Records of the Batemans estate, Burwash

Batemans was built in 1634 by William Langham esq who was born in 1589, son of John Langham of Northampton All Saints by his second wife Margaret, daughter of William Bramfield of Hertfordshire. He was said to be living in London by 1619 and in evidence before the archdeacon of Lewes in 1637 stated that he had been in Burwash for 12 years

Langham built up a substantial estate based on the mansion at Batemans. He also purchased the manor of Burghurst from Benjamin Wybarne in 1630 and indeed Batemans may be built on the demesne land of that manor. In addition, Langham leased Dudwell Park, Halton Farm and the manors of Burwash and Poundsford from Sir John Pelham. Langham died intestate in 1651 and the copyhold portions of his estate were inherited according to the customs of the manors of which they were held. The freehold passed to his heir Alice Langham, daughter of his brother Edward Langham of Northampton, who married Joseph Newington of Witherenden in Ticehurst; both were living at Batemans at their deaths. By the terms of Alice's will, proved in the court of the Dean of Battle in 1687 (Battle OW 28), Batemans passed to Joseph Newington of Battle gent. From that point there is a gap in the title until 1729, when Thomas Butler gent settled the property on his marriage with Elizabeth Goldsmith spinster (see 4/6 below)

Although most of Langham's estate had passed into separate hands, the Batemans holding was still intact in 1797 when it was mapped for the owner, Robert Pattenden; the survey (1/5 below) was annotated to show subsequent sales off

In 1838 Batemans and its remaining land were sold to the rev Joseph Gould, who was rector of Burwash from 1840 until his death in 1866. While in the ownership of John Alexander Macmeikan between 1892 and 1897 the property became known as The Manor House

Rudyard Kipling's first purchase in the area took place on 28 Jul 1902. He bought Batemans and its land (8a 2r 20p), Park House watermill and part of Dudwell Farm from Alexander Carron Scrimgeour for £9,300

Subsequent purchases, either in the name of Rudyard or Caroline Kipling, were all handled by their solicitor George Macdonald of Braby and Macdonald of Norfolk Street, Strand. Between 1902 and the last purchase in 1928, the Kiplings re-assembled all but the northern portion of the Batemans holding and also acquired large areas of neighbouring land, some of which had belonged to William Langham

Apart from documents of title, this archive contains papers concerning Kipling's rating appeal in 1902 (2 below), a small amount of correspondence concerning a purchase in 1905 and a table of contents written by Kipling in 1906 listing the deeds of his purchases

There is some evidence to support the contention that the Kiplings' relations with the local community were not particularly warm. Caroline Kipling wrote to Macdonald in the course of the rating dispute in Jun 1903 that Rudyard 'thinks it will be wholesome for the neighbourhood to know that he does not intend to be put upon after this flagrant fashion'. By October she considered the assessment committee's offer 'just sufficient to save our "face" with the neighbourhood' and that it was 'impossible that Rudyard should be called as a witness' (see 2/10 below)

The fourteen conveyances to Rudyard and Caroline Kipling (listed on 20/1 below) were deposited by the National Trust, Polesden Lacey, on 12 Apr 1958 and were initially listed as D82/1-14, which reference was altered to AMS5582 in 1979. On 1 Nov 1972 the Trust deposited the deeds containing the earlier title of these fourteen purchases and in 1986 it was decided, in the course of work on the deeds of the Trust's other East Sussex properties, to produce a new list of the whole under the reference AMS5982

This introduction is based on research by the Rape of Hastings Architectural Survey and on pp211 and 212 of VCH Northants Families (1906), a pedigree of Langham of Cold Ashby; for more extensive information from these sources see the deposit file. RTI/C1/1-19, correspondence files of the former Ticehurst RDC, contains some material concerning Rudyard Kipling's ownership of Batemans

Unless otherwise described, all parties to deeds are of Burwash

AMS5982/1 Batemans and adjoining land, Park House Watermill and part of Dudwell Farm, purchased 28 July 1902

AMS5982/2 Papers concerning Kipling's rating appeal, 1902 - 03

AMS5982/3 Rye Green Farm, purchased 4 Nov 1903

AMS5982/4 Little Batemans, purchased 27 Sept 1904

AMS5982/5 Upper and Lower Oxfield, purchased 27 Sept 1904

AMS5982/6 Dudwell Mill and Farm, purchased 21 Feb 1905

AMS5982/7 Land north of Batemans, purchased 21 Feb 1905

AMS5982/8 Field west of Little Batemans, purchased 11 Sept 1905

AMS5982/9 Part of Ashlands, purchased 10 Oct 1905

AMS5982/10 Brickworks and land west of Bell Alley Lane, purchased 11 Jan 1906

AMS5982/11 Reeds, purchased 1 Feb 1906

AMS5982/12 Table of contents of deed bundles, Jul 1906

AMS5982/13 The Orchard (formerly Porchester Cottage), purchased 11 Aug 1910

AMS5982/14 Fenner's Farm, purchased 20 Sept 1912

AMS5982/15 Field at Keylands, purchased 12 Nov 1925

AMS5982/16 Letter from G A Macdonald, 17 Nov 1927

AMS5982/17 Fields part of Judens, purchased 17 Sept 1928

AMS5982/18 Section 34 agreement, 3 Sept 1936

AMS5982/19 Compensation agreement, manor of Burwash, 9 Oct 1937

AMS5982/20 List of deeds at Polesden Lacey, 12 Oct 1956

Deposited by the National Trust, Polesden Lacy, 12 Apr 1958 (D267: 1/53, 3/3, 4/20, 5/21, 6/84, 7/10, 8/4, 9/4, 10/2, 11/13, 13/13, 14/1, 15/2 and 17/5 below) and by the National Trust, Queen Anne's Gate, London, 1 November 1972 (ACC 1537: remaining numbers)