The Material Culture of Wills Project

@materialwills.bsky.social

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The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790: a Leverhulme Trust project using digital tech & volunteers to transcribe 25,000 wills. Visit our website: https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcultureofwills/

A photograph of the front title page of an early modern book. The print is black on a pale parchment coloured page. The text is in the centre of the front page, surrounded by a printed border with small human figures. This is an image of the frontispiece of The Institution of a Christen Man (1537), known as the Bishops’ Book, which Adeson owned a copy of. Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/institutionofchr00chur/page/n5/mode/2up
A photography of an ornate sixteenth century tapestry. It is primarily green, with plants and flowers depicted in blue, cream, and orange hues, as well as birds, and a pale unicorn in the centre. The image is: Tapestry fragment woven in wool and silk, depicting a unicorn, Flanders, ca.1500, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2026 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84543/tapestry-unknown/
An eighteenth century oil painting of Greenwich and the river Thames. It shows the river in the foreground, with sailboats, and buildings, including a church and the royal naval college. Trees and hills can be seen behind he buildings, and the sky is blue. This painting is: Samuel Scott, The Thames at Greenwich; The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-thames-at-greenwich-142722
A photograph of a silver coin with the profile of a man's head with long curly hair. The coin features Latin writing around the outside: this is a shilling featuring William III, dated 1696.
A photograph of the wills project team working as part of their 'Landmark Trust Futures' research retreat at Elton House in Bath. Five people sit around an old wooden table, with laptops, notebooks, cups of tea. The room is an eighteenth-century room with antique portraits on the walls and large windows.
A photograph of the wills project team standing outside Elton House in Bath. It shows a group of six people, wearing outdoor coats, standing outside a grey Georgian Bath townhouse, with large windows and a black front door.
A colourful chart titled 'Changing Bequests', containing changing 'areas' of colour - dark blue, orange, green, light blue, purple. The chart shows how bequests of property, cash, finance, specific goods and unspecified goods changed over time.
A seventeenth-century portrait of a man wearing black with a white lace collar. He has a grey pointed beard and moustache, appears to have dark hair or a dark hat, and is posed against a dark background. This is a portrait of Sir Francis Cottington (c.1579-1652).
A photograph featuring a print in the style of an early modern woodcut, of 4 white skulls against a black background. Below the print is the lino stamp that was used to create the print, as well as two badges that were made from the skull print design. The badges are blue and black in colour and also have glitter.
A photo of three people standing and sitting behind a table - the table is covered in a black cloth, and has photographs, leaflets, and a laptop on it. A banner behind the table reads 'The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790'. This is a photograph of three members of the project team, from left to right, Emily Vine, Laura Sangha, and Harry Smith, running an interactive stall about the 'Material Culture of Wills' project at the Festival of Social History.
A photograph of a golden statue of Mary the Mother of God. The statue is in a golden archway, with a blue backdrop. The gold statue has a halo, and has been mutilated, so it is missing arms, and there is damage to the face. There is green foliage and white flowers in front of the statue, on the left hand side of the photo. This is a photo of the statue that Sit Francis Cottington left the 'Jewell of Diamonds' to. The ‘Virgen Vulnerata’ is a mutilated statue of Our Lady at the English College in Valladolid - Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virgen_Vulnerata_de_Valladolid_(2024).jpg
A photograph of an eighteenth century writing desk, which is made of a light coloured varnished wood, and photographed against a grey background. Further information about the image: Writing table with raised compartments (bonheur du jour), About 1775 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O113530/writing-table-roger-vandercruse-lacroix/
A photograph of hundreds of flat gravestones in a cemetery, with a grey sky, grey and brown buildings at the end of the cemetery, and brown leaves on the ground around the gravestones. This is a photograph of the Novo or New Sephardic Jewish Cemetery at Mile End (now part of Queen Mary University of London). Photo © Emily Vine, 2025
A photograph of Bevis Marks synagogue in the City of London, built in 1701. The photograph shows a close up of a brown-red brick building, with a grand wooden front door with a gas lamp, large windows, and a clock and a sign with some hebrew characters above the door. The image comes from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bevis_Marks_Synagogue_P6110044.JPG
The header of the Material Culture of Wills newsletter. Black text reads 'The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790 Spring 2026 Newsletter'.
A photograph of an ornamental carved wooden swan, white with an orange beak, which is on a green ornamental wall bracket. The wall bracket is attached to the sandy coloured wall of a historic building, and flanked by two sash windows. The swan faces away from the wall, looking out towards the street. Image Credit: A Grade II Listed sixteenth-century swan. A carved wooden swan on an ornamental cast-iron bracket, 11 Sadler Street, Wells, Somerset. Image credit: Tony Cooper / Art UK, (CC BY-NC) https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/swan-281128
A photograph of an ornamental carved wooden swan, white with an orange beak, which is on a green ornamental wall bracket. The wall bracket is attached to the sandy coloured wall of a historic building, and flanked by two sash windows. The swan faces away from the wall, looking out towards the street. Image Credit: A Grade II Listed sixteenth-century swan. A carved wooden swan on an ornamental cast-iron bracket, 11 Sadler Street, Wells, Somerset. Image credit: Tony Cooper / Art UK, (CC BY-NC) https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/swan-281128
A photograph of an ornate eighteenth-century silver punch ladle. It is positioned at an angle, with the ladle in the bottom left and the handle pointing towards the top right, positioned against a white background. Image caption: Cast, chased and engraved silver punch ladle; London hallmarks for 1738-39, mark of Paul de Lamerie, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O156415/ladle-lamerie-paul-de/
A photograph of Church Lane, Catwick, Yorkshire, including the church where this month's testator hoped to be buried. On the left of the photograph is a row of white houses, in the middle, towards the back of the composition, is a grey stone parish church, and on the right of the photograph is a grey road leading towards the church, bordered by green grass and hedges. The sky at the top of the photograph contains grey-white clouds. Photograph: Church Lane, Catwick, with the churchyard in the background where Mary Young hoped to be buried next to James Young Church Lane, Catwick. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_Lane,_Catwick_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1816304.jpg
A black and white printed frontispiece from an early modern book. The text in the centre reads 'Four Choice Carols for Christmas Holidays.' Carol I. On Christmas Day. Carol II. On St. Stephen's Day. Carol III. On St. John's-Day. Carol IV. On Innocent's Day. Being very necessary and proper to be had in all Christian Families. There are three woodcut images underneath - of St Matthew on the left, the Virgin and child in the centre, and St John on the right. Detail from FOUR Choice CAROLS for CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS (London, 1700-1).
Photograph of Georgian buildings in Bath, in the centre is Elton House, owned by the Landmark Trust. It is a three story building with regular windows top to bottom. It's frontage has not been blast cleaned so is shades of darker brown.
A seventeenth-painting of a red parrot, with some blue and yellow feathers, against a brown rocky landscape. The parrot is on a brown perch, and is facing towards the left side of the painting. The file is: Parrot or Ara rouge sur son perchoir, seventeenth century, attributed to Tommaso Salini, File:Exposition Phantasma (Le Voyage à Nantes 2014) (14792256749).jpg
A photograph of a cream coloured stocking, folded over, and photographed against a black background. The stocking has green stitching on the side. Man’s stockings or boot hose, 1590-1630, English; linen embroidered with green silk thread https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78739/pair-of-stockings-unknown/ © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025
Screenshot of an online meeting with 6 attendees. All are wearing Christmas jumpers, three are seated in front of Christmas trees or decorations, two wear floppy santa hats.
A screenshot of a working version of the project database. The cells of the datasheet are grey, with the top row highlighted blue. The datasheet shows lists of testator names, their occupation, location and archive reference.
A screenshot from our Zooniverse website, with a banner that shows that the project data has now been completed. The webpage contains black, green, and gold banners spanning across the top of the page, and the title of the Zooniverse project 'The Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790'. On the left half of the screen is a close up of an early modern manuscript, and on the right half, a textual description of the zooniverse project, featuring grey text on a white background.
A long black waistcoat with black buttons on a mannequin.
A monotone painting of Haverfordwest Castle - a romantic looking building set in rolling hills with some houses clustered around it's foot.
A photograph of the Wills project team meeting in a room at the University of Exeter. There are six people in the photograph, sitting around a table with laptops in front of them, looking at a screen on the wall which contains a colourful graph. The carpet is grey and the walls are white. There are glass doors in the wall at the back of the room which overlook grass.
A photograph of a brown embroidered ribbon on a black background. The ribbon is curled on the right hand side, and decorated with embroidery, including green plants and white and yellow flowers. Ribbon, embroidered, ca. 1600, English https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O10418/ribbon-unknown/ ©Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025
A photograph of a rosary - a loop of string threaded with brown beads, some with symbols painted on them. Rosary of 30 unglazed earthenware beads of red and black clay, British Museum 2009,8038.1.a-b https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_2009-8038-1-a-b?selectedImageId=1310905001 © The Trustees of the British Museum
A photograph of a black and gold cabinet, taken at the National Trust property Ham House. The black cabinet has several patterned drawers, and its doors are open. It stands on an ornate gold table, next to a wooden chair and a patterned screen, on a wooden floor, and in front of patterned walls. Description: a lacquer cabinet made from imported incised Coromandel lacquer panels with japanned interiors and mounted on a European gilded wood stand. 
A poster with a white background and black text, with a blue border at the top of the poster, and photographs of manuscripts. The title of the poster reads Warwick History ‘POST-DOC’ CLUB METHODOLOGIES SERIES. Online Meeting: Weds 22 October at 5pm DIGITIZATION & CITIZEN SCIENCE: Inviting collaborative research to transcribe handwriting. With Harry Smith and Emily Vine of the Material Culture of Wills, 1540-1790 project at the University of Exeter.
A 1720 drawing of Bridewell Prison, seen from above, from “The Prospect of Bridewell” from John Strype‘s An Accurate Edition of Stow’s “A Survey of London“ (1720) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridewell_Palace#/media/File:Prospect_of_Bridewell.jpg
A newsletter - mainly consisting of text, with some photos of a workshop in the bottom corner.
A photograph of a gold mourning ring and a small gold crucifix. Catalogues caption: an Example of a ‘Enamelled gold mourning ring, The hoop with a skull reserved in black enamel inscribed Non hic Sr. N. S. obt 30 June 86, England, date 1686’. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O125929/mourning-ring-unknown
A 1720 drawing of Bridewell Prison, seen from above, from “The Prospect of Bridewell” from John Strype‘s An Accurate Edition of Stow’s “A Survey of London“ (1720) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridewell_Palace#/media/File:Prospect_of_Bridewell.jpg
A screenshot of the banner for The Material Culture of Wills Autumn 2025 newsletter.
A photo montage showing Laura Sangha and Chris Hoban talking to people, looking at wills, visiting a museum. There are also images of people creating linocuts at a workshop, and of a will.
A photo montage showing Laura Sangha and Chris Hoban talking to people, looking at wills, visiting a museum. There are also images of people creating linocuts at a workshop, and of a will.
A book showing colourful flowery designs for woven silk. The book is opened and set against a black background. Design for woven silk from the ‘Leman Album’, pencil, pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour on laid paper, possibly by James Leman, 1734. James Leman was a second-generation Huguenot refugee, and silk weaver and designer who was living and working in Spitalfields at the same time as our featured testator. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O65210/design-leman-james/ © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025
A photograph of a row of eighteenth-century townhouses in Spitalfields, East London, with blue sky and some cars parked on the street. Master Weavers would have lived in large townhouses like the ones in Fournier Street in Spitalfields. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:25_to_41_Fournier_Street,_Spitalfields_(01).jpg
A wooden coffer with a lock, Coffer, Mexico (Villa Alta), 1700-1750, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118973/coffer-unknown/
A greyscale eighteenth -century print of a servant woman being turned out of a house and on to the streets. The woman exits a door and down some steps in the centre of the painting, two other women stand in the doorway behind her, the streets are filled with destitute looking people. Thomas Gaugain: Diligence and Dissipation: The Wanton turn’d out of Doors for Misconduct (Plate 5) (1797) Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:20235
Chris Hoban speaking in front a projector screen.
A photograph of Kit Barton presenting, standing in front of a large projector screen, in a classroom. Kit is standing at a lecturn on the left hand side of the photograph.