BARKING WITH NEEDHAM MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry name, alternative name Barking (Manor), Suffolk location, and the associated archival records consistently identify the historic manor of Barking cum Needham in Barking, Suffolk. Historical evidence shows that Needham was a hamlet and market belonging to the manor of Barking, rather than a separate same-named manor elsewhere.
Representative point: 52.1404, 1.0316
Basis: documented_manor_house — The manor house and later Barking Hall stood beside St Mary's Church in Barking. The documented site is identified by OS grid reference TM075534; the house was demolished in 1926, but its site and surviving service/stable buildings remain identifiable.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern; no single securely mapped perimeter established
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: Sources establish that the manor included Barking and the Needham market settlement, with associated demesne resources including meadows, pasture, commons, heath, woodland, a park, mill and fisheries. A 1277 survey records Needham market, Bosmere, pasture, woods and other manorial assets, while 1517 and 1541 leases describe the Barking Hall estate. However, the available web evidence does not provide a complete, unambiguous perimeter of the historical manorial land, and the later 1772 estate survey appears to concern the Ashburnham/Boone estate rather than a definitive whole-manor boundary. The modern parish or civil-parish boundary has therefore not been substituted.
Sources:
- Barking Hall, Suffolk's Historic Gardens & Parks Inventory: https://suffolkhistoricgardensandparks.co.uk/barking-hall/ — Places Barking Hall beside St Mary's Church, gives OS reference TM075534, identifies it as the manor house/site of Barking cum Needham, and describes the estate's woods, meadows, pastures, commons, heaths, park and other resources.
- The National Archives: Barking with Needham Manor record F249849: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F249849 — Registry authority record for the exact manor record researched.
- The National Archives: minister's accounts, Barking with other manors, SC 6/995/14: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N14548152 — Early archival lead confirming the manor's medieval administrative and estate context.
- 1277 survey of the Manor of Barking and Needham, Records of the Sudbury Archdeaconry: https://suffolkinstitute.pdfsrv.co.uk/customers/Suffolk%20Institute/2014/01/10/Volume%20XI%20Part%203%20%281903%29_Records%20of%20the%20Sudbury%20Archdeaconry%20II%20Terriers%20and%20Surveys%20V%20B%20Redstone_267%20to%20300.pdf — Records that Needham market belonged to the manor and describes manorial pasture, Barking Tye, park, woods, mill, fishery and Bosmere.
- Suffolk Heritage Explorer: Barking parish history PDF: https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/media/pdfs/barking.pdf — Identifies the manorial entity as Barking cum Needham and summarizes its ownership history and relationship to Needham.
- Historic England: 2 and 4 High Street, Needham Market: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1254055 — States that Sir Francis Theobald was Lord of the Manor of Barking and Needham Market, supporting the inclusion of Needham within the manor's historical identity.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative coordinate is for the documented manor-house/Barking Hall site, not the centre of the entire manorial territory.
- No defensible complete historical manor polygon was found. The historical extent should not be represented by the modern Barking civil-parish boundary.
- The manor's estate lands may have changed over time, and later Ashburnham estate maps should not automatically be treated as the full medieval or early modern manor boundary.