Who Was... Thomas de Mussenden?

According to Reverend Edmund Lynold, in his book about the owners of Healing Manor, Thomas Mussenden "was brought up in the warres in the time of Richard ye second and was captaine of the Castle of [….] in Fraunce". Thomas was a member of the famous Mussenden family, owners of much land within Healing, Aylesby, and Buckinghamshire, and also lord of healing Manor in the fourteenth century.We will examine his transition to Healing Manor in a later article about the legal process in his occupation.

Thomas was born in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, sometime in the late 1350's. He began work in the service of King Edward III, mostly as a butler, but also assisting in the wars in France. By 1359, he had acquired enough wealth to become a captain of a small band of men in the king's final campaign against France. In his efforts in the war, he served under John of Gaunt, the 1st Duke of Lancaster. After the campaign, as a reward, he became a knight of the shire for Buckinghamshire in 1363 and 1365. Thomas married Isabelle Brocas, which formed an alliance with the Brocas family and brought him land in Lincolnshire. Their support would later prove critical for the rest of the fourteenth century.

In 1379, Thomas returned to England, and married Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Hawley, lord of the manor at Mablethorpe. Thomas and his wife took up residence at Healing, and became a friend of Sir John de Helyng, who was also mentioned as living in Healing in the census issued by Edward III. The Helyng family had held Healing Manor since the 12th century, and had some great renown.

By the time Thomas returned from his latest military campaign in France, he had amassed enough wealth to buy land from Sir John de Helyng. Thomas now owned land in Aylesby, Great Coates, Little Coated and Healing. Thomas added the coat of arms of Healing to his own, enforcing his authority on the area.

John of Gaunt died some time in 1398, and five months later, in February 1399, his exiled son, Henry of Bolingbroke, landed in the Humber on a lost spit of land known as the Ravenspur, which stretched, according to some sources, from Healing. At this time, the ruling king, Richard II, was fighting in Ireland, and Henry was able to ally himself with the former Archbishop of Canterbury. Under his guidance, Henry began confiscating land. Thomas Mussenden quickly became one of his appointees in the regional network Henry was setting up, and subsequently became 'esquire of the king' only a fortnight after his coronation.

Later, in 1400, Thomas was asked to help the king in an effort to assert his authority in Scotland. Thomas gathered together  archers, and travelled to York, perhaps in the hope of forming an allegiance with the king. However, the campaign failed, and Thomas went home profitless.

Thomas died shortly before the 21 February 1404. A stained glass window was once put up in Healing Church, which no longer survives. It was supposed to be spectacular, depicting Thomas in full military glory. His wife Joan went on to marry William Hilton.

From my research, it seems that the Ravenspur, that Edward IV also landed on in 1471, has been washed up by the tides, and nothing remains.
What an incredible tale! I hope you have enjoyed this,
James

Notes
You can view Thomas' will by clicking this link here.
More information about the purchase of Healing Manor.

Archaeology: Excavating Healing Manor

I am greatly indebted to Mr D Stirk, formerly of On-Site Archaeology, for the use of these pictures.

For centuries Healing Manor has been the centre of village life in Healing. A once-grand building, the manor includes ridge & furrow among many other historical delights. In 2007, an archaeological dig took place there, and some of the photos taken are below.


The above picture shows medieval ditches and pits, which are very apparant because of the sandy soil.




Taken near the front of the manor. The unusual curved earthworks below the window is the medieval kitchen garden. Vegetables would have been grown there, and then taken to the kitchen and prepared, before being presented to the lord of the manor. Obviously with some kind of local meat.






A medieval post-hole. A wooden post would have been inserted into the above hole. It would have been responsible for keeping the whole of the medieval building standing.


I hope you find these images interesting,

James


Visit D Stirk's Flickr page here for more archaeological finds.

Toot Hill - A Medieval Windmill

Behind the bus stop on Great Coates Road is Healing's very own Toot Hill, earthworks that suggest a medieval mill. Approximately 50 foot wide, Toot Hill is a large circular ditch-like earthwork, perhaps a remnant of a windmill that was once there.

The above photo shows the depression where the rim of the mill was. You will see that the site is covered with sloe bushes. Toot Hill is located in a raised bank, hence the 'hill' in 'Toot Hill'.

May I note that it has not been confirmed that Toot Hill was actually a mill.

The Domesday Book lists half a mill. Could this be it? From what I've gathered, windmills only came to England in the medieval era, and the ones before were watermills. Is there another unknown mill in Healing?

Rod Collins has written a great blog post here.

Regards,

James

Healing Manor Air Raid Shelter

In the grounds of Healing Manor lies an important piece of Healing's WWII history - an old air raid shelter, perhaps used by Viscount Portman himself. It is located in the large medieval moat, and it is quite possible that Gerald Burkely Portman, the seventh Viscount Portman took cover in it during the air raids.

However, the shelter could be military-made as the Scottish Horse regiment took over the manor during the war, and Viscount Portman and his wife moved into 20, Fords Avenue. The above picture shows that someone has been strippng wire out of it. The shelter is made out of reinforced concrete and at the other end is an escape door, leading out onto the Manor lawn. 

I hope you find all this of interest,

James

Ridge and Furrow in Healing

To the west of Healing Manor is evidence of how our Medieval ancestors worked the land - a ridge and furrow field. Consisting of approximately foot-high earthworks, crops would be sown along the ridge.

The plough would turn the soil over to the right, meaning that the same ridge couldn't be ploughed twice. We get the word 'furlong' from 'furrow-long', because the length of a furrow was about 220 yards (200 metres).

The plough was pulled by small oxen.

In terms of wildlife, the thick grass supports plenty of these little grasshoppers:

And also many rabbits are present on site.

Regards,

James