ISAAC WYNCOLL (D)  

Isaac Wyncoll (D)
(1558 - 1638)


 


The Wyncolls of
Suffolk and Essex:
Contents
Map
Arms of Wyncoll
Author's Addendum
Text Chapters:
  • Intro + John Wyncoll (A)
  • Roger Wyncoll (B)
  • John Wyncoll (C)
  • Isaac Wyncoll (D)
  • Isaac Wyncoll (E)
  • Thomas Wyncoll (F)
  • Thomas Spring Wyncoll (G)
  • Thomas Wyncoll (H)
  • Thomas Wyncoll (I)
  • Thomas Wyncoll (J)
  • William Wyncoll (K)
  • Thomas Wyncoll (L)
  • Charles Wyncoll (M)
  • Charles Edward Wyncoll (N)
  • Pedigree Diagrams:
  • Fowler and Alexander
  • Gawdy
  • Umfreville
  • Waldegrave
  • Wyncoll
  • Concordance:
  • People (surname ordered)
  • Places & Upper-Cased Words:

  •       A-D E-H I-M N-R S-V W-Z
  • other words:

  •       a b c d e f g h i j k l m
          n o p q r s t u v w y z 

     
     
     
    4.  "The Hall, which is a large and handsome building on an eminence near the village church, commands an interesting prospect of wide extent It was erected in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by Isaac Wyncoll, Esq. whose Arms appear in one of the windows. The house was formerly surrounded by a deep Moat over which a light bridge conducted into the adjoining meadows and surrounding gardens and pleasure grounds The Moat has been destroyed, but the Bridge remains and the Northern front retains its ancient character, having bay windows and other peculiarities of the era of its erection " Wright's History of Essex, vol. i., p. 484. 

        Holman's MSS., of April 30th 1715  in Colchester Castle, under "Of the Ancient Family of the Wincols of Twinstead":-
    Twinstead Hall is situated near the church. It is a large building and was built by the Wincols. I'm apt to think that Isaac Wincol was the founder of it, who lived here in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and this will appear from the coats of Arms that are in some windows of this house. In the chamber window over the parlour there are four escutcheons:

    1. Sable, a fess between three Birds or Doves Argent:- for Page. 
    2.  Argent. 2, Paly Wavy Sable with 10 Roses Gules. with a canton Ermine. 
    3.  Argent., a chevron charged with 3 crescents, Or, between 3 Spread Eagles Sable. 
    4.  Vert, a Tortoise passant Argent.- for Gawdy. 
    Vide, also, Morant's History of  Essex, vol. i., p. 483.
       Isaac Wyncoll (D), son and heir of John Wyncoll (C), was born at Netherhall, Little Waldingfield, on the 21st March, 1558, and was, therefore, eighteen years of age when his father died. He inherited all his father's real estate, with the exception of the lands, tenements, etc., in Great and Little Cornard, which were directed to be sold for the performance of the will, whilst, as to the lands and tenements in Alphamstone and Twinstead, which his father had purchased from Thomas Wyllet and Henry Sydaie, and the manors of Twinstead and Harberd, and lands and tenements in Great Henny, Lamarsh, Pebmarsh, Rayleigh, Rambrath and Great Hockley, these were held by his father's executors for six years after testator's death, to be applied towards payment of debts and legacies, and for the bringing up of his children. At the expiration of that term these properties came to Isaac Wyncoll, subject to the payment to his brother John of 200 marks, and to an annuity of 20 marks (English) for life, out of the manor of Netherhall and other lands in Little Waldingfield and Brent Eleigh, commencing in 1583. 

         Isaac Wyncoll married, on the 25th June, 1581, Mary,1 daughter of Sir Thomas Gawdy,2 of Gawdy Hall, Norfolk, a Judge of the Queen's Bench, at Woolverstone, near Ipswich, and resided there at the commencement of his married life, for he is described as of that place "Gentleman" in a deed dated 5th October, 1583, whereby he and his wife, Mary, sold certain lands, tenements, pastures and woods in Great and Little Waldingfield to John Moore, of Ipswich, merchant. His temporary residence at Woolverstone is accounted for by the fact that his father-in-law, Sir Thomas Gawdy, had, amongst many other estates, a seat at, and was in occupation of Woolverstone Hall and also owned Bond's manor, in the parishes of Freston, Woolverstone and Tattingstone3 at this time. He then removed and took up residence at the home of his ancestors at Little Waldingfield for some years, two daughters being born and baptised and one buried there, and this lends colour to the suggestion that, in the interim, Twinstead Hall 4 was in course of erection for him. It was the residence of the family for the next 117 years. It is worthy of note that the arms mentioned by Holman, as in the footnote, impaled with Wyncoll (as to Nos. 1, 2 and 3) were confirmed to Sir Richard Page 20th February, 1530. They were :-

    • No.1, Sable, a fess between three doves, Argent, membered Gules. Page. 
    • No.2, A pale wavy sable between ten Roses pallium, Gules, a canton ermine. Daniell, of West Molesey, co. Surrey. 
    • No.3, A chevron azure charged with three crescents, Or, between three spread Eagles, sable. Thorp. 
         There is, however, no pedigree at the College of Arms shewing descent of Thomasine Page, wife of Roger Wyncoll (B), from Sir Richard Page, although there seems little doubt that such was the fact. 

         I have visited Twinstead twice. The hall contained thirty-three large rooms besides servants' kitchens and offices. It was empty when I saw it in December, 1888, but was water and weather-tight. It was pulled down in 1900 and the materials sold for what they would fetch. Mr. King Viall, the present owner and Lord of the Manor of Twinstead, wrote me a very nice letter and sent me a photograph of the old hall, which is here reproduced. He said that the house had stood empty since 1870, cost a certain amount to keep in repair and, being away from the railway, there seemed no chance of letting it; so it was thought wiser to pull it down. Doubtless a wise decision from his point of view, but one, I think, every Wyncoll will be sorry for. Today, scarce a vestige of the old place remains above the ground, and one would not suspect, from casual observation, that a building ever stood there. The site is overgrown with vegetation, and in place of the illustrious persons who have from time to time occupied the hall, not to speak of our ancestors, rabbits desport themselves, and the place is a perfect wilderness. Some fine old cedars and the bole of an old oak, still alive, which measures 28 feet 6 inches round, which undoubtedly stood and added charm to the grounds when our ancestors lived there, still remain, as do two bays and the cellars. The entrance to the last is choked with vegetation and it is wonderful to find, in spite of the enormous weight of earth on top, that the roofs are still good, and the cellars are perfectly dry. This speaks much for the stability of the structure. In the cellars there is an ancient pump, which has a cumbersome and heavy handle, and the boards covering the well still exist. Remains of the position of the moat may be traced, but there is no water. The stables belonging to the old hall still stand, and are of a most substantial and Spacious character with servants' rooms above. The posts of the old gate opening from the high road in the park still stand, filled in with sheep-hurdles. On the inside of the west post is the following inscription :- "O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint agricolas" (Oh how exceedingly happy the peasants would be could they but know their wealth), and on the inside of the east post :-" Deus nobis haec otia fecit" (God has made us these leisure moments, i.e. opportunities). 

         Those members of the family who remember their Virgil will recognise that the first of these inscriptions appears in the Georgics, book ii. line 458, and that the second is to be found in Eclogues i., line 6. 

         It cannot, of course, be said with any degree of certainty that these inscriptions were placed on the gate posts by either Isaac Wyncoll (D), his son Isaac (E), or Thomas (F), although I think it quite possible, as the remains of the gate appear to be of great age and the inscriptions were certainly cut at the time the posts were erected. Maybe they were erected by "the learned Dr. Marriot," who resided later on at the hall. 

         The church is, I regret to say, a new one, and the monuments of the family which existed in the old church, and which are mentioned by Holman in his MSS. History of Essex, are now scattered about. The family vault may still be seen outside the east end of the new church. I found two brasses which had formerly been on the tomb of Mary Cooke, the first wife of Thomas (F), on the wall of the vestry, where they could not be seen. Four more brasses, which were originally upon the Monument of Mary Gawdy (described in this chapter), were under the cushion of a seat within the altar rails, and after many years I have, thanks to the Rev. T. Myers, the vicar of Twinstead, had them moved to the north wall opposite the south porch. Of these brasses I took rubbings, and illustrations of them are given. I found three large tombstones of the family, which are mentioned in the county histories as resting in the chancel of the old church, paving the entrance to the south porch. One has since been taken up and placed against the west wall. I fear exposure to weather and continuous traffic would soon wear away the arms and inscriptions of these old family monuments, but Mr. Myers has kindly consented to their being placed all together outside the east end of the church near the family vault, and I hope this will soon be done. 

         Isaac Wyncoll held his first court at Twinstead on Monday, 13th August, 1580.5 There are, however, no manorial incidents now appertaining to that manor, the lands having since been all enfranchised. 

         Isaac Wyncoll had six children by his first wife (nee Mary Gawdy) namely - Isaac (E), Jane, buried at Little Waldingfield 20th February, 1589, Judith, baptised at Little Waldingfield 27th November, 1593, and who married, first, John Harrison, clerk in Holy Orders6, at Twinstead on 29th October, 1612, and, secondly, William Richardson, gentleman, Alderman of Hadleigh; Amy, buried at Twinstead 6th March, 1617; and one other daughter. The wife died on 4th January, 1610, and the brass with the inscription to her memory is upon the wall of the present church at Twinstead. There were five brasses affixed to her gravestone, an illustration of which is given (the figure of the son being missing in Holman's time). The stone itself is most likely contributing to the flagged path leading to the south porch. Holman's account of this stone is interesting, as shewing its original position in the old church. He says -"Just under the Communion table is another gravestone of grey marble, at the upper end of it two escutcheons of brass inlaid." 
     

     
    1.  Redenhall with Harleston, Norfolk, Parish Registers: 

    "1562, Mary Gawdy, daughter of Thomas Gawdy, esquyer, was baptized ye tenth day of March. "
    East  Anglian Notes and Queries (Tymms), vol. iv., p.150. 

    Woolverstone Parish Registers: 

    "1581, Isaac Whinckell and Mary Gaudye were married ye 25 June." 
    "William Reade and Anne Gaudye wer married ye 25 of June."

     2. Arms of Gawdy:
    Vert, a tortoise passant, Argent. Crest: On a wreath, Argent and Gules, a chapeau turned up, Or, on which two daggers in pale Argent, hilted Or, mantled Gules, doubled Argent. 

    Sir Thomas Gawdy entered the Inner Temple 12th February, 1551, being then one of the Masters of Request, and M.P. for Arundel, Sussex, in 1553. He was elected Reader at his Inn in Lent, 1560, and Treasurer in 1561, and in Lent. 1567, was called to the degree of Serjeant-at-Law. In November, 1574, he was appointed justice of the Queen's Bench and was knighted by Elizabeth at Woodrising on the occasion of her Norfolk Progress on 16th August, 1575. He presided over the Commission, appointed in 1575, to investigate the disputes between Great Yarmouth and the Cinque Ports as to the fishing rights. He was also one of the commissioners who tried Dr. Parry for conspiracy to assassinate the Queen in February, 1514 -5, and William Shelley for the same offence a year later. He was Justice of the Peace for Essex in 1585 and sat at Fotheringay in October, 1556, on the commission for the trial of the Queen of Scots, his half-brother, Sir Francis (or Thomas) Gawdy (Queen's Serjeant-at-Law) leading for the prosecution. He amassed a large fortune, which he invested in the purchase of land, chiefly in Norfolk, and also built Gawdy Hall, Harleston, Norfolk, which stands and is occupied at the present time by John Sancroft Holmes, M.A., D.L., J.P., and is a very fine building in the Elizabethan style, pleasantly situated in a well wooded park and partly surrounded by a moat. At the time of his death, which took place on 4th November, 1558, Sir Thomas Gawdy held, besides Claxton (Norfolk) and Gawdy Hall, some twelve other estates in different parts of Norfolk and other estates in Suffolk and Berkshire. He was buried in the North chapel of Redenhall church, near Harleston, on the 12th December, 1588. 

    (Redenhall Parish Registers: 
    1588, Sir Thomas Gawdy, Knighte, was buried ye 12th day of December." 
    1588,  Received for Sir Thomas Gawdy's grave 6s. 8d"- Bloomfield's Norfolk, vol. v., p.363). 

    At his death be was succeeded on the Bench by his half-brother, Sir Francis Gawdy. Sir Thomas had one son, Henry, who survived him and was knighted by James I. on his Coronation in 1603, whilst a daughter married Sir Thomas Berney, of Park Hall, Reedham, Norfolk. Sir Francis Gaudy, as a Judge, took part in several State Trials, viz., the Earl of Arundel, on 18th April, 1589, Sir John Perrot, in June, 1592, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, in June, 1600, was one of the Advisers of the Peers in Essex's trial for high treason in February, 1601, Sir Walter Raleigh in November, 1603, as to which he is stated to have said on his death-bed that "the justice of England was never so depraved and injured as in the condemnation of Sir Walter Raleigh. He died suddenly of apoplexy at Serjeant's Inn and was buried at Runcton, Norfolk, in the following year. ("Having made his appropriate Parish church, a hay-house or dog-kennel, his dead corpse, being brought from London to Wallirigton, could for many days find no place of burial, but in the meantime growing very offensive by the contagious and ill savours that issued through the chinks of lead, not well soldered, he was at last carried to a poor church of a little village thereby called Runcton and brined there without any ceremony." - Spelman's History of Sacrilege, ed. 1653, p.243). His only daughter, Frances, married in February, 1603, Robert Rich, who was created Earl of Warwick in 1618, to whom she is said to have brought 10000l. a year.

    3. "In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Thomas Gawdy Esquire, who was afterwards a Knight and Judge of the Common Pleas was Owner of Bond's Manor, in this Parish; and also of Woolverstone arid Tattingstone, into which Parishes it extended." - Page's Suffolk Traveller. Preston.
    5. Holman's MSS., Twinstead.
    6. "John Harrison, of Sudbury, came out of ye North England. He was a pious man and an eminent preacher in the time of K. James and K. Charles." Their daughter Judith married, first, Robert Howe, of Sudbury, and, thirdly, Matthew Lawrence, Town Preacher, of Ipswich.- From Chandler MSS., Whiting Pedigrees, Musket's Suffolk Manorial Families,
    7. This motto also appears on the monument to Sir Henry Gawdy in Claxton church, Norfolk. -Bloomfield's Norfolk (Parkyn), vol. x., p. 18. 
    8. Harvey's Visitation of Suffolk. Harl.. MSS., British Museum, 1136  fo. 51 also in the Visitation of Essex, 1634, at College of Arms.
     
    THE PORTRATURE OF 
    A MAN IN BRASS.
    THE PORTRATURE OF 
    A WOMAN IN BRASS.

         Below you have an inscription on a plate of brass inlaid. 
     

    Here lyeth bvryed Marie Wyncoll the wife of Isake 
    Wyncoll Esq: Davghter vnto Sr Thomas Gavdy of
    Gavdy Hall, one of the Ivdges of the King's Bench, 
    who Deceased the 4th daye of Ianuary An Dom 1610 
    who had Issve one sonne and five davghters. 
    Vivit post funera virtus.7

    A MAN PORTRAYED IN 
    BRASS BUT TORN OFF.
    FIVE FEMALES PORTRAYED ON
    A PLATE OF BRASS YET REMAINING.
     

         Isaac Wyncoll was therefore 52 years of age when his first wife died. He married, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Anthony Waldegrave, esquire, of Ferrers, in Bures, by which union there was no issue.8 She was buried at Twinstead on 22nd April, 1631, as appears, by the Parish Registers of that church. 

         Isaac Wyncoll died at the ripe age of 80 and was buried at Twinstead on 20th August, 1638, so that he outlived his second wife more than seven years. 


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