The Middleton Accounts of 1526: #14

The next two entries in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 were both dated as Shere Thursday. Shere Thursday was the ancient name in English for what became Maundy Thursday, which is the Thursday before Easter. The word “shere” meant “clean” or “bright”. The name referred to the act of cleaning which was a key feature of the day and it is known to have been customary for men to have their beards shorn as part of this. The word maundy, which has its base in Latin, gradually replaced the name in the Middle Ages. In 1526, Easter Sunday was on 1st April, which means that Maundy Thursday was the 29th March.

The first entry was described as payment to a friar of Lichfield who was Sir Henry’s ghostly father. The amount was 12 pence, which was the equivalent of about £22.06 today. It is uncertain what was meant by “ghostly father” but it might have something to do with a fundamental aspect of the Catholic Mass that traditionally occurred on Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and part of that is what is known as the Communion of Saints. This highlights the spiritual union of all Christians, both the living and the dead, in heaven or purgatory. Essentially, it advances the concept that all Christians living and in history were one body in Christ. In the context of this, a saint was not just someone who had been canonised but anyone who was faithful to God and it also included the notion that the saints in heaven could pray for those on earth, just as those on earth could pray for the souls of the dead, wherever they were. Those not on earth were sometimes referred to as “ghosts” in a metaphorical sense.

Stall at Middleton Hall Christmas Market, December 2025. Photograph taken by Samantha Kirman.

The second entry was payment for the carriage of a tun of wine from Beverley in Yorkshire. The amount was 6 shillings, which was the equivalent of about £132.38 today. A tun was an historical English unit of liquid volume that was traditionally used for measuring items such as wine or oil. It was a large cask that normally held about 252 gallons (about 954 litres).

This entry raises a few questions, which we have been unable to answer. The first is that the payment is only for carriage and not for wine and there is no known surviving corresponding purchase of wine. The second is due to the location of where it was from. A lot more wine was purchased at Wollaton than at Middleton. The assumed explanation for this is because they were having to make wine vinegar at Wollaton. At Middleton, the Willoughby family never purchased vinegar because there they had enough raw materials to make enough vinegar to satisfy their needs. The source of the wine was different for the two manors and this could normally be used to confirm to which manor the wine was being sent. When the Willoughby family were at Middleton, wine tended to be purchased from Lichfield, Coventry, Birmingham, Bewdley and London. However, when purchasing wine for Wollaton, it tended to be sourced from Nottingham or Hull. Beverley is near Hull. Therefore, the location of the source would suggest that this carriage in theory should have been going to Wollaton not Middleton but, although not specifically specified, the format of the accounts implied that it went to Middleton instead.

Next entry: 1st April

Further Reading: W. H. Stevenson, Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1911. p.382.

Mark Dawson, Plenti and Grase, 2009.

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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