Gould

John Golde was one of the dispossessed monks of Glastonbury Abbey who received a pension according to Cardinal Pole’s list of 1555. The Golde  family were relatively prosperous family from Seaborough which is now in Dorset but was then in Somerset. The name Gold and Gould was interchangeable in the Tudor period.

The will of John Golde  dated 1545 provides documentary evidence that the monks were mainly drawn from what may now be called the ’middle class’. There are famous examples of  men from humble backgrounds reaching high office through their ecclesiastical education. Some people from the landed gentry chose a life of piety but they were more likely to pay other people to pray for their souls.

A Thomas Goldwege was the vicar of Chewton Mendip   to 1507 which may be a coincidence but the Clergy database also shows that a large number of Goulds were clergymen.

Abstracts of will for the Golde family show they were still relatively wealthy and centred around  South Somerset and Glastonbury by the 17th century when their name had changed to Gould.

It is possible the John Gould, who was a tenant in Emborough in 1580, was related to this family and may have been the disposed monk. A number of local families benefited from the dissolution of the monasteries such as the Hippisleys who bought most of Ston Easton and Embourough.  The wills also suggest in direct links to families such as Adams and Loxton who were occupying former monastic land in Chewton Mendip in the 16th and 17th centuries.

A will for Thomas Gould of Northover near Glastonbury dated 1624 provides links to various members of the Gould and Gold families. There was also a reference to a family called Twisse.

The will for Barnard Gould dated 1649 contains a reference to the Napper family. This may be the source of the theory that the Tinknell family once held the rectory manor of Chewton Mendip.

The Napper family did hold Tintinhull which once belonged to Glastonbury Abbey and the name Tinknell may have evolved from the same source as Tintinhull. However, research shows it was the Taswells of Limington, who were related to the Kingsmills, who held the rectory of Chetwon Mendip in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Other wills for the Gould/Gold family suggest links to the Adams and Loxton families who held a significant amount of land in the 17th centuries.

The Gold family were still living in  Chewton Mendip in  1740 and 1766 but the first reference to a Gould in Chewto Mendip is dated 1780.

William Gould, was married in Chewton Mendip to Hannah Clarke in 1828.  They had children (John b.1830, George b.1833, Alfred b.1835, Ann b.1939, Elizabeth b.1841 and William b.1844 and were listed in the 1841 Census living in Lower Street

William senior  was a stone mason.  However, in the 1851 census his wife Hannah was living in Litton and calling herself a widow. It is believed he was probably born in Stanton Drew around 1802, and died in 1845 in Pontypool, South Wales, after contracting a chill.

Harriet Gould was living with John Kerslake who was a small holder living in Brook Cottage which is shown was across the road from where William Gould lived in Lower Street.

Nothing is known about James Gould who was living in Redhill in 1839. He is not listed in the 1841 census but the location of where he lived suggests he was from the Ston Easton branch of the family.