One of the oldest relics in the village – in St. John’s church, a medieval tomb with the cross of the Knights Hospitallers on the side and end, so it is thought a knight was buried there.
Photograph by Beryl Green
In 1540 the wind of change sweeping England following Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Catholic Church and the dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, finally caught up with the Knights and the order was suppressed, largely through their refusal to break with Rome, but also may have been prompted by the King’s need of money and a desire to get his hands on the vast wealth of the order. Their possessions were made forfeit to the crown. After the departure of the Hospitallers the Manor changed hands several times. Be that as it may the deed was done, and after 400 years of relative stability Baddesley was faced with rapidly changing ownership, starting when Henry gave the manor to his brother-in-law Sir Thomas Seymour, perhaps the best known of all Baddesley’s Lords, his tenure however was brief for in 1549 Seymour was beheaded for treason and Baddesley once more fell to the crown. The next 50 years saw Baddesley change hands no fewer than six times, including a brief five year period when the Knights regained possession during the reign of Queen Mary Tudor.
1602 saw John More sergeant at law purchase the manor, and it remained in the possession of the More’s and their descendants the Dunches for the next 126 years.
One of the oldest relics in the village – in St. John’s church, a medieval tomb with the cross of the Knights Hospitallers on the side and end, so it is thought a knight was buried there.
Photograph by Beryl Green
The TRANSLATION from the Latin reads–
To the memory of John More servant at law a very learned man and a very honourable one. And to John More his only son the former of whom exchanged the din of earth’s assembly for the songs of heaven’s choirs on the 15th day of August in the year of Grace 1620 at the age of 59. The later in the same two years later at the age of twenty. The flower of youth in the flower of youth exchanged time for eternity. Dulcibella and Anna daughters and sisters of, one married to Samuel Dunche de Pusey, Knight in the county of Berkshire. The other to Edward Hooper of Chilworth, Knight in the Manor of Southampton, have erected this monument from duty of love towards their father and brother.
The Civil War of 1642-46 came and went without leaving any physical scars, and there is no record of any significant happenings in Baddesley during this time. However we do know that the then Lord of the Manor, Samuel Dunch, was a strong parliamentarian. He was later related to the Cromwell family through the marriage in 1650 of his son John to Ann Major of Hursley Park, whose sister Dorothy was married to Oliver Cromwell’s son Richard.