Says that he is sick.
Bequeaths his soul to God, the Lady Saint Mary and the Holy Company Of Heaven.
Wants to be buried in the chapel dedicated to Mary at Marlow church.
Money to the church of .....y and to the high (altar?) of the church at Great Marlow.
? pence to each of his godchildren.
Money for the repair of the high road and of the bridge at Marlow.
Twenty shillings a year to be distributed amongst the poor of Great Marlow for a term of twenty years.
To Joane ... (illegible)
To Elizabeth Woodward the wife of John Woodward 10 shillings.
To Sybil Dignam 10 shillings.
To Alice Mathewe the wife of John Mathewe. 10 shillings.
To John Rowlande the elder my best gown and ...years rent free.
Money for soupe? to be distributed to the poor.
Money for poor of "Cokhym" [presumably Cookham], Bisham, Little Marlow and Medmenham.
To Joan Carter ....
To Elizabeth Woodward 20...[another Elizabeth Woodward?]
To Thomas Dignam the house I now dwell in, and it's backsides. After the life of Thomas it is to go to Thomas's heirs of the blood.
To Thomas Powndie 20...
To Toucher Spencer, Henry Spencer, and Thomas Spencer sons of Richard Spencer deceased 5 houses each, seemingly linked to the giving of the gift of money to the poor of Marlow for 20 years. Toucher Spencer can have the five best houses for his park(!?) Thomas Spencer has the next choice, then Henry Spencer. [I'm sure it says houses not horses, and other records speak of a house specifically inherited by Thomas Spencer though the will of Peter Gaffney]
The house where John Redyng [Redding] dwells to remain to the heirs of Richard Spencer.
Residue of estate I think to John Powndie who is made executor. Estate is to be spent in ways that benefit the soul of the testator at the discretion of John. Other executor is to be Richard Pemerton who is left 20 marks.
Signed and sealed by Peter Gaffney. No other witnesses.
Probate: Power to execute granted to Richard Pemerton.
Original will is at the National Archives, Kew.
Note:
Peter Gaffney appears on the tax list for Marlow in 1524 as one of the top 5 wealthiest residents. One of this name was a bargeman in 1508 but this could be an older relative with the same name as Peter of this will was a woodmonger. The two occupations are not mutually exclusive however as wood would have been transported by barge. Peter could have transported other goods as a paid service amongst his wood cargoes.
A Richard "Spence" and a John Rowlande are also on the taxpayer list but were much less wealthy. Citation = The Urban Experience: A Sourcebook : English, Scottish, and Welsh Towns, 1450-1700. Kiribati, Manchester University Press, 1983.
Toucher Spencer and his brothers were cousins to Peter Gaffney. In the 1540s Toucher was a yeoman and lived in Watford. Thomas Spencer lived in Marlow High Street on the West side in the same period.
In 1584 Tucher Spencer alias Richard Spencer a "clerk" (clergyman) of Bristol and son of Richard Spencer of Marlow left a house in Marlow that had once been the house of Peter Gaffney and which had been left to Tucher in Peter's will to his daughter Anne. This was not the house left in Peter's will to Thomas Dignam but a different Marlow house which Peter had once lived in. Another Marlow house Tutcher owned was left to his other daughter Elizabeth. This house was formerly that of his father Richard and was the house in which Tucher was born. Other houses inherited from Peter in Marlow were split between the daughters. These included a disputed house which Tutcher insisted he had bought from Thomas Dignam (the one in Peter's will) but which Thomas's son Mathew refused to give up.
A John Mathewe was an innkeeper in Marlow later in the 1570s.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use my transcription summary for local or family history purposes with credit to this blog.
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