The following 1203 Regis Rolls quotation is another mill related document,
involving Ralph Carpenter and the Abbot of Waltham in Essex. It places
Ralph Carpenter activities as very early, raising again the issue of his
relation to Adam Carpenter, brother or son? The year is very early. Waltham
is quite close to the Lea River and perhaps on a tributary. Essex had quite
different boundaries than it has now. Parts of Essex were a
suburb of London. The Lea River as it drained into the Thames was part of
the London transportation and economic network. This alters Carpenter
history in England and puts a greater emphasis on the London area. The
document reads:
Essex.- Dies datus est Radulfo Carpentario et abbati de Waltham de placito
molendini in octabis sancti Martini prece partium. Abbas ponit loco suo
Johannem Juvendum etc. (Regis Rolls, 1203, p. 19)
A good deal of other Essex/Carpenter material exists. My feelings now are
that a good deal of it is London related. There was a William for 1223, a
Roger for 1223, a Richard (le Charpenter) for 1224 and 1225, a Robert (le
Charpenter) for 1269, and others. I think we might have a true enclave of
cloth-maker Carpenters in the Lea Valley leading to London.
BC