John Blaxford, Yeomen - 1602
A fairly typical modest yeoman’s house belonged to John Blaxford of Tickenhurst in Northbourne, an inventory of his possessions was made when died in the summer of 1602.
HALL:
1 table
1 bench
2 old forms
2 joined stools for seating (that is to say made by a joiner rather than
a carpenter)
A cupboard containing pots, kettles, pans, two dozen pewter dishes, and
wooden platters
Fire-irons in the hearth
KITCHEN WITH ITS ‘CHAMBER WITHIN’:
1 brewing tub
1 keeler [a cooler, a broad shallow wooden vessel, where milk was set
to cream or wait to cool]
1 trough
1 pothanger
MILK HOUSE:
A few bowls and tubs worth £1
BUTTERY:
4 drink vessels
2 tubs
1 keeler [see kitchen]
3 pails
1 churn worth 10s
PRINCIPAL BEDROOM: (Located at the other end to the hall, the ‘chamber
wher he died’)
1 featherbed and bedsteads
2 chairs
2 chests
1 table valued at the modest sum of £2. 6s. 8d.
9 pairs of sheets
12 table napkins
2 table-cloths
6 pillow ‘coats’ or covers
THREE UPPER CHAMBERS:
1 feather bed and other furniture to the value of £1. 10s.
Source:
Chalklin, C. W., 1965, Seventeenth Century Kent. A Social and Economic History, 238.