Where there’s a Will…
The first records we will explore in Making Maidstone are wills, and probate records, of individuals in and around Maidstone. These are the most common surviving personal record from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They essentially encompass wills, in which an individual described how their goods, lands, and money should be distributed after their death. Probate records more generally, encompass records associated with this distribution and include inventories of goods, lands, or money or records connected to potential disputes and irregularities.
Wills are fascinating because they give a personal glimpse into the past, showing how people wanted to pass on their belongings and care for their families after death. They reveal family connections, friendships, and social ties, as testators named loved ones, trusted executors, and sometimes even servants or neighbours. Wills also show what people owned—land, household goods, tools of a trade—giving us insight into everyday life and local economies. Bequests to churches, charities, or the poor reflect personal values and religious beliefs. Sometimes, wills even sparked family disputes, recorded in court cases, which tell us about inheritance customs and social tensions. Together, these records help us understand not just what people had, but what mattered to them.
You can view our ‘Wills’ page for more in-depth information about these records and links to further resources. Likewise, you can look at the ‘Wills Data’ page to see tables of the wills which the project will explore in order to study sixteenth and seventeenth century-Maidstone. This page will also include in-depth visualisations of the information we find within these records including interactive maps and graphs.
We are currently developing a curriculum for how to access, read, and interpret these wills which will be freely accessible through this website. Additionally, we will offer in-person workshops where experts will help you to access and understand a range of historic records. We hope that some of you might wish to help us unlock the treasures within the wills of this period. This will help us to understand what life was like in Maidstone and will teach how to read one of the most numerous historical documents which survive in England.