Appendix 6 - People and Families

Summary

The leading roles in the story of Willington manor after the Peasants’ Revolt were played by members of the Gostwyk family and by the dowager Duchess of Norfolk, Katherine Neville, who held Willington, and a substantial part of the Mowbray estates, as her dower for about fifty years. They were supported by hundreds of individuals: stewards, surveyors, receivers, auditors, accountants, bailiffs, craftsmen, tenants and others. Summaries of the lives of some of them are given below.

Goffe, John

There seem to have been two generations of men with the same name. A John Goffe the elder, who was a brewer, is referred to in October 1410. John Goffe ‘the younger’ is not mentioned but is implied. It is not known which of these men was the husband of Mariota Goffe mentioned in October 1416.

John Goffe is named in thirty rolls 1397–1426. In 1397 he was granted a messuage and ten acres of land in Willington and was one of twenty one brewers. He paid 4d. for two brewings. From 1406–13 he is listed as a juror and described as a sworn man or tithing man, showing that he was a respected member of the community. He paid 2d. for John Wright, who may have been a young servant or member of his extended family, to join a tithing in 1410.

He, perhaps with the help of his wife, brewed on the manor for about thirty years, usually paying between 4d. and 8d. a year. He paid more, 12d., in both 1410 and 1413; and was described as a constant brewer 1411–18. In 1418 he paid 18d. for brewing and was also fined as follows:

… and that the same John ^2d sold old ale as he was ordered by the tasters of ale. And that ^2d the same John sold old ale and put a sign and afterwards it was withdrawn, therefore he was amerced. And that the same ^2d John sold ale by the barrel and cup. And the same John ^2d sold ale by measure without a seal. Therefore he is amerced.