EnglishandScottishFamilyHaunts

Soon after the Norman Conquest in 1066 the family of Acton took possession of Iron Acton Manor, Gloucestershire. It was to stay in their possession for almost three hundred years. The first formal records of its existence date to 1086 when agents of William the Conqueror compiling the Doomsday Survey surveyed the manor. 1

In 1344, the seventeenth year of the reign of Edward III, Sir John Acton died without male issue and his estates went to Maud de Acton (Matilda), his daughter, widow of Sir Nicholas Poyntz (c1279-1311) of Curry Mallet, Somersetshire, wife subsequently of Sir Roger de Chaundos (died 1353), of Snodhill, Herefordshire. 1, 2

Sir Nicholas was knighted in 1308. Sir Nicholas’ estates were vast and included manors in Cambridgeshire, Dorsetshire, Gloucetershire, Kent and Somersetshire. When Sir Nicholas had died his estates at Cory Mallet had passed to his eldest son Hugh, son of his first wife. When Maud died 15 Aug 1361, she left her estates at Iron Acton to her son John Poyntz.1, 2 For another 300 years the Iron Acton lands would remain in the Poyntz family

The original manor was altered drastically at least three times on the occasion of royal visits. In 1486 King Henry VII visited Sir Robert Poyntz. The house was almost completely rebuilt in 1535 on the occasion of the visit of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, while on his summer progress around the West Country. The owner of the manor, Nicholas Poyntz (c1510-1556), wanted to impress his sovereign and so, in just nine months, built a magnificent new East Wing with lavishly decorated state apartments on the existing moated manor house. 3, 5, 7 This visit was featured in the television movie "The Six Wives of Henry VIII." It is thought that during this visit the King rewarded him by making him a knight. Then in 1574, Sir Nicholas Poyntz (1528-1585) entertained Queen Elizabeth I at the manor.

One of the evidences of this visit by Henry VIII is the garderobe (privy) ---just a crude hole in a cupboard (which appears to have been widened for the royal visitor)---with a 22-foot drop down a stone shaft into the moat.7 In a collection of letters of Queen Jane is a letter, dated 18 July 1553, to Sir Nicholas commissioning him to muster forces to repress rebellion, and to repair to Buckinghamshire.6

In 1680, when Sir John Poyntz, nephew of Dorthea Poyntz, died without issue the house was then sold to William Player and converted into a small farm house. Over the years the buildings deteriorated and remained untouched until 1990 when the manor and its chapel became part of the English Heritage Conservation Program.

Excavation revealed that Acton Court, Avon “was originally an extensive moated complex of medieval buildings.”5 In 1990 archaeologists from the Oxford Laboratory using tree-ring dating were able to chart the progression of the alterations made throughout the years. Their description follows.

Iron Acton Manor “is today a massive L-shaped house of Pennant sandstone, the south and west ranges having been demolished in c. 1700. An octagonal stair turret, topped by a rectangular chamber leading into the attic, is set in the angle between the two remaining ranges. The purpose of the tree-ring dating was to disentangle several distinct phases of style within a short period of less than 50 years, as well as to confirm the archaeological interpretation of the complex interrelation of building elements. These ranges, east and north, show a marked progression of architectural detail through the sixteenth century, notably in architrave ornament. The sequence can be summarized as east range; north range; east range remodeling; and staircase. The earliest, east range is heavily buttressed, one buttress incorporating a garderobe, and comprises two stories and an attic with a gable window. The floors are carried on exceptionally large transverse timbers spanned by joists, and the roof is of simple but massive trusses with wind bracing. An unexplained sequence of very narrow rings so weakened the cores that every one broke up on drilling. Nevertheless, careful re-assembly and correlation with slices from the roof timbers showed a felling date of 1534-5.” 5

References and Sites for Further Research
1. Pamphlet on Iron Acton Church
2. The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, Ronny Bodine and Thomas Spalding
3. OFHS December 2001 Newsletter
4. Family of Poyntz, Sir John Maclean
5. Acton Court Website, http://www.winterbourne.freeuk.com/actoncourt.htm
6. List of State Papers of Queen Jane, http://tudorhistory.org/primary/janemary/app3.html
7. Pamphlet on Iron Acton Manor