Little is known about the early years of the Piggin family, before it obtained
freehold property in the village of Ockbrook in Derbyshire in 1583. It is probable
that the Piggins had already been substantial farmers in the area well before that date.
A man named Oliver Piggin had taken holy orders in the Diocese of Lichfield about 1490, before the Reformation, and became vicar of Heanor, several kilometres north of Ockbrook. He is documented holding that office in 1536 and had probably been there since much earlier. A William
Piggin was a member of the city council of Nottingham in 1577, and a John Piggin
was a substantial taxpayer in London in 1582. All of these men could well have
been close relations of the Ockbrook Piggin family.
It is conceivable
that the Ockbrook Piggin family may have profited from the first dissolution of the English monasteries
by King Henry VIII in 1536, which led to the suppression in 1538 of nearby Dale
Abbey and gave the king direct control over the tithes, or church taxes, in
Ockbrook. As will be seen below, the Piggin family later purchased partial control of the rectory of Ockbrook, and they appear to have taken over one of the farms that had been run by the monks and had supplied Dale Abbey with food, Little Hay Grange (picture). This appears to have been sold again in 1635: a deed names the acquired property as Little Haie Grange alias Piggins Grange (Cameron, Place-Names of Derbyshire, page 488, reference to the Trusley Collection, which is privately owned).
In 1583, John Piggin ( -1594) was affluent enough to purchase one-tenth of the manor of Ockbrook from Lord Frederick Windsor in combination with other yeoman farmers.
Frederick Lord Windsor, in 1583, conveyed [the manor of Ockbrook] to the principal freeholders, namely, John Piggin, Thomas Battell, the elder, Thomas Fowke, William Colubell, Richard Saunderson, Thomas Adams, Edward Adams, Richard Cowper, William Windley, the younger, and William Hibbard. The lands were divided, but the manor continued in undivided shares.
[Source]
Magna Britannia: volume 5: Derbyshire (1817), pp. 217-28 'Parishes: Newton-Solney - Mickleover'. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/
The deed dividing the manor of Ockbrook into ten
parts: Deed of bargain and sale from Frederick Lord Wyndsore to John Piggen,
Thomas Battell the elder, Thomas Fowke, William Columbell, Richard Saunderson,
Thomas Adams, Edward Adams, Richard Cowper, William Wyndley the younger, and
William Hibbarde alias Hubbard the elder, all of Ockbrook, husbandmen, of
the manor of Ockbrook and several messuages and lands in Ockbrook [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/41
- date: 1583 (Pares)
Although John, as part-squire of Ockbrook, would have qualified to obtain a coat of arms, neither he nor his descendants appear to have ever sought a grant. Joseph Tilley in Old Halls, Manors and Families of Derbyshire lists all the arms awarded under the Repton and Morleston Armoury, and enters "Piggin, of Ockbrook" at page 159 of volume (IV?) with a blank.
John's enjoyment of his land and manor was not to last for long: only eight years
later his health must have been declining. In 1591, he transferred his principal
assets to his second son Robert. The remainder of this valuable farming property
passed to Robert when John died in 1594. No will of John has been found, so it would appear that this living gift was complete.
Settlement of a messuage and farm in Ockbrook, four
lands in Abbey Field in Ockbrook and a cottage in Borrowash, John Piggin
of Ockbrook to his second son Robert [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/11
- date: [1591] (Pares)
Deed of gift of lands and tenements in Ockbrook and
Borrowash, John Piggen of Ockbrook to his son Robert [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/12
- date: [1591] (Pares)
Deed of gift and transfer from John Piggen
of Ockbrook to his son Robert, of all his goods, chattels and personal possessions
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/13 - date: [1591] (Pares)
Indenture accompanying valuation of property in Ockbrook
inherited by Robert Piggin from his father John [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/14
- date: 1594 (Pares)
Robert Piggin I
Robert was possibly a witness to the Shelford-Stanhope feud. He must have prospered along with the expanding economy of Jacobean England.
He conducted the farming business for 28 years.
Robert Piggin named as one of the inhabitants'
representatives in a lease of two common closes in Ockbrook from the churchwardens
and inhabitants of Ockbrook to William Lowe and Austin Fayrbrother
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/43 - date: 1602 (Pares)
Original will of Robert Piggen of Ockbrook
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/1 - date: 1619 (Pares)
Robert Piggen
Ockbrook
Will
1619
September 27, yeo. [See also
Phillimore
Calendar, page
316]
- eldest son Robert (messuage in Ockbrook and
cottage in Borrowash)
- wife Catheryne
- daughter Elizabeth
- daughter Isabell
- three sons John, Richard, Arthur,
- daughter Jane
- daughter Catherine
- daughter Lucy
[Inventory]
long inventory, very fragile and faded
[Archive]
Lichfield Record Office
Robert
PIGGIN
1619
DBY
17 James I, Derbyshire
[Source]
Inquisitions Post Mortem, Chancery Series II, volume 414, number 62; in: Lists & Indexes, PRO Kew, volume XXXI
Robert Piggin II
The heir, Robert Piggin, was still under age when he came into the estate,
and his mother was initally appointed his guardian with authority over the family
business affairs until he turned 21. The presence in the Pares papers of a deed
(not yet seen) involving land at Loscoe suggests that the Ockbrook Piggin family
may have still had some cross-interests with its cousins in Loscoe during Robert's
lifetime.
Indenture granting wardship of Robert Piggin, son
of late Robert Piggin, to Katherine Piggin of Ockbrook; with accompanying
valuation of property in Ockbrook [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/15
- date: 1620 (Pares)
Conveyance of house and land in Loscoe (Piggin-Piggin)
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/9/1 - date: 1641 (Pares)
By early middle age, Robert of Ockbrook appears as a trustee in various relative's wills and is continuing to enlarge the estate after the Civil War period (1642–1646 and 1648–1649).
Robertus Piggen of Okebrooke mentioned in
1633 list
[Source]
The Vills and Freeholders of Derbyshire.
Copy will of Richard Osborne of Ockbrook naming
Robert Piggen as trustee [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/5
- date: 1639 (Pares)
Settlement of a messuage in Ockbrook, Richard Osborne
to two trustees (one of whom is Robert Piggin) [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/33
- date: [1640] (Pares)
Bargain and sale with feoffment of property in
Ockbrook (Battell-Piggin) ... comprises four lands in the Upperfield
in Ockbrook, a piece of meadow ground in the Wyacres, a piece of meadow
ground in the Upper Meadow, and a cow pasture in the Horse Croft Pasture[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/16
- date: 1651 (Pares)
Two parts of a final concord of houses and lands
in Horscroft [Horse Croft], Ockbrook and Borrowash (Battell-Piggin)
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/17-18 - date: 1651 (Pares)
Conveyance of a cottage in Ockbrook (Osbourne and
Bourlie-Piggin) [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/19 - date:
1653 (Pares)
Bond to perform covenants, Robert Osborne of Donington
(Leicestershire) and Thomas Bowlie of Ockbrook to Robert Piggin
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/8 - date: 1653 (Pares)
Two copies of bargain and sale with feoffment of
a messuage in Ockbrook and a close of meadow called Peccadell Close in Spondon
(Osborne-Piggen) [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/20-21 -
date: 1657 (Pares)
Miscellaneous document, mentions lands in Spondon, and author's sister Rachell,
wife of Richard Piggin [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/9
- date: 1660 (Pares)
Bond from Henry Smith jr of Ockbrook to Richard
Piggin of Ockbrook relating to a bond to John Harrison of Allestree
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/10 - date: 1664 (Pares)
Bond to indemnify the parish of Ockbrook if Thomas
Foule or any member of his family should need poor relief, William Soare
of Allestree and William Foule of Sandiacre to Robert Piggin, Christopher
Storer, Thomas Cowper and Joseph Stevens of Ockbrook [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/20/2
- date: 1670 (Pares)
Robert Piggin senior and Robert Piggin
junior named on list of freeholders in Ockbrook and payments for foot soldiers
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/20/7 - date: [17th century] (Pares)
List of names and monetary values, including Robert
and Richard Piggin [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/20/9 - date:
[17th century] (Pares)
Probated will of Robert Piggin of Ockbrook
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/11 - date: 1671 (Pares)
Robert Piggin
Ockbrook
Will
1671
April 7, yeoman
- son Robert
- daughter Katherine
- son William
- son John
- son Thomas
- son Richard
- son Christopher Bentley, son Robert Wilson,
sister Kath. Reed
- bequest to Eliz. Coote
[Executor]
son Robert Piggin.
Supervisor: Richard Piggin of Ockbrook
[Signature]
Signed R.B. [?]
[Witnesses]
Christopher Bentley, etc.
[Inventory £344:18:8d]
by Richard Piggin (X), John Piggin, Tho. Piggin (X), etc.
[Archive]
Lichfield Record Office
Robert Piggin III
The estate then passes to Robert Piggin III, who becomes involved in various
lawsuits, beginning with an effort to dun money from a member of the Chamberlain
family, perhaps because they had allegedly owed money to his father, Robert
II.
Appointment of attorney by Robert Piggin
to collect debts from Elias Chamberline [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/13
- date: 1672 (Pares)
Summons to Robert Piggin, Robert Holland
and Thomas Sanderson to attend court in Derby in a case between James Osbourne
and Edward James [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/12 - date: 1672
(Pares)
Feoffment of a messuage in Ockbrook (Morley-Piggen),
with accompanying bond to perform covenants [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/22-23
- date: 1676 (Pares)
Bargain and sale with feoffment of a meadow in Ockbrook
called the Little Thackmeadow (Osbourne-Piggin) [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/24
- date: 1678 (Pares)
Robert Piggin named as one of the overseers
in a bond to indemnify the overseers of the poor of the parish of Ockbrook
against payment of poor relief, by John and Elisha Coxon of Ambaston, as
sureties for William Coxon and his family (newly arrived in Ockbrook)
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/20/5 - date: 1679 (Pares)
Articles of agreement relating to sale of a one-third
share in a house and property in Ockbrook (Burton-Piggin) [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/26
- date: 1689 (Pares)
Draft deed relating to property of Robert Piggin
in Ockbrook [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/27 - date: [17th century?]
(Pares)
There was also a conflict over entitlement to the tithes, or church taxes,
at Ockbrook, and a court battle with a neighbouring farmer, Thomas Sanderson (owner of the Saunderson tenth?),
over a land transaction at Ockbrook. The significance of the tithes is made clear in the note on Ockbrook in the Bulmer Derbyshire directory (about 1880, pages 570-571): "Ockbrook remained a chapelry to Elvaston till after the dissolution of monasteries when the tithes passed into lay hands. The living is now a vicarage, worth £250 per annum, with residence, in the gift of E. H. Pares, Esq."
Copy royal grant of Rectory of Ockbrook, referring
to previous grant by King Henry VIII [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/11/1
- date: [1631] (Pares)
W Wightwick [see below] to Robert Piggen, 28 Sep 1693
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/3/572/3 - date: 1693 (Pares)
Letter, Alex Stanhope to Robert Piggin, concerning
the rectory at Ockbrook [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/11/4 - date:
[17th century?] (Pares)
Robert Piggen to [Philip Stanhope, 2nd] Earl
of Chesterfield, 5 Mar 1693 [1693/4][Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/3/572/2
- date: 1694 (Pares)
Confirmation of purchase by Robert Piggin
from the Earl of Chesterfield, of Ockbrook tithes [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/11/2
- date: [1694] (Pares)
Part of legal case, Rev. William Whightwick v Robert
Piggin, over presentation to the parish of Ockbrook [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/11/3
- date: 1694 (Pares)
Henry Gilbert to [Mr] Piggen, 17 Nov 1673
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/3/572/1 - date: 1673 (Pares)
Bargain and sale of a selion of arable land in the
Upper Field and a moiety of a piece of meadow ground in the Upper Field (Sanderson-Piggin)
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/25 - date: [1686] (Pares)
Final Concord (2nd part): Piggin v. Sanderson
and others. Locations: Ockbrook and Derby, Derbyshire; Trinity Term 1689
[Archive]
Nottingham University Me D 9/10 - date: 1689 (Papers of the Mellish Family
of Hodsock, Nottinghamshire)
Promissory note by Edward James to produce for Robert
Piggin senior a deed relating to a sale by Thomas Sanderson of Ockbrook
of house and property in Ockbrook [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/19
- date: 1695 (Pares)
Other transactions during this period appeared to involve the complex web of kin in Ockbrook and nearby places such as Spondon to the west and Long Eaton to the west:
Bond to perform covenants, James Osborne of Ockbrook
to Robert Piggin [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/15 - date:
1678 (Pares)
Settlement by lease and release of various closes
of meadow, six selions of arable land in Draycott Field and four cowgates
in the common pasture of Ockbrook, James Osborne to trustees Robert Piggin
and James Holland, to his own use for life and then to his daughter Gertrude,
wife of James Holland, and her heirs [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/35-36
- date: 1684 (Pares)
Bond for repayment of £20, Thomas Piggin
and Robert Piggin jr of Ockbrook to Elizabeth Bennet of Spondon
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/16 - date: 1691 (Pares)
Receipt for money paid by Robert Piggin to
James Motteram [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/17 - date: 1694 (Pares)
Note from Samuel Heathcote of Derby to Robert Piggin
the elder of Ockbrook, arranging a meeting [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/18
- date: [1694] (Pares)
Bond for payment of £170, John Piggin
of Ockbrook to Robert Bonsall of Long Eaton [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/20
- date: 1696 (Pares)
Evidence about Robert Piggin's property
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/21 - date: [17th century] (Pares)
Draft letter to 'Brother Piggen' [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/22
- date: [late 17th century] (Pares)
Agreement and associated bond, John Dakin and Thomas
Dakin his father to the overseers of the poor (Thomas Piggin named
as one of the overseers) for the parish of Ockbrook, indemnifying the parish
against expenses relating to Anne, bastard child of Sarah Phipps
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/20/6 - date: 1691 (Pares)
At the same time, Robert oversaw the affairs and estates of several of his Ockbrook relatives as they died.
Richard Piggin
Ockbrook
Will
1679
May 9
- to only daughter Catherine Piggin - sole exec
[Witnesses]
Wm Bennet, John Piggin, Pascha Piggin X
[Inventory £92:2:2d]
by Robert Piggin, John Piggin
[Archive]
Lichfield Record Office
William Piggin
Ockbrooke
Adm
1681
[Grant 1681-08-15]
to Tho. Piggin, brother
X Tho. Piggin, Robert Piggin
[Inventory £107:8:8d]
by William Bennet, Rob. Piggin, John Piggin
[Archive]
Lichfield Record Office. Also noted in the following index: Probate Accounts
of England & Wales K - Z, BRS Vol 113 page 438 - 442: Piggin, William
of Ockbrook, Derbyshire 1683, LJRO/B/C/5/1682/5 (LJRO refers to Lichfield
Joint Record Office).
John Piggin
Ockbrook
Will
1695
April 26, yeoman, land in Spondon
- daughter Judith - her uncle Rob. Piggin and
brother John Pigin to consent to her marriage
- daughter Mary Johnson - her son John
Johnson
- kinsman Robert Wilson - his brother Elias
Wilson
- bequests to Joseph Bones/Bowes and his
wife, and to servant Dorothy Fox and servant James Lacey
[Executor]
son John Piggin - exec.
Brother Robert Piggin and kinsman Henry K----, overseers
[Witnesses]
(illegible) and Jane Piggin (X) and John Johnson
[Inventory £249:4:2d]
by Robert Piggin senior, Robert Piggin junior and John Johnson
[Archive]
Lichfield Record Office
Thomas Piggin
Ockbrook
Will
1696
Oct 16, yeoman
- son Robert
- daughter Mary Bingham
Brother Robert owes him money from their father's legacy
[Inventory £120:00:4d]
by John Piggin, Robert Piggin, Tho. Bingham
[Archive]
Lichfield Record Office
Hopwell Hall Acquires Piggin Lands
The owner of the palatial country house Hopwell Hall expanded his estate at
the start of the 18th century by purchasing Piggin land, probably from the aging
(and childless?) Robert Piggin III. This transaction has proved fortunate for
later scholarship, since a large collection of family papers was probably acquired
at the same time by the purchaser, Henry Keyes, and were preserved by Hopwell's
later owners, the Pares family, and donated in 2000 to the Derbyshire Record
Office. Whereas most pre-Civil War documents about Derbyshire have vanished
forever through incineration, rot or negligence, this jumbled stock of papers
was kept safe and has now been skilfully catalogued by Records archivists to
reveal who was who. Hopwell Hall itself, by then used as a school, vanished
in a fire in 1957 (though Nottingham County Council built a new Hall of steel
and concrete on the site as a special school for delinquents and this has since
been converted into a vast and evidently tasteless private home).
Settlement by lease and release of a share in the
manor of Ockbrook, one messuage or farm, three cottages and the moiety of
a cottage, the Rectory and advowson of Ockbrook and lands in Ockbrook and
Borrowash (Piggen-Kayes) [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/7/3
- date: 1700 (Pares)
Rectory and advowson settled to the use of Henry
Kayes the younger and his heirs; the rest of the estate settled to the use
of the Piggin family of Ockbrook with remainder to Henry Kayes the
younger [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/7/3 - date: 1700 (Pares)
Release of the Manor, Rectory and advowson of Ockbrook
and other premises in Ockbrook (Piggen-Kayes). [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/7/4
- date: 1700 (Pares)
Robert died childless, thus ending his line. His will appears to have triggered a considerable amount of litigation.
Robert Piggin
Ockbrook
Will
1701
July 4, yeoman
- wife (not named)
- cousin Rob. Wilson
- cousin Mary Johnson
- cousin Pascha Anndell
- cousin Judith Bonsall
[Executor]
nephew Robert Piggin - exec
[Inventory £805:6:2d]
by Rob Rowland, Fr. Goodwin, Steph. Grongnet vic. Ockbrook (Note: There is a book about this vicar: A French Parson at Ockbrook, Stephen Grongnet 1694-1733, by Marion Johnson.)
[Archive]
Lichfield Record Office:
Further copy and related documents in Derbyshire Record Office bundle D5336/2/22
Probated will of Robert Piggin of Ockbrook
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/24 - date: 1701 (Pares)
Accounts of the executors of the late Robert Piggin
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/23 - date: 1700-1706 (Pares)
Inventory of the goods of the late Robert Piggin
of Ockbrook [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/25 - date: 1701 (Pares)
Schedule of debts owed to the late Robert Piggin
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/26 - date: circa 1701 (Pares)
Schedule of debts of the late Robert Piggin
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/27 - date: 1703-1707 (Pares)
Comprises long list of names including Robert Piggin
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/20/11 - date: 1703 (Pares)
Control of the estate passed to Robert Piggin IV, apparently a nephew who had been born about 1680, but his enjoyment of these riches was to be short, as he died only five years after inheriting. As a freeholder with land exceeding 40 shillings in annual value, Robert had the vote at the December 1701 election for two Derbyshire seats in the House of Commons. From a letter written to Thomas Coke (1675–1727) of Melbourne Hall, Derbyshire, Piggin would appear to have been a Whig, as he attended a political meeting which was organized by a Mr Pole of the losing faction. The winners, Thomas Coke and John Curzon, were Tories, and Coke employed agents to collect intelligence about the opponents.
1702 January 24 (new style): (Kings Newton) — Robert Hardinge to (Thomas Coke). Wednesday last Mr. Pole held a Court of Information at Phillip Bisse his house in Derby. John Cantrell was to have been one, but timely prevented. The faults were Edward Wilne's and William Racon's: both would have been justified if he had gone. They are very industrious, going to every town, and informing themselves by any that gave them a vote. Mr. Turner tells me that the difference of the poll is but 13, not 19, as the Sheriff's scrutiny was. You had best be armed with a true pollbook, signed by the Sheriff or Deputy; and you must expect that there will be in it by mistake of clerkship several bungles or mistakes of names. As for Jefferyes, I find no such thing in the book I have inclosed, a subscription for a Common Hall at Derby. The gentlemen at this meeting was only Pole. Mr. Wilmot was sent for, but whether or not there, I cannot tell. There was Webster of Caldwell, Cantrell of Hartshorne, Sa: Stone of Stenson, Robert White of Breaston, Piggin of Ockbrook, two Gisborne's, two Cromptons, Sir Charles Pye's man, William Cope of Windley, Pegge, Mr. Shaw's brother, and three or four shabby fellows, that I suppose were their knights of the post. So that you must expect a thousand lies. They had another meeting at Brassington: Mr Bagshaw was there, who else I know not. If the subscription be not dangerous, the sooner the better. They have set out the Pool, but cannot get them to a rent: some of Melbourne hang off. I have drawn out articles which they seem to like.
[Source]
Historical Manuscripts Commission; The Manuscripts of the Earl Cowper Preserved at Melbourne Hall, vol II (1888), page 451
The testamentary disposition of Robert IV also triggered litigation against his executors. Thereafter, the only remnants of the Piggin family were at nearby Spondon.
Robert Piggin
Ockbrook
Will
1706
May 21
- contract to buy land in Chaddesden from
Joseph Wandell, in occupation of Samuel Goodwin, to be completed by
executor
- wife Jane
- late uncle Robert Piggin
- cousin Robert Wilson
- cousin John Piggin
- cousin Edw. Buxton
- bequest to John Bennet of Derby, Richard
Lewis of Derby and Stephen Grognet, vicar
- Thomas, son of sister Brigham
- my honoured mother Mary - she to pay to
Dorothy wife of Henry Barber
- cousin John Piggin, son of my late uncle
John Piggin
[Executor]
my wife and cousin Robert Wilson
executors
Cousin Edw. Buxton the elder and Richard
Lewis supervisors
[Inventory £791.14.4½d]
[Archive]
Lichfield Record Office
Inventories and valuations of the goods of the late
Robert Piggin of Ockbrook [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/28
- date: 1706 (Pares)
Addition to schedule of debts of Robert Piggin
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/29 - date: 1706 (Pares)
Note of agreement between John Johnson, his wife
Jane and Robert Wilson (Jane and Robert being executors of Robert Piggin)
and Abraham Bennet, for monies collected by Bennet for Piggin
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/30 - date: 1707 (Pares)
Answers to queries by Mrs Piggin on Robert Piggin's
inventory [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/31 - date: [1707] (Pares)
Petition of Mary Piggin (widow of Thomas
and mother of Robert Piggin) to the Lord Chancellor, relating to a case
arising from Robert Piggin's will [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/33
- date: [1708] (Pares)
Bill and answer in Chancery case relating to dispute
over late Robert Piggin's property [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/42
- date: [early 18th century] (Pares)
Robert Piggen to Mr Lowe, received 25 Feb
1705 [1705/6] [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/3/572/4 - date: 1706 (Pares)
Bond to abide by an arbitration, John Johnson
to Marie Piggin of Radford (Nottinghamshire), widow [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/2/22/34
- date: 1708 (Pares)
This will established the Piggin charity at Ockbrook, which as far as we know has been consolidated into other charities since that time. It is for example referred to in the late 19th century Bulmer Derbyshire directory entry relating to Ockbrook:directory:
CHARITIES—Robert Piggin, in 1706, left 40s. yearly, payable out of a farm at Chaddesden, to
be distributed amongst the poor of the parish on Good Friday (page 571)
John Piggin
Spondon
Will
1726
October 4, yeoman, will made 14 March 1723/4
- wife Catherine
- daughter Catherine
- Servant Mary Dickson
[Executor]
Robert Wilnot senior, Robert Wilnot junior of Chaddesden and John
Johnson of Oakbrook trustees
[Witnesses]
William Sheperdson, Mary Standley senior X, John Braddock
[Archive]
Lichfield Record Office
Final concord of two messuages and land in Wilne,
Shardlow, Aston upon Trent, Borrowash, Spondon and Ockbrook, Johnson and
Piggin (plaintiffs) v. Harrison (deforciants) [Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office D5336/1/10/28
- date: [1729] (Pares)
Item relating to messuage and land in Ockbrook,
messuage cottage and land in Spondon and persons named Willoughbey, Bingham,
Piggin and Mundy, 1744, enrolled Jan 18 Geo II [1745]
[Archive]
Derbyshire Record Office Q/RR/15/1/7-9 - date: 1745 (Registration of Papists'
Deeds and Wills)
Francis Goodwin
Spondon
Will
1761
October 13, yeoman
- son John Piggin Goodwin
- wife Katherine [Piggin?]
[Archive]
Researched by Liz Reading, personal communication 2005.
John Piggin Goodwin
Spondon
Administration
1798
April 24, farmer
Farmer of Spondon, Derbyshire
[Archive]
The National Archives: Abstracts of administrations and probates of wills; reference IR 26/353
From that time onwards, the only evidence to remain of the Piggin family's existence in Ockbrook was Piggin Wood, a patch of forest north of the village, apparently named after the family. One of the earliest Ockbrook maps, the enclosure map of 1773 at Derbyshire Record Office (Q/RIc 27), is likely to give some idea of its original bounds, since the map covers the entire parish.