(205) Ashfield of Stow Hall and Eastwood Park, baronets

Ashfield of Stow Hall, baronets

The Ashfields are said to have been settled at Stowlangtoft (Suffolk) from the mid 14th century until 1614, but very little is known about the house they had there, which was largely rebuilt in the 1620s. Sir Robert Ashfield (c.1555-1624), who sold the Stow Hall estate, had settled in Ireland, where he was knighted in 1598, but although it seems likely that he went there as part of one of the Elizabethan plantations, there seems to be no record of him in the surviving sources. His only recorded son, Sir John Ashfield (c.1597-1638), seems to have been brought up in England, and was knighted in 1615 at King James I's palace at Theobalds (Herts). Sir John was a near contemporary of the king's son, Prince Charles, and perhaps a close companion, for he was made a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to the Prince and in 1626 was the first person to be made a baronet after Charles succeeded his father as king. This position at court was not matched by his estate, which until he married seems to have consisted only of whatever property in Ireland his father left him. His marriage, in 1627, to Elizabeth, the daughter and heir of Sir Richard Sutton and the widow of Sir James Altham of Oxhey (Herts), brought him a farmhouse called Nether Hall at Harkstead (Suffolk) and a house called Fosters at Acton (Middx), where he seems to have lived, and which may have been on the site later occupied by East Acton Manor House. The family are sometimes said to have owned Nether Hall at Pakenham (Suffolk), but this is a confusion arising from the existence of a house with the same name as their Harkstead property in a parish adjacent to Stowlangtoft.

Sir John died in 1638, leaving as his heir his son Sir Richard Ashfield (c.1629-84), 2nd bt., then a boy of about nine, who was brought up by his mother at Acton. In about 1650 Sir Richard was married to Mary Rogers, the heiress of Sir Richard Rogers of Eastwood Park (Glos), who brought him that estate. In 1655 his mother remarried, and the following year he sold the Acton estate to a London alderman, John Perryn. Thereafter, he seems to have divided his time between London and Eastwood Park. By two wives he had twelve children, and when he died in 1684 his property passed to the eldest surviving son, Sir John Ashfield (1654-1714), 3rd bt. Sir John appears to have already been seriously in debt, perhaps as a result of speculations in North American property, and in the very year he inherited he sold the Eastwood Park estate to Sir Robert Jenkinson. This sale does not seem to have solved his problems, and in 1692 it was said that he had 'wasted his estate'. His wife and children predeceased him, and when he died in 1714 the little he had left passed to his sister, Elizabeth Selby. The baronetcy died with him.

Stow Hall, Stowlangtoft, Suffolk

The present Stowlangtoft Hall dates from 1859 and stands on a different site to the previous Stow Hall which was occupied by the Ashfield and D'Ewes families. Apart from its position, almost nothing is known about the Ashfields' house here, which was extensively remodelled for Paul D'Ewes in about 1625 and partly rebuilt in 1792 before being destroyed by fire in the mid 19th century. There are said to be some watercolours of the house made in 1835. 

Descent: Robert de Ashfield (fl. 1455); to son, John Ashfield (fl. 1470); to son, John Ashfield (d. 1499); to son, George Ashfield (d. c.1518); to son, Robert Ashfield (d. 1550); to son, Robert Ashfield (c.1535-1613); to son, Sir Robert Ashfield (c.1555-1624), kt., who sold 1614 to Paul d'Ewes (d. 1631); to son, Sir Simonds d'Ewes (1602-50), 1st bt.; to son, Sir Willoughby d'Ewes (c.1650-85), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir Simonds d'Ewes (1670-1722), 3rd bt.; sold 1716 to Thomas Norton (d. 1756); sold by his executors 1760 to Sir Thomas Rawlinson (d. 1769), kt.; to son, Sir Walter Rawlinson (1734-1805), kt., who partly rebuilt the house, 1792; to sister, wife of Sir George Wombwell (1769-1846), 2nd bt., who sold 1825 to Joseph Wilson (d. 1851); to son, Henry Wilson (1797-1866), who built a new house on a different site in 1859; to son, Fuller Maitland Wilson (1825-75); to son, Arthur Maitland Wilson (1857-1934); sold 1929 to A.J. Edwards who let it to London County Council as an evacuation centre; to daughter Joan Catchpole, who leased it as a care home from 1969; to Mr & Mrs John Catchpole.

Eastwood Park, Falfield, Gloucestershire

Eastwood Park was one of the chaces of the manor of Thornbury, and was granted with Thornbury Castle in 1554 to Henry, Lord Stafford; but in the 1560s, Eastwood was separated from this larger property and sold to the tenant, Thomas Tyndale. It is not clear whether there was a house here at that time, or if so whether it was anything more than a hunting lodge, but by the 1630s the house was evidently the residence of Sir Richard Rogers as he was described as ‘of Falfield’. From 1684 the owners were the Jenkinsons, who had their principal seat at Hawkesbury and used Eastwood only for hunting; and in 1779, Samuel Rudder reported that the house was 'a large mansion house...now converted to a farm house'. Even after the house at Hawkesbury was pulled down about 1780, the lack of a Gloucestershire seat was not a major issue for the Jenkinsons until the 1820s, when the 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Prime Minister, 1812-27) began to contemplate his retirement from politics. He married in 1822 at the age of 52, and shortly afterwards began to build a new house in Eastwood Park, but he had a severe and disabling stroke in 1827, which left him paralysed until his death eighteen months later, and the new house was abandoned unfinished.

Very little is known about the house which Lord Liverpool began because when Sir G.S. Jenkinson built the house which stands today, he pulled down part of it and entirely engulfed the rest.  No architect is recorded for the work and no drawings of the house appear to survive.  There is, however, a block plan on the Thornbury tithe map of 1842, which shows that the footprint of the house was very much the same as that of its successor.  It is also known that, although incomplete, the house was sufficiently far advanced to be occupied by a tenant in the 1840s; it was let with a garden but without other land to Timothy Roach, a member of a prominent yeoman family in the Thornbury area. The lack of information about the house is tantalising because Lord Liverpool employed Sir John Soane no less than four times: for alterations to Coombe Lodge, Kingston, Surrey, in 1801-09; to Fife House, Whitehall, in 1809; to Walmer Cottage, Kent in 1812; and to 10-11 Downing Street in 1825-26.  The latter was an official commission in connection with Soane’s post as one of the Architects of the Office of Works, but took place at just the time when Eastwood was under construction.  Soane was also a close friend of the family, and was reported to be much affected by the death of Lord Liverpool’s first wife, who was a daughter of the Earl-Bishop of Derry, who had been one of his first patrons. Soane’s practice is exceptionally well documented, however, and there is no record of his designing a country house for Lord Liverpool in the 1820s; indeed, Soane was 70 in 1823 and almost at the end of his professional career.

In 1855 the property passed to Sir George Samuel Jenkinson, who brought a typically Victorian moral earnestness to the management of the estate.  In 1857 it was proposed to enlarge the existing chapel of ease at Falfield, but Jenkinson offered to meet much of the cost of constructing a completely new church to the designs of Samuel Daukes, and this was begun in 1859 and consecrated on 30 July 1860. 

Eastwood Park: a Victorian photograph of the entrance front, showing the curious roof of the tower, later removed

It would seem very likely that it was also to Daukes that Jenkinson turned for plans for a new house, although no documentary evidence for this appears to survive.  The new house was finished by 1862, and it seems probable that Jenkinson first secured Daukes as the architect for his house, and obtained plans from him for the church subsequently. The new house that Jenkinson built included, as has been noted, some part of its predecessor, but nothing of this is identifiable today.  It now appears as a solid and imposing but not especially agreeable house in a free style that owes most to late 17th century French models, but which remains unmistakably Victorian.  It is built of coursed, squared rubble, so even as to look remarkably like white brick, with darker freestone dressings.  The north-facing entrance front has an off-centre porte-cochère tower that has now lost its original concave-sided pyramidal roof and gabled dormers.  The elevations are of two storeys, with French quoins at the angles, a modillion eaves cornice, gabled dormers in the hipped roofs (now with artificial stone slates) and panelled chimneystacks.  

Eastwood Park: garden front, c.1985. Image: Nicholas Kingsley. Made available under this Creative Commons licence

On the nine-bay east front, the two bays at either end are brought forward as wings, and the first-floor windows have balconies with pierced parapets supported on carved brackets.  The windows on this front have been replaced in the 20th century, and the dormers have been altered all round the house, but otherwise the original fenestration of cross-windows appears intact.  Inside, there is a cantilevered staircase with a cast iron balustrade, lit by a stained glass window depicting the heraldry of the Jenkinsons.  The dining room has a decorative plaster cornice, but otherwise the interiors are remarkably plain.  A fine pair of mahogany double doors under a fanlight in the former music room may conceivably be a survival from the house of the 1820s, but look earlier and were probably imported from elsewhere.

The Trustees of the Jenkinson estate sold the house and 1,579 acres in 1916 to Charles Tucker of Home Farm.  He in turn sold it in 1919 to Edgar Watts, a Bristol-based colliery and shipping magnate, who is reputed to have spent significant sums on modernising the house, and who probably took the top off the tower. He sold a good deal of the estate during the 1920s, but lived in the house until about 1930, when it was sold with 474 acres.  The house was then unoccupied until it was bought by the Government in 1935 for use as a civilian anti-gas training school, which opened in 1936.  It remained in use for civil defence purposes until 1968, when the Home Office transferred it to the Department of Health, which ran it as a residential training centre for hospital engineering and estate management.  In 1997 the conference centre moved into the private sector as part of Fujitsu Services, and in 2003 it became an independent concern following a management buy-out.  Eastwood Park Ltd. continues to run it as a training and conference centre and wedding venue.

Descent: Crown granted 1554 to Henry Stafford, Baron Stafford; sold 1560s to Thomas Tyndale (c.1530-71); to son or cousin, Thomas Tyndale (d. 1619); to son, Thomas Tyndale (d. 1671), who sold 1628 to Sir Richard Rogers (d. 1636); to daughter, Mary, wife of Sir Richard Ashfield (1629-84), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir John Ashfield (1654-1714), 3rd bt., who sold 1684 to Sir Robert Jenkinson (c.1654-1710), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir Robert Jenkinson (1685-1717), 3rd bt.; to brother, Sir Banks Jenkinson (1687-1738), 4th bt.; to son, Sir Robert Jenkinson (1720-66), 5th bt.; to brother, Sir Banks Jenkinson (1721-90), 6th bt.; to second cousin, Sir Charles Jenkinson (1729-1808), 7th bt. and 1st Earl of Liverpool; to son, Robert Jenkinson (1770-1828), 2nd Earl of Liverpool and Prime Minister; to half-brother, Charles Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool; to cousin, Sir Charles Jenkinson (1779-1855), 10th bt.; to nephew, Sir George Samuel Jenkinson (1817-92), 11th bt.; to son, Sir George Banks Jenkinson (1851-1915), 12th bt.; to grandson, Sir Anthony Banks Jenkinson (1912-89), 13th bt., whose trustees sold 1916 to Charles Tucker; sold 1919 to Edgar Watts... sold 1935 to HM Government; sold 2003 to Eastwood Park Ltd.

Ashfield family, baronets

Ashfield, George (d. 1517). Son of John Ashfield (d. 1499) of Stowlangtoft and his wife Margaret, daughter of John Wentworth of Gosfield (Essex) or Henry Wentworth of Codham Hall, Wethersfield (Essex) and later the wife of Edmond Wingfield (d. 1530). He married Margery (d. 1524), daughter of John Cheeke of Bludhall, Debenham (Suffk) and had issue including:
(1) Robert Ashfield (d. 1550) (q.v.);
(2) Martha Ashfield (d. 1549); married John Doggett of Bures (Norfk) and had issue two sons; buried at Bures, 1549;
(3) Elizabeth Ashfield (fl. 1549); mentioned in her brother's will; unmarried in 1549;
(4) Henry Ashfield (d. by 1549); referred to in his mother and brother's wills;
(5) Edward Ashfield (fl. 1524); referred to in his mother's will;
(6) Florence Ashfield; married Edward Brooke of Aspall (Suffk) and had issue;
(7) Amy Ashfield; married Reinold Rous of Badingham (Suffk);

He inherited the Stow Hall estate from his father in 1499.

He died 20 August 1517. His widow died in 1524 and was buried at Debenham; her will was proved August 1524.

Ashfield, Robert (d. 1550). Son of George Ashfield (d. 1517) and his wife Margery, daughter of John Cheeke of Bludhall, Debenham (Suffolk), born after 1502. He married 1st, Margaret (d. 1536), daughter of Sir Simon Le Gros, kt.; 2nd, Alice (d. 1547), daughter of Sir Thomas Jermyn, kt. of Rushbrooke (Suffk); and 3rd, Alice alias Anne Gardener, and had issue:
(2.1) Robert Ashfield (c.1537-1613) (q.v.);
(2.2) William Ashfield (fl. 1549);
(2.3) Thomas Ashfield (fl. 1549);
(2.4) George Ashfield (d. 1567?); educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (admitted 1554); perhaps the man of this name buried at Stowlangtoft, 27 February 1567;
(2.5) John Ashfield; educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (admitted 1554) and Middle Temple (admitted 1561); probably the man of this name who was Attorney General of Munster, 1591-95; married, 1568 at Stowlangtoft, Amy alias Anne Harvey (d. 1590) but had no issue;
(2.6) Edmund Ashfield (d. 1603) of Shimpling Hall (Suffk); educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (admitted 1554) and Grays Inn (admitted 1561); lawyer at Barnards Inn; married [forename unknown] Harvey of Suffolk; died April 1603 and was buried at Stowlangtoft; will proved 1603;
(2.7) Anne Ashfield (fl. 1549); married, after 1549, John Sturt of Highgate (Middx);
(2.8) Mary Ashfield (fl. 1549)
(2.9) Agnes Ashfield (fl. 1549); married, before 1549, John Bacon, gent.
He inherited the Stow Hall estate from his father in about 1518.
He died in 1550 and was buried at Stowlangtoft; his will was proved 10 May 1550. His first wife died in 1536 at was buried at Stowlangtoft. His second wife died 4 January 1546/7 and was buried at Stowlangtoft.

Ashfield, Robert (c.1537-1613). Eldest son of Robert Ashfield (d. 1550) and his second wife Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Jermyn, born about 1537. High Sheriff of Suffolk, 1576-77. He married 1st, c.1553, Alice, daughter of William Clopton of Liston (Essex) and 2nd, c.1560, Frances, daughter of Robert Spring of Lavenham (Suffk), and had issue:
(1.1) Anne Ashfield (fl. 1554); married, 1577 at Stowlangtoft, Anthony Denny esq. of Norfolk but had no issue;
(1.2) Jane Ashfield (fl. 1554; d. 1565?); died without issue; possibly to be identified with the 'Joan Ashvild [daughter] of Rob.' buried at Stowlangtoft, 19 April 1565
(1.3) Sir Robert Ashfield (c.1555-1624), kt. (q.v.);
(1.4) Mary Ashfield; died without issue;
(2.1) John Ashfield (c.1561-1639) of Wicken in Badwell (Suffk), baptised at Stowlangtoft, 23 December 1561; a Puritan in religion; married, 1612 at Stowlangtoft, Mary Cleare (fl. 1633) of Stokesby but had no surviving issue; living in 1638; will proved 12 July 1639;
(2.2) Thomas Ashfield (1562-99) of Hopton (Suffk), baptised at Stowlangtoft, 13 May 1562; married, 18 February 1592/3 at Ranworth (Norfk), Ellen, daughter of John Holditch of Ranworth (Norfk) and widow of Thomas Prettyman of Bawton. and had issue two daughters; buried at Stowlangtoft, 23 September 1599;
(2.3) Francis Ashfield (1564-89), baptised at Stowlangtoft, 22 August 1564; died in the Portugal expedition, 1589.
(2.4) William Ashfield (1566-89), baptised at Stowlangtoft, 5 December 1566; died in the Portugal expedition, 1589;
(2.5) Dorothy Ashfield (1572-1626), baptised 15 January 1572/3; in youth 'a beautiful brown woman' who was fond of the finer things in life; she married, 1590 at Stowlangtoft (and had issue by), Sir Richard Ogle (d. 1627), kt. of Pinchbeck (Lincs) who ran up debts and mortgages and died in the Fleet Prison; when his creditors foreclosed and he was imprisoned for debt in 1616 she attempted suicide but was saved by the prompt intervention of a passing surgeon; lived subsequently with her brother John and died 1626.
(He inherited the Stow Hall estate from his father.
He died in 1613; his will was proved 2 September 1613. His first wife died before 1560. His widow was buried 3 February 1613/4.

Ashfield, Sir Robert (c.1555-1624), kt. Only son of Robert Ashfield (d. 1613) and his first wife Alice, daughter of William Clapton of Lyston (Essex), born about 1555. Knighted in Dublin, 24 September 1598. He married, 1588, Anne (d. 1637?), daughter of Sir John Tasburgh of Flixton (Suffk), and had issue including:
(1) Sir John Ashfield (c.1597-1635), kt. and 1st bt. (q.v.).
On his marriage he received a dowry of £1,000. He inherited the Stow Hall estate from his father in 1613, but sold it in 1614 to Paul D'Ewes and according to the Visitiation of Suffolk went to live in Ireland.
He died about October 1624. His widow may be identifiable with the Anne Ashfield buried at Ixworth (Suffk), 2 September 1637.

Ashfield, Sir John (c.1597-1638), kt. and 1st bt. Only child of Sir Robert Ashfield (d. 1624), kt. and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir John Tasburgh, kt. Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King Charles I. Knighted by King James I at Theobalds House, 3 June 1615; and created a baronet by King Charles I, 20 June 1626 (being the first person so honoured by the king after his accession). He married, 1627 (licence 30 April), Elizabeth (b. c.1600), daughter and heir of Sir Richard Sutton, kt. of Acton (Middx) and widow of Sir James Altham of Oxhey, kt., and had issue including:
(1) Anne Ashfield (c.1625?-98); married, 6 March 1644/5 at St Bartholomew-the-Less, London, Thomas Tresham of Lyveden (Northants); died about 1698; will proved 1 December 1698;
(2) Sir Richard Ashfield (c.1629-84), 2nd bt. (q.v.);
(3) Mary Ashfield;
(4) Sutton Ashfield (b. c.1634; fl. 1683); married, c.1661-67, Lucy (d. 1692), daughter of Sir Thomas Martin of Barton (Cambs) and widow of Edward Hanbury (d. c.1658), and had issue; living in Westminster (Middx), 1674-83; died between 1683 and 1687;
(5) Dorothy Ashfield (d. 1719); married 1652 (settlement 21 June), Devereux Martin (d. 1703), son of Sir Thomas Martin of Barton (Cambs); said to have died in 1719.
He inherited Nether Hall, Harkstead and Fosters, Acton (Middx) in right of his wife.
He was buried at Acton (Middx), 3 November 1638; administration of his goods was granted 30 November 1638. His widow married 3rd, 12 November 1655 at St Giles-in-the-Fields, London, Sir Richard Minshull (d. 1667) of Ongar Park (Essex); her date of death has not been traced.

Ashfield, Sir Richard (c.1629-84), 2nd bt. Elder son of Sir John Ashfield (c.1597-1638), kt. and 1st bt., and his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Sutton, kt., and widow of Sir James Altham, kt., born about 1629. He was found guilty of the manslaughter of John Murchamp, gent. who died of sword wounds following an assault (perhaps a duel) at Kensington in 1649, but it is not known what punishment he received. Sheriff of Gloucestershire, 1668-69. He married 1st, c.1650, Mary (d. 1669), daughter and co-heir of Sir Richard Rogers, kt. of Eastwood Park (Glos) and 2nd,  20 February 1673/4 at St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish St., London, Dorcas (d. 1709?), daughter of James Hore esq., goldsmith and Comptroller of the Mint, and widow of [forename unknown] Burchett, and had issue including:
(1.1) Richard Ashfield (1651-56), baptised at Acton (Middx), 26 February 1651/2; died aged 5 and was buried at Thornbury (Glos), 27 May 1656 where he is commemorated by a monument;
(1.2) Mary Ashfield (c.1652-1706), born about 1652; married, 3 August 1678 at St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish St., London, William Howell of Lincoln; will proved 4 June 1706;
(1.3) Sir John Ashfield (1654-1714), 3rd bt. (q.v.);
(1.4) Richard Ashfield (c.1657-93), born c.1657; educated at Magdalen College, Oxford (matriculated 1673/4 aged 17) and Middle Temple (called to bar 1682); barrister-at-law; married 1st, c.1677 (licence 26 December), Mary Gunning of St Dunstan-in-the-West, London and 2nd, Lucy [surname unknown], but had no issue; died 1693 and was buried at the Temple Church, London; will proved 5 January 1693/4;
(1.5) Thomas Ashfield (d. 1661); buried at Thornbury (Glos), 15 April 1661;
(1.6) Elizabeth Ashfield (b. 1659; fl. 1716), baptised at Thornbury (Glos), 28 July 1659; married, 1710 (licence 23 May), William Selby (fl. 1716) of the Inner Temple;
(1.7) Ann Ashfield (d. 1703); involved in a legal action with her brother Richard against her stepmother and brother John concerning an inheritance dispute, 1689; residuary legatee and executrix of her aunt, Anne Tresham in 1698, died unmarried in Westminster; will proved 24 February 1702/3;
(2.1) Thomas Ashfield (b. 1675), baptised at St Giles-in-the-Fields, 22 February 1674/5;
(2.2) Charles Ashfield (1676-94), baptised at St Giles-in-the-Fields, 9 September 1676; possibly the man of this name who was an officer in the dragoons (Cornet, 1692; Lieutenant, 1694); buried at St. Giles-in-the-Fields, 14 September 1694;
(2.3) James Ashfield (b. 1677), baptised at St Giles-in-the-Fields, 27 December 1677;
(2.4) Frances Ashfield (c.1683-1755); married, 10 July 1705, John Isham (1659-1746) and had issue a daughter; died 3 April 1755; will proved 5 June 1755;
(2.5) Dorcas Ashfield (fl. 1750); married, 1698/9 (settlement 27 February), Maurice Kendall (d. by 1716) and had issue.
He inherited Nether Hall, Harkstead and Fosters from his father in 1635 and Eastwood Park (Glos) in right of his first wife. He sold Fosters to Alderman John Perryn in 1656.
He was buried at Thornbury, 8 August 1684; his will was proved 1684. His first wife died in 1669. His widow is said to have died in 1709; her will was proved 23 May 1710.

Ashfield, Sir John (1654-1714), 3rd bt. Elder son of Sir Richard Ashfield (d. 1684), 2nd bt. and his first wife, baptised 8 December 1654 at Hillesden (Bucks). He succeeded his father as 3rd baronet, August 1684. Described as Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King William III in 1694, although he does not appear in lists of the appointees to that office. In 1675 he had a grant of 10,000 acres in New Jersey (USA), and this may be evidence that it was property speculation that caused the reputed ruin of his estate. He was evidently in debt in the mid 1680s when he mortgaged and subsequently sold his estate at Thornbury. He married, 1675 (settlement 8 December), Anne (d. 1702), daughter of James Hoare esq., goldsmith and Comptroller of the Mint, the sister of his stepmother, and had issue:
(1) Charles Ashfield (b. 1675; fl. 1699), baptised 16 July 1675 at St Peter ad Vincula, London; educated at St Catherine's College, Cambridge (admitted 1694); possibly the man of this name granted the reversion of the office of Athlone Pursuivant in the College of Heralds, 1700; mentioned in his great-grandmother's will, 1699, but died in the lifetime of his father;
(2) James Ashfield (b. 1677), baptised at Thornbury (Glos), 17 March 1677; died young before 1683.
He inherited Eastwood Park (Glos) from his father in 1684 but mortgaged and later sold it to Sir Robert Jenkinson shortly afterwards. At his death the heir to his remaining property was his sister, Elizabeth Selby.
He was buried 9 March 1713/4, when the baronetcy became extinct. His wife was buried at St. Giles in the Fields, London, 13 December 1702.

Sources

Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, 2nd edn., 1841, pp. 16-17; J.O. Halliwell, The autobiography and correspondence of Sir Simonds d'Ewes, 1845, vol 1, pp. 283-87; N.W. Kingsley & M.J. Hill, The country houses of Gloucestershire, vol. 3: 1830-2000, 2001, pp. 116-18; https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/Data/Sites/1/media/parish-histories/stowlangtoft.pdf; 

Location of archives

No significant archive is known to survive. There are a few family papers among the records of the Portman family of Buxton Place (Sussex) [East Sussex Record Office, SAS]

Coat of arms

Sable, a fesse between three fleurs-de-lys argent.

Can you help?

Here are a few notes about information and images which would help to improve the account above. If you can help with any of these or with other additions or corrections, please use the contact form in the sidebar to get in touch.

• Can anyone supply images of the original Stow Hall at Stowlangtoft before its destruction by fire in the 1850s?
• Does anyone have an illustration of the 'large mansion house' in Eastwood Park which had declined into a farmhouse by the 18th century, or of the unfinished replacement house begun by the Earl of Liverpool in the 1820s?
• The genealogy of this family, especially for the 16th century, is sadly incomplete, and I would be most grateful to hear from anyone who can add further details from deeds, wills, parish registers or other sources.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 8th February 2016 and updated 20th February-5th April 2016. I am most grateful to Anthea Ashfield for corrections and additions to my original account.