Nicholas Bennett

Events

Date of Birth: about 1524.

Place of Birth: probably Derbyshire.

See below. The John Thornhill below moved from Bamford, Derbyshire, to Montgomeryshire in 1576. Since Nicholas had known him for 30 years in 1578, it is likely that Nicholas came from near there.

Date of Burial: 24 September 1603.

Place of Burial: Llandinam, Montgomeryshire.

The burial is recorded in the parish register.

Relationships

Father: unknown.

Mother: unknown.

Spouse: unknown.

Children:

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)

Edward Bennett (buried 16 February 1639/40 in Llandinam) married Anne Wilson sometime before 1590.

Evidence

Muster Roll of 1574 (Llanidloes Hundred)

Nicholas does not appear in this roll, suggesting that he immigated to Montgomeryshire between then and 1577.

Lay Subsidy Roll (1577)

Nicholas appears under “Trefeglwys”.

a 1578 case before the Council of the Marches in Wales:

Chapman (pp. 119-120) describes a 1578 case before the Council in the Marches of Wales concerning one John Thornhill, who described himself as “a poor Englishman, born in Derbyshire, with a wife a small children. He said that in about 1576 he left Derbyshire and came to Montgomeryshire to live ‘for that he was not able to come by any habitation in the said county of Derby for relief and maintenance of himself and his poor family.’” One of the witnesses in the case was Nicholas Bennett of the parish of Llandinam, aged 54, who testified that he had known John Thornhill for 30 years. Chapman also notes that Nicholas is recorded as holding property from the Earl of Leicester in the townships of Hengynwydd and Dethenydd in the parish of Llandinam.

from the Llandinam parish register:

Nicholaus Benett sepultus fuit xxiiij^o die Septembris Anno predic’ [1603]

References

Chapman, Murray Ll. "An English Settlement in Western Montgomeryshire during the Tudor Period" in Montgomeryshire Collections volume 87 (1999) pp. 111-137. A digital copy can be read on the National Library of Wales website.

Llandinam parish register. Digital copy at Findmypast.co.uk accessed 7 December 2019.

“Muster of Montgomeryshire Men, Horses, Etc. Made in 1574”, transcribed in Montgomeryshire Collections volume 22 (1888) pp. 119-135.