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Steyning Museum Archives: Voices from the Past.

Steyning Museum Archives: Voices from the Past.

Our ancestors were often quite forthright when speaking or writing.
One such was John Hammons of Bramber. Four hundred years ago he was brought before the Church courts for making offensive remarks. He had stood outside the house of John King, one of the churchwardens, hurling abuse up at the bedroom window. His reported words – 'You are a lying, cogging knave and no honest man; come out of doors if ye dare' – suggest a man who has acquired some Dutch courage with the help of a few jars and has reached the belligerent stage. 'Cogging' incidentally was a rather strong word suggesting cheating – specifically cheating at cards.

Then there was John Gray, many of whose letters survive. In 1727 he was writing in unbending terms to his cousin, Mr. Thorne of Steyning. John Gray’s daughter was staying with the Thorne’s and planning to get married. Her father was not happy. He wrote 'I am told by all that she is resolutely bent to be married to the villain, whether I give my consent or not. If the case be so, let her go for a whore that she is and provide for herself and work for her living. . . But if she exasperates me farther by persisting in her undutifulness and resolves to be married to the rascal my unalterable resolution is never to look upon her as my child, and neither in my lifetime nor at my death (which she will hasten by her wickedness) shall she have from me the value of ten shillings.' John Gray was in fact a vicar, and a particularly cantankerous one, whose parishioners once locked him out of his church.

The vicar seems to have been more interested in money than the souls of his parishioners. Among those he owed money to was Charles Groome of Steyning. He used many excuses for not being able to make the payments but, in 1723, hit on a good one. He said he couldn’t come to Steyning because of smallpox being in the town. A will of the same date confirms that this was in fact the case. The opening words are 'I, John Andrews of Steyning, being now sick of the small pox and very ill and weak but of sound mind...' Suffering as he did he had been moved to the town’s pest house – which lay well away from the rest of the community, in the fields now covered by the Penlands estate.

Wills do tend to strike a gentler note than cases involving money or the law. That of Thomas Hobson who bequeathed his 'Frise Gown' [made of a particularly warm material] to the impoverished 'parsonne of Ashehurst' provides a kindly counterbalance to the argumentative John Hammons and irascible John Gray.

Steyning Museum:
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Saturday: 10.30 - 16.30
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Tel: 01903 813333
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