Small Histories 5

Being brief accounts of episodes, incidents and characters from here and hereabouts complete with facts and imaginings.

SMALL HISTORY Number 5 – November 2011

The John Gould Charity – Who was John Gould?

The stated aims of this local charity are that ‘INCOME TO BE APPLIED TOWARDS THE REPARATION OF THE CHURCH OF BROADWINDSOR AND OTHER GOOD USES WITHIN THE PARISH.’

St Mary's Church                               Drimpton School                                            Royal Oak

It was on Gould Charity land that the St Mary’s Chapel of Ease, now the parish Church of Drimpton, was built in 1867, and the village school was built in 1874. The Royal Oak pub also stands on former charity land. But who was John Gould? The years roll back several centuries…..

A note before proceeding with this account; the name Gould has no consistent spelling in what follows.

There does not appear to be any record of the date of the foundation of this charity, nor whether it was by deed or will. The earliest document in existence relating to it appears to be a conveyance of Deed of Feoffment (= a grant of ownership of freehold property to someone) dated 1664, a few years after the Restoration of the Monarchy after the Commonwealth period. This document conveys the lands from one set of people acting as feoffees of the charity to a new set. By a deed dated 27^th January 1695, Hugh Paull, who may have been the last survivor of this latter set of feoffees, conveyed certain lands held by the charity to another charitable group of local worthies, William Bragge, Richard Norris, Andrew Goudge, James Wakely, William Paull, Giles Stoodly, Richard Joanes and John Bragge. In this document Hugh Paull describes himself as ‘feoffee of the lands and tenements which John Gould long since gave towards the reparation of the Church of Broadwindsor and other good uses within the same parish’ – showing that the present aims of the charity have not changed. But the question of who John Gould was still begs an answer. And how long is ‘long since’.

Winding the years back a further century to 1579 we find the following references in a survey of Broadwindsor dated April 1^st. It is talking about rents paid on pieces of land and who paid them:

 ‘Goldes londe in Drempton – William Poole esq and other tenants appear in the books – 20d. Gouldes londe in Sondepitt – said William Poole esq and other tenants as before – 22d’

We appear to be on the right track. Even though by the 1570s there were no Goldes/Gouldes living in the Broadwindsor parish, the family clearly had been living locally before then, and thanks to the extensive researches of Patrick Lewis, author of ‘The Sandpit Book’, we can go further back in time from the late 16^th century to the early 13^th century and find the arrival of the family in our parish, and then proceed forwards in time as any history should.

The earliest member of the family is one John Gole or Golde of Seaborough. He went on the Fifth Crusade, which was one of a series of military ventures that Christian Europe made to retake the Holy Land from the armies of Islam. This crusade took place between August 1218 and November 1219 and sends echoes across the intervening 800 years, for it has a contemporary ring; worringly so, I feel. Anyway, John Gole/Golde left these shores and participated in the Siege of Damietta, a town on the Nile ten miles from the Mediterranean coast. He performed in such a distinguished fashion that when he returned to Britain the Lord of the Manor of Seaborough presented him with an estate or farm there. In this way the family’s acquisition of local land began.

Rolling forwards to the early years of the 14^th century we meet Elias Golde and his sons, John and Robert. They are all involved with property in our parish, acquiring and/or claiming rights over a growing portfolio of lands and dwellings in Drimpton, Sandpit and Axe. They were not averse to protecting their rights and guarding their recently acquired property. At Easter 1321, Robert prosecuted his neighbours for trespass. These were Giles de Meleplash, Ivo de Sandeputte and others. But for some reason they did not turn up at court. Maybe that was wise. The Goldes were flexing their muscles and Robert, especially, was showing a taste for litigation. In June 1325 he won a case at court against John Cole de Brodewyndsore and his wife, Agnes. They ended up acknowledging Robert’s right to inherit three dwellings and land. Robert settled the matter by giving the couple ‘£20 sterling’. It appears his strategy was first to intimidate, then to offer a bribe. Is that an unfair assessment? Was he a land grabbing bully? Interestingly £20 in 1325 would have a spending worth of almost £7000 today. So Robert clearly wanted the property quite badly.

The following year, 1326, sees Robert on the receiving end of a prosecution. He and 16 neighbours were accused by Nicholas Dauncey ‘for taking 20 oxen and 12 cows’ belonging to Nicholas, ‘value £24 at Little Wyndesore’. Can the cattle really have had a worth today of approaching £7000? But Nicholas was not finished. He accused them not only of rustling, but of also ‘assaulting his servants, Richard Serle and others, and imprisoning them for four days’. Unsurprisingly, Robert and his co-defendants staunchly protested their innocence. They claimed that they had raised a ‘Hue and Cry’ – not unlike a posse of deputy sheriffs in the Wild West – to deal with Richard Serle and others who they accused of breaking the peace. So, in brief, they claimed they had acted alongside the guardians of the peace to deal with the unruly, antisocial behaviour of Nicholas’ servants. What of the stolen cattle? Who knows. Perhaps Robert managed to muddy the water so much that they were overlooked.

Throughout the middle years of the 14^th century Robert and his wife, Elizabeth, build up their property empire. The style they had set in the early years, they maintain.

It appears that sometime in the 1350s John, Robert’s brother, died. Possibly on his deathbed John had passed over the Manor of Seaborough to the parson of Bere Church. In this way property was due to leave the family portfolio. Clearly Robert was not about to let that stand. In a settlement whereby the parson received 100 silver marks, Robert and Elizabeth became the rightful owners.

[An aside: A silver mark was equal to about 2/3 of a pound. So 100 silver marks in 1350 was equal to about £66 with a worth today of c£28,000. This speaks of the disposable income that Robert and Elizabeth had.]

The Manor of Seaborough was not all that Robert acquired. John’s property in Drimpton also appears to have ended up in his hands.

Robert and Elizabeth’s son, Robert (Jnr), continued the family business. In 1414, Robert Jnr’s son, another John, described as being ‘of Sanput’ or ‘Sandput’ acted with his partner, William Warre, to buy more property, ‘eleven messuages’ (=dwellings), ‘2 carrucates of land’ (being about 200 acres), ’20 acres of meadow, 40 acres of pasture in Wyke and Milton juxta Gyllingham’. The family empire was getting ever larger. For all this they paid another 20 silver marks, which is just over £30,000 today.

Perhaps it is this John Gole/Gold/Golde/Gould who gave his name to the charity. He certainly had a thought for the hereafter, for also in 1414, he gave to the parson at Seaborough ‘a certain parcel of land in the village one hundred feet in length and sixty feet in breadth, for the building of a chapel there.’ It was completed in early 1415 (which, by the way is the year that Henry V and his English army won the Battle of Agincourt in France), and on July 23^rd ‘the Vicar General granted licence to celebrate masses and cause such to be celebrated, as well in a loud voice as in a low voice, in a chapel newly built in the church of this parish… in the presence of John Goold and his wife and the parishioners there’.
     Seaborough Church

Stone Effigy in Seaborough Church, thought to be of John Gould (but see contribution below)

Trying to track our John Gole/Gold/Golde/Gould/Goold of the charity is not made any easier by the fondness generations of the family have for the name, John. The John who had the chapel built had a son called John. In turn this John had three children. First there was a John, of course. He in turn had a single daughter, Alice. So her line did not carry on the family name when she married John Crukerne. The Crukernes built the existing Childhay Manor. Back to the second child. This was another daughter, also called Alice. So another Gould line ceased. The third child was Thomas. His line survives into the mid-16^th century, via his son, Thomas (Jnr), who died in 1525, and Thomas Jnr’s son, John. This John’s death in 1555 brought the Gould name to an end. But the last Gould did not die an easy death. Here is the story told by Patrick Lewis:

“On the morning of 7^th August 1555, John Gold, was indulging in his favourite sport of hawking with a party of friends from whom, in the excitement of the chase, he became separated. In his haste to rejoin them, he inadvertently trespassed on the land of his neighbour, Mr Week or Wyke of Henley Farm, who was superintending his employees’ work. For a long time there had been animosity between the two men. Mr Week rode up to Mr Gold and a furious quarrel ensued. Mr Week ordered one of his men to fell Mr Gold from his horse. This he did with a rake, and Mr Gold toppled from his saddle to the ground and was found to have died from the blow. Mr Week and two of his men were taken into custody and at an assize held at Crewkerne found guilty of murder, and, it was said, hanged in the market place.’

So the last John Gold of the property owning Gole/Gould/Golde/Goold family was brought down, quite literally, by a fellow property owner in a trespassing dispute based on the land they owned and their perceived rights. His demise echoes so much of what the family had done over the preceding three centuries.

And what of the charity? We are still unable to point with confidence at who the John Gould of John Gould’s Charity was. There are so many candidates to choose from. But whichever John bequeathed a portion of his land, or whichever family member made the bequest in John Gould’s name, Drimpton finally benefitted. Our pub, former school and church stand on charity land. It is for the reader to decide which establishment best serves the memory of John Gould.    

The charity today still owns a small remnant of land in Drimpton once owned by the Gould family. They are just two small fields, which have been rented and worked by members of the Forsey family for many years.

[If you can add to this brief history, please contact villagevoices@njm32.plus.com]

The John Gould Charity - contribution from Colin Lacey, November 2011

My name is Colin Lacey and I am a descendent of John Gould the Crusader. I was reading your article about the charity and come across some areas that I thought might be able to clarify.

The paragraph under the picture of the stone Effigy:

Pulman records in asserting that it was John Golde in 1414/15 who gave the land for the present Seaborough Church and that he was the possessor of the advowson at this time, is at variance with Somerset Incumbents, 1889. This work, which is based on The Hugo MSS 30, 279-80 in the British Museum, shows that Robert Golde, and not John, was John Threver's patron when he was appointed in 1404. Robert therefore seems more likely to have been the actual donor of the land.

Robert and Elizabeth married in 1372 and had a son John born 1373. John married about 1403 and had Robert born 1404, John born 1406 and Alice born 1408.

Robert married Idonea Mycheldever and they had Thomas, John and Alice. John born 1406 had 2 daughters, Alice who married John Crewkerne and Christiana married Roger Appleton.

Alice born 1408 married William Huddersfield and their line ends up in royalty.

Of the children born to Robert and Idonea, Thomas married Eleanor in 1470 and they had Thomas 1472, James 1474 and John 1476.

Thomas 1472 married his cousin Edith Appleton in 1494 and they had John 1495, Margaret 1497, Katherine 1499, Alice 1501 and Ann 1503.

John born 1495 died in 1555 and he left a will dated 2^nd Oct 1545.

My body to be buried in the church of Cruckhorne if I die there. To the Cathedral church of Wells 3s 4d . To the church of  Zeborowe 20s. To the church of Norton under Hamden 6s 8d. To the church of Cruckhorne 6s 8d. To Elizabeth my wife, if she live sole, all my lands in Somersettshire, Dorsettshire and Devonshire, all my leases and goodes within the manner of Seborough and without, provided she make no sale of tymber or woodd but only take necessary for fierboote and ploughboote. To Katherine Golde my sister 20 pounds and 4 pounds yearly during the life of my wife, if she doth not marry. After my wife's death Giles Penney thonger to have the hole manner of Seborough  during his life, paying yearly to the heir 20 marks. My servant Edmonde Pay, John Willes of Sampitt and Hugh Hoper shall jointly  my lease  of  Estham after the death of Elizabeth my wife. Further, Hugh Hooper shall have the reversion of Isabell Godwin without payinge any  fyne and John Willes of Sampitt shall have the reversionof Agnes Cockes and Edmonde Pay shall have his bargain during his life, without paying any rent. My wife Elizabeth  to give yearly for 5 years 4 pounds 6 shillings 8d to any honest priest to pray for me and my frendes. To Thomas Hobell vicar of Chardstock 20s yearly, to pray for me during the life of my wife. If my wife do marry, then the children of John Bale and William Martin shall have all the moveable goods out of the manner of Seborough, the 20 pounds before given to Elizabeth Bally to be parcell of the same. To Barnard Golde my best geldinge.

 Hope this will might shed some light on The John Gould Charity.