Volume 3 Pages 113 & 114
Available to download for free from archive.org
page 113
WALDRINGFIELD
There was one manor here in Saxon times. It belonged to
Ranalf, brother of Ilger, and consisted of 1 carucate of
land, a border, 2 ploughteams, reduced to 1 at the time
of the survey, and a mill. In Saxon times was 1 rouncy
and 100 sheep, which in the Survey became 27, and the
vaue was 20s. At the time of the Survey, the value
had come down to 10s., the rouncy had disappeared, and
the sheep were 27 only. The Survey says: “It is 6 quarentenes long and
3 broad, and pays in a gelt 5d.” It was held in the time of the Confessor
by Brichtmar, a freeman; Ranulf also held here 40 acres and 1 ploughteam,
valued at 4s., which had formerly been held by five freemen under com-
mendation, half to Brihtmar and half to his mother. 1 The Abbot of Bury
had a large estate here. It consisted of 1½ curates of land, 2 ploughteams
in demesne, 1 belonging to the men, 2 acres of meadow, 1 rouncy, 10 hogs,
and 100 sheep, valued at 20s. It was 3 quarentenes in breadth and 6 in
length, and paid in a gelt 5d. This estate in the Confessor’s time had been
held by Quengeva under the abbot.2
In Little Waldringfield Robert Malet held 22 acres, 1 bordar tenant,
and 1 ploughteam, value at 2s., which had formerly been held by a socman
under Edric.3
WALDRINGFIELD AL.WALDRINGFIELD HILTON MANOR
In 1305 Sir Robert Hilton, Knt., was patron of the living at Waldring-
field, and not unlikely had the manor also, which would account for its name.
In the next century it was the Lordship of Sir Robert Wingfield, who died
in 1431, from which time till the time of Sir John Wingfield, Sheriff of Nor-
folk and Suffolk in 1483, and again in 1492-3, the manor devolved in the
same course as the Manor of Thorpe Hall in Hasketon, in this Hundred.
John Purpet, of Newbourne, seems to have died seised of the manor in
1542, when it passed to his son and heir, Edmund Purpet. His daughter
Jane married Anthony Wingfield, and died seised of the manor in 1562,
when Elizabeth Wingfield, daughter of Henry, was found to be the next
heir, Sir Anthony Wingfields, of Goodwins, who was created a baronet
17th May, 1627, died seised of the manor 30thJuly, 1638. when the manor
again followed the same line of devolution as the Manor of Thorpe Hall
until it vested in Sir Robert Wingfield, 3rd Bar., who died unmarried
in 1671. The manor, however, was sold in 1662 to Thomas Essington, from
whom it passed to his son and heir, John Essington, who sold the same to Sir
Samuel Barnardiston, Bart., of Brightwell. He was the 3rd son of Sir
Nathaniel Barnardiston and Jane Soame. He is noted for having given the
term “Roundhead” to the political party which he and his family supported
In 1641-2 he took part in a city procession with a petition to the Parliament
described as “the humble petition of divers apprentices and other young
men in and about the city of London,” who were petitioners for peace. He
joined heartily in the Restoration, and was knighted and created a baronet
11th May,1663. Sir Samuel sat in most of the Parliaments of Charles II.
as a member for Ipswich, and was Deputy-Governor of the East India Com-
pany, and presented a petition from the company to the Commons with
reference to a petition presented to the Lords against the Commons.4 He
1 Dom. ii. 424b.
2 Dom. ii. 369b.
3 Dom. ii. 315.
4 Rapin ii. 651.
/// page 114
was tried before Jeffreys, 14th Feb. 1683, for having “maliciously and
seditiously” in letters to Sir Philip Skipper, Knt., at Ipswich (who had
married his niece), and to a Mr William Cavill at Brightwell, and others in
Suffolk, mentioned “trhe late sham protestant plot.” “’Tis generally
believed the Earl of Essex was murdered.” “The brave Lord Russell is
afresh lamented.” “Sir George (Jeffreys) is grown very humble.” That
“it is believed the King will pardon Algernon Sidney,” &c.
Sir Samuel was fined £10,000 and ordered to find sureties for his good
behaviour during life, and to be committed till same be found. Sir Samuel
Barnardiston would not pay, and remained a prisoner during the remainder
of this and a great part of the following reign. In the 2nd William and
Mary, an Act passed “to free the estate of Sir Samuel Barnardiston from
the several incumbrances occasioned by judgment given against him upon
information in the Court of King’s Bench.” Sir Samuel Barnardiston 1
died without issue 8th Nov., 1707, when the manor passed tohis nephew
Samuel, son of Nathaniel Barnardiston, of Hackney, elder brother of the late
Baronet, Sir Samuel. This Sir Samuel Barnardiston, 2nd Bart., of Bright-
well, died without issue 3rd Jan. 1709, and was succeeded by his brother,
Sir Pelatiah Barnardiston, 3rd Bar., who died unmarried 4th May, 1712.
In 1804 we find the manor vested in Mrs. Elizabeth Paiesti, and it
subsequently went to one Bush, and was then purchased by the Rev.
Porter, of Ipswich. In 1885 the Manor was vested in the Rev. George
Henry Porter, of Marlesfor, and is now vested in Richard Porter.
RIVERSHALL MANOR.
This was the estate of Brihtmar, a freeman in the time of the Con
fessor, and of Ranulf, brother of Ilger, at the Period of the Domesday
Survey. In 1316 the lordship was vested in Richard Bruce, and in 1428
in Margaret, Widow of William Lampet. Between 1456 and 1459 the manor
was the subject of the Chancery suit mentioned in the account of Brightwell
Manor pending between William Curson, esq., and Cecily his wife, and John
Andrewe, feoffee of John Lampet, Esq., father of the said Cecily, 2 and
it passed in the same course as the Manor of Brightwell, in this Hundred,
to the time of Thomas Essington, who bought in 1662, after which it devolved
apparently in the same course as the main manor.
The manor is included in a fine levied in 1542 by Sir John Jermy and
Margaret his wife, against them by Thomas Bawdy and others.3 The fine
included also the manors of Brightwell and Stutton, and the advowsons of
the churches of Brightwell and Stutton (?Sutton).
The Manor with the main manor was offered for sale at Ipswich the
24th September 1836. They were then described as “The Manors of Rivers Hall
in Waldringfield and Waldringfield with Hilton”
