N.B. The
information relating specifically to Hadleigh & its people in the 13th
& 14th centuries comes from Margaret’s translations of the
original documents relating to the medieval manor of Hadleigh
In the Middle Ages Hadleigh Manor was the chief manor
within the Hadleigh area. All manors had the right to hold manorial courts -
dealing with manorial misdemeanours e.g. tenants not paying rent or not
performing their specified labour services – but the chief manor was
authorised by royal decree to hold leet courts on behalf of the whole parish
and all its manors. Hadleigh Manor, through its leet court, was responsible
for justice in relation to minor criminal activities such as assault,
robbery, highway offences, breaches of the peace and retail infringements;
it also managed the ale and bread assizes. Additionally the leet conducted
checks on the frankpledge system whereby all males over 12 had to be in a
tithing (a group of 10) with responsibility for each other’s actions
and fines. The chief manor was also duty bound to build and maintain the
parish gallows, ducking stool (which for Hadleigh was in the pond of the
corn mill), stocks and pillory (situated opposite St Mary’s Church).
The resulting leet court fines brought considerable extra income to the
chief manor.
Margaret then traced the lordship of the Manor of
Hadleigh from the earliest documented lord, Ealdorman Byrhtnoth, who in AD
991 bequeathed the manor to the Church of the Saviour of Canterbury (the
Cathedral) in fact, as Margaret’s most recent research had shown, the
bequest was almost certainly to the community of secular clergy and monks
attached to the cathedral. At this stage the Archbishops of Canterbury
were the lords of Hadleigh manor. The priory or monastery of the Church of
Christ of Canterbury was formally established a century or so later, with
the Prior and the Convent i.e. the community of monks, becoming the lords of
Hadleigh manor until the time of the priory’s dissolution. Responsibility
for all the priory’s manors duly passed to the Dean and Chapter of the
Cathedral (the new Lords of the Manor) until 1862 when Hadleigh manor was
sold into private ownership.
Next came a brief account of the Manor of Hadleigh
during the mid 13th to the late 14th century. The day
to day management of our manor, or what to a large extent was a farm, was
undertaken by 2 or 3 reeves until the 14th century when serjeants
assumed the role; the latter were paid but also retained the
assistance of reeves. Being reeve was an unpopular post because there was a
great deal of responsibility with no salary, although there were several
perks attached. Other servants involved in the running of the manor were the
hay-ward, reap-reeve, shepherd, cowman, swineherd and housemaid – all were
paid a wage and given tips at Christmas and Easter.
A description followed of Hadleigh manorial enclosure
with the medieval manor house, which had been rebuilt in 1297. According to
our Hadleigh Society President (JB) this 13th century house was
on the actual site of today’s Hadleigh Hall although the medieval enclosure
was considerably larger at around 4 acres from the river to the king’s
highway (the current High Street). Margaret had drawn a map of what, at this
stage in her research and translations, she believed the enclosure might
have looked like. Firstly there were walls made of wattle and daub all
around; these had tiled roofs with ridged tiles along the centre. There were
3 gates – the great gate or main entrance possibly opening onto what is now
Pound Lane, the second gate opened onto the churchyard to the north of St
Mary’s Church and the third onto the Tyefield where the Brett Works are
today. All three gates had tiled and crested roofs and the manorial accounts
suggest their locks were kept in good repair.
Also within the enclosure was a courtyard, seemingly
on the northern side of the manor hall. The garden with its pond was at the
rear of the house on the southern side towards the river as was the detached
kitchen which was completely rebuilt and refurbished in 1334. A detached
chapel containing its own vestments, missal and chalice was close by the
pound in front of the manor house. Several farm buildings were present
on the site – these included 5 barns, a pig-sty, cattle shed, cart-house,
hen house and 2 stables – one for visitors’ palfreys and the other
presumably for the work horses. The dovecote on the site was a privilege
only accorded to lords of the manor. Every single one of these buildings,
even the hen and pig houses, prestigiously had a tiled roof with ridge
tiles. The pound, appearing to be within the manorial enclosure at the end
of what is now Pound Lane, provided a secure lock-up for stray beasts and
animals or chattels impounded when folks could not pay their fines in court.
In her translations Margaret had come across other
manorial buildings outside Hadleigh manor house enclosure. Most important
were the two watermills – one for fulling cloth and the other for grinding
corn; both were kept in excellent repair and brought a very respectable
income to the manor. Seven shops were leased out by the manor and there was
a salt-house for storing salt to preserve meat and fish; salters Agnes, John
and Richard presumably worked there. Dye houses were rented out to dyers
along Hadleigh river banks – on the Tyefield (now the allotments and the
Brett Works site), at Benton and also at Bradfield. Very importantly mention
of Nicholas the Master of Scholars in a 1276 court roll indicates that
Hadleigh (though not necessarily the manor) had a very early grammar school.
The talk continued with Margaret describing the
different types of demesne land within Hadleigh Manor acreage – arable,
woodland, pasture and meadow; her translations had also revealed two commons
and a great deal of tenanted land held by the free and customary tenants;
the latter unfree tenants had to undertake labour services several days a
week i.e. ploughing, digging, reaping, mowing threshing carting etc as well
as paying rent and regularly attending court.
Animals owned by the manor were listed next - sheep,
cows, oxen, cart horses, draught horses, pigs, various types of poultry and
doves - flocks and herds were never allowed to increase, any surplus was
always sold. The tenants also kept animals; Margaret gave a few examples
extracted from the manuscripts:
-
John of Eweney was fined 3d for trespassing in the
lord’s corn with his sheep & 3 bullocks;
-
Richard Firy was fined 6d for taking & detaining 14 of Adam Basset’s sheep;
-
rather cheekily Stephen Cornloader was found in the night pasturing
his horse in Isabel Sugge’s pasture.
The presentation was
brought to an end with Margaret introducing some of the ordinary folks
living in medieval Hadleigh through consideration of their surnames e.g.
telling their
-
place of residence or origin e.g
Hugh of Benton, Bartholomew of
Sudbury;
-
location within Hadleigh e.g.
William ate Hill, Letitia ate
Church;
-
profession/occupation e.g.
Nicholas the Clerk, Gerard the
Carpenter, Luke the Baker, Richard the Smith, William the Dyer, Vincent the
Fuller, Geoffrey the Weaver.
Lastly a few individuals
were identified having been named for a personal characteristic or given a
nickname e.g. Petronella Bigeleg, John
le Devil, Hugh le Halte (Hugh the Lame); Richard the Little, Bartholomew the
Long and Nicholas Garleberd.
Noel
Turner Award