Woolverstone Parish

Woolverstone or Wolfreston

In the time of King Edward I., this estate appears to have been crown demesne; but in the following reign, Sir Robert de Reydon, of Reydon, had a charter of free warren therein.

Richard, eldest son of Richard Catelyn, Esq , serjeant at law, by Barbara, his wife, daughter of John Spencer, of Rendlesham, in this county, Esq., was lord of Woolverstone Hall manor. He died in the 40th of Queen Elizabeth.

The dispute respecting this estate (mentioned by Mr. Kirby), after the lapse of half a century, became at length settled, by the Court of Chancery; and the property was purchased, about 1773, by William Berners, Esq., proprietor of the street in London called after his name.

In 1770, he erected upon it the present stately mansion, and died in 1783. Charles Berners, Esq., his eldest son and heir, succeeded, who died, unmarried, in 1831; and Henry Denny Berners, Archdeacon of Suffolk, his only brother, inherited; who is the present proprietor.

An interesting monument of filial affection presents itself in the park; it is a square obelisk of free stone, ninety-six feet high, surmounted by a globe, encircled with rays, erected by Charles Berners, Esq., in 1793, to the memory of his father.

The Rev. Frederick Wollaston, L.L.D., was rector of this parish, brother of Colonel William Wollaston, whom he succeeded in his estates of Finborough Hall, &c., in 1797; and grandson of Wm. Wollaston, the learned author of "The Religion' of Nature Delineated."

Dr. Wollaston was of Clare Hall, Cambridge; and upwards of twenty years lecturer of St. James's, in Bury, which he resigned in 1778. He was also one of his Majesty's Chaplains in ordinary, and a Prebendary of Peterborough; both which latter appointments he resigned a short time prior to his decease, which happened March 9, 1801.

County of Suffolk

Topographical and Genealogical, The County of Suffolk, 1844, Augustine Page

British Isles Genealogy

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