Cavenham Manor
The first mention of Cavenham is in the Domesday Book, the tenant was
recorded as ‘Richard, son of Count Gilbert’ known as Richard Fitz Gilbert.
“Withgar, Richard’s predecessor, held Cavenham as an outlier (the lands of)
Desning for 5 curacates of land, with the jurisdiction. Always 25 villages, 5
ploughs, a church, 60 acres of free land then 5 mills, now 4, meadow 3 acres. It
has a league in length and 4 furlongs in width; 20d in tax” “Eudo the
Steward’s lands in Suffolk: In Cavenham 1 free man under the patronage of
Canute (and) in the jurisdiction of St. Edmund; 60 acres. 1 small holder, always
1 plough value 5s........... Eudo the Steward’s lands in Suffolk....In
Cavenham 1 free man under the patronage of Canute (and) in the jurisdiction of
St. Edmund....60 acres. Always 1 plough...Value always 5s.”
Richard Fitz Gilbert came to England with William the Conqueror, Duke of
Normandy. In William’s absences Richard was regent of England jointly with
William de Warenne. For these services William rewarded his cousin Richard well
granting him one of the largest fiefs in the territory. The lordship centered
around Clare, Suffolk.
Cavenham Manor was one of 95 Suffolk manors that made up the great Honor of
Clare held by Richard Fitz Gilbert or de Clare afterwards Earl of Gloucester and
Hertford.
Over the next two centuries the de Clare’s rose to a position of
pre-eminence in the ranks of the aristocracy becoming one of the wealthiest and
most powerful families in the kingdom. But by 1317 the male line of the senior
branch of the family became extinct. The last, Gilbert Fitz Gilbert de Clare,
4th Earl of Gloucester, 8th Earl of Hereford, falling at the battle of
Bannockburn on the 24th June1314, was buried at the right hand of his father in
Tewkesbury. The English defeat secured Scottish independence for almost four
centuries to come.
Gilbert Fitz de Clare’s wife, Maud, continued to insist on her pregnancy
for a further two years but on her death in 1317 Edward II’s hope for the
birth of a child to preserve this inheritance was reluctantly concluded. In Nov.
1317 the great Clare inheritance was partitioned between the Earl’s three
sisters.
Cavenham manor passed to Gilbert’s sister, Margaret, and in turn to her
husband’s daughter, Margaret who married in 1336 to Sir Ralph, Lord Stafford,
later the Earl of Stafford.
The manor passed down through the generations of Staffords until 1521 when
Edward de Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, Earl and Baron of Stafford was beheaded
and all lands forfeited to the crown. Thomas Bedingfield apparently died seised
of the manor on 9th April 1590.
Cavenham Manor then devolved in the same course as the Manor of Denham. The
Lord of the Manor, Sir Edward Lewkenor left the family estate in Sussex to
reside in Denham but died 1st May 1618 Eger. 2713 A sermon lamenting the death
of Sir Edward was preached upon a lecture day at Canham in Suffolk, by Bezaleel
Carter, describing the subject as ’wise, learned, religious, prayed extempore
in his family, erected building near his house with a large table to the only
use and relief of the Poor.’
Sir Edward’s grand daughter married Lord Townshend, created Viscount
Townshend, 11th Dec 1682. He was described as ‘a gentleman of the greatest
interest and credit in that large county of Norfolk’. Lord Clarendon. The
Townshend’s appeared to have held Cavenham Manor until the time of George
Townshend, 4th Viscount and Ist Marquis who inherited the title on his fathers
death in 1767 and died in 1807. It is unclear at what time during this period he
sold the manor.
It is uncertain who next held the manorial lands of Cavenham though John
Kirby in ‘The Suffolk Traveller notes that; “the lordship now belongs to
Lord Viscount Townsend - Johnson Esq. hath a seat in the parish where he
commonly resides” J.Kirby, The Suffolk Traveller, 1732, ‘33,& ‘34.
P 239. The names Johnson Esq. (Kirby’s map of 1736), Webb Esq. (Bowden’s map
of 1777) and Le Blanc are all clearly marked as owners of Cavenham land. Webb’s
name crops up again in the census records of the time, given as a place of
birth. While Thomas Le Blanc and his three sons probably resided in the hall,
articles and notices in the local press show a strong involvment in the rearing
and selling of sheep and wool. Thomas Le Blanc sold the estate in 1794.
For a short period Cavenham Manor was vested in Charles, Ist Marquis
Cornwallis, who had purchased the estate from Thomas Le Blanc in 1794, later the
2nd Marquis Cornwallis inherited.
The Marquis sold the Manor to Henry Spencer Waddington M.P. in 1809. His son,
Henry Spencer Waddington J.P. inherited the land and Hall in 1864 and in turn
his son, Spencer Beauchamp Waddington. Spencer Waddington is known to have sold
the park and hall to Mr.H.E.M. Davies who employed an architect to design a
large rambling Georgian style hall for the park.
During the nineteenth century the holding of manor courts gradually came to
an end, and in 1925 copyhold tenure formally ended in accordance with the Law of
Property Acts, 1922 and 1924. It is unclear when the manorial rights of Cavenham
became distinct from the direct ownership of the Hall and Park. Further
information on the Hall from 1736 can be found on the article ‘Cavenham Hall’