Document P5 Bookseller's Description

An early vellum document in English.  An indenture comprising settlement of a legacy to the young daughter of a Norfolk brewer.  (3 September 1672)  314x622 mm.  29 lines in a beautiful professional hand of great clarity.  With the original pendant seal, the majority of which is present inside its vellum wrappings (which now adheres to the wax).  The first two words of the text in large, ornamental letters.

        One one-inch tear in a fold destroying two words, some minor discoloration, but in excellent condition otherwise.

        This handsomely indited document concerns a legacy of £100 plus £5 per annum (until the recipient reaches the age of 18), which the elder John Dove, a brewer of Harleston in Norfolk, has bequesthed to his daughter Anne in his will of 10 November 1671.  The father died on May 18 of the next year, when Anne was seven years and 16 days old.  This indenture was drawn up by her brother, also named John Dove, and also a brewer, who was, with Robert Brausby, executor of his father's will.  By this indenture John Dove, for the greater security of his sister and her mother (another Anne Dove), settles on the two women property in Wendham (perhaps an alternative spelling for Wymondham?), Norfolk, which we are told is near the road to Woodham.  From the wording it is unclear whether the elder Anne Dove is John' smother, or more probably his stepmother.  He is to make the payments in the porch of the parish church of Redenham, and if he fails, the land will remain in the hands of the two women; otherwise it will revert to him when little Anne reaches her majority.  Her brother must have met his obligations, since one Samuell Stanton of Yarmouth, presumably a lawyer, has made two notations on the back of the parchment, the first in 1672 confirming the contents and the second (dated 2 May 1683) confirming that Anne Dove has received a final payment of £105.