7 June 2026 Binham Priory, Baconsthorpe Castle, St Mary's Church of Baconsthorpe, and Felbrigg Hall
The weather cooperated today, and other than being a little windy, it was a beautiful day. Maybe not so much with the rest of the week, but I'll take days like these.
I'm in Norfolk until Tuesday, and travelled up North to Binham Priory first. It was an Augustinian Sister house of the Church in St. Albans, and started by a nephew of William the Conqueror, Peter d' Valoignes. The Augustinian orders were usually the wealthiest of the orders, and of particular interest to Henry VIII. The Priory was dissolved in 1539.
I have mentioned this before, but just as a reminder, the Dissolution of the Monasteries had very little to do with Henry, Catherine of Aragon, and the Church of England. It had everything to do with confiscating the wealth of all the Abbeys, Priories, Convents and Friaries to fund the Monarchy. There were over 800 of them in England before they were taken down.
Binham was one of those, but the main part of the church became the local parish church of the town of Binham. As I was visiting today, they were already getting ready to have a service, so I had to be quick, but the site is beautiful, and you can only imagine how much nicer it was before 1539.
Baconsthorpe Castle was next on the agenda. This was the ancestral home of the Heydon family. Originally Lawyers, they really made their money in the wool industry. Baconsthorpe Castle is primarily made of Flint, as is most of the castles in the area, and as the fortunes of the Heydon's rose, they expanded on their castle. They were also big patrons of St Marys Church in Baconsthorpe, so the church benefitted from their generosity as well.
The castle was started around 1450, and had its best days for about two hundred years. By 1650, the family fortunes were pretty much drained, and the Heydon's had to sell the flint from their castle to pay their many debts. Already cut stone was more desirable and more expensive, so the locals bought it up, and used it for their houses and barns, which can be seen throughout the town.
The castle had a moat filled with water, and a small pond next to it to resupply the water around the castle. The castle also had a brewery, stables, kitchens, and a bakehouse.
After the destruction of the castle, the outer gatehouse was purchased and turned into a private manor house, but it has since been ruined as well.
The English Heritage Trust is working on a way to preserve the Flint walls of the castle. The problem is primarily the mortar that holds them all together.
About a 30 minutes walk South of the Castle is St Mary's Church in Baconsthorpe. This was the family church of the Heydons, and the church had a couple of brochures that contained a plethora of information, as well as info on an alabaster memorial to some of the Heydons from 1592.
I have about 42 people associated with the town of Baconsthorpe in Norfolk, so I'll just name a few here, but there is also a Baconsthorpe in Surrey, and I have ancestors by the name of Rowland who are from there.
In addition to about 8 Heydon's, I have a bunch of ancestors named Bacon from there. I also have a Lady Anne Boleyn who died in Baconsthorpe in 1510, which makes her someone different than King Henry VIII's 2nd wife. She was married to a Heydon, which indicates how well their fortunes were in the early 1500's.
Last on the list was National Trust Property called Felbrigg Hall. I have always had bad luck with National Trust Properties when going there. They are usually more recent places than the places I am looking for, and they fancy themselves by showing off restored manor houses and all the furniture that usually goes into them.
The Bigods of Norfolk started with the property in the 1100's, and then they turned the property over to the Felbriggs. The Felbrigg family house isn't there anymore, but around 1400, their fortunes changes when Henry of Bolingbroke became the Lancastrian King, and the House of York King, Richard II, was replaced. The Felbriggs were Yorkist supporters, so and they found themselves on the way out. By 1440, the last Felbrigge, Sir Simon, died without any heirs, and the property was sold to an unsavory character named John Wyndham. My ancestors at Felbrigg Hall include Sir Simon Bigod (1274-1351), Roger le Bigod de Felbrigge 1316-1380, and John Wyndham.
The Hall itself is a Georgian manor house, but it was built long after my family ceased to have anything to do with the property. Not too many pictures here, since it is all new stuff, but it is a nice piece of land, and it was pretty popular with the locals. I saw quite a few munching out on Jacketed Potatoes in the afternoon sun.
