Will of John Hampton, 1695

[mezentia]

I have been transcribing the inventory associated with this will, which is written in a quite clear hand. I am interested in what is meant by some of the items listed, assuming that I have actually transcribed them correctly in the first place.

First is Tables Fourme. This appears several times in the list, sometimes as Table fourme, and there is a single reference to One Table Two fourmes one Coffer

Second, a reference to Six Segg Chaires & a Joyne Stoole

Lastly, there's a Candle Stick Links Chever Fender Skimmer and Cushin

My feeling is that a Fourme may be a bench of some description, but what the rest is escapes me.

[arthurk]

My feeling is that a Fourme may be a bench of some description, but what the rest is escapes me.

I remember from primary school in the 1960s that a bench was sometimes referred to as a form, possibly more by some of the other children than the teachers. This was in Yorkshire, and it might have been a local term - I've no memory of hearing it anywhere else.

[goldie61]

Yes, I'd say it's 'form'.
You get this a lot in inventories.

A fender went around the edge of the hearth to stop the wood falling out onto the floor.
A 'joyne stool' will be one made with joints.
usually used with “joyne stoole(s)” meaning a stool(s) made by a carpenter usually with four turned legs and of a joined construction - fixed with wooden pegs
https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/blogs/shakespeare-100-objects-joint-stool/

I don't know about 'segg stool', but if you Google it, (with the inverted commas), the term certainly turns up in other inventories.
'Links' may be just that - metal links, possibly like a chain for the fire rack?
The iron bars across the large old-fashioned open chimneys ; once common
in cottages and farmhouses, and from which hung a few links of chain to
hold the pothooks. On one of these the kettle or cast-iron pot was
suspended
And a 'cushin' probably a cushion.
A 'skimmer' was a tool to skim liquids such as milk, or fat from gravy etc.
I've not come across 'Chever' before. I wonder if it's meant to be 'cliever', (cleaver), ?

[mezentia]

One of the references to segg returned by Google listed a segg mat. The Shorter OED cros-references seg with sedge, so I wonder if segg is perhaps a derivative of sedge, and refers to a chair with a woven seat made from sedge or rushes?

[goldie61]

There's certainly references to sedge seats for chairs mezentia, so it may be that.

[DRH123]

I remember from primary school in the 1960s that a bench was sometimes referred to as a form, possibly more by some of the other children than the teachers. This was in Yorkshire, and it might have been a local term - I've no memory of hearing it anywhere else.

My mother, Somerset born and bred, also used "form" for "bench".

David

[shanreagh]

My feeling is that a Fourme may be a bench of some description, but what the rest is escapes me.

I remember from primary school in the 1960s that a bench was sometimes referred to as a form, possibly more by some of the other children than the teachers. This was in Yorkshire, and it might have been a local term - I've no memory of hearing it anywhere else.

At primary school here in New Zealand, also in the 1960s we also had 'forms', backless long wooden seats that four or five children could sit on.