Paul,
I don't think this is a legal will, mainly because there's no preamble, and also because there is the Admon (inventory). But that doesn't mean it's any less precious! These are examples of how fairly ordinary people - but the cream of the ordinary people, because they had access to people who could write - of how they lived, what they found essential for life. Interesting that there are no mason's tools in the Admon.
BTW, Paul, you can find the christening of the 'troublesome son' (we all have them - nothing changes!) at the Corfe Castle section of the Dorset online parish clerk records at
http://www.opcdorset.com/CorfeCastleFiles/CorfeCastleBaptisms1700-1739.htmJohn, christened 28th Oct 1702, and
George, 23rd Jun 1706,
and
Mary, 18th Mar 1715
Very big gap between christenings of George and Mary ...
Also, at
http://www.opcdorset.com/CorfeCastleFiles/CorfeCastleBurials1668-1744.htmthere's a burial recorded for a John Stockley.
For the Admons I've seen, Simon had a lot of goods, and a four-room house - that's big for those days! Does it say who did the inventory of goods? No need for an address - in those days, everyone would have known where Simon and Mary lived. Small village.
It's very frustrating not to be able to work out those words - 'crock' and 'skillett'. The words need to be taken in the context of the writing style of whoever wrote the list. And as for 'shining' - seems to me to be the work of someone concentrating so hard on writing that he doesn't realise he's made a mistake, simple as that. It definitely means shilling!
I hope you realise how lucky you are, to have such wonderful pieces of paper from over 250 years ago!