Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This dataset contains a summary of the author's separate transcriptions of a complete set of wills (and associated probate inventories where available) for five neighbouring villages in West Northamptonshire, over the period 1500-1700. The main purpose was to create a resource to be used for analysis of social demographics, population studies, religious development etc., for a historically interesting section of countryside over a time-period that is of considerable relevance to the area's long-term development. The resource is intended to be used along with parish registers, tax surveys, manorial court records, maps and other contemporary documentation, to permit extremely detailed studies to be carried out, comparable with work done by other historians on other parts of the country for the same time-period.

Main Topics:

The intention of producing a tabular version of the text transcripts of 556 wills of the period 1509-1705, for five neighbouring villages in West Northamptonshire (Ashby St Ledgers, Barby cum Onley, Braunston, Crick, Kilsby), was to allow for this information to be searched and analysed statistically if desired. Information on will dates, family names of the testators as well as names of the beneficiaries of these wills is given. Also, it is possible to search the types of church and legal formulae and the church and community bequests used in these documents. Finally, this data file also provides information about the authors analysis of the testators status, family relationships, and any cross-references culled from other records (e.g. 1674 Hearth Tax).

No sampling (total universe)

Transcription of existing materials