A woman in 1498 asks to be buried in the churchyard by her husband and says "I will have a gravestone bought, to be laid upon my husband John Cole & me, with scripture thereupon writing of our names." suffolkwills.org/wills/1490s/... Not sure how common such gravestones were at the time?

Suffolk Wills

Transcribed Suffolk wills, 1490–1630: searchable Tudor and Early Modern transcriptions of probate records for genealogy and local history research, with analyses. All names, locations, places and bequ...

suffolkwills.org

Just come across the first will where the testator asks not just for a marble monument, but asks for his image on it, and gives the inscription to go with it. Gregory Fyllyng of Needham Market in 1494: suffolkwills.org/wills/1490s/... 1/2...

Passed the 250-will milestone now 🪦🎉. suffolkwills.org Slower going recently due to work commitments, but still ploughing on. Examples: for those interested in blacksmith's gear: suffolkwills.org/wills/1550s/... for those interested in mental health: suffolkwills.org/wills/1530s/...

Suffolk Wills

The digitised transcriptions and the analysis of wills from Early Modern Suffolk.

suffolkwills.org

Fabulous card for church-hopping father interested in monuments. The monument is outside the church, with an effigy on. The pièce de résistance: hidden in the tower, a sealed medieval will. Not opened yet, but hoping to inherit a manor and a few tenements.

Planning a trip to the Suffolk Archives to photograph will transcripts, and maybe the odd original. If anyone has any requests for wills from a particular place in Suffolk, let me know. Same for testator surnames or occupations to look out for. Just the #Tudor period, of course. #suffolk #wills

Thanks to the Church Monuments Society for publishing my little overview of how suffolkwills.org was made, with an example of how you could use it for church monuments. As ever, the project is open to suggestions and feedback.

Church Monuments Society@churchmonuments.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Fascinating guest post on our blog by @suffolkwills.bsky.social on the wills project and its use in studying burials and monuments churchmonumentssociety.org/2026/06/13/u... - some surprising conclusions!

Passed the 200-will milestone now 🪦. New analyses, a revised data model to enable more analyses, a revamped About page. Still not a huge corpus, but mighty oaks from small acorns, and all that: suffolkwills.org. A little example of analysis (like the others, it will evolve as wills are added):

Milestone🪦: 175 wills now on the site. New browse by social status feature, analyses for animals mentioned, purposes of church gifts over time. As ever, open to any suggestions, corrections, feedback. A free & open resource. suffolkwills.org #16thC #EarlyModern

No wills from Long Melford, Suffolk, yet, but here's the reredos in the impressive church there. The reredos is Victorian, but based on a Dürer picture. Taken with B&W film #VintageCameraBore #GoodFriday #Crucifixion #Easter

Added another wills analysis page, this time about where people wanted to be buried: suffolkwills.org/analysis/bur.... Plan to make it more visual. As with the other analysis pages, the numbers will update automatically as more wills are added. All a work in progress! #tudors #tudorwills #16thC

2/2 With Elizabeth's death in 1610, Lady Anne was childless, and in her will gives a whopping £200 to her servant's daughter. Arts & Crafts: she painted the panels in her private closet with emblems (panels now in Ipswich museum), and in her will mentions "my clothe bedd of my owne workinge".

1/2 Will quest: went to find the tomb of Lady Anne Drury. In her will she wished for her "bodie to be laid in the tombe at Hawstead by my deere husband and dawghter Dorothie" (suffolkwills.org/wills/1620s/...), but no sign of her tomb, only her husband's and her daughter Elizabeth's (d. aged 15):

Suffolk Wills records the names of testators, witnesses, executors, supervisors and beneficiaries in separate fields, and the name of others in the keywords. Search for them all from the home page. Only 150 wills so far, but circa 1600 unique names. Many more wills to come! 📜📜📜 suffolkwills.org

Launching a new site called Suffolk Wills, which has two aims: to publish transcripts of wills from Suffolk, 1490-1620, and analyse the wills to see how they changed or varied from pre- to post-Reformation. suffolkwills.org #TudorHistory #16thC #Tudors