Lease of the Great House by Goddarde, Thomas - 1582

Southhampton, England, 1582. Pen and ink on parchment with one seal tag (no wax seal) signed and witnessed on bottom left, docketed on verso in a contemporary hand. 500 x 358 mm. Folded and slightly wrinkled along old folds, light soiling on verso. Pen and ink on parchment with one seal tag (no wax seal) signed and witnessed on bottom left, docketed on verso in a contemporary hand. 500 x 358 mm. Property Lease from the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Signatories to this document include Thomas Goddarde, Thomas Briggs, and several others whose names have faded. Robert Harryton is mentioned in the text of the lease. Thomas Goddarde may be the same sixteenth-century figure who purchased an estate in Wiltshire in 1563, and whose family held onto that estate, Swindon House, until the early twentieth century. If so, this document would be a fascinating look at his real estate acquisitions during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.