History and Antiquities of Hawstead

THE

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES

H A W S T E D

in the County of S U F F O L K

By the Rev. Sir J O H N C U L L U M, Bart. F.R. and A. SS.

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L O N D O N, 1784

PRINTED BY AND FOR J. NICHOLS,

PRINTER TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES;

AND SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

MDCCLXXXIV.

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~ D R U R Y ~

Having thus traced the lords of the two manors (Hawsted or Hawstead House and Talmache, also known as Bokenham) to the extinction of their property in this village, I shall now give some account of the Drurys, in whom both of them were first united. This family came into England at the conquest; immediately after which, they were seated at Thurston, in this neighbourhood, where they continued till Sir Roger Drury (who died in 1418) removed to Rougham; and Roger Drury (who died in 1500) became seated here. Their pedigree is here given from the beautiful original in the possession of Sir William Wake, bart, one of the representatives of this family, and whose kindness in the loan of it, I seize with pleasure this occasion of acknowledging. Mr. Blomefield mentions it (in History of Norfolk, vol. 1, page 185) but says he had no opportunity of making extracts from it.

This Roger, by the name of Roger Drury, of Hawsted, esq. became possessed of the manor of Bokenham’s, 3 Edw.IV, it being then assigned him by William Colman, to whom it had been released by John Marshall who, as we have seen before, had been estated therein by John Bokenham and Alice his wife. He died probably not long before his will was proved, which was on 22 March, 1500, in the chapel of S. Leonard, near Norwich. He must have reached a great age, as his father is said to have attended John of Gaunt in his expedition into Spain in 1386.

The will itself is dated 20 Jan. 1493, and at that time he seemed doubtful of the place of his sepulture, which was afterwards certainly in this church; to which he was yet very penurious, bequeathing it only the contingency of a sermon once a year for ten years. Perhaps he was the less liberal, as the advowson was not yet in his family. The will is extant in the registry of the bishop of Norwich, and contains so many remarkable particulars as to be worth preserving.

In Dei nominee, Amen. I Roger Drury, of Hawsted, in the com. of Suffolk, esquer, beynge in hole minde, and beleyving as God and the church wuld I shuld, the 20 day of January, in the year of our Lord God 1493/4, make my testament in this wyse. First I bequeth my soule to Almyghty God, and to our Lady Seint Mary, and to all the Company of Hevyn; my body to be buryed in suche place wher I trust in God to assigne at the tyme of my dethe. Also I will that myn executors receive my detts, and pay my detts; and if any wronge have I do, as God defend, to any person or persons, duly provide and examined by my said executors, I will they be restored Also I will that if it please the abbot of Bury, and his convent, to kepe a deryge for me in the quere, and masse of requiem on the next day at the high aultar, because it pleased them to make me a brother of their chapter, I will that the said abbot have 20 shillings, the prior 6s. 8d. , the sexton, 3s. 4d, the selerer 3s. 4d., the chantor 3s. 4d. and every other monke preste 20d., and they that be not prestes, 20d apece; and this I will immediately be doon after my deceasse, as sone as it may. Also I bequeth to Anne Basset, the doughter of John Basset and Elizabeth, his wife, 40s to her maryage. Also I bequeth to Mr. Thomas Coote, parson of Hawsted, for my tythes not full content in tymes past, 20s. Also I bequeth to the high aulter of the churches of Hartest, Somerton, and Whepsted, to iche of them, 6s. 8d. Also I bequeth to the reparacion of the church of Onehowse, wher I am patron, 40s. Also to the two houses of Frerers of Thetford, to iche of them for a deryge, and a masse, 12s. 4d. To the nunnes of the same towne, 20s. in lyke wyse to the Freres of Sudbury, 12s. 4d. , lyke wyse to the Freres of Clare, 12s 4d, lyke wise to the white Freres of Cawmbrege, 2s. 4d. Also I bequeth to Ric. Jerveys, 12s, 4d., to Agnes his wife, 2s. 4d., to Willm. Hyndey, 5s. 8d. to Henry Fynche, 2s. 4d., to Belamy, 3s. 4d., to Nunne, 20d., to Roger Alred, 2 s. 4d., to Elizabeth Drury, my servant and kyneswoman, 10 marks which Roberd my sonne hath in his kepying. Also I will, and specially desyer, my said executors, and John Basse, to take heed to the yerly payment of 20s. by yer of annuitye, which George Nuune payth, and must pay, during the terme of 37 yers, from Mychelmas last past, which was the 9th yer of kyng Henry the VII, as by the dedys of the said annuity more playnlye apperyth; the which 10s. I will be spent in red herynge, yerly, in Lenton, amonge the inhabitants of Whepsted, sume more, and some lesse, as povertie requireth; and to be bought and delivered by the hands of the said John Basse, during his life, and after his decesse, by the hands of suche on as shall be named by myn executors. Also I will, that Anne my wife have all such stuff of houshold, utensils, plate and jewels, with the books that wer her before I maryed, withought any interrupcon, or trobill. And I will that she have of my plate, a gilt pece…with a base foote, which weyeth 23 oz., a standing pece white and gilt, the which weyeth 27 oz., myn old silver bason with the Drury’s armes departed, which weyeth 37 oz. Also my gilt ewer, the which weyeth 18 oz. Also I will that she have my chased pece with myn armys in the bottom, the which weyeth 12 oz. because she hath 2 peces of the same sute. Also I will that she have my playne flat pece, with a gilt knoppe, (knob) which weyeth 16 oz. Also I will that she have my powder-box, which weyeth 7 oz. Also I will that she have my primer clothed with purpill damaske (a collection of prayers, psalms, hymns, etc. in Latin and English); and my booke clothed with red leather, in which hath myn armys; my greene coverlyght wrought with white cotton, my payer of fultyans (blankets), my hoole chamber that I ly in, my two beds in my maidens chamber hoole, with the change of shets belongying to all the said chambers. Also I will that she have of myn other shets and napery such parte as she thynkyth necessary for hir withought contradicon. Also I will that Roberd my sone have my books of Latyn lying in my chapel or belonging thereto, the day of the making of this my testament, except the books before except. Also I will that he have my two vestments, one of cloth of golde, the other of red sylk, with two corporases (consecrated host holders) the one lyke to the vestment of golde, the tother black velvet, with all the aulter clothes, frunteleys, and hangings concerning to the said chapel. Also I will that he have to the said chapel my gilt chaleys, weying 20 oz., my two standyng candlestykkes of 23 oz., my two cruets gilt and white 20 oz. Also I will that he have my silver bason with myn hoole armys, and the white ewer thereto, the which weyeth 20 lbs 11 oz. Also I will that he have my chafyng chasor of silver, which weyeth 27 oz. Also I will that he have the 13 spoons, the which are dayly in the buttery, with the square peynts, which weyen 13 oz. and three quarters. Also I will that the said Roberd have my gret cownterpeynt with the bousers (Bourchers) armys, and my payer of stamyns (wool blankets). Also I will that Anne the wife of the said Roberd my sone have the chyse of my two mafers (thought to be bowls or cups of some precious materials) and I will that Margaret the wife of my son William have the tother mafer. The one mafer with the cover silver gilt, weying 16 oz and the tother with the peynted cover and the gilt knoppe weyeth 16 oz. Also I will that Anne the doughter of the said Roberd have my primer clothed in Bawdekyn (gold brocade). Also I will that William my sone have my two Inglythe books, called Bochas, of Lydgat’s makying (The Tragedies gathered by John Bocccacio, of such princes as fell from their estates, through the mutability of fortune; since the creation of Adam, written in 1360 in Latin and translated into English by John Lydgate, monk of Bury) . Also I will that the said William have one of my fedyrbedds, with a traversing of the same sute, lying in the chapell chamber. Also I will that Anne my wife have of my cofers and chests, such as she thynketh shall be necessary for her. The residue of my stuff of houshold in the keeping of the said Roberd and Anne his wife, at the tyme of my dethe, except afore except, and except my plate not bequethen, I will that the said Roberd my sonne have. Also I will that William my sone have all such sheep as I have at geyst at my dethe. The sume of this my testament, legar, in money, as it is above wretyn, drawith 26£?12s, 4 d. beside the 10 marke assigned to Elizabeth Drury, the which 10 marke Roberd my sone hath in keeping. Item, I will that 100 marke, the which my sone Roberd hath of myn in keeping, in money and in plate, goe to the fyndyn of a scoler of Devenyte in Cawmbreyge for 10 yer, gevyng him 10 marke yerly, if he will preche ones in the yer, during the 10 yer at Bury, and ones at Hawsted; and if he will not preche, then I will that he have but 8 marke by the yer. Also I will that Katrine, Jane, and Anne, the daughters of my said sone William, have 150 marke which is in the keeping of the said William, to their maryage; that is to sey, iche of them 50 marke; and if any of the 3 sisters dye, I will that her 50 marke be departed betwen the toder 2 susters, and if any of the 3 susters intende to be a woman of religion, than I will that she have 10 marke the day of her profession, the residue to be departed between the tother 2 susters; and if 2 of them dye befor they be maryed, than I will that she that survyeth, hath 100 marks of the said 150 markes and the 50 marke residue I will be disposed by the discrecon on my said sone William, my sone Roberd, and Katrine my doughter, to the profyte of his other children. And if all the 3 susters dyen, then I will the said 150 marks be disposed of the discrecon of my said sone William, Roberd, and the said Katrine, among his other children, as the case shall require. The which 150 marks I will my sone William have in kepyng tyll the said daughters be maryed. And if the said William dye befor they be maryed, than I will my sone Roberd have the 150 marke in kepying tyll the said daughters be marryed. And for the performance of this my testament and last will of my moveable goods, I make myn executors the said Roberd my sone, and William my sone.

Roger Drury was succeeded by his eldest son Robert, so often mentioned in his will; who in a mortgage made to him of a messuage and two crofts, in Pynford Street, in this village, I Henry VII was called Robert Drury, of Hawsted, Esq. One of his first acts after his coming to his inheritance seems to have been the procuring from the pope a license for the chapel in his house; which yet was certainly in use before, as his father left it so handsomely furnished at his death. This license bears the date 7th of the calends of July , 10 pope Alexander VI, which is 25 June, 1501, and is as follows:

Julianus miseratione divina episcopus Ostiensis, dilecto in Christo Robdrto Drury nobili Norwincensis dioceseos, salutem in Domino. Ex parte tua suit propolsium coram nobis, quod, cum quedam capella in manerio tuo de Halsted dicte dioceseos qualsi per unum miliare vel circa a parochiali ecclesia de Halstede distet, adeo quod propter hujusmodi distantiam, hiemali et aliis temporibus anni, propter nives, glacies, imbres et inundationes aquarum, et viarum discrmina quibus illa regio habundat; pro missis et aliis divinis officiis audiendis, tu et uxor tua, ac heredes et successores, et familiares tui, ac alii pro tempore declinantes, prefertim dominicis et aliis festivis diebus, prout tenemini, dictam parocialem ecclesiam commode, prout tu et uxor tua, ac heredes et successors, ac familiars predicti velletis, accedere no potestis, desideratis in dicta capella in manerio predicto, que nondum consecrata existit, per presbyterum ydoneum secularem vel regularem, pro tempore deputandum, missas et alia divina official celebrari sacere, et ea audine, ac Eucharistiam et quecunque alia sacramenta et sarcamentalia ecclesiastica, quotiens fuerit opportunum, ab eodem presbytero recipere, quod vobis minime permittitur absque fedis apostolice dispensatione et licentia speciali; quare supplicari fecisti humiliter tibi et uxori ac heredibus et successoribus et familiaribus tuis perdictis in perpetuum super hiis per sedis perdicte clementiam….provideri. Nos igitur attendentes, quod in hiis que ad divinum cultum pertinent favorabilies effes debemus et benigni, tuifque in hac parte supplicationibus inclinati; auctoritate domini pape, cujus penitenciarie curam gerimus, et de ejus speciali mandato super hoc vive vocis oraculo nobis facto, ut per quemcumque presbyterum ydoneum secularem vel regularem, per te et heredes stuos ac successors predictos deputandum, cum altari portabili, et aliis rebus ad hoc necessaries et opportunis adhibitis, vestry ordinarii et loci predicti rectoris aut presbyteri parochiani licedntia minime requisita, missas et alia divina official, dominicis et aliis festivis ac profestis diebus prout videbitur, celebrari sacere et ea audire, ac eucharistiam et quecumque alia sacramenta et sacramentalia ecclesiastica ab eodem (festo paschali duntaxat excepto) Libere et licite recipere proslitis et valeatis; jure tamen parochialis ecclesie in omnibus semper salvo, et fine alicujus juris prejedicio, tibi ac heredibus et successoribus utriusque sexus ac presbytero predicto (veris existentibus supradictis), tenore presentium liberam concedimus facultatem; ac tecum et heredibus et successoribus ac presbytero presatis super hiis dispensamus in perpetuum, constitutionibus apostolicis ac provincialibus et fynodalibus conciliis editis generalibus vel specialibus, nec non Ottonis et Octoboni olim in regno Anglie apolstolice fedis legatorum, ceterifque contraries non obstantibus quibuscumque. Datum Rome apud sanctum Pectrum sub figillo officii penitenciarie vij kal. Julii, pontificatus domini Alexandri pape vj anno decimo.

Appendant to the above, by a strong woven cord, is a thin seal, representing I believe (for the impression is rather obscure) a person seated under a Gothic canopy, and holding a child; beneath is an escutcheon with two keys in saltire, surmounted by a triple crown, circumscribed, SIGILLUM OFICII SACRE PENITENCIARIE AP’LICE. It is of white wax, incrusted on the side of the impression with a thin coat of red. A sharp oval, 2-1/2 by 1-3/4 inches, secured in a tin case by the cord before-mentioned passing through its back and the case, and tied to the deed.

The above is transcribed, as not being in the common form; for these licenses were not generally granted by the pope but by the bishop of the diocese, who did not presume to grant these domestic chapels such privileges, and make them so nearly independent of the parish church, as his holiness did. The general requisites for granting these licenses were that the person should be a man of rank and consequence (nobilis), an invalid, or living at a distance from the church; the last of which circumstances is, in the present instance, aggravated by the badness of the roads, which is described with all the wordy parade of a modern conveyancer.

The portable or moveable altar granted in the above license was so called to distinquish it from the larger and more solid one of masonry, and at this perhaps masses might be celebrated in any apartment in the house. Thus Sir John Bardolf and his wife had a license from the pope in 1353 to have a portable altar, upon which a proper priest might, in a suitable place, in their presence, celebrate masses and other divine offices. They had sometimes very distinquished privileges annexed to them. Thus Baldwin, abbot of Bury, in the time of the Conqueror, brought one of them of porphyry from Rome, well furnished with reliques, and at which, as long as the convent preserved it entire, masses might be celebrated, though the whole kingdom lay under an interdict, unless the pope interdicted that by name.

My friend, Mr. Fenn of Dereham, has in his possession one of these implements. It belonged formerly to Mr. Thomas Martin, who esteemed it a singular curiosity. It is made of wood, in the shape of a reading desk; 16-1/2 inches high, 18 wide, and 11 deep. The front part is of box, carved in high relief with the trailing branches of the vine. The sides are of oak, on the upper parts of which are sculptured the branches of the fig tree; and lower down, the emblems of the Evangelists, two on each side. The whole is coloured and gilt upon a white incrustation. The inclining part at top opens; and the front occasionally falls down. Upon this latter, I suppose, were placed the consecrated elements, while the book rested on the upper part. Within are drawers and niches for the host, reliques and etc. See an engraving of this shrine in plate IV.

A few years after his father’s death, namely 20 Henry VII, Sir Robert made, as we have seen, the desirable purchase of the principal manor; and by afterwards industriously buying every little parcel of land that could be procured, became the proprietor of almost the whole village. And as a specimen of the concise manner in which conveyances were then sometimes made, the following is subjoined:

This bill witnesseth that I Robert Gippes, of Cowlinge, in the county of Suffolk, Husbondoman, knowlege me by these presents to have solde unto Sir Robert Drury, knight, half of a messuage, and of five acres of land and oon half, and a rode of medow and pasture lyeing and situate in Hawsted, to hym and to his heires for ever, for five pounds of lawfull money, the which five pounds I knowledge me to have received; and the seid Sir Robert, his executors and assignes thereof, and of every parcel of the same, I acquit and discharge for ever. In witness whereof to this bill I have set my seale, the vj day of January, the vij yer of king Henry the VIIIth.

Sir Robert was privy counselor to Henry VII, and (in year) I Henry VIII procured license to impark 2000 acres of land and 500 acres of wood in Hawsted, Whepsted and Horningsheath. He died, I suppose, soon after 24 Henry VIII, for that year he and Thomas Bacon, gentleman, and Roger Sturgeon, enfeoffed Sir Robert Norwich, chief justice of the King’s Bench, and several others in his manor of Hawsted for the purpose of fulfilling and executing his last will. From his shaking hand, he was then probably old. His seal of red wax is a small antique. The deed is indented, without letters at the edge. He was buried in St. Mary’s church at Bury, under a large altar monument of stone which is beneath the last arch of the chancel towards the east, on the fourth side. Weever attributes this to a Roger Drury who died in 1472, and Agnes his wife who died in 1445, of both of whom the pedigree is silent. But the woman’s head-dress is of a later period, and the whole is evidently of the same date as that opposite to it, for Sir William Carew, who died in 1501, and whose wife in 1525, she was first cousin to Sir Robert. All that remains of any inscription on Sir Robert’s monument is this distich, on the wooden palisades:

Suche as ye be some tyme ware wee,
Suche as wee are, suche shall ye be

Sir William Drury, his son, suffered a recovery of the manors of Hawsted and Onehouse, 27 Henry VIII. Four years afterwards he procured a grant of the contiguous manor of Whepsted, with the advowson, that had lately belonged to the monastery of St. Edmund. This must have been a capital addition to his possessions. The pedigree makes him marry a daughter of Henry Sothell, attorney general to Henry VII. But no such person appears in Sir William Dugdale’s series. Robert Southwell miles was made Master of the Rolls, 33 Henry VIII and his successor appointed 4 Edward VI.

By the grants which he obtained from queen Mary, he appears to have been a favourite of that princess; his testamentary disposition of one of them is worth noticing. He had purchased the wardship and marriage of the heir of the Drurys of Rougham who, he intended, should marry his daughter Elizabeth, but if any disagreement on either side should happen, he does not insist that the marriage should take place, but directs that his said daughter should, in that case, have the whole advantage that might arise from the wardship and marriage. A singular legacy to the young lady, whom he had destined for his ward’s wife. The match of course took place, when the minor was thus thrown into his mistresses power.

He was one of the knights of the shire from 7 Edward VI to the time of his death, which happened, as we have already seen by his epitaph, 11 Jan. 1557. His will is extant in the registry of the prerogative court of Canterbury, and needs no apology for its insertion. It is often from these records alone that we can become acquainted with the property, relations, modes of thinking and several other particulars of our ancestors.

In the name of God. Amen. I Sir William Drurye, knight, the 26th day of December, in the yere of our Lord God a thousande five hundred fiftie and seaven, made and ordeyn this my present testament and last will, in manner and fourme following; that is to saye, firste, I geve and bequeath my soule to Almightie God, Our Ladye Sainte Marye, and to all tholly companye of Heaven; and my bodie to be buried within the churche of Hawsted by my first wif, after and accordinge to my degree, by the discretion of myn executors. And by this my present testament and last will, I revoke and adnulle all other willes and testamentis by me before this tyme made; and I will that no personne nor personnes shall take any advantage, profit, or commoditie, by reason of any suche testament or will, by me at any tyme before this tyme made. And to fulfill this my present testament and last will, and every thinge that is, or shall be, therin conveyned; I make and ordyne myn executor, Elizabeth my wif; and I ordeyn, and speciallye desire, Sir Richard Riche knight Lorde Riche, to be a supervisor, to call upon myn executor for the true performance, and execution of this my present testament and last will, to aide and helpe her in such things as shall be requisite and necessarie for the same; and I geve unto him for his paynes and friendship therein, a gilte cuppe with a blue flower in the top. And I will that my said wife and all my children, and Bredget Jervis, have every of them a blacke gowne, and every of my housholde servaunts, blacke coates. And I will and require my saide executors to pay my dettis, as sone as they convenientlie may. Item, I geve and bequeth to Elizabeth my wif fortie pounds worth of my plate, after the rate of 6s. the ounce, and all gilt, and 5s. silver and parcel gilt, if it can be convenientlie born, and my dettis being discharged and trulie paid. And I geve and bequeth also to my said wif, all the residew of my plate, to be disposed to my children and to my sonne Roberte’s children; so that my dettis may be well and trulie paide of the residew of my goodes and cattales, and this my present testament and last will, also performed with the same residew of any goods, and with the yssues and profittes, rentes and services of such mannors, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, as hereafter be willed, devised, and assigned to my said executor, for the terme of certayne yeers; and such parte of the same plate as William Drury, my sonne Roberte’s eldest sonne, shall have to be delivered him at his full age. Also I geve to my said wife, thirtie payer of good sheets, sixe fetherbedds, and sixe mattrasses, with bolsters for them, of whiche fetherbedds, two of them be in myn owne chamber, and I geve unto the same Elizabeth my wif, the sparvers and hangings in the mayden’s chamber, where Elizabeth Holt did lye. Also I geve unto my said wyf six pillows of downe, one trussing cofer, and the cofer of walnut tree, and one great ship cofer, and six carpet cushinnes, the best she will chuse; and one cushinn of silke wrought with the nedill; three cushinnes of satin paned; one carpitt for a cupbord of those which were of her owne making. And also I will that she shall have all her chaines and jewelles, with all her appareill belonging unto her. And also I will that my said wif have the second vestiment with the albe, and all that belongeth to it, for a preest to singe in. And I will that my saide wif shall have the reasonable wearing and occupying of all other my beddes, sparvers, hanginge for beddes, curtaines, plate, cofers, chests, sheetes, table cloothes, and naprye, and hangings for chambers, and all other hangings whatsoever they be, or shall happen to be, at the tyme of my decease, until such tyme as my heire shall accomplish his full age of 21 years; and then to be left for the furniture of my house at Hawsted, except such as shall hereafter in this my present testament be otherwise devised, of as my dettis be paid and discharged, and other legacies in this my present testament fulfilled. Also I will that the said heire at his full age have my best vestiment, with the albe, and all that belongeth to it, and the best aulter clothe, and all the residew of the vestimentis and aulter clothes, with the stuff in the chapel, except such as I have before bequethed to my said wif. And also I geve unto my said heire, at his full age, all the evidences of myn inheritance, which shall remayne, descend, and come to him, with the boxes wherin the same evidences, or any parcel of them, be. And I geve and bequeth to my said wif two brass potts, two spits, a kettill, and two posnets; and I bequeth to my said heire, at his full age, all the residew of my brass potts, with the residew of my spits, with racks of yron to tourne spits in; two kettils, and a panne, with a garnishe of my best vessill. And I will that my said wif shall have one other garnishe of my best vessill next that; provided always, and I will, that all such stuffe of housholde, plate, goods, and chattales, as I have afore geven to my saide heire, to be delivered to him at his said full age. And I will, geve, bequeth, and assigne unto my said wif, the mannors of Hawsted Hall and Talmage, otherwise called Buckenham’s, with their appurtenances, and all other my landes, tenements and hereditaments, in Hawsted, Newton, and Sidolfmere, which late were my father’s Sir Robert Drurye, knight, or any other to his use; to have and to hold the said mannors, landes, tenements and hereditaments, to my said wif and her assigns, for terme of tenne years next, and ymmediatelie following after my decease, towards the payment of my dettis, and fulfilling this my present testament and last will. And for more suretie that my said dettis and legacies shulde be well and trule paide and fulfilled with the yssues, rentes, services and profits coming of the said mannors, lands, tenements, and hereditaments by the space of tenne years, I caused, long before this tyme, astates to be executed of all suche the saide mannors, landes, and tenements, as wer of my late father Sir Robert Drurye, knight, to the use of me for terme of my life, and tenne years next after my decease, without empechement or wast, as by certain deedes indented, sealed, and assigned by me more plainlie it appeareth. I will nevertheless that my daughter, dame Marye Corbett, shall have the farme in scite of the mannor of Hawsted Hall, with all such pasture grounde, and medowe grounde, as Roger Hawsted latelie had and occupied with the farme, paying yeerlie to my saide wif, during the said tenne yeers, 4£. And I will and geve to Dorothee Drurye my daughter, for the advauncement of her marriage, two hundred pounds, to be paid at her age of 20 yeers. And wheare by my dede, sealed with my seale of armes, and signed with my hande, I have geven and granted to my sonne Henry Drurye, and to his heires, one annuitie of yeerlie rente of 20 marks yeerlie, going out of my manor of Wepstede, mentioned in the same graunte, I will that the same be trulie paide, according to my saide graunte. And also I geve to my saide wif all my other goods and cattalles, whatsoever they be, not in this present testament and last will otherwise geven, bequeathed, or assigned, to the intent to perfourme the same, and towards the payment of my said dettis. And I geve unto Bredget Jervis, my saide wif’s gentilwoman, 6£ 13 s. 4d. sterling, toward the advauncement of her marriage. And I geve unto my sonne Henry Drurye, one good fetherbedd, a bolster, a pillowe of downe, a coverlet, a payr of blankets, and a payr of sheetes. Also I geve, bequeth, and assigne unto the saide Henry Drurye my sonne, and to the heires males of his bodie lawfullie begotten, the reversion, after the decease of Elizabeth my wif, of the mannor of Bradfeelde, with the appurtenances, and of other landes, tenementis, and hereditamentis, which I latelie purchased of Lord Willoughby of Perham. And I will also that my saide sonne Henrye shall have yeerlie, during the lif of my saide wif, toward his exhibition and living, tenne marks, parcel of the yeerlie rente of nineteen pounds and odd mony, going out of the mannor of Lawshull, whiche rente the queenes majestie did by her letters patentes, amonge other things, geve to me and my heires. Item, I geve, bequeth and assigne, to my saide wif, to the perfourmance of this my present testament and last will, the residewe of the yeerlie rente of 19£ and certayne odde money, going out of the mannor of Lawshull, whiche our soveraine ladie queen Marye lately gave unto me and myne heires, amoungest other things, to have and to hold the said residewe to my saide wif, for terme of 12 yeers next after my decease; the remayndre therof, after the same 12 yeers, to the said Elizabeth my wife, for terme of her lif; and after her decease, and the same 12 yeers ended, to remayne to the heires males of my bodie lawfullie begotten; and for default of such issue, the remayndre thereof to my right heires for ever. Also I geve to my saide wif all my lands, rentes, and reversions called Ingeham’s, with the Grange called Hencote, and the landes and tenements thereunto belonging, for the terme of 12 yeers next after my decease, toward the payement of my dettis, and the fulfilling of this my testament and last will. And I geve and bequeth unto every of my housholde servants tenne shillings, and I will that every of my saide servants shall be well and trulie paide and satisfied of and for all suche somes of money as been due unto them for their wages, as also for their liveraies within one monneth next after my decease; and I will also that my house be kept at my costes and charge by the space of one monneth after my decease, and that my saide servants and other of my housholde shall, at their free will and pleasure, have and take their meate, drincke and lodgeing, during that monneth. And wheare I have obtained and bought of the king and queene’s majesties, the wardeship and marriage of Robert Drurye, cousyn and heire of John Drurye, late of Rougham in the countie of Suffolk, esquire, deceased, to the intent that marriage shulde be had betwixt hym and Elizabeth my daughter, my mynde, will, purpose and intent is that the same marriage shulde take effect; nevertheless, if any disagreement shall happen to be, ether of the partie of the saide Robert Drurye, or on the partie of the said Elizabeth; I will then that the said Elizabeth, my daughter, shall have the hole profite and commoditie that shall or may arise, and growe, by reason of the wardeship, and marriage of the same Robert, or of any other his heire, whiche I ought to have by my said bargayne, with the king and queene’s majesties, the same Robert deceasing within age, and unmarried to my saide daughter. And if it happen the said Robert Drurye and his brother to decease before marriage, or disagreement, of as she be not advaunced by this gifte, thenne I will that my said daughter Elizabeth shall have two hundred marks for the advauncement of her marriage. And I pray, will and desire my saide wif, according to such motion as I have made unto her, to assure unto Henry Drurye, Thomas Drurye, and Robert Drurye, sonnes of my saide sonne Robert Drurye deceased, the manor of Hawcombye, with the appurtenances, in the countie of Lincoln, to have and to hold to them in reversion, after her decease, and to the heires males severallie of their bodies lawfullie begotten, toward the advauncement and preferment of their livinge. And also her to see to the bringing up of my said sonne Robert’s children, as my special and onlye trust is in her, to whome I have committed all theis things before remembred, for those considerations, and other before specified. Item, I geve unto maister Payne 6£ 13s. 4d., to Mr. Butler 4£., to William Wrenne 60s., to Anne Goldingham 4£ to Alexander Mariot 60s., and to Water Lorde other 60s. In witnesse of all these premises, these persons undernamed have set to their hands; and the said Sir William hath set to his seal of armes, the day and yere first above written. William Drury, Henry Yelverton, Henry Payn, William Wrenne, Alexander Marriott.

Sir William Drury's will was sealed with this seal (plate 9):

It appears by the above will that Sir William’s eldest son Robert was dead, and that his successor was a minor. This gentleman, whose name was William, had the honour of entertaining queen Elizabeth at his house here in her progress in 1578. She rode in the morning from Sir William Cordell’s at Melford, and dined with one of the Drurys at Lawshall Hall, about 5 miles distant from Hawsted. This visit is thus recorded in the register of that parish, under the year 1578:

It is to be remembered, that the queen’s highnesse, in her progresse, riding from Melford to Bury, 5 Aug. Regineque 20, annoque dni predicto, dined at Lawshall Hall, to the great rejoicing of the said parish, and the country thereabouts.

In the evening she came to Hawsted; her apartment there, ever afterwards, as usual, retaining her name. Tradition reports that she dropped a silver-handled fan into the moat. It was at this time, perhaps, that the royal guest bestowed the honour of knighthood upon the master of the mansion.

It was this Sir William Drury, I apprehend, who rebuilt, or great repaired, Hawsted House, afterwards called Hawsted Place, or The Place. My reasons for thinking so will appear from some circumstances in the description which I am going to give of it; and in which I shall be the more particular, as it will afford me an opportunity of illustrating in some measure the taste and mode of living at that period.

It’s situation, as of many old seats in this neighbourhood, is on an eminence, gently sloping towards the south. The whole formed a quadrangle, 202 by 211 feet within; an area formerly called the Base Court, afterwards the Court Yard. Three of the sides consisted of barns, stables, a mill-house, slaughter house, blacksmith’s shop, and various other offices, which Harrison, in his Description of Britain, tells us began in this reign to be thrown to a great distance from the principal house than they were in the time of Henry VIII. The entrance was by a gate-house in the center of the south-side, over which were chambers for carters, etc. This was afterwards laid open, and fenced with iron palisades. The mansion-house, which was also a quadrangle, formed the fourth side, standing higher than the other buildings, and detached from them by a wide moat, faced on all its banks with bricks, and surrounded by a handsome terrace, a considerable part of which commanded a fine view of the surrounding country, and bespoke a taste superior to the artificial mount, which in many old gardens was to be clambered up for the sake of prospect. The approach to the house was by a flight of steps, and a strong brick bridge of three arches through a small jealous wicket, formed in the great well-timbered gate, that rarely grated on its hinges.

Immediately upon your peeping through the wicket, the first object that unavoidable struck you was a stone figure of Hercules, as it was called, holding in one hand a club across his shoulders, the other resting on one hip, discharging a perennial stream of water by the urinary passage into a carved stone bason. On the pedestal of the statue is preserved the date 1578, which was the year the queen graced this house with her presence; so that doubtless this was one of the embellishments bestowed upon the place against the royal visit. Modern times would scarcely devise such a piece of sculpture as an amusing spectacle for a virgin princess. A fountain was generally (yet surely injudiciously in this climate) esteemed a proper ornament for the inner court of a great house. This, which still continues to flow, was supplied with water by leaden pipes, at no small expence, from a pond near half a mile off.

This inner court, as it was called, in which this statue stood, and about which the house was built, was an area of 58 feet square. The walls of the house within it were covered with the pyracantha (Melspilus Pyracantha) of venerable growth which, with its evergreen leaves enlivened with clusters of scarlet berries, produced in winter a very agreeable effect.

Having crept through the wicket before mentioned, a door in the gateway on the right conducted you into a small apartment, called the smoaking room; a name it acquired probably soon after it was built, and which it retained, with good reason, as long as it stood. There is scarcely any old house without a room of this denomination. In these, our ancestors, from about the middle of the reign of Elizabeth, til within almost every one’s memory, spent no inconsiderable part of their vacant hours, residing more at home than we do, and having fewer resources of elegant amusement. At one period at least, this room was thought to be the scene of wit; for in 1688 Mr. Hervey, afterwards earl of Bristol, in a letter to Mr. Thomas Cullum, desires “to be remembered by the witty smoakers at Hawsted.” Adjoining to this was a large wood closet, and a passage that led to the dining room, of moderate dimensions, with a large buffet. These occupied half the south front. At the end of the dining room was originally a cloister, or arcade, about 45 feet long, fronting the east, and looking into a flower garden within the walls of the moat. The arches were afterwards closed up and glazed; and a parlour made at one end. There are few old mansions without one or more of these sheltered walking-places; and they certainly had their use; but this age of list, sandbags and carpets, that dreads every breath of air, as if it were a pestilence, shudders at the idea of such a body of the element being admitted into any part of a dwelling. This cloister was terminated by the spacious and lofty kitchen, still standing, and well supplied with long oaken tables.

On the left hand of the entrance, and opposite the smoaking room, was the chapel, a room of state, much affected by the old manerial lords, who seem to have disdained attending the parochial church. The papal licence for it has been already given. The last sacred office performed in it was the christening of the author of this compilation. Through this was a door into the drawing-room, or largest parlour, which with the chapel occupied the other half of the south front. Adjoining to the parlour was a large gloomy hall, at one end of which was a screen of brown wainscot in which was a door that led to the buttery, etc. These formed the west side of the square. Beneath these apartments, and those on the south side, were the cellars, well vaulted with brick. The north side was occupied by the kitchen, and various offices, and at the back of it was a drawbridge. These were the apartments on the ground-floor, which was raised 12 feet above the surface of the moat. Over the gateway, chapel, and largest parlour were the royal apartments, which were approached by a staircase out of the hall. On this staircase, against the wall, stood some painted boards, representing various domestic servants. I have one of them, a very pretty well-painted female, said to be for a housekeeper. I know not whether this fancy be as old as the house; the portrait I have is certainly, from the dress, not more than a century old. Several of the bed chambers of common proportions occupied the chief part of the rest of the first story. Among the rooms on that floor was one called the still-room; an apartment where the ladies of old much amused themselves in distilling waters and cordials, as well for the use of themselves and of their poor neighbours, as for several purposes of cookery. In this room stood a death’s head, no improper emblem of the effects of the operations carried on within it.

Contiguous to one of the bedchambers was a wainscoted closet, about 7 feet square, the panels painted with various sentences, emblems, and mottos. It was called the painted closet, at first probably designed for an oratory, and from one of the sentences, for the use of a lady. The dresses of the figures are of the age of James I. This closet was therefore fitted up for the last lady Drury, and perhaps under her direction. The paintings are well executed; and now put up in a small apartment at Hardwick House.

As some of these emblems are perhaps new, and mark, the taste of an age that delighted in quaint wit, and laboured conceits of a thousand kinds, I shall set them down, confessing myself unable to unravel some of them.

The following sentences, which are intelligible enough, are in cartouche scrolls, in narrow panels, at top:

Quod sis esse veils, nibilque malis
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Summam nec metuas diem, nec optes
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Qua cupio, haud capio
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Parva, sed apta mibi: nec tamen bic requies
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Nunquam minus sola, quam cum sola
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Amplior in calo domus est
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Frustra nisi Dominus
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Emblems with mottos.

1. A monkey sitting in a house window, and scattering money into the street
Ut parta Labuntur
2. A camel trampling in dirty water
Pura juvent alios
3. A fire on the banks of a river
Dum servi necessaria
4. A painter, having begun to sketch out a female portrait
Dic mihi, quails eris?
5. A human tongue, with bats wings, and a scaly contorted tail, mounting into the air
Quo tendis?
6. A tree with sickly leaves, and a honey-comb at its roots. Near it another, quite leafless
Nocet empta dolore voluptas
7. An eagle in the air, with an elephant in its talons
Non vacat exiguis
8. Some trees leafless, and torn up by the roots with a confused landscape. Above, the sun and a rainbow
Fam Satis
9. An old man asleep, with asses ears, and ants that seem carrying something into his mouth
Etiam asino dormienti
10. One man standing on the uppermost point of the earth, and another antipodal to him
Et hic vivitur
11. A man endeavouring to light a candle at a glow-worm
Nil tamen impertit
12. A globe resting on a crab
Sic orbis iter
13. A greyhound disengaged from his collar and licking his master’s hand
Non fugitiva fides
14. The sun quite black, and golden stars
Nec curo videri
15. A blackamore smoaking a pipe
Intus idem
16. A bird of prey in the air devouring a small bird
Fruor nec quiesco
17. A man rowing in a boat with a town close in sight
Et tamen aversor
18. A bee-hive, with bees about it
Cum melle aculeus
19. A fire bursting from the top of a chimney
Alte, sed extxra locum
20. A pilgrim traversing the earth, with a staff and a light-coloured hat with a cockleshell on it
Dum transis, time
21. A man’s hand holding something like a rope lighted, and from which smoke and fire issue.
arsit, crepuit, evanuit
22. An ass standing on his hind legs, his head appearing through the upper part of a white area. Beneath his head a horse is feeding. Near them is a woodcock, with one foot on a lanthorn.
Et occulte, et aperte
23. A bear in his den
Obscure, secure
24. A man taking the dimensions of his own forehead with a pair of compasses
Fronti nulla fides
25. A man in a fool’s dress, blowing with a pair of bellows a pot suspended in the air, with some fire in it
Sat injussa calet
26. A death’s head, with some plant of a dark hue issuing from one eye and lying on the ground, while a similar plant, of a verdant colour, springs erect from the other
Ut moreris vives
27. A bat flying after a large black insect
Trabit sua quemque
28. A rose and a poppy
O puzzi, O ponga
29. A mermaid, holding a mirror in one hand and combing her hair with the other
Spem fronte
30. A bucket descending into a well
Descendendo adimpleor
31. An eagle going to take something from a fire, her nest of young ones near
Pie sed temere
32. A naked blackamore pointing to a swan with one hand and to his own teeth with the other
Fam sumus ergo pares
33. A bird thrusting its head into an oyster, partly open
Speravi et perii
34. A bird feeding in a crocodile’s mouth
Pascor, at haud tuto
35. A boar trampling on roses
Odi profanum vulgus
36. A ship that has anchored on a whale, which is in motion; the crew alarmed
Nusquam tuta fides
37. Two rams fighting, detached from the flock
Nec habet Victoria laudem
38. A hedge-hog rolled up, with apples on his prickles
Mihi plaudo ipse domi
39. A philosopher looking at a star with a quadrant
Desipui Sapiendo
40. A garland of leaves lying on the ground, and in flames
Quid ergo Fefellit?
41. A full bucket drawn up to the top of a well
Haud facile emergit

The bottom panels are adorned with flowers, in a good taste.

The windows, in general, were spacious, but high above the floors. In still earlier times, they were very narrow, as well as high, that they might be more difficult marks for the arrows of an enemy; and that, if the arrows did enter, they might pass over the heads of those that were fitting. After this precaution was needless, the windows, though enlarged, continued to be made high, even till modern days. The beauty of landscape, so much studied now, was then but little if not at all regarded, and high windows, when opened, ventilated the apartments better than low ones, and when shut, the air they admitted was less felt.

On two porches, between which stands the figure of Hercules, are still extant in stone the arms of Drury, consisting of 16 quarterings, and those of Stafford of Grafton, O. chev. G. with a canton Ermine, and 5 other quarterings. This circumstance, corroborated with the general style of the building, and the date on the pedestal of the statue, induced me to believe that this house was rebuilt, or thoroughly repaired, by that Sir William Drury who married a lady of the name of Stafford, who succeeded to the estate upon the death of his grandfather in 1557.

The walls of the house were chiefly built of timber and plaster. The plaster in the front was thickly stuck with fragments of glass, which made a brilliant appearance with the sun shone, and even by moonlight. Much of it still remains, and appears to be but little injured by two centuries; perhaps will survive the boasted stucco of modern artists. I wish I could give the receipt for this excellent composition; I can only say, it contains plenty of hair, and was made of coarse sand, abounding with stones almost as big as horse-beans. And in some of the old walls round the house, where the bricks have crumbled away, the layers of mortar continue found, and support themselves b their own compactness. The art was not lost even in the last century, for some plaster on the outhouse, which bears the date of 1661, still remains perfectly firm.

This house was no bad specimen of the skill of former artists in erecting what should last. Part has been taken down, not from decay, but because it was become useless. What is left promises to stand many years. The mode of its construction contributed to its durability, for the tiles projected considerably over the first story, and that over the ground floor, so that the walls and sills were scarcely ever wetted.

In the year 1685, this house pad taxes for 34 fire-hearths.

The banks of the moat were planted with yews and variegated hollies; and, at a little distance, surrounded by a terrace that commanded a fine woodland prospect. Here were orchards and gardens in abundance; and a bowling yard, as it was called, which always used to be esteemed a necessary appendage of a gentleman’s seat.

This place was well furnished with fish-ponds. There is near it a series of five large ones, on the gentle declivity of a hill, running into one another, the upper one being fed with a perennial spring. There is another similar series of small ones that served as stews. These must have been made at a very heavy expence, but they were necessary, when fish made so considerable a part of our diet as it did before the Reformation, and when bad roads made sea fish not so easily procured as at present.

There was also a rabbet-warren in the park, a spot that would have borne good wheat. But it was, like a pigeon-house, a constant appendant to a manerial dwelling.; 8 Jac. 1 a stable near the coney-warren was let with the dairy farm, and even in the next reign we hear of the warrenor’s lodge.

One principal reason of the number of warrens formerly, was the great use our ancestors made of furr in their cloathing. “I judge warrens of conies,” says Harrison, “to be almost innumerable, and daily like to increase, by reason that the black skins of those beasts are thought to countervayle the prises of their naked carkases.” The latter were worth 2-1/2d. a piece, and the former 6d. 17 Henry VIII.

I shall close the account of this ancient seat by a summary description of it, in a survey of the manor taken in the year 1581.

Willielmus Drury miles, dominus hujus manerii, habet in minibus suis scitum manerii de Buckenhams, in quo inhabitat, quam optime constructum, cum uno curtilagio, gardino, uno le mote circumjacente, uno le traves anti portem messuagii redicti, et unam magnam curiam undique bene edificatata, cum stabulis, cione capitalis messuagii predicti, et uno orto five pomario, ex parte orientali messuagii et magne curie predicte.

Sir William Drury was elected one of the knights of the shire in 1585, and killed in 1589 in a duel in France. His corpse was brought into England, and interred in the chancel here, where a fine marble bust of him in armour still remains.

The commission for the inquisition after his death is dated 18 Feb. 22 Elizabeth, and directed to Williiam Waldgrave, John Higham, Nicholas Bacon, and William Spring, knights, to enquire into the annual value of Sir William’s lands at the time of his death, particularly of the manors of Bokenham, Talmage and Hawsted, and a tenement in Reed called Pickard, also what household stuff and napery and other linens.

The depositions were taken at Bury, 24th September following, from which I have selected a few particulars.

Roger Reve of Bury, gent. holds, by lease, the profits of the fayres and markets in Bury, at 36£ a year’s rent, 40s. deductions. 140 pounds of hops were worth 4£, which is about 7d. a pound. Wheat 8s. a comb; barley 6s. 8d. rye 5s.

The new park is unletten, worth about 20 markes yearlie, besides profits of deer and conies. Another person valued the park very differently, unless he included the profits of the livestock in it, he said, the new park is not very much charged with deer and conies, and worth yerelie 50£.

The demesnes and profits of the manors of Hawsted, and for the copiehold and freehold thereof, amount yeerlie to 127£ besides the rent corn.

In his time, two little estates had acquired the names of manors; for in a survey of the manor taken in 1581, we met with manerium de Cobdowes, and manerium de Felets, but no manerial rights or privileges appear to have been annexed to them. The truth is, where a person of some consequence resided or remained (manebat), his house and demesnes frequently acquired the title of a manor.

At the same time many of the houses were said to be well built and covered with tiles, as the parsonage, the hall, the long house near the church, etc; and furnished with orchards and gardens planted with various kinds of fruit trees, besides hopyairds, that will be mentioned hereafter, so that the village seems to have been in a prosperous state at that period.

Several lanes, as they are now called, still retained the names of streets; as Pinford Strete, Smyth Strete that led from Green towards Bury, Caldwell Strete (or Frames Lane), that led from Hawsted Green to Menoll Green, this last taking its name from the spring, or well mentioned at page 5. Street often signified formerly a made road or way, stratum, as Icknild Street, Watling Street, etc.

Sir William was succeeded by his eldest son Robert Drury, who even before he was out of mourning for this father, attended the earl of Essex to the unsuccessful siege of Rohan in 1591, where he was knighted, when he could not have exceeded the age of 14 years.

As soon as he came of age, he connected himself with one of the best families in the county by marrying Anne, the eldest daughter of Sir Nicolas Bacon, of Redgrave, the first baronet of England. In 1603, he was elected one of the knights of the shire, an honour which he enjoyed as long as he lived. He patronized the learned and witty Dr. Donne, to whome and his family he assigned apartments in his large house in Drury Lane. In Dec. 1610, he had the misfortune to lose his only surviving child, which seems to have produced a great change in his designs and plan of life; for not long afterwards, he let his dairy and park here for three years, and in that lease, which will be mentioned hereafter, are some instances of his taste for horticulture, and the embellishment of his seat. On the 18th of March following, he founded that ample charity of 52£ a year, already mentioned. With the same spirit of liberality, he bestowed, the September following, a munificent reward upon a faithful servant; it may be a curiosity to see the form and manner in which he did it.

This indenture, made 3 Sept. 1611, between Sir Robert Drury and Gabriel Catchpole, of Hawsted, yeoman, witnesseth, that the said right worshipful Sir Robert Drury, for and in consideration of the good and faithful services of the said Gabriel already done and performed, and hereafter to be done and performed, unto the said Sir Robert Drury, while strength, and habilite of the bodie, of the said Gabriel will permit, hath demised, granted, and to farm letten, unto the said Gabriel, and his assigns, all that messuage, lately built upon a parcel of ground, some time a wood, known by the name of Bryer’s Wood, in Hawsted, with all the buildings, orchards, gardens, lands, meadows, etc. now used with the same; also a close of land, called Sparrow’s Tuft, containing 20 acres, for 40 years, if the said Gabriel should live so long; and the said Gabriel paying yearly to the said Sir Robert, his heirs and assigns for the same, one pepper corn at Michaelmas. Provided always, that it may be lawful for the said Sir Robert, during any part of the above term, to revoke and make void the grant. The said Gabriel agreeing to repair the house and buildings belonging to the demised premises.

About the same time, when Sir Robert sold the lease of the almoner’s barns, tithes, fairs, and markets of Bury, he gave that town 100£ to remain as a stock forever, to purchase sireing for the poor there.

In 1612, he made a journey to Paris, and persuaded Dr. Donne to attend him; it was there the Doctor saw a remarkable vision of his wife, who was at that time brought to bed of a dead child in England.

Sir Robert seems now to have quitted his seat at Hawsted, and to have resided at Hardwick House, not far distant. For in the year 1613, he procured a licence from the archbishop of Canterbury for having divine service performed in his house there for himself, wife, and servants, as well as for the widows of his newly founded almshouse. This licence is signed, Tho. Ridley; and the seal of red wax appendant to it is engraven in the plate No. 2:

Dr. Walton is mistaken in making Sir Robert accompany lord Carlisle in his embassy to Paris, for that was in 1616, and Sir Robert died the latter end of May, 1615. He was buried on the north side of a chancel here; where his widow erected a beautiful monument to the memory of his father and him, employing that excellent artist Nicholas Stone, who had given of fine a proof of his ability in the tomb of her father and mother in Redgrave church.

Thus did the name of Drury become extinct in this village, having flourished in it just 150 years.

Sir Robert had two daughters, the elder, Dorothy, died at the age of 4 years; the younger, Elizabeth, to increase the grief of her parents, reached almost 15. Of this young lady’s monument, with her epitaph, some account has been already given. Tradition reports that she died of a box on the ear, which her father gave her. This conceit rose probably from her being represented both on her monument, and in her picture, as reclining her head on one hand, just as the story of lord Russel’s daughter dying of a prick of her finger took its origin from her statue in Westminster Abbey, which represents her as holding down her finger, and pointing to a death’s head at her feet. Another tradition relating to her is that she was destined for the wife of prince Henry, eldest son of James I. She was certainly a great heiress, and their ages were not unsuitable, but whether there be more truth in this than in the other, I pretend not to say, though this came from respectable authority. What is certain is that she is immortalized by the muse of Dr. Donne, who had determined to celebrate her anniversary in an elegy as long as he lived:

Accept this tribute, and his first year’s rent,
Who, till this dark short taper’s end be spent,
As oft as thy feast sees this widow’d earth,
Will yearly celebrate they second birth,
That is, thy death.

However, we have nothing beyond the second anniversary; the truth seems to be, that panegyric had been so profusely lavished in two essays, that it was quite exhausted. Some of the lines have been noticed in the Spectator, No. 41, where they are by mistake said to be a description of Dr. Donne’s mistress, instead of the departed daughter of his friend. They are inscribed on her portrait in my possession, and I should suppose, from the appearance of the paint, were put there soon after they were written. They are now inserted at the bottom of the engraving. This portrait is as large as life, well painted, and the only one of the family left at Hawsted Place. The great expectations of the person it represents, the praises bestowed upon her by one of the greatest wits of the age, and the singularity of the attitude, seem to make it worthy of being preserved by the graver. The original is much more highly finished than could be represented upon the seal of the present plate.

Lady Drury resided during her widowhood at Hardwick House, and in 1616 procured a renewal of the license for a chapel there. The place chosen for that purpose by this lady of fortune and rank, was an absolute cellar; and puts one in mind of those caverns in which the primitive Christians are said to have sometimes performed their religious services, for the sake of privacy. She died at Hardwick House 5 June, 1624, and was buried in Hawsted chancel the next evening, the register alone recording her death, though she had left a void space after her husband’s epitaph for the insertion of her own.

Sir Robert’s heirs were his three sisters. 1. Frances, married first to Sir Nicholas Clifford; afterwards to Sir William Wray of Glentworth in Lincolnshire, Bart. from whom are descended the present Sir Cecil Wray, Bart. and lord Boston. 2. Diana, second wife to Sir Edward Cecil, third son of the first earl of Exeter. 3. Elizabeth, second wife of William second earl of Exeter, by whom she had three daughters, from whom the noble families of Suffolk, Stamford, etc. are descended. Upon the partition of Sir Robert’s estates, that at Hawsted, and its environs, was settled on the lady Wray; the widow of whose only surviving son Sir Christopher, the honourable dame Albinia Wray, with three of her sons, sold the estate she possessed here 15 October “in the year of our Lord Christ (according to the accompt used in England), 1656” to Thomas Cullum, esq. For 17,697£ when the interest of the Drurys ceased here, after a continuance of 190 years.

In the church chest are preserved some papers which may help us to form an idea of some of the numberless oppressions under which the nation in general, and this village in particular, laboured during the civil wars and consequent usurpation of the last century. I shall transcribe some of them.

1. The 9 day of Jenevary, 1642, received of the constables of Hawsted, the som of twenty one pound, eleven shillings, fouer pense, which sayd som was imposed upon the sayd toune, towards the laste motive of the gret subside, granted by the temporall, in the seventten yere of his majesty’s rayne. I saye received the day and yere above written, the som of 21£ 11s. 4d. for the use of king and parlemente, p/ me, John Daynes.
2. June 6, 1642, received of the church wardens and overseers of Hawsted, there contribution for there poor distressed brethren in Ireland, the sum of 16£ 16s. which I am to pay to the high sherife. I say, received p/ me, Jo. Sparrowe.
3. In April, 1643, the weekly assessment upon lands and goods amounted to 2£ 14s. 8d. How long this weekly assessment continued does not appear, but at least to September.
4. Whereas by a late ordinance of parliament, intimating the approaching of the enimy towards the confines of these associated counties, five hundred horse, with the trained troopes, are to be raised in the said counties, which are to marche to Cambredge for the safetie of the association: whearof 350 horses are charged upon this county, for the compleating the said service; the proportion of our hundred of Thingo being II and upwards, every horse to be worth 10£ at least, furnished with a sufficient grate saddle, pistols and swords, of five pounds of moneys, to provide the same to bee payd to the treasurer appointed by the deputy leafetennants; for the repayment wheareof, every parish and partie shall have the publique faith. And alsoe, that every towne and parish doe send thare horses, and fit riders, armed as aforesaid, with one mounth’s pay, being 3??. 10s. which is also to be paid to the said treasurer, at Bury St. Edmond’s in the said county, the 22d day of this instant August. The said monies are to be raised according to the useall rates. These are therefore, by virtue of the said ordinance and warrant from the deputy leafetennants, to require you to find one horse and rider compleat as abovesaid, with the mounth’s pay, and bringe him before the deputy leafetennants, the day abovesaid. And you are hereby authorized to distraine such as shall refuse to pay the said rates, and to make sale of the goods of distrained, according to the ordinance of parliament. Hereof fail not. Dated at Reede, August 12, 1643. Jo. Sparrowe.
5. August 23, 1643: Receaved of the towne of Halsted, a bl. Horse for the use of the kinge and parliament, priced 10 lb. p/ Thomas Chaplin, Samuel Moody.
6. April 25, 1644. Receaved the day and year above written, by me, whose name is subscribed (being treasurer for raising money towards payment of the hundred thousand pounds agreed to be forthwith advanced for our brethren in Scotland, towards payment of their army, raised for our assistance), the sum of 45 shillings, of Mr. Sparrow, high constable of Thingo hundred, in the county of Suffolk, which is to be paid to the said Mr. Sparrow or his assigns, with interest, after the rate of eight pounds per cent for the speedy payment whereof the publicke faith of both nations is engaged. I say, received of several persons in Harsted, in the said hundred. John Clarke.
7. October 2, 1644. Receaved the day and year above written, by me Sir Thomas Middleton, knight, of divers persons of the town of Hawsted, the sum of four pounds of lawful money to England, being so much voluntarily lent by them, towards raising of forces to be employed under my command, for the reducing of North Wales to their due obedience to the parliament; and to be repayed to the said townsmen, their executors, or administrators, with interest for the same, after the rate of 81. per cent. per ann. By such ways and means as are expressed in an ordinance of the lords and commons in parliament, published in print, 21 February lst, enabling me the said Sir Thomas Middelton to take subscriptions for the service aforesaid. Thomas Middleton. Received by me, John Sparrowe.
8. About the same time was “a rate made according as the two former great subsidies were gathered,” which amounted to 11£ 2s. 6d.
9. Collected in the parish of Hawsted, October 13, 1644, for Sir William Brueton (Brereton; he was a general of Cheshire) 3£ 11s. 4d.
10. Constables accounts:

1655. Paid to Goodman Hayward for carrying XXI lodes of saltpetre to Bury 1£ 14s.

Paid to Martin Nunn for carrying of a lode of tubs for the saltpetre men 3s. 4d.

1656. Laid out for the towne for a sword and hanger 8s. 6d.

Laid out for 2 headpeces, and for scoring and lining and fringe 5s. 6d.

Laid out for Bandelleors (for muskettiers; which are little charges of powder like boxes, so called because they are hanged and fastened to a broad band of leather which the man puts about his neck) 2s.

Laid out for a lock for the towne musket 4s. 6d.

Laid out to Henry Perkin and Francis Hiider for training and a quarter of powdere 2s. 4d.

Laid out to Mr. Gilly for a corslet (armour for the breast and back) and a headpece 1£. 10s.

Laid out to Thomas Porker for going to Mildenhall and for a quarter of powder 1s. 4d.

Laid out for scoring the corslet, and lining it, and lessning it, and mending the prick 7s. 6d.

1658. Laid out for carrying ashes to Sudbury 1£

During the above period, the constable was almost continually employed in relieving and conveying soldiers and others, many of them said to have passes from the Protector himself. Incessant hues and cries were the consequent of the country being thus infested with vagabonds.

The affair of saltpetre that occurs above requires some explanation, and I am enabled to give a satisfactory one from bishop Watson’s Chemical Essays. Before such large quantities of saltpetre were imported from the East Indies, the manufacturing of it in England was much attended to, though it appears from a proclamation of Charles I. In the year 1627 that the saltpetre makers were never able to furnish the realm with one-third of the saltpetre requisite, especially in time of war. This proclamation was issued in 1627, in consequence of a patent granted in 1625 to Sir John Brooke and Thomas Russel, for making saltpetre by a new invention. In this new invention, great use was made of all sorts of urine; for the proclamation orders all persons to save the urine of their families, and as much as they could of their cattle, to be fetched away by the patentees, or their assigns, once in twenty-four hours in the summer, and in forty-eight hours in the winter season. This royal proclamation was no small inconvenience to the subject, but it was not so great a one as that by which the saltpetre makers were permitted to dig up the floors of all dove-houses, stables, etc. the proprietors being at the same time prohibited from the laying of such floors with any thing but mellow earth. To this grievance all persons had been subjected by a proclamation in 1625, which was revived in its chief extent in 1634; the new invention not having answered the purpose for which the patent has been granted, and it was not till the year 1656 that an act of parliament passed, forbidding the saltpetre makers to dig in houses or lands without leave of the owners. Water having been poured upon earths, in which saltpetre is generated, to dissolve all the salts contained in them, is afterwards passed through wood ashes in order to supply the unformed parts of the saltpetre with a proper alkaline basis.

From the above quotation we may conjecture that the 21 lodes of saltpetre carried to Bury were loads of earth from dove-houses, stables, etc.; and that the tubs for the saltpetre men were full of urine, or some other material of the same kind. In 1668, occur these articles:

For carrying saltpetre liquor 18s. 4d.
For carrying of the tubs 3s.

These last charges shew that though Cromwell relaxed the most vexatious part of the saltpeter grievance, the nation still continued to be in some degree burthened with it, even after the restoration.

NOTE: Additional Illustrations from this text (Elizabeth Drury and Hawsted Church) are under the Drury Family Photographs section of the DRURY page, and in the following chapter. You will also find scans of fold-out genealogy charts for the DRURY, CLOPTON, and CULLUM families.

History and Antiquities of Hawsted, Chapter 3 - Lords of the manor

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