Baconsthorpe Castle

-1086

The first known mention of the village of Baconsthorpe Village is in the Domesday Book of 1086, but it was only called Thorp at the time. The town was tiny, and only three families lived there. One of the families were the Bacons, descended from a Norman named George Fitz Grimbaldus de Bacon. From this family, Baconsthorpe castle gets its name. 

-C. 1450 (Castle Construction Began)

Sometime in the middle of the 15th century, William Baxter purchased the land where Baconsthorpe castle now stands. At that time, there were two manors on the estate that Baxter purchased. Baxter bought this property from the Bacon family and promptly started constructing his new home. 

According to John Leland (1540), William began to construct the front gatehouse first, but he died before finishing it. His son, John Heydon, then completed the inner gatehouse’s construction and began building the manor’s facade. 

-1455-1485 (Castle Fortified)

During the Wars of the Roses, John Hayden often switched sides and made various alliances to keep up appearances and gain wealth. Unfortunately, Hayden gained a reputation as a disloyal and self-serving individual during these wars, making many enemies in the process. 

Because many influential people disliked him, Hayden decided to make his manor highly defensive. To protect himself and his family from small-scale local attacks and to impress the locals, he planned to install a moat, four towers, and a curtain wall at the front. 

-1479

In 1479, John Heydon died, leaving the estate to his son Henry Heydon. Henry built the entire manor in his lifetime, including a large barn, a garden court, the moat, and the curtain wall that still stands today.

-1485

At the coronation of Henry VII, Henry Heydon was knighted for his service as Justice of the Peace. As a prominent lawyer and landowner in Norfolk and Kent, Henry helped the king keep order in his area, which made governing the small town of Baconsthorpe easier on the government.

Henry’s rise in power resulted in an investment that would form the basis of his family’s trade for the next hundred years-- namely, sheep farming and wool production. 

-1505 (Wool House Added)

In 1505, Henry Heydon died, leaving his estates to his son Sir John Heydon II. Within his lifetime, John Heydon II turned a service facility on the eastern side of Baconsthorpe castle into a wool processing house. With this improvement to the property, the Heydon family ensured that they would have financial stability for many years to come. 

-1561 (Fortifications and Garden Expansion)

The next record of Baconsthorpe Castle is a license to crenellate the walls and towers of Baconsthorpe Castle, received by Sir Christopher Heydon I. At this time, Christopher began the construction of the outer gate. He also expanded and emparked the gardens surrounding the manor at this time. 

The investments that Cristopher made in the 1560s put the Heydon family in debt, forcing Christopher’s heir, William, to sell some of the outer edges of the estate in the 1580s after his father’s death. 

-1600

William’s son, Christopher Heydon, also racked up debts when he openly opposed Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, costing him £3,000. In total, the family debts amassed £14,000. When you consider the pound’s value at that time, that’s a massive amount of money. In today’s pound valuation, the Heydon family’s debts would be £1,604,540!

As a result of these debts, Christopher had to mortgage the Castle. 

-1642-1646

In 1642, when the Civil War broke out, John Hayden II owned the Castle. John was a royalist, supporting king Charles in the conflict with Parliament, and in 1646, parliament seized his lands, including Baconsthorpe Castle.

By taking out more loans, John quickly bought back the Castle. However, to pay off his new debts and the older ones, he had to disassemble the Castle and sell the stone that the Hayden family made it from. 

-1653

After the death of John Hayden II, his son Charles continued to sell the Castle’s stones. During this time, the Heydon family lived in the gatehouse.

-1689

In 1689, William Hayden III sold Baconsthorpe Castle, now just Baconsthorpe place, to Mr Daniel Bridges, who then sold it to Dr Zurishaddai Lang, who lived in the outer tower which had been converted into a cosy home.