Archive of the Coney family of Burwash

These documents relate to property owned by the Coney family of Burwash, which still held land in the parish in 1839 (TDE 157), although the last Coney to live there died in 1775. In the early eighteenth century members of the family had migrated to Somerset; Thomas Coney, DD, became rector of Chedzoy in 1698 and was later a canon of Wells from 1716 until his death in 1752. On the death of John Coney of Burwash in 1775 his estate was wound up by Thomas's son Bicknell Coney, a druggist in Leadenhall Street, London, a director of the Bank of England and secretary of the Corporation of the Sons

The deeds chart the advancement of the Coney family from the status of yeomen in the sixteenth century, through the trade of butcher, to that of gentleman by the eighteenth

The family residence, Mount House, Burwash, was acquired by John Coney in 1672 but as early as 1594 his great-grandfather Simon had owned an adjoining property. John's father Mark married Eleanor, one of the daughters of Thomas Byne, and the Coneys acquired large portions of that family's estate, which had been partitioned in 1620 on Thomas's death

The documents become more sparse in the eighteenth century and the latest is a summary of the estate, probably prepared on Bicknell Coney's death in about 1801

On the death of the Reverend Thomas Coney at Batcombe Rectory in Somerset on 29 December 1840 an acrimonious dispute over heriots took place between his solicitors, Dyne and Son of Bruton, and Ellman and Whitmarsh of Battle, acting for the lord of Burwash and Burghurst manors; see ASH 1227

The documents in the second and third accessions amplified those already received and clarified the descent and date of acquisition of most of the properties. Accordingly the list is not presented in numerical order and a concordance of references follows

A conveyance of a messuage in Limpsfield, 1429, and a bond with parties of Surrey, 1575, have been transferred to Surrey Record Office where they are listed as 2725/1, 2

Wills and probates Coney family, 1611-1648 AMS5744/145-148

Nether Goodsole in Burwash, sold in 1673 AMS5744/70-73

Mount House, Burwash, 1318-1672 AMS5744/1-18, 171, 172

Biggs Place, Ticehurst AMS5744/219, 141, 142, 116-120, 173-198

Woodlands and Highlands in Burwash, 1629-1683 AMS5744/31-35

Chillies Mead, Burwash, 1659-1687 AMS5744/22-25

Copyhold house in Burwash, 1672-1692 AMS5744/19-21

Estate of John Coney of Wadhurst, died 1689 AMS5744/166-170, 149-151

Marshland at Chilley in Pevensey, 1530-1694 AMS5744/121-132

House in Burwash late Jeffery's, 1698 AMS5744/26-28

John Coney's marriage settlement, 1701 AMS5744/199

Copyhold house and croft at Burwash, 1703-1708 AMS5744/29, 30

Manor of Northye in Bexhill and Hooe, 1704 AMS5744/133

Bowman's Farm, Burwash, 1452-1705 AMS5744/37-77, 200

Leasehold at Burwash, 1706 AMS5744/78

Ashlands in Burwash and Etchingham, Poppinghole in Whatlington and Youngland in Mountfield, 1589-1708 AMS5744/83-111, 115, 201-205

Copyhold adjoining Poppinghole, 1710-1712 AMS5744/112, 113

The whole estate, 1713-1732 AMS5744/68, 96, 114, 152-155 158, 164

Re-settlement of 1732 AMS5744/79-81, 206-209

The whole estate, 1753-1771 AMS5744/156, 210-215

Bicknell Coney's executorship of John Coney and inheritance of his estate, 1775-c1801 AMS5744/36, 69, 82, 157, 221, 159-163, 165, 216-218

Documents not apparently connected with the estate, 1458-1677 AMS5744/134-140, 143, 144, 220

<span class="wrapper"><p>For maps of the estate inherited by Bicknell Coney in 1775, see AMS5990</p> <p>For deeds of the Sussex estate from 1864, ending in a conveyance to William David Button in 1887, see ACC 2315</p> <p>For a settlement on the marriage of the Rev Thomas Coney and Elizabeth Jeane, 1795, see Bodleian Library MS DD Dawkins c46 III/4</p></span>

Documents given by the Parochial Church Council of Oakford, Devon, 18 Mar 1980 (ACC 2532), 16 Jun 1983 (ACC 4100), 31 Jul 1996 (ACC 6880)

These documents were found in the parish chest of Oakford, six miles from Tiverton, when the parish records were surveyed by the staff of the Devon Record Office