C20th Fletchers

The tallest tree in the UK is a pine tree which stands in the grounds of Dunans Castle, Argyll, Scotland. Dunans Castle was originally the seat of the Clan Fletcher, a Scottish ancestral group of Fletchers. The castle was sold after the death of Colonel Fletcher in the 1990s. It was restored and opened as a hotel in 1999.

C19th Fletchers

This is a copy of the name William Fletcher. He was a collier and aged 29. The name is taken from the muster list of the hundred of Miskin in Glamorgan in 1816. In 1815 an Act of Parliament required all men aged 17-55 to be recorded together with whether they were willing to volunteer for militia duty. The men on the muster list hadn’t fought in battle but were eligible should they be needed.

Above: On the 14th November 1856 Charles Fletcher, a Yeoman of Usk, signed with his mark his last will and testament. Two days later on the 16th November 1856 he died.

On the right: This is a list of the effects of Charles Fletcher.

In his will he bequeaths to his son John Fletcher £130.00 and several pieces of furniture. To his second son William, he bequeaths the rest of his property.

Above: John Fletcher and his brother William had to sign a declaration which said that their father’s Will will be carried out. Like their father they couldn’t write so they made a mark in the presence of Hugh Williams, Chancellor.

C18th Fletchers

On the 6th January 1753 at Llandaff Cathedral near Cardiff, Esther Fletcher, daughter of John Fletcher, was baptised.

Five days before Esther's baptism, Britain and its colonies, including America, adopted the idea that 1st January should be New Years Day. Because calendar reform in the sixteenth century had been advocated by the Pope, Protestant England had refused to comply. Only in 1752 were the reforms of 1582 fully accepted in Britain (and the American colonies). As a result, New Year's Day was decreed to be 1st January and not 25th March and eleven days were removed from the calendar (3-13 September 1752) to ensure that Britain was co-ordinated with most of the rest of Europe. However, the government realised that 11 days of tax went uncollected so this is why the UK Inland Revenue's current tax year begins on 6th April.

During 1753 Hardwicke's Marriage Act became law in the UK and was effective from March 1754. The marriage ceremony now had to be held in the parish church or chapel were one of them lived. Marriages must be recorded in a separate book on printed forms.

C17th Fletchers

On the 19th August 1600 Henry Mathew of Radyr in Glamorgan, sick of body but of perfect remembrance, made his last will. In it he bequeathed £6.00 to Lewis Fletcher.

C16th Fletchers

Some of our ancestors played the game of bowls: “The game was banned twice in England: by Edward III in 1361 and by Henry VIII in 1511, both times for the same reason: it distracted ‘Bowyers, Fletchers, Stringers and Arrowhead makers’ from their trades, and diverted the nations bowmen from archery practice.” (From the National Trust Magazine- Summer 2003).

An entry in the Privy Purse records of Henry VIII reads: "Paid to Gullian the King's Fletcher for arowes for my Lorde of Richemonde - 20 shillings." (The Standard newspaper 30-09-1988)

In the Ministers Accounts of Cardiff in 1542 / 1543 a John Mower 'paid half a burgage in tenure of Heol Fletcher'. (Burgage plots are long, narrow strips of land running at right angles to the main streets in medieval towns. They had narrow fronts and long thin courtyards and connecting alleyways at the back. The houses or shops would usually be at the front facing onto the street. Behind them would be workshops and yards. The traces of burgage plots can often still be seen in towns that were laid out in medieval times (1066 to 1540).

The Cardiff Court Goal File Records of 1583 record a “Lewis Hoell, otherwise Fletcher, of Cardiff, was presented for incontinence”. Unfortunately lesson were not learnt. In the same record of 1584 it states: “Lewis Powell FFletcher of Cardiff, a second time, and Katherine Deane, of Cardiff, for incontinency”. (Apparently ‘incontinency’ in the C16th meant lewd behaviour)

C13th Fletchers

This is a copy of a sketch of a Welsh archer from the 1280s. A Flemish observer wrote of Welsh soldiers, fighting for Edward 1 in Flanders around 1300, that “in the very depth of winter they were running about bare-legged.... They could not have been warm. The money they received from the King was spent in milk and butter. They would eat and drink anywhere. I never saw them wearing armour....Their weapons were bows, arrows and swords. They also had javelins....” (By Lodowyk van Velthem (Public Records Office))