Deciphering an 18th Century will

[Bookbox]

PCC = Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Apologies for using an unexplained abbreviation.

Before 1858 all wills were proved in church courts, not in civil courts. The PCC was just one of many such courts, and the highest. It had jurisdiction over most of the southern part of England and Wales, and could also handle referrals from other probate courts.

The PCC probate records (wills etc.) are held at the National Archives. Those that you find online are copies, entered in the probate registers by clerks who were trained in this particular style of handwriting.

[littlemissx77]

So interesting and informative, thank you

[Ian Nelson]

Thanks, is that an old Celtic (Scottish) word for a lady fiend

I guess it has the same origin as Queen.   In Aberdeenshire they have ' Quines & Loons ', girls & boys.
From my early youth I knew a girl from Fife and she was nicknamed Queenie by her Grandmother, my neighbour, who had moved to the west coast of Scotland, yet her name was Christine.  I asked the granny and was told all girls were quines.  I was a befuddled 8 year old then, before and after.