1453 At St. Nicholas parish church in Great Coates, Lincoln, "according to Jervase Holles there were in his time five memorials commemorating various members of the Barnardston [Barnardiston] family … A slab bearing this inscription, viz.---'Hic Jacet Dom Johanna Barnardston, de Magna Cotes. Ano. Dni. 1453.'" There was also "a high monument, as Holles calls it, or an altar tomb, bearing Barnardston impaling, Sable, a bend between 2 cotises fleury Or, and the same impaling Or a fess Sable dauncy.---Vavasour." [1] Gervase Holles (1607-1675) of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, was a lawyer, antiquarian and politician (MP for Grimsby 1640-1642 and 1661-1675).
1457 The will of Herry Folky of Kedington, 29 Sept. 1457, states "The same Nicholas to have the lands which I laid in mortgage to Roger Bernston, esquier ('squier') for 5 marks, which 5 marks Nicholas to pay to Thomas Bernston the younger, son of the same Roger." Footnote: That is Roger Barnardiston, lord of Kedington manor, who died c. 1442, being succeeded by Thomas his son (Manors, v, 257); an abstract of the will of Thomas, made at Gt Coates, near Grimsby and pr. Dec 1461, was printed by A.Gibbons, Early Lincoln Wills (1888), pp. 179-80. ... Although Thomas evidently inherited Kedington manor from Roger his father, William his brother evidently lived there (and Thomas in Lincolnshire), for in his will Thomas left 20 marks to William, for the repair of 'my manor of Kedington.' [2]
1461 On 21 September, Thomas Barnardiston wrote his will, abstracted as "Thomas Barnardston, of Cotes Magna, esquire. Dated there, Feast of St. Matthew 1461 [21 September] [fo. 50.] To be buried in the chore of St. Nicholas Bp., Great Cotes, on the south side of the High Altar, under the window. My best horse for my mortuary. Item lego ad sustn tacionem loci sive heremitagii de Lymberghill juxta South Wyllyngham xxs. My brother Wm. Bardarston to have xx marcs for the rpair of my Manor of Kedyngton. Item vol quod in anno obitus mei celbrentur tria trigintalia Gregorij pro anima mea, by John Bedford chaplain and others whom he shall choose. Executors: my brother William Barnardston, my son Christopher Barnardston, Walter Rysse, Rob. Vicars, John Whitby, and Wm. Calu'lay. Proved at London, 4 Dec. 1461." [3]
Research Notes:
Frederick Arthur Crisp states that Thomas Barnardiston was a direct descendant of Geoffrey de Barnardiston, who received the manor of Ketton on his marriage temp. Edward I [1272-1307]. [4]
[1] The Right Rev. the Bishop Suffragan of Nottingham, "The Churches of Great Grimsby, visited by the Society on 18th and 19th of June, 1878," Reports and Papers Read at the Meetings of the Architectural Societies of the Counties of Lincoln and Nottingham, County of York, Archdeaconries of Northampton and Oakham, County of Bedford, Diocese of Worcester, and County of Leicester 14 (1878):151-166 at 165, [HathiTrust].
[2] Peter Northeast, ed., Wills of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury, 1439-1474, Volume 1, Part 1, Suffolk Records Society 44 (Ipswich: Boydell & Brewer, 2001), [GoogleBooks].
[3] Alfred Gibbons, Early Lincoln Wills ... 1280-1547 (Lincoln: James Williamson, 1888), 179, of 179-80, in the section Bishop Chedworth's Register, 1452-1472, [GoogleBooks].
[4] Frederick Arthur Crisp, ed., Visitation of England and Wales, Notes, Vol. 7 (Privately Printed, 1907), 170, [GoogleBooks].