Controller Richard Wendsley, Owners Robert Bainbridge then Henry Harpur
Before continuing with the Lease story, we need to remind ourselves who were the Freeholders of Calke – from 1537 to 1584. The Freehold story of Calke is one of interest and limitations, due to the 99-year lease and the pre-paid 59 Years being in place until 1596.
Briefly, it reads as follows:
1537 – Repton Priory
1538 – The Crown
Repton Priory was dissolved for the second and last time by Henry VIII’s agent Thomas Cromwell, so the freehold of Calke Manor Estate, as a cell of Repton Priory, transferred to the Crown.
1547 – John Dudley Earl of Warwick
The freehold of Calke along with other properties, was granted to John Dudley Earl of Warwick by Edward VI for services in Scotland. Due to the 99-year lease already in place for Calke, nothing was to be gained from this freehold, so he sold it on. [1]
1547 – John Beaumont of Grace-Dieu, and his sons Francis and Henry Beaumont.
The Earl of Warwick sold the Freehold to John Beaumont of Grace-Dieu and his sons Francis and Henry Beaumont. [2] This is where it remained for some years, until 1573.
6th May 1573 – After 26 years the Freehold of Calke changes hands with the arrival of Richard Wendsley on the scene. Frances and Henry Beaumont sell the freehold to Richard Wendsley for £450. (3)
But in November of that year, Richard Wendsley sold the freehold to Ralfe Browne and Edward Johnson. [3]
Perhaps this was because the freehold held little value since the value was in the lease.
What transpires next, is like a fisherman baiting a fish, the Fisherman being the lawyer Robert Bainbridge, of Derby, and the fish being Richard Wendsley …
26th September 1584 – Richard Wendsley and Ralph Blackwall (nephew of Richard Blackwall) arranged a mortgage in Nottingham for £3,000 with Robert Bainbridge with a default date of 8th May 1585. [4]
Why do business in Nottingham instead of Derby? And for £3,000 – a massive amount for the times – and with just six months to repay – had Wendsley been well and truly ‘caught’?
(I have not been able to locate when Richard Wendsley got the Freehold back with Ralph Blackwall.)
27th September 1584 – Richard Wendsley still owes £870 to Robert Bainbridge linked to the Lease. [5]
Support for Richard Wendsley was waning – those about him looked to protect themselves.
John Harrison, previously assigned on 10th July 1574 to take possession of the Calke lease on behalf of Richard Wendsley, now re-assigns the remaining terms of lease to Henry Beaumont and Thomas Fowsher of the whole estate, on the condition that if Richard Wendsley pays £870 to Robert Bainbridge on 10th May 1585, then the indenture is void. [6]
To prove how much faith he had in the payment being made, to cover himself on the same day, John Harrison signed over the Lease of Calke, to Robert Bainbridge because he knew Richard Wendsley would default on the payment of £870. [7]
The net was gradually closing in on Wendsley –
On 12th March 1585, John Reymes (Reames)and Grace receive a generous sum from Henry Beaumont and Thomas Fowsher alias Fytche to officially assign the remaining years of the Calke Lease to them. This was witnessed by Robert Bainbridge, Edward Johnson, John Harrison and others.
The first legal move towards getting the ownership of the lease was made by Henry Beaumont and Thomas Fowsher alias Fytche. (Agents for Robert Bainbridge) [8]
Then, as expected, on 8th May 1585 Richard Wendsley and Ralph Blackwall default on the £3,000 Mortgage and Ownership of the Freehold of Calke, so the Freehold of Calke transferred to Robert Bainbridge. [9]
(This transaction led to a court case for Robert Bainbridge later, as Richard Wendsley died intestate in 1594 leaving several debts unpaid). [10]
Finally, on 10th July 1585, an Indenture states that Richard Wendsley failed to make the payment of £870 due on 10th May 1585. John Harrison quitclaims his previous interest in Calke Manor to ensure his involvement does not adversely affect the title, for the transfer of the Lease to Robert Bainbridge. [11]
Points of interest – TNA – C 2/ELIZ/b14/39 – Blackwall v Bainbridge
Linked to 8th May 1585 – The non-payment of £3,000 by Richard Wendsley to Robert Bainbridge. In 1590 Ralph Blackwall’s request for delivery for cancellation of a defeasance under statue staple documents concerning the Manor of Calke.
This legally ties up the loose ends linked to the Freehold of Calke. Robert Bainbridge’s operation to acquire the Ownership of Calke was now complete.
Robert Bainbridge – Lawyer, was three times MP for Derby. [12]
He was an extreme Protestant which caused him to be imprisoned for a short period in The Tower of London – in the Beauchamp Tower in 1586 – an engraving on the wall shows a figure of a man kneeling at a table and below it the words
VINCET QUI PATITUR
RO: BAYNBRIDGE
He was released after the dissolution of Parliament and did not sit again.
Robert Bainbridge had a vault built in St. Giles Church on the Calke Estate (Included in the lease – independent house of no specific religion) to ensure he could rest in peace, with his beliefs. [13]
The next 37 years 1585 – 1622/3
Robert Bainbridge, then Robert Bainbridge Jnr. owned both the freehold and the lease of Calke. According to Documents of Sale 1622, Robert Bainbridge Snr. had died.
On 23rd April 1622 – Robert Bainbridge Jnr. sold both the freehold and the lease of Calke to Henry Harpur of Normanton for £5,350 [14]
But this transaction was not straightforward.
On 17th February 1623 – Henry Harpur took Robert Bainbridge Jnr. to Court.
The King ordered Henry Harpur to withhold £550 from the purchase price of £5,350 until Richard Chamberlain and John Bainbridge assigned the interest of a lease relating to some land at Calke so that the purchase could be completed. [15]
On 23rd April 1623, Robert Bainbridge Jnr. signed over all the possessions of the premises, such as brewing leads, milk leads, conduits, conduit pipes, etc., all brewing vessels, bedsteads, tables, etc. doors, keys, bolts, etc. etc. ie. all moveable items. [16]
The sale to the Harpurs is complete – ownership from 1623 – 1985.
In 1985 The National Trust became the Owners of Calke – opened to the Public in 1989.
Summary
Evidence showed that John Prest’s 99-year lease for Calke was so valuable and important, that it caused grown men to fight in court, and twist the law to gain ownership.
Also, his actions back in 1538 have ensured his legacy for Calke continues in the Tudor House he built, which is hidden today along with walls of the Priory, in both wings of the 1704 extension.
Documents now found at The National Archives, Kew – give a real insight into life in Tudor times. They paint a very different picture of Richard Wendsley from that previously recorded. At no time was he legally the owner of the lease of Calke – bribery and corruption springs to mind! The same with Richard Blackwall!
The sad thing is that John Prest’s wish to protect the interests of his young daughter Frances was undone by greed for power and money by Richard Blackwall.
One winner though, for being related to John Prest was Grace Prest/Smyth/Reames; she gained where poor Frances Preste/Bradbourne lost out, with the ownership of the Lease of Calke, as Grace received three settlements overall from 1573 – 1585.
Ownership of the lease enabled the Harpur Family from 1623 – 1985, to reap the benefits sown by John Prest back in 1537.
The National Trust, by leaving the house as found, enthrals ‘Calke Abbey’ visitors but little do they know what the hidden Priory/Tudor walls within the house have witnessed – long before the Harpurs took ownership.
This concludes my series revealing the previously unknown facts about the early story of Calke from 1537. Please feel free to raise any comments or queries via the comments facility below.
To pick up the story of Calke for the next nearly 300 years, with the Harpur Crewes, visit the Baronets series here, or you could start with Celia Sanger’s Who lived at Calke Abbey?
References
[1] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12- Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
[2] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12 – (D2375M/16/6/5/1) -Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock.
[3] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12- Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
[4] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12- Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
[5] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12- Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
[6] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12 – (D2375M/16/6/5/14) -Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
[7] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12 – (D2375M/16/6/5/4) -Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock.
[8] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12 – (D2375M/16/6) -Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock.
[9] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12- Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
[10] TNA – C2/Eliz/P1/55 – Parker v Bainbrigge – (1594) – The National Archives, Kew
[11] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12- Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
[12] History of parliamentonline 1558-1603/member/Bainbridge-robert.1623
[13] TNA – PROB 11/142/128 – The National Archives, Kew
[14] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/19 – Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
[15] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12 – (D2375M/16/6/57) -Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
[16] DRO – D2375/D/D/12/12 – Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock. Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock.
The Calke Manor story is based on research conducted by Noel Cook between 2018 and 2022, the results of which can be found here.
Leave a Reply