When John Denchfield, dairyman of North Marston, died in 1799, he left property in North Marston to his sons John and Richard. John inherited the enclosure land which had been allotted to the senior John’s father, John Denchfield, some years before. The fields were situated between the property of Mr. Lewis and Mr. Eaton. Richard, upon reaching full age, was to inherit the John’s messuage near the church, currently occupied by William Buckingham, and the messuage and close John had recently purchased from James Burnham of Winslow. The bulk of John’s estate including, presumably, the house he and his wife Mary lived in, was left jointly to Mary and son John.
Sometime during the next 10 years, this Denchfield family rather inexplicitly relocated to Aston Abbotts. John’s widow Mary, in her 1809 will transcribed here, left small financial bequests to each of her children and grandchildren, with the bulk of her personal estate going to “eldest son John Denchfield of Burston House.” That John’s will is transcribed here:
I John Denchfield of Burston in the Parish
of Aston Abbotts in the County of Bucks Dairyman Do make
publish and declare this my last Will and testament I
five and bequeath unto my dear daughter Mary Denchfield
three full and equal eleventh tracts the whole into eleven
equal parts to be divided of all my Farming and Dairy
Stock ready Monies and Securities for Money and of
all other my personal estate and Effects whatsoever and
wheresoever and of what nature or kind soever which shall
remain after payment of my debts (except what may remain
due on Mortgage which I direct shall be paid out of my
real estate and funeral and Testamentary expenses to
and for her own absolute use and benefit And as to all
my lands Tenements Hereditaments and real Estate
(Subject solely and exclusively of my personal estate to
the payment of all such Monies if any as shall be due
on Mortgage thereof) and as to the eight remaining
eleventh parts of my personal estate I give devise and
bequeath the same and every part thereof respectively
unto and to the use of my two dear Sons John
Denchfield and William Denchfield their Heirs
Executors Administrators and Assigns respectively
for ever according to the nature and tenure of the
same equally to be divided between them share and
share alike as Tenants in Common and not as
joint Tenants and I nominate and appoint my
said Sons John Denchfield and William Denchfield
joint Executors of this my last will and testament
In Testimony whereof I the said John Denchfield the
Testator have hereunto set my hand and Seal this
second day of march in the Year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and fourteen
Signed sealed published and declared by
the said John Denchfield the Testator as and for his last
Will and testament in the presence of us who in his presence
subscribed our names as Witnesses
Louisa Rose Joseph Rose Brooke Turner, clerk to Mr. Rose
Will of John Denchfield of Burston, ref D-PC/274/16; Testamentary Records deposited by Parrott & Coales, Solicitors, Aylesbury February 1988; Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury.
By 1841, there were no Denchfield men living in North Marston, although what prompted them to leave a village they’d lived in for centuries remains a mystery. Mary’s son John was enumerated in the 1841 census as living at Burston House. His eldest son John was a farmer living next door, probably on what later became known as Lower Burston Farm. The Burston property appears to have stayed in the Denchfield family for a long time, as a century later the hamlet was described as such:
The hamlet of Burston lies about a mile south-west of Aston Abbots, and consists of Lower Burston and Upper Burston, the farms respectively of Mr. W. H. Denchfield and Mr. Pargeter. Burston House, once the seat of the Lees, stands at the foot of a hill and is a plain solid building, for many years tenanted as a farm by the Denchfield family. It is at present the residence of Mrs. Denchfield.
’Parishes: Aston Abbots’, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3 (1925), pp. 328-330; British History (http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42569 : accessed 21 November 2011)
(Amanuensis Monday is a daily blogging prompt hosted by Geneabloggers)
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