Redgrave Park owned by the Bacon family

In 1542 the Manor of Redgrave, including the Park and "a mansyon place nowe for lacke of Reperacions sore decayed", were bought from the Crown by a lawyer, Sir Nicholas Bacon. He was one of the new class of men who profited greatly from King Henry VIII's plunder of Church property.

He became a famous statesman, and the first Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal to Queen Elizabeth I. He is buried in Westminster Abbey, although there is nothing to see now, as his tomb was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, 1660.

His motto was 'Mediocria Firma', meaning 'the middle ground is best'.

The Lord Keeper

REBUILDING THE HALL Bacon rebuilt the Hall in Tudor style in 1545-54 with a symmetrical front around a courtyard with flanking wings. An account from his Building Book survives. Some of the remains of Abbot Sampson's lodge were included in the walls.
Bacon's Hall, c.1630 (click image for larger 18kb version)	The front door of Bacon's Hall (click image for larger 13kb version)

The gardens comprised two walled enclosures: a small, square privy garden beside the Hall, and a larger, rectangular one behind it containing an orchard and a pond. The walls were made of brick decorated with battlements and turrets or pinnacles. A number of statues graced the grounds, including Cerberus, the mythical three-headed dog of Hades.

WHAT WAS THE PARK LIKE? Sir Nicholas Bacon made some alterations to the Park. He planted an avenue of trees which ran from the front of the Hall down into the valley. He straightened the meandering course of the river there, and built a bridge over it. Sonne, I have desyred my frend MR Wytherpowld to come to Redgrave, to see my newe ryver whom I have enformed howe I wold have that part of the Ryver made Over the which my Bridge shall go. (From a letter from the Lord Keeper to his son) A causeway ran from the bridge across the valley, possibly in between fish ponds; in exceptionally dry summers this causeway can be seen on the bed of the present day Lake. Deer were kept in the Park as a ready source of meat and sport. An avenue of trees led eastwards towards Wortham Long Green.

THE BACON FAMILY Sir Nicholas Bacon died in 1579, aged 70. His sons included: Sir Nicholas Bacon, eldest son by his first marriage, who inherited Redgrave. He kept a personal notebook (or 'commonplace book') which has survived; it shows that he was a well-educated man with a lively interest in husbandry, medicine and poetry as well as his Estate. Anthony Bacon, a diplomat. Nathaniel Bacon, a painter. Sir Francis Bacon, 1st Baron Verulam; an essayist and philosopher, whose work laid the intellectual foundations of modern science.			The Bacon coat of arms
Mounting mortgages forced Sir Robert Bacon, the 5th baronet, to sell the Redgrave Estate in 1702. It was bought by Sir John Holt, the Lord Chief Justice. There is some evidence that he was in debt to Holt (see Contents of Muniment Room, West Side, Second Row, Box 26).