RYDON, John, of Taunton, Som.

Rydon held a burgage in Taunton, which, with the rent in arrears, was no longer in his possession by 1427. He appears to have had little other connexion with the town, except in his association with William Borde. Early in 1419 Borde assisted him in his purchase of the manor and advowson of Knightsley, Somerset, together with a number of other properties in Taunton, Bradford and Stoke, and the two men acted as co-patrons of the parish church at Knightsley in November the same year.Som. Feet of Fines (Som. Rec. Soc. xxii), 54-55; Reg. Bubwith (ibid. xxx), 376; Procs. Som. Arch. Soc. iv. 50. It is possible, however, that Rydon’s interests then came to be centred on Devon, where he was appointed tax collector in 1428 and where, by the same year, he held land at Little Dunsford. Described as ‘of Exeter’, Rydon was probably the merchant accused by William Smyth, a mason, of conspiring to dispossess him of a tenement after only three years of his 60-year lease had expired and following extensive improvements to the building.Feudal Aids, i. 483; C1/15/170.