Hall," when 9 pieces of old wood and 44 pounds of lead were bought "from the church" for that purpose. Towards this work a sum of £7 16s. 012d. was lent, the Mayor himself contributing 10s. "The church" was no doubt St. Martin's, but the accounts of the Churchwardens of that church for the year 1556-7 are unfortunately wanting.
The Mayor and his Brethren must have been anxious to obtain the freehold of the new Hall, and they entrusted the negotiations, it would seem, to Robert Braham, who was appointed to the Recordership of Leicester in 1558, and who was M.P. for the town in four parliaments.
Braham completed the matter a few years later through a Mrs. Pickerell, a wealthy widow of Norwich. She belonged to a very well-known and prosperous Norfolk family, being a daughter of Augustin Steward of Norwich, esquire, (who was Sheriff of Norwich in 1526, Mayor in 1534 and 1546, and M.P, for Norwich in 1542), and of Elizabeth, daughter of William Read of Beccles, Suffolk, esquire. Mrs. Pickerell's grandfather was Geoffrey Steward of Norwich, and she was named after her paternal grandmother Cecilia, a daughter of Augustin Boyce.[1]
The family of the Pickerells was also well-known at Norwich. Thomas Pickerell, who died in 1544-5, had been Mayor of the city three times, and he was, in all probability, nearly related to John Pickerell, the husband of Cecilia Steward.[2] John Pickerell lived at Dichborough, near Diss, in the county of Norfolk; and it does not appear that he had any connection with
- ↑ See the Steward pedigree in the Visitation of Norfolk, 1563, (Harleian Society, 1891) 368-270, and Rye's Index to Norfolk Pedigrees (Norwich 1896) p.116. Mr. George Farnham of Quorn has very kindly called my attention to another trace of Mrs. Pickerell's business transactions. Common Pleas Plea Roll 1224 Michaelmas 7 Elizabeth m. 894. A.D. 1564. "Cecilia Pyckerell of the City of Norwich, widow v. Roger Mansell of Pedmore co. Worcester yeoman Ralph Sheldon of Bewley co. Worcester gent and John Famham of the Palace of the lady the Queen esquire in pleas of debt of £100 respectively."
- ↑ In Thomas Pickerell's will, dated 10th September, 1545, and proved 13th March, 1545-6, the Testator mentions a son Edmund and a brother Edward, but no John. John may have been either brother, son, or nephew of Thomas. The arms of Pickerell were "sable, a swan close argent, a chief ermine."
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