the curate's line

                                                         Crick, Northamptonshire. 1086-1577

From manorial documents, held at St Johns College Oxford, the National Archives, and Chester Archives, we can see that the GERARD/GARRARD/GARRETT (GARRATT) go back a long way in Crick. In the surviving manorial papers for Crick from about 1280 AD, the rentals from 1497-1580s and manor court rolls for 1522-1600s there is frequent mention of the family, who had significance social status in Crick at that time.

It has been suggested that they may even have been freemen in Crick before the entry recorded in the Doomsday Book of 1086, which states that there were 4 sokeman (1) in Crick. There is little doubt that some of these may have been descendants of families who had held their land from time immemorial, being allodial or heirland, the Gerard/Garrett amongst them. It is probable that these tenures were the relics of Saxon liberty, retained by such persons as had neither forfeited them to the Conqueror, nor had been forced to exchange them for tenure of knight service.

However Gerard  itself was one of the most popular personal names introduced into the British Isles after the Norman conquest of 1066 adopted by the Saxons, though it's been speculated that the Saxons would not have used the name, (2), they could also be someone of Norman descent
who was granted land for their services. (3)

So, were we in Crick pre 1066 or did we come into Crick with Geoffroi de la Guerche, who was Tenant in Chief in the Domesday book? (4). Geoffroi died (c 1100) leaving no heirs.

Over the centuries there have only been four freemen in the manorial records for Crick, the Gerards/Garrards/Garretts have always been one of those freemen. (5)
 

1st January 1358/9, a JOHN GERARD, (possibly the son of the John above)
witnessed the grant of a messuage in Crick and 3 quarterns of land (abt 21 acres)
by Thomas de Asteleye, a knight, Lord of Crick to Henry Smith his wife Agnes and son Hugh.
Quitrent 10s p.a. (14)

JOHN GERRARD 2d fine for trespass in the lord's park with his oxen. 1363-1364 Court Roll (15)
Inquisition of the view of...... juror included JOHN GARRERD. 1372-73 Court Roll. (15i)
A JOHN GERARD was an affeerer on the 1375-76 Court Roll. (15ii)
Inquisition upon the view of John Harecroft, Peter Rokeby, JOHN GARARD, John Wattesone ...
15 Oct 1377, 1377-78 Court Roll (15iii)

Quitclaim: John Son of Thomas de Overwelde in Wenge, co. Buck. To JOHN GERARD of Crick.
Lands in Crick granted to John Trechenne of Wenge and wife Isabel.
Wit: Henry Helpestrop, Richard FitzJohn of Wald', John Rag' of Wenge, John Daiwes of Wenge,
William Totenho of Burcote. Given at Wenge, Mon., St. Matthew Apostle, 23 Sep. 1381 (16)

Poll Tax 1377. Also called 'the tallage of groats.

JOHANNES GERARD (i.e. John) is listed as one of four people who collected the 1377 Poll Tax from the inhabitants of Crick, Northamptonshire 11th May.
208 people paid 1 groat (4 old pence, children under 14 and honest beggars excluded).
One can assume he would also have been a collector for the 1379 & 1381 Poll Taxes. (17)

A JOHN GERARARD complains of John, son of John the Miller of making a trespass, etc,
1395 Court Roll  with the small court of the Lord held at Creek on Thursday next after
the close of Easter. Ric. II (18)

A JOHN GERARD gives his essoin 14 Oct  1395 and 14 Apr 1396 Court Rolls. (18i)
Note; an essoin is an excuse for non-appearance in court

See photo below.

Grant for life Demise RICHARD GERARD, s. and h. JOHN GERARD of Crick,
To bro. John Gerard. 1o r. mowing meadow, lying separate in meadows called Keylemersch in
Hillmorton, Rent, a red rose.
Wit: Richard Rokeby, John Baily, John Ricard, Ralph Newton of Crick, John Wrighte of Wynwik.
Given at Crick, Wed. in Easter week, 1 Date: 1413  (19)

In 1378 this had been leased for 12 years to William Kyng of Hillmorton by John Harecroft of Crick. (20)

... ... one pound of pepper from the rent of JOHN GERARD there per annum. Creek.            Account Rolls for 1429-1430 and 1430-31. (Possible father to John Garrard Will of 1509?) (21)

It seems to point to the fact that the Gerards, being free men in Crick, were able to indulge
in sales and purchases in their own right, and that they appear to have done so over a relatively wide area of the surrounding countryside.  As free men they would have been called upon as witnesses of minor property sales both within and between lordships. (22)

We cannot say that these are direct ancestors, only that the Gerards have been in Crick for hundreds of years.

                           JOHN GERARD  on a 1395 Court Roll Essoin, first name second line.

So this gives us this line of Gerards:

RALPH GERARD; in 1270/80 and 1284
JOHN GERARD; 1312
THOMAS GERARD; 1313/14
JOHN GERARD; 1337, 41 ,54, 58/9, 63, 72, 75, 78, 81, 95. (Most likely father and son)
RICHARD GERARD; 1413 heir of John (above) and a brother John.
JOHN GERARD; 1429, 30 brother to Richard above ?

Either Richard or John could be the father or grandfather of the first solid link in our line.

In the 1497 rental roll JOHN GARRARD had 2 mills.

Joha[nne]s Garrarde ij mylls (...) resolut .. v s
(.ad..) for a cheff in West Haddon .......... xv s (23)

(as written on the roll, letters in [ ] added by the transcriber for clarity, letters in ( ) unclear on the original)

The mills were probably a windmill (for grain) and a horse mill (for crushing barley prior to malting it) Rental 60 d. The Haddon land was part of the neighbouring parish of West Haddon that was owned by the Garrards and rented out to tenants. Rental 90 d.

It's most likely that the mills were a long term rental going back decades if not centuries.

John married Alice and had 2 surviving children, Richard and Joane.

In his will John Garrard is old enough to have grandsons, making him at least 55 and probably over 60 years old.

Will of JOHN GARRARD of Crick, 1509 AD

In the name of god amen. The xvjth daie of october the yere of our lord god 1509,
I John Garrard of Creke, hole of mynde and good remembraunce, make my testament in this wise.
First I bequeth my soull to almyghty god, to our lady seynt mary and to all the holy company of hevyn, and my body to be buryed in the Church yarde of the parish church of creke aforsaid.
Item I bequethe for my mortuary as the manner of the town 1s.
Item I bequethe to the modre church of lincoln 111jd.
Item I bequeth to Richard my son v marcs of lawfull money of Englond.
Item I will that Joane my daughter have v marks sterling, and my godes will strach so farre,
when my dettes byn paid, wich I put to the discression and consciens of my wife.
Item I bequeth to every of my godchildren iiijd.
The Residue of all my godes, above not bequethed, I gyve & bequeth unto alice my wife,
whom I ordeyne & make to be myne executrice of this my last will,
to dispose for the helthe of my soule as best may please god;
and I will that John pabody be supervisor to oversee my forsaid legaces,
fully contented according to the premisses, theis men witnessyng

viz. david Vaughan priest, John Jonys with other. (24)
 
 

Richard son of John Garrard

Richard is mentioned in over twenty manorial documents, and Richard Garrett is spelled in various ways.

RICHARD/RYCHARD/RIC/RICUS/GARRARD/GARRETE/GARRETT/ etc.

Although on the manorial documents he is mainly spelled RICUS GARRARD.

A typical rental entry:-

1522 Rental Roll: Item Richardus Garret .................................. v s and pound of pepur

From other manorial documents this rent appears to be for 5 yardlands. (150 acres)

RICHARD GARRARD appeared 12 times, as a free man, for jury service, 1528-1543

RICHARD GARRARD appeared 20 times, as a free man, for jury service, 1544-1555

In 1540-41 he was elected constable for the village of Crick.

Ricus Garrard constabularo p[ro] anno ffuturo jur~d (25)

The constable was generally chosen from among the most senior yeomen of the village – Garrard and the Dunkleys all served fairly frequently as jurors, and were also among the wealthier men in the rental roll.  Moreover, all the men elected as constable were also tenants of the Marquis of Dorset rather than tenants attached to the other third of this divided manor.
Two of the four men who served as constable during the period examined – Richard Garrard and Ambrose Johns/Jones – were also free men.  It's clear that the constable was always chosen from a small group of men with high social status in the village, either as free tenants or as frequent jurors, and always with substantial assets.

G. W. Hatton.

The Marquis of Dorset held two thirds of this manor, and his 14 customary tenants farmed a total of 663 acres (22 yardlands) of mixed Hall and Heyn land; there were also 4 free tenants, who farmed the 9 yard lands of free land, most of this was held by Richard Garrard, who had 2.5 yard lands. (A yard land was 30 acres), plus his 5 yard lands rented so he farmed 225 acres, very big for those times. Unlike others on the manor the Garrards didn't appear to sub-let any part of their land but managed it within the family.

On 12 March 1549 parliament granted a relief to King Edward, including a tax on sheep, with a graded scale of payments according to the age of the animals, the type of land on which they grazed and the number of sheep owned by each man. The tax was repealed on 4th November 1549.

From records we see a tax for:- Richard Garrett husbandman in goods £10-10s. (26)

There is another Garrett mentioned on a 1536 court roll, THO GARRAD, and a frankpledge in 1538, this was witnessed by Richard. This could be a relative of Richards, the name comes up in several generations of later Garretts.

Francpledge 1538 Court Roll, Easter & Michaelmas. Crick. With Richard Garrard as a witness.

ff[ra]nc~                    Willm Hyde Thomas Garrett, Robtus Dunkley Banbury & Robtus Purser
(.. p~) ffnc                 Leger Banbury ff[ra]nc[iplegii] ib[ide]m p[re]sent Ricus Andrew, Willm
ij (...) Ffeyldynge    and Johem Smyth, Richard Garrard, Richard Andrews
                                       & Thomas Rokeby lib secte. (27)

(as written on the roll, letters in [ ] added by the transcriber for clarity, letters in ( ) unclear on the original)

Other references to Thomas are, that, on the 18th of January 1592 Edw Crook was buried in Crick, he was refered to as the servant of Thomas Garret. Was Thomas still alive? There were no more references to him.

Death of Richard, at the height of the great 1557-1559 famine and epidemic (influenza), most likely in 1558 as it’s recorded in the Michaelmas rental roll, 1559. 

It’s also why it wasn’t in the parish registers for Crick for 1559 burials, also as there is no entry for his wife it’s more than likely she died in the same epidemic.

This epidemic killed almost a third of the population of Britain.

It's more than likely that Richard, son of John, died pre 1522 as it is from then that most of the rental rolls exist. After that date the first mention of a death that we have for a Richard is in 1559, (see Lady day 1559 entry) after this length of time he's probably the son of Richard, and grandson to John.

Entry in the 1559 Crick, Lady day acct : "a relyff after the death of Rychard Garrard" (28)
It’s possible that Richard left his child/children orphaned; this ties in with a birth for the following Richard during the 1550's, typical later entries in the manor rental rolls read:

"Item, of the G[u]ard[i]an of the heyre of Garrard v s & j li piperis" 

i.e. the Guardian of the heirs of Garrard. 

See the photo below of the last such entry in 1576..

This tells us the inheritor of Richard's estate was not yet of full age, there is also no Richard Garrett as a jury man at any of the manor courts following 1559. 

So we know that this was a child, either the son of Richard who died 1558, or even his grandson, if his own sons had also died in the epidemic. This child is not mentioned in the Rolls in his own name, also Richard, till 1577, so in 1559 in must have been very young.

This is the Richard on the next page who’s married to Elizabeth. 

Analysis of wills suggest that by the later 1500s and early 1600s there were business links (and intermarriage links) in place between wealthy yeomen in Claycoton, Crick, Barby, Hillmorton and Onley, and as suggested that they were co-ordinating a large-scale sheep-rearing trade, involving raising lambs in the hills around Claycoton, which were then driven down to pasture in enclosed lands at Hillmorton and Onley, where they were fattened and sheared, prior to shipping the wool to Coventry and the meat on the hoof to Southam/Banbury and then to London.

Gren Hatton.

We know that in 1600 Richard sold land in Hillmorton, it’s possible he was involved in this business.

There are no entries for the births of any children of any Garrett/Garrard in the parish registers till 1577 (they begin 1559) when Richard's first child John is born.
It's obvious that there were no Garrett children in the parish post the epidemic, until Richard came of age and married, and began having children in 1577.

By 1577 Richard Garrard paid (72d) vi s + pepper rental.

                                                 Transcriptions of typical manorial documents.

                                                     All transcriptions by G. Hatton.  All rights G. Hatton.

On an 1839 map of the fields in Crick one is named "Garratt’s Slade", the field names could have been in use for centuries. (29) Sorry to say it has an electricity pylon in the middle of it now!

There's also a Garardes End, as we see from this interesting 1536 entry.

Item Joh[n] Capell make up the fense at (Garardes?) End & go no more w[ith] horse al[i]q[uando] [ie, at any time] til hey tyme be in, payn xijd (30)

(as written on the roll, letters in [ ] added by the transcriber for clarity, letters in ( ) unclear on the original)

So the line looks like this:

JOHN GARRARD born c1440/50 died 1509, his wife ALICE GARRARD born c1440/50
RICHARD GARRARD/GARRETT born c1475, died c1520/30
RICHARD GARRETT born c1500 died 1557/8
(Also recorded as Richard/Ric/Ricus Garrett/Garrete/Garrard/ etc)

RICHARD GARRETT born c1550 (See next page for family)

This page was reviewed and revised 5th November 2017

References:

Note: SJC is an abbreviation for, St John's College, Oxford.

1.  Sokeman: Freeman of peasant status who was free to leave (and often to sell) his land;
      often owing services or rent, and obliged to attend his lord's court.
      Wood, Michael. Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England. Pg 214.

2.  Dickason, Donald G. Annotated historical timeline of the development of the name Garrett/
      Garret/Garratt.

3.  The Domesday Book was a domestic survey including background information in England.
      In it there were 18 Gerard names which in most cases seem to have a link with the
      appearance of a GARRET family in the same area toward the end of the middle ages, c1450
      Soldiers who became Yeomen retained this position for centuries.    

      The lord would have his friends, as those who had done him some service or had filled
      important posts in his household, to whom, in reward, he would allot some portion of
      his demesne to be held of him either by military service, a small annual money rent,
      or some definite but honourable service, as the presenting of a rose, a pound of pepper,
      or a sparrow hawk; and in some cases by giving definite agricultural assistance at certain
      seasons. Hone. N.J. The Manor and Manorial Records.

      The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugo Gerard, this was   
      dated 1199, in the Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire, during the reign of King Richard 1st,
      1189-1199.

4.  Land of Geoffroi de la Guerche

       In GUILSBOROUGH Hundred and a Half

       Geoffroi also holds 4 hides, less 1 virgate of land, in CRICK.
       Land for 8 ploughs. In lordship 3 ploughs; 4 slaves.
       17 villagers with a priest and 6 smallholders have 5 ploughs.
       Meadow, 12 acres.
       The value was 30s; now £4 10s.
       4 Freemen who pay 10d are attached to this land.       

       After Geoffroi de la Guerche died the estate passed to the Mowbry's.

5.  Hatton. G. Spreadsheet of the descent by inheritance of the manorial lordship in Crick.

6.  SJC Mun VII-11. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

7.  SJC Mun VII-13. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

      A quitclaim deed is a term used to describe a document by which a person 
      (the "grantor") disclaims any interest the grantor may have in a piece of property and
      passes that claim to another person (the grantee).

8.  SJC Mun VII-16. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

      Messuage: a dwelling house together with its outbuildings, curtilage,
      and the adjacent land appropriated to its use.

9.  SJC Mun VII-17. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

      Demise: transfer by a lease.

10. SJC MUN VII-18. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

11. SJC MUN VII-78-1 View of lord Thomas de Asteley held at Creek on Friday … 14
       Edw. III [1340-41].

       SJC MUN VII-78-1 View of frankpledge of lord Thomas de Astleye held at Crek on
       Monday next before the feast of St Dunstan 15 Edw. III [c. 14 May 1341].

12. DDX1/3. Chester R. O.

13. C 241/133/40. PRO

14. SJC MUN VII-19. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

15. MUN VII-78-1. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford. 

15i   ibid

15ii  ibid

15iii ibid

16. DDX1/5. Chester R. O.

17. The Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1380. Lincolnshire-Westmorland  page 218. 
        ed. Carolyn Fenwick.

         Although 208 people are credited with paying the tax the evasion rate was between 2.5%     
         and 25% of the population. 
         Estimating Local Population Sizes in Fixed Points in Time: Part II pg 5.
         Nigel Goose and Andrew Hinde.

18. SJC MUN VII-78-2. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

18i ibid

19. DDX1/7. Chester R. O.

20. DDX1/4. Chester R. O.

21. SJC MUN VII-73. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.
       SJC MUN VII-74. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

22. There were probably free men from a very early date indeed, perhaps even before the
       Conquest, the Domesday entry for Crick which states that there were 4 freemen --
       and the same number of freemen are mentioned in the later manorial records of the
       1200s-1600s. Gren Hatton (Reply to e-mail.)

23. SJC MUN VII-75-11. 1522-1558 Crick Rental Roll.

24. Northamptonshire Early Wills, 16 October 1509, folio 176, No. 631.  NRO

25. SJC MUN VII-79-4. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

       1540, Court Roll, Easter and Michaelmas.       
       Elections of Constable and Hayward, Court Roll, 1528-1543
       Constable, chosen at the Court Leet, whose duty it was to summon juries, arrest vagabonds
       and night-walkers, distrain on the goods of defaulters, and generally to preserve in his
       district the King's peace.

26. Northants returns for the Act for Relief of Sheep and Relief of Cloth 1549 AD, 
          PRO 179-156-257.

27. SJC MUN VII-79-3. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

       1538, Court Roll, Easter and Michaelmas.
       Frankpledge was an English system of compulsory suretyship. The essential characteristic
       was the compulsory sharing of responsibility among persons connected through kinship,
       or some other kind of tie such as an oath of fealty to a lord.

28. SJC Mun VII-76-1. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

       1559, Lady Day account. 
       A relief was a payment which a tenant of full age was bound to pay to the feudal lord on
       succeeding to the land by descent. By common law it was an incident to the service of 
       every free tenure, and is sometimes called relief service. It usually consisted of one year's rent

29. Slade-A little dell or valley; a flat piece of low, moist ground.

30. SJC Mun VII-79-3. Crick Manorial Documents, St John's College, Oxford.

       1536 Crick, Court Roll, Easter+Mich.