In Spring 1535, Nicholas Poyntz, a young Tudor courtier, took a gamble on his family fortunes. Although his grandfather, Robert (1467-1520) had served as esquire to Edward IV and Chancellor to Catherine of Aragon, his grandson had greater ambitions. At just 23 he inherited the family manor at Iron Acton in Gloucestershire. Acton Court was a typical moated manor house, with a Great Hall, parlour and Great Chamber, Chapel, lodgings, service ranges and a walled garden.
Nicholas had already seen action in Henry VIII’s service. He was a close friend of Richard Cromwell, Thomas Cromwell’s favoured nephew, and of the up and coming Richard Rich, and he was in France with the king in 1532. Nicholas’ youth and temperament led to conflict with local neighbours such as John Berkeley, whose servants he accused of killing one of his rangers in Kingswood Forest and who he told Cromwell ‘has occasioned me divers time to fight with him. I have kept myself peaceably, chiefly through your command’ (LP H8, VI, 660, 684). But this bravado made him an ideal servant to Henry VIII in 1534, when the king’s break with Rome led to a revolt in Ireland and Poyntz joined his uncle, Sir John St Loe there, to quell the rebellion.
It was perhaps not surprising that a year later in the Spring of 1535 - and perhaps advised or assisted by Thomas Cromwell - Poyntz saw his opportunity. The ‘giests’ issued for Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s progress that year indicated that in August the king was scheduled to spend four days in Bristol, followed by two days ‘at Mr Poyntz’s place’ (LP H8, VIII, 989). Poyntz may well have been petitioning to be included in the progress itinerary and may already have started work creating a purpose-built lodging range and to host the king, his court and local worthies for a splendid feast and overnight stay.
There were precedents. Lodging ranges five times the size of those at Acton Court could be constructed at sites like Dartford Priory by the royal works department to a similar timescale as at Acton, albeit with up to forty masons and the same number of carpenters at work. In extreme cases, such as the lodgings constructed in just eleven weeks at St. Augustine’s, Canterbury for Anne of Cleves, up to 350 carpenters and the same number of masons were employed, with work carrying on after dark and fires lit to dry out the plaster ahead of the new Queen’s arrival.
We can imagine a similarly frantic picture at Acton Court, as Poyntz desperately sought to ensure everything was ready for the king. By creating the perfect suite of purpose-built fashionable Royal accommodation and hosting a successful feast, Poyntz would compete favourably with the court’s experience in the households of local rivals – and in-laws – the Berkeleys.
In the event, things did not turn out quite as Poyntz had planned.
Whilst the court was at nearby Thornbury Castle, news reached them that plague was rife in Bristol. The king stayed longer at Thornbury Castle than planned and the visit to Acton was in jeopardy. However, on the 23rd or the 24th August, some kind of Royal visit to Acton does seem to have taken place, with other members of the court staying at nearby Yate (another Berkeley stronghold). Did Poyntz’s painted and panelled Presence Chamber fulfil its function, hosting a great feast with the king sitting resplendent beneath its great southern window and his Cloth of Estate? Did the Privy Chamber host more private discussions or urgent business, beneath the images of the seasons; and did Henry sleep in the Bedchamber, with its painted, plastered and gilded ceiling, or look out towards the walled garden and its carved sundial, marking the hours?
Image: Throwawayhack - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 (weblink)
Something seems to have gone well for Poyntz in August 1535. He was knighted at some point between April 1535 and October 1536, and it is not impossible that Acton Court itself provided the stage set for his ennoblement. Perhaps this was also the date at which Nicholas sat for his portrait with Hans Holbein (see the image at the start of this article)?
In February 1538, he and his uncle were appointed commissioners of Kingswood Abbey, of which Nicholas had been a steward. Poyntz was desperate to buy, but his local rival (and in-law), Lady Berkeley, tried to bribe Cromwell with £100 to favour her claim. Perhaps she underestimated the influence of Nicholas’ friends, Richard Rich and Richard Cromwell.
Image: Nancy - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 (weblink)
Forced to sell local lands and stay at Court for over a month, Poyntz was finally granted Kingswood in February 1540. It was to provide the stone not only for alterations at Acton Court, but also in the later 1540s, the construction of a completely new house at Ozleworth, which became known as Newark Park.
Nicholas Poyntz continued to serve the king throughout the 1540s and 1550s. Ongoing conflict with the Berkeleys would see him serve time in the Fleet prison in 1542, but he recovered his fortunes, profited from military adventures in Scotland and served twice as sheriff of Gloucestershire and once as MP for the county. He was a close associate of Protector Somerset and when the Protector fell from favour in 1551, Poyntz came under scrutiny and spent five months in the Tower.
When Nicholas Poyntz died in November 1556 he left his widow Dame Joan charge of his six sons, five of whom were still minors, and three daughters, and his newly completed house at Ozleworth as well as the manor house at Iron Acton – a powerful symbol of the way in which Royal progress afforded opportunities for those ready to seize them – even if the king was only able to visit for one night only!
