The Baynard family - Lackham Countryside Centre

The Baynards of Lackham
Introduction and Acknowledgements
This history of the Baynard family, who held the manor of Lackham for just
under three hundred years, follows on from the story of the Bluet family, which
is already published 1 .
The early history of the Baynard family is briefly touched on but this is not an
in-depth investigation of the entire family and the focus moves to Wiltshire on
the marriage of Edmund Baynard to the Bluet co-heiress, Eleanor.
Unlike the Bluets, who were minor aristocracy or at least powerful barons, the
Baynards were not generally deeply involved with the doings of the high and
mighty but were of importance within the county, numbers of them being High
Sheriffs and Knights of the County / MPs.
Some of the current work appeared as the Baynard chapter in the 2005 edition
of the author’s “The Manor of Lackham” but substantial amounts of new
material tells their story is greater detail than ever before. However it is
certain that more remains to be uncovered and updates to the online version of
this work are likely to be made.
The story presented here is the result of years of research and discussion with
many people, and builds on work previously done. It is impossible to acknowledge
all who have influenced and helped but a few specific thanks are in order:
The librarians and archivists at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in
Chippenham were, as always, unfailing helpful and encouraging throughout the
study as were those in the County Record Office, Taunton (Somerset), and at
the Public Record Office, Kew.
Library staff at Chippenham Public library, those of Wiltshire College Lackham
and the Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Society in Wiltshire and
Bath Reference Library in B&NES were incredibly helpful, as were the staff at
the British Library in London. Mike Stone and his staff at Chippenham Museum
and Heritage Centre gave invaluable help and encouragement.
1 Pratt, T & Repko, K (2008) The Manor of Lackham vol 1 The Bluets: a Baronial
family and their historical connections 1066 – 1400 . Online at
http://www.lackham.co.uk/history/the_bluets_09.pdf
2