their heirs, and for want of heirs, to Edward Bardwell and his heirs for ever; and this year they held their first court; and from this time it was joined to the other manors, and so continues.
The manor-house hath been down many ages, for in 1398 the lord lived at Seckford, and had a pond, or pool, in the late site of the manor, called Seckford Hall-Yard Close, in West-Herling.
In 1504, after a suit between the lord and Robert Bernyngham, Prior of the monks of St. Mary at Thetford, the lord agreed for the future to pay 2s. a year to that monastery, out of lands called Gildensleves, which were joined to the manor by purchase, and did always heretofore pay 2s. 6d. a year, and upon this agreement he paid 2s. to Sir William Ixworth, then monk of that house, to put him in possession.
The family of the Berdewelles took their name from the town of Berdwelle in Suffolk, where they lived in the Conqueror's time, when Baldwin Abbot of Bury infeoffed Ralf de Berdewelle of that manor; they always bare for their arms, arg. a goat saliant gul. armed or. and for their rebus or device, a bear with a well on his back, and these two letters, de. which cannot but make Bear-de-well, or Berdwelle; and for a crest, on a wreath or and sab. a goat's head erased gul. attired or, mantled sab. doubled arg.
In 1196, William, son of Ralf de Berdewelle, held Berdewelle at two fees, as he acknowledged in a fine then levied between him and Abbot Sampson, John de Berdewelle, his son, had four sons, all which had issue; John de Berdewell, the eldest, was lord of Gasthorp in 1274. He had two wives, and issue by both, the eldest son by the first wife was Thomas, who was dead before 1338, and left Richard, Robert, and Thomas, who were lords of Gasthorp; Thomas had the whole by release from his brothers; he married Amy, daughter of Sir Nicholas de Beaufo, with whom he had Beaufoe's manor in this town, Alice, her sister, and John Rivet of Freton, her husband, releasing their right in it, in 1330. In 1348, John Berdewelle, their son, was lord, who had William Berdewelle, his son, by Isabell, daughter of Thomas Barro, Knt. and had free-warren allowed him in Berdwelle and Thorp in Suffolk; William, his son, married Elizabeth, daughter of Tho. Hethe, lord of Hengrave, Denham by Barrow, and SaxhamParva in Suffolk; he died seized of Berdewelle, Gatesthorp, Beaufoe's, &c. leaving Margaret, his only daughter, who married John Harleston, by whom she had Margaret, married to Tho. Darcy of Danby in Essex, and Alice, to Sir Richard Fitz-Lewes, Knt. But the manors aforesaid, for want of male issue, reverted to Sir William Berdewell, the great warriour, who was the male heir of the family by the second wife, viz. Sara, daughter of Sir John Furneaux of Midle-Herling, with whom he had Furneaux manor in West-Herling; they left Sir William Berdewell, Knt. their son and heir, whose son,
Sir William Berdewell, Knt. the great warriour, was born 1367, for in the 9th of Henry IV. (anno 1407,) he was 40 years old, being then one of the knights summoned as witnesses for Sir Edward Hastyngs of Elsing, in the cause between him and Sir
