Thomas Vachell, of Coley Park

From page 11 of A Record of the Redes of Barton Court, Berks: With a Short Precis of Other ... By Compton Reade, R. Reade Macmullen

By Anne Hoo, Thomas Rede had issue one son, Thomas, of whom presently, and four daughters, Katheryn, Elizabeth, Alice, and Marie.

1, KATHERYN was endowed with the manors of Ipsden Huntercombe and Ipsden Bassett, while a suitable mansion named The Grove, surrounded by a park of old oaks, was built for her at Ipsden Huntercombe. She married 5th September, 1546, at St. Mary's, Reading, THOMAS VACHELL, of Coley Park, Berks, son of the Receiver of the suppressed Abbey of Reading, and M.P. for that borough, but "notwithstanding that his father had been enriched by the spoils of the Church," a strong Papist. They had one child, a daughter, Anne, mentioned in Thomas Rede's will (1556). She died young. The early years of their married life were apparently happy. Thomas Vach ell was a great builder of pigeon-houses, and that at Ipsden House is attributed to him. But on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, he persistently refused to conform to the new ritual, and having been proclaimed recusant, forfeited two-thirds of his rental, including that which he held jure uxoris at Ipsden. An inquisition was held at Abingdon, and Thomas Reade, Katheryn's brother, was appointed Receiver for the Crown, the result being a separation between husband and wife. In the Ipsden Muniment chest is a deed dated 1595, wherein Thomas Reade on Katheryn's behalf covenants with Symons, the tenant of Ipsden Bassett Manor House, to lodge and board her—in short, this lady's union with a recusant reduced her to poverty. Subsequently a reconciliation was effected, and Mrs. Montague, Thomas' sister, joined them at Ipsden Bassett, while Sir Thomas Vachell, Thomas Vachell's nephew, obtained some slight mitigation of the punitive decree.
Mr. Crawfurd (Quarterly Journal Berks Archceolagical Society) writes thus:

"The salient feature of this Thomas Vachell's life ia his 'recusancy,' the crime of those who could not reconcile it with their conscience to accept the Oath of Royal Supremacy. Severe acts were passed against recusants in the reign of Elizabeth, and on March 7th, 1588, Thomas Vachell felt the full weight of this severity in the forfeiture of all his goods and chattels, and two-thirds of his estates and tenements to the Queen, because that for the previous ' sixteen yean he had absented himself from his Parish Church as well as from other Churches and Chapels.'

No doubt the milder pressure of fines for recusancy had been applied to the conscience of Thomas Vachell even before this wholesale forfeiture, and from proceedings in the Exchequer Court we have knowledge of a later despoiling of such goods as he may have rescued from Coley and placed for safe custody with his friends at Ufton Court. A party headed by Sir F. Knollys* left Reading on July 16th, 1599, at night time for Ufton Court, and proceeded to search the mansion for treasure. They were not disappointed ; and among much other treasure which they removed ' were the goods and treasure of Thomas Vachell, Esq.,' amounting to 1,484 in gold, 8 in silver, plate valued at 200, gold chasing worth 100, and 100 marks. I Public Record Office, Patent Boll, 1 James 4th, part 18, No. 35, May 23rd, 1603]. In the later years of the old man's life the treasure illegally seized was given out of 'pity for the distressed state of the said Thomas Vachell,' to his nephew and heir,' our trusty and well-beloved subject, Sir Thomas Vachell, Knight." Harassed by fines, deprived of his property, Thomas Vachell had for some forty years previous to his death left Coley and resided on his wife's dower at Ipsden (or rather on the one-third thereof allowed by the Crown), t There he lived to a great age, even to the decay of his senses and memory, cared for by his widowed sister, Anne Montague, and in this condition giving occasion for subsequent proceedings at law, in which his heir charges his s1ster with undue influence, the retention ot a will, the appropriation of goods, deeds, plate, &c. He died at Ipsden, May 3rd, 1610, and was buried at Reading on May 10th.
On the decease of Katheryn, the estate at Ipsden remained attached by the Crown until the death of Thomas Vachell in 1610, when it reverted to her nephew, Sir Thomas Reade. She died prior to 1604, the date of her brother's will, wherein she is mentioned as deceased. The place of her interment is stated to have been Dunstew. He lies at St. Mary's, Reading.