Perkins family of Ufton
The Perkins family of Ufton Nervet in the English county of Berkshire were a prominent Roman Catholic family in Protestant England. From 1581 until 1769, a span covering seven generations of the Perkins family, they lived at Ufton Court in the parish.
The last member of the family was John Perkins ; on his death, due to an entail made by his brother Francis, the estate passed to John Jones, of Llanarth, and then to William Congreve, of Aldermaston, a relation of the famous dramatist of that name.
Arabella Fermor, who married Francis Perkins of Ufton Court, was the inspiration for Alexander Pope's poem The Rape of the Lock.
The Roman Catholic martyr, later sainted, Swithun Wells was a relation of the Perkins family; when interrogated in 1587, Wells stated that he had lived for three months at Ufton Court, then in possession of his nephew Francis Perkins; as a recusant, Perkins was fined the statutory £20 a month for failing to attend the parish church, and had to rent Ufton to his cousin Thomas Perkins to pay the heavy fines. The house- which was raided by the authorities on at least two occasions- today retains signs of the family's secret adherence to their faith, including a chapel in the rafters, hiding places for priests, and an escape tunnel through woodland.
