HOUSES AND PEOPLE

CANAL HOUSE (ASHWELLTHORPE GRANGE) AND ITS OWNERS or OCCUPIERS

[reproduced by permission of Norfolk Museums Service (Norwich Castle Museum) granted 1994] Canal House c. 1814-1819 by John Thirtle pencil and watercolour on cream wove paper – one of group of 5 watercolour studies of Norfolk country houses painted about the same time.

The Listed Buildings Register maintained by English Heritage states that The Grange is a Grade II building first listed on 26 June 1981 and describes it as follows:

"18th Century house. Painted brick. Fertile roof with gabled and hipped ends. Paired modillions at eaves. Two storeys and attic. South front 5 bays, asymmetrical, sashes with glazing bars, left hand blocked, 4 centred arch stair window off centre with intersecting glazing bars, right hand segmental bow window with gothic intersecting glazing bars, pilasters and entablature, central pilastered doorway with entablature and gothic panelled door, modern garden door on left, 4 modern flat roof dormers. Internal brick chimney stack at each end. North elevation has similar bow window, 4 first floor sashes and modern Georgian style glazed porch. 18th/19th Century rear wing on north-east, painted brick, blacked glazed pantile roof, sashes and casements, 2 storeys"

1) GIL(L) BAD(D)ELEY

One of the early owners of Canal House was GIL(L) BAD(D)ELEY, one of several children born to merchant Samuel and Sarah Badeley on 27 August 1745 and named at the Walpole Independent Chapel, Suffolk, on 13 September 1745. 

From Walpole Independent Chapel Original Register on www.findmypast.com 

Photographs by David Stuckey with permission of Simon Weeks, Friends of Walpole Old Chapel

By May 1759, Gil was apprenticed to Nathaniel Buck, a surgeon of Ipswich - and fellow member of the Walpole Independent Chapel - and after completing his apprenticeship, he practised as a surgeon in Ipswich. On 13 December 1764, Gil married MARY MAY the daughter of gentleman landowner GEORGE MAY, holder of the Creping Hall Manor, Stutton, Suffolk, who had died in February 1764. The marriage took place at St Mary le Tower church, Ipswich - a fact the Ipswich Journal of the day reported with the additional information that Miss May is "an accomplish'd young Lady with a very handsome Fortune".

Gil and Mary Badeley had two daughters named at the Presbyterian Old Meeting House, St Nicholas Street, Ipswich – Mary May in 1766 and Sophia in 1767 – before moving to Norwich, St Martin at Palace Plain and St Giles. Several other children were born in Norwich and Ashwellthorpe and all baptised (and buried) at the Old Meeting House Independent at Colegate, Norwich - picture below.

Sarah born 24 October 1769, baptised 30 October 1769, buried 9 November 1769; Gill born 4 October 1770, baptised 14 October 1770, buried 24 October 1770; Henry Bacon born 3 October 1771, baptised 26 October 1771, buried 7 November 1771;  Rebekah born 27 May 1773, baptised 26 June 1773; Jemima baptised 28 October1775, buried 19 January 1776; Gill born 13 July 1777, baptised 25 July 1777, buried 3 April 1779

Gil Badeley and his wife Mary owned Canal House between 1770 and 1778 but there is very little recorded history of his involvement in the parish. He was appointed an Overseer of the Poor for Ashwellthorpe for the year 1772 to administer relief (e.g. money, food, clothing) to those of the parish in need under the Poor Relief Acts in law at the time; he would also collect the poor rate, a local tax paid by householders and some tenants. He also attended the meetings to appoint Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor in 1776.

He sold the Canal House Estate to Mr Joseph Kiddle in 1778 for £2,400 - the lowest calculation of worth in today's money is £238,000 rising to several millions taking different factors into account!

It seems Gil and Mary Badeley remained in Norfolk, probably Norwich, until about 1791 during which time he played a full life in the Norwich city establishment. On Guild Day in June 1787 when a new Mayor of Norwich was sworn in, the Norfolk Chronicle reported that to the Mayor Elect, Aldermen and Common Council at Norwich Cathedral Mr Badeley "saluted the body in an elegant Latin oration as they passed by the Free School on their return to the Guildhall, where, after being sworn into his office with the usual ceremonies, the Mayor addressed the Court".

Drawings of Annual Guild Day Norwich 1705 on Library of Congress website – no known restrictions on publication

Gil and Mary Badeley left Norfolk by 1791 although keeping some contact with East Anglia as he had inherited, via his wife Mary, the Lordship of the Manor of Creping Hall, Stutton, Suffolk, from her father, and had to purchase a certificate each year to enable the shooting of game. So, with their children Mary May, Sophia and Rebekah, they took up residence in Bath and by November of that year Gill Badeley had become the Chairman of a meeting of the subscribers – a position he held for several years - to the Bath New Assembly Rooms to "take into consideration some Regulations relative to the admission of Company to the Dress Balls and other Amusements of these Rooms….." reported the Bath Chronicle. He and his wife played a prominent part in the social and institutional life of Bath for the next two decades.

Daughter Rebekah who had been born in Ashwellthorpe, married a Peter O'Malley Esq. of Prospect, County Galway, on 22 January 1801 at St Swithin, Walcot, Bath – this marriage was reported in the Ipswich Journal. Their eldest daughter, Mary May, married John Marke Esq. of Liskeard, Cornwall at St Michael Archangel, Lyme Regis, Dorset on 27 September 1804.

Gil Baddeley died at his home 7 Oxford Row, Bath on 26 November 1815 aged 70 and was buried at All Saints' Church, Woolley, Bath; he had the most glowing obituary in the Bath Journal:

"On Sunday, died at his house in Oxford Row, Gill Badeley Esq. after a long and very painful illness, which he endured with the most patient resignation. Mr Badeley was a truly valuable member of society; of uncorrupt integrity himself, he abhorred every kind of imposition of fraud, public or private; and was highly serviceable to many persons, by enabling them to resist practices of such nature. He was particularly skilled in the management of trusts and executorships, which he discharged with the utmost disinterested and honourable fidelity. The loss of such a character may be considered as a public misfortune, and will not be easily supplied.

His wife Mary died on 30 August 1821aged 83, leaving a "most desirable and substantial-built dwelling house being No. 7 in that eligible and airy situation of Oxford Row and within one minute's walk of the Upper Assembly Rooms" , stated the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette. Gil and Mary Badeley's unmarried daughter Sophia was the sole Executrix of her mother's Will signed on 4 July that year. There followed auctions of both the Badeley property at 7 Oxford Row, including shares in the Old Bath Fire Office (a "well-established and profitable" insurance company) on the 21 November 1821 and "All the extremely neat and useful household furniture, pier and chimney glasses, eight-day bracket clock, china, glass, plate, plated ware, a few books, linen, a few fine prints and other effect" on the following day.

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2)  JOSEPH KIDDLE   

(also with references to his daughter Elizabeth and her husband John Richards)

Mr Joseph Kiddle purchased Canal House in 1778 for £2,400. He was born c. 1719 probably in Norfolk and had farmed at Markshall, Caistor St Edmund for 42 years before purchasing Canal House  and moving from Markshall to Ashwellthorpe on 13 August 1778, along with his wife Elizabeth and grandson Joseph Kiddle Richards (then aged 12).

Markshall (sometimes Merkeshall/Marketshall) was a deserted village with a ruined church dedicated to St Edmund. A visit documented by Thomas Martin on 27 May 1737, whilst Joseph Kiddle occupied the farm, is given on the Norfolk Heritage Explorer website:

Markshall Farm Barn built 1716 'from A Short History of Markshall by Judy Booker and Susan Harman April 2026 on www.caistorromanproject.org 

It is believed the farmhouse was built c. 1716 and that Joseph Kiddle would have been a tenant farmer of the family of the Pettus Baronetcy. 

Joseph Kiddle (Kiddall) married his first cousin Elizabeth Rudd, who had been baptised to Robert and Jane Rudd in East Carleton on 27 August 1721, and their marriage, by Licence with consent of parents, took place on 26 November 1740 at St Stephen's Church Norwich. Living in Markshall where the church had long been ruined, their daughter Elizabeth was baptised on 20 September 1742 at Caistor St Edmund church and another daughter Martha was baptised to them on 12 February 1743 but sadly buried on 9 October 1744 in the same church.

To add some delightful illustration to the Kiddle story, daughter Elizabeth kept a diary from 1760 until her death in 1816 which was carried on by her eldest son John Richards – the Norfolk Record Office has this diary in their possession. In the diary, her father Joseph Kiddle was described as "a large tall man who weighed 20 stones"; her mother Elizabeth nee Rudd was "a little woman". The life of daughter Elizabeth is inextricably linked to that of her parents for most of the Kiddle occupancy of Canal House, as she, her husband John Richards and their children also lived at the house on several occasions and one of her sons – Joseph Kiddle Richards -became the owner, inheriting from his grandfather. There will be other extracts from Elizabeth's diary later on.

Joseph Kiddle was one of the largest landowners and highest ratepayers in Ashwellthorpe and as such, he was soon elected to be an Overseer for the Poor at the Easter Town Meeting held in the vestry of All Saints Church in 1779, along with Barnard Huggin the clockmaker. It was usual to elect two Overseers of the Poor each year at this meeting (as well as two Churchwardens) and decide the rate to be charged and collected from the owners of property in order to carry out the duties of giving relief to the poor of the parish. The Overseers kept very detailed accounts of the money raised and spent.

For example, in Joseph Kiddle's accounts for the six months Easter to Michaelmas 1779, the amount raised by the poor rate was £43. 1s. 0d. (£43.05) with weekly amounts being paid out totalling £41. 9s. 5½d (£41.47p), not only in cash for those in need, but also specific items such as blanket, sheets, shoes, clothes, a spinning wheel, shirt and the payment of a doctor's bill. There was some smallpox in the village at this time. Joseph Kiddle was elected Overseer of the Poor again in 1784 and 1785.

The Wreningham Inclosure was completed in 1779 and Joseph Kiddle, although of Ashwellthorpe, was part of this process with land in the area of Spong Marsh, immediately adjacent to Wreningham. Inclosure was a nationwide legal process with the intent of changing the open-field system (strip farming by all inhabitants) and common lands (usable by everyone for grazing) by "inclosing" them to facilitate larger fields with more productive results. With initiatives to "inclose" coming either from landowners hoping to maximise rental from their estates, or from tenant farmers anxious to improve their farms – they were the ones to benefit. Communal open fields and commons were now hedged and fenced off with old boundaries removed and in the ownership of the larger landowners and their tenant farmers. The ordinary small farmer/inhabitant suffered from lack of available land. [A very full account of the Wrenngham Inclosure can be seen on the Wrenngham Heritage website entitled "The Old Commons"].

Extracts from "The Mores", poem by John Clare written later, in 1820, seem pertinent:

"Inclosure came and trampled on the grave
Of labour's rights and left the poor a slave

The sheep and cows were free to range as then
Where change might prompt nor felt the bonds of men
Cows went and came, with evening morn and night,
To the wild pasture as their common right
And sheep, unfolded with the rising sun
Heard the swains shout and felt their freedom won

Fence now meets fence in owners' little bounds
Of field and meadow large as garden grounds
In little parcels little minds to please
With men and flocks imprisoned ill at ease."

Joseph and Elizabeth Kiddle had to financially help their daughter and her husband, Elizabeth and John Richards, on several occasions whilst living at Canal House. Elizabeth had married John Richards from a yeoman farmer family in Hempnall on 30 August 1762 at Caistor St Edmund and they hired Hall Farm, Arminghall leaving in 1779 having incurred debts.

Hall Farm Arminghall - with permission of Joseph Mason www.joemasonspage@gmail.com

Whilst in Arminghall, John and Elizabeth Richards had children: John (usually called Jack) probably baptised 26 June 1763; Elizabeth baptised 16 July 1764, buried 15 March 1771 ; Joseph Kiddle baptised 3 February 1766; Charlotte baptised 3 May 1767; James baptised 12 July 1769; Henry Richard baptised 13 July 1772; Elizabeth baptised 15 March 1773; Anna Maria baptised 10 December 1775; and Harriett baptised 1779.

In June 1778, John Richards had to sell his stud of "exceeding good horses consisting of coach, cart and plough geldings" and then on 15 October 1779 Elizabeth and John Richards left Arminghall to stay with Joseph and Elizabeth Kiddle in Ashwellthorpe before hiring a small farm of Mr Burton's at Weston (Longville?); it is possible that Parson Woodforde mentioned Elizabeth in his diary as "a good-natured and sensible woman". Elizabeth wrote in her diary at the end of 1779 that "this year has been a year of sorrow and trouble". Their son John Junr. later wrote about the move to Weston in his section of the diary that there "was little left of the almost ample abundance, which my father once had".

Then in January 1780, John Richards hired a large farm at Cley but was "obliged to relinquish it because he could not borrow a sufficient sum of money to stock it". In September 1780, John Richards and father-in-law Joseph Kiddle went to bid for a farm at Oulton but did not succeed "which made us very unhappy". Finally on 10 October 1780, Elizabeth and John Richards and five of their children went to live with Joseph and Elizabeth Kiddle in Canal House, Ashwellthorpe. They brought all their stock and furniture with them. Elizabeth Richards said in her diary "we had contracted several large debts which we were not able to pay. My father mortgaged his estate for £500 and lent it to my husband which has, Thank God, enabled us to pay everybody their due and support our son Jack in London".

Whilst at Canal House with her parents, Elizabeth Richards wrote in her diary:

"8 August 1782 Took a walk to Mr Thurstons to see his mother, a fine and venerable old lady of 107

4 June 1783 Son (John (Jack) Richards Junr.) went to Court for the first time on the King's Birthday

21 October 1783 Mr Robert Richards gave a Ball at Saxlngham. Jack, Joseph and Charlotte were at it. Jack hurt his leg by the chaise breaking owing to furious driving of Mr Robert Richards

8 June 1784 Admission of Jack as Attorney and Solicitor on Kings Bench, fee of £30 paid for admission by father (Joseph Kiddle)

19 – 23 July 1785 Staid at Mr Garritts in Norwich. Saw Major Money ascend from Mr Quaintrell's Gardens in an Air Balloon. The wind carried him out to sea.

13 October 1785 My son Jack gave a Ball at our house at which we were present. It was a very genteel dance, there were two violins and a Pipe and Tabor. An elegant cold collation for supper.

from: www.pipeandtaborcompendium.co.uk - permission sought November 2024

On 1 April 1788, Joseph Kiddle died at Canal House in his 70th year, which was reported in The Ipswich Journal, and he was buried in the churchyard of All Saints, Ashwellthorpe on 6 April. 

Ashwellthorpe Burial Register on www.findmypast.com 

His daughter Elizabeth said in her diary "a handsome stone is put up in his memory by his widow". [His gravestone is on the east side of the church path, very close to the porch]

Gravestones to Joseph Kiddle and his wife Elizabeth Kiddle east of church path, close to porch - All Saints, Ashwellthorpe

Unfortunately, the west-facing incised inscription is now very weathered and illegible, but a survey I made in the early 1980s revealed: "To the Memory of/M JOSEPH KIDDLE/who departed this life/April 1st 1788/in the 70th Year of his age/". The verse was indecipherable.The gravestone is of limestone, peon-shaped with scotia shoulders, decorated with two cherubs.

In his Will made three years earlier, Joseph Kiddle left his property to grandson Joseph Kiddle Richards "subject to payment of principal and interest which may happen to be due on mortgages of said premises". His wife Elizabeth was to receive £50 per year and after she had died, £40 to be paid per year to daughter Elizabeth Richards "to be paid into the proper hands of her my said daughter to and for her own sake and separate use and benefit and shall not be to any wise subject to the control debts or engagements of her said husband". He also left £200 to each of his other seven grandchildren. [John, Charlotte, James, Henry, Elizabeth, Anna Maria and Harriet]

After Joseph Kiddle's death, his widow Elizabeth moved out of Canal House on 5 November 1788, with her daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth and John Richards and three of their children, to live in Aslacton but in October 1791, they all returned to live at Canal House with Joseph Kiddle Richards. Not long after the Richards' family return to Canal House, John Richards fell ill and his wife Elizabeth wrote in her diary:

"My husband taken ill with dropsy (oedema) – treated first by Mr Talbot, Apothecary, then by Mr Dade of Carlton then by Mr Coleman of Norwich, who tapped him and took two gallons of water from him – and again with the same result a month later, with Dr. Macquin"

In February 1792, John Richards died and his wife wrote "in the 50th year of his age and was buried on February 7th in Thorp Churchyard and very near my Father"

Ashwellthorpe Burial Register on www.findmypast.com 

John Richards' gravestone is beside those of his mother- and father-in-law in the graveyard but is completely indecipherable.

Elizabeth Kiddle died aged 72 at Canal House in September 1793 and was buried at All Saints Church, Ashwellthorpe, on 12 September. Her daughter Elizabeth Richards wrote in her diary "my dear much honoured and indulgent Mother departed this life aged 72 and was buried near my dear Father's grave in Thorp churchyard". The incised inscription on her gravestone reads: "To the Memory of/ELIZ. KIDDLE/who departed this life/Sept. 7t 1793/Aged 72 years" and it is of limestone, ogee-shaped with scotia shoulders and decorated with two cherubs. The verse is indecipherble.

Ashwellthorpe Burial Register on www.findmypast.com 

the gravestones of Joseph Kiddle, Elizabeth Kiddle and John Richards at All Saints, Ashwellthorpe

An Auctioneer, Mr Parsons, arranged an auction to be held in Ashwellthorpe on 4 October 1793 of part of the Canal House household furniture which had belonged to Mrs Kiddle: small bedstead with cheney (chintz) hangings, feather-bed and bolsters; eight-day clock, writing desk, large mahogany dining table and a "quite new" kitchen range with screw cheeks and brass jack.

Elizabeth Richards was not buried in All Saints churchyard, Ashwellthorpe - she had moved to Woodton with her daughters Charlotte and Harriett in 1797 before moving to Hempnall in 1803 where she occupied the farmhouse recently vacated by her son James and his family who had gone to East Carleton to farm land belonging to relation Mr Steward. Elizabeth died aged 73 in Hempnall and was buried at St Margaret's Church on 12 July 1816.

To add some insight into Elizabeth and John Richards nee Kiddle - the daughter and son-in-law of owner Joseph Kiddle - their eldest son John (Jack) wrote, in the diary which he continued after his mother's death in 1816, of his father John Richards, comparing him with his uncle James Richards. "My Uncle James, his brother, was many years the oldest, was brought up to be a Linen Weaver and was wholly unlike my father both in person and disposition. Of ordinary but not vulgar face and figure with penurious habits, whereas my father had singularly handsome features, was well made above the middle size and heedless of money". He added that his parents' marriage was "a match entirely of affection" and that the Hall Farm estate at Arminghall comprised between 200 and 300 acres of land "which my Father farmed and from his general habits, connections, style and expence of living, was considered a sort of Gentleman Farmer". He also regretted that "as was too common in those days, my father's fondness for wine and his fits of irritability made him at time alarming to his children".

Sources at the Norfolk Record Office: Original Parish Registers of Arminghall, Ashwellthorpe, Caistor St Edmund, East Carleton; Bishops' Transcripts Ashwellthorpe; Poor Law Records Ashwellthorpe; Extracts from the Diaries of Mrs John Richards and her son 1769 - 1818 on MS 178 T 136B; Will of Joseph Kiddle

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3) JOSEPH KIDDLE RICHARDS  

Joseph Kiddle Richards was born at Hall Farm, Arminghall, and baptised to John and Elizabeth Richards nee Kiddle at St Mary's Church, on 3 February 1766. 

Arminghall Baptism Register on www.findmypast.com 

When he was twelve years old, his grandparents Joseph and Elizabeth Kiddle purchased Canal House, Ashwellthorpe, and he went with them to live there permanently. Whilst his parents and siblings moved around frequently, he remained in Ashwellthorpe, no doubt helping to look after the estate and learning the methods of farming. When his grandfather Joseph Kiddle died in 1788, grandson Joseph, at the age of 22, inherited Canal House and its land, subject to payment of principal and interest which were due on mortgages and payment of various other annuities and legacies [mentioned in (2) above].

Canal House c. 1814-1819 by John Thirtle pencil and watercolour on cream wove paper [reproduced by permission of Norfolk Museums Service (Norwich Castle Museum) granted 1994]

Joseph Kiddle Richards was elected an Overseer of the Poor for Ashwellthorpe in 1791 and 1795; he was also a member of the Forehoe Association in 1793 and 1794 – an Association for "prosecuting Housebreakers, horse stealers etc." which had members from many villages within a ten mile radius of Wymondham. In the 1780s. Such Associations were established in many small towns by landowners who paid an annual subscription, with an aim to bring about prosecutions of felons and funding which would be offered as rewards if information led to the arrest of the felons.

However, on 11 May 1797, his mother wrote in her diary "to my great grief and astonishment, Mr Sillis sent the Bailiffs and arrested my son Joe for £300, and he went on the 13th to Norwich Castle". Norwich Castle, used in part as the County gaol and part as a debtors' prison, had a new gaol constructed both inside and around the Keep in 1792-93.  [A Mr Sillis was a sponsor – godparent – to Joseph Kiddle Richards but was it the same person?]. Joseph's mother visited her son in the Castle and on 18 May 1797 found him very cheerful when drinking tea with him and on 22 June "dined and drank tea with Joe".

Canal House was put up for auction in London and advertised, with the Norfolk Chronicle notice of 10 June 1797 giving the first known description of the estate with details of its 146 acres of meadow, pasture and arable land in a high state of cultivation, of which all but 34 Acres were freehold. Four cottages were included as were the valuable Common rights. Canal House itself was described as a "genteel house" with offices, stabling, garden, orchard, plantation and a "handsome piece of water". There was also a "farmyard with suitable buildings for husbandry". The auctioneers were Skinner, Dyke and Skinner of Aldgate Street and the auction was held at Garraway's Coffee House in (Ex)Change Alley, Cornhill in the City of London – not only a famous coffee house, but containing a sales room with merchants and auctioneers transacting 20 or 30 property or other sales a day. The auction took place on 14 June 1797 but Canal House did not sell; it was advertised again in the Norfolk Chronicle on 24 June, 1 and 27 July with particulars being available from Joseph Kiddle Richards' brother John (Jack) from his Chambers at Essex Court, Temple.

Norfolk Chronicle 27 July 1797 from on www.findmypast.com 

Joseph's mother Elizabeth wrote in her diary on 2 August 1797, that "Mr Whaites who married my cousin Mary Rudd, bought Joseph's estate for £4,100"; [This Mary Rudd was from the Little Melton branch of the Rudd family]. Joseph was still in gaol at this time and a further auction was held by William Parson, Auctioneer of Attleborough, at Canal House on 26 and 27 September as the following Norfolk Chronicle notice details.

Norfolk Chronicle on www.findmypast.com 

On 26 October 1797, Joseph was released from the castle. His mother wrote "To our great joy Joseph came out of the Castle where he had been confined 24 weeks. During all that time was remarkably well and cheerful. All his friends strove who should most largely contribute to render his stay there as little irksome as possible. He paid his Creditors and proved himself to be a truly honest man".

So that was the end of Joseph Kiddle Richards' connection with Canal House and on 19 March 1798, he left Norfolk with his mother writing in her diary "My dear son Joseph took an affectionate farewell of me and all his Norfolk friends and set off for Marston Park, Derbyshire, where he is going as Steward to Mr Walke and to instruct his servants in the Norfolk way of farming". During the 18th Century, Norfolk had led the way in agricultural improvements including the 4-course field rotation system - wheat in first year, turnips, barley with clover or ryegrass, then grazed (which would be good fertiliser) or cut for animal feed. This Norfolk system was much supported by Lord Townshend ("Turnip Townshend") of Raynham Hall and then Thomas Coke of Holkham Hall, estates of tens of thousand acres.

He stayed at Marston Park until June 1802 when he left to look after a farm for Lord Sheffield at Sheffield Park, Sussex, and then in January 1804, became Steward to Lord Gage at Firle Place, Sussex, where he stayed for 35 years until his death. 

Firle Place, Sussex - Martin John Bishop. Creative Commons Share Alike 2.0 Licence

He died at his older brother John [Jack]'s home in Datchet, aged 70 but was buried in St Peter's churchyard, West Firle on 7 August 1836. It is worth noting here that John [Jack] Richards had a successful legal career becoming the solicitor to Prince Augustus Frederick the Duke of Sussex in 1807 [sixth son of King George III] and also being the Lay Rector and owner of the Rectory house of Datchet through his marriage to Eleanor Russell in 1800.

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4) ROBERT WHAITES

In Robert Whaites Snr of Runhall's 1786 Will, his wife Mary is mentioned, along with son ROBERT WHAITES (bequest of "all messuages, lands, tenements and hereditaments, freehold and copyhold lying and being in Upton, South Walsham, Ranworth and Acle"). Daughter Mary Ann is also mentioned as the wife of CHARLES UTTING - this Charles and Mary Ann Utting of Hoveton St John had a son THOMAS UTTING who was, therefore, the nephew of the Robert and Mary Whaites nee Rudd who purchased the Ashwellthorpe estate in 1797.   But I leave the intermingling of the Whaites and Utting families to the family historians.                                                                                                                                                               

After Robert Whaites' purchase in 1797, there is no record of him living in Canal House; he made his Will in December 1800 and his nephew "Thomas Utting of Ashwellthorpe, the son of Charles Utting, farmer, of Hoveton St John" was already resident in Ashwellthorpe. Robert Whaites died in 1803 and was buried at St Margaret's churchyard, Witton, on 24 November that year although his Will declared he was a "Farmer of Runhall". His wife Mary nee Rudd (Elizabeth Richards' cousin as above) was still alive and was an Executrix; he left to nephew Thomas Utting of Ashwellthorpe all his lands etc. in Ashwellthorpe, Wreningham, Fulmodeston, Upton, South Walsham and Ranworth with various provisos.

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5) THOMAS UTTING

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SOME HUGGIN CLOCK-WATCHMAKER FAMILY HISTORY

These are family history notes about various Huggin generations which might be of help to family historians. Sources: original parish registers, overseers' and churchwardens' accounts, Wills held by the Norfolk Record Office. Other secondary sources are named.

The first time the surname HUGGIN or variant appears in Ashwellthorpe parish registers was 16 August 1684 when Susanna Huggen married John Rudland; Susan(na) was the daughter of Thomas Huggin, a cordwainer (shoemaker) of Ashwellthorpe, as stated in Thomas' Will dated 30 April 1690. Thomas Huggin mentioned his wife Joanna, oldest son George ("wearing apparell"), second son John ("wearing lynnen"), youngest son Thomas ("ten shillings") and daughter Susan Rudland ("ten shillings").

The First Generation - Thomas Huggin the Cordwainer's Will was written and signed on 30 April 1690 and there is a date added of 4 May 1690 (in Latin), but there is no burial for him in the Ashwellthorpe registers. It seems  that Thomas was a Quaker. According to the original register  'England and Wales Society of Friends (Quaker) Burials 1578-1841' on www.findmypast.com , Thomas Huggins of Ashwellthorpe/Ashfieldthorpe attended Norwich Monthly Meetings and died in 1690 at Thetford and was buried there "in the burying ground of Henry Kitl" [see below]. The transcript index for this entry states the burial date to be 7 March 1690, and the

original entry does state the 7 day of the 3 month which you might think must be 7 March - before his Will was written and signed on 30 April 1690! Quakers did not use names of days of the week or months because they derived from pagan gods. What solves the puzzle of the date is that in 1690, the New Year started on 25 March which  remained in place until 1752. Therefore the 3 (third) month of the year was May and his burial date 7 May 1690.

Henry Kittle had been a Mayor of Thetford in 1640 and 1655 and was a staunch Parliamentarian. He was buried on his own ground in Thetford in 1709 as were many others over time. It seems that Thomas Kittle's ground was definitely a non- conformist burial place and that he could well have been a Quaker as well.

There is no burial for Thomas Huggin's wife Joanna in Ashwellthorpe, but there is a Quaker burial for a Johannah Hugings of the Norwich Monthly Meeting, who died 9th of the 7th month 1718 (9 September 1718) aged 91, in the original register of the'Society of Friends (Quaker) Burials 1578-1841' on www.findmypast.com, but whether she was the wife of the above Thomas Huggin is unknown.

The Second Generation – in Ashwellthorpe, there was a John Huggin who was married to Anne and he was probably the middle son of Thomas and Joanna Huggin above.

It was probably this John Huggin who was appointed as a Churchwarden in Ashwellthorpe for the year 1694 and as an overseer of the poor in 1707. These selections were made by the Vestry meeting, made up of all rate-paying occupiers of land in the parish.

The children John and Anne baptised in Ashwellthorpe were: John born 23 October and baptised 3 November 1692; Anne and Mary baptised on 23 September 1694 who both died within days and were buried on 1 October and 23 September 1694 respectively; Anne bap. 1 November 1696; George bap 19 June 1698; and Benjamin bap 29 April 1711.

The Second Generation – It is probable that Thomas Huggin Jnr was the youngest of Thomas and Joanna Huggin's children and was probably the Thomas who married Deborah somewhere unknown. There was a Thomas and Deborah Huggin(s) who baptised a son Thomas on 7 April 1688 at St John Timberhill, Norwich. Whether this is the same Thomas and Deborah who had a son John baptised in Ashwellthorpe on 27 March 1692 is not known for certain but Thomas and Deborah Huggin had three other children baptised in Ashwellthorpe – Samuel(l) 15 June 1693, Henry 29 June 1694 and Anne 20 October 1695 – before Deborah died and was buried on 22 May 1703. Nothing further is known about Thomas.

The Third Generation – John Huggin the first clock-watchmaker in Ashwellthorpe – which of the above John Huggin's both born in Ashwellthorpe in 1692 was the first of the Huggin family of clock-watchmakers? I do not know. That will be for Huggin family researchers to discover.

But John Huggin, the first Huggin clock-watchmaker of Ashwellthorpe, was married to Elizabeth ? some time before 1721 and had eight children baptised in All Saints' church (five of whom died in infancy), with three sons -John, William and Barnard, becoming clock-watchmakers.

It was probably this third generation John Huggin who was chosen by the Vestry meeting of the Parish to be an Overseer of the Poor in 1749, 1755 and 1760 – overseers were usually selected every Easter from all rate-paying occupiers of land (the better-off male population of the parish) to administer poor relief (money, food, clothing, apprenticeships) under the supervision of JPs.

John was buried at All Saints' Church in the village on 23 December 1775; his wife Elizabeth probably died in 1779 and was buried on 26 December. They had sons Barnard, John and William who all became clock-watchmakers and they were mentioned in John's Will which he signed on 4 January 1775. "Messuages, houses, lands, tenements" left to wife Elizabeth and after her death to son Barnard; and £30 each to sons John and William. He also mentioned his grandchildren - John son of John; Elizabeth and Mary, daughters of William.

The Fourth Generation – John Huggin Jnr. the second clock-watchmaker - the oldest son of John and Elizabeth Huggin, was born on 5 April 1723 and buried in Ashwellthorpe on 21 December 1788. Nothing more is known about him – apart from the legacy of his clocks.

The Fourth Generation – William Huggin Snr, the third clock-watchmaker - the middle son of John and Elizabeth Huggin, was born on 29 September 1727 in Ashwellthorpe and he married Hannah Oakley by Banns in the village on 11 February 1766.

It is probable that it was this William Huggin who was elected to be an overseer of the poor for Ashwellthorpe in 1775, 1781 and 1782.

He died on 20 July 1802 and was buried at All Saints' church, Ashwellthorpe. In his Will written on 25 May 1802, he mentioned his wife Hannah, son William and daughters Elizabeth Austen and Mary Juby to whom he left £80 each. Daughter Elizabeth had married Izaac Austen (Isaac Austin) of Bunwell by Banns on 12 October 1789 at All Saints, Ashwellthorpe – he was a farmer in Bunwell. Mary Huggin had married William Juby of Hempnall (Hemenhall) by Licence on 4 November 1800 at All Saints, Ashwellthorpe.

The Fourth Generation – Barnard Huggin, the fourth clock-watchmaker – the youngest son of John and Elizabeth Huggin was born in Ashwellthorpe on 26 January 1733/34 and baptised at All Saints' church on 4 March that year. Barnard Huggin's first marriage was to Sarah Mayes, a spinster also of Ashwellthorpe, on 14 October 1760 at All Saints and they had two children: Elizabeth baptised All Saints on 29 July 1767 who was buried on 2 September that year; Susanna, baptised on 29 April 1770 who I believe was buried on 26 December 1779 – both events at All Saints, Ashwellthorpe. Sarah, aged 71, was buried in Ashwellthorpe on 25 July 1802. Barnard married – as a widower - Ann Smith of Wymondham, by Licence on 14 January 1803 at All Saints' Ashwellthorpe.

Barnard Huggin was also elected an overseer of the poor for Ashwellthorpe in 1761, 1766, 1771 and 1779. In 1815, Barnard Huggin's property value was assessed at £6.00 which, at the poor rate of 1s. 6d. (7.5p) in the £ led to a payment by him of 9 shillings (45p).

His nephew, William Huggin, the fifth clock-watchmaker, was the sole Executor of Barnard Huggin's Will written on 1 July 1810 and as well as various bequests to his wife Ann, and nephew John and nieces Elizabeth Austen and Mary Juby, Barnard bequeathed his "working tools and dials in the Clock Shop" to William. Barnard was aged 85 when he died and was buried on 20 May 1819 at All Saints' church. His widow Ann was buried at All Saints' Ashwellthorpe on 2 April 1830 aged 75.

The Fifth Generation – William Huggin Jnr, the fifth clock-watchmaker -was baptised on 9 October 1768, the only son of the above William and Hannah Huggin nee Oakley. He married Sarah Juby of Hempnall by Licence on 19 October 1802 at St Margaret's Church, Hempnall and they had a daughter Sarah, baptised on 12 January 1806 at All Saints' Ashwellthorpe.

In 1815, William paid into the poor rate for Ashwellthorpe with the valuation of his property being £18.10s. 0d. (£18.50) which, at the rate of 1s. 6d. (7.5p) in the pound, led to his payment of £1. 7s. 9d. (£1.38).

He wrote his Will on 4 October 1827 with the Executors being his wife Sarah, and his nephews William Juby the Younger, Farmer of Attlebridge, and Edmund Juby the Younger, Farmer of Taverham. William died aged 61 in November 1829 and was buried at All Saints' Ashwellthorpe on 19 November.

Widow Sarah Huggin wrote her Will on 26 April 1839 and her Executors were nephews William Juby, by then farming at Meyton Hall Frettenham, and Edmund Juby, farming at Old Hall, Weston Longville. At the 1841 Census, Sarah Huggin was aged 71, still living in Ashwellthorpe and described as a farmer – the 1842 Tithe Apportionment states that she farmed just over 15 acres - and she died aged 79 being buried at All Saints' Ashwellthorpe on 29 November 1849.

The Sixth Generation – Sarah Huggin, daughter and only child, of William Jnr and Sarah Huggin nee Juby, was baptised at All Saints' Ashwellthorpe on 12 January 1806 and Received into the Church there on 16 February that year. She was mentioned in her father's 1827 Will, but she pre-deceased her mother and was buried at All Saints' Ashwellthorpe, aged 33 on 9 May 1838.

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ASHWELLTHORPE HALL AFTER LADY BERNERS – Part One

1917 – 1921

There will be more stories of Lady Berners, the 12th Baroness Berners, appearing on this website from time to time. But this item covers her death at the age of 81 on 18 August 1917, as the last member of the Berners family to live at The Hall, and the sale of the Ashwellthorpe Hall Estate in 1918.

Emma Harriet Wilson married the 3rd baronet Sir Henry Thomas Tyrwhitt at St Michaels's Church, Pimlico by Licence, on 3 November 1853, when she was 17 and they had twelve children, many born in Ashwellthorpe. Emma Harriet Tyrwhitt nee Wilson inherited the Berners Barony in her own right, on the death of her twice-married but childless uncle, Henry William the 11th Baron Berners, when he died in 1871 and his Will stipulated that Ashwellthorpe Hall be entailed so that any inheritor would be a tenant for life. Whilst her husband Sir Henry was alive, they spent time at his home Stanley Hall, Astley Abbots, Shropshire but after his death in 1894, she lived permanently at Ashwellthorpe Hall, where she had been brought up. Her oldest living son, Raymond Robert Tyrwhitt-Wilson had already inherited the 4th Tyrwhitt baronetcy from his father in 1894.

Lady Berners' immediate successor to the Berners' Barony and the Estate was the above Raymond Robert who had been baptised at All Saints Church, Ashwellthorpe, on 18 October 1855, and who became the 13th Baron Berners immediately upon her death. He did not marry and he lived at Stanley Hall where he was High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1910, but also lived at 4 Down Street, Mayfair, London where he died on 5 September 1918 without children. Probate was granted to two of his brothers - the Honourable Rupert Tyrwhitt Major in the Royal Artillery and the Honourable Reverend Leonard Francis Tyrwhitt – his estate amounting to over £23,000.

Therefore, on 5 September 1918, the Berners Barony passed to the next heir Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt Wilson born 18 September 1883, to the Honourable Hugh Tyrwhitt and his wife Julia nee Foster. Hugh had been a Commodore in the Royal Navy and an Equerry to King Edward VII, but he had died in 1907 and, until his death, had been next in line to the Barony.

Gerald Hugh was educated at Eton and studied in France and Germany, before acting as an Honorary Attaché in Constantinople and Rome from 1909. In his lifetime, he became a composer, artist and author having already written songs, orchestral and piano pieces before he inherited the title.

Much more can be found out about him in any biographical dictionary and also from his four autobiographical books, particularly First Childhood, published in 1934, in which he writes in somewhat veiled terms about his austere grandmother Lady Berners (called Lady Bourchier) and Ashwellthorpe Hall (Stackwell Hall). He describes Stackwell Hall as a gloomy, unattractive home, deformed by later additions out of all recognition, surrounded by a moat which was generally half-dry and always rather smelly and shut in on all sides by tall fir trees, and looking as grim as an ogre's castle. He adds "I was always thankful that I never had to stay there often, and never for any length of time".

The Hall and Estate were already being advertised for sale in newspapers before Gerald inherited on 5 September 1918, but perhaps the continuation of the sale process by him gives an indication why he asked the Trustees of the 11th Baron Berners' 1871 Will for the entail on Ashwellthorpe Hall to be lifted within days of becoming 14th Baron so that the Hall and Estate could be sold!

*an entail meant limiting the inheritors to tenants for life of (property) over a number of generations so that ownership remained within a particular family or group

Entail Lifted

The Trustees gave consent for the sale of Ashwellthorpe Hall Estate on 28 September 1918 pursuant to the Settled Land Act 1882 – 1890. The entail was broken The Hall and its c.1118 Acre Estate was put on the market by Auction at the Royal Hotel, Norwich, on Saturday 28 September 1918 in 33 Lots, by Knight, Frank & Rutley of Hanover Square, London. It was advertised in many newspapers both local and further afield, e.g. The Scotsman.

Norfolk Chronicle 20 September 1918

Norfolk Record Office BRA 139/2

The whole Estate was sold for £38,500 – by some calculations, this is equivalent to £2.5 million today – to a Lawrence Bernard Lister, Auctioneer, of Stowmarket, Suffolk who, immediately afterwards at the same sale, instructed that the individual Lots should be offered for sale. No offer was made for Lot 1, Ashwellthorpe Hall its stabling, gardens, vinery, greenhouse and kitchen garden, together with a double cottage, small farmery, three rich old pastures amounting to c. 25 Acres in all. A good description of the interior of the Hall itself can be seen from the Auction document below:

The large tenanted farms: Hall Farm, Home or Church Farm, Wood Farm and Black Hall Farm (with its land in the parishes of Ashwellthorpe, Fundenhall and Wymondham) were all sold, as were some of the other Lots. Lower Wood and Fundenhall Wood were sold to the Co-operative Wholesale Society who had a brush-making factory in Wymondhamm, but other Lots were withdrawn with only a certain amount offered or withdrawn completely. So, the Estate was well and truly broken up – but there was no sale of Ashwellthorpe Hall.

On 7 February 1919, the Hall and the two blacksmiths' establishments and three cottages (Lots 8, 17 and 24) were sold on to a Frederick William Wateridge of Troston Hall, near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, for £2,750. He was formerly an Auctioneer but became a gentleman farmer when he resided at Troston Hall, now a Grade II* listed building. It is not known whether Frederick Wateridge lived in Ashwellthorpe Hall – his name does not appear on any of the Electoral Registers for Ashwellthorpe, but he was known in the village as he was approached by its War Memorial Committee in April 1919 for a possible donation to the Memorial Funds.

Much use has been made of conveyances, indentures, abstract of title covering the sale of the Hall, which are in a personal private collection. From these, it can be seen that Ashwellthorpe Hall was sold ny Frederick Wateridge to Captain/Major Leslie Fletcher of Stanfield Hall, Wymondham, for the sum of £3,450 in September 1921. Major Fletcher and his wife Elsa remained at Ashwellthorpe Hall for over thirty years and more can be read about the Fletcher's residence at the Hall in the future Part Two.

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LADY BERNERS, THE 16TH BARONESS

The Bourchier family were the first of the Barons Berners created in the mid-15th Century, followed by descent through Knyvett and Wilson families. The ancestral home of the Berners Barony was Ashwellthorpe, encompassing the later Ashwellthorpe Hall. Ashwellthorpe stayed in the family until the death in 1917 of the 12th Baroness Berners, Lady Emma Harriet Tyrwhitt nee Wilson. She was the last of this landed family to own and live in Ashwellthorpe Hall and there will be many articles on this history of Ashwellthorpe website which will feature her and her activities in the village. After her death in 1917 the title and estate passed, within a year, to her oldest living son and then his nephew. The Ashwellthorpe Hall Estate was sold; the Berners' title remained in the family.

But, although no direct family members have lived in Ashwellthorpe for over 100 years, the family name of Knyvett is kept alive by Knyvett Green in Ashwellthorpe.

Sadly, the 16th Baroness Berners - Lady Pamela Vivien Kirkham nee Williams - died on 23 January 2023 at the age of 93. She inherited the title after her mother's death and took up her seat in the House of Lords in 1995, particularly speaking on health and nursing matters. She  visited Ashwellthorpe back in 2000, to launch the publication of the 5th Impression of Ashwellthorpe Hall and Its History by Michael Lawrence on behalf of the Ashwellthorpe Hall Association which ran the Hall as a holiday hotel for disabled motorists.

A Memorial Service was held at St Mary's Church in Frome, Somerset on Saturday 18 February 2023 and the Order of Service is reproduced below. The title 17th Baron Berners has passed to her oldest son Rupert Kirkham.