Hanham Hall

          Hanham Hall developed from a medieval manorial site into a ‘gentry estate’.

The house was reputedly [H T Ellacombe] built by Richard Jones in 1655, but it “very probably contains an earlier medieval core” according to Barratt’s development archaeological survey of 2012 by Bristol and Region Archaeological Services (BaRAS).

          Jones was the son of a Bristol draper, and Lord of the Manor of Oldland.

His original Manor House was on the bank of the Clack-Mill stream facing Willsbridge Mill.

The aging House surrounded by increasing industrial activity became a less pleasant home and was probably absorbed into industrial use before it was demolished.

          In the memoranda appended to the Kingswood Chase Survey of 1652 we find: -

“Also M^r. Ric. Jones of Kensington claims a right of common of pasture as belonging to an ancient site of a Manor in Bitton, & to other lands & tenements, & also part of S^d Chace called Jay More, by ancient grant, but no proof”.              And -      “Jones New House, lately erected situated near Hanham Wind-mill”, described as "a fayre dwelling house erected by Mr. Newton.”  *    Followed by: - “Wind Mill on Wind mill hill, near the last named house”. 

*[I think the surveyors have here been told ‘erected by The Lord of the neighbouring Manor’ but have recorded the wrong one.]

The survey was carried out in 1651 so this seems to say that Mr Jones’ new house “lately erected” was probably built 5 years earlier than Ellacombe’s date until now accepted.

      In Jones’ Will in 1697 it was left to Jones’ Grandson ‘Thomas Trye of Hardwick’.

In 1726 it was sold to Kedgwin Webley of London. In1773 Webley’s daughter Mrs Frances Parry succeeded to the estate.  A previous attempt to sell it is found in the Bath Journal Monday 28th May 1753

“To be sold in Fee,

At Hanham in Gloucestershire, three Miles from Bristol and Eight from Bath, and in the direct Road from one of those Cities to the other,

A Large Modern built MANSION-HOUSE, with very spacious and commodious Offices, Coach-House, Stable for 14 Horses, and large Gardens, surrounded with very good Walls, and well stocked with a curious Collection of Fruit Trees; together with several Messuages, Farms, and Lands of about 300 £ a Year, late the Estates of Thomas Trye, Esq.; Or a Part of the House sufficient for any middling Family, (Furnished or Un-furnished) with a Kitchen, and all other Offices entire; made as distinct from the other Part, as a separate House, having different Entrances to it; together with - separate Gardens, would be Lett.    Particulars whereof may be had at the said House; of Mr. Giles, an Attorney in Bristol; of Mr. Purlewent, Attorney, in Bath; or of Mr Talbot in Simmonds-Inn, London.”

          This attempt to dispose of the property came to nothing.

Mrs Frances Parry’s Will granted probate in November 1792 gives the sole legatee as her daughter Frances Gwynne of Bath with whom she appears to have been living with on Royal Crescent. No details of her property are given, and the estate had already been sold to James Emerson in 1791.

When Emerson was made bankrupt it was sold again in 1803, this time to Samuel Whittuck, a wealthy landowner and industrialist.

The Whittucks remained in ownership but the estate was rented in 1916 to the Rev. H.N. Burden, who had worked out of London and Bristol as a promoter of treatment for ‘inebriates’ and mentally-ill children.        The Whittuck family sold to Burden in 1928.

Burden’s Mental Institution was sold to the National Health Service in 1954.

In October 2004 it was transferred from the NHS to English Partnerships under the 'Hospital Sites Programme'.

Hanham Hall Timeline
Year	Source	Owner / Event	Linkfile etc.	Yrs
	Hanham Hall Historic Characterisation September 2007 English Heritage	Developed from a medieval manorial site into a ‘gentry estate’.	Very probably contains an earlier medieval core.
1655 ?	BaRAS Report for Barratts Developers says  ‘Reputedly’ 1655	built by Richard Jones but probably as early as 1650	Creswicke’s Map ‘The Mannor of West Hannam’  of 1683 +	42
1697	Richard Jones’ Will	Thomas Trye of Hardwick [grandson]	Will proved 15th Feb. 1697	29
1726	sold	to Kedgwin Webley, London Lawyer who married Frances Fry of Bristol.	Webley was working for Jarrit Smyth of Ashton Court
1773	Left to ‘Mrs Parry’.	to Webley’s daughter Frances see Noyadd Estate Records David Parry married Frances	Kedgwin Webley (d. 1773) of Chancery Lane, London.	47
1753	Bath Journal 28th Mar.1753	sale notice description of estate	Advert 28th Mar.1753	0
1769	Donn’s Map	Mrs Frances Parry [in residence?]	(d. 1792),	19
1791/92	sold	to James Emmerson	Bankrupt 1803	11
1803	sold	to Samuel Whittuck   d. 1849
1928	Whittuck Family sold	to Rev H N Burden	Burden had rented from 1916	125
1954	Burden Inst. sold	to Crown Estates as hospital		26
2004	NHS transferred	to English Partnerships

The following are I think new or generally unrecognized insights included above:  -

1. Richard Jones was ‘Lord of the Manor of Oldland’,
2. He bought estates from the Westons including ‘Le Grange’ at Down-Hannam (Warmley), and he sold Grimsbury to Dr. Francis Woodward.
3. His claim on Jay More [Gee Moor] probably arose from land previously owned by the Westons, as this area was previously known as ‘Weston’s Woods’.
4. His New Mansion - “my now mansion house at Hannam”, Hanham Hall, was already erected near to the windmill in 1651 before the Government Survey of The Chase.         [‘near to the windmill’ = under a mile and nothing in between]
5. Some references call Thomas Trye his nephew but his Will clearly establishes Thomas to be his grandson by his daughter Anne.
6. The detailed description of the estate of Hanham Hall found in the Bath Journal of 1753 is I believe new to our records.
7. There is a Parliamentary record of Sir Richard Hart, MP for Bristol, living at Hanham Hall in the Mid-1680s. It is probably an error and should read Hanham Grange. However since in Jones’ Will we have executors “My good friends Sir John Newton, Baronett, and Sir Richard Hart, Knight” it is possible that he stayed there while his Grange was undergoing a massive re-build.

Roger Williams 12.04.19