As a means of supporting and funding the website, the Bridgwater Heritage Group is pleased to offer a specialist historic Somerset Document Transcription and Translation service. This service is designed for anyone who owns, or has access to, historic manuscripts and finds difficulty in reading or interpreting them.
We are able to transcribe old documents written in either English or Latin, and we have considerable experience with a wide variety of handwriting styles. These range from the challenging medieval and early modern scripts, through to the more familiar hands of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Our particular expertise lies in property documents, wills, and related legal or administrative texts, though we are happy to look at almost any type of manuscript. They need not focus on specifically on Somerset, we’re happy dealing with anything from England or Scotland.
Many clients use this service to uncover hidden family history, trace ancestry, or better understand the background of property and land ownership. Old wills and deeds can often reveal fascinating stories about past generations and local communities.
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Example: Stogursey c.1705
This document is a Final Concord (a legal conveyance record) made at Westminster in 1704/5. In it, Robert Siderfin and Anne his wife, Samuel Gibbs, John Worth, and James Cornish transfer the manors of Weeks Fitzpaine and Stogursey with extensive lands to Edward Haverfield and Henry Drygier and the heirs of Haverfield, for £600 sterling, each vendor covenanting to warrant the title forever.
Transcription
Hoc est finalis concordia fac[ta] in cur[ia] d[omina]e Regin[a]e apud Westm[onasterium] in Crastino S[an]c[t]i martini[1] anno Regni Ann[a]e Dei gra[tia] Angl[iae] Scoti[a]e Franc[iae] et Hib[er]ni[a]e Regin[a]e
Line 2
fidei defens[atricis] etc conqu[estus] t[er]tio coram Thoma Trevor F[ri]dre[ico] Spevitt Joh[ann]e Cleucowe et Rob[er]to Prato justic[iariis] et aliis d[omi]n[a]e regin[a]e fidelib[u]s tunc ibi[dem] p[re]sentib[u]s int[er]
Line 3
Edwardum Haverfeild gen[er]osum et Henr[icum] Drygir[um][2] et Rob[er]tum Siderfin[um] Armig[er]um et Annam uxo[ru]m eius Samuelem Gibbbs Armig[er]um Joh[ann]em Worth Armig[er]um et Jacobum
Line 4
Cornish gen[er]osum defor[ciantes] de man[e]r[i]s de Weeks Fitz Paine et Stoke Gursey alias Stogursey cum p[er]t[i]n[entii]s ac de quatuor mes[s]uagiis decem cotagiis quatuordecim
Line 5
gardinis quatuordecim pomeriis centum et quinquaginta acris t[er]r[a]e decem acris prati viginti acris pastur[a]e trescentis acris bosci et sexcentis acris
Line 6
campor[um] et bruera[rum] cum p[er]t[i]n[entii]s in parochiis de Stogursey et cu[m]q[ue] Stokey unde pl[ac]ito conven[ti]oi[ni]s sum[onitum] fuit int[er] eos in eadem cur[ia] scilt q[uo]d p[re]d[ic]to Rob[er]tus
Line 7
et Anna Saumel[us] Joh[ann]es et Jacobus recogn[overunt] p[re]dict[a] man[er]ia et ten[enenta] cum p[er]tin[entiis] esse ius ip[s]ius Ed[wa]r[d]i Ut ill[a] que idem Ed[wa]rd[us] et Henr[icus] h[ab]ent de dono p[rae]d[i]c[torum] Rob[er]ti et
Line 8
Anne Samuelis Joh[ann]is et Jacobi ac illi remiser[unt] et quietum clam[averunt] de ipsis Rob[er]to et Anna Samuelo Joh[ann]o et Jacobo et hered[ibus] suis p[re]d[ic]ti Ed[wa]r[d]us et Henr[icus] et hered[es]
Line 9
ipsis p[rae]djc[tis] im[perpetu]um q[uo]d p[rae]t[er]ea idem Rob[er]tus et Anna concess[it] p[ro] se et hered[ibus] ipsius Rob[er]ti q[uo]d ip[s]i warant[izabant] p[er] d[i]c[to]s Ed[wa]rd[um] et Henr[icum] et hered[es] ipsius Ed[wa]r[d]i p[rae]dict[a] man[er]ia
Line 10
et ten[enenta] cum pertin[entibus] cont[ra] p[re]d[i]c[t]os Rob[er]tum et Annam et hered[es] ipsius Rob[er]to im[perpet]uum [stop mark] ult[er]ius idem Saumel[us] concessit p[er]so[nae] et hered[ibus] eius q[uo]d ip[s]i warant[izabant]
Line 11
p[re]d[ic]ti Ed[wa]rd[us] et Henr[icus] et hered[es] ipsius Ed[wa]rd[i] p[re]dict[a] man[er]ia et ten[enenta] cum p[er]tin[entibus] concess[erunt] p[re]dicto Samuelem et hered[ibus] eius im[perpetu]um [stop mark] Insup[er] idem Joh[ann]es concessit p[er] se et
Line 12
hered[ibus] suis q[uo]d ip[s]i warant[izabunt] p[rae]d[i]c[t]is Ed[wa]rd[o] et Henr[ico] et hered[ibus] ipsius Ed[wa]rd[i] p[re]dict[a] man[er]ia et ten[enenta] cum pertin[entibus] cont[ra] p[re]d[ic]tu[m] Joh[ann]em et hered[es] eius im[perpetu]um [Stop mark] etiam
Line 13
idem Jacobus concessit p[er] se et hered[es] eius q[uo]d ip[s]i warant[izabunt] p[re]d[ic]tis Ed[wa]rd[o] et Henr[ico] et hered[ibus] ipsius Ed[wa]rd[i] p[re]dict[a] man[er]ia et ten[enenta] cum p[er]tin[entibus] cont[ra] p[re]d[ic]tu[m]
Line 14
Jacobum et hered[ibus] eius imp[er]p[etuu]m [stop mark] p[er] ha[n]c recogn[itione] remissione quietcla[i]m warrant[ia] sine et concordia idem Ed[wa]r[d]us et Henr[icus] dede[runt] p[rae]d[ic]tis Rob[er]to et
Last line
Anne Samueli Joh[ann]i et Jacobo sexcentas Lib[ra]s sterlingo[rum]
[1] This scribe has an flouris on his terminal ‘i’s which make it looks like there’s a superfluous ‘o’ in the word. The following ‘Regni’ has it, and later in the document it can be seen in things like ‘prati viginti’
[2] Possibly Dryden.
Translation
This is the Final Concord made in the Court of our Lady the Queen at Westminster on the day after Saint Martin’s Day [12 November], in the third year of the reign of Queen Anne [1705], by the grace of God of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, etc.,
before Thomas Trevor, Frederick Spevitt, John Cleucowe, and Robert Pratt, Justices, and others the faithful subjects of our said Lady the Queen then and there present,
between Edward Haverfeild, gentleman, and Henry Drygier, and Robert Siderfin, esquire, and Anne, his wife, Samuel Gibbs, esquire, John Worth, esquire, and James Cornish, gentleman, deforciants (i.e. the parties in possession),
of the manors of Weeks Fitzpaine and Stoke Gursey, otherwise called Stogursey, with the appurtenances, and of four messuages, ten cottages, fourteen gardens, fourteen orchards, one hundred and fifty acres of land, ten acres of meadow, twenty acres of pasture, three hundred acres of wood, and six hundred acres of field and heath with the appurtenances in the parishes of Stogursey and Stoke,
concerning which a plea of covenant was summoned between them in the same court; to wit, that the aforesaid Robert and Anne, Samuel, John, and James acknowledged the aforesaid manors and tenements with the appurtenances to be the right of the said Edward, as those which the same Edward and Henry have of the gift of the aforesaid Robert and Anne, Samuel, John, and James; and they remised and altogether quitclaimed them from the said Robert and Anne, Samuel, John, and James, and their heirs, to the said Edward and Henry and the heirs of the said Edward, forever.
And furthermore the same Robert and Anne granted for themselves and the heirs of the said Robert that they would warrant to the said Edward and Henry and the heirs of the said Edward the aforesaid manors and tenements with the appurtenances against the said Robert and Anne and the heirs of the said Robert forever.
Moreover, the same Samuel granted for himself and his heirs that they would warrant to the said Edward and Henry and the heirs of the said Edward the aforesaid manors and tenements with the appurtenances against the said Samuel and his heirs forever.
Also, the same John granted for himself and his heirs that they would warrant to the said Edward and Henry and the heirs of the said Edward the aforesaid manors and tenements with the appurtenances against the said John and his heirs forever.
Likewise, the same James granted for himself and his heirs that they would warrant to the said Edward and Henry and the heirs of the said Edward the aforesaid manors and tenements with the appurtenances against the said James and his heirs forever.
And by this acknowledgment, release, quitclaim, warranty, fine, and concord, the same Edward and Henry gave to the aforesaid Robert and Anne, Samuel, John, and James six hundred pounds sterling.