Katherine Stanton my 9 x g.g.aunt was born in 1606
Catherine Gilchrist my 3 x g.g.aunt died in 1895
And on this day Thomas Seckford my 12 x g.grandfather died on 23 November 1505 at Great Bealings, Suffolk aged 61. He is descended from a line of Lords of the Manor but doesn't appear to become one himself.
Sir John de Seckford (1295-1331) (my 16 x g.grandfather) became Lord of Hakeford Hall Manor in Norfolk through his wife, the eldest daughter of Sir William de Hakeford, after Sir William's other daughter and her husband had released to them all their right to it and other lands.
On his death in 1331 his eldest son also called Sir John de Seckford (my 15 x g.grandfather) succeeded him. He died in 1371 and the succession was passed to his eldest son Sir George de Seckford (my 14 x g.grandfather
Sir George de Seckford (my 14 x g.grandfather) died in 1401 and the manor was settled on his wife Alice. She remarried and the property was passed on to George Seckford Esq (my 13 x g.grandfather).
George Seckford (my 13 x g.grandfather) died in 1450 and his widow remarried a Sir Henry Winfield. She kept possession of Hakeford Hall Manor following this 2nd marriage. She died in 1476 when Hakeford Hall Manor was released to Thomas Seckford (my 12 x g.grandfather).
Thomas Seckford (my 12 x g.grandfather) married and had two children, 1 son also called Thomas and a daughter called Cecily. It is thought that either Thomas or his father George built the original Seckford Hall, Suffolk.
This is the point where the manor and lands leave my line as I am descended from the daughter.
I have a booklet with a short history of Seckford Hall and the Seckford Family which states that Seckford Hall was the ancestral home of the Seckford family for 520 years and most probably built between 1541 and 1550. However, there is architectural evidence incorporated into the building which shows that the former Hall, or at least part of it was built in the late fifteenth century. The speculation is that the builder was either George Seckford my 13 x g.grandfather or his son Thomas my 12 x g.grandfather. 1489 has been given as an accurate date for the building of the old Hall. There is documentary evidence that the former hall existed in a will made by Thomas in 1503 in which he requests "a good and able priest to sing for me and my friends for ten years within the Church of Great Bealings or else at Seckford Hall". There must have been a chapel there then, but there is no chapel in the present hall, or any sign of there ever having been one. It is thought my 12 x g.grandfather's grandson, Thomas Seckford who founded the Almshouses for 13 poor men in Woodbridge built the new hall.
Seckford Hall is now a country house hotel. It looks lovely on Google!
