William Dod of Newstreet Lane and
Highfields
c
1537 (estimated) to 1599
DOD00071
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1537
William, the son of William Dod of
Lostford (DOD00061) and Anne (nee Chester) Dod (CHE00001), may have been born in about
1537.
1557
William’s maternal grandfather,
Hugh Chester owned Highefields Pasture, part
of 500 acres at Woodhouse Lane. The Chesters seems to have lived at Newstreet Lane. New Street Lane runs from Calverhall, a small rural village in North Shropshire, about
8 kilometres southeast of Audlem, to Market Drayton. This estate came into the
ownership of William’s father, William Senior, when he married Anne Chester.
In
1557, William Senior
made the estate over to his son, William Dod of Newstrete
Lane “in consideration of £3”. The son, William, would appear to be living with
his grandfather, Hugh Chester (his grandmother had died) perhaps helping him to
manage the estate (Baker, J Bellyse (1982), Highfields, Audlem:
Sixteenth Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families,
Audlem District History Society, page 5).
(William Dod of Losford to his son, William Dod of Newstreet
Lane, sale of Highfields pasture and other lands. 10 January in the third and
fourth years of the reign of Philip and Mary (1557)).
1568
In 1568 William married Catherine,
daughter of Magrate (Margaret) Pixley, widow of
Willaston, Salop.
The
next document to survive is a marriage settlement of 1568, between William Dod
of Newstrete Lane and Margaret Pixley, of Willaston, Shropshire, Widow. In return for making over
various parcels of land to his future wife, Catherine and any children of the
marriage in the event of his death, William received a dowry “£56.13.4 by
instalments, to be completed at the feast of Saint Michael 1569”. At the time
of their marriage, he further received “one bed” and “such decent apparel as
shall be thought decent, meet and convenient for the set Katharin.” (Baker,
J Bellyse (1982), Highfields,
Audlem: Sixteenth Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families,
Audlem District History Society, page 5).
(Marriage Certificate
between William Dod of Newstrete Lane, Shropshire and
Catherine Pixley, daughter of Margaret Pixley, of Willaston,
Shropshire, widow, 1st February in the tenth regnal year of
Elizabeth I (1568))
(Counterpart document,
Marriage Certificate between William Dod of Newstrete
Lane, Shropshire and Catherine Pixley, daughter of Margaret Pixley, of Willaston, Shropshire, widow, 1st February in
the tenth regnal year of Elizabeth I (1568))
It seems probable that
William and Katharin moved to Woodhouse Lane after their marriage (Baker,
J Bellyse (1982), Highfields,
Audlem: Sixteenth Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families,
Audlem District History Society, page 7).
1570
William Dod, of Newstead Lane (sic, recte
Newstreet), and of Highfields Hall, which he built
on Highfields pasture, c 1570, made over to him by his father 1557, married 1568,
Catherine, daughter of Margaret Pixley, widow of Willaston, Shropshire, and had
issue (Burke, John and Burke,
Sir Bernard (1836)(Eighteenth Edition, 1972), Bellyse Baker of Highfields
in Burke’s Landed Gentry, Volume 3, pages
35 to 38).
William Dod supervising the
construction of Highfields, reimagined
William and Catherine’s son George
(DOD00080) was born in or about 1570.
1574
William and Catherine’s son
Margaret (DOD00082) was born in or about 1574.
1577
William and Catherine’s son
William (DOD00081) was born in or about 1577.
1585
Later, perhaps from about in 1585
(which would make the house Elizabethan, begun at about the time of the Spanish
Armada), they built Highfields on the
Highfields pasture, though it is possible that the making building work started
during the reign of James I, by their son William (DOD00081), in
about 1615.
Certainly their elder son [there may have been an older son
George who died young], William, was baptised at Audlem and, in 1598,
married Eleanor, the daughter of John Gamul, of Buerton Hall, Lord of that
manor. The following year William’s father died and the young couple settled at
Highfields. They added the oak panelling in the best parlour and the very fine
carved fireplace, with the initials and date, WD 1615. (Baker, J Bellyse
(1982), Highfields,
Audlem: Sixteenth Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families, Audlem
District History Society, page 7).
The original house consisted of
two gabled blocks joined by a hall, the roof of which ran at right angles to
the gables, forming the well known H shape of the
period. The house faced due west and was entered by front door into the hall.
The south wing contains what was known as the “best parlour”, fully panelled in
oak and containing a very fine fireplace, largely original, with the initials
of William Dodd and the date, 1615. Two bearded heads, on plinths, on either
side of the opening are said to be the to be two Dods, but there would seem to
be no reason for supposing this to be so. The panelling of the south
(fireplace) wall and east wall is original. It is possible to see that there
was a door at some time in the latter wall. The panelling of the other two
walls is of a later date, the original having presumably been damaged. The 17th
century coffer and Georgian oak dresser are original Highfields pieces. The
blue and white dessert service on the latter is Baker and Bourne and was
probably brought by Prudence Baker in the 1840s. Behind this room is a very
fine staircase with double twist bannisters. Near the bottom of the staircase
is a small window which, if it was not blocked up, would look into the drawing
room, proving, if any proof was necessary, that this room was a later addition
to the house.
In the original north wing is what
was originally the kitchen with a heavy, canopied Yorkshire stone fireplace.
For many years it has been half panelled in oak and used as a library; more
recently as the dining room. The room was still a kitchen in 1771, when the first
William Baker refers, in his will, to his daughter Charity’s bedroom as “above
the kitchen”. In an early photograph of Highfields taken about 1680, the
kitchen extension is single storage. Behind what is now the dining room is a
second oak staircase, originally almost as fine as the first with ‘barley
sugar’ bannisters. Above both these staircases are second flights leading up
into attics, the two sides being unconnected. This arrangement would seem to suggest
that the hall had originally an open timber roof, dividing the house into two
parts. However it would be unusual for a house built in the late 16th century
to be constructed in this manner.
(Baker, J Bellyse (1982), Highfields, Audlem: Sixteenth
Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families,
Audlem District History Society, page 30).
1599
William’s son, a third William,
married in 1598 and the following year William’s father died (Baker, J Bellyse
(1982), Highfields, Audlem:
Sixteenth Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families, Audlem
District History Society, page 7).