The Barnardiston were 'one of the most ancient families of the equestrian order' in Great Britain, with 'a direct line of twenty-seven generations at least'.
[1] It is stated that the family held estates around Barnardiston, Suffolk (sometimes written or pronounced "Barnston") from the time of William the Conqueror.
[3] This was, according to Walter Copinger (following Richard Almack) a grant to Margary Wylghby and her son Thomas de Barnardiston.
[9] An adjoining field, called 'Butt's Close', were the remains of the archery butts, mounds of earth used for target practice.
[11][9] In Thomas Barnardiston's will, written and witnessed at Great Coates in April 1461, he requests to be buried in St. Nicholas Church 'on the north side of the altar under the window'.