Loddon Hundred: Hedenham

HEDENHAM.

Algar, a thane, in King Edward's reign, possessed this manor, but on the conquest was ejected. Hugh de Abrincis, the Conqueror's sister's son, had a grant of it, and possessed it at the survey, being then Earl of Chester.

Algar is called a thane of Archbishop Stigand, and had 2 carucates of land, 5 villains, 9 borderers, and 6 servi; there were 3 carucates in demean, &c. a carucate and an half among the tenants, &c. with 12 acres of meadow, a mill, 2 cows, &c. and 40 goats; and there were 20 freemen, who held under his protection half a carucate of land; there were 3 carucates, &c. of meadow. (fn. 1)

Warine held it under Hugh, being enfeoffed thereof.

Warine abovementioned was ancestor of the family of Meynwarin of Cheshire, of which family the Ilketeshales held this lordship: Gilbert de Ilketeshale was lord also of Hedenham, and Ilketeshale in Suffolk.

Sir Thomas, his son and heir, was living in the 7th of Henry III. whose son, Gilbert, had a charter for free warren here, &c. in the 32d of that King, also in Gamlingay, in Cambridgeshire, and in the 3d of Edward I. Gilbert settled it on Sir Thomas de Weyland for life, with the advowson, in exchange for the manor of Blaxal: and in the 18th of that King, it was held of the heirs of Waryne de Maynwaryn, a minor, as part of the honour of Chester: Sir James, son of Gilbert, was then lord, who married Oliva, daughter of Sir Thomas de Weyland, the judge, and was father of James, who married, first, Maud, daughter of Richard, son of William de la Rokele, as appears by a fine in the 26th of Edward I. and after married Ida, daughter of Sir Robert de Stafford, by whom he had a right in the lordship of Rodborn, &c. in Derbyshire; she had a sister married to Thomas de Stanton.

In this family it remained, as may be seen at large in Kelling. Sir Thomas Ilketeshale dying in 1417, left a son, and a daughter, who dying soon after, his four sisters children became his heirs, in the 9th of Henry V.

Margaret, (daughter of Idonea,) who married — Fitz Piers, and left Laurence, her son, had an interest in right of the said Idonea, one of Sir Thomas Ilketeshale's sisters,—Margaret, another sister, married Thomas Seive,—Joan, another sister, married, and had Margaret, a daughter, married to Richard Elswyke; and the 4th sister married to Gilbert de Debenham.

Isabel, the widow of Sir Thomas, remarried, between whom, William, her husband, and Thomas Deyvill, her son, by William, and the heirs of Sir Thomas, were disputes about his inheritance.

In the 31st of Henry VI. John Ovy and Cecilia his wife, &c. (as in Kelling) had a right herein; and in the 7th of Edward IV. Cecilia Ovy, &c. released it to Henry Heydon, Esq. of Baconsthorp.

Richard Elswyk, had by Margaret, daughter of Joan, a son Thomas, who changed his name to Sharnborn, (fn. 2) kept his part and interest herein, presenting to this church in 1438, as did John his son, in 1473, and Thomas Sharnborn in 1595, and Christopher Shernborn had livery of it about the 6th of Elizabeth; soon after this, Haydon's interest herein, and that of Sharnborn was conveyed to the Beding felds; and in 1569, Edmund Bedingfield, Esq. presented as lord.

The Beding fields of this town were a younger branch of that of Bedingfield in Suffolk: Philip Bedingfield. Esq. lived at Ditchingham in the 34th of Henry III. and held lands at Bedingfield (as by his will then dated November 18) and in this town; he was son (as 1 conceive) of Thomas Bedingfield, of Bedingfield, by Joan, daughter and heir of Roger Bosard of Ditchingham, by whom the estate here came, and by her had Edmund, his eldest son, Robert, the second son, and Henry the third son: (fn. 3) he appoints Anne his wife, and Thomas his brother, rector of Alderton, his executors; his will was proved July 18, 1543.

In 1569, Edmund Bedingfield, Esq. presented to this church, eldest son of Philip, by Anne, daughter of Richard Yaxley, of Yaxley in Suffolk, Esq.

In 1572, Robert Bedingfield, Esq. presented, and in 1582.

Philippa, daughter of this Robert, married John Higham, Esq. in 1600; and in the said year, Sir Clement Higham married at Ditchingham, Anne, another of Robert's daughters. (fn. 4)

After this in 1626, Miles Hobart, Esq. of Intwood, presented in right of Frances, (fn. 5) late wife of Sir Philip Bedingfield.

In 1661, Philip Bedingfeld, Esq. was lord: he married Ursula, daughter of Sir John Potts, Bart. of Mannington, and was father of Philip Bedingfeld, Esq. of Ditchingham, who died in 1696, August 25, and was buried in the church of Hedenham, by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of William Stroud, Esq. of Kent, by whom she had several children; Philip and Robert, the two eldest, died s. p. John the third son, James the fourth, and John the fifth; to whom Sir George Stroud, his mother's brother, gave his estate about 1710.

John, the 3d son, was rector of this town and of Bedingfield in Suffolk, and in 1729, John Bedingfeld, Esq. was lord and presented.

Philip Bedingfeld, Esq. is the present lord and patron, who married first, — Bacon, daughter of Sir Edmund Bacon, Bart. of Gillingham, and after the widow Forster, daughter of Mr. Spendlove of Norwich, Gent.

Park's Manor,

In this town, was held partly of the manor of Hedenham, and partly of Earl Bygod's manor of Ditchingham. In the 20th of Henry III. Robert de Hedenham was found to hold the fifth part of a fee here and in Sithing of the Earl-Marshal.

John de Hedenham was witness to a deed, sans date; and in the 53d of Henry III. a fine was levied between William, son of Thomas de Whitton, and Isabel his wife, querents, and Robert, son of Reinold de Hedenham, deforcient, of lands and messuages in this town and Ditchingham.

Robert de Hedenham was lord in the 31st of Edward I. but in the 2d of Edward II. a fine was levied, whereby John de L'Ecclese, of Shelfangre, conveyed it, with 8 messuages, 105 acres of land, to John de la Park.

This John, was a descendant of William de la Park of Ilketeshale in Suffolk.

In 1309, Adam de Park was living here, and in the 15th of Edward III. and William was lord in 1345.

Joan, the sole daughter and heiress of this family, married first, John Duke of Brampton, Esq. by whom she had Thomas, a son and heir; her second husband, was John Strange, Esq. of Norwich, who with his wife Joan, levied a fine of it A^o. 36 of Henry VI. settling it in trust for himself, by his will dated June 14, 1476, appoints Elizabeth (then his second wife) to have an annuity of 10 marks per ann. out of his manors of Hedenham, Aslacton, and Wacton, (fn. 6) during her widowhood, and if Thomas Duke, son of Joan his first wife, will pay the said annuity, then his executors should make an estate of the said manors to him, who accordingly possessed them with the lordship of Brampton.

In this family it remained, till sold to the Richmonds.

Robert Richmond was lord in the 9th of Elizabeth, son of Richard Richmond, Gent. of Hedenham-Park's manor, by —, his wife, daughter of — Thurston of Ditchingham, which Robert was father of John Richmond, by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Richard Ward of Alborough in Norfolk; this John had these arms confirmed to him by Robert Cook, Clarencieux, in 1576; ermin, on a chief sable, a griffin passant, or.

John, married first, Anne daughter of William Gooch of St. Margaret's, Ilketeshale, by whom he had Robert, his son, and by his second wife, Catherine, daughter of Thomas Ward of Broke, he had Anne, who married Thomas Day of Cotton.

John, by an inquisition taken, at Norwich, September 26, A^o. 27 Elizabeth, was found to die on May 26, last past (and it is therein said that Robert, was his son and heir, by Catherine, daughter of Thomas Ward of Broke, and aged 14) seized of the manor of Park's, held in free soccage of the Crown, as lord of Ditchingham; also of 94 acres in this town, Ditchingham, &c. held of the honour of Chester, and of a capital manor called Richmond's.

Robert Richmond, Esq. lord, by Catherine his wife, daughter of Thomas Prettyman, Gent. of Baketon in Suffolk, was father of John Richmond, lord of this manor of Parks, as held by his grandfather: he took to wife Mary, daughter of Roger Goodwyn of Stoneham in Suffolk, and died on February 6, A^o. 15 of Charles I.

Robert, his father, was then living, and John was found to be his son and heir, by Mary, aged 11 years.

John Richmond, Esq. son of John, married Anne, daughter of— —, and sister of Sir William Cooper, Knt. and Bart. and was father of William, and of Catherine.

William, son and heir, died s. p, whose sister Mary married Charles Garneys, Esq. a younger branch of the family of Kenton, by whom she had Charles Garneys, Esq. of Mourningthorp, and Clere Garneys her second son, who was lord, of the manor of Parks; by Margaret his wife, daughter of John Watts of Mercate Burnham, he had Richard, a son and heir, Catherine, and Mary. Clere was living in 1723, but Margaret his wife died in February 1722.

Richard Garneys, Esq. son of Clere, married Anne, daughter of William Churchman, Esq. of Illington; but dying s. p. Catherine, his sister, was his heir, who married John Bedingfield, rector of this church, and was lord in her right.

The tenths were 1l. 8s.—Deducted 13s.—Temporalities of Langley abbey 11d.

The church is a rectory dedicated to St. Mary; John, the rector, petitioned Pope Innocent,

That whereas Walter de Wudeton, lately deceased, officiated as vicar of the said church, where there never was any; and that the admission of another, would be injurious to any rector; and this diocesan consenting that there should be none, that the Pope would confirm the same, which he did by his bull, dated at Lions, October 4, in the 4th year of his pontificate.

In the 7th of Henry III. a fine was levied between Thomas, son of Gilbert de Ilketeshale and Hugh Bigot Earl of Norfolk, of the advowson of a moiety of this church granted to Thomas, and his heirs, paying 20 marks, and releasing to the Earl his right in a fishery between Beccles and Bongey.

Sir Thomas de Weyland, the judge, was patron in the time of Edward I. by a grant, the rectory was then valued at 20 marks per ann. had no manse, but 50 acres of land, Peter-pence 14d. ob. carvage 9d. ob. and the prior of Bromholm had a portion of tithe valued at 10s. held in fee farm rent of the abbot and convent of St. Sever, in Normandy; and confirmed by the grant of Gilbert, (fn. 7) son of Sir Thomas of Ilketeshal, by deed sans date: the deed to the abbot of Bromholm from the abbot of St. Sever, is dated 1249, valued then at 10s.

Rectors.

John de Hustwait, recto r, was succeeded in 1306, by John de Norwich, presented by James, son of James de Ilketeshale and Ida his wife.

John de Wyleby occurs rector in the 11th of Edward II.

1330, John de Ilketeshale, presented by Sir James de Ilketeshale.

1333, Robert de Swathing. Ditto.

1334, John de Foxton. Ditto.

1338, Laur. le Maister.

1338, Robert Gyn. Ditto.

1349, John Hereward, by Ida de Ilketeshale.

1359, Mr. Dennis de Edgefield, by Thomas Bacon de Baconsthorp.

1366, Edmund Strange, by Robert de Ilketeshale.

1372, John Hereward, by Claricia, relict of Sir Robert de Ilketeshale.

1392, John Sparwe. Ditto.

1393, Henry Wilton, by Claricia and Thomas her son and heir.

1408, John Skarlet, by William Ilketeshale, Henry Wilton, &c.

1409, Richard Wirham, by Robert Mauclerk, &c.

1431, John Skeet, by William Devyll, Esq. and Isabel, late wife of Sir Thomas Ilketeshale.

1436, Richard Wyston, by Laur. Fitz Piers.

1437, John Ham, by John Ovy.

1438, Robert Pecard, by Thomas Sharnborn, Esq.

1460, Nicholas Sharnburn, by Jamoma, widow of Thomas Sharnburn, Esq.

1467, Nicholas Cole, by the Bishop, a lapse.

1473, Richard Grene, by John Sharnburn.

1502, Ralph Palmer, by Sir Henry Heidon.

1565, Edward Cokke, by Edmund Bedingfield, assignee of Thomas Sharnburn.

Andrew Brown, rector.

1569, Henry Bedingfield, by Edmund Beding field.

1572, Thomas Danks, by Robert Bedingfield, Esq.

1582, John Silby. Ditto.

In 1603, there were 100 communicants.

1626, Henry King, by Miles Hobart, Esq. son of Frances, relict of Sir Phil. Beding field; he was sequestered.

1661, Gawdy Hacon, by Phil. Bedingfield, Esq.

1707, James Beding field, by Elizabeth Beding field, widow.

1729, William Baker, by John Beding field, Esq.

1762, Mr. P. Forster.

The present valor is 13l. 6s. 8d. and is discharged.

Phil. Bedingfield of Ditchingham, Esq. was lord and patron, in 1762.

Sir Thomas Ilketeshale, by his will dated in the 4th of Henry V. gave 20l. towards building a new roof.

On the north side of the chancel, is a mural monument, with a person kneeling,

This is the monument of Sir Philip Bedingfield of Ditchingham, who married the daughter of Sir John Peyton of Iselham in Cambridgeshire, knight and baronet, and died 19. Feb. 1621, aged 28 years.

On the said wall,

The memorial of Henry Hobart, eldest son of Miles Hobart of Intwood in Norfolk, Esq. second son of Sir Henry Hobart, died Apr. 1624.

Also on a brass plate there,

Hen. Bedingfield, sepultus 2°. die Feb. A^o. 1594.

Robertus Beding field, Arm. in mortem, Henr. filij et hæredis sui.

Our God, the good, while they be good, doth take, and leave us ill, That we might mend our sinful life, in life to tarry still. Therefore my heart cease sighs, and sobs, cease sorrow's seeds to sow, Whereof no gain, but greater grief, and hurtful care may grow, Farewell, my dear obedient son, since death doth part us twayn, No death but parting for a while, whom life shall win again.

Robertus Bedingfield, Arm. sepultus Nov. 5, 1600.

In the chancel a marble stone within the rails;

Here lyeth the body of Philip Bedingfield, Esq; buried March 6, 1660.

Near the communion table is a gravestone,

In memory of Ann the virtuous and loyal wife of Philip Bedingfield, of Ditchingham, Esq; youngest daughter of Edward Bacon, of Shrubland-Hall in Codenham, in Suffolk, Esq; 2d son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper, died about 63 years of age, and was interred December 2d, 1654.

Here lyeth the body of Dame Frances Bedingfield, daughter of Sir John Peyton of Isleham, in Cambridgeshire, knight and baronet, first married to Sir Philip Bedingfield of Ditchingham, and after to Miles Hobart of Intwood, Esq; by whom she had several children, her only surviving son is Sir John Hobart of Blickling, baronet, who about 33 years after her decease laid this stone, in 1664.

Another,

In memory of Philip Bedingfield, Esq; buried June 5, 1673, and Ursula his wife, daughter of Sir John Potts, buried March 26, 1677.

In the church was the light of the perke of our Lady.