Roger Hackett the Rector of North Crawley died in 1621 leaving his Estate to his son also named Roger. At that time Chibnall say’s that the son had been living in Franklins Farmhouse for some years, for evidence still visible in the present mansion suggests that before then he had enlarged and extensively renovated it.
Little is known about Roger personally , except that he displayed royalist sympathies during the Civil War, evidenced by a warrant of 1644 for sequestering the estates of delinquents and papists.
Roger married firstly Frances Preston of St Albans and they had a son Thomas and 3 daughters, two of whom died young. When Thomas was only 5 years old his mother died and within a few years Roger married again and Thomas acquired 3 half brothers, the oldest of which was born in 1636 named Roger 9 years younger than Thomas and apparently there was friction between the two.
After Roger extended Crawley Grange he took 17 acres of open field arable in Mill Hill Field to the south west to enlarge his home close. By doing so he deprived the villagers rights of pasture of this land and was presented to Lord Exeter’s Court in 1638. Settlement of the dispute took until 1659 when Roger’s son Thomas settled.
Roger acquired Dallows Farm (Dollars Grove) and 80 acres. sometime before 1638.
Roger settled most of his North Crawley Estate on Thomas on the occasion of his marriage to Elizabeth Nicholls in 1650 but on his death in his Will he left some parts to Roger , elder son of his second marriage.