Barsham Manor and Hall were held by the Echingham family from c1424. They passed to John Blennerhassett who had, c1546, married Mary Echingham, the youngest of two daughters and co-heirs of Sir Edward Echingham of Barsham.   John Blennerhassett, followed by his son Thomas, held Barsham until 18-Nov-1598, when he sold the property to Alderman Robert Lee of London. Thomas Blennerhassesett remained in residence until he died the following year, on 4-May-1599.   Sir John Suckling purchased Barsham c1613,  it then remained in the Suckling family for more than 350 years, until the 1990s.   During the English Civil War Cromwell stationed cavalry at Barsham (from 1642 to 1644) and many early horseshoes have been found on the property. Barsham New Hall was built at some date before 1719, and subsequently Barsham Old Hall fell into decay, used as a barn and cattle shed for more than 250 years. At some date before 1812 the three short wings that gave the house its characteristic Elizabethan "E" shape were demolished.   A tower, of uncertain purpose but perhaps a dovecote, was during the 16th century erected close to the south end of the house. Known locally as "Blennerhassett's Tower", this was demolished, with a pair of ancient cottages, in 1948 (see below). "Barsham New Hall" was demolished in the 1940s.   Barsham Old Hall has been beautifully restored by the present owners, the work completed in 1993 earning a Civic Trust Award. During restoration work a large chamber, previously hidden, was discovered. The house is open to the public for a few days each year under the East Anglia "Invitation to View" program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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John Blennerhassett (b.c1515 d.1573, interred 13-Jul-1573 in Barsham Church "...so nere my late wife as maie be..."), was MP for Co.Suffolk and the third son of Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, Knt of Frenze, Co.Norfolk. He gained Barsham by marriage to his 2nd wife Mary Echingham, daughter and co-heir of Sir Edward Echingham, Knt of Barsham (d.1527) and his wife Ann Wingfield.

 

Of strong Roman Catholic sympathies, John Blennerhassett was Minister (Treasurer and Legal Adviser, one of the principal household officers) to the Dukes of Norfolk, as had been his father Sir Thomas before him, an important figure in East Anglia.

 

John served firstly Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (b.1473 d.1544), later Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (b.1536 d.1572). Personally uninvolved in the plots of 1569-71, he was permitted to continue attending the 4th Duke when attainted and imprisoned in the Tower of London, until the Duke was executed in 1572.

 

John was succeeded at Barsham by his son Thomas Blennerhassett (b.c1546/52 at Barsham, d.4-May-1599, interred in Barsham Church), to whom he bequeathed "...all my plate, stuffe and utensiles of house and corne and cattell upon condicon that he be loving, naturall and kinde to all his brothers and systers in their necessyties...". This does not say very much for Thomas' personality...

 

Thomas Blennerhassett, who shortly before his death sold Barsham out of the family, is believed to be the inspiration for the ghostly Barsham legend of “Old Blunderhazard” and his coach and horses. The Barsham buildings are about half a mile from the main Beccles-Bungay road, reached by a gently sloping track along which, according to local legend, the ghost of Old Blunderhazard drives out every Christmas Eve, just before midnight, in a coach and six, to visit Hassett's Tower at Norwich (usually called Cow Tower, directly across the River Wensum from Hassett's Hall, Pockthorpe), returning to Barsham "before he may snuff the morning air". The story makes the horses without heads, yet fire flashing out of their nostrils. This lane was not a part of the old coach road from Beccles to Barsham, that is no longer in use but its route may still be identified.

 

Another ghostly tale, of Hassett's Hall (a.k.a. Hassett's House), has similarities with this legend of Old Blunderhazard.

 

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Barsham Old Hall 2004       Clay tile or brick with Blennerhassett arms, initials J M (John & Mary), date 1563, over what until 1993 was a doorway, now a window.

 

 

 

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This tower was known locally as 'Blennerhassett's Tower' and was believed by some to be the remains of a manorial pigeon cot. An old drawing which appears on a map made in 1719 shows it as having a thatched and pointed roof. Another early description of this tower says that it was "...lofty with a spiral staircase..." . Other uses variously ascribed to it include "a granary" and, as now believed by the present [1979] landowner and various local inhabitants, "a gunpowder" store". The truth is though its original purpose remains a mystery. In the 1890s when the tower was falling into decay it was lowered and re-roofed, then in 1945 it was damaged by a tractor and finally, in 1948, it stood only seven feet tall and was so dilapidated and unsafe that the owner, Mr John Suckling, ordered its demolition (together with a pair of cottages close by that formed the last inhabited remains of Barsham Hall). The rubble from the same was used to improve the surface of the lane that leads from the site of the hall to the main road." 

 

 

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["Echoes of the Past No.2: Old Blunderhazard" by Ivan A. W. Bunn in “Lantern: The Magazine of East Anglian Mysteries” No.26, Autumn 1979, pp.3,9]