Brampton

[ajtj01]

Brampton Hearth Tax returns 1674

Does anyone know where the 3 large houses listed in the Returns actually stood, one with 10 hearths was owned by the Leman family and is known to have burnt down in 1733 and was probably replaced by Brampton Hall.  The other 2 one with 10 hearths was owned by William Jurdan, the other with 7 hearths was owned by Sir Robert Yallop. I would assume they were timber framed constructions and will have probably have disappeared into the ground, but what about the lands they may have had, I can find no reference to these either at present.

[gobbitt]

Since the Lemans were in Brampton Manor, perhaps one of the other large buildings was in the village's smaller manor, Hales Hall. I imagine this may be the site of Manor Farm, which is closer to the new Brampton Hall (near the church) than the old one (near the railway station).

The 1764 edition of John Kirby's The Suffolk Traveller states on page 130 that the Manor of Hales Hall had been vested in Sir Edward Duke and "now belongs to William Chapman, Esq; of Loudham". In volume 2 of The Manors of Suffolk (p. 28) W. A. Copinger adds that the Duke family had held Hales Hall Manor for hundreds of years before the death of Sir Edward, the third Baronet, in 1732 and that Thomas "Fan" of Beccles became lord of that manor after William Chapman. White's 1844 gazetteer (p. 360) names Brampton's principal landowners as the Rev. George O. Leman, the Earl of Gosford, Henry Jex and Thomas Farr (not Fan). The will of Thomas Farr of Beccles (PCC 1850) is very long and supplemented by four codicils. I've read little more than the first page, which refers to the Manor of Hales Hall and to a capital messuage called The Old Hall in Brampton.

As well as any older maps or deeds that may have been archived, the 1838 tithe map and apportionment could be worth consulting at the Suffolk Record Office in Lowestoft or online at TheGenealogist.

Brampton's earlier landowners or residents are probably less useful to you, unless they left wills describing their properties in unusual detail, but you may like to know the names of the taxpayers assessed there for two subsidies in 1641, when the standard rate for land was 40% of its annual value, or 8 shillings per pound (TNA ref. E 179/183/534 rotulet 2d):

William GLOVER gentleman for lands worth £8 p.a (paying £3 4s tax)
Richard CRAMPTON 30s (12s)
Bridgett GLADDEN 20s (8s)
Robert MAN senior 40s (16s)
John VERDON 40s (16s)
Peter BURROWE 20s (8s)
Francis ABSOLON 20s (8s)
Jermy BUTTOLPH 30s (12s)
Thomas COLEMAN 50s (20s)
Mrs MUSKETT widow 30s (12s)
Thomas BULLIANT 50s (20s)

Curiously, there is no Leman among them, although all lands worth more than £1 per annum were liable to be taxed. Many more people came within the scope of a military grant in 1642. These are the first of those listed at Brampton (with the amounts they were to pay):

George Lord BARKLY for lands occupied by Robert MANN (9s 4½d), John BERDEN* (£2 5s 0d) and Henry DOWNINGE (18s 9d)
Sir Edward DUKE knight for lands occupied by Jarmy BUTTOLPH** (£1 6s 3d)
Sir John ROUS knight for his lands (7d)
William COCKERHAM cleric for his glebes & tithes (18s 9d)
Margarett LEMMAN widow for lands occupied by Francis ALSOLON [presumably ABSOLON] (£3 3s 9d), John WOOLNOUGH senior (15s 0d), Robert MAN (6s 9d), Richard CRAMPTON (5s 3d) and Henry DOWNINGE (8s 9½d + 2s 7½d)
Edmund BOHUN Esquire for lands in his own occupation (15s 9d) and more for lands occupied by Thomas BRAME (15s 9d), Humphry BOHUN gentleman (2s 3d), Edm~ TOOKE (6s 4½d), William GISLINGHAM (a windmill etc.: 5s 3d) and John ELLIS (1s 6d)
Humphrey BOHUN gentleman for his lands (1s 1½d)
Anthony BAKER gentleman for lands occupied by Thomas COLEMAN gentleman (£1 7s ½d) and more for a cottage occupied by John LEE (4½d)
Richard CRAMPTON gentleman for his own lands (8s 1d)
Bridgett GLADDEN for lands occupied by Richard CRAMPTON (6s 9d)
John DEPDEN gentleman for lands occupied by Thomas BULLIANT (£1 14s 10½d)
Thomas BULLIANT for his own lands (11s 3d)
Clu?re GARNEYES gentleman for lands occupied by Nathaniel GILDE (10s 1½d)

Subsequent entries, all rated below 10 shillings, are unlikely to indicate the largest houses in Brampton.

* This was evidently John VERDEN (VERDON in 1641), not John BERDEN, and not (as I initially suspected) a mistranscribed relative of William JURDAN, who was recorded at Brampton in 1674. Other Hearth Tax returns made available by the Suffolk Family History Society give William's surname as JORDAYNE in 1662 (10 hearths), JORDON in 1664 (9 hearths) and JORDAN in 1669 (10 hearths). Vincent Redstone's index to the 1642 grant includes no more than two members of that family taxed in Blything Hundred (possibly one and the same man): Henry JORDAN paying 1s for his goods at Westleton and Henry JORDEN (a tenant) paying 2s for goods at Darsham.

** The British Record Society's Index of the probate records of the Court of the Archdeacon of Suffolk 1444 — 1700, published in 1979, has one BUTTOLPH, Jarmy, a yeoman of Heveningham (1648), whose will has been catalogued by the SRO with the forename James.

David

[ajtj01]

Thanks for the information it does help identify the building as possibly Hales Hall. It was also useful in confirming the number of different versions of the name Jordan and also in placing Henry in either Darsham or Westleton, probably Westleton, I have a Henry noted there in 1638. I have yet to find a linked will for William which I assume would have existed given a property with 10 hearths.

[gobbitt]

The surprising lack of wills is doubly unfortunate because Brampton's early parish registers, including burials before 1771, were lost when the church was repaired in 1797. Online catalogues show none more relevant than the will of widow Margaret JORDEN of Brampton (Suffolk Archdeaconry 1593).

Manorial records could be your best hope. The SRO in Ipswich has court records etc. for Brampton Manor up to 1696 and just a few rentals for Hales (1659-1663). The Lowestoft branch has nothing of that sort until 1732 but there are tax assessments made in 1693 and 1694.

Testators sometimes mention people whose properties they have bought, so the voters of Brampton listed in the 1710 poll book may be of interest:

Tho. LEMAN
John TALBOTT
Roger FLOWER
Robert GARNHAM
Eleaz. GARNISH
John WILKENSON
Robert HINGE
Edmond FEAST
John LUDWOOD
Robert TILNEY

[ajtj01]

Thanks for clarifying the lack of wills, I will check out the manorial records when I can get back up to Ipswich, been concentrating on the Westleton area where I thought my roots might be.

[gobbitt]

I've just noticed in the printed index to Suffolk Archdeaconry wills that Margaret Jorden's parish is Bramfield rather than Brampton, as catalogued by the SRO. That would bring her much closer to Westleton, although no later than 1593.

Until 1858, eastern Suffolk residents' wills were normally proved in the Court of the Archdeacon of Suffolk (and western Suffolkers' in the Court of the Archdeacon of Sudbury). If they held property in both archdeaconries, then the Consistory Court of Norwich (NCC) had jurisdiction.

NCC wills proved between 1800 and 1857 are accessible free of charge from Norfolk Sources. Earlier references can be found using NROCAT's probate search interface, which requires an individual's surname to precede the forename. But you can, for example, just type Jurd* in the first box (Any text) and Suffolk in the next one (Title) to find details of Henry Jurdon of Westylton (1488).

The Prerogative Court of Canterbury or PCC was the only higher court and is always worth checking, particularly during the 1650s, when it processed all wills and administrations for the whole of England and Wales.

[ajtj01]

Thanks for that, found at least two relevant wills, was looking in the wrong place!

[windy_miller]

Hi Gobbit,

Very interested in the reference to "William GISLINGHAM (a windmill etc.: 5s 3d) ..." from the 1642 military grant (tax?).

Do you think that this windmill could have been held by Brampton Manor or elsewhere?

I'd be most interested in finding a home village for this mill.

Also what was the source of this info.  I'd really like to see if there are similar records for Suffolk that reveal 17thc mill sites and owners/occupiers.  I'm very intrigued!

Its great to be back researching!!!

Windy

[gobbitt]

Hi Windy

An account of the 1642 military grant assessments was uploaded to RootsChat in 2018, along with transcripts for the parishes of Frostenden and Wrentham. These were followed by Brampton and Linstead Magna in 2019 (here). I'm afraid I haven't found the time to transcribe any more since then.

Whichever manor it was in, I think the windmill owned by Edmund Bohun and occupied by William Gislingham must have been within the bounds of the village of Brampton, as it was listed under that parish by the tax collectors in 1642.

The parish boundaries displayed at https://www.familysearch.org/mapp/ suggest that it could be the mill shown next to the name of E. Bohun Esq. (of Westhall?) near Stoven on Kirby's 1766 map of north-eastern Suffolk, originally surveyed more than 30 years earlier (British Library "georgeiiitopographicalcollection" at Flickr).

Mills are mentioned only sporadically by the assessors in 1642, e.g. at Wrentham, where Frances Brewster Esq. was charged 2 shillings "for his Close by the Mill". A quick look at Vincent Redstone's manuscript has revealed none in Stoven or Westhall. This is consistent with John Blatchley's analysis in John Kirby's Suffolk: his maps and roadbooks (Suffolk Records Society, 2004, pp. 235-7) although he also points out that Kirby's recording and mapping of windmills was incomplete and unreliable.

David