16. CULMER

Baker Tree 

RICHARD CULMER and JOAN (16)

 

RICHARD CULMER. Richard made his will and testament in 1494/5 and it was proved the same year. So, we know his approximate death date. But he was born long before there were parish registers, and we do not have the date of his birth or baptism.

When his father made his will in 1485, Richard had an adult son and one not yet 22.[1] This would give him an estimated birth date in the second quarter of the 15^th century.

We know from his father’s will, which mentions, not only a son Richard, but grandsons Nicholas and Thomas, that he was the son of Richard Culmer senior, of St Peter’s in Thanet. A memorial brass in the church shows his mother’s name to be Margaret.

Richard senior and Margaret are the earliest Culmer ancestors we can confidently trace. But there were Culmers in St Peter’s long before this. When the Vikings first began to settle in England, the Isle of Thanet in north-east Kent, was their principal base. The Culmer family tradition is that they are descended from Kulmer the Viking.

Richard’s father was a coach-maker. Richard junior’s will and testament do not tell us his occupation or status. He was buried, like his parents, in a prestigious site in the main aisle of the church of St Peter, before the high altar. This would seem to indicate that he came from a family of considerable status in the parish. His testament also shows that, as well a significant amount of land, he possessed grain and cattle, but these are in the hands of Richard Gooson. He owned land for both arable and cattle farming, but may have paid someone else to manage them, as well as letting out a number of smaller plots. There is no positive evidence that he himself engaged in farming.

 

JOAN/JONE. Their marriage, too, must have taken place long before the introduction of marriage registers, so we do not know Joan’s maiden name. or the parish she came from.

Their wedding probably took place in the 1450s or early 1460s.

We know from their wills that they had two sons, Nicholas, about 1463–1506, and Thomas, about 1465- 1533. There may have been other children who died young.

Sometime before 1486, Roger Sencler brought a suit against Richard Culmer and Richard Norwood of Thanet.[2] He alleged that his great-grandfather Geffery Cord..yme had left 22 acres and 3 tenements to his daughter Cecely, wife of John Sencler the elder, who were Roger’s grandparents. On Cecely’s death, this had passed to John Sencler the elder. He enfeoffed these lands and tenements to Richard Culmer and Richard Norwood, for them and their heirs to hold forever. Roger Sencler asserted that this wrongfully disinherited him and sought restitution.
We do not know the outcome of the suit, or whether this was the older or the younger Richard Culmer. Richard Norwood appears in the wills and testaments of Nicolas and Thomas, so the young Richard Culmer is more likely\.

The Norwoods was evidently close associates of the Culmer family. Richard Norwood, chaplain, was a witness to the will of Richard Culmer’s son Thomas, and Thomas Norwood was a feoffee of his son Nicholas’s will. This may be the Richard Norwood who bought Danes Court in Margate in 1520 and founded an eminent family there, or an older member of that clan.

Richard’s father, Richard Culmer senior, died in 1485.
He left Johanne Culmer 20s and a pair of sheets. Her position in the family is not given, but she could be Richard junior’s wife.
To his son Richard he left the residue of his goods after the specific legacies had been paid, together with John Coopyn, whose identity we do not know. Richard junior and John Coopyn were executors of his testament.
In his will, concerning his lands, her left Richard junior estates in Dumpton, Herston, Ramsgate and Haine. He also left Richard and his two sons a small area of woodland in Wedwood. Other estates were left to each of the sons, including land at Churchhils and the tenement of Church Place.

When it came time to write his own will and testament he did so on 26 Jan 1495/6.[3]

In his testament, he commended his soul to God, the blessed Mary and all the saints, and asked that his body should be buried in the church of St Peter before the high cross. This would be in the main aisle in front of the high altar, where his parents were buried.
He left 6s 8d to the high altar for his forgotten tithes.
“Also I leave to each of the lights of which I am a brother in said church eight pennies.” Like his father, he was a member of a religious guild, which paid for candles or lamps in the church before a particular altar or religious image and supported its fellow members in times of hardship.
To each of his godchildren (unnamed) he left 12d.
He also paid for prayers to be said for his soul and those nearest to him. For this he paid 4s, with 6s 8d to the vicar and 3s 4d to the parish clerk.
£7.6. 8d which was in the hands of Richard Wylkes were to be paid to the church.
To “the church of the brothers of Sandwich town” 20s.
To Joan Heywood 20s.
To Margaret Culmer, daughter of Thomas Culmer, for her marriage portion 10s.
To his sons Nicholas and Thomas, all the grain and cattle that are in the hands of Richard Gooson, to be shared equally after the death of their mother Joan.
The rest of his goods, after the payment of debts and legacies, he left to Joan, “so that she may order and dispose for the salvation of my soul as may seem best to her to do for the pleasing of God and benefit of my soul.”
He makes Joan, Nicholas and Thomas his executors, and pays his two sons 6s 8d for this work.
He appoints John Coopyn overseer, with a payment of 3s 4d.
In something of an afterthought, “Also I leave to Robert Spraclyng a gown. Also I leave to Thomas Kempp my worst gown.”

The tone of Richard’s will is more openly devout than that of his father, but this may be due to the lawyer who drew it up, rather than to Richard’s personal beliefs. There is similar phraseology in the testaments of his wife and sons.

Richard Culmer’s will, a second document disposing of his lands and house,s was made the same day.
He appoints Simon Colner, Edward Lyderer, Laurence at Cheach and Richard Dumpton to be his feoffees. These were trustees, charged with overseeing the distribution of his lands.
He asks them to sell 2½ acres of land that he had bought from Richard Gotisley of Collyswoood and to use the money to mend the “fowle & Noyes Weyes” (foul and noisome ways) at Collyswood and Hayne. Richard Gotisley is to have the option of viewing this land first and mending the road.
Richard Culmer is best remembered for his legacy of 6 acres of land in “Brodesteyr Lynch”, in two pieces, and for the income to be distributed on each Good Friday to the poor of the parish most in need, “for the helth of my sowlle & my ffrynds”.
This land, known as “Culmers”, is now in the middle of Broadstairs and mostly used for allotments. In Richard’s time, it was well outside the village.
The vicar of St Peter’s is to have 4d a year from this income to say prayers for Richard’s soul in the pulpit.
The income should also pay for any fees incurred in transferring this land to other hands.
Joan is to have the right of occupying all his other lands and tenements for her lifetime.
After her death, his son Nicholas Culmer shall have his tenement and garden at Churchhill, with 13 acres of land currently held by Harry Jokelyn, 6 acres held by John Hile, ½ an acre and ½ a rood held by Richard Jokelyn, 6 acres held by Denys Jokelyn, 3 acres held by  Robert Tomson, 1 acre held by Will Cheke, 9 acres by Richard Gotisley, 8 acres, 3 roods by William Curlyng, 7 acres 3 roods by John Lambyn, 3 acres by John Jurdane, 2 acres 3 roods by Thomas Sampson and Cleve Langdon. 3 acres by Stephen Terrey, 3 acres by John Underhill, 2 acres by Roger Mooby, 1 acre by Nicholas Piers, also half a rood at the Chalk Pit, half of his wood and a rood of land at Wedwood.
From this it would appear that Richard Culmer owned a large amount of land, but let much of it in small amounts to others, rather than farming it himself.
After Joan’s death, his feoffees are to sell 3 “closoures” and 1 acre at Julyans in the parish of St Lawrence. Half of this money is to be given for the church works at St Lawrence and the other half to the church works at St Peter’s.
There are now three principal seaside town on the Isle of Thanet: Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate. In the Middle Ages, these were smaller places within the parishes of St John, St Peter and St Lawrence respectively.
Also, after Joan’s death, all his other lands and tenements are to go to his younger son, Thomas Culmer. Ten years earlier, at his grandfather’s will, Thomas had been under 22. He now appears to be an adult.
Richard gives his feoffees 3s 4d each for their work.
The witnesses are Sir Harry Ase, parish priest, (“Sir” was a title given to clergymen, not just knights, Will at Stone, Richard Gooson, Andrew att Cherch, John Coopyn, Will Yoklett and others.
The will was proved on 8 April 1494 or 1495.

It was common for people to leave a modest amount of money to be distributed among the poor. Richard Culmer is remembered for a more substantial gift – 6 acres of arable land. It is likely that this was only a fraction of his total landholding. 

In both Richard and his father’s wills, there is prominent mention of land and tenement at Churchhills, passed on to the oldest son. It is possible that this is where the family home was.
There is no Church Hill on the present map of Broadstairs, but it is known that Wilkie Collins wrote the opening chapters of The Woman in White at Church Hill Cottage in Broadstairs. The house has since been renamed, but Ken Nickolls went in search of its location, “on the Ramsgate Road with nothing between me and the sea but the open down”.[4] He tracked it down to a house at the bottom of the road called The Vale, where it joins the Ramsgate Road. Later properties built next to it were numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 Church Hill. It is reasonable to suppose that The Vale was formerly known as Church Hill.

Joan survived him by another 9 years. Joan Culmer, widow of Richard Culmer of St Peter in Thanet, made her testament on 8 April 1504.[5]

As with Richard, she gave her soul to God, the blessed Mary and all the saints.
She asked for her body to be buried in the church of St Peter next to her spouse (i.e. in the main aisle before the high altar).@  She left 6s 8d to the high altar.
She also left 6d “to each of the lights of the said church of which I am a sister”. Evidently Joan, like her husband, belonged to a religious guild, and apparently to more than one. Some guilds were open to both men and women, others were single-sex.
She left each of her godchildren (unnamed) 6d.
5 marks (£1.13s 4d) were to pay for prayer for her soul and those close to her, for a year.
She left 40s for the poorest paupers, to be distributed over three days.
She asked for five masses to be said on the day of her funeral, and five on the anniversary.
To her eldest son Nicholas she left £4, a chest called le Halinery, a set of bed-clothes “called the featherbed”, a pair of sheets, a brass pot that held 4 gallons, a small one-gallon bowl, a candlestick and three pewter plates.
She left 3s 4d to each of his three daughters.
To Geoffrey Emptiach 6s.
To Robert Copyn 6s 8d.
To Margaret Culmer a pair of sheets and a chest.
To Joan Culmer a pair of sheets, one cover and another chest.
To Simon Culmer 10s.
To Alice Culmer 6s 8d.
To Mariane Culmer 6s 8d.
We do not know where these beneficiaries fitted into the Culmer family.
More identifiable is Alice Culmer, wife of her son Nicholas, who received 6s 8d. Nicholas died two years later. In his will and testament, his wife is named several times as Joan. Unless this entry is a mistake, Alice must have died shortly after this, and Nicholas married a second wife Joan. Nicholas’s eldest daughter was called Alice.
To Joan Austyn a violet coloured coat.
To Christine Spraclying a gown of rose.
To Margaret Gooson my gown of ? colour. We should love to have seen Joan’s wardrobe, with its clothes of violet and rose.
To Beatrice Spraclyng 12d.
The remainder of her goods are to go to her younger son Thomas.
She made her sons Nicholas and Thomas her executors.@
The witnesses were Hugh Hogh and William Yoklet.
The testament was proved 28 May 1504.

Somewhere among the list of beneficiaries there is likely to be someone from Joan’s birth family, who bears her maiden surname. But we have no way of identifying this.

Joan gives a particularly long list of beneficiaries – family and friends. She, comes across as an outgoing person, with a love of people and colourful clothes. 

 

 

[1] Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury PRC17/4/48, Probate 1485 . Transcribed and translated by Noël Siver.
[2] National Archives, C1/29/140. Early Chancery Proceedings, Bundle 29, 140.  Transcribed and translated by Noël Siver
[3] Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury will. DCb, PRC 17, vol. 6, folio 81. Transcribed by [3] National Archives, C1/29/140. Early Chancery Proceedings, Bundle 29, 140.  Transcribed and translated by Noël Siver and John Lewis. Transcription by Noël Siver.
[4] Ken Nickolls, “In Search of Church Hill Cottage”, The Wilkie Collins Society, 2022.   https://wilkiecollinssociety.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2022-08-In-Search-of-Church-Hill-Cottage.pdf
[5] Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury will. DCb/PRC17/9/24. Transcribed and translated by Noël Siver.