Creekside Warfleet Dartmouth Devon TQ6 9BZ

Mrs E. Rust

10a Thorney Lane South

Richings Park RFERust

SLO 9AE 9/28/2004

Dear Mrs Rust,

I have been asked by Dartmouth Museum to reply to your letter to them of 16/4/02 about the inscription you have deciphered on your tambourine, as I have read many old legal documents for the town.

I have come across many old documents which have been made into lampshades, but this is the first one I have heard of which has been made into a tambourine! However, sadly, when a law was passed in the 1920’s which made it necessary only to prove title back to 1925 many people considered these old documents, often written on fine parchment, of no use. Recently some solicitors have begun to deposit ones which are not wanted by the legal owners in the local Record Offices, where they are valued as a mine of information about local history by historians such as myself.

From the extracts you have given, we can deduce that the Indenture was made in the middle of the 18C, when the Lord of Southtown Manor was Henry Southcote, who inherited it from his father John in 1744 and died in 1750. The mention of the Bowling Green is still a puzzle as, though I have found references to it in other leases, I do not yet know where it was, and given the steepness of the hills one would not have thought there was anywhere flat enough for one. I do not know anything about William Putt, but Richard Newman belonged to one of the leading Dartmouth merchant families in the town and may have been the owner of the ship “George”, Master John Leonard, who in 1749 was riding at anchor in St John’s, Newfoundland, with a cargo of one hogshead of Rum for the Southcotes. Thomas Mordaunt was another merchant who lived at Weeke, just outside Dartmouth. The property is said to be (possibly?) “within Higher Street” and near the Old Castle, which is Bearscove Castle. This would fit, geographically. It seems to consist of or at least to include a “well & spring” of water. There are many springs which run down the steep hills, which have for centuries been used as a water supply by the locals who would have tapped them into a conduit (tank) and fixed pipes etc., which by this indenture they have to maintain, from that to their houses. It is not clear from this, which is only an extact from the whole document, whether what is being conveyed is a house (usually described as a messuage) or just the water supply. Richard Newman did once have a house somewhere near there, but I have not seen the deeds of it yet. William Newcomen was certainly a relative of Thomas Newcomen, the inventor of the steam engine, probably a cousin, and he was an Attorney - what we would call a Solicitor, which would account for his name on the document. Mary Penfound, the other witness, must have been related to Ambrose Penfound, another Attorney at this time.

So, there is quite an interesting story to be made from this brief extract and we are grateful to you for having sent it to us. I will add it to my collection of copies of old leases, conveyances etc.

Yours sincerely,

(Mrs) Ray Freeman