Court of the Manor of Deopham of the Dean & Chapter of Canterbury September 1617

Contents

1. Heading
2. Attornment
3. General Court
   1. Inquisitores Ex Officio
      1. Sworn
4. Property
5. Court Leet
   1. Capital Leet
      1. Sworn
   2. Offences
   3. Defaulters
   4. Election of Officer
6. Source Document
7. Footnotes
8. Navigation

Heading

Title	Deopham of the Dean & Chapter of Canterbury: General Court with Leet & Petty Session
Date	September 23rd 1617
Steward	–
Location	–
Page numbers in Court Roll	–

Attornment

The tenants listed below swore allegiance to Robert Wright by this act of attornment¹:

John Amyas, gentleman Francis Amyas, gentleman Henry Howlet Edward Burman Richard Smythe James Burman Thomas Blomfield John Bydwell, senior John Bydwell, junior

John Ocloe John Walter Francis Ransyn George Brunton Thomas Thilthorpe Thomas Smythe Thomas Brooke William Bullocke

General Court

Inquisitores Ex Officio

Sworn

James Burman Edward Burman Thomas Blomfield George Brunton John Ocloe Richard Smythe

Property

Person surrendering property	Proclamations	Date of the Copyhold	Beneficiary	Attorney	Identification of property	Rent	Fine
Francis Amyas, gentleman		September 27th 1614 by the will of Thomas Amyas, gentleman, his father	Thomas Blomfield		A tenement called Brownes in Deopham in a way called Woolwhyte alias Stalland, with 1 acre.		29s
Robert Darkyn out of Court surrendered by the hand of Francis Amyas, gentleman, in the presence of John Ocloe & Robert Newman – all copyhold tenants of this Manor.			William Paman & Frances his wife		A messuage with a croft called Skarminges with 2 acres of copyhold land in 3 pieces in The Westfield in Deopham		23s

Court Leet

Capital Leet

Sworn

William Bullock Henry Howlet Francis Ransin John Bydwell, junior John Walter Richard Cory

Thomas Brooke William Browne John Bydwell, senior William Mydleton Thomas Thilthorpe Richard Crofts

Offences

Offender	Offence	Fine	Penalty if not resolved
Thomas Walters	Not adequately clearing his ditches and cutting trees along the King’s Highway.	12d	10s
Thomas Harper Richard Reynoldes William Woodcock William Augur William Bydwell John Bale

Defaulters

The following were fined 12d each, making a total of 6s shown in the margin:

Thomas Harper Richard Reynoldes William Woodcock

William Augur William Bydwell John Bale

Election of Officer

Office	Name
Constable	Richard Smith

Source Document

Footnotes

1. In 17th-century English property law, attornment was a tenant’s formal agreement or acknowledgment recognizing a new lord or landowner when a property was transferred.
   It would appear therefore that this Court marked the arrival of Robert Wright as the new lessee, and possibly as Lord of the Manor. Without separate confirmation from a lease document, this cannot be confirmed. ↩︎

Navigation

Date	Change
26/7/26	Published – 20250108_102948