Woolverstone before the Berners

There have been people settled in Woolverstone for at least the last five to six thousand years, predating Stonehenge by 500 years. Just two years ago, archaeologists surveying the route of a new water pipeline from Freston to Shotley found evidence of a Neolithic settlement in the fields behind the Widows Homes in Woolverstone, only a mile away from one of the largest Neolithic causewayed enclosures in Britain, at Freston. Flat, fertile soil within woodland clearings, easy access to a river and bubbling spring water made Woolverstone an ideal location to settle. Rather than searching for food and moving on, these settlers became the first farmers.

Migrants and invaders came, settled went and were incorporated in the landscape. Evidence of Iron age settlers and even defensive sites have been found in Woolverstone. One such place, Elbury Down, is partly seen on your left in woodland as you descend Mannings Lane. “Elbury” means “old fortified place”. The plateau is mostly gravel, protected by a steep watercourse on the east side, slopes to the north in two stages, towards the river with a deep ditch between and a steep slope to the west. An ideal defensive position.

Romans

The Romans were much in evidence at nearby Freston and Wherstead, also the border between Woolverstone and Chelmondiston parishes. A bronze figure of Mercury was found in Woolverstone as well as many pottery sherds.  There is a suggestion that the settlements evolved into a Romano-British community around the major pathways, like the path that links Chelmondiston and Woolverstone – the Common Way. 

Anglo Saxons

The Angles and Saxons who reached these shores between 400 and 750 AD gave their names to places that still exist today. The word ending “tun” refers to a settlement or estate and is prefixed with the owner’s name, hence Wulfhere’s tun eventually becoming Woolverstone. The valley descending to the Orwell from the area where the church is now, was originally called Lophams or Loppa’s village. The suffix “ham”, usually referring to a village, is rare on the Shotley Peninsula. Lophams was perhaps an earlier settlement and subsequently absorbed into Wulfere’s estate. With the Saxons converting to Christianity, this period probably saw the building of the first church in Woolverstone. Saxon finds in Woolverstone have included a coin and a brooch.

There is little evidence of Danish settlement on the Shotley Peninsula from 880 AD when Guthrun agreed to withdraw his armies to East Anglia and into Eastern Danelaw. A hundred years later, sporadic Viking raiding parties evolved into a full-on assault and Gipeswic (Ipswich) was ravaged in 991 then again in 1013. Eventually, England had a King shared with Norway and Denmark, King Cnut, who died in 1042.  After which, the Kings of Wessex ruled again until the invasion of Norman led by William, Duke of Normandy, and the slaughter of the leading echelons of the ruling Saxons at the Battle of Hastings. 

In 1086, the Norman conquerors wanted to have a complete understanding of the lands they had subdued and taken ownership of. The Domesday survey was researched and written to capture every detail. At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, Hulferestuna (Woolverstone) was a small settlement consisting of two manors: Count Alan (of Brittany) and Robert Gernon. Count Alan, tenant in chief with Alfeic the Priest as the Lord of the manor, held the larger manor of 120 acres with woodland, meadows and a church with 10 acres. A wide range of livestock was kept: horses, cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. The smaller holding belonged to Robert Gernon who was also Lord of the manor. His 60 acres held meadows and plough land. Both had changed hands since 1066 when they were owned by Saxons; Tostin and Aluret. The two manors later merged. One of the oldest trees in nearby Freston, a gnarled field maple, may well have been growing at this time. It is reputed to be at least a thousand years old!

Hamon de Wolferston

In 1291, Hamon de Wolferston was made a grant of “free warren” in Manor of Wolverston by Edward 1, which gave him exclusive hunting rites within a designated area. The grantee of the warren was granted an exemption from the law, under which all game in the realm was property of the sovereign, but the grantee owed the sovereign the stewardship and protection of the game from all others who might wish to hunt it. In 1310, Robert de Reydon was granted the same privilege. Six years later, the Manor was in King Edward ll’s hands, although the Lord of the Manor was Sir John de Holbroke. 
The manor stayed in the Holbroke family until 1419 when it passed to Elizabeth de Wolferston. Elizabeth was the daughter and heir of Ralph Fitz Ralph and his wife, Elizabeth, who was daughter and co-heir of Sir John de Holbroke, Knt. Also in 1419, a court investigation noted Elizabeth de Wolferston (Wolverston) held for life “a certain old manor called Wolverstonhalle with belongings in Wolverston and Chelmyngton (Chelmondiston) and in the towns of Freston, Holbrook, Herksestede, Erwarton and Kyrketon.”

Elizabeth had died in the same year, whereupon the Manor passed to her son and heir, Thomas d. 1458. Subsequently, the manor was inherited by (s) Robert Wolferston d. 1492. In his will he left money to buy “halfe the brykkes” and “timbyre” for the construction or restoration of Woolverstone church porch. His son, Thomas Wolferston of Culpho d. 1516, then (s) Richard Wolverston d. (?). Next, Edward Wolferston d. 1537 vested in his son, Philip Wolferston who married Frances Harward at Woolverstone church in 1557. Philip was a “gentleman pirate” along the Suffolk coast. His daughter, Mary, first married Henry Knyvett but was widowed at a young age. She then married Sir John Killigrew of Arwenack, Cornwall, and continued the family tradition of piracy off the Cornish coast with some success. Indeed, narrowly escaping execution after a grisly encounter in 1583. Philip sold the manor at Wolverston to Thomas Gawdy in 1580. The stewardship of Wolverston Manor by the Wolferston family had lasted for some 160 years.

From thereon, the Manor of Wolverston stayed, for no more than two generations, in the of the following families: Sir Thomas Gawdy d. 1588 passed to his son Henry. Henry sold to Richard Catelyn who was married to Dionysia Marsh. Richard likely died in 1596. The ownership of the manor here is confusing; either passing to his son, Philip, who died young and without issue, or to his widow who remarried Thomas Hitchcoke. Be that as it may, the Catelyns sold to Philip Bacon, second son of Edward Bacon of Shrubland Hall. Philip died in 1635. There is a monument to him in the vestry of St Michael’s church. 

The manor passed to his only daughter, Anne, who married Thomas Bedingfield and later, Sir Philip Parker, Bart d. 1655, whose son, Thomas died without issue twenty-nine years later, in 1684. The estate was put up for sale.

John Tyssen

The Manor of Woolverstone was subsequently bought by John Tyssen, a City of London merchant, in 1720, which cost £3, 850 for which he gained 293 acres. The Hall itself was built of brick and known by the name “Wolverston Hall”. Tyssen took out a mortgage on the manor. When Tyssen was declared bankrupt in 1722, following disastrous losses when the South Sea Bubble burst, he also owed £3,500 to a John Ward of Hackney, to whom he assigned the mortgage. John Ward was subsequently declared bankrupt in 1726 owing the huge sum of £58,000. In the preceding years he tried to hide his wealth from his creditors. There followed a number of court cases by creditors to get their money back. One of the ways that Ward tried to hide his wealth was to convey property to third parties under the covert understanding that they would be returned to his son. One of these properties was the Manor of Woolverstone Hall which was conveyed to Philip Jones and Francis Pyle; one part for 500 years and the other for 200 years. The premises were valued at £2,000 per annum. He also assigned debts to these two. He attempted to further fraud: 

“The bankrupt, with a view to conceal his effects from his creditors, and to defraud them of their just debts, did, about the year 1725, purchase the office of Clarencieux King at Arms, in the name of his son, the respondent Knox Ward, for which he paid above £ 3000.”

Two years later, Knox Ward, John Ward’s son, claimed ownership of the manor in 1728 and occupied it. He is recorded as patron to the church at Woolverstone and Dr Thomas Tanner in the same year. He also proposed exchanging land with the church presumably as part of his plan to create an enclosed park. Knox Ward plans to purchase more land around the Hall and create a park, brought him into conflict with other landowners as he did so. Many of the ancient oaks in Woolverstone are reminders of Knox Ward’s attempt to create a park. During his time, he also tried to stand for Parliamentary seat of Ipswich and was taken to court for failing to honour a promise of marriage.

Following the death of Knox Ward at Woolverstone Hall in 1741, William Berners leased the hall for the next 30 years.