[Bell Historians] List of 99 pre-Reformation founders

Tue Mar 29 00:26:51 BST 2016

The University of Houston has been running a project to 
index the plea rolls from the Court of Common Pleas between 
the reigns of Richard II and Philip & Mary (1377-1558).  The 
indexes name the plaintiff and defendant, and gives their 
abode and occupation where this is given in the plea rolls, 
which it usually is.  The project is barely 10% complete 
with better coverage in later years, nevertheless it 
contains an astonishing number of bellfounders.

Doubtless some of the cases are unrelated to their work as 
founders, but I suspect many are, especially when the other 
party is listed as an abbot, prior, vicar or churchwarden, 
which was frequently the case.  The Common Pleas would be 
the appropriate court to take a writ of debt, and that's 
what most of these are.  Presumably either the church 
failing to pay for the bells, or a founder failing to pay 
for goods or services, such as bronze.

I have gone through the indexes that currently exist to 
produce a list of bellfounders, and they years they appear 
in the plea rolls.  There are 99 names on the list, though 
Richard Selyok is actually two founders, and that may not be 
the only such name.  Most of the names are well known from 
their surviving bells, but a few are not.  The fact that so 
many of the names are familiar gives confidence that the 
remaining ones probably were bellfounders in the modern 
sense of the term; it also suggests that we know about a 
high proportion of the founders from this period.

It's possible that some of the founders given with the 
surname Belyeter actually had other surnames, as yeter was 
the Middle English word for founder (from the verb yote, to 
cast or to pour), and until the mid 15th century, this word 
was commonly to describe their occupation.  In particular, I 
wonder whether Peter Barbour and Peter Belyeter are the same 
person.

The list is below.  Spellings have been preserved, and the 
numbers after the name are the year of the case.  An E in 
parentheses means it is the person's executor involved in 
the case, which can help narrow down when that founder died.

RAS

ALEYN, John, of Norwich. 1527, 28 (x2), 29, 30, 31,
   37 (x4)
ASEBY, John, of Larethorp [Layerthorpe], Yorks. 1510
BAKER, William, of Exeter. 1500
BALY, John, of Norwich. 1484 (x2), 86, 1502
BARBOUR, Peter, of Salisbury. 1430
BARKRE, William, of Norwich. 1528 (x2), 37
BAYLY / BAYLYE, George, of Nuneton [Nuneaton], Warks.
   1521, 25, 31 (x2)
BAYLYE, John, of Canterbury St George. 1521 (E)
BELYETER, John, of Marleborgh [Marlborough], Wilts.
   1418
BELYETTER, Richard, of Nottingham. 1430
BELYOTER, Peter, of Salisbury. 1430
BETT, Thomas, of Nhants. 1529
BETT, Thomas, of Leicester. 1531, 37
BIRCHE, James, of Nottingham. 1533
BODENHAM, Walter, of Bristol. 1465
BOLTON, William, of Pontefracte. 1450
BRASYER, John, of Walshale [Walsall?], Staffs. 1460
BRASY..., Richard, of Norwich. 1498
BRYGGE, Robert, of Yevell [Yeovil?], Soms. 1477
BUKYNGHAM, John, of London.  1381
BULLISDON / BULLYSDEN / BULLYSDON, Thomas, of Algate,
   London. 1495, 98 (x2)
BURFORD, Robert, of London. 1418
BYRCHE, James, of Nottingham. 1535
CHURCHE / CHIRCHE, Reginald, of Bury St Edmunds. 1483,
   90
CHURCHE / CHIRCHE / CHERCHE / CHYRCHE, Thomas, of Bury
   St Edmunds. 1505 (x2), 10 (x2), 12 ("senior"), 14,
   33 (E), 44 (E), 45.
CLERK, Robert, of Lincoln. 1500
CLERK, Thomas, of Bury [Bury St Edmunds]. 1396
CLOUGH, John, senior, of Wokyngham [Wokingham], Berks.
   1510
COKKE, Thomas, of Bodmyn, Cornwall. 1502
COMBE, John, of Marleburgh [Marlborough], Wilts. 1422
COVELL, William, of Nottingham. 1528
DERBY, Thomas, of Bishop's Lenn [King's Lynn]. 1450
DOWELL, Richard, of Exeter. 1514
EDMOND, John, junior, of Dadyngton [Deddington], Oxon.
   1418
ELYS / ELLYS / GLYS(?), Roger, of Salisbury. 1519, 23,
   24, 29 (x2), 31, 35, 36 (x2), 37, 49 (E)
EWERNBY / EWARMEBY, Humphrey, of Nottingham. 1538, 43
GEFFREYS, Thomas, of Bristol. 1521
GLASYER / GLASYERE / GLASIER(?), William, of Bristol.
   1430 (x3)
GLOVER, Hugh, of Redyng [Reading], Berks. 1472, 75 (x4)
GODYNG, John, of Bishop's Lenne [King's Lynn]. 1418
GRENE, Nicholas, of Worcester. 1528, 29 (x2)
HALL, Robert, of Nottingham. 1527, 28
HANCOKKE, John, of Walshall [Walsall?], Staffs. 1527
HANSHAWE, William, of Gloucester. 1524 (E x6), 25 (E),
   27 (E x2), 28 (E), 29 (E)
HARRYSON, Thomas, of S Botolph without Bishopsgate,
   London. 1490 (x6)
HASELWODE / HASELWOD / HASYLWODE / HASYLWOD, William,
   of Redyng [Reading], Berks. 1495, 98, 1500, 05 (x2),
   08
HEDLEY, Stephen, of London. 1543 (x2)
HENDRY, Thomas, of Wymondham. 1537
HETHCOTE, Ralph, of Chesterfeld, Derbs. 1524
HOLMYS, William, of Plymouth. 1544
HOOPE, Luke, of Salisbury. 1465
INNOCENT, Thomas, of Leicester. 1458, 75, 83
JEFFRES, Nicholas, of Sherston, Wilts. 1508
KIRKHAM, John, of York. 1422
LANDEN / LANDE / LANDON, Roger, of Wokyngham
   [Wokingham], Berks. 1460, 63, 65 (x2), 68 (x2),
   84 (x2), 86
LAWRENCE / LAURENCE / LAURANCE, Thomas, of London.
   1525 (x2), 28 (x3), 31 (x2), 38 (x2)
LOVE or LONE, John, of Stanford, Essex. 1463
MATHEN, William, of Leicester. 1418
MELLOURS / MELLOUR / MELLOR / MELLERS, Richard, of
   Nottingham. 1492, 1500, 02 (x2), 05 (x3), 10 (E x3),
   12 (E), 16 (E)
MELLOURS / MELLERS, Robert, of Nottingham. 1512 (x2),
   14, 16 (x7), 19, 25, 26 (E x2), 27 (E x3), 28 (E)
MELLOR, William, of Nottingham. 1500
MICHELL, Fulk / Fowke, of Wokyngham [Wokingham], Berks.
   1544, 45
MICHELL / MYCHELL, John, of Wokyngham [Wokingham],
   Berks. 1475, 83, 84, 86 (x4), 90 (x4), 83, 92 (x2)
NEUPORT, William, of London. 1495
NEWCOM, Robert, of Leicester. 1549 (x4)
NEWCOM, Thomas, of Leicester (executor of). 1524 (E),
   25 (E)
NOBULL, William, of Leicester. 1422
NORTON, Robert, of Exeter. 1440
NORTON, Stephen, of Kent (profession unclear). 1399
OLDFELDE alias HOLFELD, Henry, of Nottingham. 1549
OSBORNE, Henry, of Aston, Warks. 1554
POWETRELL, William, of London (executors of). 1440 
QUARNBY / QUARNEBY / QUERNBY / QWARNEBY(?), Humfrey
   of Nottingham. 1538, 44, 46, 48 
QUARNBY / QUARNEBY / QUERNBY / QWARMEBY, Nicholas, of
   Nottingham. 1529 (x4), 30, 33 (x2), 35
RAWLYN, Reginald, of Exeter. 1458
RUSSELL (alias BELFOUNDER), Richard, of Exeter.
   1523 (x2), 25, 26, 28, 31 (x2)
RUSSELL, Robert, of Exeter. 1463 (x2), 65, 77, 83
SAUNDERS, John, of Redyng [Reading], Berks. 1545
SAVAGE, John, of Exeter. 1546
SELYOK, John, of Nottingham. 1495 (x2), 1502, 1510 (E)
SELYOK / SELYOKE / SELLYOK / SELIOK / SELLIOOK
   / SELYCK / SHULLYOK / SYLLYOKE, Richard, of
   Nottingham.  1508 (x3), 10 (x3), 10 (E), 14 (x2),
   16 (x2), 19 (x2), 21, 25 (E x2),
   38, 43, 44, 46
SKELTON, Thomas, of Wokyngham [Wokingham], Berks. 1525
SMYTH, John, of Louthe [Louth], Lincs. 1430
SMYTH, William, of London. 1512
STODARD, Robert, of Wokyngham [Wokingham], Berks. 1516
STOKES, William, of London. 1430 (x2)
SUTTON, William, of Norfolk.  1381
THOMAS, Richard, of Bristol. 1477, 89
TURNER / TURNOUR, John, of Gloucester. 1535 (x2), 38
VYNCENT, John, of London. 1430
WHYTE / WHITE, John, of Reading, Berks. 1516, 19, 24,
   26, 30 (x2), 31 (x2), 36
WHYTE, John, of Bristol. 1533, 45, 46 (x2)
WODEWARD, John, of Walsale [Walsall?], Staffs. 1489
WOLLEY / WULLEY, John, of Nottingham. 1531 (x2),
   33 (x3), 35, 37, 44 (E x2), 48 (x2)
WOLSTON, William, of London. 1468
WYE, John, of Teukesbury [Tewkesbury]. 1458, 65,
   68 (x4)
YORKE, John, of Leicester. 1381
YORKE, William, of Crydeton [Crediton], Devon. 1440
YYORKKE, Peter, of Scheftesbury [Shaftesbury], Dors.
   1422

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Posted by: Richard Smith <richard at ex-parrot.com>
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