{"id":12396,"date":"2020-09-11T21:31:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=12396"},"modified":"2026-07-11T12:41:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:41:50","slug":"gunton-family","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=12396","title":{"rendered":"Gunton Family of Moregrove, Martham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Gunton Family<\/strong> of Moregrove, Martham<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guntons are a long-forgotten family that were once of great importance to Martham for about 200 years up to 1320. They owned the Moregrove<\/a><\/em> estate and were instrumental to the history and development of St Mary the Virgin<\/a><\/em> church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were two Gunton estates. One was Gunton, near Lowestoft in Suffolk and the other concerns the Gunton family from Erpingham, north Norfolk which is about 4\u00bd miles north west North Walsham and 5\u00bd north of Aylsham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some early records call Moregrove<\/a><\/em> the Gunton Estate. This is not an error as the manor was held by the Gunton family for many generations from the 12th<\/sup> to early 14th centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piecing together the Gunton family genealogy and land holdings is complex as records going back that far are hazy, have been subject to individual interpretation, which include contradictions, and there are large gaps between dates.  To make research more difficult over the generations the family repeatedly called sons Matthew and Roger and several are recorded without any dates at all. Most of the following information comes from antiquarians of the 1700\u2019s which means they collated it  400 to 500 years after the actual events giving rise to obvious problems but they remain the only sources available. The main compiler was Francis Blomefield<\/a><\/em> who you can read more about HERE<\/a><\/em>. These are some of the facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gunton estate at Erpingham was granted to William Beaufoe, Bishop of Thetford, by William the Conqueror (1066-1087) and held in his own right as a lay fee(A).<\/sup> (In this case \u2018own right as a lay fee\u201d meant the highest estate that an individual could have because it was total ownership of all land and structures attached to it. It was complete ownership absent of all conditions limitations or restrictions).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gunton Manor was originally the home of the Guntons from 1122 until about 1320 and supporting this in 1122 we come across the first mention of a Mathew de Gunton being recorded as being Lord of the Manor in the reign of Henry I. The family holdings also included land at Martham, Hemsby, Dalling, Worstead, and Caister(A&H).<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mathew de Gunton(1) had two sons who were Roger(2) and Thomas(3) who each had a moiety, (share), of the Overall and Netherhall Manors at Pincel Green, Dedham, Suffolk as well as other manors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family tree looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n

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In about 1160 the Gunton Manor in Martham (Moregrove<\/a><\/em> as we know it) included the church and the above Roger De Gunton(2) gave St. Mary\u2019s Church<\/a><\/em> with all its appurtenances and with the consent of Nicholas his son and heir, to the priory and convent of Norwich. At that time, the Bishop was William Beaufoe. Witnesses to this transaction included Abbot Danyel (of Holm), William and Roger archdeacons, William de Hasting, Alan de Bellofago. They all held high ranking positions in the church or crown. Abbot Danyel (Daniel) was the Abbot of St Benet\u2019s Abbey in about 1151 and he died in 1168. William De Hastings lived from 1165 to 1225 and died at Swaffham and at one time was a steward to Henry II. Alan de Bellofago was also known as Beaufoe and was believed to be related to Bishop William Beafoe in the mid 1100\u2019s. William & Roger were archdeacons of the Norwich Priory in around 1168(E).  <\/sup>The witnesses were all alive in 1160 which supports the date of the gift of the church by Roger De Gunton(2) and indicates the influential levels he moved in.  Blomefield<\/a><\/em>\u2019s original entry reads(A):<\/sup>
\u201cThe Church is dedicated to St. Mary <\/a>and was a rectory, valued at 37 marks, and given by Roger de Gunton with all its appurtenances, with the consent of Nicholas his son and heir, in the presence of William Bishop of Norwich for the redemption of his soul, to the prior and convent of Norwich. Witnesses, Abbot Danyel (of Holm), William and Roger archdeacons, William de Hasting, Alan de Bellofago<\/em>, and this was about the year 1160 and was confirmed by the aforesaid Bishop.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not unusual for landowners in the 12th<\/sup> century to grant their private churches to ecclesiastical institutions, both as a pious act and in the expectation of prayers being said for the redemption of their soul. Roger de Gunton(2) made this gift and Adam de Walsingham was appointed as the Vicar. Also in 1160 records for the manor of Rollesby(A) <\/sup>show that it was held by \u201ca large family known as Gunton\u201d and that Roger de Gunton(2) held  <\/strong>four Knight’s Fees and 200 acres there. (A knight’s fee was a measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. It was effectively the size of a fief” sufficient to support one knight in the ongoing performance of his feudal duties. If a knight’s fee was deemed co-terminus with a manor, an average size would be between about 1,500 acres, of which much in early times may have included uncultivated forest, marsh or moorland).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1199, during the first year of the reign of King John, there was a dispute over land ownership in Martham and Hemsby between Walter de Basingham & the Prior of Norwich and the family of De Gunton who were said to have a considerable land holding in Martham (1&2).<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1224 (the eighth year of the reign Henry III) another Matthew de Gunton(4), a descendant of Roger de Gunton(2), held possession of the manor of Gunton and also other manor lands in Martham, that must have been Moregrove<\/a> although it was not called by that name at the time. As lord of the manor of Moregrove <\/a>Matthew (4) had the right to appoint rectors (called an advowson) but in 1224 he gave the right to the Monastery and Priory at Norwich Cathedral on the understanding that the monks would pray for his soul and the souls of his family and servants.  As a result of this gift St Mary the Virgin<\/em><\/a> comes under the patronage of Norwich Cathedral and the Cathedral remains responsible to this day for appointing parish priests. Matthew(4) also gave the church nine acres of land which was probably near to it as much, much later the church gave land where the former first school was built and sold other glebe land in School Road for housing.
Blomefield<\/a><\/em>\u2019s original entry reads(A): Matthew de Gunton, granted by fine in the 8th of Henry III to William, prior of Norwich, the advowson of the church of Martham; who received Matthew and all his men or tenants to be partioners in all the prayers of their convent; and in the following year, he also gave 9 acres of land here to master Adam de Wausingham, and his successors, in the church of St. Mary<\/a> of Martham, Adam paying to him 40s per annum..<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew(4) died in 1276. He had been married to Isabell Castre (Caister)(5) daughter and heir of Sir Robert de Castre. They had two sons and five daughters. One son was called Roger(6) who appears to have inherited the lands and lordship of Rollesby and\/or died before his brother John(7) who inherited Moregrove<\/a><\/em>. John died without issue soon afterwards in 1277 and his inheritance, which included Moregrove<\/a><\/em>, reverted to his sisters(A):<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n