MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.
In 1066
Lewin Croc held a manor in Bergholt assessed
at 1 hide and 25 a.; in 1086 Roger of Poitou,
lord of the honor of Lancaster, held it in
demesne together with a berewick assessed at
half a hide and 30 a. called Bradfield. Another
½ hide and 11½ a. was held freely. (fn. 88) Roger's fief
was forfeited to the Crown in 1102, and granted
c. 1126 to Count Stephen of Mortain, later
King Stephen. (fn. 89) Bergholt manor was held of the
honor of Lancaster until 1211 or later, but of
the honor of Eye from 1233. (fn. 90) The overlordship
was recorded until 1488. (fn. 91)
By 1119 the demesne tenant of BERGHOLT
HALL was Robert de Sackville (d. c. 1137),
from whom the manor took the alternative name
of BERGHOLT SACKVILLE. Robert was
Stephen's steward and later a monk at St. John's
abbey, Colchester, and was probably succeeded
by his son Jordan (fl. 1157). He was succeeded
by his son another Jordan (d. c. 1208), (fn. 92) who
was succeeded by his brother, Geoffrey de
Sackville. (fn. 93) Geoffrey was succeeded after 1228
by his eldest son Jordan (d. 1233), and by his
grandson William de Sackville (fl. c. 1250).
William's son Jordan was imprisoned after the
battle of Evesham in 1265, but was pardoned
later that year. (fn. 94) On his death in 1275 the manor
passed to his son Andrew, then a minor. (fn. 95) He
died before 1291 and Bergholt Hall passed to
his son, another Andrew de Sackville. The
second Andrew held the manor until his death
in 1316 and was succeeded by his son, a third
Andrew de Sackville. He died in 1370, and
Bergholt Hall passed to his widow Maud. (fn. 96)
Maud married Edmund de la Pole, brother of
Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, but after her
death in 1393 the manor passed to Sir Thomas
Sackville, the son, possibly illegitimate, of
Andrew de Sackville (d. 1370). (fn. 97) Sir Thomas
died in 1433 and the manor passed to his son
Edward (d. 1450). (fn. 98) He was succeeded by his
son Humphrey (d. 1488) who left the estate to
his son Richard (d. 1523). He was followed by
his son John (d. 1557). (fn. 99)
The manor then passed to John Sackville's
son, Richard, created Baron Buckhurst in 1557.
After his death in 1566 the manor was held in
dower by his widow Winifred, who married Sir
John Paulet, marquess of Winchester (d. 1576). (fn. 1)
Richard's son Thomas, who became earl of
Dorset, sold the reversion of the manor in 1571
to John Dister, who gained possession in 1575. (fn. 2)
He had been succeeded before 1557 by his
widow Alice who c. 1584 gave the manor in
marriage with her daughter Jane to Richard
Weston. He was succeeded by his son, another
Richard Weston, about 1614. (fn. 3)
Richard Weston sold the manor in 1621 to Sir
John Denham who also held Little Horkesley. (fn. 4)
In 1639 he was succeeded by his son the poet
Sir John Denham who in 1641 sold the manor
to Sir Harbottle Grimston the younger. (fn. 5) After
Sir Harbottle's death in 1685 the manor was
inherited by his son Sir Samuel Grimston (d.
1700). (fn. 6) He was succeeded by his great nephew
William Luckyn, who assumed the surname
Grimston and who in 1719 was created Viscount
Grimston. He died in 1756 and was succeeded
by his son James who sold the manor to John
Hadley in 1775. (fn. 7) Hadley sold it before 1809 to
George and Anne Caswell of Sacomb Park,
Herts. George died in 1825 and Anne in 1829, (fn. 8)
when the manor passed to their daughter Susan
Constantia Caswell, wife of John Round of
Danbury Park. (fn. 9) John Round (d. 1860) was succeeded
by his son of the same name (d. 1887),
whose heir was his son John Horace Round the
historian (d. 1928). (fn. 10) He devised the manor,
including Bergholt Hall and High Trees Farm
to the children of Charles J. Round of Birch
Hall (d. 1945), son of James Round, M.P., who
had been a distant cousin and a friend of
J. H. Round. (fn. 11)
There was a house, presumably on the site of
the later Hall, by 1419. A barn and sheep-house
needed repair in 1430. (fn. 12) The seven-bayed, three-
storeyed, red brick east front of the Hall has a
central Venetian window. (fn. 13) It appears to be of
the third quarter of the 18th century and was
probably built for the Grimston family. Most of
the interior fittings are of the earlier 19th century.
Incorporated in outbuildings at the back
are sections of brick and timber-framed walls of
the 17th or early 18th century. An abandoned
medieval fish-stew lies immediately south of
the Hall, while Dovehouse field south of the
Hall in 1843 presumably marked the location of
the dovecote. (fn. 14)
Another manor in West Bergholt, later called
COOKS HALL, NETHERHALL, or BEAUMONDS, derived from the ½ hide and 26½ a.
held by Alwine the hunter in 1066 and Richard
son of Gilbert de Clare in 1086. Its later holders
also probably acquired 2 small estates held by
or of Richard in 1086: 6 a. held by Goding in
1066, and 31½ a. held by Lefcild in 1066 and
Goding in 1086. (fn. 15) The overlordship apparently
descended with the honor of Clare until 1860
when the manor was enfranchised. (fn. 16)
The demesne tenancy in the 12th and 13th
centuries was probably represented by the fee
or fees in West Bergholt called Mungedene or
Pirifield, from which much land was granted to
St. John's abbey. (fn. 17) The fee apparently took its
name from Robert of Mungedene (fl. late 12th
century) whose lands passed to Thomas le
Harpur of Wormingford (fl. 1230). The alterna-
tive name, Pirifield, apparently referred to lands
in Fordham held of the manor. (fn. 18) Ralph Gernon
of Wormingford (d. 1248) granted a life tenancy
of the manor to John Beaumond from whom it
took the name Beaumonds. (fn. 19) John presumably
bought the reversion from Ralph or his successors,
as St. John's abbey later owed 9d. rent
in Bergholt to William Beaumond 'of Nether-
hall', a name presumably deriving from its low-
lying location. (fn. 20)
The demesne tenancy passed to Adam Cook
(d. before 1361-2) from whom it was named
Cooks Hall. Adam's probable heirs, Adam and
Richard Cook, enlarged the estate by acquiring
freehold lands of Bergholt Hall manor in 1372. (fn. 21)
In 1445 Henry Fyloughby and his wife Cecily
sold Cooks Hall or Netherhall manor in West
Bergholt and Fordham to William Bury of
Colchester, who was succeeded by his wife
Joan in 1472. (fn. 22) In 1491 Thomas Cheryn and his
wife Joan, presumably the widow of William
Bury, sold Netherhall to Sir Thomas Mount-
gomery of Faulkbourne. Sir Thomas died in
1495 and was succeeded by his sister Alice, wife
of Robert Langley. (fn. 23) She was succeeded by
another Thomas Mountgomery who in 1507-8
sold the manor to John Abell, a Nayland cloth-
maker. (fn. 24)
John Abell (d. 1524) left the manor to his wife
Anne for life with successive remainders to their
five children, John the younger, John the elder,
Edmund, Agnes Alabaster, and Mary. (fn. 25) The
manor then passed to another John Abell (d.
1558) who was succeeded by his son, a third
John Abell (d. 1575). He left the manor to his
son Waldegrave Abell (d. 1613) who was succeeded
by his son William. He died in 1628 leaving
the manor to his wife Alice, daughter of
William Lynne of Westwood Park in Great and
Little Horkesley. At her death in 1641 the manor
was sold to her brother John Lynne who bought
out her son William Abell's interest in 1644. (fn. 26)
John Lynne sold the manor in 1649 to
William Brand, who was succeeded in 1684 by
his son Jacob, of Polstead Hall (Suff.). Jacob was
apparently followed by his son, another Jacob
(d. 1756), and by that Jacob's son William Beale-
Brand (d. 1799). (fn. 27) He was succeeded by his wife,
Ann Mirabella Henrietta (d. 1814), and then by
his great nephew Thomas William Cooke.
Thomas's widow, Mary Anne, and her second
husband Charles Tyrell held until her death
in 1849. (fn. 28) The manor was later held by T. A.
Cooke (d. 1895), and his son E. B. Cooke; W. M.
Cooke sold it to William Lofthouse in 1919. (fn. 29)
The 14th-century manor house was at
Netherhall; the site is now lost but it was probably
on the Colne near the boundary with
Fordham. By the 16th century it had been abandoned
for Cooks Hall, the site of the freehold
gained in 1372, which lay on higher ground
½ mile south-west of the church. (fn. 30) In 1569 the
buildings comprised the house, two courtyards,
two barns, two stables, and a garden, orchard,
and dovehouse. (fn. 31) The back wing of the surviving
house is of two builds, perhaps of the 16th cent-
ury or earlier 17th, but the main block was built
in the 18th century. (fn. 32) Ponds near the house may
be parts of a medieval moat, and brick walls
recorded in the 18th century still surround the
house. (fn. 33)
In the early 12th century Eudes the sewer
gave to St. John's abbey, Colchester, land in
West Bergholt which probably formed the
nucleus of the abbey's estate of ALMERY
LANDS or ARMOURY FARM, the name
being a corruption of 'almoner', the abbey
official to whom the farm was apportioned. (fn. 34)
The Abbey's estate grew rapidly in the earlier
13th century until by 1249 it comprised a house
and 40 a. Many gifts were made by tenants of
the fee or fees known as Mungedene or Pirifield,
probably the later manor of Cooks Hall, while
others derived from the holdings of Aelfgar
Keteswell (fl. 1200), reeve of West Bergholt or
Mile End, and his sons. (fn. 35)
After the suppression of the abbey in 1544 the
Crown granted the estate to Richard Duke, clerk
of the Court of Augmentations, who in 1545 sold
it to John Sackville, lord of Bergholt Hall
manor. (fn. 36) The estate descended with that manor
until 1634 or later, but was not recorded among
its possessions in 1716. (fn. 37) Jeremiah Daniell of
Colchester (d. 1766) owned or occupied the
estate in the earlier 18th century, and the farm
was held by his four daughters in 1768. Daniell
and Sons Breweries Ltd. held it in 1946. (fn. 38)
The Armoury, an L-shaped building, had
probably a hall and two cross wings. The 16th-
century north wing has a plain crown-post roof.
The main range appears to have been completely
rebuilt but retains a cross-passage plan; there is
now no south wing. In the 18th century the
house was cased in brick and given a three-bayed
front to both north and east, and in the later
20th century a block containing an entrance hall
was built in the angle between the ranges. The
garden on the east includes a large pond and is
partly inclosed by high walls with bee holes. (fn. 39)
In 1536 Richard Cavendish was granted a
supposed manor of West Bergholt formerly
belonging to the suppressed Leigh priory, but
that estate at Little Priors on Hall Road was
merely a customary holding of Bergholt Hall
manor. It is not recorded as a manor again. (fn. 40)