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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2016
This paper relates earlier published material about the building of Raynham Hall to new evidence discovered during research into the life of Sir Roger Townshend, for whom the Hall was built.
As one of the first country houses in England to be built in a classical style, Raynham Hall in Norfolk has attracted considerable attention from architectural historians. Yet there has always been some uncertainty as to who actually designed the Hall. When Raynham was begun, Inigo Jones, who first introduced classical architecture into England, was still only at the beginning of his career. The principles of classical design were therefore appreciated only at Court. For this reason, and despite Sir Roger Townshend’s apparent lack of Court connections, the design of Raynham was attributed almost unquestioningly for many years, to Inigo Jones himself.
H. L. Bradfer-Lawrence, ‘The Building of Raynham Hall’, Norfolk Archaeology, XXIII (1927-29), pp. 93-146.
J. Harris, ‘Raynham Hall, Norfolk’, Archaeological Journal, CXVIII (1961), pp. 180-87.
‘A booke of perticular disbursements’ (14.10.1618 to 27.12.1619), Raynham Hall.
Folger Shakespeare Library.
Norfolk Record Office.
Norfolk Record Office, Bradfer-Lawrence Collection.
‘A Booke of Accountes for the Buildinges att Raignham’ (9.1.1618/9 to 25.3.1619).
‘A second Booke of Accountes for the Buildinges att Raignham’ (27.3.1619 to 30.10.1620).
‘A Booke of disbursments for the Buildinges att Raynham’ (30.10.1620 to 24.9.1621).
‘A Booke of disbursements for and Concerninge the Buildinges att Raynham’ (1.10.1621 to 5.3.1622).
‘A Booke of weekly disbursements’ (25.3.1622 to 1.7.1622).
Tabulated Wage Book (22.4.1622 to Easter 1624). All the above are in Raynham Building Accounts (Box 1), Raynham Hall.
‘William Marshall his Booke’ (16.10.1620 to 24.9.1621), in Raynham Building Accounts (Box 2). Raynham Hall.
Raynham Hall.
Huntington Library, HM (26559).
week beginning
1 See, for example: Hussey, C., ‘Raynham Hall, Norfolk—I’, Country Life, 14 November 1925, LVIII, pp. 742-50Google Scholar; Blomfield, R., ‘Raynham Hall, Norfolk’, Journal of British Architects, 3rd Series XXXIII (1925-26), pp. 527-29Google Scholar; Harris, J., ‘Hall, Raynham, Norfolk’, Archaeological Journal, CXVIII (1961), pp. 180–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
2 Inigo Jones first found real prominence as an architect when he was appointed Surveyor of the King’s Works in 1615. ( Summerson, John, Inigo Jones (London, 1966), p. 37 Google Scholar.) Raynham Hall was begun in 1618/9.
3 Girouard, M., Robert Smythson and the Elizabethan Country House (London, 1983), p. 36 Google Scholar.
4 Hussey, ‘Raynham Hall . . .’, p. 742; Hill, O. and Cornforth, J., English Country Houses: Caroline (London, 1966), p. 57 Google Scholar.
5 H. L. Bradfer-Lawrence, pp. 93–94.
6 Ibid., pp. 99 and 102.
7 Ibid., p. 99.
8 Ibid., p. 98.
9 It was unusual for a country house to take more than ten years to build, see Airs, M., ‘The designing of five East Anglian country houses, 1505–1637’, Architectural History, 21 (1978), pp. 58-67 (pp. 58-59)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
10 Bradfer-Lawrence, pp. 101–02.
11 Spelman, H., The History and Fate of Sacrilege, Discovered by Example of Scripture of Heathens and of Christians; From the beginning of the World continually to this Day [1632] (London, 1698), pp. 268-69Google Scholar.
12 Bradfer-Lawrence, pp. 101-02.
13 In common with many local historians of the period, Bradfer-Lawrence had received no professional training in history.
14 Hussey, ‘Raynham Hall . . .’, p. 748.
15 Ibid.
16 Girouard, Robert Smythson, pp. 8–10.
17 Harris, pp. 185–86.
18 Ibid., p. 184.
19 Ibid., p. 187.
20 Ibid., pp. 185–86.
21 Ibid., pp. 186–87.
22 Ibid., pp. 184 and 187.
23 Ibid., p. 187.
24 Hill and Cornforth, Caroline, p. 57.
25 After his father’s death in 1603, the wardship of the young Roger Townshend (by this time eight years old) was bought by his paternal grandmother Lady Jane Berkeley, see ‘A view of the purchases and advancement of her howse by the Rt. Hon. Jane Berkeley’in Norfolk Estate Accounts etc. (15th to 18th cent.), RH. Lady Berkeley had a house at the Barbican in London where the young Roger spent much of his time, see Personal Account Book 1597-1606, Box 112/RH; Household Accounts 1611, NRO/HBLIb. In 1611, Sir Roger went to Cambridge where he studied under the puritan divine, Giles Fletcher, probably at Trinity College, see NRO/HBL vii b (i). Previously, he had been educated partly under the auspices of the famous antiquary, Sir Henry Spelman: ‘Sir Roger Townshend . . . having had a great Part of his Education together with SirSpelman, John . . . eldest son of Sir Henry, and by his Directions both attained great perfection and Abilities.’ (The English Works of Sir Henry Spelman Kt, Published in his Life; Together with his Posthumous Works Relating to the Law & Antiquities of England; And the Life of the Author, edited by Edmund, Ld Bishop of London, 2nd edn (London, 1727), p. lXIII.)Google Scholar
26 Airs, M., The Making of the English Country House, 1500–1640 (London, 1975), p. 13 Google Scholar.
26 The papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey 1556–1577. ed. Smith, A. Hassell et al. (Norwich, 1979), p. XVI and pp. 196, 201-02Google Scholar, and 266 especially.
28 Ashley House (Walton-on-Thames) Building Accounts 1602-1607, edited by Blackman, M. E., Surrey Record Society, XXIX (1977 Google Scholar).
29 Sir John Townshend was killed in a duel in 1603. (DNB sub Sir Roger Townshend, ?1543-1590.)
30 Nathaniel Bacon began building Irmingland shortly after his second marriage in 1597 (Bacon Papers, p. xvi). For the building dates of Ashley House, see note 28 above. The houses built by the Lord Keeper were Redgrave Hall, Gorhambury Hall, and Stiffkey Hall, the latter being built by Nathaniel Bacon but under the Lord Keeper’s direction. The Lord Keeper also built a London house for another son, Edward, and was responsible for the design of Corpus Christi Chapel, Cambridge (n. 26 above).
31 Will of Lady Jane Berkeley died 1617/8, PRO/PCC 24 Meade.
32 Sir Roger’s wealth can be estimated using a combination of his grandmother’s will (n. 31 above), her ‘view of the purchases and advancement of her howse’ (n. 25 above), and the Executors Accounts drawn up after his death (BL Add 41308).
33 The house was almost certainly unoccupied during Sir Roger’s long minority.
34 Will of Sir Nathaniel Bacon died 1622, PRO/PCC 2 Swann.
35 This is evident from the Kitchen Account Book (NRO/micro 227/4) and from the Stiffkey Sewards Bk.
36 The book runs from 14 October 1618 to 27 December 1620.
37 Sir Nathaniel authenticated the accounts while Sir Roger Townshend was away during the summer of 1620, see Bradfer-Lawrence, p. 124.
38 See n. 41 below.
39 N. 101 below.
40 Although he was Sir Roger’s grandfather, Sir Nathaniel often began his letters in this way. He addressed them rather less confusingly, however, to his ‘loving grandchild’. NRO/NAS/SafeII (16).
42 N. 28 above.
43 NRO/RAY 387.
44 Bradfer-Lawrence, p. 106.
45 Ibid., pp. 106-15.
46 The provision of an adequate water supply was very important. Sir Francis Bacon (Sir Roger Townshend’s great-uncle) joked that when the water failed at Gorhambury House, he built his house (Verulam House) closer to a source of supply ‘since [if] he could not carry the water to his house, he would carry his house to the water’. (The Works of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount of St Albans, and Lord High Chancellor of England, 11 (London, 1824), p. 422.
47 N. 41 above.
48 ‘Item to Mr Gudding for carriage of 80 lodes freese stone from Coxford’ (w/b 7 June 1619); ‘laborers in digginge the foundacions’ (w/b 9 August 1619), Raynham Bldg Bk 1. (Rather confusingly, on 30 August the book states: ‘This weeke beginne the buildinge.’)
49 I am grateful to Mr Paul Rutledge for this suggestion.
50 Airs, Making of English Country House, p. 22.
51 Francis Bacon Library, LB 30.
52 NRO/RAY 387.
53 This is not conclusive proof, however, since correspondence survives in a rather patchy fashion.
54 N. 52 above.
55 ‘To John Kinge that hee payd for 3 bookes of architecture, £1 13s 6d’ (2 November 1619), Bickertons Acct Bk.
56 See travelling accounts, NRO/Towns 1601-06, 1 C 7.
57 No relevant records survive for the period 1620 to 1626.
58 Bickertons Acct Bk.
59 Harris, pp. 185–86.
60 N. 62 below.
61 The History of the King’s Works 1485–1660, IV (part II), edited by Colvin, H. M. (London, 1982), p. 176 Google Scholar.
62 14 April 1619, Bickertons Acct Bk.
63 Harris, p. 184.
64 Ibid.
65 1 November 1619, Bickertons Acct Bk.
66 23 October 1619, Bickertons Acct Bk.
67 ‘ Item given the gardener at Sommersett Howse, 2s: Item given the porter there, IS’ (22 November 1619), Bickertons Acct|Bk, History of King’s Works, p. 255. (NB It should be borne in mind that while Sir Roger was collecting ideas for the house, he was also collecting ideas for the garden. The garden is outside the scope of this paper, however.)
68 ‘Item given at Sir Lyonell Cranfield his howse vidz, to a man 5s, to a mayd ther 5s, to a boye ther 12d’ (21 October 1619), Bickertons Acct Bk.
69 ‘Item given the keeper of the Lord of Arundale his howse at Highgate, 5s’ (1 November 1619), Bickertons Acct Bk.
70 Summerson, Inigo Jones, p. 41.
71 Harris, p. 187.
72 ‘Item delivered my Master to give the workmen of Blicklinge, 11S’ (4 October 1619), Bickertons Acct Bk.
73 ‘Item at Audley Ende for diner ... 7s. 6d’; ‘Item at the Lady Finche hir howse vidz, to a brewer 2s, to the gardnere’s man 2s’ (21 October 1619), Bickertons Acct Bk.
74 ‘Item to the porter of Hadfield Howse 5s: Item to the gardnere’s boye ther 2s: Item given the keeper of the new howse at Gorhamburie [Verulam House] 11s’ (w/b 1 November 1619); ‘Item given at Mr Garrard his howse at Harrow of the Hill viz, to a workman 5s, to the butler 2s 6d’ (15 November 1619), Bickertons Acct Bk.
75 ‘Item to Will Edge for his exppences in gooeinge to take a vewe of Wimbleton Howse, 7s’ (15 November 1619); ‘Item given at Wimbledon Howse vidz, to the horse keeper 10s, to the gardener 5s’ (17 November 1619), Bickertons Acct Bk.
76 Summerson, J., Architecture in Britain 1510-1830, 2nd edn (London, 1955), pp. 46-47Google Scholar.
77 Sir Roger Townshend was granted a licence to travel for one year, 21 June 1619. He was granted a similar licence, but this time for three years, 30 May 1620. He was granted a further three-year licence, 30 September 1623 (Acts of the Privy Council of England).
78 N. 57 above.
79 A list of expenses under the heading: ‘My Master his gooeinge to saye’ (8 July 1619), and a similar list (5 August 1619), Bickertons Acct Bk.
80 Edge was paid for 23 weeks work ‘in England and owt of England’, see Bradfer-Lawrence, p. 125.
81 N. 37 above.
82 Raynham Bldg Bk 2.
83 See Bradfer-Lawrence, p. 126.
84 See n. 37 above.
85 Raynham Bldg Bks 1, 2 and 3.
86 Raynham Bldg Bks 3 and 4. For examples, see Bradfer-Lawrence, pp. 126-36.
87 15 May 1619, Bickertons Acct Bk.
88 See Bradfer-Lawrence, p. 126.
89 On the map of West Raynham (NRO/HBL 33), the road is labelled ‘Regia Via’ [Kings Highway], on the section leading from the green.
90 ‘ ... for castinge 20 rodd, 9 fotte wide & 5 fotte deepe, on west of Middle Bridge on eyther side the walke or waie ther, att 4s 4d the rodd, £3 6s 9d’ (w/b 16 April 1621 and similar entries), Raynham Garden Bk 1.
91 ‘Brick in toto to the bridge, 16,500’ (w/b 23 June 1621) and a further 19,000 used in the following week, suggest that the bridge was primarily a brick structure. References to ‘masons hewing freestones for the bridge’ (w/b 23 April 1621), suggest stones dressings (Raynham Bldg Bk 3).
92 This is suggested by a plan drawn for the making of the lake. The plan is still at Raynham Hall.
93 NRO/RAY 399.
94 (w/b 30 April to w/b 13 May 1621), Raynham Bldg Bk 3.
95 ‘ ... for castinge the newe ryver on the sowth west parte the newe bridge, 37s’ (w/b 18 June 1621 & similar entries), Raynham Bldg Bk 3.
96 ‘Takeing downe the centre att the wyne celler’ (w/b 16 April 1621 & similar entries), Raynham Bldg Bk 3.
97 ‘Furres to cover the buildinges’ (w/b 2 November 1619), Raynham Bldg Bk 1.
98 ‘Item to the laborers this weeke takeinge up the olde foundation, £3 2s6d’ (w/b 25 March 1662 and similar entries), Raynham Bldg Bk 5. (See also Bradfer-Lawrence, pp. 133–34.)
99 N. 11 above.
100 (w/b 9 August to w/b 6 September 1619), Raynham Bldg Bk 1. (w/b 25 March to w/b 22 April 1622), Raynham Bldg Bk 5.
101 FSL Ld 597. (The letter can be dated by internal evidence to either June or July 1622.)
102 N. 25 above.
103 DNB sub Sir John Spelman.
104 Thomas, K., Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England (London, 1971), p. 115 Google Scholar.
105 See n. 11 above.
106 See Bradfer-Lawrence, p. 109.
107 ‘Item delivered to Will Edge to give amongst the workmen at Coxford after the folle of the steple, £2’ (23 August 1619), Bickertons Acct Bk.
108 If Mr Seller lived at Coxford, he would have been buried at East Rudham but there is no trace of him in the East Rudham parish register.
109 ‘ . . . for sawinge 40 foote of splittinge work of Mr Doctor’s tymber for his rectorie at West Raynham, 12d’ (w/b 7 November 1619); ‘ ... for 3 daies in dabinge worke at the rectory aforesaid [in West Raynham], 7s 6d’ (15 November 1619), Raynham Bldg Bk 1.
110 BL Add 63082, fol. 25.
111 N. 93 above.
112 ‘Item to Arnold Gonnerstone in parte payment for frese stone bought of him by my Master, to be delivered at Lynn as 12s the tunne, 20s’ (w/b 6 August 1621), Raynham Bldg Bk 3.
113 See Bradfer-Lawrence, p. 135.
114 N. 51 and 52 above.
115 Bradfer-Lawrence believed, somewhat fancifully, that Thomas Barker was sacked because of the problems with the foundations. (Bradfer-Lawrence, op. cit., p. 132.) In fact, Barker remained with Sir Roger and eventually became his steward. (Stiffkey Stewards Bk.)
116 For a description, see Bradfer-Lawrence, p. 105.
117 The method of ruling up the columns was altered one month after the book first came into use. This is suggestive of it being experimental.
118 Of the account books surviving, those kept by Thomas Barker are by far the most detailed, especially the Stiffkey Stewards Bk.
119 Raynham Bldg Bk 7.
120 Three ‘workemennes bookes’ have survived (Norfolk Estate Accts etc. (15th to 18th cent.) RH). They run from April 1632 to March 1633, from April to November 1633, and from September 1634 to December 1636. A further book covering the years 1633 and 1634 was discovered recently in the cellar at Raynham.
121 Sir Roger was buried at East Raynham 2 January 1636/7.
122 Sir Roger’s posthumous daughter Vere was baptised nine months after his death. (NRO/PD 492/1.) This can be taken as an indication that his illness was sudden and rather brief.
124 ‘To Lammyne for 1½days comynge for provicion for my Master & Lady the last weeke att Raynham, Is’ (21 September 1630 and other similar entries), Stiffkey Stewards Bk.
125 The Stewards Book suggests rather less family activity than usual at Stiffkey during the last two summers of his life. There is also a note of bedding etc. taken over to Raynham for the children and Lady Mary, in June 1635. (FSL vb 161.)
126 John Townshend was baptised at East Raynham. (NRO/PD 369/1.) All the other children were baptised at Stiffkey. (NRO/PD 492/1.)
127 A reference to Sir Roger’s sister Anne Spelman, being ‘sent for to Raynham my Master being sicke’ (23 December 1636), makes it clear that Roger was at Raynham when he was taken ill (Stiffkey Stewards Bk). See also n. 121 above.
128 ‘A note of wainscote & nayles with other thinges, February the 5th 1636’, Workmans Book 1634–36 (n. 120 above).
129 Despite referring to the inventory, Bradfer-Lawrence gave no indication of its whereabouts. (Bradfer-Lawrence, p. 98.)
130 Only the section of the inventory dealing with Hall, Stiffkey was ever published (Bradfer-Lawrence, H. L., ‘Stiffkey alias Stewkey’, Norfolk Archaeology, XXIII (1927-29), pp. 308-40 (pp. 321-35)Google Scholar.
131 The Architecture of Sir Roger Pratt, Charles II’s Commissioner for the Re-building of London after the Great Fire: Now printed for the first time from his note books, edited by Gunther, R. T. (Oxford, 1928), p. 133 Google Scholar. Quoted Harris, pp. 181-82.
