White Hall

History is never an even playing field, neither is information spread evenly and conveniently for scholars or laymen to discover. Even in a country as old and developed as England not everything can be easily found nor will facts always be available. This applies to the study of Lordships of the Manor as much as to any other branch of history. For some manors there are boundless sources of history with rich and colourful details, for others, not so much. The Manor of White Hall falls very much into this latter category. Of all the counties of England, Lincolnshire is one of the least written about. There are no great Victorian tomes on its history nor are there any parochial histories as part of the great Victoria County History series. Many parishes in the county have only the briefest of mentions and for more of the manors within their boundaries many fewer.

What is known is that the Manor of White Hall principally lies in the parish of Kirkby le Thorpe or Kirkby Laythorpe, a couple of miles east of Sleaford in the flat fenlands of this part of the county. The Manor has belonged for several centuries to the Hervey family, the Marquesses of Bristol and it is included in several key documents in that family’s descent. It passed to the family on the marriage of Isabella, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Carr and John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol. This wedding brought Bristol a large estate in Lincolnshire and a number of manors including White Hall. This had been in the Carr family since the early 16th century. A family document now belonging to the present Lord Bristol notes that in December 1637 Sir Robert Carr’s father settled the Lincolnshire estate on his kinsmen Robert Carr, Lord Ancram and his sons in the event that either of the sons married Sir Robert’s daughter. This settlement was, according to the record, supposed to be the result of some transaction at the gaming table. The contemporary title deeds listed the Carr manors and amongst them was the Manor of White Hall. The extent of the Lordship is not given, but its location in the parish of Kirkby La Thorpe is confirmed by a rental dating from the latter quarter of the same century, this records that you have also wood in Evedon (the neighbouring parish) contents about tenne acres it belong to the Manor of Whitehall in Kirkobye, for yee timber thereof being olde very tall.

Although this confirms that Whitehall, or White Hall, lies in Kirkby La Thorpe the location and extent of the manor house and land itself is not certain. A further record made in 1635 confirms this when it is described as a ‘messuage’. This implies that is was likely a manor house or large farm house with a demesne farm attached. The record, which is a grant of tithes records an exchange of tithe between the two parish of Kirkby and Evedon between Sir Robert Carr and the rector of Kirkby. This concerns the tithes of all corn and hay yearly growing on 140 acres of ground in the fields of Evedon belonging to a messuage in Kirkby Laythorpe called the White Hall, (which) have from time immemorial been taken as a portion of tithes due to the church. This reference also obviously confirms where the White Hall was but also that part of the Manor lay in the parish of Evedon.

There is also perhaps an unwitting clue to the eventual fate of the manor house itself in this short record. The description notes that the manorial land of White Hall was found in the fields of Evedon. The implication is that it was part of the complicated pattern of strips which would have divided the large open fields of Evedon. This system was also prevalent in Kirkby. There is some evidence to suggest that the original settlement of Kirkby was further to the south of the modern village and it seems likely that the Carr family enclosed the open fields of Kirkby in the 17th century which would have effectively combined the manorial land of the parochial manor and that of Whitehall. Since Whitehall was a reputed manor - it had no manorial tenants - there was no manorial administration. Clearly it was important to the Carr family who included it in the terrier of 1637 and in all subsequent transfers and descents of the Hervey estates well into the latter half of the 20th century; for instance it is included in an estate settlement made in 1802 in connection with the marriage of Charles Rose Ellis and Elizabeth Catherine Caroline Hervey (daughter of late Lord Hervey). It is included in a list of manors held by the 3rd Marquess of Bristol on his Inland Revenue return of 1907 and in a list of manors held by the estate collated in 1965. The Manor is currently held by the present Marquess.

White Hall was in the Carr family from the early 16th century. It passed into the Hervey family through the marriage of Isabella, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Carr, to John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol. It continued in the descent of the Hervey, Marquesses of Bristol, estates and was recorded among the estate's manors in the 19th and 20th centuries. The supplied historical account states that it was held by the present Marquess of Bristol.