THE
MUNIMENT ROOM, |
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"In
the Evidence Room are preserved many valuable
manuscripts" |
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Manor rolls,
charters, deeds and other documents relating to Redgrave
Estate were stored in the Muniment Room at Redgrave Hall.
The manor was the most fundamental administrative unit of Mediaeval England. Legal documents relating to its operation had to be stored safely. The Holts, and their heirs the Wilsons, held many manorial titles. |
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| Many of the documents in
the Muniment Room dated back to the Middle Ages,
including those which belonged to Bury Abbey and were
transferred into the ownership of Sir Nicholas Bacon when
he bought the Estate in 1542. He added other documents
from his properties at Mettingham, Burgate, etc. There
were also letters from famous people such as Sir Francis
Walsingham, Lord Burghley and the philosopher Francis
Bacon. There were even documents signed by Kings James I,
Charles II and William III. The greater part of the early documents were sold by George Holt Wilson at Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, New Bond Street, London on 11th April 1921. Many were bought by the University of Chicago, and now form an important resource for scholars. |
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