Reading through the 1200s and 1300s in the Archives (National Archives of the UK) and the really great part of this archives is they also include the Archival databases of the counties in England and other (like Berkley Castle). Eventually the Calne Blake family does end up in Gloucestershire after their mansion house at Pinhills is destroyed by Charles I because Henry Blake would not take a title. But interestingly I am also finding the le Blake family at Cam, Gloucestershire in 1332 leasing land and the distance to Calne, Wiltshire is close enough (about 50 kilometres).
Richard le Blak was on the Pipe Rolls at Wargrave, Berkshire in 1301-2 and with him his daughter Alice la Blak and there is also a John Blak at Wargrave. Near to Wargrave there is Hamo Blak and his son Walter Blak at Waltham St Lawrence. This group of people does rather interest me because there are wills for the Blake family members in the 1500s written in the Speen Berkshire area that mention the Blake family in Andover. It is about 60 kilometres by present day roads which wind about somewhat so perhaps 50 kilometres or could be less. The interesting part is that Speen is closer to Wiltshire and just north of Andover. It may simply be coincidence and I want to avoid convincing myself that the le Blak family found at Wargrave is the Blake family of Calne unless I can find adequate proof. There are a lot of pluses for this thought - this was a Norman family granted a market license in 1274. Certainly Normans often received steps up from King William (Duke of Normandy) although this is two hundred years later. Most influential people were Norman but not all; many of the lords of the manors who existed before the arrival of William the Conqueror were still on their lands (although paying fealty to a Norman overlord for sure).
The Pedigree Chart for Blake prepared by the College of Arms with material provided by the Daniel Blake family of London in 1690 and this is the top of the Chart.
This beautiful manuscript is about four feet by twelve feet and is held by the Swindon and Wiltshire Archives. It is possible to purchase eight images that include all of the chart by writing to them. The cost is quite low actually.
The beginning text reads: "The genealogie of the ancient and worthy family of BLAGUE, BLAAKE or BLAKE, of great antiquity in the county of Wilts, where they had large possessions in Quemberford, Calne and Hilcot with a fair mansion house called PINHILLS, now the seat of the family, a younger branch whereof transplanted themselves into Hantshire and settling at Easton Town, were owners of that and divers other mannor from whence the BLAKEs of Middlesex, etc. are immediately descended faithfully collected out of the several visitation books of the said counties remaining in the College of Arms and deducted to the issue of Daniel BLAKE of London, Anno 1690."
William Blake at Easton Town died in 1582 and this chart is produced just over 100 years later. His will, and over time I have discussed whether there was a possibility of two William Blake individuals living in this area but I have not found anything that would prove the presence of two William Blake lines other than this chart (further down) and the visitations of one particular family. The question in mind though is did Horatio Gates Somerby come across this information and simply link this William to Nicholas because of the wills of both William and Nicholas but then decide on the basis of the Visitations that this was a family descendant in the male line from the Calne Blake family? It is interesting and I have been on this route before but I believe I will devote the next couple of weeks to really looking intently at all the information I have collected; discover if I need to order any more material although I do have quite a bit already and then perhaps make a general conclusion on my thoughts and then move forward to the next stage of the book. It is at such moments that I ponder the thought of being there in Winchester going through the old records but I will leave that for another as it will merit a great deal of attention in the years ahead and I remain with the thought that what I have accumulated can be placed with restrictions to family only and academic researchers. I do not want anyone to publish my work beyond what I publish but using my transcriptions, thoughts and other proofs they can do as they wish with that information.
Time for yoga very shortly. This morning has been very productive thinking wise and I like to have these moments when I just stop and think about what I am doing and where I can go next.
One of the problems with the text above is taking the line at Andover back to Roger Blake and Mary Baynard and naming a son William. I have never been able to find in the wills or the Visitations or any other document that they had a son William. That the dating of the death of this William Blake in 1582 and there being a will for a William Blake at such time is provocative because he identifies himself in that will by naming his siblings as the son of Nicholas. Interesting really and it will be an exciting couple of weeks likely as I work my way through everything I have collected including many old records. In my mind is the memory of my grandfather talking about Nicholas Blake and who he was not. Why would they even do that as Nicholas died in 1547 leaving his will? He was not wealthy by any means although did hold land at Knights Enham. But the attachment of Blake lines to this William (lines that moved away from Andover in the 1600s) leaves one with a great deal to contemplate because a number of these descendants much further down the line did move to America and became interested in their Blake ancestor (even going so far as to test their yDNA which is how I really got into this study of Blake because I have four brothers myself and did test two of them (one was already deceased) and the discoveries on their yDNA were most fascinating especially as they did bring home to me the memory of my grandfather saying this Blake line was always at Andover reminiscent of the language used by the First Peoples here in Canada. It is something that people say who have an extremely long connection to the land. Fascinating really.
Time for Yoga.
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