|
|
|
Information contained in these pages is intended for genealogical research only,
and I ask that you respect the privacy of those mentioned.
Please
acknowledge the source of any information used from these pages.
Thomas Checkley and Ann Cox © Believed to have been born around 1730, a possible baptism for Thomas has been located. The son of John & Elizabeth, he was baptized on the 5th April, 1739 in the Church of the Holy Cross, Moreton Morrell, Warwickshire1. Moreton Morrell lies approximately 30km south of Coventry. Bounded on the north by Thelsford Brook running west from Fosse Way on east side and to the south by a valley running from Hell Hole on the Fosse to the bottom of Staple Hill, the village of Moreton Morrell is an ancient settlement that appears in the Domesday Book2 as ‘Mortone’. From at least the early Norman times it has consisted of the 'town' of Moreton, and the hamlet of Morrell. The Earl of Warwick, gave 2 virgates (parcels of land estimated at 30acres each) in Moreton to the Knights Templars before 1185. This estate was subsequently held by the Hospitallers and after the suppression of the Order was granted, with other property of the preceptor of Balsall, in 1553 to Edward Aglionby and Henry Higford. The date that a church was first built in Moreton Morrell is unknown, but it is possible that there may have been a church in Anglo-Saxon times3. In the Domesday Book of 1086 a priest at Moretone is mentioned while the manor was known to be well established in Edward the Confessor's reign. The entry in the Domesday Book mentions that a Count de Meulan was Lord of the Manor, and that a priest, 18 bondmen, 20 villeins and one border lived in the manor that comprised 700 acres. The main fabric of the church dates from the 13th Century, but the nave is probably of 12th Century origin. Further alterations to the church can be dated between the 13th to 15th Centuries. On 6th March, 17534, Thomas married Ann Cox, in the Ryton-on-Dunsmore Parish Church, St Leonards. Ryton-on-Dunsmore is approximately 7km north of Moreton Morell. Ryton was one of the vills given by Earl Leofric to Coventry Priory in 1043, and was originally set in several hundred acres of woodland. By 1066 it was held by 'Alwin', and in 10862 by his son Turchil of Warwick, being then assessed at 3˝ hides and including woodland half a league by 2 furlongs, and a Mill worth 12s. A vill is thought to refer to a hamlet or small village. A hide was not a fixed area of land, rather it was a measure of value. Originally, in early Anglo-Saxon England, it was an amount of land sufficient to support a family or household. Later it became a notional unit of assessment, which served to quantify the contribution to public liabilities to be made by the owners or inhabitants of an area of land. These liabilities included the payment of a food-rent, the maintenance and repair of bridges and fortifications, the provision of a given number of soldiers to the 'fyrd', an army that was mobilized from freemen to defend their shire, and (later) the payment of a land tax known as geld, which was collected at a stated rate per hide. In 1670, Sir William Dugdale6 writing about Ryton said 'that the soyl here is of a light sandy disposition, and beareth Rye the best of any Grain' …. ‘but this crop, which gives the village its name, is now little grown in Warwickshire’. According to Sir William Dugdale, 'it seems, that the Monks chopt it quickly away, though it appears not how'. The Ryton parish church of St. Leonard was built of red sandstone rubble, with worked dressings, late in the 11th century, probably consisting of a chancel and nave, and it was apparently not until the 15th century that a west tower was added7. A vestry with a gallery over was added in the 19th century, and more recently the south porch was rebuilt. The tower is a lofty and imposing structure, out of proportion to so small a church, and the presence of angle buttresses on its east side, which make a very awkward junction with the nave, suggests that the intention was to rebuild the body of the church on a similar scale. Ann Cox was the daughter of William Cox and his wife Elizabeth (possibly nee West), and she was baptized in Bedworth on 25th December, 17331. Bedworth is roughly 15km north of Ryton-on-Dunsmore. We have no knowledge of Thomas’ occupation, but Family Trees on Ancestry indicate Thomas & Ann stayed in Ryton, and Parish Record suggest that had six children: Thomas 1754; John 1755; Sarah 1757; Edward 1759; William 1761, he married Mary Clew 1791; and Mary 1763-1765. Records indicate Thomas died in 1763 and records show he was was buried in the Parish Churchyard on 2nd November8. It is estimated he was about 33years old. Apparently Ann stayed in Ryton-on-Dunsmore and, in June 1766, gave birth to another daughter, Elizabeth, records show Elizabeth was illegitimate, but also possibly the daughter of Thomas Clay. A parish record has been locate which indicates Ann married Thomas Clay on the 18th July, 17664, in Ryton-on-Dunsmore. It is thought Thomas and Ann had four more children: James 1768; Isaac 1770; Mary 1773; and Jacob 1776. A burial for Ann has been located in Ryton-on-Dunsmore on 16th January, 18078. Parish records indicate her husband Thomas Clay had died 6months earlier, and both were recorded as Pauper on the burial records.
References: |
