Hawstead Hall

Has been described as a Possible Fortified Manor House

There are earthwork remains

NameHawstead Hall
Alternative NamesHansted; Hausted; Hausteede; Hawsted; Jew's Yard
Historic CountrySuffolk
Modern AuthoritySuffolk
1974 AuthoritySuffolk
Civil ParishHawstead

Robert Drury was granted, in 1510, licence to crenellate his manors of Hansted Hall, Buknahams and Onhowshalle, Suff.

Hawstead Manor (site of). 'Hawsteede Mannor House' and a house symbol shown on a map of c.1616 (Gage). Area shown on modern 1:10000 map as a roughly rectangular grove with two ponds within it, possibly the remains of a moat. (Suffolk HER)

Of the building published only a few fragments of walling can now be seen, the entire area being fenced off and overgrown. Both the triangular and the long narrow ponds still hold water but do not seem to have formed part of a moat. (PastScape–ref. Field Investigators Comments-F1 BHS 06-JAN-76)

Gatehouse Comments

Emery puts this in Buckinghamshire (presumably a misinterpretation of Buknahams), but this is Hawstead Hall, Suffolk. The long narrow pond seems to have been on the side of the hall facing the parish church and from which the house was most probably approached. Thus the house may have had a partial and symbolic moat on the approach side. However it should be noted that Cullum writing in 1784, who lived in the parish, wrote the site was moated so it is possible that 200+ years of agricultural activity have altered the site in a manner that has mislead the field investigator. Uncertain when it was abandoned although it may have been around 1615 when the Drury estates were divided between several heirs (Copinger, p. 39), the main heirs, the Cullum's seem to have lived at Hardwick House, 2km north, from the mid C17.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceTL855597
Latitude52.2041816711426
Longitude0.714479982852936
Eastings585590
Northings259700
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 212
  • Campling, Arthur, 1937, The History of the Family of Drury (London) Chap5 online copy [online copy > http://www.genealogysource.com/druryhistpt5b.htm]
  • Wall, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Suffolk Vol. 1 p. 620 online copy
  • Copinger, W.A., 1911, Manors of Suffolk Vol. 7 p. 35 online copy
  • Gage, J., 1838, History and Antiquities of Suffolk, Thingoe Hundred
  • Cullum, Sir J., 1813, History and Antiquities of Hawstead and Hardwick online copy&dq

Primary Sources

  • Brewer, J.S. (ed), 1920, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII Vol. 1 p. 191 online copy