John Barum, Cupmaker of Yateley, died 1632

Page prepared by Peter Tipton, last revised 23 Sep 2006

There are four remarkable aspects to John Barum's will. Firstly his occupation is 'Cupmaker' which is an unusual term we only meet in Yateley in the parish records, describing William Geale as the King's cupmaker at the end of the same decade. Secondly his will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury which implies that he had lands or goods in more than one diocese, or that he had the status to wish to have his will proved in the highest court. Thirdly his cash bequests to his children are remarkably small compared with those of the potters we are looking at. And fourthly he appears to have been living in Yateley's inner tithing and not in the outer tithing of Hawley and Cove. A fifth facet of his will is that more than half of it is taken up by his religious beliefs. Can all this be explained?

Occupation: Cupmaker

John Barum is the only person in the PCC wills index giving his occupation as cupmaker. In addition to William Geale the King's Cupmaker (buried at St Peter's 4 Sep 1638) the only other occurrence of 'cupmaker' I know about is in the burial records for Pirbright (about 13 miles from Yateley). Richard White of Pirbright was buried 1 July 1581 described as the Queen's cupp maker. An argument has raged for over a century about whether it was Richard White or William Geale who was the silversmith who made the Yateley Crystal Cup, undoubtedly the finest treasure belonging to St Peters's Church. It now appears that the Crystal Cup's maker may have been neither of them.

What material did John Barum use to make cups?

Did John Baram work in silver, pewter, pottery or wood? An answer to this question will help decide what materials were used by Richard White and William Geale. The only clues are in John Barum's will. Other than his immediate family there are four other names: his overseers, John Dewsnapp and Thomas Mincion, and his witnesses Elizabeth Rogers and Robert May. The two witnesses may have connections with the Border Ware potters.

Elizabeth Rogers and Robert May must have been immediately available to witness the will. It is possible that Elizabeth Rogers was Henry Rogers' widow who was granted Henry's administration on 26 Oct 1630, only two yaers before John Barum died. The Rogers family were potters, but this Henry Rogers is not the brother of the potter John Rogers alias Marner. Henry and Elizabeth Rogers could be the parents of both these potters.

A Robert May was one of the two godsons of Robert Hall, potter of Cove, who died the following year. Robert May may be the Robert May, senior, who was buried in Yateley 24 Apr 1651. Another Robert May was buried 25 Nov 1680 and had children baptised in the 1650s. Yet another Robert May was a turner of Eversley who died in 1605. There were many members of the May family locally so this line of research is likely to be inconclusive without wills to rely on.

John Dewsnapp was probably the person whose will was proved in the PCC 26 May 1651, probate to Edward Heele. John Dewsnapp is described as a Yeoman in his will and was buried without comment in the parish registers on 31 Dec 1650. I have not seen his will.

It is difficult to read the name of the second "wellbeloved friend". This is probably the person with three hearths recorded in the 1665 Hearth Tax Assessment. The transcribers of Volume 11 in the Hampshire Record Series have transcribed the name as John Michin. So Thomas Mincion is probably John Minchin who paid Poor Rates on a Rateable Value of £10 in 1656 to 1658. The RV was reduced to £8 from 1659 until his widow Alice died in 1670. Her PCC will names her as Alice Minchin. The burial of "John Mynchin" is recorded as 19 Apr 1664, and his occupation is given as turner. He is also described as 'senior' and 'and aged man', so living in 1632 when John Barum wrote his will.

The only other evidence we have for any of the above is from muster rolls. John Dewsnipp and Roberte Maye were listed together as two out of three 'vitaleres' on the muster roll for the Hundreds of Crondall and Odiham 6 Sep 1625. Henry Rogers turned out as a corselet for himself. For a later muster taken at Rooksdowne 14 Sep 1638, Edmund and John Baram turned out as 'musketteres'. These were John Barum's sons whom he mentions in his will. John Dewsnep was again a victualler but Robert May was listed as a carter.

None of the recorded events for any of the four people being scutinised was recorded as being in Hawley or Cove, so we would usually assume they all lived in the 'inner tithing' of Yateley.

From the evidence above it could be inferred that John Barum was a pottery cupmaker. However he does not appear to be living in Hawley or Cove. The implication of this is that he and William Geale may have been cupmakers working in the area which is present-day Yateley. This needs to be explained, as does the reason they both described themselves as cupmakers, and not potters. There were three fields in Yateley called 'kiln field' on the Tithe Map. They all three appear to be late assarts into the common, so we have always assumed they were sites of lime kilns.

Potley Hill in Yateley has often be cited as a possible site of mediaeval pottery. A field name in the Crondal Customary is Potells pittell. In the Rental of the Priory of St Swithun dated 1287 on of the tenants of the Manor of Crondall, jointly holding a virgate of land in Yateley, was named Roys de Pothulle, whi may be translated as 'of the Pot Hill'. Did Roys give his name TO Potley Hill, or dod he get his name FROM "Pot Hill". If the second alternative is correct then this reference would be evidence of a very early pottery in the Blackwater Valley, and might explain the existence of two cupmakers in Yateley.

The alternative explanation of their occupation is that John Barum and William Geale were both turners making wooden cups. I have a very nice wooden wine goblet made on a pole-lathe in Yateley recently. However if William Geale is going to be demoted from silversmith, the maker of Yateley's greatest treasurer, to turner using a pole-lathe, I had better be much surer of my evidence.

Peter Tipton

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