Named as a beneficiary in the Will of her maternal grandmother Margaret Pulley (1544), then unmarried.
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On 24th February 1600-01, Jane Maskelyne, who is described as of "Pyrton, co. Wilts, widow," made her will. In it she expressed the desire "to be buried in the Chauncell of the Parish Church of Pyrton aforesaid, wher my grandfather Richard Pulley, was interred." Shortly afterwards she died, and the last entry in the Register of Burials for the year ending March 24th, 1600-01, runs: "Mistris Maslin, the 21 of March.
She was one of the many children, boys and girls, of Christopher Richmond, alias Webbe, by Jane his wife, a daughter of Richard Pulley, the last "farmer" of Purton under the Abbey of Malmesbury. There is a curious account of these children in some proceedings in Chancery to enforce an alleged lease of the neighbouring manor of Studley Grange, to their father, Christopher. Their father dying when they were all quite young, some of them, it seems, remained in the custody of their mother, who had married a second time [to] one John Beck, while the rest were sent to one of their father's brothers, from whom however they ran away home again. But no matter what their bringing up, the lads, Anthony, Nicholas, and William made their way in the world, and each founded a family; Anthony at Manningford, Nicholas at Marshfield, and William at Lydiard Millicent. Jane herself, married George Maskelyne of Purton, second son, but whose issue became eventually heirs to William Maskelyne of Purton and Lydiard.
Jane Maskelyne was an old woman when, after a widowhood of over sixteen years, spent at the Down in the village she her last will, and died soon after. She must have been over seventy years of age at any rate, for she was not the youngest of her family, and her father had died before 1535. Thus her memory would carry her back three-quarters of a century of profound changes. She was almost to a year the contemporary of her sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth—who was born at Greenwich, September 7th, 1533. Reared in the older faith, she had seen the beautiful Church of Purton in the full glory of the ancient rite, and the vain longing for one at least of its accessories, found a pitiful expression in a clause of her will. "To the Bells of Pyrton, xxs., and the increase of 40s. towards the yearly mayntenance of one to play uppon the organs in the parish Church of Pyrton, aforesaid, whensoever the parishioners ther shall and will provide and hire one to playe uppon the same..."
If her wish for burial beside her grandfather had not been explicitly set down in her will, she would have doubtless been laid to rest with her husband's people in the south transcept of Purton Church, on the floor of which, at the beginning of this century, were still to be seen a great many slabs, in almost all cases surmounted by the Maskelyne arms and crest, though, even then, for the most part decayed and the inscription illegible from age. When, in 1623, the Heralds visited Wiltshire, and recorded these arms, viz.: Sable, a fess engrailed or, between three escallops argent; and the crest—A demi-lion rampant sable, holding an escallop argent; they added a note—"The Coate in an old window in Pirton Church." This window was probably in the same aisle. Nothing remains of it at all now. The glass has long been broken and the slabs torn up, or neatly covered in with encaustic tiles. ... 3
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