Lease of my Bargain (Will)

[ElizabethHerts]

Is anyone able to explain the following scenario from a will I have transcribed belonging to my 6x-great-grandfather Thomas White of Ludgershall, Bucks.:

"And Whereas I have a Lease of my Bargain in Ludgarshall aforesaid belonging to the poor of Bissiter I hereby give and bequeath all my Right and Interest of and in the said Bargain by Vertue of my said Lease of the same unto my said Son Thomas White Also I give and Bequeath unto my said Son Thomas White All my Stock of Cattle Corn Grain and Hay being in and upon the said Bargain He the said Thomas White paying out of the same Sum of Three pounds a year unto my said Wife Elizabeth during the term of her natural live by Even and Equal Quarterly payments".

I am unsure of the implications of the "Bargain" "belonging to the poor of Bissiter" (Bicester).

I am partciularly interested in this as there seems to be a history of family connection with Bicester.

[Janet]

I can only think that he's got hold of the wrong word, substituting bargain for barn. You might try Googling "barn belonging to the poor of Bicester" as I see some potentially interesting hits there.

[kiterunner]

I'm sure I've come across the word bargain used in a similar way before, but can't remember where. The dictionary definition includes "something acquired by bargaining", but I'm not sure if it could be used in that sense here because he only has a lease on it. I don't think it could be a barn because of the stuff being "upon" it? Oh, but some of the stuff that comes up on that Google search says barn ground with the barn, yard, stable, and outbuildings, so that sounds more likely.

[ElizabethHerts]

The will is beautifully written and nobody would have any trouble transcribing it, and I have checked and the word is definitely bargain, as clear as day.

I've been trying to look up "bargain" in my copy of "Ancestral Trails" but it isn't helping much.

Janet and Kate, thanks for your replies. I might ask the staff at the archives when I return - perhaps they might have some suggestions.

[Jill]

I had a similar phrase in a will about a Bargain at Kintbury, but haven't been able to find out the answer.

[ElizabethHerts]

Jill, it's frustrating, isn't it?

[Janet]

Aha! OED:

† ?bargain, n.2

Etymology: ? same word as bargain n.1
Obs. exc. dial.

A small farm-holding.
1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall i. f. 37, A farme, or (as wee call it) a bargaine can no sooner fall in hand, then the Suruey Court shal be waited on.
1826 M. R. Mitford Our Village II. 204 What used to be called in this part of the country ‘a little bargain’: thirty or forty acres, perhaps, of arable land, which the owner and his sons cultivated themselves.
1881 H. Smith & C. R. Smith Isle of Wight Words, Bargun..a farm of small holding.

[Punchs Mum]

From a book called The Dictionary of Genealogy

BARGAIN Formerly meant any contract, not necessarily advantageous.

Does that mean anything to you?


Below this in the Dictionary is a definition of "Bargain and Sale". This is rather a long paragraph but if it is of any help I can copy it and send through a PM. Apparantly it is a procedure for the private and secret conveyance of property, devised to take advantage of a loophole in the Statue of Uses of 1535.

Lesley

[ElizabethHerts]

Janet, that's very interesting, and it makes sense.

Lesley, if you could pm me with the definition I'd be very grateful.

I'm still intrigued as to how the poor of Bicester (6 miles away) own a piece of land (assuming that's what it is). I wonder if it was bequeathed to them in someone's will. I have transcribed quite a few wills where the testator left money to the poor of a village or town, but nothing along these lines.

[Olde Crone]

From (possibly not very reliable) memory, a Bargain was a leased property which the Lessee would have the right to buy at the end of the lease for much less than it was worth - hence it was a "bargain".

It was a way of concealing land holdings, something which my ancestors did superbly well. Nowadays, the Lessor of the land AND the Lessee have to declare it as an asset.

OC