Another hard to decipher port - 1634

[bristolloggerheads]

Wonder if this is a short form of Gillingham bearing in mind the word above. The vessel is leaving Rochester but it would seem to be too short a journey to do via ship.

Thoughts welcome.

[Bookbox]

I can see Gillingham in the line above, and your queried word apparently also starts Gi.... But it has two descenders in the middle – did you think these might be ...gh...? It's hard to say.

Can you give us your transcript for the rest of this extract, to help those of us who are less familiar than you with this hand? It might help with letter comparison.

[bristolloggerheads]

This customs official has a very unsteady hand and there is a lot of uncertainty in the following:

In le John de Gillingham John Harris
m(aste)r versus Gi? [the destination port] septimo die Augus? [the date]
Roberto Lord p(er) ?ginte quatuor onera Fulling Earth

The word before Fulling should be the unit of measurement with a number preceding it. It would normally be tuns or loads but doesn't appear to be either. He writes his "u"' as an "n".

Modified - onera = loads!

[bristolloggerheads]

Same clerk but a different entry. This time the vessel is of Manningtree which suggests that the elusive port (the second word of the second line) could be in the Essex region.

[bristolloggerheads]

This is a much earlier coastal entry but could relate to the same port. I still can't get it though!

[Bookbox]

That's better 

It looks like Gippus. Is it Ipswich? Trice Martin (Record Interpreter) has Gippevicus as a Latin name for Ipswich.

ADDED
Looks likely - http://users.trytel.com/tristan/towns/ipswich1.html
'An earlier Anglo-Saxon settlement in the vicinity lay on the west bank of the River Gipping ... At this point we can attribute to Ipswich an urban character. The town's name, which in medieval times was Gippeswyc, probably refers to the wic on the Gipping'

[Bookbox]

So in your first two clips it will be Gippu(m) (= accusative, after versus).

[Bookbox]

Also, in the first clip I think the master is John Adams (not Harris).

The query in line 3 is p(ro) (not per) viginti quatuor – the v is the same as in versus.

What a difficult hand! Let's hope you get a better one soon.

[bristolloggerheads]

Yet again I owe you a debt of gratitude. I still have much to learn!

Thank you for your time and assistance.