This document for a Pencombe in Herefordshire has come up on the Discovery search. Reference C 135/178/25 and it is a John Pencombe or de Pencombe. Inquisition, Post Mortem, Series I, Edward III. I shall have to order it as I did not collect that one when we were at Kew our several times. Not sure why but I did not find it on my search list so maybe wasn't indexed or I just missed it. It is listed as being between 25 Jan 1363 and the 24 Jan 1364. I have requested a record review which can then move to a scan and my purchase of the scan. It will be an interesting document if they are able to scan it.
I was absolutely amazed at some of the documents which were available to look at when we visited Kew in 2010 and 2013. In just three years a great deal of indexing had been done between the two trips and I was able to look at documents that were hundreds of years old. One in particular - Pincombe - was still rolled up with its likely original cording which I untied so that it could be unrolled and photographed. My fingers were actually shaking as I did so but those documents were pretty sturdy. This one unrolled was immaculate on the inside - it was an amazing moment actually. And I had a pile like that to go through. We spent almost four solid days at Kew on the second trip.
The forename William (Pencombe) does not select any records to view on the discovery database nor did I find anything for Christopher, Richard or Robert other forenames found in this family in the 1500s. The forename Thomas will bring up at least one of which I do have a copy: From the Calendar of Patent Rolls and the reference C 143/424/7. The original image is very interesting but also under copyright so cannot show that one on my blog (it is all in Latin):
1395 20 May Westminster (membrane 5)
Licence, for 100 s. paid in the hanaper by Philip Webbe, chaplain of a
chantry of St. Mary in the parish church of Bromyord, for the alienation
in mortmain by John Falke of a messuage in Bromyord, and by John
Hunte or another there, and by Thomas Pencombe and Robert Stanford
of five messuages and half an acre of meadow in the same place, not held in
chief, to the said chaplain and his successors, in aid of their maintenance.
18 Richard II, volume 5, page 582
The document's information tells me that this Pencombe family is established in this Pencomb area but I never do find a lot of records for them in Herefordshire. So likely a small freeholder perhaps with obligations to the Lord of the Manor locally although a mystery how this Pencombe family came to be associated with John la Zouche, 7th Baron Zouch, against whom an attainder was issued in 1485 (reversed in 1495). This Zouch family is generally associated with North Molton amongst other holdings.
Searching on Pencombe and Devon brings up three documents. The first is the will of Joane Pencombe the likely widow of Thomas Pencombe which was written in 1563 but not probated until 23 October 1590 although why it was not is a mystery. Her husband Thomas disappears from the records in 1544 and no reference to his will is found.
Recorded: 30 July 2011
Source: Public Record Office, London, UK, # 207
Place: East Buckland, Devon, England
Type of Record: Will
Dated: 7 May 1563
[In margin] T[estator] Johanne Pencombe
1 In the name of God, Amen. In the yeare
2 of our Lord God one thousand fyve hundred sixtie three and in the seaventh daie
3 of Maye That I Johane Pencombe widdowe of Est Buckland beinge of whole mynde
4 and in good remembrance (lauded be god) make and ordaine this my last will and
5 testament in this manner and forme followinge First I bequeathe my soule unto
6 allmightie God and my bodie to be buried in the Churche of Est Buckland there Item
7 I bequeath unto Richard Pencombe my sonne twentie poundes And to his sonne a
8 heafer of three yeares of age. Item I bequeath to John Locke my sonne in Law nyne
9 poundes. Item I bequeath to John Pencombe my sonne nyne poundes And to his
10 daughter a heafer. Item I bequeath to John Jasse my sonne in Lawe nyne poundes
11 Item I bequeath to John Jasse the younger six poundes thirteene shillings four pence
12 Item to Anne Takle twentie shillings Item to Amye Rolle six shillings eight pence
13 Item to Roberte Hollaniore a yearlinge Item to Thomas Hichton a ewe. Item to everie
14 of my Children's Children five shillinges eight pence. Item unto every of my godchildren
15 twelve pence apeece. Item to the poore twentie shillings. The residue of all my goodes
16 and everie parte thereof as well moveable as unmoveable not gyven nor bequeathed I give
17 and bequeath unto William Pencombe my sonne whome I make my executor and he to
18 bestowe it as he seemeth best And alsoe I devise and ordaine Sir John Taye John Hartill
19 and Richard Lympstable to be my overseers and wittnesses of this my last will and Testament
21 Probatum fuit Testamentum
22 Suprascriptum apud London coram venerabili, viro mag[ist]ro Will[iel]mo Levin Legium
23 Doctore ad exercend officium magisteri custodis sive Comissarii Curie Prerogative
24 Cant ltime deputat vicesimo tertio die mensis Octobris Anno Domini millesimo quin
25 Nonagesimo Juramento Thome Redman notary public procuratoris Willi[a]m Pencombe filii of
26 Executoris in h[uius]mo[d]i testamento nominat Qui commissa fuit administerato bonorum iurium et creditorum
27 Dicti defuncti de bene et fideliter administerand ad sancta dei Evangelia Jurat
List of Wills on the Devon Genuki website for Pencom(b)(e):
Pencomb Christopher South Molton DEV 1585 W le BARN BECK W.
Pencomb Christopher Southmolton [South Molton] DEV 1585 W le BARN BARN-R £152-15s-8d
Pencomb Eme North Molton DEV 1588 W le BARN BECK W.
Pencomb Thomas Roborough DEV 1578 W le BARN BARN-R £7-4s-8d
Pencomb Thomas South Molton DEV 1601 W le BARN BECK T.
Pencombe Joane East Buckland DEV widow 1590 W co PCC PROB 11 76
Pencombe Johann Estbuckland [East Buckland] [DEV] widow 1590 W co PCC JHW 67 Drury
Pencombe Johanne East Buckland DEV 1563 W tr PCC WWW
Pencombe John North Molton DEV 1576 W le BARN BECK W.
Pencombe John Northmolton [North Molton] DEV 1576 W le BARN BARN-R £46-19s-4d
Pencombe Philip Tawstock DEV 1564 W le BARN BECK W.
Pencombe Richard Chittlehampton DEV 1588 W le BARN BECK W.
Pencombe William North Molton DEV 1564 W le BARN BECK W.
Pencome John South Molton DEV 1571 W le BARN BECK W.
All of these individuals are more or less known to me in my database. Positively identifying them is not too difficult (but is subjective) given the limited number of people in this area.
There are a lot of various spellings of Pincombe/Pinkham but I am concentrating on the 1500s.
The other two documents gleaned from the search terms Devon and Pencombe refer to the Raisheleigh family of South Molton and Barnstaple and John Pencombe known to be at South Molton in the 1580s. This is interesting because it is in both the South Molton and Barnstple area. It may show that the John Pencombe in South Molton and the John Pencombe in Barnstaple are one and the same which is another proof I am also looking for as one of the yDNA testers is descendant of the Barnstaple Pincombe family. This would take the proof back from John Pincombe/Mary Charly generation (my 4x great grandparents) all the way to John Pencombe and his wife Emma (John being my 11 x great granduncle). That would be amazing for sure. I have never clearly understood the relationship between the Rashleigh family and the Pincombe family. Christopher Rashleigh married an An Pincombe in the early 1600s but it could be that I might be able to resolve this. It has been confusing because the article in Devon Notes and Queries says that An is a daughter of William married to Emot Snow but they had just two daughters according to his will - Johane and Katherin. So perhaps a shortform for Johane - just An. No ideas on that but it is intriguing. The only problem I have with it; The line of Thomas was not armigerous (William was his son and William had a son so also a grandson); that belonged to the eldest son in this era so perhaps they were only alluding to the fact that the uncle of An Pincombe was armigerous (John Pencombe or South Molton) when the comment was made in the Notes and Queries (Devon) that she was from an armigerous family. Interesting though to think about all of these things I have not looked at for twelve years. I pulled away from some of the really heavy research when Edward took ill in 2011 and never really got back into the early reading again until this past winter.
Searching on Pincombe/Pincomb reveals eleven records but nothing particularly new in the 1400s/1500s. Searching on Pinkham does not reveal anything prior to 1700 which is about the time when I noticed this spelling entering into the Pincomb family of West Devon. Occasionally there were signs of it like Philip Pinkeham at Tawstock in the mid 1500s. But searching on Pinkeham does not reveal any entries. So have I learned everything that I can from the National Archives searching just on the surname? I did begin the process to order the Postmorten Inquisition for John Pencombe (1363-1364) which is a bit early to be helpful in 1485-89. It is too early for the War of the Roses (1455-1485) and the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485) but might give me some insights into this family in Herefordshire prior to these times. It is a lean time for records although as the continuous task of indexing the information that sits in the National Archives one never knows what might surface in the year's ahead. After all the UK has been through a lot of wars in their past where these precious documents were constantly being hidden in deep dark places to protect them and it was probably done in a hurry so misplaced items was probably a reality. As time passes they will meet the light of day in this great century which sees the scanning and permanent imaging of these ancient documents which are amazingly in very good shape for imaging often enough! Even with my camera I was able to make some good images of the early documents that I was able to review.
Yesterday was the last day for chicken stew (three days again and keep trying to head towards my daughter's idea that two days is enough in a row!). But I must admit that having two days without cooking is actually fun. The joys of being 77 for sure; just following one's inclination which for me is being a hermit just as I was in my teen years. Polite of course as my mother insisted but not having my life full of things that I do not really want to do (like meetings, social interactions and the like). I do always try to be polite; it is a good policy and really what Jesus brought to us in the new commandments.
On to the day, breakfast is next.
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