WELLS, A LINK TO BYLAUGH HALL?
Does the Wells family have a link to Bylaugh Hall in Norfolk?
My mother used to hear tales of her father Cutbert seeing this grand house and estate as a child and being told there was a family connection. She eventually tracked down the specific place and even managed to see it (there are others of similar name, but different spelling). And she had a framed photocopy of it, as below, on her wall for many years.
But was the family link simply a family legend?
Did his family live on the estate? Did they work for the owners? While Cutbert was to qualify as an electrical engineer, his precedessors had trades. It was conceivable that such circumstances ocurred. It is only in the internet age that I have managed to find out more.
There are some surprises. Rather indirect links, but its an interesting story. These two websites give much of the background : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bylaugh_Hall and http://www.thereevestale.co.uk/bylaugh/
A name to note is Lombe.
But so too is Hase.
So how do these link with our Wells family?
THE HASE FAMILY
Our Wells family not only marry into the Hase family, but use “Hase” as a middle name for some offspring.
Geni.com provides most of the following :
John Hase
Born 1684 at East Dereham, Norfolk
Died 26/03/1761 at East Dereham, Norfolk
Father: John Hase
Mother: Ann Raven
Notes: John Hase married Esther. Then after she died he married Mary Lombe. John died on the 26th March 1761 at East Dereham aged 77yrs.
Mary Lombe
Mary Lombe was born in 1691 and died on the 21st December 1775 at Great Melton, Norfolk.
Father: ?
Mother: ?
Married John Hase
Notes: Mary Lombe was the 2nd Wife of John Hase. It is at this point that our family find a surprising link to Bylaugh Hall.
Anna Hase
Born 1713
Died 01/12/1783 at East Dereham, Norfolk and Burried at East Dereham, Norfolk on 16/12/1783
Father: John Hase
Mother: Esther
Married William Wells 1739 at East Dereham, Norfolk
Children.
Hester Wells b.1740 at East Dereham, Norfolk, c.19 Mar 1740 at East Dereham, Norfolk, d.01 Jun 1799 at East Dereham, Norfolk,
Ann Wells b.1744 at East Dereham, Norfolk, c.28 Mar 1744 at East Dereham, Norfolk,
John Wells b.1753 at East Dereham,Norfolk, c.06 Aug 1753 at East Dereham, Norfolk, m.01 Dec 1772 at East Dereham, Norfolk, d.01 Mar 1834 at East Dereham, Norfolk, 13 Children.
We see more direct genealogical Wells links to ourselves from this point on. To follow these see WELLS, ERNEST WILLIAM and WELLS, CUTHBERT ERNEST.
The following comes from (via geni.com):
A GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC HISTORY OF THE
LANDED GENTRY
OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
BY SIR BERNARD BURKE, CB., LLB.
ULSTER KING OF ARMS
THOR OF "THE PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE," 'THE DORMANT AND EXTINCT PEERAGE,"
'”THE VICISSITUDES OE EAMILIES," &C., TV:C.
IN TWO VOLUMES
SIXTH EDITION
VOL. II
LONDON
:
HARRISON, PALL MALL,
BO0LSELLER TO THE QUEEN AND H.R.H. PRINCE OF WALES
1879
Page 982. THE LANDED GENTRY.
LOMBE OF BYLAUGH.
LOMBE, REV. HENRY of Bylaugh, Norfolk, B.A., J.P., b. 1819; m. 25 April, 1849, Louisa, dau of Thomas Brown Evans, Esq of North Tuddenham.
Lineage. - EDWARD LOMBE, who was living at Weston, Norfolk, in 1668, was first cousin of the father of Sr Thomas Lombe, Knt, Alderman of London, with his brother John, organised silk manufacture in Great Britain, and erected the silk mills at Derby, temp George 1. and II. His will is dated 1703, and he left by his wife, Miss Sporle, three sons and two daus.,
I Edward of Melton. High Sheriff, co Norfolk 1714, d. s. p. 1738. II Thomas, had a dau., Mary d unm.
III John (Rev), Rector of Scarning, Norfolk. d. s. p.
I. Elizabeth, Mrs. Warner, II. Mary, of whom hereafter.
The youngest dau.,
MARY LOMBE, m. John Base, Esq. of East Dereham, and had issue,
I. JOHN (SIR), who assumed the surname of LOMBE, of whom hereafter as Sir John Lombe, Bart.
II. Edward, of Gall, m. Virtue Repps, of Sall; and d. 1804, leaving four daus.,
1 Virtue, m. Richard Paul Jodrell, Esq. of Duffield, M.P.
and had a son,
SIR RICHARD PAUL JODRELL, who s. to his uncle's baronetcy.
2 Sophia, m. Robert Marsham, Esq. of Stretton Strawless.
3 Anne, m. Rev. Bernard Astley.
4 Mary, m. 1787, Thomas Browne Evans, Esq. of North Tuddenham, and had issue (see EVANS of North Tuddenham). Her third son,
Henry (Rev.), assumed, 1862, the surname and arms of LOMBE, under the will of his great-uncle, Sir John Lombe, Bart.
The eldest son,
SIR JOHN LOMBE, Bart, of Great Melton, assumed by Act of Parliament the surname of his maternal ancestors in lieu of that of his paternal, in 1762, and was created a Baronet 10 Dec. 1783, with remainder in default of male issue to his brother, Edward Hase, Esq. of Sall, and to his heirs male, and in default of such to heirs male of his niece, Virtue, wife of Richard Paul Jodrell, Esq. Sir John d. unm. 27 May, 1817, when his title passed to his grand nephew. Sir Richard Paul Jodrell. His estates vested under his will in his first nephew.
REV. HENRY LOMBE, of Bylaugh, who assumed the surname of LOMBE in lieu of EVANS, 1862, in compliance with the testamentary injunctions of his great-uncle. Sir John Lombe,
Bart, of Great Melton, b. 1792 ; m. 1818, Sophia, dau. Of Thomas Cubitt, Esq. of Honing Hall, Norfolk, and had issue,
I. HENRY (Rev.), B.A., now of Bylaugh.
II. Thomas Robert. III Edward. IV. Charles.
I. Katherine Mary. II. Mary Jane.
Rev. Mr. Lombe d. 10 Oct. 1878.
Arms—Az., two combs in fess between a broken tilting spear barways or, one piece in chief, the head towards the dexter, the other half in base, a canton arg. Crest—Two tilting
spears in saltire or, each having a pendent gu. Motto—Propositi tenax.
Seat—Bylaugh Park, East Dereham, Norfolk.
Note "MARY LOMBE, m. John Hase, Esq. of East Dereham". This is evidently our John Hase. He takes the name of Lombe and the benefits implied. We also see another male person marrying in and similarly taking on the Lombe name, all in compliance with wills.
So it seems that this family legend is true. It is likely to be correct based on the origins as East Dereham and the subsequent adoption of the Hase name as a middle name in the Wells branch of the family to celebrate this connection, not just of a related family, but of one that had a meteoric rise in fortunes. Elsewhere we have seen our ancestors as wheelwrights and similar trades, at best an inn owner, some even in the poorhouse. Now at least oen family is landed gentry.
That was a long time ago though and fortunes change. While my grandfather remembered the story, the link had been broken.
The Reeves Tale online picks up the story : https://www.thereevestale.co.uk/bylaugh/
There are at least two folk stories about this building. One is that the estate was originally acquired from Richard Lloyd by the Lombe Family
(subsequently known as Evans-Lombe) as the result of a card game, when the Lloyd’s butler drugged his master’s wine. The other is that when the Hall was originally built it had a curse put on it by the Lloyd’s nursemaid to the effect that it would only stand for one hundred years. Whatever the truths involved in these tales, it is certainly the case that within one hundred years of its construction it was, as Sir Niclaus Pevsner described it, “a conspicuous ruin”.
Sir John Lombe died in 1817, and left money to be held in trust with the instruction that a mansion be built on the highest part of the estate. Towards the middle of the century, nothing had been done, and so the Court of Chancery instructed the family to get on with it!
The house was built by Charles Barry jnr. (son of Sir Charles of Houses of Parliament fame) and R.Banks, and is reputed to be one of the first steel framed buildings in Europe. Evidence of this frame is visible today and presumably explains why so much of the house remains. Despite lavishing money on the construction of the Hall, there were still funds remaining which were ultimately spent on the building of three lodge houses (Elsing, Swanton Morley and Bawdeswell ) and some eight miles of estate walls. Regrettably, much of these walls are now in a sad state of repair.
Wiki continues :
By 1950, the house was in disrepair. It was stripped of its lead and interior fittings, and abandoned.
The Hall and outbuildings (as of 1 July 2009) were the subject of ongoing financial problems that resulted in the complete repossession of the buildings and the apparent loss of deposits by a number of customers.
Feb 2013: The house was put up for sale.
The Historic England listing description and included map gives a good description of the premises and estate grounds. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1077349
Over the years it has been restored and then fallen into financial problems and disrepair again.
In 2016 we learn that : Owner of The Lady magazine buys Bylaugh Hall and will turn it into school for butlers.
Bylaugh Hall is not just the grand house, but a whole estate of which some buildings are now separate entities. This website is advertising facilities for conferences : http://www.conferences-uk.org.uk/venues/bylaugh_hall.asp
