The seventeenth century was a time of political, social and religious conflict in England. It encompassed the Civil War, beginning in 1642 and culminating in the execution of Charles I in 1649, Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth from 1649 until 1660, and then the restoration of the monarchy in the person of Charles II. Suffolk saw little military action in the Civil War, and many of the gentry families seemed to have maintained a neutral stance, offering active support neither to King nor Parliament. This would appear to have been the position taken by the Crofts family, who were still the leading gentry family of Bardwell during this period.

    Throughout the century, despite the turmoil of the middle years, Bardwell continued to prosper, with new houses being built in Low Street, and further extensions added to many yeoman farmhouses, including the houses now known as Mothersoles, Booty Hall and Place Farmhouse. The names by which we know the old houses of the village today are generally not the ones that would have been used in the seventeenth century; most houses were known by the name of their owner or occupier, and therefore changed over time. The names of the village lanes, too, tended to vary, but Davy's Lane is first mentioned in 1678; it probably took its name from the Davy family, who appear in the Parish Register from 1638.

    The Parish Register, and the many surviving wills for the period, give us a glimpse into the lives of some of the people who lived in Bardwell in the seventeenth century. At the top of the social scale was the Crofts family. Sir Charles Crofts, who inherited the estate in 1617 on the death of his father, was knighted in 1628 by the king. His neutrality in the Civil War is not surprising, as he was already over sixty at the beginning of the war, and had no sons who might have taken an active part; whether his own political sympathies were with the Royalists or the Parliamentarians we do not know.  Inferences regarding his allegiance, or perhaps his pragmatism, may be drawn from the marriage of his youngest daughter, Cecily, in 1649, to Francis Brewster, a radical puritan and a republican, who served as a Member of Parliament for Suffolk under Oliver Cromwell. Sir Charles Crofts died in 1660, and, as he had no son, his heir was his eight year old grandson, Charles Crofts Read, one of the twin sons of Sir Charles's older daughter Bridget, and so the family continued to live in their house by the river well on into the eighteenth century.

   In many respects, it was the yeoman farmers who might be said to have formed the backbone of the community. They frequently served as churchwardens and parish constables, and were often called upon to act as witnesses to wills. Among the more prosperous of these yeomen was the Rushbrook family, who aspired to enter the lower ranks of the gentry. William Rushbrook came to Bardwell from Great Barton probably around 1600, with his wife and children, and his widowed mother. Their main dwelling was Bowbeck House, mentioned in William Rushbrook's will of 1623, and in about 1620 he purchased the manor of Bardwell Hall. This passed on his death to his older son, William, and Bowbeck House was left to his third son, Robert. Neither William the younger nor Robert ever married, and the estate passed to their nephew, another William, who died in 1692. The manor of Bardwell Hall was no longer in the Rushbrook's hands by that time, but Bowbeck House continued to be the family home until 1734.    The Craskes were another prominent yeoman family who prospered during this period. William Craske was a miller for about thirty years, until his death in 1660, probably at the water mill. The Sillott family, whose name occurs in the village as far back as 1327, had two branches, one at Bowbeck, and one in the southern part of the village.
 
    Other village occupations are also revealed from wills, including those of tailor, blacksmith, shepherd, shoemaker, thatcher, linen weaver, gardener and maltster. As in earlier times, most of these people were also engaged in farming to some degree, and many of them owned land and houses. Of course, the village also had its poorer people, living in small cottages, or in the almshouses created from the old guildhall. The 1674 Hearth Tax return lists a total of sixty-two households, of which twenty were without sufficient income to qualify for the tax, and a further nine were occupied by people being supported by the parish. 

The Register also shows us the occasions when sickness swept through the village, such as the epidemic of 1618, in which Elizabeth Bridges lost her husband and four of her children within three months, and that of 1658, which seems to have been the most severe. We find that the Rector records the details of any unusual deaths, such as that of John Martin in 1655, who was digging in the claypits when the earth fell on him, John Sillot, who fell down his stairs in 1659, or John Callow, crushed by a wagon in 1666. Fortunately, these accidents seem to have been rare. In 1657, the death is recorded of Widow Sillott of Bowbeck, aged 94. This is the only instance where an age at death is mentioned, so it was obviously considered worthy of note. 

By the end of the seventeenth century, Bardwell was a thriving community of about three hundred people, largely self-sufficient, many of whom were living in houses that are still family homes to this day.

Researched and kindly provided for this web site by Ruth Stokes