Chief rent is an annual sum payable on some freehold property common in North West England, but found throughout the UK. Despite its name it is not a rent.
Ground rent is a regular payment required under a lease from the owner of leasehold property, payable to the freeholder. A ground rent is created when a freehold piece of land or a building is sold on a long lease.
Red text shows words or letters of which I am not convinced.
Criche
Cheife rents belonging to the
Manor of Chrich & toto due
owid at Martynmas 1581
| John Sellers for cheif of his lands | 2s | 2d | dyckinson | |
| Robt. Radford for chief of Mr Pawle lands of Wakebrydge p ann | ob | dyckinson | ||
| George Radford for cheif of Mr Babington lands p ann | 12d | dyckinson | ||
| Johne Frytcheley for cheif of ye land I received from wardley p ann 6s 8d which is ans**ryd amongst ye rent he payeth | ||||
| The cheif rents of Wynster p ann | 7s | 0d | dyckinson | |
| Thomas Woodward and Robert Taylor br cheif of Marmaduk Babington lands & p ann in Washington | 30s | 0d | dyckinson | |
| Frances Rolston cheif p ann | 5s | 8d | dyckinson | |
| Thomas Radford cheife p ann | 5s | 0d | dyckinson | |
| The chief rent of Ible p ann | 5s | 6d | dyckinson | |
| Marmaduke Babington cheife of Collington p ann | 14s | 0d | dyckinson | |
| Jerman Pawle cheif of his land p ann & one pounde of pepers1 | 5s | 8d | dyckinson | |
| The common fyne of Chriche p ann | 2s | 6d | dyckinson | |
| John Kirkeland cheif | 6d | dyckinson | ||
| Raffe Wilcockson p ann | 6d | dyckinson | ||
| Edmond Northedy p ann | 3s | 0d | dyckinson | |
| Wm Alseybreck for cheif rent to ye Chantery of Lea p ann | 13s | 4d | dyckinson | |
| Vidua2 Awrom cheif | 2s | 8d | dyckinson | |
| Henrye Ammott cheif | 20d | dyckinson | ||
| Andrewe Allen p ann | 10d | dyckinson | ||
| Sum | £5 | 0s | 12d | ob |
1Historically pepper has been very valuable and equivalent to money. In 408 AD Alaric, King of the Visigoths, demanded a large price for sparing the besieged city of Rome. The tribute included fine garments, gold, silver and three thousand kilograms of pepper. Merchants of Venice would bribe tax collectors with a pound of pepper. King Ethelred collected a tax from ships that landed at Billingsgate in the form of bags of pepper. In France a pound of pepper was enough to free a slave. In Germany a nickname for the rich was 'pepper sacks'. When the ship Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, was raised from the sea-bed nearly every sailor's body was found to have a bunch of peppercorns in his possession.
Pepper was considered as a more stable form of currency than money! In England a pound of pepper was a commonly accepted form of rent from land tenants. The term "peppercorn rent” started off meaning that such a contract was taken very seriously based on the cost of a given weight of peppercorns per year. In later years, when pepper became cheap, a custom of handing a single peppercorn to confirm a tenancy came into existence. When Prince Charles became the Duke of Cornwall he received a pound of pepper as part of his tribute.
2 Vidua is a widow
'Sheffield City Council, Libraries Archives and Information: Sheffield Archives ACM/S/114. Reproduced with permission from His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, DL and the Director of Culture, Sheffield City Council'.
Similar data also exists for the Chief rents of 1582, 1583 and 1587 – the original records are in the Sheffield City Archives, Document reference nos. ECM 5114 & 5118.
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