Many thanks to Kelly and Audrey for their interest and for offering to look at the .jpeg image of the original Inventory document. 'Drons' is a non-starter and should read as the commonly found 'irons' so the two lines are now, 'Item all the netts and wars (wares) yt Belongs to fish prisd for 5s' 'Item the ----- and irons and spear priced for 8s' Kelly suggested the word in the second line is 'gables' a variant of 'cables' a word common from the 15th century onwards especially in relation to ropes and chains in shipping and sailing. As the river is the Dyfi near Machynlleth in Wales the following etymological link with 'gabul' is also interesting and might be worth further local research, 'From about 1475 A.D., from Middle French javeline (15th century), diminutive of Old French javelot, "a spear", probably from Gaulish (Old Irish gabul "fork"; Welsh gafl, "fork" gaflach, "feathered spear"). Also found in Italian as giavelotto and Middle High German as gabilot.' www.wordinfo This Inventory from a will of a farmer who died in 1729 is all the more interesting locally because of the enjoyable story in Chapter 78 of George Borrow's 'Wild Wales' (1862) which gives an account of a local Machynlleth farmer being tried at the petty sessions for allegedly illegally spearing a salmon while taking his cows across the river Dyfi. He was fined £4 which in todays money would equate to £271.53 using the retail price index or a staggering £2,525 using average earnings. An expensive lunch. The story relates how the accused was locally known as being very fond of fish and having speared more than any other six individuals in the neighbourhood. He would carry the stick innocently enough keeping the spear head out of sight untilhe had crossed the river and assessed the opportunities. Best wishes Barbara