Will of Edward Leedes

of Benenden, Kent

Also I give to William Leeds my son one great chest & one joined stool.
Also I give to Edward my son one large chest & joined stool.
Also I give to George Leeds my son one brass pot.
Also I give to Stephen Leeds my son one joined table.
Also I give to John Leeds my brother�s son one great chest standing in the hall.
Also I give to John Bense�s three children Thomas Bensse Elizabeth and Annys Bensse three pounds to be equally divided amongst them when they come to the age of 20 years.

Also I give & bequeath to Elizabeth my wife three of my best kine and the one half of all my household which is unbequeathed

All the rest of my moveable good I give & bequeath to Harry Leeds my son to pay my debts & bequests & legacies & the which Harry Leeds I do make my sole executor of this my last will & testament And Lawrence Leeds be my overseer

Also for the disposing of my lands I will that Elizabeth my wife shall have four pounds a year out of my lands during her mortal life to be paid to her quarterly by equal portions to be paid upon condition that she make nor meddle upon no lands that I have bought or sold.
Also I will that my wife shall have her dwelling in my house & doings for all things needful for her, the space of one whole year next after my decease
Also I will that if Elizabeth my wife be not paid the four pounds a year according as it is above mentioned that it shall be lawful for her to stress and strayne in the said house or lands in the parish of Benenden aforesaid
Also I will that my wife shall have one chamber called the Gessen chamber & three little chambers the new kitchen and the brew house the new buttery and the cheese house and the fyre and sheets within the house and going to the water & taking water for her needful business and further to take when God sends fruit she to have the fruit of six apple trees there she shall think good so long as she continueth a widow.

Also I give to the poor men�s box vid.
Item Also I give unto Elizabeth my wife one acre of wheat in the back field she to have her choice to gather and one acre of oats in the Taynte field she to have her choice together And to lay it in some place of the bard where she thinketh good.
Also I will that Harry my son shall deliver to Elizabeth my wife every year during the time she is a widow six loads of wood that is to say three loads of logs and three loads of fagots at her dwelling here & to pay nothing for it.

Also I will that my house & lands be divided into five parts. And then I will that Harry my son shall have three parts of the said house & lands in fee simple upon condition that he pay or cause to be paid to Stephen Leeds my son when he cometh to the age of twenty and eight years twenty pounds of good and lawful money at one payment And also to pay Edward Leeds my son when he cometh to the age of twenty & eight years twenty pounds of good & lawful money of England at one payment. And also I will that the said Harry shall pay or cause to be paid to Edward my son five pounds a year to bring him up to learning till he cometh to the age of twenty & four years of age.

Also I will & bequeath to George Leeds my son & William Leeds my son the other two parts of my lands aforesaid to come to it when either of them cometh to the age of twenty & four years to them and their heirs forever
and whereas there goeth a rent of forty shillings a year out of the whole lands my will is that Harry Leeds to pay three parts of it and the other two parts of the same rents

by me Edward Leeds witnessed at the making hereof
Robert Bassett - Thomas Goulding and Lawrence Leeds - George Waghorne

Benenden Parish Register notes Burial taking place 31 May 1571

INVENTORY OF Edward Leedes, yeoman of Benenden, 1571 PRC10/6/306 118

Imprimis In the hall  one table  One form 6 joined stool one cupboard two trestles one chair one great chest 2 shelves
Item his purse and his girdle, his apparel
Item in his purse

In the chamber on the shop
Item a bedstead and feather bed and tester A bolster 3 pillows 2 blankets one coverlet
It. One trucklebed one flockbed one bolster  one covering one quilt one blanket and one chair and old chest one forme one painted chest one shelf
It. In the same chamber which is genen 2 great chest

In the chamber over the new kitchen
It. 2 bedsteads one feather bed with a bolster of feathers one flockbed with a bolster of flocks with three coverings 3 blankets 2 testers one painted cloth one fringe

In the gesson(guest?)chamber next the garden
It. A joined bedstead with a trundle bed one blanket with a tester & curtains and a little table

In the chamber over the old kitchen 
It. 2 bedsteads one flocked bed one flocked bed one bolster one blanket one covering one tester one bed of cavass unfilled one old cradle one table 2 trestles with a board net

In the old kitchen
It. One quern one old payed or Stock and one pay of card and trundel one box

In the ....buttery
It. 6 shelves one barrel with 2 pound of hops 2 crocks of butter .... 3 gallons 5 cheeses 6 earthen crocks

In the cheese house
It. One cape one cheese press  2 wringers 7 cheese bales with wooleners thereunto

It  4 axes 2 bills, one faggot bill  2 augers a hay cutter one shovel one spade one mattock, one faggot bill, one wimble one diashane 2 hammers with other old iron
It. 3 hundreth of witle 
It. 2 pair of boots(?)  a   .... One birdell a pair of bochasse 2 pair of shoes a pack saddle one ... a sussingell
It. One gun  a bow with  Sheaf of arrows  a dagger and one scull and ... a coat of ... one houseman staff a ....
It  2 carpets 4 cushions 2 painted cloths

The pewter
It. Ten platters 6 saucers  4 porringers 2 pewter dishes 3 salt cellers one ewer

The brass
It. One ....one brass pot 3 kettles 3 pans one stupnet one chafer
It. One brass pot .... .... ... ...
It  vi candlesticks 2 latten basins  One baster of latten one ladle one chafing dish one little pot of lattern one trimmer of lattern
It. One table 2 shelves  and bowls 6 trigs one shale 2 bellows salt tubs & a  meal tub with some meal and salt

In the new kitchen
it. 2 spits 2 dripping pans 2 pair of pot forks a pair of tongs 3 brand irons 2 trenette one fire rake 2 pot hangers 2 chopping knives 2 grates iron morter with a pestle
It. A table and form 3 shleves a Little dressing cord a mustard quern A wooden candlestick with other wooden necessaries belonging to the kitchen one chair 2 baskets 2 curtains for the glass window
It. 2 brade clothes

The old buttery
It. One table 3 shelves and a  stalledge 8 Barrels
It. 6 drinking pots one pewter pot one leather bottle one lanthorn a dozen of trenckers 3 silver spoons

In the brewhouse
It. One furnace one brewing tub 3 other tubs 3 bellows one churn two pails 3 tankards 2 shelves and shillytorye one ale sign  one old sign one stopot

In the shop
It. 2 bags of wood 
It  more on old chest one beam with a pair of scales 2 iron wedges & weights of lead weighing 34 pounds & half one old form
It  more one sampler of canvass & 2 sacks of canvass & one leather sack
It. more 3 yard of cloth
It  more one table with a frame given(?) away
It. The brasell mole with  all things thereunto belonging

The linen
It. 6 pair of sheets 3 table cloths 6 borde napkins 4 pillowcases 

In the bakehouse
It. One kneading trough one butling tub one half tub one table to mould on one cope 3 senes

In the bakehouse chamber
It. One ....3 sides .... 
It. 3 tubs 6 bushells of old malt an oast house cloth

It. 2 pitchforks rakes 3 forks 3 lathers One pair of pails
It. in old hay & straw
It. Two ton & a half of timber
It. 12 load of wood
It. One wean one plough 2 harrows A course  & a wheelbarrow with yokes ten tithes and one tawle for barley and a dray
It. 2 sows and young sheep
It. 3 geldings 2 mares a colt of 2 years old
It  6 kine
It. 4 acres of wheat
It  4 acres oats

It. Owing in debts unto the said Edward Leede
It. In poultry  other things etc 

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