From the beginning

The story so far

Ambermead's story begins in the autumn of 1352. On 4 October Sir John of Thornbury came to be the priest, with Joan of Thornbury to keep his house. On 21 October Peter Miller came from Westcott with his wife Juliana and a daughter, Maud, to lease the mill, and Henry Cooper came from Brookfield with his wife Cecily to a cottage and croft.

The Brewers (Stephen and Adam) keep the inn and hold much of the village's business. Thomas and Edith atte Well work 12 acres as husbandmen. The Smiths' house (Elena, Margaret, Walter and Hugh) kept the village smithy.

That first winter Henry and Peter gave the Brewers most of their threshing, and Maud Miller was queen at Twelfth Night. On Shrove Tuesday 1353 the men lost at football to Northshire and Henry came home hurt; the neighbors fed the Coopers, Adam Brewer most of all. In April Elena Smith took Stephen Brewer to the manor court over a furrow along the mere, and Stephen paid 2d.

Maud was Queen of the May. On 30 May Roger Warrener came from Hatherley with his wife Alice and their daughters Amice and Margery to keep the lord's warren. In June Beatrice Mason, from Elmstead, became the Brewers' servant, and William Baker joined the Smiths at the forge until late August.

At the July court Henry and Peter were made ale-tasters and Thomas atte Well hayward. Roger was caught with three of the lord's coneys. Adam Brewer and Joan of Thornbury were married at the church door on 12 August, and Joan went to live with the Brewers. The August court fined Stephen for brewing, Thomas for his cow in Stephen's wheat, and Peter for snaring in the warren.

On 6 September Sir John took Isabel of Kingsley to keep his house. Beatrice Mason married Alan Shepherd, of Fairford, on 9 September, and they took the empty cottage at the west end and three acres. Roger found Adam Brewer and Henry Cooper in the warren with two coneys. The Smiths took on Robert Fowler, of Kingsley, at the bellows.

Michaelmas 1353 closed a poor year: 207 bushels from 21 acres and 195 more bought in. The Coopers took up 6 more acres. Sir John took Walter Smith, 7, to teach him his letters, and Beatrice Shepherd began brewing. At the October court Henry Cooper was chosen reeve, Roger and Peter ale-tasters; Henry, Peter and Elena were fined 11s 1d between them for taking more than the lawful wage.

October was sickly. On 20 October Agnes Fletcher, 24, came from Norton with her daughter Christina and took up 15 acres. Juliana Miller had become the one the village sends for with herbs, a hurt or a birth.

On 6 November Alice Warrener was hit by a falling bough, and through Advent the whole village kept the Warreners going. At Martinmas the Shepherds sold a cow and the Fletchers two sheep for want of fodder. On 18 November the lord's woodward caught Thomas in the wood with a young buck dead at his feet. The Coopers ran short: Elena Smith lent them money three times, and they sold oats and rye to clear the debt on 12 January 1354. Beatrice Shepherd lent the priest's household small sums again and again.

Stephen Brewer and Elena Smith were married at the church door on 14 January 1354; Elena now lives with the Brewers, with Margaret, Walter and Hugh Smith in the same house. On Christmas Day Sir John began a guild of St Margaret's light. Robert Fowler went home to Kingsley, and the smithy stood empty.

On 23 January word came that fire had taken Northshire's mill; Ambermead gave a shilling, and Northshire's corn came to Peter's mill until 19 March. On 28 January a thief took one of the atte Wells' sheep and got away.

The ale-sellers were fined at nearly every court that winter and spring: Elena Brewer, Beatrice Shepherd, Edith atte Well, Joan Brewer and Sir John. In February a cough went through the Brewers' house, and Stephen lay abed into March. On Shrove Tuesday Northshire won the football again. The court took up Thomas for being in the warren by night, his second time; the lord fined him 6d and took his snares.

On 7 March the Fletchers took on John Carter, 36, of Kingsley, to work their 15 acres for his keep and a share of the corn. On 12 March Ambermead had a smith again: Adam Fisher came from Fairford with his wife Joan and their three children, Alan, Robert and John, and took up the empty forge, making nine households.

Alice Warrener fell gravely ill with a fever at Lady Day 1354. She died on 31 March, aged 26, and was buried on the south side of the churchyard, leaving Roger with Amice and Margery.

On Palm Sunday Thomas and Roger made a loveday over a furrow by the mere, with Beatrice Shepherd standing between them. At the court of 8 April the Coopers asked the lord's mercy and were refused. On 12 April, Easter Eve, Roger caught Henry Cooper in the warren before light with one of the lord's coneys. Five old grievances were eased that day, but Edith wouldn't make peace with Roger, nor Roger with Thomas, so neither Edith nor Roger took communion. On Easter Day Thomas and Roger settled over a pig in a garden, and Edith and Roger made their own loveday at the inn, Beatrice between them each time.

On 20 April Peter Miller and Stephen Brewer ended their quarrel over a furrow with a loveday, Adam Brewer standing between them; Stephen paid 2d for the lord's licence. Hocktide came in wet, and the women and then the men raised 2s 1d for the church. At the court of 29 April the steward's answers came down: the old terms stand on Thomas's rent for the holding by the mere and on Alan Shepherd's meadow ground for hay. Thomas lay abed with a fever until 6 May.

On May Day Maud Miller was Queen of the May again, and there was dancing on the green all afternoon. Sickness kept moving through the houses that spring: the ague had Alan Fisher, 17, and Isabel of Kingsley abed until late April, Robert Fisher, 14, had the flux from 9 to 16 May, and Juliana Miller took to her bed with a bad cough on 15 May.

On 18 May John of Thornbury and Thomas atte Well ended their quarrel over beasts in the corn with a loveday, Joan Brewer standing between them; Thomas paid 3d damages and 2d for the licence. At Rogation Sir John led the procession round the bounds. At the court of 20 May Henry Cooper was let off for the warren with a last warning, and Elena Brewer and Beatrice Shepherd were fined 4d each for ale, as they had been on 29 April.

Travelers pass all year, lodging at the inn, the priest's house or the church porch: soldiers home from France, friars, pedlars, chapmen, tinkers, minstrels and tumblers, storytellers, and pilgrims bound for Canterbury, Walsingham and Compostela.