Family and Education

s. of John Puryham of Taunton.1

Offices Held

Portreeve, Taunton Mich. 1377-8, 1388-9; bp. of Winchester’s receiver at Taunton castle 1394-5.2

Biography

Puryham served as a member of the jury which at Taunton in 1382 accused the abbot of Glastonbury of obstructing the river Tone. No doubt his own trade in woollen cloth had been adversely affected. After accounting to Bishop Wykeham of Winchester for two annual periods as portreeve of the borough, in Wykeham’s 28th year (1394-5) he was appointed his receiver at Taunton castle, it being his duty to collect the rents and dues from the bishop’s mills and from certain tenements in the castle precincts. While in office as receiver he was returned to Parliament for the fourth time. On that occasion he acted as surety for all the Members elected for Somerset and Dorset and their boroughs. Puryham is not recorded after again appearing as a juror at an inquest held at Taunton in November 1400.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

Variants: Puriham, Pyrham.

• 1. Hants RO, bp. Winchester’s pipe rolls, 159387 m. 36d.
• 2. Ibid. 159385, 159395, 159401 m. 1.
• 3. Add. 30289, ff. 186-90; E101/343/28, 30; CPR, 1381-5, pp. 511-12; C145/278/29; C219/9/11.