John Heydon I, son of William Heydon, built part of the curtain walls and inner gate house at Baconsthorpe Castle between 1450 and 1486. Baconsthorpe Castle was quadrangular and moated, with towers and gate houses of knapped flint, a typical fortified dwelling of the late medieval period, with larger windows and more attention paid to the style and embellishment of the building quite apart from its utilitarian purpose.
John Heydon first came to note under the De La Pole Duke of Suffolk, then Sheriff of Norfolk, who was beheaded in 1450. Despite this, John Heydon still managed to remain in favour and at this time purchased the land at Baconsthorpe. His son Sir Henry Heydon completed the castle. [Castles of East Anglia]
William De La Pole, Duke of Suffolk, tyrannized East Anglia through a trio of lieutenants, John Heydon, Thomsa Tuddenham, and John Ulveston, lawyers, local office-holders, and bullies who threatened, robbed, and extorted from their fellow countrymen. Heydon, a Norwich justice of the peace, was a particularly uncomfortable neighbor whom the Pastons blamed for many of their land troubles. His domestic life was the subject of gossip. Margaret Paston wrote her husband in 1444, "Heydon's wife had a child on St. Peter's Day. I heard say that her husband will have nothing to do with her nor with her child that she had last neither. I heard say that he said that if she came in his presence to make her excuse, he would cut off her nose to make her be known for what she is; and if her child come in his presence he said he would kill it. He will not be entreated to have her again in any wise, as I heard say." [A Mediev al Family, p. 54-5]
Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns, joining the Duke of Suffolk's affinity, became an ally of the notorious John Heydon. [ibid, p. 57-8]
John Dame wrote John Paston in London telling him to beware of John Heydon, protected by "color of justice of the peace, being of my lord's [Moleyns's] council and not your good friend or well-willer." [ibid., p. 61]
Very suddenly in January 1449, the armed standoff exploded in violence, as Moleyns's besiegers launched an assault on the Paston stronghold, overpowering the defenders, wreaking havoc on the house, and carrying Margaret herself out bodily (without, however, doing her injury). In a petiti on to the archbishop of York, John Paston blamed the attack squarely on "the excitation and procuring of John Heydon." [ibid., p. 62-3]
Negotiations were begun between the Pastons and Walter Barrow. Barrow explained that he did not blame the duke of Suffolk for his dispossession; the duke had been misled by "a false shrew," and Margaret said that the same was true of the Pastons' trouble with Lord Moleyns. Neither party mentioned John Heydon by name, but he was evidently the "shrew" they had in mind. [ Ibid., p. 66]
In 1448, Sir Edward Hull, a knight with connections both at court and with Suffolk's lieutenant John Heydon, appeared to claim the manor of Titchwell. Hull asserted that his wife and her sister had been Margery Lovel's heirs under an entail and, furthermore, that the estate had b een held "in chief" -- directly from the king -- and that Margery Paston had entered into her inheritance without the necessary formalities. The sale to Fastolf, who had paid for it in full, was therefore allegedly improper. In 1448 a royal inquisition of dubious legality found for Sir Edward Hull, the manor was seized for the king, and Hull was granted the farm of the manor at low cost. Shortly after Christmas 1448, Hull's men took it over. [ibid., p . 82-3]
In July 1450 John Paston petitioned the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Kemp, for a special assize (court hearing) against Moleyns, his wife Eleanor, and John Heydon, and also an oyer and terminer "to inquire, hear, and determine all trespasses, extortions, riots, forcible entires" and other misdemeanors committed by them. [ibid., p. 89]
In October 1450 a meeting took place between Richard, Duke of York, and the Duke of Norfolk . The Dukes agreed on prosecuting the lawless followers of the late Duke of Suffolk. Several were soon indicted, among them John Heydon. Paston agent James Gresham reported a conversation between Heydon and Judge Yelverton, in which Heydon asked if he was indicted of felony and Yelverton told him he was. Heydon replied, "Sir, you would record that I was never a thief, " and added that he "well knew the laborer" of the indictment, "and my master Y. thinks H. meant you."
As the judicial commission prepared to meet at Lynn in January 1451, Sir John Fastolf wrote a long letter to his aide Thomas Howes expressing his concern about the presence on it of an old enemy from the French wars, Thomas Lord Scales. The likelihood was the Lord Scales would "maintain the said Tuddenham and Heydon in all he can" and that people like himself who had suffered from extortion must look elsewhere for justice. [ibid ., p. 91]
At the sessions of oyer and terminer finally held at Walsingham on 4 May 1451, John Paston represented both Fastolf and himself. As expected, the town was crowded with Heydon and Tuddenham's friends, whose presence intimidated plaintiffs and witnesses. [ibid., p. 93]
Following the "rout of Ludlow" on 12 October 1459, York himself fled to Ireland, where he had estates and friends. All the old gang of the Duke of Suffolk's supporters were appointed commissioners of the peace, with powers to arrest and punish Yorkists and seize their lands. Among them were John Wyndham, John Heydon, Thomas Tuddenham, and Philip Wentworth, all enemies of the Pastons and Fastolf, with powers "to take traitors and send to the nearest gaol all persons favorable and well-willing" to the Duke of York. [ibid, p. 121]
In January 1462 Margaret Paston wrote that the people of Norfolk were beginning to "wax wild, " amid rumors that the king's younger brother, George, Duke of Clarence, in company with the young Duke of Suffolk, " and certain judges with them," were about to descend on the county to put down "such people as be judged riotous." There was talk of sending a delegation to London to complain of the "false shrews" -- Tuddenham and Hendon -- who were misleading the king, rather than to allow themselves to be slanderously accused and "be hanged at their own doors." [ibid ., p. 149]
In November 1470, Sir John Paston wrote his brother advising him to take a group of friends with him when he went to meet their patron, "all as one body ... so that my lord of Oxford may understand that some strength rests therein." Taking note that their old enemy John Heydon was still active against them, Sir John anticipated that Heydon might infiltrate some of his followers into the Pastons' party and create a disturbance. [ibid., p. 241]
Without bothering to obtain a licence, the Heydons, an aggressive, self -seeking, middle-class Norfolk family of the 15th century, constructed a quadrangular manor-house at Baconsthorpe and fortified it. A deep ditch was excavated round the north, west and south sides and the east side was protected by a lake which fed the ditch. In the middle of the south wall the Heydons erected a substantial 3-storeyed rectangular gate house largely of flint, faced on the outside with the best East Anglian knapped flint work, with ashlar quoins. The quadrangle was completed later in the century and it contained several flanking towers, square and cylindrical, and a range of long rooms on the east side. The gate house was approached by a drawbridge over the moat. An outer gate house was added, some 50 yards away to the south.
John Heydon I, who built the inner gate house, was a tough and quarrelsome magnate who survived the dangerous sport of backing first one side, then the other, in the Wars of the Roses (1455-85). [Castles of Britain and Ireland, p. 121]
John Heydon first came to note under the De La Pole Duke of Suffolk, then Sheriff of Norfolk, who was beheaded in 1450. Despite this, John Heydon still managed to remain in favour and at this time purchased the land at Baconsthorpe. His son Sir Henry Heydon completed the castle. [Castles of East Anglia]
William De La Pole, Duke of Suffolk, tyrannized East Anglia through a trio of lieutenants, John Heydon, Thomsa Tuddenham, and John Ulveston, lawyers, local office-holders, and bullies who threatened, robbed, and extorted from their fellow countrymen. Heydon, a Norwich justice of the peace, was a particularly uncomfortable neighbor whom the Pastons blamed for many of their land troubles. His domestic life was the subject of gossip. Margaret Paston wrote her husband in 1444, "Heydon's wife had a child on St. Peter's Day. I heard say that her husband will have nothing to do with her nor with her child that she had last neither. I heard say that he said that if she came in his presence to make her excuse, he would cut off her nose to make her be known for what she is; and if her child come in his presence he said he would kill it. He will not be entreated to have her again in any wise, as I heard say." [A Mediev al Family, p. 54-5]
Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns, joining the Duke of Suffolk's affinity, became an ally of the notorious John Heydon. [ibid, p. 57-8]
John Dame wrote John Paston in London telling him to beware of John Heydon, protected by "color of justice of the peace, being of my lord's [Moleyns's] council and not your good friend or well-willer." [ibid., p. 61]
Very suddenly in January 1449, the armed standoff exploded in violence, as Moleyns's besiegers launched an assault on the Paston stronghold, overpowering the defenders, wreaking havoc on the house, and carrying Margaret herself out bodily (without, however, doing her injury). In a petiti on to the archbishop of York, John Paston blamed the attack squarely on "the excitation and procuring of John Heydon." [ibid., p. 62-3]
Negotiations were begun between the Pastons and Walter Barrow. Barrow explained that he did not blame the duke of Suffolk for his dispossession; the duke had been misled by "a false shrew," and Margaret said that the same was true of the Pastons' trouble with Lord Moleyns. Neither party mentioned John Heydon by name, but he was evidently the "shrew" they had in mind. [ Ibid., p. 66]
In 1448, Sir Edward Hull, a knight with connections both at court and with Suffolk's lieutenant John Heydon, appeared to claim the manor of Titchwell. Hull asserted that his wife and her sister had been Margery Lovel's heirs under an entail and, furthermore, that the estate had b een held "in chief" -- directly from the king -- and that Margery Paston had entered into her inheritance without the necessary formalities. The sale to Fastolf, who had paid for it in full, was therefore allegedly improper. In 1448 a royal inquisition of dubious legality found for Sir Edward Hull, the manor was seized for the king, and Hull was granted the farm of the manor at low cost. Shortly after Christmas 1448, Hull's men took it over. [ibid., p . 82-3]
In July 1450 John Paston petitioned the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Kemp, for a special assize (court hearing) against Moleyns, his wife Eleanor, and John Heydon, and also an oyer and terminer "to inquire, hear, and determine all trespasses, extortions, riots, forcible entires" and other misdemeanors committed by them. [ibid., p. 89]
In October 1450 a meeting took place between Richard, Duke of York, and the Duke of Norfolk . The Dukes agreed on prosecuting the lawless followers of the late Duke of Suffolk. Several were soon indicted, among them John Heydon. Paston agent James Gresham reported a conversation between Heydon and Judge Yelverton, in which Heydon asked if he was indicted of felony and Yelverton told him he was. Heydon replied, "Sir, you would record that I was never a thief, " and added that he "well knew the laborer" of the indictment, "and my master Y. thinks H. meant you."
As the judicial commission prepared to meet at Lynn in January 1451, Sir John Fastolf wrote a long letter to his aide Thomas Howes expressing his concern about the presence on it of an old enemy from the French wars, Thomas Lord Scales. The likelihood was the Lord Scales would "maintain the said Tuddenham and Heydon in all he can" and that people like himself who had suffered from extortion must look elsewhere for justice. [ibid ., p. 91]
At the sessions of oyer and terminer finally held at Walsingham on 4 May 1451, John Paston represented both Fastolf and himself. As expected, the town was crowded with Heydon and Tuddenham's friends, whose presence intimidated plaintiffs and witnesses. [ibid., p. 93]
Following the "rout of Ludlow" on 12 October 1459, York himself fled to Ireland, where he had estates and friends. All the old gang of the Duke of Suffolk's supporters were appointed commissioners of the peace, with powers to arrest and punish Yorkists and seize their lands. Among them were John Wyndham, John Heydon, Thomas Tuddenham, and Philip Wentworth, all enemies of the Pastons and Fastolf, with powers "to take traitors and send to the nearest gaol all persons favorable and well-willing" to the Duke of York. [ibid, p. 121]
In January 1462 Margaret Paston wrote that the people of Norfolk were beginning to "wax wild, " amid rumors that the king's younger brother, George, Duke of Clarence, in company with the young Duke of Suffolk, " and certain judges with them," were about to descend on the county to put down "such people as be judged riotous." There was talk of sending a delegation to London to complain of the "false shrews" -- Tuddenham and Hendon -- who were misleading the king, rather than to allow themselves to be slanderously accused and "be hanged at their own doors." [ibid ., p. 149]
In November 1470, Sir John Paston wrote his brother advising him to take a group of friends with him when he went to meet their patron, "all as one body ... so that my lord of Oxford may understand that some strength rests therein." Taking note that their old enemy John Heydon was still active against them, Sir John anticipated that Heydon might infiltrate some of his followers into the Pastons' party and create a disturbance. [ibid., p. 241]
Without bothering to obtain a licence, the Heydons, an aggressive, self -seeking, middle-class Norfolk family of the 15th century, constructed a quadrangular manor-house at Baconsthorpe and fortified it. A deep ditch was excavated round the north, west and south sides and the east side was protected by a lake which fed the ditch. In the middle of the south wall the Heydons erected a substantial 3-storeyed rectangular gate house largely of flint, faced on the outside with the best East Anglian knapped flint work, with ashlar quoins. The quadrangle was completed later in the century and it contained several flanking towers, square and cylindrical, and a range of long rooms on the east side. The gate house was approached by a drawbridge over the moat. An outer gate house was added, some 50 yards away to the south.
John Heydon I, who built the inner gate house, was a tough and quarrelsome magnate who survived the dangerous sport of backing first one side, then the other, in the Wars of the Roses (1455-85). [Castles of Britain and Ireland, p. 121]
John Heydon I, son of William Heydon, built part of the curtain walls and inner gate house at Baconsthorpe Castle between 1450 and 1486. Baconsthorpe Castle was quadrangular and moated, with towers and gate houses of knapped flint, a typical fortified dwelling of the late medieval period, with larger windows and more attention paid to the style and embellishment of the building quite apart from its utilitarian purpose.
John Heydon first came to note under the De La Pole Duke of Suffolk, then Sheriff of Norfolk, who was beheaded in 1450. Despite this, John Heydon still managed to remain in favour and at this time purchased the land at Baconsthorpe. His son Sir Henry Heydon completed the castle. [Castles of East Anglia]
William De La Pole, Duke of Suffolk, tyrannized East Anglia through a trio of lieutenants, John Heydon, Thomsa Tuddenham, and John Ulveston, lawyers, local office-holders, and bullies who threatened, robbed, and extorted from their fellow countrymen. Heydon, a Norwich justice of the peace, was a particularly uncomfortable neighbor whom the Pastons blamed for many of their land troubles. His domestic life was the subject of gossip. Margaret Paston wrote her husband in 1444, "Heydon's wife had a child on St. Peter's Day. I heard say that her husband will have nothing to do with her nor with her child that she had last neither. I heard say that he said that if she came in his presence to make her excuse, he would cut off her nose to make her be known for what she is; and if her child come in his presence he said he would kill it. He will not be entreated to have her again in any wise, as I heard say." [A Mediev al Family, p. 54-5]
Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns, joining the Duke of Suffolk's affinity, became an ally of the notorious John Heydon. [ibid, p. 57-8]
John Dame wrote John Paston in London telling him to beware of John Heydon, protected by "color of justice of the peace, being of my lord's [Moleyns's] council and not your good friend or well-willer." [ibid., p. 61]
Very suddenly in January 1449, the armed standoff exploded in violence, as Moleyns's besiegers launched an assault on the Paston stronghold, overpowering the defenders, wreaking havoc on the house, and carrying Margaret herself out bodily (without, however, doing her injury). In a petiti on to the archbishop of York, John Paston blamed the attack squarely on "the excitation and procuring of John Heydon." [ibid., p. 62-3]
Negotiations were begun between the Pastons and Walter Barrow. Barrow explained that he did not blame the duke of Suffolk for his dispossession; the duke had been misled by "a false shrew," and Margaret said that the same was true of the Pastons' trouble with Lord Moleyns. Neither party mentioned John Heydon by name, but he was evidently the "shrew" they had in mind. [ Ibid., p. 66]
In 1448, Sir Edward Hull, a knight with connections both at court and with Suffolk's lieutenant John Heydon, appeared to claim the manor of Titchwell. Hull asserted that his wife and her sister had been Margery Lovel's heirs under an entail and, furthermore, that the estate had b een held "in chief" -- directly from the king -- and that Margery Paston had entered into her inheritance without the necessary formalities. The sale to Fastolf, who had paid for it in full, was therefore allegedly improper. In 1448 a royal inquisition of dubious legality found for Sir Edward Hull, the manor was seized for the king, and Hull was granted the farm of the manor at low cost. Shortly after Christmas 1448, Hull's men took it over. [ibid., p . 82-3]
In July 1450 John Paston petitioned the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Kemp, for a special assize (court hearing) against Moleyns, his wife Eleanor, and John Heydon, and also an oyer and terminer "to inquire, hear, and determine all trespasses, extortions, riots, forcible entires" and other misdemeanors committed by them. [ibid., p. 89]
In October 1450 a meeting took place between Richard, Duke of York, and the Duke of Norfolk . The Dukes agreed on prosecuting the lawless followers of the late Duke of Suffolk. Several were soon indicted, among them John Heydon. Paston agent James Gresham reported a conversation between Heydon and Judge Yelverton, in which Heydon asked if he was indicted of felony and Yelverton told him he was. Heydon replied, "Sir, you would record that I was never a thief, " and added that he "well knew the laborer" of the indictment, "and my master Y. thinks H. meant you."
As the judicial commission prepared to meet at Lynn in January 1451, Sir John Fastolf wrote a long letter to his aide Thomas Howes expressing his concern about the presence on it of an old enemy from the French wars, Thomas Lord Scales. The likelihood was the Lord Scales would "maintain the said Tuddenham and Heydon in all he can" and that people like himself who had suffered from extortion must look elsewhere for justice. [ibid ., p. 91]
At the sessions of oyer and terminer finally held at Walsingham on 4 May 1451, John Paston represented both Fastolf and himself. As expected, the town was crowded with Heydon and Tuddenham's friends, whose presence intimidated plaintiffs and witnesses. [ibid., p. 93]
Following the "rout of Ludlow" on 12 October 1459, York himself fled to Ireland, where he had estates and friends. All the old gang of the Duke of Suffolk's supporters were appointed commissioners of the peace, with powers to arrest and punish Yorkists and seize their lands. Among them were John Wyndham, John Heydon, Thomas Tuddenham, and Philip Wentworth, all enemies of the Pastons and Fastolf, with powers "to take traitors and send to the nearest gaol all persons favorable and well-willing" to the Duke of York. [ibid, p. 121]
In January 1462 Margaret Paston wrote that the people of Norfolk were beginning to "wax wild, " amid rumors that the king's younger brother, George, Duke of Clarence, in company with the young Duke of Suffolk, " and certain judges with them," were about to descend on the county to put down "such people as be judged riotous." There was talk of sending a delegation to London to complain of the "false shrews" -- Tuddenham and Hendon -- who were misleading the king, rather than to allow themselves to be slanderously accused and "be hanged at their own doors." [ibid ., p. 149]
In November 1470, Sir John Paston wrote his brother advising him to take a group of friends with him when he went to meet their patron, "all as one body ... so that my lord of Oxford may understand that some strength rests therein." Taking note that their old enemy John Heydon was still active against them, Sir John anticipated that Heydon might infiltrate some of his followers into the Pastons' party and create a disturbance. [ibid., p. 241]
Without bothering to obtain a licence, the Heydons, an aggressive, self -seeking, middle-class Norfolk family of the 15th century, constructed a quadrangular manor-house at Baconsthorpe and fortified it. A deep ditch was excavated round the north, west and south sides and the east side was protected by a lake which fed the ditch. In the middle of the south wall the Heydons erected a substantial 3-storeyed rectangular gate house largely of flint, faced on the outside with the best East Anglian knapped flint work, with ashlar quoins. The quadrangle was completed later in the century and it contained several flanking towers, square and cylindrical, and a range of long rooms on the east side. The gate house was approached by a drawbridge over the moat. An outer gate house was added, some 50 yards away to the south.
John Heydon I, who built the inner gate house, was a tough and quarrelsome magnate who survived the dangerous sport of backing first one side, then the other, in the Wars of the Roses (1455-85). [Castles of Britain and Ireland, p. 121]
John Heydon first came to note under the De La Pole Duke of Suffolk, then Sheriff of Norfolk, who was beheaded in 1450. Despite this, John Heydon still managed to remain in favour and at this time purchased the land at Baconsthorpe. His son Sir Henry Heydon completed the castle. [Castles of East Anglia]
William De La Pole, Duke of Suffolk, tyrannized East Anglia through a trio of lieutenants, John Heydon, Thomsa Tuddenham, and John Ulveston, lawyers, local office-holders, and bullies who threatened, robbed, and extorted from their fellow countrymen. Heydon, a Norwich justice of the peace, was a particularly uncomfortable neighbor whom the Pastons blamed for many of their land troubles. His domestic life was the subject of gossip. Margaret Paston wrote her husband in 1444, "Heydon's wife had a child on St. Peter's Day. I heard say that her husband will have nothing to do with her nor with her child that she had last neither. I heard say that he said that if she came in his presence to make her excuse, he would cut off her nose to make her be known for what she is; and if her child come in his presence he said he would kill it. He will not be entreated to have her again in any wise, as I heard say." [A Mediev al Family, p. 54-5]
Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns, joining the Duke of Suffolk's affinity, became an ally of the notorious John Heydon. [ibid, p. 57-8]
John Dame wrote John Paston in London telling him to beware of John Heydon, protected by "color of justice of the peace, being of my lord's [Moleyns's] council and not your good friend or well-willer." [ibid., p. 61]
Very suddenly in January 1449, the armed standoff exploded in violence, as Moleyns's besiegers launched an assault on the Paston stronghold, overpowering the defenders, wreaking havoc on the house, and carrying Margaret herself out bodily (without, however, doing her injury). In a petiti on to the archbishop of York, John Paston blamed the attack squarely on "the excitation and procuring of John Heydon." [ibid., p. 62-3]
Negotiations were begun between the Pastons and Walter Barrow. Barrow explained that he did not blame the duke of Suffolk for his dispossession; the duke had been misled by "a false shrew," and Margaret said that the same was true of the Pastons' trouble with Lord Moleyns. Neither party mentioned John Heydon by name, but he was evidently the "shrew" they had in mind. [ Ibid., p. 66]
In 1448, Sir Edward Hull, a knight with connections both at court and with Suffolk's lieutenant John Heydon, appeared to claim the manor of Titchwell. Hull asserted that his wife and her sister had been Margery Lovel's heirs under an entail and, furthermore, that the estate had b een held "in chief" -- directly from the king -- and that Margery Paston had entered into her inheritance without the necessary formalities. The sale to Fastolf, who had paid for it in full, was therefore allegedly improper. In 1448 a royal inquisition of dubious legality found for Sir Edward Hull, the manor was seized for the king, and Hull was granted the farm of the manor at low cost. Shortly after Christmas 1448, Hull's men took it over. [ibid., p . 82-3]
In July 1450 John Paston petitioned the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Kemp, for a special assize (court hearing) against Moleyns, his wife Eleanor, and John Heydon, and also an oyer and terminer "to inquire, hear, and determine all trespasses, extortions, riots, forcible entires" and other misdemeanors committed by them. [ibid., p. 89]
In October 1450 a meeting took place between Richard, Duke of York, and the Duke of Norfolk . The Dukes agreed on prosecuting the lawless followers of the late Duke of Suffolk. Several were soon indicted, among them John Heydon. Paston agent James Gresham reported a conversation between Heydon and Judge Yelverton, in which Heydon asked if he was indicted of felony and Yelverton told him he was. Heydon replied, "Sir, you would record that I was never a thief, " and added that he "well knew the laborer" of the indictment, "and my master Y. thinks H. meant you."
As the judicial commission prepared to meet at Lynn in January 1451, Sir John Fastolf wrote a long letter to his aide Thomas Howes expressing his concern about the presence on it of an old enemy from the French wars, Thomas Lord Scales. The likelihood was the Lord Scales would "maintain the said Tuddenham and Heydon in all he can" and that people like himself who had suffered from extortion must look elsewhere for justice. [ibid ., p. 91]
At the sessions of oyer and terminer finally held at Walsingham on 4 May 1451, John Paston represented both Fastolf and himself. As expected, the town was crowded with Heydon and Tuddenham's friends, whose presence intimidated plaintiffs and witnesses. [ibid., p. 93]
Following the "rout of Ludlow" on 12 October 1459, York himself fled to Ireland, where he had estates and friends. All the old gang of the Duke of Suffolk's supporters were appointed commissioners of the peace, with powers to arrest and punish Yorkists and seize their lands. Among them were John Wyndham, John Heydon, Thomas Tuddenham, and Philip Wentworth, all enemies of the Pastons and Fastolf, with powers "to take traitors and send to the nearest gaol all persons favorable and well-willing" to the Duke of York. [ibid, p. 121]
In January 1462 Margaret Paston wrote that the people of Norfolk were beginning to "wax wild, " amid rumors that the king's younger brother, George, Duke of Clarence, in company with the young Duke of Suffolk, " and certain judges with them," were about to descend on the county to put down "such people as be judged riotous." There was talk of sending a delegation to London to complain of the "false shrews" -- Tuddenham and Hendon -- who were misleading the king, rather than to allow themselves to be slanderously accused and "be hanged at their own doors." [ibid ., p. 149]
In November 1470, Sir John Paston wrote his brother advising him to take a group of friends with him when he went to meet their patron, "all as one body ... so that my lord of Oxford may understand that some strength rests therein." Taking note that their old enemy John Heydon was still active against them, Sir John anticipated that Heydon might infiltrate some of his followers into the Pastons' party and create a disturbance. [ibid., p. 241]
Without bothering to obtain a licence, the Heydons, an aggressive, self -seeking, middle-class Norfolk family of the 15th century, constructed a quadrangular manor-house at Baconsthorpe and fortified it. A deep ditch was excavated round the north, west and south sides and the east side was protected by a lake which fed the ditch. In the middle of the south wall the Heydons erected a substantial 3-storeyed rectangular gate house largely of flint, faced on the outside with the best East Anglian knapped flint work, with ashlar quoins. The quadrangle was completed later in the century and it contained several flanking towers, square and cylindrical, and a range of long rooms on the east side. The gate house was approached by a drawbridge over the moat. An outer gate house was added, some 50 yards away to the south.
John Heydon I, who built the inner gate house, was a tough and quarrelsome magnate who survived the dangerous sport of backing first one side, then the other, in the Wars of the Roses (1455-85). [Castles of Britain and Ireland, p. 121]
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