17th Century Tokens : Clare in Suffolk

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Click Images to View Coin Details W95: Suffolk, Clare (Farthing): (1655) O  A crescent-moon WILLIAM CADGE R  W C OF CLARE 1655 W C Image not available William Cadge was a great benefactor to the town. In his will, dated January, 1668, he described himself as occupying the Half-Moon Inn, the chief inn in the town. He bequeathed an annual payment of £25 from a farm called Bockards, in the parish of Barnardiston (otherwise Banson), in Suffolk, to the Vicar, churchwardens, and chief inhabitants of Clare, for the following uses: £10 per annum to a schoolmaster for teaching ten poor boys of Clare; £15 per annum for the clothing of eight poor widows with a blue gown, two shifts, and one pair of shoes each, every year, and to receive a twopenny loaf of bread every Sunday in the year. This annuity in a few years was much in arrear, in consequence of which the churchwardens, about the year 1736, seized the lands as security until the arrears were paid; this was never done, and the parish now has full possession of the estate. The income arising from these lands having increased to about £84 a year, a new scheme for its administration was obtained from the Court of Chancery in 1856, and the trustees now expend the same on the Town School and Widows' Charity. William Cadge died in April, 1668, aged sixty-three. His inn, the Half-Moon, yet remains in the High Street. He also issued a variety of his token from a different die, but of the same date. W96: Suffolk, Clare (Uncertain): (1664) O  A colt galloping WILLIAM COLTE R  W R C IN CLARE 1664 W R C Image not available The Colts, who originally came from Carlisle, resided at Grey's Hall, in Cavendish, adjoining Clare. Thomas Colt was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the reign of Edward IV. He died about 1473, and was buried in the parish church of Cavendish. Sir George Colt married into the family of the Poleys, of Boxstead, and their heir, Sir Henry, died in the second year of Charles I. His son, George Colt, sold his property in Cavendish and elsewhere, which he spent in the service of Charles I and II. Arms: Argent, a fess between three colts in full speed, sable. Colt's Hall, now a large farmhouse, still stands in the adjoining parish of Cavendish. W97: Suffolk, Clare (Farthing): (1656) O  An anchor, G C GEORGE CRISP G C R  WEBSTER IN CLARE 1656 WEBSTER Image not available The woollen manufacture was carried on to a considerable extent in Clare during the seventeenth century. George and Richard Crisp were the principal traders of their day. In 1714 Mr Poulter, an eminent attorney of that town, took every possible method to eradicate the manufacture, which he at last effected, and drove it to Cavendish and Glemsford, where it flourishes to the present day. W98: Suffolk, Clare (Farthing): (1656) O  WEBSTER RICHARD CRISP WEBSTER R  R C IN CLARE 1656 R C Image not available W99: Suffolk, Clare (Farthing): (1664) O  WEBSTER RICHARD CRISP WEBSTER R  R C IN CLARE 1664 R C Image not available In the Court Leet Books, amongst the verdicts of the head-boroughs of Clare, under the year 1651, it is stated that, "Uppon the complaynte of John Pettet, wee present Richard Crispe, for a fence of his lying open, to the greate annoyance of the saide John Pettet, and wee doe amerse the same Richard Crispe thurte shillings if he amend not the same fence in a fortnightes time after this Court hearing.(?)" W100: Suffolk, Clare (Farthing): (1664) O  A cross pattée, F M C 64 in the angles. FRANCES CROSSE R  A fleur-de-lys IN CLARE Image not available The figures 65 in one of the angles of the cross stand for 1664, a common mode of shortening the date at this period. The tokens of Cadge, Crisp, and Cross are engraved in the Gentleman's Magazine, Feburary, 1790, pl. 2, p. 118. W101: Suffolk, Clare (Farthing): (1668) O  A woolpack WILLIAM CROSSE R  W S C IN CLARE 1668 W S C Image not available Some of the Crosses were butchers, as, in the Court Leet books of 1622, the following entry appears: "John Crosse for selling of flesh upon the Sabbath day, we doe amerce him ij s." W102: Suffolk, Clare (Farthing): (1659) O  Arms IAMES ELLISTON R  I A E IN CLARE 1659 I A E Image not available The Arms are those of Ellison and --- families; quarterly, first and fourth, Elliston; an eagle displayed. Second and third ---; a fess between two helmets(?). The Manor of Overhall, in Gestingthorp, in Essex, belonged to the Ellistons. Memorials exist to the families of the Ellistons in Gestingthorp Church, with the same armorial bearings.

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