Sir John Culpeper of Hardreshull and Bayhall

Sir John, who in 1348 had purchased the manor of Wigsell, in Salehurst, co. Sussex, from Simon de Etchingham, by marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Hardreshull, of Hardreshull, co. Warwick, considerably augmented his patrimonial estates, and left at his death an only son and heir, Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Bayhall, in Kent., and Hardreshull, in Warwickshire.

- From The Sussex Colepepers-I, page 54

Sir John succeeded to Bayhall on the death of his brother Walter. Sheriff 1364-5, 1365-6, 1368-9 (39, 40 43 Edw III). Commissioner for equipping ships 1370, jointly with sheriffs of Kent, Surrey, Sussex and others. (Rymer)

In Burke's "Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland & Scotland", p. 144-145, is the following on John Culpeper, Sheriff of Kent: "John Colepeper, esq. of Bay Hall, who was sheriff of Kent in the 43rd of Edward III [around 1370]. He m. Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Sir John Hardrishall, knt. of Hardrishall, in the county of Warwick, by Maud Mussenden, an heiress, and thereby became possessed of divers manors."

The date at which iron-working was begun on Oldlands is unknown, but it was perhaps by the 14th century when the Culpepers of Bayhall in Pembury, Kent, who had iron works near by at Tudeley, owned it. Iron was certainly founded at Buxted in 1492. The frequent changes of ownership in the 16th and early 17th centuries suggest commercial activities connected with the iron industry, either from direct exploitation of the estate or, more likely, through letting it to tenants. The increase in the purchase price, from £563 in 1576 to £2200 in 1609, may indicate that such financial speculation was justified.

    In 1313 or 1314 Thomas Culpeper of Bayhall and his wife Margery acquired a messuage and 60 acres of land in Buxted from Ralph Marescot and in 1319 or 1320 another messuage and 50 acres in Buxted and Maresfield from Reynold Burgess. Culpeper was appointed forester of Rotherfield in Tonbridge chase in 1315, and in 1318, at the request of his patron, Bartholomew de Badlesmere, and others, Edward II granted to him the forestership of Ashdown and the keeping of Maresfield park. He was involved with Badlesmere in the rebellion of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and was sentenced to death and executed at Winchelsea in 1322. His possessions were forfeited to the Crown, but the lands in Buxted and Maresfield were restored in 1324 to Margery, whose date of death is unknown. Their son and heir, Walter, died childless between 14 July 1359 and 20 July 1364, and the estate descended under an entail to Walter’s younger brother Sir John Culpeper. The John Culpeper, esquire, whom John of Gaunt appointed constable of Pevensey castle in 1372 and master forester of Ashdown chase in 1375, may have been a kinsman, possibly a younger son. By 1378 Sir John had been succeeded in the estate by his son Sir Thomas, who died late in 1428 or early in 1429. Sir Thomas devised it to a younger son Nicholas, who died late in 1434 or early in 1435. From Nicholas it descended to his daughter Joyce (d. 1486) and her husband Walter Lewknor (d. 1498), whose elder brother Richard Lewknor (d. 1503) held the manor of Buxted itself in 1483–4.

Walter’s and Joyce’s son and heir Humphrey Lewknor (d. by 1531) sold Oldlands at an unknown date to George Nevill, Lord Abergavenny (d. 1535), who sold it in 1533 to Edmund Pope of Little Horsted.
http://www.culpepperconnections.com/archives/uk/places/pembury.htm
https://www.culpepperconnections.com/archives/uk/places/pembury.htm

History of Bayhall Manor
Bayhall has been the residence of many well known families, the earliest being the Culpepers and the Duke of Buckingham. Later it belonged to the Amherst family.

The manor of Bayhall lay in the valley on the south side of the village of Pembury. Ruins of the house were still to be seen until about 1960. At this time one of the national newspapers told a rather exaggerated story of its being haunted. People coming to see it made themselves such a nuisance and rendered it so unsafe, that the owner got permission to clear it away. The ghost was supposed to be that of Anne West, the last person to reside in the mansion.

A picture of the mansion at Bayhall may be seen in the Tunbridge Wells Museum.

Source: Mary E. Standen, History of Pembury, 1984.

Bayhall Manor
Dates, Ownership, Generation No., (Monarch)
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? - 1247: Sir Thomas Culpeper1
(Henry III)
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1247-1286: Sir John Culpeper2
(Henry III, Edward I)
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1286-1312: Sir Thomas Culpeper3 of Brenchley and Bayhall
(Edward I, Edward II)
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1312-1321: Sir Thomas Culpeper4 of Bayhall
(Edward II)
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1321-1323: Walter Culpeper5
(Edward II)
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1323-1327: Due to an act of rebellion by the Culpepers, Edward II seized Bayhall and other Culpeper properties and held them for several years.
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1327-1372: Sir John Culpeper5 of Bayhall and Hardreshull
(Edward III)
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1372-1428: Sir Thomas Culpeper6 of Bayhall, Hardreshull and Exton
(Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV-VI)
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1428-1430: Sir John Culpeper7 of Bayhall, Hardreshull and Exton
(Henry VI)
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1430-1462: Walter Culpeper Esq7 of Goudhurst, Bayhall and Hardreshull
(Henry VI, Edward IV)
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1462-1480: Sir John Culpeper8 of Bayhall, Hardreshull and Bedgebury
(Edward IV)
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1480: Manor sold to Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham.
N.B. The names in bold above are direct ancestors of the modern-day Culpeppers. They owned Bayhall from the mid 1200s to 1480. The ownership of Bayhall for the first two generations is assumed by Culpepper Connections but not directly stated by Hasted.

Source: Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Canterbury: W. Bristow, Originally published 1797-1801, Reprinted 1972, Vol. 5, pp 264-271 (complete text regarding Bayhall from p 271)