#8 William Sheaf - Cut from a Reforming Cloth

To get to this week's ancestor we have to go back, way back to about 1543 when William Sheaf was born in the town of Cranbrook in Kent. His grandfather Thomas Sheaf is the earliest recorded Sheaf in this area and William was born to Richard Sheaf and Elizabeth Andrews. William was the sixth of nine children born to this wealthy family of clothiers.

The Weald of Kent, where Cranbrook is situated, was known at this time for its excellent grey broadcloth. Many families in the area were involved in the cloth trade at all levels; either raising sheep for wool, milling the cloth or providing material or labour to use in the process. Edward III had encouraged Flemish weavers to move to England in order to break the Flemish monopoly over the wool trade. Many of them settled in the Kentish Weald and Cranbrook became a centre for the manufacture of a fine, woollen broadcloth called Cranbrook Grey. When Queen Elizabeth I visited the town in 1573, she is said to have walked along a mile long piece of Cranbrook Grey made specially for the purpose. There is certainly a possibility that this cloth may have been made by the Sheaf family or their many connections.

In 1569 William married Katherine Courthoppe, the daughter of another wealthy Cranbrook family involved in the cloth trade. There were several marriages between these two families, including one between William's sister Margaret Sheaf and John Courthoppe. Although William and Katherine both lived long lives, they had no children.

The next we hear of William Sheaf is in about 1575 in the midst of a religious squabble between the vicar of Cranbrook, Richard Fletcher and John Stroud a dissenting preacher. According to one source William Sheaf sympathized with Stroud who as well as being a radical preacher was operating an illegal printing press somewhere in the parish of Cranbrook. In order to quell the brewing parish troubles Richard Fletcher (son of Richard Fletcher the vicar of Cranbrook and also a preacher) came from Rye to caution the people against ideas of reformation, but his sermon "did not calm the troubled spirits and a fierce contention followed, whereupon William Sheaf, one of the Church wardens, met the noisy disclaimers in a true John Bull-like manner with his feet firmly set and his head erect, and uttered these decided words "We WILL have Mr. Stroud to preach to us."

As William aged, we learn from the sources that he did not enjoy the best of health. On 17th July 1598 a jury of Cranbrook worthies were all indicted for contempt because on 3 May 1598, being sworn as jurors at a hundred leet held at the market cross in Cranbrook, they elected William Sheaf of Cranbrook, yeoman, to serve as hundred constable "although they knew him to be an infirm man incapable of discharging the office." The hundred constable was a parish law enforcement officer, usually part time and usually unpaid! The motives of the jury in electing William to this office can only be suspect, given his inability to perform the duties required. William would have been about 55 years of age.

William lived for almost another 20 years after this and died in December 1616. Interestingly we learn a lot about William's lifestyle from his very detailed will and his many bequests to his brother and sisters, nieces and nephews. We know for instance that living with him at the time of his death, his wife Katherine having died in 1611, were two sons of his cousin Peter Courthoppe. He was also in a position to be lending money as he bequeathed the above named Peter Courthoppe "the £20 I lent unto our Sovereign Lord James (King James 1 of England), and the privy seal which I have thereof." This presumably allowed the money to be given to Peter Courthoppe should the King ever decide to pay back his loan. As well as other numerous bequests of money, William left silver cups, spoons and salters; his book of martyrs and two bibles; feather beds and other furniture and pots and glasses. He also held significant amounts of property around Cranbrook and neighbouring towns which he distributed among his relatives. One of these properties was 'Old Wilsley', a beautiful timbered Wealden hall house and cloth hall, probably built in the 15th century. There is some suggestion it may have been built by the Courthoppe family. Certainly it is known that in 1569 Richard Courthoppe’s widow Anne married the Revd Thomas Lawes, whose will in 1594 left ‘Wylsley in Cranbrook’ to his daughter Katherine and her clothier husband William Sheafe. William left it to his nephew Edmund Sheaf, son of his brother (our direct ancestor) Thomas.

Old Wilsley, Cranbrook, Kent.

William was buried inside the church of St Dunstan in Cranbrook and a brass plate was placed in his honour. "William Sheaf after he had lived godly and christianly the space of 73 years he departed this life the 21 of December, 1616, and his body lies here buried"

Brass plate for William Sheaf, St Dunstan, Cranbrook.