Family and Education

s. of Margery atte Fenn of Yarmouth.1 m. bef. Dec. 1429, Joan.

Offices Held

Searcher of ships in Yarmouth 17 Dec. 1411-23 Jan. 1412.

Biography

Peter atte Fenn was returned to Parliament for the first time during the final bailiffship of his prominent kinsman, the merchant Hugh atte Fenn*. His appointment as searcher in Yarmouth was made just two days before the dissolution of the Parliament of 1411, in which he was again representing the borough, but he was superseded only a few weeks later and probably never officiated. At the local elections to the Parliament of 1414 (Nov.) he was mainpernor for Geoffrey Pamping; and at those of 1419 he acted similarly on behalf of William Colkirk.2 Atte Fenn’s mother held property in Norwich and lands at Hellesdon near the city, of all of which she made Peter a trustee, instructing him when she drew up her will on 20 Mar. 1424 to sell them after her death. Peter was her executor and principal legatee. His own property holdings seem to have been concentrated at Yarmouth, although in 1429 he and his wife relinquished all right to a plot of land and buildings next to St. Mary’s hospital in the town.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. His father may have been John atte Fenn (d.1419), although he is not mentioned in John’s will: Norf. RO, Reg. Hyrnyng, f. 49.
• 2. CFR, xiii. 225; C219/11/3, 12/3.
• 3. Reg. Hyrnyng, f. 125; Yarmouth ct. roll C4/138.