Pyke, Joan

Notes:

Probably wife of the Richard Peke. In Devon, as in certain other counties, there was a system of granting leases for three lives, the tenancy passing by lineal inheritance. The Bedford Estate Survey of the Manor of Blackawton dated 1585 reveals that Joan Pyke was the first of three lives to hold the tenancy of the Abbotsleigh farm and that when she died in 1543/44 the tenancy was claimed and granted to her son Richard Pyke (Peke) as the second of three lives on 23 March 1543/44. As the date of her husband's death is not known it is not clear when and in what circumstances Joan Pyke obtained the tenancy. When Torre Abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538 the Manor of Blackawton was acquired (in 1539) by Lord John Russell, later first Earl of Bedford of the second creation. It is possible that the last Abbot of Torre, Simon Rede, granted the tenancy of the Abbotsleigh farm direct to Joan Pyke at the time of the dissolution on a three lives basis if, as is likely, her husband was already dead.

Family/Spouse: Peke, Richard. Richard was born in C 1490; died in C 1540. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. (Peke), Richard Pyke was born in C 1520; died in C 1570.
2. Peke, John died in 1577?.
3. Peke, William was buried in Blackawton.