Will of Mary Skeele (copy), Chatteris, Cambridgeshire

Mary Skeele of Chatteris, spinster, leaves her copyhold tenement at Hive End, Chatteris, and the adjoining land in Burnsfield, to Martha Palmer, widow, for her life, and then to Martha's son George, subject to his paying #12 to his siblings Margaret, Sarah, Robert and William Palmer when they attain majority. She further leaves her six acres of freehold in Westmoore Plain, Littleport, to Margaret Boys, spinster, subject to the payment of #50 by instalments to Martha Palmer. Three parcels of land in Chatteris, including Delve Close, land in the open fields, Black Jack Close and Croload, held of the manors of Corpus Christi in Chatteris and Chatteris Ramsey, are bequeathed to Margaret Boys, subject to payment of 40 guineas apiece to Katherine Boys and Mary Boys, sisters of Margaret. Her 23 acres of marshland at Westmore, Chatteris, and all other lands and tenements Skeele leaves to Margaret, Katherine and Mary ('Molly') Boys equally 'share and share alike, to take as tenants in common and not as joint tenants'. The latter properties, with others, stand mortgaged for the payment of #164 with interest, and she instructs her share of this sum to be paid when demanded out of the estate given to the Boys sisters, and not otherwise. Her household furniture and clothes (apart from 'my best silk gown, silver plate, and linen such as sheets table-clothes and napkins') she leaves to Martha Palmer, and everything else goes to Margaret Boys, who is appointed sole executrix. Endorsed 'copied from the draft in the possession of William Dunn Esq by me, Thos Moore', no witnesses named.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Presented by E A B Barnard, FSA, November 1931

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.