenement in Broadstairs left by Alexander to Margaret, and after her death to George. Margaret had also been left the family dwelling place, probably in the village of St Peter’s by the parish church.  She may well have allowed George to occupy the Broadstairs house.

It would have been in this house that he and Alice raised their family.

There was, as yet, no church in Broadstairs. George and Alice took their children to be baptised at the parish church in village of St Peter’s.

The parish registers and biship’s transcripts for this period are incomplete. We have baptisms for some of their children but not all. Other names are found in George’s will.

Baptisms. St Peter the Apostle, Thanet.
1563/4 Feb 26  Elisabeth
1567 Nov 16  Audryan
1569 Dec 29  Anne
c.1571  Richard
1572 Jun 18  Mary
c.1573  John
1577 Leonard
1578/9 Feb 11  Valentine
1581 Sep 24  George
1584 Apr 15  Thomas

On the evening of 2 April 1580, the whole of Thanet was severely shaken by the Dover Straits Earthquake, one of the strongest recorded in England. Buildings were rocked as far away as London. It caused two serious cracks in the tower of St Peter’s. Fortunately, the tower remained standing, unlike its namesake church in Sandwich, where the gable end collapsed.

On 2 Sep 1585, Alice’s mother, the widow Elizabeth Gawnte, was buried in Ringwould beside her husband.

In her will, dated 26 Feb 1583, she says she has £32 stock in the hands of her son-in-law George Culmer.[4] Of this, she wishes £18 to go to George’s children.

Having already transferred ownership of the harbour road to the parishioner, on 2 May 1587, George Culmer sold Broadstairs Pier to John Sprackling and others for £10.[5]

We do not have a death date for George’s mother Margaret, but after she died, his stepfather Michael Webb remarried.
Michael Webb himself died on 15 Jun 1587.

In his will, proved the following month, he left Thomas, John and George Culmer, his “sonnes in lawe” (i,e, stepsons) £5 each.[6]

George wrote his own will on 6 Jan 1587/8, being already ill.

He was buried at St Peter’s on 22 Aug 1598.

In his will, he describes himself as “George Culmer the elder of Bradstayre in the pishe of St Peeter the appostle within the Ile of Thannette in the countie of Kente yeoman”.[7]
He asks to be buried in the parish church of St Peter, at the discretion of his executors.
He leaves 40s to the churchwardens of St Peter’s for repairs on the church, to be paid at the rate of 10s a year for four years.
He leaves 40s for the “poore mens box” of the same parish, also at the rate of 10s a year,.
He leaves his wife Alice £10.
To his daughters Agnes, Marie and Audrian Culmer he leaves £20 each, to be paid in yearly instalments of £6.13.4d. If Marie should die before the payment is complete, the remainder of her legacy should be divided equally between the surviving daughters and their heirs. It would appear from this that Marie was in poor health. We do not know how long she survived.
He gives 10s to his grandson Richard Culmer, son of Richard Culmer, and 10s each to Elizabeth, Anne and June Bennet, daughters of George Bennet of St Lawrence. These were his granddaughters, by his daughter Anne.
He gives his servant Bennet Sprackling 5s.
After his debts, legacies and funeral expenses have been paid, the residue of his movable goods, cattle and chattels are to be divided between his six sons. Richard, John, Leonar, Valenyne, George and Thomas, at the discretion of his overseers.
He makes his sons executors, and appoints as overseers his kinsmen Robert Norwoode of Bromston in St Peter’s and Richard Norwoode of St Lawrence, and gives his overseers 40s each for their work.

The Norwood family appear often in relation to the Culmers. We do not know what this kinship was.

He wills that his wife and sons John and Leonard shall keep his house until next Michaelmas, with the upkeep coming from the sale of movable goods.
The witnesses to this testament were John Culmer, Richard Norwoode, Robert Norwoode and Robte Webbe.

When it came to his will, disposing of his lands, he leaves his wife an annuity of £8 a year, to be taken from his estates and paid to her in quarterly instalments.
He wishes his executors to build a convenient house for her next to his herring house, or rent a house for her for 40s a year.
The “herring house” would be a place to store the fish catch before distribution or to smoke fish for longer-term storage. It is further evidence of the variety of George’s activities and sources of income.
He wills his land and tenements, and the lease that his son Richard had of Roberte Gaunte, George’s brother-in-law, late of St Martin’s near Canterbury, to his six sons and their heirs jointly.
If any of his sons seeks to injure another of them, they shall forfeit all their inheritance.
As with his testament, he makes his six sons his executors and Richard and Robert Norwoode his overseers.

The witnesses are also the same as before: John Culmer. Richard Norwoode, Robert Norwoode, and Roberte Webbe.

The will was proved on 12 Dec 1598 and/or 19 Sep 1599.

Alice lived on to see the end of Elizabeth’s reign and the first Stuart monarch, James I, in 1603. Hers if probably this burial in 1620.

Burial. St Peter the Apostle, Thanet.
1620 Apr 4  Alice Culmer widowe. 

 

[1] Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury, PRC16/11, vol. 3. Register will, PRC32/24/23verso-24verso. Transcribed by Noël Siver.
[2] Lewis, John, The History and Antiquities, as well Ecclesiastical as Civil, of the Isle of Tenet, in Kent. 2^nd edition, London, 1736, pp. 164-5. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/_/7KJfAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
[3] Wikipedia: Shrine of Our Lady of Bradstowe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_Our_Lady,_Bradstowe
[4] Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury, 1585. PRC/17/46/374. Original will ref. PRC/16/84 G/10. Transcribed by Noël Siver.
[5] Whyman, John. Aspects of Holidaymaking and Resort Development Within the Isle of Thanet, with Particular Reference to Margate, circa 1736 to circa 1840. Arno Press, 1981. Originally presented as the author’s thesis, University of Kent, 1980. Dissertations in European Economic History.
[6] Prerogative Court of Canterbury will PROB 11/71/66. Transcribed by Noël Siver.
[7] Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury, 1598. DCb, PRC 17/51/214. Transcribed by Noël Siver.

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