Court Rolls of the Manor of Bovills.
The earliest known records of our Stone family were legal records. A number of our early Stone ancestors were tenants of the Manor of Bovills in Ardleigh, Essex, and consequently they appear frequently in the legal records (court rolls) of the manor. One kind of manorial court activity was a court baron; typically held every three weeks, it focused on such matters as transfer of copyhold land. The illustration is a transcription of a 1416 court baron session in which our very probable ancestor William atte Stone (William at the Stone) participated. A 1431 Bovills court roll proves that William was the father of Walter atte Stone of Ardleigh: "To this court came Walter atte Stone, and made fealty to the lord for a tenement and garden adjacent, held by copy of court roll, which late was of William atte Stone, his father."