Catalogue description MANORS OF BUNGEHURST, MAYFIELD BAKER AND ISENHURST

The origin of the manor of Mayfield Baker lies in a grant by Henry Neville to Thomas Aynescombe of great parts of the waste of the manor of Mayfield in 1597 (KIR/33/1). Parts of that grant were further alienated until in 1759 the owner, John Ellerker of Aldersgate, bequeathed the manor to Thomas Baker of Lower House, Mayfield (KIR/10) in his will. On the death of Thomas's great-nephew Thomas Baker Baker in 1831 the lordship vested in the rev John Kirby; the manor nevertheless continued to be known as Mayfield Baker

For a more detailed account of the descent see the copy of Courthope's history, KIR/33/94

This manor should be distinguished from the manor of Mayfield, purchased by John Baker in 1617 and sold by Peter and George Baker to Henry Pelham in 1724

The manor of Isenhurst belonged to Michelham Priory and was granted to Thomas Cromwell in 1537. In 1540 it was regranted to Richard Sackville who in 1544 sold it to Sir John Baker of Sissinghurst, the attorney-general. By 1555 it was owned by John Baker of Withyham (see KIR/1) to whom it probably passed by purchase; a relationship between the Withyham and Sissinghurst Bakers has never been suggested

According to Bell-Irving's Mayfield, p154, the manor was sold by the rev John Kirby to Morgan Thomas of Gatehouse in Mayfield in 1842. Although there is no trace of the conveyance in the Thomas archive (SAS/D), his predecessor John Apsley Dalrymple was tenant of four of the five Isenhurst tenements in 1831 see KIR/33/13) and James Dalrymple had purchased Dudsland in Mayfield, perhaps part of the Isenhurst demesne, from Samuel Baker between 1775 and 1778: SAS/D238, 249

The manor of Walwyns otherwise Bungehurst in Mayfield and Wadhurst was purchased from Richard Bungehurst by John Baker of Mayfield in 1549 and descended with the estate. The manor was held of the manor of Bivelham as a knight's fee by a quit rent of 15d and castleguard; courtbooks of that manor survive from 1582 (GLY 1120-1133) and from them much can be learnt of the early history of the Baker family

No manorial records survive and it seems likely that Bungehurst had no tenants at the time of its purchase

In 1841 William Courthope borrowed court rolls and other manorial documents from the rev John Kirby, which were returned to his solicitor, Donald Barclay, in June (KIR/28/70). A court book of Mayfield Baker ending in 1660 is mentioned in Courthope's history and the existence of later volumes is proved by KIR/33/10. None of this material now survives with the archive and the circumstances of the deposit of the Baker documents now listed as AMS 5442 and AMS 5831 suggest that Barclay's successors, Messrs Sprott of Mayfield, were less than scrupulous in the custody of their clients' property