provenance of an entry of 1622 that reflects some tragedy at the Rectory; it is of the burial on the same day in the summer of that year of two of William’s children, John and Margerie. For their mother especially, the sixteen-twenties were a time of much sadness. In little more than five years, she lost the two children, her two surviving brothers and two of her three sisters. One of the sisters was Dr Maxfield's widow, who died in 1624.
   Joan Maxfield's will, made during her last illness, was typical of many wills made through the ages by wealthy, but childless, widows. Her gifts were nicely geared as to quantum, but there was something for everyone. William Baker was made an overseer of the will and he and all his family benefitted in some way or other. There were then no Baker sons still living, but the legacies included £30 apiece for two of the daughters, Dorcas and Jane, and £20 apiece for their sisters, Elizabeth and

Anne; perhaps Dorcas and Jane had been a little kinder to their old aunt than the other two. Dorcas, who may have been the oldest surviving child or a special favourite, was also given Joan’s ‘best silver sault’, but first it was to go to Dorcas’ mother for herlife. Clearly, much importance attached to the silver sault.
   The presence nearby of their Walter relatives must have been a welcome addition for the Bakers to a social life that looks to have been somewhat muted in Ash itself. Before the coming of the Fowlers, the resident families of the Bakers’ time who ranked as gentry appear to have been limited to the Hodsolls, the Staceys and one of several families of the name of Best. Of these, the Bakers’ closest connections seem to have been with the Staceys. Dorcas, a daughter of Anne Baker’s brother, Robert