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Frenze after the Blennerhassetts
A deed of 1632 records "Samuel Blennerhassett to Peter Prettyman, to perform covenants in a bargain & sale of the site of the manor of Frenze, alias Frenze Hall" [SRO Ms. MC 92/17, 1632].
A deed of sale in 1636 records how Samuel Blennerhassett Jr (b.c1602), his brother Edward Blennerhassett (b.1604 d.1641), Sir Henry Wood & Peter Prettiman (sic) jointly sold to Richard Nixon Sr (b.c1589 d.24.11.1666 bur. Frenze), "the manor of Frenze (including Frenze Hall) and lands in Frenze, Osmondeston, Diss and Thelveton" [NRO MC 92/18, 536X8, 1636]. This is the same Sir Henry Wood to whom Samuel Blennerhassett Jr had sold Loudham Hall, Suffolk, in 1627.
A deed of 1638 records the "admission of Richard Nixon on the surrender of Samuel Blennerhassett to several pieces of land in Osmondeston & Frenze" [reference?]. Another deed of 1639/40 relates to Samuel Blennerhassett, Suffolk [NA Ms. WARD 7/983/43, 1639/40], and a deed of 1640 records "Exemplification of a fine from Samuel & Edward Blennerhassett and Henry Wood to Richard Nixon" [SRO Ms. MC 92/19, 1640].
When in recent years the Hall has been offered for sale, it was advertised as "...understood to date from the 1630s...". A significant word in the 1632 deed is "site", which appears to indicate that by 1632 the house had been demolished or was at least unoccupied, in a delapidated, ruinous condition. Talfryn Llewellyn [TL] of Frenze Hall has recently spent considerable time and effort restoring the Hall to its former glory. He suggests it may be an early example of a joint venture property development, the Hall rebuilt c1632-36 with finance provided by Peter Prettyman and Sir Henry Wood, the manor, including the rebuilt Hall, subsequently sold in 1636 to Richard Nixon Sr, to the financial benefit of the four partners.
While this is partly conjecture, it is plausable. Talfryn reports a large quantity of reused timber incorporated in the structure of the house, including mullions from a number of different periods and some good quality moulded timbers used in hidden parts of the roof. Professional opinion is that the reused timbers are no earlier than the 17th century, "...the only part of the house that may be older is the north "crow-stepped" chimney stack which during the 19th century had an octagonal brick top. The brickwork and style look older and I was told by an architectural historian that it was not uncommon to keep the stack, if possible, after a fire or demolition because bricks were so costly..." [TL].
Richard Nixon Sr (b.c1594 d.24-Nov-1666, interred in Frenze church) is recorded as patron of Frenze church in 1642. He married Susan <???> & had a son Richard Nixon Jr (b.c1656, d.28-Aug-1678, interred in Frenze church).
KEMP
Richard Nixon Jr had a son Diamond Nixon (such a good name) who sold the Frenze estate to Sir Robert Kemp, Bart. (patron of St Andrew, Frenze from 1725), succeeded by his son Sir Robert Kemp, Bart. Jr (patron from 1734).
SMITH
Frenze Hall was acquired by William Smith (II) (b.c1745 d.27-Mar-1795, one of three children of William Smith (I) and Elizabeth Sheldrake), and Elizabeth Etheridge (b.c1754 d.30-Jun-1787). Elizabeth died in childbirth with their son William Smith (III) (b.c1787, d.1787, buried at Frenze).
William Smith (II), heartbroken following the death of wife and son, did not remarry. At the time of his death in 1795 an 11 year old niece Sarah Smith (b.1784 d.1855) was residing with him at Frenze and to her he bequeathed half his property. The other half, including the Frenze Hall estate, he left to Sarah's father, his brother Hammond Smith (b.1753 d.1816), with smaller legacies to other family members.
Hammond Smith and his wife Sarah Green (b.1759 d.1832) had including Sarah 13 children, one of whom was Sheldrake Smith (b.c1796, d.27-Apr-1877) who inherited Frenze from his father and resided at the Hall for the greater part of his life and from 1840 was patron of St Andrew's Church, Frenze. Sheldrake Smith is buried in Frenze churchyard, his headstone immediately behind the chancel. NOTE: Interred with him are two sisters, Lauretta Smith (b.c1798 d.14-Sep-1869 unmarried) & Emily Smith (b.c1799 d.4-May-1884) who on 22-July-1830 married at Frenze to William Lines and as widow was tenant of Frenze Hall from <???> until her death in 1884.
BETTS
Sarah Smith (b.1784 d.1855) married at Frenze on 28-October-1806 to John Thomas Betts (b.1783 d.1847). They had eight children including William Betts (b.1810 d.1885), a local businessman and brick manufacturer who married 30-March-1843 at All Saints, Clochester to Julia Wildman Sparling (b.1820, d.1869 at Erskine House on Hampstead Heath). NOTE: William's sister Esther Betts (b.1819-1873) married 3-December-1893 at St Mary's, Islington, London to Julia's brother(?) William Sparling (b.1814 d.1893).
William Betts purchased Frenze Hall estate from his uncle Sheldrake Smith, who by 1861 had become blind and could no longer properly manage his property. Sheldrake appears to have remained at the Hall as tenant until his death in 1877, his daughter Lauretta Smith residing there at her death in 1869. William Betts developed the farm at Frenze into a market garden and on his land built "Frenze Farm Railway", connecting the farm to the main London railway line so he could ship his produce to market and bring back manure for the land. As a showcase for his product William Betts in the 1880s encased the timber-framed Frenze Hall with a facade of decorative red brick, resulting in the present late Victorian external appearance but keeping the 17th century oak-frame structure more-or-less intact inside.
In 1863 William Betts purchased (from William Ellis) "The Court" at Diss, this house becoming his home. The Court, which stood between Vinces Lane and the railway line, has since been demolished. In 1883 William Betts was Lord of the Manor of Frenze and patron of St Andrew's church, he and a Mr Browning being then the chief landowners at Frenze.
LINES
In 1883 and at her death in 1884 Sheldrick Smith's sister Emily Lines was the tenant at Frenze Hall.
GAZE
William Betts "...owned the property until his death [in 1885] but left no surviving male heir, the estate being put under management by Court of Chancery while his affairs were sorted out. The manager was Thomas Gaze who became the local land agent and tenant of the estate from 1888..." [TL].
Thomas Gaze was an estate agent and auctioneer, who "...not only took over Frenze Hall on the death of William Betts but also ran the auction of his estate, everything from his cutlery to his horses and railway locomotives...". From 1888 the Frenze railway line was no more.
In 2007 Gage's celebrated their 150th anniversary as local estate agents and auctioneers with an exhibition at Diss museum.
ALSTON
"...The estate was eventually sold in 1898, purchased by the neighbouring Thelveton Estate. It was let to tenant farmers by the name of Alston who remained at the farm for three generations. The Thelveton Estate sold the freehold of Frenze in the 1960s, following which it passed through a number of corporate hands, including the British Steel Pension Fund, as an investment, before being put up for sale in 2002 by an investment company known as the Land Improvement Agency. At that time the house was vacant but the land still tenanted..." [TL].
The last of the Alston family to farm the Frenze estate were brothers Gavin & John Alston. John died recently, his funeral held at Frenze church.
An attached cottage for retired Frenze farmers is known as 54 Hall Cottages.
Listed as a building of historic or architectural interest (Grade II), much of the early 17th century oak-framed structure remains under the late 19th century brick façade. The house has been sympathetically restored and has a well maintained and decorated interior. The Hall has 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 reception rooms, with a tenanted 3 bedroom annexe and 3.5 acres of land. |
