Public Record Office, Kew

Inquisition Post Mortem C140/22/61

The condition of the document was such that the whole of document had to be read under ultra-violet light and even so many sections were barely legible.

margin: Delivered into court the eighteenth day of May in the sixth year of the reign of King Edward the fourth [ 18 May 1466] by the hand of John Chapman

Inquisition held at Rochester in the county of Kent the twenty fourth day of April in the sixth year of the reign of King Edward the fourth after the conquest  Before Thomas Towye Escheator of the lord King in the county aforesaid by virtue of a writ of the said lord king de diem clausit extremum directed to the Escheator and sewn to this inquisition  By the oaths of Richard Corvell Edmund [?Ni]colf John Alcot John Ely Thomas ?Hencet junior Robert Adam Thomas Symon Nicholas Swifte William Mounde Roger Couper John Saunder Symon Boydon John Hollway Robert Gibbes who say upon his oath that Thomas Ballard in the said writ named and Walter Moile knight one of the justices of the lord King of the Court of Common Pleas [?feoffers] were seized of the manor of Horton and Sapyngton Westcombe and Spitilcombe in the county aforesaid in his demesne as of fee and a long time before the death of Thomas Ballard in the said writ named enfeoffed the manors aforesaid by charter through mercantile debit[1] that is to say of the manor of Horton and Sapyngton, William Skipwith clerk John Chirch Hamo Bele gentleman Richard Carpenter of the town of Canterbury William Ferry citizen and merchant of London to have and to hold the aforesaid manor with appurtenances to the aforesaid Robert Hamo Richard and William and their heirs for ever to hold of the chief lords of that fee by services in respect thereof owed and of right accustomed by right of the feoffment the aforesaid same Robert Hamo Richard and William were seized of the manor aforesaid in their demesne as of fee under this wish and intention that the aforesaid Robert Hamo Richard and William enfeoff Robert Ballard son of Thomas Ballard in the said writ named of the manor of Horton, that is to say, after the death of Phillipa wife of the said Thomas Ballard to have and to his heirs  And of the manor of Sapyngton[2] the said feoffees to enfeoff Humphrey [?Hud] son of Thomas Hud[d[3]] and his heirs  And of Westcombe and Spitilcombe the aforesaid Thomas Ballard in the said writ named and Walter Moile knight one of the justices of the lord King of the Common Pleas feoffers by mercantile charter through debt to Thomas Walsingham gentleman John Chirch Hamo Bele gentleman Richard Carpenter of the town of Canterbury William Ferry citizen and merchant of London and John Shamon to have and to hold the aforesaid manor with appurtenances to the aforesaid Thomas John Hamo Richard William and John their heirs and assigns to the hold of the chief lords of that fee by the services in respect thereof owed and of right accustomed by virtue of a feoffment of the aforesaid same Thomas John Hamo Richard William and John they were seized of the manor aforesaid in their demesne as of fee under this wish and intention that the aforesaid Thomas John Hamo Richard William and John enfeoff Robert Ballard son of Thomas Ballard in the writ named of the manors of Westcombe and Spitilcombe to have and to hold to the aforesaid Robert and his heirs  And the same jurors say upon oath that the said manor of Horton is held of the lord King as of his honour of the Castle of Leeds in the county aforesaid in soccage for service of one ?osprey[4] for all services exactations and demands rendering the same to the castle on the day of St John the Baptist and the lord King and Queen were in the same castle the day of St John the Baptist  And that the said manor the value by the year in all profits and issues above the reprises five pounds and the jurors say upon oath that the manor of Sapyngton is held of the lord Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury for what services they say they are wholly ignorant the value by the year in all profits and issues above the reprises five marks  And the jurors say upon oath that the manors of Westecombe and Spitilcombe are held of the lady Margaret Duchess of Somerset And by what services they are wholly ignorant and the value by the year in all profits and issues above the reprises five pounds  And the jurors aforesaid say that Thomas Ballard in the said writ named had no other lands or tenements in his demesne as of fee nor in fee tail at the end of his life in the county aforesaid  And Robert Ballard is his next heir and of full age , that is to say, twenty seven years   And the said Thomas died the eighteenth day of August in the fifth year of the reign of King Edward the fourth after the conquest   In testimony of which things both the aforesaid Escheator and the jurors have affixed his seal given the year and day and place aforesaid.