Wording in a will

[monicaj]

Hi

I have tried googling but can't come up with anything definative regarding the wording in this will:

"And I leave to my Dear wife Elizabeth all of my personal and real property viz a M/Nesuage? Tenement called Blaen y Cwm in this parish ……………………………………"

Can anyone help please?

[Ladkyis]

The word will be messuage.

MESSUAGE, property. This word is synonymous with dwelling-house; and a grant of a messuage with the appurtenances, will not only pass a house, but all the buildings attached or belonging to it, as also its curtilage, garden and orchard, together with the close on which the house is built.

[Kerrywood]

viz a M/Nesuage? Tenement

As Ladkyis says above.

A common form of wording is Messuage or Tenement, so if the word looks longer than just Messuage, there may be an or on the end of it.

[Peter Goodey]

You'll probably find that you have online access with your library card to the Oxford Reference Online Premium collection. This includes among other things the Oxford Companion to Local and Family History. It's well worth bookmarking the service and keeping your library number handy.

Sample:

messuage A term used in deeds to signify a dwelling house and the surrounding property, including outbuildings. A large residential property was referred to as a capital messuage.

tenements Originally, any rented property. In his account of Myddle (Shropshire) in 1700 – 2 Richard Gough used the term to describe the holdings of yeomen and husbandmen, which were smaller than farms but larger than the properties of cottagers . In the Victorian period the word was used to describe the working‐class houses which were subdivided horizontally in the major industrial towns, e.g. Glasgow.

[monicaj]

Thank you all again so much - another query answered

Much appreciated
Monica