Creake Abbey Farm
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You are here: home > The Creakes > Creake Abbey Farm
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(The following details were provided within the Folders to all who attended the
first ever Powditch Gathering at Morston, 17-19 September 2004)
"From Morston to Creake Abbey Farm"
(with a few deviations on the way)
John Powdiche, grandson of James and Anabell, had moved away from Morston before 1625, but to
which village, I have yet to discover, although there is a strong - but unresearched - possibility, that he
was living in the area bounded by Castle Acre, Newton, East and West Lexham, Norfolk. John married
Ann ... (I do not know the year, but it must have been in or before 1625, for that is when their son, also
named John, was born).
 Their son, John (surname written as Powdiche), in later years was recorded as being a ‘Tanner of
Castle Acre’, and on 3 Feb1641 at St.George’s Church, South Acre, Norfolk, he married Margaret
Bonning[e] (or Browning). John was the 4th generation Powdich from James Apowdich and Anabell,
and in turn, John and his wife were to have 4 of their own children, one of whom, Thomas (born 1640/41
at ?Lexham) was the forerunner of the family at North Creake, and at Creake Abbey Farm.
Thomas actually married twice, the first time was to Mary (her surname nor their date and place of
marriage found), but that they had at least 8 children has been recorded within several Norfolk villages,
as well as in Thomas’ Will of 1714/15. Indeed, the last two children of Thomas and Mary were both born
and baptised in North Creake Church, they being the first discovered mention of a member of the
Powdi(t)ch family being at Creake Abbey (Farm). The details were recorded within the Parish Register
(Baptisms) for North Creake Church.
The first mention of the Powdi(t)ch family in that Register was for An, the daughter of Thomas
Powdich and his wife Mary, and it was for a baptism on 16 May 1675. Regrettably An’s baptism was
followed soon afterwards by her death, when she was recorded in the Burial Register for 6 Aug of the
same year.
On 30 Nov 1677, Thomas and Mary Powidich [sic]’s daughter Frances was baptised. Fortunately
she survived, for on 1 Dec 1694, at St George’s Tombland (Norwich) she married Bartholomew Potter.
However, Thomas Powdich’ wife, Mary, didn’t fare so well, for she died on 20 Jul 1678, and was the
2nd member of the Powdich family to be buried at North Creake Church.
Although after Mary’ died,Thomas waited a decent period before he married again (a few days
later !), his new wife, Frances Newarke, whom he married at Holkham Church, didn’t bear him any
children.
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With the exception of An and Frances, Thomas and Mary’s other 6 children (only 3 of whom were sons),
it is believed but not proven (principally due to Parish Registers having ‘disappeared’) that they were
born in either East or West Lexham (Norfolk). What is certain however, is that Thomas and Mary’s son,
John, married Priscilla Clayton, daughter of the armigerous John Clayton, at Wells-next-the-Sea, on
26 Nov 1690 (the event being recorded in both the Wells and North Creake Marriage Registers).
Of John and Priscilla’s own 3 children (2 boys and 1 girl), Thomas Powdidge married (Alice
?Nelson), John remained single, and died a bachelor aged 28 years old, whilst Mary died at the
early age of 3 years old.
Although Thomas Powdich/Powdidge’s Will demonstrates his astuteness in life - as had the Wills of
both his father and grandfather’s before him - that he died at the age of 56 meant that his widow,
Alice, was left to make some very difficult decisions, especially regarding the family’s landed estate.
Unfortunately however, and by virtue of her sons having moved from the family home before their father
had died, and of their then following different ‘occupations’, the continuance of Creake Abbey Farm
being in the same family’s occupation, with specific members renewing the “Colledge Lease” every
time it became available, was all too much for the aging Alice, as the several codicils to her Will testify.
Due to both a fire and a terrible illness which caused the death of all of its inhabitants in the 1400s,
both of which led to its eventual demise, Creake Abbey and its substantial lands were - during the early
1500s - acquired by Lady Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. She in turn endowed the land on Christ’s
College, Cambridge - rededicated thus in 1505 - which, in turn, leased out the land and its buildings
on a regular basis.
 Exactly when Thomas Powdich first acquired the lease of Creake Abbey Farm and its lands is currently
not known, although it is recorded within many records of North Creake that he most certainly had been
resident in the area sometime before 1674, for in December of that year, he appeared within the
Churchwardens’ Accounts book as being a ‘Surveyor’ at North Creake, whilst a little while afterwards,
he was chosen by the ‘Town’, to be a Churchwarden.
That the Powdich family were at North Creake and lived at Creake Abbey Farm is reflected in the
documents which exist from their pre-1674 to approximately 1771 dates, most of them now held either
in the N.R.O. within Archives at Christ’s College , Cambridge, or in private hands, some (but not all) that
I’ve been privileged over the years to access and transcribe.
Years ago, I remember writing to Col.Richardson (a previous owner of Creake Abbey Farm)
regarding an old ‘family tradition’, that if the old oak tree in front of the house was cut down in one night
by a Powditch, that the house and lands would come back into Powditch ownership. As I said to him,
the latter sounds like a mixture of an old folk tale mixed in with a sort of family tale; as he said in his
reply to me, “What oak tree”!
© John C Algar 2004
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