William Butching (c1546-1607) and Dorothy (????-????).
My 11th great-grandparents.
I don’t know when my 11th great-grandfather William Butching – son of John Butching and Amy Clement – was born or where he was baptised but manorial records offer strong clues.
These show that William inherited as a tenant the copyhold property known as Butchings or Butchens, in Nutfield, Surrey, in 1560 at the age of 14, pinning his birth year down to around 1546. His father John Butching had died the same year and was buried in September 1560. The farm passed to his eldest son, John Jnr, but he died a short time later and was buried in the October, meaning that William then inherited from his older brother. So it’s more than likely that William was baptised in Nutfield. The surviving parish registers don’t go back that far so there’s no way of proving it.
The farm was owned by the Manor of Nutfield and when William inherited Butchings, he had to pay a number of fines or duties to the Lord of the Manor that were due with such an inheritance – even though his brother had only just paid them on his taking over. First William had to pay an entry fine of 10s and then a death duty known as a heriot, which took the form of the family’s best beast. In this case it was a cow valued at 20s.
The farm Butchings / Butchens is known these days as Ridge Green Farm and lies in the southern part of Nutfield parish. It was the home of the Butching family from at least the 15th century and in 1477 the court rolls showed that it constituted a tenement and 30 acres. Copyhold property was usually inherited by the deceased tenant’s heir, which was often the oldest son. Copyhold also involved the tenant holding the property from the Lord of the Manor in return for certain duties, such as working for the manor for a set number of days each year. This had gradually been changed to a monetary rent and in 1560 this was 4s 31/2d – a figure that remained unchanged into the 19th century. In effect, the Butchings were still regarded as ‘possessions’ of the local lord and copyhold was the modern version of villeinage.
At some point before 1575 William married Dorothy but I’ve yet to locate a record so her surname remains unknown. The Nutfield registers have no such listing so it’s likely they married elsewhere. The only mention of Dorothy is in her husband’s will, which also reveals that he was a husbandman, a term that usually referred to a tenant farmer who was generally considered a rank below a yeoman.
Although the family lived in Nutfield parish, they were bonded historically as villeins of the Manor of Reigate. In effect, they were the property of the Lord and his estate. However, for many years they had paid a levy known as chevage to live outside the bounds of the manor. In 1577, the Earl of Derby leased part of the Manor of Reigate to Lord Howard and the deal included five named men – the villeins and bondmen belonging to the manor and their issue. Among them mentioned in a document from 1596 was William Botching of Nutfield and a John Botchinge.
Further manorial records show chevage being paid by William and John Butching of Nutfield on 26 February 1579.
Other records point to the family in Nutfield – the Surrey Musters of 1569, published by the Surrey Record Society, show William Butching mustered there. In addition, a William Boutcheing was appointed in Nutfield with Robert Clement to be collectors of the land tax known as the landscott from wealthier residents.
William died in 1607 and was buried on 4 February (or 1608 in the modern calendar) in Nutfield. A year earlier, on 20 March 1606, he signed a will that outlined the following bequests:
- To the poor people of Nutfield three shillings four pence – Jane Maten 6d, Richard Mills 6d, John Howell 6d, Thomas Killicke 6d, Robert Roffe 6d, Thomas Sparke 6d and John Ashborne 4d.
- To son William Butching three oxen, one browne redd nagg, one redd mare, a plough, carte and all the yokes and the harnesses; one featherbed, two bolsters, one pillow, one covering, one blanket, two pair of good sheets, two bedsteads; a large chest and little chest; a great malting vat, a great brewing vat, two of the great firkins; shelves, boards and benches; large ladders, short ladders, a great brewing kettle; one pewter platter, one pewter dish so on.
- To sister Mercer, wife of Roger Mercer, a bushel and a half of wheat.
- To Katherine Butching three shillings four pence.
- To servant William Osborne three shillings four pence.
- To servant Elizabeth Morton three shillings four pence.
- To Jane Butching daughter of son William Butching one ewe; to William Butching son of my son William one ram; to John Butching son of my son John one ewe.
- His black cow was given to the lord of the manor as heriot while other bequests were made to his wife Dorothy and sons John and Thomas.
I’m not clear where Dorothy came from or when she died. But the couple had a least four children:
- William Butching (1575-1633), 10th great grand-uncle. William was baptised on 21 October 1575 in St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Nutfield. I’m 99% certain that he married in London, at St Saviour’s Church in Southwark, on 31 December 1601. Quite why the wedding took place so far from his home village I have no idea but the it did take place by licence. William’s bride was Margaret Killick, daughter of William and Elizabeth Killick, who is most likely the girl baptised at St Mary’s in nearby Bletchingley on 17 February 1759. Her father’s 1602 will is crucial evidence and shows that he was a yeoman who lived at Warners, Nutfield. Among his bequests was one “to my daughter Margaret Butching 5s and the bedstead in the room in which I lie”. William, meanwhile, inherited a substantial amont of his father’s possessions on the latter’s death in 1607 (see above) and took on the copyhold tenancy of the family farm known as Butchings, which was owned by the Lord of the Manor. A document called a Ratement, dated 1613, refers to William Butching, tenant of the copyhold property Butchings in Nutfield. He was assessed for payments of 2s 6d on this property, said to be ‘his owne land’ (as in held directly from the manor), and 6d on another called Bushcroft (which he leased). Peter Finch (no relation) wrote about this document in The Local Historian, the journal of the British Association for Local History, Vol 18 No 1, Feb 1988. He concluded that the document was related to the poor law and listed what occupiers of land locally were expected to pay. The Ratement suggested he was paying two shillings for each of the properties. William’s wife Margaret died in 1626 after raising a big family and was buried on 17 March (1625 in the old calendar). William died in February 1633 and was buried at St Mary’s on the 27th. Described as a yeoman, William signed his will in the weeks before his death. He left 3s 4d to the poor. As for his family, his son John received £20; his daughter Jane £15, the use of a chamber room in the north end of his house at the top of the stairs as long as she remained a spinster, a chaff bed, bedstead, blanket, a white rug, a chaff bolster and a petticoat; his daughter Margaret received £16; his daughter Elizabeth £13 6s 8d to be paid two years after his death; his daughter Susan £13 6s 8d; his daughter Agnes £13 6s 8d three years after his death; and William Jnr received the residue of his estate. It’s also likely he took on the tenancy of the family farm, judging by the fact that his wife held it following his death. William Snr’s will also stipulated that his daughters have a pair of sheets and two napkins that were their mother’s when she was a maid (spinster). The overseers of his will were John Killick and John Gawton, who received 2s 6d each. William and Margaret’s children were:
- Jane Butching (1602-????) was baptised on 17 March 1602 in Nutfield, Surrey, and received a ewe in her grandfather William’s will on his death in 1607. She was a spinster when her father wrote his will in 1633. He left her £15 and various household items.
- William Butching (1603-?1641) was baptised on 20 November 1603 in Nutfield, Surrey, and received a ram in his grandfather’s will on his death in 1607. It was William’s line of the family, rather than my direct ancestor, that went on to hold the farm and lands called Butchings in Nutfield. The family finally sold it in 1853 after around 400 years of occupation. William’s wife Joan was a rebel when it came to the established church, while his offspring built Outwood Mill in Surrey.
- Richard Butching (1608-1625) was baptised on 12 January 1608 in Nutfield (1609 in new calendar). A teenager by this name, son of William, was buried in the village on 20 February 1625/6 and this must be the same person. He was also not mentioned in his father’s will.
- Elizabeth Butchin (1610-????) was baptised on 17 February 1610 in Nutfield (1611 in new calendar).
- John Butchin (1613-1613) was baptised on 5 July 1613 in Nutfield and buried the day after.
- Susanna Butchin (1614-????) was baptised on 25 December 1614 in Nutfield. She was named Susan in her father’s will and was left £13 6s 8d.
- Margaret Butchin (1616-????) was baptised on 20 October 1616 in Nutfield. She was left £16 in her father’s will.
- Anne / Agnes Butchin (1618-????) was baptised on 21 June 1618 in Nutfield. Although the name was transcribed as Anne by later family historians, William’s will listed an Agnes but no Anne. I suspect they are the same person. Agnes received £13 6s 8d in the will, which was to be paid three years after his death, when she would’ve been aged around 18.
- George Butchin (1621-1623) was baptised on 29 April 1621 in Nutfield and buried there on 21 April 1623.
- John Butchin (?1578-????), my 10th great-grandfather of which little is known.
- Thomas Butchin (1580-1582), my 10th great grand-uncle. He was baptised on 17 November 1580 at St Peter & St Paul’s Church in Nutfield but died in 1582 and was buried on 22 January (1581 in the old calendar).
- Thomas Butchin (1584-?), my 10th great grand-uncle. He was baptised on 23 May 1584 at St Peter & St Paul’s Church in Nutfield. Thomas was mentioned in the 1607 will of his father but I’ve not been able to track him down after this.
Sources: Much of the material about the farm known as Butchings comes from Peter Finch’s history of the Budgen family in Bourne Society Local History Records Vol XXVI as well as the book Nutfield: Our Village Since Domesday by Richard Deacon (Nutfield History Group, 2000). Wilfred Hooper: Reigate, Its History Through The Ages (Surrey Archaeological Society). Reigate Manor records (Surrey History Centre, Woking). Society of Genealogists’ will records, specifically Surrey Archdeaconry wills 1600-1649 Vol 1. Birth, marriage and burial record from Surrey parish registers held at Surrey History Centre, Woking. The Local Historian, the journal of the British Association for Local History, Vol 18 No 1. Surrey Record Society Volume 3: Surrey Musters Part 1 (1914). Surrey History Centre record 371/2/1/2 for chevage payment.