The Hammonds of St. Alban’s Court-revised 20.5.2013
Recent renovation work by Peter Hobbs, the present owner, allowed extensive archaeological investigation to be undertaken of the existing old St. Alban’s house and gardens. These have revealed a 14th century house partially rebuilt in brick in 1556 and then greatly expanded in 1666 before being returned to its medieval size in 1876 by William Oxenden Hammond. Although a manor house was previously believed to have stood on the site since Norman times or earlier. However, no evidence of occupation of the site has yet been found from before the early 14th century.
A mention of an early manor house was made in St. Alban’s Abbey records in 1399, “Manerium etiam de Esole, pene collapsum, pro majori ejus parte noviter construxit”which translates as: “Also of the Manor of Esole, almost in ruins, for the greater part newly built”, indicating repairs and/or a possible extension to an existing manor house or buildings.
In 1663 William Hammond of St. Alban’s Court leased land to James Nash, yeoman and the lease specifically excluded ‘the liber to make and burn bricks in the ffield called Beechams’, the lease is contemporary to the addition of the façade to the old houses north-eastern end in the 1660’s and indicates that bricks were needed at the time. Edward Wedlake Brayley in his 1808, “The Beauties of England and Wales, Vol. VIII” notes that “ The original front of the house was to the south east, as appears by a porch with the Hammond arms bearing the date 1556, a façade was added to the north east about 1665″.
There are indications of an extension of the brick field some two hundred yards or so to the south of the old mansion at the western edge of Beachams, or Beauchamps, Wood where there are noticeable depressions in the ground, possibly caused by the extraction of brick earth for brick-making. Wood for fuel was readily available and both water and straw could easily be bought in as needed, and nearby roads and tracks would have made for the easy transport of the finished bricks to where they were to be used.