In 1844 the Parish was in four Manors:
Pakenham Hall which belonged to Lord Calthorpe.
Maulkins Hall (alias New Hall) and Beaumonts Hall,
which belonged to Joseph Wilson Esq.
Nether Hall which belonged to William Chenery Bassett
Esq.
Newe House which belonged to the Revd. W.J. Spring-Casborne
who was also the owner of the wood and impropriator of the
rectory - that is, he was empowered to place the profits
accruing from church property into the hands of a layman.
Pakenham Wood was of 124 acres, with a noted fox cover.
Other parts of the Parish belonged to families known
as Quayle, Rogers, Tinlin, Compton-Thornhill, Jones, White,
Greene, Reeve, Spring, Hollingworth, Symonds and Discipline.
The Manor of Pakenham Hall
This was given by Edward the Confessor to the Abbey
of St. Edmunds in the year 1060. In 1199, Abbot Sampson assigned
a third of the demesne (manor house and grounds) and tithes
of Pakenham to St. Saviour's Hospital in Bury St. Edmunds.
One of the customs Pakenham owed to the Abbey was that of
keeping watch and ward in the town when required.
In 1256, Abbot Edmund de Walpole appropriated the
church at Pakenham to the maintenance of hospitality at Bury,
the vicar being allowed to retain the church manse and land,
with the tithes therefrom and with all altar dues, tithes
of grist, hay, lambs, calves, poultry, milk etc. It is clear
that the vicar's income must now be independent of the income
from wheat, barley, oats, upon which it had largely to depended.
The Lordship remained with the Abbey until the Dissolution,
when it reverted to the Crown. On 27th September, 1545, it
was granted to Robert Spring and Thomas, his son.
The family of Spring in Suffolk is first found in
Lavenham, where they were eminent local merchants. Thomas
Spring has a monument erected to his memory in Lavenham church.
When Thomas Spring died in 1846, he left Thomas and James.
This James, the second son, was slain in an inter village
fight in 1493 between Lavenham and Brent Eleigh and lies
buried in Lavenham vestry. Feelings between the two villages
were particularly bitter at the time.
Thomas was a great benefactor to Lavenham Church,
rebuilding most of it, including the carved chapel on the
north side where he lies interred. He had two sons, Sir John
Spring Kt. and Robert Spring, the purchaser of the Manor.
Robert Spring lived at Lavenham. He died in 1550 when the
Manor was vested in his son and heir Thomas Spring. Upon
his death the Manor passed to his son and heir, Robert.
Robert Spring levied a fine of the Manor (a purchase
fee in addition to the piece of property) against Thomas
Poley and others, and he had licence to alienate the
same in 1753 to his cousin Sir William Spring Kt. of Pakenham,
the son of Sir John Spring. Alienate meant to transfer
the lieu or hold on the property - convey, in modern
parlance?
Sir William Spring was knighted by Queen Elizabeth
I and was High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1578 and 1579. He died
on 3rd January 1599 and the Manor passed to his son and heir,
John Spring of Pakenham. A fine was levied of the Manor against
him in 1601, probably by way of settlement. He died on 14th
November, 1601, and the Manor passed to his son and heir,
Sir William Spring Kt. who was High Sheriff and MP for Suffolk.
He was knighted by James I in February, 1610, and he died
in 1637 at Ridenhall, the residence of his son-in-law, and
was buried at Pakenham. The Manor passed to Sir William Spring
of Pakenham who was baptised at Stanton on the 13th March,
1613. Created baronet on the 11th August, 1641, he
was made High Sheriff for Suffolk in the same year and in
1646 was elected MP for Bury St. Edmunds. He died on the
17th December,1654, and is buried in Pakenham Church, as
is his widow who survived him twenty four years. The Manor
passed to Sir William's son and heir, Sir Thomas Spring,
third Baronet, who was baptised at Pakenham on the 12th December,
1672, and who married the Hon. Merolina, daughter of Thomas
Lord Jermyn at Rushbrook on the 28th May, 1691.
The Manor passed to his son and heir, Sir William
Spring, 4th Bart., who was baptised at Pakenham in January,
1696, and who died unmarried. He was buried at Pakenham in
1735. His estate, valued at £1500 a year, descended to his
sisters Merolina, who was married to Thomas Discipline of
Bury St. Edmunds, and Mary, wife of the Revd. John Symonds
DD, rector of Horningsheath. As a portion of the estates
this Manor was allotted to Thomas Discipline in 1748.
One of the two daughters of Thomas Discipline married
a John Godbold and died childless. The Manor was sold by
John Godbold and his wife in 1786 to Sir Henry Gough Calthorpe,
who inherited the Hampshire estates of his uncle Sir Henry
Calthorpe KB, who was elevated to the peerage in 1796 with
the title of Baron Calthorpe of County Norfolk.
On the death of the fourth Lord Calthorpe in 1868,
this Manor passed to his son, Sir Frederick Henry William
Gough Calthorpe, fifth Baron. Upon his death in 1893, it
passed to his brother, Augustus Cholmondeley Gough Calthorpe,
sixth Baron.
According to the Manorial rolls, in February 1898
an indenture was made between Augustus Cholmondeley, Baron
Calthorpe, and Walter Gough Calthorpe, hereinafter called
the said Lords, of the one part and Sir Henry Charles John
Bunbury of Great Barton, hereinafter called the tenant
of the other part. So it appears there were two lords
of the Manor at this time.
In 1906 the same two were the Lords by further indentures.
In the meantime, there were numerous Surrenders, Admissions and Be
it remembered etc., all dealt with by the Steward.
Augustus Cholmondeley, Baron Calthorpe, died on 22nd
July, 1910, and Dame Rachel Anstruther Gough Calthorpe signed
the many and various documents in the Manorial rolls as the Lady
of the Manor up to and including 28th September, 1935.
The last entry in the Court Book is made on 3rd December,
1957, when a deed was made "between Sir Richard Hamilton
Anstruther Gough Calthorpe, Baronet, of Hartley Wintney,
Southampton, of the first part, the Rt. Hon. Ian St. John
Baron Luke of Pavenham and William Herbet Harrison of Wychnor
Park, Burton on Trent, hereinafter called the trustees, of
the second part, and Nigel Roy Whitwell of Pakenham Manor
in the County of Suffolk, Esquire, of the third part". The
vesting date was 6th March 1952, giving the Lordship or Manor
of Pakenham, together with other property, as tenant for
life. The documents are scheduled, and together with the
Court Books came home to Pakenham in 1952 and are in the
possession of the present lord, Nigel Roy Whitwell, who continues
to reside at Pakenham Manor.
Manor of New Hall
alias Maulkins Hall, alias Beaumonts Hall
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The Manor subsequently was vested in Thomas Browne
Towas of Norwich, who sold it to Sir George Wombell Bart,
and it was later purchased by Henry Wilson. From this time
the Manor descended in the same course as the Manors of Stowlangtoft
and Langham in Blackbourn Hundred and was then vested in
Arthur Maitland Wilson, of Stowlangtoft Hall.
The Court Rolls of Maulkin Hall Manor 1316-1393 and
1596-1667 are amongst the Harleian Rolls in the British Museum.
There is a Maulkins Hall minute book with Messrs.
Partridge and Wilson, Solicitors, of Bury St. Edmunds and
an interesting custom of this manor is that inheritance is
to the youngest son!
The Manor of Nether
Hall
alias Ladies Hall, alias Richardshall
This is situated partly in Pakenham and partly in
Thurston. The Manor was in the Lordship of the Abbot of St.
Edmunds at the time of the Survey and in the time Henry III
was vested in John de Pakenham, steward to the Bishop of
Ely in 1253.
John de Pakenham had a grant of free warren (royal
game licence) here in 1265 and on his death the Manor passed
to his son and heir, William de Pakenham. We hear of him
that in about 1275 he held Bishopscroft, near the church
in Pakenham, and in 1281 an action was brought against him
by Henry de Pakenham relating to common pasture in Pakenham.
He had a grant of free warren here in 1292 and it appears
he died that year, for we find that in the same year John,
son of William, son of John de Pakenham, settled the Manor
on his brother Edmund de Pakenham and his heirs.
On the death of Sir Edmund Pakenham in 1332, the Manor
passed to his widow Rose, and on her death to their son and
heir, Sir Edmund de Pakenham, in 1353. Sir Edmunds's widow
survived until 1360, but her eldest son Edmund having died
in her lifetime without issue, her second son Sir Thomas
Pakenham gave the Manor to his mother who gave it to Richard
de Pakenham, cousin to her son Thomas. Richard died leaving
an only daughter and heir, aged eleven years, so the limitation
of the Abbot took effect from this time. Until the dissolution
of the monastic houses the Manor remained with the Abbey
of St. Edmunds. At the Dissolution it passed to the Crown
and in 1544 was granted to Thomas Bacon and George his son.
George Bacon died in 1579, when it passed to his son and
heir John Bacon.
In 1611 John Bacon, Elizabeth his wife and George
Bacon were licensed to alienate the Manor of Nether Hall
with its appurtenances three messuages (houses without outbuildings),
three lofts, one dovecote, one hundred acres of land, twenty
acres of meadow, one hundred acres of pasture, twenty acres
of wood, twenty acres of marsh, one hundred acres of firs
and heath situated in Pakenham, Thurston, Great Barton, Stowlangtoft
and Tostock, together with the advowson (patronage) of the
church of Thurston held by the Queen, to Robert Bright, citizen
and saddler of London.
Robert Bright, the purchaser, was son of Thomas Bright
the elder and Margaret Payton his wife. A fine was levied
of the Manor the same year against John Bacon and others.
There is a record in existence to the effect that
on 1st August, 1627, the Manor was vested in him and that
Thomas Bright was the son and heir apparent, William Bright
and Henry Bright being two other sons. The will of Robert
Bright is dated the 1st October, 1630. He was buried in Thurston
on the 24th December, 1630.
Thomas Bright, the son, was the first of four successive
Lords of this name. The will of Thomas Bright, the first
of the name, was proved at Thurston on the 8th August, 1661.
Thomas and Agatha his wife had nine children. Thomas the
son was engaged in a law-suit in 1629 with his neighbours,
Sir William Spring and Lady Spring, for laying violent hands
upon him in church!
The second Thomas Bright executed a deed in 1711,
by which he conveyed to his son, Thomas, the Manor and all
his other lands in Suffolk. |
The extent or value of the farm called Batlie was
situated in the village of Rougham and was settled on the
father of Thomas Bright Sr. by his father Robert in 1621
on the marriage of the son and was retained by the latter
after he gave possession of Nether Hall to Thomas Bright
Jr. He made his will, dated 4th May, 1713, under the style
of Thomas Bright the Elder and he recites that his
son Thomas Bright had by his note obliged himself to lay
out £100 on the purchase of land for the benefit of the poor
of Thurston and Pakenham and directed the rents thereof to
be given to twelve poor men and women, or children, of the
said parishes. In satisfaction of this charity, £5 a year
is to this day laid out in articles of clothing by the owner
of the Nether Hall estate.
He was buried in Thurston Church on 8th June, 1713,
at the age of eighty four. Mary Bright, his widow, survived
her husband seventeen years and her only son eight years,
leaving a daughter to inherit the estates.
The Manor had passed under the will of the third Thomas
Bright in 1727 to his son, the fourth Thomas Bright, who
died in 1736 at the early age of twenty three, unmarried
and intestate. The Manor passed to his sister Mary, married
to Edmund Tyrell, of Gipping. Then the Manor passed to her
son and heir, Edmund Tyrell, of Gipping Hall.
Edmund Tyrell was High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1744
and died unmarried in 1799. He devised (distributed) his
estates to his cousin the Revd. Charles Tyrell, rector of
St. Peter's Church in Thurston, who sold the Manor to George
Chinery of Bury St. Edmunds. Thence it passed to his widow
and later to his nephew the Revd. William Bassett, rector
of Thurston, from whom it passed to his son William Chinery
Bassett, who was residing there in 1857.
In 1885, Edward Greene was Lord and in 1896 the Manor
was vested in Sir Edward Walter Greene of Nether Hall and
described as 'a fine, neat and commodious mansion of brick
in the Queen Anne style, standing in a well-kept and wooded
park'. It was restored and enlarged in 1875 and 1891.
Nether Hall changed hands again in 1886 when it was
purchased by William Hardcastle. He never lived there and
soon sold it to Mr. Edward Greene, who bought the entire
estate in 1874.
Mr. Edward Greene became Conservative Member of Parliament
for Bury St. Edmunds and it is interesting to note that Mr.
Hardcastle was an Essex brewer and was the other Member of
Parliament (Liberal) for Bury St. Edmunds. In the 1865 election,
Hardcastle headed the poll with 331 votes and Edward Greene
was second with 300 votes, whilst Lord Alfred Harvey lost
his seat.
Edward Greene represented Bury St. Edmunds in Parliament
for 20 years and lived at Nether Hall from 1874 to 1891.
There was a robbery at Nether Hall when over £6,000
worth of gold and silver was stolen. In 1883 when, Edward
Greene was trying out a new tricycle, it ran away with him
down the slope, causing an accident which threw him badly,
breaking his arm and causing much bruising. The next year,
1884, saw the introduction of the Reform Act, which reduced
the representation of Bury St. Edmunds to one Member of Parliament
only. It also enfranchised the Suffolk labourers for the
first time.
Edward Greene was a keen farmer and lecturer. He founded
the famous Ixworth Farmers Club and was returned at the following
election with a comfortable majority, continuing to represent
Bury St. Edmunds until his death in 1891. His son Walter
returned to Nether Hall upon the death of his father and
greatly enlarged and modernised the Hall. The Park was also
improved by scores of labourers digging out a large lake
in the winter of 1891-2. This project was not as innocent
as it may seem as the spoil was deliberately banked up so
that residents of the Lodge could not oversee the grounds
of Nether Hall. His quest for privacy also seems a little
excessive, since he was hardly ever in residence, preferring
to follow the restless lifestyle of the superrich that was
then fashionable. Thus March or April would see him leave
for the continent, normally Monte Carlo; June was spent at
Cowes, before taking off for the West of Scotland in July
where he rented an estate for grouse shooting and deer stalking.
In September he returned to Nether Hall in time for the partridge
shooting, but his winter months were punctuated by excursions
to Newmarket for the racing and frequent trips to London.
It was an exhausting business being rich in those days! But
though in many ways his lifestyle resembled that of the Prince
of Wales, he never had much to do with the 'fast set', of
doubtful reputation. Walter, in fact, besides being a patron
of Thurston Church, conducted services in the Tin Tabernacle at
Pakenham. He also sank the well adjoining the reading room
by The Fox public house. He presented the pump for public
use, by offering it to the Parish Council for the benefit
of the parishioners. At the Quarterly Meeting of the Parish
Council in March, 1902, the Council resolved to overhaul
the pump so that it was in good working order and to enclose
it with a light ornamental fence that has a manger in one
corner and a self closing gate 4 feet high, to prevent nuisances.
It was also agreed that "a notice should be painted on a
board - white letters on a black ground, with capital letters
1" high, the smaller letters 0.5", to be placed within
the enclosure, to be executed by Mr. Gooch of Norton".
The notice ran thus:
This pump was presented to the Parish in
1891 by Sir Walter Greene Bt. MP.
It was taken over and fenced by the Parish Council.
Any person damaging the same or committing any nuisance in the enclosure
will be prosecuted.
By Order of the Parish Council,
Pakenham 5 May 1902
H. Cross Chairman
The Chairman and overseer chose the fence, which cost £6.5.0d.
Walter Greene was High Sheriff in 1897 and Nether
Hall became the envy of the Suffolk gentry. In 1900 he was granted the
baronetcy promised to his father just before his death and so became 'Sir Walter'.
Although losing an election to the Parliament at his
first attempt, he was returned unopposed in 1900. By 1905
he decided not to stand for Parliament again. When he died
in 1920, Nether Hall and the estate was sold (his son Sir
Raymond Greene having left Suffolk for London). The new buyer
was Mr. A.J. Edwards, a Covent Garden merchant who lived
in the Hall for only 2 years, when he sold it to Mr. Harold
Patrick Martin.
After the death of Mrs. Harold Martin in 1972, Nether
Hall was inherited by their son Thomas Acquin Martin who
with his wife was determined to preserve the badly deteriorated
Hall. In order to do this, a scheme of modernisation and
restoration was embarked upon within the Kristina Martin
Charitable Trust, which was formed in 1965 on the death of
their only child, aged 22 years.
Nether Hall thus became a Country Club within the
Trust. All profits therefrom are strictly used for charitable
purposes, so in no way detracts from the period flavour of
the Mansion with its admirable setting.
Manor of Red Castle
Nothing is known of this Manor, save the statement
in a paper read before the Suffolk Institute in 1899, that
it was one of the Manors of Pakenham, then belonging to Prebendary
H. Jones.
Newe House
This house is described as 'a picturesque gable mansion
of red brick' and was built in 1622 by Robert Bright of Nether
Hall, who sold it to Sir William Spring of Pakenham Hall.
Of Pakenham Hall hardly a trace is left. Modern cultivations
over the site have brought to the surface sufficient broken
red bricks to discolour the surface of the soil, but little
else. Should one stand upon the site, a very clear and uninterrupted
view of the Fen area of Pakenham is revealed. The site almost
adjoins Old Hall Farm but is nearer the windmill and at the
top of the hill that slopes all the way down to the river. |
In the late 1870's, 'American' returned to England
and astounded local people by walking into the sale room
at Bury St. Edmunds to make the first, unassailable bid of
£10,000 for Newe House, Home Farm, and Pakenham Wood, which
were being offered on that day. So he became an English landed
property owner.
He then endeavoured to establish himself as an English
country gentleman. He delivered his cards to all local mansions
and invited the local aristocracy to shooting parties; but
everywhere his well-meaning gestures were either ignored
or coolly received. He raised frowns on the brows of the
village gentry, sitting in their family pews in the front
of the nave, when he took his poorer relatives to sit in
the Spring family pews up in the chancel of Pakenham church.
He therefore turned his activities to the enhancement
of village life, while retaining many of his 'Wild West'
ways. He distributed largesse to the poorer villagers, scattering
coins to the thinly clad children in the street, and buying
groceries and clothes which he gave to needy families. Frequently
he would appear on horseback in the village, sitting on a
fully equipped cowboy saddle, complete with lasso, ropes
and a rolled blanket, while he himself was a clad in the
characteristic Wild West accoutrements - ten gallon hat,
bandana and denim tight fitting trousers, over which were
fixed fur covered chaps. He would wear pointed, high heeled
boots, garnished with jangling spurs. Villagers would place
empty tins in the hedgerows along his route, and he would
promptly oblige them by placing a bullet from his six shooter
straight through the middle of each.
He presented the Prince of Wales with a pedigree bull,
which he had exhibited at the Royal Show at Sandringham,
and in return he received a gold ring, studded with three
diamonds, from the future King Edward VII. He is reputed
to have introduced the first self-binder into England, and
demonstrated its capabilities on one of his fields by Pakenham
Wood.
But his gay young wife grew tired of quiet village
life, and he sold his estate to Major General Percival. He
ended his life, at the age of 90 years, in The Trevor Hotel,
Knightsbridge, which he owned. His last wish - to be buried
in Pakenham - was granted by the vicar of the day, on condition
that he was buried as far away from the church as possible
and in an unmarked grave. Accordingly, no tombstone marks
the grave of 'American' Reeve, which is by the kissing gate
leading into the Close.
And so in 1907 Newe House became the property of Major
General A.Percival JP. It then passed to Lt. Col. Charles
Douglas Parry-Crooke CMG, JP, who resided there until 1947,
when the late Adrian Evan Spicer acquired it and lived there
until his death in 1975. His elder son Julian has succeeded
his father and now occupies the house with his wife and family. |
