Place:Westley, Suffolk, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Westley is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk District of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located south of Junction 42 of the A14 road providing primary access to adjacent market towns Bury St. Edmunds to the east, and Newmarket to the west. The village consists of two central roads, Fornham Lane and Hill Road, running north and south through the parish, with adjoining roads accommodating Westley's total current population of 183.

In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson, in his Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Westley as:

"Westley, a parish in Thingoe district, Suffolk; 2 miles W by S of Bury-St. Edmunds [railway] station. Post town, Bury-St. Edmunds. Acres, 1,216. Real property, £1,553. Population, 140. Houses, 29. The manor belongs to the executors of J. Lee, Esq. The living is a rectory, annexed to Fornham. The church was built in 1836"

Westley had three manors: "Sextons Manor" which is now within Bury St Edmunds; "Pembroke (or Dunham Hall)" which is thought to have stood near what is now Parson's Barn; and "Luce's (or Leo's) Hall" which was situated where Westley Hall now stands. In the reign of Henry VII of England, Pembroke Manor was held by the King's uncle Jasper Tudor. Thomas Lucas (Solicitor General to Henry VII) held Luces Hall in the village. It maybe that the spelling has over time been corrupted and was in fact Lucas Hall. Jasper Tudor (who was "Earl of Pembroke") bequeathed Pembroke Hall to his long time friend Thomas Lucas. The Lucas Family therefore owned two of the three Westley Manors. Thomas Lucas increased his local land holding by purchasing properties at nearby Little Saxham (where he built a fine manor house) and Horsecroft. Since the end of World War II the estates of both Pembroke Hall and Luces Hall have been converted to housing for residents of Bury St. Edmunds.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Westley.

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