Hundred of Forehoe: Huningham

HUNINGHAM.

or Honingham, that is, the village on the side of the hill by the waters, which answers exactly to its situation.

The Church is dedicated to St. Andrew, and hath a square tower and four bells, the nave, south porch, and chancel, are leaded.

On brass plates in the nave,

Pray for the Samle of Richard Hinsent.

Pray for the Soule of Katherine late wife of Richard Hincente, on whose Sowle Jesu have mercy. M^o CCCCC forti fouer.

Pray for the soule of Richard Hensent of whois soule Jesu habe mercy Amen. Anno dni: m CCCCC^o rl iiii.

Blakney, sab. a chevron erm. between three leopards faces or.

Orate pro Anima Johannis Blakney Armigeri ruius anime propirietur Deus.

Elizabeth, his wife, was buried by him in 1515.

Orate pro anima Thome Hyncent qui obiit rrr^o die Julii A^o dni: M^o ccccc lbi. cuius Anime propicietur Deus.

Sam. Uncles, Servant to Lord Richardson died 23 Sep. 1658, and left John his son.

In a north window,
Cateline, party per chevron az. and or, three lions passant gardant counterchanged, on a chief of the second, a crescent for difference, impaling Spencer, quarterly arg. and gul. in 1st and 4th, on a bend sab. three mullets arg. in the 2d and 3d, a frette or.

There were also the arms of Calthorp and Barry.

Rider, az. three doves volant proper, crowned or, impaling

Baylie, az. three crescents or.

M. S. Priscilla Relict of Mr. Richard Baylie of London Merchant, Daughter of Sir William Rider of London Knt. died 19 March 1712, Æt. 62.

Virtute et Pietate, acquiritur æterna Fœlicitas.

There are two brass plates fastened to the chancel wall, on the north side, on which are these inscriptions,
1. Munere, Gaudæo junctus, Virtute, Labore, Temporibus, Patria, Fortuna, Moribus, Annis, Funere conjunctus, Terras, Catalina reliquit.

Fœlices ambo, pariter quos Vita beatos Fecerat, & simili pariter Mors Funere mersit, Corpore major eras Gaudæe, minusque timebas Cætera cum Socio, Socius Catalina tenebat. Orba suis luget, Norfolcia mœsta, Patronis, Et dolet amissas, geminato Vulnere, Vires.

2. Hos Mariæ Regni florentes viderat Annus Tertius, Augustus conjunxit Fenere Mensis. Vos quibus est Juris nostratis propria Cura, Vivite Justiciæ memores, Mortisque futuræ, Gracia non violet, non ulla potentia Leges, Ut Catalina jacet, Sic cætera Turba jacebit.

This Epitaph is taken out of the reverend and learned Mr. Plowden's book of Reports.

Between the two brasses is a mural monument, with the arms of Catline and Spencer, as before, only on the chief of Catline's coat are three snakes sab.; his effigies is in scarlet robes, with his three sons kneeling behind him, and her's in black, with her three daughters behind her; a fald-stool is between them, at which they kneel.

Over their heads,
Sixty Yeares since heere stood but now decay'd, The Tombe were Serjeant Catelyn then was lay'd. Though that demolisht be, his highest Fame, Still lasts: Sage Plowden doth supporte the same. Barbara his Wife, Spencer by Byrth, did Place That Pile; shee to him living, was a Grace, And after did soe well his Orphans reare, Their Offspringe now, his best memorialls are, Thomas their Sonn, by her at Lakenham plac't Doth thus renew the Tombe that Time defaced. Anno Dom: 1618.

Over the sons' heads,
1. Richard, married Dyonise Daughter of Tho. Marsh, Clerke of the Starr Chamber.

2. Thomas, married Judith Daughter of Edward Elyinton of Thoyden Boys, Chief Butler of England.

3. Ralf, married the Daughter and Heire of Richard Cole of Barfold Gent.

Over the daughters' heads,
1. Ann, married to Tho. Dereham of West-Dereham, Esq.

2. Elizabeth, married to Tho. Townsend of Testerton Esq.

3. Lettice, married to Will: Guybon, then of Fincham Esq.

On a stone in the chancel are the arms, crest, and supporters of the Lord Richardson, and this,
M. S. Hic jacet Thomas Richardson Inclytus Baro de Cramond apud Scotos, Vir invicta Fide, et Fortitudine, Qui nullis Fanaticorum Factionibus infectus in corruptissimo seculo Integer continuit, et suum Commodum præ causa Regali post habuit, obijt Maij 16, Anno Dom: 1674, et Ætatis suæ 47.

Here also lyeth the Body of Anne his Lady, who died January 31, Anno Domini 1697.

The whole town of Huningham, with the hamlet of Thorp, (now called Huningham-Thorp,) belonged to the manor of Cossey, as you may see at p. 407, when Huningham was six furlongs long, and five broad, and Thorp was five furlongs long, and four broad, and both paid 6d. ob. gelt. The whole continued with Cossey some time, till the lords thereof granted divers fees and the advowson of the church from it, though great part of it, with the paramountship, belongs to Cossey at this day, having always passed along with it: the parts granted off constituted the manors of Horfordhall, Curson's or Huningham Hall, and Branston's Hall or Huningham-Thorp manor: in 1434, John Shepherd, bailiff of Cossey, and John Baroghby, forester, accounted for 68s. quitrent, rents of a fullingmill, watermill, and dove-house, for 2000 arrows sold at 10s. which cost five shillings the making, and for repairing the common oven, which the lord maintained for his tenants in this town to bake in.

Horford Hall Manor

Was granted from Cossey in Richard the First's time, to Will. de Orford or Horford, who granted a part of it to John le Botiler: in 1286, Rob. de Horford, then lord, sued the Abbot of Bon-Repos for the advowson, and proved so plainly that William his ancestor presented Boecius to a moiety of the rectory, before it was given the abbey, that he had a duel granted him, by the itinerant justices, against his adversary; but the abbot not liking the judgment, paid him 120 marks, and got his release, and confirmation of the advowson to him and his successours; during the dispute, which lasted a long time, John de Ferreby held it in commendam. In 1315, John de Horford was lord. In 1318, Will. de Horford held part of it of Cossey manor, by the rent of 33s. 5d. ob. yearly, and suit of court at Cossey, from three weeks to three weeks, and the other part of Will. Buteler, and left Christian his daughter and heir. In 1323, John de Morele of Ashele, chaplain, and Brian de Horford, settled it on Ralf de Botiler and Alianor his wife; in 1507, Tho. Blakeney left it to Elizabeth his wife, till his son John came of age, and if he died before, it was to go to Roger Townsend, Esq.; in 1546, John Blakeney was lord; and in 1586, Tho. Marshe, Esq. sold it to Rich. Catelyn, Esq. and so it was united to Huningham Hall.

Branston Hall, or Huningham-Thorp Manor.

Constantia or Constance, daughter of Earl Conan, Dutchess of Britanny and Countess of Richmond, gave to Christopher her pantler, (Panetario Suo,) for his good service done her, the land of Thorp, (now Huningham-Thorp,) with the appurtenances, viz. 100 acres of land, and 6 of meadow, a messuage and a fald-course, to be held by the 20th part of a fee: and the said Christopher conveyed it to Margaret Countess of Richmond, for 40 marks, which Jeffry, son of King Henry, Duke of Brittain and Earl of Richmond, gave him for so doing; she gave it to the abbey of St. Mary at Sautree in Lincolnshire, and Alan, Viscount of Rohan confirmed it, viz. all his land in Huningham, in the soc of Costessey called Thorp, and Jeffry Viscount of Rohan confirmed it also, paying to Cossey 10s. per annum; the abbot granted it off in parcels to be held of him; in 1202, Jeffry Fitz-William settled two carucates of land, part of it here, and in Estun, on William de Estun; and the same year, Jeffry de Estun and Hawise of Poitou, settled another part on him; in 1249, Jeffry Peytevin was possessed of them, and settled them on Richard, son of Philip de Branteston, whose name the manor still bears: in 1273, Will. de Branteston gave Rich. de Branteston and Emma his wife many lands and tenements here, which much enlarged the manor, which, before 1442, was united to Huningham Hall.

Huningham Hall, or Curson's Manor,

Was part of Cossey, granted to the Tateshals, lords of BukenhamCastle, and after the division of the estate of that family, was always held of Hetherset manor, by knight's service, it paying at this day a rent of 3s. 4d. a year to the manor of Hetherset Cromwell's. In 1279, Sir Rob. de Tateshale and Mary de Nevile held it, and paid the same castle-ward to Richmond castle as Sir Ralph Fitz-Ralph did, who lately held it; it came afterwards to the Cursons; in 1345, Sir Rob. de Curson held it at half a fee, of the heirs of Rob. de Tateshale; in 1379, John Curson, lord here, died intestate; in 1401, Eustace Rous held it as trustee to Katerine, daughter of John Curson, then wife of Nicholas Norman of London; and in 1442, the said Catherine settled Curson's and Branteston's manors here, on her son, John Norman, whose brother, John Norman, then an Esquire in the King's household, released them also, in 1465, this John was married to Emma, daughter of Rob. Morley, Esq. upon whom he settled this manor; John le Brun, rector of Rockland Toftys St. Peter, and John Yatys of Huningham, chaplain, being trustees; his seal is his arms, with an annulet, viz. arg. on a chevron ingrailed, between three herons, each with an eel in his beak, an annulet. Her's is Morley's arms, but the lion hath no crown; they left one daughter, Jane, married to Will. Dogget of St. Faith's, Gent. whose son Edmund married Elizabeth, sister of Sir Henry Sharnbourn of Sharnebourn, Knt.; and in 1547, the said Edmund Dogget and Anthony his son sold the manors to

Richard Catlyne, Esq. of Huningham, reader of Lincoln's-Inn; and in 1558, the Queen's serjeant at law; before his death, he sold them to

Thomas Barrow of Newton in Suffolk, who died seized in 1590, leaving them to

William Barrow, his son and heir, 40 years old, though Mary, his mother, who was one of the daughters and heirs of Henry Bures, Esq. had part settled on her for life.

This William first married Frances, daughter of Sir Rob. Wingfield, Knt. by whom he had no issue;

By Elizabeth, daughter of Tho. Dandy. Gent. he had four children, of which Maurice and Frances survived him; he died 24th Dec. 1613, and is buried in Westhorp church in Suffolk; but before his death, viz. about 1600, he sold his whole estate here to

Thomas Richardson, Esq. afterwards Lord Chief Justice, in which family it continued, as by the pedigree appears, till

Thomas Lord Richardson, his grandson, sold it to

Richard Baylie, D. D. President of St. John's college in Oxford, and Dean of Sarum, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Jo. Robinson, Archdeacon of Notingham, who married a sister of Archbishop Laud; he lies buried in a vault under a little chapel built by himself, at St. John's college, Oxford, in 1667, Æt. 82; his wife, who was sister of Sir John Robinson, Bart. Lieutenant of the Tower, was buried in Magdalen church in Oxford, in 1666, leaving

Rich. Baylie, their son and heir, who was an India merchant, and lived at London and Huningham; he married Priscilla, daughter of Sir Will. Ryder of London, Knt. and was created LL. D. and died in 1675, and was buried by his father, leaving

Will. Baylie of Huningham, who died single, and

Priscilla Baylie, a daughter, who sold Huningham to

Mr. Charles Cotton of Gracious-Street, London, mercer, who sold it to

Will. Townsend, Esq. a younger son of Charles Lord Townsend; he married the Honourable Henrietta, daughter of William Lord Pawlet, whose widow she now [1739] is, and holds the manor for life,

Charles Townsend, Esq. their son, now a minor, being heir in reversion.

Huningham vicarage is valued in the King's Books, at 8li. 12s. 6d. and being sworn of the clear yearly value of 44l. 3s. 10d. ob. it is discharged of first fruits and tenths; it paid 18d. synodals, 13d. ob. Peter-pence, and 16d. ob. carvage; the ancient custom of this parish being, that when any woman is churched, every married woman in the parish pays the vicar an half-penny a piece, and the same at every parishioner's wedding, as the Bishop of St. Asaph's Collections inform me.

This rectory belonged to the manor of Cossey, till it was given to the abbey of Bon-Repos in Brittany in France, which was founded in the year 1184, June 23, in the parish of Mur, in the diocese of Quimxer, by Alan de Rohan, son of the Viscount of Rohan, with the consent of Constance his wife, as Lobmeau in his history of Bretaigne (p. 168) informs us, to which abbey the said Alan gave this advowson, &c. as is before observed at p. 416; notwithstanding which, in 1234, King Henry III. claimed the advowson against the Abbot, alleging that King John, as guardian to the lands of the Earl of Bretagne, presented Alan de Bassingbourn to the rectory, as belonging to Cossey manor, and that at his death, Alex, de Basingbourne, his son, was presented by the King on the same account; but the claim dropt, upon the Abbot's proving that the manors of Cossey and Huningham were the inheritance of Conan Earl of Britain, who gave them to Alan Viscount of Rohan, in marriage with Constance, his daughter, which Alan gave the advowsons to the abbey, as the deeds proved; and the jury also found that this church formerly had two moieties, which were consolidated by Pandulf Bishop of Norwich; and that Conan presented Alan of Basingbourne to the whole church, before he gave it to Alan de Rohan, and that then one Jeffry de Huningham held one moiety of it; but at his death Alan had the whole, as consolidated, who persuaded the Bishop to admit his son, Alexander de Basingbourne, to a moiety, as vicar under him, paying 2s. pension to Alan his father, as rector, at whose death the said Alexander had the whole, and as a whole church or advowson, it was given to the abbey, and afterwards was leased to the Abbot of Sautre for ever, paying the rent, who got it appropriated, and had the house, a carucate of land, and a manor thereto belonging, and 6 acres of the vicar's land assigned to the convent, with the great tithes; and for this rectory the abbey was valued to the tax at 25 marks; the vicar had a house, 60 acres of land, and all small tithes assigned to him; the Abbot was laid at 4l. 15s. 10d. for his temporals here. At the Dissolution the impropriate rectory and manor thereto belonging, with all the temporals of Sawtre abbey, and the advowson of the vicarage, came to the Crown, from whence they were afterwards granted, in 1544, to Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, Knt. who the same year sold them to Tho. Holl, Gent. of Hegham by Norwich; he died seized April 30, 1557, leaving them to Thomas, his son and heir, then 25 years old. In 1571, Thomas Southwell had it for life, and at his death it went to the Cutylyns, and so became joined to the other manors, as it still continues.

The revenues of the college of St. Mary in the Fields at Norwich, lying in this town, were granted to Theophilus Adams, and Tho. Buteler, Gent.

In 1202, Will. de Estun gave a tenement and lands in Huningham and Thorp to Rich. the Prior, and the canons of the Holy-Sepulchre at Thetford, for which that house was laid at 4s. 4d. to the tax, in 1428.

Rectors.

Boecius, rector of a mediety in Richard the First's time. Will. de Horforth.

Jeffry de Huningham, rector of a mediety. Conan Earl of Bretagne.

Alan de Basingbourne. Conan Earl of Bretagne, patron of the whole, the moieties being united perpetually.

Alex. de Basingbourne, his son. King John, as guardian to the Earl of Bretagne.

Vicars.

1311, Will. de Baldeswell. The Abbot of Sautre, as perpetual proctor or lessee, presented to the Dissolution, only the Bishop of Norwich, on the appropriation, reserved the nomination to the vicarage every other turn.

1311, Will. de Chevele (instituted by proxy, as was very common formerly.)

1311, Will. de Oxwick.

1322, John de Tuttington.

1329, John Wipposeyl of Houghton.

1376, Will. Schenche of Spalding.

1376, Will. Norton.

1379, Will. Ricbred of Spalding.

1394, Will. London. O.

1421, Sir John Styward, priest, resigned.

1425, Sir Rob. Whyte, priest, resigned.

1428, Rich. Palmer, priest, resigned.

1432, Sir Rob. Kyng, priest. Change with Wulterton.

1437, Rob. Wymond, priest.

1442, Sir Henry Pottell, priest, resigned.

1462, Sir Will. Bokkyng, chaplain, resigned.

1463, Sir John Yates, chaplain, resigned.

1496, Sir Henry Plumbe, priest, buried in the chancel, in 1528.

1528, Sir John Baille. Sir John Awdeley, Knt. by grant of Sawtre Abbot. O.

1545, Sir Will. Gibson, chaplain. Tho. Holl of Heigham by Norwich, Gent.

Will. Powle, O.

1560, Mr. George Michell, priest. Tho. Holl, Gent.

1587, Tho. West, A. M. united to Colton. Rich. Catlyn, Esq.

1592, John Rogers, A. M. on West's resignation. Will. Barrow, Esq. he returned 96 communicants here, A^o. 1603.

1634, Christ. Rogers, on John's resignation. Sir Thomas Richardson, Knt. Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas.

Samuel Withers, died vicar.

1672, Nath. Shute, A. M. Thomas Lord Richardson, Baron of Cramond in Scotland.

1680, Tho. Wilkins, A. M. on Shute's resignation. John Sheldrake, goldsmith of London, mortgagee in possession.

1690, Tho. Synder, clerk, on Wilkins's death, who held it united to Hempstead rectory. George Griffith, Gent. mortgagee in possession.

1738, the Rev. Mr. George Howes is the present [1739] rector, (on Sidner's death,) who holds it united to Wiclewood. The honourable Henrietta Townsend, widow.