The two Pannell Rectors and their family

There are 33 entries for the name Pannell in the Registers from 1581-1684 and a solitary one of 1782; I have listed some of them below. I also recall that there is one grave in the churchyard.

The Congregational records contain 14 entries of 4 families from 1877 to 1904. There is none in the period 1811-77 which might connect with ours.

Our Rectors belong to a local family. They owned Pannells le Hill, now Hill Farm in Ridgewell, in 1385-1613; [my note on it says it is not far from Ridgewell but I do not think this means Ridgewell Norton] also Bradfields in Toppesfield: there are Paynells in both Hedinghams: the placename Pannells Ash occurs in both Ashen & Belchamp St Paul.

There was however a Canon Thos. Paynell in Surrey & London who died in 1563 when Rector of All Hallows, Honey Lane. He could be the father of our Thos.

There are at least 3 Pairings with a Thomas in our own register:

• No 1 is our Rector with his first wife Susan: they had 810 children 15821603; he died 1624
• No 2 is with Grace; 1 child in 1623 who died ?1670 this may also be our Rector when a very old man with a new young wife who then died 15 Jan 1628

Some of the entries which I noted in about 1984 follow:

• January 1618/19 – An isolated signature at the bottom of a page that is at not the end of an o.s.year. It is clearly Robin [& possibly] Pannilz
• Thos Paynell s.o. Thos & Grace bz 20th [written CCth] July 1624. [the distorted C was a way of writing X] There is a cross in the margin & the Father is written Thomas [M] Paynell [the script M having 4 peaks] is this a sign for a posthumous [postmortem of the male parent, as opposed to a Caesarian] birth, for Rx was buried on CCth February.? This entry is pairing No 2 above.
• Jldach Paynell s.o. John & Sara bz 25 Nov 1623
• Thos Paynell, clerk, [supposedly our Rx 15781623] buried CCth(20) February 1623/4 [I deduce his birth to be about 1545 making him nearly 80 when he died.
• Thos. gent of Hedghm Sible, widower, m Sabryna of Castle H 1635 [was she a Fitch ?]
• A beautiful latin secretary hand appears in 1632, 1635&6 & 1639. He wrote year headings as well as did some work [how do I know he did ?]; he will be the parish clerk who wrote the only surviving Bishops transcript signed by John P in a quite different italic hand.
• Francis d.o. John & Rebecca bz 22 Feb 1650/51
• John s.o. John & Rebecca bz 22 Feb 1650/51 [is this a young 2d wife of Rx ?]
• John Paynell buried 29 Sep 1651 [Rx 1622-51; bz 1589; + aet 62]
• Anna d.o. Thos & Sara bz 16 Feb 1666/7 [father is probably s.o. of Rx Thos bz 1623, now aet 43; cannot be the Hedingham parents.]
• William Pannell buried 16 Aug 1684 [apart from the Robin Pannillz & this entry the name is constantly spelt Paynell] (I have a note d.o.b. 1620 + aet 64 but could be 1636 + aet 48; G O K Y)
• Sara Paynell + 15 Jan 1628 [I think J.F. asked for this]
• Canon Fitch mentions several families, mainly of Stoke, from 1442 onwards going on to his own family.

They are in Appendix B of Chapter 6 of Fitchcraft, pp 116118 but seem not to tie in with any of these entries in the Stambourne Registers. He does not mention either of our Rectors. There must be a connection but it would take a large family tree to work this out. I shall delay this until I see need for it. Much of his data come verbatim from a man called Neil whom I suspect to be a previous cleric from Stoke, but he gives no references. I have destroyed my notes on my 1984 notes.

[For the Chronology of the time of Havers see Chapter 8]

Return to Chapter 4 – The rise of nonconformity