Hi Liz, I believe an ark was a wooden bin for dry stores. Regards Martyn Loveys PS - I've just looked it up in Rosemary Milward's "Glossary of Household, Farming and Trade Terms from Probate Inventories" and her definition is as follows:- "A chest or coffer with domed lid; a bin for meal, bread, and also used in the house, for clothes, etc." - hope that helps. Ron and Liz Waring <edwaring@bigpond.com> wrote: Hi, Has anyone come across a word, which I have found in an inventory which appears to be spelled arcke? It appears about 3 times in this inventory and I can't find anything like it in the dictionary. It definitely isn't arche, as everywhere else the h is written in the old form of 1615. Many thanks Liz Waring ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== OLD-ENGLISH Web Page http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/