The flower arranger of this display decided to use the idea of Moat House as the site of the Manorial Court and also Bardwell Manor Farm. The positioning  in church of this display was near the brass rubbing and the stained glass window both thought to be images of Sir William de Bardwell.

Courtesy of Tony Stokes

Moat House is located in Spring Road. Also known at various times as Bardwell Hall, Bardwell Manor Farm, and Manor Farm.

Description: Grade II listed, late 16C with a one-and-a half storey seventeenth century wing at the rear.

History
Will records show that the manor house for the manor of Bardwell Hall, was on this site in the early 1500s and a map of 1730 shows the house with its moat, now partially filled in, and the fish pond that now belongs to the adjacent property. Documents clearly describe this house as the manor house, where the manor courts were held.

However in 1972 it was reported that some 12th and 13th century pottery, of a type produced at King's Lynn, had been found in the moat. It is not clear if the original Bardwell Hall manor house dating back to this time was on this site and the existing 16C house built over it, or if the present 16C house was built in a different position from the original.

Lords of the Manor of Bardwell

The Bardwells
The Berdewelle family established itself here soon after the Norman Conquest and took their name from the Manor. From 1097 they held the Manor of Bardwell or Berdewelle from Abbot Baldwin of Bury St Edmunds who was the overlord. In 1348 a John de Berdewelle was the Lord of the Manor of Berdewelle. John married twice and by his first wife had a daughter Margaret, and by his second wife a son William, born in1367. William was the famous warrior knight who by the time he died in1434 was Lord of the Manor of all three of the manors: Bardwell Hall, Wykes and Wyken. We do not know which manor house he and his family lived in. The 3 manors passed to William’s direct descendants and then in 1484 to Thomas and Margaret Darcy. Margaret Darcy was the daughter of Margaret Harleston (nee Bardwell), mentioned above as the half sister of William. Thomas Darcy died in 1486 and Margaret Darcy in 1489 and when their son Roger died in 1504 it is documented that he held all three manors.

The Brondes
There is speculation but no firm evidence on how the ownership of Bardwell Manor became separated from that of Wykes and Wyken but the Brondes appear to have only held this one manor. A Mr Bronde and his wife appear as members of the gild of St. Peter in about 1512. In 1517 and into the 1520s the Town Wardens are paying rent to Mr Bronde, and collecting money from him for the lordship taxes, and in 1533, just before the Dissolution, they pay a George Bronde, gentleman. This is the first mention of a christian name. From this information it would appear that the Brondes were holding Bardwell manor from the Abbey. At the Dissolution of Bury Abbey 1536 the manor was vested in a George Bronde who immediately sold it to Sir Thomas Jermyn of Rushbrooke Hall.

The Rushbrookes
Sir Thomas Jermyn of Rushbrooke Hall was a large land owner and would not have lived in Bardwell however the manor passed down in the Jermyn family until about 1620, when it was sold to William Rushbrooke. The Jermyns and the Rushbrookes were related.

If the present building is late C16th it must have been built in the time of the Jermyns. William Rushbrooke the younger inherited on the death of his father in 1623, and continued to live there until his own death in 1652. As he had never married, the estate went to his nephew, another William Rushbrooke, who died in 1693. This William lived at Bowbeck House, rather than Bardwell Hall, and he disposed of the manor sometime between 1652 and 1690.

The Hills
We know William Rushbrooke no longer owned the manor of Bardwell Hall by 1690 because this is when Edward Hill made his will and he was in possession of the manor of Bardwell Hall. He may have lived there, as his will is witnessed by the Rector of Bardwell and other local people. He died in 1696, leaving the estate to his brother Henry Hill, of Ipswich, who is unlikely to have lived in the house, which would therefore have been rented out as a tenant farm. There is also a possibility that the house may have been reduced in size.  

The Lees
By 1725, the estate and the manor had come into the hands of the judge, Sir William Lee, by way of his wife's inheritance. He lived in Buckinghamshire and London, and was a Member of Parliament, and eventually Lord Chief Justice of England. Certainly he never lived in Bardwell, and may possibly never even have gone there. The house, with 96 acres of land and pasture, was let to tenant farmers at a rent of £61 per annum. On the death of Sir William Lee in 1754, his son William Lee inherited the estate, which consisted of this house (the house which is now rather confusingly also known as Bardwell Hall, but which at that time was called Bardwell Farm), and another farm in Badwell Ash. William Lee the younger lived in London, and correspondence between him and Joshua Grigsby, the steward of Bardwell Hall manor, shows that he was eager to sell the estate, which was proving somewhat of a liability. It was difficult to find tenants to rent the land, and those who already had tenure were dilatory in paying their rent.

The Blakes
In 1765 the estate was sold to Sir Patrick Blake, 1st Baronet of Langham. The family lived at Langham Hall for many years but in 1832 both estates were put up for sale by Sir Henry Charles Blake, 4th Baronet; at that time this house was described as 'a neat farmhouse and necessary outbuildings'. Only Langham Estate was sold and this house remained in the hands of the Blake family as a tenant farm. Sir Henry’s household then appears to have moved around the country: 1851 Brighton, 1861 Lodge Mansion in Great Ashfield and 1871 Lowestoft. Sir Henry died in 1880 and although he was not a resident of Bardwell, he had been the Lord of the Manor and a benefactor of the church and village so was buried here in the grave yard. You will see his grave on the corner, close to path that leads to the Croft, it is surrounded by railings. There is also a stained glass window in the chancel in memory of Sir Henry.

Sir Patrick James Graham Blake, the 5th Baronet, was Sir Henry’s grandson, he inherited the manor estate and was Lord of the Manor. The original manor house was not a suitable residence for a wealthy baronet so it continued as a tenant farm.

The Austins
Most of the Bardwell Manor estate including Manor Farm was sold in 1918/19 to Sir William Austin 2nd Baronet of Red Hill, [Castleford, West Riding]. Sir William sold the estate in 1922 to AJ Edwards Esq. The copyhold of Lord of the Manor was sold separately by auction also in 1922 to a Mr. J. M. Wood of Norfolk for £260.

Tenants with an acreage of approx 100 acres.
1765 Robert Grimwood

1839 & 1841    Francis Jewers

1851 Francis Jewers (son of the above)

1861 & 1871    John Addison

1881 Samuel Death

1891 Mark Mayes

1901 John Morris – is described as a horse keeper on a farm: therefore it seems that a tenant farmer is not actually living there. The tenant was possibly Henry Middleditch who lived elsewhere in the village.

1912 & 1916 Alfred Edward and Benjamin Parrott Middleditch sons of Henry.

1922 & 1937 John Groom

At some time in the mid 1900s Suffolk County Council purchased what was known as Manor Farm. Eventually a new farmhouse was built for the tenant and in the early 1970s, the old farmhouse was sold and became a private residence called Moat House.