Early Inhabitants - Part 2

A few questions that cross people's mind and does interest countless others, is when we attempt to find historic facts of our ancestors and the way they used to live. What it was like in the olden days, did one of my relatives used to live here in Lyneham and what did they do? How do you start uncovering the story of who lived in Lyneham. Who lived in the house you currently occupy?

Local archives should be able to answer some of these questions, but if you have a copy of your property deeds, they should illustrate previous owners. Sometimes these searches are very vague as little was recorded of Lyneham.

Lyneham Village Online have done quite an extensive search for the earliest recorded inhabitants to Lyneham. The tithe maps of 1821 and the apportionments, recorded to supplement the maps, show who owned which property and associated land but prior to that little is known.

The National Archives records show some of the earliest records of Lyneham residents and these date back to 18 November 1556 with a will of John Danvers. The will of John Archarde is also documented on the 18 May 1588.

The list below shows some of the earliest documented names associated with Lyneham village. Some of the tombstones at Lyneham's St Michael and All Angels church pinpoint the early residents of the village. Their detailed records are available online at the National Archives website www.nationalarchives.gov.uk . Census records are invaluable in helping you find your ancestors. Discover who was living at the same address as your ancestor and start building your family tree. You cabn search the censuses websites free of charge by name, and refine your search using further fields.

For futher details see the Census Online www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/census. You may access the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891 census records free on site at The National Archives in Kew and the Family Records Centre in Islington, courtesy of www.ancestry.co.uk.

Genealogy is the new national craze.
A recent survey has revealed that tracing the family tree is turning into a national craze that spans generations. Lyneham is packed with memories, lifestyles, history, and traditions. Find out more

What is a Yeoman?
A yeoman (from Old English iunge man or geongra manna, "young man", or possibly geaman, "villager") was a late medieval British farmer of middling social status who owned his own land and often farmed it himself.

Some yeomen farmers had servants or labourers with whom they would work if they had the means to afford such services. The term Yeoman Farmer was later used to distinguish them from Gentleman Farmers, who did not labor with their hands. Some Yeomen had more wealth than the minor gentry, but remained classed as yeomen by choice rather than by limits. Often it was hard to distinguish minor gentry from the wealthier yeomen farmers, and wealthier husbandmen from the poorer yeoman farmers.

Yeomen were identified in the Middle Ages as persons owning land worth approximately 40s to 80s annually, roughly between 1/4 Hide and 1 Hide (about 30 to 120 acres, or 12 to 50 hectares). In the early 12th Century 40 acres (16 hectares) of land was worth about 40s to 50s. The Assize of Arms of 1252 gave instructions for the small landholder to be armed and trained with a bow and those of more wealth (wealthy yeomen) would be required to possess and be trained with sword, dagger and the longbow or war bow.

Gentleman farmer
The traditional 'gentleman farmer' would be a person of wealth who has no economic imperative to make a profit from farming, but runs a farm out of interest. Rock stars may often not be 'gentlemen' in the sense of impeccable behaviour, but have often become farmers out of pastoral idealism.

What is a Sergemaker?
Serge was an all purpose cloth, usually used in situations where it had to be hardwearing. Soldiers uniforms, same for nurses in the early days. Domestic servants were usually dresses in this cloth too. It had the benefit of being relatively cheap, but was universally disliked as it was coarse and very 'itchy & scratchy' The cloth mills in Wiltshire & Somerset were famous for their serge cloth up to the mid 1800's. There was also the "Blue Serge" used by the Police uniforms.