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The Museum >>
Genealogy /
Town Trail
Clare's Ancient House Museum features local history and genealogy in a 14th century timbered building.
We have seven catagories of records that are viewable on the museum computer - to see a specimen entry, visit the links below.
1. Clare in 1610
2. Clare 1805 to 1825 (census, rate reviews etc)
3. Clare Houses (from title deeds etc)
4. Clare People (miscellaneous)
5. Canterbury Wills (held in the Family Record Centre)
6. Clare Wills, Bury St Edmunds
Clare in 1610
Taken from church registers, and records of law suits involving most of the townspeople.
Example:
DRURY George m Violet Grocer 1597; Violet b 1598
Robert, eldest of 7 children of Thomas (d 1586) and Alice (d 1602) m Margaret Cadge 1583. Baker in High Row (at Drury's ?); bought Horsecroft Farm (Cavendish Road) in 1611 for £43. He died 1619. Their children:
(1) Robert, b 1583, m Mary Butcher (widow)
(2) John b 1589 d 1639: children Robert b 1622 Thomas b 1625
(3) William b 1593 d 1625
(4) Thomas b 1601
(5) George b 1603
(6) Joan b 1588 m Edmund Barrow 1613
(7) Sarah 1599/1616
"Drury's" (17 to 19 High Row) was left by George Drury to son Thomas in 1642.
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Clare 1805 to 1825
Taken from census returns, rating reviews, church registers, charity and other records.
Example: ALEN OR ALLEN
Samuel Alen, farmworker, born in Glemsford 1756, was taken "servant in husbandry" by Charles Green of Hill Farm Clare, when aged 25. He was paid 6 guineas for his first year, while he gained a right of settlement in Clare. He married Ann. He was examined in 1811, to prove a right of residence. He is not listed as a householder in 1809, 1819 or 1823, so presumably lived in at Hill Farrn (now Clare Hall).
In 1820, widower, he married Rose Twitchett. His son James (b 1786) served as private in the Royal Horse Artillery in the Napoleonic Wars. His daughter in law Elizabeth with her infant son, was sent to Clare from Glemsford as a pauper in 1811.
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Clare Houses
Taken from property deeds and other sources.
Example: 20 Market Hill, the Bear & Crown
A "new hall" was bequeathed by William Gilbert (High Street) in his will of 1547, to his wife and then to his son Ambrose. George, Ambrose's son, was the Gilbert heir, but "fled across the seas" according to a local record.
The hall was built on a site originally used for a woodyard and for the Bailey Barn, presumably belonging to the castle. In his notes written in 1870, the then vicar of Clare asserts that this was the "Wool Hall" but does not give his authority for the claim, which is not entirely plausible.
In 1678, the heirs of John Freer, Magdalen his widow and Ann, Elizabeth and Dorothy (Chapman) their daughters, sold the "Bear Inn" with some land to Humphrey Stubbing, yeoman and John Spearman. The former tenant was Gamaliel Horsfield. (Later owners and tenants listed up to 1876).
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Clare People
Taken from miscellaneous sources.
Example:
In 1819, the noted sportsman Richard Linsell (then 54) moved to Clare, where he took the Swan Inn. In 1827, George Hills a wheelwright threw a ball over the Bear & Crown, and Linsell caught it on his bat. He played cricket for the town until his 68th year, and continued to play and win bets on single wicket matches until he was 85. Giving up the Swan in 1833, he opened the Cricketers Arms, a beer house on the edge of town, which he kept for 10 years. He used to say that when he first played cricket, it was known as bandywick, and was played with two stumps, a ball and a bandy. He died on August 6th 1858 aged 93.
Other entries include: Voting lists: Insanitary places 1848; Tenants of public land C16 to C19; Apprentices 1589 to 1823; Bury & Norwich Post stories; Workhouse tenants 1817; C19 Baptists; Excused rates 1839; 1674 Hearth Tax; Lawyer's bill (15); 1740 Church Terrier: Goose Croft Bread Charity 1840s; Vestry minutes and accounts 1840/1900; Education; Spalding; Inventories; farm lease of 1800; 1823 landowners; 1560s rates and taxes; Sir Henry Bromley and the Gunpowder Plot.
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Canterbury Wills
From the Family Record Centre in Islington.
Example: 1593 EDWARD RAINSFORTH
"....my executors are to take all deeds and leases from my wife within one month of my death. All my freehold property in Suffolk I give to my daughter Elizabeth, and all my leases after the death of my wife Sybil. Sybil is to have all my moveables during her lifetime, unless she marry again, in which case my executors will take everything from her and her husband and sell it for the benefit of Elizabeth when she is 21. Sybil shall have my best virginals for life, then Elizabeth.
If Sybil give her brother Edward Burchley any entertainment or do suffer him to lie at her house, or shall give, send, deliver, lend or carry openly or privately any money or goods that can be proved, my executors are to take all the moveables away and sell them for the benefit of my daughter's marriage."
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Clare Wills, Bury St Edmunds
From the Record Office in Bury St Edmunds.
Example: William Laydon, Physician, Sigors, High Street
"I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Grace Lagden senior the full sum of £20 to be paid within three quarters of a year, and likewise the bed, bedstead and what other blankets, coverlets and belong to it that stands on the chamber over the pantry.
To my son William Lagden one shilling within one year of my decease.
To my son John Lagden one shilling within one year of my decease.
To my son Jonathan Lagden one shilling within one year of my decease.
To my son Gamaliel Lagden my apparel and my books, when he shall demand them after my decease.
For my daughter Mary Lagden, I leave her to be disposed of according to the pleasure of my wife.
All the rest of my personal estate, I give and bequeath unto my daughter Grace Lagden."
(An inventory of Lagden's goods, valued at over £70, is also given).
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