Sai! U ,»0'>- j-p .i^l .^p. BT / /: ( ,■ ■ (' ^ a'lIDf jW'RlIS^Tn^ S^'^j ^ /> /^ (if (Tnmti) C'lilinu' C'"ilml^rl^al^ HISTORY COUNTY OF ESSEX. PREFACE. In the present M'^ork our object has been to supply to the people of Essex a complete and modern History of their County. The only history of Essex which enjoyed any degree of reputation was that of Morant — a reputation by no means undeserved : but it is now an old book ; a long chapter of the manorial history has passed over since it was published ; many things are changed, and many are changing ; and, in not a few instances, Morant himself is in error, and his accounts incomplete. Such being the case, it was not probable that the want of a New History should have been supplied by a bare reprint of Morant, without any additions or corrections. Generally speaking, in the manorial history, we have taken Morant's account as the foundation of our own, correcting his statements, and continuing the history, whenever our own researches, and the kindness of the gentlemen of Essex, has enabled us to do so. To ensure the accuracy of our descriptions, — a point in which Morant is peculiarly deficient, — the county has been personally visited, and its beauties and peculiarities noted down. The statistics have been given, in every instance, from the best and latest reports. With all the care which can be given to the subject, it is next to impossible that such a work can be without errors ; and the fact, that things are always changing, will explain why, before our book VOL. I. a 2 iv PREPACK. was finished, many things had ceased to be as they were when it beo-an. We have always solicited from our Subscribers who were constantly on the spot the favour of a correction of such errors ; and, bv their aid, with what we have been able to collect ourselves, we have endeavoured, as far as we could, to supply all such defici- encies by a brief Appendix at the end. That our History might not be deficient in pictorial embellishments, the whole county has been traversed by an able artist, employed for the purpose, and we trust that he has produced a Series of Views which are far from being unworthy of the patronage of the public. We cannot feel too deeply the liberality and kindness which has been every where shown towards us by the gentlemen of the county of Essex during the progress of our undertaking. Among those to whom we are under more especial obligations, are — the Rev. Charles Fisher, Ovington ; the Rev. E. W. Mathew, Vicar of Coggeshall ; John NichoUs, Esq. Islington ; Thomas AValford, Esq. Harsted Hall ; the Rev. R. L. Page, Pantfield ; the Rev. Thomas Gee, Thaxted ; W. W. Francis, Esq. Solicitor, Colchester ; the Rev. H. Stewart, Bumsted Steeple ; Francis Bannester, Esq. Maldon ; the' Rev. W. Myall, Finch- ingfield ; the Rev. H. Soames, Shelley ; George Shaw, Esq. Solicitor, Billericay : and the Rev. J. Wilkinson, of Audley End, to whom we owe our history of Saffron Walden. THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ESSEX. INTRODUCTION. 1 GENERAL APPEARANCE, SCENERY, SOIL, AGRICULTURE, GEOLOGY, &C. The county of Essex is large, populous and fruitful; enjoying, in its excellent Situation, oil 1 ■ 1 1 etj-raology roads, ready conveyance by water-carriage, and neai'ness to the capital, advantages bound- rarely met with in any other part of the kingdom. Its name is derived from eapt- extent!"' Seaxa and eapr-Sexrcirie, two names given to it by the Saxons, who settled and divided this district, and erected it into a kingdom. From east to west its extent is about sixty miles, and from north to south fifty ; the circuit of its boundaries is about 225 miles; its contents, nearly 1,240,000 acres. According to the new map of the Board of Ordnance, it contains 942,720 acres. The estimate in the returns of poor-rates makes the amount 976,000 acres. It lies between 51° 30' and 52° 15' north latitude. This county is nearly on all sides encompassed by water : the Stour, rising not far from Haverhill, on the confines of Cambridgeshire, determines its northern limit, bordering Suffolk ; not far from its source, this stream expands and forms a lake, or mere, giving its name to the parish of Sturmere. At Watsey Bridge it is joined by two nameless streams, and by the Brett, near the town of Sudbury ; and en- larging as it flows, passes through some of the most pleasant parts of the comities it separates ; it meets the tide at Manningtree, and exceedingly increasing in breadth, presents a fine expanse, at high water, to the beautiful seat and surrounding grounds of Mistley Thorn. At Harwich it joins the Orwell, from Ipswich, and both these rivers fall into the sea beneath the batteries of Languard Fort, on the Suffolk shore. The rivers Lea and Stort, forming its western boundary, separate Essex from parts of Cambridgeshire and Middlesex, the Lea falling into the Thames a little VOL. I. B 2 HISTORY OF ESSEX. below Stepney; and the great river Thames, on its southern border, and, on the east, the German Ocean, give every advantage that can distinguish a maritime district. Rivers. Various other rivers, and numerous running streams enliven and fertilize this county. The Colne rises in the parish of Redgwell, and in its course passes by the Heddinghams, Halstead, the Colnes, and Colchester; after which it receives two considerable brooks from the vicinity of Fingrinhou and Brightlingsea, and dis- charges itself into the sea between St. Osith and the isle of Mersey. The Blackwater, or Pant, rises in the parish of Depden, on the borders of Cam- bridgeshire, and flows south-eastward by Radwinter, Great Bardfield, Bocking, Coo^eshall, Kelvedon, and Wickham Mills ; receiving the influx of various sti-eams in its course, it joins the Chelmer at Maiden, and both together enter the bay called Blackwater, and the sea, between Mersey and Bradwell. The Chelmer rises in Chickney, or Henham, and running south-east by Thack- stead, Dunmow, Felstead, and Great and Little Waltham, passes the tow^n of Chelmsford, where, being joined by the Can, it proceeds eastward till it reaches the estuary at Maldon. The Crouch flows fi-om two springs in Little Burgsted and Langdon, and running east divides the hundreds of Rochford and Dengey, and partly those of Barstable and Chelmsford : it falls into the sea between Foulness and the salt marshes below Burnham. The Rodon descends from the centi'al part of the county, rising at Little Easton, near Dunmow ; passing southward through an extensive tract to which it gives the name of the Rodings, it makes a compass to the west, at Chipping Ongar under Woodford hills in Epping Forest, and turns again to the east by Wanstead ; and having pursued its course through a pleasant vale adorned with handsome villages and superb mansions, it flows through a level district, by Ilford and Barking, to the Thames. The Cam is composed of two branches, one of which rises on the borders of Bedfordshire, the other, bearing the classic name of the Granta, has its source in Quendon ; and flowing northward through the highly ornamented grounds of Audley End, Chesterford and Icaldun, hastens with its sister stream towards Cambridge. The most considerable of these rivers, the Stour, the Colne, the Pant, the Chelmer and the Rodon, rise in the north-west part of the county ; and flowing from thence, ^s from the highest gi-ound, the first easterly, the three next east and by south, and the two others southerly, discharge themselves into the sea and the river Thames. The Ingreburn passes by Upminster and Raynham ; and numerous brooks and rivulets add to the beauty and fruitiulness of almost every parish in the county. INTRODUCTION. 3 It is observed by an esteemed author, " that the banks of rivers, and tlie heights Scenery which command them, almost exclusively monopolize the beauty, and compose the """^ ^ '"''''' characteristic features of every country ; the nature of the sti'eam and its suiToundin^ objects deciding the qualities of romantic scenery ; rich plains and pastures ; abun- dant manufactures, and consequent populousness. Capital towns and cities are seldom elsewhere placed; the fine seats of our nobihty flourish most on these stations ; the castle, whose proud ruin we contemplate with so much interest, gene- rally commands these passes ; and the ivyed abbey is always dependant on its con- tiguous stream. The spire of the rustic village nowhere looks so pleasing, nor have woods ever so strong an effect, as on the banks of rivers. The progress also of a navigation, and tlie increase of a large stream to an estuary, presents great variety of scenery ; and the ports which generally gi'ace its exit to the sea, with their attendant shipping, form interesting objects." These observations may not im- properly be applied to the scenery of Essex, which presents an extensive sea coast, with an ever-varying succession of rural landscapes bordering its numerous rivers, flowing beside as handsome villages as are to be found in the kingdom, and the princely residences of noblemen and wealthy citizens. The finest scenery of Essex is in the liberty of Havering. The road from Romford to Brentwood exhibits views highly attractive and beautiful, and more particularly so in the vicinity of Dagenham Park, and from Thorndon to Epping and Havering Bower. In this district a perpetual variety is presented of hill and dale, thickly wooded, with much fine timber; and gentlemen's houses are seen in every direction, and ornamental plantations, and rich meadow ground. The vale between Hockley and Raleigh, bounded by distant higher gi-ounds, is well wooded and richly cultivated. The most extensive view in Essex is from the brow of Langdon, which is be- Hills, lieved to present the finest prospect in England. The ascent on the northern side of this eminence is gradual and easy ; but on the south, south-cast, and south-west, the ti-aveller is astonished at the descent before him, which exhibits a very beautiful and extensive scene, with London to the right, the Thames winding through the vale, and to the left the river Medway. Mr. Young, in his Southern Tour, gives us the following animated description : " On the summit of a vast hill, one of the most astonishing prospects to be beheld, breaks out almost at once upon one of the dark lanes. Such a prodigious valley, everywhere painted with the finest verdure, and intersected with numberless hedges and woods, appears beneath you, that it is past description ; the Thames wdnding through it, full of ships, and bounded by the hills of Kent. Nothing can exceed it, unless that which Hannibal exhibited to his dis- consolate troops, when he bade them behold the glories of the Italian plains ! If ever a turnpike road sliould lead through this country, I beg you will go and view 4 HISTORY OF ESSEX. this enchanting scene, though a journey of forty miles is necessary for it. I never beheld anything equal to it in the West of England, that region of landscape !" This turnpike road is not now wanting to augment the pleasure of the traveller who may be inclined to gratify a laudable curiosity, and feel the emotions ap- proaching to sublimity, which swell the heart when contemplating scenes of immense extent. The view from Danbury is also extensive and interesting in a high degree ; and the town of Maldon is picturesquely situated on an eminence. The elevated gi'ound at Pm-fleet, formed by a chalk-cliff projecting to the Thames, exhibits before us a prospect full of business, shipping and animation, agi'eeably diversified by a mixture of rural scenery. At Southend the river is five miles in vridth, and the high lands of Sheppy are seen beyond, and the lower coast of Kent ; and opposite is the mouth of the Medway. At high water, when many great ships are at anchor, and their swelling sails are seen in every direction, the view from the cliff on which the terrace is built is strikingly beautiful. From the mouth of the Thames, which may be fixed at the Nore, betweeen Leigh in Essex and Sheerness in Kent, the shore of Essex receding, turns abruptly to face the east, indented by the bays formed by the Crouch, the Blackwater, and the Colne. It tlien inclines rather southward, but resumes its eastward direction to its union with Suffolk, where the estuaries of the Stour and Orwell form their gulf around the port of Harwich. Canals and On the banks of the river Stour, from Harwich to Shoebury, a varied prospect tions. presents itself, rich in scenes of cultivation on the rising hills, in every direction ; towns, villages, farms and rural dwellings forming a highly pleasing landscape. In a county which may with propriety be called maritime, it could not be expected much occasion would be found for canals ; yet some works of this kind have been constructed, communicating with tlie meti'opolis, and considerable river-na\'igations have been formed, which have been highly beneficial to trade and commerce. The Rodon is navigable to Ilford Bridge ; a canal navigation is formed between the Thames, the Stort, and the Lea ; the Stour is navigable to Sudbui'y ; the Crouch is about a mile in breadth near Burnham, and a large vessel may go up to Hull Bridge. The great estuaiy of the Blackwater extends twelve miles into the counhy, and is made navigable to Chelmsford. Canals fi'om Maldon to Braintree, and from Colchester to Halstead, have been proposed ; and also from Lynn by Norwich, to pass through the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, to London; a communication has also been intended between Cambridge and Bishop's Stortford, and this project, it is believed, will be ultimately successful. INTRODUCTION. 5 The natural divisions of this district are into continent and islands, the latter more Natural considerable in number than extent; they border partly on the German Ocean and j! • j'^'^''" partly on the river Thames. Of these, the island of Mersey, or Mersea, is the most Divisions, valuable ; it lies between the river Colne and the Blackwater, about ten miles south of Colchester. It measures about five miles from east to west, and two from north to south. In the hundred of Rochford, are, Foulness, Wallasey, Potten, Havenoore, and New England, contiguous to each other ; to the east and south-east of these is the German Ocean ; to the west, part of the hundred of Rochford ; and Rochford town is distant about five miles. Canvey Isle is toward the south-west, near the mouth of the Thames, and surrounded by branches of that river The great divisions of the county, called hundreds, are fourteen ; beside which, there are five large portions called half-hundreds, and the royal liberty of Havering. The sub- divisions, called parishes, are 400 in number, including the sixteen of Colchester. There are twenty-five towns in Essex, usually called market towns, yet several of these are small and of little importance. Those who are inclined to speak with complacency of the general characteristics General of this county, may boast that its even surface, if it give it a less varied and pictu- ''PP'^''"'- resque appearance, yet secures it from some of the defects of other parts of the country, where a rapid succession of hills and vales proves highly incommodious. This distinct is neither composed of light sand, which the wind may disperse, nor does it present the dreary aspect of barren rocks and mountains; neither is its surface a dead level, but agi'eeably diversified with moderately rising ground and fi-uitful vales ; hence it is, with suitable materials, well adapted to the formation of good roads ; and these advantages have been so well improved, that it may safely be asserted no better roads are to be found in England. They are particularly excellent throughout Tendring hundred, and incomparably so in that of Dengey, in which the unwearied exertions of the celebrated cultivator and rural economist, the Rev. Bate Dudley, laid the substantial foundation of their present superior ex- cellence. This county is in general abundantly supplied with water, yet complaints have Wells and been made that none is to be found but of a bad quality in the district called the (^""rf^ "' Hundreds, or in Rochford and Dengey, or near the banks of the Thames; and that to the islands, in general, all the water for domestic uses and for the cattle must be brought fi-om a considerable distance. To this circumstance, and to pernicious exhalations arising fi-om the stagnant marshes, are attributed, chiefly, the causes of the unhealthiness of these places. And it is stated by Mr. Vancouver, that " from the situation, general structure, and materials of the islands, they can aflbrd no springs of water." The same remark has also been applied to the embanked marshes in general, and it is certain that springs are rarely found in such situations ; yet by 6 HISTORY OF ESSEX. persevering attempts some persons have found a supply of water under very unfavourable circumstances. The Rev. Mr. Nottidge succeeded in procuring an abundant supply of good water at the depth of 500 feet ; and in the parish of Lachingdon the same purpose was attained by a well of 300 feet. The learned Derham, while resident at Upminster, made the following observa- tions relative chiefly to the springs of Essex : — Origin of " That springs have their origin from the sea, and not from rains or vapours, among many other strong reasons, I conclude fi'om the perennity of divers springs, which always afford the same quantity of water. Of this sort there are many to be found everywhere ; but I shall, for an instance, single out one in the parish of Up- minster, where I live, as being very proper for my pm-pose, and one that I have had opportunity of making remarks upon for above twenty years. This in the greatest droughts is little, if at all diminished, although the ponds all over the country, and an adjoining brook, have been dried up for many months together ; and in the wettest seasons I have not observed any increment of its stream. Now, if this spring had its origin fi'om rain and vapours, there would be an increase and decrease of the one as there should happen to be of the other ; as actually it is in such tem- porary springs as have undoubtedly their source from rain and vapours. Besides this, another considerable thing in the Upminster spring (and thousands of others) is, that it breaks out of so inconsiderable an hillock, or eminence of ground, that can have no more influence in the condensation of the vapours, or stopping the clouds, than the lower lands about it have. By some critical observations I made with a very nice barometer, I found that my house stands between eighty and ninety feet higher than the low-watermark in tlie river Thames nearest this place; and that part of the river being scarcely thirty miles fi-om the sea, I guess that we cannot be much above 100 feet above the sea. The springs I judge nearly level with, or but little higher, than where my house stands ; and the lands from whence it immediately issues, I guess, about fifteen or twenty feet higher than the spring : and the lands above that of no very remarkable height. And indeed, by actual measure, one of the highest hills I have met with in Essex is but 363 feet high, (see Phil. Trans. No. 313, p. 16.), and I guess, by some very late experiments, that neither that nor any other land in Essex is more than 400 feet above the sea. Now, what is so inconsiderable a rise of land to a perennial condensation of vapours, fit to maintain even so inconsiderable a fountain as that I have mentioned is ? or indeed the high lands of the whole, large county of Essex, to the maintaining of all its fountains and rivulets ? " I am told by persons conversant in digging wells in the county of Essex where I live, that the surest beds in which they find water, are gravel and coarse dark- coloured sand, which beds seldom fail to yield plenty of sweet water ; but for clay, INTRODUCTION. 7 they never find water therein if it be a strong stiff clay, but if it be lax and sandy, sometimes springs are found in it, yet so weak that they will scarcely serve the use of the smallest family. And sometimes they meet with those beds lying next under a loose black mould (which, by description, I judge to be a sort of oaze, or to have the resemblance of an ancient rushy ground), and in that case the water is always exceedingly bad. And lastly, another sort of bed they find in Essex, in the clayey lands, particularly that part called the Rodings, which yields plenty of sweet water ; and that is a bed of white earth, as though made of chalk and white sand. This they find after they have dug through forty or more feet of clay ; and it is so tender and moist that it will not lie upon the spade, but they are forced to throw it into the bucket with bowls ; but when it comes up into the air, it soon becomes a hard white stone. " Upon inquiring of some skilful workmen, whose business it is to sink wells, whether they had ever met with the like case, they told me they had met with it in Essex, where, after they had dug to fifty feet depth, the man in the well observed the clayey bottom to swell, and begin to send out water ; and stamping witli his foot to stop its progress, he made way for a stream so powerful, that before he could get into the bucket it rose above his waist, and soon ascended to seventeen feet in height, and there stayed ; and although they often with great labour endeavoured to empty the well in order to finish their work, yet they could never do it, but were forced to leave it as it was." — Derkam's Pliys. Tlieol. vol. i. The extraordinary success which has attended the new mode of forming artificial Boring tor springs by boring holes in the earth, tends strongly to confirm the reasoning of Mr. Derham on this subject. It is not to be doubted tliat the modes by which natural springs are formed, in diflferent parts of the world, are varied, as the face of the earth varies ; and it is not easy to conceive how perennial springs of water can be produced in a flat country like some parts of Essex, but by filtration through sand beds communicating with the lower parts of the sea, or the beds of deep rivers. Be this as it may, the new mode of boring for springs is generally successful, and found of great utility in this county. The expense is not near so much as wells and pumps, and in supplying a constant stream, is found far more convenient. In Chelmsford and the neighbourhood, there are said to be about forty of these springs, in which the water is raised from a depth of fi'om two to three hundred feet ; and in situations where wells had formerly been sunk to the depth of fi-om three to five hundred feet, this mode of supplying water has also succeeded. In Wallasey, and some other of the islands, springs have also been formed by boring to a very con- siderable depth. Fuel in this country consisted formerly almost entirely of wood; but tlie quantity Fuel. of coal used has continued to increase, and the price of wood has advanced nearly 8 HISTORY OFESSEX. ill the proportion of three to one during the last fifty years. Formerly, wood was the only fuel of the poor, but gentlemen and tradespeople always used both wood and coals. At present, coal is every where gaining upon wood among almost all classes. This is attributable in some degree to the lower rate of carriage by canals, especially since the opening of the navigation between Chelmsford and Maldon. .Manufac- The woollen manufacture was formerly of some importance here, but has continued tures. j.^ decline, and is exceedingly diminished. Some silk manufactures of different kinds are carried on in several towns toward the metropolis, and the bag and sacking manu- factures are always in a tolerable state. At Gosfield a straw-plait manufacture has been introduced by the Marquis and Marchioness of Buckingham, which fully answers the benevolent purpose of contiibuting to the comfortable subsistence of the poor. Soil. In the soil every species of loam, from the mildest to the most stubborn, is found; nor is the county without a portion of light gravelly land, or a good share of meadow and marsh ground, the greatest part of which, under good management, is found to be very productive. Mr. Vancouver has divided the whole into fourteen districts, each distinguished by a peculiarity of soil ; but Mr. Young, in the Agricultural Survey, not considering these divisions to be marked with sufficient accuracy, has reduced the whole into eight disti-icts: — 1. The crop and fallow district of strong loam, including the Rodings. 2. The maritime district of fertile loam. 3. 4, and 5. Three disti-icts of strong loam, not peculiar in management. 6. The turnip land district. 7. The chalk district. 8. The district of miscellaneous loams. Of these disti-icts, the first is a strong, wet, heavy, reddish, or brown loam, upon a whitish clay marl bottom ; it yields very little without hollow draining and good management. The standard husbandry is, first fallow, second wheat, third fallow, fourth barley; this course is called crop and fallow, and is universally found to succeed best in this disti-ict, which extends over the greater part of the hundred of Dun- mow, including the parishes called the Rodings. It is a hilly district, in which the surface loam in the vales is dryer and better than on the hills ; but the general featm'e is a wet loam on a clay marl bottom. The kind locally called red land is of a very inferior quality. The district No. 2 exhibits the characteristics of a very rich loam, similar to what is found in Norfolk and several maritime counties, but nowhere except on the sea coast, or bordering rivers: commencing at Bradfield and Manningtree, it follows the coast, including Mersey Island, and surrounding the Blackwater; it resembles the dry loams of Flanders. INTRODUCTION. 9 The same fine impalpable loams are found at Oakley, heavy and strong, but rich . Soil. at Maiden and Goldanger, fields close to the sea wall are of an excellent quality, and the crops abundant. Generally to the south of Maldon is strong land; to the north, light turnip loam; and the marshes hereabouts not good grazing land. The far greatest part of the ground from Langdon to Goldanger (called the flat) is arable. Immediately below the town and hill of Maldon is an extensive tract of marshes ; these are of an inferior soil ; yet they are better than those of the northern shore. Mersey Island is distinguished by a sandy loam, very rich and fertile. The land joining the marshes is frequently a light sandy soil. The land of Foulness Island is tlie richest in the county, and the other islands are generally of a similar description, as well as the low lands of the coast in general. The 3d, 4th, and 5th districts are the strong wet lands, and are partly in the north-west division of the county, from Wethersfield to Hempstead, and about Hedingdam, Haverhill, Clare, Belchamp Walter, Yeldam, and Tottersfield. Much of this land is very wet and stiff, interspersed with some of a dryer and superior description. Wigborough, Peldon, and a few other adjoining places have strong soil ; and Layer de la Haye is, at least a third of it, a fine light turnip land. Another division of this description of soil is at Dengey, Rockford, and from Hanningfield, on the western extremity, to Southminster, on the eastern; and from near Maldon to Pitsey; also, at Latchingdon and Snorum; Hockley, in Rochford hundred; Raleigh, Hadleigh, Thundersley, and Pitsey; and from Billericay, by Rainsden and Downham, to Wickford. The district. No. 6, includes the dry country surrounding Colchester, which is perfectly well adapted to turnip culture ; it extends east and west fi"om Stanway to the Bromleys, and north and south, from Mistley to Fingringhoe. An additional tract of similar soil extends towards Bures ; and parts of Copdock, Stanway, and Lexden, are also a loamy sand on a gravelly bottom. The land about Beerchurch, Manningtree, Ardleigh, and Lawford, is of this description of soil. The chalk district. No. 7, is in the north-west corner of the county, at Elmdon and Sti-ethall, and at Heydon and Crishal Granges; at which latter places a stratum of gravel occurs : the whole of these must be considered as a continuation of the chalk districts of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. From within a mile of Walden, the chalk stratum extends by Audley-End to the hills of Littlebury, and beyond the Chesterfords ; and about Audley-End the hills are all chalk. On these hills the soil is thin, and will only support forest ti-ees in particular places; the cultivators, therefore, are careful not to plough too deep; and they have a proverb — Good Elm, good Barley : good Oak, good Wheat. The 8th district includes the greater part of the internal and main body of the VOL. I. C 10 HISTORY OF ESSEX. county, which is so intermixed with a variety of loams, that no separation can with pcopriety be made. At Foxhearth, Leiston, and Borely there is much sand; at Lamarsh some very rich sandy loam ; a fine white sandy loam also occurs at Bulmer and Belchamp Walter. At the Hedinghams and Halstead, rich vales under hops ; at Markshall, and some other places, strong clays; at Wickham Bishop sound sandy loams; around Chelmsford very good turnip land. From Thorndon to the Thames district, hea\7 and wet. The potatoe district, near London, is, in a gi'eat measure, of artificial formation; and in the broad space fi-om Hanningfield to Waltham Abbey, every sort of soil is to be met with. Embank- The Essex coast, as it borders both the Thames and the Sea, is protected by an ""^"'^ embankment, except at Harwich, South End, and Purfleet; and these exceptions are of trifling extent. These works are generally old; yet there a few instances where the sea has retired, and the ground gained in those places is protected. However, on the south coast of Tendring hundred, no such acquisitions have been made ; and the inhabitants are apprehensive that the sea has a strong disposition to resume some of its former encroachments. In Foulness, and the neighbouring islands, regular steps of ascending planes are distinctly to be traced from the first embankments ; rising in richness and in height to the present Saltings. These are still open to the sea, and liable to a slight overflomng from the top of the spring tides ; and as every tide makes an increase in their height, by depositing its sediment, and the annual process of the growth and decay of vegetables also adds to the soil, these marshes in a few years will be raised to the highest level of the tides, and thus, without the industry of man, will the sea be made to retire further from the cultivated enclosures. Agriculiu- The farmers of Essex are reckoned among the best in the kingdom ; and the land and course is of a superior kind, with a diversity of soil requiring different modes of ti-eatment. of crops. 'pjjg principal productions are wheat, barley, oats, beans, pease, turnips, tares, rape, mustard, rye-grass, and trefoil. Many acres are also devoted to the cul- tivation of hops, caraway, coriander, teazel, and various other plants. In the course of crops, and mode of preparation, great diversity prevails in the culture of wheat : on some lands this is not found so good a crop after beans as after clover ; but generally it is found good after beans which have been fallowed for. Excellent crops are got after two well-hoed crops of beans, and superior to that after fallow. The land well-dressed after tares is a sure preparation for a good wheat crop on most lands. In some others, late-sown crops of wheat after beans are attacked by mildew. Drilling and dibbling are modes considerably practised, but found highly mischies'ous in wet lands ; ti-ansplanting of wheat has also been practised, but not extensively. The finest wheat crops are those sown in September, and the earliest sown are the best. Late sown crops are subject to mildew ; yet, on dry turnip soils, some have found INTRODUCTION. 11 October the best time for sowing. The average produce is 24| bushels per acre. Mode of The preparation for barley upon strong lands is a fallow ; and upon dry lands, turnips, '"'^''^"'''■y " This" (says Mr. Young) " is the uniform management of the county. Beans, pease, and tares are sometimes preparatory to it; but no where the standard management. For one acre of wheat put in on a fallow, there are fifty of barley and oats ; and I must remark that this is a very capital feature of merit. It was not thus formerly, for wheat on fallows was general ; but the enlightened cultivators of Essex have completely convinced themselves that wheat on fallows was barbarous management." The time of sowing barley is from January to May ; the most common time is March, which, on account of the uncertainty of the weather, is safest. The broad-cast sowing is generally preferred to drilling. The produce of barley is, on an average, 33j bushels per acre. The culture of oats is much the same as barley. The custom of making this grain an after, or, as it is called here, an etch crop, is universally reprobated, and rarely practised. Drilling is frequently adopted for this gi'ain ; and the time of sowing as early as possible, on a spring ploughed fallow. The average produce is SQ\ bushels per acre. Beans and pease are of great importance to the Essex farmer, and no land in England is better adapted to their growth. The crops alternate with fallow barley or wheat, on land properly prepared. They never plant beans ^vithout mucking. They dibble Windsors in rows eighteen inches by ten ; or they dibble three rows on two-bout ridges, seven inches from hole to hole, putting two or three beans in a hole. Drilling is much practised, and hoeing is indispensable. The average produce of beans is 27 bushels per acre. Pease are usually drilled at twelve inches. The hoe is diligently used in the culture of the pea; the average produce 20\ bushels per acre. Tui-nips are largely cultivated, in which the drill husbandry is preferred. The sea air is found to preserve them from the mildew; and Mr. Kitcher, of Burnham, finds that steeping the seed in a mixture of water and black brimstone the night before sowing, and sowing as soon as di'y, always prevents the fly. In almost every part of the county there is a portion of cabbages cultivated; yet we seldom see a large field of this useful vegetable. Potatoes are largely cultivated for the London market in those parts nearest its vicinity. An exti-act from a letter addressed to Mr. \ oung, from Mark Hall, by M. Burgoyne, Esq. conveys important information on the rural economy of the county : " I readily give you this sketch of my farm, and a few remarks on the agriculture of this part of the country. I am soiTy to observe, that your correspondents have one general defect ; they report their brilliant successes, but not a word of their failures. I have farmed, more or less, above thirty years, generally in rather an extensive way ; but have always found myself actuated by a fondness for experiment, and an anxiety for discovery. In this pursuit I have too often met with disappointment. The result of all agricultural experiments 12 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Agricultu- ral expe- riments. Imple- ments in husbandry. depends so much on weatlier, and other subordinate circumstances, that I have often had the mortification to discover, that what may be right in one season may be wrong in anotlier. The hfe of man is almost too short to enable us to decide. At present, I occupy about 300 acres of arable, and 200 of pasture. The greatest part of my farm was originally good land, and is become much better by improvement. Of the arable, about two-thirds may be called a heavy loam, and requires hollow- ditching, which you know we do in Essex to perfection. Forty acres of this land being almost covered with meadow crowfoot, I was tempted to break it up in 1 804 ; since which time, owing to my not paring and burning, I have lost every thing. The wire worm, not content with his ravages on my oats the first year, attacked my pease and oats the second, whilst it was not in the power of my horse-hoe, in the last summer, to keep clean that part of the land which was sown with beans ; in con- sequence of which, I am reduced to what you reprobate so much — a complete summer fallow. You will start when I tell you, that of my 300 acres, I have ninety acres of fallow, about half of which only is intended for turnips and cabbages. You will start more when I tell you, that I ought to have fallowed twenty acres more. Say I am a bad farmer, but you will not deny that I am a candid correspondent. Fallows, perhaps, may not be necessary so often as our leases require; but I have just as much expectation of finding the philosopher's stone, as of discovering a mode of farming without fallows. The common Essex spring-plough, made at Billericay, by Clarke, is, I think, the plough best adapted to our soil. I have one of these much improved and strengthened by that ingenious agiicultural mechanic, Mr. Mark Duckett, whose various implements have afibrded more benefit to agriculturists than to himself. I shall have much pleasure in showing you the diflTerent tools conti'ived by him, at my ploughing competition, where, on the 27th and 28th of June, I shall be much disappointed if I do not see you. I shall be glad to show you the drilling and horse-hoeing performed by them. I would, however, strongly recommend the utmost caution in the use of the latter. Last year I persevered too late in the use of the horse-hoe, and have reason to think that I injui'ed my crops. In very light soils less caution is necessary ; but in those which are inclined to become stiff" and hard, the time should be taken when the soil is in a proper state. I am making several experiments on the distances of the drills, and cannot help entertaining some fond hopes that the produce will be in favour of the eighteen inches over the nine. Last year I clearly ascertained that jwint on a rood of barley, where it was one in ten in favour of the eighteen inches. I find much advantage fi'om horse-hoeing my red clover; it not only becomes stronger, but is equally productive the second year. I gi-ow large quantities of tares, and have a difficulty in saying, whether they are more beneficial in their produce, or by their effects on the succeeding crops. If my land be tolerably clean, I have a crop of tares before my turnips, and often before INTRODUCTION. 13 my wheat. One of the first things in the management of a farm is a due attention to iManure manures, and very few farm-yai-ds ai-e well adapted to this object. To remedy the bad situation of mine, I have cesspools on different levels, which receive all the dung-water. I have a small movable pump, which I empty into a water-cart ; and in case this should be neglected, I have pipes which convey this dung-water on a meadow. Having a mixture of heavy and light land, I carry my heavy on my light soil, and my light on my heavy. I generally burn my headlands and all my rubbish earth, and light weeds, &c.; and find much advantage from their ashes. I have a large flock of Southdown sheep, which have very much contributed to the improve- ment of my land. I am not one of those enlightened farmers who have given up the folding their sheep ; in the sharp winter weather they have a littered fold, and are protected from the cold winds ; at other times of the year, except when the lambs are small, they are folded in the common mode. One of the greatest drav.backs to us farmers is, the extravagant expense of horses, who eat up a very considerable part of the produce of the farm ; this has driven me back to oxen, which I used about twenty years ago, and relinquished them. One reason of my so doing was, that my Oxen, enclosures were small, and that I had no rough meadow or pasture to turn the oxen into. The case now is, that my inclosures are large, and I have good and convenient meadows to turn the bullocks into. Whoever attempts to work and feed bullocks like horses, will find himself disappointed ; but if he wishes to work the animal which is gi-adually increasing in value, instead of that which is rapidly becoming less valuable ; if he prefers the animal which can be supported at an expense of four shiUings per week, to that which will cost him twelve ; if he prefers giving twenty guineas for this animal in an improving state, to paying forty for one that is sure to decrease in value, besides being subject to many more accidents — I would recommend to him the use of oxen ; and if he calculates on half the work done by horses, he will be a gainer. The drill is used by no person in this neighbourhood but myself. I have always had some broad-cast, but have constantly found the superiority of the di'ill ; though there are seasons when, on our wet lands, the drill should stop. On light lands any fool can drill ; but a good deal of preparation and management is necessary on a heavy soil. I prefer Mr. Duckett's and Mr. Cook's di'ills : the former on a light soil, and the latter on a heavy one. Neither of these go sufficiently deep into a stift' clover-ley : they may both of them be improved. Duckett's hoes are admirable. Cook's scarifying harrow is an excellent implement. My thrashing machine was made by Ball, of Norwich, which answers completely in thrashing all sorts of grain; and, by fixing M'Dougal's chaff-cutter and corn-bruiser, I have experienced the gi'eatest advantage. I can with ease thrash two bushels of chaff in a minute ; and grind a bushel of malt, or bruise one of corn, in five minutes. This expeditious mode of cutting chaff is of the greatest use, as I give no whole hay, but 14. HISTORY OF ESSEX. cut it all into chaff." Mr. Wakefield, of Buniham, has been peculiarly unfortunate in his endeavours to procure a good thrashing-mill. Mr. Parsmore, of Doncaster, erected one for him, which cost £200, and fell in pieces soon after it began to be used ; and though he was at an enormous expense, it never answered the pur- pose. Among the numerous workmen who undertook to repair this machine was a Mr. Muir, from Scotland ; but before he had completed his undertaking, he caught an ague, and returned home. Mr. Wakefield has seen a great number of machines since, but never one so good as to do away his objections to a farther experiment. He thinks, if the dressing machine does not work at the same time, the dressing after thrashing will be too expensive. Relative to the straw, he has an objection to the whole business : the delivery of so much sti'aw at once, to be trampled by cattle, instead of being eaten, he conceives to be a losing system. He also has several other weighty objections. Geolof discovered in the wells at Colchester, Upminster, and Brentwood; and in the arti- *'^"^" ficial bored spring which supplies the baths belonging to Mr. Baker, at Chelmsford, soda is found; but it is supposed none of these waters have been correctly analysed. The water procured from beneath this clay by wells, or by boring, is very limpid, and what is called soft, well adapted to domestic purposes, and never fails. The depth at which water is procured, is found to differ very considerably, as the various degrees of inclination or undulations of the water-bearing strata cany the water more or less above the level of the perforation made through the clay; and it will rise in the well as high, but not higher, than the highest point of these undulations. Mr. Isaac Payne has sunk a well at Epping, and another at Hunter's Hall, two miles from that place. The summit of the well at Epping is 340 feet above high-water mark. The first 27 feet from the surface consisted of gravel, loam, and yellow clay; then blue clay for 380 feet; then alternating beds of sandy and bkie clay, and of blue clay unmixed with sand, three or four feet thick, continued for 13 feet more; in the whole 420 feet, of which 200 feet were sunk through, and 220 bored, four inches in diameter. As no water was found, the labour was considered hopeless, the undertaking relinquished, and the well covered over; but at the end of five months, the water was found to hare risen to within twenty-six feet of the surface, and it has so continued. The sinking was therefore 340 feet above the level of the Thames, and 80 feet below it. The water was limpid and soft. The well at Huntei-'s Hall was seventy feet above that at Epping, and therefore 410 feet above the high-water mark of the Thames; but the depth of this well was only 350 feet; it therefore did not reach the level of the Thames by sixty feet, and the water stands in it 130 feet above the bottom of the well. The 2)lastic clay formation is considered as composed of an indefinite number Plastic of sand, clay, and pebble beds, alternating irregularly. Some general remarks on '' ''^' the beds of this formation may be seen in a communication to the Geological Society by Mr. Webster. (Geol. Z/Yi/M. vol. iv. p. 200.) This clay is of several colours and degrees of purity, and variously denominated, as brick clay, potter's clay, &c. ; the minerals are not generally in strata, but intermixed irregularly with the clay and sands of this formation. The organic remains are of irregular occuiTence, consisting of ostrea, cerith'icc, turritella, cytherece, cyclades, &c. with the teeth of fish; imperfect coal, partaking more or less of the woody fibre, and sometimes exhibiting even the branches and leaves of plants; and fossil bones are said to have been found in this formation by Wilson Lowry, Esq. The highest northern point yet observed in the range and extent of the plastic clay is two or thi-ee miles south-west of Hadleigh, in Essex, whence it borders the London clay to about five miles south-west of Braintree. 22 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Halstead and Coggeshall, and the intermediate tract, are also on the plastic clay; and it also occurs in some other places here, but little attention has yet been given to beds of this formation, in this part of the country. — Phillijjs Geology of England and Wales. The The climate of Essex is mild; yet, during the spring months, prevailing northerly and easterly winds produce catarrhal disorders and agues, and are unfavourable to vegetation, especially in low marshy situations, near the coast. But the draining of marshes, and the improved state of cultivation, have very considerably lessened these evils, and given good reason to hope, that in time these parts will be as healthy as the rest of the county, which is by no means believed to be insalubrious. Woods and The natural woods have been rapidly decreasing within the last fifty years, and nlantatToiis. continue to do so. Yet it can scarcely, in ordinary circumstances, be advisable to destroy any of those which supply the best timber, for these are allowed to enhance the value of estates more than any other kind of produce. From a calculation of the fellings of some woods here, during the term of seven years, the underwood being fifteen years' growth, the value of the timber, timber tops, bark, and underwood were found to amount to nearly fifty pounds an acre; which, repeated every fifteen years, would be upwards of three pounds an acre per annum. It will be allowed that the prices of all the specified materials will continue to advance ; it is also observable, that these trees did not average twenty-five feet; and it is well known that from that size to a load each, the augmentation goes forward with accelerated rapidity; and it may be presumed, that the average value would equal a rent of five pounds an acre per annum; of which, four at least is neither tithed, taxed, nor rated, nor subject, if freehold, to any other burthen or deduction. Hence it might appear, that nothing but immediate interest, or extreme necessity, would allow the destruction of woods which produce the best timber. The woodlands of Essex are extensive, and would supply a vast quantity of well- grown straight timber, if the trees were sutTered to remain till grown to their full size; but this cannot be expected, under existing circumstances. And considering that the underwood, which is cut every twelve or fourteen years, is diminished in value in proportion to the increase of the large trees, and also considering the increased amount of rent paid for land, we cannot be surprised to observe the yearly diminution of woods, and the conversion of the grounds into farms. There are few new plantations of woods; a few enclosures are, indeed, in some places found, covered with chestnut, ash, &c. Of clumps and belts of fir and forest trees there is abundance, for the decoration of the grounds sun-ounding gen- tlemen's country seats, and from these a supply of good timber may, in time, arise, which will in some measure compensate the loss of so much of the old self-planted INTRODUCTION. 23 woods. The increase of ornamental plantations has been unusually gi'eat during the last forty years; and the vastly increased number of nursery grounds near large towns is also every where apparent. It appears from the perambulations made in the twelfth year of the reign of Henry Forests. the Third, 1228, and in the twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth of Edward the First, 1298 and 1300, that in its ancient state, the whole county might be considered as con- stituting only one entire forest. The hundred of Tendring had been previously disafforested by King Stephen, and King John had disafforested all that part of the county that lies north of the gi-eat Roman road leading from the ramparts on Lexden heath to Stortford. Various other districts were, at different times, disafforested. The office of forester was anciently in the Aucher family, of Copped Hall. Henry Fitz-Aucher held it in 1304, by grand serjeancy; that is, by being the king's forester. The stewardship of the whole forest of Essex was in the De Veres, earls of Oxford; Stew.mi- but for their adherence to the house of Lancaster, they were deprived of it. On the forests accession of Henry the Seventh, in 1489, it was again granted to the same family, John earl of Oxford being made steward of the forest, at 9/. 2s. rent, during pleasure. By virtue of his office, the steward had power to substitute a lieutenant, one riding forester, and three yeomen foresters in tlie three bailiwicks of the forest. The emoluments of the warden and steward were derived from various perquisites; they had all wayfs and strays, and all browsing wood within the forest, and all fines of the swainmotes, and wood-comptes, according to the assize of the forest; of every covert and hedge-row to be sold, one penny in every shilling; and of every wood, the second best oak; and of the buyer and seller of every such wood, one bow and broad arrow, and one penny in every shilling of the amount of the purchase-money. The steward had also, as belonging to his office, the keeping and custody of the manor of Havering at Bower, and of the house and park there. Though so much had been done in preceding reigns to remove or mitigate evils Forest arising out of the forest laws, the numerous petitions presented to the parliaments of Edward the Second, Edward the Third, Richard the Second, and Henry the Fifth, afford sufficient evidence of the general dissatisfaction that continued to prevail on this subject : after this time, however, the forest of Essex began to diminish very considerably, and has ever since continued to do so; and a more rational and liberal policy has caused the forests to become no longer a subject of dispute and litigation between the subject and the crown, or the local resident authorities and the neigh- bouring landholders. The waste lands and forests have been much reduced, but are yet very con- Waste siderable; estimated by Messrs. Griggs at fifteen thousand acres, which, by enclo- sure, would be increased in value to the amount of more than fifty thousand pounds a year. 24 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Growth of The right of cutting wood varies in different parts of the forest; and where it is left to the discretion of tiie inliabitants, nothing but mutilated hornbeam pollards are to be seen, whose heads are cut whenever a few faggots can be collected from them; on other parts, where the lord of the manor has, by different grants from the crown, the exclusive right of all timber, underwood, and bushes, the trees are protected, and this district being well adapted to the growth of oak and other timber, is, by judicious management, in a very flourishing condition. Marsh The marshes bordering the coast afford the richest pasturage for cattle, and extend one hundred miles in length. The supply of meat to the London market from this district is abundant, and of the best quality. The chief markets for corn, butter, eggs, poultry, cattle, and live stock of all sorts, are, Colchester, Coggeshall, Witham, Maldon, Chelmsford, Romford, Epping, Walden, Braintree and Halstead; and during the spring and summer months, vast quantities of sucking calves are brought from Suffolk, and the dairying parts of Essex, to the markets of Colchester, Chelmsford, Romford, and Epping. Tlie The fisheries of Essex are very productive in oysters ; above thirty boats, fisheries -j i. >/ -^ belonging to the Island of Mersey, are almost always at work ; and vessels come from Kent to purchase oysters here. A dredging boat is from eight to forty or fifty tons burthen; all are decked, and built at Wivenhoe, Brightlingsea, and other places in the neighbourhood. The price is 10/. a ton for the hull of the vessel only; and the fitting out one of twenty tons will cost 150/. Each vessel requires from two to four men, who are paid by shares, the master liaving a share for the vessel. Sometimes, upwards of 150 vessels may be seen at work within sight of Mersey. Many of these vessels go off to dredge on the coasts of Hants and Dorset in the spring season. The number of vessels is about 200, and the men and boys employed, about 500 ; a vessel carrying three men has one share and a half of all the earnings, and the men one share each ; the largest vessels have not more than two shares. A good vessel will last from thirty to forty years. Oysters are taken to London, Hamburgh, Bremen, and, in time of peace, to Holland, France, and Flanders. The principal breeding rivers are the Crouch, (which is by far the most certain in produce), the Blackwater, and the Colne. The beds, or layings, are in the creeks, adjoining these rivers ; and from these the stock is supplied to other oyster-beds. It is calculated that not less than 15,000 bushels are supplied in a season; and the capital employed in this ti'ade is stated to be from 60 to 80,000/. The salt-water stews, for various sorts of sea-fish, in Foulness Island, are well constructed, and answer the purpose completely. The fish are caught in weirs, on the sands, extending several miles on the coast ; they are dragged for with a small net, as in a fresh-water stew. INTRODUCTION. 25 There are many decoys near the coast for taking wild-fowl ; one of the best is in Deco s Mersey Island; it is attended by two men, whose wages, with rent, repair of nets and other expenses, amount to 300/. a year. Ducks are caught in freat num- bers ; and in a decoy at Goldanger, the fowls called dun birds are exceedingly numerous. The best dairies are at or near Epping, so deservedly famous for the richness of its Cow- cream and butter. The purposes of cow-keeping are, in most instances, either for '''''^P'"^- the dairy, or for feeding ; but in this county a third purpose is that of suckling or feeding calves for the London market. This last mode of occupvino- the best o-rnzino- land is, next to the dairy, reckoned the most profitable, yet the grazing occupation is attended with the least trouble, and is always largely practised. The civil government is vested in the sheriff, who, by virtue of his office, holds the Govem- county courts and sheriff's tourn. This office was first instituted by King Alfred, "umv^"'^ whose wise and equitable government proved so successful in restrainino- the violence of a barbarous people. Mr. Morant says, " that anciently, this officer, who was called vice-comes, was only deputy to the earl; but since the earldom has been merely titular, the power has devolved to the sheriflT." This office was made annual in the lith year of the reign of Edward the Third, before whicii time it was in the ' appointment of the sovereign. The officers under him are the bailiffs of hundreds, high-constables for the several hundreds, gaoler, and petty constables. Sir Thomas Smith, in his Commonwealth of England, makes the place of high-constable to have been of some importance. There are two of them in each hundred of this county, except Witham, which has but one ; and Hinckford, on account of its great extent, has three. According to Ingulphus, abbot of Croyland, the original institu- tion of justices was also by Alfred. This learned ecclesiastic informs us, that " Alfred divided the office of lieutenants of provinces into two, now called justices and sheriffs, which still retain the same names. By the care and industry of those, the whole kingdom, in a short time, enjoyed so great peace, that if any traveller had let fall a sum of money never so late in the evening, either in the field or public highways, if he came next morning he should find it untouched." The first institution of lord- lieutenants of counties is not known ; but, on the suppression of monasteries, Henry the Eighth gave these military officers the chief part of the power they now possess. He ordered that they should be the standing representatives of the crown, in their respective counties, to keep them in orderly subjection. The lord-lieutenant of Essex is generally ciistos rolulorum, or keeper of the rolls, and often vice-admiral. This county is included in the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of London ; and is go- Ecdesias- verned by the bishop, with his assistants, the archdeacons of Essex, Colchester, and Middlesex, besides a number of surrogates who reside in different parts of the county. VOL. I. E 26 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Parliamen- tary repre- Cluirches. Ill the arclideaconry of Essex there are the following deaneries : Barstable, Barking, ChafFord, Chelmsford, Dengey, Ongar, and Rochford; in which are 175 churches and chapels. In the archdeaconry of Colchester are the following deaneries : Colchester, Lexden, Newport, Sandford, and Tendring; in which are 161 churches and chapels. That part of the archdeaconry of Middlesex which is in this county, contains only the deaneries of Dunmow, Harlow, and Hedingham ; in which are eighty-three churches and chapels. The archbishop of Canterbury has several peculiars here, not subject to the inspection of the diocesan ; these are Bocking, Stysted, Lachingdon, and Lawing. Though so large a county, Essex only sends eight representatives to parliament ; two of these are for the whole county ; two are for Colchester ; two for Harwich ; and two for INIaldon. The total number of freehold voters for members for the county were, in 1763, 512.5; and in 1830, they were 5318. Essex is in the home circuit, and the assizes are held at Chelmsford, in March, August, and December ; and the quarter sessions are held both at Chelmsford and at Colchester. This county pays twenty-four parts of the land-tax, and provides 960 men for the militia. Titles. Harwich gives the title of baron to the Hill family; Maldon, viscount to the Capel Coningsbys ; and the county gives to the same family the title of earl. The family of Nassau de Zulensteins takes the title of earl from Rochford; Waldon gives a baronial title to the Ellises; Easton Parva confers that of viscount on the Maynards; and the same family derive the title of baron from Much Haddon ; Writtle gives this title to the family of Petre; and Hoo, the same to that of Villiers. The population of this county, according to the last census, in 1821, was 289,424. ^\ 3 Ji I I> \Y. ^^f.x, have complained of cHAP. I. ote period of antiquity; ents of past ages, that orian or the antiquary, se its vales and hills, we ast the power of Rome; forest town, or on the immediately to the north Trinoban- Cassii," says Richard of "^*' )cean, was the region of le Romans, but resigned situated near the sea, for if this people towards the j- The Trinobantes were pied this territory, which ijectured that their name s consider them as having rranovant, in the British ranovanti, Tranovantu'ijs, il, would be the town on ame, appear, however, to i into the counties of Hertford, of England and I fides, p. 1 7. tY ; Noil, new ; liant, hent, hynt, vol. ii. BOOK I. GENERAL HISTORY. CHAPTER I. ESSEX UNDER THE ROMANS. Former writers, when describing the county of Essex, have complained of cilvP. [. its deai'th of memorials that could be referred to a remote period of antiquity; ' but subsequent researches have brought to light monuments of past ages, that vindicate its title to importance in the pages of the historian or the antiquary. Its interest is increased when we consider that as we traverse its vales and hills, we are walking in the steps of those who first struggled against the power of Rome; that we are standing, perhaps, on the site of a British forest town, or on the camp that was once occupied by a Roman legion. When Caesar invaded our island, he found the country immediately to the north Trinoban- of the Thames occupied by the Trinobantes. " Near the Cassii," says Ricliard of "'^• Cirencester, "where the river Thamesis approaches the ocean, was the region of the Trinobantes, who not only entered into alliance with the Romans, but resigned to them Londinium, their metropolis, and Camulodunum, situated near the sea, for the purpose of establishing colonies."* " The boundary of this people towards the north was the river Surius, beyond which lived the Iceni."f The Trinobantes were a Belgic tribe; they are supposed to have forcibly occupied this territory, which belonged originally to the Cassii, J and it has been conjectured that their name distinguishes them as a colony of strangers, § though others consider them as having received their name from the situation they occupied, — Tranovanl, in the British language, signifying the country beyond the sti-eam, and Tranovanti, Tranovanticijs, &c. its inhabitants: Tre Norant, the name of their capital, would be the town on the stream. II The people known to Caesar under this name, appear, however, to * Richard of Cirencester, p. 47. \ IbiJ. p. 4S. X " The Cassii appear to have occupied the tract of country now divided into the counties of Hertford, Bedford, Buckingliam, Middlesex and Essex." — Introduction to the Beauties of England and Wales, p. 1". § Trinouantes would be " the inhabitants of the new city — Tri, tre, a city; Nou, new; liajit, lient, hynt, locus assuetum." — Baxter, Gloss, p. 230, 1. JVhitalier's Hist, of Manchester, vol. ii. Cambrian Register, vol. ii. p. 10. 28 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. have been more peculiarly the inhabitants of the disti'ict in this vicinity of London, which was known to the Romans by the name of Civ'ttas Trinobantuiii. It appears to have been customary among many of the separate states of the ancient Britons to choose, in cases of extraordinary danger, a pen-drago?i, or supreme head, who might direct their joint endeavours in the common cause. This was the case with the southern tribes, on the invasion of their territories by Caesar, Cassivela- and the person on whom their choice fell is well known to the Roman historians ""^' under the name of Cassivelaunus, which appears to be only a corruption of the British name Caswallon. British records celebrate his name, and assert that he signalised himself in opposing Csesar in the Gallic wars ; but they speak of him as a king of North Wales, a mistake which may easily be accounted for, when we suppose that his traditionary history was handed to posterity by the songs of the bards, long after the primitive Britons had been confined to, and had learned to identify their traditions with their dreary retreat in the western mountains. " Cas- wallon, the Cassivelaunus of Ciesar, reigned," according to these ti-aditionary stories, "in Gwynnedd, or North Wales: having repelled a body of Irish, who had invaded his dominions, with considerable slaughter, the bodies of the slain remaining uiiburied, were the cause of a pestilence. He signalised himself against Ctesar in Gaul, whither he went to assist the natives, or, according to another tradition, to obtain the beautiful Flur, b. c. 55. Britain was in consequence invaded, and the treachery of Avarwy (Mandubratius) contributed to the success of the invader."* Invasion of The first expedition of Caesar into Britain was far from successful. From liis Casar. ^ ^'"''^ account it appears that he eflected a landing only with great difficulty, and when landed his operations were confined to the neighbourhood of his camp. The termination of this invasion was not such as might be expected to have awed the jn-oud spirit with which the natives are reported to have first I'eceived his proposals, f The following year he prepared to make a more effective attempt, with a much greater force. With six hundred ships, and five legions, he appeared on the coast of Britain, and landed without opposition on the same part of it which he had occupied the preceding year. After an advance of about twelve Roman miles he came up with the Britons, who had occupied an advantageous post on the banks of a river. From thence, after an ineffective resistance, they retired to the woods, where they posted themselves in " a place well fortified both by nature and by art, which they appear to have before raised in consequence of • Gentleman's Mag. vol. xcv. part ii. p. 403. The cause which Caesar assigns for his invasion of Britain was tlie assistance wliich they liail given to his enemies, " quod omnibus feri Gallicis bellis, hostihus nostris inde subministrata auxilia intelligebat." — De Be!. Gal. lib. iv. c. 20. t " Romani autem dum acciperent dominium totius nunidi ad Britannos miserunt legatos, ut obsides et ccnsum acciperent ab illis, sicut accipiebant ab uuiversis regionibus et insulis. Britanni autem cum essent tyranni et tumidi legationem Romanorum contempserunt." — Nennius, p. 102. UNDER THE ROMANS. 29 their own domestic feuds, every approach being defended with trunks of trees."* CHAP. I. Hence, also, they were dislodged, after a sharp encounter ; but the nature of the place, and the approach of night, compelled the Romans to relinquish the pursuit, and the following morning Cassar was recalled to his camp on the coast by the news of the disaster which had befallen his fleet. When he returned to his legions in the interior, after having refitted the greater part of his fleet, he found that the natives had assembled in greater numbers, and had given the chief command to Cassive- launus, whose territory, " divided from the maritime states by a river, which is Territory called Tamesis, about eighty (Roman) miles from the sea,"f corresponded with the ]°au[,uf ^'^' modern county of Essex. This Cassivelaunus, we learn, had been continually at war with the surrounding states, but in the present imminent danger the Britons had unanimously chosen him for their commander on account of his known experience and bravery. The army of Casar was harassed in its march by the desultory attacks of the Britons from the woods, and is; difierent skirmishes he lost many of his men, among whom was one tribune, Q. Liberius Durus. The natives were unable, however, to sustain a general action against the disciplined troops of Rome ; they were compelled to retire gradually before the invaders, who now approached the territory of Cassivelaunus. The river Thames, if we credit CiEsar, was in his time fordable only in one Passage place, or, at least, only one spot was known to him which could be passed with Tham^es safety. Hither the British prince, who had in his retreat been deserted by most of his allies, repaired to make a last struggle to prevent the advance of his enemies. He not only posted his men in an advantageous position on the opposite shore, but he further fortified the bank with sharp-pointed stakes driven into the ground, whilst others were fixed in the same manner at the bottom of the river, and concealed under the water.J The Roman soldiers, however, according to Cesar's account, avoided the stakes, passed the river up to their chins in the water, and put to flight the natives on tlie other side. At the time when Bede wrote, these stakes were still visible, but the historian has neglected to give us any data that might have enabled us to discover their true situation. § * " Locum — egregiS et natura et opere munitum ; quern, domestici belli, ut videbatur, caussa jam ante praeparaverant." — Cmsar, lib. v. c. 9. Horsley tbinks tbat the river whicb Csesar passed was the Stour. The British fortification is supposed to have been in Kingston woods, behind Burstead. t " Cujus fines a maritimis civitatibus flumen dividit, quod appellatur Tamesis, a mari circitur millia passuum lxxx." — Ciesar, de Bel. Gal. lib. v. c. 11. Perhaps Caesar's eighty (wliich are given as a rough calculation) may be estimated at about sixty or seventy English. X " Ripa autem erat acutis sudibus praefixis munita; ejusdemque generis sub aqua dcfixa? sudes flumine tegebantur." — Casar, de Bel. Gal. lib. v. c. 18. § " In hujus (Tamesis) ulteriore ripa, Cassobellauno duce, immensa hostiuni multitudo consederat, ripamquo fluminis ac pene totura sub aqua vadum acutissimis sudibus prsestruxerat, quarum vestigia sudium 30 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. Caesar entei's Essex. Private animosities of the B ritons. Be the place at which Caesar passed tlie Thames where it may, it is highly probable that the county of Essex was the scene of his subsequent operations. It has generally been considered that the circumstance of his having forded it, is a proof that the place must have been considerably higher than London, and writers have generally supposed it to be either Kingston or Conway stakes. But when we consider tliat in Caesar's time, a great portion of the water of the Thames was spread out in extensive morasses, and, consequently, that the bed of the river would in many parts have much less depth than in its present confined state, it will be evident that no stress can be safely laid on such a circumstance.* That Caesar, after passing the river, advanced into Essex, we have many presumptive evidences. It is very likely that the rout he took was " the same with that of the Romans under the Emperor Claudius. For as these most probably landed the greater part of their army at the same place, so they would as probably follow the same track, where they might trace his encampment." f The army of Plautius, the general of Claudius, passed the Thames towards its mouth, in that part where it spread out into morasses, and the result was the taking of Camulodunura, the capital of Cunobeline and of the Trinobantes. J The old chroniclers, too, constantly speak of the scene of Ctjesar's invasion as having been near the mouth of the Thames, where they boast of his having been successively repulsed by the prowess of the Britons. § After Caesar had passed the Thames, Cassivelaunus, having dismissed the greater part of his forces, retired with the rest into the woods, from whence he could watch in safety the motions of his enemies, and avail himself of every opportunity of annoying them. The subjugation of the Britons appears to have been accelerated by their private animosities. Amongst the followers of Caesar was a young Briton named Mandubratius. His father, we are told, had reigned in the civitas Trinoban- tum, or London, and had been slain by Cassivelaunus, and Mandubratius had ibidem usque hodie visuntur, et videtur inspectantibus quod singulae earum admodum humani femoris grossae, et circumfusEe plumbo, immobiliter erant in profundum fluminis infixae." — Beda, Hist. Eccles. lib. i. c. 2. Bede's words are copied by Asserius, p. 141, who, as miglit be expected, applies them to his own time. From the words of Bede, we may reasonably suppose that be himself only describes them from the report of others. • Baxter derives the name from Tarn isc or esc, which in British signifies a tract of water. — Gloss, p. 222. f Horsley, Britan. Iloni. p. 13. X hva,x(^pT\(TO-VTOit' d'efrevSet' rwif BpexTai'aJV eiri tov To.^iffav irora^LOV Ka0' it es t€ tov uiKiavuv fuBaW^l Tv\i)HfivgofTos Te avTov Ai^^afei, K. T. K. " And the Britons having retreated thence to the river Tamesa, in that part where it falls into tlio ocean, and by its overflowing forms a lake," &c. — km (laSias avrof SiuSavray, OT6 KOI TO trreiitipa to te evnopa tov x'^P'O" e'SaTwy, " and having easily passed over it, as knowing which parts of the district were firm and fordable," are the words of Dio, lib. Ix. § " Et pervenit usque ad ostium Tamesis fluminis, et ibi inierunt bellum, et multi ceciderunt de equis militibusque suis; quia jam dictus proconsul (i. e. of King Bellinus, as Nennius calls Cassivelaunus) posuerat s\ides ferreas, et semen bellicosum, quae calcitramenta, i. e. cethilocium, in vada fluminis (quod) magnum discrimen fuit militibus Romanorum ; quia hsc ars invisibilis fuit illis, et discesserunt tunc temporis sine pace." — Nemiius, c. 15. " Hie Cassibelaunus Juliuni Caesarem terrara suam invadentem, bis devicit in ostio fluvii Thamesis," S:c. — T. Otlerbourne, Chronica, p. IS. UNDER THE ROMANS. 31 escaped the same fate by flying to the Romans in Gaul. The inhabitants of this chap. i. district now were the first to join the conqueror, praying for the restoration of Man- dubratius, and requesting that tliey might be defended from the arms of Cassive- launus. Among our native chroniclers, the memory of iNIandubratius, whom they Manduiiri- call Androgeus, is held in universal execration, and the historical ti'iads of the ""^■ Britons rank him among the most infamous of the betrayers of Britain, as having been the first who called in the Romans, and thus proved treacherous to his country. The example of the people of London was followed by the Cenimagni, the Segontiaci, the Ancalites, the Bibroci, and the Cassi, of whom the latter, who inhabited the county of Hertford, and consequently bordered on Essex, betrayed to the Romans the retreat of Cassivelaunus. From them Cassar learnt that the town (oppidum) of Cassivelaunus was situated at no great distance, fortified with Oppidum woods and marshes, and sufficiently large to contain a considerable number of men ?' Cassive- •^ " lanus. and cattle. " Now what the Britons call a town {ojjpidumy Caesar says, "is a thick wood, fortified with a vallum and foss, where they assemble together to avoid the incursions of an enemy."* Hither Caesar repaired with his legions, and in spite of the fortifications, both natural and artificial, it was quickly taken, and a great number of cattle found within its circuit, the Britons having contrived to escape in a different direction. The remains of an undoubtedly British position are still to be seen within the county of Essex, answering in situation, position, and every other respect to the description given by Ceesar of the last strong-hold of Cassivelaunus. The intrench- ments of Ambresbury Banks, near Copped Hall, were " formerly in the very heart Ambres- of the forest," and were surrounded by a ditch and bank, in some places still very ■^^^\. bold and high. The situation of these entrenchments, near the boundaries of the Cassii, and the communication which Cassivelaunus may probably have established with these people as his allies, will account for their being well acquainted with its position. f In the subsequent invasions of Britain by the Romans, the territory of the Trino- bantes was generally the scene of their earliest operations; and after the final defeat of Caractacus by Ostorius, and the reduction of Britain to a province of the empire, the first Roman colony in the island was established at Camulodunura, or Colchester, Origin of the capital of the Trinobantes,:]: and the royal city of Cunobeline,§ whose name is „y^ * "Oppidum autem Britanni vocant, quum sylvas impeditas vallo atque fossa munierunt, qu6, incursionis hostium vitandae causa, convenire consueverunt." — Casar, de Bell. Gall. lib. v. c. 21. t Tbe generality of writers have identified the oppidum of Cassivelaunus with Verulamium, or St. Albans ; but Verulamium was the capital of the Cassii, and the only cause that led to this supposition appears to be, that they knew of no other that answered any better to Cesar's description. Florus calls this part of the country Calidoniasilva. lib. iii. c. 10. Bede describes the town of Cassivelaunus as " inter duas paludes situm, obtentu insuper sylvarum munitum, omnibusque rebus confertissimum." lib. i. c. 2. I Richard of Cirencester, p. S6. § Ka^oi/A.oSoui/oi' TO Tou Kmo$e\\ivov PaatKeiov. — Die. Cass. lib. Ix. Baxter gives the following derivation of his name : " Cunobelinus, hoc est, Cond velin, Capite fiavo^ sive 'HAtwj/Ti : nam de Biil sive Belin, sole, favHS color et Melin et J'elin dicitur." — Gloss, p. 94. 32 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. Boadicea. Destruction of Caniulo- dunum. Coel and Helena. celebrated in the history of the Roman transactions with Britain. He Hved from the reign of Augustus to that of Cahgula, and is believed to be the first who established a mint in Britain. His coins are frequently ioimd, and the legend consists of the name of the king, and generally that of the city, cam. or camv. Camulodunum, where they were coined. As the district of the Trinobantes was the chief seat of the Roman power in Britain, it may easily be supposed that it was the part on which those of the natives who were discontented with their foreign masters, would look with the utmost aversion, as containing the greatest number of their enemies ; and consequently when they were excited to insurrection, it was the first to feel the vengeance of the insurgents. Many and great were the injuries that djrove the Iceni to the memorable rebellion under their queen Boadicea. They were quickly joined by the Trinobantes, who hoped to have an opportunity of recovering their liberty, and Camulodunum, the earliest Roman colony in the island, was the place first marked out for destruction. In selecting this situation for their first settlement, the Romans had in view rather their pleasure than their safety; and the town appears to have consisted of straggling villas, and other buildings, not surrounded with any fortifications, so that it was entirely without defence.* The town had been adorned with a temple dedicated to Claudius, a triumphal ai'ch, a statue of Victory, and various other embellishments, that were thought worthy to distinguish the chief seat of the Romans in Britain. f The city and its temple were burnt to the ground, and the cruelties which the Britons inflicted on its inhabitants were unequalled, except by the wrongs which they had themselves endured. After the desti-uction of their enemies they celebrated their victory in the sacred groves which stUl remained dedicated to their various deities. J The same fate as that of Camulodunum was also experienced by Londinum and \'erolamium. The city of Camulodunum appears to have soon arisen again out of its ruins, and we find it celebrated as the capital of Coel, the reputed father of Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great.§ The legend of Coel and Helena has been a subject of much dispute, but the want of sufficient authority has put it entirely out of our power to ascertain the precise degree of credit that is due to it. There must have been some circumstances to give rise to such an universally received tradition; and if we • " Nee arduum videbatur, exscindere coloniam niJlis munimentis septam : quod ducibus nostris parum provisum erat, dum ainiEnitati prius quam usui consulitur." — Tacitus, Annal. lib. xiv. f *' ll)i erat templum Claudii, arx triumplialis, et imatro Victoriie deae." — Richard of Cirencester, p. 122. * Ef T6 Tots oAAois (TipQjv Upois Kai €1* Tcfi Trjs At^SaTrjs fj-oXiffTa aXtra eiroioyi/, 6vtw yap «a( TTjf viktjv wvofia^ov, KUL i(Ti^ov auTT^v ircpiTTOTOTa. — Dio, lib. 1x11. p. 70 K § " Cole was a noble mon, & gret power hadde on honde, Erl be was of Colchestre here in this londe, And Colchestre aftur ys name y clepud ys ich vnderstonde." Robert ofG'.oucester's Chron. p. S2. UNDER THE ROMANS. 33 discard the details of the legend, we are not sufficiently authorized in depriving CHAP. r. Camulodunum of its connexion with the early history of Constantine and his ' parents.* On the decline of the Roman empire, her distant provinces were gradually more Final de- and more exposed to the attacks of the barbarians who dwelt on their borders. P^'^'"^'^ The northern borders of the province of Britain had long been subject to the Romans, ravages of the Picts and Scots ; and the eastern coast was harassed by the piracies of the Saxons. For a time, however, the few Roman troops that were left in the island were sufficient to repress their incursions, and their success was only partial ; but when the reduced state of the empire rendered the presence of these few troops abso- lutely necessary at home, the Britons were left without a head to direct their endeavours to defend themselves, entirely exposed to the united force of their enemies. In 410, the Romans renounced their supremacy in Britain. During the reign of the third \'alentinian, the Picts and Scots were defeated by the almost unex- pected presence of some Roman auxiliaries ; but, in 426, or 427, that people took their final leave of the island. CHAPTER II. GEOGRAPHY OF ESSEX UNDER THE ROMANS. The earliest writer who gives us any topographical information relating to this Roman part of Britain is the geographer Ptolemy. His account relates chiefly to the coasts, of Es^ex.' and, though the system of geogi-aphy in his time was extremely incorrect, as what he says is curious, we shall here introduce it. • The following paragraph from the Colchester Chronicle, apparently written about the beginning of the reign of Edward III. is given by Morant {History of Colchester, p. 28), and includes the history of Coel and his daughter. A. D. " 238. Coel Dux Colcestr' cepit regnare super Essex' et Hertford.' 2'12. Helena filia Coelis nascitur in Colocestria. 260. Constancius Dux Romanor' in Hispaniis, Britanniam navigans, civitatem Colocestriam obcedit triennio. 2fii. Soluta est obsidio sponsacione nuptiarum Helenae filiae Coelis. 265. Constantinus filius nascit' in Colocestria ex Helena adhuc concubina. 288. Constantius cum Galerrio Cesar appellat' Gallearum. 290. Coel Dux Colcestr' occiso Asclepiodoto tiranno, regnavit sup' totam Britanniam, sub tributum Romanor'. 297. Coel Rex Britonum fortissimus obiit Colcestriae mense 2do. 298. Constantius Colocestrise rediens de Galliis disponit de regno. 299. Constantius imperator obiit Eboraci anno imperii sui x i. 303. Helena raortuo Conslantio perpetuam vovit viduitatem. " VOL. I. F 34 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. Ptolemy. Roman roads. In enumerating, generally, the British tribes, he says, Kai avaroXiKwripoi irapa Ti)v l/LiriviTav iKT^vaiv TpivoavTsg, tv oIq iroXig Ka^ouSoXav, ica. vf. " More to the east, at the estuary of Himensan,* are the Trinoantes, where is the city Camudolan, 21" 55'. And in describing this part of the coast, he proceeds from the Wash. Mtrapfc eirT\v), tea- S. — vi. ij3. " The promontory, (at the mouth of the Stour) 21" 15' — 55" 6'." EiSovpama ttot. tKj3o\ai, k. ?. — ve. " The mouth of the Idumania, (Blackwater) 20" 10'— 55" ."t 'laptryaa hux-, k. X. — vS. X. " The estuary of the Hiamissa, (Thames) 20" 30' — 54" 30'." Kara Se roue Tpivoavrac vr](TOi ctaiv atSe. ToXtawi^, Ky. — ■ vo. c. Kojovvoq, vrtaoc, kS. — vS. X. " And on the coast of the Trinoantes are these islands ; Toliapis 230—54" 15'. Coounus island 24"— 54" 30'." The first of these is supposed to be Sheppey, and the latter Canvey Isle, but the numbers are evidently wrong. " Coounus" (Horsley observes, Brit. Rom. p. 368) " is generally supposed to be the river island Canvey, within the Thames. Somewhat of affinity of name favoui's the conjecture, but Ptolemy places both this and Toliapis a good way oflF at sea. Guernsey and Jersey lie quite another way ; — and I see no isle ofiT at sea which answers to the Coounos and Toliapis of Ptolemy." Among old %vi-iters we meet with several names of rivers, besides the Idumania o;- Blackwater, which belong to Essex. The Axius river, which is mentioned by the anonymous geographer of Ravenna, has been supposed by some to be the Chelmer.| Surius, or Sturius, was the Stour; and Tavus, or Taus, is supposed by Baxter to be the Granta, in the north of the county. In considering the interior condition of the district of the Trinobantes under the Romans, our attention is first called to the roads. It is generally acknowledged, that at the time of the Roman invasion, the towns and districts of the natives were already connected by a numerous series of ways, running across the island in different directions, the construction of which is atti'ibuted by old historians to the British kings. • i.e. the mouth of tlic Thames. t I'du, in British, means black. Baxter, however, (Gloss, p. 139) says that Idumantius is / deu mant iit, or, according to the modern orthography, Ydheri vant tvy, that is, the mouths of the two rivers. I Chelmer, according to Baxter, is Kit nor, a recess of the sea. UNDER THE ROMANS. 35 " Fayre weyes monyon ther beth in Engolonde, CHAP. II Ac foure mest of alle ther beth ich \Tiderstonde, That the olde kynges mad, war thoru me may wende From the on ende of Engeland north to the other ende. From the south tilleth in to the north Ermingestret ; And from the est in to the west Ikenildstrete. From Douere in to Chestre telleth Watlingestrete, From south est in to north west, and that ys som del grete The ferthe is most of alle, that tilleth from Tottenais, From the on end Cornewayle anon to Catenays, Fro the north est in to south west in to Engelondes end : Fosse me cleputh thike wey, that by mony god town doth wende." • Of these British track-ways or roads, wliich were known to the Saxons by the name of streets, t and tlie principal of which were the Icknield-street, Ryknield- stveet, Ermyn-street, Ikeman-street, tlie Fosse-way, the Salt-way, and the Watling- street,J several branches appear to have passed through different parts of Essex. Of these, one undoubtedly ran from Londinium, on the Thames, to the British capital of the Trinobantes, Camulodunum ; and others, perhaps, led from this place through the north-western parts of the county, to the Iceni and Cassii. The former has been considered as a branch of the Watling-street. The Roman invaders are supposed to have followed the course of the Watling-street in their progi'ess from the coast towards London ; and it is not improbable that this branch might lead them to Camulodunum. In several instances, British remains have been found in British various parts of Essex, in the neighbourhood of these roads. The great barrows and ^" "^"' '*''" camp at Danbury, which have been ascribed to the Danes on very doubtful authority, were at no great distance from the road from London to Camulodunum, where it passes Chelmsford; some have supposed them to be British; and many celts and other weapons, undoubtedly British, have been dug up in the vicinity. § There has been discovered, in tlie neighbourhood of the north-eastern roads, at Walden, a British cursus, and an ancient encampment, which appears also to be British. * Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle. The construction of these roads is attributed by our early historians to a king whom they name Bellinus, and whom they make brother of Brennus, the destroyer of Rome. Duo fratres uterum fuerunt in hac terra, Belinus et Brennus, qui omnes terras usque Romam adquisierunt gladiis. Belinus reversus est et crdinavit in regno vias ffosse et Watelingestret et apud Belynesgate sepultus est. MSS. Sloan. No. 1939, fol. 121. A fuller account of their origin is given by Geoffrey of Monmouth, lib. iii. c. 1, 2, -3, &c. f Bede mentions the British and Roman roads by the name of siratte, or streets. I The Normans reuined their four grand ways, which had been known to the Saxons under the names of Watling-street, Ikening, Fosse, and Ermin streets, and called them the four chemini majores. § Archaeolog. vol. ix. p. 378. 36 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. The course of the old British road from Londinium to Camulodunum was adopted Stations. by the Romans, and appears to liave been that on which all their principal towns in this county were situated. It is consequently that followed in the itineraries of Antoninus and of Richard of Cirencester. The fifth iter of Antoninus is from Londinium to Luguvallium on the Wall, and passes through Coesaromago m. p. xxviii. Colonia — xxiv. Villa Faystini — xxxv. (al. xxv.) Icianos — xviii. Camborico {Cambridge) — xxxv. Antoninus. In the ninth iter, which is from Venta Icenorum (in Norfolk) to London, and in which he arrives at Camulodunum, or Colonia, by a different road, he reverses the order of the towns between Camulodunum and Londinium, and inserts several intermediate places, which he had not mentioned before. From Sitomagus he proceeds through Combretonio m. p. xxii. Ad Ansam — xv. Camuloduno — vi. Canonio — ix. Caesaromago — xii. Durolito — xvi. Londinio — xv. The same road was followed by Richard of Cirencester. In his tiiird iter, from London to Lincoln, he lays down the following distances. Durosito m. p. xii. Csesaro Mago — xvi. Canonio — xv. Camaloduno — viii. Ad Sturium amnem — vi. et finibus Trinobantum Cenimannos advenis. Durolitum Camden imagined that Leyton (which means the town on the Ley) might be tlie site of the Roman Durolitum, or Durositum, (which, in British, means the waters of the Ley) ; but this cannot be made to agree with the distance from Londinium given to Durolitum by the itineraries, which coincides much better with that of the situation given it by Stukeley, and the editor of Richards's work, near Romford. UNDER THE ROMANS. 37 Leyton, however, is situate on the vicinity of the road, and many Roman remains CHAP. II. have been found about it. The ancient road is described by Mr. Lethieullier as running very near the modern road from London to Romford, near Wanstead ; it " crosses the forest, passes through my estate, [at Aldersbrook] and pushes for the passage across the river Roden, now called Ilford, though two stone bridges have, in more modern times, been built there." " That this side of our extensive forest, perhaps for a mile or two in width, was very early grubbed of its wood, and converted into culture and habitations, seems to admit of no dispute." In 1715, a Roman pavement was discovered in Wanstead Park; and many urns, &c. were afterwards found near it.* Antiquities have also been found at Barking, on the opposite side of the road ; and Lysons thinks that they denote the site of a Roman town.f From Romford ( DtiroUtum ) the road passes by Weald Hall, where there is a Csesaroma- Roman camp, to Chelmsford. Antiquities have been discovered at Brentwood, on ° this road. Chelmsford, or Writtle, in its immediate neighbourhood, appears to have been the site of Cassaromagus, and corresponds with the distance from Durolitum, given it by the itineraries. J From Chelmsford the road passed on to Witham, where it crossed the river, and proceeded to Caunonium, or Canonium, Roman antiquities have also been found in the bed of the Witham river, consisting of a shield, swords, and other articles. § The situation of Canonium is very uncertain. The Canonium. translator of Richard of Cirencester places it to the east of Kelvedon ; whilst all older antiquaries placed it at Coggeshall, which would agree very well with its distance from Caesaromagus in the itineraries (for we must doubtlessly read xv in Antoninus), but it does not appear to agree well with the direction of the road.|| As the road approaches Lexden and Colchester, we find the name preserved in that of Stanwaij. Sir R. C. Hoare and Mr. Leman were of opinion that the ancient British Camulodu- capital of the Trinobantes was at Lexden, adjoining to Colchester, where are very considerable earthen-works still visible, which bear a British character. The old chroniclers, instead of deducing the Saxon name, Colnceaster, or Colunceaster, from the river Colne, derive it from Coel, whose daughter, Helen, they assert, surrounded both it and London with walls.H From Camulodunum towards the north, we find, from the itineraries, that two • ArchaDolog. vol. i. p. 73, 7i. t Lysons' Environs, vol. iv. p. 58. X There can be no doubt, that in tbe distance from London to Durolitum, in Antoninus's ninth iter., we ought to read xii (instead of xv.) as in Richards's Iter. ; because 12 added to 16, the distance to Caesaromagus in Antoninus's ninth, make 28, which agrees with the distance from London to Caesaromagus in his fifth iter. § Gentleman's Mag. vol. xcvi. part ii. p. 1C3, 259, II Baxter (Gloss, p. 73) gives the following derivation of its name. " Deducttmi hoc nomen videtur de Caun sive Cannon, arundines, et lu, unda vel j!aine», ut sit solute scriptum vel Caunon iu, vel certfi Caun an Hi, Cannts scilicet sive arundines Jluminis" ^ Sancta Helena civitatem Londoniarum ac Colcestriam moenibus circumcinxit, J. Rossi, Hist, rerum Angl. p. 51. He says that its British name was Kai:r Colini. Ranulphus Higden (Chron. p. 197) calls il Caer- golden. 38 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. A'illa Faystini. Iciani. Road from Camulodu- num to Cambori- cuni. roatls branched out, one leading to Combretoniuni, the other to Camboricum. The first crossed tlie Stour, or Ansa, according to Richard of Cirencester and Antoninus, six miles from Camulodunum, and passed through the disti-ict of the Cenimanni. The road to Camboricum, or Cambridge, passed through Villa Faystini and Iciani. The site of Villa Faystini is generally placed at Dunmow; so that the route pursued by Antoninus is manifestly the military road from Camulodunum to Verulamium, or St. Alban's, which appears to have sent ofi a branch from Dunmow to Camboricum. This branch was probably joined by the great road from London to Norfolk ; which passed, according to Salmon, " from Leyton, through Hornsey Lane, over Enfield Chase and Northall Common to Hertford ;" and afterwards passed through part of Essex, by Strethall, and through Cambridgeshire. Iciani is supposed by Horsley, with much probability, to be Chesterford. Dr. Gale says expressly, that 'NA'alden is seated on two military ways, the one going northward and the other towards the east. " I am persuaded," Horsley says, " that if any military way has gone eastward from Walden, the course of it has been towards Dunmow. The camps not far from Walden, and the golden coin of Claudius, and the paiera found at Sterbury Hill, may easily be accounted for, by supposing a military way in the neighbourhood." * Many Roman antiquities have been found at Chesterford ; and the military way at Gogmagog Hills, is, he says, very visibly pointing towards it. At Ring Hill, near Audley End, there is a Roman camp, near a military way which is traced to Chesterford. The way from Verulamium, which this road joined at Dunmow, is, according to Horsley, the best supported in the county. It may be traced through Stortford, Dunmow, Braintree, Coggeshall, and Stanway, where it appears to coincide with that from London to Colchester. Mr. Drake saw several Roman antiquities that had been found at Dunmow; such as a gold coin of Honorius, several brass coins of Commodus, and a large parcel of Roman denarii, found in part of Lord Maynard's estate. " From Dunmow to Colchester," Camden says, " is a direct road, wherein are still to be seen, in some places, the remains of an old Roman way, called the Street. In an old perambulation of the forest, in the reign of King John, it is said to be bounded on the north super stratum ducentem a Dunmow versus Colcestriam. Hard by, near Little Canfield, are two ancient fortifications, both defended by deep ditches ; one of which is called at this day Castle yard.'" At Braintree have been discovered many antiquities, as well as at Black Notley, Bocking, and other places in its neighbourhood ; and a great number of Roman coins were found near the road, where it separates Bocking from Braintree.f Near Coggeshal, a Roman burial place, and several urns, were discovered. There was also a more direct road from Camulodunum to Camboricum. " From Camulodunum, or Colchester," a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine observes,! • Ilorsfley, Brit. Iloni.i). 429. \ Gent. Hag. vol. xcviii. part i. ]i. 103, IGl. I \ol. Ixv. part i. p. 36* . UNDER THE ROMANS. 39 " this road proceeds, obscurely to be sure, from the high state of cuUivation in chap. II. which that part of Essex has been for so many years, by Colne, Sible Hedingham, (where I once saw some remains of it) Yeldhara, Ridgewell, and Haverhill, to Horseheath; whence it runs, quite visible, and still very high raised, over the open country, and crossing Ikenield-street, continues straight to Gogmagog Hills; where, throwing off a branch by Grantchester to Sandby, fSalince) it descends into the valley to Camboricum, or Cambridge, a station placed on the north side of the Cam, and covering nearly all the gi-ound from the river to the turnpike-gate going to Huntingdon." Along the whole line of this road, antiquities, in great abundance, have at various times been discovered. On the 28th of June, 1800, a labourer making a ditch at the bottom of Red Barnfield, belongins to Bradfield farm, in the parish of Toppesfield, about two miles to the south of the road, discovered a skeleton with a sword-blade lying across its breast. A metal vase and patera, with several elegant little cups of Samian ware, were also found, one having an ornamented border.* A few rods to the south of Bathorne Bridge, in the parish of Birdbrook, several human skeletons were taken up in 1798 by a labom-er stubbing gravel for the turnpike road.f Near the village of Ridgwell, a Roman villa was found in lT9t, of Koman which a plan is given in the fourteenth volume of the Archagologia. Plenty of coins, RijcrweU. tiles, tesserae, &c., have been dug up at various periods. It is in " a situation very inviting, being upon an eminence that commands a very extensive prospect, and might with propriety be looked upon as an exploratory fort of the Romans." It is forty-four rods from the ancient road, in a field called Great Ashley, and resembles the villa found at INIansfield-wood-house, in Nottinghamshire. " This may, with equal propriety, be called the villa urbana, as I have reason to suppose the villa rustica is a little lower in the field." At the east end of the villa was found a room supported by short pillars, which was undoubtedly a hypocaust. A burial place was found by the side of the road, with some urns, skeletons, &c. At about halfway between Bathorne End and Sturmere are traces of a camp, or station, by the turn- pike road by Watsoe Bridge, but much defaced. The burial ground appertaining to it, containing skeletons, urns, coins, &c. was found in the north-west corner of the field, now called Stulps, behind the thirteenth milestone fi-om Halstead to Haverhill. In another field, in the parish of Wixoe, many coins were dug up, two of them bearing the names of Nero and Fl. Julius Constans. In Ford Meadow also in the parish of Sturmere, many coins of the lower empire were found; and also in a field called Millfield, a little to the right of the military way, were discovered, in 1 788, several gold coins, resembling those ascribed in Camden to Boadicea. At about a quarter of a mile from Ford Meadow, in a field adjoining the turnpike road, is a large tumulus. • ArehEBolog. vol. xiv. p. 24. •)• Archaeolog. vol. xiv. p. 62. Mr. Gale, in a letter to Mr. Warburton, says, " he never knew the appella- tion of Tltorn without a station near at hand." 40 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. Ikening- street. Lesser roads. Ottiona Vtliaiiceas- ter. Another burial ground was also discovered in a field near Meldham Bridge, called Broad Meadow, on the left of the turnpike road from Haverhill to Withersfield. The northern part of the county is also visited by the Ikening-street, which, accord- ing to Dr. Salmon, passes Hadstock, leading, as he presumes, from the Lands End to the coast of Essex. " It is allowed by every writer, that this, one of the Norman chem'tm mujores, passes the Thames. Indeed, they are not agreed upon the place, which most probably is Wallingford. But all admit that it comes by the Chiltern, near Tring, in Hertfordshire, to Dunstable, Ickleford, where it gives name, Willbury hills, Baldock, and Royston. If we will keep the direction, we must follow it to Icaldon, in Cambridgeshire, then hither, (to Hadstock), and by Linton to Haverhill, whence it points to the coast of Essex. If I follow the coast of Innin-street, as I have described it from Chichester, in Sussex, {Regniim of Antoninus), through London to Hertford, Braughing, Barkway, Haydon, Strethall, Littlebury, and Waldon, it points to Castle Camps, in Cambridgeshire. If we go on with this direction, it will bring us to Haverhill, one part of which is in Essex, thence by Iklingham, in Suffolk, by Caester upon Wenfar to Yarmouth, or Burgh, in its neighbourhood." * Besides these principal roads, several branches have been discovered in different parts, serving, perhaps, as connexions with stations not situate on the main road. There are traces of a Roman encampment at Harwich, and tesselated pavements, with other remains of antiquity, have been found there; the road leading to the town is called the street, and probably was the line of communication with Camu- lodunum. In the Pentingerian tables, where this part of the island is represented, a branch appears to be thrown off from the main road to the southern coast, perhaps to Canvy Isle, Tilbury, or some place at the mouth of the Thames ; probably it may be identified with the military way that has been traced by Billericay, pointing towards Ongar. Roman antiquities have been found at Shoebury, on the southern part of the Essex coast. Traces of another road are found from Plesby to Chelmsford. At the time the Notitia were made, the Roman forces in this island were all crowded to the Wall to repress the iiTuptions of the Picts, or stationed on the eastern coast, whence they were soon afterwards removed to the continent. In these Notitia men- tion is made, as under the governor of the Saxon coast, of the commander of a detachment of Fortenses at Othona.f This town is supposed to be the same as that known to the Saxons under the name of Ythanceaster,:}; at the mouth of the Pent, or Blackwater, which is now swallowed up by the encroachments of the sea. • Salmon's History of Essex. ■)■ " Sub dispositione viri spectabilis comitis littoris Saxonici per Britanniam. Propositus numeri Forlmsium Olhona." X Lie derives the Saxon name from ylha, a wave, or from liijlh, a port, and supposes its situation to liavc been near St. Peter's on the Wall. Perhaps, however, Ilhan, or Ylimn, may be no more than a corruption of its Roman nameOthona. Baxter says tliat its name Othona is ol apm, i.e. on the Lank of the river. — Gloss, p. 190. UNDER THE SAXONS. 41 CHAPTER III. ESSEX UNDER THE SAXONS. After the final departure of the Romans, the Britons were restored to their CHAP. former Hberty, but the same dissensions which had contributed to their subjection before, again exposed them to the attacks of other enemies. That their ill-success Tl^e . . . . I, . Saxons. in opposing the hostilities of the Pictish invaders from the north was not entirely the result of physical weakness, is ev-ident from the long and obstinate struggle which they afterwards maintained against the Saxons. In the old chroniclers we may trace the traditionary records of the agency and effect of sanguinary and continued internal dissension; we may learn that the British princes and their partizans were not less enemies to each other than to the Picts or Scots; and, to use the words of Gildas, that " the country, though weak against its foreign enemies, was brave and unconquer- able in civil warfare. Kings were appointed, but not by God ; they wlio were more cruel than the rest attained to the highest dignity." The whole tenor of the history shows, that the Saxons were called into the island by a party, and that from the first they considered Pict and Briton as equally their foe. Of the Saxons who settled in this island there were three principal branches, the pure Saxons, or old Saxons, the Gotes, or Jutes, and the Angles.* The Jutes occupied Kent and part of Wessex. The Angles were settled in the disti'icts known by the names of East Anglia, Middle Anglia, Mercia, and all the country to the north of the Humber. The pure Saxons were separated into three states, the East Saxons, the South Saxons, and the West Saxons. The latter held Surrey, part of Hampshire, Berkshire, "Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and part of Cornwall. The South Saxons peopled Sussex, and the possessions of the East Saxons included Essex, Middlesex, and part of Hertfordshire, bordering westward on the territory Kingdoms occupied by the Mercians, and to the north on the East Angles. Salmon imagines Faxons. that the kingdoms of the East Saxons and the Mercians were separated in the upper part of the county of Hertford by the Ermin-street, and in the lower part, in the parish of Cheshunt, by a bank, " which anciently reached fi-om Middlesex through Theobald's Park, across Gofie's Lane, to Thunderfield Grove, over Beaumont Green, to Nine Acres Wood."f On the north, the same natural boundaries were probably preserved, which had, under the Romans, separated this disti'ict from the Cassii. • "Op ealli-Seaxum, op Aiijlum, op notum.'' — Saxon Chroii. p. 14. t History of Hertford, p. i. 42 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. Erkwin. 527 — 587. Salierct. A.D. 599. Banish- ment of Mellitus. From the kingdom of Kent it was separated by the Thames, and it inckided the city of London, wliich was considered as its capital, and was then celebrated for its increasing commerce.* Londinium was always considered by the Romans as being properly one of the cities of the Trinobantes. The country to the north of the Thames had been extorted from Vortigern by Hengist ; and as it was nearly deserted by its inhabitants, it was distributed among the Saxons and Angles, who rose about the same period into the two inde- pendent kingdoms of the East Angles and the East Saxons. The first king of the latter was Erkwin, or Erchenwin, who boasted of being the ninth in descent from Woden ; -f and after a long, and perhaps a peaceable reign, he was succeeded by his son Sledda. The annals of the East Saxon kingdom are barren of incidents ; they occupied a part of the island too remote to be engaged in border wars with the natives ; their dependence on Kent was perhaps a defence against the ambition of their neighbours ; and their own crimes were probably not sufficient to make them famous. They appear, however, in monastic history, as standing among the first of the Anglo Saxons who embraced the faith of Christ. Saberct, or Sabryht, as were probably his two predecessors, was placed on the throne of the East Saxons by his uncle Ethelbert, king of Kent.:}: Ethelbert was the first of the English kings who received baptism, and his influence and example made a convert of his kinsman. The monk Mellitus, whom Augustine had raised to the see of London, was received as the bishop of the East Saxons ; § the first founda- tion of the cathedral of St. Paul was laid, and of the abbey of Thorney, which after- wards received the name of Westminster, where Saberct and his queen /Ethelgoda were buried. On Saberct's deatli in 616, he was succeeded by his three sons, Sexred, Seward, and Sigebert. Saberct, the reigning prince, had received, with respect, the Abbot Mellitus, and had given him every encouragement to preside in his metropolis. " But the prospect of the missionary closed with the death of his pati-on. The three sons of Saberct, who were still attached to the worship of their ancestors, bursting into the church dm'ing the time of sacrifice, demanded a portion of the consecrated bread which Mellitus was disti-ibuting to the people. The bishop (he had been lately invested with the episcopal dignity) dared to refuse ; and banishment was the conse- quence of his refusal. He joined his brethren in Kent ; but they were involved in equal difficulties. After the death of Bertha, Ethelbert had married a second wife. His son Eadbald was captivated with her youth and beauty ; at his accession to the • "Civitas magna, multorura terra et ponto venientium refugiumpopulorum." — Chranicm Joharmis Bramp- ton, p. 743. t ^Wrf. p. 7+3. t Saxon Chron. p. 29. § "Anno vciiii. Orientales Saxones fidem Christi percipinnt sub rege Saberlito antistite Mellito." — Chronica Monast. de Pipwell, inter MSS. Harl. Cod. C24, fol. 20. UNDER THE SAXONS. 43 throne he took her to his bed ; and when the missionaries ventured to remonstrate, CHAP, abandoned a rehgion which forbade the gi-atification of his passion. Disheartened ' by so many misfortunes, Melhtus, with Justus of Rochester, retired into Gaul. Laurentius, the successor of St. Augustine, had determined to follow their example; but spent the night before his intended departure in the church of St. Peter. At break of day he repaii'ed to the palace ; discovered to the king the marks of stripes on his shoulders ; and assured him, that they had been inflicted by the hands of the apostle as the reward of his cowardice. Eadbald was astonished and confounded. He expressed his willingness to remove the causes of discontent ; dismissed his father's widow from his bed; and recalled his fugitive bishops. His subsequent con- duct proved the sincerity of his conversion ; and Christianity, supported by his influ- ence, soon assumed an ascendancy which it ever after maintained." * The sons of Saberct were succeeded by Sigebriht, or Sigebert, surnamed the Sigebert Good, when the East Saxons again returned to the faitli of their Redeemer. Sigebert \n°K% himself was baptised by Finian, bishop of Lindisfarne, at a village in Northumber- land, called Ad Murttm, twelve miles from the eastern coast. Ceadda was deputed from the neighbouring kingdom of Mercia, to preside as bishop over the Eastern Saxons ; and he is celebrated for the number of converts whom he baptised at Ythanceaster, on the banks of the Pent, and at Tilaburgh, on the Thames. The anger of the pious bishop was roused by the incestuous marriage of a Saxon noble, and he was expelled from the communion and protection of the church. The king, despising, or unacquainted with, the excommunications which the bishop had issued against his subject, was guilty of entering the dwelling and partaking of the hospitality of the offending chief Repenting of his imprudence, he solicited pardon at the feet of Ceadda ; but the bishop would only deign to utter a prophetic threat of punishment. Sigebert was slain beneath the same roof under which he had first offended ; the assassin was the chief at whose invitation he had entered it. The throne of the East Saxons was afterwards occupied by Swythelyn, who was baptised by Ceadda at Swythelyn. Redlishani, in the kingdom of East Anglia, his godfather being Adelwold, the king of ' ' the East Angles.f Swythelyn was succeeded by Sebbi and Sighere, and the latter dying in 683, Sebbi st. Erken- became sole king of the East Saxons, and was distinguished for his pietj' and justice. Under the reign of these princes, the bishop of London was the celebrated St. Erkenwald, who, at the earnest desire of his sister Ethelbm-gha, founded, about A. D. 670, the abbey of Barking, making Ethelburgha its first abbess. Erkenwald Barking was nearly allied to the Saxon monarchs. He was the great gi-andson of Uffa, and founded. the second son of Anna, the seventh king of the East Angles. Monastic writers * Lingard's Antiquities of tlie Anglo-Saxon Church, vol. i. p. 20. t Chronicon Johannis Brompton, p. 74-t. 44 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. speak highly of his piety and zeal in the discharge of his episcopal duties, and tell us that when he was grown weak with age, he was carried about in a litter through his diocese, constantly teaching and instructing the people, till his death, in 685, which happened whilst he was on a visit to his sister Ethelburgha, at Barking. After a reign of thirty years, Sebbi exchanged his sceptre for a cloister, and retired as a monk to London, where, after his death, he was buried in St. Paul's. He was succeeded by his sons Sigehard and Swefred. In the time of Sebbi the kingdom of the East Saxons had been so reduced as to be in a great measure subject to Mercia, which was at that period ruled by Wulpher.* Within a few years after, however, it had risen to considerable power, which is said to have extended over the whole kingdom of the East Angles, so that the kingdom of the East Saxons included the whole of the counties of Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertford, Cambridge, and part of that of Bedford.f Offa, the son of Sighere, and successor of Sigehard and Swefred, visited the court of Conred, king of Mercia, for the purpose of marrying Cenred's aunt, Ceneswida, the daughter of Penda. But the princess, who was a lady of great piety, prevailed on both her nephew and her lover to embrace a monastic life. Ofla and Cenred, in company with St. Egwine, afterwards made a pilgrimage to Rome. After the depar- ture of OfFa, we find but very few historical incidents that relate to Essex, until the time that Edmund, who was related to OfFa, came from Germany, and was crowned, at Bury, king both of the East Saxons and of East Anglia.J In 823 the kingdom of the East Saxons, together with Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, were subjected to Egbriht.§ (;ffa. A. V. 705. CHAPTER IV. ESSEX UNDER THE DANES. The Danes. The Saxons, who had gained a settlement in this island by treachery, and had main- tained themselves in it by cruelty, became exposed to the attacks of an enemy not • " Sebbi rex Orient. Sax. et ipse quodammodo Wulphero subjectus." — Leland. Collectan. torn. i. p. i, 5. f " Rex autem Estsaxia: tenuit et occupavit Estsaxium, Middelsaxiam, Southfolchiani, Nortbfolchiam, et comitatus Hertfordiae, Cantebridgise, et Medietatem Bedefordiae." — Chron. Johan. Brampton, col. 800. (ap. Twisden.) t Cliron. Johan. Brompton, col. 745. Some writers speak of two other kings who succeeded Ofla, Selred and Suthred, but nothing appears to be known of them. § Saxon Chron. p. 70. UNDER THE DANES. 45 inferior in the former, and far exceeding them in the latter. The first visit of the CHAP. Danes to England is placed by the Saxon Chronicle in the year 787, during the reign ^^ ' of Beorhtric, king of the West Saxons, who married Eadburga, the daughter of Offa. In 793 they repeated their visit ; and arriving in greater numbers, laid waste the isle of Lindisfarne, burnt and plundered its monastery, and murdered the monks. Their coming was preceded by dreadful portents, such as unusual storms, fiery dragons appearing in the heavens, and universal famine.* The following year they continued their ravages. Hitherto, the excursions of the Danes had been confined to the northern coast; but in 832, they appeared at the mouth of the Thames, and laid waste the isle of Sheppey, and the parts adjacent.-)- Another party landed at Charmouth, in Dorset- shire, the following year, and defeated the forces led against them by Egbriht. In 835 they landed on the western coast of the island, and joined the Britons, but their combined army was beat by Egbriht, at Hengest-dune, or Hengston Hill, in Cornwall; During the time that the different states of the Heptarchy were joined together under the power of the West Saxon king, Egbriht, the Danes had been able to make no permanent settlement; but after his death the kingdom was again divided, and ruled in succession by several feeble kings. Ethelwulf, the son of Egbriht, sue- A. D. 836. ceeded his father in the kingdom of Wessex; and Kent, Essex, Surrey, and Sussex were given to Ethelstan.J Ethelwulf was succeeded by Ethelbald, Ethelbriht, Ethelred, and Alfred. In 838, and the following years, the Danes overrun the whole of East Anglia and Kent, burning and desh'oying wherever they came. In 851 they were defeated by Ethelstan, the king of Essex and Kent, at Sandwich; but the same year a fresh party wintered at Tlianet, and were joined by a fleet of three hundred ships from Denmark. They landed in Kent, took Canterbury and London, and were pro- ceeding into Surrey, when they were met and defeated by Ethelwulf and his son Ethelbald, at Oakley. On the death of Ethelwulf, Ethelbald, who was the father of Alfred, succeeded to the crown of the West Saxons ; and his brother, Ethelbriht, about the same time succeeded Ethelstan in the combined kingdom of the East Saxons, Kent, Surrey, and the South Saxons. Ethelwald dying in G80, Ethelbriht joined Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Surrey to the kingdom of the West Saxons, to which he suc- ceeded. During the reign of these princes, the Danes invaded England in great numbers. The cause of their coming is thus told in one of the old chronicles : During the reign of Ethelbald in Wessex, Northumberland was ruled by two kings, Osbrith and Ella, the former residing at York. As Osbrith was passing through a wood with some of his attendants, he came to the dwelling of one of his nobles, whose name was * Saxon Chron. p. 64, 65. Simeon Dunel. Hist. a. hpyle ler peopor-poji-oa on ruS liealpe Lysean." — 5a,to;i Chrou. p. 103. Johan. Brompton calls it castrum. — Hertford Chrun. p. 833. t Saxon Chron. p. 107, &:c. Johan. Brompton, Chron. p. 833, 831. J Saxon Chron. p. 109. VOL. I. H 50 HISTORY OF ESSEX BOOK I. died in 9^5. From this period to the time of Etheh-ed, who ascended the throne in 978, England was free from the attacks of the Danes. Ethelred came to the crown amidst the maledictions of his subjects, and the denun- ciations of the monks.* These denunciations were fulfilled by a new invasion of the Danes. In 981, seven Danish ships plundered Southampton and the isle of Thanet. In 991, Unlaf, with ninety-three ships, landed on the East Anglian coast, desti'oyed Ipswich, {Gypeswic), and laid waste the whole district. From thence they proceeded to Maldon, in Essex, where they slew Byrthnoth, the ealdor-man of the county, defeated his army, and committed such ravages in every part, that, by advice of Siric, archbishop of Canterbury, the king gave them ten thousand pounds to quit the kingdom. From this time other parties of Danes were continually landing in dif- ferent parts of the island. Sweyn landed at Sandwich in 993, and plundered Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Hampshire, till he desisted on the promise of sixteen thousand pounds ; but immediately after he again commenced his devastations in the western counties. The greater body of the Danes, on the agreement of Ethelred to pay them a large sum of money, left the kingdom ; but niunbers remained behind, and, settling in dif- ferent parts of the country, they so oppressed the natives, that it was determined to destroy them. For this purpose, private orders were transmitted throughout England, and on St. Brice's day, the 13th of November, 1002, every Dane was put to death. This act was a sufficient cause for new invasions. The Danes now flocked into the island in such numbers, that they are compared by the old historians to the ants that creep over an ant-hill. -j- In 1004, Sweyn landed in East Anglia, and burnt Norwich and Thetford, but was compelled to retreat again to his ships by Ulfkytel, who was the governor of the province. The year followng a famine obliged the Danes to leave the island, but they returned in 1006, and as the last resource, Ethelred entered into a treaty with them, by which it was agi-eed, that they should be allowed to remain in the island, and receive a ti'ibute of thirty thousand pounds. But, in 1009, another army of Danes landed at Sandwich, and after having carried their depredations over most of the southern counties, they wintered on the Thames, plundering the adjacent districts of Essex and Kent. In 1010, the * Dunstan predicted — " Quoniam aspirasti ad regnum per mortem fratris tui, cujus sanguine Angli cum ignominiosa matre tua conspiraverunt, non deficiet sanguis et gladius ab eis donee populus ignotx linguae superveniens eos exterrainando in ultimam redigat servitutem, nee expiabitur delictum illud nisi longa vin- dicta." — Chron. Jokan. Broniptony p. 877. t So thycke hii come, that the lend over al hii gonne fiUle As thycke as ameten crepeth in an amete hulle. By northe and by southe, in the est and in the west, So thycke hii come, that raee nuste in wucli half kepe best." Robert of Gloucester, p. 296. UNDER THE DANES. 51 Danes landed at Ips%vich, and in a short time reduced the wliole of East Angha. CHAP. After having burnt Cambridge and Thetford, and several other towns, they proceeded ^^ • in a southern direction to the Thames, and when, in 1011, a truce was bought by the English king, they had subdued East Anglia, with Essex, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, great part of Hun- tingdonshire, Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, and great part of Wilt- shire. In 1014 Sweyn died, after having subdued the whole kingdom, and the Danes proclaimed his son Cnut, or Canute, king in his place.* In 1016, Ethelred, who, after the death of Sweyn, had returned from Normandy, died at London, and left his son, Edmund Ironside, to struggle with Canute for the crown. After having, in vain, made several attempts upon London, which was preserved by Edmund's bravery, Canute fixed his quarters in Essex. The same year the Danes left Essex to invade Mercia, but were driven back, and a great battle was fought at Assandune, (Ashdun, or Assingdown,) in which, by the treachery of the ealdor-man, Edric, Edmund was defeated. The same year Edmund and Canute entered into a Edmund treaty, agreeing to divide the kingdom between them ; and after the death of Assandun't- Edmund, which happened the same year, Canute succeeded to the entire sove- reignty. Tiie government of East Anglia was given to Thurcylle, that of Northum- berland to Yric, and that of Mercia to Edric. After the death of Hardicnute, the crown again reverted to an English dynasty in the person of Edward the Confessor, and, from this time, with the exception of a descent made on the coast of Kent and Essex in 1046, England was freed from the attacks of the Danes. The Danish dynasty in England had been very oppressive to the natives. An Englishman meeting a Dane on a bridge was obliged to stand aside till the Dane had passed over; if he did not make a low reverence when he passed a Dane, he was liable to be severely beaten. The tribute that was extorted from the native English was fixed by Canute at upwards of eighty thousand pounds, and it was collected with merciless severity.f Hardicnute levied an additional tax of upwards of thirty-three thousand pounds for the payment of his fleet and army. The Danish tribute, or Dane- geld, was discontinued on the accession of Edward. When he was one day shown the great heap of money which had been collected for the payment of the Danish tribute, he started back in apparent terror, and declared that he saw the devil dancing and capering over it. He ordered it directly to be paid back to the people, and Dane- Dane-geia geld was abolished for ever.J * Saxon Chron. Johan. Brompton. f " Tributum quod Angli Danis annuatim dabant, auctura ad septuaginta duo millia librarum et eo amplius, et sine hoc quod de Londonia dabatur undecim millia librarum. Tunc qui habuerunt ad tantum tributum solvendum dabant. Qui non habuerunt, terras et possessiones et alias res irrecuperabiliter perdide- runt. Unde factum est ut ecclesia de Bureh et aliae mults multse perdiderint." — Leiand. CoHectan. torn. i. p. 1 1. See Saxon Chron. p. 151. X Ingulph, p. C5. Johan. Brompton, p. 112. HISTORY OF ESSEX. CHAPTER V. THE NORMAN CONQUEST. BOOK I. When that weak prince, Edward the Confessor, encouraged a swarm of Norman iiie .Nor- favourites and parasites, he was laying the foundation of a rival power that should totally destroy the liberties of his country ; for, by political cunning, and secret influ- ence, the Normans were attempting to effect what the Danes had before done by open force. The archiepiscopal see of Canterbury was occupied by a Norman named Robert ; another of the same nation occupied the see of London ; and various Saxon prelates were removed, because some pretended relations of King Edward, by his mother, waited for preferment. Eudes was made chief of the counties of Devon, Somerset, Dorset, and Cornwall ; Raulf, the son of Gualter de Mantes, was intrusted with the superintendence of Herefordshire and the Welsh Marches ; and much dissatisfaction was created among the people by the removal of Godwin and his sons from their offices of power, and the giving their appointments to foreigners. This general dis- content was not lessened by the arrival, at this time, of a stranger, in the person of the bastard duke of Normandy, who, in journeying through England with his retinue of attendants, was constantly met by his own countrymen. Norman soldiers com- posed the garrison at Dover, and of the fort at Canterbury; and captains and prelates came to pay their respects to the chief of their native counti'y. The foreigner seemed more a king in England than its native prince ; and it was not long before he conceived the idea of becoming so in reality at the death of this unworthy slave to Norman influence. A. D. 1054. Sometime afterwards, on the reconciliation between Edward and Godwin, the native patriot chief, the Norman court favourites, exceedingly alarmed, mounted their horses and fled. The archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishop of London, retreated by the eastern gate of the capital, followed by armed men, who massacred some of the English in their flight. They were conveyed in fishing boats over the channel. The council of wise men assembled in London on this occasion were unanimous in the sentence of banishment against the foreign favourites ; yet, at the request of Edward, some were suffered to remain : Ranulph, the son of Gaulter de Mantes, by tlie king's sister ; Robert, surnamcd the Dragon, and his son-in-law Richard, the son of Scrob ; Oufroy, equery of tlie palace ; Oufroy, surnamcd Jay-foot, and others, for whom the king had particular friendship. The bishop of London was also I'ecalled, and Herman, a Fleming, remained bishop of Wilton. The feeble-minded THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 5:i Edward, toward the close of life, spent much of his time in retirement at his CHAP. \. palace at Havering, in Essex ; became the victim of gloom and despondency ; and, on his death-bed, had frightful visions and presentiments of future calamity to the country. Sentences of scripture, of ominous import, passed across his bewildered imagination. "The Lord hath bent his bow; he hath pi-epared his sword; he waveth and brandisheth it like a warrior; he will manifest his wrath by fire and sword,"* would he continually exclaim. Terror and dismay seized those who witnessed his last moments,f all except Stigand, the archbishop, who could not but smile to observe the weakness of those who trembled at the dreams of a sick old man. J Harold, the brave, the destroyer of the evil influence of the foreign favourites, § King was crowned, with the unanimous consent of the people, the day after the funeral of '""'" King Edward, and the ceremony was performed by Archbishop Stigand, but it did not receive the sanction of the Roman church. The bishop placed upon the head of the new king a golden crown ; and a gilded scepti-e was given to him; || and a battle- axe, according to the custom of his country. During his brief reign, his conduct was just, wise, affable, and active, daring all danger for the good of his country.^ Even if it had been true that a weak prince had promised to make the bastard of Normandy heir to the English crown, or if a promise had been extorted from Harold to betray his country, in neither case could any right be derived to the dominion of England, which only submitted to a cruel tyranny for want of power to make an effectual resistance. The spirit that prompted the Norman and his followers to attack England, was projected that of avarice, unmixed with any better feeling; and those who provided this cruel "'^''^'""• robber with the means to effect his purposes were speculators, who, for a trifling venture, expected an enormous return ; of these adventurers, one class subscribed for vessels, another for men and arms, and another class came to march in person, and venture all to gain the possession of riches, lands, and slaves to be subject to their command. Even priests joined in this unholy expedition, as in a crusade: those who did not give money contributed their personal assistance, that they might receive lordships, and be exalted to the pinnacle of greatness ; and the Roman pontiff, to authorise the subjugation of a free people, sent his bull, a golden ring, and a con- secrated banner. • " Et ecce Dominus arcum suuin tetendit, gladium suum vibravit et paravit .... igne simul et gladio puniendi." — Ethelredis Rierallensis. f " There was deol and sorrowe ynou." — Robert of Gkueester. X " Prophetanti delirare submurmiirans, ridere maluit." — Ethelred. Rievall. § Gervasis TUburiensis, p. 741. II " All's pafiol"6 eopl Kens to \>em \i\ce, \^a pe cin; liit liim sen})©, ail's eaumen liiii fjaeti to jecution." — Saxon Chronicle. ^ " Pium humilem, atfabilem se exhibens .... pro patria defensione ipsemet terrae marique desudare." — Roger de Iloved. 54 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK I. The battle of Hastings, Oct. 14, lOGfi. A piratical descent on the coast had called Harold into the northern part of England ; and he lay fatigued and wounded at York, when a messenger came to him in haste to inform him that the Norman invader had landed without opposition;* and before the English forces could be brought into the field, the enemy had taken a strong position at Hastings, and were sending bands of soldiers out over the country, plundering and burning the houses, and murdering the inhabitants. When the English army, after some unavoidable delay, at length arrived, it was much inferior in number to the enemy, and the chiefs were urgent in their attempts to persuade the king not to hazard an engagement till the arrival of supplies, which were soon expected. But the impetuosity of his disposition urged him on ; and even when the hour of battle approached, and his two brothers, Gurth and Leafwine, had chosen their stations by his side, Gurth was earnestly attempting to persuade him not to remain, but to go towards London for additional forces, whilst his friends sustained the attack. But rash in his bravery, and trusting to the goodness of his cause, his answer was always the same : that there, where duty and honour called, he must remain, and could not retire from danger while others ventured their lives. f Tiie decisive and disastrous battle, which brought such accumulated evils on England, took place not far from Hastings. The English fought with determined bravery ; several times repulsed their assailants, and would have gained the victory, but, at that juncture, a thousand horse were ordered to advance, and after sustaining the attack, to retreat, as if overcome. This stratagem had the desired effect, and gave the Normans the advantage. There was great slaughter on both sides : the English king and his two brothers fell at the foot of their standard, and the remainder of their army, without a chief, and without a standard, yet continued the struggle till it was so dark that they could only distinguish their enemies by their language. Two monks, from the abbey of Waltham, came to prostrate themselves before the conqueror, humbly to beg the body of King Harold, their benefactor, bringing ten marks of gold to offer for it. This request was granted ; and the bodies of his two brothers were also buried at Waltham. No considerable change had been made in the political government of the Anglo- Saxons, though they had basely submitted to wear the yoke of Danish slavery under four successive monarchs; but on the fatal event of the Norman conquest, a complete transfer of the proprietorship of the country, and all it contained, was made into the hands of an unprincipled barbarian, whose cruelty was equal to his injustice. All land or other property was held under him. The thanes, or men of influence and property, as well as the ceorls, or yeomen, were driven from their possessions with • " That Due William to Hastinges was ycome, And his bannere hadde yrercJ, and the countrey all ynome." Robert of Gltiucester^s Chron. \ " Nimis prsEceps et virtute sua prsesumens." — Waltham MSS. THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 55 relentless barbarity ; the former sought refuge in foreign countries; the latter became CHAI'. \'. slaves of the soil which was formerly their own. The foundation of legal right in the code of the Norman was in the maxim that all right centered in the king ; and it was the prevailing purpose of every legislative act to make all property directly con- tributary to the emolument of government. Power and influence, and cooperation in all important undertakings, were required from those who held great possessions, and these and their honours they were only allowed to retain as long as they remained obediently subservient. So, with respect to the little all that was possessed by the citizens and artificers of towns, it was also reckoned to be the king's, as the first absolute proprietor. No sanction, however sacred or venerable, could give any right to any thing without his permission ; and in the imposition of taillage or taxation, the burden was heaviest on those who had least. When the clergy, or feudatories, were taxed a twentieth or a fifteenth of their moveable effects, the tax on the townspeople was a tenth, or a seventh ; and small unappropriated demesnes in townships were subject to a taillage, payable by the citizens, which was oppressively felt. Ancient Viscount records inform us that Eudes, the son of Hubert, received gi'ateful acknowledgments " ''^' from the town of Colchester, on account of having taken lands of disinherited Normans in his own name, and agreed to satisfy the fiscal demands upon them,* at the time when he was viscount, or governor of that town. This is the only instance of com- plaisant behaviour of any chief imposed by the foreign tyrant on the English. Everywhere else in the kingdom, the royal officers, in the language of the chroniclers, were worse than the worst of thieves, plundering without mercy. All the pleadings in the courts of law, and the legislative acts, were in Norman French, and if it had been possible, the language of the country would have been abolished. Not only the civil but ecclesiastical government was greatly altered; for, besides all the counties and baronies, all bishoprics and prelacies were transferred from their former owners to Norman favourites ; and it was a circumstance of rare occuiTence to see an Englishman in any place of honour or profit. The civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions had been jointly exercised by the Saxon bishops and earls in the county courts ; but these were separated by giving the bishops a court of their own. And the lands of the bishops and greater abbots, which had been held before in frank almoigne, or free alms, were, by authority of the legislature under William, declared to be baronies, and bound to the same obligations of homage and military service as the civil tenui'es of the like nature, agreeable to the practice in France and Normandy at that time. Under a prince of a disposition so arbitrary and tyrannical, the most oppressive acts might be expected ; and so heavy was the burden of military tenures which he introduced here, in imitation of those in * " Has ergo terras Eudo sibi vindicavit ut pro his fisco satisfaceret, et populum ea teniis alleviaret." — Monas. Anal' 56 HISTORY OF ESSEX. r.ooK I. Doomsday l)ook. A. D. 10S6. William (lies. A. P. 1087. Kd. III. A. n. 1.327 llic. II. A. I). 1381 Normandy, that even the Normans, who enjoyed iiimense possessions under him, found this grievance so intolerable, that every opportunity was sought for redi'ess. And this was the cause of the long-continued and destructive wars between the kings and the barons in succeeding ages. The first twenty years of the Norman era seem to have been occupied in com- pletely reducing the native population to a state of vassalage; and, in the year 1086, the work of the conquest was completed by the grand survey of Doomsday, and by making all the Norman dependents possessing lands renew their oaths of allegiance. William died in 1087 ; but several centuries succeeded before any attempt seems to have been made on the part of the English to regain their liberty, or even to better their condition. The condition of the Saxon serfs of London, in the time of Edward the Third, may be known by consulting " Rymer's Acta Publicse," where we shall find preserved the following form or order to be sent to workmen, or artificers, when the king designed to embellish a church, or palace, or any public building : — " Be it known to you, that we have commissioned our well-beloved William de Walsingham to take in our city of London as many painters as shall be necessary, to set them to woi-k at our wao-es, and make them stay as long as shall be needful. If he find any of them rebellious, he shall arrest him, and confine him in our prison, there to remain till further orders."' This was at that time the condition of all in London who were not counts, chevaliers, or esquires, even including those engaged in liberal arts, as well as all workmen and common labourers, called by the French writers of that time, the villains of London ; but the condition of the same class in the country, called by their Norman lords, bonds, cotiers, serfs, or knaves, were degraded much lower, and sub- jected to a harder servitude. We find in continental writers of these times, expressions of astonishment to observe the great number of serfs in England, and the harshness of their servitude. All those who were cultivators of land were called bonds, or serfs, in body and goods, and could be sold, together with their houses, their implements, their oxen, their children, and their posterity ; which in the deeds was expressed as follows : " Know that I have sold my knave and all his offspring, born, or to be born." The origin of their degraded state was not known to these men, neither was it Generally to their oppressors, who were not by any means known as Normans, but now called u-entlemen. Yet it cannot be wondered at if we find in the breasts of the oppressed strong feelings of resentment against those who treated them with cruel injustice; and in the time of Richard the Second, in the year 1381, a strong public expression was given to this sentiment, which never ceased to operate, till, by degrees, and in process of time, vassalage was totally abolished in England. In consequence of foreign wars, the country had been oppressively taxed, and assem- blies of the serfs took place spontaneously, particularly in the county of Essex, and insurrec- tion. THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 57 secret associations were formed. This project quickly spread into all the neighbour- chap. \ , ing counties, and it was in time understood, that the secret purpose of these associa- tions was to force the gentlemen to relinquish their privileges. Small letters were circulated in the villages, recommending to the associated a discreet conduct and perseverance, in proverbial and mysterious language. One of these, known to be by a priest, called John Ball, is as follows: " John Ball gretyth you well all, and doth you understand he hath rungen your belle. Nowe right and might, wylle and skylle. God spede every idel. Stonde mantyche togedyr, in treu tho and help gowe. If the ende be well, that is all well." * Between the townspeople of London, and the same class in the country, a cordial good understanding subsisted, especially with those of the county of Essex ; and in the event of their coming in a body to London, to demand, or petition for their rights, they promised to open the gates of the city for their admission. King Richard was in his sixteenth year ; and the peasants, in their simplicity, and a full conviction of the justness of their cause, hoped every thing from a personal application, and were continually exclaiming to each other, " Let us go to the king, and show him our Wat Tyler's servitude ; let us go altogether." In this state of the public mind, a tax of one shilling was levied on every individual, of whatever condition, above the age of fifteen, which being rigorously exacted, caused great disturbance in all parts of the country ; and the insolence of the collectors, especially in Essex, where they went so far as to use an indecent mode of ascertaining the age of young women, occasioned an insurrection, which soon spread over all the neighbouring counties. The leaders of the insurgents were Wat Tyler, John Ball the priest, and Jack Straw ; and they soon amounted to a vast multitude. " Their number," says Stowe, " was now almost infinite, so they feared no man to resist them ; they began to show some such acts as they had con- sidered in their minds, and took in hand to behead all men of law, as well apprentices as barristers, and old justices. Towards evening they came to Southwarke, where they brake down the houses of Marshelsey, and loosed the prisoners: amongst others they brake down the house of John Inworth, then marshal of the Marshelsey, con- tinuing that outrage all the night ; the commons of Essex went to Laml)eth, a manor of the archbishoppe of Canterbury, spoyled and burnt all the goods, with the bookes, registers, and remembrances of the chancery. The next day, being Corpus Christi, the commons of Essex went to the manor of Highbery, two miles fi'om London, north ; this manor, belonging to the prior of St. John of Jerusalem, they wholly consumed by fire ; on which day also, the commons of Kent brake down the stew- houses neere London-bridge, at that time in the hands of the frowes of Flaunders, who had farmed them of the maior of London. The commons passed through the * Chron. Hen. Knighton. VOL. I. I 58 HISTORY OF ESSEX. King Richard addresses the mob. BOOK 1. city, and did no hurt ; they tooke nothing from any man, but bought all things at a just price ; and if they found any man with theft, they beheaded him." In the account of the progress of these outrages various murders are mentioned of such persons in official situations as the insurgents considered to be their bitterest enemies ; but in the whole of their proceedings, some show of justice was observable ; and the murders, which they called executions, were preceded by an odd ceremony of juridical forms. Tlie heads of the mob continuing to petition an interview with the king, he had the boldness to appoint a set time for that purpose, to take place at Mile End, where, when he arrived, with only a small number to attend him, upwards of fifty thousand armed peasantry were waiting his approach ; and the king's two brothers, and several barons, were frightened, and left him ; but he, boldly addressing them in English, said, " Good people, what do you want? What would you with me?" The leaders answered him, " We would that thou wouldst free us for ever, ourselves, our children, and oui- goods ; and that we no longer be called serfs, nor held in bondage." " I grant it you," said the king; " go home to your several villages as you have come from them, only leaving behind you two or three men from each place ; by and by I will have letters written and sealed with my seal, which they shall carry with them, and which shall freely secure you all that you ask. I forgive you what you have done hitherto, but go back each of you to your own house, as I have told you." These credulous people did not doubt the sincerity of the young king, and were greatly rejoiced, promising immediately to depart, many of them beginning to put themselves in motion for that purpose. That very day the clerks of the royal chancery were busily engaged in writing and sealing letters of enfranchisement and pardon, which were received by the peasantry in vast numbers, and carried into the country. These letters were in Latin, and contained the following passages : — " Know, that of our special grace, we have freed all our liege-men and subjects of the county of Essex, and all other counties of the kingdom, and discharged all and each of them from all bondage and servitude ; and that, moreover, we have pardoned the said liege-men and subjects all the offences they have committed against us by riding about and going through divers places with men-at-arms, archers, and others, with armed force, flags and pennons flying." The leaders, especially Wat Tyler and John Ball, had not the same confidence as the more ignorant of the populace ; and, with great exertions, persuaded a few thou- sands of the more determined of them to remain with them, and endeavour to procure something more to be depended upon than the bare promise of the king. In conse- quence, a second meeting was appointed in Smithfield market-place, where the king, with a small number of attendants, met Wat Tyler, who came boldly forwards with- out suspicion, and met the king and his company. On this occasion, Tyler proceeded to make some general preliminary demands, viz. the right of buying and selling THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 59 openly and freely, in the towns and out of them; the right of hunting in field and chap. \'. forest, &c. ; when the king seeming to hesitate in giving a precise answer, and Wat Tyler assuming a demeanour which William Walworth, the mayor of London, con- sidering to be disrespectful or threatening toward the king, he advanced, and at one blow with his mace, or some other weapon, knocked Tyler from his horse, who was Death ot immediately killed as he lay on the ground by an esquire of Norman birth, named " ^ ^^' Philpot. Perceiving what had happened, the armed multitude immediately prepared for action, exclaiming, " They have killed our captain ! Come on, let us kill all." On this sudden emergency, the king, with extraordinary courage and presence of mindj advanced, unattended, toward the enraged multitude, who were putting themselves in battle array: — " Sirs," said he, " what do you want I you have no other captain but me; I am your king ; keep at peace ; follow me into the fields, and I will give you what you ask." The astonishment occasioned by this proceeding kept the crowd in a state of suspense, till an armed force arrived, who had not been far distant, in the city, and the king galloped in among their ranks, while the attack was immediately com- menced upon the panic-struck multitude, who threw down their arms and fled in all The mob directions, gi-eat numbers being left dead on the ground: John Ball and Jack Straw '''^l'*''^'' ■ were afterwards taken, and beheaded and quartered. Bands of armed peasants were on their march toward the metropolis from every part of the country when tliis easy victory was gained, but they all soon after dispersed ; after which a proclamation was published, by sound of horn, throughout the kingdom, in the name of the king, who, on this occasion, was made rather to express the decisions of his counsellors than his own ; for, when he had previously called together his parliament of archbishops, bishops, abbots, and barons, with chevaliers fi'om the counties, and burgesses from the towns, he laid before them the reasons for the provisional letters of enfranchisement that had been given ; adding, " It is for you to decide whether the peasants shall enjoy the privileges of freemen or not." " God preserve us," answered the barons and chevaliers, " from subscribing to such charters, though we were all to perish in one day, for we would rather lose our lives than our inheritances." It was in consequence determined to send forth a counter-declaration, which should disannul the letters of enfranchisement. By this it was proclaimed, that all and each of the freemen and knaves should, as heretofore, be enjoined to perform the works and services which they owe to their lords, according to ancient custom, without being allowed to claim any liberty or privilege they did not enjoy before the insurrection. It was also stated, that, " Forasmuch as the said letters issued from our court without mature consideration, and seeing that the granting of them tended to the gi-eat prejudice of us and our crown, and of the prelates, lords, and barons of our kingdom, and of the most holy church : by the advice of our council, we have revoked, cancelled, and annulled, the said letters ; and order all those who have those our letters of enfi-an- 60 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK I. Religious houses. Visitation ofchurches. chisement and pardon in their possession, to give up and restore them to us and our council, by the allegiance they owe to us, and on pain of forfeiting all they possess to us.* A body of cavalry went out from London as soon as the proclamation had been made, and, with Robert Tresilyan, a judge of the King's Bench, traversed the neigh- bom-ing counties, proclaiming as they passed, that all the letters of enfranchisement should be returned without delay, on pain of military execution, to be inflicted col- lectively on the inhabitants ; and all the letters were thrown into a fire before all the people. All those who could be found who had first promoted the insurrection were seized and put to death, with such accompanying atrocities as revenge and malice might inflict ; some were hanged four times at the corners of towns ; some embowelled, and their entrails burned while yet alive. f The vindictive and destructive wars between the houses of York and Lancaster produced some changes in the proprietorship of lands in Essex, as either party pre- vailed. The illustrious family of De Vere, earl of Oxford, was reduced by these wars to the lowest ebb of poverty and distress ; and that of Bourchier was exalted to the summit of splendour and riches. The state of property was also very considerably afTected by the founding and endowing a great number of monasteries and religious houses, which brought many valuable estates into what is termed mortmain. Of these, Essex contained no less than fcrty-seven, of which two were mitred abbeys, six common abbeys, twenty-two priories, three nunneries, three colleges, two preceptories of templars, and nine hospitals. Before their dissolution, the yearly revenue of these monasteries amounted to seven thousand five hundred pounds, which, considering the advance in the value of land since that time, was, indeed, a very great sum. The dissolution of these houses by King Henry the Eighth transferred this property into numerous hands, as will be seen in the history of the parishes in which the various houses were situated. In King Edward the Sixth's reign, the suppression of chantries dispersed a great deal of landed property among individuals, generally consisting of small parcels, but not always, as may be instanced in Joseph Elianor's chantry, at Colchester, which had an endowTiient of one hundred acres. The custom of the visitation of churches took place in this reign, which was conducted in such a manner as to raise astonishing sums. The four commissioners engased in this business were Sir Richard Riche, George Norton, Thomas Josselyn, aud Edmund Mordaunt ; and the transaction had an appearance altogether inconsistent with a just and equitable government. Several • Rymer, torn. iii. t " Alios decapitari, alios suspend!, alios ver6 train per civitatem et suspendi per quatuor partes, alios autem eviscerari." — //. Knyghton. THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 61 parishes in the county suffered under this visitation, particularly in Walden and Sandford deaneries. During the unhappy contest between Charles the First and his parliament, many suffered here, but not so deeply as in some adjoining counties. Sir John Lucas was one of those who, on this occasion, experienced the ungovernable insolence of an infuriated populace. Several inhabitants of Essex refused to join the prevailing party, and consequently brought upon themselves a heavier oppression ; and, after being branded with the most odious names, were deprived of their estates by sequestration, or forced to redeem them upon terms the most cruel and oppressive. That none might escape this premeditated tyranny, committees were appointed, invested with power to sequester the estates of all those who did not immediately comply with their enormous demands ; to these they gave the opprobrious name of delinquents, and treated them with the utmost severity, seizing all their personal as well as real estates, allowing only a fifth part for the maintenance of their disti-essed wives and families. It may easily be conceived what extortions were practised on this occasion, when it is known that the sums raised amounted to some millions sterling. Many families were impoverished and reduced to extreme distress, and others totally ruined. It is evident, fi-om the sketch that has been given of the Norman conquest, that this country was reduced by that event to the lowest state of degradation ; and we are astonished to find, than an institution of slavery so firmly established should have been so completely destroyed ; and that England may now boast the possession of a civil government which is justly praised as superior to any other in the world. Tiie odious names of serf and villain have been long since forgotten, as the class of persons so called has long since ceased to exist. The appellations of Norman and Saxon have also become obsolete, except in history ; and it is pleasing to observe, that this extraordinary change has been effected by the gradual operation of religious and moral considerations, impressed on the minds of the superior or privileged orders. During the fourteenth, and especially in the commencement of the fifteenth, centuries, numerous instances occur of deeds of enfranchisement, the forms of which have been preserved. In the preamble to these we find expressions to the following effect ; — " Seeing that in the beginning God made all men by nature free, and that afterwards the law of nations placed certain of them under the yoke of servitude — we think it would be pious and meritorious in the sight of God, to liberate such persons to us subject in villanage, and to free them entirely from such service. Know, therefore, that we have freed from all yoke of servitude , , our knaves, of the manor of , them and all their children, born and to be born, &c." The frequency of these in the period referred to, indicates a better spirit than could be expected from the tyrannous results of the conquest ; and when the descendants of the oppressed English had been thus informed of their true state and its origin, it might be ( llAl'. \. civil \ 62 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Bomo. expected, that they would not remain contented in their degraded situation ; and we therefore find, that not long after the first instances of occasional enfranchisement, a general movement took place, by which they attempted to regain their civil rights, which were not, indeed, long afterwards withheld from them. CHAPTER YI. AN ACCOUNT OF THE HOLDERS OF ALL THE LANDS OF ESSEX AS THEY APPEAR IN THE GREAT NATIONAL RECORD OF DOOMSDAY BOOK. Holders ol 1. KiNG WiLLIAM. the con- "• The chuTch of the Holy Trinity at Canterbury. ■i"<""- 3. The bishop of London. 4. Lands which were the private property of the bishop of London. 5. The dean and chapter of St. Paul's in London. 6. The abbot of Westminster. 7. The bishop of Durham. 8. The abbey of Waltham. 9. Barking Abbey. 10. EH Abbey. n. Abbey of St. Edmund at Bury St. Edmunds. 12. St. Martin's le Grand, London. 13. Battle Abbey, founded by the Conqueror, to commemorate the victory gained at the battle of Hastings, and built on the spot where the unfortunate Harold fell. 14. The abbey of St. Valery, in Normandy. 15. The abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen, in Normandy. 16. The abbey of St. Stephen at Caen, founded by William the Conqueror, and where he was buried. 17. The abbey of St. Ouen at Roan, in Normandy. Bishop "t ^^* Odo, or Eudes, bishop of Bayeux, brother to the Conqueror. Arietta, after Bayeiix. the birth of the Bastard William, was maiTied to Harluin, a Norman, and had by that connexion, besides Odo, Robert, earl of Mortain, and Emma, countess of Albemarle, a title given with the city of that name, to her husband, by the archbishop of Roan, on condition that he should attend him as standard-bearer in all his military expeditions. Eudes attended the Conqueror, and, at the battle of THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 63 Hastings, assisted him with his prayers and his advice. After the victory he was CHAP. abundantly rewarded, having given to him two hundred and sixteen lordships, L_ thirty-nine of which were in the county of Essex. Bishop Eudes de Bayeux became famous in amis as a tamer of the English. He was chief justice and count of Kent, and, after the poisoning of Roger, the gi-andson of Osbert, was made also count of Hereford. Some pretenders to divination had foretold to this proud bishop, that he should succeed Gregory the Seventh in the papal chair ; and, feeding his ambitious mind with these visionary expectations, he bought a palace, and sent rich presents to the opulent and powei-flil in the imperial city ; and when be had determined on his journey, he engaged Hughes le Loup, and numerous Norman chiefs and warriors, to accompany him, to add to the splendour of his retinue. King William was at this time in Normandy, but hearing of these proceedings, he made a quick return, and arrested his brother in the Isle of Wight ;* on which island he immediately sum- moned an assembly of chiefs and warriors, before whom he accused the bishop of having abused the power intrusted to him, and of injuring the common cause by his unbounded oppression and injustice ;f that he had despoiled the churches, and was now endeavouring to persuade the tried warriors to leave the country, on whose faith- ful services the general safety depended. " Tell me," said the king to the assembly, "what should be done to such a brother?" No one dai-ing to answer, William exclaimed, " Let him be seized and kept in safe custody ;" but no one present dared to lay their hands upon the bishop, till the king, advancing, took hold of him by his vestments, and he was conveyed a prisoner into one of the castles of Normandy. Eudes returned to England on the death of the Conqueror ; but, joining in a plot against William Ruius, in 1088, he was banished the kingdom, and died at Palermo, in Sicily, in 1096, as he was travelling to Rome. 19. The bishop of Hereford. 20. Eustace, earl of Boulogne, gi-andfather of Godfrey of Boulogne, king of Jerusalem. 21. Alan Fergent, second son of Eudo, earl of Bretagne, one of the chiefs who Alan attended Duke William in his concjuering expedition, and was rewarded by him with several lordships, particularly with the earldom, or honour, of Richmond, in Yorkshire. His two brothers were, Alan the black, and Stephen, earl of Penthieve. 22. William de Warren, earl of Warren, in Normandy. He married a daughter William dt of the Conquei'or, and accompanied him on his gi'eat expedition; on which occasion, having distinguished himself, he was liberally rewarded, by having numerous estates given to him, with the office of chief justice of England. He was afterwards made * " Ex insperato in insula Vecta obviavit," — Ordej-icus J'ital. t " Angliam vehementer oppressit." — Ibid. 64 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK I. earl of Surrey by William Rufus, and died in the year 1089, in the possession of more than two hundi'ed lordships in Essex and other counties. 23. Richard, the son of Earl Gislebert, progenitor of the ancient earls of Clare, from whose son Robert descended the noble family of Fitzwalter. Another branch of -Month- the family took the name of Montfichet. Suene of ~4'. Suene of Essex, who was settled in England before the conquest, and is sup- Essex, posed to have been a Diane; joining the Conqueror on his arrival, he had his estates I'estored or confirmed to him. His father was named Robert, and his grandfather Wimarc; Robert de Essex is supposed to have been his son, and Henry his grandson. Tiiis last was hereditary standard-bearer to King Henry the Second; and being with that monarch in an engagement against the Welch, about the year 1163, an unmanly panic seized him, and he threw down the royal standard and ran away; in consequence of which the enemy being encoui'aged and animated, the English army, thrown into confusion by a belief that the king was slain, were completely defeated. For this high misdemeanour he was charged with treason by Robert de Montford, and in a solemn trial by battle clearly vanquished, and ought to have suffered death by the law ; but the king spared his life, and he was shorn a monk in the abbey of Reading, the combat having been performed in that town. His mother's name was Cicely; and by his wife Alice, sister to Alberic de Vere, the first earl of Oxford, he had two sons, Hem'y and Hugh. The family inheritance thus forfeited to the crown, was an honour (a more noble seniority, or lordship, on which other lordships and manors depend) ; and the dependencies upon this were unusually numerous. Son of 25. Eudo, son of the king's steward. Eudo Dapifer, steward to William the Con- queror, was a person of great eminence in his time ; his father, Hubert de Rie, was a servant and favourite of William when duke of Normandy, and was sent by him on an embassy into England to Edward the Confessor, then lying on his death-bed, and is said to have prevailed on that weak monarch to appoint William to be his successor on the English throne; and for this important service, Hubert had the promise of being made steward of the royal household. But after the conquest some commotions being expected in Normandy, he was sent over, with his three eldest sons, to preserve quietness in tliat country. His fourth son Eudo remaining in England, had very large possessions given to him, viz. twenty-five lordships in Essex, seven in Hertfordshire, one in Berkshire, twelve in Bedfordshire, nine in Norfolk, ten in Suffolk, and shortly after was made steward of the king's household, instead of William Fitzosbern. He assisted William the Second in securing his succession to the throne ; for, waiting upon the Conqueror in Normandy, when he lay on his death-bed, he advised the young prince not to neglect so feir an opportunity; on which they immediately came together, into England, and persuaded the keeper of the royal treasury to deliver them the keys. Eudo then posted to Dover, Pevensey, Hastings, and other castles along the Eiuln. THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 65 sea coast, and made the keepers of them swear not to deliver them up to any one but C H A P. whom lie should appoint, pretending that the king designed to make a considerable stay in Xormandy, and would have good assurance of the safety of his castles from himself, his steward. Having secured these important points, he contrived to be the first to discover the time of the king's death, and, by prompt and vigorous mea- sui'es, placed the second William on the thi-one. For these important services he became a great favourite with the king, and, ultimately, with the whole nation. This great man died in 1120. 26. Roger de Otburville. 27. Hugh de Montfort. 28. Hamo Dapifer, brother to Eudo, and ^^'illiam the Conqueror's steward in Normandy. 29. Henry de Ferrers, the son of Gualcheline de Ferriers, a noble Norman, from whom descended the earls of Derby, and several other great families. 30. Geofi-ey de Magnaville, a Norman chief, who accompanied the Conqueror Geofiey dc into England, and, distinguishing himself by his bravery in the great and decisive ville. battle, was rewarded by a grant of one hundi'ed and eighteen lordships, forty of which were in Essex. His grandson, Geofrey, was a man of great personal bravery and made keeper of the Tower by King Stephen, who also created him earl of Essex, hoping, by accumulated favours, to retain him the more firmly in his interest ; but the more advantageous offers of the Empress Maud allured him to her party. She not only bestowed on him very ample grants of land, but made him hereditary sheriff of London, and of the shires of Middlesex, Hertford, and Essex ; gave him liberty to retain and fortify the Tower of London at his pleasure ; and confirmed to him the possession of all his forts and castles, with numerous privileges and immu- nities. Stephen, on being privately informed of this defection of the earl, caused him to be arrested at St. Albans, in 111-3, and before he could obtain his liberty, he was obliged to surrender the government of the Tower, together with his own castles of Walden and Plesliy. Enraged by this treatment, and joined by a band of partisans, desperate like himself, he proceeded to ravage the demesnes of the sovereign and his adherents without mercy, but was at length shot by an arrow, (in 1144,) while besieg- ing the castle of Burwell, in Cambridgeshire, being at that time under sentence of excommunication for having plundered the abbey of Ramsey, in Huntingdonshire. It is stated in the register-book of Walden, that, "lying at the point of death, ready to give up his last gasp, there came by certain Knights Templars, who laid upon him the habit of their religious profession, signed with a red cross ; and afterwards, when he was full dead, taking him up with them, enclosed him in a leaden coffin, and hung him upon a tree, in the orchard in the old Temple in London ; for, in a reverend awe of the church, they durst not bury him, because he died excommunicated. A violent VOL. I. K 66 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK I. Robert Gernon. Ralph Baignard. Ralph Peverell. Alberic de Vere. invader he was of other men's lands and possessions, and therefore justly incurred the world's censure, and this doom of the church." The excommunication being after- wards taken off, he was privately buried. 31. William, earl of Eue, in Normandy; he was a favourite commander, and related to King William. 32. Robert Gernon, or Greno, was a Norman, and one of King William's war- riors ; he was descended firom the house of Boulogne. The family continued only to five generations : — 1. Robert, the time of whose death is imknown; 2. William, who dropped the name of Gernon, and took that of Montfichet, which was retained by his descendants ; 3. Gilbert de Montfichet, his son and heir ; and 4. Richard, who, in 1194, attended King Richard the First in his expedition into Normandy, and died in 1203, leaving Richard, his son, under age. This last Richard, joining the barons against King John, was one of the twenty-five made choice of to govern the realm ; and, at the battle of Lincoln, 18th of June, 1217, was taken prisoner ; being afterwards received into favour, he died without issue, about the year 1258. 33. Ralph Baignard, or Baynard, one of King William's attendants, and so high in his favour, that he rewai'ded him with twenty-five lordships in this county, besides many others in various parts of the kingdom. Baynard's Castle, in London, was his capital mansion. Geofrey was his son and successor, and the father of William, who, for joining in a conspiracy with William Malet, baron of Eye, gi-eat chamberlain of England, and others, against King Henry the First, was deprived of his bai-ony and estates, which the king gave, in 1111, to his steward, Robert, the son of Richard Fitzgislebert, firom whom descended the noble family of Fitzwalter. 34. Ralph Peverell, a Norman lord, who came over with the Conqueror ; he mar- ried the daughter of Ingelric, a noble Saxon. She was exceedingly beautiful, and had been persuaded to become a concubine to King William, to whom she bore a son, named William, who was the owner of Nottingham Castle, and whose son and heir, William, having poisoned Ralph, earl of Chester, about the latter end of King Stephen's reign, fled from the country, leaving liis castle and estates to the king's pleasure. These were afterwards, in the reign of King Henry the Second, given to John, earl of Mortain, his brother, except such estates as Mai-garet, William's daughter, was allowed to retain in her possession. When the king became tired of Englerica, for so she is called by Leland, this lady was maiTied to Ralph Peverell, and is supposed to have been the chief cause of his promotion, and of so great a number of estates beino- given to him. Ralph Peverell's sons by this connexion were Haman, one of the barons of Montgomery ; William, castellan of Dover, and founder of Hatfield Priory ; and Paign, standai-d-beai'er to Robert Curthose m the Holy Land, to whom King Henry the First gave the barony of Brunne, in Cambridgeshire. 35. Alberic de Vere, who married Beatrix, half-sister to King William : he was THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 67 the founder of the noble family of the Veres, earls of Oxford. Alberic is supposed CHAP, to have taken his surname from Vere, a town in Zealand, where the family he ^^" belonged to had estates. He accompanied William as one of his chiefs. His sons by Beatrix were Alberic, Geofrey, Roger, Robert, and William ; he had also a daughter, named Poesia, married to Pagan de Beauchamp, and afterwards to Geofrey de Mandeville, the first earl of Essex of that name. This family of De Vere is justly reckoned one of the most ancient and illustrious in the world, and which con- tinued longest crowned with honour and riches, having produced a succession of twenty earls of the same name and lineage, from the year 1137 to 1703. Besides the office of lord high chamberlain, and the earldom of Oxford, hereditary dignities in this family, some of them discharged the offices of portreve of London, of chief justice, chancellor, high-admiral, lord high-steward, and constable of England. William de Vere, son of the first earl, was bishop of Hereford in 1186. Several renowned warriors and generals, and four knights of the order of the garter, have also arisen from this family. The ninth earl, Robert, was the first that was honoured with the title of marquis in this kingdom, being created marquis of Dublin and duke of Ireland by King Richard the Second. 36. Peter de Valoines, who, marrying Alfreda, sister to Eudo Dapifer, had by her Pete?de Roger, his son and heir, the father of Peter, who, by Gmidred de Warren, had three daughters, — Lora, married to Alexander de Baliol, brother to the king of Scotland ; Christian, married to William de Mandeville ; and Elizabeth, the wife of David Comin. 37. Ralph, the brother of Ilger. 38. Tihell de Brito, or the Briton, was one of the Britons, or Armoricans, who served under Alan the Red, captain of the rear of King William's army. The descendants of Tihell took the surname of De Helion. 39. Roger de Ramis, or Raines, was rewarded for his sei-vices by the Conqueror with several manors, which were erected into the barony of Raines. 40. John, the son of Waleran, a nobleman of Normandy. 41. Robert, the son of Corbucion. 42. Walter, the deacon, was ancestor of the noble family surnamed De Hastings. Walter had two sons, Walter Mascherel, and Alexander, and a daughter named Editha. 43. Roger Bigod, or Bigot, earl of Norfolk. 44. Robert Malet was the son of William Malet, who being at the battle of Robert Hastings, and witnessing the fall of the unfortunate Harold, was commissioned to see him decently buried. Both William and this Robert, his son, enjoyed immense estates ; the latter having, besides his possessions in this county, thirty-two lordships in Yorkshire, and two hundred and twenty-one in Suffolk, his chief residence being 68 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK I. at Eye, in that county ; he had also, besides these, many other possessions. He was advanced to the office of great chamberlain in the first year of King Henry the First; but, in the following year, taking part with Robert Curthose, he was banished the kingdom, his estates confiscated, and his high office of great chamber- lain given to Alberic de Vere. 45. William de Scobies. 46. Roger Pictavensis. 47. Hugh de Gurnai. 48. William, the son of Ralph Peverell. 49. Ralph Limesio, or De Limesei, was the son of Wilham the Conqueror's sister. 50. Robert de Todenei. 51. Ralph de Todenei. 52. Walter de Doai. 53. Mauritaniensis. 54. The countess of Albemarle, sister to the Conqueror, the wife of Odo, or Eudo, earl of Champagne. Juditli. 55. Judith, the Conqueror's niece, who was man-ied to Waltheof, much against her will, and whose death, after he had been promised a free pardon, was attributed to her secret practices. The charge against him was, that he had invited Suen to make a descent on the English coast ; but he denied this charge. Waltheof had been con- fined a year in the castle at Winchester, when he was at last condemned. A band of Normans led the chief to execution while the citizens yet slept in their beds.* He was in his count's dress, which he gave to some clerks and poor people who were suffered to attend him. The soldiei's halted at a small mount not far distant from the walls, and the British cliief kneeled down and prayed aloud, constantly urged to be brief in his devotions, probably from an apprehension that the citizens would rise to effect his rescue ; and at last the soldiers insisted on his immediate submission to his fate ; but he yet begged that he might, for them and for himself, -f once more repeat the Lord's prayer. This was allowed ; but the executioner, in the mean time, becoming impatient, suddenly raising his large sword, at one stroke cut off the head of Waltheof, whose body was immediately buried in a hollow place between two roads. If the English could not save this chief, they wore emblems of sorrow, and made a saint and a mart)T of him, as they had not long before done of Bishop Egelwin,who was famished to death in one of the Norman dungeons. " They hare attempted" says Florence, of Worcester, "to efface his memory from the earth, but we believe he lives with the blessed in heaven."J The king allowed a tomb to be • " Diim adhuc populus dormiret." — Ordericus Fit. p. 536. t " Pro in^ ^' P™ vobis." — Ibid. I " Cujus memoriam vidnerunt in terra delere, sed creditur verJ ilium cum Sanctis in ccelo gaudere." — Flor. Wigom. THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 69 i-aised in the abbey of Croyland to the memory of the Saxon chief; and the patriotic, CHAi". joined to the superstitious feehng of the age, conspired to estabHsh the behef that miracles were wrought there. His perfidious wife was much disturbed by the report of these prodigies ; and to appease the spirit of the man she had betrayed, visited his tomb, and, with fear and ti-embling, threw a pall of silk over it, but this was instantly thrown otf as by an invisible hand. For publishing these miraculous accounts, the abbot of Croyland was accused of idolatry, and degraded from his office. After the death of Waltheof, his widow inherited his domains, and the lands he had given to the abbey of Croyland were taken away from it and given to her. These vast possessions she had one day hoped to share with a husband of her own choice ; but the king's arbitrary decision had, without consulting his niece, consigned her over, with all her possessions, to a French soldier of distinguished bravery, from the town of Senlis, who was lame and ill-made. The disdain which Judith testified against this man roused the indignation of the Conqueror, and he took the possessions of Waltheof fi.-om his widow, and gave them to Simon de Senlis, on whom he also conferred the title of count of Northampton. Henceforward, despised by those of her own nation as poor, and hated by the conquered as a murderer, Judith wandered fi'om place to place seeking peace and consolation. She is frequently mentioned by British or Saxon writers of those times, who seem to take a pleasure in witnessing her course through scenes of misery, obscurity, and neglect.* 56. Frodo, brother of the abbot. 57. Saisseline. 58. Gislebert, the son of Turold. 59. William Deuric. 60. Hugh de St. Quintin. 61. Edmund, the son of Algot. 62. Roger Mareschall. 63. Adam, the son of Durand. 64. Goscelin Loremar. 65. John, the grandson of Walleram. 66. William the deacon, who had certain lands given to him by the king for the repairs of St. Paul's cathedral. 67. Walter the cook. 68. Moduin. 69. Ilbodo. 70. Haghebern. 71. Tedric Pointel, sometimes named Tiliberia. • " Odio omnibus habita, et digne despecta per diversaloca et latibula erravit." — IngnlJ. 70 HISTORY OF ESSEX. J500K I. 72. Roger, " God save our ladies." 73. Fitzgislebert, the son of Solomon. 74. William, the son of Constantine. 75. Ansgar, the cook. 76. Robert, the son of Roscelin. 77. Ralph Linel. 78. Robert, the son of Gobert. 79. Rainaidus Balistarius. 80. Godwin. 81. Otto, or Othon Aurifaher, that is, the goldsmith. Othon was a person of some importance in the army and court of the Norman conqueror, and supposed to have been the banker of the invasion, advancing part of the expenses on mortgage of English lands, (it was usual, in those times, for goldsmiths to be also bankers), or possibly he followed the army on the speculation of enriching himself by giving gold for land to such as might have occasion for this exchange. On the death of the Conqueror, his successor took a considerable quantity of gold and silver, and gave to Othon the goldsmith, and ordered him to make it into ornaments for the tomb ;* and inscriptions were written by great men to be engraved upon them. 82. Gislebert, the priest. 83. Grime, the sheriff. 84. Ulueva, wife of Phin. 85. Edward, the son of Suene. 86. Turchill, the sheriff. 87. Stanardus. 88. Godwin, the deacon. 89. The king's fi-eemen. 90. Encroachments on the king's lands. Some of these names sound like Saxon, such as Moduin, Haghebern, Godwin, Ulueva, and Stanard ; but, on examining the places where they are mentioned, it will appear that they had the estates of Saxons dispossessed. • " Auri et argenti gemmarunique copiuni Othoni aurifabri erogavit." — Urdericus yu. p. 663. <,-, BOOK II. THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE COUNTY OF ESSEX. CHAPTER I. HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF THE HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. This district, occupying the central part of the county, is rich in cultivation; the CHAP. I. surface of varied appearance, with slightly elevated grounds, wood, and water, and Chelmsford arable lands, and meadows ; it is in almost every part of it abuiidantlv embellished '"'"'•'■'■d' •' General with elegant mansions and extensive pleasure grounds; its average extent from side appearance to side is from fifteen to twenty miles, and it contains thirty populous parishes, of which the following are the names: — Chelmsford, Springfield, Boreham, Baddow Parishes. Magna, Baddow Pai-va, Sandon, Danbury, Woodham Ferrers, Hanningfield East, Hanningfield West, Hanningfield South, Rettenden, Runwell, Mountnessing, Ingate- stone, Buttsbury, Stock, Margaretting, Frierning, Blackmore, Widford, Writtle, Roxwell, Broomfield, Chignall St. James, Chignall Smealy, Waltham Magna, Waltham Parva, Lees Magna, Lees Pai-va. According to Mr. Morant, it does not appear that this hundred was ever granted, by patent or otherwise, to any particular person, but has always remained in the dis- posal of the sheriff of Essex for the time being. The population, according to the Population. returns made to parliament in 1821, was 24,984; of which 12,762 were males, and 12,222 were females. CHELMSFORD. The town of Chelmsford is of considerable importance on many accounts; it is the Town of gi'eat thoroughfare between London and the towns of Colchester, Harwich, and Brain- tree, and the county of Suffolk, and many parts of Norfolk. It is most conveniently situated for the transaction of the public business of the county; and the assizes, general quarter sessions, petty sessions, county courts, and sittings of the commis- sioners of the land-tax, &c. are held here; and here also the elections take place for the county representatives in parliament. There being no manufactures here, the labouring pof)ulation is engaged in the business of agriculture, and in conveying sup- plies of various kinds to the London markets. The country surrounding the town is extremely pleasant, and very abundant in Vicinity of agricultural produce, the soil being principally a deep rich loam, intermixed with veins 72 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. of gravel. The average produce of wheat liere is twenty-four bushels per acre; of Aoricultu- barley and oats, thirty-two bushels ; and of peas and beans, twenty bushels. In ral iiroduce. {^venty years the rent of land has advanced half a crown per acre. The poor rates are four shillings in the pound, and have increased ninepence in the pound in twenty years.* Situation. Chelmsford is approached on all sides by a slight descent, particularly from the Colchester road; but the town itself is nearly on a level, the church standing on the highest part. This is the county town, and the deanery and the hundred take their name from it: whicli name it originally derived from a ford over the Chelmer, at a remote period, when that was the only passage over it, and the to%vn itself of no great importance. The Can, flowing from the north-west, passes sluggishly across the low grounds bordering this town and the hamlet of Moulsham, and meets the Chelmer as it comes from the north. The distance from Chelmsford to London is twenty-nine miles; to Harwich, forty-three; and to Colchester, twenty-one. Mr. Gough in his "Additions The bridge, to Camden," informs us that the first bridge built here was over the Chelmer, and that the present building is on the same foundation; this, however, is evidently a mistake, for it is not over the Chelmer but the Can; it was built in 1787, from a design by Mr. Johnson, and is a handsome stone bridge of one arch. From this bridge the principal sti-eet, called High-street, reaches to the shire-hall, a distance of con- siderable extent; it is wide and commodious, and contains many capital houses. A short and narrow street passes on the left-hand side of this, and is called Conduit- street; the street leading forward into the Braintree-road, is called Duke-street; and there is a fourth leading from the top of the right-hand side of High-street, which has received the name of New-street. Tlie shire- The Shire-hall is an elegant and commodious building, erected from designs and under the superintendence of J. Johnson, Esq., at the charge of the county; and being completed at a sum considerably below the original estimate, and to the entire satis- faction of his employers, he was presented with a valuable silver cup, which was voted to him on that occasion at the quarter sessions in the year 1792. It is a square building, the front of freestone, the basement rusticated, with four elegant three-quarter columns, of the Ionic order, supporting a pediment, below which are three emble- matical bass-reliefs, representing Justice, Wisdom, and Mercy. There is an open space on the ground-floor, fronting the two session rooms, and this is occasionally used by market people and corn-dealers, but is much too small and confined for that purpose. Besides the two session rooms, which are spacious and well adapted to the purpose, there is a jury room, and various other necessary apartments; and a very elegant assembly room extends over the whole length of the building. This is a lofty • Latest Agricultural Survey of the County. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 73 apartment, and measures in length eighty-five and in breadth forty-five feet; it is lighted CHAP. I. by eight splendid chandeliers of cut glass ; the stuccoed ceiling is handsomely orna- Assembly mented; and in niches at each end, on either side of the fire-places, there are elegant ''''°"'- female statues in the Grecian costume. The county balls, and other social and public meetings are held in this room ; and when prisoners are in excess, the king's sergeants hold courts here. The ground plan of the building occupies a square, which measures ninety-six by eighty feet. Near the Shire-hall there is a Conduit, supplied \vith a copious ever-running stream The con- from a spring named Burgess' well, a short distance fi-om the town. It is not known ""' at what time the original conduit was placed here, but it was modified and improved by the noble family of Fitzwalter, and has been, since that time, frequently repaired .and altered. It has four pipes on four opposite sides, from which the purest water is perpetually flowing. On one side there used to be the following inscription: " This conduit, in one minute, runs one hogshead and a half and four gallons and a half; and in one day, two thousand two hundred and sixty-two hogsheads and fifty-four gallons." And there yet remains the following: Benignus benignis : Nee parous parcis : Nee diminutus largiendo. Sic charitas a Deo fonte. TRANSLATION. Bountiful to the bounteous : Liberal to the covetous : Not diminished by bestowing. Such is Divine charity, from the fount of heaven. Formerly there was an elegant figure of a naiad on the top, which is now occupied by the gas-light lamp; and lower down there were the arms of Mainchart, duke of Scomberg, and of Earl Fitzwalter. The present building is rotimdiform, and we learn from the inscriptions upon it, that in "A. D. 1771, Sir W. Mildmay, Bart., late of Moulsham Hall in this parish, by his will gave two hundred pounds, the interest of which he directed should be applied to keeping in repair the conduit and pipes which convey the water fi-om the spring-head called Burgess' well." The second inscription states that in "A. D. 1814, this conduit was erected on the site of the original one, in consequence of a donation of one hundred pounds, bequeathed by Mr. Robert Green- wood, late of this town, merchant, aided by a contribution of the inhabitants." The continual flow of water along the channels on the sides of the streets, carrying away all impurities, keeps the town remarkably clean; and the roads that pass through it are preserved in excellent condition. Besides the well which supplies the conduit, a fine natural spring bubbles up out of the ground near the Friends' Meeting-house; and in general, water is plentiful in this neighbourhood; yet it is of a bad quality where the stratum called London clay lies near the surface, and to procure a purer kind die new mode of boring has been adopted, by which water, strongly impregnated with an alkali, has been found at the VOL. I. L 74 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Baths. Societies. Markets and fairs. Baccs. depth of from two hundi-ed and fifty to three hundred feet; these artificial springs sometimes rise several feet above the surface. \\'ater obtained in this way supplies very commodious baths which have been recently erected near the centre of the town, where also is the County Reading-room. There are three weekly newspapers at Chelmsford, and the public are accommo- dated with two reading-rooms, both in High-sti-eet. A Philosophical Society meets here every other Tuesday evening; it is constituted of some of the most learned and intelligent gentlemen in the vicinity; at their meetings subjects of importance are discussed, and the members deliver lectures. In the year 1818 a society was established, called the Chelmsford Provident Society, upon an entire new plan, embracing the advantages of a friendly society and savings- bank united, which appears to be in a flourishing condition. The number of members, amounts to nearly six hundred, and its capital to upwards of two thousand pounds, independent of the stock belonging to the members indi\adually. Its affairs are con- ducted at a private house by a committee of fifteen, and a clerk. The Chelmsford Masonic Lodge has its meetings at the "WTiite Hart Inn. The Chelmsford and Essex Floi-ist and Horticultural Society meets at the Saracen's Head. It was established in 1824, and is patronised by a considerable number of the gentry of the neighbourhood as well as of the town. The weekly market is on Friday, which is well supplied, particularly with poulh'y, from Suffolk and other distant parts. London poulterers attend, and on an average there are fi-om a thousand to fifteen hundi-ed fowls sold on the morning of the market day. There is also, in general, a tolerable sale of cattle. Two fairs are held here, the first on the 12th of May, the second on the 12th of November. On these occasions the cattle are in the town field. There is likewise a cattle show about the middle of December, held in the same place. The town is well lighted vrith gas, derived from the works in Springfield. This important improvement was introduced here some time ago by the active exertions of the late R. Coates, Esq., with the cooperation of some other public-spirited gentlemen of the neighbom'hood. Some time ago there were two extensive ranges of barracks, with accommodations for upwards of four thousand troops ; the largest was at the west end of the town, the other was near the London road; both of them have been taken away, and the mate- rials of the latter were sold by auction in the year 1823. The Race-course of Chelmsford is on the high ground of Gallywood Common, com- manding a beautiful and extensive view of the surrounding counti-y. The course is round, or oval, and about thirty yards short of two miles, but is made up to that length by starting between the distance-post and the gi-and stand. A few years ago, a new straight mile course was added, half of which is in the round course, and which HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 75 finishes with ratlier a severe hill. There are three days' races, well attended, very CHAP. I . rarely wanting either genteel company or plenty of horses. The queen's plate of one hundi-ed guineas is run for the first day, and a sweepstakes of ten sovereigns each; the second day, the town's plate of sixty pounds, and the stewards" plate of the same sum ; and the third day, a sweepstakes of three sovereigns each, made up fifty pounds to the winning horses, and the hunter's stakes. A select company of actors visit Chelmsford on this occasion, and there is a theati-e between Conduit-street and the river Can. An account was taken of the number of inhabitants in this parish in the year 1738, Population, which at that time amounted to 2,151; and by the last account of the population, in 18^1, the number was 4,994. This town is said to have formerly enjoyed the privilege of sending representatives to parliament, and tlie names of four of them appeal- in the parliamentary records in the time of Edward the Third. According to Brown Willis, in his " Notitia Parlia- mentaria," their names were William de Mascal, John de Thorpe, John le Marescal, and ^^'illiam ^^'endover. But as there is no record to ascertain the precise time when the town of Chelmsford first enjoyed this privilege, or ;vhen it was relinquished or taken away, it is conjectured, that as in ancient times parliamentary representatives used to be allowed salaries, payable by their constituents, the people of Chelmsford petitioned to be released from a burthen they were unable to support, and which, on accoimt of the insignificancy of the place at that time, was found to be unnecessary.'* Mr. Gray, in his notes on Huchbras, states that this town was once incorporated, and successively governed by a tinker, a tailor, and a cobbler. This sarcasm of the learned commentator has probably been made in reference to the unique custom of the Meso- potamia election, which invariably accompanies the election of members of parliament for the county, and in which pageant a mayor is seen. A little above the first bridge in Springfield-lane, an arm of the river branches off Mesopo- in an easterly direction, behind the Duke's Head Inn, and flowing under the second tion. bridge, again joins the main stream, forming an enclosiu-e which, as the name imports, is situated in the middle of the river. Tradition informs us, that " so far back as the memory of man runneth, it has been the custom, that on the death of an Essex member, or when the great council of the nation has been dissolved, and a regene- ration of their collective wisdom has taken place, the island of Mesopotamia should also exercise the elective franchise." Previous to the day of election, the mayor of this peculiar jurisdiction issues a proclamation, giving notice that he will proceed to the election of a representative or representatives for the island of Mesopotamia ; and * This custom continued to the time of Elizabeth, in whose reign some of the members for Colchester received wages ; and that borough, in the time of Richard the Second, and of the fourth and fifth Henries, was, by special favour, exempted from the expense of sending representatives to parliament. 76 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. after giving the names of the candidates, who are always celebrated or dignified cha- racters, he proceeds to state, that the " election will take place on a certain appointed day, at twelve o'clock, upon the island, opposite the Duke's Head Inn, where every accommodation will be provided for the candidates and their friends ; the committee sitting daily in the immediate vicinity of the hustings." As the election proceeds, the candidates are seen parading the sti'eets on horseback, each attended by a page; a band of music heads the procession, which usually makes a stand opposite the inn where some of the real candidates for the county representation are stationed, and the speeches made on these occasions seldom fail to produce a great deal of low humour, highly gi'atifying to the assembled crowd.* When the poll terminates, the successful candidates are immediately chaired, and borne on men's shoulders through the crowded streets of Chelmsford; and by the charter of the island it is provided, that at the conclusion of this ceremony they shall be conducted to the river and undergo the ceremony of submersion; after which, and the tearing of the chair to pieces, the important business of the day closes. The Mesopotamia election is always held on the island, between the two bridges, a day or t»vo after the election of a member or members for the county. By an abuse of the established custom of this ancient corporation, the losing, as well as the successful, canchdates are bathed in the stream of the Chelmer ; but it is not doubted by the better informed of the members, that this ceremony was originally considered as honorary, and by no means intended for those who had not been so fortunate as to have become the favourites of the people. Bishop In the reign of Edward the Confessor, and at the time of the grand survey, A.^D.'n'oo. Chelmsford was in tlie possession of the bishops of London, and seems to have been of no considerable importance till about the year 1 100, in the reign of Henry the First, when Bishop Maurice built a bridge over the river Can ; this had the effect of bringing the road this way. which had before passed through ^Vrittle. From this time the town began to rise into importance, and increased in the number of its houses and inhabitants ; and about one hundred years afterwards, in the first of the reign of King John, Bishop William de Santa Maria obtained a licence for a market, and the year following for a fair also. Notwithstanding these privileges had been enjoyed under a succession of bishops, the legality of them was questioned by Edward the First, who, in the thirteenth year of his reign, "issued a quo warranto against Bishop Richard Gravesend, to show what claim he had to view of fl-ank-pledge, gallows, tumbrel, pillory, free warren, and the assize of bread." It appears, however, that the same bishop, five years afterwards, obtained from King Edward a confirmation of * The last county election, in 1830, affonled an unusual display of wit and oratory; and the Mesopotamia candidates were not less the objects of popular applause than the more learned gentlemen of whom they , were tj'pical : the productions of both have been collected and published, forming an amusing pamphlet. a 3 HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 77 his claim to " a view of frank-pledge in his manors of Orsette, Leyndon, and Chelms- cUAr. i. ford ;" and King Richard the Second, on the twenty-sixth of July, 1395, granted the ^[shm, return of wTits to Bishop Robert Braybroke. Brajbroke. . . ... A. D. 13!).5. The Church is a spacious and stately fabric, dechcated to the \ irgin Mary ; the The time of its original erection is unknown ; it was re-edified in the year 1424, as is '-''"""''• known from the following inscription, which some time ago was to be seen on the south side, underneath the battlements fronting the town. The characters were in relief, and formed of flint-stones, cemented together : " Pray for the good estate of all the townshepe of Chehnysford that hath been liberal wiUers and procorers of helpers to thys worke ; and for ... . them that first began, and longest shell contenowe .... it .... in the year of our Lord I thousand IIII hundreth XXIIIF." Part of the body of this building is modern ; it was erected to supply tlie place of the ancient walls, which partly fell in with the roof in January, 1800. A massive square tower of stone rises from the west end, with battlements, and pinnacles at the four corners. On the top is a lantern, with a shaft, leaded. In the tower there are ten bells, the last two of which were added about seven years ago. There was also a set of chimes, but these have been taken away. In the new workmanship the ancient style of the building has been preserved ; but the inside is modernized and elegantly finished. The improvements were completed, and the chui'ch reopened for Divine service in September, 1803. The length of the inside of the church is one hundred and twenty feet. The length of the nave and middle and side aisles is one hundred and two feet. The breadth of the nave and of the church is fifty-four feet. The vestry is at the north-east corner, adjoining the chancel. There is a gallery at the west end, in which a fine organ was erected in 1772, which has been since much improved. When the churches of Essex underwent a visitation, in the year 1634, numerous escutcheons and banners and coats of arms were found in the roof of the centre aisle, among which were the arms of Edward the Confessor, and of various great men who had been liberal contributors towards the building : these were taken away at that time as emblems of superstition. The eastern window is of painted or Painted stained glass, of modern workmanship ; it occupies the place of an ancient master- piece of art, believed to have been as old as the original foundation of the church. The subject was the history of our Saviour, from his birth to his ascension; and the sublime and pathetic scenes it exhibited might well have presei-ved it from destruction, except by the hands of ignorance and fanaticism. But, in the year 1641, in the reign of King Charles the First, the parliament issued out an ordinance, that all scandalous pictures should be taken out of chmxhes, and this valuable window was marked for destruction. The rector and chm'chwardens were unwilling to deprive the chui'ch of so venerable an ornament. However, being obliged to conform, they took down the 78 HISTORY OF ESSEX. HOOK II. pictures of the Crucifixion and the Virgin Mary, and had the cavities filled with new glass. But this did not satisfy the mob, who, not considering it a sufficient reforma- tion, assembled in the most daring and outrageous manner on the 5th of November, and with stones, and sticks, and various weapons, beat down and defaced the whole of this beautiful window. The arms of several noblemen and gentlemen, who had been benefactors to the church, were painted in the surrounding compartments, and these also were destroyed, whereby the memory of numerous pious and generous individuals was lost to the grateful recollection of posterity; and Dr. Michaelson, the rector, met with the most barbarous and inhuman treatment on this occasion. There were formerly four guilds, or chantries, belonging to this church, endowed as follows : Per Annam, £. s. d. Guild of St. John, at the altar of St. John 113 4 Corpus C'hristi Gmld, at tlie altar of Corpus Christi 8 15 6 Our Lady's Guild, at the altar of our Lady 3 13 8 Mountney's Chantry, founded by Sir John Mountney, in the church-yard 11 10 8 There were likewise eighteen obits founded here, and properly endowed ; but the land belonging to these cannot now be discovered. The valuable library, given by the Rev. John Knightsbridge, D. D., a native of Chelmsford, and rector of Spofforth, in Yorkshire, is preserved in a room over the vestry, for its original purpose of being made use of by the clergy of the neigh- bourhood. The register ofiice, for the ti'ansaction of ecclesiastical business, is over the door of the great porch. There used to be painted wooden figures of the twelve apostles, of very antique appearance, placed on the north side of the belfry : these are not now to be found. In the south aisle, over the door of the chancel, is the following inscription : " Ecclesiae hujus Beatse Mariae Virgini sacratse vetustate collapsfe Annoque Christianre salutis, 1424, a piisimis quibusdam nummis collatiis restitutpe earn partem quae vespere D. 12, M. Januarii, 1800, de repente considerat Chelmerivadi habitatores renovandam universaraque omamentis recentibus decorandam ; curante Johnsono architecto de sumptibus suis statuerunt. Opere hoc sanctissimo cui legem adjutricem senatus Anglise tulerat, D. 21, M. Junii, A. 1800, incepto, et trium annorum totidemque fere mensium decursu ad finem absolutissime peiducto, sabbato, D. 18 Septembris, A. 1803, Ministerio suo in rebus sacris fungebatur, hie iterum Joannes Morgan, S. T. B. Chelmeriuadi Ecclesiae Rector dilectissimus." TRANSLATION. " A portion of this church, consecrated to the blessed Virgin Mary, wliich, after having been decayed with age, was rebuilt in the year of our Lord 1424, by certain pious subscriptions, having, HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 79 in the evening of the I2th of January, 1800, suddenly fallen, the inhabitants of Chelmsford deter- CHAP. 1. mined to rebuild, and decorate with new ornaments, this part at their own expense ; and for that purpose employed Johnson the architect. This most sacred work, for which an act of parliament was granted, having been begun on the ■21st of June, 1800, and after three years and as many months having been at length entirely finished, John Morgan, S.T. B., the beloved rector of Chelmsford church, performed divine service in it again on the sabbath of the 18th of Sep- tember, 1803." In the north-east corner of the chancel there is an ancient monument, enclosed with iron palisades : it is curiously carved, and has three panels; the middle one contains the arms of the Mildmay family ; , that on the right bears the effigies of a father and eight sons, and that on the left, a mother and her seven daughters. On a gilt tablet above is the following : Sculptus adest Thomas Mildmaius sculptaque conjux Avicia : ust intus, molliter ossa cubant Armiger ille fuit clarus : fuit haec Gulielmi, Filia Gernoni, flos deous armigeri, Chara tori ter quinque vide, sua pignora fausti Partus sunt septem fceminei, octo mares. WiUe et quingentis a partu virginis annos Septem quinque, quater ter dabis atque decern. Turn decima sexta Septenibris, luce redibat Avicia in cineres, qua? cinis ante fuit. Anno post obitum nono decimoque calendas Octobris, Thomam mors inimica ferit. TRANSLATION. Here are seen graven the effigies of Thomas Mildmay, and Avice, his wife ; But within, their remains lie in peace. He was a renowned esquire : She a daughter, and lovely branch of William Gernon, Esquire. They had fifteen pledges of their prosperous love, Seven whereof were females, Eight were males. Afterwards, in the year of Lord 1529, And in the morning, on the 16th day of September, Avice returned to that dust From whence she originally sprung. And on the 10th day of the calends of October, In the ninth year following, The unrelenting king of terrors Triumphed over Thomas." In the same aisle there is a stately monument of grey marble, richly ornamented with a large urn in the centre, and Corinthian pillars on each side, and two cherubic forms in melancholy attitudes, one with a torch reversed. Near the top the family arms are displayed, in relief, in white marble, elegantly ornamented ; and below is the following inscription : " Herelieth Benjamin Mildmay, earl of Fitzwalter, who, having many years served his king and country in several great offices with dignity and integrit}', died February 29, 1756, aged eighty-six. ' ' He inherited the baronies of Fitzwalter, Egremond, BotitofFe, and Burnells, from Sir Henry Mildmay, his great grandfather, son of Sir Thomas Mildmay, who married, in 1580, Lady Frances, only daughter and heir of Henry, earl of Sussex, in whom these baronies in fee were vested. " He married, in 1724, Frederica, countess-dowager of Holdemess, by whom he had issue one son, who died an infant. He was created earl of Fitzwalter and Viscount Harwich in 1720, who, dying without issue, devised his estates to William Mildmay, Esq., his nearest relation in the male line, by whom, in gratitude, this monmnent was erected. 80 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK 11. N'arious charities. " Here also lyeth Frederica, countess of Fitzwalter, wife of the said earl, who died August 7, 1751, aged sixty-three. She was daughter of Mintchart, duke of Scomberg, (count of the Roman empire), by the Lady Charlotte, daughter of Charles Le\\'is, elector palatine. By her first husband, Robert, earl of Holderness, she had issue, Robert, who succeeded to his father's honours, 1721, and Lady Caroline, who married to the earl of Ancram."' The family vault of the Mildmays is beneath these monuments. There is a black marble tablet on the nortli side of the cliancel, which bears the effigies of a man, a woman, and their family, with a skeleton figure brandishing a dart, and the following inscription : " To perpetuate the memory of Mathew Rudd, Gent., who died in 1615, aged sixty. Thus Death triumphs, and tells us all must die. Thus we triumph, to Christ by death to fly. To live. To die is not to die, but live ; To die to bliss, is blessed life to give. Oh, bless me then! Oh, strike me to the heart ! Breathe out my life, and let my soiil depart. Ask how he lived, and thou shall know his end, He lived a saint to God, — to poor, a friend." In the chancel there is a small monument to the memory of Mr. Jeremiah Thwaites, of Springfield. He was one of the hundred yeomen of the guard to King Charles tlie Second, to King James the Second, to King William the Third, and Mary the Second, and was usher to Queen Anne and George the First. He died the 1st of December, 1716, aged seventy-four. The following donation to the poor is recorded on a black mjurble table in the chancel : " The gift of Dame Alice Rowe, and Sarah Nash, wds. daughters of Mr. William Seager, of Chelmesforde. Dame Alice Rowe, by her wiU, dated October the 30th, 1701, gave one hundred pounds. And the said Sarah Nash, one hundred pounds, to buy a meadow in this parish, called Tunman Mead ; the yearly rent to be laid out by the trustees for bread to be distributed quarterly to the poor of this parish for ever, by the churchwardens for the time being." The sum of 3^. 5*. \(L is paid annually to this parish fi-om the revenues of the dis- solved priories. In 1603, a benefactor, unknown, founded four almshouses in Baddow-lane, wliich were rebuilt, and two tenements added, at the expense of the parish, in 1783. An unknown benefactor founded three almshouses in the church-yard, in 1625. Mr. Chamberlayn, in 1674, gave a rent charge of 1/. 65. 8d. a year, issuing out of a farm, called Chamberlaynes, in Springfield, to be distributed in bread to the poor on St. Thomas's day. In 1720, Mrs. Ann Breda gave 100/. towards purchasing a new school-house. John Wallings, Esq., by his will, in 1766, gave 200/., the interest of which to be for ever paid and applied towards the support and maintenance of the charity school. In 1772, Mr. Thomas Pocklington, by will, gave 20/. for the benefit of the school. HUMDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 81 In 1T72, Daniel Mathews, Esq. gave 100/., and Peter Muilman gave 65^. I5s. CHAP. i. towards erecting the organ. In 1775, Ann Johnson, widow, gave 500/., the interest of which she directed to be applied towards placing out to proper trades such of the children of the charity- school as the ti'ustees of her will should approve. In 1777, a benefactor, unknown, gave 100/. towards supplying a peal of eight bells. In 1778, Mr. Mathew Joyce, by his will, gave 100/., the interest whereof he directed should be expended in the distribution of bread at the parish church to poor widows who have not received assistance from the parish. Mr. Henry Gilbert, by his will, in 1791, left 200/., three per cent consols, for the benefit of the school. Mr. Robert Greenwood bequeathed 100/. for the benefit of the charity-school, in 1812. In 1826, John Barnes, Esq., of Kelvedon Hatch, gave 50/. towards clothing the children of the charity-school. The church-yard is kept neatly gravelled, and is not unusually small ; but it is, like the church-yards of the generality of flourishing country towns, crowded to excess. On the north side of the church, near the road leading toward Bishop's Hall, there Chapel of St Mar- formerly stood a chapel, dedicated to St. Mcirgaret. The bishops of London collated gai-et. to it, as appears by their register, called Baldock, in the years 1321, 1336, and ^.D. 1.321. 1337 ; and it undoubtedly continued vested in them till its demolition. The pati-onage of the living of Chelmsford is in the Mildmay family. It is a rectory, valued in the king's books at 13/. 2s. 6(1. Chelmsford is eminently distinguished by a spirit of benevolence, which induces the higher classes to contribute largely to the relief of the poor. During the incle- ment season of winter, coals are given for firing, and a liberal supply of excellent soup is distributed. The following charitable institutions have also been established here: Chelmsford Lying-in Charity, instituted January 1, 1799. Charitable . institutions. The Benevolent Society, for visiting and relieving poor persons under affliction, established in 1819. Chelmsford Auxiliary Charity, to supply linen for infants. The Blanket Society, for supplying blankets, sheets, and counterpanes. The Dorcas Charitj', the members of which make garments to give to poor women. In the year 1552, a Free Grammar-school was established here, by letters patent, Free- granted by Edward the Sixth, " at the humble request of Sir William Mildmay, Knt., at that time one of his principal secretaries of state; Sir Walter Mildmay, Knt., one of the general supervisors of the court of augmentations ; Sir Henry Tyrell, Knt., and VOL, I. M 82 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Thomas Mildmay, Esq., togetlier with that of the inhabitants of Chelmsford and Moulsham, to be called by the name of ' The Free Grammar-school of King Edward the Sixth, for the instruction of youth in grammar learning, under the care and inspection of a schoolmaster and an usher.' " It was very liberally endowed by the monarch with Hill's chantry, in Great Baddow; Stonehouse's chantry, East Tilbury ; Cortwyke-marsh chantry. West Tilbury ; Plumborough-marsh chantry, Southminster ; Bai-ries and Squire Croft's chantry, in Hatfield Peverel. Out of these there is paid yearly forty shillings and eight pence to the poor of Great Baddow for ever ; and seven shillings and ten pence to the court of augmentations. The king made the four petitioners the first governors during life, and settled the government of it in those four families for ever, constituting them a body corporate and politic, by the name of " the governors of the possessions, revenues, and goods of the Free- school of King Edward, in the parish of Chelmsford." They have, accordingly, a large seal of brass, on which is engraved a rose, something like the seal of the Privy Council. This seal was found in one of the streets of Colchester, and purchased by Mr. Morant, and returned to the governors of the school. Before any convenient place could be provided, the governors hired a large room for the school at the Friers, in Moulsham, which had been the refectorium, or hall, belonging to the monks. But, in the year 1633, the whole roof of this ancient building fell in at once. This pro- videntially happened in the middle of the day, just when the scholars and teachers had gone out of it. The present school-house in Duke-street was erected by Sir John TyTrell, Bart., who was at that time acting governor. He purchased great part of the yard and gardens belonging to the George Inn, for that purpose, and likewise a considerable part of the inn itself; this, with additions and enlargements, he converted into a house for the head master, with convenient out-houses and offices. The school-room, which has been improved by Lord Fitzwalter, and various subsequent trustees, is lofty and spacious. Beside it, there is a very good garden. Charity- There are two Charity-schools; one for fifty boys, founded the 17th of August, 1713; the other, for twenty girls, founded in April, 1714; they are both supported by voluntary subscriptions. The boys are dressed in blue, with woollen caps, and bands : a master who presides over them has a salary of thirty pounds a year. He instructs them in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The girls have stuff gowns, and several other articles of dress, and have a mistress to further instruct them in house- hold work, to fit them for service ; they make up the linen, knit the stockings for both schools, and are taught to make their own gowns and petticoats. Both schools are clothed once a year. They ai'e all trained in the principles of religion and virtue, and when qualified, are, by the trustees, put out to suitable employments. Since its establishment, the number of boys has been reduced to thirty. The school-house is schools. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 83 beside the church-yard, in the lane leading into New-street; and the master's house CHAP. I. is a convenient dwelling-house, with a good garden adjoining. The County of Essex Society, for the education of the poor, has so far extended its influence, that every parish is supplied with the means of teaching reading, writing, and other branches of the national system. The Chelmsford Parochial National- School consists of upwards of two hundred boys and girls ; and the Infant School, of more than a hundred. In New-street there are three Alms-houses, for decayed families ; and also two Alms- small brick dwellings, with the following inscription on the front between them : " Erected Anno, 1731, with money arising by sale of a barn, given by William Davy, Anno, 1520, to the poor of Chelmsford ; who ordained the profits should be laid out for wood, &c. , to be distributed to the poor at Cliristmas, yearly ; and the rents of these two tenements are to be appbed to that purpose, Mr. Baron Comyns giving part of this ground to budd upon." The parish Workhouse is not far distant, in the same street ; it is a large brick Work- building, with the following inscription over the door : " Tlie Right Honourable Charles Lord Fitzwalter, and the other inhabitants of the parish of Chelmsford, with a general consent, ordered this workhouse to be built for the better main- tenance of the poor of the aforesaid parish, 17 16." The regulations for the management of this institution are excellent, and appear to be well observed. The food is provided by contract, of good quality, and each person's portion measured out according to an established rule, supplying enough without waste. The aged and infirm are indulged with a somewhat more generous diet; and the sick have convenient apartments provided; and both receive every necessai'y attention. A strict moral discipline is obsei'ved, neither ale nor tobacco is suffered to be brought in, and indecorous or profane language is not allowed ; oaths subject those who use them to a less liberal supply of food, or to some other punish- ment, if persisted in. The governor is bound to supply flax, to card and spin, or some other raw material for the employment of those who are able to work, and the industrious are encouraged. There is a public Dispensary beside the church-yard, for supplying medical assist- Dispen- ance to the sick poor : it is well supported by voluntary subscriptions, and attended ^ gratuitously by the physicians and surgeons of the town. Of the chapels belonging to the dissenters, the Old Independents' chapel is in Dissenters Baddow-lane. The New Independents' chapel is also in Baddow-lane, and was built in the year 1780. The Wesleyan Methodist chapel is in Springfield, beside the wharf, and was built in 1813. 84 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Friends' Meeting- house. Ancient survey. (iuy HarJiiiu The chapel called Ebenezer, belonging to a society of the Baptist persuasion, is iri Duke-street. The Friends' Meeting-house, in Duke-street, is a very beautiful plain building of white brick ; it is of a square form ; the ground-plan measuring eighty-one by forty- iive feet. The inside is like the exterior, plain, but convenient, with a moveable partition, by which it may be adapted to the reception of a larger or smaller number of persons, as occasion may require. A convenient apartment contains a library, in which are found the works of George Fox and William Penn, and other writers belonging to this sect of Christians. In an old manuscript book, preserved by the Mildmay family, there is a survey of the manor of Chelmsford, of which the following is a copy. It was made at the court- leet and court-baron, holden for Sir Thomas Mildmay, Knt., on the 23d of June, 1591 : " Chelmersforde is one ancient goodly manor, scituate in the heart of the county of Essex, in good and wholesome air, conveniently and well housed, and well built, for timber and tile. The chief manor-house was, in the time of King Edward the Thirde, brent and wasted with fire ; and bei"ore that it seemed to have been some ancient barony. This manor hath very fair demesne lands, woods, and wastes, and also a great service, more than two hundi-ed tenants that hold of the same manor their lands, tenements, and hereditaments, by reasonable rents, customs, and services, of which number above thirty are noblemen, knights, esquires, and gentlemen of good countenance. Within this manor, upon parcel of the same, upon the common road way, is situate the town of Chelmsford, sometime written the burrowe of Chelms- forde, well situated, with more than three hundred habitations, divers of them seemly for gentlemen, many fair inns, and the residue of the same habitations for victuallers and artificers of city-like buildings, and are all holden of the said manor of Chelms- ford, mediately, or immediately, by reasonable rents, customs, and services. This town is called the shire-town, not only by the statute of eleven of King Henry the Seventh, for the custody of weights and measures, but so reputed and taken long time before by the keeping of all assizes and sessions of the peace, and many other certifi- cations of the inquisitions there. It is also a gieat thoroughfare and market town ; the market weekly, on Fridaye. In the upper face of which town-shipe is the parish church of the same town, a goodly, seemly, and large building of stone, covered with lead, meet for the recept of two thousand people, or more ; and in the steeple is a convenient ring of four bells. Not far distant from which parish church is one other fair building, called the Market-cross, or Session-house. There is also the common gaol." Near the church-yard there used to be an ancient mansion-house, called Guy Harling, from a Norman knight of the name of Guy de Harling, to whom it originally belonged. It was repaired and occupied by a branch of the Wiseman family in the HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 85 fifteenth century; and Sir John Comyns buUt the present on the ruins of the ancient CHAP. 1. Guy Harling, intending it as a model of the country seat he afterwards erected at the Highlands, making this his place of residence till the other was completed. It yet remains the best house in Chelmsford, having been new fronted and considerably improved by Dr. Badeley. In the hall there is a considerable number of carvings of ancient Norman portraits, very well executed: these undoubtedly belonged to the original building. In this parish are the manors of Bishop's Hall, Moulsham Hall, and part of that Bishop's- of Bekeswell. Formerly, when in the possession of the bishops of London, the manorial mansion was called Chelmsford Hall, but it afterwards received the name of Bishop's Hall ; it is about half a mile north from the church, by the side of the river Chelmer. On the 3d of September, 1545, Bishop Edmund Bonner gi-anted this town and manor, together with the advowson of the church, to King Henry the Eighth, which gi-ant was confirmed by the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, by deed, dated the 5th of the same month. It continued in the crown till the 24th of July, 1563, when it was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Thomas Mildmay, Esq., and it has remained to the present time in the possession of that ancient and honourable family. The manor-house of Bishop's Hall has been in some degree modernized, and preserved in an excellent state of repair ; and not far fi'om it, a little to the west, is the Parsonage- Parsoii.-iii Tho- 1573, when Queen Elizabeth gave it to Thomas Radcliffe, earl of Sussex, to whom she also granted all the manors of Boreham, Walkfare, Old Hall, and their depen- dencies, commonly called the honour of Beaulieu.* This may be considered to have been a very large gi-ant from a princess in general very sparing of her favours; but Sir Thomas had, by his public services in Scotland and in Ireland, so well deserved of his queen and of his coimtry, that these ample rewards were with justice and pro- priety awarded to him. These possessions were settled upon him and his male issue, in default of which they were to go to various more distant relatives, among whom was his sister, at that time the wife of Sir Thomas Mildmay, Knt. On his death in 1583, without issue, the estate came to his brothers, and continued in the family till the year 1620, when Robert, earl of Sussex, his nephew, sold it to the renowned \ illiers, duke of Buckingham, for thirty thousand pounds. When this duke was murdered by Felton in 1629, his son George became heir to his title and estates, and in 1648 joined with the earl of Holland and others in taking up arms in behalf of King Charles the First. The royal army being defeated and dispersed at Kingston-upon-Thames, the duke was proceeded against as a traitor, and his estates sequestered; and afterwards, when commissioners were appointed to sell traitors' estates, this was purchased, in 1651, by General Oliver Cromwell, the consideration money being five shillings, and the computed yearly value, 1309/. 12*. 3|rf. ; but Hampton Court being a situation more agreeable to the general's wishes, he exchanged it for that place, paying the estimated difference. Soon afterwards this estate was sold to three opulent citizens of London, for eighteen thousand pounds. It was undoubtedly recovered by the duke of Buck- G ral ingham at the restoration, of whom it was purchased by, or for, George Monk, the :\ionk. fortunate instrument of that important event; for which service to the state he was created duke of Albemarle, with a pension of seven thousand pounds a year, to him and his posterity, out of the royal revenues. The duke lived here in the utmost pomp and grandeur, and at an extravagance of expense which considerably diminished his estates, having every thing that wealth could procure or fancy invent. The account of his life and actions are in the history of the country, and in several particular lives of him which were published after his death, which happened on the 4th of January, 1669. He was succeeded in his honours and estates by his only son, Christopher, who, four days before his father's decease, had married the Lady Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Henry, Earl Ogle, son and heir apparent of William Cavendish, duke of Newcastle. In 1687, this second duke of Albemarle went over as governor to Jamaica, attended by the learned Dr. Hans Sloane, who at that opportunity com- • King Henry was for some time so much pleased with this retirement, that he gave it the name of Beau- lieu, the fair for beautiful) place. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 105 posed his history of the island. The duke died in Jamaica in 1688, the estate chap. i. descending to his wife, on whom he had settled it. The duchess afterwards married Ralph, duke of Montague, in 1691. Her grace died, near Clerkenwell church, the 28th of August, 1734, in the ninety-sixth year of her age. Previous to her death, Benjamin Hoare, Esq., the youngest son of Sir Richard Hoare, banker and lord mayor of London, had purchased the reversion of this lordship, and the estates belonging to it, which he sold, in 1737, to John Olmius, Esq., afterwards created baron of Waltham, of the kingdom of Ireland; the purchase including the house, with the gardens and park, but no other part of the lands. Soon afterwards the purchaser took down a considerable part (according to some accounts, nine-tenths) of this great edifice, yet reserving sufficient of it to make a noble and commodious country seat for himself, to which he added several new offices. There was formerly a most splendid chapel belonging to this house ; and when it Chapel and was taken down, the painted window, of admirable workmanship, was preserved, and New hIu. ultimately placed in the church of St. Margaret's, Westminster. There is a very fine di'awing of it, by Vertue, presei-ved in the archives of the Society of Antiquaries. The history of this window is curious. The magistrates of Dort, in Holland, being desirous of presentuig Henry VII. witli something worthy to adorn his magnificent chapel then building at Westminster, directed this window to be made, which was five years in finishing ; King Henry and his queen sending their pictures to Dort, whence their portraits are delineated. Henry, dying before the window was completed, it fell into the hands of an abbot of Waltham, who placed it in the abbey church, where it remained till the dissolution in 1540. To preserve it fi-om being destroyed, it was removed by Robert Fuller, the last abbot of Waltham, to the chapel at New Hall, where it remained until the commencement of the civil war, when the duke of Buckingham sold it to General Monk, who, having more taste than fell to the lot of most generals of his time, caused this window to be buried under ground, during the Commonwealth. On the restoration of Charles II., Monk replaced this win- dow in the chapeL On the partial demolition of New Hall by Mr. Olmius, this ■window was piu-chased by Edward Conyers, Esq. with a design to put it up in his chapel at Copthall ; but when it was found better to rebuild than to repair that seat, this was sold to the parish of St. Margai-et's, Westminster. The subject of the centi-al part of the painting on the window is the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ between two thieves, designed and executed in so masterly a style, that we seem, indeed, to behold the last agonies of dying persons, and the muscles, as they start forwards from their places, when the limbs of the sufferers are fixed down to the cross. The Roman officer and soldiers, and some of the chief rulers of the Jews, ai-e in attendance, and their forms are strikingly characteristic. The Roman centurion, who pierces the Saviour's side with his spear, is on the left hand ; the VOL. I. P 106 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. horse on which he is mounted is an exquisite painting. The three Marys are at the foot of the cross, di-owned in sorrow and in tears ; and Jerusalem appears in perspec- tive behind them. On the riglit, the ministering spirit attends to convey the soul of the hai'dened and impenitent malefactor to his appointed punishment ; but on the left is the angel of mercy, to guide the pardoned penitent to the mansions of blessedness. On the left hand side of the window, St. George is represented arrayed in plate armom', under which is Henry the Seventh at his devotions, attired in royal robes, crowned with a diadem, and kneeling under a canopy of state ; and in the compart- ment, on the opposite side, St. Catherine is represented, in a studious attitude, holding in her right hand a book, and resting her left on a sword, and at her feet is seen part of the wheel of martyrdom. Elizabeth, Henry's consort, crowned and kneeling, occupies the place below St. Catherine ; over which, as on the opposite side, there is a gorgeous canopy of state. Above the crucifixion, on panes of smaller dimensions, angels with the instruments of the crucifixion are painted ; on the left of which is placed a white rose within a red one, to signify the union of the two houses of York and Lancaster in Henry the Seventh and Elizabeth his queen; on the opposite side to which there is a pomegranate, the arms of Granada, to denote the descent of Lancaster and York fi-om the royal families of Spain by the intermarriages of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and of his brother Edmund, duke of York. After a series of alternations of good and evil fortune, — sometimes, under the super- intendance of princely munificence, flourishing in regal splendour, at other times neglected and becoming ruinous, — even in our time, this celebrated building pre- serves enough of its pristine greatness to excite admiration. The original erection consisted of two quadi'angles, enclosing two extensive courts ; three sides of both these were desti'oyed nearly a hundred years Jigo, by Lord Waltham, except we are to con- sider the wings of the present house to be parts of one of them. The principal front has six bay windows, with stone muUions, finished with a plain parapet, evidently of modern construction. The great hall is a most magnificent apai'tment ; in height more than forty feet, in length ninety, and fifty in breadth. Queen Elizabeth's arms ornament the porch over the entrance, with the following inscriptions : VIVAT ELIZABETHjE. En terra la piu savia Kegina, En cielo la piu lucente Stella ; Virgine magnanima, dotta, divina, Leggiadra, honesta et bella. TRANSLATION. On earth the pious, wise queen, In the heaven the shining star of piety ; A virgin, noble, learned, divine, Witty, chaste, and beauteous. On the opposite side a door opens to the eastern front, which has over it the arms of King Henry the Eighth, in relief, very finely executed, in fi-ee-stone, a dragon and HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 107 gi'eyhound, with crowns over their heads, for supporters; under which a Hon and a CHAP. I. hawk bear up a scroll, with the following inscription : " Henricus Rex Octavus, Rex inclit. armis magnanimus struxit hoc opus egregium."* On the ceiling there is a splendid display of stucco work, representing cherubim supporting the chandeliers, with the arms of the Waltham family in the centre. When the last of that family came of age these ornaments were placed here. This capacious apartment has been conveniently and elegantly fitted up as a chapel for religious worship, for the use of a community of nuns, of the order of the Holy Sepulchre, who, driven from Liege, in Germany, during the disastrous occurrences of the Frencli revolution, sought here a peaceful retreat ; and, beside their religious occupations, are usefully engaged in superintending the education of a limited number of young ladies. Culverts is a manor dependent on that of New Hall, the mansion-house being in Manor of the fields opposite to Old Hall. Its name is said to have been derived from Richard de Colewort,}- who was in possession of it in the time of Henry the Third. It was afterwards in the Burnel family; Robert Burnel, bishop of Bath and Wells, and lord high chancellor of England, holding it in the reign of Edward the First, of the honour of Boulogne. In the time of Edward the Second it was held by Maud, sister to Edward Lord Burnel, who married John Lovel, of Tichmarsh. This family having by some means been deprived of it during one or two descents, it came to them again in 1420, and in 1485 belonged to Francis Lord Lovel, who was created Viscount Lovel in 1483, and the year foUovnng appointed lord chamberlain of the household to King Richard the Third. Attending that usurper to the battle of Bosworth, he fled, after the defeat and death of his master, to the abbey of St. John's, in Colchester; but not deeming himself safe there, he fled to Margaret, duchess of Burgundy. After- wards, coming first to Ireland and then to England in behalf of Lambert Simnel, he was slain at the battle of Stoke, in Nottinghamshire, after having been attainted by act of parliament. He was one of the persons alluded to in these lines — " The cat, tlie rat, and Lovel the dog, Govern all England under the hog." King Henry the Seventh had, previously to Lovel's death, granted this manor to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who had been very instrumental in setting the crown on his head, and had suffered much for the house of Lancaster; but this noble earl died in 151^, without issue, the reversion of his estates having been previously granted to Sir Thomas Boleyn and his heirs. • "The magnanimous Henry the Eighth, a king renowned in arms, erected this sumptuous building." This inscription refers to a magnificent gateway which formerly led into the principal court, and from which the arms were removed into the hall. f This person is mentioned in a charter of William de Rykham, a benefactor to Walthara Abbey, who seems to have been lord of this and other estates in or near this parish. 108 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK n. Manor of Walke- fares. Brent Hall. Porters. Boreliam House. Family of Tvrell. Walkefares is a manor usually granted with that of Culverts. Where the house stood is not known. At the time of the survey it belonged to Odo, bishop of Bayeux. The family of De Waldfare, or Walkilire, took their name from this place. The manor of Brent Hall formerly belonged to Lees Priory, but it is not known at what time, or by whom it was given. It was granted by Henry the Eighth to Sir Richard Riche, of whom it was purchased by John Tendring, in 1538, in whose ancient family it remained many years ; but for want of an heir it was sold to Colonel Leighton, and aftei"wards became the property of Mr. Curtis, of London. The house is on the right-hand side of the road leading from Boreham to Little Waltham. Porters is a manor contiguous to this, and the house is on the opposite side of the road. Its name is derived from Robert Porter, who held it in the reign of Richai-d the Second. It never afterwards continued long in any other family till it came to the HoUises, who purchased it of Phineas Bowles. Boreham House is an elegant counti-y seat, of white brick, originally built by Benjamin Hoare, Esq. and embellished with costly ornaments, fine marbles, and other materials taken from New Hall; it is on the right-hand side of the road leading to Colchester, on the highest ground of the village, and is approached by an avenue of trees, between which there is a fine sheet of water. During the trial of Governor Warren Hastings and Sir Elijah Impey for maladministration in India, the latter resided here, with fifty servants in his household establishment. It has since become the seat of Sir John Tyrell, Bai't., who has added two wings, and made many improvements. The centre of the building is in the Vanbrugh style of architecture, and has a pediment with the arms of the Tyrell family, and a neat ballustraded battle- ment. The wings are light, and at each extremity are terminated by arches, flanked by columns, which have a pleasing appearance. The park, which is laid out with considerable taste in the modern style of gardening, is adorned with a good piece of water, which approaches the principal front of the house. There are two good avenues of trees. The stables and domestic offices are extensive, and are well con- cealed by the shrubbery, &c. in the immediate neighbourhood of the house. The confined limits of the work prevent a detailed account of the interior of this mansion. The principal apartments are of considerable dimensions, and fitted up with much taste and judgment, particularly the drawing and dining rooms, and the library. There are also some fine paintings by eminent masters. The family of Tyrell* has always been celebrated in the history of this county, both on account of rank and influence, and the extent of their possessions. This family is • The arms of Tyrell are Argent, within a bordure engrailed, gules, two chevrons azure. Crest — A pea- cock's tail issuing from the mouth of a boar's head, coupeil erect. Suiiporters — Two tigers regardant. Motto — Sans crainte. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 109 descended ffom Sir Walter Tyrell, who accidentally slew King William Rufus, and chap. i. who appears in Domesday book as seised of the manor of Langham in Essex. He is the common ancestor of several families of this name, seated in various parts of England, but chiefly in Essex and Sufliblk. For fifteen generations from this Sir Walter, the head of the family appears to have been constantly knighted. Amongst them Sir James Tyrell, eighth in descent firom Sir Walter, married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Sir William Heron, of Heron, Knt., and thereby acquired the manor of Heron, which was subsequently, for many generations, the seat of his descendants. Sir John Tyrell, of Heron, great gi-andson of Sir James, was ti'easurer of the household to King Henry the Sixth. Sixth in descent from him, and eighteenth from Sir Walter Tyrell, was Thomas Tyrell, of Heron, whose eldest son, Sir John, died without issue ; and his second son, Thomas, who was seated at Ramseys Tyrell, in Essex, married Margaret, daughter of John Fillol, of Old Hall, Esq. ; and had issue, first. Sir John Tyrell, Knt. whose son was created a baronet in 1673;* and, second, Thomas, whose seat was at Battlesbury, in this county. He mamed Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Steward, of Chelmsford, Esq., and had issue, a son and heir, John Tyrell, of Billericay, and Barnard's Inn, London. He married Mary, daughter of Giles AUeyn, of Haseley Hall, Esq., and died Sept. 20, 1712; leaving issue, John Tyrell, of Billericay, who mamed Mary, daughter of William Marlow, Esq., by whom he had issue, Charles, who died unmarried in 1736, and John, of Hatfield Peverel, in Essex. This John married first, Sarah, youngest of the two daughters and co-heiresses of John Higham, of Boreham, Esq. ; and, secondly, Anne, eldest daughter of the Rev. William Master; and died Nov. 3, 1786, leaving issue by his second wife, John, and Mary Anne, wife of the Rev. J. Jenner, D.D. who died in 1805. Sir John Tyrell, Bart, was born July 20, 1762, and was created a baronet Sept. 28, 1809. He married, Nov. 29, 1791, Sarah, only daughter and heiress of William Tyssen, of Waltham House, Herts, Esq. ; and by her had issue, Anna Maria, born Nov. 16, 1792, married June 18, 1811, to John Roberts Spencer Philips, of Riff"- ham Lodge, in this county; John Tyssen, born Dec. 21, 1795, married. May 19, 1819, Eliza Anne, eldest daughter and coheir of Sir Thomas Pilkington, of Chevet, Yorksliire, Bart., of Nova Scotia, and has issue three daughters ; third, Mary, born Feb. 20, 1802; and fourth, Charles Tyssen, born Jan. 22, 1804. Sir John Tyrell served the office of High Sheriff of the county of Essex in 1827. The church is nearly in the centre of the village ; it has a nave and aisles, and a Tlieclmrcli. chancel. It is dedicated to St. Andrew. Between the nave and the chancel there is a square stone tower embattled, in which are six bells. Tlie chancel is spacious, • This baronetcy became extinct in 1766. 110 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. and of the same breadth as the body of the church. Sir Thomas Radchffe, at his own expense, added a south aisle, and called it Sussex Chapel, making it the place of interment of that noble and heroic family. In this chapel there is a splendid and costly monument, erected by Earl Thomas, to perpetuate the memory of his noble relatives, and of himself. On the top are recumbent fio-ures in armoui", of Robert Radclifl'e, first eai-l of Sussex of that family, of Henry his son, and of Thomas his grandson, the builder of the chapel. The bodies of the two former, with those of their ladies, were removed hither from the church of St. Lawrence Pountney, in London. Tlie monumental inscriptions to the memory of these great men are in Latin, engraved in beautiful tables of black mai-ble, with costly borders of Egj'ptian porphjTy. The following are English translations of them : I. " • Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours, and their works follow them.' " Robert RadcUff, Earl of Sussex, Viscount Fitzwalter, Baron Egremond and Bumel, an honourable Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter. Lord Chamberlain of England and of the Household to the mighty Henry the Eighth, and one of his Pri\7 Councillors. In the wars in France he distinguished himself among the first leaders, and in all consultations, either of war or peace, he was reckoned among the chief. He was the great standard of equity, jus- tice, and Bdelity, in his time. He died November 27th, 1542. " He wedded Elizabeth, sister to Henry Duke of Buckingham, Margaret, sister to the Earl of Derby, and Mary, sister to J.Arundel, Knt. " Elizabeth's sons were — George, who died in the time of his father, Henry, afterwards Earl of Sussex, and Humphry. " Margaret's daughters were — Ann, married to Lord Wharton, and Margaret, espoused to Lord Montacute. " Mary's son, John Radcliff, Esq." IL " ' After death shall be the judgment, when the names of the righteous shall be made manifest, and the actions of the wicked displayed." " Henry RadcUfF, Earl of Sussex, Viscount Fitzwalter, Baron Egremond and Bumel, an honourable Knight of the most noble Order of the Grarter, Chief Justice, and Ranger of all the Royal Forests, Parks, Chases, and Warrens on this side the Trent, Lord Lieutenant of the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and Captain-general of the Forces of Queen Mary (at which time he rescued her from the disorders that affected the beginning of her reign). Upon the conclusion of hostilities in France, and all his embassies there, he was honoured among the chief of the nobility ; and in all negotiations, both of peace and war, was esteemed one of the first of ambassadors. He ever displayed the most convincing testimony of constancy, religion, and fidelity, more particularly at his departure. He died Februarj' 1, 1556. " He espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, and Ann, daughter of Philip Caltrop, Knt." HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. m III. " ' Tlie death of the righteous is precious in the sight of the Lord,' CHAP. I. " Thomas RadclifF, Earl of Sussex, Viscount Fitzwalter, Baron Egremond and Bumel, an honourable Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, Chief Justice of all the Royal Forests, Parks, Chases, and Warrens, on this side the Trent, Captain-general of aU the Gentlemen Pensioners and Gentlemen at Arms, Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and Privy Councillor to Queen Elizabeth. He executed two very considerable embassies from Queen Mary to the Emperor Charles the Fifth and the King of Spain, and a third from his royal mistress Elizabeth to the Emperor Maximilian. He was ^'iceroy in Ireland, and for nine years together suppressed all rebellions there, and prevented Scotland from uniting with them. He was governor of the English northern province, where he routed the rebels and the Scotch, who encouraged them, laying waste their castles, again taking or destroying numbers. He was most faithful to liis mighty sovereign Henry the Eighth, and his heroic race. He was possessed of an imincible soul ; alike brave and fortunate in the field, and in the cabinet a most prudent counsellor. He was skilled in most languages, and was of an uncorrupt life. He died June 9, 1583, aged 57. " He married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Earl of Southampton, and Frances, daughter of William Sydney, Knt. " He had one daughter, who died in her infancy, by his first wife. Henry, afterwards Earl of Sussex, succeeded him in his titles and estate." In the vault there are twelve coffins, containing the remains of various individuals of this illustrious family. Some of them have inscriptions on one side, and a star and garter on the other. Some are cast in human shape, with eyes, nose, mouth, &c. On six of them the following dates are visible— 1581, 1583, 1593, 1629, 1632, 1643. In consequence of disputes respecting the proprietorship of this cliapel, it remained a considerable time in a ruinous state; till at length Richard Hoare, Esq. obtained a faculty to convert it into a burying-place for his family, and it was repaired for that purpose. In the centre aisle, facing the pulpit, the following is on a neat monument of white marble: " Near this place lieth the body of Daniel Cooke, Esq. late of Dives Hall, in the parisli of Chignal Smealy, in this county, who died on the 18th of April, 1750, aged 56 years." In the same aisle, below the effigies of a mother and lier six chilch-en, on a brass plate, is the following: " Here lieth the body of Alse Byng, the wyfe of Thomas Byng, of Canterbury, in the county of Kent, and mother to Isaac Byng, cytizen and stationer of London, and late wife of James Canceller, sometime one of the gentlemen of the Queen's honourable chappie, which also departed this worlde to the mercy of God, the 16th of April, 1573. 112 HISTORY OF ESSEX. liOOK II. Isaac, Margaret, Annis, Jane, Mary, Alse. We sixe hir childrene derely bought, by figure doe present Our woefull hart for losse (of friende) of this our mother deere; But nothing will that sure prevayle, although we doe lament Yet nature doth procure the same, for this our mother here. Which never thought those things to much, which she on us had spent. Then blame us not, great cause we liave hir deatli for to lament." Various inscriptions in the chancel inform us family are buried there ; and on a marble, within Siste viator, et consule: Et cum hoc illustre nomen perlegis Cum hoc marmore lacrymas effunde. Hie jacent periti cineres Thomae Morisii, LL. B. Utriusque Academic fuit olim flos, et splendor; Juris CivUis nuper decus, et ornamentum. ClerL Angl. orthodoxi deliciEB ac deciderium. Fanaticorimi malleus. that some individuals of the Bramston the communion rails, is the following; Qui prudent! zelo et arte sagsci Scismaticam rabiam refraenavit. Nervosus optimae Ecclesiae vindex. Miserorum asylum. Subditus inconcussae fidelitatis Amicus, in utraque fortuna penitissimus. Immaturo sed benigno fato raptus, E vivis migravit, Anno aet, 41. Redemp. 168-1-5. TRANSLATION. Stop, traveller, and attend; And when thou dost behold this illustrious name, Mourn with this marble. Here rest the remains of the learned Thomas Morris, LI.. B. \^'ho was formerly an honour to both universities. And lately, a glorious ornament of the Civil Law, The darling & lover of the orthodox church of England, But the scourge of fanaticism. Who, by a well-timed zeal and sagacity, Checked the poisonous rage of schism. He was a strenuous supporter of the true church; A reliever of the wretched; A pattern of unshaken fidelity ; And a sincere friend, both in prosperity & adversity. Being summoned (though immaturely) by the indulgent fates. He resigned all further intercourse with humanity In the year of his age -tl, And of his Redemption 1684-5. In the church-yard there is a handsome mausoleum for the Waltham family, built of stone and white brick, in imitation of the octagonal Temple of the Winds, at Athens. The remains of the last of the family, who died at New Hall, were deposited here: and the following inscription is cut on a stone in the front of the building: MAUSOLEUM _ GENTIS W'ALTHAMIANiE. MDCCLXIV. Dugdale, in his History of St. Paul's, informs us, that this church was formerly appropriated to that cathedral ; but the vicarage of Boreham was instituted on the 26th of June, 1292, in the twentieth year of Edward the First, and endowed with all the tithes of Old Hall, and several other great tithes. Since that time it has constantly been collated to by the diocesan ; and the great and appropriated tithes are held by lease from the chancellor of St. Paul's. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at 10/. 3.?. Patron, the bishop of London. The vicarage-house is at the west end of the church, and near it HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 113 a fine spring of excellent watei' rises up through a sandy soil. The glebe is about chap. i. twenty acres. • The parish enjoys several charitable donations. Echnund Butler, Gent, of Boreham, Various in 1717, left a hundred and sixty acres of land, the issues and rents of which were to '*""■'""■ be appropriated to the establishment and support of a school for the education of the male and female childi-en of Boreham and Little Baddow. William Ward, of Boreham, in 1652, gave an annuity of six pounds, to be expended in clothing for four poor widows. Richard Tweedy, Esq. of this parish, in 1574', bequeathed property for the esta- blishment of almshouses in the parish of Stock, for four poor men, two of whom are to be chosen from the parish of Boreham. GREAT BADDOW. The two contiguous parishes of this name are distinguislied from each other by the Great epithets magna and parva, great and little ; the name is believed to have arisen from '^ °"' the word bad, and the Saxon word ea, water, applied to the river, the passage of which was at that time attended with difficulty and danger. In Domesday book the name is written Baduuen, in other records Badewan, Badwan, and Badoen, Badow, and since Morant's time Baddow. The parish of Great Baddow joins the southern extremity of that of Chelmsford, from which its agricultural character is not materially different. The average annual produce per acre is stated, by Mr. Vancouver, at twenty-four bushels of wheat, forty of barley, forty-eight of oats, and twenty-four of beans. The number of inhabitants are one thousand six hundred and three, of which seven hundred and ninety-one are males, and eight hundred and twelve females. The village is nearly two miles south from Chelmsford, on the road to Maldon. It has been long considered one of the pleasantest in the county, and in the kingdom ; on which account many genteel families have been induced to settle here. In the time of our Saxon ancestors, this parish formed part of the possessions of Algar, earl of Mercia, who, dying in 1059, was succeeded by his son Eadwine: this earl refused Eadwiiu-. to join King Harold at the time of the Norman invasion, because he was not satisfied with the portion of the spoil he had received at the battle of Stamford Bridge, .\fter the king's flill, he solicited the citizens of London to make him, or his brother Morcar, king ; which request not being complied with, he submitted to the Conqueror, who promised to give liim his daughter in marriage. But William having gained posses- sion of the throne, treated Eadwine with contempt and insolence, and refused to perform what he had promised; on which the enraged earl flew to arms, and was slain in battle, after displaying great bravery and resolution. His estates being VOL. I. Q 114 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. seized by the king, this lordship was given to the monastery of the Holy Trinity, at Caen, in Nomiandy, to which it belonged at the time of the general sui-vey. In the reign of King Henry the First it came again into the possession of the crown, and is believed to have been given to Robert, earl of Gloucester, the natural son of that king. It was afterwai-ds granted, by Earl Robert's son ^^'illiam, to ^^'illiam de Mulesham and his heirs. It next came to the family of the earls of Chester and Huntingdon, of whom John, surnanied le Scot, having married Helen, daughter of Llewellyn. Llewellyn, prince of ^^'ales, died here, and was succeeded by Robert de Quincy, who married the widow, and had by her three daughters, of whom Joan was man-ied to Bohun, son of Humphrey, earl of Hereford and Essex, and is supposed to have brought this manor, called at that time Badew, into the possession of that noble family. liaddow Baddow Hall is the capital manor-house. In Edward the Third's time it was suc- cessively possessed by Robert de Brus, and by Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent. In 1332 it was granted, by King Edward the Third, together with the manor of Writtle, to Humphrey de Bohun, brother to John, earl of Hereford and Essex, who was succeeded by his nephew, Humphrey, in the earldom, and in this manor ; and dying in 1371, his younger daughter enjoyed it till, marrying Henrj", earl of Derby, King afterwards Henry the Fourth, it was incorporated by him into his duchy of Lancas- ter, and left to his successors as part of their royal demesnes. On the 10th of June, 1509, King Henry the Eighth settled it upon Katharine of Arragon, his queen, as part of her dower, and this grant was confirmed b)- a decree of parliament. In the reign of Edward the Sixth it was found vested in the Paschal family ;* but whether conveyed by purchase or grant is not certainly known. The impropriation and advowson of the living were purchased by one of the family in 1546. In 1727, Ralph Verney, Lord Viscount Fermannagh, of the kingdom of Ireland, marrying one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Henry Paschal, Esq., became possessed of this manor; and it was purchased of him in 1736 by Jacob Houblon, Esq. of Hallingbury. Sir Sir Hlighes and Shenges. — The name of Sir Hughes has been derived to this "^ **■ manor fi-om its lord. Sir Hugh de Badew, in the time of King Edward the Third ; and before his time it had the name of Marshalls, from Robert Marshall, a former owner. There are now two estates called Sir Hughes, they are both about a mile beyond the village, neai' the road that leads to West Hanningfield. Great Sir Hughes has a capital mansion-house, of brick, with piazzas, or porticos, in front. f The other estate, called Little Sir Hughes, is contiguous. Part of one of these estates was • Pasclial's arms I — argent; quarterly, on a plain cross, sable, an Agnus Dei standing, holding a flag, or. 1st and 4th, two falcons, sable, beaked and menibred, or; 2d and 3rd, a lion passant, gardant, sable. Crest, a grave person, coupe under the waist, garment puqile, faced, ermine, crined grey. t It is described as having fifteen rooms, wainscoted, with fish-ponds, &c. fit for a gentleman's scat, two hundred acres of pasture, thirty- three of meadow, and sixteen of wood. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 115 anciently holden in petit serjeanty, by the remarkable service of keeping the kind's CHAP. I. palfrey, or saddle-horse, forty days, at the king's charge, whenever he came into these parts, doing ^uit at the hundi-ed court at Chelmsford every three weeks, and payino- sixpence to the sheriff's aid. The most ancient owner on record, Robert Marshall, held one hide in Baddow by this tenure of serjeanty. In the year 1211, Catherine, daughter and heiress of Sir Hugh, marrying the son and heir of Thomas de Nayling- hurst, of Brainti'ee, that gentleman removed here, making this his place of residence, in preference to various valuable estates which he possessed in different parts of the county. It remained in this family till the year 1558, when it was in the possession of Robert King. It next belonged to William Luckjii, Esq., who espoused Mar- garet, the daughter of Thomas Genne, of Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk, by whom he had issue Sir William Luckyn, Bart, of Little Waltham. It was afterwards succes- sively in the possession of ]Mr. Dan-el, and of Mr. William Prior Johnson. Sebright Hall. — This capital estate took its name from a family who had it in their Sebright possession in the time of Henry the Second ; in whose reign William Sebright was married to the daughter and heiress of Henry de Ashe, Knt. In the reign of King Henry the Eighth, Edward Aylnoth, Esq. married Alice, the daughter and heiress of John Sebright; and at his death, in 1543, this estate came to John Paschall, lord of this manor, of whom it was lield by the Gonson family, and afterwards by Thomas Wilshaw, Esq. and by Thomas Pocklington, Esq. and his widow. The estate called Portlands was the seat of Walter Mildmay, Esq., the son of Portlands. Thomas Mildmay, of Spi-ingfield Barnes, in the time of James the First. Many families of distinction have, at different periods, made this pleasant village their place of residence ; among whom were the Hawkers, the Godalves, and the Brogi'oves. The Church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and has a nave and aisles ; and the churcli. chancel has a south aisle. There is an organ : and in a square tower at the west end, above which a tall spire rises, there are six bells. The advo%vson of this church was given to the priory of Repingdon, in Derbyshire, by Maud, daughter of Robert, earl of Gloucester, confirmed by royal licence of Henry the Third, October 15, 1252, and a vicarage was endowed from it by that religious house, the patronage continuing in the prior and convent till the 4th of January, 1537, when John Young, the prior at that time, had licence fi-om Henry the Eighth to alienate the advowson to Francis Bryan. The great tithes coming to the crown at the suppression. King Edward the Sixth, in 1547, gave this parsonage, then valued at 8/. 1*., and the tithes value 16/. I5., to Sir Walter Henley, Knt., by whom it was conveyed to John Pascall, in the same year. This gentleman sold the parsonage-house, an orchard, and seven aa-es of land, with the tithes of corn and grain, to John Sammes, and Joan his wife, in the year 1554; and in 1732, this living was in the possession of Lord Fermannagh, who sold it 116 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Chantries. to Mrs. Anne Percivall, of Clatford, in Wiltshire, by whom it was granted to the Rev. Julius Hering; afterwards it was vested in the Rev. George Itchener, LL.B., who, on his death, in 1768, left it to his wife. There were anciently two cliantries in this church, one of which was founded by Mai-craret, wife of Thomas Coggeshall, Esq., and others, the licence for which was oranted in the "sixteenth year of King Richard the Second, authorizing Robert Rykdon, Nicolas Fitz-Richard, and Henry Franke, clerk, to give one messuage, forty acres of arable, eight of meadow, and two of pasture, and four shillings and ninepence rent, in Great Baddow and Sandon, to a certain priest, to celebrate divine service for the good estate of Thomas Coggeshall, every day, in this church." The yearly value at the suppression was 20/. 16.?. 8(/. It was granted by Edward the Sixth, in the second year of his reign, together with the manor of Springfield Barnes, to William Mildmay, Esq. The other chantry, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was founded by Thomas Kille, butler to Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, and successively to the countess of Hereford, to King Hemy the Fifth, and to Katharine, his queen. He died in 1449, and was buried in this church, with his wife. At the time of the suppression it was valued at 14/. 13s. 4-cl. per annum. A free chapel formerly stood in this parish, dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The endowments in lands and tenements, which were considerable, were granted by patent, dated September 4, 1557, to John Drake and others. It is believed to have been the same free chapel and lands called, " Pearce at Mead, and le Vynes," that John Lord Petre died possessed of, 11th of October, 1613. The vicarage of Great Baddow is rated in the king's books at 18/. 6s. 8d. On an elegant monument, in the south aisle of the churcli, above which a boy in a melancholy attitude supports a beautiful female bust, is the follo\ving inscription : Inscrip- tions. In memory Of Mrs. Amy & Mrs. Margaret Gwyn, maiden sisters, And of Mrs. Ann Hester Antrim, spinster, Beloved by them as a sister, This monument was erected in the year of our Lord, M Dec LIII. Having lived eighteen years in a virtuous retirement, They lie buried together under a gravestone Near the pulpit. Alas ! how fleeting is human happiness ! The death of Mrs. Amy Gwyn, the 19th of June. 1750, in the 55th year of her age, First unpaired it : The death of Mrs. Margaret Gwyn, 21st of March, 1752, in the 53d year of her age. Totally destroyed it : The death of Mrs. Ann Hester Antrim, on the 23d of July, 1752, in the 47 th year of her age, Numbered her with her departed friends. Their bodies are now sown in the dust In a state of separation from their souls ; But we hope, by the almighty power of God, In Christ our Saviour, They will be reunited to them at the last day. That both may be glorified together. The Rev. George Itchener, vicar of this parish, And Mr. Thomas Denham, citizen of London, Ordered this to be completed, agreeably to the will of the last deceased. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 117 On a small marble monument, almost opposite to the pulpit, is the following: — char r. M. S. " Neere this place lyeth (wrapped in lead) the body of Helen Sydnor, one of the daughters of Thomas Levanthorpe, of Albury, in the county of Hertford, Esq. She departed this hfe the 11th of January, in the year 1651, and gave to the poore of this parish for ever, two shillings weekly, to be distributed in bread every sabath. Also neere this place lyeth the body of dame Elizabeth Huberts, one other of the daughters of the said Thomas Levanthorpe, who died in the true faith of Christ, in the year of our Lord 1625." Within the commtmion rails is a stone, to the memory of some part of the Paschall family, with the effigies of Jane, the wife of John Paschall, engraved in brass. On a stone, in the chancel, near the vestry door, there is the following memorial of one of the Everard family : John Everard, his father's name || His hody sleepes below tliis stone, Did beare, wlio from Much Waltliara came. His spirit uj) to heaven is gone. His mother sprung of Flemminges race : His mother's mother Gonson was. || Descased the 27th of August, 1615. Some charitable donations belong to this parish. Mrs. Helen Sydnor bequeathed tharities. two shillings weekly, for ever, to be given in bread to the poor. Roger Reder gave five pounds a year out of an estate here to be given at the discretion of the church- wardens. A charitable donation is also payable out of the estate of Sir Hughes ; and, besides alms-houses for five dwellers, on the left-hand side of the road to Chelmsford, there are several other houses for the poor. Newcourt, in the Repertorium, inibrms us, that Alexander Barclay was presented Alexander to this living by John Paschall, Gent., in the year 1546. He was a person of great ^^'^'^^y- celebrity in the reign of Henry the Eighth. The place of his birth is not known, and has been a subject of great contention among his biographers. Bale, his contem- porary, says he was born in Somersetshire. There is, indeed, a village of his name, and a numerous family, in that county. Pits thinks he was born in Devonshire. Mackenzie is sure he was a Scotchman, but without proof, unless we admit as such his name, Alexander. He was, however, educated at Oriel College, Oxford. After- wards he went abroad, and continued some time in France, Italy, and Germany, where he acquired a competent knowledge of the languages of those countries. On his return to England, he was made chaplain to his pati-on, the bishop of Tyne, who appointed him a priest of St. Mary Ottery College, in Devonshire. After the bishop's death he became a Benedictine monk, of Ely : on the chssolution of that monastery, he obtained a vicarage in Somersetshire; and, being D.D., he was, as above stated, presented with the vicarage of Great Baddow. In 1552 he was appointed rector of Allhallows, which he enjoyed but for a short time, for he died at Croydon in June the year following. He was one of the politest writers of the age, much lis HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK 11. improved the English language, and wrote several original works ; but lie was chiefly distinguished for his numerous translations from tlie Latin, Italian, French, and German languages. His Version of Sallust's Jugurthine War is accurate, and even elegant. His Lives of several Saints, in heroic verse, are yet in manuscript; his Stultifera Navalis, or Ship of Fools, is the most singular of his performances. It is printed by Richard Pynson, at London, 1509, in folio, and contains a variety of wood-cuts, which are well worthy the inspection of the curious. LITTLE BADDOW. Litllc Badilow. Raljih Baviiaril. The village is four miles north-east fi-om Chelmsford, one mile north from Danbury, and thirty-three miles fi-om London. Population. The population is stated to be two hundred and six males, one hundred and seventy- five females ; total, three hundi-ed and eighty-one ; or with the hamlet of Middle- Mead, which is locally in Dengie hundi-ed, and contains one hundred and three males, and ninety-nine females, the total will be five hundred and eighty-three. In the parish there are five manors, or lordships ; these, at the time of the general survey, were in possession of Ralph Ba}Tiard ; Eustace, earl of Bologne ; the bishop of London ; and Robert Gernon. H;,ii. Little Baddow Hall, or the manor of Little Baddow, was in possession of a person named Lewin, in the time of Edward the Confessor ; and at the general survey belonged to Ralph Baynard, lord of Dunmow : his grandson, who succeeded him, espousing the cause of Helias, earl of Maine, against King Henry the First, lost his barony, of which this was a part; on which it was given by that monarch to Robert,* the son of Richard Fitzgilbert, progenitor of the ancient family of Clai'e ; and from whom descended the noble family of Fitzwalter. Under this proprietorship it was held by Richard de Badew,f till the time of Henry the Second, when, by inter- marriages, it came to the family of the Fillols, of whom John Fiilol, the son and heir of Sir Thomas, was knighted, and died in 1332, in the sixth year of Edward the Third, holding the manor of Little Baddow, and the advowson of the church, by the service of three knight's fees. John Fiilol, his son, died without issue ; and Margery, his mother, dying in 1340, Cicely, her daughter, and heir to the estate, conveyed it, by marriage, to John de Bohun, of Midhurst, in Sussex. He attended Edward the Third in his wars in France, particularly at the battle of Cressy. He was summoned to parliament in the thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth, and thirty-ninth, and died in the forty-first of this king's reign. The last male heir was Sir John, who died in the fifteenth year of King Henry the Eighth, leaving only two daughters his co-heiresses; • From this Robert descended the noble family of Fitzwalter. t Dr. Richard de Badew was of this family, and resided here : he was the founder of University College, formerly situated where Clare Hall now stands. HUNDRED OF CHELiMSFORD. 119 Mary, married to Sir David Owen, natural son of Owen Tudor, grandfather to Kino- cHAP. I. Henry the Seventh, who liad with lier, Fillols, i. e. Fehx Hall ; and Ursula, who, by marriage, conveyed the estate to Robert Southwell, Esq., and also the manor of Fillol's Hall, upon failure of Mary's issue. Robert Southwell dying, 31st of March, 1514, without issue, Richard, the son of his brother Francis, became his heir, who, before his decease, had alienated both his estates to King Henry the Eighth, who, in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, granted this manor, with the advowson of the rectory, and a water-mill, to Sir Richard Rich, of whom his majesty had it again the year following, in exchange for the manors of Stystead, Lawling, Middleton, and Southchurch. It continued in the crown till Queen Elizabeth granted it, with the advowson of the church, to Sir John Smith, the son of Sir Clement Smith, of this parish, by Dorothy, his wife, sister to Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset. It was afterwards disposed of by this gentleman, in 1596, with the advowson of the church, to Anthony Penning, Esq. of Kettleberg, in Suffolk, who married Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Crofts, Knt. In 1652 it was again sold, with the advowson, to Gobert Barrington, Esq. of Fitzwalters, who was afterwards knighted. He was the third son of Sir Thomas Barrington, the second baronet of that ancient family, sir Thomas Thomas, the eldest son of Sir Gobert, would have succeeded him in this estate, but, ^^"'"g'°"- being in debt, prevailed on his next brother, Francis, to buy the reversion of it to him after their father's decease. This Francis was originally a merchant at Tunis, where he acquired a very large fortune. He married the daughter of Samuel Shute, who was sheriff of the city of London and Middlesex in 1681, when our religion and laws were supposed to be in the greatest danger : on this occasion, boldly espousing the pro- testant cause, he was, for his commendable zeal, very severely fined. On failure of male issue, on the death of Thomas Barrington, Esq., the estates came, by will, to John Shute, Esq. of the Inner Temple, who, in conformity with the will, took and used the name and arms of Barrington. The Shute family is very ancient, and settled siuue in Normandy when the English kings were possessed of that duchy. The individuals '"■""?'<"'• of this family are recorded to have been men that were ever tenacious of their honour and integi'ity, serving their princes with unshaken fidelity and resolution, both in the cabinet and the field. Several of them were governors of fortresses, and so highly honoured, as to be in possession of a castle of their own name.* It is rather uncertain when they first came into England, but they have been a long time settled in the counties of Cambridge and Leicester. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, one of the family, who was recorder of Hockington, in Cambridgeshire, and member of parliament for that town till 1579, was at that time made second baron of the exchequer, and one of the judges of the court of king's bench on the 8th of February, 1585. John • In the time of Queen Elizabeth the ruin of a castle was to be seen in Normandy, in some part of which was the arms of this family. 120 HISTORY OF ESSEX. bom^ II- Shute, Esq. came into this inheritance in 1711 ; of whom it is remarkable, that in 1710 he had previously had the good fortune to become possessed of a much larger estate, named Becket, in tlie parish of Shrivenham, in Berkshire, left to him by John Wild- man, Esq. in his will, dated four years before his death; who gave it to Mr. Shute on no other consideration but because he thought him a person the most worthy, though he was not in any way related or allied to him. Mr. Shute was made a com- missioner of the customs in 1708, and in 1720 created Baron Barrington, of Newcastle, in the county of Dublin, and Viscount Barrington, of Ardglass, in the county of Down. He had likewise at the same time gi-anted to him the reversion of the office of master of the rolls in that kingdom. He also represented the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in the British parliament. To other accomplishments he added that of great learning, which is abundantly displayed in his Miscellanea Sacra, in two volumes, octavo, and in his Essay on the several Dispensations of God to Mankind, &c. He died in 1734, leaving six sons and three daughters; his son, William Wildman, Loi-d Barrington, succeeding to his title and estates. MiddU- Middlemeads, or Videlewes, is a manor, which, in the time of Edward the Con- fessor, was held by one Alwin, a freeman, and at the general survey was held of the bishop of London, (as belonging to his private estate,) by Ralf, the son of Brien. It is in that record called Mildemet, and said to be in the hundred of Witbricteshern, now called Dengie. It came afterwards to bear the different names of Videlews, Tofts, and Bassets, f\-om families of those names. After the survey it was divided into two. In the sixth year of Edward the First, Jordan Toft owned one part, which, in the time of Edward the Third, belonged to Alan Toft. The other part, in the same period, was held by Henry Bassett, which Roger Bassett was found possessed of in the twenty-fourth year of Henry the Sixth. Robert Vedelin, or ^'ideler, in the time of Edward the Second and Third, held one fee and a half here, of Robert Lord Fitz- walter. It was possessed by Richard Brenge in the reign of Richard the Second. The manor of Tofts, in particular, taking its name from the family so called, was generally held with the manor of Baddow Hall ; it was sued for in the court of chancery by one Thomas Saul, in the seventh and eighth years of Henry the Eighth. The pre- tence seems to have been unfounded, for a decree was given against him in that court. When Henry Pennyng, Esq. sold Tofts, &c. to Sir Gobert Ban-ington, he excepted this manor in the deed made on that occasion, which was soon afterwards purchased by Sir Mundeford Bramston, Knt. third son of the lord chief justice of the court of king's bench. It belonged to the Bramstons till Theodosia, daughter and heiress of George Bramston, LL. D. was married to Sir Robert Abdy, of Albins, Bart., when tliis manor came to that ancient family. Omces. Grasses, or Graces, is a manor named fi-om the family of Le Grass, to whom it anciently belonged. A person of the name of Lewin held it in Edward the Confessor's S '-'- s fe g . 1 Be. < ^ M p-« a^ ra ^ HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 121 time, and at the general survey it belonged to Eustace, the great earl of Bologne. The CHAP. i. Boreliams held it under him soon afterwards. In the thirteenth year of King John, Jolni de Boreham held in this and the parish of Boreham, one knigiit's fee; as also Robert, in the time of Henry the Third, held the manors of Boreham and Little Waltham, and one carucate of land in Little Baddow, of the honour of Bologne. It was afterwards possessed by John Rengger and his two sisters, Idonea and Cicely, and his niece Joan, (daughter of Margery, his sister,) who was married to John de Quoye. In the seventh year of Edward the First, the manor of Little Baddow was divided into three equal parts, of which two were held by Nicholas de Grass, and one by John de Quoye and his wife Joan. The Darcy family next succeeded to these possessions, of whom Robert is stated to have been the holder from the tenth year of Henry the Fifth to the eleventh of Henry the Sixth. It appears from the Darcy pedigree, that this Robert was younger son of Sir Robert Darcy, of Danbury and Maldon. Roger Darcy held this manor of the earl of Oxford, as of his manor of Boreham, and died the 3d of September, 1508. The manor soon afterwards came to the crown, but by what means is not known. Sir Walter Henley obtained of Edward the Sixth, on his first coming to the throne, in exchange for other possessions, " the lordship of Grass, late part of the possessions of Sir Thomas Darcy, and the par- sonage of Much Baddow, valued at seventeen pounds a year, and the tenths at one pound fourteen shillings." It is also stated to have been held of the king in cajnte by Sir Clement Smith, who died in 1553, the seventh year of Edward tlie Sixth; his son and heir was John Smith. The next possessor was Sir Henry Mildmay, Knt. grandson of William Mildmay, of Springfield Barnes, a man of irreproachable honour and unshaken fidelity. His valour was put to the trial in the commotions in Ireland, where he distinguished himself by his heroic actions. He died in 1639, and was buried in the chancel of Little Baddow church. His eldest son, Henry, succeeded to this estate, and was a representative for the county in the three last parliaments of Charles the Second, and the two first of William and Mary. His four daughters, Mary, Lucy, Elizabeth, and Frances, were joint heiresses of this estate; of whom, Elizabeth married Edmund Waterson, Esq. and bought the other sisters' shares, and at her decease left this and all her other estates to Edmund Fowler, Esq. the eldest son of her sister Frances; this gentleman died in 1751, and left his only daughter, Frances, heiress of this estate, by whom it was conveyed by marriage to Sir Brooke Bridges. A free chapel is stated by Mr. Newport to have stood in this manor, of which the lord was the patron, but this was destroyed at the Reformation. Rifehams is a small lordship, or estate, on the borders of the parish, towards Rii'ehams. Danbury; it scarcely deserves the name of a manor, nor can it be discovered that the tenants were ever bound to any suit or service to the lords of it. Earl Godwin was VOL. I. R 122 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. the most anciently recorded possessor of it, in the time of Edward the Confessor, and at the time of the survey it belonged to Robert Gernon. In the time of Henry the Fifth it was held by Thomas de Coggeshall, and his son and heir, Richard, died in the eleventh year of Henry the Sixth, of whom Elizabeth was his sister and heir. It afterwards came to Sir Thomas Charleton, in the time of Edward the Fourth; after whom his son Richard, espousing the cause of Richard the Third, was, by his suc- cessor, attainted of high treason, and deprived of this and his other estates, which were granted to Sir John Rysley, Knt. on the 11th of March, 1488. On his death without issue, in 1511, they again came to the crown, and were granted to William Compton,* by Henry the Eighth; yet in Elizabeth's reign it was again in the crown, and given to Thomas Spencer. It afterwards passed through several proprietors, to the family of the Clarkes, descendants of Sir Robert Clarke, one of the barons of the court of exchequer in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, and from this family it came to the Rev. Charles Phillips, vicar of Terling. Church. The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, consists of a nave and chancel; it has a tower of stone at the west end, in which are three bells. There is a stately marble monument in the chancel to the memory of the renowned warrior, Henry Mildmay, of Graces. His statue is in a reclining posture, under a canopy, clad in ai-mour, having a sword by his side and a triuicheon in his hand. On a tablet of black marble is the following inscription : Inscrip- " Hic jacet Henricus Mildmay, de Graces, in parrochia Badewe, in comitatu Essexiae, mills in praeilis Hibemiacis eqaestri ordine insignitus. Cui conjux prior Alicia, Gulielmi Harris, Esq. de Crixie in cod. com. gnatatres peperet filias, Aliciam, Mariam, Franciscam, posterior Anna, Brampton Gordon, de Ashington, in com. Sntfolcise ari filia, duos filios, Henricum et Guialterum gnatamq. unicam Elizabetham. Obiitdie Mercur. Octob. 9, Anno 1693, ae.suse 61." TRANSLATION. " Here are interred the remains of Henry Mildmay, of Graces, in Little Baddow, in the county of Essex. He was a soldier in the Irish wars, and there was honoured with the dignity of knighthood on the field. His first wife was Alicia, the daughter of William Harris, of Crixie, Knt. of the same county, by whom he had three daughters, Alice, Mary, and Frances. His second wife was Aima, daughter of Brampton Gordon, Esq. of Ashington, in the county of Suffolk, by whom he had two sons, Henry and Walter, and one daughter, Elizabeth. He died on Wednesday, the 9th of October, in the year of our Lord 1639, aged 61." Two female figures are represented kneeling at the foot of this monument, one an elderly lady with scarf and hood, the other in the bloom of youth, gorgeously attired in the costume of former times. In recesses in the south wall of the centre aisle are the carved figures of two females, • Tills gentleman was the ancestor of the earls of Northampton. tions HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 123 who, according to a traditionary account, were the founders of the church. In a letter CHAR [ written by Mr. Joseph Strutt, the following account is given of the opening of two graves here. " At Little Baddow we opened two graves in the wall of the church. over which lie the effigies of two women, who, by their di-ess, appear to have been buried there in the thirteenth century. We found three skeletons in one, and two in Skeletons. the other, without any appearance of wood, coffin, or linen, or any other covering for the corpse." The living of Little Baddow is valued in the king's books at thirteen pounds and fourpence. The Rev. Charles Gordon, formerly vicar of this parish, bequeathed one hundi-ed pounds for the improvement of this vicarage. . Near the church there is an almshouse for two families, and another at Coldham- CJmrities. gate, said to have been founded by Sir Gobert Barrington. The poor of the parish of Hatfield-Peverel have several parcels of land here. SAN DON. San'»--oun, in Saxon, denotes a sandy hill, and is a name properly applicable to Saiidon. the elevated ground occupied by the village. Sandon lies three miles south-west from Chelmsford; on the east joining the parish of Danbury, and on the south extending to Hanningfield. It is thirty-one miles from London. There are some varieties in the soil of this parisli, part of which is described of a harsh, churlish character, difficult to work, and requiring great attention in the management; it is a tenacious, wet loam, on a rank tile-clay bottom; the surface not more than four or five inches deep; and if in ploughing the under stratum be brought up, wild oats grow in abundance. The average produce per acre is twenty-four bushels of wheat, forty of barley, and forty-six of oats. The population is stated at two hundi-ed and sixty males, two hundred and twenty- Population, eight females; total, four hundred and eighty-eight. Sandon was part of lands remaining in the king's possession at the time of the survey ; and not long afterwards it belonged to the descendants of Hardwin de Scales, a Norman warrior. "William de Cleydon, who died in 1330, held lands and tenements here, under Robert de Scales, and afterwards held the manor of Sandon of Aymer de ^'alence, earl of Pembroke, as of his castle of Anesty, in Hertfordshire. This Aymer was the son of William de Valence and Joan, daughter of William de Montchensy, by his wife Dionysia, daughter and heiress of Nicholas de Anesty, through whom the earldom had descended, by marriage, from the Mareschall to the Valence family. Aymer was thrice married, but lefl no issue, and was cruelly murdered the 23d of June, 1323. His heirs were Ehzabeth Comyn, and Joan, countess of Athol, \2\- HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Sir Antliony Everard. Sir William Maynard. Sir John Abdy. Churcli. Parsonge- house. Dr. Brian Walton. children of his sister Isabel, married to John de Hastings; whose death happened in the eighteenth year of Edward the Second, 1325, and settled this estate on William de Beaucharap, the son of his mother's sister, by Thomas, earl of Warwick. About the sixteenth year of Richard the Second, a person of the name of Thomas Newington held this manor. It was held of King Henry the Fifth, in capite of his castle of Dover, by Thomas Coggeshall, by the service of one knight's fee, and a yearly rent of ten shillings for castle-guard. He died in 1422; and his son Richard, who succeeded him, died in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was succeeded by his sister Elizabeth Beauchamp, who married Thomas Phillips, and upon his death became tlie wife of Edward Nevill, the fourth son of Ralf, earl of Westmoreland, from \vhom these possessions descended from father to son till they came to the crown, in the time of King Henry the Eighth, who gave them to Cardinal Wolsey. After the cardinal's attainder they were held of the king by Thomas Tamworth ; and afterwards, in loGi, a licence was obtained to alienate Sandon Hall, with the manor and appurtenances, and other lands and tenements called Birds, Mayes, Little Chamberleynes, Mottes, Heygates, &c., to John Goodey, of Braintree. It was purchased of this family, in 1583, by Anthony Everard, Esq. of Great Waltham, who afterwards had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him. Sir Anthony dying in the year 1614, was succeeded by Anne, his only surviving child, who married Sir William Maynard, Knt. and Bart, of Little Easton ; by this lady, who was his second wife, he had five daughters, and William, the second Lord Maynard. This manor was purchased by Robert Abdy, Esq. in 1652. This gentleman was created a baronet in 1660, and in 1670 devised this estate to his son and heir. Sir John Abdy, Bart., who, in 1679, sold it to Edmund Wiseman, Esq. of London, afterwards Sir Edmund ^^'iseman, Knt., of whom it was purchased by Henry Collins, Esq. of the Middle Temple. Several parcels of land in this parish continued to be held of the barony of Scales as late as the year 1616. The Church, which is small, is dedicated to St. Andrew; there is a north aisle, but the body is not separated from the chancel ; the roof is tiled, and in the tower are five bells. The Parsonage-house is a genteel and convenient building, south-west from the church; it was new fronted and muchimproved, at considerable expense, by the Rev. John Lewis, B.D., during his incumbency. The rectory of Sandon is in the patronage of Queen's College, Cambridge, and valued at 13/. 6.s. 8f/. The learned Brian Walton was presented to this rectory January 15, 1635, and lost his first wife during his residence here. This celebrated divine was born at Cleaveland, in Yorkshire, in 1600. He completed his degi-ees in arts as a sizer of Peter-house, Cambridge, in 1623; after which he was successively presented to the HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 125 rectory of St. Martin Orgar, London; that of Sandon ; and the vicarage of St. Giles CIIAP. I. in the Fields. In 1639 he took his doctor's degree, and became prebendary of St. Paul's, and chaplain to the king. About this time he distinguished himself by his exertions for the rights of the clergy of London, respecting tithes : this rendered him so obnoxious to the presbyterian party, that, at the beginning of the commonwealth, he was deprived of his livings. He then went to Oxford, wliere he formed the plan of the Polyglot Bible, which was published in 1657, in six vols, folio. The Prolegomena and Appendix were attached in 1659, by Dr. Owen, to whom Dr. Walton published a reply. After the restoration of Charles the Second he was reinstated in his livings, and, in 1660, was made bishop of Chester, but died soon after consecration, November 29, 1661. He printed, in 1655, Introductio ad Lectionem Linguarum Orientalium, 8vo. His life is written by Todd. In the chancel there is a monument to the memory of the wife of Dr. Walton, with the following epitaph : D. O. M. Sacrum. In medio cancclli reponuntur mortalitatis Exuvia Annae, nuper uxoris Briani Walton, sacrae Theol. Doct. ac moderni rectoris hujus ecclesis : FaeminfP sanctissimus moribus e clara Claxtonorum Familia in comit. Suffolk oriunde; qu^ ab erumnosa Haec lacrymarum valle, in caelestem Patriara Emigravit ferea prima Penetecost, Mali 25, Anno Christi 1619. .TEtatis sua? 43. Beneath is the following : If well to live and well to die, If faythe, and hope, and cliaritye, May crown a soul in endless bliss, Thrice happy her condition is ; Vertuous, modest, godly, wise, Pity flowing from her eyes, A loving wife, a friend most deare, Such was shee who now lies here. TRANSLATION. Sacred to the Deity. In the middle of this chancel are interred The mortal remains of Ann, late wife of Brian Walton, D. D. And rector of this church ; A woman of excellent morals. And one of the renowned family of the Claxtons, Formerly of the county of Suffolk ; She was translated from this vale of misery Sr tears Into the region of her heavenly Father, On the first day of Pentecost, May 25, A. D. I G 19 ; and of her age 43. Earth hath her body, heaven her soul doth kcepe, Her friends the losse, and so she rest asleepe. Rest then, dear soul, till Christ return, while wee Jlourne here below and long to come to thee. UsIonu- inents. Inscrip- tions. BOOK II. the north side there is a chapel, or chantry. At the west end there is a stone tower, embattled, in which are five bells. There is a sumptuous monument at the east end of the north aisle to the memory of the Humfry family. It is a composition of white and grey marble, about thirty feet high and sixteen wide. On a table is the effigy of one of the family, in full proportion, reclining on his right arm, with his hand on a book, opened. His looks, directed towards heaven, are expressive of calm tranquil- lity and christian fortitude. Infantine figures, weeping, represent the tears of affection and friendship. On the back part of this tomb two whole-length figures are placed on an ample pedestal of white marble ; that on the right is a man in armour, at whose feet lies a helmet. A female figure is on the left. Cherubic forms, and emblems of mortality, are abundantly distributed ; and two Corinthian pillars support a marble canopy, under which the family arms are displayed, with military trophies and various ornaments. On each side of the pillars there is a niche of grey marble ; of which, that on the north contains an infirm old man, leaning on a stick ; in the other, on the south, a middle-aged lady, richly attired ; above each of these is a phoenix. The following inscription is on a plain marble tablet at the base of the tomb : " Here lies the body of Edmund Humfry, Esq., by whose order this monument was erected, in memory of himself and family. He died a bachelor, the 12th day of June, 1727, aged fifty-three years. He gave all his estate in this parish to William Ffytche, of Danbury Place, in this county, Esq., paying twenty pounds per annum for ever for a school to be erected in this parish ; and his estate in West Hanningfield to Humfiy Sidney, of Margaretting, in this county, Esq. He was the son of Edmxind Humfry, Esq., by Frances, daughter of Eleazer Carswell, of ShifFnall, in the county of Salop, Esq., whose father, Richard Humfry, married Ann, the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Hungate, in East Bradenham, in the count}- of Norfolk, Bart." Many of the same family appear to be buried in this aisle. The effigies of two men in brass are placed here on two plain stones. Under the feet of one is the fol- lowing inscription : "Here lieth interred the body of Richard Cannon, Esq., who, amongst other charitable works, did give and assure unto those of the poore of this parish five pounds, in landes, per annum, for ever, to be distributed everie sabath day in bread to the poore of the said parish ; and he died without issue the 20th of December, in the year of our Lord God 1605." Under the figuie on the left-hand side is the following : " Here lyeth interred the body of Richard Humfry, Gent., half-brother to Richard Cannon, Esq., whom the said Richard Cannon made his heire, who had issue Richard and WiUiam, and died the xat of December, in the )'ear of our Lord God, 1607." Rettenden rectory is valued in the king's books at 321. 6s. Sd. Besides the donation of twenty pounds yearly bequeathed by Edmund Humfiy, Esq. for the establishing of a school, this parish enjoys the following charities : Charities. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 141 Richard Cannon, Esq. gave five pounds per annum to be distributed in bread every Cll.vr. i. sabbath-day. Mrs. Ann Humfry gave forty shillings per annum to poor widows. A lady gave four pounds a year to be distributed in money to the poor on the first Sunday after Easter. She was buried in this church under a free-stone ; but the plate upon it which recorded her name has been taken away. There is in this parish an estate called Marks, purchased, in 1706, by the trustees of Edmund Lee, Esq., who left one thousand pounds, for annually putting out five poor boys, of the parish of Egham, in Surrey, apprentices to watermen. If this original purpose should be neglected, the money to go to the poor of Staines. RUNWELL. This parish lies low, and is rather unhealthy, and is also reckoned to have bad Hunwtil. roads. It is about seven miles east from Billericay. The population consists of one hundred and sixty-six males and one hundred and Popula- forty-one females ; total, three hundred and seven. It is uncertain whether, as has been supposed, the name of this place arose from some noted running well, or from some other origin : in Domesday-book it is Rune- wellam ; in later writings Ronewelle and Runwell. The chief manor-house was Runwell Hall, which is about a mile from the church. This lordship was given by Runwell King Athelstan to the cathedral church of St. Paul's, and at that time consisted of twelve manses, or houses with farms. It was seized at the conquest ; but it is after- wards stated that King William restored to God, St. Paul, and their servants, lands and habitations which had been taken away from that church. It was retained by the dean and chapter till the year 1546, when King Henry the Eighth, by an arbitrary stretch of power, got it into his hands, and almost immediately made a grant of it to Sir Anthony Brown. This grant is believed to have been rendered invalid by the king's death before it had gone through all the necessary forms ; the churdi regained possession, and, in the first year of Edward the Sixth, made an exchange with that king for the manor of Mucking, in this county, the advowson of the church, and other possessions. The next possessor was Edward, Lord Clinton, who granted it, in 1553, to Sir John Gate, upon whose attainder, the same year, Queen Mary granted it to Susannah Tongue, otherwise Clarencieux, widow, first lady of her bed- chamber. It went from this lady to her nephew, George White, Esq., in which family it continued till 1679, when it was purchased by Mr. Simon Rogers, of Leicestershire, descended from the Rogers of Dorsetshire, and, by the mother's side, fi-om the celebrated Mrs. Herick, being one of the hundred and forty-two persons she saw before her at Mrs. one time who had all descended fi-om her. It afterwards came to George Rogers, Esq., of Mile End.* * Rogers's arms. Argent, an etoile sable, on a chief, gules, seme de lis, or. 142 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Sandons. Flemvngs. Siilyard familv. Sandons* is mentioned in records as a subordinate manor, belonging to a person of that name ; and King Henry the Eighth granted an estate here to Cardinal Wolsey, which is believed to have been this. Flemyngs was a manor formerly belonging to a family of that name.f Robert Flemyng had possessions here in 1327, and the name occm-s in deeds in the reigns of Edward the Third, Richard the Second, and Henry the Fourth. Sir Thomas Flemyng held this manor of the church of St. Paul in 1464, in the fourth year of Edward the Fourth. The house was a very noble and extensive building, a great part of which has been pulled down, or destroyed by a fire that demolished more than thirty rooms and a large chapel. Before this accident, we are informed the house con- tained above fifty spacious apartments. The right of sepulture belonged to this chapel, as appears by human remains and fragments of coflfins frequently thrown up by the plough. An extensive park, a large warren, and every thing necessary to constitute an elegant and pleasing country seat, also appertained to the estate. But what will seem incredible to those who have formed their ideas of Essex prospects by riding fi-om Lon- don to Harwich, this house commands an extensive view of some parts of the county and of Kent, including more than thirty parish churches. The roof is uncommon and curious, being arched throughout in the manner of church buildings ; and there were formerly some fine ancient portraits of the Sybils and the Caesars ; and some very good paintings on glass have also been preserved. After the Flemyngs it came by marriage to the Sulyards, J a family descended from Sir William Sulyard, Knt., of Ej-e, in SufTolk. Sir John, his son, and succeeding progeny, by several intermar- riages, became allied to the families of Fayi'eford, Bacon, and Good ; and by the marriage of John Sulyard, Esq. with Alice, daughter and heiress of Sir John Bar- rington, the union of these two families took place. Their son. Sir John Sulyard, Knt., was, in 1485, the first year of Henry the Seventh, made one of the justices of the King's Bench. His first wife's maiden name was Hungate, by whom he had Edward, his first son and heir ; and by his second wife, .Anne, daughter and co-heiress of John Andrewes, Esq., of Baylam, in Sufiblk, he had John Andrew, who married Margery, daughter and co-heiress of John Lyston, but had no childi-en, Elizabeth, wife of Sir Edward Baynton, Anne, wife of Roger Apulton, Esq., and Alice, wife of William Rous, Esq. Edward, the eldest son of Judge Sulyard, had also two wives ; the first was the daughter and heiress of Thomas Copdowe, Esq.; by her he had Sir WiUiam Sulyard, his eldest son and heir, also Edmund, Anthony, and John. His second wife • In the time of Henry the Third a gentleman of tliis name held an estate at Rawneth ; and a piece of land, of about ten acres, near the church there, bears the name of Sandon's fee. f Flemyng's arms. Or, a chevron azure, between three bulls, sable, gutt^ d'or. I Sulyard's arms. Argent, a chevron, of a leaden colour, between three phoeons, or arrow-heads, inverted, sable : azure, a chief ermines ; crest, a lion rampant, argent. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 143 was Anne, the daughter of John Non-ys ; by her he had Eustace, and Mary, wife chap. i. of Sir John Cornwallis. Sir William died in 154-0, but left no childi-en. His next heir was his cousin, Robert Garneys,* a descendant of Judge Sulyard, by the mother's side. Eustace, half-brother to Sir William, inherited Flemyngs, with various other possessions ; he died in 1546. By his wife, Margaret, daughter of Robert Forster, of Little Birch, he had Edward, INIary, Margaret, Jane, Anne, and Bridget. Edward, the son and heir, was knighted, and died in 1610, leaving Edward and Thomas, and a daughter, named Elizabeth, who became successively the wife of Sir Francis Hanns, Knt., and of — Wright, of Kelvedon. Edward died without children, and was succeeded by his brother. Sir Thomas, who married Anne, the only daughter of Thomas Holt, Esq., of Higham, in Norfolk; he died in 1634; and his son Edward died unmarried in 1692, aged seventy-two, when this estate came to two of his neices ; Anne, married to Charles Parker, the son of an eminent physician, by whom she had Charles ; and Dorothy, married to William Marlow, Gent., by whom she had William, who died unmarried, and Mary, married to John Tyrell, of Billericay. The church is a brick building, containing a nave, chancel, and south aisle. It has Church. a square tower of stone, in which are four bells ; and above the tower is a shingled spire. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and is a rectory, valued in the king's books at 13/. In the wall of the aisle the effigies of Eustace Sulyard, and Mar- garet, his wife, are cut in brass, on a very ancient monument, with the following Monu- ments. niscription : " Here doe lie Ewstace Sulyard, Esquier, and Margaret Ayloff, sometime his wyfe, who had to her first husbande, Gregory Ballet, Esquier, by whom she had ysbue, Dorothie, her only daughter and heyer, and now wyfe unto Anthony Maxy, Esquier ; and to her second husband, the said Ewstace Sulyard, between whome they had yssue Edward Sulyard, Esquier, their sonne and heyer, and Mary, Margaret, Jane, Ann, and Bridget, their daughters ; and to her thirde and last husbande she had William AylofF, of Brittens, Esquier, by wliom she had no yssue, which said Ewstace Sulyard died in Februarie, in the first yeare of King Edwarde the Sixte ; and the said Margaret died the fifte of Februarie, in the ix and twentieth yeare of our sove- rs^e Queen EUzabeth." On the top of her monument are the arms of each of her three husbands. In the chancel there is also a grey marble monument, with the following inscription : " In the neighbouring earth lies the body of Edward Sulyard, who died the vii day of November, mdcxcii. being the last of his house and of his family." Over the inscription are the family arms. • See the maiior of Oatcs, in High Laver. 144 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. On the ground, on a black marble, is the following : " Here lieth interred the body of Charles Parker, Gent., late of Flemyngs, and Anne, his wife. Here also lieth the body of Charles Parker, Gent., son of the above Charles Parker, Gent, who died September 25, 1753, setatis suae 62. The mother of the late Charles Parker, Gent., her maiden name was Ann Sulyard, one of the neices and co-heiresses of Edward Sulyard, Esq., of Flemyngs." There are two alms-house& in this parish ; one near the church, of two dwellings ; the other near Rettenden Common, of only one dwelling. Alms- houses, Mounc- nessiiiff. Popula- tion. MOUNTNEY S-ING. This parish, commonly called Munnassing, or Mountnessing, extends northward to those of Ingatestone and Frierning, to that of Hutton on the south, Buttsbury on the east, and to Shenfield on the west; its distance from London is twenty-one miles, and from Chelmsford eighteen. The population consists of three hundred and eighty-five males and three hundred and forty-three females ; total, seven hundred and twenty-eight. The name of this parish is formed of that of the ancient family of the Mountneys, (formerly lords of the capital manor here), with the addition of the Saxon word ing, meaning meadow. It bore the name of Ginge Mounteney in the time of Edward the Tiiird.* In the time of the Saxons this district was in possession of Ingwar, Alfega and Algar, two young women that were free, and Alwin. At the survey it belonged to Ralph, brother of Ilger. Manor- The capital manor-house is a good brick building, near the church, on a small t'he'Mouiit- eminence, and there are apparent indications of its having been surrounded by a park, neys. At present, this manor consists of meadows, rich pastures, and fruitful corn-fields. The Mounteney family is very ancient. Robert de Mountenni was one of the wit- nesses to the foundation charter of Thobie Priory, in this parish, about the reign of King Stephen, and is supposed to have been the son and heir of Laecia, eldest daughter of Jordan de Briesete, founder of the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, * Morant observes, " The uncouth name of Ging is formed from the Saxon particle je, which they prefix to many words, but without any particular meaning, and in;, qu. Demj." je-, as a prefix in Saxon, (ga- in Ma!so-Gotliic,) is generally added to verbs, and marks the past participle, in the same way that y did in old English; thus je-clypo'c, is y-cleped; je-ppiren, y-written; je-maco't, y-made. With nouns it almost always shows them to be verbals; with verbs in the present it sometimes shows them to be formed from nouns; and sometimes it has the force of the Latin cmn. In the way Morant supposes it to enter into Gins,e, it could hardly be used. Indeed, Ginge is only another form of inge; g and y being in old English frequently prefixed to words beginning with a vowel. In some writings the name is written Yng, or Yeng, Mounteney. In the records we have "Gingam tenet Ranulfus;" "Gingam tenuer' ii Puellae Liberae." And in the records of Margarett/n^, — " Ingam tenet Robertus;" " Ingam tenuit Robcrlus Grut;" " Gingam tenet Matheus." Lye observes, that in the north they still call a meadow Ing, and in the plural the Inges. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 145 near West Smithfield, London, in 1254. This Robert, in 1254 or 1255, was pre- chap. i. sented at Chelmsford for possessing a knight's fee without taking the order of knight- hood. He had a son named Eustace ; and the family continued here durin^ a succession of ages. Sir John de Mounteney and Sir Robert are mentioned in 1375, and William de Mounteney, in 1417, in tlie time of Henry the Fifth. In the reign of Henry the Eighth John Mounteney possessed this and other estates in this county.* A person of the name of Hamon was in possession of this manor about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign; and it afterwards came, by marriage, to William Wilford, Esq., of whom it was purchased by Sir William Petre. Bacons is a manor, so called from its possessors in Edward the First's time ; in the Bacons, latter part of wliose reign, Edmund and John Bacime had licence to enclose their wood of Gings, within the bounds of the forest of Essex, and convert it into a park. Sir Robert Bacon, with his wife, Alinore, held these possessions in 1375 ; and Bartholomew was their son and heir. In 1514, Sir William Capell, ancestor of the family of the earls of Essex of that name, iield this manor, and died in that year ; Giles was his son and heir. It was afterwards purchased by Sir William Peti'e, Knt. Chevers is a manor which was in the possession of a family named Capri, or De Chevers. Capra, as early as the reign of King John ; and changing the name afterwards to the French, Chevre, corrupted to Chever, they continued here till the eleventh year of Henry the Sixth. The manor of Cowbridge reaches from Billericay to the watchhouse, and goes Cowbridge. down the lane called Tye-lane, that leads to Brentwood. Under the Saxons, the possessor of this estate was named Alwin ; but at the general survey the owner was Ranulph, the brother of Ilger. In the time of Henry the Third a family took their name from this place, it afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbey of Stratford Langthorn ; and after the suppression of monasteries it came to Sir Richard Rich, who sold it to Sir William Peti-e, in 1545. The farm called Little Cowbridge was included in this purchase, but that is not a manorial farm. Arnolds is supposed to have derived its name from Sir Arnulph de Mounteney, Arnolds, whose seat it is said to have been. The mansion-house is a venerable pile of building, half a mile from the left-hand side of the road fiom Ciielmsford to London. No record is found relating to this estate until the ninth year of King Henry the Seventh, in the year 1493, when it was in the possession of Henry Elvedon, Esq. It came afterwards to John Brock, Esq., and next to the family of the Perts. John Pert, of Arnold's Hall, died in 1583; and Elizabeth, the last of the family, died here in 1734.t • Arms of Mounteney. Azure, a bend between six martlets, gules. t The arms of Pert Argent, on a bend, gules, three mascles voided, or. — Crest. On a torse, a pea-lien, argent, beaked and legged, or, amongst a knot of rush-bobs springing out of a hillock, vert. VOL. I. U 146 HISTORY OF ESSEX. UOOK II. Thoby priory. Cliiirch. Inscrip- tions. There are other considerable estates in this parish, but none deserving particular notice, except that of the dissolved priory of Thoby, which was founded in King Stephen's reign, between the years 1141 and llol, for canons of St. Augustine, by Michael de Capra, Rosie his wife, and William their son ; and dedicated to St. Mary and St. Leonard. The house took its name from Tobias, the first prior, to whom the founders gi-anted many valuable emoluments. The patronage was in the Mounteney family. In 1525 it was given, by Henry the Eighth, to Cardinal Wolsey, by whom it was suppressed, in order to be appropriated to liis two colleges ; but the Cardinal at that time falling into disgrace with his master, it came again to the crown, and was gi'anted to Sir Richard Page, in looO, with the reversion to William Berners, Esq., with whom it continued some time, and was afterwards in the possession of a family of the name of Prescot, descended from the ancient family of the Prescots in Lancashire, till, on the death of John Prescot, Esq., the last of the family, in 1750, it came into the possession of the Blencoe family, by marriage, between Henry Blencoe, Esq., a counsellor-at-law, a descendant of an ancient family of that name in Cumber- land, and Mary, the only surviving daughter and heiress of Alexander Prescot, Esq.* The church, dedicated to St. Leonard, or St. Giles, consists of a nave and aisles, and a chancel f and south aisle, or chantry. There is a wooden irame at the west end, with a shaft, and one bell. This church was formerly appropriated to the priory of Thoby, and a vicarage ordained, of which the monks continued patrons till their suppression, when, coming to the crown, the king exchanged this, together with the rectory, with Sir William Peti-e. for the manor of Peldon. The vicarage is valued in the king's books at 11/. There are numerous inscriptions to the memory of individuals of the Prescot family, among which is the following, on black marble, against the north wall : Hie situs est : Jolianncs Prescot, Alexandre de I'hoby, filius primogenitus ; Alexandri olim senatoris Londinensis Nepos, Parentum (quos reliquit superstites) luctus familiae decus, Litteris et linguis, Domestica et extranea scientia excultissimus, Ingenio et prudentia, aeque prsditus ; Vita longiori dignus, Et ca;lo (quo jam potius est) dignior Mortalia scivit omnia; Iileoque, ut animum cognitione sibi pari expleret, Migravit in lucem ^Eternitatis 19 Feb. A. D. MDCLVI. ..litatis suae xxxiii. Officium nostro eogor prestare Johanni, Carmen, quod potius debuit ille mibi. Parcarum impensae leges! prepostera fata! Praeceptor gemit in funera discipuli. Et quamquam iuvenis; niatiu'a morte recessit, Nam fuit mente et moribus ante senex. Posuit pater, flevit Jo. Collie, Tutor Cantabrig. • The arms of Prescot. Sable, a chevron between three owls, argent. — Cre.st. A liand dexter proper, holding a lamp burning, or. 1 In the south window of the chancel there are eight coats of arms, of which the second is— sable gutte, a fesse, argent, with three martlets, sable, impaling, sable, three gemelles, with a canton, argent. The eighth is — azure, a bend, argent, between six martlets, or. The rest arc England and France. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 11- TRANS Here lies inteiTed John Prescot, Eldest son of Alexander of Thoby, And of Alexander (sometime Alderman of London) Nephew ; To his parent (whom he left behind) his loss was a grief; Of his family he was the ornament; Being in letters and languages, In knowledge both foreign and domestic, Most uncommonly skilled ; With genius and prudence, Alike adorned ; He was worthy a longer life; And still more worthy of heaven (which he now enjoys;) He saw the insufScicncy of all worldly acquisitions, and therefore. CHAP. I. That he might fill his mind with a knowledge meet for him, He passed into the light of Eternity, Februrary Iflth, in the year of our Lord 1656, and of his age 33, I cannot but pay this tribute of a verse to my be- loved friend ; a duty which ought rather to have been performed by him for me ; O cruel destiny ! strange fate ! the master here mourns at the fune- ral of his disciple. Although he departed this life young in age, yet he became, before his death old in knowledge. His father caused this monu- ment to be put up to his memory; his tutor, Jo. Collie, of Cambridge, hath lamented him in these lines. There are two very handsome monuments in the body of the church, on which are the following : " Near this place are deposited the remains of John Prescot, Esq., of nioby, who departed this life May 19, 1750. aged 39 years. Faith, Hope, and Charity, his constant friends, || These virtues he from heaven drew down here, Did all his actions guide to noble ends; || Andthey,wellpleased,atlengthh3verais'dhiin there." MORIENDO VIVO. " Near this place lieth the body of Henrj- Blencoe, Esq., counsellor-at-law. He was de- scended from Sir Henry Blencoe, of Blencoe, in the county of Cumberland, Knt., and married Mary, the only surviving daughter and heiress of Alexander Prescot, Esq., of Tlioby, bv whom he left two children, viz. Henry and Mar^'. His afflicted widow, in memory of his many ex- cellent virtues, as a husband, a parent, and a friend, caused this monument to be erected. He died the 29th of April, 1765, in the 54th year of his age." INGATESTONE. In the time of the Romans, the gi-eat public road from Colchester to London, as at Ingate- stonf. present, passed this way ; and as it was the Roman custom to mark the distances of the miles by stones fixed in the ground, it is believed that one of those left remain- ing at this place, with the Saxon word ing, a meadow, has been the origin of the name — Ing-atte-stone. It is written in records " Ging, or Yng, ad peti-am" — Ging, or Yng, at the stone ; and sometimes Ging Abbess, because it formerly belonged to the abbess of St. Mary's, at Barking. The population consists of three hundred and eighty males, and three hundred and Population, sixty-seven females ; total, seven hundred and forty-seven. The town is twenty-three miles north-east from London, and six from Chelmsford, Situation. 148 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. and the road to Colchester, Harwich, and part of Suffolk and Norfolk, passes through it. It consists of one street, the greater part of the north side of which, and some of the south, is in the parish of Frierning. There was formerly a considerable market here, but it has wholly declined; yet the annual fair, on the 1st of December, chiefly for cattle, continues to be well attended. The parish is bounded on the east by that of Buttsbury, on the north by Margaretting, on the west by Frierning and Dodding- hurst, and by Mountnessing on the south. Soil. The richly improved meadow grounds within the circuit of this district have been frequently praised for their luxuriance and abundant productiveness ; the Saxon name of Ing used to be applied to lands of this description. Manors of Besides the chief manor of Ingatestone there are in this parish the manors of Hauleyand jjj^jj|gy^ qj. Hauley, and the manor of Wood Barnes ; all these continued in the pos- Barnes. session of the abbess and nuns of St. Mary's Abbey, at Barking, till its dissolution. Sir William and sometime afterwards came, by purchase, to Sir William Petre, the liberal founder ^^^'"^ of the eight fellowships at Oxford, called Petrean, and the ancestor of the noble family of Petre. Ingate- Ingatestone Hall is a quadrangular buikUng, with a spacious court, and adjoining stone Hall. ^^^^^^ jj ^^^ ^j^jjj ^y gjj. William Petre, in 1565. The situation is low, but com- mands a pleasing prospect towards Danbury, and was formerly surrounded by a spacious park. Part of this building has been pulled down, and the rest is now inhabited by some catholic families dependent on the noble proprietor. The Hide. The Hide is a handsome country seat in this parish, built by Timothy Brand, Esq. high-sheriff of the county in 17£1. He married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Mitchell, of Rickling, Gent., and died in 1734. His son, Thomas Brand Hollis, Dr. Disncj'. Esq., succeeded him; and afterwards, the Rev. Dr. J. Disney, F.S.A , author of the Lives of Jortin and Sykes, resided here till his death, in 1816. There is, or lately was, a fine collection of ancient coins and medals here, with busts, marbles, vases, and other antiquities; some of them from Herculaneum, collected by Thomas Hollis, Esq., who died in 1774, and by Thomas Brand Hollis, Esq., when these gentlemen were in Italy. The two sarcophagi in the hall were esteemed superior to those at Wilton. The plantations, and a fine piece of water, are disposed with great taste, and command beautiful views over the adjoining country, ciiurcli. The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is on the east side of the street ; it is divided by a row of pillars, which extend through the chancel. There is a high tower, of brick, embattled at tlie west end, in which are five bells. The rectory is valued in the Liber Regis at 16/. 13s. \d. Menu- In a chapel, built of brick, on the south side of the chancel, used as the mausoleum of the Petre family, is an elegant altar monument, placed in an intercolumination of the chancel, on which are the extended effigies of William, Lord Petre and his lady. ments. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 149 wrought in Parian marble, with the greatest skill and judgment ; a lielmet supports chap. I. his lordship's head; that of his lady rests upon a pillow. The family arms, in basso relievo, are enclosed in an iron frame, and suspended above this sumptuous monument. There is an elegant Latin inscription on the entablature, of which the following is a ti-anslation : " Here lies interred William, Lord Petre. Knt., with Dame Ann, his second wife, daus^hter of William Browne, who died lord-mayor of London. The aforesaid nobleman, William, Lord Petre, was, by summons from Henry, king of England, the eighth of that name, called to the office of secretary, and to be one of his majesty's privy council, in which station he continued under King Edward the Sixth, by whom he was made treasurer of the first fruits and tenths. After the death of Edward he held the same offices under Queen Mary, which she conferred upon him, together with the chancellorship, likewise, of the most noble order of the garter. He was also one of the council of our Lady Queen Elizabeth." In a niche in a monument in the south aisle is an effigy in a devotional attitude; below which, on a black marble tablet, is the following : " Heare lyeth entered the body of Robert Petre, yongest brother to Sir William Petre, Knt., of Westminster, in the cown. of Mid. Esq., who l}-ved and dyed a faithful officer to the moste famus Queen Eliza, in the receyte of her majesty's exchequer. He departed this life at Weste Thordon, in Essex, September 20, in the yeare of our Lorde God 1593." Against the wall, on the right-hand of the south aisle, is the half-length effigy of a man, cut in gi"ey marble, below which is the following: "Captain John Troughton ; Obiit April, 1621, ^tatissuse 66." In the sepulchral chapel above-mentioned, against the west wall, there is a superb marble monument, about eighteen feet high and fourteen broad, on which, under an arch, supported by eight pillars, four of black marble, and four of variegated marble, gilt, are the full-length effigies of John, Lord Petre, and his lady, kneeling, with each a book open before them ; and on a mai'ble stone below is a Latin inscrip- tion, of which the following is a translation : " John, Lord Petre, of Writtle, son of that William who was privy council to four sovereigns, Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth ; and was likewise sent as ambas- sador seven times to foreign princes ; and co-founder of Exeter college, in Oxford ; a person capable of adding a lustre to the most immense fortune, and not without a great share of afflu- ence ; for, being born to inherit a large estate, and talents no less conspicuous, dutiful to his God, loyal to his prince, exquisitely tender-hearted to the poor, he spent his youth in the most honourable posts, and such as reflected character on the nobleman. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Edward Waldgrave, Knt., and one of the privy council to Queen Mar^-, a gallant young ladv, equally worthy to grace the bed as well as tomb of so noble a husband. He had by her three sons, stdl living, universally accomplished, by a foreign education and domestic precepts. He was such a manager in his hospitality, as one might pronounce at once a profuse oeconomist. 150 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. An affection for his countn-, not a lust of rule, (which is usually more boundless than any other passion), roused his patriotic soul against tlie plunderers and seducers of it. The love of the people, and the esteem of the nobility, he rather enjoyed than courted ; and choosing at all times his associates for their good, and not high qualifications, he neither deserved nor dreaded the resentment of the great, being possessed of an uncommon strength of mind, and an heroic firmness in soul and body. His behaviour was such as to leave it a doubt whether more engaging or prevailing, more modest or dignified. The sovereigns of each sex, and of each kingdom, raised him, both for his deserts, Elizabeth to the rank of a knight, James to that of a baron. This mighty and worthy personage, bom to do every thing that was good, and dying to enjoy a better inheritance, was brought to his end by a slow dilatory fever (if one can credit it) of almost two years standing, without the least pain or struggle, but not without the grief and tears of every body. William, Lord Petre, his inconsolable son, who inherits his estate, (I wish I could say his virtues,) erected this monument to the memorj- of so deserving a father." On the left-hand side of this inscription, between the four pillars which support that end of the principal arch, is the representation of the noble personage whose parental duty and affection had raised this elegant memorial of his father's virtues. Between the four pillars on tlie right-hand side is that of Catherine, his lady. They are both in a devotional posture ; and over the head of the latter is this inscription : Hie jacet D. Katharina Petre, Quondam uxor Gulielnii Domini Petre, de Writtle, Filia secunda genita illustrissimi Domini Edwardi Somerset, Comitis de Worcester, &c. Anno i£tatis suae XLix. caelestis habitationis avidior, Quam longioris vitae Migravit Die XXX Octobris, anno M dc xxiv. Coelone dignior An mundo hs est. TRANSLATION. Here lieth Lady Catherine Petre, Once the wife of William Lord Petre, of Writtle, Second daughter of the most renowned Lord Edward Somerset, Earl of Worcester, &c. Being more desirous of a mansion in the heavens, Than of a longer life. She departed on the 30th of October, 1624, Aged 49, It is contended whether more worthy of heaven or of the world. The figures of five little girls (their daughters) are cut in marble, and those of their eight sons, kneeling under the respective effigies of Lord and Lady Petre. f pon the north side of the chapel is an elegant tomb of Egyptian marble, of the highest polish, on which is inscribed : D. O. M. Certi spc immortalitatis Parte sui mortalis hoc tegitur marmore IMaria, Vidua Domini Roberti Petre, Earonis de Writtle, Gulielmi, Johannis, et Thomje, Una trium Baronum mater. Quae 13 Januarii, Ann. Dom. 1684-5, annum ^Etatis agens 82, in terris devixit, ut vEternum in coelo \iverit. Quo illam singularis in Deum pietas, Suavis in omnes benevolentia, Profusa in egenos liberalitas, Inconcussa in adversis patientia, Ceu igneus Eliae currus totidcm rotis, baud dubie evexerunt. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. lol TRANSLAIIOX. To the Most Mighty and Beneficent God. In certain hope of immortality, This monument contains what was mortal of Mary, Widow of Lord Robert Petre, Baron of Writtle, the only mother of three barons, William, John, and Thomas, yi lio on the 13th of January, in the year of our Lord 1684-5, CHAP. I. And of her age 82, departed This life on earth For an eternal one in the heavens, Whither her unexampled piety towards God, Her engaging goodness to mankind in general. Her unbounded charity to the needy. Her unshaken calmness in adversity, have. Like the fiery chariot of Elijah, on so many wheels. Undoubtedly carried her. On a stone in the chuvcli-yard is the following : " Sacred to the memory of the Rev. John C'larkson, who, hanng performed the duties of the chapel at fngatestone Hall during seventeen years, died at that place February the !3th, 1823, aged 50 years." In this small spot, last home for man design'd, John Clarkson rests, the honest, good, and kind. His manly mind no wild ambition fir'd, No pride debas'd, no envious thoughts inspird. His constant aim, to be to all a friend ; With pastoral care his little flock to tend ; With indigence to sliare his slender store, And wants he could not remedy, deplore; To still contention where he saw it rise; To check the tongue of slander in disguise ; )\Iake friendship reign, cause enmity to cease, And pour in every heart the balm of peace. Such was the man himself, such his employ. Such his life's pleasure, such in death bis joy. Calm and content his path through life he trod, Calm and resign'd he breath'd his sou! to God. Here, reader, pause, and if thou bast a tear To shed o'er worth departed, shed it here. R. I. P. On the right-hand side of the road leading to Buttsburyand Stock there is an alms- house for ten poor persons, seven of whom are to be women, and three men, founded by Sir William Petre, in 1557; the endowment is forty-eight pounds a year, paid out of Crondon Park ; eighteen pounds yearly from an estate called Catlyns, in Butts- burv: six pomids, thirteen shillings and fourpence, yearly, out of a farm called Ramsey Tirrels ; and eighteen pounds a year out of a copyhold estate belonging to Wadham College, Oxford, and situated in Frierning, in lieu of six cows, two for the priest, and four for the poor people, that were to be fed on the manor of Ingatestone. The minister is priest to this hospital, and has four pounds per annum, six pounds in lieu of the cows, fifteen shillings for a livery, or gown, and for wood, yearly, one pound sixteen shillings. Each of the poor has six shillings and eightpence per month, twenty-four shillings every year for wood, and twelve shillings for a gown. Ten other common poor that have no dwelling have two shillings and eightpence a month out of this charity. On Christmas-eve six shillings and eightpence is distributed to twenty poor people of the parish ; and on Easter-eve thirteen shillings and fourpence to forty poor folk. Five shillings are to be spent at the auchting of the accounts of Ingate- stone, Mountnessing, and Buttsbury ; and there is likewise two pounds seventeen shillings and fourpence to be deposited in the chest, yearly, towards the repairs of the hospital, and of the Lord Petre's chancel, built for the poor. Tiie whole endowment amounts to ninety pounds, thirteen shillings and fourpence, yearly. Almshouse. 152 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Biittsburv. BUTTSBURY. This place is sometimes called Ginges Joiberd,* and also Ginge Laundri. In Domesday-book it is written Cinga, and in other records Bottesbury, Botulnesbury, Butterbury, Botulnespyrie, and Botulfespyrie ; this last name has been suspected to be a corruption of St. Botolph's-bury. The village is three miles north from Billericay, and twenty-five from London. The parish is bounded on the north by Margaretting, on the east by Stock, on the south by Billericay, and on the west by Mountnessing and Ingatestone. It is at a considerable distance from any high-road, except some of the lands belonging to the manor called Blunts, which, together with the manor-house, extend along the great road leading from Stock to Billericay. Population. The population consists of two hundred and seventy-five males, and two hundred and forty-nine females; total, five hundred and twenty-two. A Saxon proprietor of the name of Bond held these lands before the Conquest ; and they are entered in the Domesday-book by the name of Cinga, as the property of Henry de Ferrers. No less than seven manors are enumerated in this parish ; but some of them extend into and almost comprehend the whole parish of Stock. Blunts is a manor that took its name from a family who held it in the reign of Henry the Third,f when Robert le Blund being attainted for joining with Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, and other barons, his possessions here were forfeited ; yet they were held by Thomas le Blonte, of the same family, under the Ferrers, as lords paramount, in the time of Richard the Second. From the descendants of Ferrers, this manor came, by purchase, to Paul Bayning, Esq., who was sheriff of London, in 1593; his son, Paul, was created a baronet in 1611 ; a baron of the realm in 1627, by the title of Lord Bayning, of Horkesley; and sQon after Viscount Bayning, of Sudbury. He died in 1629, possessed of a very large real and immense personal estate, amounting to one hundi-ed and fifty-three thousand pounds, fifteen shillings, seventeendiousandpoundsof which was in ready money. Paul, his son and heir, born in 161G,paid the king eighteen thousand pounds for the fine of his wardship, and for the official expenses, one hundred and eighty five pounds. He died in 1638, leaving only two daughters, Anne and Penelope ; the first married to Aubrey de Vere, earl of Oxford, to whom she brought this and other very large estates ; but having no issue, this estate came to her aunt, Elizabeth Bayning, her father's younger sister, who, marry- ing Francis Lennard, Lord Dacre, had by him two sons ; Thomas, advanced to the Blunts. Lord Bayning. * Joiberd was the name of a family; for, in an ancient deed, without date, it is stated, " that Emma, tlie daughter of Adam Joiberd, gave Robert de Frid lands in the village of Ginges." t In the deed which proves this there is the following clause: "Contra omnes gentes tarn Christianos roduce. soil, the lands lymg low and swampy. The average annual produce is calculated to be twenty-four bushels per acre of wheat, thirty-four of barley, and thirty-four of beans. The population is stated to be three hundi-ed and thirty-nine males, three hundred Populaiiot,. and eighteen females ; total six hundi-ed and fifty-seven. The village is nearly in the centre of the parish ; and several springs, strongly tinctured with sulphate of iron, pass through and beside it. These riwlets, accu- mulating as they proceed, form the source of the river Can. It is twenty-lhree miles * This Leonard lies buried in Frierning Church, on the south side of the communion table, where the fol- lowing inscription appears on a brass plate:—" Here under lyethe buryed the bodye of Leonard Berners, late o third sone andheyre of Wyllm Berners, the elder, esquier, who deces bruary, in the yere of our Lord God 1563, whose soul we trust d " f By Inquis. 29 Elizabeth, it appears that land was held here called the " Cliappell-yard," but there does not seem to be any other evidence of there having been a chapel. 160 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Priorv. BOOK 11. distant from London, and three north-west from Ingatestone. Henry the Eighth granted a fair, which is held on the 21st of August, chiefly for cattle. Not being mentioned in Domesday-book, no accoimt of this lordship is fomid till the time of King Stephen and Henry the Second, when it appears to have been in the possession of a family surnamed De Sandford or Samford. Manor. The manor-house stands near the church-yard, the demesne of which comprises the greater pail of the parish. This mansion was given, by Adam and Jordan de Sandford, to the priory which they founded here, according to Bishop Tanner, before or in the beginning of King John's reign, but Richai'd St. George, Esq., affirms* that it was founded by Sir John de Saundfort, about the time of Henry the Second; it was for canons regular of the order of St. Augustine, and dedicated to St. Lau- rence ; whence it was usually called the monastery or priory of St. Laurence de Blackmore. It was dissolved in the year 1527, the seventeenth year of Henry the Eighth, and granted to Cardinal Wolsey, for part of the endowment of his college at Oxford, at which time its revenues amoimted to 85/. 9s. Id. Upon the cardinal's attainder, it came again to the crown in 1529, and, in 1531, was granted to the abbey of Waltham Holy Cross, in exchange for the manor of Stansted- abbots, and other lands. On the general dissolution of monasteries. King Henry the Eighth, in 1540, gi-anted this estate to John Smyth, Esq. ; and Thomas Smyth, Esq., his descendant, and last heir male of that family, sold it to Sir Jacob Acworth, who repaired and much improved this ancient building by many important additions ; and his daughter and heiress. Lady Avis, conveyed it by mai-riage to Sir George M'heate. It was aftei-wards purchased by Richard Preston, Esq. It is said to have been one of the houses of pleasure resorted to by Henry the Eighth, in this county, when he wished to indulge himself in the embraces of his courtesans, and was at that time called Jericho ; hence it became a cant phrase among the courtiers, on the occasional disappearance of the king, that his majesty was gone to Jericho. His natural son, Henry Fitzroy,f duke of Richmond and Somerset, was born here, and became the friend of the gallant and accomplished earl of Surrey, whose poeti-y makes such a distinguished figure in the Uterature of the sixteenth centui-y. The sti-eam of the Can, which partly surrounds Jericho, has yet retained the name of the Jordan. The manor-house is not far from Jericho ; it has been variously named. Cop- sheaves or Copsheffs, and Smyth's Hall. It came from the Smyth family^ to Captain Charles Alexander, who left it to his nephew, Robert Alexander Cricket, Esq. ; this gentleman new fronted the old mansion, in a window of which there was some fine • In his Collection, fol. 141. t His motlier was Elizabeth Talbois, daughter of Sir John Blounu and widow of Sir Gilbert Talbois. X An account of the Smyth family will be given in the description of Cressing. Jericho. Copsheaves. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. IGI stained glass, of great antiquity, representing ancient military figures. These he CHAP. I carefully preserved, and formed into a beautiful window for the staircase. The manor house of Fingreth * stood a mile north of the town ; this manoA' was Fingretli. holden of the king in capite by the grand sei'geanty of being chamberlain to the queen of England.f and of keeping guard at the door of her chamber on the day of her coronation, having, for his fee, the furniture, beds, basins, &c. Gilbert de Sandford held the manor by this tenure, as chamberlain to Eleanor, the queen of Henry the Third. His only daughter and heiress, Alice, was married to Robert, son and heir of Hugh de Vere, earl of Oxford, who died in the twenty-fourth year of Edward the First, his countess holding by the same tenure this and also the barony of Samford. Afterwards the estate was conveyed to Sir Walter Mildmay, chancellor of the exchequer, and fi-om that family it came by marriage to Robert Cory, D. D., who, at the coronation of Queen Ann, claimed, with Mary, his wife, the office of chamber- lain ; and it was afterwards claimed by the lord of this manor, at the coronation of Queen Carohne, in 1727, but disallowed, because not made out. C. G. Parker, Esq., is the present proprietor of this lordship. The small manor of Witherspains, or Witherspawns, is a hamlet to Blackmore, Withers- and belongs to this hundred, though it lies in High Ongar. The church and chancel are very ancient, and supposed to have formed part of the Church, old priory church. There are two aisles, the roof of which is supported by two rows of columns. The body or nave is ceiled with oak wainscot, on which are the arms of Richard the Second, Henry the Fom-th, and those of several noble and ancient families, probably such as were benefactors to the monastery ; it has a small vestry, and in the steeple there are five bells. The chui-ch is dedicated to St. Lawrence, and in the Vvindow over the door there is a representation of the martyrdom of this saint, in stained glass. The church-yard is on the north side, and very small. In the church, near the communion table, there is a grey marble gi-ave-stone, on the Inscii))- „ , . , tions. margin of which is the following inscription in Gothic characters. " To the memory of the just Prior, Thomas de Veer.'* And on the north side of the rails that surround the communion table, another grey marble bears the following : — " Here lyeth the body of Simon Lynch, rector of Runwell, who, for fearing God and the king, was sequestered, prosecuted and persecuted, to the day of his death, by Gog and Magog ; and left issue Ehzabeth, Sarah, Simon, and Ithuel, unto whom the Lord be merciful. He died the 19lh of June, 1660, aged 60 years." • February 8, 1315, Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, gave licence to the prior and convent here, to appro- priate to their monastery all the lands and tenements which Henry de Fyngrye held of him in the viU of Fyngrith. t Liber Ruber, fol. 232. VOL. I. Y 162 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. The burial place of the ancient family of the Smyths, of this parish, is at the end of the chancel ; and there is a decayed tomb to the memory of Thomas Smyth, Esq., who died in 1594, and also of Margaret, his wife. Their full-length effigies are fixed on the monument. There are also several inscriptions to the memory of individuals of this family. The rectory of Blackmore is an impropriation, valued in the king's books at 6/. 13s, 4d., but, in 1720, Thomas Smyth Esq., augmented it by tithes of the value of fom* hundred pounds, on receiving two hundi'ed pounds of the governors of Queen Ann's bounty. Charities. The following charities belong to this parish : — Mr. John Simonds left an annuity of forty shillings, to be given to the poor ; and Mrs. Margaret Powle, the widow of Sir Stephen Powle, Knt., left the same sum, to be given yearly, on All Saints' day, to eight of the poorest women of the parish. Lands holden of Fingreth Hall are charged with an annuity of three pounds five shillings ; the combined chai'ities of Mr. George Challice, Mr. John Trotter, of Doddinghurst, and Dr. Tabor. Mr. George Challice, by his will, 1580, left a freehold tenement, garden, and orchard; the rents to be distributed quarterly to the poor. In 1601, Mr. Henrj' Waller left an annuity of forty shillings, to be given to the poor. Mr. William Peacock left an annuity of one pound, to be given to the poor. A messuage and tenements, -ttith the appertenances, and ten acres of land, were left by will, for the best use of the poor, by Mr. Thomas Almond' in 1728; and half an acre of land was given by a person unknown, to supply bell- ropes, for which it has always been appropriated ; it has usually let for nine shillings a yeai". Widford. Soil and produce. WIDFORD, OR WIDEFORD. This small parish joins that of Chelmsford on the south-west, and it may reason- ably be presumed to have taken its name fi-om a ford anciently forming a passage over the river in its vicinity. It has only one manor, and contains about eight hundred acres of land. It is twenty-seven miles distant from London and two from Chelmsford, the road passing through the \-illage. The soil is, in general, a Ught turnip land, of the same description as that of Chelmsford : in the lower parts, rich-meadow gi'ound ; and around the village, which is near the centre, the land is in a high state of cultivation, and very productive. Mr. Vancouver gives an account of some experiments on the culture of mustard-seed in this parish, which, even in a failing crop, were in a considerable degree advan- tageous. " On the 23d of May, 1800, twelve acres were sown with white mustai-d-seed, the quantity of seed one quart, instead of half a peck per acre, which is usually sown. It failed in the plant, owing to the land not being so well cultivated as it ought to have been, nor sufficiently manured, nor the weeds properly and ftilly destroyed. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 163 In August it was reaped and harvested, but in consequence of the several defects CHAP. 1. stated, the produce was only one quarter and a half per acre ; yet even this crop, at twelve shillings and sixpence per bushel, amounted to ninety pounds, that is, seven pounds ten shillings an acre. On the 25th of May, 1801, ten acres of land were sown, the gi'ound being well prepared : when reaped, in September, the produce was forty quarters, which was sold for more than two hundred pounds, that is, twenty pounds per acre. These crops immediately followed wheat ; and if the land had not been prepared for mustard it would have lain fallow, and have been sown next year with oats or barley, so that nothing but a crop of turnips could have been produced between, in the usual way; the mustard left the land in a good condition for a crop of wheat." This intelligent farmer observes, that the usual average crop is from three to four quarters per acre ; a light and loamy soil suits best ; and it is so far from exhausting, or injuring the soil, that it is enriched and pulverized by the leaves and flowers which fall upon it. It is best to sow mustard as soon after a shower as may be. It is cut, harvested, gathered, and thrashed in the field in the same manner as rape or coleseed. The population of Widford parish is fifty-nine males, fifty-nine females ; total, one Population, hundred and eighteen. In the oldest records this parish is named Wideford, and the first proprietor named is A^'illiam de Cloville, who held it in the twenty-ninth year of Henry the Third.* In the year 1329 it was the property of Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, and Edmund of ■' r r J ... Woodstoek. si.xth son of King Edward the First, who was beheaded, in 1329, for contrivmg the deliverance of the captive King Edward the Second. It was next given to Roger Mortimer, earl of March, and Edmund Bacon held it under him; and, in 1336, Robert de Ufford, earl of Suffolk, held this manor of the earl of March, as of his manor of Swainscamp. It was all or part of it in possession of individuals of the Bacon family, under the earls of March, till the eleventh year of Henry the Sixth ; some time after which it returned to the Cloville family ; from whom, in 1589, it came to Charles Altham, serjeant at law, who, in 1604, built the chapel on the north side of the church.f Thomas Altham, Gent., died in 1607. Sir James Altham, Knt., died in 1616, holding this manor, and the advowson of the church, of Sir Ralph Weldon, Knt., as of his manor of Swainscamp. It afterwards was conveyed, by marriage, to Charles Tryon,± of Haringworth, in Northampton- shire ; whose son sold this estate to Thomas Inwin, Esq., of Southwark ; who, dying in 1743, left it to his widow, on whose death it came to his only • See the account of West Hanningfield. f In the west window of this cliapel, in eld English character, is, or was, the following : " Carolus Altham serviens, ad legem Diis. Manerii de Widford ac Patronus istius Ecclesiae hanc capellam aedificaviu Ano Dni 1604, cujus . . , . " The rest wanting. X Sir Samuel Tryon, of Layer-Marney, was a younger branch of this family. 164 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Baron Comyns. BOOK II. daughter, Sarah, countess dowager of Suffolk, widow and relict of Henry, earl of Suffolk, who died in 1745. This lady, in 1752, was married to Lucius Carey, lord viscount Falkland. A little beyond Widford Bridge, on the right-hand side of the road going toward Ingatestone, is a handsome modern building, suiTounded by a good park, well watered. It is called Highlands, from the loftiness of its situation, commanchng a wide extent of distant prospects. It was erected by Chief Justice Comyns, Knt., chief baron of the exchequer, who, at his decease, left it to his lady, and after her death to his nephew, John Comyns, Esq., whose son, John Richard Comyns, succeeded; its present possessor is P. C. Labouchere, Esq., who has much improved both the house and grounds. The chief baron's father was William Comyns, (descended from the Comyns of Dagenham, in this county,) educated at Queen's College, Cambridge, and afterwards a member of Lincoln's Inn. He died in 1685. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Matthew Rudd, of Little Baddow ; they had, besides Robert and Thomas, who died infants, William, who died a bachelor; John and Richard; and two daughters, Elizabeth, wife of George Davenport, of London, Gent., and Mary, wife of Edward Tabor, of London, laceman. John Comyns, Esq., afterwards lord chief baron of the exchequer, was of the same college and society as his father, created serjeant at law in 1705, burgess of Maldon in the fourth year of King William, appointed one of the barons of the exchequer in 1726, and knighted, one of the justices of common pleas in 1735; and chief baron of the exchequer in 1738. He diedi in 1740, without issue, though he was thrice married: his fu-st wife was Anne, one of the daughters and co-heirs of Nathaniel Gurdon, D. D., rector of Chelmsford, who died in 1705; the second, was Elizabeth Courthop; the third was Anne Wilbraham. His brother, Richard Comyns, Esq., of Rolstons, was of the Inner Temple, and created serjeant at law in 1724; he had three wives: Judith, daughter of Dr. N. Gurdon, abovementioned ; she died in 1700 with John, her son. His second wfe, Frances, daughter of Thomas Houghton, D. D., vicar of Writtle, rector of Higham Gobion, in Bedford- shire, and prebendary of St. Paul's and Chichester. His third wife was Elizabeth Chiffings, of Kent. By his second wife, he had John, his eldest son and heir; Houghton, Richard, and three daughters : Frances; Elizabeth, married to the Rev. John Birch; and Mary. Serjeant Comyns died in 1740. His eldest son, John, was of Queen's College, Cambridge, and of the Inner Temple, and a barrister at law; he died in 1760, having been thrice married; his first wife was Wright; his second, Elizabeth Hallet ; and the third, Mary, sister to Sir John Tyrell. He left, by his second wife, a son, named Richard John.* • Comyns' arms. Azure, a clievroii, eriijines, between tliree garbs, or. • or wheatsbeaf, grasped by two hands. -Crest. On a close helmet, a garb, HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 165 The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, stands on the western side of the CHAP. i. London road ; it is a small and ancient building, consisting of a nave and chancel, churcii! On the north side there is a chapel, leaded, belonging to the lords of the manor. There are two bells in a wooden turret at the west end. The wall between the nave and the chancel is of unusual thickness.* Widford rectory is valued in the king's books at 81. WRITTLE. This parish is bounded on the east by that of Chelmsford, and is computed to be Writtle. fifty-two miles in circumference ; it is the largest in the county, and one of the finest. The soil is not materially different from Moulsham and Chelmsford; it produces excellent crops of wheat, and hops have been cultivated here. The population consists of one thousand and sixty-four males, one thousand and Population, thirty-six females ; total, two thousand one hundred. The village is two miles north-west from Chelmsford, and twenty-eight miles from London. They have a charter for a fair to be held annually on the Monday in Fair. Whitsun-week, and on the 10th of October; but what is very extraordinary, even this advantage is not embraced, though no town in England could better accom- modate cattle of every kind.f The fair on Whit-Monday is indeed so far kept up as to afford a shattered booth or two, stored with gingerbread or children's toys ; but that of the 10th of October has been long discontinued. Writtle is subject to no visitation, and foi-mei-ly was of itself a place of jurisdiction, till at length the inhabitants assuming upon this prerogative, and refusing obedience to the summons of the sheriff at the assizes and quarter-sessions, to attend upon juries, an inquiry was made into their right of separate jurisdiction, which, appearing to have scarcely any other foundation than that of custom, it was thought proper to lay this distinction aside; ever since which they have served those offices, in common with other parishes. This village has been conjectured to occupy the site of the Roman station Ca?saroma- named C^saromagus in the Itinerary of Antoninus. Writtle has been considered, ^"^' * In this church there are, or were, the following arms : — In the south window of the chancel, an escut- cheon of two parts ; 1, Clovill ; 2 and 3, ermines, a chief, azure, three lions rampant, or. Another, quarterly, first and fourth, sable, a bend engrailed, argent, between ten billets, five and five ; second and third, gules, three globes on pedestals. In the chapel, on the north side : — Three escutcheons ; 1. Azure, a chevron, argent, with a crescent, sable, between three escallops, argent, impaling, 1, gules, three storks, walking, or ; 2, 1 and 2, a chevron, argent, between three fishes hauriant, or. 2. A chevron as above, impaling, gules, a fesse wavy, argent, between three bulls' heads couped, argent. 3. Argent, three chevronels, with a border engrailed, sable, in chief, gules, a bull's head couped, argent; surmounted by an annulet, sable, impaling, gules, a fesse, argent, with an annulet, sable, three bulls' heads couped, argent, a chief, argent. t There is a remarkable custom here, called Leppe and Lasse, which requires that every cart passing over a place called Greenbury (except it be the cart of a nobleman) shall pay fourpence to the lord of the manor. 166 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. both by Gale and Gibson, as a Roman town, although neither of them can produce any proofs of it from remains, coins, or other antiquities found there. Gibson supposes it to be the Canonium of Antoninus. The principal claim that Writtle has to be considered as the site of Cjesaroraagus, is its distance fi-oni Colchester. In other respects Chelmsford, which was regarded by the older antiquaries as the representative of Caesaromagus, would have the preference, as it stands upon the road, is still a place of consequence, and its distance from' London is agreeable to the numerals given in Antoninus.* Gibson thought that Dunmow was Caesaromagus, and contends that " there was no road through Chelmsford till some time after the conquest, and even then it was not much fi-equented, by reason it was exceeding woody," &c. But the same argument might be alleged against the Watling Street, at the same period: for Leofstan, the abbot of St. Albans, is recorded to have restored and repaired that street a little before the Norman conquest " by causing the great woods upon it to be cut down." Reynolds has placed Cffisaromagus Widford. at Widford, in the immediate neighbourhood of Chelmsford. " In this uncertainty, and want of positive evidence," he observes, " I had acceded to the claims of Writtle, as the most probable, though by no means satisfactory, when a communication fi'om my right reverend friend and patron removed the difficulty, and enabled me to speak with more confidence as to the real site of their town. He had found reason to believe, that a village called Widford, about a mile south of Chelmsford, is the remains of this old town. A considerable quantity of Roman bricks and tiles has been found here, with other marks of a station. Here then we may fix Caesaromagus on a pretty sure foundation." f Gale thought that Caesaromagus might be Witham, and supports his opinion on some ancient remains found there, and on the name of the river, the Bar, which he supposes to be preserved in the name Baromagus, given to Caesaromagus in the Peutingerian Tables. J The ruins of an ancient palace may yet be traced on the left-hand side of the road * Reynold's Iter. Britan. p. 250. Talbot, the first we know of who wrote a discourse on the Iter. Britan. of Antoninus, placed Caesaromagus at Chelmsford. ''The distance," he observes, " very fitly agrees; for it is from London by modern computation xxv miles, which indeed will make xxviii Italick mile (as you have in the Itinerary) ; neither doth the name very much allude. And in the ix journey CEesaromagus is placed in the way which leads from Colchester to Londinium. But you will say, who at this day being to take his journey from London to Carlisle, dotli chuse his course by Chelmsford .' I answer, that perhaps they did so times formerly. For also the kings of Scotland, as we have heard, were wont to come up to the parliament here this way, and that they, or some one of them, built a convent of the order of Dominicans, or preaching friers ; as they did also a house of nunnes at Elstow or Elinstow, by Bedford." — Talbot, in Barton, Comment on Autonimts, p. 197. •)■ Reynold's Iter. Britan. p. 251. X " Tabulae Pentingerianae aflerunt Baromagum, Barus vocatur fluvius iste qui non prociJ ab oppido Witham in fluvium quern vocant aquam nigram dilabitur. Ostendit adhuc oppidum illud castri antiqui semirutum vallum, et si male quoad distantiam cum Londinio et Diurolito convenit, melius sese tamen habet, respectu habito, sive adColoniam in hoc, sive ad Canonium in nono Itinere." — Gale. Iter. Britann. p. 91. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 167 leading to Chelmsford, which, according to Stowe, was built by King John in the CHAP. i. year 1211. The road fi-om London to Braintree, and various places in the north and north-east parts of the county, is said to have passed through Writtle before the bridge was built over the river at Chelmsford. A large and much frequented inn, called the Swan, formerly stood on the road, near the farm called Shakestones ; and from various ancient accounts we learn that generally, for the greater part of the winter, all car- riages to Ipswich and Harwich were obliged to pass this way, the ford at Chelmsford not being at those times passable without great danger. In the time of Edward the Confessor, this extensive lordship belonged to Earl Harold, and remained in the possession of the Conqueror at the time of the survey ; except a part of it, which had been granted to the bishop of Hereford,* and Newland Hall, in Roxwell, which formed part of the possessions of Eustace, earl of Bologne. The manor of Writtle was part of the corpus comitatus of Essex ; and King Richard Manor, the First gi-anted some fi-anchises to John Fitz-William, and Walter de Hadfield; but those franchises are not specified. About a quarter of a mile from the gi-een, on the right-hand side of the road leading to Chelmsford, there is a farm called the Lordship, where the court-baron is held; but the court-leet is kept at Green- bury, on Little Green, upon Whit-]\Ionday, in a place enclosed like a summer- house. The Market-house stood near it, but has been puUed down a long time ago. In the first year of Henry the Third this manor or lordship was granted to Philip de Albene, and in the following, to William Long-espee, earl of Salisbury ; in the fourteenth of the same reign, it was in the possession of Ralph de Nova Villa, or Nevil, bishop of Chichester,i and lord chancellor of England ; there was also annexed to it a wood, called Horsfrith. After the decease of the bishop this lordship came to the earls of Chester, of whom Ranulph Blondeville, the last of the line of Hugh Lupus, dying, left it to his sisters; and Maud, the eldest of them, was mai-ried to David, earl of Huntingdon, brother to William, king of Scotland. John, surnamed Scot, their son and heir, in right of his mother, became earl of Chester. He married Helen, daughter of Llewellyn, prince of Wales ; but she poisoning him, he Llewellyn. died without issue, in 1244. After his death, Henry the Third took this lordship into his own hands, lest so fair an inheritance should be divided among females, and gave his sisters other lands as a compensation. Robert the son of Isabel, the second Robert de sister by Robert de Brus or Bruce, on the death of his father, in 1252, doing '^*^*' homage, had livery of his mother's inheritance : he married Isabel, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, and in 1276 served in Wales for one knight's • This part is believed to have been the manor of Roman's fee. t He huilt a house in Holborn, to be the town residence of the bishops of that see, which, from a subse- quent owner, Henrj', earl of Lincoln, took the name of Lincoln's Inn. 168 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Earl of Carrick. Edward I. BOOK II. fee in Writtle and Hatfield. Upon vacancy of the throne of Scotland, he was one of the competitors for the crown of that kingdom; but in 1292, being then very old, he released to his son, Robert, and his heirs, all the right and claim he had, or could have, to that crown; and dying in peace at Lochmaben in Annandale, in 1295, was buried at Gisburn, with his ancestors. His son, Robert, married Martha, the daughter and heiress of Neil, earl of Carrick, widow of Adam de Kilcontach, who, in her right, had become earl of Carrick ; she also conveyed this title to Robert, her second husband, who getting livery of his lands in England, died in 1304, possessed of the manor of Writtle, which he held of the king in capite by the service of half a knight's fee, and also of the manor of Bromeshobery, in Hatfield Broad-oak, which he held by the same service, together with the half hundred of Harlow, belonging to this last manor. He was succeeded by his son Robert in the earldom of Cai-rick, who, asserting his right to the kingdom of Scotland, and being crowned at Scone, in 1306, was deprived of all his estates in England by King Edward the First. These possessions remained in the crown till given by King Edward the Second to Humphrey de Bohun, high constable of England, earl of Hereford and Essex, and to Elizabeth* his wife, and their heirs. They had six sons and four daughters. Dying in 1321, he was succeeded by his eldest son John, on whose death, in 1335, without issue, the inheritance descended to his next brother, Humphrey, who had license from King Edward the Third, in 1347, to fortify and embattle his mansion- house at Writtle. He died unmarried, in 1361, and Humphrey, the son of his brother William, earl of Northampton, succeeded him, who died in 1372, leaving two daughters,! Eleanor and Mary ; the latter of whom married Henry earl of Derby, afterwards Henry the Fourth king of England. Eleanor was married to Thomas of Woodstock, earl of Buckingham, Essex and Northampton, duke of Gloucester, and high constable of England, and who, in right of his wife, had the lordship of Writtle, with other great estates. This nobleman, in 1397, fell a sacrifice to the malice of his enemies, through the weakness of his nephew, King Richard the Second. He had a son, Humphrey, who died young, and four daughters, Anne, Joan, Isabel, and Philippa. Anne was contracted in marriage, very young, to Thomas earl of Stafford, who dying before the marriage was consummated, in 1392, his intended wife was married to his next surviving brother and heir, Edmund, earl of Stafford, who was slain at the battle of Shrewsbury, in 1403, leaving Humphrey, his son and heir, at that time not two years of age. Anne, his widow, man-ied, first Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, and afterwards John Holland, earl of Huntingdon. Humphrey, on account of his near alliance to the royal family, was, in 1444, created duke of Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Stafford. * She was the seventh daughter of King Edward the First, and widow of John, earl of Holland ai>d Zealand. + By his wife Joan, daughter of Richard, earl of .\rundel. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 169 Buckingham, having before, the titles of earl of Hereford, Stafford, Northampton, ciivr. I- and Perch, lord of Brecknock, and of Holderness ; he fell in battle, fighting for King Henry the Sixth, at Northampton, in 1460. His son Humphrey, earl of . Stafford, by Anne, daughter of Ralph Nevill, earl of Westmoreland, had died before him, having been killed in 145o at the battle of St. Albans; so that his grandson, Henry, became his next heir.* He was the chief instrument in placing the crown on the head of King Richard the Third ; but declaring afterwards against that usurper, he was beheaded in 14-60, and his estates became forfeited. Edward, his eldest son, by Catherine, daughter of Richard Widevill Earl Rivers, obtained livery ^yij^yjn of all his father's lands from King Henry the Seventh. This nobleman, as Earl . , Rivers. unfortunate as his predecessors, came to a violent and untimely death ; for happening to offend that overgrown favourite. Cardinal Wolsey, he was, through his malice and revenge, beheaded on Tower-hill, in 1521, and Writtle, with his other estates, came to the crown, where they remained till Queen Mary granted this lordship, with other estates, to Sir William Petre, Knt., in which noble family it has remained to the sh- Wm. present time. Fene. Formerly there were two parks in this parish, distinguished by the names of King's or Writtle Park,f which yet bears that name, and lies toward Ingatestone, vvrittle and Hoastlv. or Osterly Park, more anciently called Horsfrith,! which has been P'"^'^ •' ' ■' . ^ . Osterly disparked a long time ago; it lay in the road from Cooksmill Green to High Ongar. park. That there used to be a bailiff and forest-keeper here, who held lands for their services, may be instanced in John de Wollaxton, who, we are informed, " held the bayliship of the forests of Writele, and half hundred of Chelmsford, by the sergeancy of keeping the king's forest in those places ; and he held of Robert de Bruis, by reason of the manor of Writele one messuage, one hundi'ed and sixty acres of arable land, six acres of meadow, six acres of pasture, eight acres of wood, and seventeen shillings rent in Writel;" and whoever held the premises was, on that account, to discharge the bailiship. Among the records in the Exchequer office, there is a perambulation of a forest in this parish belonging to Edward the First, but when it was disafforested is not known. Nine manors have at different times been parcelled out of this noble lordship, Manors, which have usually been described in the follo\ving order. Rolstons, which took its denomination from a family so called ; the manor-house is noigtons. pleasantly situated half a mile fi-om the church, on the right-hand side of the road • His mother was Margaret, daughter and co-heiress to Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset. f It has a fine mansion-house and elegant gardens, and has continued the country residence of different gentlemen of fortune. At present it is the seat of Lady Nightingale. I In 1372 described as " a certain park, called Horsfrythe, near Writele, containing three himdred acres of land." VOL. I. Z ITO HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. leading to Blackmore. Walter Thomas, Gent., held this estate of the crown by fealty and twenty-five shillings and sixpence rent, being then valued at eight pounds a year: he died in 1543, and was succeeded by his son. This family had also Tye Hall, in Roxwell. In 1633, it was in possession of the Astley family; Sir Andi-ew Astley, Knt., died here in that yeai-, and was succeeded by his son and heir, Thomas. In 1G53, it was pm-chased of Anthony Astley, by William Wiseman; and his successor, Elizabeth Wiseman, sold it to John Adams, Esq., in 1685, who dying in 1711, aged seventy-seven, was buried in Writtle Church. Randal Adams was of Gore Hall, in Kent; and Bonny Adams, Esq., was one of the family residing here. Shakestons. Shakestons, anciently Schehestons, is a manor, the mansion-house of which lies on the side of the road leading fi-om 'NA'rittle Churcli to I\[argaretting. William Bedell, of the family of that name, of Bedell's Hall, held this manor, and messuages, called the Lodge, and Howchers, all in Writtle, and died in 1535. Sir Andrew Astley,* mentioned above, lived in the mansion-house, and held this manor of Richard earl of Portland, and Peter Whetcomb; which they had in trust for the Lord Petre. This family of Astley took its name from a lordship in Warwickshire. They derive themselves from Thomas de Estley, or Astley, imprisoned by Fulk le Brent, in the castle of Bedford, in 1215; his grandson Andrew de Estley, was summoned to several successive parliaments of Edward the First; and John de Astley, of this family, was celebrated for maintaining a tilt, on horseback, at Paris, in 1438, against Peter de Massei, whom he vanquished in the presence of Charles the Seventh, of France ; and three years after for another combat, in Smithfield, London, before King Henry the Sixth, with Sir Philip Boyle, an AiTagonian knight, whom he also conquered, on account of which victory King Henry made him one of the knights of the garter. From the Astleys, Shakestons came to the families of Browne, Rogers, and Plummer, the last of whom sold it to Sir Jolin Comyns, of Highlands. Fithlers. Fitlilers is so named from a family of great antiquity, written Fithelers, or Vithelers. The mansion-house is a little out of the road, on the right-hand side, leachng toward Blackmore, and about three miles from Writtle Church. Nicholas de Fithelir lived here in the reign of King Henry the Third; John was his son and heir; he had two daughters, Maud, and Amicia. It continued in this family till the time of Edward the Second, when John, the son of Benedict de Fithelere, held lands here under Laurence de Tany. In 1465, it was in the possession of the Joslin family. Sir Raljih Joslin was mayor of London in 1476. His son and heir, Richard, was • The arms of Astley. Azure, a cinquefoil, ermine, within a border engrailed, argent, a crescent for dirte- rence. Crest, on a torse, ermine and azure, a chapcau, furred ermine, thereupon a plume of feathers, argent, banded gules, and enriched with a ducal coronet. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 171 of Fitlilers, and had a daughter named Beati-ix, wlio was married to John Browne, CHAP. i. of the family of the Brownes, of Derbyshire, and their descendants continued here for many generations, intermarrying into the families of Haydon, Jasper, Waltham, Tyi-ell, Farre, &c. Henry Browne, of Fithlers, was knighted, died in 1617, and was buried in the south aisle of the church.* Afterwards, this manor came to a branch of the Petre family. Turges Cassus, and Sturgeons, are names of an estate which has been called a Turges. . manor, and, in former times, belonged to a succession of dignified families, in which it is said Ralph Neville, bishop of Chichester, and chancellor of England, resided here. It was holden by John Berners, Esq.,f of the ancient family of Berners-Roding : he was gentleman-usher to the Princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward the Fourth, and afterwards sewer to King Edward the Fifth, as appears from his epitaph : his two wives lie buried beside him in the church. By Margaret, daughter of Richard Vere, Esq., of the family of the Veres, earls of Oxford, he had John, his heir, who was receiver-general of the honours, castles, lordships, and manors, both in Essex and SufFolk, belonging to Catherine Parr, dowager of King Henry the Eighth. Catherine The Pinchon family were the next possessors of this estate. Nicholas Pinchon, of *"' Wales, was one of the sheriffs of London in 1532; he left John Pinchon, Esq., of Writtle, who married Jane, daughter of Richard Empson, (beheaded in 1509,) one of the hated ministers of King Henry the Seventh. This Nicholas died in 1573, and, with his wife, was buried in the north aisle of the church; his sons, were ^yilliam, John of Springfield, and Edward, who was knighted. He had also two daughters ; Elizabeth, wife of Geofl-ey Gates, of St. Edmunds ; and Jane, the wife of Andrew Paschal, of Springfield. William Pinchon, Esq., of Writtle, married Rose, daughter of Thomas Redding, Esq., of Pinner, in Middlesex, by whom he had six sons and three daughters; of these, Joan was married to Sir Richard Weston, of Skreens, in Roxwell, chancellor of the exchequer, made baron of Stoke-Neyland, and earl of Portland. He died in 1592, and is buried in Writtle Church, leaving Peter, who died young; and Edward, who was knighted and came to the estate. He married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Jerome Western, of Skreens, by whom he had John, his son and heir, and three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Anne. Sir Edward died in 1625, and a noble monument is erected to his memory ; which also commemorates his wife Dorothy. John, succeeding his father, married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress, of Thomas Corderoy: this last John died in 1654; and Edward his son was buried by his side, near the communion table, in 1672. The last of the family resided at the parsonage. The manor of Turges afterwards belonged to William Wolfe, Esq., of London. • The arms of Browne. Argent, on a dierron, grviles, three roses, argent. — Crest. On a torse, argent, gules, a breast-plate, or, leathered, sable, buckles, or. A pluiue of feathers issuant, or and gules, f He held it under Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, as belonging to his manor of Writtle. 172 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK IT. Hassets. Morehall. Bowers. Bedells Hall. Bcnedict- Otes. Beaumont Dies. Oreat and Little Wa- terhouse. Bcdeman's Berg. Hassets is a manor, which, in Queen Elizabeth's time, was holden by John Pinchon, Esq., and afterwards came to the above-mentioned WiUiam ^^'oHe, Flsq. Morehall, called also Standlbrds, is a small manor, the mansion of which stands in the road to High wood, about a mile north-west from the church : it belongs to Wadham College, Oxford ; the warden, and some of the fellows of which, come yearly in the Whitsun-week, to hold a court here. Bowers, Burrowes, or Barrowes, is by the side of Edney Common, in that part of the parish which includes Highwood. It was formerly possessed by the Luckyn family ; afterwards it came to that of Brand, and afterwards became the property of Wadham College. Bedells Hall has a good mansion-house on the right-hand side of the road leading from Pleshey to Chignall-Smeley, not far from Dives Hall ; it is about four miles north-east from Writtle Church. Bedells Cross formerly stood here, -where three ways meet. This manor is one of the four hamlets belonging to Writtle parish, and, at the time of the general survey, was holden by Robert Gernon, lord of Stansted- Montfichet ; and from his family passed to that of De Vere, earls of Oxford : in the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was held by William Bedell,* from whose family it passed to Christopher Glasscock, clerk, who was more than forty years master of Felsted school; from his son, it went to Job Maple, clerk, vicar of Borehaiii ; and by marriage, was afterwards conveyed to the family of Wallace. Benedict-Otes is a manor, so called from a person of that name ; the mansion-house is on the right-hand side of the road leading from Roxwell to Chelmsford, not far from Cook's-mill Green, and about three miles north-west from Writtle Church. This manor formerly belonged to Mountney's chantry in Chelmsford, and, on the disso- lution of chantries, was granted to Sir John Pergant and Thomas Reve, from whom it passed to Sir John Cary, to John Agmondesham, and to a branch of the Petre family. There is a farm in this parish, belonging to the right honoui-able Lord Petre, called Beaumont-Otes ; it is in the road from Chignall-Smeley to Chelmsford ; and there is a good estate called New House, the ancient mansion-house to which is below the mill on Cook's-mill Green. Two good estates, called Great and Little Waterhouse, are in so low a situation, that when heavy rains occur, a sudden inundation takes place, which renders the roads inpassable, and has frequently proved dangerous to travellers passing this way. Abbey-lands, or Bedeman's-Berg,f was a hermitage in the midst of a wood, • Arms of Bedel. Sable, three saltiers, argent ; on a fesse, argent, an escalop between two mullets, azure. — Crest. On a torse, argent and sable, a buck's liead, gules, attired, or ; between the horns a bough of a tree, leaved proper. t This name is derived from the Saxon words Beo"6, prayer — man — and beopj, lull. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 173 called Highwood-quai-ter, about four miles north-east from the church ; part of the chap. i. ruins yet remain. It was founded by Robert, a monk, in the time of King Stephen; ' on which occasion that king not only gi-anted him the ground necessary, but also whatever wood he might want for the building. He likewise gave him pasture for cattle, and greatly assisted him in tlie undertaking. From Robei't it went to the abbot and monks of St. John's at Colchester, who had several additional benefactions gi-anted by King Henry the Second; on the abolition of monastic institutions, it came to the crown, and was granted to Robert Tyrwhit, Esq., who sold it to Philip Lantall, of whom it was afterwards purchased by Sir William Petre. At the dissolution, this house was called Barrows, and Salmons, and the lands belonging to it stated to amount to fifty acres. The church of Writtle is dedicated to All Saints; it is a massive building, chunh. covered with lead, consisting of a nave, two noble aisles, and a lofty stone tower, in which are eight bells; and above the tower there is a lantern. In the year 1143, this church was given to the monks of Bermondsey, in Surrey, by King Stephen, but was afterwards given by King John to the hospital of the Holy Ghost belonging to the English at Rome :* this being an hospital alien, was seized by the crown, and in 1399, was gi-anted to William Wykeham,f bishop of Winchester, who settled it upon the warden and fellows of New College, Oxford, who have been the proprietors of the rectory, patrons of the vicarage, and ordinaries ever since : being a peculiar jurisdiction belonging to that college, it is subject in all spiritual matters to such commissary as its warden and fellows may appoint ; for which reason it is exempt from episcopal visitation. This rectory is a manor, called the manor of Roman's fee, or Rectoria de Writtle : the former name was given to it on account of its having belonged to the hospital at Rome ; the court is kept at the parsonage-house. The rectory and vicarage are adjoining, and both pleasantly situated on the south side of the church-yard. At the time of the suppression of monastic institutions, there were four chantries in this church: one, the name of which is not recorded, Sewal Bromfield's, or Our Lady's chantry, to which belonged a chapel in the church-yard, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist's chanti-y, and Carpenter's chantry. There were also endowments for twelve obits in the church, and for one lamp. The four hamlets, or districts, in this parish were, Roman's fee, the Town- quarter, Highwood, and Bedells End. This church is believed to contain a more considerable number of elegant monuments than any other in the county, a circumstance attributed to the wide * It was founded for the support and maintenance of such poor Englishmen as happened to be at Rome, and destitute. t Bishop Wykeham was the founder of New College. 174 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Inscrip- tions. BOOK II. extent of this parish, the pleasantness of its situation, and, consequently, to the numerous wealthy families who have always resided here. On the north-side of the chancel, there is a marble monument of excellent workmanship, about sixteen feet in height, and six broad; two pillars support an elegant cornice, and enclose a fine sculpture of an angel, with soitow pictin-ed on his countenance, to represent the gloomy horrors of the grave, but above his head a resplendent glory breaks forth — the Sun of Right- eousness; and we discover that the angelic figui-e stands upon a rock — the righteousness, and the rock we are to understand of Christ. Sheaves of corn are placed contiguous, with numerous implements of husbandry, by which the allegory is continued through all the processes of agricultural labour, concluding with the assurance that christians are God's husbandry, and that the reapers will gather them. Amongst these emblems a scroll bears the following : Edwardus et Dorotliea Pinchon, una dim caro, UAum nunc cadavar, hoc in tumulo Cliristum ex- pectant, ^'ixere singulari erga Deum fide, Pari inter se concordia. Nee alia erga homines charitate. Hoc si filio raoestissimo dicenti non credas, Interroga viciniam. TRANSLATION. Sacred to the memory of Edward and Dorothea Pinchon, once one flesh, Now one corpse, wait in this tomb for the coming of Christ : They lived in matchless faith towards God ; In perfect harmony with each other, And with perfect good-will toward all mankind. If you cannot believe this on the word of an incon- solable son, Consult the neighbourhood. Against the same wall there is a small marble monument, on which is represented a father, with his four sons, on one side, and a mother, with her six daughters, on the other : they all appear in a devotional posture ; and over their heads, on a brass plate, is the following : TRANSLATION. Do you think this man dead ; It cannot be. Death is the passage to life. His death n^as as pleasing to God as his life had been to man. He loved many, and he was beloved by all. As he made godliness his choice, so God chose him for his own. He ceased to be a man as he became an angel; -Vnd he relinquished his own to remain with his God. On another plate is the following : " Neere unto this place resteth in peace the body of Edward Eliott, late of Newland, in the countye of Essex, Esq., son of John Ehott, of Stortford, in the countye of Suffolk. He tooke to wyfe Jane, one of the daughters of James Gedge, son and heire of Margaret Gedge, one of the daughters and heires of Thomas Barfield, of Shenfield ; by whom he had yssue 4 sonnes and 6 daughters. They lived together in married estate 33 yeres, and he decesed the 22 day of Decemb. in the yere of owr Lorde 1595. ^tatis suae 60." Hunc periisse putes! Minime; mors janua vitse est Grata Deo fuerat mors sua, vita viris. Dilexit multos fuit et dilectus ab omni. Hie Deum, Deus hunc eligit esse suum. Esse homo desivit, cum ceperit angelus esse, Cessat et esse suis, possit ut esse Deo. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 175 On the south side of the chancel, there is an elegant monument to the memory of CHAP. I. Sir John Comyns, fourteen feet high, and seven in width : Jiis effigy appears standing upon a mai'ble tomb, attired in his baron's robes, and on a gi-ey marble table is engraved the following character of this celebrated Judge. Near this place lies interred The body of that great and good man, The Right Honourable Sir John Comyns, Knt., Late Lord Cliief Baron of his Majesty's Court of Exchequer, Universally esteemed One of the brightest ornaments of the bench, And ablest lawyer of his time ; Who departed this life on the 13th day of Nov. 1"4;0, Aged 73. That a character of so much piety, learning, and merit, should not be buried in oblivion, but re- main a shining example to others, This monument, (Out of duty and gratitude) Was humbly erected to his memory by his nephew and heir, John Comyns, of Hylands, Esq., 1759. Cui pudor et Justitiae soror Incorrupta fides, nudaque Veritas, Quando uUum invenient parum. Oh when shall faith, of sold sincere, Of justice piu-e the sister fair. And modesty, unspotted maid, And truth in artless guise arrttyed, Among the race of human kind, A match to this Justinian find ! Upon the floor, in the chancel, there is a stone recording the death of John Pinchon, of Writtle, the son of Sir Edward Pinchon, July 30th, 1654; of John, his son, in 1672; and of Anne, wife of the last-named John, in 1675; and near to it, on a black marble, is the following: Infra jacet, quod reliquum est Rev. Johannis Birch, LL. B. „ , . ^ de Corringham ^ in agro f Rectoris fccclesiae^ de Margaretting i Essex \Vicarii. Vir fuit Ingenuus, doctus, amabilis, jucundus Tam suavitate quam sanctitate morum, Insignis. Multi ille bonis flebilis obiit. Nono kalendarum Martii, , f Domini 1731, Anno< X-. .■ <-3 (^ -itatis 4.3. In cujus memoriam conjugalis pietatis et amoris ergo moestissima conjux Hoc monumentum collocari voluit. TB.\NSLATION. Beneath lie the remains of The Rev. John Birch, Bachelor of Laws, Rector of Corringham, and Vicar of Margaretting, in the county of Essex. He was a gentleman Of family, learned, of an engaging behaviour, and cheerful temper ; As remarkable for amiable manners, As for excellence of moral character. He died, to the great sorrow of the good, On the 21stof February,intheyearof our Lord 1734, Aged 43. Out of conjugal love and affection, his disconsolate widow Ordered this monument to be erected to his memory. Near the communion table there are several memorials of the different branches of the Comyns family, and of the Petres, of Fithlers ; of these last, the oldest seems to be that near the south door of the church, of Elizabeth, the wife of John Petrc, Esq., of Fithlers, who died in August, 1658. On the east wall of the north aisle a brass plate bears the following : — " Neere to this place resteth the body of Edwarde Hunt, late of Wrettle, Gent., who lyvinge was much beloved ; releeved the poor, and by his last wyll gave in perpetuytie two 176 H I S T O R Y O F E S S E X. liOOK II. almshouses in Church lane, with an yearly allowance of twentye shyllynges for their better maintenance. And also hath willed forever to the poor of this parish, to be yearly distributed on Good Fridaye, x shillmgs, whiche sommes are lymmated to be paid out of a parcel of lande called Appesfield, in Chelmesforde parishe. As by his sayde will at large appeareth. Deceased the 13th of August, 1606." Charities. In the year 1607, i\Ir. Thomas Hawkins gave a messuage and farm called Hooks, with sixty acres of land, to the poor, who occupy six alms-houses in tiie church- yard of Writtle. Besides these six there are also five other adjoining alms-houses, the whole of which are kept in repair at the charge of the parishioners. The same benevolent gentleman also, some time afterwards, gave a farm of thirty acres for the repairs of the church. In 1.591, a rent charge, now producing five pounds per annum, was left to the poor of Writtle, by Mr. William Home, grocer, of London. In 1634, Dorothy Davis left an annuity to the poor of this parish, of two pounds thirteen shillings and four pence, chargeable upon the estate called Bogooses, in Roxwell. Twenty shillings yearly was given by Mrs. Eleanor Jones, in 1737, to be disti-ibuted in bread, at Christmas. The amount of this charity is charged upon the estate called Newhouse. Mr. Edward Hunt, in 1605, left two tenements, for the residence of two single persons for life, with twenty shillings per annum for their better maintenance. There are also the following gifts to ^Vrittle Churcli : Bumstead farm, sixteen pounds a year ; Parker's tenement in Greenbury ; East Hayes, otherwise Polly's, in Church-haw-sti-eet, all given to adorn and beautify the church. To the poor monks twenty shillings a year, out of a farm at Chalk-end, in Roxwell. A tenement and two shillings a year, out of a piece of ground near the leet. Mr. John Blencowe, in 1774, left the sum of one thousand two hundred pounds for teach- ing the poor of Writtle and Roxwell. Sir William Petre, Knt., the founder of this family, was born in the parish of Tor Brian, in Devonshire, and educated at Oxford, where he took the degree of LL. D. In 1535 he was appointed one of the visitors of the monasteries : about the year 1539, knighted; and in 1543, constituted one of the principal secretaries of state, in which office he continued to the end of the reign of Henry the Eighth, during the succeeding reigns of Edward the Sixth, and Queen Mary, and to the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth, being also privy counsellor, and frequently employed in affairs of the gi'eatest importance. He died in January, 1571, and was buried in the church at Ingatestone. By his first wife he had two daughters, one of which was Dorothy, man-ied to Nicholas Wadham, the founder of ^^'adham College, at Oxford. By his second wife he had three daughters, and John his only son, who, in 1603, was created Baron Petre, of \Vrittle. His lordship had four daughters, and four sons, of whom John, the second, was seated at West Hanningfield, Thomas, the third, at Cranham, Robert, the fourth, died young, and William the eldest, succeeded HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 177 to his father's estate and dignity; he had seven sons and three daughters, and died in CHAP. I. 1627. The eldest son was Robert, who had three sons and two daughters; he died in 1637, and was succeeded by his eldest son William, who died in confinement in the Tower, in October, 1683. John, the next brother, succeeded, and died unmarried, in 1684, and Thomas, the next in succession, on his death, in 1707, left an only son, Robert, who d)'ing of the small-pox, in March, 1713, left his lady (Catherine, daughter of Bartholomew Walmesley, Esq.,) with child, and she was delivered, the 3d of June following, of Robert, who married Mary, daughter of James, earl of Derwentwater ; his eldest son and heir was Robert Edward; he had also three daughters, and died in 1742. Robert Edward, who was the ninth baron, married, on the 19th of April, 1762, Anne, daughter and co-heiress of Philip Howard, Esq., and neice and co-heiress of Thomas and Edward, the eighth and ninth dukes of Norfolk; by her he had two sons, Robert Edward, who succeeded him, and George William, and one daughter, Anne: by his second wife, Juliana, second daughter of Henry Howard, Esq., of Glossop, in the county of Derby, whom he married in January, 1788, he had one other son and two daughters. On his death, July 2d, 1801, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Robert Edward, who was born on the 3d of September, 1763, and mamed Mary Bridget, eldest daughter of Henry Howard, Esq., of Glossop, on the 14th of February, 1786; by her he had issue William Francis Henry, the eleventh and present Lord Petre, and five other sons and six daughters, two of the former dying in their infancy. He died on the 28th of March, 1809. William Francis Henry Peti-e, Baron Petre of Writtle, F. R. S., married, Jime 2, 1815, Frances Charlotte, eldest daughter of Sir Richard Bedingfield, Bart., and by her, who died January 29, 1822, had issue, Mary, born April 22, 1816, William, born December 20, 1817, Henry, born June 23, 1820, and Charlotte, born January 25, 1822. His lordship was again married, on April 2, 1823, to Emma, second daughter of Henry Howard, Esq., of Corby, and has issue four sons and a daughter.* Dr. John Bastwick was born at Writtle, in 1593, and practised physic at Dr. Bast- Colchester, and, unfortunately for himself, being a very good Latin scholar and a ""^ ' man of genius, wrote against the flagi'ant abuses of the catholic church. About 1633, he printed, in Holland, a Latin treatise entitled, Elenchus religionis Papisticce, with Flagellum pontificis et episcoporum Latialiiim ; for which, the English prelates thinking themselves also aimed at, he was fined one thousand pounds in the high commission court, excommunicated, prohibited from practising physic, his books ordered to be burnt, and himself to remain in prison until he made a recantation. Instead of recanting, he wrote in prison, Apologelicus ad prcesides Anglicanos ; * Arms of Petre. Gules, a bend, or, between two escallops, argent. Crest, two lions' heads, erased and adossed ; the dexter or, collared azure, the sinister, azure, collared or. Supporters, two lions regardant, the same. Motto : " Sans Dieu rien" — Nothing without God. VOL. I. A A i: HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK 11. and another book, called " The Litany;" wherein he severely exclaimed against the tyrannous court by which he was persecuted, and taxed the bishops with an inclination towards popery. Prynne and Burton coming under the lash of the star- chamber court at the same time, they were all censured as scandalous, seditious persons, condemned to pay a fine of five thousand pounds each, to be pilloried, to have their ears cut off, and to perpetual imprisonment in three remote parts of the kingdom. The parliament in 1640 reversed these proceedings, and ordered Dr. Bastwick a reparation of five thousand pounds out of the estates of the com- missioners and lords who had prosecuted him, which the confusion of those times prevented his receiving; however, his wife, in 1644, had an allowance ordered for her and her husband's maintenance. ROXWELL. Ivoxwoll. This is a hamlet and chapelry belonging to the town of Writtle. It does not appear that this place has been constituted a parish of itself ; yet, though generally understood to be a chapel of ease to Writtle, it is exempt from the payment of tithes, and its inhabitants are under no obligation to contribute to the repairs of the mother church, as appears by an ancient deed, preserved in the Bi'amston family, dated November 16, 1597, and signed by a great many of the principal inhabitants of Writtle. Soil. The soil is cold and moist, springs being found everywhere, on digging a few feet below the surface, and its name is believed to have been derived from this circum- stance : it is sometimes written Rokeswell and Wroxwell, in ancient deeds. It lies five miles north-west fi'om Chelmsford, and the road from that place to Margaret- Roding passes through it. It is twenty-two miles distant from London; and contains about two thousand acres of land. Population. The population consists' of four hundred and forty-two males, three hundred and seventy-five females ; total, eight hundred and seventeen. The several manors of Roxwell are included within the great manor or lordship of Writtle, on which, however, those of Skreens and Dukes are not known to have ever been dependent. Boyton Hall is a manor, named also Boyton Cross and Boyton Magna, the latter name given to distinguish it from another estate called Boyton Parva. In the year 1546, Henry, duke of Buckingham, held this as part of the demesne of Writtle; his successor forfeiting his possessions to the crown, this, as part of them, was granted to Sir William Petre, Knt. .Skreens. Skreens is a manor which took its name from a family who held this and several other estates in the county. William Skrene,* of Writtle, and of Clifford's Inn, Serjeant at law, was in possession of this manor in 14'09, and it continued in the family * His son, Sir William, held the manor of Longlious, in Chaldwcll, with other estates, and died in llie ninth year of Henry the Sixth. Manors. Boyton Hall. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 179 till 1474; it was soon afterwards conveyed to William, Lord Hastings, who was chap. i. succeeded in the possession of it by Richai-d Farmer, who being attainted of hio-h- treason, this part of liis estate was granted, by King Henry the Eighth, to Richard Sampford, yeoman, but it did not continue long in that family. In 1554 it was purchased by Richard Weston, Esq. This family are descendants of Hamon de Weston Weston, lord of Weston-under-Lizard, in Staffordshire, in the reign of Henry the ''™'^' Second. Of this family tliere were two branches ; the one ending in the early part of King Edward the Third's reign. The other branch trace their descent from Sir William de Weston, of Boston, Knt., living in the time of Henry the Third and Edward the First. He had two sons, John and Michael, which last settled in Essex, about the year 1275. His two sons were, Thomas de Weston, Knt., who held the manors of Eythorp-Roding, and Elmstead ; Margaret, his daughter and heir, became the wife of John de Loveyn, lord of Little Estayne, who had by her a daughter and heir, married to William Bourchier, Knt., from whom the earls of Essex of that name descended. The second son of Michael was Humphry de Weston ; he settled at Prested Hall, in Fering, and was living in 1360, where his family flourished for many ages. William Weston, of Prested Hall, had four sons, Richard, William, Thomas, and John, and two daughters, Margaret and Mary. John left a daughter, named Mary, married to John Ball, of Suffolk, and a son named Richard, who, being bred to the law, laid the foundation of the grandeur of his fomily ; he bought the manor of Skreens of Richard Sampford. In January, 1559, the first of Elizabeth, he attained the degree of serjeant at law, and the 13th of the following month, was constituted one of tlie queen's Serjeants ; and in the same year, on the 16th of October, was made one of the justices of the common pleas. He had three wives ; Wiburga, the daughter of Michael Catesby, of Seaton, in Northamptonshire, and relict of Richard Jenour, of Great Dunmow, the ancestor of the Jenour family ; his second wife was of a family named Burnaby ; and his third wife was Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas Lovett, of Astwell, in Northamptonshire. By his first wife he had Jerome, and two daughters, Amphalis, wife of Sir Benjamin Tichbourne, of Hampshire, and Margaret, the wife of John Loveday, remarried to Andrew Glas- cock. Jerome, being twenty-two years of age at his father's death, was high-sheriff of Essex in the forty-first of Elizabeth, and afterwards knighted ; he died in 1603, and left by his first wife, whose maiden name was Cave, two sons and five daughters, Ann, Winifrid, Dorothy, Margaret, and another. His eldest son. Sir Richard Weston, Knt., born in 1577, was a man of great ability; King James the First sent him, with Sir Edward Conway, on an emba'ssy into Bohemia, and, on his return, sent him, alone, to Brussels, to treat with the ambassadors of the emperor and the king of Spain: in 1621, he was made chancellor and under-treasurer of the ex- chequer, in which office he conducted himself with so much wisdom and integrity, 180 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. that, in 1624, he was commissioned to execute the office of treasurer of the exche- quer during the king's pleasure ; in 1628 he was created baron of Neyland, elected knight of the garter in 1630, made captain of the Isle of Wight in 1631, and, in 1632, created earl of Portland. He held the manor of Skreens of the king, in capite, by the tenth part of a knight's fee, and Tye Hall, of William Lord Petre, as of his manor of Writtle. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of WilHam Pinchon, Esq., of Writtle, by whom he had Richard, who died unmarried, and two daughters, EUzabeth, wife of Sir John Netterville, son of Nicholas Viscount Netterville, in Ireland ; and Mary, wife of Walter Aston, son to Sir Walter Aston, baron of Forfar, in Scotland. The earl's second wife was Frances, daughter of Nicholas Walgrave, Esq., of Borley. On the male issue of this lady, the baronial family estate was entailed. By her he had four sons, Jerome, Thomas, and Nicholas, who died and left no childi-en, and Benjamin ; also four daughters. This noble earl died at Walling- ford House, Westminster, in 1634, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral ; his eldest son, Jerome, then living, succeeded to the earldom; he married Frances, daughter of Esme Stewart, earl of March and duke of Richmond and Lennox. The last of this family who retained possession of the manor of Skreens was Thomas, the first earl's second son, who, in 1635, sold it to Sir John Bramston, Knt., Bramston lord chief justice of the king's bench. This ancient, dignified, and highly respected """ ^' family have descended from William Bramston, sheriff of London in 1394, the time of Richard the Second ; from various intermarriages the family extended itself into different parts of the country, and Roger, the eldest son of John Bramston, married Priscilla, daughter of Francis Clovill, of West Hanningfield Hall, an ancient and honourable family ; by this marriage a branch of the Bramston family became settled at Maldon, where John their eldest son and heir was born ; he had also another son, named William, and three daughters. John, the eldest son of Roger Bramston, of Maldon, was educated in the Middle Temple, in the study of the common law, in which he became so eminently learned, that he was appointed coun- cellor to the University of Cambridge, in 1623, and raised to the degree of Serjeant at law. In 1628 he was chosen counsel at law to the city of London, with a fee pro concilio impenso et impendendo ; in 1630 he was appointed chief justice of Ely; in 1632 made serjeant to the queen; in 1634 king's serjeant, and knighted; and, in 1635, constituted lord chief justice of England. When he was reader to the Temple, he was considered to be the best lawyer of the age in which he lived, and when made serjeant, with fifteen others, he had the character of the best pleader in England. It is further said of him, that he was profoundly learned, of solid judgment, integrity of life, gravity of behaviour, and possessed of every accomplishment and all the requisite qualifications of a person of his station and profession. He was unfortu- nate in living in evil and difficult times, for, having delivered his opinion about HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 181 ship-money in favour of King Charles the First, he was impeached by the house CHAP. I. of commons, in 1641 ; however, so unquestionable was his conduct found, and so great his uprightness and abihty, that in the propositions sent to the king at Oxford, in 1642, one clause was, " that his majesty would be pleased to make Sir John Bramston chief justice of the court of king's bench." In 1647 the parliament proposed to make him one of the commissioners of the great seal, which, it is generally supposed, he declined ; and about the same time the lords voted that he should sit in their house as an assistant. They also voted, that he should be one of the judges of the common pleas. This learned person died in September, 1654, aged 78, and was buried in Roxwell Church. Sir John had two wives, Bridget, a daughter of Thomas Moundeford, an eminent physician ; and Elizabeth, widow of Sir John Brereton, Knt., serjeant at law, daughter of Edward, Lord Brabazon, baron of Ardee, in Ireland. By his first wife he had three sons and three daughters ; Sir John was his eldest son. Sir Mondeford the second, and Francis the third. Sir John was created knight of the bath at the coronation of Charles the Second, and was several times representative in parliament for the county of Essex, and for Maldon. He married Alice, the eldest daughter of Anthony Abdy, Esq., alderman of London, and by her had several sons and daughters, all of whom he survived, except Anthony, who married Catherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Nutt, Knt., of Mayes, in Sussex, by whom he had two sons and eight daughters ; John married Mary, the daughter of John Pennington, of Chigwell, Esq., and died without male issue ; consequently the manor of Skreens, and other estates, descended to his brother, Thomas Bramston, Esq., educated at Pembroke Hall, and afterwards of the Middle Temple. He married Diana, daughter of Edmund Turner, Esq., of Stoke, in Lin- colnshire, who died in 1725. His second wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Berney, Esq., recorder of Norwich, by whom he had Thomas, who was his heir, and whose son, Thomas Berney Bramston, Esq., was the next possessor of Skreens ; by whom the house and surrounchng grounds have been very much improved. The house was originally built by Thomas Bramston, Esq., and is a large and hand- some erection. It is on the left-hand side of the road leading to Shellow, and about a mile distant fi-om Roxwell Church. Tye Hall is a manor formerly in a branch of the great family of Heveningham, Tye Hall, of Suffolk. The mansion-house is at some distance fi-om the left-hand side of the road leading from Roxwell to Skreens ; it is moated round. From the Hevening- hams it went, by marriage, to the family of Thomas, from whom it passed to that of Waher, to Sir Jerome Weston, to Sir Richard, earl of Portland, and to the family of Bramston. Mountneys manor has derived its name from the family so called, a branch of Mountneys. which has formerly been in possession of it. The manor-house is on the left-hand 18^ HISTORY OF ESSEX. Dukes. Xewland hall. BOOK II. side of the road from Boy ton Cross to Margaret-Roding, about half a mile from Newland Hall ; it is lai-ge, and seems to have been anciently a considerable seat. From the Mountneys it passed to John Boseham, citizen of London, and several other persons, and to Robert Braybroke, bishop of London, and to Sir Gerard Braybroke. It afterwards passed from these proprietors to others of the names of Skreens, Fermer, and Lukyn, to the Bullock family, of Faulkbourn Hall. Dukes is a considerable farm, which has been called a manor ; the house is at the upper end of Roxwell-street, on the right-hand side of the way from Roxwell Church to Skreens. Little is known respecting the proprietors of this demesne in ancient times ; it formerly belonged to one of the Skreen family, and was for many genera- tions in the proprietorship of a family named Crush. Newland Hall is a manor, or lordship, which belonged to King Harold before the conquest. At the time of the Domesday survey, it belonged to Eustace, earl of Bologne, at which time it was named Neuvelanda. The ancient mansion-house is about a mile from Roxwell Church, on the left-hand side of the road from Boyton Cross to Margaret-Roding. In the time of King John, about the year 1210, Ralph de Novalanda held two knights' fees here, of the honour of Bologne ; it was in the possession of William de Newland, in 1273, and the same family, deriving their surname from the place, retained the possession till the year 14-25, when it passed from Walter Newland to William Taverner, and Ellen Tironill; four years after which, the whole was in the possession of William Taverner ; it was afterwards in the possession of the Berefield family, from whom it passed to that of Gedge, who retained possession till it was conveyed, by marriage, to Edward Elliot, Esq., of Bishop's Stortford; who dying in 1595, left it to his son and heir, Thomas, from whom it passed to the Thwaite family.* William Thwaite, alderman of London, married Margery, daughter of George Pert, Esq., of Mountnessing, by whom he had Sir Samuel Thwaite, Knt., of Newland Hall, in Roxwell, who married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Gardiner, of Peckham, in Surrey; he died in 1636, leaving Thomas his son and heir, who held the manor of Wares in Good Easter. The manor was purchased fi'om a descendant of this family by Richard How, Esq., of Stondon Massey, whose son, John How, Esq., died in 1748, leaving this estate to \A'illiam Taylor, of Great Hadham, in Hertfordshire, whose son took the name of William Taylor How. Youngs. There is a small estate, called Youngs, in this chapelry, where a considerable family of the name of Young formerly resided. A little beyond Boyton Cross there • Arms of Thwaite. Argent, a cross sable fretty, or ; in the first quarter, a fleur-de-lis, gules, for difference, being the sign of a sixth brother. — Crest. Acock, with his wings elevated, sable; combed, wattled, and legged, gules ; a fleur-de-lis for diflerence. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 183 CHAP. I. is a stream, called Bateman's Water, which, after continued rain, is frequently found dangerous to pass through. The church of Roxwell is a good small stone building on the left-hand side of the cimrch. road leading to Shellow Bowels. At the west end there is a wooden turret, in which are three bells. The inside is remarkably neat, particularly the chancel, in tlie south inscrip. corner of which there is a marble monument, bearing the following inscription :— ''"""■ Hie situm est corpus Johannis Bramstoni,e(juit\isaurat. Rogeri Bramstoni, Armigeri, et Pricilte ClovilliEe fiUiae ; Qui Cantab, in Colleg. Jes. omnibus bonis litteris Load, in Templo Medio Jurisprudentiae operam dedit, Eo successu ut factus sit Cantab. Advocatus simul ac forum attigerat; Postea Judex Eliensis, Regi Serviens ad Legem, Primarius Judex Regiorum Subselliorum. Primis nuptiis duxit Bridget Moundeford, Honestissima familia natam ; Secundis Elizam Brabazon, filiam Dom. Baronis Brabazon in Hiberoia, Vir Morum antiquorum, et religionis non novissimae, Innocentissimus nocentium castigator, Severus, placidus, gravis, comis, In niutuis ipsorum civilium bellorum odiis nulli honiini Nedum parti invisus 22 die Septemb. An. Dom. 16.54'. .'Etat. suae 78, Tres filios totidemq. filias, raodicas opes, opti- mam famam, In terris relinquens, Ccelum petit. Quod tibi optem amplius, qui ista legis ? Ambitione, ira, donoq. potentior omni, Qui Judex aliis lex fuit ipse sibi. Qui tanto obscuras penetravit lumine causas, Ut convicta simul pars quoque victa foret; Maximus interpres, cultor sanctissimus tequi, Hie jacet, heu ! tales mors nimis aequa rapit. Hie alacri expectat supremum mente tribunal Nee metuit judex Judicis ora sui. Latinissimum hoc epitapbium, et elegantissima Usee carmina, (ab Abrahamo Cowleio composita) Diu abdita, marmori inscribi voluit Thomas Bramston, Armiger, prsdicti John, Pronepos, Quod summi poetae admiratus sit ingenium, Et justi judicis adveneratus memoriam, 1732. TRANSLATION. Here lies the body of Sir John Bramstone, Knt., son of Roger Bram- stone, Esq., And Priscilla Cloville : who Pursued his studies in the difFeient branches of use- ful knowledge At Jesus College, in Cambridge ; And in the law in the Middle Temple, London, With such success, that he was made Solicitor of Cambridge as soon as he was called to the bar ; After that Judge of Ely, King's Serjeant at Law, .And Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. His first wife was Bridget Moundeford, Descended of a honourable family ; His second, Elizabeth Brabazon, daughter of Lord Baron Brabazon, in Ireland. He was a man Gf old honest principles, and the established religion, The most lenient punisher of the criminal. Impartial, easy, serious, affable, Giving no offence to a single person, much less to either side. During the reciprocal disturbances in the civil wars. On the 22d of December, In the year of our Lord 1G54, and of his age the 78th, Leaving behind him three sons and as many daughters, A moderate fortune and unblemished character. He went to heaven. What can I wish thee better whoreadest these lines ? Superior to ambition, passion, and every species of corruption. He, who was a judge of others, was a law to himself. He decided the most intricate points of law with such a perspicuity, That the convict was at the same time convinced. A most able expounder of the law, and most upright observer of justice lies liere ! .\Ias ! too impartial death carries off the best ! 184 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Charities. Broomtield. This, so great a man cheerfully waits for his final doom; Nor after having been a judge, does he dread the appearance of his Judge. This truly Latin epitaph, and very elegant compo- sition in verse, (By Abraham Cowley,) After being a long time concealed, was, by order of Thomas Bramstone, Esq., great grandson of the aforesaid John, Engraved on a marble stone. Out of esteem for the genius of so excellent a poet And a venerable regard for the memory of so Upright a Judge, in 1732. Being kind, affable, and mild by nature. Which made her purity of mind appear in all her ways of life. The virtues she possessed were many, Unallayed with even the least tincture of vice ; And when alive, nothing more could be wished for in woman. The sincere and tender affection she bore her husband Was most exemplary and constant to her last mo- ment. Gratitude required this testimony ; Love, friendship, and regard Inscribe the rest. Population. Against the wall of the south-west corner of the chancel, there is a bust of a lady ; above which an infantine figure is represented weeping ; and below is the following inscription : — Sacred to the memory of the Hon. Mary Byng, Whose remains, at her own request, are here de- posited. She was second daughter and co-heiress of John Bramstone, Of Chigwell, in the county of Essex, Esq., By Mary, his wife, daughter and co-heiress of John Pennyngton, of Chigwell, Esq., In November, 1730, she married the Hon. Edward Byng, Fifth and youngest son of The Right Hon. George Lord Viscount Torrington, And died March 31, 1744, In the 37th year of her age. Her very person bespoke her disposition, In the middle of the chancel, on a brass plate fixed upon a black marble stone, is the following : — " Neere this plase lyeth the body of Thomas Youuge, in Niveland and Roxwell, Gent., who marryed Katharen, one of the daughters of John Wiseman, of Canfield, in the couutye of Essex. 1593." There is a rent charge of twenty shillings left by some person unknown, and Mrs. Dorothy Davis, in 1634, bequeathed a rent charge, of six shillings and eight pence for the benefit of the poor. BROOMFIELD. This parish is fruitful in its soil, and healthy and pleasant in its situation ; the road to Braintree, Sudbury, and Bury, to Dunmow, Thaxted, Safiron Walden, and Cambridge, lies through it. The village is distant from London nearly thirty-two miles ; it lies northward from Chelmsford, and is joined to that parish. The district is remarkable for the abundant growth of broom, from which circumstance its name seems to have been derived. The population consists of three hundred and twenty-one males, three hundred and three females : total, six hundi'ed and twenty-four. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 185 In the time of the Saxons, Broomfield was in the possession of persons named Saulf CHAP. I. Segar, Borda, Picot and Godvic ; and, at the general survey, it belonged to Geofrey de Magnaville,* and continued in that family till the beginning of the fifteenth century, when it was conveyed, by marriage, to Roger Spice ; after which, on the death of Humphry the last male heir of the flimily, Philippa, married to John Fortescue, Esq.,f brought this and other estates to her husband. It came next to the noble family of Rich, with whom it continued til! the family became extinct; when this estate was sold, by Nicholas, earl of Scarfdale, to Herman Olmius, of London, whose daughter Judith, after her father's death, gave it to her nephew, John Olmius, Esq., afterwards Lord Waltham. Patching Hall, and Wood Hall, are sometimes spoke of as two distinct manors. Patching but more frequently as one. Patching Hall is a brick building, about a mile from ^Voo'/nall. Chelmsford, on the left-hand side of the road from that town to Broomfield ; Wood Hall is on the north-west side of the church, at a considerable distance from Patching Hall, and near the road leading to Chignal Smely. These estates, in the Saxon times, were in three parcels, held by Segar, Edward, and Borda ; and at the time of the Domesday survey, one part was in the possession of Odo, bishop of BayeiLx; another belonged to Geoffrey de Mandeville ; and the third to Robert Gernon, and under him to Picot ; from which this manor was called Patching Hall Picot, and a court used to be held there. Roger Mortimer, earl of March, who died in 1398, held a view of frankpledge here, as did also Edmund, earl of March, who died in 1424. Various proprietors succeeded, but this manor seems to have continued longest in the noble family of Bomxhier : it was held by Robert Bourchier, lord chancellor of England in the time of Edward the Third ; his son, John Lord Bourchier, lived in the same reign, whose son Bartholomew succeeded him ; he died in 1409. Idonea, his widow, held this estate till her death, and her daughter Elizabeth held it afterwards, on whose death, in 1433, it passed to her cousin and next heir, Henry Bourchier, earl of Eu. Afterwards it was successively the property of William Lord Parr, earl of Essex and marquess of Northampton ; Sir Richard Rich ; Robert Lord Rich ; and John Olmius, Lord Waltham. Belstead Hall is on the east and south-east part of the parish, near New Hall Park, Beistead There is no authentic account of this manor till 1558, when it was in the possession of John Wiseman, Esq., of Felstead; Thomas was his son and heir. In 1628, it belonged to George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, who, after his violent death in that George Vil- year, was succeeded by his son George. Afterwards it was enjoyed by General j^,.^ „f Monk, duke of Albemai-le ; with the estate of New Hall, sometime after his death, (^"j^*""^" it passed to Richard Hoare, Esq. » The Mandevilles, of Black Notley, were of this family, t The Fortescue family were seated at FaiJkbourn. VOL. I. B B 186 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Priors. Well House. Butlers. Gutters. Scrauels. Church. Inscrip- tions. In the south-west part of tliis parish, about half a mile fi-om the church, there is a capital estate, called Priors, which formerly belonged to Blackmore Priory. After the suppresssion of monasteries, it became the property of Richard Roger, and Robert Taverner ; from whom it passed, through numerous proprietors, to Thomas Pocklington, Gent., of Chelmsford. Well House is an estate a little above Broomfield Green; it formerly belonged to Mr. BuUen, then to Mr. Bury, whose widow conveyed it, by marriage, to Mr. Marsh, who, at his decease, left it to his daughter, from whom, by will, it was conveyed to John Olmius, Lord Waltham. A little below the same green, and on the same side of the road, there is an estate called Butlers; in 1563, it belonged to Mr. Pascal, and afterwards passed through several proprietors to Sir John Tryon, whose son. Sir Samuel, sold it to Robert Vincent, from whose family it passed to George Mertins, lord mayor of London in 1725. It was afterwards purchased by Daniel Scratton, Esq., from whose family it came to the Rev. Jonathan White, vicar of Weathersfield, who rebuilt the house, improved the gardens and grounds, and rendered it a pleasant and genteel residence. Gutters is an estate so called, on the same side of the road, about a mile and half from Chelmsford ; it formerly belonged to the Lake family, who resided at Witham, of whom it was purchased by Mr. John Judd, of Chelmsford. Near Priors there is an estate called Scrauels ; it formerly belonged to the Boosey family, afterwards to Mr. Daniel Harrington, of Waltham. The church has the appeai'ance of great antiquity. It has a north aisle, separated from the nave by pillars and circular arches, modernized. There is the remnant of a wooden screen between the nave and chancel, and at the west end a circular tower, in which there used to be three bells ; but one of them has fallen down and is broken to pieces. Specimens of stained glass appear in several of the windows. Round towers of this description attached to parish churches in England are generally attributed, by tradition, to the Danes, perhaps owing to their being found solely in the counties where those people settled, principally in East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk). They always bear evident marks of very great antiquity, and even the ornamented circular arch, where it occurs, has almost invariably the strongest possible appearance of being modern addition when compared with the body of the work. Near the communion rails, in the chm'ch, there is a black marble stone with the following inscription, above which there used to be two effigies, cut in brass : — " Here lyeth, expecting a joyful resurrection ; the bodie of Mr. Thomas Huntlye, late citizen and merchant adventurer of London, who married Rachel, the daughter of Mr. John Pake, of this towne. Gentleman, who had yssue by her two children, William and Ann. He departed this life the •24th day of April, 1613. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 187 " Religio tibi sacra fuit, mores bene culti, feolix discessus, gloria finis erit. CHAP. I. Godly was his profession, Religious was his conversation. Blessed was his dissolution, Glorious shall be his resurrection." Against the north wall of the church, on a neat marble monument, is a Latin inscription, of which the following is a translation : — In thee, O Lord, we put our trust : Beneath this part of the church rests in peace, Waiting for the coming of Christ, Thomas Manwood, Gentleman, Proprietor and inhabitant of the mansion called Priors, In this parish. Son of John Manwood, Esq., compiler of A learned treatise on the Forest Laws ; And nearly allied to Roger Manwood, Knight, and Chief Baron of the Exchequer In the reign of Elizabeth : He died the 20th of September, in the year of our Lord KJoO, Aged 63 ; He married Ann, daughter of Thomas Love, A Vice-admiral in King James's navi,', And left an issue three sons and six daughters. Near him is interred John Manwood, Gent., Son of the above-named Thomas, AVho departed this life April 11, In the year of our Lord, 1705, and of his age 63 : He married Diana, daughter of Richard Gold, Merchant, of London, By whom he left issue one son, Thomas, And two daughters, Diana and Katharine, Of whom Katharine married the Rev. Oliver Pocklington, A.M. Rector of Chelmsford ; She was A virtuous wife and tender parent. And a kind stepmother, And died 28th of March, in the year 1716 ; She left issue Katharine, Thomas, Diana, and Ann ; The last of these lies buried near her father. Thomas, The only one now remaining of the name, And heir to the estate, Hath, at his own expense. Erected this monument To the memory of his ancestors, January the 26th, 1728. Walter de Mandeville gave this church, with the lands, tithe, and all that belong to it, to the priory of the Holy Trinity in London, and to the canons there, and this gift was confirmed by King Henry the Third, in 1226; and, in 1293, Bishop Gravesend ordained a vicarage here, reserving to himself and successors the nomi- nation of the vicars, who were to be presented by the prior and convent. At the suppression, the whole right and pati-onage of this vicarage was presented to the bishop of London, and has remained vested in his successors to the present time. The vicarage is a very good house, nearly opposite the church, and was rebuilt by Vicarage. the Rev. John Gibson. LL. B., in the year 1750, since which it has undergone many alterations and improvements. The Rev. Edmund Tyrwhitt, incumbent here in 1763, procured two hundred pounds from the governors of Queen Ann's bounty, for the augmentation of this small living, the valuation of which, in the king's books, is "I. 13*. 4(/. The impropriate tithes, on the suppression of the priory of the Holy Trinity, were granted by King Henry the Eighth, with the parsonage, to William Harris, from whom they came to Richard, Lord Rich, who made them part of the endowment of his free-school and alms-house at Felsted, and there was ordered to be paid, 188 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Parsonage house. Charities. BOOK II. annuallj', to the school, sixty-eight pounds six shilHngs and eleven pence ; and to the alms-house, eighteen bushels of wheat and twenty-nine bushels of malt. The parsonage-house, glebe, and gi-eat tithes, are held by lease, and the house and estate have been greatly improved by John Hill, Richard Price, the honourable Edward Finch Hatton, and other later lessees, by which it has been made a very elegant and commodious gentleman's seat. Some part of the house was built by the Devereux family, whose arras are cut in stone over one of the fire-places. The charitable donations in this parish consist of a large parcel of land, the original intent of which is not known, and two tenements on the south side of the o green, nearly opposite the church, given in the year 1700, by Mr. Thomas Woolard, and since converted into a workhouse. There is also an alms-house for two dwellers, but without endowment. The learned Patrick Young, M. A., resided in this parish, with his son-in-law, John Atwood, Esq., at the parsonage house, and died there in 1652. He was educated at St. Andrew's, and graduated at Oxford in 1605. He became keeper of the king's library at St. James's, and published St. Clement's Epistle to the Romans, Greek and Latin, in 1637. On account of his profound knowledge of the Greek language, he was employed to print the Septuagint from the Alexandrian MS., presented to King Charles the First by Bishop Cyril Lucar, but did not live to finish that work. Thomas Cox, M. A., a man of some celebrity, and learned, was vicar of Broomfield church, from February, 1685, to January, 1734; he translated Dupin's Life of Christ and his Apostles, from the French, and that author's abridgment of his Ecclesiastical History, in four volumes. From the Latin, he ti'anslated Pancirollus of Things Lost, two volumes. From the Greek, Plutarch's Morals. He also compiled a great part of a complete History of England ; and six quarto volumes of the Magna Britannia. Patrick Young-, M. A. Thom.is Cox, M. A CHIGNALL. Chignall. Two parishes of this name are united to each other, and also to Broomfield, on the west-north-west. The name is written in records Chignall, Chighenale, Chingen- hall, Chickenhall, and, in Domesday, Cingehala. These parishes are small, yet, in the Saxon times, they were held by eleven proprietors, Godwin, Ulwin, Lefsun, Leuric, Lewin, Alestan, Sauin, a priest, Ersin, and three freemen; and when the general survey was taken, the lord pai-amount was Geofrey Mandeville, whose under- tenants were Richard and Ralph ; and Leuric and Lewin were permitted to enjoy what they had before held. Richard Gernet held also some part. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 189 CHAP. I. CHIGNALL ST. JAMES, OR GREAT CHIGNALL. This parish is about four miles north-west from Chelmsford, and thirty-one from GreatChig- London. On its north-western extremity it joins the parish of Mashbury and the "*"' hundred of Dunmow. A considerable portion of the soil of this district is described as a wet strong loam on a clayey marl bottom, neither of easy management nor by any means very pro- ductive. The population consists of one hundi'ed and fifteen males, and one hundred and two Population. females ; total, two hundred and seventeen. There are two manors in this parish ; of these, that called Chignall St. Mary and chignaii St. James, from there having been formerly two churches here dedicated to those an^ g^"^^ saints, it may be inferred, was divided into two proprietorships. The names James. of Chiggenhall-Tany and of Chiggenhall-Zoyn are applied to this manor in records. The manor-house is about half a mile north-west from the church. The family of Tany, or De Tany, called also Thani, were the earliest recorded proprietors of this Family of manor; they were barons of the realm, and possessed also the manor of Stapleford- Tany, Theydon Bois, Elmstead, Great Stambridge, and Latton. From this family it passed, by marriage, to John de Drokensford, who died in 1341, and whose daughter and heiress married Thomas, the son and heir of Sir Thomas de Mandeville, of Black Notley. Afterwards this manor was possessed by the families of Nevill, William de Bohun, earl of Northampton, Thomas of Woodstock, William Bourchier, earl of Eu, and the Stafford family, when, ui)on the death of Edward Stafford, earl of Bucking- ham, who, through the treachery of his steward, Charles Knevet, was beheaded in 1521, it came to the crown, and was soon afterwards granted to Christopher Rochester, and Hem-y his son, during their lives, and after them to Ambrose Barker, Knt., from whose family it passed to Sir William Petre, Knt., and aflerwards became the pro- perty of Thomas Berney Bramston, Esq. of Skreens. Hawes, called also Hittats, is a manor, so named from two owners. The house is Hawes, or about a mile from the church, on the left-hand side of the road to Chelmsford. In the year 1295, Joane de Brianzon gi-anted a tenement and lands here to John de Hotot; and in 1529, John Woode held this manor of the king, in capita, as of his manor of Chignall-Zoyn, which was to revert to his majesty after the death of the duke of Buckingham. From these records it is known that the manor of Hawes was in the eastern part of the parish. In 1638 it belonged to William Peacock, Esq., and afterwards to the Rev. Edward Herbert, rector of Cranham and North Okendon, , from whom it passed to Mr. Hanbury, of Coggeshall. This manor-house is called Great Hawes, and there is a house opposite to it named Little Hawes, which formerly 190 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Church. BOOK II. belonged to Mr. Blackall, a woollen-draper in London, brother to Ofspring Blackall, bishop of Exeter. The church is a smaJl neat building of brick and stone, with a wooden spire, and bells. At a small distance from the church is the parsonage-house, pleasantly situated, and a very good building. Belonging to the glebe there is a small field, called St. Mary's Croft, which was formerly the church-yard belonging to the church of St. Mary. The living is a rectory, valued at 10/. 14«. 7d. On a black marble stone, near the communion rails, is the following : Inscrip- tions. Here lies the Rev. Thomas Stock, Rector of Chicknall St. James and of Mashburj', Son of Thomas Stock, of Much Hallingbury, in the county of Essex, And Johaiinah his wife. He was The kind husband; The indulgent master ; the generous friend ; A father to the poor ; In the work of the ministry faithful ; In the labour of the Lord dUigent ; His charity spoke him a Christian ; His zeal for God's honour a priest ; In death lamented, and in life beloved. He died Feb. 7th, 1744, aged 51. A charitable donation of land, producing 4/. I65. 8d. a year, was bequeathed to the poor in the year 1702, by Thomas Woolard. Chignall Smealey Dives Hall. CHIGNALL SMEALEY, OR LITTLE CHIGNALL, Lies north of Great Chignall ; it is one of the smallest parishes in the county, con- taining only about three hundi-ed acres of land, and much of the soil is of an inferior description. Population. The population consists of thirty-eight males, and thirty-six females; total, seventy- four. There are two manors in this parish ; the oldest of which seems originally to have included the whole till the year 1400. This manor is called Dives Hall ; and the house, which is partly surrounded by a moat, is about a quarter of a mile south-east of the church. The greater part of it was built by the Luckyn family. Geofrey de Mandeville seems to have been lord paramount of the two Chignalls, for Dives Hall was held under him, by John Trenchfiiill, in the time of Henry the Second. It afterwards came to the Dive * family, who were succeeded in these possessions by the Botetourts, from whom it again reverted to its former possessors. It belonged to Sir John de Philibert, Knt. in 1331, who held a court here in 1332. A com-t was held here by John de Illegh in 1333, and from him it went to tlie Blount family. It was in the possession of John Glascock in 1429, and was retained by that family till 1559, • Hugh, son of Otto, held the manor of Chignall, in the time of Edward the First, of Robert Dive, by the rent of one clovegilly flower. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 191 when it came to the Luckyn family, fi-om whom it descended, by heirship, to Joseph CHAP. I. Brand, Esq., who sokl it to Job Marple, M.A. vicar of Boreham. The other manor is called Beremans, from a tenant of that name. It has belonged Beremans. to the families of Porter, Chaplin, and Haslefoote ; and, in 1677, was sold by Thomas Singleton, Gent., to Timothy Brand, Esq., of the Hide, in Frieming. The church is small, built of brick ; and there is at the west end a sti-ong brick Church. tower, embattled, containing one bell. Tlie rectory of Chignall Smeley is valued in the king's books at 51. Gs. 8d. There is a mai-ble monument against the north wall with a Latin inscription, of Inscrip- which the following is a translation: " Sacred to the memory of Weston Styleman, sprung from Styleman and Manwood. The man who has obtained immortality, the prize he was in pursuit of, is above praise. Whoever would commend him, let it be done by imitating his'virtue, benevolence, and integrity. He died the 17th of October, 1738, in the 76th year of his age, having inhabited Beadle's Hall, in this parish, for fifty years. Also Elizabeth, partner of his bed and grave, daughter of Robert Wood, of Barnstone, in this county ; a woman of unblemished virtue, died August 23, 1700, aged 56. Robert, Anne, Dorothy, Catherine, and Elizabeth, surnved them (four were snatched away in their infancy), Anne died the 23d of November, 1738, aged 47. Robert, by his will, ordered this monument to be erected. He was vicar of Stortford, in Hertford- shire, and did not degenerate from the virtues of his ancestors, but, for thirty years, faithfully and punctually discharged the duties of bis office, assisting others to the neglect of himself. He died December 7, 1749, aged 49, and, being mixed with the ashes of his family, he rests near the opposite wall." The following inscription is on a marble stone on the ground, in the body of the church. " Here lyeth the body of Richard Luckyns, of Dives Hall, in the parish of Chicknall Smeley, in the count)- of Essex, Esq., and late sheriff of that county, who married the daughter of William Cholmeley, of Highgate, in the county of Middlesex, Esq., who departed this life the 10th day of March, 1657. ^t. 76." Viscomrtess Falkland, in 1776, left, by will, one hundi'ed pounds, the interest to be expended in bread for the poor. s GREAT WALTHAM. The name of Waltham has been given to four paiishes in this county, of which two Great Wai- are distinguished by the epithets, great, or 7nagna, and little, or jmrm. The name is Saxon, Weak-ham— a village in a wood, this district and also a great part of the county having been formerly covered with woods. Great Waltham is in a centi-al part of the county, and well watered by the river Chelmer, which passes through it. 192 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Soil and produce. Population. VV'altham bury. BOOK II. and by numerous springs, which have their origin here. Next to Writtle, it is the largest parish in the county, being seven miles in length, and bordering upon eleven other parishes.* The soil is considerably varied, but its general character is a wet loam, on a clay bottom, and much of it has been classed with the worst in the county, yet, with di-aining and judicious management, it is made to produce as good wheat as any other part : the annual average produce per acre is stated to be, of wheat, twenty-four bushels, and of barley and oats, thirty-two. The population of this extensive parish is nine hundred and eighty-seven males, eight hundred and ninety-six females; total, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three. There are eight hamlets in Great Waltham, Church-end, South-end, Rophey-green, Chatham-end, How-street, Littley-green, Fourth-end, and North-end. In the Saxon times these lands were in the possession of Asgar and Ulwin ; and at the time of the general survey were held by Geofrey de Magnaville, and under him by Hubert, Walter, Turchill, and Roger. The whole was afterwards divided into seven manors. Walthambury is an extensive manor, containing eight hundred acres. The house is nearly a mile west-north-west of the church. As the Saxon word bupy imports, this was originally the capital family seat where the lord's court was kept. After the ancestor of the Mandeville family, the next possessor was William de Mandeville, whose successor was the second Geofl'ey, the founder of Walden Abbey, to whom succeeded the third of that name, who marrying Eustachia, a kinswoman of King Henry the Second, and leaving her soon after, that monarch caused her to be divorced from him, and seizing two of his best lordships, Walden and Waltham, gave them to the lady. From Mandeville, it afterwards went to Geofi-ey Fitzpiers, who was justice of England and earl of Essex; he died in 1212, and his son, Geofrey, succeeded him, taking the surname of Mandeville. From this family it passed, in 1227, with the earldom of Essex, to Henry de Bohun, on his marriage with Maud, the heiress of the Mandeville family. This nobleman was earl of Hereford and high constable of England. His successors, for several generations, continued to hold these estates. The last male heir was Humphrey, the sixth of that name, who dying in 1372, left only two daughters, Eleanor and Mary, co-heiresses. Eleanor, the elder, was married to Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, the sixth son of Edward the Third; and Mary, to Henry earl of Derby, who was afterwards King Henry the Fourth. Eleanor had this manor, and many others, in purparty with the earldom of Essex and constableship of England. Her husband was ti-eacherously taken • It comes up to Little Waltliam Bridge, and tlience goes along tlie western side of the Braintree road, and passing Chatliam Green, it then crosses the road, and takes in some lands on the east side of it. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 193 away from his seat at Fleshy, and barbarously murdered; and she died in 1399, chap. 1 leaving a son, Humphrey, who died unmarried, and four daughters, Anne, Joan, Isabel, and Philippa. Isabel was a nun, and PhiHppa died young. Joan had this estate for her part, and was married to Gilbert Lord Talbot, of Goderic Castle and Blackmore ; on her death, without a surviving heir, this inheritance descended to Anne, the eldest daughter, who was successively married to Thomas, and to Edmund, earls of Stafford, and to William Bourchier, earl of Eu. It continued in this noble family till it was exchanged with King Henry the Fifth, fi-om whom it descended to Henry the Sixth, Edward the Fourth and Edward the Fifth, and to Richard the Third, wlio granted this manor to Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, he having assisted in placing him upon the throne but afterwards projecting, with others, to depose that usurper, he was betrayed by his steward, Ralph Banister, and, without arraignment or trial, beheaded at Salisbury. The manor coming to the crown on this occurrence, was granted by the succeeding monarch, Henry the Seventh, to Queen Elizabeth, the widow of King Edward the Fourth, during her life, and after her death, in the year 1509, King Henry the Eighth gave it in dower to his first queen, Katharine of Arragon ; upon whose death Sir Richard Rich obtained the grant of it, and it continued in his posterity till 1678, when it became the property of Robert Montague, earl of Manchester, from whom it was conveyed, by purchase, to the family of Lord Waltham. Chatham Hall is about a mile east-north-east from the church, at some distance Cliatham from the road to Chelmsford. There is a green near the iiall, called Chatham Green. This manor has been in the possession of the families of Mandeville, Legat, Spice, Rich, and passed, in the same manner as Walthambury did, to the Lord Waltham. Warners derives its name from a family who were the first recorded proprietors Warners. of the manor. The house is about two miles from the church, on the left-hand side of the road to Dunmow. Edmund Warner* held this estate, under Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex, in 1360, and it continued in this family till it was purchased by Lord Rich, in 1536, who had previously obtained a grant of the priory of Little Lees, with the lands and demesnes belonging to that house, between which there was no other partition than the road ; of these demesnes he formed a park about four miles in circumference, which extended from this parish into those of Lees and Felsted. It was called Little Lee Park, and along the south side of it, a Little I.ec 1 u I'ark. pleasant green is called Little Lee Green, which name, ancient and modern authors have corrupted into Littley Green. This manor, with Lees Priory, were enjoyed by LeesPriory. the posterity of Lord Rich, till, upon the partition of the noble inheritance of tliat • Arms of Warner. Or, a bend engrailed, between six cinquefoils, or roses, three and three. gule.«. They are carved in several parts of the ceiling of the south aisle of the church of Great Waltham. VOL. I. C C 194 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Sorell Fa railv. BOOK 11. peer, they were, with other estates, allotted to Charles Montague, earl of Manchester, ~ whose son and successor sold them to the guardians of Edmund Sheffield, duke of Buckingham, of whom this manor was purchased by Herman Olmius, Esq., a descendant of whom conveyed it to Guy's Hospital, London. Hide Hi>il. Hide Hall is about half a mile north-east from the church. James de la Hyde had possessions here in 13!24. His daughter, Elizabeth, is called, in the Inquisition, " Lady de Hemenhale." It is uncertain whether the family gave its surname to, or derived it from this manor. Peter at Hyde was living in 1363, and Thomas at Hyde was witness to a deed in 1416, but this family is not afterwards mentioned. In 162^1 this estate was in the possession of John Hawkins; and his successor, of the same name, sold it, about the year 1650, to John Sorell, Gent.,* who married the daughter of Thomas Aylett, of Coggeshall ; she died in 1642. Their son and heir, John, of Hide Hall and Waltham Parsonage, married the daughter of Richard Hale, of Beckenham, in Kent. Richard, his second and only surviving son, married the daughter of John Wise, Gent., of Berkshire, and died in 1738, without issue, and was the last of the male line of the family. Sarah, his sister, had a grandson, named John Sorell Hay, who was his heir, but he left this estate to Dr. Tyson, a physician of London. The Sorell family had another estate in this parish, not far from How-street, called Hill House; they were likewise lessees of the parsonages of Hide Hall and Stebbing. South House manor is called, in old wi-itings, the hamlet of South House, and, in the court rolls of Waltham, Le Southend, also Bybbesworth-fee, fi-om an ancient owner of that name. The mansion is about three quarters of a mile south-west from the church. The Bibbesworthf family held this manor from the time of King Henry the Third, in the commencement of the thirteenth century, to the year 1336 ; and afterwards persons of this name are mentioned in writings, as holding the estate to the time of Henry the Sixth, in the year 1448. Thomas Barley held this manor in right of his wife, Joan, the aunt and heiress of the last of the Bybbesworths ; and it continued in the possession of this family till the thirteenth of King Charles the First.. It has since been in the possession of Mrs. Westland, and afterwards belonged to West Andrew Blackaller, of Abingdon, in Berkshire. Langleys. Langleys is a manor, also called Marshalis, or Mariskalls ; the house is a quarter of a mile from the church, pleasantly situated on an eminence, below which a brook flows on the nortii, and on the south the river Chelmer. The family named Mareskull or Marshall, flourished here, from the time of King John to that of Edward the Third ; William le Mareskull was living in 1336. About this time it came to the family of Langley. A moiety of the estate afterwards went to the • Arms of Sorell. Gules, two lions jiassant, ermines. + They took their surname from ISibbysworth Hall, in the parish of Kimpton, in Hertfordshire. South House. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 195 Slixtons, of Horndon, and anotlier moiety to the Cornish family,* of this parish; but ( hap. tiiese portions of the estate were afterwards conveyed to the Everard family, the former by purchase, and the other by the marriage of Thomas Everard with the daughter and heiress of John Cornish. The whole manor having become the property of the Everard family, they were afterwards settled here for many years, and rose to considerable eminence in the county. Ralph Everard lived in the reigns of Henry the Third and Edward the First; EverarJ Walter, William and John were successively the heads of the family till the time of '^""'^ King Henry the Seventh and King Henry the Eighth, when Thomas, the son and heir of the last mentioned John, became possessed of this manor. He had by his first wife six sons and three daughters, and was succeeded in the estate by Richard, his fourth son, whose son, of the same name, was the next proprietor, and died in 1561, holding Langleys, and various other extensive possessions in the county. Richard, his grandson, succeeded, who married the daughter of John Wiseman, Esq., of Great Canfield, by whom he had Anthony, Matthew, Hugh, and John, and a daughter, named Mary, who was married to John Wiseman, Esq., of Systed. Anthony, his eldest son, received the honour of knighthood in 1603, but died before his father. He had two wives; first, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Barnardiston, Knt., of Kedington, in Sutlblk, by whom he had Anthony, Richard, and Elizabeth, and also Anne, who survived him, and became his heiress, and who was married to Sir William Maynard, Knt. and Bart., of Great Easton. Richard Everard mar- ried, secondly, Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Felton, of Flayford, in Sutiblk, knight of the bath, by whom he had no children: he died in 1614. Hugh, the son of Richard Everard, succeeded to the estate. He was high sheriff of Essex in 1626, and married Mary, daughter of Thomas Brande, Esq., of Hormead, in Hertfordsliire. His son and heir. Sir Richard Everard, was created a baronet in 1629; by his wife Joan, daughter of Sir Francis Barrington, of Hatfield Broad Oak, he had Richard, his eldest son and heir, Barrington, Everard, and Robert, who had no children; Hugh, Fellov/ of Emanuel College Cambridge ; Winifred, wife of Sir William Luckyn, Bart., of Little Waltham Hall ; and Joan and Frances, one of whom was married to John Cutts, Esq., of Arkden. Sir Richard's second wife was the mother of Sir Gervase Elways, of Stoke, in SuflTolk, but by her he had no children. His eldest son, Sir Richard, Knt. and Bart., succeeded him, and was sheriff of Essex in 1644. He married Elizabeth, daugliter of Sir Henry Gibbs, of Falkland, in Scotland, gentleman of the bed-chamber to King James the First; by this wife he had Richard, Hugh, and Jane. His second wife was Jane, daughter of Sir William Finnet, master of the ceremonies to King James, and King Charles the First; by * The arms of Cornish. Sable, a chevron batteUe, or, between three roses, argent. 196 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. this wife he had no children. He died in 1694, in the 70th j^ear of his age. His second son, Sir Hugh Everard, Bart., was bred to arms. He man-ied Mary, the daughter of John Brown, M. D., of Salisbury, by whom he had Richard; Hugh, who was drowned in the great storm in November, 1703, being lieutenant of the Restoration; Morton, killed on board the Hampshire, commanded by Lord Maynard ; and two daughters, Elizabeth, married to Henry Osborne, A. M., vicar of Great ^^'altilam, rector of West Hanningfield, and afterwards vicar of Thaxstead, and Frances, who died unmarried. Sir Hugh died in 1705, aged 61. He was for some time receiver general for the county, but left: his estate much encumbered with debts, so that Sir Richard, his successor, was obHged to sell it, and bought himself a small estate at Broomfield. About the year 1724, he left England, having been appointed governor of North Carolina, under the lords proprietors ; but, being displeased when the crown purchased that province, he returned to London, where he died in 1732. His lady, who sun'ived him, and ched in 1739, was Susanna, the daughter and co-heiress of Richard Kidder, D. D., bishop of Bath and Wells, who was killed in the before-mentioned storm of 1703, by the fall of a chimney. By this lady Sir Richard had two sons. Sir Richard, who succeeded him, but died unmarried in 1742, and Sir Hugh, who came to an empty title, vnth a very small inheritance, and went to Georgia. There were also two daughters, Susanna, married to David Mead, a Virginia planter, and Anne, married to George Lathbury, Gent.* The manor of Langleys was purchased of the Everard family by Samuel Tulhell, Esq.,t who pulled down a great part of the old house, and erected a handsome and spacious new one, and made an extensive pai-k around it. This house has been considerably improved by later proprietors of the same family. The rectory is a manor, which was given to Walden Abbey by Geofrey de Mandeville,J grandson of the founder of that house ; on the dissolution of monasteries it became the property of Sir Richard Rich, of whom it was purchased by Sir Thomas Pope, Knt., the founder of Trinity College, Oxford, who settled it upon the president and fellows of that foundation, under whom the Sorell family held it for many generations. About the year 1684 the lease was purchased by John Rotheram, Esq., the son of the Rev. John Rotherham, vicar of Boreham, and rector of Springfield, of the ancient family of the Rotherhams of Luton, in Bedfordshire, related to Thomas Rotherham, archbishop of York, and founder of Lincoln College, Rectory manor. Rotherliam family. * Arms of Everard. Argent, a fess wavy, between three etoiles, gules. Crest, on a torse, argent and gules, a man's head couped at the shoulders, argent, and cuppe bendy wavie of six, argent and sable These arms were quartered in several parts of this house with Hernardiston, Maynard, Harrington, Cornish, &c t His father's name was John, who married Elizabeth, daughter of John Joliffe, Esq. Samuel Tufnell, Esq. was representative in several parliaments for Maldon, Colchester, Great Marlow, &c. t Geofrey de Mandeville gave this church to Hurley Priory, but his grandson had it again in an ex- change, and settled it upon Walden. — Mon. Angl. vol. i. p. 36.'?. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 197 Oxford. John Rotherham, Esq., was an eminent counsellor at law, and took the chap. I. degree of sergeant in 1688, and was soon afterwards made one of the barons of tlie exchequer, and knighted. He was succeeded by his son, John Rotherham, Esq., barrister at law, and recorder of Maldon, who married Mary, the daughter of Giles Alleyn, D. D., by whom he had five daughters ; Mary, who died unmarried; Anne, married to John Wyat, A. M., master of Felsted school, and rector of Woodham Mortimer, of Peldon, and Little Waltham ; the third daughter was Elizabeth, married to Sir Theophilus Napier, Bart., afterwards to Thomas Howard, baron of Effingham, and lastly to Sir Conyers Dai'cy; Penelope, the fourth daughter, was married to a tobacconist in London ; and the fifth daughter, Frances, was married to Peter Curgenven, a merchant in the East Indies, and afterwards to Lord Somerville. Mary, the eldest, to whom her father had bequeathed the lease, left it to her sister Anne, and on her death, to the two daughters of Lord Effingham by his first lady ; of these, Anne was married to Sir William Young, Bart., and Mary was the wife of George Venables Vernon, Esq. The house is about a mile north-east from the church, near the river Chelmer, and was much enlarged and improved after it came to the Rotherham family. An estate in North-end, called Bullocks, was formerly the seat of John Wiseman, Xonh-end. Esq., who settled here in the tmie of Henry the Sixth. He was the first of this name who lived in Essex, and fi-om him the several branches of the family originated, respectively seated at Stisted, Great Canfield, Little Mapplestead, Bradocks in Wimbish, Rivenhall, Willingdale Dow, Great Baddow, Laingdon, Elsenham, Wigborough, and Mayland. Formerly, this family had possessions in Essex to the annual amount of seven thousand pounds. Three of them were honoured with the dignity of baronet; William of Canfield, in 16^8, Richard of Thundersley, in the same year, and Sir William Wiseman, Knt , of Rivenhall in 1660.* fomUv"" Besides the manors already mentioned, Mr. Morant notices several other capital Balls, estates, of which Balls, about a mile from the church, was formerly in the proprietor- ship of a family named Goodeves, afterwards of the Tufnell family. Wisemans, near the church. Wisemans. Fitz- Johns is a mile south-west of the church : this and the two last-mentioned, Fitz- Johns. were held by the same proprietors as Balls. Israels is near Fitz-Johns, and some time ago belonged to a merchant of Israels. Colchester, named Whaley. Blessed Baileys is in Chatham-end, and belonged to a family of the name Blessed of Lane. ^''*'^>'- • Arms of Wiseman. Per pale, or and azure, on a chevron, two dragons encountrant, counter-changed ; on a chief, ermines, three coronets, argent. 198 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK 11. Hill House. Wallops. Cliurcb. \'icarage. GuiUlhali. Monu- ments. Hill House is a lai-ge farm belonging, some time ago, to Mr. Tyson ; and a large house, not far fi-om the church, called Wallops, belonged to the Tufnell family. The church is of brick, large and spacious, covered with lead ; about a dozen pews and a considerable number of movable benches occupy the body of the building, and a south aisle and a chancel are separated from it, on the north side of which there is a small vestry. An octagon tower at the west end contains six very good tuneable bells, and a set of chimes ; and above the tower a clumsy sph-e rises, covered with lead. The whole of the inside of the church is well finished and very neat. In the chancel there is a neat altar-piece, of wainscot, erected about the year 1720; and in the vestry, a large parish chest, seven feet in length, three feet high, and three feet across, made of one piece of wood. The vicarage is a very good building, west from the church. This church, with the rectory and the vicarage, belong to Trinity College. It has been remarked as a singularity, that the vicar is endowed with the tithes of hay and other things besides the small tithes ; notwithstanding which, this extensive and burdensome cure remained a poor vicarage of about eighty pounds a year ; but, in 1751, the patrons made a handsome addition to it of fifty pounds a year for ever, payable half-yearly from the lessee of the rectory to the vicar, and further additions have been since made. In North-end, near the road leading to Dunmow, there is a little timber building, with a wooden turret, called Black Chapel, being a chapel of ease for this distant part of the pai-ish ; but the inhabitants bury their dead in Waltham church-yard. A lady of the Wiseman family, seated at Bullocks, left a fai'm near this chapel for the endowment of it, but part of the money goes to the poor. Several other chapels are mentioned in ancient records, as the property of the Mandevilles and the Bybbesworths, but these have been destroyed. Partly over the western gate of the church-yard there is an old building, called the Guild Hall, on account (as is believed) of the court meetings being held here. It is not known how it came into the possession of Queen Elizabeth, but she gi-anted it to Hugh Counsell, in the year 1569. It has since been converted into a workhouse. In the king's books the vicarage of Great Waltham i.s valued at 18/. 13*. id., and is in the patronage of Trinity College, Oxford. Within the church, on the north side, is a neat grey marble monument, bearing the following melancholy recital : — " Near this place lyetli the body of Peter Cun-engen, merchant. He was sent in his youth to the East Indies, where, attaining a thorough knowledge of the India trade in all its branches, he acquired a plentiful fortune, and with all, what is more valuable, the universal character of a man of great honour and honesty, of inviolalile faith and integrity, which HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 199 virtue he adorned with uncommon affability and politeness. Preparing, after a twentv-tive CU\P 1 3'ears' absence, to return to his native country, he unfortunately fell into the hands of Can- najee Angria, admiral to the Sou Raja, then at war with the English, at Bombay, and remained in a miserable captivity five years ; during which time, with an unparalleled patience, generosity, and greatness of mind, he continued not only comforting, assisting, and supporting his fellow-sufferers, but even refusing his own deliverance, without that of his companions in misery. At last, having freed himself and the rest by his own industry and management, he embarked for England, in hopes of sitting down in quiet, and enjoying the fruits of his labours. But seethe uncertainty of all things below I Just before his landing, a violent fit of the cramp seizing his thigh, and bursting the vein, though the effects were hardly discernible, yet was he forced, soon after his arrival in London, to have his thigh first laid open, and then cut off almost close to his body. Scarcely ever was the like operation performed ! Never any undergone with more resolution and firmness, without so much as a groan, or the least motion to express his anguish. He outlived this operation twelve days, when the wound, bleeding afresh, he resigned his last breath, with a surprising sedateness and unconcern at leaving this world, being fully persuaded he was going to exchange his perishable, for everlasting riches. He died June 26, 1729, in the 47th year of his age. He was son of William Curvengen, a gentleman of good family in Cornwall, and married Frances, daughter of John Rotherham, of this parish, Esq., whom he left his sole executrix, having no issue, and who erected this monument over his grave, as a token of affection and gratitude." In the window on the north side of the church there is a very costly monument, to the memory of Sir Antony Everard, Knt., and liis lady. It is within an arch of various kinds of marble, about fourteen feet high, and six and a half wide ; the efh<;ies of these dignified personages recline on two tombs, of which Sir Everard's is about two feet higher than that of his lady. Behind tlicse figures, skulls and emblems of mortality appear, above which is an elegant latin inscription, of which, the following is a translation : — "Sacrey to the mem.ory of Lady Ann Everard, daughter of Thomas Bamardiston, Knt., descended from the ancient family of the Barnardistons, of Kedington, in the county of Suffolk, (who formerly bore the most ancient surname of Newmarche, or New Market,) and of the Lady Elizabeth Hanchet, his wife. Six weeks after her lying-in, she was snatched away by a severe fever, and died a truly good foster-mother, the 19th of December, in the year of our salvation 1609. She left behind her only one daughter, Anne." The following is on the left-hand side of this monument: — " Here resteth in assured hope to rise in Christ, the body of Sir Anthony Everard, Knt., whoe departed this life in the yeere of our Lord 1614, 3 yeeres after that he had erected this monument of his deerly beloved wyfe. He left behinde him one onely daughter, and heire, since married unto Sir William Maynard, of this countv, Knt. and Bart." On a tablet, on the opposite side, is inscribed ; — 200 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK 11. Charities " Here lyes ther carkases, subject to corrupsion until ther blessed sowles shall once retorne and with them rise to glorye. Yf, answering ther uertues a tombe had bene prepared the had bene enshrined in gold, or stone more pricious." Several infantine figures appear in different postures; two are embracing each other, with the names of Anonymous and Richard, written above their lieads. Against the wall of the south aisle the following is inscribed on a stone of grey marble : — This monument Covers not the ashes, but perpetuates the memory Of Hugh Everard, second son To Sir Hugh Everard, of Langleys, Bart., A son, though not born to the estate and honour of the family. Yet early inherited the virtue and bravery of it. The glories of whose infancy Raised our just hopes to expect wonders from his manhood ; For, not being thirteen years of age, he left Felstead school September 24, 1700, And, on the 29th, he went under Captain Whitaker, to convey king William from Holland. Though then a tempest arose, which destroyed many in his sight. Yet the undaunted youth still had glory in view. The invitation of that, and the greatness of his soul, Lessened all the threatenings of danger. August 15, 1702, after several voyages and hard- ships endured Bv land and sea. A descent being made into Spain, His choice and request put his courage upon action. Being the third that landed, and the Spanish horse coming upon them. The commander fell by his hand, And the sword of the man before grazed the side of the young stripling. But now reader. Turn thy triumphant songs into mournful dirges, For the fatal 27th of November, 1703, comes big with tempest and ruin, (Such as former ages never knew, and future will scarce credit), When our brave young man, (Having changed his ship in order for new achieve- ments), And crew were swallowed up by the unsatiable Godwin. Thus fell the age's wonder, Afier he had established a reputation That shall never die. Beneath is a representation of the ship's being cast away on the Godwin sands. There are several charities in this parish. Geofrey Child, in 1720, left one hundred pounds (which was laid out in land, and produced, in 1786, five pounds ten shillings per annum) for the benefit of the poor at North-end. J. Shuttleworth, in 1727, left a rent charge of five pounds four shillings per annum, for bread to twelve poor widows. R. Everard, in 1542, left a rent charge of one pound, to be divided between forty poor householders. There is also a donation of sixteen shillings left, out of memory, for the poor, and Lord Rich left a charitable donation of four bushels of salt red and white herrings. LITTLE WALTHAM, OR WALTHAM PARVA. This parish joins, eastward, to Great Waltham, and is about four miles northward from Chelmsford and thirty-three from London. The road to Braintree, Sudbury, Bury, and various parts of Suffolk, lies through it. The river Chelmer also passes HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. oqi through this parish. Its situation is remarkably heahhy and pleasant, and it is very CHAP. 1. abundant in agricultural produce ; it contains one thousand nine hundred and fifty-one acres of land. The population consists of three hundred and nineteen males, three hundred Population, and one females ; total, six hundred and twenty. In the time of the Saxons, this district was in the possession of Lefstan, the abbot of St. Edmundsbury, and of Stanhard. In Domesday book, Eustace earl of Bologne, appears as proprietor, his under tenant being a person named Lambert. The parish is said to have four manors. Little Waltham, with Powers, after Earl Eustace, came into the possession of LittleWaii- Robert de Tatteshall, a descendant of Eudo, who came into England at the Puwers." Conquest, and obtained of the conqueror, the lordship of Tatteshall, in Lincolnshire, from which he took his surname. Eudo"s son, named Hugh Fitz-Eudo, had three sons, Robert, William, surnamed Fitz-Hugh, and another William, surnamed de Dentune. Robert, the eldest, had Philip, commonly called Fitz-Robert ; and Fitz- Hugh, sheriff of Berkshire in 1 1 9.5, 1 ] 96, 1 197, and of Lincolnshire, in 1 198, who died about the year 1199, leaving his son, Robert de Tatteshall, lord of Waltham manor. In 1205 he was sherifl' of the counties of Huntingdon and Cambridge, and died about 1211, leaving by his wife Isolda Pantulf; Robert de Tatteshall, the third of the name ; he married Mabel, or Amabil, the eldest of the four daughters and co-heiresses of William de Albini, earl of Arundel and Sussex, in whose right he became possessed, in 1244, of very extensive estates, particularly of the castle and manor of Buckenham, in Norfolk, which was made the principal seat of the family. He died in 1249, leaving Robert, who, in 1263, had leave to impark his wood of Little Waltham, within the bounds of the forest of Essex. By his wife Joan he had a son, Robert, and tliree daughters; Emma, married to Adam de Cailli; Joan, to Sir Simon de Dryby ; and Isabel, to John de Orreby. He was succeeded by his son Robert, who, on his death, in 1302, left, by Eve his wife, daughter of Robert de Tibetot, Robert, who dying unmarried, the estate was divided between Thomas, the son of Adam de Cailli, Joan de Dryby, and Isabel, the wife of John de Orreby. Upon the division of this estate, Thomas de Cailli had for his share. Little Waltham, Buckenham, and other possessions. He was sum- moned to four of the parliaments of Edward the Second, and died in 1316, but left no children : his sister, Margaret, was married to Roger de Clifton, and Adam de Clifton became his uncle's heir. He married the daughter of Robert Mortimer, of Attilburgh, Knt., by whom he had Constantine, who was knighted, but died before his father, leaving John, his son and heir by the daughter of Sir William de la Pole, who, on the death of his mother, in 1363, succeeded to the estate, and was summoned to parliament from the year 1377 to 1388. He died in the isle of Rhodes, leaving VOL. I. D D 20J2 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Constantine, his son and heir by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Ralph Cromwell, Knt. Constantine married Margaret, daughter of Robert Howard, Knt., of East Winch, by Margai-et Scales, his wife, and died in 1396, leaving John, his son and heir, and Margaret, aflerwai-ds wife of Sir James Knivet. John Clifton, afterwards knighted, married Joan, daughter and co-heiress, of Sir Edward Thorpe, by whom he had Margaret, married to Sir Andi-ew Ogai'd, and in her right, the inheritance of the Cliftons was divided between the Ogards and the Knivets. But this manor did not come in amongst them, for Sir John de Clifton, who died at Rhodes, had granted it to Richard de Waltham, and Mai'garet his wife : probably he mortgaged, or sold it to raise money for his voyage to Rhodes, or the Holy Land. He was succeeded in this manor by his son John Waltham, Esq., who died in 1418, and is buried in the chancel of the church, under a marble stone, with an inscription, in which he is styled " lord of this vill." His son, Richard Waltham, was the next possessor; and is also buried within the church; he died in 1426.* John Mabon was the next lord of this manor, who, dying in 1447, was succeeded in the possession by Thomas Mildmay, Esq., of Moulsham; fi-om which family it was conveyed, by pmxhase, to the Luckyn family, about the year 1625. This family of Luckyn originally settled at Good Easter, extended to Sandon, to Shenges in Great Baddow, and also in Much Waltham, but the most considerable branches were at Luckyn fa- Cliignall-Smeley, Little Waltham, and at Messing. William Luckyn, of Shenges, or Mascalls, in Great Baddow, mai-ried Margaret, daughter of Thomas Jenney, of St. Edmundsbury; his son by her was William, born in 1594, created a baronet in 1628, and was sheriff of the county in 1637. He mamed Mildred, daughter of Sir Gamaliel Capel, of Rookwood Hall, in Abbess Roding, by whom he had Sir Capel Luckyn, born in 1621, who maiTied Mai'y the daughter of Sir Harbottle Grimston, and was seated at Messing Hall : who had issue William, of Little Waltham Hall ; and Jane and Elizabeth. Sir William's second wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Pinchon, of Writtle ; by her he had three sons and four daughters; she died in 1657. William, the second son, was created a baronet in 1661 ; he married Winifrid, the third daughter of Sir Richard Everard, of Great Waltham, Bart., by whom he had one daughter, Anne.f John Edwards, Esq.J the next proprietor of the manor, was of Huntingdonshire, and held also estates in Cambridgeshire, and at Depden, in this county. He married Susanna, the eldest daughter of Sir Richard Munden, Knt., commodore of the squadron which retook St. Helena from the Dutch, in 1673, and brother of Sir John • WaUham's arms. A cross florie, countercharged with a bordure charged with ten trefoils, slipped. t Arms of Luckyn, of Little Waltham. Sable, a fesse dancette between two leopards' heads, or. Crest, on a torse, or and sable, a demi-gritfin scgreant, or, langued and talloned, gules, on a castle triple- towered port displayed, or, garnished sable. J Arms of Kdwards. Ermines, a lion rampant, gules. HUNDRED OF CHELMSFORD. 203 Munden, Knt. rear-admiral of the red.* By her he had Henry, John, M. D., of CHAP. 1. Colchester; Susanna, wife of James Chalmers, rector of Lammarsh, and Wickham, St. Paul ; Catherine, maniei to Daniel Scratton, of Broomfield, Gent. ; Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Jekyll, of London, and Anne, unmarried. The eldest was of Lincoln's Inn, and became master in chancery, but was injuriously affected by the fall of Lord Chancellor Macclesfield. To make him some amends, a newly created office of Accountant in chancery was given to him, but he died soon after, in 1726. He married Sarah, the only daughter of Richard March,f of London and Enfield, by whom he had John, an attorney, Sarah, Henry, an attorney, and Richard. In 1761, John Edwards, Esq. sold his estate here to Daniel Harrington, Gent. Powers, Sheepcotes, and Walkfares were formerly called manors, but are now Powers, included in Little Waltham. cotesf and The mansion-house of Powers is on the road to Boreham, about a mile east from ^^a'^i'a'"es. the church; Sheepcotes is in the fields, half a mile from the church, in a north- easterly direction. The situation of the manor-house of Walkfares is not kno«Ti; it is entered in Domesday book as being in Boreham. In ancient writings, Powers and Walkfares are fi-equently mentioned, together or apart, as " the manor of Waltham Parva and Boreham." They were so named, as held by Robert de Boreham, in the time of Edward the First, and afterwards by Burnet, bishop of Bath and Wells, John de Handlo, John Lovel, of Tickmarsh, in Northamptonshire, and others of that family, of whom Sir William Lovel, Knt. Lord Lovel died in 14o4, possessed of Powers, Walkfares, and Great Boreham. He married Alice, daughter and co-heiress of John Deincourt, Knt. ; their son was Sir John Lovel, Knight, created Lord Lovel, who died in 1469, leaving, by Joan his ■wife, sister of William Mscount Beaumont, Francis Lord Lovel, advanced, in 1482, by King Edward the Fourth, to the dignity of Viscount Lovel. He was attainted by act of parliament, in 1485, for aiding and abetting the usurper Richard the Third ; and these possessions were afterwai'ds granted, by Henry the Seventh, to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who had suffered gi-eatly in the cause of the house of Lancaster, and had assisted in placing the crown on Henry's head: on his death, without heir, King Henry the Eighth gave the estate to Thomas Boleyn, father of Queen Anne Boleyn ; he was afterwards created earl of Wiltshire and Orroond, in which honours he was succeeded by his son, George Viscount Rochford, who fallmg a sacrifice to Henry's arbitrary power and ungovern- able passion, in 1536, these estates reverted again to the crown, and, the following • Arms of Munden. Gules, a cross engrailed, or, charged with four lozenges, sable; on a dexter canton, ermines, three anchors erect, azure, one of them covered with the canton. t Arms of Marcli. Sable, a saltier, argent, between four lions' heads erased of the second, langued, gules. 204 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Boycroft and Blas- tard's-fee. Church. BOOK II. year, were granted to William Milclmay, Esq., of whose posterity they were purchased by Richard Banning, of Dedham. From this family they were afterwards conveyed, by marriage, to Lord Dacre, whose successor to this property was his son Henry Lennard, Esq., on whose decease, in 1703, he left three daughters, minors; Mar37. The second husband of Elizabeth » Bennet's arms. Gules, a bezant, between three demi-lions rampant, argent. VOL. I. F F 218 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Manor of Blunts. Powers was John Fryer, son of Alban Fryer, of Bocking, from whom the manor of Fryers, in that parish, received its name; their only daughter and heir was Eliza- beth, married to William Brokeman, Esq., of Witham; their son, John Brokeman, married Florence, daughter of Bulstrode M'hitlocke. St. Leger, both of whom died in 1500. Thomas, their son and heir, married a daughter of Rochester, and had Thomas and John; Thomas, the eldest, had by Anne Bonner two sons, John and Emerius; and four daughters, Abigail, Anne, Agnes, and Frances.* This manor was next in the possession of William, the son of Thomas Wheatley, Esq., of Holkham, in Norfolk; his son succeeded him. From this femily, it passed to the families of Fortescue, Southcot, and Garrard. The manor of Blunts Hall is partly in this parish, but extends into the adjoining parishes of Hatfield Peverell, and Terling ; its name is from ancient possessors of the family of Blunt, or Blund, descended from Robert Blundus, living in Suffolk at tlie time of the conquest. The house is in the fields, on the right hand, about a mile fi'om the road leading to Chelmsford. In Edward the Confessor's time the three parcels of this manor were held by Harold, Brickmar, and a free woman. At the general survey they were vested in Eustace earl of Boulogne, Ralph Peverell, and his under-tenant, Humphrey, and Richard, son of eai-1 Gilbert. Soon after, these three parcels became united in the Blund family. Robert de Blund, standard-bearer to the bai-ons at the battle of Lewes, and slain there, in the 48th of Henry the Third, left two sisters co-heiresses : Agnes, wife of William de Creketoft, who had a son named William, and Rohaesia, wife of Robert de Valeynes, who had Robert de Valeynes, who held the manor of Blunts Hall of the king in capite, and the manor of Tolleshunt, at the time of his death, in the 10th of Edward the First. It afterwards passed to the families of Ludham, Bacon, Montgomery, Fortescue, to Weston, earl of Portland, from whose family it came to the famous Sir Bulstrode ^^■ hitlock, son of Sir James Whitlock, LL. D., the learned lawyer, M. P. for Woodstock. Sir Bulstrode was born in 160o, and educated at Oxford, whence he went to the Middle Temple. In the long parliament he was member for Marlow, and was appointed chairman of the committee for prosecuting the earl of Straflbrd. He was a member of the assembly of divines at Westminster, and was commissioner of the great seal in 1647; was sent ambassador to Sweden in 1653, and, on his return, made commissioner of the trea- sury ; in 1656, was chosen speaker of the House of Commons ; made a member of Cromwell's House of Lords, in 1658; and, in 1659, made president of the council of state, and keeper of the great seal; and died in 1676. He wrote Monarchy the best Form of Government, 8vo., Memorials on English Affairs, and many other works. From the Whitlock family, the manor of Blunts Hall came to the * .Arms of Brokeman. Quarterly, party per fesse indented, or ami azure, tliree martlets counter-changed impaling, argent, on a bend, three bo.irs' heads coupe. HUNDRED OF WITH AM. 219 . Pettiwards of Putney, of which family was Roger Mortlock Pettiward, D. D. chan- CHAP. il. cellor of Chichester. The manor of Hobregge, or Hubbridge Hall, has a mansion on the left-hand side Manor of of the road leading to Chelmsford, which is now called the Dove-house. Some of ^°'^''^?S*- the lands come up to Witham Bridge. Brictmar held this manor in Edward the Confessor's reign, and at the time of the survey it was in the possession of Robert Gernon, from whose descendants it came to the family of de Veres, earls of Oxford. After being in the family of William de la Zouch, and Sir John de Trailly, it came to Hugh de Mortimer, of the house of Mortimer earl of March, who died in the 32d of Edward the First, and of Maud his wife, who died in the 1st of Edward the Second ; Joane and Margaret were their daughters and co-heirs.* Upon partition of the estate, Joane had Hobregge and Norton in Essex, and Richard's Castle in Herefordshire ; she was married to Thomas de Bikenore, and afterwards to Richard Talbot, son of Richard Talbot, by Sarah, daughter of William Beauchamp, earl of Warwick; their son and heir was Sir John Talbot, lord of Richard's Castle. It passed through various branches of this family (and was successively possessed by individuals of notability or dignity, among whom were Sir Warine, the archdeacon. Sir Matthew Gurnay, Sir Walter de Lucy) to the Jenour family ; from whom, passing to Sir Anthony Abdy, Bart., it was purchased of that gentleman by Lingard, whose son, John Lingard, Esq., was counsellor at law, and common Serjeant of the city of London. The manor of Batisfords was a gi"ant from the honour of Grafton, in free socage Baiisfords. of all rents and services whatever, but not in chief. This manor was small, having no copyhold tenants. The mansion-house is in Witham-street, almost opposite to Newland manor-house. The families of Freborne, Boseville, Meade, Jackson, and Abbot, have been successively possessors of this manor. The vicarage is a manor, called Hog-end, having a court-leet and baron, of Hog-end. which the vicar is lord. This ancient manor was erected about the time of King Stephen, who gave the church to the canons of St. Martin's-le-Grand, in London. Anciently, all the other manors did homage, and paid an annual four-pence to this. The mansion-house is on the west side of the church-yard, and is large and Mansion- elegant, having been greatly improved and beautified with gardens, and every requisite for a gentleman's seat, by the Rev. George Sayer, D. D., during his incumbency. The capital messuage called Bacons and Abbots was given by Roger Bacon to Abbots, or the abbot and convent of St. John, at Colchester; this building is on the side of the pi^ce. road leading from Cheping Hill to Faulkbourn. At the suppression it was granted, * Margaret, the co-heiress of Hugh de Mortimer, was married to Geofrey de Cornewall, ancestor of the Cornewalls, of Herefordshire. 220 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. by Henry the Eighth, to George Tresham, Gent., from whom it went to John Moigne, who sold it to John Southcote, Esq., of the Southcotes, of Soutlicote, in Devonshire. This gentleman, bred to the law, was created a serjeant in 1558, and made one of the justices of the King's Bench in 1562; he died in 1585, and was buried in the north aisle of the chancel of Witham church, where a stately monument is erected to the memory of himself and his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William Robins, of London ; they had thirteen children, of whom only one son and two daughters survived them. John Southcote, Esq., succeeded to the estate, and died in 1637, having married Magdalen, daughter of Sir Edward Walgrave, Knt., by whom he had Edward Southcote, Esq., of Witham, who, marrying Elizabeth, daughter of John Seaborne, Esq., of Herefordshire, had by her two daughters and a son, named John, afterwards knighted, who, by Elizabeth, daughter of Walter Lord Aston, and grandaughter of Richard Weston, earl of Portland, lord treasurer, had Edward, John, and Thomas, who died unmarried, and two daughters, Mary, who became the wife of William Viscount Stafford, and Anne. Sir Edward South- cote, Knt., the eldest son, man-ied Juliana, daughter of Sir Philip Tp-whit, Bart., of Lincolnshire, by whom he had Edward, who died in infancy ; John, married to Mary, daughter of Edward Paston, Esq., of Berningham, in Norfolk, cousin to the earl of Yarmouth, and several other sons and daughters.* The manor of Abbots was let by the Southcote family, on a long building lease, to Lord Stourton, who made great improvements in the house and grounds. It has received the name of Witham Place, and is now the elegant seat of Captain Rook. Bennington was anciently called Breddinghoe, and belonged to St. Edmundsbiu-y- abbey at the time of the survey. The house is in the south-east part of the parish, joining to Braxtead and Wickham, part of the lands lying in both of these parishes. It formerly belonged to the Montchensi family, and from that it passed to the families of the Hastings, the Talbots, Ayliffes, Darcies, Dawes, and Lascelles. The church of Witham, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is on the eminence called Cheping Hill, about half a mile west from the town, on the Braintree road. It is lofty and spacious, consisting of a nave, side aisles, and chancel. The walls of the church and steeple are of Roman bricks and flints, except the top of' the tower, which used anciently to be of wood, but, in 1743, was exchanged for brick. The superior neatness of this sacred edifice is ath-ibutable to the Rev. Dr. Warley, who, sometime between the years 1701 and 1706, collected 293/. 14*. 2d. from the neighbouring gentry, which he made up to the sum of 314/. 8«., and expended the whole in improvements and repairs. Dr. Warley also gave the organ. The body of the church is leaded, and the chancel is tiled. The royal ai-ms over the entrance into the Benning- ton. Clmrch. • Arms of Southcote. Argent, a chevron, gules, between three coots, sable. Of Robins. Argent, three arrows, azure, winged, 2, 1. Of Seaborne. A ship proper in full sail on the sea. HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 221 chancel is a specimen of carving in wood in a very superior style of workmanship. CHAP. il. When King Stephen gave the half-hundi'ed of Witham to the knights templars, he excepted this church and its appertenances, which he had given to St. Martin's-le- Grand, in London, the dean whereof, with the canons, ordained a vicar here, who, by compositions made between them, was to sustain the neighbouring chapel of Cressing, and the vicarage was afterwards settled by Eustace de Fauconberg, bishop of London, to whom, and his successors, the collation of it was reserved. The proprietorship remained in the canons of St. Martin's, till Henry the Seventh's time, who, July 23, 1503, gave it to St. Peter's Abbey, at Westminster, and when that monastery was converted into a bishoprick by Henry the Eighth, this living was annexed to it. But, at the dissolution of that bishoprick, it came to the crown, in which it continued till Queen Elizabeth gi-anted it to John Ailmer, bishop of London, and his successors, and it has remained in their possession ever since, as well as the collation to the vicarage, from the year 1222. There were formerly two chanti'ies here, one founded in 1397, and well endowed, for a chaplain daily to perform divine offices at the altar of St. John the Baptist, for the good estate of the Lady Joana de Bohun, countess of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton, and of Robert Rykedon, and Thomas Byrcheleygh, by whom the chantry was founded, and several others. The other was called St. Mary's chantry, with an endowment to find a priest to sing mass daily at the altar of our blessed lady. There is a large and elegant monument on the north side of the chancel, erected in 1585, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to the memory of Judge Southcote, of Witham Place, and his lady, whose effigies, as large as life, are placed upon the tombs, opposite to which, against the wall of the vestry, a marble tablet bears the following in- cription : — MONDMENTUM. " Johannis Southcote nuper unius Justiciarium cour Dnam Elizabeths ReginK ad placita Monu- cora ipsa teneda assignati qui prsedictum Judicii locum 23 annos integros tenebat : duxit in uxore Elizabetha Robins ex civitate Londinensi orta et ex ilia 13 suscepit soboles ex quibus tres nunc solii mode supersunt, scilicit Johannes filius suus et hseres, Martha nupta Francisco Stonour armigero, et Anna in conjugem data Francisco Curzon armigero : postquam annos septuaginta quatuor plus minus compleverat in Christo obdormi\it 18 die Aprihs, Anno Dnis 1585." TRANSLATION. " The monument of John Southcote, one of the justices of the court of the lady Queen Elizabeth, who held the above judicial office 23 years : he married Elizabeth Robins, of the city of London, by whom he had issue 13 children, of whom three only are now alive, John his son and heir, Martha, married to Francis Stonour, Esq., and Anne, married to Francis Curzon, Esq. After a life of about seventy-four years, he slept in Christ, on the 18th of April, a.d. 1585." 222 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK 11. This inscription being a considerable height on the wall, and shaded, cannot be read by a person standing on the ground, and probably this circumstance caused the mistake of giving the name of Heathcote instead of Southcote ; a mistake to be found in almost every writer on the subject, since Mr. Morant. On the same side of the chancel there is an elegant mural monument of wliite marble, containing two figures kneeling at an altar; the man attired in armour. The inscription informs us it was erected to the memory of Sir Thomas Nevill, and his lady, descended fi-om the ancient and honourable family of that name in York- shire. The date is 1593. On the south side of the chancel there is a very large vault belonging to the ancient family of Berniet, formerly lords of Witham. On a white marble monument, also in the chancel, is the following inscription : — Juxtalioc niarmor Conditae sunt reliquiae Roberti Barwell, generosi, Filii Dni Roberti, et Marthse Barwell ; plusquam Annos bis octaginta enumerantium ipsi. Pro dolor ! subito apoplexise ictui succubuit. , ( Salutis 1697, \ , ,„• „- Anno < T.. ■ ,, > Juni2/. ( iEtatis suae U, J In uxorem sibi ascivit Sarara Josephi Newman, Generosi, de Colchesteria, filiam quatuor supersunt liberi, duo Filii, totidemque filise, ipsi charissinii, Xewmanus, Robertus, Sarali et Martha, Qui prematura bon£e indolis edunt specimina ; Primogenitus pietatis ergahoc posuit Monumentum. Uum multos longaeva parens numeraverit annos Filius ante diem rapitur ; quam rara senectus ? Quid medicina valet? Nil plus ars victa Galeni; Contendunt luctu proles et flebile marmor ; Quae tanti fletus ? tanti quae causa doloris ? Durior en ! Sors est aliis, quos longior ordo Morborum cruciat, facile hie descendit ad umbras Vixqtie mori dicas, potius sua vita recessit. TRANSLATION. Near this monument Are interred the remains of Robert Barwell, Gent. Son of Robert and Martha Barwell, In the north aisle : — Whose ages together amounted to more than a hundred and sixty years. Whilst he, alas ! fell a sacrifice to a sudden stroke of apoplexy, , ., e ^Salvation, l(i9",P , „„ In the year 01 ■} tt- ,< f June 2/. ■' < His age 44, J He married Sarah, daughter of Joseph Newman, Of Colchester, gentleman. He left issue four beloved children. Two sons and two daughters, Newman, Robert, Sarah, and Martha, Who gave the earliest proof of the goodness of their dispositions. The eldest hath erected this monument. Whilst the parent lives to an unconnnon age, Behold the offspring is early taken off: How few number many years .' Of what avail is medicine ? Of what benefit the now conquered skill of Galen ! His children contend with the marble who shall manifest most grief. But why all this sorrow ! Whence the cause of all this lamentation ! When tlie fate of those whom a long series of illness torments Is much worse than this man's. He descends with ease into his grave ; He can scarcely be said to die, but rather to depart from life. " Here lies the Reverend Jonas Warley, D.D. Archdeacon of Colchester, Prebendary of Cant- low, Vicar of Witham, and sometime Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge. He was very diligent and conscientious in the discharge of his diaconal and pastoral office ; a great promoter of good works; witness this church, and the restoring of IS/, per annum for the almspeople, which had HUNDRED OF WIT HAM. 22ti been lost nearly 80 years. He was ready to oblige every one, and willingly offended none : CHAP. II. was always steady to the principles and interest of the church, yet of so courteous a behaviour, that he was by all parties respected. He did, not only in his life, many good works, but left considerable sums to several charities when he died, and on his death was lamented b)' all who knew him. Obit. Aug. 9, 1722, aged 73." Over the vestry door : — In memory of The Rev. Andrew Downes, M.A. Late Vicar of Witham, Son of Robert, lord Bishop of Raplioe, and grandson of Henry, lord Bishop of Derry, Born December 4, 1741 ; Instituted to this vicarage October 31, 1782, Died October 19, 1820, aged 78 years. In whom Were combined mental endowments liighly culti- vated and adorned, Manners simple, yet refined. Morals pure and irreproachable, In the middle aisle : — In memory of The Venerable and Reverend Joseph Jefferson, M.A. and F.A.S. .\rchdeacon of Colchester, Rector of Weely, and Vicar of this parish. Who departed this life Dec. 28, 1821, Aged 61 years, And was buried at King's Langley, In the county of Hertford. A temper equable, serene and cheerful, Integrity incorruptible, Conjugal, parental, and social virtue, Conscientious rectitude in the discharge of the pas- toral office, With piety humble and unaffected, An union of admirable qualities, The result of christian faith, and hope, and charity. By his widow and family. To testify their own veneration and affection, And to incite others to profit by such an example, This tablet is erected. His public virtues let his works attest, Lo I yonder school, for village youth designed ; Lo ! too, yon hospital dispensing rest To the diseased, and maimed, and halt, and blind. His private virtues need no record here. For, long shall mourning memory proclaim His fervent piety, his faith sincere, His deeds of mercy that endear his name. In 1491, Thomas Green, Esq., by will, gave a messuage, called Rounds, and thirty Charities. acres of land, in Springfield, for the sustentation of his almshou.se at Cheping Hill, at Witham, and the poor folk residing there, each to have, weekly, twopence in money and two quarters of wood, and a pound of candles yearly, to be disti-ibuted by the churchwardens of Witham, and the surplus for the use of the church. Dame Catherine Barnardiston, in 1626, gave a house to the minister of this parish, on condition of his preaching a sermon on Tuesdays, in the afternoon ; but the feoffees gave consent to have two sermons on the Sabbath instead. She likewise gave, in 1632, to this parish, 100/., the interest of which was to be laid out in bread, and given to twelve poor widows every Sunday ; but a house was built with this money, and some part of it converted into a workhouse. George Armond, Gent., in the reign of King Charles the First, 1627, built and endowed an almshouse for the use of two poor widows ; the endowments arising from the rents of four tenements, and 224 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. two almshouses on Cheping Hill, endowed with 18/. a year; this endowment, after having been lost nearly eighty years, was recovered by the vigilance of Dr. Wai-ley, at that time vicar of the parish. Of this, 10/. a year goes to the widows, and the rest towards beautifying the church. Five almshouses were demised to certain feoffees, Feb. 28, 1687, for the use often poor widows, and endowed with 35/. lOs. per ann. Dr. Warley * gave 50/., the interest of which is to be laid out in bread, and given, every Sunday, to six poor women frequenting the church. The same gentleman also gave 100/. towards establishing an orthodox school for poor children of this parish, who are not to be admitted under the age of eight years, and not to exceed that of fourteen during the time of education. Sir John Sir John Suckling, a celebrated wit, courtier, and dramatist, was born in this town in 1613. His father was of the same name, and comptroller of the household to King Charles the First, and member of parliament for Norwich. Young Suckling, at an early age, discovered an extraordinary propensity to learn languages ; and is said to have spoken Latin fluently at five, and to have wrote it correctly when only nine years old. After lingering some little time about the court, during which period he seems to have given some uneasiness to his father, whose gravity but ill accorded with the gaiety and French -manners adopted by his livelier offspring, he was despatched upon his travels. Abroad he seems to have aimed at nothing more than the character of a courtier and a fine gentleman ; which he so far attained, that he was allowed to have the peculiar happiness of making every thing that he did become him. In his travels he made a campaign under the great Gustavus Adolphus, in the co"rse of which he was present at three battles and several sieges. His loyalty, if not ois valour, appeared in the beginning of our civil wars ; for after his return to England, he raised a troop of horse for the king's service, entirely at his own charge, and mounted them so completely and richly, that they are said to have cost him 12,000/. But this troop, with Sir John at its head, behaved so indifferently in the engagement with the Scots, upon the EngUsh borders, in 1639, as to occasion the famous lampoon composed by Sir John Mennis, beginning, " Sir John he got him an ambling nag,"' &c. This ballad was set to a popular tune, and was in great request with the parliamentarians. This disastrous occuiTence is supposed to have hastened his death, for he was soon after seized with a feverish complaint, of which he died at twenty-eight years of age, in 1641. He was possessed of a sprightly wit, and is described as having been a good musician, though the want of harmony in his verses would seem to indicate a defective ear. His works, consisting of a few poems, letters, and plays, have been frequently reprinted. • He was the second son of John Warley, of Eltham, in Kent, educated at the free-school in Canterbury ; Fellow of Clare-hall; Rector of Loughton ; Vicar of Witham; Prebendary of Wells, and of Kentishtown, in St. Paul's, and Archdeacon of Colchester. HUNDRED OF ^yITHAM. 225 CHAP. II. CRESSING. This parish was formerly included in that of Witham, and consequently is not Cressin". separately mentioned in Domesday book. It joins to Bradwell, on the north, Witham on the south, Little Coggeshall on the east, and White Notley on the west : the name is formed fi-oni the two Saxon words, Cnerren and mj, supposed Cresses-field; in records, Cressing, Kirsing, Cursing : it is about five miles in circumference; the soil is in general heavy, but good. Hops have been cultivated here. The population consists of two hundred and thirty-eight males, and two hundred Populatior and fifty-one females; total, four hundred and eighty-nine. Cressing formed part of the possessions of Earl Hai-old, and succeeding proprietors Manor. of Witham, till the time of King Stephen, who about the year 1 151 gi-anted this manor, with the advowson of the church, to the knights templars, and it hence received the name Knights of Cressing Temple, and was made a preceptory, or commandery.* When this order ''"'P^'"^- of knights was suppressed, in 1311, Cressing Temple, with their other possessions, passed to the knights hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, near West Smithfield : some time before this occurrence, the hamlet, or parish, had been divided into Great and Little Cressing. After the general suppression of religious houses, particularly of the knights hos- pitallers, in 1540, the manor of Cressing, and half-hundred of Witham, were granted, Smyth in 1541, to Sir William Huse, from whom they passed to the Smyth family, who long flourished at Cressing Temple. Their ancestor was Sir Michael Carrington, standard- bearer to King Richard the First, in his expedition to the Holy Land. Sir William Carrington, his son and heir, was father to Sir W^illiam who married Anne, daughter of Edmund Farnell, and their eldest son, Edmund, marrying Catherine, daughter of Thomas Herrel, had by her Sir William Carrington, who marrying Catherine, the sister of William Montague, earl of Salisbury, their eldest son was Sir Thomas Carrington, who married Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Roos ; and his posterity were John, Edmund, (who married Jane, daughter of Sir John Ferrers, by whom he had Catherine, vidfe of John Trancham, Esq., and Isabell, wife of Thomas Nevil, Esq.) and a daughter, Anne, wife of William Lemton, Esq. Sir Thomas died in 1380, and his eldest son, John Carrington, Esq., being obliged to banish himself from the coun- try,"}- as is believed, on account of the civil wars of York and Lancaster, changed his name to Smyth. He married Melicent, daughter of Robert Laingham, Esq., and died in 1446, leaving his eldest son, Hugh, of Cressing, also a son Thomas, who was of • A capital messuage with lands, helonging to this society, was so named, and the governor of it was called the commander. Preceptories were benefices possessed by the most eminent templars, created by the chief master, and named Prace/itores Templi. Of these there were sixteen in England, of which Cressing Temple was the first in importance. — Monast. Anglic, vol. ii. p. 543. f Hie fjit iste Johannes de cujus adversa fortuna historia contexitur. VOL. I. G G 226 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Rivenhall, and by his second wife Isabel, daughter of WiUiam Tofts, Esq., of Little Baddow, had Sir Clement Smyth, of that place, who married Dorothy, sister to Edward, duke of Somerset: John Smyth, of Blackmore, in Essex, and Leonard Smyth, of Shouldham, in Norfolk, were also his sons. By this connexion Hugh, the eldest son of John Cai-rington (Smjth, Esq.), first of Cressing, and afterwai'ds of Witham, had an only son. Sir John Smyth,* first remembrancer, and one of the barons of the Exchequer in 1540. Thomas, the eldest surviving son of Sir John Smyth, by his first wife, was of Cressing Temple ; he had by his second wife Marj', daughter of Sir Thomas Nevil, of Holt, in Leicestershire, Clement, Henry, William, and Thomas : of these, none had surviving offspring except Sir Thomas, who died in 1636, when this estate descended to Henry ; or, according to some accounts, to Sir John Smyth, son of Sir Thomas, of Holt. The estate continued in the possession of the family till after the year 1646, when it was conveyed to Audley ; Tuke; and to Sir Thomas Davies, Knight, lord mayor of London in 1677. His eldest son, Thomas Davies, Esq. unfortunately shooting himself hei'e, his brothers, John, Robert, and James, sold the estate to the family of Olimius, Lord Waltham. The present o^vner of this manor is J. Grimwood, Esq. A court leet for Cressing Temple is kept at Terling the last day of December, yearly. The manor-house had formerly a chapel, or oratory, consecrated for divine service, which was, in 1626, granted to William Smyth, Esq. at that time lord of the manor. The church of Cressing, dedicated to All Saints, was originally a chapel to Witham, and founded by Elphelm att Gore, and his wife Levelote, who gave twenty acres of land for its maintenance. Afterwards, when King Stephen granted the rectory of Witham to the religious house of St. Martin-le-Grand, in London, the dean and canons there ordained a vicar at Witham, who was bound to supi)ort the chapel of Cressing ; and since that time the patronage and presentation have remained in that church. There is a very ancient monument in the church, to the memory of some individuals of the Nevil family. Chapel. Church. FAULKBOURN. Faulk- bourn. Itomaii antiquities. The name of this parish is supposed to have been derived fiom the Saxon Folc and burn, the Folk's brook, or well ; applied to a spring between the chm-ch and the manor-house, dedicated to St. Germain, and which yet retains the name of that saint. A Roman villa is supposed to have stood here, from the circumstance of a silver coin of Domitian having been found under an old wall, partly composed of Roman bricks, and particularly noticed by Bishop Gibson. • This Sir John was buried in Witham church ; his arms are : .\rgent, two che\Tons, azure, each charged with five fleur-de-lis, or ; on a chief of the second, a lion passant gardant argent. Crest, an arm sleeved and cuifed, argent, holding in a hand proper two broad arrows, or. HUNDRED OF WIT HAM. 227 This parish lies south fi-om Cressing, and is two miles distant from Witham, in a CHAP. ii. north-easterly direction. The soil does not differ materially from other parts of the hundred, but it lies low. The population consists of eighty-three males and eighty-five females ; total, one Populatio,,. huncfred and sixty-eight. Faulkbourn was holden by Turbin in the time of Edward the Confessor, and was Hamo given by William the Conqueror to his nephew, Hamo Dapifer, who had numerous ^^^^"' lordships in this county. He was Lord of Astremerville, in Normandy, and descended ^phen from Duke Rollo. His brother, Robert Fitz-Hamon,* obtained the Barony of mon. Gloucester of William Rufus ; and in 1091, was commander in chief in the conquest of Glamorganshire from tlie Welsh. He died in HOT, and was buried in the Abbey- church of Tewksbury, leaving four daughters, by his wife, Sibil, daughter or OTand- ?-°S" ~ Montijo- daughter of Roger Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury. But King Henry the First, not mery. permitting so large an inheritance to be divided among females, because not capable of performing military service, made the eldest. Cicely, abbess of Shaftesbury ; Hawise, the second, abbess of Wilton ; and Amice, the youngest, he gave in marriage to earl of Bretagne ; reserving Sibil or Mabil, the third, for Robert, his natural son, to whom he gave, on her o^vn account, the whole honour of Gloucester, a large inheritance in Normandy, and the whole estate of her uncle, Hamo Dapifer ; he also conferred on him the title of Earl of Gloucester. And thus Faulkbourn, from Hamo Dapifer, who died without issue, came, by the marriage of his niece, to be involved in the lionour of Glou- cester, on which it depends, as to its tenure, being holden of the honour of Clare, as of the honoiu- of Gloucester. William, the eldest son of Robert, succeeding to his father's honours and estates, sold this to Richard de Lucy, lord chief justice of England; the said William reserving to himself and lieirs the sernce of ten knight's fees, which service, and consequently the tenure of this lordship, came to the honour of Clare, by the marriage of Amice, daughter, and at length sole heir of the said earl, with Richard de Clare, baron of Clare and Tonebridge, and earl of Gloucester, in right of this marriage. Richard de Lucy was sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1156, and died in 11 79, leaving Geofrey, Herbert, Maud, and Rohaise. Geofrey, the eldest son, succeeded, but dying without surviving offspring, his inheritance came to his two sisters, and the lands in Essex to Maud, who had two husbands, Walter Fitz- Robert, and Richai-d de Ripariis, or Rivers. She had a son Richard, who died before her, and consequently, on her death, in 1243, Richard de Rivers, her gi-andson, became her heir, who being at that time only four yeai-s of age, his wardship was given * There is an impenetrable darkness in this part of Norman history. Robert Fitz-Hamon, we might natu- rally suppose to have been the son of Hamo Dapifer. as his name imports ; but he was his brother, and Hamo is stated to have been uncle to the daughters of Hamo Dapifer. Camden says that Robert FiCz- Hamon, who conquered Glamorganshire, was the son of Haimon Dentatus, earl of Corboil. Brit, m Glam, 228 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Montgo- mery family. by the king to Philip Basset, for a thousand marks ; and in 1263, he held ten knight's fees, part of which was Faulkboui'n, under Richard, earl of Gloucester and Hertford. John de Rivers, his son and successor, died in 1294; whose son, of the same name, in 1339, conveyed this, with other estates, to Sir John Sutton, of Wivenhoe; and a great part of it was in the possession of Thomas Fabell, in 1353, whose son and heir was John Fabell. It afterwards passed to Sir John Curzon, who was succeeded by Sir Thomas Mandeville, in 1364; who dying in 1399, Alice, his eldest daughter, was the next heir : she was twice married ; first to Helmingius Legat, and afterwards to Roger Spice, of the family of Spice, seated at Bocking. In 1411, John de Bohun, earl of Hereford, held these possessions of the Earl of March, as of his honour of Clare, in which he was succeeded by Sir John Montgo- mery, who is supposed to have been a native of Scotland, his arms being nearly the same as those of Montgomery, earl of Eglington. This Sir John was created a knight of the bath, at the feast of St. George, held in Caen, in Normandy, where he was made privy counsellor to the regent, John, duke of Bedford ; captain of the strong castle of Arques, and other fortresses ; bailifl' of Caux ; and nominated in the scrutiny of the order of the garter in the twenty-third of Henry the Sixth ; he also became famous for various military exploits in the French wars, and was first in the list of the gentry of this county returned by the commissioners in 1433. He died in 1449, leaving his widow in possession of this estate, and the advowson of the church, which she retained till her death in 1464. The offspring of this connexion were, John, Thomas, Anne, and two other daughters, both named Alice ; one of these was married to John Fortescue, afterwards to Robert Langley, and lastly to Edmund Wiseman: the second Alice became the wife of Clement Spice. John, the eldest son, is supposed to have been the person of this name who was beheaded in 1462 for his attachment to the party of King Henry the Sixth. Sir Thomas Montgomery, the second son, was one of the most eminent men of his time ; from his infancy, educated in the court of King Henry the Sixth ; he was one of the marshals of his hall, keeper of the exchange and of the money in the tower of London, and had the wardenship of the coinage of gold and silver within the kingdom. Having the art of adapting his conduct to all changes, he became one of the greatest favourites, and of the privy council of Edward the Fourth, who heaped upon him places of trust and profit ; gave him the stewardship of Havering at Bower, of Hadleigh Castle, and of the Forest of Essex; the constableship of Bristol, and of the castle of Caen, in Normandy, and the treasurership of Ireland, all for life: he was created a knight, a knight banneret, and a knight of the honourable order of the garter ; he was also employed in embassies and affairs of the greatest consequence, and was one of the knights of the shire for the county of Essex. He was as great a favourite with Richard the Third as he had been with his predecessor, for Richard granted him the whole estate of John de Vere, HUNDRED OF WITHAM. earl of Oxford, in this county. This, however, was taken from him on the fall of the chap II usurper. He was also in high estimation under King Henry the Seventh. He made his will at Faulkbourn, from whicli we learn that he was possessed of this manor and the advowson of the church ; of the manor of Blunt's Hall, and a water-mill called Mocon's Mill, in Witham ; of the manors of Rivenhall, and Great Tey ; Mulsham, Brayhams, and Warrocks, in Great Lees ; Bower Hall, in Mersea ; and Great Braxtead : he had also the manor of Shipton, in Oxfordshire, and of Chauton, in Hampshire. He died in 1494, aged fifty-five, and was buried in the chapel of our lady, erected by him at Tower-hill, in the Abbey of St. Mary of Graces. His first wife was Philippa, daughter and co-heir of John Helion, Esq., of Bumsted Helion : his second wife was Lora, daughter of Sir Edward Barkely, of Beverston, and widow of John Blount, Lord Mountjoy. He had no surviving offspring.* John Fortescue, Esq., was the principal heir of Sir Thomas, and seated himself at Faulkbourn Hall. Another nephew and heir was Humphrey Spice, who, on his death in 1485, left an only daughter, named Philippa, afterwards married to John, son of the before-mentioned John Fortescue, Esq., by which means the greater part of the Montgomery estates came to the Fortescue family.f Philippa was, after her first husband's death, again married, having for her second husband Sir Francis Bryan, wlio, in her right, presented to this living in 1534. The family of Fortescue was of Wimpston, in Devonshire. The second son of Sir William Fortescue, of that place, was Sir John, who was captain of Meaux and governor of Brie, in France, in the reign of King Henry the Sixth, whose eldest son. Sir Henry, was lord chief justice of Ireland, and his second son, Sir John Fortescue, became chief justice of the King's Bench in 1442, and lord chancellor of England toward the close of the reign of King Henry the Sixth. He was the author of " De Laudibus Legitm Anglia," and several other valuable works. From the third son, Richard Fortescue, Fortescue Esq., proceeded the Fortescues of Poundsborrow, in Hertfordshire. John Fortescue, of that place, married Alice, daughter of Sii Geofrey Bullen, by whom he had several sons, one of which married Alice Montgomery, as above stated, and died in 1518. Their son Hem-y was one of the four esquires for the body guard of Queen Elizabeth, The last of this family, who retained these possessions, was John Fortescue, Esq., who sold Faulkbourn to Sir Edward Bullock, of Loftes, in Great Totham, in this county. The name of Bullock is of great antiquity in various parts of the kingdom, but it cannot be clearly ascertained from whence this family originally came. Richard * Arms of Montgomery. Gules, a clievron ermines between three fleur-de-lis, or. f Sir Adrian Fortescue, of this family, was porter of the town of Calais, and came over with King Henry the Seventh, who created him a knight banneret, for his good services. John Fortescue, of Salden, in Buckinghamshire, overseer of Queen Elizabeth's studies, master of tlie wardrobe, a privy counsellor, chancellor of the Exchequer, and of the duchy of Lancaster, was his son. Arms of Fortescue. Argent, a bend engrailed cotised, sable. 230 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Bullock lived in the time of Henry the Third, and had Gilbert Bullock, Gent., father of Robert Bullock, who flourished in the reign of Edward the First. His son and heir, Gilbert Bullock, Esq., married Anne, daughter and heiress of Thomas Nevil, of Barkham, in Berkshire. Dr. William Bullock, clerk, was one of the commissioners to negotiate a peace between England and Scotland in 1335, and numerous persons of this surname were returned, as gentlemen, in 1431, the twelfth of King Henrj' the fomih^'^ Sixth. Henry Bullock, D.D., Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, was a good linguist and genei-al scholar: he was intimate with the celebrated Erasmus, whom he calls his master, and who in his letters styles him doctissimum Borilliim. Cardinal Wolsey was his patron. He was rector of St. Martin's Ludgate, in 1523, and vice- chancellor of Cambridge in 1523 and 1524. George Bullock was fellow of St. John's, in Cambridge, and afterwards master of that college, and vicar of St. Sepulchre, London, in 1558. He was also prebendary of Durham, and was one of the most learned writers of the age in which he lived. Robert Bullock, Esq., of Herburghfield, in Berkshire, was sheriff of that county, and of Oxfordshire, in 1389. He bore the same arms, and seems to have been the ancestor of the family of the Bullocks of Faulkbourn Hall : his son was Thomas, of the same place, who married Alice, daughter of William Yeading, whose son Robert married Margaret, daughter of William Norris, of Bray, in Berkshire, from whom descended the Lords Norris, of Ricot. The Bullocks of Thornborough, in Berkshire, were their descendants ; and John Bullock, Esq., the first who settled in the county of Essex, was one of them ; he resided at Great Wigborough, and died in 1595. Edward, his eldest son, married Joan, daughter of John Collen, of High Laver, and died about the year 1601. His son and heir, Edward, succeeded him, and in 1609 was knighted by King James the Faulk- First, and purchased Faulkbourn Hall in 1637; his posterity have remained here bourn Hall. ^^ jjjg present time.* The manor house is a stately and spacious building, and exhibits the architectural features of various ages ; the tower gateway is a fine specimen of the early Norman, and is believed to have been built by the Earl of Gloucester in the reign of King Stephen, or in that of Henry the Second ; and the various other parts are the production of different intermediate ages up to modern times, including numerous improvements by the present family. In several of the apartments there are fine paintings by Vandyck, Vandeveldc, Michael Angelo, Sir William Beechey, Sartorius, and other masters. The sin-rounding gi-ounds are beautiful and extensive, and well watered, with numerous springs ; and there is a cedar tree here of extraordinary dimensions, believed to be the largest in the kingdom ; • Arms of Bullock. Gules, a chevron, ermine, between three bulls' heads caboshed, argent, horned or. Crest, on a torse, argent and gules, five bills or staves, sable, bound with an escarf knot, tasselled gules. HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 231 at six inches above the ground it measures eighteen feet nine inches ; at ten feet from cuvr. ii. the gi-ound, fourteen feet nine inches ; its height to the first branch is nineteen feet. This elegant seat is enclosed in a park, within which the church, dedicated to St. church. Germain, is situated upon an eminence. It is kept in excellent repair, and has a small painted wooden spire, in which are two bells. St. Germain was bishop of Auxerre in the fifth century, and one of the champions of the Roman church, who came into England to confute the heretical opinions of the celebrated Pelagius. " He came," says Mr. Morant, " to combat, but not to defeat his opponent." There are inscriptions on two stones in the chancel to the memory of two of the Fortescue family, with the dates 1576 and 1598. And on the north side is the monument of Sir Edward Bullock, in black marble, with the date 1644. In the southern part of this chancel there is a costly and magnificent monument of white marble, bearing on a pedestal a female figure as large as life, with a scroll, on which is an inscription to the memory of John Bullock, Esq., of Dives Hall, who died in 1740. There are also other inscriptions, particularly the following, on a neat marble monument : Near this place lies the body of the Rev. Dr. Richard Bullock, Son of Edward Bullock, Esq. And of Mary, the daughter of Sir Josiah Child, Bart. A gentleman of superior abilities in his profession. And strict purity of life and manners. An honest sincerity of heart heightened all his christian virtues. And a peculiar tenderness distinguished him As a friend, a son, a husband, and a father. He died at Streatham, in Surrey, Nov. l(i, 1754, Aged 59, And this stone is raised to his memory By Whalley Bullock, his widow. As a testimony of her sincere affection and esteem. The said Whalley Bullock departed this life July 10, 1767, And was interred in the same grave. A Captain Hutchinson gave by will (the time unknown) 200/., the interest to be Charities. annually expended in bread, for the poor. FAIRSTED. This small parish joins that of Faulkbourn northward, and as its Saxon name Fairstead. imports, is in a pleasant and healthy situation. The soil is varied, containing a con- siderable portion of heavy and wet land on a whitish clay marl. It is four miles from Witham, and thirty-five from London, and contains about 12,000 acres of land. It has only two manors. The population consists of one hundred and forty-two males, and one hundred Pc],ulation. and twenty-one females; total, two hundred and sixty-three. Fairsted manor house is near the church; the manor belonged to William, earl ^'auor ' . house. Ferrers, the son of Robert, grandson of Henry de Ferrers, who lived in the time of 232 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Wileigh Hall. Lady Wvdelin's Chapel . Church. Rectory. Bishop Basset. the Conqueror. He married Margaret, the daughter and heiress of WilHam Peverell, of Nottingham, and she is supposed to have brought him this, with other lordsliips. He Hved about the time of Henry the Second ; his sons were Robert and Walche- line. It remained in the Ferrers family till the reign of Henry the Sixth, and afterwards passed to the Cornewall family, and to those of Chauncey and Hobbes, and to Colonel Fiennes ; from whom it was conveyed to the Barwell family, of which Newman Barwell appears to have been the last male heir, on whose death these possessions came to his sister. This lady, in 1720, contracted wth Robert Surman, deputy-cashier of the South-sea Company, for the sale of this manor ; the pur- chase money was to be 84,000/., but only 1,000/. had been paid in part, when the estate was sequestered by parliament for the use of the proprietors of the South-sea Stock. Afterwards, it became the property of General Oglethorpe. Walley,or Wileigh Hall, is about half a mile from the church, near the road to Brain- tree. The house is almost surrounded by a moat and a pond, and an ancient building belongs to it called Lady Wydelin's Chapel. This manor was anciently possessed by the Scott family, from whom it afterwards passed to the Fortescues and to the families of Bond, Dequester, and to the Ashhursts of Castle Hedingham. The church is small, and has a tower of stone, with three bells ; above this there is a lofty spire, shingled. The patronage of this church was given by Roger Rydel * to Eustace de Fauconberg, bishop of London from 1221 to 1228, or to whomsoever he would assign it, and he gave it to his successors, bishops of London, who have enjoyed it ever since. Near the communion table in the church there is an elegant monument to the memory of Sir Anthony Maxey and his lady, who lived here in the time of Queen Elizabeth. The cornice is supported by pillars of the Corinthian order ; and on the left, beneath an arch, are the effigies of Sir Anthony and his lady, kneeling ; and on the right, are figures of his son and daughter-in-law in similar postures. Several others of this family are also buried here. The rectory has seventy-seven acres of glebe land, twenty acres of which lie separate from the rest, and called Lade Wydelin's : for this the sum of 6s. 8cl. is paid yearly to Hazeley parish. Sir Philip Basset, brother to Fulk, bishop of London, gave to the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, seventy-six acres of arable, thirty acres of wood, two acres of meadow in Fairsted, and ten shillings of rent annually ; and also half an acre of meadow land in Boreham ; for keeping the anniversary of his brother, the bishop, and paying a hundred shillings on the first of May, for a repast or feast in the church of St. Paul. • Geofrey Rydel was eminently learned in the laws of England in the time of Richard the First, and was made chief justice. By Geva, daughter of Hugh, earl of Chester, he had an only daughter, married to Richard, son of Ralph Basset. HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 233 Fairsted court leet belongs to Cressing Temple ; it extends up to Willeigh Green. CHAP. ir. Some lands in this parish belonged to Darcies' chantries in Danbury and Maldon. A farm in this parish belongs to the widows' almshouses at Withani. Edward Livermore, in 1779, bequeathed by will 20/. the interest to be divided Charities, among the poor not receiving parish relief. WHITE NOTLEY. White and Black Notley formerly constituted only one township ; the name is sup- white posed to have been derived from the Saxon, Jcmi« and ley, a nut pasture. In Doomsday ^'"''"^y- book it is wTitten Nutlea, Nutleia, Nuchelea ; and in other records Nutteslega, Nute- legh, Notice, Notteley, Nuttely. The population consists of two hundred and twelve males, and one hundred and Populatio eighty-five females ; total, three hundred and ninety-seven. In Edward the Confessor's reign Notley was in the possession of Harold; a freeman, named Achi ; Alestan, another freeman ; Esgar ; Levecild; and the bishop of London. But very soon after, the whole was divided between Geofrey de Mande- ville, earl of Essex, and Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk ; and without doubt these capital proprietors founded the churches of White and Black Notley upon their respective lands, for the convenience of their tenants, endowing them with glebe lands and the tithes. The chief lords here at the time of the survey, were — Eustace, earl of Boulogne, Suene of Essex, Hamo Dapifer, John, son of Waleran, Geofrey de Mandeville, and Saisselin ; and their under tenants were, Aluric a Theign, Godebold, Ralph, Robert and John, son of Erunchen. The parish of White Notley contains what was held at the time of the survey by the earl of Boulogne, Suene of Essex and Hamo Dapifer. It joins to the north side of Fairsted, and lies three miles east from Black Notley. A strong loam on a clay bottom is the general character of the land. In 1211 the Eugaine family held this manor, and retained possession till lo99, when it went to the family of Pakenham ; and successively passed into the possession of the families of Aylesbury, Cheney, Vaux, and to the Wrights of Kelvedon Hatch. White Notley Hall was occupied for a considerable time by a family of the name of white AMiitbread; they intermarried with the Smyths of Cressing. h°M^ Slamondsey, or Slamsey, is a manor and hamlet belonging to this parish, on the siamond- right-hand side of the road to Little A^'altham, and separated fi-om the rest of the *^>'- parish by part of Black Notley and Great Lees ; it consists of three farms, being part of the endowment of Lees Priory. At the general suppression it was granted Lees to Richard Lord Rich, whose son sold it to John Forster, from whom it passed P"°0- to Richard Everard, Esq. who sold it to the Earl of Warwick ; and it was afterwards transferred to the last Lord Waltham. Between little and great Slamondsey, there is a farm called Cuthedge. VOL. I. H H 234 HISTORY OF ESSEX. KOOK n Alms- houses. The church is built of stone, and has a nave, two aisles and a chancel, and a lofty spire with three bells. The chancel was thoroughly repaired in 1639 by Henry Smyth, Esq. proprietor of the great tithes, and the ceiling was lined with wood, on which were several shields of arms, containing the quarterings of the Smyth and Nevil flimilies, of Cressing Temple. In the year 1 103, Roger Bigod, having founded a monastery at Thetford, in Norfolk, for Cluniac monks, made the tithes of this parish part of the endowment; and, in 1273 a vicarage was ordained here and endowed, the bishop of London reserving to himself and successors the right of nomination. At the suppression, the impropriate tithes wei'e granted to Thomas, duke of Norfolk, from whom they have since passed to various proprietors. There are two almshouses, -with two acres of land, on the road side in this parish, which were given to the poor by Major Whitebread, of Baddow : to these the parishioners have since added a house for one dweller. BLACK NOTLEY. Antiquities. Klack This parish contains what was holden here at the time of the survey, under the name of Nutlea, by John, son of Waleran, Geofrey de Mandeville and Sasseline. It is pleasantly situated on high gi'ound, and extends to the extremity of the hundred, northward. The soil is of various descriptions, but very fruitful. Population. The population consists of two hundred and eight males, and two liundred and ten females ; total, four hundred and thirteen. Several fragments of antiquities were dug up in a field here in the year 1752, among which were, an oblong blue glass vessel, wnth white bands rimning round it at unequal distances ; various pieces of earthenware ; a copper vessel with a small neck and globular body ; and another fi-agment of copper, like a fluted column, terminated at one end with a ram's head, and in its general appearance similar to one given by Count Caylus as a knife-handle.* There are two manors in this parish. The manor house of Black Notley, which is also named Gobions, is near the church, and the lands belonging to it are those held by Waleran and Sasseline, and which became incorporated into the honour of Man- deville, of which this manor was holden by the service of one knight's fee and a half. William de Mandeville, the son of Geofi-ey, by Margaret, daughter of Eudo Dapifer, had two sons : Geofrey, earl of Essex, and Walter. The latter had this estate : he married Gunnilda, daughter of Maurice the sheriff, also surnamed Fitzgilbert, and had by her Sir Thomas de Mandeville, who married Rose ; their son. Sir John, had licence, in the forty-eighth of Henry the Third, to hunt in the county of Essex. The • Cough's additions to the Britannia, vol. ii. p. 55. .Manor House. HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 235 second Sir Thomas of this family was his son ; who, marrying Ismena, the sister of Sir CHAP. li. Jolm de Roos, had Walter, who by his wife, Agnes, daughter of Nicholas Barrington, had Sir Thomas Mandeville, living in the year 1372, and who had a park in this parish : his wife was Anne, daughter and heir of Thomas de Drokensfield, or Drokensford ; and their son, Sir Thomas, marrying the daughter of — — Wauton, Knight, had by her Thomas, Alice, and Joan. On the death of Thomas, in 1399, his two sisters became his co-heirs. Joan was married, first to John Barry, and afterwards to William Pirton, of Ipswich ; and Alice had for her share, the manor of Black Notley, and other estates in this county. She was first married to Helmingius Legat, Esq. sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1401 and 1408, and had by him a son named Thomas, who is supposed to have died before his mother. The second husband of Alice was Roger, or Richard Spice,* of the family of that name seated at Bocking and Willingale-Spain. Spice He died in 1459, and his wife died in 1420. Their son and heir was Clement Spice, Esq., who married Alice, daughter of Sir John Montgomery, and sister and co-heir to Sir Thomas Montgomery of Faulkbourn Hall : and on his death in 1483, left a son, Humphrey, who on his death, in 1485, left Philippa, his daughter and heir, aged only one year. She was married to John Fortescue, Esq. to whom she brought a very gi-eat estate ; but in which this manor was not included, for it went to Joan Bradbury, with other lands in White Notley, both the Leighs, Felsted, and Fairsted, holden of the king, as of his duchy of Lancaster. This lady, who, in 1530, was a widow, is supposed to have been the sister of Humphrey Spice, or one of that family. She was married, first to Thomas Bodley, by whom she had James, and a daughter, named Dionysia. Her second husband was Thomas Bradbury, lord mayor of London in 1509, son of William Bradbury of Braughing, in Hertfordshire. James Bodley, her son, died before hei', leaving a son who became her heir, but seems to have died soon after her, for all the estates became vested in her daughter, who was married to Nicholas Leveson, sheriff of London in 1534, owner of Home Place, at Hailing, in Kent, by whom she had fom- sons and three daughters : Dorothy was the wife of ^^'illiam Streete ; Elizabeth, of Sir William Hewet, lord mayor of London ; and Mary, of Edmund Calthorp, Gent. Of the sons, Nicholas and John died without issue ; but Thomas, the second son, on the death of his mother, who survived her husband, and died in 1561, succeeded to the family inheritance. He married Ursula, daughter of Sir John Gresham, of Tillesley, in Surrey, and had by her nine daughters and three sons, of whom, William married the daughter of Robotham, of the wardrobe to Queen Ehzabeth, and by her had Thomas, born in 1594; John, the eldest son, succeeded his father, and had two wives ; Christian, daughter of Sir William Mildmay, chancellor of the Exchequer, by whom he had five daughters, and * Arms of Spice. Argent, on a cliief engrailed, azure, three martlets, or. 236 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. five sons. His second wife was Margaret, daughter of Sir Richard Manwood, chief baron of the Exchequer, by whom he had three daughters. John Leveson, Knt., the eldest son, held a court here in 1615; but from 1616 to 1620, the courts were holden in the names of Sir Francis Vane, Sir Richard Newport, Knts., and Edward Barret and Walter Barret, Esqrs. Afterwards the manor was in the possession of Richard, the second son, born in 1588, and created Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King Charles the First, who held it from 1627 to 1634, when he sold it to Thomas Keightly, Esq., fi"om whom it afterwards went to Thorowgood, Esq., Pate, Esq., Francis Asty, Esq., succeeded by Sir Marmaduke AstyWyville, Bart. and other proprietors. Stauntons is an estate which has been annexed to this manor ; tlie house is beside the road from Braintree to Faulkbourn ; it was in the possession of Clement Spice in 1483. Plumtrees is a capital estate in this parish, called also, the Buck : Milbourne Carter held this estate in right of his wife. The Buck is a good house, in which he resided. The church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, has a wooden turret, containing three bells, above which there is a shingled spire. Walter de Mandeville, in 1217, gave the lands and tithes of this church to the Priory of the Holy Trinity, in London, which, on the suppression of that house, were granted to John Cock and his heirs, to be holden of the manor of Clerkenwell. It afterwards came to the Levesons, lords of this manor. The parsonage house was new built by Geofrey Barton, LL. D. during his incumbency. The learned and christian philosopher, Ray, an honour and an ornament to this his native county, and to the nation, was born here ; and in the church-yard there is a handsome square monument on a pedestal, surrounded by an iron balustrade, which was erected by the Right Rev. Henry Compton, bishop of London : it bears the following elegant Latin inscription. Stauntons. The Buck. Cliurcli. Parsonage. Inscrip- tions. Eruditissimi viri Johannis Ray, A. M. quicquid mortale fuit Hoc in angusto tumulo reconditum est j at Scripta, non una continet regio ; Et fama undique celeberrima vetat mori. Collegii S. S. Trinitatis Cantab, fuit olini socius ; Nee non societatis regiae apud Londinensis sodalis, Egregium utriusque ornamentum. In omnium scientiarum genere, Tam divinarum quam humanarum, Versatissimus. Et sicut alter Solomon cui forsan unico secundus, A cedro ad hyssopum, Ab animalium ma.\imis ad minima usque insectarum, Exquisitam nactus est notitiam. Nee de plantis solum, qua patet terrae facies, Accuratissime disseruit ; Sed est intima ipsius viscera sagacissime rematus. Quicquid notatu dignum in universa natura descripsit; Apud exteras gentes agens Quae aliorum oculos fugerant diligenter exploravit. Multaq ; scitu dignissima primus in lucem protulit. Quod superest, ea morum simplicitate praeditus, Ut fuerit absq; invidia doctus Sublimis ingenii, HUNDRED OF WIT HAM. 237 In studiis nullum. Quid plura, Hisce omnibus Pietatem minime fucatam adjunxit. EcclesiEe Anglicans (id quod supremo habitu confirmavit) Totus est ex animo addictus. Sic bene latuit, bene \'ixit vir beatus, Quem praesens aetas colit, postera mirabitur. Et quod rare accidit, demissi simul anirai modesciq ; i" siuuiis nuiium. ^.tt , p . . Non sanguine et genere insignis, Quid plura, Sed (quod majus) Propria virtute illustris ; De opibus titulisq ; obtinendis Parum solicitus : Haec potius mereri voluit, quam adipisci: Dum sub privato lare, sua sorte contentus, (Fortuna lautiori dignus) consenuit. In rebus aliissibi modum facile imposuit: TRANSLATION. Whatever was mortal of that learned man, John Ray, A. M. is contained in this narrow tomb ; but bis writings are not confined to one country, and his fame, everywhere most celebrated, forbids him to die. He was once a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and of the Royal Society of London, of both a bright ornament. In every department of science, both divine and human, he was well-skilled : and, like another Solomon, to whom alone perhaps he was second, from the cedar to the hyssop, from the greatest animals to the most diminutive insects, he had gained a most accurate knowledge of nature. Nor did he make known only the plants which grow upon the earth's surface : he explored also its interior, and described whatever was worthy of notice in all nature. In his travels in foreign countries, he diligently examined what had escaped the eyes of others, and first brought to light many things that were worthy of knowledge. As to the rest, he was possessed of such simplicity of manners, that he was learned without envy, of a lofty genius, and, which rarely happens, at the same time of a humble and modest mind. Not renowned for the glorv of his ancestors but, which is more illustrious, by his own virtue. Little solicitous of obtaining riches and titles, he wished rather to deserve than to possess them. He reached old age in his own private dwelling, contented with his lot, though worthy of a higher fortune. In other things he easily confined himself to moderation, in his studies he had none. To all these he joined an unfeigned piety, and was to the last a zealous advocate of the English Church. Thus this happy man lived a good life in a virtuous concealment, whom the present age reveres the future will admire. On the north side,- J. RAY. Nat. 29 Nov., 162S. Ob. 17 Jan., 170.5,-6. The Priory of Leighs had a messuage and ten acres of land in tliis parish. Mr. Coker left an estate at Booking, called Hull-Bush, of which an annuity of eight Charities, pounds is given to that number of poor widows, on Lady-day, and five pounds to a charity school. Ten poinids a year for ever was left by Mary, the daughter of Edwin Walford, of this parish, and wife of Captain Thomas Kitching. The learned Dr. William Bedell was born in this parish in 1570, and educated at Bishop Emmanuel College, Camljridge, where he obtained a fellowship at the age of twenty- three. In 1604 he became chaplain to Sir Henry Wotton, and accompanied that gentleman on his embassy to the republic of Venice, where he obtained thefi-iendship of the famous Antonio de Dominis, archbishop of Spalatro, whom he assisted in the book entitled "De Republica Ecclesiastica." He also contracted a close intimacy with Father Paul Sarpi, who presented him with his manuscript history of the coimcil of Trent, and other valuable writings. In 1627, he was elected provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and two years aftenvards was presented to the bishoprics of Kilmore 238 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. and Ardagh : but though two of the poorest sees in Ireland, tlie conscientious scruples of this good bishop would not allow him to appropriate two livings to himself, and he therefore resigned one of them. His episcopal character was exemplary ; and by his firm, yet conciliating endeavours, he effected a considerable reformation in the conduct of the inhabitants of his diocese, which had been previously considered one of the most turbulent and licentious in the country. When the rebellion broke out in 1642, the bishop at first did not feel the violence of its effects ; for the very rebels had conceived a great veneration for him, and they declared he should be the last Englishman they would drive out of Ireland. His was the only house in the county of Cavan that was not violated, and it was filled with people who fled to him for protection. About the middle of December, however, pursuant to orders received from their council of state at Kilkenny, they required him to dismiss the people that were with him, which he refused to do, declaring he would share the same fate as the rest. Upon this, they seized him, two of his sons, and Mr. Clogy, who had married his daughter-in-law, and carried them prisoners to the castle of Cloughboughter, sur- rounded by a deep water, where they put them all, except the bishop, in irons : after some time, however, this part of the severity was abated. After a confinement of about three weeks, the bishop, his two sons, and Mr. Clogy were exchanged for some of the principal rebels ; but the worthy bishop died soon after, on the 9th of February, 1642, his death being chiefly occasioned by his imprisonment. Tiie Irish did him unusual honour at his burial ; for the chief of the rebels gathered their forces together, and with them accompanied his body to the church-yard. He was the author of many learned works. Kay. John Ray, M.A., was the son of Roger Ray, a blacksmith, of this parish, who, perceiving that he possessed a superior genius, sent him to school at Braintree, and from thence to Cambridge, where he was admitted into Catherine Hall, but afterwards removed to Trinity College. He took the degree of M.A., and became a senior fellow ; but his intense application to study having injured his health, he was obliged to exercise himself much in riding, or in walking, which confirmed him in his attach- ment to the study of natiu'e. In 1661 he made a tour through Great Britain, accom- panied liy the celebrated Mr. Francis Willoughby, in search of rare plants ; and in the following year accompanied the same gentleman in a tour through Holland, Germany, France, and Italy; and, on his return, was made F.R.S. Mr. Wil- loughby dying soon after his return fiom the Continent, made Mr. Ray one of his executors, and tutor to his children, with sixty po\uids a j'ear for life. In 1673 he married a daughter of Mr. Oakley, of Launton, Oxfordshire. Among his most valuable works are, " Topographical and Moral Observations made in Foreign Coun- tries," " The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation," and "Three Physico-theological Discoui'ses concerning the Chaos, Deluge, and Dissolution of the HUNDRED OF WIT HAM. 239 World." His communications to the Philosophical Society, and numerous works on CHAP. II . natural history and other subjects, are deservedly esteemed. He was modest, affable, and communicative, and distinguished by his probity, charity, sobriety, and piety. Towards the latter part of his life, Mr. Ray removed from Cambridge to his native place, where he died in 1706, in his seventy-eighth year. TERLING Lies between Hatfield Peverell and Fairsted, and is bounded on the west by Terlintr. the hundred of Chelmsford. This parish is pleasant in its situation, and its soil, though in some places heavy, is yet highly productive. Its name is of uncertain derivation. It is two miles north-west from Witham, eight from Chelmsford, and thirty-six from London. There is a fair here on Whit-Monday. The population consists of four hundred and ten males, and three hundred and Population, seventy-one females ; total, seven hundred and eighty-one. In Edward the Confessor's reign Terling was holden by a king's thane, named Ailmer ; and, at the time of the general survey, by Ralph Peverell, with an under- tenant named Richard. There are four manors, or capital estates in this parish. Terling manor had formerly a good mansion-house near the church, called Terling Terling Place. This manor was originally part of the endowment of the abbey of Ely, but house, was taken from it by William the Conqueror, on account of the protection found there by the fiigitive Saxons, and it was given to Ralph Peverell ; it afterwards passed to Robert de Bruce, and to the Bohuns, earls of Essex and Hertford, as lords pai-amount. It was held under them in 1269 by the bishop of Norwich, and his successor had a park and a palace here, with a chapel that had the privilege of sanctuary ; and here the celebrated Hubert de Burgh, earl of Kent and chief justice, fled for refuge from the pursuit of his enraged sovereign. King Henry the Third. It continued to be held by the see of Norwich* till Richard Nix exchanged it with the crown in 1535 for the lands, manors, &c. belonging to St. Bennet de Hulm. King Henry the Eighth resided here, as appears from several acts of his ; particularly the creation of Sir Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp, in 1736; in which year that monarch granted this manor, with the advowson of the rectory and vicarage, to Thomas Audley,f lord chancellor of England, and Thomas Pomell : from the family of Audley it passed by marriage to Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, who sold it to Thomas Mildmay, Esq., of Moulsham Hall, from some of whose posterity it came to Thomas Western, Esq., of Rivenhall, who gave it, with his daughter in marriage, to Henry Featherstone, Esq., brother to Sir Heneage Featherstone, of Harsingbrook, in Stanford-le-Hope ; • In His, the Bishop of Norwich obtained a grant of a market and a fair at Terling : the latter is yet continued. f He obtained a licence, in 1540, to enclose three hundred acres here for a park. 240 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Strutt family. Baroness Rayleigli. Margcries, or Terling Hall. and it was purchased in 1761 of Sir Matthew Featherstonehaugh, by John Strutt, Esq., and has remained in the family. The present manor-house is an elegant quadrangular building, on elevated ground, commanding an extensive and pleasant prospect ; it is enclosed in a handsome park, well wooded, and both the mansion and suiTOunding grounds have been gi-eatly improved by the last and present proprietor. Sir Denner Strutt, Knt., was of Little Warley, of which place he was created a baronet in 1641 ; he suffered severely from the arbitrary exactions of the parliament in the time of King Charles the First, being compelled to pay 1,350/. for the redemp- tion of his estates, which had been seized; and he was afterwards slain in battle, fighting in the royal cause. Sir Denner leaving no surviving offspring, his brother was the ancestor of the present family. John Strutt, Esq., of Terling, was repre- sentative of Mai don in three successive parliaments. In 1756 he married Anne, daughter of the Rev. ^^'illiam Goodday, of Strellay, in Nottinghamshire, by whom he had John, who died in 1781; Joseph Holden, his heir; and William Goodday, a major-general, and governor of Quebec. Mr. Strutt died at the advanced age of ninety, and was succeeded by his son, Joseph Holden Strutt, who was educated at Winchester, and afterwards at Brazennose College, Oxford, where, as a gentleman- commoner, he took the regular bachelor and master of arts degrees. In 1782, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel to the Essex militia; in May, 1796, he was appointed colonel of the Essex supplementary militia, which being reduced, he was again appointed colonel to another regiment of Essex militia, and that also being reduced, he was appointed colonel to the first Essex local militia, retaining his rank of colonel fi-om the original date of that commission in the militia service. In the year 1790, he succeeded his father as representative in parliament for the ancient borough of Maldon, which he uninterruptedly represented till 1827, and was afterwards chosen for Okehampton. This gentleman married the Lady Charlotte Mary Gertrude, fourth daughter and eighth child of James, duke of Leinster, by Lady Emily Lennox, daughter of Charles, duke of Richmond, Lennox, and Aubigny. The offspring by this marriage are, Emily Anne, born 24th of January, 1790 ; John James, born 30th of January, 1796; and Charlotte Olivia Elizabeth, born 5th of January, 1798. The Lady Charlotte Mary Gerti-ude Strutt was created Baroness Rayleigh, on the 9th of July, 1821. Heir apparent, John James, her ladyship's only son. Creation, 18th of July, 1811.* The manor of Margeries, or Terling Hall, belonged to the knights hospitallers till the dissolution of monasteries, when it seems to have been held in portions by various • Arms of Strutt. Argent, a saltier, gules. Supporters: dexter, a reindeer, or, collared sable; sinister, a monkey (iroper, chained, or. HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 241 persons till it came to the Smyth family about the year 1554, from whom it passed chap. ii. into that of Shaa; and from them, by marriage, was conveyed to the family of Godebold, or Godbolt.* This family came from Suffolk. John Godebold, Esq. maiTied Mary, the eldest daughter of John Sammes, Esq., and had with her Topingo Hall ; and afterwards, various individuals of the family, by intermaiTiages with the families of Shaa and Aylmer, became possessed of Mugdon Hall, in Ulting, and of Terling Hall. The manor of Ringers took its name from an ancient family, and was in the Ringers, possession of John Renger, in the time of Henry the Third and Edward the First. It was afterwards purchased by Nicholas le Gros, and passed to the fiimilies of Goldington, Chertesey, and Henxtwell, and the Rochester family. In 1508, Robert Rochester held the manor of Ringers of the bishop of Norwich, as of his manor of Terling Hall; and on his death, in 1558, was succeeded by John, his son; it passed from him to Robert Wiseman, Esq. ; to — Haver, Gent., of Norfolk, who sold it to — Taverner, of Halstead, fi'om whom it passed to John Godebold, of Terling Hall, who sold it to John Harris, distiller, of Redcross-street, London, who mai'ried Sarah Sawin, of Great Lees, and whose son Benjamin, in 1746, sold this manor to Mr. John Strutt, of Maldon. The manor-house is about a mile from the church. Lowes, or Loys Hall, was a manor, formerly belonging to the Rochesters. The Lowes, or house was remarkably large, but a gi-eat part of it has been taken down ; yet there is ''^^' sufficient of it left to make a very good and commochous farm-house. This estate, with that of Scarletts, was holden, in 1588, under Sir George Norton, of his rectory of Terling, by William Rochester, who was succeeded by his son John ; from whom, passing to the Taverner family, it became the property of James Taverner, M. D. on whose death it was purchased by Mr. John Strutt. The ancient family of Rochester flomished in this parish for many generations. Richai'd de Roucester lived here in 1317, and John Rowchester died 1444, having been returned, in 1433, one of the chief gentlemen of the county appointed for the better keeping of the peace : he man-ied the widow of ^^'illiam Gotham, and lies buried with her in Terling Church, where Robert Rochester, and Johanna, his wife, are also buried. Robert Rochester, comptroller of the household to John, earl of Oxford, died in 1506, and John, his son, died the year following, having married Grisild, daughter and co-heir of Ralf Writtle, and leaving by her three sons — Robert, William, and John. The eldest, Sir Robert, was comptroller of the household to King Philip and Queen Mary, and died in 1557. William, his next brother, succeeded him, and died in 1558, leaving by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Thomas Newton, foiu- sons and two daughters. Of these, Grisild was the wife of JobljTi Pease, and Phihppa was • Arms of Godebold. Azure, two cross-bows in saltier, argent. Crest, a hand dexter armed, throwing a dart. VOL. I. I I 243 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Ridlev Hall.' BOOK II. married to Laurence Ball, of London. John, the eldest son and heir, married first, Philippa, daughter of Richard Whetley, by whom he had two sons and six daughters : Anne, wife of Thomas Wyberd, or \\'hitbread ; Margaret, of James Lord, of London ; Penthesilia, of John Bronshall, of Huntingdonshire ; Mary, of Henry Saville ; Philippa, of Thomas Shaa, of Terling; and Elizabeth, of John Frankling, of Kent. His second wife, Johanna, had two childi'en — Robert and Mary. John Rochester died in 1584, and Emerius, his eldest son and heir, mai-ried Frances, daughter of Francis Stonard, of Knolles Hill, in this county, and died in 1618. Ridley Hall is a very old house, about a mile from the church, on the road to . Great Leighs. It was in the possession of a Saxon, named Esgar, in the time of Edward the Confessor, and at the Survey belonged to Geofrey de Mandeville. After- wards it belonged to a family which, fi-om the place, took the surname of Riddelee, or Redleigh. Roger Redleigh held it of Roger de Bohun, earl of Essex, in 1372. No further account has been preserved till it came into the possession of Sir Humphrey Browne, one of the judges of the Common Pleas, who died in 1563. George, his son and heir, was, at that time, fifty years of age. This estate afterwards formed part of the possessions of the owners of New Hall, in Boreham, and was purchased by Benjamin Hoare, Esq., who sold it to Thomas Chitty, Esq., lord mayor of London in 1760. Ridley Hall has been conjectured to be what was anciently called the manor of Necton ; but of this there is no certain evidence. Oakendon's-fee, or Owls Hill, is an estate which lies near Fairsted ; in 1494, it belonged to Sir Thomas Montgomery. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a spacious building, in good repair, and has a nave, south aisle, and a chancel, which was some time ago repaired, and very elegantly fitted up, by John Strutt, Esq. In the year 1730, the steeple, having been repaired in an imperfect manner, and without properly securing the foundation, gave way, and the north, south and west sides of it fell to the gi'ound, leaving the bells, five in number, suspended in the frame, supported only by the east side of the steeple ; in which state it remained till props could be brought from Maldon, which is between five and six miles distant. It was afl;erwards rebuilt with brick, as we learn from the following inscription, on the western side, under the clock : " Spacio vetusta fesso ruinam dedi : duabusq : illapsis messibus tertia, Johanne Scott et Daniele Stammers yEdilibus, spectatior surrexi Antonio Gould Latomo. Anno sal. humanae, 1732." Oaken- ilon'fl-fee. Church. TRANSLATION. " This erection being very old, it fell down ; and continuing in that state for two years, was rebuilt on the third, being the year 1732. John Scott and Daniel Stammers the church-war- dens, and Anthony Gould the builder." HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 243 On the wall, at the east end of the aisle, is the following inscription on a brass CHAP. n. plate : — " Within tliis vie of Terlins: is enterred an esquvcr, t ■ ■ iirt . ,. ■ • , , , .„ Inscription. Whose lyle to virtue's path was bent, till death dyde clayme his biere ; His name, hyght Wm. Rochester, witli whome lyeth buried here, Eliz. his onely wyfe, a lowinge faithful! feere ; The fatal dart of pryinge Death, hyr lyfe did take away, In July raoneth departed shee, the nine and twenty day, A thousand and five hundreth yeres, from Christ his incarnation, And fyftye-syxe, the truth to showe, as tyme will make relacion. The worthy gentleman not longe behynde his lovynge wyfe, The seconde of September dyde yeld up his mortal lyfe, In anno, as I sayde before, of hundreds five times three. And fifty-eight his soul dyde goe, where all God's chosen bee." There is also a Latin inscription to the memory of another of the same family, but the characters are nearly obliterated, so that it cannot be perfectly understood ; it is intended to inform posterity, that John Rochester, Esq., married two wives, by whom he had twelve children, that he was pious and charitable, and died the last day of March, in the year 1584. HATFIELD PEVEREL. The name, in the original Saxon, is written pearpelfe, paSpel-o, and peipeHa, Hatfield signifying a heathy field, and Peverel is added to distinguish this place from the ^'^^"^'■'''• parish called Hatfield Broad Oak, in the hundred of Harlow. In early records the name is written Hadfelda, Hetfend, and Hethfeld. This parish joins Ulting on the south, and lies chiefly on the high road between Situation. Boreham and Witham. It is two miles distant from the latter town, six north- east fi'om Chelmsford, and thirty-four from London. In 1821 this parish contained five humii'ed and twenty-one females, and five Population- hundred and eighty males ; total, one thousand one hundred and one. The soil is in general light and gravelly, and contains extensive woodlands. Soil. " Many woods have been grubbed up here, and cultivated to great advantage ; sowing, Woods. first cole seed, then oats, then wheat ; the crops immense, insomuch, that the three, sometimes two, and in a few cases, even one paid the value of the fee simple of the old wood, which indeed yielded badly, not paying, at fourteen years' gi'owth, above five or six pounds per acre."* This district, in the Saxon times, was in the possession of Aimer and thirteen freemen, and at the general survey was part of the possessions of Ralph Peverel ; Serlo, Ernulph, and Richard holding under him. There are five manors or capital estates in this parish. • Agricultural Report of Essex. 244 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. The manor-house of Hatfield Pevevel was also called Hatfield Termines, or Manor- Temiytts, from a person of the name of Elene Termine, by whom it was held in the house. rei^n of Edward the First. The account of the possessors of this estate cannot be distinctly traced till we find it in the Bacon family, in 1310, from whom it descended to the families of Berghersh, Arundel, and to Thomas Chaucer, son of the celebrated poet, Geofrey Chaucer, whose daughter was married to William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk, whose grandson, John, earl of Lincoln, engaging in the affair of Lambert Simnel, was slain in a battle at Stoke, in Nottinghamshire, in 1487, and this estate, with his other possessions, were forfeited to the cro^^-n. It was afterwards granted to Oliver St. John, Esq., whose posterity enjoyed it for many generations, till it was sold, in the year 1674, by Sir Walter St. John, to Anthony Collins, Esq., of the Middle Temple ; fi-om whom it passed to his son Henry, whose son, Anthony, died in 1723, his only son having died before him, and his estates descended to his tsvo daughters, Elizabeth, mamed to Walter Carey, Esq., and Martha, to the hon. Robert Fairfax, brother to Lord Fairfax. L'pon Maa-tha's death, Walter Carey, Esq., in right of his wife, became entitled to this, and the manors of Sandon, and Hatfield- of Giberake, in Parley. The mansion-house, called Hatfieldbury, lies about half a mile north from the church. Prion' ma- The Priory manor of Hatfield Peverel was one of the numerous lordships given to Ralph Peverel, who married the beautiful Ingelrica, daughter of a noble Saxon, the concubine of William the Conqueror. This lady, in her latter days, repenting her past conduct, to make some atonement, founded a college here in the time of William Rufus, for secular canons, dedicated to St. Mary ^Ligdalen, where she spent the remainder of her life, and at her decease, about the year 1100, was buried in the church. Her legitimate son, named ^^'illiam Peverel, who was governor of Dover Castle in the time of Henry the First, converted the college into a pi-iory of Benedictines, subordinate to St. Alban's abbey, dedicating it to the Mrgin Mary. He confirmed all that before belonged to that church, and which had been given to it by his father and ancestors, adding thereto his own mansion, and all his other houses, to be converted into dwellings for the monks ; and three fields near the church, and Alvelwood and Haiwood; also lands called Copinch, Colinges, and Aichacham, with a mill ; the tithes of his rents in Maldon, the whole tithe of Dome, and the churches of Achaton, .\selon, and Christesaie, with fends and tithes.* They also had the advowson and patronage of the church of Little "VA'altham, and the tithes of certain demesne lands in Bradwell-near-the-sea; with tithes in Little Baddow, in Ulting, Withara, Terling, and Boreham. In 1231 this priory was nearly de- stroyed by fire, but was afterwards re-edified. -\t the suppression it was purchased of the crown, by Giles Leigh, of Walton Leigh, in Surrey, son, or gi-andson, and heir • One of these churches, the names of which are so disfigured, was Assington, in SufTolk. nor. mily. HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 245 of Thomas Leigh, Esq., who died in 1509, possessed of the manors of Haylesley, CHAP. II. Shelley, Garnets, and Olytfs, in Margai-et Roding. On his death, in 1538, he left two daughters to succeed to his possessions : these co-heiresses married two brothers of the Alleyn family, of Thaxted. The ancestor of this family was Richard Alleyn, Alieyn fa- Gent., who had three sons; two of the name of John, and Christopher. Sir John Alleyn, his eldest son and heir, was citizen and mercer of London, of which city he was lord mayor in 1525 and 1535; and, on account of his superior talents and acquirements, was chosen of the privy council to King Henry the Eighth. He was a gi'eat benefactor to the city of London, and gave to it a rich collar of gold, to be worn by succeeding lord mayors, and 500 marks, to be a stock for sea coal. The I'ents of his lands purchased of the king, he left to be distributed to the poor in the wards of London for ever, besides considerable benefactions to the prisons and hospitals. He died unmarried in 1544, and was buried at St. Thomas Acres, in Cheapside, in a chapel which he had built there. He was succeeded in his estates and possessions by his brother, John Alleyn, jun., of Thaxted, who married Margaret, the eldest daughter of Giles Leigh ; and his brother Christopher married Agnes, the other sister and co-heiress, by which this manor, and other possessions, were conveyed to the Alleyn family, in which they continued for many generations.* Edward Alleyn, high sheriff of Essex in 1629, was of this family, and in the same yeai- was created a baronet. He married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of George Scot, Esq., of Little Leighs, with whom he had Little Leighs Hall, Staple- ford Tany Hall, and Ovesham Hall, in Matching. Of Sir Edward's children, Martha was the wife of his chaplain, John Blower, vicar of Hatfield, and rector of Fairsted ; and Mary was married to Robert Clive, Esq., of Stych, in Shropshire. Sir Edward died in 1638, his eldest son, Edmund, having died before him, and having left, by Mary, the daughter of Nicholas Miller, of Wrotham, in Kent, a son, Edmund, and a daughter, Elizabeth, first married to John Robinson, Esq., father ol Sir John Robinson, of Denston Hall, in Suffolk, Knt., and whose second husband was Sir William Jones, attorney-general to King Charles the Second. Sir Edmund Alleyn, B:u-t., succeeded his grandfather in title and estate, and married Frances, the only daughter and heiress of Thomas Gent, Esq., of Moynes, in Steeple Bump- stead. He died in 1656, and his lady in the following year; their children died before them ; so that Arabella, his sister, and the last of the family, became the sole heiress. This lady was married to the Rev. Henry Chalmers, rector of Little Waltham, and died in 1762, leaving a son and daughter, minors; her estates were put under the direction of the court of Chancery, and by an order from that court the manor of Hatfield Peverel was sold to J. Wright, Esq., in 1768, who pulled • Upon the division of G. Leigh's estates, John Alleyn had Hatfield, and Christopher had Haseley and iVIargaret Roding. 246 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Priory house. Earnest- fee. Smallands. BOOK II. down the old mansion-house near the churcli, and built a very elegant house, upon an eminence not far distant, commanding an agi'eeable prospect. This elegant seat is called the Priory ; but the only remains of the original foundation is the church, now made parochial. Eai"nest-fee is a manor derived fi'om that of the Priory; the mansion-house is beside the Maldon road, near Hatfield Green, having been part of the endowment of St. Gregoiy's College, in Sudbury : it was granted, after the suppression, to the Alleyn family, and passed, with Hatfield Priory, to succeeding proprietors. Smallands, also called Marshalls, has a manor-house, called Smalland Hall, about a mile north-east fi-om the church, and the lands extend into the parish of Witham. These lands were held, in the Saxon times, by Earl Algar; and, at the survey, by Robert, the son of Corbutio. Sewall de Smalelond held half a fee in Hatfend, under Robert de Montalto, in the reigns of Henry the Second and Edward the First. In the following reign it was in the possession of John Engaine, and of Sir John Montgomery in that of Henry the Sixth : it afterwai'ds passed to Andrew Edmonds, Esq., to John Wiseman, and, in 1622, to Paul, Viscount Bayning, who held this estate of the lord of the manor of White Notley, with whom he compounded for the disafforesting of it, estimated to contain three hundi'ed acres. It was sold by his heirs to the Lingard family. Topingo Hall, formerly called Filiols, has a house on the right-hand side of the road from Witham to Chelmsford. In the time of Henry the Third and Edward the First, it was holden by Thomas de Topingo, and passed afterwards through various families to William Stydole, who lived in 1542, from whom it passed to the families of Sammes, Godbolt, Thomson, and Mortimer, which last sold it to the right honourable Lady Abercorn; and afterwards it became the property of Colonel Strutt. There are some exceedingly fine cedar trees on this estate. Crix, or Crix Hall, is a handsome seat in this pai-ish, formerly belonging to the Bragg family, of Bulmer, in Hinckford, now the property of S. Shean, Esq. The old church belonging to this parish formerly stood on an eminence near the river, in a field called Chmxhfield, between Terling and Hatfieldbury. A tenement, called Bridgman's Broom ; another, named Lends ; and a croft, called Danseys, all in this parish, were endowments for four obiits in this church. The present chmxh fomierly belonged to the Priory ; it consists of a nave and chancel, and a spacious north aisle, leaded : in a small turret, at the west end, there is one bell. A vicarage was ordained here, of which the prior and convent continued proprietors till their suppression. An ancient statue in one of the windows of the aisle, in a devotional attitude, is intended to represent Ingelrica the foundress of the Priory. When the ancient mansion belonging to this priory was pulled down, the church was thoroughly repaired, and a beautiful window of old painted glass inserted. There are monuments Topingo Hall. Crix Hall. Church. HUNDRED OF WIT HAM. 247 and inscriptions, to the memory of several of the Bragg and Alleyn families, of which CHAP. II. the following is in black-letter characters, on a brass plate, on the ground. Under this tombe lyeth buried an esqyer, John .\ilen by his name, And liis tliree w\ife with him lye here, Interred in the same, Whose vertues nowe and godly minde, If I woulde houlde my peace. The poore wliich did it prove, I fynd, To speake it will not cease. By his first wytFe God gave him store, AVitli blessed encrease between the twaine, Of sonnes three, and daughters four, Whereof as yet four doth remain ; For being lord while he did lyve, And patrone of this same, Daily he dide his almes give, Inscription. And vertue doeth remaine ; Tlieir bodies, and their life, therefore, So long as here they lived, Both to the riche, and eke the poore. Was dere and well beloved ; Their soules, no doubt, in heaven above, Are now as angels blest, With Christ, who doth them deerly love. In joye and quiet rest. Whose life departed the first of December, Anno Domini, 1572. Charitable benefactions. In pursuance of a commission for charitable uses, dated Charities. November 8, 1679, a new deed of feoffment was made in May, 1681, to the minister of this parish, and several of the inhabitants, of the messuages, lands and tenements following.- — A close of pasture, containing five roods ; two tenements, called Mason's Gardens; a messuage, with a garden; lands and tenements, called Londis, with a meadow; a messuage on the highway leading fi-om Maldon to Terling; lands and tenements where the parish w^orkhouse now stands, all in this parish ; a messuage with appurtenances, and two crofts of land and pasture ground, called Howlets, or Wheelers, containing about nine acres, in Much Totham parish, and a cottage on part of the land, with a piece of meadow in Wickham parish, were purchased and settled, according to the will of Sir Edmund Alleyn, Bai-t., to be employed by the churchwardens and overseers of the parish, for ever, towards schooling and binding out poor children apprentices, only in the clothing trade, as they should think fit. Certain lands in Little Baddow, purchased by John Chalk, carpenter, of Boreham, with 46/. taken out of the common ti'easury of Hatfield, and settled, in ti'ust, for the relief of the poor of this parish. The lands, formerly pmxhased by Thomas Saffold, with 231. 10*., part of the stock of Hatfield, for the relief of the poor, at the discretion of the trustees. A farm, of this parish, lying in the way from Hatfield Green to Wickham Mills, belongs to the school at INIaldon. There Alms- are almshouses on Hatfield Green, and also beside the London road. The learned Edmund Castel was vicar of this parish, and also rector of Woodham Edmund Castel. Walter, in the last centmy. He was educated at Cambridge, became master of Catherine Hall, Arabic professoi', and canon of Canterbury. He was distinguished by his skill in the eastern languages, was chosen chaplain to King Charles the Second, and was one of the chief assistants to Mr. Brian Walton, in his valuable edi- tion of the Polyglot Bible, both in correcting the proofs and collating the manuscripts. 248 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. But his great work was the Lexicon Heptaglotton, or Lexicon of seven languages, for the better understanding of the Polyglot Bible. On this excellent work, which occupied the greater part of his life, he bestowed incredible pains and expense, even to the ruin of his constitution and exhausting of his fortune, having expended no less than ISjOvW/. upon it. At length, when it was printed, the copies remained unsold upon his hands. On his death, in 1685, he bequeathed all his oriental MSS. to the University of Cambridge, on condition that his name should be written upon every copy in the collection. ULTING. Ulting. This is a small parish, about six miles in circumference, bounded on the south by the river Chelmer, and on the north by Hatfield Peverel. It lies three miles south- west from Witham, and is thirty-four miles from London. It has two capital estates. Population. In 1821, this parish contained eighty-three females, and ninety-two males; total, one hundred and seventy-five. Ulting Ulting Hall belonged to Hacen, a Saxon, before the Conquest, and at the time of ^*"' the survey was in the possession of Ralph Boynai-d, whose grandson enjoyed it after him, till joining with Robert, duke of Normandy, in his attempt to deprive King Henry the First of his crown, he was dispossessed of this estate, which was after- wards given to Robert, a younger son of Richard Fitz-Gilbert, progenitor of the ancient earls of Clare ; and from him sprung the noble family of Fitzwalter. It afterwards passed to the families of Fitz-Robert, Ulting, Bourchier, Stafford, to Sir William Parr, of Kendall, afterwards earl of Essex and marquis of Northampton, who, for espou- sing the cause of Lady Jane Grey, was condemned to death, and forfeited his estates. And though his lands were restored, yet this manor seems to have remained in the crown; for in 1574, Queen Elizabeth granted the manor of Ulting Hall to Thomas Heneage, Esq., and from his posterity it was purchased by Anthony Collins, whose two daughters, co-heiresses, by marriage, conveyed Ulting Hall to 'Walter Carew, and Robert Fairfax, Esqrs., fi-om whom it afterwards passed to Joseph Banks, Esq., counsellor at law. Mugdoii Mugdon Hall is a manor in this parish ; but some of the lands extend into that ^^"' of Hatfield Peverel, and Little Baddow. In records it is wTitten, Mokelinton, JMoge- lington, Magelinto, Mountdon Hall, and Cardeviles and Cardfields. It was anciently holden by the Filiols, under the Lords Fitzwalter : and Sir John Filiol man-ied Margaret, daughter and heir of — Bucklington, of Mugdon Hall : hence we learn that its name has been derived from that family. It was holden under the Filiols by the family of Huntingfield, of Suffolk ; and in 1389, was in the possession of William Rikhell, or Rickels ; and this family remained here till 1476. Alexander Frognal, Gent., resided at Mugdon Hall in 1519; Sir Clement Smyth died in jwssession HUNDRED OF WITH AM. 349 of it in 1552, and it was sold by his son and heir, John, to John Ayhner,* bishop of CHAR ii London, who was born in 1521, at Aylmer Hall, in Norfolk. When a boy, his Bishop quickness of apprehension, and superior mental ability, attracted the attention of the " ^ '"'^'' marquis of Dorset, who sent him to Cambridge, and made him his chaplain and tlie tutor of his children. One of these children was the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey. His first preferment was to the archdeaconry of Stow, in Lincolnshire, which gave him a seat in the convocation held in the first year of Queen Mary, where he itsolutely opposed the return to popery, to which the generality of the clergy were inclined, and he was soon afterwards obliged to fly for protection to the protestants in Switzer- land. On the accession of Elizabeth, he returned to England; in 1562, he obtained the archdeaconry of Lincoln, and was a member of the famous synod of that year, which reformed and settled the doctrine and discipline of the church of England. In 1576, he was consecrated bishop of London, and died in 1594, aged seventy-three. He was a learned man, and a zealous father of the church, but a bitter enemy to the puritans, and was the author of numerous controversial writings. He is, by Mr. Strype, supposed to have published Lady Jane Grey's " Letter to Harding." He also assisted Fox in translating his " History of Martyrs " into Latin. The bishop's eldest son, Samuel, succeeded to Mugdon Hall, and other possessions in Essex : he was seated at Claydon Hall, in Suffolk, of which county he was high sheriff in 1625. By his second wife, Anne, eldest daughter of Edward, Lord Bra- bazon, he had three sons and two daughters, of whom John, the eldest, married Lucretia, daughter of Sir Henry Cloville, of West Hanningfield, by whom he had Brabazon, who, maiTying Mary, daughter of — Godbold, Esq., of Toping Hall, had three sons and two daughters, of whom Anne was married to John Godbold, Esq. of Terling Hall ; and Anthony, by Catherine, daughter of Robert Beale, of Hilling- don, in Middlesex, had Brabazon, Robert, educated at Bennet College, Cambridge, and vicar of Camberwell, in Surrey, Anthony, and Theophilus. Brabazon, the eldest son, was a bencher of the Middle Temple, and several years clerk of the peace for this county. He died in 1735, but left no children. His wife, the daughter of Robert Bragg, Esq., of Hatfield Peverel, was jointured in this estate of Mugdon Hall, which, at her death, became the property of her nephew, Robert, son of the Rev. Robert Aylmer, above mentioned. The mansion-house of Mugdon Hall was rebuilt in 1679, by Brabazon Aylmer, as we are informed by an inscription over the porch of the hall.f The church is small, and built of stone : at the west end there is a wooden turret, cimicii. with a shingled spire, and two bells. The church-yard, and also the parish and the hundi'ed, are bounded by the river Chelmer. • This family name has been written Elmer. t Arms of Aylmer. Argent, a cross, sable, between four Cornish choughs, proper. VOL. I. K K 250 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. GREAT BRAXTED. Great Braxted. Population. Manors. AylotV family. There are two manors of tliis name, distinguished from eacli other by the epithets Great and Little; the name is of uncertain derivation: it is wi-itten in records Brachesteda, Brakings, Brensted, Brackstead, and Braxtead. Great Braxted joins the other parish of the same name, on its northern side ; it is two miles distant from Witham, about twelve from Colchester, and forty from London. In 1821 this parish contained two hundred and fifty-six males, and two hundred and fifty-two females ; total, five hundred and eight. Besides the manor of Great Braxted there are two others, partly in this parish, called Westhall and Briddinghoe. In the Saxon times, the lordship of Great Braxted belonged to one of the king's thanes ; but at the general survey was holden by Eudo Dapifer ; and a family surnamed de Anesty, from the place of their residence in Hertfordshire, had possession here in the reigns of Henry the Second and King John. Hubert, or Herbert, de Anesty was living in 1199, and was the son of Richard de Anesty, by Agnes, daughter of William de Sackville: his son and heir, Nicholas, in 1210, held a knight's fee here ; he resided at his castle of Anesty, and joined with the barons against King John. Dionysia was his only daughter and heiress, and was married to William de Montchensy, baron of Swainscamp, in Kent, to whom she conveyed this estate. His sister was Joan, married to William de Valence, earl of Pembroke, brother, by the mother's side, to King Henry the Third.* William de Montchensy had a warren here, and was also possessed of South Hanningfield; he died in 1289, and left a daughter named Dionysia, who was married to Hugh de Vere, second son of Robert, earl of Oxford, to whom she conveyed the lordship of Swainscamp. He died in 1313, and his lady died in the same year, holding Great Braxted and other extensive possessions. After successively becoming the property of individuals of the famihes of de Valence, de Hastings, Talbot, de Grey, and Montgomery, it passed to William Ayloflf", Gent., of Sudbury, who was justice of peace for this county and for Suffolk. This family were originally of Sudbury, but, besides this manor, had also possession of Bretons, in the parish of Hornchurch. John Ayloff, of that place, married Anne, daughter of Thomas West, by whom he had Thomas, married to Agnes, daughter of William Birch, by Alice, his wife, daughter of Roger Gris, and had William, the purchaser of this estate ; and Agnes, married to Sir John Brydges, lord mayor of 'London in 1521. Various individuals of this family f were • William de Montchensy, joining with the barons against King Henry the Third, had his lands seized and given to his brother-in-law, William de A'alence. . t Sir Benjamin Ayloff, and his son William, paid 2,000/. composition for their estates during Cromwell's usurpation. Arms of Ayloff. Sable, a lion, rampant, or, between three crosses potence or. Crest, a lion rampant. HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 251 successively proprietors, till the manor was sold to Sir Henry Maynard, Knt., chap. ii. who held it at his death, in 1610. It was afterwards in the possession of Sir Robert Cotton, Knt., by whom, or his heirs, it was sold to Thomas Darcy, Esq.,* of St. Clere's Hall, in St. Osyth, the father of Sir Thomas Darcy, who was created a baronet in 1660, and lived at Braxted Hall. Sir Thomas, his son, at his decease, left it to his son, Sir George, a minor, who dying young, it came to his three sisters, who sold it to Peter Whetcomb, from whom it went to his two daughters, and was by them sold to Henry Cornelisen, Esq., who mai-ried the daughter of Sir Richard Hoare, Knt., by whom he had six children; on whose account this estate was sold, at their father's death, to Peter du Cane, Esq., of Great Coggeshall, who was sheriff' of the county in 1745. The old manor-house was a plain building of antique appearance, near the church ; Manor- this has been pulled down, and a large house built by the Darcy family, named '°"*'^' Braxted Lodge, which has been greatly altered and improved. It is approached by Braxted a noble avenue of trees, and is situated on an eminence, which commands extensive ° ^^' prospects over a richly cultivated country. The house is large, elegant, and com- modious, and the surrounding scenery in a high degi-ee beautiful and picturesque. The park has been very considerably enlarged by the addition of the valuable estate called Fabians, and the grounds are ornamented witli a fine sheet of water ; Fabians. an interesting collection of statues, brought fi-om Italy by Mr. du Cane, add greatly to the general effect. The rectory-house, and several other capital mansions, with the accompanying Rectory- improvements of genteel residents, render this a very agreeable part of the country. Bennington and West Hall extend into this parish, but the former is considered to Bennington belong to Witham ; the latter is supposed to have been the moiety of a knight's '^^n fee, which Simon Fitz-Richard held in Braxted, under Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hereford, and who died in 1262; the same was afterwards holden by his son in 1315. Tiptree Priory and manor were in this parish ; this house was for black canons, Tiptree called also canons of St. Augustine, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to "°^' St. Nicholas. Neither the time of its being founded, nor the founder, can be ascer- tained, but it is known to have been established previous to the year 1280, because in that year the prior had license to impark sixty acres of land. The family of Montchensy were the principal benefactors to this priory. This is one of the forty smaller monasteries gi-anted to Cardinal Wolsey for the endowment of his two colleges ; and, upon his attainder coming to the crown, was consigned to Edward Huddlestone, Esq. ; in 1547 it became the property of Thomas Darcy, Esq., the son of Anthony, and grandson of John Darcy, of Tolleshunt • Arms of Darcy. Argent, three cinquefoils, gules. 252 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Darcy. Anthony, the father of this Thomas Darcy, was sheriff of Essex in 1512, and died in 151-0; and Thomas, son of the said Thomas, hy Anne, daughter of John Munday, lord mayor of London, was sheriff of Essex in 1580; his son Brian, by EHzabeth, daughter of John Heydon, Esq., was seated at Tiptree, where he built hiniself a fine house out of the ruins of the priory, pleasantly situated on the right-hand side of the road from Colchester to Maldon. He was sheriff of Essex in 1585, and died in 1587. John, his son and heir, by Bridget, daughter of John Corbet, Esq., of Sprouston, in Norfolk, was bred to the law, and created a Serjeant in 1623, and died in 1638; and his son Thomas, by Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Audeley, of Berechurch, was his heir ; whose posthumous son, Thomas, by Mary, daughter of Sir Andi'ew Astley, of Writtle, succeeded to estates in Tiptree, to St. Clere's Hall, in St. Osyth, and in 1660 was created a baronet. His son, Thomas, by Jane, daughter of Robert Cole, Esq., was heir to his dignity and estate; but Tiptree appears to have been previously sold to Richard Bennet, Esq., from whom it passed successively to the families of Acris, Pemberton, Lightmaker, Peacock, Forster, Skinner, Brassey, Home, and to John Price, Gent., of London, but originally of Shrewsbury; his sons, by Judith, daughter of Reynolds, Esq., of Great Tew, in Oxfordshire, were Robert and John ; the latter was colonel of a regiment of foot and a major-general, and dying at Breda, in 1747, left by his widow, daughter of Matthew Martin, Esq., of Wivenhoe, a son, Martin Price, Esq., and Mary, married to the Hon. and Rev. Edward Townshend, D.D., dean of Nor- wich, &c. Robert Price, Esq.,* the eldest son, was of the Middle Temple, recorder of Colchester, and created serjeant at law in 1736. He married Bridget, daughter of William Tempest, Esq., of Yorkshire, one of the prothonotaries of the court of common pleas, by whom he had Bridget, married to Mr. John Cole, of Colchester, a rich merchant. He had also several other children, who, with his wife, survived him. He died in H^l. Tiptrie Tiptree Heath is named from this manor, though it extends into most of the Heath. . ' D adjoining parishes. It formerly was part of the gi'eat forest of Essex, which extended over more than half the county. When King John,f in 1204, had disafforested a very large portion of forest land lying north of the great road or causeway leading from Stortford towards Colchester ; that is, as far as Hayditch, or the ramparts at Lexden Heath, and thence turning to Neyland, there remained to the king this great waste, called Tiptree Heath, containing above a thousand acres. This is known from an inqusition taken in 1401, which also informs us, that the freeholders, or tenants, of Inworth, Messing, Layer Marncy, Braxted, the town of Maldon, Totham, ToUesbury, • Arms of Price. Or, a lion rampant regardant, sable. Crest, the same. t What King John disafforested included the hundreds of Clavering, Utlesford, Frcshwcll, Hinckford, except a very small piece on the south, and part of the hundreds of Dunmow and Lexden. HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 253 and Tolleshunt, had common of pasture for their cattle here, and estovers of the CHAP. 11. trees and underwood growing upon this waste, for tlie building and repairing of the houses and hedges belonging to their tenements, and sufficient fuel for firing, as belonging to their lands and tenements in the places aforesaid, and had ever enjoyed the same. But the abbess of Barking, the abbot of Coxall, and Reginald de Grey, lord of Ruthin, who possessed manors in the adjoining parishes of Tollesbury, ToUeshunt-major, and Braxted, had grievously encroached upon a great part of this waste. By an order of council made in the reign of Henry the Eighth, it was decreed, "That all and everye of the freeholders, copieholders, and inhabitaunts of the townes of Messynge, Lyard Marney, Wygeborouglie, Salcote, Tollyshunte- Knights, Tollyshunte-Darcye, Tollesburye, Goldeanger, Tolleshunt-major, Little Tothame, Muche Tothame, Hebredge, Langeforde, Wikehamme, Braxted, Keldon in parte, and Inforde, and of Tiptree Heatlic, shall have and enjoye to them, theire heires, and successors, and assignes, common of pasture in Tiptree Heathe, in all and everye the severall wastes thereof: all the said severall lordes' tenants, as well in their own lordes' soyle, common, and wastes, as in the soyle, common, and wastes of all other lordes there, generallye to putte in and to common at large upon the said common and waste of Tipti'ee Heathe, and of everye parte of the same, with all manner of beastes and catells (except gootes), at their pleasure, without nombre, keeping their hogges ringed," &c.* This important document proceeds to state the allowance of the tenantry to cut wood for the repairing their houses, and for building new houses where the old ones have decayed and fallen down. Liberty is also given to cut brush or miderwood, for fires and other purposes. This extensive waste is now enclosed, yet the fair for cattle and toys on the 25th of July continues Tiptree fair. to be well attended The church is on an eminence, commanding an extensive and interesting prospect, cimrcii. It is a small neat building, with a shingled steeple, containing three bells, besides a small one, called a saint's bell. The following inscription is on a marble tablet on the outside of the south wall of the church : — The Right Hon. the Countess Delavall Departed tliis life the ISth day of November, In the year of our Lord God, 1683. Salve hospes Sub pedibus tuis placide obdormiunt Gulielmus Ayloff, Magnae Braxteddise in comitatu Essexiensi baronettus ; Anna honoratissima DelavaUias apud Gallos Comtissa, uxor amantissima Gulielmus Ayloff, armiger parentibus supradicti Inscrip- charissimus ; tion. Tres uno amore, & tumulo conjunctissimi. Hoc sepulchrale marmor lllustris foemina, viri mandatis semper morigera, Poni curavit quo posteris innocescat idem Conditorium soHs suis incolis consecrati Ut post exactos vine labores cineres immoti Quiescant. • " Thomas (Wolsey), Lord Cardinal!, Legat a latere, Archebishoppe of Yorke, Primate of Englonde, and Chauncellor of the same ; and Thomas Docura, Prior of the Hospitall of St. John's, Jerusalem, in Anglia," are mentioned in the beginning of this order; so that it was made about the year 1.523. 254 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. TRANSLATION. Charities. Little BraxteH. Population. Church. Charities. Stranger, God speed you! Under your feet rests in peace William Ayloff, of Great Braxted, In the county of Essex, Baronet ; The most honourable Countess of Delavall, in France, His most loving wife ; and William AylofF, Esq. the most beloved son of the parents above mentioned. These three are joined alike in love and in the grave. This marble monument The illustrious Lady, Ever attentive to the requests of her husband. Hath caused to be erected, To inform posterity That the same grave was consecrated To the sole use of these inhabitants, In order that, having travelled through this troublesome world, Their ashes might rest undisturbed. John Frese, by will, in 1653, left money topurchase one coat or gown value 1 /. Gs. Sd. and bread to the amount of 13s. 4>d. to be given to the poor annually. There is also a rent charge of 1/. 6s. 8d. for poor widows. LITTLE BRAXTED. This little parish joins to that of Witham on the east, and on the south-south-east is bounded by Thurstable hundred, and by Great Braxted parish on the north : its whole circumference is not more than three miles. It is thirty-eight miles from London. In 1821 this parish contained sixty-three females and fifty-four males; total, one hundred and seventeen. It constitutes one manor, which, in Saxon times, was in the occupation of a fi'eeman named Aluric; and, at the time of the survey, was part of the private estate of the bishop of London, and held under him by a tenant named Hugolin. Nicholas de Halughton was the next possessor, in 1339, and Margaret and Joanna were his daughters and heirs. Afterwards it was in the possession of Sir John Montgomery, of Faulkbourn, in 1439; and of Thomas Green, of Witham, from 1472 to 1480, and he or his heirs sold it to William Roberts, one of the auditors of King Henry the Seventh ; he died in 1508, and his son, Thomas Roberts, Gent., was also auditor to the same monarch. This family appeal's to have retained possession till the year 1680. Robert Aylett, Gent., was next possessed of this estate; he was descended from the Ayletts of Doreward's Hall, in Rivenhall, and mamed a daughter of Henry Ayloff, Esq., second son of Sir William Ayloff, of Great Braxted, Bart. ; from the Ayletts, this manor passed to the Rush family, about the year 1717. The manor-house is near the church. The church is small, and has a shingled spire, with two bells ; the chancel is very ancient, and of a circular form. John Goddeshalf left a house and lands of 81. per annum, the income of which, after deducting lO*. for quit-rent to the lord of the manor, and 1*. St/, to the king, is V-i HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 255 to go to the poor of the parish. John Frese, in 1653, left land, of the annual value chap. ll. of 21. for the support of the poor of this parish, vested in Peter du Cane, Esq. ; and the same person also afterwards left land, from which there arises an annual rent of 1/. &$. 8(/. vested in George Buxton. Ann Richardson, in 1726, left land, of the yearly value of 8/. for poor husbandmen, vested in Thomas Wilsher. RIVENHALL. The name of this parish is found variously written in records ; Ravenhall and Rivenhali. Rivenhall have been most generally used. It is bounded by Kelvedon parish on the east, Fairsted on the west, Witham on the south, and Cressing on the north. The road from London to Colchester and Harwich passes through a part of it. It is two miles distant from Witham, and thirty-nine from London. This parish, in 1821, contained two hundred and seventy-five females, and three Population. hundred and sixteen males ; total, five hundred and ninety-one. In the time of the Saxons, these lands belonged to Editha, the queen of Edward the Confessor, to Harold, Lestan, and Alestan, fi'eemen, and Ulsi, also a freeman. At the general survey, they were in the possession of Eustace, earl of Boulogne, Robert Gernon, Suene, of Essex, and Roger God save our ladies. Robert's and Suene's under tenants were Ascelin and Clarenbald. There are five manors in this parish. The manor of Rivenhall was conveyed Manors, to the crown by an heiress of the family of Boulogne being married to King Stephen; and various families held it under the crown, till it was conveyed, by mai-riage, to Robert de Scalariis, otherwise de Scalers, or Scales, descended from Scalier, one of William the Conqueror's warriors. Robert, his son, succeeded ; he was in several expeditions in France, and had summons to parliament : dying in 1266, he was succeeded by Robert, his son and heir, who was summoned to parliament, as a baron of the realm, from the twenty-seventh to the thirty-third of Edward the First, which was the year of his death. Robert, his son, succeeded, and was made Knight of the Bath with Prince Edward, whom he attended in his expedi- tion into Scotland. He sat in parliament from the thirty-fourth of Edward the First to the eighteenth of Edward the Second. His son. Sir Robert de Scales, by the Scales daughter of Hugh de Courtney, was his heir, who died in 1369. Sir Roger de ^"'''^' Scales, Knt.* was his son and heir, by Catherine, sister and coheir of William de UflPord, earl of Sufiblk ; his lady, Joan, daughter and heiress of Sir John de North- wood, brought him the lordship of Shaldford, in Essex, and estates in Kent. He died in 1386, leaving Robert, Lord Scales, his heir, who, dying in 1402, left two sons, Robert and Thomas, by his lady, Elizabeth, daughter of William, Lord Bardolph. * On the insurrection of Jack Straw, he was one of those eminent persons whom the rebels seized and compelled to march along with them. 256 HISTORY OF ESSEX. uooK It. Robert, the eldest, died in 1418, and was succeeded by Thomas, who signalized himself by various martial exploits in France, and in various other places ; for which services he obtained from the crown a grant of 100/. a year during his life, and the privilege of a ship of two hundred tons burden, to transport any goods or mer- chandise to any port he should choose beyond seas, except the staple of Calais, paying the usual customs. He sat in parliament from the twenty-third to the thirty- eighth of Henry the Sixth. During the civil wars he was a firm adherent to the Lancastrian interest, and at last fell a sacrifice to it, being murdered in July, 1460. By Emma, daughter of John Whaleborough, he had a daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, who was married to Henry Bourchier, Esq., second son of Henry, earl of Essex ; after whose death, without surviving oflfspring, she was married to An- Earl thony de Widville, Earl Rivers, brother to King Edward the Fourth's queen, and in her right he was declared Lord Scales. This amiable nobleman, who had signalized himself on many occasions, was beheaded at Pontefract, in June, 1483, through the artifices of that cruel usurper. King Richard the Third. The day before his execution, he bequeathed, by will, such lands as were the Lady Scales's, his first wife, to Sir Edward Widville, his brother. But long before that, he had conveyed the lordships of Rivenhall and Shalford to the Gate * family ; of which. Sir John Gate was a very considerable person, being of the privy council to King Henry the Eighth, captain of the guard to King Edward the Sixth, vice-chamberlain of his household, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and privy counsellor. Living in the time of the suppression of the monasteries, he much enlarged his patrimony from that source. At the coronation of King Edward the Sixth he was knighted, and constituted sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire, in 1552 ; but, unfortunately espousing the cause of the Lady Jane Grey, he was beheaded in 1553; and on his attainder, this, and his other estates came to the crown. In the same year. Queen Mary granted Rivenhall to Susan Tongue, widow, from whom it passed to the families of Englefield, White, and Wiseman. Sir Thomas Wiseman, knighted in 1604, held Rivenhall, and is reckoned to have had estates of the value of 3,000/. a year. His grandson. Sir William, was created a baronet in 1660. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Lewis Mansell, of Margam, in Glamorganshire, Knt. and Bart., and by her had his only daughter, Elizabeth, who became the wife of Isaac Lamotte Honeywood, Esq., of Markshall, but died without children by him ; on which event, her mother, who probably was jointured in this estate, together with Samuel Wiseman, Esq., brother vvtstciii and next heir to Sir William, sold this manor to Thomas Western, Esq., of London, of whose numerous family, his eldest son, Samuel, was bred to the law, and became learned in that profession. He was thrice burgess in parliament for Winchelsea. • Arms of Gate. Per pale gules and azure, three lions rampant gardant, or. Crest, on a torse, or and gules, a demi-lion rampant gardant, or. HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 257 Dying before his father, in 1699, he left by his wife, Anna Maria, daughter of CHAl'. ii . William Finch, Esq., his youngest and only surviving son, William, who succeeded his grandfather, on his death in 1706. He married Anne, daughter of Sir James Bate- man, lord ma)'or of London in 1717, sister to the Lord Viscount Bateman, and, dying in 1729, left by her a son and heir and two daughters, one of whom was married to John Hanbury, Esq., of Kelniarsh, in Northamptonshii-e. His widow was married to George Dolliffe, Esq., of London ; and his son dying under age, in 1730, these estates descended to his cousin, Thomas, son of Thomas Western, by Mary, his wife, daughter and co-heir of Sir Richard Shirley, of Preston Place, in Sussex, Bart. He married Anne, daughter of Robert Callis, Esq., sister to Admiral Smith Callis, and had by her Charles, Thomas Walsingham, and Anna Maria, Frances, and Judith. Hoo Hall is a manor, which has also been called Martells and Coggeshalls, names Hoo Hall. derived from different possessors. Eustace de Ho held lands here in 1284, by the sergeantry of finding one horseman, with a long coat, in the king's army, forty days, whenever he should war in Wales. The same lands had been previously held by William Martell and John de Coggeshall, by the service of finding one esquire, with a purple lance and an iron cap, for forty days. Several individuals of this family lield other portions of land here, on the same terms ; and William Martell, in 1317, held a capital messuage here, with lands, and rent of assize from seven free tenants, for whicli he was obliged to do suit, every otlier year, at the kings court of Boulogne, at Witham; and John de Coggeshall, his partner, was also obliged, in his turn, to do suit and service every other year*, from month to month. The name of Hoo Hall is first found in records in 1383, and then said to have been holden by Thomas Martell, whose son Thomas succeeded him ; on wliose death, in 1424, his successor was his cousin, Elias Doreward, Esq., descended from the family of that name, of Bocking. This Elias was the son of Walter, who was the son of E. Doreward, by his wife, Anne, daughter of John Martell, of Martell Hall, in Ardley, and sister to Thomas Martell, Esq. : he died in 1425. His widow was afterwards married to Nicholas Mortimer, Esq., of Woodham Mortimer : and this manor went to his eldest daughter, the wife of David Mortimer. In 1443, Hoo Hall, with other possessions, had become the property of William Babthorp, Esq. The Smyth family next succeeded to this estate, and Sir Clement died in possession of it, in 1552 : afterwards it passed to the W^estern family. The manor-house is about a quarter of a mile from the Manor- house. church. Dorewards Hall manor has a mansion about a mile and a half fi-om the church, Dorewards on the right-hand side of the road from Witham to Kelvedon ; it is vulgarly called Durance Hall. John Doreward was living here in 1379, but no certain information can be procured of successive proprietors, till 1583, when it was in the possession of VOL. I. L L Hall. 258 HISTORY OF ESSEX. ehains. Bourchier;. BOOK II. William Aylet, and it continued a considerable time in his successors of that family, and was afterwards the property of the Rev. — Jergon. Lanehams is a manor in the western extremity of the parish : the mansion-house is three miles and a half from the church. Its name is from the family of de Lenham, its ancient proprietors. Edward de Lenham had these possessions in 1324. Robert, of the same sm'name, was his successor. Afterwards it went, by marriage, to the Smyth family, who had a chapel in the chiurch-yard, where some of their descendants were buried. Proprietors of the names of Watson and Caswell succeeded. Bourchiers is named from its noble proprietors of that family. The manor-house is two miles from the church. Robert Bourchier is the fost named of this family who had these estates, and he died in 1349 ; his son. Sir John, succeeded, whose son, Bar- tholomew, Lord Bourchier, held these possessions in 1400 : he died in 1409, and Idonea, his widow, died the following year, leaving an only daughter, Elizabeth, married to Sir Hugh Stafford, aud afterwards to Sir Lewis Robessai't. But Sir Wil- liam Bourchier, the son of William, brother of Su- John, the father of Bartholomew, succeeded to this estate : he married Anne, daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, the sixth son of King Edward the Third. This .\nne had been before married to Edmund, earl of Stafford, by whom she had Henry, his son and heir; Thomas, successively bishop of Ely and archbishop of Ccinterbxu'y; William, Lord Fitz-\^'arine ; and Jokn, Lord Berners. Sir William died in 1420, and was succeeded by his son and heir, Henry, created earl of Essex in 1461. He enjoyed this and numerous great estates till his death, in 1483. By his lady, Isabel, sister of Richard, duke of York, he had seven sons, of whom Wilham, the eldest, died before him, and his grandson, Henrj', earl of Essex, was therefore his successor. But being killed by a fall fi-om a horse, in 1540, his estates descended to his only daughter, Anne, soon afterwards married to Sir William Parr, earl of Essex and marquis of Northampton. At the time of her death, in 1570, Wedter Devereux, Viscount Hereford, was heir to this estate. It was in the possession of Sir Ralph Wiseman in 1608, and of William Smith, Esq. in 1630; and it afterwards was con- veyed to Thomas Western, Esq. The chiurch is very neat, and the nave rises half a yard higher, and is a yard wider than the chancel. The tower is of brick, with battlements, and a wooden spire. Tliere is only one bell. There are a hundred acres of glebe belonging to this living. There is a very handsome marble monument to the memory of Ralph Wiseman, formerly owner of the manor of Rivenhall ; and on the north side there are several costly tombs to. the memory of individuals of the Western family. One of these tombs is very elegant, and bears the following inscription : — Church. Monu- ments. HUNDRED OF WITH AM. 259 M. S. Under tbis torab lie interred the bodies Of William Western, Esq., aged 36 years, Who died the 22d of September, 1729 ; And of James, his Son, aged fourteen years , A youth of the most promising hope. Who survived his father only six months. An affectionate wife and fond mother, Under the sharpest sense of her double loss, Ordered this monument to be erected. Durum est ; sed leve fit patientia, quicquid corrigere est nefas. TRANSLATION. It is indeed difficult to bear; but patience lightens the burthens we cannot hope to remove. CHAP. U. Inscription. The knights templars had one hundred and sixty two acres of arable, three of meadow, and five of pasture in this parish, besides other possessions ; the tenant of some of which was to eat in lieu of all services, " mariducab/t pro omni servttio." Sir Thomas Wiseman, in 1615, gave a rent charge, producing 3/. 4*. per annum, Donations. out of Braddocks, in Wimbish, to the poor of Rivenhall ; and a legacy of four pounds a year, to purchase herrings to that amount, for distiibution to the poor on Fridays in Lent, was left by two sisters who were buried under a stone near the south side of the steeple. Over this stone there formerly stood a small house, in which the herrings were distributed, but a part of the steeple fell upon this house, and it was beaten down. William Bollan, in 1784, gave 218/. Qs., vested in the three percent, consols, towards building a workhouse, and several other contributions having been made, the house has been built. A family of the name of Tusser formerly resided in this parish, of which William xiiomas Tusser married Isabella, daughter of Thomas Smyth, and sister to Sir Clement Smyth, Tusser. and had by her Clement, Andrew, John, Thomas, William, and three daughters. From one of the sons sprung Thomas Tusser, who wrote the celebrated poetical treatise on husbandry, entitled, " Five Hundi'ed Points of good Husbandry, as well for the Champaign, or Open Country, as also for the Woodland or Severall, mixed in every Month \\\\h Huswifery. Augmented to a fourth part more, with divers other Lessons, as Diet for the Farmer ; of the properties of Winds, Plants, Hops, Herbs, Bees, and approved Remedies for Sheep and Cattle." He was born at Rivenhall, in 1523; and his father, designing him for a singing-man, put him to Walford school, from whence he was removed to Eton, where he acquired some knowledge of Latin, and was afterwards entered at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he had not been long, when he was afflicted with a severe illness. Afler his recovery he left the university, and went to court, living with Lord Paget during the reign of Edward the Si.xth ; when, on account of some quarrel among the lords, he left court, and retired into Suffolk, where he married his first wife, and took a farm at Ratwade, in that county, which place he left on account of his wife's ill health, but she soon after died at Ipswich, and he afterwards married a second wife, and again engaged himself in husbandry, and took a farm, called Diram Cell ; but he had not been there many years before his landlord died, and, owing to some misunderstanding with the heirs or 260 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. executors, Tusser again left his farm, and commenced singing-man, under the dean of Norwich. He next took the management of the glebe-farm at Fairsted, in his native county. His next remove was to London, from which place he retreated precipi- tately on the appearance of the plague, and retired to Cambridge ; and to the close of life seems to have moved from place to place, being successively a musician, school- master, serving-man, husbandman, grazier, and poet. He died in London, in L588, and was buried at St. Mildred's church, in the Poulti-y, with this epitaph : — Here Thomas Tusser, clad in clay, doth lie, That sometime made the Points of Husbandry ; By him learn thou mayest, here learn we must, When all is done, we sleep and turn to dust ; And yet, tlirouffh Christ, to Heaven we hope to go : Who reads his books, shall find his faith was so. Kelvedon. KELVEDON. Mr. Morant derives the name of this place from the Saxon Dun, a hill, and Celt, pronounced Keld, a spring. But the learned Dr. Stukely derives it from the Celtic Celn, mysterious, or to conceal, from whence Celi, the name of God, according to which it signifies " God's hill." It is written in records, Kilwendun, Chellendana, Keluedon, Kellevedon, Kelvedon. It was also anciently called Easterford, from a ford which used to be here, and which, relative to some other ford, lay in an easterly direction. This parish is at the eastern extremity of the liundi-ed ; it joins Rivenhall westward, and Great Braxted on the south. The town is pleasantly situated, partly on rising ground, and consists chiefly of one street nearly a mile in length ; it is three miles and a half north-east from Witham, ten from Colchester, and forty-one from London. Population. In 1821, this parish contained six hundred and seventy-seven females, and six hun- dred and fifty-one males ; total, one thousand three hundred and twenty-eight. There is an annual fair here on Easter Monday. In the vales, and part of the slopes, the soil is a good sandy loam ; but in the flatter parts, a strong loam on clay, and all summer fallowed ; around Felix Hall, various ; but generally of the above description, some fields admitting turnips, but very few with propriety ; the surface mould, nine or ten inches deep, and di-ains well by hollow cuts.* In the Saxon era, some of the lands in this parish belonged to tlie crown; some to Gudmund, a king's thane, and other portions to eleven freemen. At the survey, they were in possession of St. Peter's Abbey, and of Hugh de Montford, or his under tenant. There are four manors. Church Hall is so named from its vicinity to the church. It was holden under Edward the Confessor, by Angelric, one of his nobles, who gave it to Westminster Abbey, and the king confirmed the grant, by the name of Kilwendun, with all its appurtenances. It remained part of the endowment of Westminster Abbey till its • Last Agricultural Survey. I'air. Soil. Church Hull. HUNDRED OF WIT HAM. 261 suppression; and when that abbey was converted into a bishopric, it was granted to CHAP. II. the bishop ; but when that bishopric was dissolved, it was given, by King Edward the Sixth, to the bishop of London and his successors, together with the rectory and advowson. FeHx Hall, the seat of C.C. Western, Esq. M. P. is a handsome modern mansion, Felix Hall, on an eminence, enclosed in a park, and commanding an extensive and varied prospect over the Braxteds, and other neighbouring parishes. It is about a mile distant from Kelvedon, a little to the right of the road to London. The interior possesses great elegance, and the gardens are laid out with taste and judgment. Great alterations and improvements have been made by the present proprietor, particularly in the house. The fi'ont towards Kelvedon has been ornamented with an elegant tetrastyle portico ; tlie two bay windows, which originally rose no higher tliaii the first story, have been enlarged, and raised to the top of the building, and the whole of this front has been covered with composition. Soon after the Conquest, this estate was in the possession of a family named Filiol, from the Latin filiolns, or the French filleul, a godson. And by a seal of a grant of William Filiol, to Coggeshall Abbey, on which is the representation of a font, with a king on one side of it, and a bishop on the other, holding a child as in the ceremony of baptism, it is reasonably supposed the family had a ti-adition of this surname having been given, at the time of baptism, to one of their ancestors, by one of the kings of England. The name occurs in the roll of Battle Abbey. Robert Filiol held lands in Leaden Roding about the time of King Stephen. Baldwin Filiol had possessions at Kelvedon, and several of the same family succeeded him, till, the male line of the family failing, these estates were conveyed to Sir John de Bohun, in 1345, by marriage with Cicely, the daughter of Sir John Filiol. Sir John de Bohun was of Midhurst, in Sussex; and attended King Edward the Third at the battle of Cressy, and in other engagements. He died in 1367; and Cicely, his lady, in 1381, was possessed of the manor of Filiol's Hall, in Kelvedon, which is the first time of its occurrence in records, under that name. Sir John de Bohun, son and heir of the former Sir John, held this manor, and had also other possessions here and at Toles- hunt Knights, Toleshunt Tregoz, &c. He died in 1432, and his son Humphrey was the father of Sir John de Bohun, who died in 1499, leaving two daughters : Mary, married to Sir David Owen, the natural son of Owen Tudor, gi-andfather to King Henry the Seventh ; and Ursula, the wife of Sir Robert Southwell. On the death of Mary, who had no children, Felix Hall came to Sir Robert, in right of his wife, who afterwards sold it to Thomas Lovel; and in 1532 it was purchased of Richard Southwell, of Woodrising, in Norfolk, by Sir Thomas Audeley, and other commis- sioners of King Henry the Eighth ; and it was afterwards gi-anted by the king to Sir Richard Long, one of the gentlemen of his bedchamber ; he was of Shengay, in 262 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Cambridgeshire, and married Margaret Kitson, widow of Sir Thomas Kitson, of Hengrave. He died in 1547, and Ehzabeth, his eldest daughter, conveyed the estate, by man-iage, to Sir WilHam Russell, who sold it to Sir Thomas Cecil, a younger son of Thomas, earl of Exeter, of whom it was pmchased in 1630, by Anthony Abdy, Esq. The ancestor of this family was Richard Abdy, of Abdy, in Yorkshire, whose son, Robert, was the father of Robert whose son was Thomas Abdy, of Abdy, who mai-ried Cicely, daughter of William Tijas, Esq., of Yorkshire, and left by her a second son, Roger, who died in 1595, leaving, by Maiy, daughter of Richard White, Esq., of Hutton, two sons, Edmund and Anthony : Edmund mamed Judith, daughter of Sir Christopher Yelverton, judge of the Common Pleas, by whom he had Sir Christopher Abdy, who married the youngest daughter of Sir Herbert Crofts, of Suffolk. Anthony, the second son of Roger, was an alderman and sheriff of London, and the purchaser of Felix Hall in 1630, as above stated ; he died in 1640, and, besides other children, left, by Abigail, daughter of Sir Thomas Campbell, of London, three sons, created baronets, and a daughter, Alice : Sir Thomas Abdy was of Felix Hall, Sir Robert Abdy, of Albyns, and Sir John Abdy, of the More, in Salcot Verley. Ahce, the eldest daughter, was married to Sir John Bramston, of Skreens. Sir Thomas Abdy, of Felix Hall, was created a baronet in 1641, being the first of the family who attained this honorai'y distinction : on his death, in 1685, he was succeeded by his eldest son. Sir Anthony Abdy, who married Mary, the only daughter of Richard Millward, D. D., rector of Great Braxted, and canon of Windsor. Sir Thomas dying in 1704, his son. Sir Anthony Thomas Abdy, succeeded to his dignity and estate; he had three wives, and on his death, in 1733, left two daughters. His next brother. Sir William Abdy, succeeded him in dignity, but the greater part of the estate, particularly Felix Hall, went to his daughters, of which Charlotte, the eldest, was married to John Williams, Esq., second son of Sir John Williams, Knt., of Tendering Hall, who rebuilt Felix Hall, and made it an elegant country seat, and afterwards, in 1761, sold it to Daniel Matthews, Esq. Kasterford. The manor of Easterford, also called Kelvedon manor, has a pleasant mansion about a mile from the church, which is within the present bounds of Great Braxted parish ; in which the greater part of its demesnes lie, though some of the lands are in Kelvedon, whose present bounds go within fourscore rods of the house. These lands are believed to be those mentioned in Domesday as encroachments on the king's possessions. Formerly this manor belonged to a family surnamed De Kelvedon, and mentioned in records of the year 1346. Sir William Kelvedon, of Braxted, left; Jane, his daughter and heiress, who was married to Sir John Lowdham, of Frense, in Norfolk, who died in 1355, leaving a son, Sir Thomas, whose son, John, died in 1373. The last of this family who held Easterford was John Lowdham, Esq., HUNDRED OF WITHAM. 263 who, in 1423, held this manor of the prior and convent of St. Botolph, in Col- CHAP. U. Chester. Joanna was his only daughter and heiress, married to Thomas Heveningham, Esq., and a second time married to Ralph Bleverhasset, Esq., of Bleverhaysset, in Cumberland. He died in 1475, and Joanna, his wife, in 1501, at the age of ninety- seven. In the record she is said to " hold this manor of Kelvedon Hall, in Brakested, of Robert Southwell, in right of his wife, as of the manor of Fillwell Hall." The last of this family on record, who held this manor, was Samuel Bleverhasset, Esq., in 1613. It afterwards went to the Carew family. The manor of Ewell Hall was, soon after the Conquest, in the possession of Ewell a family surnamed De Ewell, supposed from a place called Ewell, in Surrey. The house is about half a mile from the church. After the family of Ewell, those of Fitz-Ralph, Doreward, and Sammes succeeded ; after which it became the property of Mr. John Cooper. The manor-house of Dorewards Hall is partly in Rivenhall, and partly in Kelve- Dorewards don, and the lands extend into both parishes. The river Pant, or Blackwater, runs through this pai-ish ; and there is supposed to have been formerly a hamlet beside this river on the farm, called Bridgefoot. This estate formerly belonged to the Aylet family, and several of them lived here. John Aylet, Esq. sold this estate to Bezaliel Sherman, surgeon, of Kelvedon, whose second wfe was the sister of Sir Anthony Abdy. The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is in a pleasant situation, a little to Churcli. the north of the town ; it is spacious, and consists of a nave, north and south aisles, and a chancel ; the chancel has but one aisle. It has a square brick tower, with a spire, leaded, and five bells. The vicarage-house is north-west of the church, and has fifty-six acres of glebe Vicarage- land belonging to it. John Marler gave two houses, and one acre of meadow land, for the maintenance of Charities, two almshouses, and a public well ; and some lands in East Thorpe were given to purchase bread, which is distributed to the poor every Sunday during a great part of the year. BRADWELL. There are two parishes in Essex of this name : this, on account of its nearness to Brailwell. Coggeshall, named in writings, Bradwell juxta Coggeshall ; the other, which is in Dengey hundred, distinguished by the words juxta mare. The name of this parish is from a " broad well " or spring, a little north of the hall, out of which the water flows so abundantly, and has so considerable a fall, that it turns an overshot mill near its source; and Pant, or Blackwater, runs through a hamlet or village here, which has received the name of this river. Hall, 264 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK 11. The population, in 1821, consisted of one hundred and sixty-two males, one hun- Population. ^'^^ ^I'ld fifty-five females ; total, three hundred and seventeen. Soil. The parish is small, and lies very low ; the soil, in some parts, heavy but good. It has but one manor, called Bradwell Hall. Bradwell Bradwell Hall stands near the church, and formerly had a park. Not being mentioned in Domesday-book or the Red-book of the exchequer, it is conjectured to have included, or constituted, what are mentioned as encroachments on the king's demesne lands in Kelvedon. In the reign of King John, a family named Daggeworth held this manor, and, in the following reign, Osbert Daggeworth had free warren in Bradwell and in Dagworth in Pebmarsh, and a license for himself and heirs to hunt in the forest of Essex. In 1383 this estate was granted to Sir John Sutton, who is said to have holden it of the king in capite, as of the honour of Peverel. Ten years afterwards, it was in the possession of Sir John Hende, or Hinde, a rich alderman of London, of which city he was sheriff in 1381, and lord mayor in 1391 and 1404. He was a great benefactor to Coggeshall Abbey ; in gratitude for which, they engaged to celebrate his obit with the solemnity of a founder. His eldest son, John Hende, Esq., was sheriff of Essex in 1443 and 1447, and died in 1461, leaving his mother, and a second John Hende, Esq., his brother, who was sheriff of the county in 1456, and died in 1464; and Joan, daughter of the elder brother, became the heiress general to both, and brought a vast estate in marriage to Walter Writtle, Esq., of a very ancient family, descended fi'om Ralph Fitz-Ralph, Esq., who had a grant of the manor of Writtle from Margaret, countess of Galloway, and from thence took his surname. From defect of heirship, these possessions afterwards became the property of John Basset, Esq., of Great Chishul, in right of his wife, daughter of William Andi'ews, Esq., and Amicia, sister of Sir John Hinde. Sir John Smyth, of Cressing Temple, also laid claim to this great inheritance, as the descendant of Alice, daughter of John Hende, alderman of London ; but the estates were confirmed to the first claimant. John Basset was descended from the noble family of the Bassets, of the south. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Gregory, who married Margaret, daughter of Robert Forster, Esq., of Birch, by whom, on his death, in lo2S, he left Dorothy, his only daughter, at that time only one year old. His widow was, after his death, twice married, first to William Ayloff, of Great Braxted, Esq., and afterwards to Eustace Sulyard, Esq., of Runwell. Thomas Bonham, Esq., of Kent, procured the wardship of the great heiress Dorothy Basset, and, as her guardian, kept his first court here in 1531. He procured her to be married very young to his son, Robert Bonham, Esq., who had by her Jeremy and Charles, and two daughters; Mary, married to Andrew Clarke, Esq., of Bocking, and Elizabeth, the wife of John Filiol, Esq., of Old Hall, in Raine. Charles, his second son, married Jane, daughter of Gilbert Songai-, and had an only daughter, Dorothy, married to Sir John Selby. HUNDRED OF WITH AM. 265 After the death of Robert Bonham, his widow was married to a second husband, CHAP. ii. Anthony Maxey, Esq., of Great Sahng Hall, who removed with her to Bradwell Hall ; she proved very unkind to her first husband's children, whom she in effect disinherited, settling her whole estate on the children of Anthony Maxey. And as for Jeremy Bonham, her eldest son, who should have been her heir, she made the poor man a pensioner upon his own estate, allowing him the miserable pittance of 10/. a year for life out of her manor of Picots, in Great Sahng. Anthony Maxey died in 1592, and his widow married a third husband, John Babington, Esq. She died in 1G02, and was buried beside her second husband, by whom her surviving childi-en were, Sir Henry and Sir William, and two daughters ; Dorothy, married to Sir Edward Heron, one of the barons of the Exchequer ; and Bridget, married to Edward Wentworth, Esq., of Becking Hall. On his mother's death. Sir Henry succeeded to the estate. He married Mildred, daughter of William Cook, Esq., second son of Sir Anthony Cook, of Gidea Hall, by Frances, his wife, daughter of Lord John Grey, brother to Henry Grey, duke of Suffolk; but dying, in 1624, with- out surviving offspring, his brother, Sir William Maxey, Knt., succeeded him, Maxey being at that time fifty years of cige. He married Helena, daughter of Sir Edward Greville, of Harold's Park, by whom he had three sons, Greville, Henry, and William ; Henry, the second son, was adjutant-general of the horse to King Charles the First, and distinguished for his loyalty ; William was a traveller, and served the same king in all his wars, and was major-general of his horse at the siege of Colchester; he died in 1659. Sir William died in 1645, aged eighty-eight, and his lady, surviving him, was married to Captain Spencer, her second husband ; she died in 1659, and was buried beside her husband, where a sumptuous monument was erected to their memory by Henry, their second son. Greville Maxey, Esq., the eldest son, succeeded his father, and died in 1648. His eldest son, by his wife, Mildred, daughter of Sir William Cook, of Gloucestershire, was Anthony Maxey, Esq., who succeeded to his father's estates ; he sold Saling, Picots, and other estates, to Martin Carter, Esq., but left Bradwell Hall to his brother, Henry Maxey, Esq., who, by his wife Sarah, daughter of Humphrey Lowe, of Baddow, had a son, Anthony, married to Elizabeth, daughter of Martin Carter, Esq., of Saling Hall, both of whom dying ^vithout sm-viving offspring, this estate descended to Martin Carter, Esq., of Witham, the eldest son of John Carter, attorney at law, of Braintree, who was brother to Martin Carter, Esq., the last owner of that name, of Great Saling Hall. This last proprietor of Bradwell Hall dying without surviving offspring, left the estate to his brother, Milbourne Carter, Esq., of Braintree. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is small ; it has a tower, with a spire. Church, and three bells. The chancel contains several stately monuments belonging to the ' Maxey and Carter families. VOL. I. M M 266 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. ECCLESIASTICAL BENEFICES IN WITHAM HUNDRED. R. Rectory. V. Vicarage. • From the returns to Parliament in 1818. t Discliarged from payment of Gist-fruila. Parish. Bradwell, R. . . . Braxted, Great, R. — Little, R Cressing, \". . . Fairsted, R. . . Faulkbourn, R. Hatfield Pev. V" Kelvedon, V. . . Notlev, Black, R. White, V, Rivenhall, R. Terliiig, V. . Ulting, V. . . Witbam, V. . Archdeaconry. Colchester. Incnmbeot. M. J. Bruncoin T. Herring . . C. T. Pettingall W. G. Flees W. R. Lyall John Bullock, Coventry Payne Charles Dalton William Wyvill. John Dennis . . John Lewis. . . William Goodday John Lupton. . John Newman . Insti- tnted. 181.3 182S ISIO ISll 1827 1818 1823 180+ 182!) 1804 182+ 1801 1823 1822 Value in Liber Regis. £. s. 12 19 •tll9 8 t7 15 6 13 6 13 »+90 9 4 15 10 21 5 tlO »t95 22 Patron. Rev. M. J. Brimwin . C. C. Col. Cambridge Fras. Capell, Esq. Vicar of Witham. Bishop of London. J. J. C. Bullock, Esq. J. Wright, Esq. Bishop of London. JL Wyvill, Esq. D. PenncU, Esq. &c. C. C. Western, Esq. J. H. Strutt, Esq. R. Nicholson, Esq. Bishop of London. CHAPTER Til. BOROl'GH AND LIBERTIES OF COLCHESTER. Colchester. Situation. SoiL This very ancient town is in the north-eastern pai-t of the county, in 51° 55' north latitude: it is twenty-one miles from Harwich, twenty-one from Chelmsford, and fifty- one miles north-east fi-om London. The principal part of this town occupies the summit and north and eastern sides of a fine eminence, rising gradually to the height of a hundred and twelve feet above the river Colne, which, from hence, taking a south-easterly chrection, falls into the German ocean, at the distance of fiileen miles, and is navigable to the Hythe, a subm'b forming the port of Colchester. This situ- ation contributes to the pleasantness as well as healthiness of the place, allowing a free air, and extensive prospects over the counti'y in various directions. It is so near the sea, that it enjoys the benefit of carriage by water, and a constant supply of fish, particul;u-ly soles and oysters ; it yet lies far enough distant from the sea to be per- fectly free from the moist atmosphere and noxious exhalations of the Essex coast. Within the walls the soil is a dark-coloured sand, and in instances where obser- vations could be made, sand has been observed to form the sub- soil, to the depth of ten or twelve feet, and in other instances a fine yellow sand has continued to the depth of sixty feet. BORORUGH OF COLCHESTER. 267 " The district surrounding the town is a dry gravelly loam, perfectly well adapted C HA P. to the culture of turnips; it extends east and west from Stanway to the Bromleys, '— north and south from Mistley to Fingrinhoe, and, toward Bures, is varied by a mixture of heavier land. Part of Copford, Stanway, and Lexden is sand, and a sandy loam on a gravelly bottom ; much of it light, and much of it also so deep above the gravel, as to be very excellent land ; in wet seasons yielding very great crops. Considerable tracts near Colchester are in the occupation of gardeners, who, besides supplying the town with vegetables, raise considerable quantities of garden- seeds for the counti-y, and the supply of London. About Berechurch, a dry, sound, sandy, or gravelly loam ; all, or nearly all, good turnip land, and for feeding off; but most productive in wet seasons, and some apt to burn in dry ones, from the shallow- ness of the surface soil, or the sharpness of the under stratum. Of this description is a level and sound dry land, with some variations to the south and west of the town.'"* Its convenient situation attracted, at an early period, the attention of the old British inhabitants of Britain ; and, under the name of Cam-a-laiin-ui'dun, — the town on the hill at the winding of a river. Latinised into Camulodunum, — was long the capital of the Trinobantes. Camden and others were for placing this ancient town, and its Roman representative, which was the first colony in Britain, at Maldon ; and Reynolds, in his Commentary on Antoninus, -f thinks that Colonia and Camulodunum (or, as he would spell it, Camalodunum,) were two different places, fixing the former at Colchester and the latter at Maldon. But there are a variety of reasons sufficient to make us believe that Camulodunum and Colonia were the same, and that they were both nearly identical in site with the present town of Colchester. Camulodunum was one of the first and principal settlements of the Romans in om- Camulodu- island. By Claudius it was raised to the rank of a Roman colony, :J: and it was soon • Last Agricultural Reports. t Pp- 251, 308. J The planting of the colony at Camulodunum, according to Camden, was commemorated by a medal of Claudius, which had on one side the emperor's effigy, with the inscription, TI. CLAVD. CAES. AVG. GER- P. M. TR. P. XII. IMP. XIIX. : on the reverse, a plough drawn by an ox and a cow yoked, driven by a man, to represent the ceremony of describing with a plough the circuit of the intended station : above, COL. C.\M.ALODON. AVG. The spelling, Camalodon, however, with other circumstances, if the coin were authentic, would render it doubtful if the colony of Camulodunum were that whose founding was thus intended to be recorded. But the existence of this coin has been suspected. Gough observes — " I have not been able to find where Camden and Burton met with this coin. It has not been turned up at Maldon or Colchester, nor is it mentioned by Vaillant, Patin, or Occo. The former (p. 105) barely mentions among Claudius's colony coins the name of Camulodunimi ; the other (p. 78) gives such a reverse as this with five standards, in- scribed COL. C. L. for ClaudiopoUs in Isauria." — Notes to Camden, vol. i. p. Ixx. The Roman name of this town was imdoubtedly derived from that under which it was known to the Britons. Camden ventured as a conjectiu-e, that " this name was imposed upon Camulodunum of the god Camulus ;" and the idea was revived in an ingenious pamphlet, publislied at Colchester by E. W. A. Hay, on occasion of the discovery of a monu- ment of Roman sculpture in the grounds of the Essex and Colchester Hospital. Camden founds his conjecture 268 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK 11. adorned with a number of magnificent buildings. " Camalodunum," says Edmund Bolton, in his " Nero Caesar," " the standing court, or palace roiall, of their (the Trinobantian) kings, was now become the centre of pleasant retirements for the Romans, not the rendevous of their power. The outward state of the towne seemed very flourishing. For besides the old palace, and other buildings, of the Britanns, (for the Romans, saith Sigonius, did not use to destroy the buildings they found,) it had a senate-house for consultations, a theater for playes, that goodlie temple of Claudius, and, as well they as the rest, undoubtedlie answerable in some measure to the Roman magnificence." Colchester, as a military post, appears to have been the principal of the line of stations which are still traced along the northern part of the county, which was at one time the boundary of the Roman conquests in this direction. It may, therefore, be thought perhaps not foreign to our subject to trace the ancient fortifica- Roman for- tions of this line of border. Eastward of the town, the depth of the Colne, the cncations. nature of its shores, and the steepness of the ancient ascent, might afford suflicient security : towai-ds the north it was protected, perhaps, by the yet existing fosse and mound added to the natural defences of the river, and a vnde morass ; and similar earthen works are still visible to the west, on which side, and on the south, were the extensive castra, castella, and prcEsidia spoken of by Tacitus. A line of strong posts also stretched out from the west as far as Mersey Island, and the total want of natural defences on the west, accounts for the situation of an important camp in that direction, serving both for observation and defence. If we examine the defensive line of boundary from the mouth of the Colne, on the eastern coast, it will appear very probable that it was constituted by that river only, until it reached the northern side of Camulodunum, where it was strengthened by a fosse, whether originally British or Roman is not known. The river continued thence to be the boundary, until it passed opposite Lexden, whence ramparts were sti'etched towai'ds, and ultimately carried beyond it, as far as to the south bank of the Stour, which, probably, at a later period, served as a defence against the Iceni of Suffolk. It appears probable that the frontier, as it gradually extended, next took a direction nearly due west from Lexden, to where the river Stort divides Essex and Hertford- shire. It would naturally be a grand object with the Romans to take up their defensive positions upon rivers of such a magnitude as would be themselves no mean defence against the attacks of the rude inhabitants : the Colne ceased to be such a river at Camulodunum ; nor was there another calculated by situation to form a on the fact that Mars was worshipped under the name of Camulus, and on the inscription Camnh Deo Sancio et Fortissimo: but Dr. Salmon's explanation appears more probable, that, " as Claudius was deified, and had a temple here, Camulo may stand for Camuloduni, according to the Roman practice of cutting words shorL And Claudius may be the Deus Sanctus and Fortissimus," for he is said to have been worshipped here. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 269 nahiral boundary and protection of their conquests, nearer than the Stour on one CHAP. side, and the Stort on another. To this latter river, therefore, they constructed a ** ' road, or miUtary stone-icay, from which the parish of Stanway takes its name, and this they probably defended, at proper distances, by camps and forts for garrisons. Both at Coggeshall and Dunmow, and at the seat of Lord Maynard, near the latter place, numerous vestiges of such works have been discovered ; and, near the Stort, upon the Essex side, at the distance of about two miles south from Hockerill, commences a complete series of Roman works ; which, in a southwai'd direction, keep the eastern side until beyond the junction of the Stort with the Lea, after which they cross the sti'eam, apparently to connect the chain with the civiias Trino- bantum. We will briefly trace this series of defensive works, wliich, nearly at its commencement, very naturally falls in with the cun-ilinear fi-ontier, supposed to be that of the Trinobantes, from the Cassi. The first, situated about two miles south from Hockerill, appears to have been a camp of oblong form, and is at present known by the name of Wallbury. About five miles lower on the river, at a place called Latton, are evidences of the ancient existence of a station, which was at first, it is probable, a British strong-hold, afterwards occupied by the Romans : in the con- tiguous fields there appears to have been a regular Roman town, from the number of ccrins, and other antiquities, both Roman and British, that have been discovered on the spot, at the depth of a few feet fi-om the surface. About a mile north-east of this station the remains of Roman buildings, formed of brick and flint-stones, were discovered about three years since by some labourers, in making a ditch. Crossing the Lea, after it has. received the waters of the Stort, opposite Broxbourne, we again meet with Roman military works ; and again at Cheshunt,* where, in a field called Kilsraore, may be seen a part of a vallum, with its regular fosse, of an oblong figure. Traces of such works are again visible in the fields near Islington, at a distance fi-om London, the cirilas Tiinobantiim, not greatly differing from that of the western camp of Lexden from Camulodunum. Until within a few years, these latter works gave the figure, in a very perfect state, of the prcetorium, with other features, of a Roman camp : the object of constructing which, may be presumed to have been the security of the station at London, since there yet exist contiguous embankments, appearing, from their direction, to have connected these with other, and probably more extensive works of the same kind. Under the Saxons, this town, which then received the name of Colon-ceaster, or History of Colne-ceaster, lost much of its ancient importance, partly owing to the increasing prosperity of London, and afterwards its situation exposed it in a peculiar manner to the depredations of the Danes, who gained possession in a short time of tlie whole district. In 921, the town was forcibly wrested from them by Edward the elder, and • Domesday-book evinces the Roman origin of this place, in the appellation of Ces/re-hunt. 270 HISTORY OF ESSEX. liOOK II. tl^e Danes that were in it were all put to the sword, with the exception of a very few, who escaped over the walls, and tied into East Anglia. Edward is supposed to have repeopled the desolated town by a colony of West Saxons, and in the November of the following veai", as we learn from the Saxon chronicle, he repaired or rebuilt the walls.* In 975, according to the Colchester chronicle, "The castle of Colchester, with seventeen or eighteen castles more, was almost destroyed." In 1071, the same document records that the town was burnt by a pai-ty of Danes, and was after- wards given by King William to Eudo Dapifer.f Many of the towns and burghs, in the Saxon times, were demesnes of the king, or of some other territorial lord. The major part of Colchester was in the crown in the reign of Edward the Confessor, and consequently in that of William : whether he gave it in custody to Eudo, or, as has been conjectured, fi'om his possessing a court (curia) in the town, to Hamo Dapifer, cannot be ascertained. It is known that Eudo afterwards was in possession of this town. Domesday The general state of the town in the time of the Conqueror best appears from Domesday-book, the substance of which, so far as relates to this place, is as follows : — The Bishop (i. e. of London) had in Colchester, fourteen houses, and foui- acres, paying no rent but scot, unless to the Bishop. Hugh held of the Bishop, two hides, and an acre. There had been always (/. e. pertaining to the bishop) two carucates in demesne, one plough-land for the tenants, two villains, eleven bordais, one servant, and six acres and a half of meadow : at the time of the Survey, one mill, formerly worth forty shillings, but then fifty. The number of the king's burgesses who paid fee-ferm rent was two hundred and seventy-six, who had three hunch-ed and fifty-five houses, and one thousand two hundred and ninety-six acres of land, besides fifty-one acres of meadow. Hamo Dapifer had one house and a court or hall, one hide of land, and fifteen burgesses, holden by his predecessor, Thurbern, in King Edward's time ; all which then paid rent, except the hall : the burgesses still paid so much per head, but nothing for their arable land, or the hide they held of Hamo: in the hide there was one carucate, or plough land, in King Edward's time, but, at the time of this survey, none. Hamo also had six acres of meadow. Man- sune, two houses and four acres. Goda, one house. Eudo Dapifer had five houses and forty acres of land, which the burgesses held in King Edward's time, and paid all the rent usually paid by burgesses, but, at the time of the Survey, they paid only by poll. All this, with the fourth part of St. Peter's chuixh, (which belonged to Eudo) • -J jebet pa buph. -) see'eneopa'oe paep hioaep to bpocen paEp- Sax. Chron. p. 109. + " 1071. The city of Colchester burnt by tlie Danes, tlicy having first ravished the cityzens' wifes, Wm. the Conqueror gave Colchester to Eudo his cup-bearer." This is taken from a .MS. volume, ivritten, as appears from one portion of its contents, by Edmund Hickeringill, rector of All Saints, in Colchester, which contains a transcript of this chronicle (in English), with some additions from Speed, and is brouglit down to the year 17*1, in the same hand, though Jlorant fixes HickeringUl's death in 1708. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 271 paid thirty shillings. Hugh de Montfort, one iiouse, which his predecessor, Godric, CHAP. held in King Edward's time. Roger Pictaviensis, one house, which his predecessor, " Alflet, held in King Edward's time. Earl Eustace, twelve houses, besides one which Engelric had seized. They were worth trivelve shillings. William, the bishop's nephew, two houses which Turchil held. Otto, the goldsmith, three houses, lying at Esceldeforde, which the Countess Alueva held. This was part of the queen's land. The abbot of Westminster, four houses, which Earl Harold held, at Ferigens. Goisfrid de Magnaville, two houses, which Geny at Erlige held in King Edward's time. Sueno, one house, which Goda held at Elmestade in King Edward's time. William de Wateville, one house of his own name, which Robert Wimarc held in King Edward's time. Turstin Wiscai'd, three houses of John Fitz-Waleram, and half a hide of land, which two burgesses held in King Edward's time. Ranulf Piperell, five houses, which Ailmar at Terhnge held in the time of King Edward ; one of them was without the walls. Radulf Baignart, one house, which Ailmar Melc at Tollensum held in King Edward's time. The abbess of Berchingis, three houses. Alberic de Ver, two houses and three acres of land, which Ulwine, his predecessor, held in King Edward's time. The king's demesnes in Colchester : one hundred and two acres of land, of which ten were meadow, and wherein were ten bordars, besides two hundred and forty acres, between pasture and heath. All this was let to ferm by the king. In common among the burgesses, eighty acres of land, and eight perches round the wall ; of all which the burgesses had sixty shillings a year, for the king's service, if need were, if not, to be divided in common. And the custom was, for the king's burgesses to pay yearly, fifteen days after Easter, two marks of silver, which belonged to the king's ferm. Likewise 6d. a year out of each house, to be paid whether the king liad soldiers, or undertook an expedition ; for which sixpences, the whole city paid, in King Edward's time, 15/. 5s. 3d. a year. Moreover the burgesses of Colchester, and of Meldune, paid 20/. for the privilege of coining moneij, which was settled by Waleram. And they appealed to the king, that he had remitted them 10/. And Walchelin, the bishop's tenant, demanded of them 40/. The church of St. Peter was held, in the time of King Edward, by two priests, for a small quit-rent, of which, Robert Fitzralph, of Hatinges, claimed three parts, and Eudo Dapifer the fourth. In the time of the second William, Colchester was relieved fi-om much of the tyrannous and oppressive treatment of the preceding reign, by being committed to the government of Eudo Dapifer ;* this appointment was at their own special request, • Dapifer is defined by Spellman as being " summus officials cum in aulis principum, turn in privatorum hospitiis," the chief official, either in the household of princes or of private people. The name marks more particularly the original nature of the office, " utpote quod in fcrendis dapibus exhibetur," that of serving at table. The name is not found in writers of the age of Charlemagne ; but in his household there was one Audul- fus, orOdulfus, a man of great power, who was sent to subdue the people of Armorica or Bretagne, in 786: he 272 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. and they were not deceived in their expectation of kinder treatment from him than they liad hitherto experienced from their Norman lords. Ill " 1076," it is stated in the Colchester Chronicle, "Eudo built the castle of Colchester upon the foundation of Coell's palace, and repaired the chaple which St. Helena had built, and dedicated it to St. John, upon St. Katherine's day, in honour of St. Katherine and St. Helena, by Roger, bishop of London ; William, abbot of St. John's, being present. W. Rufus took Colchester with the castle into his possession."* Henry I. Henry I. granted letters patent to the tenants of his manor of Colchester: they were preserved among the town records till the time of Elizabeth, but they have since disappeared. In the reign of Stephen, and in the earlier part of that of Henry II. the town was let in ferm to the sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire; but before the close of the Feeferm. latter reign, the custom of letting in fee-ferm to the men or burgesses of the respective towns was introduced, and Colchester, in 32d and 33d of Henry II., was thus let to the burgesses at a yearly fee-farm of 42/., in those days a very considerable sura. Out of this practice arose the property of the burgesses in the manor of the corpora- tion.f In the twenty-ninth year of King Henry II., the town of Colchester was amerced before justices errant for an escape. They were amerced secundum facul- tates, that is, each of the chief townsmen at a certain sum of money, the poorer sort in gross or altogether.^ In the beginning of this reign, the burgesses were also in possession of Kings-wood Heath, but, for reasons not particularly mentioned, Henry afterwards took it into his own hands again. Henry II. after the death of Eudo, gave Hubert de the castle of Colchester in charge to Hubert de St. Clair, who, attending Henry at the siege of Bridgenorth, and perceiving an arrow aimed at the monarch, stepped before him and received it in his own breast, thus saving the life of his sovereign by the sacrifice of his own. The possessions of Hubert came to his only daughter, who William de was given in marriage, by the king, to William de Lanvallei. William de Lanvallei Laiivallei. o ' .J &' was made governor of Colchester castle in place of Hubert, and he founded, near the principal gate, a convent for crouched fi-iars, of the order of St. Augustine. is called in the Annales Fuldenscs, " Caroli Sencschallus ;" but by Aimonius, " Regia mensem pro'positiis," (lib. iv. c. 76,) and by Reginus, " Princeps Coquorum." Seneschallus hospitii was synonymous with dapifer. The name of , dapifer was given to various offices of the household ; and among them were included even the common waiters at table, " famiJos omnes qui mensam domini sui observabant, nobisque hodie serving-men appellantur." The name was sometimes used synonymously with comes, seneschallus, and even with justitarium. One duty of the dapifer, according to Spellman, was to carry the banner before his master, vexillum domini sui gestare. • From a copy of the original deed of gift in a MS. register of the monastery of John the Baptist at Col- chester, preserved among the Ilarl. MSS. Cod. 312, we learn that the king gave—" Eudoni Dapifero meo,"— " civitatem de Colcestr et lurrhn ct castellum et oiiies ejusdem civitatis firmitates," &c. t In the reign of Henry II. Colchester was a royal possession, as we find from the Mag. Rot 17 Henry II. Rot. 8. a Ricavdiis de Luci reddit conipotum de xl /. Bl [ancorum], de firma de Colcestra. J Madox, Hist, of E.\cheq. p. 3S7. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 273 It is to about this period that the earhest records now left extend, which give us CHAP, any information of privileges granted to, or claimed by, the people of Colchester. ^^^' Under Henry the First, and Henry the Second, they had consuetudines aqua et ripce of the ex utraque imrtc, the customs of the water, and of the banks on either side. In "™"' the reign of the latter monarch, their market and customs were confirmed by the justices itinerant, on the oath of the burgesses. In the first year of the reign of Richard the First, the manor was resumed by the town, and was restored the same year, when the first charter was granted them, which bears date December 6, First A. D. 1189. Its chief provisions in favour of the burgesses were, that they should a D 'ii's<> have liberty to choose bailiffs from among themselves, and a justice to hold pleas of the crown, and not be required to plead any matter without the walls of their burgh. They should be free from scot and lot, danegeld, murdrum, and be amerced only for their weere ; and exempt fi-om toll, lastage, passage, pontage, and all other customs and duties, at all times, and in all places.* None of the royal or any other family should be lodged, by force, or by the marshal's appointment, within the walls of the burgh. No forester should have power to molest any man within the liberty ; but all the burgesses should be free to hunt witliin the liberty, the fox, the hare, and the polecat. The burgesses should have their fishery from the north bridge as far as Westnesse ; and the customs of the water and banks on both sides, to enable them to pay their fee-farm, as they enjoyed them in former reigns. The market should not be hindered by any other market, but it and the customs should remain as they had been confirmed before the justices itinerant of Henry the Second. During the commotions of the reign of John, in 1215, Saher de Quincy, earl of Saher de Winchester, with an army of foreigners, entered the kingdom, and laid siege to Col- ^"'"'^y- Chester castle ; but on hearing that the barons at London were hastening to its relief, he retired to St. Edmimd's Bury. He, however, or some other of his party, soon afterwards gained possession of the town, plundered it, and placed a garrison in the castle; but the king, after a few days' siege, retook it. In the year following, at the commencement of the reign of Henry the Third, Lewis, son of Philip the Second, invited by the barons, entered England, and, among other places, made himself master of Colchester ; but it was recovered on the submission of the barons to the new king, who granted to the burgesses of Colchester, in addition to their former charter, that they and their heirs, for ever, should have the return of all writs in matters con- cerning the liberty of the town. * Murdrum was a fine imposed upon a place wherein a murder had been committed; or for not producing tlie murderer, if lie had fled thither. Weere, a fine laid upon the murderer himself; and it must mean, that if a burgess had committed murder, he should be indicted for it only at a hundred or other court within the burgh, and be amerced the usual sum of 100 shillings. Lastage, a compensation for liberty to bring goods to fairs and markets, or to carry them where the owner thought proper. Passage, money paid for passing to and fro of persons and goods, in common shores, landing-places, &c. Pontage, toll for passing over bridges, with horses, carriages, &c. or under them, in boats or other vessels. VOL. I. N N 274 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Lionel de Branden- ham. UOOK II. Under Edward the First, large sums were obtained from the town to assist in meeting tlie expenses of his warhke government. The records, preserving the parti- culars of these various assessments, are yet extant ; and we learn from them that fifteenths were levied upon the town and liberties in the first, eighth, and twenty-ninth ; a tallage to which Colchester contributed 64/. 18*. lOd. in the fourth, and a seventh in the twenty-fourth years of this reign.* The whole number of persons assessed in the town and liberties was three hundred and ninety, and the sum collected amounted to 24/. I2s. Id. Other assessments of the same kind were made in the sixth and thirteenth years of the reign of Edward the Second, who granted the burgesses an exemption for ever fi-om murage, picage, paage,f and all other impositions upon their goods and merchandise, throughout his dominions. Colchester, in 1347, furnished five ships towards the fleet with which Edward the Third blockaded Calais ; and, after the battle of Cressy, this monaixh committed some of his prisoners to the custody of the bailiffs, as appears by his letter which is preserved among the town records. In the reign of the third Edward, Lionel de Brandenham, a powerful and avaricious man, who was lord of the manor of Lagonhoo, attempted to infringe upon the exclusive privilege of the town to the fishery of the Colne, by enclosing and appropriating to himself some part of the river. By the adjudgment of commis- sioners appointed to inquire into this affair, the enclosures were ordered to be broken down ; but Brandenham, enraged at his defeat, determined to wreak his vengeance on the town, to which he laid siege for a quarter of a year, with the intent to burn it, holding in his service several robbers and such reckless persons, by whose means he drowned several people in the Colne. In the end, however, this turbulent baron was compelled to sue for pardon, and the full rights of the townsmen were restored. • The roll particularizing tlie assessment of the fifteenth in the 29th Edward I. is the most minute and ciurious : among other instances the following may be particiUarized : — " Roger the Dyer had, on Michaelmas- day last, in his treasury or cupboard, I silver buckle, price ISd. — 1 cup of mazer, (maple) pr. ISrf. In his chamber, 2 gowns, pr. 20s. — 2 beds, pr. half a mark — 1 napkin and 1 towel, pr. 2s. In his house, 1 ewer with a bason, pr. lid. — 1 andiron, pr. Sd. In his kitchen, 1 brass pot, pr. 20rf. — I brass skillet, pr. 6d. — 1 brass pipkin, 8d. — 1 trivet, pr. id. In his brew-house, 1 quarter of oats, pr. 2s. — woad-ashes, pr. half a mark — 1 great vat for dying, pr. 2s. 6d. Item, 1 cow, pr. 5s. — 1 calf, pr. 2s. — 2 pigs, pr. 2s. : each I2d. — 1 sow, pr. I5d. — billet- wood, and faggots, for firing, pr. 1 mark. — Sum, 71s. 5d. : fifteenth of which, 4s. 9d. qa. " William the Miller had, the day aforesaid, in ready money, 1 mark of silver. In his cup-board, a silver buckle, pr. 9d. — 1 ring, pr. I2d. In liis granary, 1 quarter of wheat, pr. 4s. — 1 quarter of barley, pr. 3s.— 2 quarters of oats malted, pr. 4s. : each quarter 2s. — 2 hogs, price 10s. : each 5s. — 2 pigs, pr. 3s. : each iSd. — 1 pound of wool, pr. 3s. &c. S:c. " The Abbot of St. John's had, the day aforesaid, at Greensted, 8 quarters of rye, pr. 24s. : at 3s. a quarter. Item, 4 stallions, pr. 24s. : each 6s. — 4 oxen, pf. 40s.: each 10s. — 24 sheep, 24s.: each 1 2d., &c. " No degree of poverty exempted the subject from his share. John Fitz-elias, weaver, had, the day afore- said, 1 old coat, pr. 2s.— 1 lamb, pr. 6rf. — Sum, 2s. 6d. : fifteenth of which 2rf." t Murage was a duty on carts and horses which passed through a town, for the repair of the walls. Picage was money paid for breaking up the ground for erecting booths, stalls, &c. Paage is believed to be the same as passage, mentioned before. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 275 In the twenty-second year of king Richard the Second, the men of Colchester were CHAP. charged by the summonse of tlie Exchequer, with 42/. for the ferme of their town. ' The barons of the Exchequer awarded a writ of scire facias to the sheriff of Essex, to warn them (quod pramuniantur prtBdicti homines), to show cause why they should not be charged to the king every year with the entire sum of 42/. for the ferme of their town. On this, the sheriff returned answer, that he had warned Thomas Godeston, Thomas Fraunceys, John Seburgh, and John Dyere, merchant, men of the town of Colchester, to appear before the barons of Westminster, in the quinzieme of St. Hilary, to show cause, and to do as the said writ required. At that time these men appeared by their attorney, and said they were not yet fully instructed to answer touching the premises, and prayed a further day, A day being given them, they appeared at the quinzieme of Easter, by their attorney, and were further adjourned to the quinzieme of St. Michael, before which day, king Richard the Second ceased to rule. A fresh writ was issued for them to appear on the morrow of the close of Easter, in the first year of Henry the Fourth ; and the sheriff warned John Seburgh, John Forde, Thomas Fraunceys, Henry Bosse, and Michael Aubrey, who appeared by their attorney, and said they were not yet informed what to plead. The court gave them day from term to term. At length they brought into court a close writ of the great seal, directed to the treasurer and barons of the Exchequer, reciting the case of the said townsmen, and commanding the barons to make them allowance of the said 11., so that they be discharged for ever. " Hereupon the court doth adjudge, that the said men of Colchester have full allowance of the said 7/., as well for the time past, as for the time to come, and that they, the said men, and their successors, be discharged and acquitted thereof."* The charters of the town were confirmed and renewed by Edward the Third, by charter of Richard the Third, and by the fourth and fifth Henries ; and the latter made and ^^I'^'^^iiiQ added several privileges, chiefly relating to the pleas, of which the bailiffs, burgesses, and commonalty, should have cognizance. f Henry the Sixth confirmed the former Henrv Vi. privileges, and also granted some additional ones, settling the extent of the liberty, &c. of the town, and granting that it should not be lawful for the steward, or marshal, or clerk of the king's household, or his admiral, to enter the town, or its liberty, &c. ; and that the bailiffs should have full power and authority to inquire of all • Madox, Firma Burghi, p. Ii.3, &c. f The initial letter of the charter of Henry the Fifth, granted to the burgesses of Colchester in 1413, represents St Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, sitting upon a throne : her dress is blue, her girdle black, ornamented with gold studs, and edged with pearl. Upon her head is a crown of gold, and a sceptre in her right hand ; her left is placed upon her breast, as expressive of religious awe and humility. A label encircles her, upon which is the following inscription: Sc5. Elena nata fuit in Colcestria mat: Constantini fuit et sc5m. cruce invenit. Before her is placed the cross, which, tradition says, she discovered during her sojourn at Jerusalem. 276 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. matters concerning the office of clerk of the market. But on the fourth of March, 144G, the same monarch made a grant to John, Earl of Oxford, of the fisheries ; though, after several trials, the possession was decided in favour of the town. Charter of Edward the Fourth, — " considering that the burgh of Colchester was one of the ancientest burghs in the kingdom of England ; that it was seated near the sea-coasts, to oppose the attempts of his enemies that were disposed to invade the kingdom ; and remembering the very great faithfulness and loyalty of the burgesses of that burgh, both to himself and his predecessors, kings of England ; " confirmed all the previous charters, and also granted that the bailiffs and burgesses and their successors, consisting of two bailiffs and one commonalty, should for ever be one perpetual body and commonalty, incorporated by the name of the bailiffs and commonalty of the burgh of Colchester; and that the bailiffs should hold, in the Moot-hall, a court every week, on Mondays and Thursdays ; that a common council should be elected, &c. It also contained some other considerable privileges. The town evinced its attachment to the king, by allowing no person to remain within its precincts for forty Henry VII. days, wdthout taking the oath of fealty to him. Henry the Seventh gave a new charter, confirming the inhabitants of Colchester in the exercise of their ancient franchises, and annexing to their jurisdiction the four hamlets of Lexden, Mile-end, Hen. VIII. Greensted, and Berechurch. In the fifteenth of Henry the Eighth the inhabitants of Colchester did " lovingly avaunce to him a sum by weye of lone, for the maintenaunce of his Grace and warys ageynst Fraunce and Scottlond ; " and Henry promised, under his privy seal, " truly to content and repay to all and singuler suche personnes of the borough of Colchestre — all and singuler suche particuler summes of money as have been by theym and every of theym lovingly advanced — amounting in the hole to the summe of one hundred one poundes and foure shilling st." In the charter of this monarch, Kingswood, or Kingswood heath was granted to the town.* Katharine In 1516, on the day before the feast of Corpus-Christi, Katharine of Arragon, who was going in pilgrimage to our Lady of Walsingham, visited Colchester on her way, and was met at Lexden by the bailiffs, aldermen, and a large body of the burgesses, who conducted her in state to St. John's abbey. A purse of £40 was presented to her ; and, at her departui-e, the bailiffs, aldermen, &c. attended her to the farther bounds of the parish of Mile-end. In 1544, this town was called upon to assist the monarch in foreign war.f The • Charters, confirming those which had been made before, were given by Edward the Sixth, Mary, Elizabetli, James the First, and Charles the First. f The following letter, under the royal signet, was addressed to the bailitTs : " BY THE KING. " HENRY R. " Trustie and welbeloved, we greate you well : And wheras betweene us and Themperor, upon provocation of manyfolde Injiu-ies committed by the Frenche King unto us both particulerlie : And for his confederation of Arragon. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 277 assumption of Henry the Eighth, of being the supreme head of the church, was CHAP. III. the foundation of reHgious hberty, and the structures of papish superstition and error were soon thrown to the earth : but in their ruin, unsoHcited charity to the indigent, and hospitality to the houseless wanderer, were overwhelmed. The de- Dissolution struction of the monastery and church of St. John, the priory of St. Botolph, the teries."^^ hospital and church of the Crouched Friars, and of other religious structures, occasioned consternation and grief and despair to those who had chiefly depended on the charity and benevolence which constantly sti-etched forth the hand of relief at their gates. John Beche, the last abbot of St. John's, because he could not con- Last abbot scientiously acknowledge the supremacy of King Henry the Eighth, was condemned John's. to death ; and it is traditionally recorded, to the disgrace of the then bailiffs, that the unsuspecting abbot was by them invited to a feast, and, in the moment of apparent good-will and friendship, suddenly struck with astonishment and dismay, by the presentation of the warrant, and hurried away to execution, because he could not be persuaded to belie his own conscience, and commit a crime, by the sanction of what he deemed infamous. During the attempt which was made to place on the throne the ill-fated Lady Jane Queen Mary. Grey, the people of Colchester warmly espoused the cause of Mary, and the towTi itself was put in a state of defence, in her favour ; and in return, very shortly after her accession to the throne, on the 26th of January, 1553, she visited Colchester, where she was liberally entertained, and was presented with a silver cup and cover, partly gilt, and twenty pounds in gold.* But even their services and loyalty were not able to defend the inhabitants of this towTi fi-om the furious persecutions which disgi'aced her reign. Colchester was distinguished at this period for the diversity of its religious sects. A person named Henry Harte is mentioned as a particularly zealous apostle of novel doctrines ; and in 1555, Christopher Vitels, a disciple of Henry Nichols, the founder of the Family of Love, coming fi'om Delft, brought over Family of Love, with the Turke against thole common-wealth of Christendom, It is agreed, that eche of us aparte in persone with his puissaunt Armey in severall parties this soommer shal invade the Realme of Fraunce ; And being not yet furnyshed of such ample noomber of men as shall suffice for that purpose ; For the good opinion we have in you to see us furnyshed as to oiur honour apperteyneth. We have appointed you to send us thenombre of xv hable fotemen, well furnyshed for the warres as apperteyneth, wherof three to be Archers, everye oone furnyshed with a good bowe in a cace, with xxiii good arrowes in a cace, a good sworde and a dagger; and the rest to be bill men, having besids theyre bills a good sworde and a dagger : To be levied of your own servants and tenants. And that you put the saide nombre in such a redynes, furnyshed with cotes and hosen of such colours as is appointed for the BatteU of our Armey, As they faile not within oone howres warnyng to marche forwarde to suche place as shal be appointed accordinglie. Yeven undre our signet at our Palace of Westm' the vth dale of June xxxvith yere of our Reigne." * The value of this gift will be better understood from the following items amongst those recorded in the chamberlain's account of the charges incurred by the purchase of various articles of food, in consequence of the visit. Thirty-eight dozen of bread, 39s. Fifty-nine gallons of claret wine, 4Si. A quarter of beef, weighing five score and ten pounds, 9s. '2d. A side of beef, weighing seven score and five pounds, 12s. Id, A veal, 4s. Half a veal, 2s. id. Two muttons, 9s. id. &c. 278 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. and spread the knowledge in this town and neighbourhood, of his master's and his own " straunge opinions." Vitels was a joiner by trade ; but " being, as it seemed, weary of his occupation, he left his craft of joignyng, and took unto him a new trade of lyfe : so that of a simple scholer, he became a great and learned schole-maister of that docti-ine."* Throughout Mary's reign " the auncient and famous towne of Colchester was a sweete and comfortable mother of the bodyes, and a tender nourse of the soules, of God's children : which towne was rather at that tyme frequented, because it afforded many godly and zealous martyrs, whiche continually with their bloud watered those seedes, which by the preachyng of the worde had been sowne most plentifully in the hartes of Christians in the dayes of good Kyng Edward. This towne, for the earnest profession of the gospell, became like unto a citie upon an hill ; and, as a candle upon a candlesticke, gave gi'eat light to all those, who for the comfort of their conscience came to conferre there from divers places of the realme, and repairying to common innes, had by night their christian exercises, whiche in other places could not be gotten. For proofe whereof, I referre the reader imto that which is truely reported by M. Foxe, in his booke of Actes and Monumentes : that at the Kynges-head, in Colchester, and at other innes in the sayd towne, the afflicted Christians had set places appointed for themselves to meete at." f In 1555, 1556, 1557, and 1558, several people were put to death in this town for their opinions ; and others, who were prisoners in the castle on the same charge, were released on the accession of Elizabeth. In 1571, the Dutch and Flemings sought here an asylum from persecution ; which caused the establishment of the Bay and Say trade. In the autumn of 1579, Elizabeth took a "progress" through part of Essex and Suffolk, and visited Colchester on the 1st and 2nd of September. The following orders were made for her reception : — " That the bayliffs and aldermen, in the receipt of her Majestie, shall ride upon comely geldings, with foot-clothes, in damask or sattin cassocks or coats, or else jackets of the same, with sattin sleeves in their scarlet gowns, with caps and black velvet tippets. The councell to attend upon the baylifTs and aldermen at the same time, upon comely geldings, with foot-clothes, in grogram or silk cassock coats or jackets, with silk doublets, or sleeves at the least, in the livery morray-gowns, with caps, &c. That her Majestie shall be gratified from the town with a cup of silver, double-gilt, of the value of twenty marks, or £10 at • See a " Confutation of the Family of Love," by W. Wilkinson, Ito. Lond. 1575. Among the Harleian MSS. Cod. 416, there is a letter to Bishop Bonner, from Chidsey, then in commission against the heretics at Colchester, who speaks of " obstinate hereticks, anabaptists, and oy' vnruly parsons." There is anotlier letter of the same stamp, from Colchester, in Harl. MSS. Cod. 421, where complaint is made that they read the " booke of Powles Epistoles in Englysse," &c. And one person had the " new testamet in Englese, and paid for it," " and red it thoron7gly many tymis,' " and afterward when he hard that the said new testamet was forboden that no man shuld kepe them, he delyured it and the booke of Powles Epistoles to his mother agen," &c. t " A brief description of the first springing up of the Heresie, termed 'The Familie of Love,' by W. Wilkinson." BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 279 the least, with forty angels in the same ; and the officers of her Majestic to be CHAP. gratified as afore they have been. The recorder for the time being, to make the '■ — oration to her Majestie."* In the reign of Elizabeth, the celebrated Sir Francis Walsingham was recorder of Sir Francis Colchester; and, from the testimony of regard for him that is found in the records, it ^^^_ "' is probable that the town, through his means, gained both protection and favour. The second charter granted by Charles I. to Colchester, was, in a manner, quite a Second Charter ot new charter, and incorporated " the men, and fi-ee-burgesses, and bailifis, and com- Charles I. monalty," by the name of the " mayor and commonalty," and confirmed the former charters. Among other things, it enacted that the mayor, recorder, preceding year's mayor, and two other aldermen annually chosen, are to be justices of peace, and hold quarter sessions of the peace : the mayor and recorder to hold the weekly courts on Mondays and Thursdays. The mayor and commonalty to have cognizance of pleas of debts and offences within the burgh belonging to the admiral's jurisdiction ; but the admiral of England, or his deputy, to have the liberty of entering the burgh to take care of his debts, and other concerns of the admiralty. A perambulation ordered to be taken yearly of the bounds and liberties, to the intent that they might not be forgotten, and to prevent disputes. The people of Colchester expressed, at an early period, their dissatisfaction under the government of Charles : " About the commencement of the year 1627, forces were transported from these parts to the king of Denmark's assistance ; but they went so much against their will, that the militia was sent from this town to restrain their mutinies." This was the first open act of opposition in this part of the kingdom. In January, 1641-2, a petition was presented from this town to the House of Com- mons, complaining against the penal jurisdiction and ofiice of bishops, and requiring liberty of conscience, desiring that church discipline might be established according to the word of God, and the town better fortified. The latter request was complied with, and the pai'liament granted 1500/. to render Colchester, and the Block-house at Mersey, defensible. On the twenty-second of August, 1642, the towTismen seized Sir John Lucas, who was preparing, with ten or twelve horse, and some arms, to join the royal party in the north ; barbarously maltreated his mother and lady, with his chaplain, Mr. Thomas Newcomen, rector of the parish of Holy Trinity; plmidered * The queen's stages, or rests, were these: "Aug. 5, from Greenwich to Havering, and tliere 5 days: Aug. 10, to Woodcroft-hall, Mr. Weston Browne's, and there 2 days: Aug. 12, to Lees, the Lord Riche's, and there 3 days: Aug. 15, to Gosfelde, the Lady Matraver's, and there 5 days: Aug. 20, to Small-bridge, Mr. Walgrave's, and there 2 days : Aug. 22, to Ipswich, and there i days : Aug. 26, to Harwich, there 3 days : Aug, 29, to the Lord Darcy's, and there 3 days: Sept 1, to Colchester, and there 2 days: Sept. 3, to Leyr- marney, Mrs. Tuke's, and there 2 days: Sept. 5, to Maiden, Mrs. Harries', 2 days: Sept. 7, to Mousham, Sir Tho. Mildemay's, and there 4 days: Sept. 11, to the Lady Petre's at Ingatestone, and there 3 days; Sept. II, to Havering." 280 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. his seat on St. John's-green, sparing not even to violate the repository of the ashes of his ancestors in the adjoining church of St. Giles ; and conducted him and Mr. Newcomen prisoners to London. Some of the authors of these violent proceedings were after- wards seized, and sent up to the parliament; but the representatives for the borough, Sir William Masham, Bart, and Harbottle Grimston, Esq. interested themselves in their behalf, and they escaped without punishment. Colchester had, however, for some time, very little share in the troubles of the time. Supplies to In KJIS, " the committee of the Lords and Commons for the safety of the king- ment. dom," were indebted to the "activity and dispatch" of the leading men of Essex and Suffolk, for two thousand horse for dragoon service : and in November of the same year, when the king had entered Middlesex, and was threatening London, Col- chester raised and equipped a company, under the command of Captain John Langley, to assist in defenchng the parliament. In the beginning of 1643, they despatched another complete company, destined to join the earl of Manchester to the rendezvous of the eastern association at Cambridge ; * and during the whole continuance of the war, Colchester supported the popular cause by perpetual reinforcements of men, as well as by large supplies of military stores, and money to an extraordinary amount. Particular exertions to raise a pecuniary supply were made in June, 1643, at the pressing solicitations of the earl of Essex, seconded by those of Cromwell, whose letter,-)- as well as that of the earl, was full of strong expressions. The eai'l desired Cromwell's * "^^^ following letter from Oliver Cromwell, dated March 23, 1643, and addressed "To the Maior of Letters. Colchester, and Captaine John Langley," relates to this particular company. " Gentlemen, Upon the coniinge downe of your townsmen to Cambridge, Capt. Langlie not knowinge how to dispose of them, desired mee to nominate a fitt Captaine, which I did, an honest, religious, valliant gentle- man, Capt. Dodsworth, the bearer heereof. Hee hath diligently attended the service, and much iraproued his men in their exercise. But hath beene unhappie beyond others, in not receauinge any pay, for himselfe, and what Hee had for his souldiers, is out longe agoe. Hee hath by his prudence, what with fayre and winninge carriage, what with monie borrowed, kept them together. Hee is able to do soe noe longer, they will presently disband if a course bee not taken, it's pittye itt shoidd be soe, for I belieue they are brought into as good order as most companies in the Arraie. Besid's at this instant there is great neede to vse them, I havinge receaued a special comand from my Lord Generall to aduance with what force wee can to putt an ende (if itt may be) to this worke (God soe assistinge) from whome all helpe cometli. I beseech you therefore consider this gentleman, and the souldiers, and if itt bee possible, make up his cumpanie a hundred and twenty, and send them away with what expedition is possible, itt may (through Gods blessinge) proue very happie, one months pay may proue all yoiu- trouble. I speake to wise men, God direct you, I rest, yours to serve you, OLIVER CROMWELL." t " Gent : I thought it my duty once more to write unto yow for more strength to be speedily sent unto us for this great service ; I suppose yow heare of the great defeat given by my L. Fairfax to the Newcast: Forces at Wakefield ; it was a great mercy of God to us, and had it not bin bestoune upon us at this very present, my Lo; Fairfax had not knowne how to have subsisted : we assure yow, should the force we have miscarry, expect nothing but a speedy march of the enemy up unto yow ; why yow should not strengthen us «o make us subsist, judge yow the danger of the neglect, and how inconvenient this improvidence or unthrifty may be to yow ; 1 shall never write but according to my judgment : I tell yow again it concerns yow exceedingly to be perswaded by me : My Lor: Newcastle is neer 6000 foot and about 60 troopes of horse : my Lo : Fairfax is BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 281 " such as had most interest in the cause, to approve themselves in it ; men of religious CHAP. Ill lives and affections, fittest to bear arms for the truth of religion ; men of estates, to " defend those estates ; the employment not being too mean for the best men." The inhabitants entered into a general subsci-iption, and the women were not less generous than the men. The direct assessments upon the town and liberties, by order of tlie parliament, during the course of the civil war, amounted in all to 30,177/. 2*. 4.^/. In 1648, a design was conceived by many of the nobility and gentry, in various Troubles in parts of the kingdom, to use some means of restraining the power of the parliament. Frequent conferences were held ; and in Kent, under various pretences, great num- bers assembled, and took up arras, under George Goring, earl of Norwich, who was elected general. They advanced as far as Blackheath, in expectation of being joined by the Londoners; but, on the advance of Fairfax, they retreated in two separate bodies, one taking the road to Rochester, the rther falling back upon Maidstone. One of these divisions was pursued and defeated by the parliamentarian general, but the other advanced a second time to Blackheath, and being again compelled to retreat and disperse, a part crossed the Thames at Greenwich, and remained five days at Stratford-le-Bow, where they were joined by many Kentish men, and London apprentices. In the mean time, the royalists of Essex made great exertions, and assembled at Chelmsford, where they raised considerable forces, under Sir Charles Lucas, and seized upon the committee of parliament who were sitting there. These forces met the Kentish men at Brentwood ; and, on the ninth of June, they all reached Chelmsford, where they were joined by others from Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, under Arthur Lord Capel, Lord Loughborough, and other persons The royai- mi c^^ rr«i TT It- Jstsadvance of distinction. Their first deternunation was to attack Su- 1 homas Honeywood, who to Brain- had assembled a parliamentary force at Coggeshall; but, on more mature consideration, it was determined to march to Braintree. In their way they stopped at Lees-house, the seat of the earl of Warwick, from whence they carried two brass field-pieces, between two and three hundred muskets, as many pikes, and a quantity of ammu- nition. A curious account of their proceedings at Lees and the neighbourhood, is given by Arthur Wilson, who was present, having been sent by the earl of Warwick about 3000 foot and 9 troopes of borse ; and we have about 21 troopes of horse and Draggooners : The enemy drawes more to tlie Lo : Fairfax : Our motion and yours must be exceeding speedy, or elce it will doe yow noe good at all ; if yow send let your men come to Boston. I beseech yow hasten the supply to us : forgett not monie. I presse not hard, though I doe soe need that I assure yow the foot and Draggooners are ready to mutiny : lay not too much upon the back of a poore Gentl' who desires without much noyse to lay downe his life, and bleed the last dropp to serve the Cause and yow ; I ask not your monie for myselfe, if that were my end and hope, (viz. the pay of my place,) I would not open my mouth at this time. I desire to deny myselfe, but others will not be satisfied : I beseech yow hasten supplies. Forget not your prayers. " Gent' I am yours, M.4Y 28, 1613. " OL. CROMWELL." VOL. I. O O tree. 282 HISTORY OF ESSEX, KOOKll. to protect his property.* The following extracts are sufficiently interesting to deserve insertion: Wilson's " That day that Goring crost the water, my lord sent me to Leeze, with a great part i'hrconduct °f his femilie, to secm-e his house. I mett Mr. Rich, Sir Harbottle Grimston, and ottlie royal- Sir Martin Lumley in the way, who had been at Chensford, to offer those tumultuous isis at Lccs. people indempnitie from the parliament, if they would retire to their owne homes. But they slighted their offer. And the parliament men, with some difficulty, got from them ; they having committed Sir Henrie Rowe, and others of the committee of the countie, intending they should run the same hazard they did. From Leeze I sent scouts everie day to know which way they bent their course, and what they did ? And I heard that the lord Capell, with some few with him, the lord Loughborow and his brother, with some others, were come to them. My lord generall (Fairfax) hearing of this commotion, and of Goring's joyning with them, sent Collonel Whaley, with a partie of fifteen hundred horse and foot, to follow theise roisters, and amuse them till he could bring up more forces to quell them ; who, drawing somewhere nere them, they began to stirr. Upon their first motion, one of my scouts gave mee intimation that they intended to rifle my lord's armorie at Leeze. And, presently after, I had a message from my lord Goring, that he would dine at Leeze, (being on Saturday, the — of June,) and borrow my lord's armes. I knew it impossible for mee, with five hundred men, (if I had them,) to hold the house against an armie which brought ordinance. And, receyving assurance from them that nothing should be taken away but armes, I shut up the gates, cal'd our people into the armorie, and tooke downe one intire side of it, and better : hiding the armes in divers obscure places of the house. Which we had no sooner done, but some thirty or forty gentle- men, collonels, and other officers, came to the gates, protesting they came from the lord Goring and Sir Charles Lucas, to protect the house from the violence and rapine of the souldiers. And finding some of them to be our neighbours (as Collonel Maxey and his brother, Mr. Nevell's son, of Cressing-temple, and some others, whom I knew) who might do us good, and could do us no hurt, (for wee had men enough in the house to grapple with them; theye being arm'd onelie with swords, and wee having everie man his carbine or muskett) I lett them in. And trulie their demeanour was very faire and civill. Presently after tliem the ai-mie marcht through one of the parkes, and came close by the house. But, having neither order nor discipline among them, the souldiers left their ranks ; and some fell to killing of deere, some to taking of horses, and others clamber'd over the walls, and came into the house. Those who were abroad could not be restrayned ; but those who came over the walls were beaten out againe by theise gentlemen. About one of the clock the lord Goring came ; who, * " The Life of Mr. Arthur Wilson, the Historian," by himself, printed in Peck's " Desiderata Curiosa," vol. ii. lib. xii. p. 6, &c. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 283 in a very formall speech, told mee, his intention was onehe to borrow my lord's arms. C H A i That there was a necessitie for it : their lives, honor, and all that was deare to them, depended upon it. That they were pursued by an enemie ; and they, having many unarmed men, must make themselves as strong as they can, for their owne defence. That they should be delivered to him by inventorie, and hee (like an old courtier) would see them made good again. But he assur'd mee, wee should receyve no other prejudice : for nothing but armes and munition should bee deminisht. Then he went up into the armorie. And, seeing it so emptie, hee askt, what was become of the rest of the armes ? I told him, my lord of Manchester had armes out of it for his regi- ment, which were lost at the battle of Kinton. Which was a truth. And hee made no further inquirie ; but tooke those he found there. Then he commanded a partie of about an hundred men to come into the outward court, to take away the armes : whereof he distributed some. The rest were loaded in carts. And theise men could hai-dlie secure the house from the rabble, who prest to get in. So that the officers had much ado to keep themselves from being overrun by their owne souldiers. For there being two generalls, and all the scum of the countrie, and many hundreds of apprentise boyes from London, (for the train'd bands were most of them gone, leaving their armes behind them,) who knew not whom to call commander, nor how to bee obedient ; there was such a confiision, that the officers, with swords drawne, did not onelie protect the house, but themselves. By that time that they had gott carts, loaded them with armes, and fitted my lord's teame of horses to drawe away two brasse field-peeces which were in the house, it inclined towards night. About seaven of the clock (my lord Goring being gone) Sir Charles Lucas, and some of the chiefe officers, came to mee and told mee, there were more armes in the house, and they would have them, or they would search all the house for them. And some of the officers were pleas'd to threaten me verie roughlie, if I conceal'd any. I vvisht them to do their pleasures ; they should see all the house freelie. Lucas pointed to one of the places where the said armes were. It seemes some traytor among our selves had inform'd him, that wee had reserv'd some of them. I suspected one of the ordinarie women to be the divulger of it. The housekeeper being by mee, I winkt on him to goe out of the way. And then I cal'd for the housekeeper, with the keyes ; seeming greedie to lay all open to their view. But, the housekeeper not being soudainely found, night drew on, and part of their armie was marcht away. Collonel Whaley was also at their heeles, and gave them an alarum, so that it hindred any further search. Then they mounted with all speed, and had much adoe to gett their souldiers out of the house. Lucas riding into the inner court, to fetch some of them out, (the pavement being of smooth free-stone,) his horse slipt and fell flatt upon his side, bruising the rider's thigh and knee, so that he could scarce stand, (which was but a bad omen to his enterprise,) but hee was helpt up againe, and they hasted away. So 284 HISTORY OF ESSEX. The royal ists arrive at Colclies ter. BOOK II. wee lost some liorses, two brasse guns, a great part (though not halfe) our armes, foure barrells of pouder, some match and bullett; and after the drinking of some twenty hogsheads of beere, one hogshead of sack, and eating up all our meat, and kilhng at least one hundred deere in the three parkes about the house) wee were rid of our ill guests." On the tenth, they arrived at Braintree, and on the eleventh, about nine o'clock at night, they again marched for Colchester, Sir Charles Lucas having expressed his hopes of being joined by many friends there ; and at four o'clock the next afternoon, they arrived within six miles of the town. Here they received intelligence, that the town would not receive them in arms. A reconnoitring party, which was sent before, returned with information that the inhabitants " stood upon their guard, and were so far from giving entrance, that they opposed them, and were too strong for them. On receipt of which news. Sir Charles, and the gentlemen with him, set spurs to their horses, and galloped full speed till they came to the town, when they found the gates shut : and about sixty horse were drawn out in a very formal troop, well armed and accoutred, and some of their scouts were without the turnpike by the almshouses. Sir Charles made a stop here, and sent back a messenger to the army, to hasten their march : but four or five gentlemen, keeping on their speed, drew their swords, and charged up to the party (of scouts), and forced them within the turnpike ; so they retreated to Head-gate, where the whole troop was drawn up in order, and the gen- tlemen retreated again towards the turnpike : in which fray, one person on horseback was shot by one of the gentlemen, and he fell down dead. Now the townspeople perceiving the body of the army coming, and that Sir Charles Lucas had drawn up two or three troops of horse very near them, they sent out to treat with him ; and upon his engagement that the town should not be plundered, nor any injury offered to the inhabitants for what thej- had done, they submitted themselves, and engaged to deliver up their horse and arms, with the town; so the gates were opened, and the army quartered that night in the town."* The number of the royalists was, at this time, about 4,000, of whom 600 were horse ; but not above 2,500 of the foot were well armed. The regiments of horse were those of the earl of Norwich, Lord Capel, Sir Wm. Compton, Col. Slingsby, Sir Bernard Gascoigne, Col. Hammond, and Col. Culpepper ; of foot, those of Sir Charles Lucas, Sir George Lisle, Colonels Tilly, Tuke, Gilberd, Sir William Campion, Burd, Bowman, and Chester. Of the gentry and officers who cooperated in the cause without taking any command, the principal were Lord Loughborough, Sir William Layton, Sir Richard Hastings, Colonels John Heath, Lee of Kent, Panton, Cook, Sir Hugh Oriley, William Maxey, Pitman, Beal, Lieut. Col. Hatch, and Major Jammot. Fairfax, after having been "joined on the Approach of Fairfax • " True Relation of that honourable, though unfortunate Expedition of Kent, Essex, and Colchester, 1648. By Matthew Carter, Quarter- Master General in the King's Forces." BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 285 road by Colonel Whaley and Sir Thomas Honeywood, with 2,000 horse and foot of c H A P. the country," reached Lexden-heath on the thirteenth of June, the day after that on *^^" which the royalists entered Colchester. He immediately despatched a summons to the earl of Norwich, commanding him to lay down his arms, which was treated with derision and scorn. The parliamentarians were directly ordered to the attack ; a hot Attack on engagement in the suburbs ensued, and the royalists were at length driven back to the gates, and all the guards called in. To prevent the entrance of the enemy, they were obliged to shut out many, chiefly of Colonel Farre's regiment, who thus became prisoners. Lord Capel distinguished himself in this action, charging at Head-gate, where the contest was hottest, until it could be shut, and at last finding time only to fasten it with his cane. The parliamentarians still endeavoured to force their way into the town, making an attack upon Head-gate, upon which they at length brought a brass gun to bear : but the royalists annoyed them so much from their positions in St. Mary's Church-yard, and some adjoining gardens, that, after seven or eight hours' fighting, on the approach of night, the assailants were com- pelled to retreat, leaving their brass gun, and more than 500 small arms behind. Li this attack, the parliamentarians lost about seven liundred men, besides 130 taken prisoners. The loss of the besieged was comparatively small. Before the besiegers retreated, they set fire to some houses near Head-gate, but the flames were prevented from communicating with the town by the diligence of the soldiers. The royalists were now obliged, by the nearness and by the number of their sicge of enemies, to stay and defend themselves in Colchester, as it was not possible for them " *" '^^'"' to move from it wth safety. And Fairfax, who had established his head-quarters at Lexden, and who now placed a strong guard of horse on the road to Cambridge, determined to reduce the town by a regular blockade, when he saw the difliculty of taking it by an assault. He also placed a party of horse at Mersey Fort, which precluded all assistance from the coast. Fairfax now began to make regular approaches on the Lexden side, casting up a fort and barricadoes, to secure the road and the head-quarters; and two days after, he constructed during the night a battery nearer the town, which he called Fort Essex, Fort Essex, which was eight rods long and three broad, and was filled up and levelled in 1742. In a short time the place was enclosed by a line of redoubts and batteries. The besieged were not less active in putting themselves in a posture of defence, and in laying up provisions and ammunitions necessary to hold out during a siege; and fortunately the town at that time, particularly at the Hithe, contained very considerable stores. They laboured hard in strengthening the walls, and casting up ramparts and counterscarps, and erected a fort at St. Mary's, which they Fort at called the Royal Fort, " from whence they fired hard, and killed some of the '^'- Gary's. 286 HISTORY OF ESSEX. 1500K H. workmen employed in making Fort Essex, and others as they were straggHng in the fields." * Tlie parliamentai'ian committee which had been seized at Chelmsford, and which Attempts was now at Colchester, attempted to negotiate between the two armies : and on the tion/ 19th of June, by jjerniission of the royalist generals, they wrote to Fairfax, desiring " that there might be a ti-eaty between both armies for a peace." But their endeavours were unsuccessful, the parliamentarian general offering merely, in- his letter to Lords Norwich and Capel, and Sir Charles Lucas, — " That if yourselves, and the rest with you in Colchester, shall, within twenty-four hours after notice hereof, lay down amies, the common soldiers and men of that rank, shall have liberty to depart to their several homes, and there quietly to remain submitting unto the authority of parliament; yourselves, and the officers and gentlemen engaged with you in the town, shall have liberty, and passes, to go beyond sea, with equipages befitting their qualities, engaging themselves not to return into this kingdom without leave from the par- liament. And all of both sorts, with the inhabitants of the town, shall be free from plunder, or violence of the souldiers ; their arms, ammunition, and furniture of war, within the town, and also their horses imployed in militarie service (except such liorses and swords as shall be fit to be allowed to captains, or superior officers, and gentlemen of quality, for their removal!) being first delivered up without imbezzle- ment, in an orderly manner, as shall be further set down, and the forces under my com- mand, or such as I shall appoint, being admitted a peaceable entrance into the town." Sallies by Towards the latter end of June, several attempts were made by the royalists in the town to sally out and collect men and provisions from the surroimding country ; and, though the precautions of the besiegers frequently defeated them, yet these excursions were sometimes successful. On the 22nd of June the parliamentarians were industriously at work upon "Col. Ewer's fort, near the Shepen ; which 100 of the royalists sallied out in the night to view, but were instantly beaten in again. However, their cannon killed two of the besiegers." On the twenty-sixth, the besieged being drawn "out in Crouch-street, (which, though without the walls, was still in their possession,) a party of Colonel Barkstead's foot beat them out of their hedges, and fi'om their court of guai'd, fired the guai'd-house, and brought away the hour-glass by which they stood sentry." On Wednesday, the twenty-eighth, " early in the morning, the besieged, with a party of horse, attempted the parliamen- tarians' horse-guards, near St. Mary's, and shot a scout, but were instantly beaten back." The day following, while the besiegers were busied in constructing a new fort, called Barkstead's Fort, on the west side of Maldon-lane, they were much annoyed by the shot of the royalists, who occupied the house of Sir Harbottle Grimston, which was, in consequence, battered by the cannon of Fairfax, and finally * Diary of the Siege of Colchester. the royal ists. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 287 set on fire by its occupants before they retreated from it. On the first day of July, CHAP. Col. Whaley took possession of Greensted church, and erected a strong battery in the ' church-yard: and about this time the besiegers occupied East-street, which extends fi-om East-bridge towards the country, and placed a guard in the mill on the river. This skirmish in guard being very troublesome to this part of the town, to which they attempted in one ^^'•^"■«^'- instance to set fire, the royalists made a grand sally with five hundred infantry, headed by Sir George Lisle, and two hundred horse under Sir Charles Lucas. The enemy's guard was posted on the farther side of the river, on both sides of the street, with a bar. ricado across the way, in the centre, and "with their chase-shot from their drakes, and small shot from the barricado and guard-houses, they played very thick" upon the royalists as they advanced. The party who had been chosen for the first attack passed the river over a foot-bridge, the end of which reached to the barricado, and, facing the shot of their adversaries, "as if it had only been a sporting skirmish among tame soldiers at a general muster, regarded it not, and running in a single file over the bridge, and some for haste through the river, mounted their barricado, and beat the enemy off in an instant ; and having once gained that, overturned the drakes, and charged upon other parties that still fired at them in the street, surrounding them ; who having neither possibility of relief, retreat, or escape, yielded upon quarter : so they took the captain, lieutenant, ensign, and about eighty private soldiers, with all the other inferior officers." The rest of the royalists then marched up, and cleared the entire street, with the adjacent houses, of the parliament soldiers, " which gave so great an alarm to all their leaguer, that they immediately rallied together all the foot and horse on that side of the river, and marched down the hill from behind the east windmill, to the top of another hill, (near St. Anne's,) in a very full and orderly body, leaving only their coloui's and pikes, with a reserve, behind the windmill." The royalists having gained also the top of this hill, again charged, and forced them to a disorderly retreat. The royal party now attacked the reserve and colours left on the second hill, behind the windmill, and drove them also away ; when the parhamentarians, having divided their horse into three squadrons, with one made a stand, while the other two wheeled up and down, rallying the infantry, who formed behind a very thick hedge. The main body of the royalists had by this time begim their return to the town ; but a party of their infantry continued advancing, till they gained an old thin hedge opposite that behind which the enemy were posted. Here they renewed their fire, while a body of the parliament's horse hovered about, as if irresolute whether or not to attack them. Unfortunately, an exclamation fi-om one of the royalists for more ammunition being heard by the cavalry, they judged them all to be deficient, and made a furious chai'ge through the hedge, and either killed or captured nearly the whole party. On this, the main body faced about, as the parliamentarians again advanced, and " received their charge with such an undaunted retort, that they forced them once 288 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. more to a speedy retreat, and so marched easily into the town again in very good order."' In this action, thus hardly maintained, the royalists, (as may be supposed,) suffered rather considerable loss ; and, in the heat of tlie fight, Sir George Lisle was made prisoner, but was immediately rescued. The night following, the besiegers recovered all the ground they had lost in the action of the previous day, and began to fire the houses on the west side of the river, and succeeded in desti-oying most of the windmills ; but the royalists formed a number of millstones, which they had found in the Hithe, into horse-mills, and thus prevented the inconvenience which might have resulted from this circumstance. Discon- The gi'eater part of the inhabitants of the town, all this time, favoured the townsmen^ besiegers ; and the mayor, by neglecting to make mills, and furnish the common people with provisions, hoped to make them, from hunger, the readier to assist the assailants. The rovalists, commiserating the condition of the townsmen, and at the same time wishing to attach them to their own cause, made up the deficiency of provisions which resulted from this conduct, out of their own stores ; and, on the twelfth of July, a declaration was composed and dispersed as much as possible amongst the enemy's forces, inviting them to join in their cause, offering them the immediate payment of all aiTears in their pay. On the fifteenth of July, Fairfax sent offers of "honourable conditions " to the common soldiers, if they would surrender, or quit the service ; to which, the lords Norwich and Capel, and Sir Charles Lucas, returned an answer, — " That it was not honourable, nor agi'eeable to the usage of war, to offer conditions separately to the soldiers, exclusive of their officers : " and they accompanied this remonstrance with a civil intimation, that, if his lordship sent any more such proposals, he must not take it ill, should they hang the messenger. In the evening of the same day, it was resolved that all the volunteers, with the greater part of the horse, should attempt to break through the enemy, and proceed by Nayland-bridge into Suffolk, and afterwards to join the forces which they were secretly informed were advancing to their assistance from the north, under Sir Marmaduke Langdale. By this measure they hoped that the garrison left behind would be able to hold out the longer, as the stores were now much exhausted, and that they would be able to bring speedy succour. The royal- Those who were to take part in this enterprise assembled at a late hour in the Castle- to escf'e'" y^'"'^* ^^■'''' ^ P''''"^^' °^ *'°°^' ^'^ *°"^^ pioneers, the former to assist in forcing the from Col- enemy's line, the latter in opening the hedges and levelling the banks for the passage of the cavalry. They marched by the Middle-mill, w^here they crossed the stream, and came within reach of the enemy's sentinels without being discovered ; but, on a sudden, the "guides and pioneers, who were for the most part townsmen, agreeably to a plotted combination amongst them, ran away immediately, the night being dark." This led to a general retreat, and the enemy, being now alarmed, attempted to pursue ; but, by mistake, took a wrong direction, while the party, without loss, BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 289 returned into the to-\vn. The parliamentarians then burnt all the houses without the CHAP. bridge ; and a battery being afterwards erected at the ford by the Middle-mill, all idea L_ of escaping in this manner was abandoned. Having now dra'vvn their line very near Lord Lucas's seat, on St. John's Green, the besiegers brought up two guns, under the sheltjer of an old wall and some buildings, (probably the existing garden-wall, and remains of the outbuildings of the ancient monastery,) and battered it. They threw down one side of the gate-house, and, by the firing of several grenades, many of the guard within were biu-ied in the stones and dust ; while the rest, after fighting hard, conti-ived to escape, some through the wicket of the gate, others out of the windows, or by the breaches in the walls. The increasing want of provisions in the town now rendered it necessary to kill the horses of the garrison ; and on the 26th the enemy began to batter the walls from St. Mary's to the north gate, but they were driven from their posts by a party who sallied from the town. By the 2d of August provisions had become Dearth ot excessively scarce, and for those cavalry horses which were left they had the greatest P''""^'™^- difficulty in obtaining sustenance, many of the garrison being from time to time killed in their attempts to procure grass. The people of the town began to be very trouble- some to the soldiers; and on the 7th, the mayor and aldermen, with the permission of the royalists, petitioned Fairfax to allow the inhabitants to leave the town, but their petition was rejected, and the parliamentarian forces were ordered to fire on such as might endeavour to escape. In this state of things, the besiegers attempted, by circulating false reports and offers of indemnity amongst the garrison by every means possible, to excite them to mutiny, but without success. On the 20th, Fairfax sent what he termed his last offers of mercy, which were immediately rejected. The condition of the besieged was becoming every day more miserable, yet the gan-ison were determined to hold out to the last. On the 21st it was found that there was not sufficient ammunition left to maintain a two hours' fight, in case the enemy should attempt to storm the place, and not bread sufficient to last the army two or three days, and very few horses left. On the 24th, by means of a kite, the enemy conveyed into the town a book, containing the relation of a great victory over the Scots, and their general rout ; and, shortly after, fired a general volley throughout their lines, which induced the besieged to suppose that they intended an attack upon the town, and they accordingly prepared to defend themselves. On the following day, the 25th of August, finding that they were disappointed in their hopes of an attack, they resolved, if possible, to provoke the enemy to advance, and thereupon sent word to Fairfax, that, " since he denied to treat upon any conditions The royal- that were honourable, notwithstanding that their actions and demeanours in the lenge the service had been nothing but what became honour and fidelity, if he were pleased "^^'^S*"-'- to make an attempt of attacking them, he should not need to spring any mine, as he VOL .1. P P 290 HISTORY OF ESSEX. Surrender of the town. BOOK II. boasted he had already done: but that any gate of the town he might make choice of should be set open, and his entrance disputed afterwards." This proposal produced no effect, and, in a council of war, the royalists determined to make an attempt of forcing their way through the enemy ; but from want of unity in themselves, they were obliged to lay aside the design, and finally to treat for terms of surrender. Colonel Tuke was chosen to conduct the negotiation, and proceeded to the enemy's camp, on Saturday, the 26th, with orders to obtain and accept the best terms he could ; which were, that the inferior officers and common soldiers should have fair quarter ; that the lords, general officers, captains, &c. should be rendered up to mercy, and that the committee-men should be immediately released ; and that the town should be secure from plunder. The day following, these articles were confirmed and signed by both parties. And thus, after a defence of seventy-six days, the town was surrendered, the ammunition of the garrison being found to be reduced to a barrel and a half of powder.'* During the negotiations two queries were proposed by the besiegers, relating to the sense which was intended to be given to the terms, " fair quarter," and " rendering to mercy," and, from the answers, it was understood, that the soldiers should be free from any danger, but that the higher officers should some of them suffer, accord- ing to the judgment of the parliament, or of the private council to be held by Fairfax on gaining possession of the town.f A council of war was accordingly held * The following is a list of the garrison at the time of surrender : " Noble>nen and Gentlemen • George Lord Goring, earl of Norwich ; Arthur, Lord Capel ; Henry Hastings, Lord Loughborough ; Sir Charles Lucas, Sir George Lisle, Sir William Compton, Sir Bernard Gascoigne, Sir Abraham Shipman, Sir John Watts, Sir Lodowick Dyer, Sir Henry Apleton, Sir Dennis Strutt, Sir Hugh Oriley, Sir Richard Maulyverer, (who escaped, but was retaken.) — Quarter-Master General : Matthew Carter. — Colonels: Gil- burne, Farre, (who escaped, but was I'etaken,) Hammond, Chester, Till, Heath, Tuke, Ayloffe, Sawjer. — Lieut.- Colonels: Culpepper, Lancaster, Gough, Powell, Ashton, Baggley, Wiseman, Smith. — Majors: Ascot, Smith, Armcstrong, Warde, Bayley, Rcade, Scarrow, Blyncott, Gennings. — Captains: Wicks, Pits, Buly, Burdge, Bartrope, Lynsey, Myldmay, Osbodston, Estwick, Lovell, Cooper, Blunt, Snelgrave, Dynors, Dussen, Ward, Bushey, Payne, Hemor, Smith, Kennington, Heath, Rawson, Bayley, Stephens, Gennings, Lodge, Lynne. — Captains-Lieutenant : Caninge, \Miite. — Marshal-General : Edward Goodyeare. — Commissary-General : Troulcy. — Master of the Ordnance: Francis Lovelesse. — Waggon-master General : Gravisden. (All the fore- going were ' rendered to mercy.') — Lieutenants: 72. — Ensigns and Comets : 69. — Sergeants: 183. — Servants to the Noblemen and Gentlemen: G.3. — Prirate Soldiers : 3067."— (Account published by John Wright, Septem- ber 2, 1648.) t The following is a copy of these queries and their answers : — " Heith, August 26, 1648. " Queries propounded by the Commissioners from Colchester, to the Commissioners of his Excellency the Lord Fairfax, upon the Conditions sent into the Towne. "1. WTiat is meant by faire quarter ? — 2. What by rendring to mercy? Answer. To the first; By faire quarter we understand, that with quarter for their lives they shall be free from wounding or beating ; shall enjoy warme clothes to cover them and keep them warme ; shall be maintained with victuals fit for prisoner? while they shall be kept prisoners. To the 2nd : By rendring to mercy, we understand, that they be ren- dered, or render themselves to the Lord General!, or whom he shall appoint, without certain assurance of quarter, so as the Lord Generall may be free to put some immediately to the sword (if he see cause), although BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 291 at the Moothall, before which were summoned Sir Charles Lucas, Sir George Lisle, C H A P. Sir Bernard Gascoigne, and Colonel Farre. Farre had escaped, but the other three, who were confined with their friends at the King's Head inn, proceeded to the council, where they were informed, that, " after so long and obstinate a defence, it was highly necessary for the example of others, and that the peace of the kingdom might be no more disturbed, that some military justice should be executed ; and the comicil had therefore determined that they, Sir Charles Lucas, Sir George Lisle, and Sir Bernard Gascoigne, should be presently shot to death." They were then placed in confinement in the castle. L'eton soon afterwards came to them, and bade them prepare for death, as " the sentence which had been passed was to be executed upon them directly." Sir Charles Lucas desired to be allowed till the next morning i'.'^atli "f to settle his affairs in this world, and to prepare for another ; but his request was Lucas and refused. Sir George Lisle, also, desired a little respite, that he might wi-ite to Lisi?.'^"'^^* his father and mother; he was, also, obliged to submit in silence to his fate. About seven o'clock in the evening they were all three conducted to the place of execution, " a green spot of gi-ound on the north side of the castle, a few paces from the wall," where they were received by Colonels h-eton, Rainsborowe, and Whaley, with three files of musketeers. Sir Bernard Gascoigne was here granted a reprieve, as being a foreigner.* Sir Charles Lucas was then brought forwards, and said : " I have often looked death in the face in the field of battle, and you shall now see I dare die." He fell on his knees for a few minutes, and then rising up, with a cheerful coun- tenance, bared his breast, and called out to his executioners, " See, I am ready for you, and now, rebels, do your worst ! " At these words they fired ; and the balls piercing him in four several places, he fell, and expired. Sir George Lisle was then brought to the spot where lay the bleeding body of his friend. After having kissed the corpse, he took from his pocket five pieces of gold, being what money he his Excellency intends chiefly, and for the generality of those under that condition, to surrender them to the mercy of tlie parliament and Generall. Ihere hath been large experience, neither hath his Excellency given cause to doubt of his civUity to such as he shall retaine prisoners, although by their being rendred to mercy, he stands not engaged thereby." • " Sir Bernard Gascoigne," says Matthew Carter, " was a gentleman of Florence ; and had served the king in the war, and afterwards remained in London till the unhappy adventure of Colchester, and then accompanied his friends thither ; and being brought to the place of execution, had only English enough to make himself understood that he desired a pen, ink, and paper, that he might write a letter to his prince, the Great Duke, that his Highness might know in what manner he lost his life, to tlie end his heirs might possess his estate. The officer that attended the execution thought fit to acquaint the general and council, without which he durst not allow him pen and ink, which he thought he might reasonably demand. When they were informed of it, they thought it a matter worthy some consideration: they had chosen him out of the list for his quality, conceiving him to be an English gentleman ; and preferred him for being a knight, that they might sacrifice three of that rank. After a consultation held. Sir Bernard was offered to be brought back, and kept with the prisoners ; most of the council of war being of opinion, that if they took away the life of a foreigner, who seemed to be a person of quality, their friends or children, who should visit Italy, might pay dear for many generations." 292 HISTORY OF ESSEX. uooK TI. had about him, and gave one to be distributed amongst his executioners, and the other four to a person standing near him, who had some years before been his servant, desiring him to dehver them to his friends in London, as his last legacy. After having addressed a few words to the spectators, he looked at the file of soldiers, desired them to approach nearer to him, on which one of them answered, "I'll warrant you. Sir, we'll hit you." Sir George, smiling, replied, " I have been nearer you, friends, when you have missed me." He then knelt for some minutes, to pi'ay, and rose up, and said, " I am now ready ; traitors, do your worst ! " They immediately fired, and he fell. The bodies were conveyed to a vault belonging to the Lucas family, in the church of St. Giles, at Colcheste!..* The town of Colchester, after its surrender, was treated with severity, for Fairfax imposed upon it a fine of 14,000/. of which, however, 2,000/. were remitted. The town itself was much damaged during the siege ; many houses were destroyed, and with them, the magnificent church of St. Botolph. The walls, where they had not been destroyed during the siege, were ordered to be pulled down, upon the sur- render.f When Evelyn visited Colchester, on the Sth of July, 1656, he describes it 85 " a faire towne, but now wretchedly demolished by the late siege, especially the • The severity of Fairfax, in this transaction, has been generally censured. Tlie nature of tlie present work will not allow any long examination of his conduct, and we have been contented to state facts. The following is the vindication which he gives for himself in his memorial: — " It is fit for me in this place to say something for my own vindication about my Lord Capel, Sir Charles Lucas, and Sir George Lisle, who were prisoners at mercy upon the rendering of Colchester, seeing some have questioned the just performance of those articles. " I laid siege to the town, and made several assaults ; but finding their forces within much more nume- rous than those I had without, I was forced to take another course in blocking them up, and, by cutting off all supplies, to bring them to a surrender ; wliich, after four months' close siege, they were compelled to, and that upon mercy, being, in number, three or four thousand men ; and delivering upon mercy is to be understood that some are to suffer, the rest to go free. " Immediately after our entrance into the town, a council of war was called, and those forenamed persons were sentenced to die, the rest to be acquitted. " This being so resolved, I tliought fit, notwithstanding, to transmit the Lord Capel, the Lord Norwich, &e. over to the parliament, being the civil judicature of the kingdom ; consisting then both of lords and com- mons, and so most proper judges in their case, who were considerable for estates and families. But Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle, being mere soldiers of fortune, and falling into our hands by chance of war, were executed; and in this I did nothing but according to my commission, and the trust reposed in me. " But it may be objected, I went into the court during the trial ; to which I answer, it was at the earnest request of my Lord Capel's friends, who desired me to explain there what was meant by surrendering to mercy ; otherwise 1 had not gone, being always unsatisfied with these courts. " For this I need say no more, seeing I may as well be questioned for the articles of Bristol, Oxford, Exeter, or any other action in the war as this." — Somer's Tracts, Vol. V. p. 395. f The number of houses destroyed in each parish was as follows: In that of St. Mary at the Walls, fifty- one burnt and ruined; in that of the Holy Trinity, thirty-two burnt and ruined; in St. Martin's, five pulled down; in St. James's, twenty-eight burnt; in St Giles's, seventeen burnt; in St. Botolph's, fifty-three burnt and ruined. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 293 suburbs, which were all burnt, but were then repairing. For the rest, this is a ragged CHAP, and factious towne, now swarming with sectaries." ' In the August of 1655, the plague, then raging in London, made its appearance in this place, and, between that time and the December of the year following, it destroyed four thousand seven hundred and thirty-one persons. A new charter, dated August 3, Charters of Charles II 1663, was given by Charles the Second, which was nearly a counterpart of that of Charles the First; and as a second was given in the same reign, giving to the crown a power to remove the officers of the corporation by an order of privy council, James, his successor, confirmed their charter. On the accession of William and James 1 1. Mary, in 1693, this first charter of Charles the First, with all the privileges then 'j/j'" possessed by the town, was restored and renewed. This charter was again renewed, with very slight alterations, by George the Third, on the 9th of September, 1763, and again in the fifty-eighth year of the same reign, by reason that "divers differences having arisen within the town and corporation, and informations in nature of quo warranto having been prosecuted in the Court of King's Bench, and judgments of ouster obtained against several members of the said corporation," the said corpora- tion was become " incapable of exercising their liberties and franchises." The new regulations in this charter chiefly related to the office of recorder.* Antiquities found at Colchester. — Colchester, as we gather from Marianas Scotus,f Roman an- was celebrated centuries ago for the vast quantity of antiquities that were discovered in it ; but it is only in modern times that any care has been taken to preserve these valuable remains of former ages. All the older buildings of the town are constructed, in gi-eat part, of Roman bricks and tiles, materials which had been taken fi-om more ancient buildings that were of Roman workmanship. These bricks are distinguished by their extraordinary hardness, and are generally, when perfect, eighteen inches long, by eleven broad, and two thick. The tiles are, also, much more substantial than tiles of modern make. Large abundance of pottery has been found at various times, much of which is • Besides its chartered privileges, Colchester possesses several hy prescription and custom. Miscella- 1. To be a hundred or liberty of itself: a hundred-court used anciently to be held, as also a law hundred- "leous pri- court, which in time gave place to the quarterly sessions of the peace. Colchester 2. A femme-couvert may convey her estate, within this town, by deed, (being first solely and secretly examined before the mayor, and declaring her consent,) without paying a fine. 3. A free burgess could not only bequeath by will what he had purchased, but this town had anciently the probate and enrolling of wills. The probate of wills began to cease about 15-50 or 1560. \: The last important privilege pertaining to the free burgesses, is that of commoning in certain lands round the walls, from Lammas-day, or August 1, until the 2d of February. These lands are called half-year land, and once comprised upwards of one thousand acres ; but large portions of them have been sold by the corporation, f He describes Colchester as — " Civitas inter eminentissimas numeranda, si non vetustas, couHagrationes, eluviones, denique piratarum immissiones, variseque casuum afflictationes, omnia eivitatis memoralia dele- vissent. — Conjicitur etiam ex his, quae de terra fossores eruerunt, tam ferrum quani lapides, tam aera signata quam iBdificia sub terra inventa." 294 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK a. the fine glazed and red ware which has been so much admired by antiquaries; as well as abundance of household utensils, and other instruments and ornaments, such as vases, urns, rings, intaglios, -svriting styles, &c. A remai-kable sepulchral urn was du" up in the time of Morant. It was made of a coarse light clay, and held twenty gallons. Within was an urn of black earth, holding about two gallons, and containing ashes, which appeared to be those of a Roman lady, as two bottles of clay for incense, two clay lamps, a metal vessel for ointment, and a speculum, or looking- glass, of polished metal, were found with them. The same writer has given an eno^raving of a small brass Mercury found in Colchester. Another image of Mercury, about three inches high, with a purse in one hand, and a caduceus in the other, was found in 1791 ; and another M'as found in the garden of F. Smythies, Esq. Many antiquities were discovered on the site of the hospital, of which a detailed account was o-iven in a pamphlet written by Mr. Hay, and published at Colchester, in 1821.* In digging the earth for the foundation, the workmen found the figure of a sphinx, in Thesplunx. freestone, at the depth of two feet from the surface, and near it a considerable fraoroent of the tibia of the right leg of a man. Contiguous to this place, it has been ascertained, was one of the public bmial places of the Roman colonists; and only a few days before the discovery of the sphinx, was found part of a sepulchral inscrip- tion, in the same place, as well as various fi-agments of Roman pottery, some of them funereal urns. The sphinx is represented sitting over the mangled remains of a human victim, her features conveying the expression of calm and contemptuous satiety. The dimensions of this monument are : length of the base, twenty-five and a-half inches ; medium breadth , ten inches ; height fi-om the base to the top of its head, twenty-five inches. Its arms terminate at the wrists in paws. Mr. Hay conjectures that a temple stood on the place where this monument was found, and thinks it " not im- probable that here stood that very temple which was said to have been dedicated Caniulo Deo Saiicto el Fortissimo, and considered to have been raised in honour of the Emperor Claudius. My supposition may perhaps receive some support from the circumstance of this temple being the only edifice in Colchester, of that description, of which any mention has descended to us : and from the striking peculiarities of the spot, whether its elevated situation be considered, or its neighbourhood to the grand military way, and the presentation of its hallowed fane to all those in intercourse between the great camp of Lexden and this metropolis of the Trinobantes." Under- neath the base is engraved a large Roman S. In the summer of 1820, a small bronze sphinx was found a few yards from the place where the stone figure lay, which has both the hind and fore legs of a lion. The only antiquity of any importance found, of late years, at Colchester is a large amphora, found in 1823, at Lexden, on the • A Letter to tlie Committee of the Essex and Colchester Hospital, by E. W. .\. Hay, A. B. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 295 estate of John Mills, Esq. Morant mentions a small image of Venus, discovered CHAP, in a gravel-pit near the town, in 1739. " Morant mentions no less than eight tesselated pavements which had been discovered Tesselated in this town. " There is one in the church-yard of St. Mary's at the Walls, of which pieces are frequently discovered, when graves are dug in a quite fresh place. It seems to have been a very large one, or rather more than one pavement ; for the pieces discovered are at a considerable distance from each other. There is moreover one in the cherry-garden, belonging to the rector of St. Mary's, on the north side of the parsonage ; not many yards from the other. There is also one in Berry-field, in St. James's parish, of wliich part was discovered by George Wegg, Esq. The tesserae were red, intermixed with many white ones, disposed in a star-like form. One was found at the Queen's Head inn, in the High-street, when a stable was pulled down, which was supposed to be an old Roman building. Another was found on the south side of the Red Lion inn, when part of it was converted into an iron warehouse. A great quantity of the pieces were preserved, and set in an arbour in one of the gardens belonging to that inn. Another was discovered just below the Castle-hills. When Dr. Daniell's house was rebuilding, one was found by the workmen. Finally, in the beginning of this year, (ITiS), one was discovered in the garden of Mr. Peter Creffeild, in the parish of H. Trinity. In the earth which was flung up, there was the bottom, and other fi-agments, of a fine figured urn of red earth ; upon one of which fragments was represented the head of Jupiter." Another pavement has been more recently discovered on part of the site of the present market-place. It is a rather singular circumstance that scarcely any sepulchral inscriptions have Inscriij- been discovered at Colchester, although it was a principal settlement of the Romans in Britain. It has been intimated that a chief cause might be the dearth of stone in this part of the island, but perhaps we may rather attribute it to accidental circumstances. Mr. Ashby, in an article on a coin of Nerva, found at Colchester, in the third volume of the Archa;ologia, published in 1772, mentions an inscription " found at this place, only six or seven years ago," which was in the possession of Mr. Gray, and which, he says, was very diflicult to be understood. A fragment of a sepulchral inscription has been found, and is placed beside the sphinx in the hos- pital, on which may be traced the following words : VIVIT AE • BIS BIS • T • LL LEG III • AV EG XX VAL • V DVS • NICAE A . M..LITAVE IXIT • ANN ERIT..V 296 HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. In the second line the i is not very distinct in the original, the possession of Mr. Hay, bears the following words : Another fragment, in British coins- Roman coins. D M . VMVLO • TEC . RABLIS • IVVE . CVNCT • MVC . , . ERVNT . . . . . N . . . The last letter in the second line is damaged in the stone, and may have been an O. In the T of the fourth line the vertical line rises considerably above the horizon- tal line which crosses it. No antiquities are found so frequently, and in such great abundance, as coins and medals. Of these, the most curious are the British coins of Cunobeline, which gene- rally bear an inscription — cam. or cam v., showing the place of their mintage, and affording a convincing argument of the identity of Colchester with the ancient Camu- lodunum.* A number of gold coins were discovered at Mark's Tey in 1807, of which only one has any letters remaining, which are supposed by some to be British, and by others Gallic. Roman coins are frequently discovered, mostly imperial, and some of them ex- tremely scarce, and even unique, as that of Nerva, described by Mr. Ashby, in the third volume of the Archaeologia. The consular silver coins that have been found, belong chiefly to the Julian, Marcian, and Nievian families, and to the families of • Plates of these coins may be seen in Morant, in Cough's Camden, and in Pegge's Essay on the Coins of Cunobeline. The following is a list of some of the principal varieties. 1. A gold coin of Cunobeline, very small and thin. On one side it represents an ear of corn, with the letters AM on the left side, and CV on the right: reverse, a horse galloping, with something like the branch of a tree above it. This was found by a labouring man in 1820. 2. A gold coin, still smaller, and found with the above, without inscription; it represents obscure and unknown figures. 3. A gold coin, found at Mark's Tey, about five miles from Colchester, near the London-road, in ISO". A considerable number were discovered, and several are in the possession of Mr. Patmore, Mr. Alderman Abell, and others. Many have on the obverse something like a star-fish ; on the reverse, a horse galloping, with crescents, wheels, or stars. 4. A fine old coin, in Mr. Patmore's collection, has on tlie obverse a horse and a wheel below; on the reverse, four compartments with unintelligible ornaments. 5. A small copper coin of Cunobeline, having on the obverse, cvno within a wreath upon a label ; on ths reverse, a horse galloping, and below it, camv. Purchased from a gardener in Colchester, in 1S08, by the Rev. Mr. Mustard. 6. A copper coin of Cunobeline, which accompanied the foregoing, has on the obverse a griffin sitting ; on the reverse, a victory, with cvno. 7. A copper coin of Cunobeline, in the possession of Mr. William Keymer, has on the obverse c,\mvlo- DVNO; on the reverse, a winged horse, and underneath, cvno. Found in 1796, in a field near the old water- works. 8. A coin, given by Pegge, bears on one side a head, with the legend, cvno ; on the reverse, a sphinx, U^end, TACio. Morant mentions two varieties of copper coins of Cunobeline bearing a sphinx. BOROUGH OF COLCHESTER. 297 Cordia, Egnatuleia, &c. The imperial silver bear the names of Augustus, Tiberius, C 11 A 1 Nero, Galba, Vespasian, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Faustina, Lucilla, Julia L_ Donna, Julia Sabina, the Antonini, &c. Of the large brass coins, those of Trajan and Hadrian, with those of the Antonini and the Faustinas are the most common. The middle brass are those of New Vespasian, Trajan, the Antonini, &c. Of the small brass, those in the finest condition are those of Constantine the Great, Helena, Delmatius, and Fausta. Coins have been found of almost every emperor down to Honorius.* SURVEY OR THE TOAVN. Thewall which enclosed the town is in many places very entire; it is composed The walls of stone,f mixed with a very large proportion of Roman bricks of extraordinary hard- ness, which, from their broken appearance, seem to have been derived from the ruins of some more ancient foundation. The cement is exceedingly hard and tenacious, but is much affected by frosts and thaws, preceded by heavy rains. Where the wall remains perfect, it is faced either with Roman bricks or square stones, its thickness being generally seven or eight feet, but at the gates and posterns much thicker.^ The original form of the wall is believed to have been a parallelogram ; yet, at present, it appears to be a trapezium, the longest sides of which are those of the north and south. The north side measures one thousand and thirty-three yards ; the south side nine hundred and forty ; the east end six hundred and five ; and the west end five hundred and fifteen yards, — the whole circumference being three thousand and ninety-three yards, one foot and a half; very little more than a mile and three quarters. • There is yet one object to notice among Colchester antiquities, which deserves notice only because it has been a subject of some dispute among the learned, — the ancient date (1090) in Arabic figures, whicli formerly stood on the north side of a house in the High-street, almost opposite to the Mote-hall. The back, or southern part of this house was built of a mixture of Roman brick and stone, with arched passages, and, according to tradition, was the residence of Eudo Dapifer. It has been agreed that the Arabic numerals were not used in Europe before 1250 or 1300, and this date has been produced as an argument to the con- trary opinion ; but as the first cipher is defaced at the bottom, it has been conjectured that it was intended originally for a 4, the old form of which was something like ;. But Morant's seems the more rational opinion, " that this date was either set down by the carpenter from tradition, or taken from some ancienter date, undoubtedly in Roman numerals, which stood upon the old stone house (as it is called in some writings in my possession), when it was new fronted with timber in the 14th or 15th century." f This stone is of the kind called septaria, compounded of a species of marie or clay, with a mixture of iron and spar : it was formerly found in great abundance on the Essex coast, but much of it has been col- lected for the manufacture of Parker's cement, and for other purposes. I The Roman wall in Cumberland and Northumberland is between seven and eight feet tliick; that is, a Roman pace and a half.— Sr«anni« Romana, p. 122. Bede says it was eight feet broad, and twelve high. — Ecc. Hist. lib. i. c. 12. VOL. I. Q Q HISTORY OF ESSEX. BOOK II. Colchester is known to have been a Roman station, and believed to have been sur- ^^~^^ rounded by a wall at that time : of this, however, there is no certain evidence ; but dates. authentic history informs us that long before the Norman period, in the year 921, Kin