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War memorials are a familiar site in the landscape of the United Kingdom. They provide insight into not only the changing face of commemoration but also military history, social history and art history. There are an estimated 54,000 war memorials throughout the UK in many differing forms, from the frequently-seen community crosses or plaques to buildings, lych gates, gardens, hospitals, organs, chapels and windows. The official launch of the UK National Inventory of War Memorials database was on November 8th at the Imperial War Museum marks the unique place that they have in our nation’s history and provides for the first time a UK wide database of these memorials commemorating all conflicts, not just those of the First and Second World War.

Many memorials are of a more usual nature, for example the often seen village cross or the figure of a serviceman. However, there have been many unusual memorials discovered in the course of fieldwork. These include the Island of Piel off the coast of Cumbria; Sammy, the regimental mascot of the 4th Northumberland Fusiliers, killed in France; a temporary memorial made of snow in Pateley Bridge, Northumberland; a gas lamp post in Bow, Greater London; a wooden polar bear, the memorial of the 49th Infantry Division at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.

Further details can be found on the Imperial War Museum web-site:
www.iwm.org.uk

War memorials are a familiar site in the landscape of the United Kingdom. They provide insight into not only the changing face of commemoration but also military history, social history and art history. There are an estimated 54,000 war memorials throughout the UK in many differing forms, from the frequently-seen community crosses or plaques to buildings, lych gates, gardens, hospitals, organs, chapels and windows. The official launch of the UK National Inventory of War Memorials database was on November 8th at the Imperial War Museum marks the unique place that they have in our nation’s history and provides for the first time a UK wide database of these memorials commemorating all conflicts, not just those of the First and Second World War.

Many memorials are of a more usual nature, for example the often seen village cross or the figure of a serviceman. However, there have been many unusual memorials discovered in the course of fieldwork. These include the Island of Piel off the coast of Cumbria; Sammy, the regimental mascot of the 4th Northumberland Fusiliers, killed in France; a temporary memorial made of snow in Pateley Bridge, Northumberland; a gas lamp post in Bow, Greater London; a wooden polar bear, the memorial of the 49th Infantry Division at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.

Further details can be found on the Imperial War Museum web-site:
www.iwm.org.uk

Richard Montague, rector from 1613 to 1628, was presented to the living by James 1 and was prominent in the religious turmoil which ultimately led to the Civil War. In 1624, in his own words, “about some 20 months since, some of the Romish limitors had come within my pale and had been tampering with some woman in Stanford Rivers. Understanding thereof, I had blanched them and settled the party.” He attempted to establish a dialogue, but the “party” refused to meet him, sending instead a pamphlet entitled “A Gag for the Newe Gospel.”

His response was to refute Catholic doctrines in a book with the lengthy title “A Gagg for the new Gospell: no, a new Gagg for an old Goose, or an Answer to the late Abridgement of Controversies”. However, this enraged the established church by questioning the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, and, by failing to denounce Roman Catholicism in the usual pungent language of the time, he laid himself open to the charge of popery. James 1, who had been presented with a copy of the book by Montague, said, “if this be popery, then I am a Papist”. Agitated puritans complained to Parliament, but the Archbishop of Canterbury gave only mild rebuke “be of no scandal, or offence; go home, review your book”.

Montague’s response from Stanford Rivers was to write a second book, more succinctly entitled “Appello Caesarem”. Published in 1625, its dedication to the new King Charles 1 angered Parliament, who considered that the appeal to Caesar “put a Jealousie between the king and his well affected Subjects”. Montague was ordered to appear before the House and was duly condemned for insulting King and Parliament, and for sowing the seeds of religious dissension. He was thrown into prison whereupon Charles 1 made him a Royal Chaplain. This appointment exempted him from Parliamentary authority, and he was released, albeit on the hefty bail of £2000.

However, the fat was now in the fire. By appealing to Caesar, Montague was implicitly supporting authoritarian kingship, ultimately one of the causes of the Civil War. He had been clearly rewarded for his views by the King. His suggestion that Catholics were not necessarily beyond redemption was extremely alarming to many who feared a covert return to Rome, an apprehension increased by the fact that the new King’s wife was Catholic. Montague was summoned to appear before Parliament again, failed to attend and was held to be in contempt. Presumably his bail was forfeited.

Far from being intimidated, he published a third book with the distinctly Catholic title of “A Treatise of the Invocation of Saints “. This led, in April 1626, to a further inquiry by Parliament, with charges framed in the vigorous language of the time “divers passages, full of bitterness, railing and injurious speeches, disgraceful and contemptible to many worthy divines... impious and profane in scoffing at preaching, lectures, Bible and all show of religion....” The King intervened again, telling Parliament that matters of religion were no business of theirs, and referred the matter to Convocation. When this met, it was packed with clerics sharing his views who, not surprisingly, endorsed his opinions. Montague was dismissed with the advice “go to his Majesty’s gracious favour”. Calvinism was in retreat, and the stage set for the fatal clash between King and Parliament on matters of religious belief and authority.

In 1628, Montague was appointed bishop of Chichester and his connections with Stanford Rivers ceased. However, his courageously stated views appear to have been very influential at the time, and were central to the rift which opened up between the King and Parliament.

War memorials are a familiar site in the landscape of the United Kingdom. They provide insight into not only the changing face of commemoration but also military history, social history and art history. There are an estimated 54,000 war memorials throughout the UK in many differing forms, from the frequently-seen community crosses or plaques to buildings, lych gates, gardens, hospitals, organs, chapels and windows. The official launch of the UK National Inventory of War Memorials database was on November 8th at the Imperial War Museum marks the unique place that they have in our nation’s history and provides for the first time a UK wide database of these memorials commemorating all conflicts, not just those of the First and Second World War.

Many memorials are of a more usual nature, for example the often seen village cross or the figure of a serviceman. However, there have been many unusual memorials discovered in the course of fieldwork. These include the Island of Piel off the coast of Cumbria; Sammy, the regimental mascot of the 4th Northumberland Fusiliers, killed in France; a temporary memorial made of snow in Pateley Bridge, Northumberland; a gas lamp post in Bow, Greater London; a wooden polar bear, the memorial of the 49th Infantry Division at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.

Further details can be found on the Imperial War Museum web-site:
www.iwm.org.uk

Anne Padfield led members on a well-prepared circular walk around Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount. Starting at Little Tawney Hall with its hexagonal barn, the party visited The Old Rectory, dating from the 16th or 17th century, St. Mary’s Church and Great Tawney Hall, on the site of Richard de Tani’s manor house. Crossing the parish boundary, the walk continued through St Michael’s Church to Hill Hall, the earliest “classical” house in the country.

Many details were described; the village pound to the north of St Mary’s; a companion hexagonal barn; the classical features on the porch of St Michael’s; the origin of the name of the “Moletrap”. From the viewpoint at the side of Beachet Wood, some aspects of the evolution of Mount End are visible with the opportunity to compare the landscape with older maps.

The route allowed the group to view closely some of those houses mentioned in Anne’s inaugural talk to the Group. Anne’s commentary was expert as were the accompanying walk notes. There were 28 walkers over the 4.5 miles. Lunch was provided at the Moletrap. With great prescience, the excesses of the prevailing monsoon-like climate were also avoided.

Anne Padfield led members on a well-prepared circular walk around Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount. Starting at Little Tawney Hall with its hexagonal barn, the party visited The Old Rectory, dating from the 16th or 17th century, St. Mary’s Church and Great Tawney Hall, on the site of Richard de Tani’s manor house. Crossing the parish boundary, the walk continued through St Michael’s Church to Hill Hall, the earliest “classical” house in the country.

Many details were described; the village pound to the north of St Mary’s; a companion hexagonal barn; the classical features on the porch of St Michael’s; the origin of the name of the “Moletrap”. From the viewpoint at the side of Beachet Wood, some aspects of the evolution of Mount End are visible with the opportunity to compare the landscape with older maps.

The route allowed the group to view closely some of those houses mentioned in Anne’s inaugural talk to the Group. Anne’s commentary was expert as were the accompanying walk notes. There were 28 walkers over the 4.5 miles. Lunch was provided at the Moletrap. With great prescience, the excesses of the prevailing monsoon-like climate were also avoided.

The smallest house in the High Country conceals its appeal. While Sir Thomas Smyth was conceiving and building the fine Hill Hall, an artisan was eyeing a strip of waste land by the side of the road in the north of the High Country. The outcome was Oak Cottage.

Oak Cottage, Clatterford End, with its oak tree relief in the external plasterwork, is thought to be a rare survival of a squatter’s dwelling¹. The practice of building a house on a piece of land to which the squatter had no title was widely encountered. Suitable sites were sometimes found on common land or in woods, generally well away from villages. Of their nature, such margins would occupy poorly productive or steeply sloping land or regions liable to flood. The dwelling erected would likely be of rudimentary construction with no garden and foregoing such amenities as a back entrance². They were common in areas such as the New Forest. Generally, the squatter had no immediate right to the land but in English law “squatter’s rights” rested on the concept of adverse possession, the adverse possessor having been in peaceful and undisputed possession of the land for 12 years³.

At the time of the building of Oak Cottage, the increase in such dwellings across the country was of concern; not only were they uncontrolled, they were often poorly built and poorly maintained. An Act, passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, sought to restrict such developments by “cottagers and paupers”. A second act in 1662, the Act of Settlement, set out to limit these developments by restricting the movement of those citizens who were not freeholders or who could not afford a rent of £10 per year. There followed “ideologically inspired squats” and on one occasion paupers squatted in the towers of Windsor Castle⁴.

Returning to Oak Cottage, the original house was, notably, very small. A single room on the ground floor led to the only room on the second floor. The floor dimensions are just 4.88m by 3.66m. A chimney (1.98 x 1.22m) heats the ground floor. Although, the base of the chimney is built of bricks, commonly used in the 16th and 17th centuries, there is some evidence to suggest that this chimney might have been be a replacement for a timber framed stack.

There is further evidence of some structural changes. The floor appears to have been raised, 76mm in the west wall and 180mm in the east wall, the discrepancy apparently to correct the building’s list to the east. The present door and window have been added to the east wall, and no evidence of either is apparent in the original frame.

The very survival of Oak Cottage perhaps indicates a higher standard of construction and craftsmanship than is hinted at above. The timber framing is properly constructed. All the studs were pegged into the wall plates and tie beams. Both north and south walls had primary bracing, but this remains only on the latter. The side walls are lightly braced. Interestingly, each of the four corner posts is a different shape, the builder probably using just what he had available at the time. The conclusion is that the squatter was maybe a carpenter with good knowledge of contemporary building techniques.

John Walker has summarised some of the dating features. The use of jowled corner posts declined towards the end of the 16th century. Joists are very narrow and laid on their narrower side, suggesting a date later rather than earlier in the 17th century. The primary bracing in the end walls was common in the early 17th century. However, evidence of open diamond mullion windows and a frame that was once exposed argues towards its construction in the first half of the 17th century. The conclusion is that Oak Cottage is indeed contemporary with Hill Hall!

In 1984, Oak Cottage was in need of some restoration. The plaster was stripped to expose the timber frame. While scaffolding poles supported the wooden sill, foundations, of concrete and some depth, according to the current building regulations, underpinned the cottage for the first time in its 350 years existence. Modern amenities were added to the cottage in a new construction at the south end to replace the lean-to outshot.

Anne Padfield delivered the first talk to the High Country History Group. The talk was held in the Parish Room, St Mary’s Church, Stapleford Tawney, on Thursday 24th February. The talk presented an illustrated tour of a large selection of local buildings having historic features or connections. The buildings were mainly drawn from the High Country area. Several recurring themes accompanied Anne on her tour.

The re-use of buildings formed one theme. Ivy covered, Ivy Cottage, in Greensted Green, now a domestic building, was originally a small, local school. The building that houses the Piggott Brother’s business was the local Workhouse, serving several neighbouring parishes. A smithy has been incorporated into Cutlers Forge Cottage. Public houses have been converted into domestic buildings. Re-use or development of a building was often accompanied by the extension of the building, the present fabric then dating from two or three distinct periods. Clear indications of such modification can often be discerned in variations in the level of the roof; for example, The Talbot, previously the “The Talbot Inn”. In the case of the “The Woodman”, it is the domestic building that has been converted into a pub.

Clues to the previous style and age of the house can still be evident in present, visible features. Clues from internal features include blackened roof timbers, associating the building with an original hall house construction, where the smoke from a central fire drifted through a hole in the roof. There are good examples in the area at “The Woodman” and Clements Farm, Toft Hill. Internal features illustrated included bread ovens; for example, in Mole Trap Cottages and Little Timbers, Mount End.

The slope of the tiled roof on “The Woodman” is steep and the construction of the roof has been strengthened at a later date. This suggests that the roof was likely to have been thatched originally. The orientation of the joists in the same building further indicates an early date for its construction. The vestiges of mullioned windows can be seen in several buildings in the area, dating the buildings to before 1560–70 when mullions gave way to the use of glass.

Among easily visible external features, chimneys, the size of which often displayed the wealth of the owner, were frequently illustrated in the talk. There are good examples of large chimney groups in Ongar, High Ongar and at Lawns Farm, Stanford Rivers, where the chimneys are imposing. On closer inspection, it can be seen that some chimneys have been either rebuilt or reduced in height at some point during their life. Sometimes clues have occasionally been obscured, for example, much later brick cladding of the exterior of Does Farm, Stanford Rivers.

Other houses referred to included Great and Little Tawney Hall, the latter being Anne’s own house. The tour had commenced with St Andrew’s Church, Greensted. The church was much restored in the middle of the 19th century, because of the partial decay of the oak timbers. However, remarkably, it is the only survival of an English log church. Anne finished her talk at Hill Hall. Following its use as a women’s prison, and a disastrous fire in 1969, the building has recently been restored by English Heritage. It is notable architecturally in its very early incorporation of certain classical features by the enlightened owner, Sir Thomas Smith, a real Renaissance man, in the mid 16th century.

Anne Padfield’s talk demonstrated very clearly her knowledge, feeling, and enthusiasm for village building. Anne displayed a scholarly approach to its history and its evidence. Above all, the talk encouraged the wider appreciation of the subject. The audience, totalling 45, will be persuaded to look on this visible, often familiar evidence with new eyes.

This very entertaining talk presented the progress of the police force in Essex from the early 1800’s. The talk described the slow acceptance of the police at first, by the “rich”, who had to pay, and objected, and by the “poor” who saw the police only as interfering with their normal pattern of life. At times, the police were rejected with harsh judgements sometimes made against them in court.

The talk illustrated the developments in police uniform and equipment. The local constabulary, apparently known as the “Scorchers”, demonstrated their new bicycles with obvious pride! Some of the more notable local incidents and cases were also described, for example the Moat Farm Murder. In macabre detail, Martyn provided advice on how to make capital from unexpected ownership of a body! Wanted posters, displayed widely in their day, were shown. The talk concluded with photos of the old Ongar police station.

Forty-four members attended. Questions flowed! Martyn is Secretary to the Essex Police Museum, Springfield, Chelmsford.

This book is subtitled Chapels and Meeting Houses in the County of Essex, including Outer London.

The book contains four directories of such buildings, those still standing and those demolished but not replaced, for both present-day Essex and the London boroughs which used to be part of Essex.

It is well illustrated with eight pages in colour. The commentary, although light, is informative and up-to-date.

The Congregational Chapel that existed in Stanford Rivers, and was demolished in 1927, is listed.

Profits from the sale of the book will go to the Historic Chapels Trust.

It was one of those evenings - dark, cold and forbiddingly foggy. It was just such evening when highwaymen might have appeared in Epping Forest. Without thought for their safety, and clutching their purses closely, forty-six members and guests appeared from out of the mist to hear Georgina Green talk about Dick Turpin at Toot Hill Village Hall.

Georgina had studied Dick Turpin well. With illustrations drawn from books, contemporary maps and current photographs of some of the locations of Dick’s escapades, Georgina sought to distinguish fact from fiction. Turpin’s links were local; Loughton, Edmonton and a “cave” in Epping Forest, where he was thought to have hidden. However, perhaps sadly, the romantic, heroic vision of Dick, as portrayed in newspapers, gave way to a cruel, reckless and perhaps disloyal reality. At his eventual trial in York, Dick carelessly failed to defend himself adequately. He was sentenced to be hanged. And there was no Black Bess .... A very entertaining talk!
Rob Brooks

The census is a survey taken every 10 years to collect information on the population of the United Kingdom. From 1801 to 1831 the censuses were simply head counts with no personal information on individuals recorded (except in exceptional cases). From 1841 personal information on individuals was recorded.

From 1841 personal information was collected on individuals. Over time, more information was collected. Slightly different information was collected in the censuses for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

A brief look at the 1841 Census for Stanford Rivers reveals a high proportion of the residents shown as Agricultural Labourers. Other occupations include Miller, Shoemaker, Hay Binder, Sadler, Grocer, Butcher, Wheelwright, Chimney Sweep.

John Barnard, aged 56 was the Publican of the White Bear; The Rev Dowdeswell, aged 77 was the Rector, with a Butler, Gardener, Housekeeper and housemaid to look after him. Robert Smitheman is the Miller at Toot Hill and Robert Humphreys, the Miller at Littlebury. John Woolmer is described as a Church Clerk. Thomas Nichols, aged 60 is the Publican at the Green Man, Toot Hill. The Taylor family are shown living at Little End. Isaac Taylor is described as a ‘Literary’ His daughter Jane (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) is 13 years old.

The 1841 Census lists some 861 persons living in the parish and provides an interesting social insight into a rural village community.

The 1901 Census returns for England and Wales was released over the Internet on the 2 January 2002. They will be viewable anywhere with Internet access, including the Family Records Centre (FRC).

If you intend to visit the FRC to view the 1901 Census be advised that demand for access is likely to be high for several months and the FRC are putting special arrangements in place to ensure everyone has a fair chance of accessing the information.

To be sidetracked in the Essex Record Office is so easy. Attention can wander. Mine wandered . . . wandered to an unrelated article, A Deodand in the Hundred of Ongar. What is a deodand . . . and in the Hundred of Ongar? And so one thing led to another . . .

The principle of the deodand concerned chattels. In medieval law, it is necessary to distinguish between ‘movables’ or personal property and ‘immovables’ or ‘real property’. Common law, which relates to personal property, is separate from the law relating to real property. The term that has arisen to represent personal property is ‘chattels’. Chattel comes from the French chattel (plural chateux). Our word, cattle, in use only from the 17C, comes from the same word. The legal chattel included all movable property. ‘Goods’ became the term applied to tangible chattels. However, not all chattels are tangible; there are also chattels real, such as certain rights granted for a term of years.

The principle required the forfeiture to the King of any object, which was involved in a person’s death. The deodand was called the bane, or slayer. The King was then required to ensure that an almoner devote the object¹ to ‘pious uses’. Chattels could be seized in such circumstances. In theory, the deodand was intended to be appropriated to charitable purposes for the benefit of the deceased’s family. In the 13C, the object would be delivered to the men of the town where the death occurred, whereupon they had to answer for it to royal officers. The deodand served several purposes; the owner would have purchased his peace; the dead person’s kin could wreak their vengeance on the deodand, thereby encouraging his soul to lie in peace; a deodand might also provide a primitive form of insurance for the dead person.

There are many references to deodands within coroner’s courts². On 6 July, 1578, Mr Vernon, coroner, viewed the body of Toby Bate of Wivenhoe, a sailor. Toby had been out with others to take the mast out of a boat. In pulling, the mast fell on the head of Toby and ‘put his eyes out’. He died instantly. The mast was worth 13s 4d as a deodand, which “remained in the hands of Rich. Cooke of Wivenhoe sailor, to the Queen’s use”.

At Hatfield Broad Oak on 28 April, 1607, George Bushe, yeoman, committed suicide. The jurors said Bushe, with “a hempen halter worth 1d, which he “did tie about a brac”, parcel of his barn, and the other hand about his neck. The halter then “did ruckdowne” and hanged him. His goods and chattels were worth £334 6s 2d which Lord Riche claimed as deodand.

On 21st October, 1586, the coroner presided over the body of William Godwaerd, a Brightlingsea butcher. A gun lay in the house of Austen Jones, a yeoman. The gun was loaded with “hayleshot”. Austen’s finger touched the ‘vice’ and William Godwaerd, while eating, was struck a mortal wound in the headband. The gun, value 13s 4d, became the deodand.

At Blackmore, on 12 August, 1577, Agnes Tynge, aged 10, sadly, was playing on the green before her father’s house. Agnes tied a halter (cafrist?) to the spokes of the wheel of a cart laden with coal (charcole). The halter dislodged the spokes from the wheel and the cart and its contents fell upon the back of Agnes, killing her instantly. The cart and contents were deemed to be worth 30s and were forfeit to the Queen as deodand.

The responsibility of the deodand was not always accepted. In Witham, following a coroner’s inquest into a suicide a deodand of fifteen shillings was levied against the inhabitants of Witham³. The original records give details of the escalating costs demanded of the inhabitants of Witham as a result of their failure to answer. The full details of the escalating cost are preserved. The proceedings continued for six years, between 1666 and 1672.

By the 19C, records show that the deodand resulting from a road accident would now be just the wheel of the wagon, rather than the wheel, cart and contents. The purpose and charitable uses of the deodand appear to have been lost. The deodand simply passed to the local owner of the rights to the deodand.

So what happened in the Hundred of Ongar? In 1734, John Wright of Waltham Abbey was riding home, when his horse threw him to his death. Following an inquest, the horse was declared a deodand. A Mr Harvey seized it. Mr Smart, the then Lord of the Manor of Theydon Bois challenged the possession of Mr Harvey. Counsel’s opinion was taken and a search to establish the legality of the two claims was initiated. The claim of Mr Harvey originated in the letters patent of Henry VIII, while the claim of Mr Smart went back to the grant of the lordship of the manor by Edward IV. The decision came down in favour of Mr Harvey’s claim though the claim was stated to be obscure. During the course of the dispute, the article¹ concludes “no doubt feeling ran high, and the harmony of country-side life was disturbed”.

The English law of deodands was repealed in 1846. Why? The new possibility that one could be fatally injured in a railway accident had raised the stakes considerably!

The Annual General Meeting of the High Country History Group was held on the 29th March, 2002. At the meeting, members of the group were requested to bring to the meeting some object which to them was reminiscent of the 1950s. Members were encouraged to record their thoughts in a few words. These thoughts are recorded here together with more observations on the decade.

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

For many, the Coronation of Elizabeth II provided that first memorable television experience. Despite a developing network of transmitters, reception was variable. Pictures were often poor, characteristically snowy and, viewed in the company of invited neighbours, at best the 12 inch (or today, 30.48 cm!) tube, meant that much had to be left to the imagination. It rained and Queen Salote of Tonga remained the memory of a persistent triumph over the inclement weather.

Loving Cup from the Coronation

“The loving cup from the Queen’s Coronation, and I remember watching it on TV. I was most impressed by the Queen’s dress which was embroidered with the emblems of all her Commonwealth countries around the world, plus England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.” - Margaret Padfield

Was it ‘Mick and Montmerency’ or ‘The Grove Family’ that followed the Coronation transmission?

Mementoes of the event survive and are still plentiful, though sometimes worn. By now, these have attained an elevated and protected, status in the household. Postage stamps commemorating the Coronation are still a popular survival. Most colonies issued one stamp in a standard design but there were exceptions. The issue helped to generate a new following of stamp collectors. Otherwise, the number of commemorative stamp issues in the 1950s was modest. The Post Office had yet to implement the policy of saturating with special issues, a strategy akin to philatelic carpet-bombing.

Coronation Teaspoon and Postage Stamps

“The coronation teaspoon has been in daily use, so much so that the silver plate has nearly all work off. The stamps of Great Britain provide reminders of the age:
1948 75th Anniversary of the Universal Postal Union
1951 The Festival of Britain
1952 The Definitive Stamps of Great Britain, designed by Dorothy Wilding
1953 Coronation and the commemorative stamps of the 62 Colonies
1957 50 Year Anniversary of World Scouts
1958 6th British Empire and ommonwealth Games at Cardiff.

Commemorative stamps were produced much less frequently than they are today.”
David and Wendy Thompson - The Wilding Head was used on the early postage stamps from the present Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The nephew of the designer, Dorothy Wilding, was a contemporary at the same school that David attended.

Some mementoes carry special and personal significance.

Hand woven silk velvet for the Queen’s Coronation and Parliamentary Robes, Coronation Medal and citation for William Doe, my father

“In 1952 and early 1953, my father William Doe, a director of Warner & Sons Ltd, was responsible for the contract to weave on the hand looms at Braintree the silk velvet for the Coronation robe and crown, and the parliamentary robe worn today by Her Majesty the Queen to open Parliament. Warners also supplied all the other vestments and hangings for Westminster Abbey. My parents were at Buckingham Palace to watch the Queen leave for Westminster Abbey and return after the ceremony. My father was also responsible for the silk supplied by Warners for Princess Elizabeth’s wedding dress in 1948.” - Peter Doe

The Economy and Money

In 1952, heavy engineering and the production of ships and railways, supported by the mining of coal and the production of steel, dominated the economy. Perhaps surprisingly, the UK economy was the second largest in the world in 1960; today it stands fifth in the world. However, in 1952 we exported only 13.1 per cent of our output, while today exports stand at 34.1 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In material terms we are twice as well off as we were in the 1950s.

In real terms, our economy is now 3.4 times bigger than in 1952. This has been achieved partly through the growth in productivity, by a factor of 2.3 over the same period. Manufacturing, measured as a percentage of GDP, is now only 20 per cent whereas in the early 1950s it stood at 30 per cent. Today, the wholesale, retailing, and business services sectors, when combined, are larger that the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing has declined but the idea that in the 1950s the UK was a wholly manufacturing nation needs to be viewed in perspective.

In agriculture, the results of the increasing mechanisation in agriculture are plain to see in the High Country. Fewer people work on the land and the character and use of dwellings associated with agriculture use have changed forever.

Occasionally, it comes as a surprise to realise that a generation has now grown up without direct contact with ‘the old money’. Students undertaking history courses, for example, are now generally provided with explanations and conversions for translating sterling into decimal. The farthing, tanner, bob, florin, crown and guinea have all passed.

Building Society Share Pass Book

“My wife and I began to save when we became engaged, so the original entry includes her maiden name. The only large deposit was a wedding present. The biggest withdrawal was to deposit on our first house. The passbook pages are interleaved with blotting paper; all entries are in ink and are pre-decimal. Thirty years later, I took the book for the nearly-forgotten rump of the money to be updated. The girl at the counter blanched when she saw the £.s.d.. The book had to go to Head Office to be calculated.” - Jack Stewart

Premium Savings Bonds were introduced in 1957. ERNIE, the acronym for the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment, generated the winning random numbers. ERNIE presented a more exciting way to save. At the outset, the monthly winning numbers were published widely but with a top prize in the draw of £1,000 interest waned; the prize for eight draws on the football pools was then £80,000. The top prize was gradually raised until in 1994 the top prize reached £1M, with the result that within a short period, more premium bonds were sold than had been sold in the first 37 years of their existence. Those early bonds, often given singly as birthday presents, still remain, often neglected, but rarely having contributed to their keep.

Premium Bond

“My wife and I got married in 1958. I had a new suit for the wedding. As I paid for it in cash, I was given a £1 premium savings bond. Needless to say, we have won nothing on it.” - J. Wood

Living

Everyday living in the 1950s was coloured by austerity and household economy. Rationing, introduced during the war, was progressively relaxed until 1954, but coal was still rationed until 1958. Devices such as the wire mesh soap-saver, which enabled a bar of soap to be used up completely in the interest of that additional wash, was typical of careful attention to household expenditure.

Ration Book from 1952

“I can remember coupons being exchanged at the grocery store run by Mr Liddel. This ration book still has the majority of stamps inside. Only the ones for Mr Liddel’s food have been removed.

My mother saved clothing coupons for a pair of new red shoes for me. These were duly purchased. I can then remember my mother being furious with our Labrador puppy, Trixie, for chewing the shoes.” - Anne Brooks

The 1950s brought innovation in the home; labour-saving devices; new materials; new food options. Numerous examples of these have become accepted as indispensable to modern living, whether liked or not! Terylene clothes were introduced into the UK in 1951. One year later the telephone answering machine was invented. The first electric kettle was developed in 1954. Convenience food took mouth-watering steps forward with the development of the fish finger. The appearance on the High Street of the first outlets of the Wimpy hamburger chain followed one year later. The Tetley tea bag was first introduced to the teapot or teacup in 1952.

The Government had introduced measures to improve the diet of young people.

Coupons

“In 1958, we had our son, Richard, and I was given orange juice coupons and cod liver oil coupons.” - Margaret Padfield

Personal entertainment became attainable with the transistor radio and cassette tape recorder at the end of the 1950s, shrinking the cumbersome radiogram to something more easily portable. ‘The Archers’ was broadcast for the first time in 1950.

Velcro provided cheap fasteners. Barbie dolls, perhaps mimicking the teenage female pop stars of the time, arrived just before the decade closed and have remained with us. Other everyday objects have sometimes proved strangely resilient, outliving their original purpose and becoming devoted to uses outside of the original design or intention.

Sanatogen Jar

“This Sanatogen jar is from the period 1950 to 1954. It came from Burrows Farm where my mother worked for Mrs H. Millbank. Surprisingly, the storage jar has been in use ever since.” - Margaret Wright

Education

The 1939-45 World War had restricted developments in education. The attention of authorities was diverted to matters at least as pressing and education was disrupted, through the evacuation of children, and the partial destruction of the fabric of education.

Letter dated 8th June, 1946, from King George VI

“All children of school age received a letter from the King shortly after the end of the war in which the King spoke of the ‘shared hardship and dangers of Total War’. As a small boy growing up in London, I well recall the air raids. I slept for several months in a cellar under our house, partly in a gas tent. I was evacuated to Much Hadham for a period where I slept in an Anderson shelter with the mice. My school in Loughton was hit by a Doodlebug - a cause for some rejoicing!” - Patrick Griggs

Essex was keen to present a memento of the Coronation to children.

Book, “Royalty in Essex”

“All the children in Essex were presented with this book in 1953 on the occasion of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.” - Anne Cook

“We also have the ‘Royalty in Essex’ book that was given to all Essex school children by County Education in commemoration of the Coronation.” - Phillipa Giles

Perhaps strangely, much official data on education only dates from the 1960s. Generally, education in the 1950s followed a succession from infant, through primary to secondary schools. Secondary education was selective based on an examination, the 11 Plus Exam, to determine whether attendance at a grammar school was appropriate, or whether the secondary modern school was better suited. For those considered more able, the ‘Grammar’ held the promise of education leading to A levels and possibly university, whereas the alternative would often result in an early exit from the education system at the age of 15, unfortunately.

School satchel, leather

“I passed ‘The Scholarship” in 1952, the year of the Queen’s accession. This is the satchel that was bought for me. It was used throughout the rest of my schooldays.

My daughter used it when she started school and used it until holdalls became fashionable.” - June Wood

Such selection at 11 was severe and the chance of being later transferred to the ‘Grammar’ through, for example, a 12 Plus Exam) was unusual. The availability of the ‘Grammar’ was variable across the country and attendance would often involve long, daily journeys to counter the promise of success one was presumed to enjoy in later life.

Over the last fifty years, education has become more available. If the statistics from forty years ago are compared to those of today, then the huge growth in access to education becomes apparent. At nursery level, less than a quarter of a million children under 5, 10 per cent of the total, attended school in the 1950s; today the figure is 90 per cent. The number of pupils who left school with 2 ‘A’ levels has increased from approximately 8 per cent at the end of the 1950’s to about 30 per cent in 2000. This increase is aided by the number of young people staying on past 15 in full-time education. The figure is up from 35 per cent in 1958 to around 70 per cent today.

More remarkably, perhaps, over the same period there has been a ten-fold rise in the number of people going on to higher education, to 2 million in full or part-time study today. The number of universities in the UK has risen to 90 today from 20 in 1952. Nevertheless, the suggestion remains that this increase is accompanied by a reduction in educational standards.

Hospital Nursing Certificate

“Training for the nursing profession was strict, regimental and exhausting. Patients were segregated in fifty bedded wards and drugs were limited, so strict hygiene was essential. Everything was sterilised by hand.

We worked shifts of eight hours by day and twelve at night with one day off a week. All breakages had to be paid for.

Each year, we were required to pass both a hospital and a State examination.

Today I recognise the enormous responsibility we carried for the care of our patients, with limited resources, but the training offered then has been acknowledged today as second to none.” - Anne Stewart

Family

Statistics demonstrate that relationships and family structures have changed markedly over the past 50 years. About five times as many people live alone now, to seven million in 2001. Population has risen by one fifth, yet marriage is less popular, with one quarter fewer marriages. Divorce has risen five-fold and co-habitation is now the most common form of first partnership. Both men and women can expect to live eight-and-a-half years longer.

Babies’ names have changed. The following lists the most popular girls and boys names in 1952 and 2001:

1952
David
John
Michael
Peter
Stephen
Robert
Paul
Alan
Christopher
Richard

2001
Jack
Thomas
Joshua
James
Daniel
Harry
Samuel
Joseph
Matthew
Lewis

1952
Susan
Linda
Christine
Margaret
Patricia
Janet
Elizabeth
Mary
Carol
Ann

2001
Chloe
Emily
Megan
Jessica
Sophie
Lauren
Charlotte
Hannah
Olivia
Lucy

It seems remarkable that the top ten names differ so markedly for both boys and girls over the period. Today’s names are no less ‘traditional’ than in 2001, and the more recent choices for boy’s names have very strong biblical origins.

The family holiday of the 1950s still carries enduring memories. Most families afforded one annual holiday, which was usually spent in the UK at holiday camps, hotels or guesthouses at seaside resorts. The first National Park, the Peak District, was designated in 1951. Today, the majority of holidays are taken abroad. Holiday photos from the 1950s, usually black and white, do survive in corners but sometimes the memento is more notable.

Charcoal Sketch of Shirley Fisher

“I was on holiday in Devon with my family and encountered an artist sketching the scenery. My father asked him if he did portraits. He did, and for a cost of 1/6d each, he sketched my parents, my sister and myself.” - Shirley Fisher

Again, a present from a typical holiday -

1951 Necklace and Earring Set

“My best friend, Margaret, gave these to me on returning from a holiday in Llandudno. However, we often had holidays together, with parents, and thoroughly enjoyed them despite the fact we didn’t go far from our homes in Yorkshire, but to Scarborough, Skegness etc. We played tennis, swam, sunbathed and went for cliff top walks, once almost missing lunch as my watch had stopped and we’d no idea of the time. We are still good friends and recently had a wonderful day as guests at her son’s wedding.” - Maureen Meddows

and a coincidence, left at a holiday cottage -

The Illustrated London News magazine

“We discovered this copy of The London Illustrated News magazine in Cornwall in a holiday cottage that we had rented in the 1970s. The date on its cover, 25/4/59, was the date of our marriage and, inexplicably, we found it in one of our suitcases when we arrived home in Essex!” - Joan White

Transport

In 1952, there was no motorway in Great Britain. With just 3 million cars, both the bus and the train, and the bicycle, provided alternative ways of travelling even for short journeys. Less than one in six households had access to a car. More use was made of public transport, the train, and a combination of the two, the trolleybus.

A Trolleyhead

“Essex once had trolleybuses. These were electrically powered passenger vehicles and were used to replace trams in the ‘thirties and ‘forties. Their great attribute was quietness of operation. Trolleybuses were to be found in Southend-on-Sea, and on London Transport system at places like Woodford, Leytonstone, Barkingside and Ilford. As a youngster, I often caught the 661 at the ‘Green Man’, Leytonstone, to travel to London. Regrettably though, I never sampled the delights of a Southend trolleybus ride, along the seafront to the Kursaal. Trolleybuses disappeared from Southend in 1954 and from Ilford in 1959. The artefact here is a trolleyhead. It is one of a pair, fixed to long poles mounted on top of the vehicle, that pressed up on the overhead wires to collect the electric current that powered the vehicle.” - Keith Farrow

Fifty years later, the number of cars has multiplied by a factor of nine, to a total of 26.5 million and 73% of households now have access to at least one car. 85% of the passenger kilometres travelled are made on the roads by car, van or taxi. There has been a tenfold increase in the distance travelled by road, roughly proportional to the increase in the number of cars. 3,400 kilometres of motorway have now been built.

Other methods of road travel have declined. The distance now travelled by bus or coach has dropped to one half of its level in 1952, but more marked is the decline in the use of the bicycle to one sixth of its former level.

Of course, the greatest expansion has taken place in air travel. Over the last 50 years the number of passengers using the main airports in the UK has increased by a factor of 65, while the number of trips made has increased one hundred-fold!

LP “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley

“Bill Haley was the first rock n’roll star. In February, 1977, Bill Haley came to the UK. He crossed the Atlantic by transatlantic liner, docking at Southampton. The big sister of a friend of mine travelled to London on one of the four or five trains that were laid on to carry all the fans. Bill Haley must have been one of the last touring stars to travel by sea. The passenger traffic at Southampton docks remained steady but eventually declined under competition from cheaper, faster and more convenient air transport. The formerly grand and busy transatlantic passenger facilities, for example, the Great Western Hotel, with its associations with the Titanic, Mauretania, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth liners, slowly succumbed during the 1960’s to the airlines.” - Rob Brooks

Southampton also supported a flying boat service, but this ceased in 1958 to be replaced by the hovercraft service to the Isle of Wight. In the early 1950s, disasters hampered air travel. In 1952, the first Comet jet service, from London to Johannesburg, commenced. Three early Comets were lost during landings, one in a thunderstorm, but it was when a Comet 1 broke up on departure from Rome on 10th January, 1954, that concerns about their safety mounted sharply. A further Comet belonging to South African Airways disappeared off the coast of Sicily on 8th April of the same year and as a result the Comet 1 was grounded. The Comet had been the first airliner to encounter pressurisation metal fatigue. Comet 4 was introduced much later on 1st October 1958.

Entertainment

Only one in six households had regular use of a car in 1952 compared to seven in ten now. As a result of the increase in personal mobility, the range of people’s leisure interests has expanded.

Now, the largest slice of our spending goes towards non-essential leisure goods and services. Over the last fifty years, patterns of entertainment have been dramatically changed. The widespread absorption of television into the home means we now visit the cinema just one tenth of the former frequency although, maybe because of some disappointment with television, this decline is currently reversing). Those queues of children outside the Odeon on a Saturday morning have vanished.

Collection of bird’s eggs and “The Observers Book of Birds Eggs”

“As a country schoolboy, born in 1950, I spent many happy hours scrambling around the hedgerows of Stapleford Tawney, collecting bird’s eggs. I would ‘blow’ the contents, making holes with a pin at each end, and identify them using the Observer book. At the time considered an innocent and healthy hobby. It is now a criminal offence!” - Duncan Padfield

More recently the widespread penetration of the computer into the home has provided families with a range of additional pursuits in the form of computer games, word processing, publishing and, more recently, access to huge information databanks. The transition of computer systems from a few large mainframe computers in the 1950s, carrying out calculations of national importance, to the distributed home computer, each possessing greater computing power, is a trend that was wholly unexpected. Even CEOs of major international computer companies failed to anticipate the trend. The capability to communicate with others worldwide through the Internet, selectively and even when not directly known, completes a staggering revolution in interpersonal communications really commenced only at the start of the twentieth century.

Dramatically, home entertainment changed in the 1950s. The fragile shellac of 78 rpm records, was to change to the more durable vinyl LP, at 33 1/3 rpm, pioneered by Columbia in 1948, and a 45 rpm format, from RCA in 1949. Records now became available to most young people at a price that they were prepared to afford. Elvis Presley was one of the first to profit from these developments. From 1956, Elvis Presley records sold hugely However, Elvis enjoyed nine top twenty hits until his first chart number one.

78 rpm “Hound Dog”; Elvis Presley

“This was my first love. The record label still retains traces of lipstick. Was the lipstick Lucky Pink?” - Christine Marchant

Hound Dog reached number two, spending 16 weeks in the charts. Blue jeans were also part of this teenage revolution in spending habits. They first sold in the UK in 1955. They were different, fashionable and comparatively cheap.

My Mother’s Dress

“I am wearing my mother’s dress, one of those she wore when courting my father. It is white cotton with mauve roses, shoestring straps, a ruched bodice, which was originally boned, and a small skirt that would cover a net underskirt. There is a contrasting wrap to go with it. At some time it was in our dressing up box and I have worn it to dances. I will keep it and pass it on to my daughter for dressing up in fancy dress in the future!” - Phillipa Giles

The formality of the dance or the ball of the 1950s has largely passed.

Dance Card

“In 1955, I went to the Scotch Bachelor’s Ball, where we were given cards. As the first half hour before the dancing began, you filled it in to arrange you dancing partner.

In 1956, we got married. We met at the Young Farmer’s Club. Maurice belonged to ‘Harlow” and I belonged to “Ongar”. It was known as the Marriage Bureau for the Young Farmers.” - Margaret Padfield

The 55th Aldeburgh Festival takes place this year.

Programme, Aldeburgh Festival, June 14th to 22nd, 1952

“In the early days of the Festival, before Snape Maltings, concerts were heard in the Jubilee Hall and the Parish Church. Lectures were held in the Church Hall, Baptist Chapel and the Cinema. It was all very informal and friendly.

I went to the Kathleen Ferrier recital in the Parish Church. When a concert was due there, streams of folk would be heading in that direction carrying cushions as the pews were very uncomfortable.

Tickets on sale at the Festival Office were priced at 3 shillings each. The complete programme book was 6 shillings.”

Jean Millbank

The festival, founded by Benjamin Britten in 1948 lost some of its importance following his death in 1976. The auditorium at the Maltings was burnt down on its first night in 1969 but was rebuilt in time for the festival the following year. Alas, Kathleen Ferrier died tragically in the year following the date of the programme. Was the programme book a bargain at 3 bob?

Sport

Sport in the decade will be remembered for some legendary achievements against a background of increasing professionalism.

At the end of the decade, the maximum weekly wage for a footballer was limited to £20 during the season and £17 in the summer. A strike threatened and the maximum wage was abolished on January 9th 1960, partly to counter players moving to Italian clubs. John Charles had already moved to Juventus, where his salary was trebled. Charles, the ‘Gentle Giant’, was paid a signing-on fee of £10,000, equivalent to 10 years salary in the English First Division. There was concern that the loss of the maximum wage would encourage wages to spiral out of control in the Football League!

F.A. Cup Final programme and ticket from 1950

“This was my granddad’s programme and ticket from the 1950 F.A. Cup Final between Liverpool and Arsenal. Arsenal won 2-0 in very wet and muddy conditions. Joe Mercer captained Arsenal and Phil Taylor captained Liverpool. Denis Compton, the England cricketer, played for Arsenal. At half-time, Denis, flagging in the conditions, was given a glass of brandy to revive him.” - Robin Fisher

In cricket, amateurs played alongside professionals, as they had always done. The Gentlemen, amateurs, still played the Players, professionals, at Lords annually. In 1957, the batting of the Gentlemen included the Reverend David Shepherd, Peter May, Colin Cowdrey and Ted Dexter, while the Players could muster the strong bowling attack of Frank “Typhoon” Tyson, Freddie Trueman and Jim Laker. Denis Compton captained the Players in his last professional season. In the absence of one-day cricket, cricket grounds hosted representative games, perhaps oddly viewed today; England versus The Rest; The North versus The South; Under Thirty-Two versus Over Thirty-Two.

The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships were strictly amateur throughout the decade. A professional circus, led by Jack Kramer, toured extensively providing spectacular entertainment throughout the decade. Kramer, having won Wimbledon in 1947, joined Bobby Riggs, the winner of all three male Wimbledon titles in 1939, in the circus. In the 1950s, Frank Sedgman and Lew Hoad, both Wimbledon singles winners, among several others, turned professional, leaving the amateur game poorer for their absence. The major tennis tournaments were only opened to professionals in 1968.

Wimbledon programmes from the 1950s

“I played at Wimbledon during the amateur days when professional tennis took the form of a travelling circus. The programmes recorded most of the results. I played Rod Laver at Wimbledon but prefer to forget the score. The amateur days were reflected by the home players travelling to the courts by bus, and players getting to the third round earned themselves a player a meal ticket.”

John Ward

Athletics remained amateur, apart from the The Powderhall Sprint, run in Edinburgh, but open only to professionals! Professionalism in rugby union is a recent and generally resisted, development; previously the two rugby codes had followed quite distinct paths.

Perhaps the 1950s hosted the transition of sport to the modern era. The growth of professionalism is both a cause and an effect of this. Professionalism was a reaction to the need of all sportsmen and sportswomen to obtain support to enable both time and equipment to be devoted to raising performance. Emil Zatopek adopted a training routine that is still regarded as punishing today. Having won both the 5,000m and the 10,000m at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, Zatopek entered the Marathon, his first. In a well-known exchange with Jim Peters of England, Zatopek enquired whether they were running fast enough. “Too slow” was the unwise reply. Zatopek accelerated to win his third gold medal easily. Zatopek, a Czech army officer, was promoted through his athletic success.

Instances of the transition to the modern era in other sports can be suggested. There are links. In football, Stanley Matthews, of Blackpool, finally won his Cup Final winner’s medal with Blackpool in 1953 after a career, which started with Stoke in 1932; later in the decade the 17 year old Pele became the youngest player to play in the final stages of the World Cup. In 1953, Gordon Richards, later knighted, finally rode a Derby winner, Pinza, at his twenty-eighth attempt at the age of 49. The following year, Lester Piggott won the first of his nine Derby victories. In boxing, Joe Louis made an ill-considered comeback in 1951 against Rocky Marciano, and the young Marciano knocked him out in the eighth round. In 1960 Cassius Clay, won the gold medal at the Rome Olympics as a light-heavyweight, one early step to becoming the best-known sportsman in modern times. Arnold Palmer won his first US Masters title in 1958, so creating a tournament link that has only just ceased.

. . . . and lastly, Roger Bannister ran the first 4 minute mile. Was this as fast as a man could run? No, the world record now stands to at 3m 43.13s!

. . . and finally

It is quite possible you recall the 1950s vividly. This is true for me. Is it because it coincided with my schooldays when the mind was open to new experiences, uncluttered with acquired knowledge and irrelevancies? Or is it because the decade could be viewed with an emotional detachment permitted by the general absence of responsibilities? Or were the 1950s, in reality, colourful, fresh and vivid and a decade of innovation and change?

Of course, there is much that has not been mentioned . . . . The Festival of Britain . . . . the Cold War . . . . Eisenhower and Churchill . . . . Stalin . . . . Bulganin and Kruschev . . . . the conflict of Korea . . . . the Hungarian uprising . . . . Nasser and Suez . . . . Sir Anthony Eden . . . . Telstar . . . . Sputnik and the dog, Laika . . . . Burgess and Maclean . . . . Hillary and Tenzing . . . . the Munich air crash . . . . Puskas . . . . the Hungarian football team . . . . 6-3 and 7-1 defeats . . . . Anita Lonsborough . . . . Cliff Richard . . . . zebra crossings . . . . ITV . . . . myxomatosis . . . . smog . . . . the M1 . . . . and parking meters . . . . . . . . . . .

Thanks are also extended to the members of the High Country History Group who entertained with their reminiscences at the group’s Annual General Meeting on 29th March, 2002.

Acknowledgements in the preparation of this article are also due to the Internet, and in particular the National Office of Statistics and the St Osyth Parish Magazine for July 2001 . . . . among many others.

Accounts of court actions present an unfavourable perspective on lawlessness in the Forest. Records of good citizenship do not balance these accounts! However, the actions do provide testament to the application of justice, which is often thorough and considered.

William I introduced the Law of the Forest. Harsh penalties, such as blinding and dismemberment, were the stated punishment for failure to respect the King’s venison, deer and wild boar, within the Royal Forest. However, evidence of these punishments being exacted is hard to find and a fine or amercement became the accepted penalty for transgression. The income from fines was more acceptable than mutilation to a King, burdened with Exchequer pressures under a regimen of building castles and conducting expensive military campaigns.

Court actions within the Law of the Forest are well recorded. The following is an example from Inquisitions concerning the Venison in the Forest of Essex¹

“On the day of St Thomas the Martyr in the twenty-fourth of the reign of king Henry (29 December 1239) ‘Gilbert Dun the forester and Robert his servant were riding through the Forest of Hainault; and they saw eight men with bows and arrows and greyhounds in the same forest.’

Wisely, Gilbert sent for help. The men could reasonably be presumed to be poaching deer, since dogs, whose very presence within the forest was illegal, were on hand. The dogs were greyhounds, and would not have been lawed². Finding eight, armed men in that situation placed the forester and his servant in a threatening situation, which occasionally foresters did not survive! The next day Gilbert returned to the forest with others and on seeing the men again, “. . . they raised the cry upon them, and followed them and put them to flight, but they did not know what became of them; but the men were harboured at the house of Richard, the son of Peter of London and Woodford”.

It was then customary for the foresters and verderers to set up an inquisition into the incident to which representatives of a number, and usually four, neighbouring townships were called to give their version of events, if they had one. In this case the townships were Barking, Stapleford Abbots, Lambourne and Wanstead. In turn, each said that they knew nothing. Other witnesses testified:
“John the son of Roger, the woodward of Chigwell, says that when he was on his way to the wood in Hainault . . . he saw seven men, five with bows and two with four greyhounds, of whom three had masks, and he showed this to Roger his father; and the same Roger asked him if he recognised the men. He replied that John le Blund of Edmonton was one of them.” John le Blund had kept his pigs in the wood under pannage³.

Accusations were sometimes based entirely on circumstantial evidence. “John the woodward of Lambourne, says that he suspects the parson of Stapleford because he often saw him going with greyhounds in the forest of the lord King”. The woodward was an officer of a wood in charge of the growing timber. It was not unusual for the finger of suspicion to be pointed towards the local vicar, or indeed to a forest official.

Simon the son of Conis of Chigwell, who had already testified against Nicholas the son of Osbert and Eudes the fisher, both from Chigwell, then added that when he came “to the house of his lord Richard the son of Peter in Woodford for a quarter of oats and three sheepskins to take away to London, and had reached the door of the aforesaid house, two men came out with bows and arrows and seized him and made him pledge faith that he would show nothing of them to anybody, and that he would forthwith go the way that he first proposed to go; and they followed him a full furlong saying to him that if he returned they would punish him severely”.

The inquisition was a preliminary to a hearing of the case at a Forest Eyre, a circuit court of the Forest, before the Chief Justice of the Forests. The evidence against the suspects compelled them to attend. It was usual to confiscate chattels from those bound to appear. The chattels found at the house of Richard were 40 sheep and eight quarters of oats. The chattels were entrusted to named individuals for safekeeping.

For the time being, Justice was seen to be done.

It is not usual to find the names of women on war memorials, yet on the 1939-45 memorial in St Margaret’s Church, Stanford Rivers, there are two.

Joyce D.P.Hillbrown, and
Theodora A. Metcalf.

These two names do not appear on the Commonwealth War Graves Roll of Honour. Does any reader have any knowledge of these two women and why their names appear on the memorial?

[714] From Thomas Kellnby in Springfield Gaol [Chelmsford] to the overseer Theydon Mount [1831]

Spingfield Convict
Gaole
April 20th 18[31]

Sir/
I Thearfore address you with thise letter to inform you that I have very ill and thanks be to god I now gitting Better of my illness I shall Estiem it as a perticulare favoure if you wold inform me when Harriett was Confined that I may be inable to gudge how long that I am to be Confined heare plase to give my love to her and I think long till the time comes that will release me from thise as the place is all to gather wheary unhearfull.

I conclude with
My kind love to all
That ask after me

Yours &c
Thomas Kellnby.

NB plase to send Answer By the return of post
and pay the postage of the letter if you plase

The Lavers History Group have published a collection of photographs and postcards of High Laver, Little Laver and Magdalen Laver. Including the front cover, there are 55 illustrations.

The views mostly depict buildings, but there are also farming scenes, school groups and memorable local residents. Some interesting pairs of photographs, some pre-war, show houses before and after their restoration.

There is an amusing scene of a lady, wearing hat and very long dress, cycling through the watersplash at Hull Green Corner, Little Laver.

Inside the cover is reproduced the programme of “An Olde English Village Fete”, held on Saturday, June 2nd 1945. The period is evident from attractions including boxing by the RAF and refreshments with the caution:
“owing to food rationing difficulties, please partake of ONE tea only”.

On the back cover there is a map showing the siting of the illustrations. This is a worthwhile, well-produced item of great interest to the Lavers and surrounding areas.

Copies are available from Patrick Streeter at £2.50 each.

Horse stealing was a serious rural crime.

In 1885, the Chief Constable of Essex, William Pointz, recorded an incident in Ongar:

A man rode into Ongar late at night on a horse with:

Only a halter
No saddle or bridle

He was stopped twice:

First by an Inspector
Then by a Constable

Both allowed him to pass after questioning.

The next morning, the horse was reported stolen.

The Chief Constable criticised both officers, noting:

The suspicious circumstances
The prevalence of horse theft
Failure to verify the man’s story

The cost of the failed investigation was £1.17s.9d.

He ruled:

Two-thirds of the cost to be paid by the Inspector
One-third by the Constable

Although some distance from the High Country situated to the north west of Epping, Copped Hall stands on a ridge to the other side of the town. It is also situated on the second highest point in Essex and is part of a large area of unspoilt land not bisected by any through road or other thoroughfare.

In early days, when the great Forest of Waltham covered most of the south-west of Essex, it is probable that primitive man established himself on this extension of the Epping ridge and to the south of a stream (now Cobbin’s Brook); the access drive to Copped Hall has been carbon dated to as early as 2300 BC. A much later resident could have been Queen Boudicca of the Iceni who is reputed to have made her last stand against the Romans at nearby Ambresbury Banks and who is thought to be buried a little to the west of this ridge. The earliest known reference to an actual dwelling is in 1150 when a Copped Hall was owned by the Fitzhaucher family.

The name “Copped Hall” could be derived from the term “cop” meaning a house with a cap, a top of a hill or from simple association with the nearby Cobbin Brook. There have been three Copped Halls on this site; medieval, Tudor and the current Georgian mansion,

In 1537 the medieval Hall passed into the hands of the last Abbot of Waltham who in turn surrendered the property to King Henry the Eighth in a vain attempt to save the priory of Waltham during the dissolution of the monasteries. Although never a resident, the King was reputed to be at the Hall during the execution of Anne Boleyn, and his son Edward Sixth passed on the Hall to his sister Mary Tudor. While resident there, Mary was the centre of religious controversy in England by celebrating the Catholic Mass in defiance of the Royal Command. Also resident was her sister who, after succeeding to the throne as Elizabeth the First, granted the Hall in 1564 to Sir Thomas Heneage who rebuilt it as a large Tudor mansion with a central courtyard.

John Conyers built the current and Georgian mansion in 1758, a short distance to the south, in the “Palladian Style” and a later owner, Ernest Wythes added an extensive wing and large conservatory from 1895 onwards. He also laid out the great formal gardens for which the Hall was renowned in its heyday (about 1900) and which rivalled those at the Palace of Versailles in France. About this time it was rumoured that the then British Royal Family was considering acquiring the property as a royal country residence but Sandringham was possibly purchased instead.

An electrical fault was the probable cause of the fire, which gutted the Hall in 1917. During subsequent years the burnt out shell was progressively vandalised although the gardens were kept in good condition until 1952 after which they were asset stripped. The mansion was used as a piggery and also a mushroom farm before becoming derelict and a centre for undesirables who committed wanton damage in many areas.

In the 1980s and early 1990s the Hall was the subject of proposals for several developments including a golf course, hotel, extensive housing estate etc., but all were successfully rejected. In 1992 the Corporation of the City of London purchased part of the estate to the south to act as a buffer zone for Epping Forest and the bulk of the estate to the north was retained by the Talbot Trust. In 1993, a Copped Hall Trust was set up for the purpose of acquiring the Hall, its outbuildings and gardens, 785 acres in all, for the purpose of restoration; this acquisition was finally achieved in 1995, The current Trustees are Dennis Farve (chairman), Alan Cox (architect), John Padfield, Bob Perdeaux (treasurer), Gordon Brown and Duncan Lowther; Paul Bostock sits as the representative for the Epping Forest District Council. An Educational Sub committee of the Trust exists to arrange lectures and educational courses relating to the Hall generally.

On 26 April 1998, an inaugural meeting of the Friends of the Copped Hall Trust (now known as the “Friends”) was held at the Hall in the restored Racquets Court; a committee was elected whose function is to support the Trust in its task of restoration by raising funds and providing practical help. The Friends Committee currently comprises Sylvia Keith (chairman), Nicola Munday (vice chairman), Trevor Roberts (past chairman), Pauline Dalton (secretary), Bob Perdeaux (treasurer and membership secretary), Margaret Gervis, Adelaide Karaskas, Iris Newbery, Howard Styles and Arnold Verral. The current membership stands at 420 and is steadily increasing.

Financial support for the project stems mainly from the leasing of the apartments and other outbuildings, from grants made by various organisations including the Essex Historical Society and the Epping Society and the fund-raising activities of the Friends; some £40.000 has been raised by the Friends in the last three years derived mainly from membership fees, donations and open days.

A working party of Friends spends each Sunday and some weekdays at the Hall and to date has carried out extensive work including clearance of the gardens, the creation of new lawns and the restoration of the Priory Garden. An early major milestone of achievement was the reopening, on the 22 Nov 98, of the main entrance of the Hall on the East Side, possibly for the first time since the fire, to facilitate the clearance of the adjacent rooms and the cellars

The outbuildings to the Hall have now been restored, converted into apartments and sold with covenanted leaseholds as residences. Part of the stables have also been restored including the turrets, the clock faces of which been regilded. Repairs to the centre structure to stabilise the chimneys, restore the immediate interior. and provide a temporary roof are almost complete. A complete restoration of the roof is planned.

A further milestone was the return, on 10 Nov 98, from the HM Prison at Bullwood Hall of some original stone work previously removed from the garden of the Hall. Further recoveries of this nature have been made and are directly due to the tireless efforts of the Project Architect, Alan Cox, who is tracking down the many items, which had been “lost” since the fire.

Other milestones included the important acquisition in early 1999 of the four acre Walled Garden, which has great potential, and also the restoration of the Priory Garden at the end of the same year. The latter now provides direct access to the grounds via two new, impressive iron gates.

An archaeological survey of the site of the Tudor mansion was carried out in 2001 followed by an actual excavation this year. The location of several rooms was established including some drains, all of which provide information for further research. An historical time line in the Racquets Court, which depicts events associated with the Hall over some 1,000 years, provides further historical reference.

Copped Hall is now well-known in historical circles and the Trust has given advice and help to other similar organisations wishing to acquire and restore historical houses for the benefit of the community; Valentines Mansion in Ilford is one such example. The M25 motorway, which cuts through part of the estate, has brought the Hall into prominence and prompted many enquiries regarding its past and future; the increased use of the footpath at the front has helped similarly. The Hall is not open to the public but private visits can be made by prior arrangement.

The Hall has been featured on TV on several occasions, only recently in the Simon Schama Presentation of the History of Britain. Its existence is now widely publicised in the local press, through lectures and various publicity media e.g. Copped Hall is now featured in the Essex version of the popular Monopoly board game.

It is more than probable that William Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream for a wedding at the Tudor Hall and the play was performed in the long gallery. Therefore, this summer, the Trust and Friends staged a performance of the play in the grounds near the Tudor Hall; the event was a complete sell out months in advance.

Other fund raising events planned include morning tours at 10.45 on October 20th, November 17th and December 8th. Two Copped Hall lectures will be given in the Theydon Bois Village Hall at 20.00 on 10th and 24th November 2002. General enquiries regarding Copped Hall can be made via Trevor Roberts 01992 813002, Alan Cox 020 7267 1769 or on the Trust’s answer phone 01992 571657. The local press, particularly the Epping Guardian, regularly publishes details of these events.

Do help to restore this fine mansion on our doorstep so that, in the not too distant future, travellers on the M25 will see not a burnt out shell but a magnificently restored Hall, which will once again be a jewel in the crown of our national heritages. The simplest way to do so is to become a member of the Friends; enquiries can be made on any of the above phone numbers.

In 1623 the manor of Stanford Rivers was sold to William 3rd Baron Petre. He settled the estate on his second surviving son, William Petre, who occupied the manor house known as Bellowes or Bell House. Though the house was demolished in the early 1800s, its elevated site - mid way between the original Stanford Rivers rectory and Murrells Farm - is still obvious today from the large amounts of brick, tile and slate in the plough soil, as well as from a scattering of mature trees on what had been the garden (lime, London plane, horse chestnut and a massive sycamore). William’s son, grandson, great grandson and great great grandson inherited the estate in due course, but after the last male heir died in 1762 it reverted to Robert 9th Baron Petre, the builder of new Thorndon Hall near Brentwood.

One constant feature of the Petre family was their adherence to the Roman Catholic faith. The Stanford Rivers branch were no exception and were presented at intervals through the seventeenth century in the archdeacon’s court for recusancy. They shared their faith with two near neighbours -the Wrights at Kelvedon Hall, and the Waldegraves at Navestock Hall. It is possible that a symbolic gesture of alliance was established with the latter family in the form of a spectacular piece of landscape gardening.

The Waldegraves built a new mansion at Navestock in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, on higher ground than the old manor house which still stands near the church. The surrounding land to the west and north was laid out as a park, the most spectacular feature of which was an avenue of trees, nearly two miles in length, running from the new hall to the Stanford Rivers road just south of the Woodman PH. Grand axial vistas like this became unfashionable later in the eighteenth century and it had disappeared by the time Chapman and Andre made their map in 1777.

However, what the Chapman and Andre map does show is that there was another avenue running from Bell House to a similar or identical point on the other side of the Stanford Rivers road, just south of the Woodman. This too has now vanished, presumably cleared when Bell House was demolished and the area reverted to farmland. No map has been found which shows both avenues in existence, and it is not possible to be sure from visiting the site today whether they did exactly line up. Even if they did not, it would have been a very near miss and the combined avenue would have dominated the view from both houses.

There is no way of telling which avenue was planted first, though it is more likely that the Waldegraves pioneered it when laying out their park. The Petre addition (if this was the order of things) would have misled the uninformed visitor into thinking that the Bell House estate was considerably larger than it really was! But could this avenue have had a symbolic meaning as well, by linking two recusant families at a time when being a Roman Catholic was difficult and dangerous, and excluded its adherents from public office? If this was so, the avenues must have been planted before 1719 when the Waldegraves became protestant. Even if no religious symbolism was intended, it was still highly unusual for one landowner to extend the line of another’s avenue.

Nineteen members of the High Country History Group met in High Ongar. A hint of rain was in the air. Anybody might have suggested the group was headed for the Alps but the slopes of Norton Mandeville were the intended destination.

These expanded “walk notes” are repeated here to encourage others to explore Norton Mandeville. The walk described is approximately three miles of easy walking, starting at High Ongar.

Church of St Mary the Virgin, High Ongar

Pevsner states: “The nave is Norman and has one of the most ornate doorways in Essex, with one order of columns, a curved lintel with zigzag, a tympanum with three strips of rosettes, also curved, an arch with zigzag, and a hood-mould with saltire crosses, etc.”¹. It might be added that the tympanum is the space between the lintel of a doorway and the arch above. Some of the rosettes have four limbs (described as saltire), but the outer rosettes have five limbs.

The nave is built of flint rubble with dressings of clunch partly replaced with limestone. The chancel was built or rebuilt in the middle of C13. Despite gradual repairs, it was reported around 1800 that the “the church of High Ongar is shored up and threatens downfall”. The S tower was built in 1858 and incorporates the S porch, brick with limestone dressing. This tower replaced an earlier tower, dating from the C15, which had a tall spire and survived until the new tower was built². The N vestry was added in 1885.

Church of All Saints, Norton Mandeville

Cross the A414, with care. The short cut at the east end of the main street through High Ongar leads directly to the road opposite. In a short distance, this road branches right to lead along the track to Norton Mandeville, one mile distant.

Today, the parish of Norton Mandeville covers 1,318 acres. The parish used to split the parish of High Ongar into two parts but in 1946, that part of High Ongar bordering the northern boundary of Norton Mandeville was again joined with Norton Mandeville. The parish population centres on Norton Heath, two miles W of the church³.

The church of All Saints is unexpectedly remote, explained by its position at the end of a minor road cul-de-sac. The oil lamps in this small church emphasise its tranquil setting. Pevsner suggests that the present nave and chancel are C14. However, wall fragments from C12 indicate an earlier church on the site. This dating is supported by a column fragment, spiral-carved with projecting moulding, which Pevsner adds, is “considered by the Royal Commission to be part of a pillar piscina”. The font is made of Barnack stone and dates from the late C12.

In 1769, the benefice was just six pounds a year, rather less than the wage of an agricultural worker at about £25 per year. At the same time, the curate held services once a month for a congregation of six or seven, “whose lives were said to be endangered by the damp of the church”. Additional rents had increased the benefice to £94 by 1810.

The church was restored in 1903 largely through an anonymous donation of £900 from the Revd. W. M. Oliver, who is commemorated in the E window. The timber porch and several windows were renewed at that time. The church suffered bomb damage in 1944. The “Friends of All Saints” have continued the maintenance of the church. The church is well preserved today.

Norton Hall, Norton Mandeville

Morant⁴ describes two manors in Norton Mandeville; the Manors of Norton Mandeville and Newarks Norton. There appears to be no trace of the ancient manor of Norton Mandeville; Newarks was demolished with the building of the World War II airfield over the estate.

An estate map of 1740⁵ shows Norton Hall farm to be the largest farm in the parish with an area of 264 acres. In 1490 the manor was sold to Merton College, Oxford, and the college retained the property until 1864. The brick Norton Hall farmhouse dates from 1864, a date scratched on a roof tile. Frederick Chancellor is believed to have been the architect of the house, farm buildings and the workmen’s cottages but fire is thought to have destroyed any remaining drawings. The buildings echo a prosperous era for agriculture. The Hall and farm buildings are immaculately maintained, in keeping with the church.

The present owner of the hall is Mr H. W. Chumbley. A guided tour of the farm buildings failed to discover any blemish on the farm buildings! The garden vegetable plot is kept is similar order, with the cultivation of some 26 different vegetables, outside of the orchard.

Forest Hall, High Ongar

Perhaps consistent with such a large parish, there were several manors in High Ongar. Morant, writing about the parish in the middle of the eighteenth century, refers to the manors of High Ongar, Astelyns, Forest Hall, Chevers, Ashe Hall, Wetherspane, Ongar Park and Passelow.

The manor of Forest Hall was formerly (Norton) Foliots Hall. The track, which passes the site of the hall, is private and permission should be obtained before entering. A useful map of the area is the OS map of 1873-1874⁶. The map shows the wooded nature of the Forest Hall estate, the sites of Little Forest Hall, the original site of Forest Hall, and its successor. The site of the gas works is shown together with the strangely named Dungeon Wood to the south, and nearer to High Ongar.

After the Conquest, the Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s held the manor. St Paul’s exchanged the manor for other lands held by King Henry VIII in 1544. The manor then passed through the ownership of William Rigges, briefly, then Sir Richard Rich, between 1544 and 1562, followed by the Stane family.

The Revd. J. B. Stane built a new mansion about 1845, 300m to the S of the original Hall, which had been built by Richard Stane in 1700. The Stane family owned the Hall and estate until the estate of 2,228 acres was put up for sale in 1862. The purchaser, J. L. Newall, was responsible for the building of Norton Hall Farm in 1864 (?). The Hall estate was again sold in 1919, the estate now comprising seventeen farms and 3,831 acres.

H. M. McCorquodale bought Forest Hall itself in 1924. On his death, the Hall was sold to the Air Ministry, later to be resold to Essex County Council. Forest Hall was demolished around 1951, after being uninhabited for several years. Barbara Cartland was a visitor to the Hall. Indeed, she married two McCorquodales, the second husband being Hugh!

Forest Hall was a large three-storey square structure in gault brick with stone and stucco dressings. On the upper floors there were seven windows in the front and central pediment. The Tuscan portico had three bays. Forest Hall was one of the largest mansions in the area. At its peak, the Hall employed 50 servants and possessed its own gas works and sawmill. The demolition of the Hall coincided with the publication of the Essex volume of the Victoria County History, in which it is still mentioned.

The return follows the Essex Way. The walk can be terminated in and around “The Foresters Arms” in High Ongar.

Whilst on the subject of World War II, I have for some time been trying to find out details of an accident involving two American aircraft that collided over Tawney Common in 1944, causing damage to local properties. Thanks to Ian McTaggart, a keen Aviation Photography and Historical Researcher, I now have the details.

On 8th March 1944, two B-26 Marauders, on a mission to Soesterberg, collided and crashed within 100 yards of each other 300 yards south of Mount Farm. Both aircraft were carrying a bomb load, and unfortunately both of the crews were killed in the crash.

The group is currently in a “chicken and egg” situation: rules are being written, but a team is needed to progress both rules and activities.

Volunteers were invited following the December issue of the High Country Community Magazine and the initial meeting of the Group.

This team is referred to as the Acting Committee, consisting of:

Rob Brooks
Kevin Dowsett
Keith Farrow
Shirley Fisher (Secretary)
Patrick Griggs
Martyn Lockwood (Newsletter Editor)
Anne Padfield
Yvonne Woollerson (Treasurer)

It is expected that a properly elected committee will be formed in due course.

The man who cuts the grass in the churchyard of St Nicholas’, Fyfield, recently had the alarming experience of stepping back and falling into a hole which opened beneath him. Thankfully, he was not injured but investigation into how the accident occurred revealed a grave which was far from commonplace. These notes describe what was found and from other sources, it has been possible to piece together some facts about the people involved. First, however, some background notes about the churchyard provide the context for what follows, and they include a small mystery of their own.

The ground in which the departed of Fyfield are buried today was only brought into use as a burial ground as recently as forty years ago. Expansion of the original graveyard surrounding St Nicholas’ church had started in 1904 and since then the boundary has been moved again twice to bring additional land into use for burials¹. The boundary line of the original, medieval graveyard can be established by reference to surviving memorials² and therein lies the first thread of the puzzle.

The original graveyard extended only fifty feet south of the church building, giving a total area of just over half an acre. The church built here by the Normans and its considerable extension through the fourteenth century are on a scale which indicates that Fyfield was a significant village in mediaeval times and it is surprising to find that it was served by such a small burial ground, in an age when the norm was for double this area; popularly referred to as ‘God’s Acre’. This leads to the second element of the mystery. It has always been the practice in the English church to reuse grave spaces after a decent interval – around a century – when the remains of earlier occupants have settled. This efficient use of the land had the practical advantage that it seldom did a graveyard run out of space for fresh burials. However, continually adding new dust to the old eventually had a noticeable effect upon the sheer bulk of the earth into which it was all being placed and mediaeval churchyards are typically characterised by a significant elevation of the ground level, which can impart a sunken appearance to adjacent features, such as the path to the porch and even the church building itself. For a burial ground as unusually cramped as that serving Fyfield, it would be reasonable to expect this effect to be especially marked; a view reinforced by crude extrapolation of the parish registers, which suggests that it is probably the resting place for eight-thousand or more departed souls. Despite this, the mediaeval graveyard surrounding St Nicholas’ church exhibits no obvious signs of increased bulk.

Exploration of this puzzle is beyond the scope of these brief notes but there is no doubt that the old burial ground was still in full and active use until a century ago, when the boundary was moved to enclose the first new piece of farmland acquired for future graves and at that point burials in the old ground were discontinued. Some twenty years after the new ground came into use, in order to ease maintenance, it was decided in 1923 to level all the burial mounds and to lay flat on the ground all the gravestones in the old burial ground, except for “modern” ones and those with a continuing family connection³. The headstones so laid down are still there, the turf having closed over them in the intervening years.

Curiously, the grave involved in the recent accident was not one of that majority which had been laid flat in 1923, but neither was it then a modern one and Grout, the family name it commemorates, appears to have died out in Fyfield before the end of the eighteenth century.

Thomas Grout was born in about 1710. With his wife Grace, some eight years his junior, and their daughter Mary, who was born around 1739, he came to Fyfield as the schoolmaster⁴; the year of his arrival is not recorded. It is a reasonable assumption that they lived in School House, one of fifteen separate houses which were then in the village main street⁵, and which had been established as the schoolmaster’s residence in 1692 by the will of the late rector, Anthony Walker. Before she had reached the age of thirty, Grace was dead, being buried in March 1747⁶ in a plot in the north-east corner of the churchyard. The limestone headstone which marked her resting place was of modest size and the epitaph which her grieving husband put on it expressed his desire eventually to be reunited with her.

This is the grave which opened unexpectedly one day recently. Apart from the small, partially sunken headstone which marks its position, the ground it occupied was completely level, with grass growing over it, as it does over most of the plots in the old churchyard and there was nothing to indicate that it was other than a conventional, earth-filled grave. However, Thomas Grout had gone to some trouble over his wife’s final resting place and, instead of it simply being backfilled with the earth removed when it was dug, he had it lined with brickwork almost up to ground level. This comprised more than twenty courses of bricks laid in stretcher-bond. The grave was narrow at the head, with curved sides broadening to about twenty inches wide at the shoulder position, before following a curved taper down to about nine inches at the feet. The result was a coffin-shaped hole more reminiscent of mediaeval graves constructed under church floors⁷ and it is unusual as an eighteenth-century churchyard burial. But this is not the end of the story.

In October of the following year, Thomas Grout remarried, taking as his wife Elizabeth Maynard⁸; and their marriage lasted until Elizabeth’s death twenty years later. Her husband seems to have had interests and skills beyond the modest demands made upon an eighteenth century village schoolmaster and his name occasionally crops up in matters unrelated to his formal position. In 1759, we find that both Thomas and Elizabeth Grout were witnesses to the will of John Young, a husbandman of Moreton⁹. Then, in 1764 he is named as the surveyor responsible for a map of Longbarns Farm in Abbess and Beauchamp Roding, property of Stephen Skinner Esq¹⁰, which is of some interest since eighteenth century landowners were not generally inclined to commission detailed surveys of their holdings which might one day constitute inconvenient evidence for tithe claims against them. The map is a first class piece of draughtsmanship, giving every indication that Grout was an experienced hand at such work. In April 1768, Elizabeth Grout died and was buried¹¹, in a plot of which no identifiable trace is left to us today. By her death, Elizabeth missed the marriage in Fyfield, the following July, of Grout’s daughter Mary to Robert Allaway, of the London parish of St Giles in the Fields¹². Witnesses to the marriage were Grout himself and John Chipperfield. Chipperfield seems to have been the parish clerk from around 1757 until his death in 1779 and he signed as a witness to virtually every marriage in Fyfield during that period¹³. In 1746 he had married Elizabeth Nichols but their only child, John, died in infancy in 1749. After the death of his wife in 1770, Chipperfield married Mary Wilson in October of the following year and Thomas Grout was one of the witnesses to that marriage¹⁴.

Following the death of his second wife, Thomas Grout grieved for a much shorter period than after his earlier loss of Grace, and only four months later he married Martha Devenill¹⁵. However, he now had only three years left himself and he died in July 1774, aged sixty-four¹⁶. With his death, we return to the collapsed grave in the churchyard, for a feature of its brick construction suggests that Grout may always have intended to be buried in it with his first wife, Grace. Nine courses of brick up from the bottom of the grave, the curvature of the walls had been increased to accommodate Thomas Grout’s broader frame. The result was that, at the shoulders, the grave space for him was about four inches wider than the space below, in which rested Grace. Two holes were left in the brickwork on each side to allow insertion of a pair of wooden beams spanning the width of the grave, to provide support for Thomas’ body. This section of greater width has a height of six brick courses, above which, up to the surface, it resumes the narrower profile of the lower part of the grave.

It is unclear whether the grave was constructed originally with this modified profile, on Thomas’ instruction, or if it was rebuilt only on his death, perhaps when a decision was taken to bury him in the same plot as Grace and it was then found that he was too big for the grave which had been built twenty-seven years earlier. The uniformity of the bricks and bricklayer’s style throughout the walls lends support to the idea that it was built this way from the first. However, had it been modified later, the same bricks would have been re-laid with the walls further apart and so the brickwork alone is not a reliable indicator. The size of the headstone suggests that Thomas might not have intended his own name to be added to it. It is a small stone and the epitaph to Grace, although only partly legible, fills all the available space on its face, leaving no room for his own details. Eventually, when he died, the stone was turned over and the dedication to him was inscribed on the other side.

Scarcely had Grout been laid to rest than his daughter followed him to the grave, at the age of only thirty-five and she too was interred in what had, effectively become a family grave¹⁷. With Mary’s death, in October 1774, the grave was closed for the last time, by placing three sandstone blocks over the opening. The stones are of irregular shape and have not been worked by masons’ tools, indicating that they were not intended to be seen and were then covered with earth. They so lay for over two-hundred years until the recent accident, which happened when the centre stone broke in two. There was no obvious evidence in the grave upon which to determine other practical details of the manner of burial of the three occupants.

The Grout family connection with Fyfield now continued by a single thread. Mary’s widower, Robert Allaway seems to have stayed in the parish. He appears briefly in the registers in October 1777 when he was witness to the marriage of Richard Berwick and Elizabeth Netherstreet. Then, in May 1780, he remarried, his second wife being Mary Turner¹⁸. However, he did not enjoy his new-found happiness for long and he was buried in Fyfield in December 1782¹⁹, after which the registers contain no further mention of the names Grout or Allaway.

This leaves unanswered the question as to why, one hundred and forty years later, the Grout gravestone was not laid flat, along with all the other ones commemorating family names long extinct in the parish. It may simply have been overlooked but a more pleasing possibility suggests itself. I like to imagine the man told to do the job scratching his head as he puzzled over which of the two inscribed faces of the Grout headstone should be condemned to face forever downwards and eventually deciding to offend neither Grace on one side, nor Thomas and Mary on the other and quietly retreating, leaving them all undisturbed, for eternity.

Marcus Dain
Churchwarden
St Nicholas, Fyfield
May, 2004

Some 49 members attended the AGM held on the 23 March at Toot Hill. It was followed by two short talks by Anne and Rob Brooks and the evening rounded off with wine and cheese.

The following were elected for the forthcoming year:
Chairman: Rob Brooks
Secretary: Shirley Fisher
Treasurer: Yvonne Woolerson
Newsletter Editor Martyn Lockwood

Committee: Patrick Griggs
Ann Padfield
Keith Farrow

Subscriptions are again due and those of you who have not paid will find a reminder with the newsletter.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The meeting attracted some 40+ members. The following were elected for the forthcoming year:

Chairman: Rob Brooks
Secretary: Shirley Fisher
Treasurer: Vacant
Newsletter Editor: Martyn Lockwood
Committee: Anne Padfield
Patrick Griggs
Maurice Padfield
Keith Farrow.

Following the AGM members recollected their experiences of the 1950’s and Her Majesty The Queen’s Coronation. An edited version of these experiences will appear in the next edition of the newsletter.

The programme for the next 12 months is printed later in the newsletter.

The first meeting of the new year was held on the 25 April when some 53 members attended a talk on ‘God’s Acre’ given by yours erstwhile editor.

The participation of members is required at the AGM! Last year, the AGM was accompanied by cheese and wine. This will be repeated. However, this year all members attending will be asked to bring one object from the 1950’s that represents the decade and has special meaning for them. Those members who missed the ‘50’s may still have some object in mind that they consider reminiscent of the period. The object may be a souvenir, a record, a ticket, a theatre programme or any other item. Those who are willing may like to describe the reason for bringing the object to the meeting. At the least, please be prepared to write a note on your object and its significance.

The intention is then to devote an issue of the group’s newsletter to listing the objects and describing their significance. Plenty of room for creativity here! Let’s look forward to an interesting and varied collection. Participation guarantees you an evening without charge....... non-contributors will be required to pay the usual, small entry fee!

Oh yes . . . and a short, formal Annual General meeting will precede.

Some 49 members attended the Annual General Meeting in March. Following the business of the evening, a number of members gave short talks on ancestors they had discovered. All were fascinating and it is hoped that we will give a short resume of all the talks in future newsletters. However we start in this one with the talk given by our treasurer David Welford which you can find on page.... You will also find details of the programme that has been arranged over the next 12 months, which we trust will appeal to everyone. If you have any ideas for talks or visits then please mention them to the committee.

Details of the Officers and Committee elected at the AGM can be found on the back page of this newsletter. Maurice Padfield decided to stand down from the Committee. This does leave a vacancy on the committee and if any member is interested in joining then please contact Rob Brooks. The Committee only meet 3-4 times a year and so the work is not onerous.

Many distinguished clerics, en route to higher promotions, passed through the rectory of Stanford Rivers. One of the more unlikely holders of the living, the Rev. Henry Tattam 1789-1868), was presented by the Crown in 1849. Educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, there is circumstantial evidence that he was taught by, or at least known to, the remarkable Samuel Lee (1783-1852). Lee, a self taught carpenter, was said to have mastered 18 languages by the age of 40 and was appointed the first professor of Arabic at Cambridge University.

Tattam himself was a talented and industrious linguist. He translated the Gospels into Arabic and Coptic. He published an eight part grammar entitled, not very succinctly, “A Compendious Grammar of the Egyptian Language, as contained in the Coptic and Sahidic dialects, with observations on the Bashmuric, together with alphabets and numerals in the hieroglyphic and enchorial characters”. He also translated the New Testament into Arabic. Much of this work was done before he came to Stanford Rivers when he was looking after two parishes in Bedfordshire doubtless with the assistance of a curate or two!). While in Essex, he translated the Gospels into Coptic, providing a commentary in Latin to accompany it. In addition to his local responsibilities, he was archdeacon of Bedford and chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria. One is tempted to wonder how much time he had for his parishioners, though it is probable that much of the bread-and-butter parochial work was done by a curate.

However, one of his published works seem, strikingly out of character and may reveal a different side of the dusty Coptic scholar. The book is entitled Memoirs of the late John Camden Neild of Chelsea “ and was published in 1852, the year of Neild’s death. This sounds unremarkable until discovering the facts of Neild’s life. Born about 1780, his education was conventional enough proceeding from Eton to Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar in 1808. He was said to have had considerable knowledge of both legal and general literature, and a great enthusiasm for the classics. But this normal progression was radically changed by the death of his father eight years later, when Neild inherited the princely sum of £250,000. Thereafter his life changed radically, and he spent the rest of his life in miserly squalor, obsessed with increasing his fortune. His house in Chelsea was barely furnished, without even a bed for him to sleep in. Rather than travel by coach, he walked huge distances to visit his estates where he stayed with tenants and shared their humble meals to avoid the expense of inns. While staying with one tenant he was rescued from an attempted suicide. On his death, apart from a few minor legacies, he left his doubled fortune to Queen Victoria who to her credit) enhanced the few legacies and restored his estate church at North Marston.

What was Tattam’s connection with this eccentric miser with whom he would appear to have nothing in common?
Michael Leach

1. Thomas Greville
2. Fountain built outside the village school.
3. 1836
4. He had been hanged for burglary.
5. Field consisting of gravel soil ‘on which a goose would starve’
6. Rev Edward Ray
7. Built into the wall of the former Drill Public House at Stanford Rivers.
8. Brine was one of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and had settled in Greensted after his return. Standfield was the daughter of another.
9. The walk along the route of the old Roman road.
10. Ivy Cottage, Greensted Green.
11. Joseph Knight
12. The telephone box.
13. Source of the River Roding
14. No 381
15. St Michael the Archangel
16. Brick making
17. Dunmow and Chigwell
18. A World War 2 sentry box.
19. A nature reserve
20. New Road
21. The composer Noel Gay is buried in the churchyard.
22. 1969 - 1971 - 1974
23. Saint Edmund
24. David Livingstone
25. Cowslips and Hawthorn berries.

The Access to Archives (A2A) on line catalogue allows you to find material held in over 300 repositories across England. It also enables you to obtain copies of documents.

The Public Record Office, The Historical Manuscripts Commission and the British Library are leading the A2A project. Some 187 Record Offices, repositories and other organisations are taking part in the scheme. Currently 3.9 million individual catalogue entries have been included on the database. Another 300,000 pages will be added by the time the project ends in March 2004.

The database can be accessed on
www.a2a.pro.gov.uk

For example a search of ‘Theydon Mount’ produced 5 hits – the example below was located under Worcestershire Records Office:-

Copy of indenture between Thomas Luther of Stapleford Tawny [Stapleford Tawney], Essex, Esq., Anthony Luther of Kelvedon, Essex, Esq., Robert Burn of Rubbingworth, Essex, Esq., Richard Glyd the elder, citizen and tallow chandler of London, Richard Mills, citizen and draper of London, and Anne Jackson, daughter of Luke Jackson, late citizen and girdler of London, deceased, being a settlement, previous to the marriage of the said Thomas Luther and Anne Jackson, of the Manor of Suttons, Essex, a capital messuage called Suttons, a messuage, a messuage called Bardens, a messuage called Cutlers and a messuage called Woodhatch all with land and appurtenances in Stapleford Tawny; a messuage called Michells in Stapleford Tawny with land and appurtenances in Stapleford Tawny, Stanford Rivers and Navestock Essex; a farm called Garnish Mill, land and appurtenances in Thaydon Garnon [Theydon Garnon], Essex; a tenement called New Barne, land and appurtenances in Thaydon at Mount [Theydon Mount], Essex; a messuage called Hunts Farme, land and appurtenances in Lamborne [Lambourne], Essex; a messuage called Hillhouse, land and appurtenances in Thaydon Garnon and Thaydon Boys [Theydon Bois], Essex; a messuage called Lane’s house, land and appurtenances in Standford Rivers; a messuage called Hattons, land and appurtenances in Stapleford Abbott [Stapleford Abbots], Essex; and marsh land in Barkeing [Barking], Essex. Witnesses: David Edwards, James Winstanly, Robert Haworth, Ch. Pitfield, John Pickman, William Grudgefield.

Charles William Dunn joined the Essex Constabulary in April 1892 (as Constable 286) and during his short service he was stationed for a time at both Ongar and Epping. On the 15 June 1899 he was presented by HRH Duke of York (George V) with a Royal Humane Society Award for saving the life of one George Bridge from drowning at Ongar, on the 18 May 1899.

Dunn resigned from the police in 1902 and for a while was the licensee of the Merry Fiddlers Public House at Coopersale, and later a shopkeeper on Bell Common, Epping, where he died in 1946, aged 73.

It is surprising what you come across when carrying out research. The following items are just a few.

Essex Assizes - July 19th 1839.

Edward Ayley, 27 years, a labourer, pleaded guilty to stealing a pair of high shoes belonging to his fellow workman, John Baker at Stapleford Tawney. The shoes were stated in the indictment to be of the value of three pence, but were so thickly nailed that his Lordship said they must be worth more money as old iron.

Sentence – 1 month hard labour, the first and last weeks in solitude.

1841 Census Stanford Rivers

The 1841 Census of the parish of Stanford Rivers gives some indication of the people who resided there at that time. At the Rectory we would find the Rev C. Dowdeswell, aged 77 years. To look after his needs he employed a butler, a gardener, a housekeeper and two housemaids. How times have changed.

The following items come from the Essex Calendar of Records – Sessions Records, which record the cases heard before the Essex Quarter Sessions at Chelmsford.

Jan 1592/53

We present a bridge called Pissingford Bridge in the parishes of Stapleford Tawney and Stapleford Abbots in the common highway which leads from Chipping Ongar towards London, to be very sore decayed in the planking thereof, which if it be not repaired very shortly the Queen’s subjects shall not pass that way neither with horse nor cart without danger, which bridge has been made new not long since by the County.

Midsummer 1674

House of Correction in Barking. Sam Cliffe committed 25th May for being an idle, dissolute and disorderly person and can give no account of himself, brought by the constable of Stanford Rivers before them (to be whipped and sent to “Bradfeild in Yorke”)

Easter 1691

20 Feb. Jas. Stace of Stanford Rivers (occ. not given) to answer the inhabitants of the parish for refusing to take a poor child of the parish as an apprentice. (owes 2 shillings).

Epiphany 1692/3

19 Dec. Geo Eve yeoman; to answer Tho. Staines for refusing to pay him his wages due for work; both of Theydon Mount. They are agreed.

1561/2 Hundred of Ongar.

William Tynge of Stanford Rivers is ordered that he shall not further frequent the society of Joan Palmer, widow of Chipping Ongar, because they are suspected persons and of dishonest conversation under a penalty of forfeitet as often as they are found associating, to wit the said William Tynge 13s.4d and the said Joan 6s 8d.

Tuesday 12 April 1681.

For not coming to their Parish Church. Ann wife of Wm. Peters esq., Henry Todd (gent) and Margaret his wife, and Dinah Poley and Alice Smyth, his servants, Margt. wife of Edw. Greene and Alice wife of Tho. Besouth, all of Stanford Rivers.

Michaelmas 1691

John Groves of Stapleford Abbots (27), Edw. Brown of Thornwood Hamlet (28), Giles Harding of Stanford Rivers (29) Edw. Elthorp (30) and John Ingold (31) both of Stapleford Tawney, all farmers, John North sen. (for John North jun.) [occupations not given] (32), Ralph Linney (33) and Nick Boules (34), both farmers all of Theydon Mount; each to appear and do what the court shall enjoin him for being in an unlawful assembly in the parish of Theydon Mount on 16 Sept last which was a solemn feast appointed by their Majestys’ proclamation to be religiously and strictly observed and kept throughout the Kingdom. All owe 2 shillings.

And finally……
Mashams

Many members of the High Country History Group will remember the evening visit to Mashams in High Laver two years ago. A combination of circumstances, including a reduction in the number of school visits made to the house, has resulted in the intended sale of the property by the Mashams Trust (Charity No. 1068328).

The District of Ongar Council of Churches has produced a Millennium Guide to the churches in and around Ongar. The booklet has 24 pages packed with information and colour photographs, including all the churches in our interest area. In it you will learn about Father Byles from Ongar who went down with The Titanic; the connection with Jane Taylor who wrote “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and discover where the Rev Webb Ellis the founder of Rugby Football was Rector. In all some 24 churches are featured. Priced at £3.50 it is a fascinating booklet.

The author has been writing about agriculture in the county for more than 50 years and this book demonstrates how farming has diversified over the last century.
Available through Abberton Books, Colchester, CO5 7NA.

John Hunter, (The Essex Society for Archaeology and History, 2003), pp. 41, £5.95 including postage and packing.

The book is the first in a New Series of Occasional Papers celebrating 150 years of the Essex Society for Archaeology and History. John Hunter’s interest in the Essex landscape will be well known through The Essex Landscape: a Study of its Form and History recently published in 1999. In the preface, Chris Thornton, President of the Society, has referred to the book as “a call to arms”. This is just what it is! The author exhorts the reader to dissect the Essex landscape, discover the clues to its previous existence, and reconstruct the history.

Under the section ‘Scope for Research’, the approach is described as a synthesis of deskwork and fieldwork. Deskwork is concerned with the available information sources such as county or local histories, cartographic evidence, additional documentary evidence such as court rolls. An important Essex resource is the records held by the Essex Heritage and Conservation Record maintained in County Hall by the Essex County Council. Of course, maps provide a rich source of evidence and valuable clues to the development of the farmed landscape can often be determined from field names in the Tithe Award maps of the parishes of Essex. Again an important local resource is the developing series of booklets on parish place names, the Essex Place Names Project run by the Society.

As Hoskins said, fieldwork involves getting one’s feet wet! The author promotes a total approach to the observation of the physical features is the present landscape. These are not just boundaries and banks and their generic shapes, but ditches and lynchets, caused by regular ploughing patterns. Hedges can often be persistent and revealing landscape features, their structure, species distribution and species counts can provide evidence of both age and purpose. Tree structure and size can also provide evidence of their use and age.

Four case studies have been chosen to illustrate the process. In Cressing, the demesne of the Templars, and its tithe free status, determined the medieval landscape, indicators of which are visible today. In the case of Little Easton, Broxted and Tilty, early maps can add much to our understanding not only of the demesne farms, which are still recognizable, but also of areas where “peasant” farms have disappeared. Maps of Littley Park shed light on the process of disparking. The parallel parishes of Little Warley, Childerditch, West Horndon and East Horndon are believed to facilitate seasonal migration of cattle and sheep between pastures. They follow the line of droveways, their origin dating perhaps from pre-history.

The book is completed with a short introductory commentary on the formative influences on the Essex landscape. The book is available from Dr Chris Thornton, 75 Victoria Road, Maldon, Essex CM9 5HE. Cheques should be made payable to “Essex Society for Archaeology and History”.

The Ongar Millenium History Society have produced a fascinating booklet which give dates in the history and development of Ongar from 900 – 2004. The booklet is illustrated with many views from Ongar’s past.

Just a few examples;

1284 – John the Clerk killed whilst ringing the bell at St Martins Church.

1837 – Ongar Gas Company established.

1898 - Ongar Waterworks Company began.

1912 – Father Thomas Byles, Ongar’s Catholic Priest dies on the Titanic.

Written by Jill Coward and Jenny Main and priced at £3 this is good value and they are to be congratulated on producing it. Copies can be purchased from the Society.

William Lack, H. Martin Stuchfield and Philip Whittemore, (Monumental Brass Society, London, 2003), pp. 922, in two volumes. Available from Monumental Brass Society, Lowe Hill House, Stratford St Mary, Suffolk CO7 6JX (tel: 0208 520 5248) at £35.

The preface states: “This volume, devoted to the county of Essex, lists existing brasses, indents and lost brasses, with illustrations of all figure brass pre-dating 1700, selected indents and all later figure brasses.”

This volume follows the approach of earlier volumes in the County Series published by the Monumental Brass Society. The format of earlier lists of Essex brasses, compiled by Rev. Herbert Haines, in 1861, and Mill Stephenson, in 1926, has been continued here. A numbering convention clearly distinguishes between existing brasses listed by Mill Stephenson, existing brasses not originally listed, and lost brasses and lost indents. Illustrations are taken from collections of rubbings and are sometimes complemented with a photograph.

The introduction provides a summary of the more interesting brasses; brasses of national importance; “palimpsests”; unusual brasses; lost brass and discoveries; distinguished people commemorated in brass, and so on. This summary is useful, providing a guide for the selective visitor. The introduction also includes a short commentary on antiquaries and documentary sources having relevance to monumental brasses. Finally, the troubling aspect of the loss of brasses is considered.

The index lists people, places and coats of arms but not brasses by type or category. A chronological list of early figure brasses, a bibliography and a list of abbreviations complete the volume.

The first line of the preface probably indicates that the decision to spit the intended volume into two (volume one lists parishes A-K and volume two parishes L-Y) was forced on the publishers, confronted with more than 950 pages in total. Even in two volumes the book will require careful handling in its soft back form. The production is slightly “pinched” in order to keep the total pages to a minimum, but this has not been done to compromise the text or illustrations. For one new to monumental brasses, the list of abbreviations, for example, might have been included in both volumes.

However, this is inconsequential carping. Nothing should detract from this superb achievement in the publication of the definitive work on Essex monumental brasses. In the preface, the authors welcome any alterations or corrections. It remains to those who possess the volumes to get to work. Those who do not, the volume should be considered an investment in the future study of Essex churches.

The book is dedicated to Nancy Briggs whose scholarly contribution to the volume is warmly noted.

This is the third quarterly Newsletter of the High Country History Group. We have now set the programme for the next nine months. At the outset of the Group in April, the undertaking was to offer four talks, two walks or activities and a local visit. By March 2001, this will have been exceeded, the bonus being the Annual General Meeting!

The Committee intend to keep the programme of talks relevant, interesting and varied. Broadly, themes that are pursued will include buildings, places, social themes, people and aspects of planning, conservation and archiving. These themes are reflected in the programme. The Committee hopes to combine the AGM with a Members Evening, the form of which has still to be decided.

Another Summer Walk within the High Country is planned. There are opportunities for interesting local visits, both inside and outside the High Country. An outside visit to Hatfield Broad Oak will take place in June, and there will be more about the reasons for visiting Hatfield Broad Oak in a later newsletter.

Happy New Year! Towards the end of the group’s second year, one landmark has been passed. The membership of the group now stands at 41 family members and 22 individual members. That makes a minimum of 104 members. Membership has been growing steadily throughout the past year. More importantly, the number of members participating in the activities of the group has also increased. Attendances at the last four meetings have averaged around fifty, and visits usually attract about 24 members. Above all, the activities of the group must provide benefit and enjoyment for all. Encouraging attendances appear to bear this out.

A programme for the next fifteen months has been arranged, with just one date to be finalised. A full programme for the year 2002/03 will be published before the Annual General Meeting.

Appropriately, in the next year, the year of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, three of our events relate to recent history. The Annual General Meeting will have a 1950’s theme and members will be asked to participate! A visit has been arranged to the North Weald Aviation Museum, and a talk will describe World War II Defences in Essex. OK, so we’ll have to dip into the 1940’s as well . . . Other talks will present the Romans in Essex, Memorials of the High Country and Historic Forests of Essex. We’ll visit “Mashams” and the Police Museum in Chelmsford. In all an increase of one in the year’s activities is planned for next year. Please see the “Dates for Your Diary” in this newsletter for the activities, which have been planned for the next six months.

So numerous have been the depredations upon sheep belonging to farmers in the neighbourhood of Chipping Ongar, that as many as 50 have been stolen within a very short period. Mr Jonathan Lewis of Water End Farm, is one of the principal sufferers.

ONGAR UNION

The Board of Guardians is desirous of engaging a competent unmarried female not less than 30, no more than 45 years of age as SCHOOLMISTRESS for the Instruction of the Boys and Girls in the Workhouse of this Union. The salary will (subject to the approval of the Poor Law Commission) be £25 per annum with double rations. The average weekly number of Boys and Girls between the ages of 4 and 16 years maintained in such workhouse during the last year has been 40.

Testimonials of Character and Ability of each Candidate must be sent (postage paid) addressed to me previous to the 31st inst and Candidates must attend the Board on TUESDAY. The 7th April next at the Town Hall, in this Town at One o’clock.
By Order of the Board
Wm. Baker, Clerk.

Among those lately committed to prison we find Josiah Dow, a lad of 16 years of age, who is charged with setting fire to a parcel of Hay under the following circumstances.

About 3 o’ clock in the afternoon of Thursday, Dow in company with several other boys was observed by Mr Worters of Stapleford Tawney, lurking about one of his fields, in which he had placed a boy to keep of rooks; the latter had kindled a fire. Mr Worters observing Dow and his associates addressed himself to Dow in particular and desired that they would leave the field, or he would horsewhip him (Dow). These words it would appear, produced a feeling of revenge in the breast of prisoner who was heard to say that he would “serve him (Mr Worters) out” This youthful delinquent shortly after borrowed a knife off one of his companions, cut a stick, which he lighted at the fire in the field and was seen to go to a parcel of hay (about 40 trusses) which was thatched. In a few moments the hay was observed to be in flames and no part could be saved. Dow was immediately apprehended and after an examination before the Magistrates was fully committed to take his trial for the offence.

A General Meeting of the Members of this Association will be held in the Town Hall in Chipping Ongar, on Saturday 3rd January 1835, at three o’clock precisely for the purpose of auditing the accounts of the Treasurer and for other purposes at which meeting the members and other persons having property within 12 miles of Chipping Ongar desirous of becoming members of the Association are invited to attend.
Dated 22nd December 1835
Capel Cure } Treasurers.
Richard Stokes }

To be sold by auction by James Haslam two desirable and substantial timber built messuages in four tenements with Bakehouses and Ovens, a Butchers Shop, three sheds, excellent well of water, productive gardens and fruit trees with good fences, situate on the high road from Ongar to London, near Stanford Rivers chapel with a frontage of 300 feet in the occupation of Charles Carter, John Flanders, Samuel Flanders and Michael Connolly, tenants at will. at the low rent of £20 per annum.

Sarah Twights was convicted of stealing from the person of George Flack labourer of Stanford Rivers, a purse containing a sovereign and 7s 6d in silver. Prosecutor was drinking in the tap-room of the Two Brewers Public House, High Ongar, when the prisoner who sat on the settle by the side of him, put her hand into his pocket and took out his purse. Being detected she threw the purse across the table to two men, one of whom emptied it of its contents, threw the purse back and ran out.

Sentence – 7 years transportation.

Chris Morris was born to a single mother in 1913. He lived all his life in the South Woodford and Epping area. His father was believed to have been lost when the Lusitania was torpedoed in 1915, and Chris and his family grew up in desperate poverty. Chris was boarded out in his early years and during this period suffered double pneumonia and meningitis. Leaving school at 13, Chris was self-taught throughout his life. He entered local farm work, eventually working at the Copped Hall Estate from December 1944.

He became Chairman of the Epping Branch of the Labour Party, and from there he took increasingly responsible positions within the National Union of Agricultural Workers. As a direct consequence of this involvement, he was dismissed from his job and forcibly evicted from his cottage on the estate in 1960. His plight focused national attention onto the tied cottage system and, as a result of subsequent lobbying of MPs, the Rent (Agriculture) Act eventually became law on 1st January 1977. Under increasing ill health, Chris died on 2nd September 1990 in St Margaret’s hospital, Epping.

The book is a transcript of tapes by Chris Morris covering his early life. The book has strong local interest. Stan Newens has added additional details with an introduction and postscript. The book has been published by Labour Heritage, which exists to promote interest in the Labour Party and the labour movement. It can be obtained from Stan Newens, The Leys, 18 Park Hill, Harlow, Essex CM17 0AE, at £4.50.

The Diocese of Chelmsford, which was created in 1914, has over 600 churches of which 410 represent medieval parishes. Although the Diocese includes those parts of Essex now in Greater London, the modern county of Essex contains over 400 listed church buildings, as well as about 40-50 listed Non-Conformist chapels and Catholic churches. Church buildings in use are exempt from listed building legislation on condition that the religious organisations have their own system of control in place. The County Council gives advice to the Church of England, which owns the great majority of listed churches, through the Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches.

The parish church occupies a unique position in the landscape, symbolising the life and history of the community in which it is situated. In the monuments, glass, fittings and furnishings it is often possible to trace the outline of the history of the parish, and also the evolution of changing architectural and artistic fashion from the Middle Ages up till the present day. Essex churches range from small buildings tucked away in surprisingly rural locations, little altered in the last 500 years, to fine gothic buildings which reflect the prosperity of the medieval wool and cloth industry in the north of the county.

Many village churches today stand in isolation next to the manor house or hall. This apparently puzzling situation is the result of them having originally been the property of the lord of the manor and of subsequent settlement shift, and also of the dispersed (as opposed to nucleated) settlement pattern which characterises parts of the Essex countryside.

The county has few well preserved Anglo-Saxon churches. The outstanding example is Hadstock in the north-west, a big church with transepts and some carved decoration. The west door and one of the window frames are also believed to be of Saxon date. A smaller church in the same part of the county is Strethall with a narrow chancel arch, whilst towers can be found at Holy Trinity, Colchester, and Little Bardfield.

These are all late Saxon, datable to the 11th century. Only one church building definitely dates to a much earlier period, St. Peter’s chapel at Bradwell-on-Sea. It stands at the edge of the marsh on the site of a Roman fort, and was founded by St. Cedd in c.654. Today it is a simple rectangular structure, but once it had an apse and projecting porticus or side chambers on the model of contemporary churches in Kent.

Unique to Essex is the only timber stave or log built church in Britain at Greensted-juxta-Ongar. This used to be considered Anglo-Saxon, but tree-ring dating indicates that it was probably built just after the Norman conquest in 1066. The walls are built of the original log boarding, but the rest of the church dates mainly from a restoration of 1848.

As might be expected in a county well known for its timber-framed buildings, Essex churches have some fine roofs, from the early scissor-braced ones like that at St. Nicholas chapel, Little Coggeshall, to the elaborately carved flat or camber-beamed roofs of places such as Bocking, Saffron Walden and High Easter, and hammer-beamed ones as at Great Bromley, Castle Hedingham and Gestingthorpe. As many as one hundred Essex churches have timber belfries or, more spectacularly, timber bell towers located against the west wall of the nave. The latter occur at Blackmore, Margaretting, Magdalen Laver and Bulphan. There are also a number of notable timber porches, as at South Benfleet and Runwell.

Timber was much used in Essex because of the shortage of good building stone. The oldest churches made extensive use of brick and tile quarried from the ruins of Roman buildings. Flint and anything else that came to hand is the usual material of which church walls are made. Some other stones do occur locally, notably septaria, ferricrete or ferruginous conglomerate, and tufa, and these can again be found in older work, typically of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Increasingly, though, use was made of a limited range of other better quality stones. These are oolite from the Barnack area (Northants.); Reigate from Surrey; Kentish Ragstone; clunch from Cambridgeshire or Bedfordshire; and Caen stone from Normandy.

There are many small Norman churches in the county, consisting simply of a nave and chancel. Good examples are Faulkbourne and Bradwell-juxta-Coggeshall. A few have apses (e.g. Little Tey, Little Braxted), which excavation has shown to have formerly been a common feature of Norman buildings. Grander Norman parish churches survive at Copford and Clacton which, uniquely in the county, formerly had vaulted naves. The best Norman interior is to be found at Waltham Abbey where the nave of the 12th-century abbey is now the parish church. Substantial remains of the early Norman priory of St. Botolph can be seen at Colchester. An important late Norman church, as impressive in it its way as the Norman castle in the same town, is St. Nicholas at Castle Hedingham.

The transition to gothic and the development of the Early English style, is not well represented in Essex, apart from some chancels provided with lancets (or narrow pointed arched) windows (e.g., Easthorpe, Great Easton, Good Easter) and some doorways with slender columns and foliate capitals. Stifford has a fine chapel on the south side of the chancel in this style, Little Dunmow preserves an arcade of the chancel of the former priory church, and Great Sampford has a transept which has a window with early tracery. Perhaps the most complete building of this period is St. Nicholas, Little Coggeshall, the little gate chapel of the Cistercian abbey, which dates from c.1220 and like the other abbey buildings is remarkable for being one of the earliest instances of the use of brick in England after the departure of the Romans.

Traceried windows became fully developed in the subsequent Decorated style in the 14th century. Richly ornamented work of this type can be found at Tilty and Lawford. A number of churches have fine 14th-century arcades with piers of a quatrefoil section (e.g., Thaxted, Bardfield Saling, Finchingfield and Orsett). Stebbing and Great Bardfield are exceptional in having stone rood screens.

Essex churches in the 15th-century Perpendicular style are perhaps not as grand as those of Suffolk, only Saffron Walden, Coggeshall (rebuilt after war damage) and Dedham having been totally rebuilt at this time. Bocking, Thaxted, Brightlingsea, Great Bromley and Colchester St James are examples of imposing churches which are predominantly Perpendicular in character. A partially lost Perpendicular church is Chelmsford cathedral, which was reconstructed after a collapse in 1800.

A feature of 15th-century work was the successful reintroduction of brick as a building material, resulting in a large number of fine 15th and 16th-century brick towers (e.g., Theydon Garnon, Rochford, Rayne, Tolleshunt Major) and porches (e.g., Sandon, Feering), as well as a few brick churches (e.g., Layer Marney, East Horndon).

The Reformation tended to bring a halt to church building, as well as drastically affecting the appearance of their interiors, the wall paintings being limewashed over, sculpture and images removed, and much stained glass taken out. Two churches however that date from this time Woodham Walter (1563-4) and Theydon Mount (1611-14), both on new sites to accommodate the view from the neighbouring Tudor mansions.

Similarly, there is relatively little 18th-century or Georgian work in Essex churches, though Lambourne is a remarkable instance of an attempt to make a small Norman church look like a church in the City of London. It was cased in Roman cement and given a west door with a handsome doorcase and an oval window above. Inside, parts of the roof, including the medieval crown post, were remodelled in plaster.

A more convincing town church is Colchester St. Peter which although of medieval origin was provided with a new tower in 1758 and was partially modernised in the 18th century. At Debden, the chancel was rebuilt with an octagonal neo-Gothic chapel with a plaster ribbed vault by Trench Chiswell in 1792. Ingrave church is the only entirely 18th-century church, a curious brick building perhaps to the design of Leoni who worked for the eight lord Petre, whose improvements to his house at old Thorndon Hall included moving the parish church away from it to this more distant location.

By the 19th century, there had been little building work at parish churches apart from the most urgent repairs for over 200 years. The poor condition of churches at this time has to be considered before being too critical of the very thorough restorations often carried out by the Victorians. These restorations also satisfied the revived interest in medieval architecture and liturgy brought about by the Oxford Movement and the Ecclesiological Society.

As a result, most churches underwent some degree of significant restoration in the 19th century, which on occasion was a rebuild from the foundations upwards (e.g. South Weald by Teulon) and which has sometimes left spectacular interiors like the work of Butterfield and Geldart at Ardleigh, of Geldart at Little Braxted, and of Eden Nesfield at Radwinter. The Victorians also built numerous new churches, of which George Gilbert Scott’s ones at Greenstead Green and Halstead, Bodley and Garner’s at Epping, Lee’s at Brentwood, St. Aubyn’s at Galleywood and Widford, and Caroe’s at Stansted are but some of the more notable examples. A remarkable art nouveau church with a richly decorated interior by Harrison Townsend is to be found at Great Warley.

Churches in the gothic style continued to be built into the 20th century; especially good are those by Sir Charles Nicholson at Frinton St. Mary, Westcliffe St. Alban and Leigh-on-Sea St. Margaret. Lawrence King’s St. George at Brentwood has a hint of Art Deco about it, whilst more modern in style are St. Paul’s in the new town at Harlow, Insall’s extension to the tiny medieval church at Thundersley, and the recently completed unique glass belfry at Basildon.

Unfortunately, the penalty of recurrent vandalism and theft is that most churches are now kept locked. To be certain of being able to see inside them, it is worth making an appointment beforehand. There is much to discover. The extensive remains of the 12th-century wall paintings at Copford give a good impression of the richness of the interior of the medieval church. Recent discoveries are high quality 13th-century work at Little Tey, and cartoon strip sequences covering most of the wall of the south aisle at Great Burstead. 15th-century paintings of St. Christopher can be found at Little Baddow and Lambourne. Wall painting was a casualty of the Reformation, to be revived again the 19th century, notable examples of which occur at Little Braxted, Halstead, and Foxearth.

Stained glass suffered the same fate as paintings and lacks the potential for rediscovery. Not a great deal survives, though Rivenhall has some important French glass of the 12th century, and Thaxted has extensive fragments, including scenes from Genesis. 19th-century glass includes work by Burne Jones at Waltham Abbey and Frinton, and Henry Holiday also at Waltham Abbey and Chelmsford. Notable are the windows by Leonard Walker at Stifford and Bocking St. Peter.

Modern personalities and events can be found recorded in stained glass: Airey Neave, assassinated by the IRA, is commemorated in a window at Fryerning, and the captivity and release of John McCarthy at Broxted. Essex churches are rich in monuments and memorials of all types; they range from the wooden knights at Danbury, to the beautiful Renaissance monument to the rascally Richard Lord Riche at Felsted, to the baroque splendour of Humphrey Carpenter at Rettendon. Woodwork includes mediaeval screens (Clavering, Rickling), Jacobean pulpits (Great Baddow), the 18th-century reredos and panelling at Hatfield Broad Oak, and the more recent work of modern carvers like Ernest Beckwith (screen to design of Sir Charles Nicholson at Saffron Walden, lych gates at Great Waltham and Gestingthorpe) and Ken Mabbitt (Birdbrook).

Non-Conformist and Catholic churches and chapels

With the passing of the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 and then the 1689 Toleration Act, Non-Conformists were enabled to have their own places of worship.

One of the oldest of these is the Friends’ Meeting House at Stebbing, a lovely brick building dating from 1674. Another fine early building (with a very interesting burial ground) is the Congregational chapel in Bocking of 1707 though altered in the early 19th century. These early buildings were domestic in style with two doorways in their long sides. With changing fashion, they became neo-classical and then gothic in style, these options being preferred by different groups at different times as being more in harmony with their beliefs. Catholics only obtained full freedom of worship in the 19th century and therefore have fewer old buildings, but the Convent of the Franciscan Sisters in Bocking has a chapel by J.F. Bentley, the architect of Westminster Cathedral, whilst the new Brentwood Cathedral is a major work by Quinlan Terry, a leading exponent of the neo-classical style.

ECC. © 2000.

Further reading

Fitch, J. ed. 1996 Essex churches and chapels – a select guide, Stamford: Paul Watkins

Hewett, C.A. 1982 Church carpentry. A study based on Essex examples, Chichester: Phillimore

Kaye, R. 1999 Chapels in Essex, Chellow Dean Press
Pevsner, N. 1954 The buildings of England. Essex, London: Penguin Books

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) 1916-1923 An inventory of the historical monuments in Essex, 4 vols, London: HMSO

Starr, C. ed. 1980 A guide to Essex churches, The Essex Churches Support Trust

Birth Deaths and Marriages were required to be registered from 1837. The country was split up into a number of registration districts of which Chipping Ongar was one. Created on the 1st July 1837.

Sub-districts: Bobbingworth, and Chipping Ongar. It covered the following parishes.

Abbess Roding, Beauchamp Roding, Berners Roding, Blackmore, Bobbingworth, Chipping Ongar, Doddinghurst, Fyfield, Greenstead, High Laver, High Ongar, Kelvedon Hatch, Lambourne, Little Laver, Moreton, Navestock, Norton Mandeville, Shelley, Shellow Bowells, Stanford Rivers, Stapleford Abbots, Stapleford Tawney, Stondon Massey, Theydon Mount, Willingale Doe, and Willingale Spain.

To London

The Stortford Coach at 5p.m.
The Fakenham at 8a.m.
The Norwich Coach at 9a.m.
The Cambridge “Times” at 10a.m.
The Cambridge Coach at 2p.m.
The Bury Coach at 11p.m.
The Swaffham Coach at 8 p.m.
The “Magnet” from Norwich at 4a.m.
The Norwich Mail at 5a.m.
The Walden Coach at 2p.m.
The Harlow Coach at 9a.m.
The Thetford Coach at 9a.m.
The Dunmow Coach at 9a.m.

From London

The Thetford Coach at 9a.m.
The Fakenham at 8a.m.
The Cambridge Coach at 12a.m.
The Bury Coach at 4p.m.
The Cambridge “Times” at 5p.m.
The Norwich Coach at 6p.m.
The “Magnet” to Norwich at 8p.m.
The Swaffham Coach at 8p.m.
The Norwich Mail at 10p.m.
The Walden Coach at 12p.m.
The Harlow Coach at 6p.m.
The Stortford Coach at 5p.m.
The Dunmow Coach at 9a.m.

(From an Almanac published by Mr Griffith, printer & stationer of Epping. Essex)

In 1750 a coach ran through Chipping Ongar 3 times weekly and in 1764 the Ongar ‘Crown’ landlord sponsored a ‘New Machine’ to run from Fyfield through Ongar to London. One of these 2 coaches soon ceased, the other continued for nearly the rest of the century.

In addition there were 2 Epping coaches, each performing 2 journeys a day, making the total number of coaches to and from Epping 25 a day. Each coach driven by four horses, called at a particular inn, where the horses would be stabled.

The coach guard played a series of particular calling notes when arriving at the inn. There were also post horses, many of them used by travellers to ride to the Newmarket races.

Other horses were required for the yellow post chaises then in use, as well as for the coaches kept by a number of local county families. These were usually equipped to carry the family and their luggage long distances, so would be drawn by a four-in-hand. Epping by the 1790’s was served by coaches making 46 journeys a week.

Purely local services did not develop until end of 18th Century and then only on a small scale.

A number of members, and some non-members, have already indicated their wish to visit Copped Hall on Sunday, 1st October. A short letter accompanies this Newsletter to each of those members, individual or family. If you are not one of those to receive a letter, yet you still wish to visit, then please contact Rob or Anne Brooks 3and let us know that you will be joining the party.

The chilly midsummer weather relented sufficiently to make our walk along the hedgerows a pleasant and instructive afternoon stroll To the casual uninformed eye a hedge is just a line of trees and shrubs along the edges of fields and roads, but under Anne’s expert guidance we identified 25 species of shrubs and trees in hedges along the route, and learned a great deal about why and how these boundaries came into being. We also learned that the different levels between fields evolved as a result of centuries of ploughing in one direction.

Walking by fields with little of the world of today intruding, it was easy to imagine oneself back in times past. The Romans knew this part of our world well, and we skirted the site of one of their villas that is still waiting to be uncovered; and before them of course there would have been other inhabitants stretching back deep into pre-history. It was indeed a most enjoyable walk, with vistas opening up through gaps in hedges that I for one had never seen before. And I had a strange sense of deja vu; as though I and the others in the group had indeed been alive throughout the past, and were merely revisiting it. A bit of poetic fancy perhaps, but as Shakespeare said in Hamlet “there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy” [Ken Feakes].

Your committee is mindful of the need to occasionally support those organisations and projects that actively promote local history. Using primary historical sources, The Victoria County History is writing the history of the counties of England. The series was begun in 1899 and to date fourteen county sets have been completed. The set for Essex is partially complete with Volume X, covering Dedham, Earls Colne and Colchester, having just been published. The volume containing the Ongar Hundred was published as Volume IV way back in 1956.

Following a proposal at the recent committee meeting of 11th November, the committee approved a donation of £50 to the Victoria County History of Essex Appeal. Two letters were received in reply; Patricia Hermann, Secretary and Treasurer to the Appeal Fund, wrote:

“On behalf of all our Trustees, may I ask you to convey our thanks to the members of the High Country History Group for this handsome donation to the Fund. We are so very grateful not only for the financial assistance but, perhaps even more, for the support it shows for the Editor and her team. In spite of continuing financial worries, we are all determined that the great work will be completed, and our optimism is much boosted by your faith. . . ”

ARMS: Argent a Cross engrailed Sable over all a Bugle Horn ensigned with an Ancient Crown Or on a Chief Vert four Axeheads bendwise Argent.

CREST: On a Wreath Argent and Gules upon a Mount Vert in front of a Castle of three Towers each domed and ensigned with a Cross Crosslet all Gules a Stag courant proper.

SUPPORTERS: On either side a Stag guardant proper holding in the mouth a Seax Argent the hilt and pommel inwards Or.

BADGE: A Stag’s Head caboshed proper holding in the mouth a Seax Argent the hilt and pommel to the dexter Or.

Motto ‘PER CRUCEM PER CORONAM’
Through the Cross through the Crown.
Granted 31st December 1975.

The Epping Forest District was formed by the amalgamation of the Chigwell Urban District, the Epping Urban District, the Waltham Holy Cross Urban District and the Epping and Ongar Rural District except for the five parishes now in the Brentwood District.

The following article will appear in the next edition of the Essex Family Historian.

It was a discussion about the hymn writer John Ellerton, who wrote the “The Day Thou Gavest Lord is Ended”, and his connection with White Roding that led to this article (and hopefully others). A seed of an idea, a little research and you suddenly discover that some of our best-loved hymns are written by people with Essex connections. “Crown him with Many Crowns” written by a man born in Maldon in 1800; “Onward Christian Soldiers”, written by the Rector of East Mersea; “Breathe on me Breath of God”, written by the Rector of Purleigh; and there are many more. But we start with the story of a remarkable family and their connection with Harlow.

Sarah Fuller Flower Adams
Hymnodist and Poet

‘Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me;
Still all my song would be,

Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!’

There are also many inspiring true-life stories associated with this hymn. Everyone who has read about, or has been touched by the tragic saga of the RMS Titanic, is familiar with it. Some Titanic survivors said it was played by the ship’s orchestra as the ocean liner went down (though other survivors said it was a different song). Wallace Hartley, the bandleader on the Titanic, an employee of the White Star Line, who went down with the ship, was reportedly fond of this hymn and requested that it should be played at his funeral.

Another story concerns the death of American president William McKinley, assassinated in 1901. Dr. Mann, the attending physician, reported that among McKinley’s last words were “Nearer, my God, to Thee, e’en though it be a cross,’ has been my constant prayer.” On the afternoon of September 13, 1901, after five minutes of silence across the nation, bands in Union and Madison Squares in New York City played the hymn in memory of the fallen president. It was also played at a memorial service for him in Westminster Abbey, London.
The hymn was also played as the body of the assassinated American President James Garfield was interred at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, who had been shot on the 2nd July 1881.

This hymn was written by Sarah Fuller Flower Adams, the daughter of Benjamin and Eliza Flower, who was born February 22nd, 1805, in Harlow. Her father Benjamin (1755 – 1829) was a nonconformist, journalist, political writer, editor and proprietor of the Cambridge Intelligencer, who had spent 6 months in Newgate for defamation.

On his release he had married Eliza Gould and they settled down in Harlow where Benjamin became a printer. A daughter, Eliza was born on the 19th April 1803 and Sarah in 1805.

Sarah married William Bridges Adams in 1834. She had hoped to be an actress but her stage career was cut short by ill health (although she did get to play Lady Macbeth in 1837). After retiring from the stage she and her husband lived at 9, Woodbury Hill, Loughton. There she turned to writing. A friend of the poet Shelley she had a gift for lyric poetry, and also wrote 13 hymns, the most famous of which is Nearer My God, together with poems and many magazine articles. She also wrote verses for the Anti-Corn Law League.

Sarah worshipped at the Unitarian church in Finsbury, where she was influenced by the minister William Johnson Fox, a reforming journalist and social commentator. In 1841 he published, with Sarah, a book of music Hymns and Anthems, which included Nearer my God to Thee.

Sarah died on August 14th 1848 at St Martin-in-the- Fields, of tuberculosis and is buried alongside her parents in the Baptist graveyard in Foster Street, Harlow. Her friends described her as ‘a woman of singular beauty and attractiveness, delicate and truly feminine, high minded and in her days of health, playful and high spirited.’ She left no descendants.

Her husband William Bridges Allen (1797 – 1872) was himself a remarkable man, a civil engineer, and an ingenious and prolific inventor, especially in connection with the emerging railways. He is best remembered for his invention of the ‘fish-joint’ on rails. When he patented his new method of jointing rails, he referred to the jointing plates as Fishplates. The first large railway company to use them as standard was the LNWR, which introduced them in 1853.

William and Sarah are both remembered and a blue plaque can be seen on the site of the house they occupied at Woodbury Hill, Loughton,

Sarah’s elder sister Eliza completed the remarkable family. She was a composer, friend of Robert Browning, and wrote the music for all her sister’s hymns, and like Sarah was not to survive into old age. She died of consumption on the 12th December 1846 and is also buried in the family grave in Foster Street.

Firstly I must apologise for the delay in issuing this newsletter. Having moved house in July I have at last found time to sit down and put it all together. I can assure you that I will meet our target of four newsletters each year.

Visit to Copped Hall

Look Back in Ongar

FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Thursday 13 April – 8.00 pm

Toot Hill Village Hall
“A Policeman’s Lot” – Policing in Victorian Essex
Illustrated talk by Martyn Lockwood

Wednesday 24 May – 10.30 am

(Meet at Little Tawney Hall)
A Historical Walk Around Tawney and Mount
Led by Anne Padfield

Sunday 25 June – 2.30 pm

(Meet at Repentance Cottage, Greensted)
An Introduction to Hedgerow Dating
Short practical walk led by Anne Brooks

Sunday 11 June

Essex History Fayre
Cressing Temple, near Braintree

Forthcoming Events for Your Diary
A Visit to Copped Hall

2.30pm, Sunday, 1st October
(Meet at the gates of Copped Hall at 2.30pm; the gates are off the Upshire road.)

A guided tour of Copped Hall will be provided by a volunteer from the Friends of the Copped Hall Trust. The history and architectural story of the house and site will be explained. The tour will include the recently acquired walled garden. Light refreshments will be served in the restored Raquets Court.

A charge of £3, as a donation to the Trust, will be made for both members and non-members. Gates to the Hall will be opened, and closed, at 2.30pm sharp!

We hope that the Membership of the Group will support this visit as we have undertaken to ensure that we can provide 20 visitors. Please indicate if you wish to visit by phoning Rob or Anne Brooks on 01277 364305, asap.

“Look Back in Ongar”

a talk by Edwyn Gilmour
8.00pm, Thursday, 26th October
Toot Hill Village Hall

Edwyn Gilmour has enjoyed a long and close association with Ongar. This illustrated talk will present a nostalgic look at Ongar.

A charge will be made for members of £1 and non-members £2.

Please also note that:

The Toot Hill Show will be held from 2.00pm, Saturday, 5th August, Home Field, Toot Hill opposite the Green Man. The High Country History Group will mount a small presentation at the Show. This is one of the best village shows in the area and well worth a visit.

We intend to introduce one talk each year on “technical” aspects of local history. These aspects might include conservation, archiving, publishing or museum management, for example. With this in mind, a talk is planned for the evening of Thursday, 30th November. The talk will be given by Corrie Newall of Heritage and Conservation, Essex County Council. More details are to follow.

The following follows a short article that was written for the Newsletter of the Friends of Historic Essex.

Thousands of local historians enthusiastically and diligently research and document their church, their parish, their town, their industry or a local notable, for example. Singly, their role is significant but collectively their contribution to the community is immense. Unrewarded financially, they will nevertheless take much satisfaction from their work.

Occasionally such a contribution really stands out. Without earnestly looking for examples of good writing in local history, sometimes one is confronted by writing that is as notable for its clarity and elegance as for its history. You may have had the good fortune (as I did in rambling through the Essex Record Office for possible sources of details on the Royal Forest of Hatfield) to stumble upon George Eland’s small book At the Courts of Great Canfield, Essex¹.

The C15 embattled porch of the parish church of St Mary, Great Canfield, enclosing the ornate south doorway.

George Eland lived in Great Canfield. He is still remembered there - as an eccentric. During his lifetime, which exceeded ninety years, he resisted the introduction of running water, gas and mains electricity to his house. He was known locally as ‘Boots’ since even into late age he walked in those boots to Great Dunmow, a round trip of several miles, two or three times each week.

George wrote uncommonly well. His writing, like his house, has a quality that seems to be lodged in a time not far removed from the courts that he wrote about. The Lord of the Manor allowed him access to the court-rolls of Great Canfield no, George has said it much better . . . in the first two paragraphs of his preface to the book.

“PREFACE

Whilst there can never be a real justification of an unwanted book, a few facts may be offered by way of condonation. Destiny cast its compiler almost in the middle of the manor, and between the sites of the two largest common fields. The western boundary of a wide horizon is one of the ancient demesne woods, and a clear sunset lights up the church which lies two miles to the south and stands against the tree-clad mount of the Norman castle. In a very actual sense therefore his theme lies all around him, and, however slender his qualifications to handle court-rolls, he had not sufficient strength of mind to refrain from the attempt when the kindness of the manor’s lord entrusted him with the documents as soon as they were returned from the safe retreat found for them during the war by the Essex Record Office.

On a golden day in autumn the editor could cross the stubbles in any direction to visit one of the tenements or inclosures which have a recorded history of five or six centuries, and he could return with notes to compare with the written words of the rolls:

“Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom.”

Whether capable of profiting by them or not, he has had opportunities during the last few years for which he is unfeignedly thankful.”

Within the first paragraph, George has introduced his landscape and his purpose. The final paragraph of the Preface is worth repeating, again in its entirety.

“The editor lays down his pen with some sadness, for this must be his last effort to preserve local records in an easily accessible form. A hobby-horse is for pleasure, not for draught, and his has led him for nearly forty years to beautiful places and amidst many charming people; its consumption of com is moderate, and that suggests the greatest of all hobby-horsical riders. When Mr. Walter Shandy told my Uncle Toby that his fortifications would ‘in the end make a beggar of you,’ he replied, ‘What signifies it if they do, brother, so long as we know ‘tis for the good of the nation?’

GREAT CANFIELD
G.E
September, 1949”

Maybe the prose just brushes with the pedantic. Is the quotation - from Milton’s Il Penseroso - wholly fitting? It matters not. The tone is gentle, modest and apologetic, but has the fascination of exploring local history been stated more gracefully and so concisely?

As a postscript, taken from the body of the book, consider how George Eland paints the numerous courtly problems of Thomas Hawkyn.

The quote comes from a short section in the book dealing with some problems created by animals.

“The 14 July 1507 was a black day for Thomas Hawkyn, and he had several matters to answer for at the court held then. He had assaulted John Dene, and was fined 6d. He had finished his year’s service as ale-taster so badly that he was fined 3d. for that. He had drawn from his well a latten bucket, holding 1 1/2 gallons, which was ranked as a stray, value 3s. 4d. and seized for the lord’s benefit. He lived close by the church-yard, his kitchen had fallen down and he had burned the timbers, for this and other ‘waste’ made in the dwelling, the bailiff was ordered to take it into the lord’s hands. At length we come to the story which brings him within the heading of this section; he had a dog which was noxious, for it bit the king’s lieges. This is not to be wondered at because it was no less than a ‘mastygreyhounde’ – a name which combines all the vices of the mastiff and the greyhound. At all events he was to get rid of it before 25 July, eleven days ahead, or pay 3s. and 4d. So Thomas Hawkyn left the court with a lighter purse, to seek his dilapidated home by the churchyard from which he was to be ejected; as the howls of the mastygreyhounde reached him from the ruined kitchen, he could reflect on the futility

‘Of dropping buckets into empty wells,
And growing old in drawing nothing up.’”

Within the Essex Record Office, sadly, only one other booklet is attributed to George Eland - that being a guide to the parish church.

. . . and the final quotation is from Cowper, The Task. Book iii. The Garden.

The Queen is the fifth longest serving British(*) monarch. (She becomes the fourth longest serving monarch on the 21st June, 2002). Only four other kings and queens in British history have reigned for 50 years or more. These are:
Victoria (63 years)
George III (59 years)
Henry III (56 years)
Edward III (50 years)
(*) James VI of Scotland reigned for 58 years (1567-1625). From 1603 to 1625 he also ruled Britain.
Queen Elizabeth II is the fortieth monarch since William the Conqueror obtained the crown of England.

The Young Princess

The following are some milestones in the life of Princess Elizabeth in the lead-up to her Accession to the Throne in 1952

The Pre-War Years

21-Apr-26
Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary is born at 17 Bruton Street, London.

The young Princess is educated by private tutors under the supervision of Marion Crawford, a graduate of Edinburgh University. Later, the Princess studied law and constitutional history under Mr. C.H.K Marten, the Vice-Provost of Eton, and studied piano under Miss Mabel Lander.

21-Dec-37
The Princess enrolls as a Girl Guide and became Patrol Leader of 1st Buckingham Palace Guide Company.

The War Years

13-Oct-40
Princess Elizabeth makes her first broadcast when she read a message on Children’s Hour to children of Britain and Commonwealth at home and overseas.

20-Apr-42
The Princess gives her first official audience when she receives Colonel Prescott of the Grenadier Guards on the eve of her 16th birthday and receives a diamond Regimental brooch as a birthday gift from the officers and men.

21-Apr-42
Princess Elizabeth makes her first official public engagement when she inspects the Grenadier Guards on her 16th birthday.

3-Feb-43
The Times announces that The King and Queen have consented to Princess Elizabeth becoming President of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

26-Feb-43
The Princess enrolls as a Sea Ranger.

13-Apr-43
Princess Elizabeth attends her first unaccompanied public engagement when she spends the day with the tank battalion of the Grenadier Guards in Southern Command.

31-May-43
The Princess accepts the Presidency of the Royal College of Music in place of the late Duke of Kent.

22-Mar-44
Princess Elizabeth begins her first official tour with her parents when she spends two days with The King and Queen on a military inspection tour in Yorkshire.

31-Mar-44
The Princess makes her first civic tour when she spends two days in South Wales with The King and Queen.

1-Aug-44
Together with the Queen, The Princess receives an Address from the House of Commons and replies on behalf of the Throne.

22-Sep-44
Princess Elizabeth makes her first official tour of Scotland with the King and Queen.

3-Oct-44
The Princess conducts her first opening ceremony when she opens the reconstructed Aberdeen Sailors Home.

1-Dec-44
Princess Elizabeth launches ‘HMS Vanguard’ at Clydebank and flies her own personal standard for the first time. This is the first time that The Princess has travelled from London without the King and Queen to take part in a ceremony of national significance.

14-Apr-45
The Princess completes her driving course and qualifies as a driver.

The Post-War Years

23-Dec-45
It is announced that The Princess is to become President of the Prince of Wales’ General Hospital, London.

18-Mar-46
Princess Elizabeth travels to Belfast in the cruiser ‘Superb’, the first naval vessel to fly The Princess’s own standard, where she launches the new aircraft carrier ‘HMS Eagle’.

30-Apr-46
The Princess launches the tanker ‘British Princess’ at Sunderland.

10-Jul-46
Princess Elizabeth is awarded an honorary degree of Bachelor of Music by her great-uncle.

23-Dec-46
The Girl Guides Association announces that The Princess has agreed to become Chief Ranger of the British Empire Rangers - senior Branch of the Girl Guides’ Association.

27-Jan-47
The Princess accepts the office of Permanent Grand Master of the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators.

20-Apr-47
The King gives orders for the appointment of Princess Elizabeth as Colonel-in-Chief of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and of the 16th/5th Lancers.

21-Apr-47
Princess Elizabeth celebrates her 21st birthday in Cape Town and broadcasts an address to the Commonwealth in which she makes a ‘solemn act of dedication’.

9-Jul-47
The Princess announces her engagement to Lt Philip Mountbatten (The Duke of Edinburgh).

20-Nov-47
Princess Elizabeth is married to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

27-May-48
The Princess is granted the freedom of the City of Cardiff.

14-Nov-48
Prince Charles is born.

1-Mar-49
The Princess and The Duke of Edinburgh visit Edinburgh.

25-May-49
Princess Elizabeth visits Northern Ireland and receives the freedom of Belfast on 26th May.

21-Jun-49
The Princess and The Duke of Edinburgh visit the Channel Islands.

4-Jul-49
Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh take up residence in their new London home, Clarence House.

20-Nov-49
The Princess visits Malta.

15-Aug-50
Princess Anne is born at Clarence House.

26-May-51
Princess Elizabeth presents The King’s Colours to the RAF in Hyde Park in His Majesty’s absence.

5-Jun-51
The Princess reads the King’s Speech of welcome to the King of Norway at a State Dinner at Buckingham Palace.

27-Sep-51
The Princess is appointed a Counsellor of State during the King’s illness.

8-Oct-51
Princess Elizabeth begins a tour of Canada.

9-Oct-51
Buckingham Palace announces that the King, on the advice of his doctors, would not carry out the intended visit to Australia in 1952 and that their places would be taken by TRH Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh.

4-Dec-51
The Princess is introduced as a Member of the Privy Council.

30-Jan-52
Princess Elizabeth attends the Drury Lane Theatre with The King, The Queen, Princess Margaret and The Duke of Edinburgh on the eve of their departure on a Commonwealth tour.

31-Jan-52
The Princess and The Duke of Edinburgh depart from London on the first stage of a Commonwealth tour, arriving in Nairobi 1st February.

3-Feb-52
The Royal couple arrive at Sagana Hunting Lodge in Nyeri, in the foothills of Mt Kenya, and spend the night at Treetops Hotel.

6-Feb-52
Whilst staying at Sagana Lodge, The Princess receives the news of the death of HM King George VI.

6-Feb-52
Princess Elizabeth departs Entebbe, Uganda, by air for London, arriving 4.30pm on 7th February.

6-Feb-52
Her Majesty is proclaimed the new Sovereign at Accession Council at St James’ Palace.

8-Feb-52
The new Queen makes her Accession Declaration to members of the Privy Council at St James’ Palace. The public proclamation of the accession of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is made.

The Domesday Book assessed the value of Hatfield Broad Oak, then Hatfield Regis, as £85, this value was the sixth highest in the county. It was only in the early 1500s that the size of Chelmsford overtook the village. Much of this important, early history of the village is retained and is still displayed to the visitor.

The powerful Alberic de Vere, a close friend of William the Conqueror, was awarded the patronage and tithes of Hatfield Regis, as well as numerous other lordships. It was Alberic’s son, also Alberic, who established the Benedictine Priory at Hatfield Regis in 1135. The Priory was built adjoining the parish church. There appears to have been great conflict between the monks and the local community. This culminated in an attack on the monks by the parishioners, led by the vicar, who ejected the monks in 1378. On appeal to the King Richard II, the monks returned but the King ordered a dividing wall to be erected between the Priory and the parish church. At the time of the Dissolution, in 1534, there were just four monks and the Prior remaining. Evidence of the influence of the de Vere family and the Priory can still be seen within the present church.

The Church Library is housed in the vestry. The library was founded in the early 1700s by the then Vicar, the Reverend George Stirling. The library contains over 300 books and only the Cathedral Library in Chelmsford is larger among church libraries in Essex. Among a number of notable books are two Bibles, a ‘Breeches’ Bible and a ‘Vinegar’ bible, the names of both deriving from inaccuracies, either deliberate or careless, appearing in the text.

We have arranged to visit Hatfield Broad Oak on Thursday, 7th June. We intend to meet at St Mary’s Church, Hatfield Broad Oak, at 7.30pm. Brian Pugh, who has recently written an excellent history of the church and village, will show us round. It is possible that we may be able to climb the tower of the church during the visit.
Rob Brooks

This group maintains the Essex Heritage Conservation Record (ECHR) which is a computerised database of all listed buildings and all known archaeological sites in Essex. There are well over 30,000 entries on the database with supporting maps indicating site location and extent), backed up in many instances by photographs, drawings and substantial written accounts.

The ECHR is based in County Hall, Chelmsford and is a public record and can be consulted during normal office hours Monday to Friday.

Did you know Hill Hall is now open for tours?

A magnificent Elizabethan mansion of national importance, Hill Hall in Theydon Mount is now fully restored and its residents well and truly settled in. Built in the 1560s and 70s by Queen Elizabeth’s Secretary of State Sir Thomas Smith (who can be seen - in stone - reclining by the altar in St Michael’s Church), Hill Hall is an outstanding example of early classical architecture, and contains some of the best original wall paintings in the country.
It was gutted by fire in 1969 while being used as a women’s open prison, and stood as a ruin for many years. The exterior was finally restored by English Heritage and the interior converted into apartments by a private developer P J Livesey.

The magnificent galleried Great Hall and the wall paintings rooms are, however, not part of any of the apartments and can be viewed, along with the exteriors and the inner courtyard, on a guided tour. You can learn, too, about the colourful history of some of its owners and occupiers: the young Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (who some people think really wrote Shakespeare), the bigamous Victorian baronet who had 12 illegitimate children, and, as a prisoner, Christine Keeler. Famous visitors include Percy Grainger, Rudyard Kipling and Queen Mary.

If you would like to book a tour - any number of people from one to 15, on Wednesdays only - please phone English Heritage’s Cambridge office on 01223 582700 and speak to Linda Bannister. Tours, led by Anne Padfield, are free for English Heritage members, £3 for non-members, £2.50 for senior citizens and £1.50 for children.
It’s our own local stately home - find out more about it!

Those paying Council Tax in Essex, will have noticed the effect of changes made by Government to the rate support grant. These changes have forced local councils to examine their budgets in order to make savings. The results of these savings on support for heritage and culture are now becoming apparent.

The Essex Record Office, which the High Country History Group visited last year, is one organisation targeted. The post of County Archivist was dispensed with over one year ago. There have been four holders of the position covering 64 years; Derick Emmison (1938-49), Ken Newton (1969-78), Vic Gray (1978-93) and Ken Hall (1993-2002). After the axing of the position, Ken Hall continued as head of the Essex Record Office. The loss of this well-established title is to be regretted and the tradition of outstanding archivists within Essex has been severed.

Now Ken Hall has been made redundant. This redundancy follows hard on the heels of the failure to replace one of the two senior archivists, on her promotion to the position of County Archivist in Hampshire. Richard Harris, the remaining senior archivist, has assumed responsibility for the Essex Record Office. Savings have not stopped there. The bookshop has been closed and associated savings have been made to the staffing on the front desk.

Closer to the High County, it is understood that the budget of the Epping Forest District Museum, Waltham Abbey, is likely to be hit by a cut of some £30,000 to £40,000. Such a cut in the budget of a small museum is likely to have serious repercussions for the activities of the museum. There are signs that such action reflects a consistent trend within local councils. Have museums and record offices enjoyed increased funding in recent years? Have they now been capped at recent funding levels or do the cuts signal the start of an attack on such institutions?

These steps are to be deplored. Local cultural and heritage services will decline as a consequence. Apart from this, the axing of senior positions will destroy career paths for young, aspiring archivists. It will reduce the confidence of those wishing to deposit archives in the Essex Record Office. Once shattered this fabric cannot be easily rebuilt. The fabric of culture and heritage is fragile. Please let your council know of your concern!

Repton was a pioneer in the field of landscape architecture. He was also the most famous landscape gardener of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He created, transformed or improved over two hundred places in England. His ideal was natural beauty enhanced by art. This is embodied in our own urban public parks such as Central Park, Regent’s Park and Goethe’s Weimar Park.

However, Repton’s most lasting contribution to his profession lies not in his actual landscaping but in his writings on his art which were derived from his famous Red Books.

In the process of designing a landscape for a client Repton would create a Red Book of the estate. This was a slim volume bound in red leather. It contained his proposals for changes outlined in neat copperplate handwriting and embellished with maps, plans, drawings and water-colours to illustrate his ideas.

Repton’s published writings were the distillations of the most valuable material from the Red Books. Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening (1798), Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1805), An Enquiry into the Changes of Taste in Landscape Gardening (1806), and Fragments on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1816) are not merely theoretical works but the result of ‘hands on’ experience.

Repton lived in a cottage on the corner of Main Road and Belgores Lane, Romford (now Lloyds TSB Bank) from 1783 until his death in 1818. The plaque below appears on the site.

Chelmsford can claim to be the birthplace of radio. Guglielmo Marconi (1874 - 1937) arrived in England in 1896 and took over a former silk mill in Chelmsford in 1898 and established it as the world’s first radio factory. Development work on aircraft radio in the early 1900’s played an important role in the development of commercial broadcasting and in June 1920 the first publicised entertainment broadcast in Britain was transmitted from Chelmsford, when Australian prima donna Dame Nellie Melba sang.

Chelmsford Borough Council have now produced an interesting leaflet (free) highlighting the history of radio broadcasting in Chelmsford with a map taking you around some of the sites associated with Marconi.

INTERNET

Love it or hate it there is a vast amount of information to be had from the Internet. The following are just a few of the sites you may find interesting.

www.CyndisList.com

A site bulging with information for the family historian.

www.old-maps.co.uk

Find your house on the Ordnance Survey Maps published between 1846-1899.

www.war-memorials.com

Web site dedicated to research into war memorials. Also has a number of other useful links on military history.

www.pubsindex@freeserve.co.uk

As its name suggests a site dedicated to public houses.

www.debkay.clara.net

Colour photographs of all Essex churches which are free to download.

www.workhouses.co.uk

Information re workhouses in England and Wales.

Tercentenary

In 2002, a popular BBC television series set out to discover the Greatest Briton. From a list of 100 Great Britons, viewers were invited to make their own choice. Not easy! Who was really able to compare the merits of those in diverse spheres - between, say, Brunel, an engineer, and William Shakespeare, playwright? Choice was further limited through the restriction of the original, pre-selected list. Perhaps unsurprisingly, of the 100, only one philosopher was included — Thomas Paine, an American revolutionary and the author of The Rights of Man.

John Locke deserved his place. The philosophy and political writings of John Locke influenced the framing of the Constitution of the United States and, from today’s perspective, the evident results of this inspiration may be regarded as very considerable, even 300 years after his death. From 1691, Locke was a local resident, renting rooms in Otes, High Laver. The tercentenary of his death is next year, 2004.

John Locke

Locke was educated at Westminster School. In 1652 he followed his illustrious contemporaries, Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, a physicist, chemist and architect, to Christ Church, Oxford. There he started a medical notebook and he was to keep such notes throughout the rest of his life. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, and thence to a Master’s degree in 1658, Locke was able to continue his medical studies under a college studentship. At Oxford, he later met Robert Boyle, chemist and physician. These people, within his elevated circle of friends, were to remain close to him.

Locke’s skills in the medicine of the day were considerable and frequently consulted by society. Lord Ashley was one who was successfully treated by Locke, a complaint being caused by an abscess on the liver, this was the first recorded successful treatment. Ashley, owing his life to Locke, became Lord High Chancellor of England and the First Earl of Shaftesbury in 1672. Locke was well connected.

The publication of the important philosophical writings of Locke was clustered around the period from 1689 to 1693. Two Treatises on Government was published in 1690, although almost certainly written much earlier. Again, the influential Essay Concerning Human Understanding, generally referred simply to as The Essay, the result of ideas established some twenty years earlier, was published in 1690.

Otes, High Laver

Nearing the age of 60, the poor atmosphere of London increasingly affected Locke’s health, subjected to recurrent bouts of asthma and bronchitis. Locke realised that he had to find quarters outside of the capital, and the urgency was emphasised by several of Locke’s close friends passing away in succession. Locke first asked the king to restore his studentship at Christ Church, but after realising that this would involve the expulsion of the current holder of the studentship, Locke withdrew.

In, 1691, Locke took winter quarters at Otes manor house, in High Laver, where he rented rooms from Sir Francis Masham and his wife Damaris, formerly Damaris Cudworth. She had been a friend of Locke’s for many years. The rent was set at £1 for both Locke and his manservant and 1 shilling for a horse. Otes was soon to become furnished with the scientific instruments derived from a life of enquiring endeavour, meteorological instruments, a telescope, botanical specimens and medical instruments. It may be concluded that the hosts were both understanding and generous. More so as Locke added to his library at Otes, the number of volumes in the library swelling to around 4,000.

The warmer summers allowed Locke to make frequent visits to London, indicating that he was still well enough. Wishing to remain active, in 1696 he took a post as a Commissioner for Trade and Plantations. While in High Laver, Locke continued his medical work. It was difficult for him to retire from medicine completely, as he may have wished, since his medical skills were still highly regarded. A man of his reputation would have naturally acquired a practice, which included not just the Masham family but the local community together with his remaining London circle.

. . . snails and woodlice . . .

In 1700, Locke became seriously ill, causing him to resign his official appointments. Severe asthma and bronchitis resulted in a chill, inviting a visit to Tunbridge Wells to take the spa waters. Later, he suffered violent earache and his notebooks recall both the somewhat primitive and the empirical nature of the proposed cures. A Dr Alexander Geekie proposed a large roast onion wrapped in colewort leaf, with the addition of herbs, as a poultice. In similar manner, other physicians proposed treatments to Locke for the condition, in return for the medical consultancy that Locke had provided to his numerous and influential friends. James Tyrrell advised an onion poultice, but with the addition to the application of “woman’s milk warmed” with juice of rue. Dr Guide suggested, and try this if you will, “oil of worms in which you have boiled snails and woodlice distilled and then dropped in the ear with a slice of onion or garlic”. It is recorded that the pain lessened, for whatever reason, but Locke did become deaf. Further treatments are recorded in his notes; wool rubbed with civet; beef gravy, pickled in salt; spirit of camphor, and so on.

The offending abscess burst. Geekie requested that the offending ear be cleaned with rose water, tincture of myrrh, and aloes made with brandy. He sent a silver ear trumpet, which Locke felt obliged to return. After making a full recovery, Locke delivered his portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller to the good doctor in gratitude.

Locke’s extensive network of medical contacts enabled him to consult most of the leading physicians in England, France and Holland on the subject of his asthma. Throughout this period of failing health, Locke remained active, preparing a commentary on the Epistles of St Paul and arranging a fourth edition of his Essay. He corresponded with his usual energy but during the summer of 1704, Locke’s breathlessness persisted and his legs became swollen. He probably realised that these were signs of worsening heart failure. He made a will, dividing his library into two.

Two Halves of a Library

He died on the 28th October, 1704. His death was peaceful, with Lady Masham reading him psalms, as he had requested. He raised his hands to his eyes and died quietly. He was buried in the churchyard of All Saints, High Laver, with little show. He left £4,555 of personal property. £3,000 was bequeathed to Francis Masham, £100 to the poor of High Laver, and £100 to the parish of Publow and Pensford. His books were divided between Francis Masham and a Peter King.

However, the lasting legacy of John Locke is embodied in the establishment of one of two leading European schools of philosophy. The English philosophers, Hume and Berkeley, were to continue this British empirical philosophical tradition in the following century. The consequences of his political writing are also manifest today. In the 17th century it had been accepted that the rule of a king was accorded authority by Divine Right. Locke’s political writing argued that what existed was a social contract. The social contract was formulated between subject and ruler, with no reference to God, but with rule determined by reference to the common good. Locke also established the doctrine that the legislative, executive and judicial functions should be separate (“checks and balances”). Constitutionally, the United States followed this liberal principle almost completely with President, Congress and the Supreme Court being independent of each other.

Remember that this year is the tercentenary of the death of John Locke, England greatest and most influential philosopher. The Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge, is organising a residential course at Madingley Hall on the subject of John Locke and his philosophy. The course will run from Friday, 20 August, to Sunday, 22 August 2004. The full title of the course is John Locke: Politics, Philosophy and Religion and the Dawn of the English Enlightenment. The lecturer will be Dr Mark Goldie. The weekend will include an optional visit to High Laver, Essex, where Locke spent his last years and where he is buried.

The Essex Record Office has now completed the publication of the series Elizabethan Wills of Essex. These twelve volumes of transcriptions are the result of the painstaking work of F. G. Emmison, a former County Archivist. These wills can make fascinating reading. As important documents, they are composed with great care and accuracy.

Many of the testators were High Country residents, and even more reference the property and people within the parishes of the High Country. William Atwood of Stanford Rivers made his will on 20th February, 1600. William Atwood was deemed a gentleman and, as can be discovered, had dressed well, apparently very well. The division of his wardrobe filled the larger part of his will. To his son, Thomas the younger, he left “my laced cloth coat, my riding cloak, my doublet of black rash, a pair of round cloth hose”; to Thomas the elder “my furred cloak” and also, incidentally, a “coverlet that his wife made of the stuff her mother gave her”; to his son Edward “my furred gown”; to Richard “my black satin doublet, my hose of velure, my cloak faced with taffeta”. Amongst other clothes, he mentions “my hat of taffeta”, which he left to Susan, “my hose of Venetians”, a couple of pairs of new stockings, waistcoats and “my new fustian doublet”. His “great ring of gold with the picture of a death’s head on it” was important enough to be itemised and this was to go to his godson.

Money also accompanied most of these legacies. Rash is a smooth textile fabric of silk or worsted.

It was usual for the “better sort” to will money for the poor. Stephen Bamwell of Greenstead (sic), a bachelor, with no direct family, but clearly a man of some means, was widely generous. He selectively gave “To the poorest households of Hatfield Broad Oak £5; I will that Michael Crabbe shall have none of that money”. However, to Michael Crabbe’s children £3 was to be divided equally. The sum of 15s was left to the poorest householders in Laindon, 50s to Basildon, and specific bequests were made to the poor in Ongar. Touchingly, he left “To a little girl called Tedwell at Andrew Spranger’s 16s, which I will my exor. shall keep for 7 years after my decease and to employ it to the best profit of the child.” Andrew himself was to gain “a silk russet coat and a shirt band”.

Thomas Lake was a yeoman, who rented Stanford (Rivers) Hall. The usual charitable donation was made to the poor of the parish “so that the most godly, aged and honest poor shall be relieved”. Can that be better phrased? Along with his two sons, his daughters, Lettice and Isabel, were willed a bullock each. The instructions for the care of his daughters is specific; “My executors shall have the rule of Isabel and Lettice to see them brought up in the fear of God and in an honest and Christian course of life, for the performance of which they shall have the use of their legacies (their bullocks excepted) until 20 or marriage”.

Thomas Lake’s two executors were rewarded for their “advice and pains” with 40s each. Being an executor often involved considerable responsibility, and there may have been reluctance to take on the role. Thomas Heard, a husbandman of Stanford Rivers, with sons Edward and William, specified “I make Edward exor.; if he refuse to be exor., I make William exor. and Edward shall be excluded from his legacies …” Conditions were otherwise attached but were generally less punishing. William Saringe, husbandman of Stanford Rivers, was happy to bequeath his daughter £30 at 21 but “if she marry or make her choice without the consent of her mother her legacy shall be detained from her until she is 24”.

There are at least two local examples of wills made prior to sea journeys. Fearing the worst, William Tynge of Chipping Ongar drafted his will because he was “minded to go over the seas to Portugal”. Similarly, James Fynche of Chipping Ongar was persuaded to make make his plans because he was to “adventure a journey beyond the seas”. Emmison has commented that since their burial cannot be found locally, they may not have returned. The will was a wise precaution!

These wills not only make interesting reading. They are important documents which relate to the economic and social conditions of the family in the Elizabethan Age. When combined with other sources, such wills can reveal the niceties of relationships with family and kin. The initiative of the Essex Record Office has made these wills easily accessible to a wide audience.

Many members of the High Country History Group will remember the evening visit to Mashams in High Laver two years ago. A combination of circumstances, including a reduction in the number of school visits made to the house, has resulted in the intended sale of the property by the Mashams Trust (Charity No. 1068328).

On 17 July, members of the High Country History Group visited Ongar Park Wood. The weather was dull, hard to remember now in a late summer of so many warm, sunny evenings. Our guide was Peter Moring, Peter and Clare Moring having bought the neighbouring wood, High Wood, in 1999. High Wood and Ongar Park Wood show many ancient and interesting features relating to the history of the local landscape.

In High Wood there are three dominant species of trees - hornbeam, oak and silver birch, with the occasional holly, horse chestnut and wild cherry interspersed. Until the Second World War the wood appears to have been managed as hornbeam coppice¹, but then coppicing stopped. Oaks were felled during the same period but were not replaced. A result of this felling was that two clearings were established within the wood.

Hornbeam, a very hard wood with a tendency to split but with a high calorific value, would have been used both for fuel and for the production of charcoal. The hamlet adjacent to the wood to the south is called Colliers Hatch, after charcoal burners who were also called wood colliers. The charcoal was used in local brickyards, of which there were a number in the vicinity. A brick and tile works is recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of 1881 on the site of the present Carisbrooke Farm.

The by-way to the west of High Wood is believed to have been part of an old droving road along which cattle and sheep would have been driven to market. The track is about 30m wide, but at one point it broadens, possibly so that animals could be penned to allow them feed and rest overnight. The by-way supports many gnarled trees with roots marooned, suspended above the eroded banks. Evidence of at least one sawpit, a further lasting witness of man’s earlier endeavours, can be seen.

¹ Coppicing is the management practice of felling trees near to the ground and allowing the new shoots to grow. In most cases the shoots need to be protected from the deer. Mature poles are cut in a coppice rotation to produce poles of just the required size.

The Deer Park

The substantial bank separating High Wood, to the west, and Ongar Park Wood, to the east, is a visible survival of a medieval deer park. The deer park has the distinction of being the earliest recorded within England, the reference dating from 1045 when a will² mentioned “a wood . . . outside the deerhay”. The Anglo-Saxon word deerhage can be interpreted either as a hedge to keep deer in or as a hedge used to catch them! The reference in the will offers unique, but still tenuous, evidence of a continuity between Anglo-Saxon and Norman deer parks. Some controversy still follows the precise meaning of hay.

The bank is still massive, and although substantially eroded we can still speculate on its original size and shape. To retain the deer, the bank would have been topped with brushwood or palings. The deer park extended from this visible bank, past the water tower in Toot Hill, along the side of the small wood known as Miller’s Grove, near to the former Blake Hall Station, to the A414 at Tylers Green, then along the southern boundary of North Weald to Carisbrooke Farm, again to join the visible bank approaching Colliers Hatch. This is a distance of approximately 5 miles and encloses an area of around 1,200 acres. Bank construction would have been a formidable undertaking with only personal tools and scarce labour. This labour may have been exchanged for common rights to some of the benefits of the park. In addition, maintenance of a paling fence would have absorbed considerable funds. Apart from its functional use, there is little doubt that such a park would have provided a recognisable landmark to display the power and wealth of the owner³.

Little Domesday, the later addition to Domesday covering East Anglia, refers to both park (parc) and hay. Both words may both refer to deer park, in which case the number of deer parks in Domesday will have been underestimated. It is often commented that Domesday mentions 35 deer parks but Ongar Park is not one of these, the only park in Essex mentioned being at Rayleigh⁴. This probably means that the deer park was not always recorded anyway in Domesday, rather than suggesting any demise associated with the sturdy structure of Ongar Park.

The park may have been enclosed wood-pasture, grassland surrounding pollarded⁵, wooded areas, providing cover for the deer. Alternatively, it may have been compartmental, with wooded areas being separated from the grassland by banks internal to the boundary and there is some evidence to suggest this in Ongar Park. Trees within these compartments could then be coppiced with the banks helping to exclude the deer from the new shoots of the coppice. Rackham states that some internal coppice banks may still be visible within Ongar Park⁶.

² Kerr, Sandra, Ongar Great Park, in ‘Aspects of the History of Ongar’, (Ongar Millennium Group 1990), p6-7.
³ However your own gallows would have proved that you also had influence!
⁴ Darby, H.C., The Domesday Geography of Eastern England, (Cambridge, 1952), p 234.
⁵ Pollarding is the technique of cutting branches at a height of ten feet from the ground. New branches would be allowed to grow out of harm from the deer.
⁶ Rackham, Oliver, The History of the Countryside, (London, 1986), p 126.

The Deer

At the time of the Norman Conquest, deer would have been restricted to red deer and roe deer. It was only in the twelfth century that fallow deer were introduced into England by the Normans. More manageable than the roe deer, the behaviour of the fallow deer encouraged the construction of new parks. These new parks confirmed the increasing wealth of landowners. The deer park provided the landowner with a convenient supply of meat, the venison being much prized. Sometimes said to be beyond price, the meat appears to have been reserved only for the feast. Ongar Park was probably large enough to support hunting the deer, the hunting probably carried out using specially bred dogs. The park appears to have been one of the largest, certainly large enough to support a herd of hundreds of deer.

Deer were encouraged to enter but deterred from leaving the park by a deer leap, an external ramp and an internal pit at a break in the boundary bank. William I and his Norman followers put great store on their right to unrestricted hunting. With the introduction of the Norman Forest Laws, laws that provided almost total protection for the deer within designated areas called Royal Forests⁷, the establishment of the deer park in or close to the Royal Forest was subject to licence. The deer leap was also strictly controlled within and near to the Royal Forest, but Ongar Park was permitted to install two such leaps⁸.

Over one quarter of the country, all deer effectively belonged to the king. The deer were often the gift of the king who would sometimes generously donate them towards the stocking of a new park.

⁷ The use of the term Royal Forest does not imply forest or woodland, but simply refers to those areas within the jurisdiction of the Forest Laws. It is believed that Essex was wholly a Royal Forest at one time.

Essex Deer Parks

The number of deer parks grew in the twelfth century, aided by the arrival of the fallow deer. It has been estimated that in 1300 there were between 1,800 and 3,000 deer parks in the country. Some of these are well documented because of the need for a licence. Cantor⁸ has provided a methodical list of about 1,900 parks, listed by county and noting early references to the existence of a park. According to Cantor, Essex contained 102 parks at this time, with possible sites for a further six parks also being listed. How many of these were distinct parks is a subject for conjecture since there is usually no reference to the actual location of the park, but only to the landowners. More recently, Hunter⁹ has stated that 160 existed at this time in Essex, more than in any other county except Hertfordshire.

Cantor provides early references to these parks and to find them we must search in the documents recording the proceedings of state - the Calendar of Patent Rolls and the Calendar of Close Rolls, for example. Local medieval parks listed include those at Aythorpe Roding, Berners Roding, Doddinghurst, High Ongar, Matching, Stondon Massey, and Theydon Garnon and two in Writtle. Within the High Country, parks are listed under Chipping Ongar, Stanford Rivers and Stapleford Tawney. However, it seems likely that the first two of these refer to the same park.

⁸ Cantor, Leonard, The Medieval Deer Parks of England, (Loughborough University of Technology, 1983).
⁹ Hunter, John, The Essex Landscape: A Study of its Form and History, (Essex Record Office, 1999), p119.

Regeneration of High Wood

High Wood has not been managed for more than 50 years. The results of this can be seen; un-coppiced hornbeams have created a dense canopy under which few woodland plants grow; bracken has invaded clearings; the pond has become stagnant; silver birch has become established in some areas, competing with hornbeam and oak; the bridleway has become deeply rutted, partly as a consequence of shading which prevents the path from drying out. Peter Moring intends to introduce a management plan to restore the wood to its earlier state; some hornbeam will be felled; the elimination of the bracken from the clearing has been started; the pond will be cleaned; oak will be reintroduced to the new clearings; the local council has introduced restrictions to bridleway entry and shading trees are being cut down.

A plan has been drawn up for the management of High Wood. With the re-introduction of felling, the plan is intended to restore some of the features of a managed wood. These will increase the environmental richness and the attraction of this small wood. The future of High Wood looks brighter!

The other day I wandered into the Guards Chapel in Birdcage Walk, London, and saw commemororated on the roll of honour, the name ‘Edward Hay, Lord’. In the churchyard at St Michael’s, Theydon Mount is a Commonwealth War Grave to Lord Edward Douglas John Hay, who until his tragic death had lived at Hill Hall, Theydon Mount.

Lord Hay was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Grenadier Guards and was killed, along with some 120 others on Sunday 18th June 1944 when the Guards Chapel was hit by a flying bomb during divine service. The chapel was completely destroyed, but was subsequently rebuilt.

Edward Hay was the son of William Montague Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale and the Marchioness Tweedale. He was married to Audrey Latham, daughter of Sir Thomas Latham.

He served in the 1914-18 War. He was Staff Captain to General Sir Edmund Ironside. From 1921 - 1923 he was Military Secretary to the Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Samuel.

The chapel is well worth a visit if you are in London, together with the Guards Museum which is opposite.

In 1871 the Chief Constable of Essex instituted the Merit Badge (or Star), which was to be awarded for ‘highly distinguished and discreet conduct in the discharge of their duty, particularly when accompanied with risk of life, personal courage and coolness aided by marked intelligence.’

The Badge, originally worn on the collar but eventually worn on the sleeve could only be issued to not more than 10 Sergeants with an additional pay of 2 shillings per week and 20 Constables with an additional pay of 1 shilling per week. The badge was subject to forfeiture for misconduct.

One such recipient of the Merit Badge was Pc 47 Noah Gibbons, who was the village constable at Stanford Rivers.

He was promoted to Merit Class on the 1st May 1880 for courage and tact in apprehending a man who had been poaching. P.C. Gibbons at 4.30am on the 24th April was on duty at Stanford Rivers when he stopped a man, who attempted to throw the constable and grabbed his hair. A severe struggle ensued, with Gibbons getting the best of him. A search revealed 2 dead pheasants, and also a loaded double-barrelled shotgun. P.C. Gibbons took the man to the police station and charged him with having unlawful possession of game on the highway.

When he appeared before the Ongar Magistrates, the Chairman of the Bench also directed that a charge of assault be entered and offender was sentenced to 14 days hard labour. Pc. Gibbons was called by Captain Budworth, Chairman of the Bench who addressed him, giving great credit for his pluck and tact in bringing the man to justice. A letter from Capt. Budworth to Superintendent Simpson stated “it will give me great satisfaction to see P.C. Gibbons promoted.”

The man was fined £5 with 7/6d costs and 2 months hard labour in default.

Gibbons reached the rank of Superintendent and retired on the 30th September 1909.

Would you prefer to have an occasional meeting during the day, either morning or afternoon? Would this be more convenient during the winter months? Please let the editor have your views.

This is the story of my grandfather, Joseph Brady, who was bom in Dublin, Ireland, in September 1884 and died in Loughton, knocked down by a bus in October 1943. All the information has been compiled by my uncle, Desmond Brady, partially from the Cheshire regimental records and also from letters written between my grandfather, his wife Ethel and his sister Lucy.

In between the many events that occurred during his lifetime I wish to briefly mention his career and the 1916 Irish Easter uprising. At the start of his career, he joined the British army as a Private possibly under age (originally the Royal Dublin Fusiliers but later transferred to the Cheshire regiment in 1904) around 1899 and served in South Africa, India and finally Europe in the First World War.

At the start of the First World War, he had been promoted to Colour Sergeant with the second Battalion Cheshire regiment at Ypres and by the end of the war he had served four turns of duty having been wounded 3 times, promoted to Major and awarded the Military Cross. After each wounding he was sent back to England for a number of months recuperation and a son or daughter appears to have arrived 9 months later. After his promotion to Second Lieutenant in 1916, he writes to his wife that he continued to wear his steel helmet and carry a rifle rather than an officers hat and a pistol when going over the top. This may explain in part his survival to the end of the war; the life span of a second Lieutenant during that period was only a matter of months rather than a year. The promotion from Private to Major in the space of less than eighteen years I feel has to be quite rare at the beginning of the twentieth century especially as the Army was split in two parts - officers and other ranks.

The second episode is taken from a letter written by my grandfather’s sister, Lucy, from Dublin as an Irish Catholic to my grandmother. In the letter dated 25th April 1916 she writes in her own words of the Irish Rebellion in Dublin in great detail. She describes various events of the fighting and the problems occurring within Dublin and the general destruction. The main theme of her letter is that; “The great majority of the public are opposed to this dreadful thing. We are now certain that everyone will look on all Irish as wild savages.” These are her words that I find very interesting from an Irish Catholic living in Dublin in 1916.

Thomas Turner was a Pickwickian figure hailing from Forest Gate. I knew little about him until quite a short time ago, when my father suddenly offered me a notebook recording the walks made by his grandfather in 1926, the year of his retirement from the Post Office.

Most of the walks centre on the area around Epping Forest, which has always loomed large in my life. I started visiting it as a boy scout from suburban Ilford, and for the last 25 years have explored it from homes in Chingford and Epping. The notebook was a revelation – walking in the forest and a visit to the pub en route were implanted in my genes by my paternal great-grandfather.

Apart from the notebook, the only other story to survive him is one of gallantry. He was stabbed in the stomach outside a Forest Gate pub after springing to the defence of a young lady. But that was not the cause of his death in 1927. He was a large man, reputedly 18 stone, and on the last walk he took, he tripped over a tree root. He fell heavily, and died a few days later.

The notebook reveals how rural the area was in those pre-war days, as well as the reliability of public transport. A typical entry gives a little sketch map of the route and a timetable, with notes on the weather and the state of the footpaths. On July 6 he left home in Halley Road and took the 11.09 am train from Wood Street to Chingford. He walked through High Beech to the Wake Arms for lunch, returning to Chingford station via Loughton Camp and Grimston’s Oak to catch the 5.40 pm home.

The first walk is dated January 5 1926, and the last January 4 1927. After tramping through the countryside twice a week for 12 months his conclusion was simple; “If you think there is a better all-the-year climate than the British – look at this book.”

Born in Edinburgh in 1813, the youngest son of a Writer to the Signet (Scottish lawyer), Robert Murray McCheyne was part of the great 19th century religious revival in Scotland. A remarkable scholar, he taught himself the Greek alphabet at the age of four and entered university at 14. At 18 he began a four-year course in Divinity and was licensed to preach at 22. A year later he was ordained and became the first minister of a new church in a Dundee suburb. He was an outstanding and compelling preacher, with a regular Sunday congregation of 1100 mainly working-class people in his own parish, and frequent invitations to preach elsewhere during the week.

Often suffering from ill health, he briefly gave up parish work and joined a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews. The journey to Palestine and back almost killed him, but on his return he found his church packed to overflowing. His powerful preaching continued to ‘bring souls to Christ’ sometimes quite dramatically, and he travelled to Ireland, London and the north of England as well as within Scotland. On one occasion he preached at 24 different places in less than three weeks. He also found time to get engaged ‘twice’ but never married.

In 1843, after visiting some parishioners with typhoid fever, he fell ill and died. He was not quite 30. His funeral brought the town of Dundee to a complete standstill. So many people tried to attend that an overflow service had to be held outside, many walking for miles to be there.

McCheyne’s biography, which included his many letters, sermons, poems and hymns, went through 116 editions in its first 25 years alone and his sermons were still being published in the 1960s. Soon after his death, a new church was built in Dundee, the McCheyne Church, with the pew

I and my cousins have always been made aware, by parents and relatives, that our family has a strong link with George and Robert Stephenson, the railway engineers and bridge builders. George Stephenson (1781-1848) was one of six children born to Robert and Mabel Stephenson. His first marriage to Frances Henderson produced his one and only child, Robert.

Famous for his first engine Blucher which he built in 1814, George, in partnership with Edward Pease of Darlington, obtained an Act of Parliament to construct a railway from Stockton to Darlington to develop a passenger service, which opened in 1825. It was George’s Locomotion which pulled the passenger train, at 14 mph.

Later, in 1830, at the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway, it was George’s Rocket which won the competition to pull wagons to Rainhill (Manchester). He later became engineer to various countries while his son, Robert, went on to build the High Level Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne and the two-tiered bridge in Berwick on Tweed.

The link with these two gentlemen, is through my paternal grandmother, Thomasina Walton (nee Stephenson; 1876-1958), but having accepted the connection, I now find myself on a long quest to trace the lineage as, sadly, those with the full knowledge, are no longer alive.

Grandmother produced three sons and one daughter. Two of the sons became first class engineers. Robert, who worked for the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company, had several patents to his name, including the Walton Mole used for cleaning out large diameter water pipes. James had his own small engineering business near Slough and built wonderful model steam engines, large enough for us, as children, to ride on.

Sadly, the family Bible, which I recall contained a full record of all the family births, deaths and marriages, cannot be traced by any of my cousins. One cousin, living in Malta and himself a fine engineer, has lots of information pertaining to George Stephenson, while I inherited a beautiful copper kettle, which I have been told, Grandmother Walton brought to the marriage from the Stephensons. I and another cousin each have a sherry glass engraved with “Isabell Stephenson 1899” but so far I don’t know who she is.

I have quite a considerable search ahead of me, but I am quite spurred on by my husband’s reaction on first meeting Grandmother and Uncle Jimmy. In his words, the facial resemblance of both of them to George Stephenson, leaves no doubt that there is a relationship.

These are not strictly my Ancestors, but those of my late wife. I thought they would be of interest.

Seven generations, back in the 1820s, John Thortell of Norton Hall, Fakenham, was an officer in the marines. His Father was an alderman of Norwich. In the words of an elderly member of the family; “John was a spoilt young man, who became mixed up with a bad crowd, gamblers and the like”. He and some friends got heavily into debt to one of their own crowd. They had no hope of paying off the money, and after a discussion they decided to kill him. In order to decide who should carry this out, they drew lots. Whether by design or not, the burden fell to John Thortell, and he duly committed the murder. He was very quickly apprehended and hanged at Hertford in 1824. The effigies of both himself and his victim are still preserved in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds.

Researching another branch of the family, the Legg family, a curious coincidence arose. In the late 1700s, two of Legg brothers went to Spain, and one of them married a beautiful Spanish lady. She was very badly treated by the Legg family, so she placed a curse on the family that haunted them for several generations. There is a sequel to this. When I was researching the Milnes’ family history, I was in touch with a lady member of the family now living in Holland. I sent her the above story, and on receiving it she phoned me and said that since a child she had experienced bad nightmares involving a Spanish lady, yet until my letter she had no knowledge of the family curse.

My favourite and most famous relative is Fred Archer who, as any horseracing fan would know was one of the most successful jockeys this country has ever known. Fred Archer was born in 1857, the son of a steeplechase jockey William Archer. William Archer’s brother was my great-great grandfather. In his short life, he became one of the most successful jockeys ever, riding 2,748 winners from 8,004 races, giving a remarkable average of a win every third ride.

At the age of 11 Fred Archer was an apprentice to Matthew Dawson at Heath House Stables, Newmarket, and rode his first winner when he was only 12 years old in a steeplechase at Bangor, weighing in at only 4 stone 11 lbs. His first success on the flat came in 1870 aged only 13 but his career really took off in 1873 when he had 107 wins from 422 rides.

Fred Archer became champion jockey at the age of 17 in 1874 and he retained this title for the next twelve years until his death in 1886. He became a great celebrity of the time and rode for some of the most influential and wealthy owners such as Lord Falmouth, Lord Rosebery, the Duke of Beaufort and the Duke of Westminster. In all he achieved 21 classic victories, being 5 Derby wins, 6 St Legers, 4 Oaks, 4 2,000 Guineas and 2 1,000 Guineas.

Fred Archer was 5ft 11 ins tall and had a constant battle with his weight, so much so that he commissioned a special medicine to help him keep his weight down. This medicine was apparently quite revolting and became known as Archer’s Mixture. Unfortunately tragedy befell him in 1884 when he lost both his newly born son and his wife in the same year. He never recovered from these losses and, together with his constant battle against increasing weight, took his own life, in a fit of depression on the 6th November 1886 at the young age of 29.

Fred Archer is buried in Newmarket cemetery in the same grave as his wife, daughter and son. The Jockey Club, who also have at their headquarters a collection of memorabilia, including the pistol with which he shot himself, immaculately maintains the grave. The legacy of Fred Archer’s name has been handed down through the generations. His father was a William, my great grandfather’s name was William Frederick, my grandfather was William Frederick and my middle name is William, unfortunately my mother refused to be called Fred.

I don’t remember my grandfather, Joseph Farrow. He died shortly after I was born. Neither do we know much about him; family history was either taken for granted or simply not considered important in those days. Joe was to suffer, indirectly, the worst consequences of Spanish ’Flu, the great pandemic that swept the world in 1918 and which was a significant factor in bringing the Great War to an end.

During the ‘War to end all Wars’ he served with the Royal West Kent Regiment, colloquially The Buffs, on the Western Front, becoming a sergeant in charge of a stretcher party. Like many of his generation he rarely spoke of the war, so terrible was the experience, but we later came to learn of his capture and subsequent escape from prisoner of war camp to Switzerland, where he was interned for the remainder of the war.

With the end of the war he was, in due course, repatriated. On being discharged, he returned home to his family in Tysea Hill, Stapleford Abbotts, by walking from Romford Station – public transport was not readily available in November 1918. En route he took the opportunity to drop into the Royal Oak at Havering for a pint of beer, only to be greeted by Charlie Binder commiserating with his loss. Grandfather was somewhat bemused, until Charlie explained “Oh, didn’t you know? We buried your wife and daughter yesterday”. Unknown to Joe, his 37 year old wife, Jessie Ellen, and eighteen-month old daughter (also Jessie Ellen) had been carried off a few days earlier by Spanish ’Flu.

My father had a vivid recollection of that time. Laid low themselves with the illness, he and his brother Ernest (aged six and ten respectively) were lying upstairs in bed when the coffin momentarily came through their bedroom door as it was being manoeuvred downstairs. Mother and daughter were buried in St. Mary’s graveyard Stapleford Abbotts, together in the same coffin. Many years later I learned, from the late Jean Haylen, church warden of Lambourne church and into whose hands the funeral directors records passed, that the coffin was made of one-inch thick oak, a remarkable and expensive option of the day, though the family could not afford a grave memorial.

Finally, please note that another presentation on the evening, the story of the Welford family and Welford Dairies, has already appeared in the previous Newsletter.

Lieutenant Henry Millbank, from my wife’s family, fought at Trafalgar in 1805. At the time he was serving as Master’s Mate on board the Colossus. The Colossus was a new ship, launched at Deptford in 1803. With 74 guns, she was classed as a second-rate. Trafalgar was her first major engagement.

A master’s mate was an experienced seaman, often recruited from merchant service. The rank was the highest rank of non-commissioned officer, and midshipmen, who were kept waiting overlong for promotion to lieutenant, would often seek an interim appointment as master’s mate. Henry Millbank would have been responsible for the condition of the sails, rigging and anchors, and the stowing of the hold since this affected the trim of the Colossus.

At Trafalgar, Nelson’s strategy was to break the French line by sailing two columns of ships across the French line. The strategy involved huge risks until the French line had been broken. Colossus, under Captain J. N. Morris, was the sixth ship in the lee column.

At the point of victory, the Colossus had suffered greatly in the battle. She was almost totally incapacitated, with foremast shot through, mizenmast in the sea, and the mainmast close to a similar fate. With 40 crew dead and 160 injured, she suffered more casualties than any other British ship. Captain Morris, who had been shot through the leg, remained on duty until fainting from loss of blood.

Henry Millbank lived only three more years during which time he was promoted to lieutenant. His obituary reads:

“On the 18th of July last died, on board His Majesty’s ship Colossus, off Toulon, Lieutenant Millbank, eldest son of Mr. Henry Millbank of Feering in this county, deservedly lamented by the officers and crew after lingering in a very debilitated state of body for several months occasioned from the wounds he received in the ever-memorable battle of Trafalgar, in the above-named ship, in the 37th year of his age. Such was the zeal & courage displayed by Lieutenant Millbank in the glorious action of the 21st October, that though he received five severe wounds, he persisted in remaining upon deck till the engagement terminated, contributing in a very eminent degree, by his example & perseverance, towards the defeat of the enemies of his country. The date of the year 1808.”

His experiences of that day are impossible to fully appreciate or recreate now. His portrait, not very well executed, is in our house and his sword is believed still to be in the family. However, we intend to pursue Lieutenant Millbank through his service records.

The Padfields in Essex can be traced back 100 years or more. The story has to start way back in the early 1800s when times were very prosperous for the farming community. Most of the land in West Essex was owned by big London city people with money made from brewing and railways etc..

The big estates in this area – Copt Hall, Blake Hall, Forest Hall, Suttons, Gaynes Park and Hill Hall – the farmers rented the farms from the landowners, while the hunting, shooting and fishing were reserved for the landowners.

The price of grain in the early 1800s was kept high by the import tax, but as the years progressed the laws were amended and in 1846 they were repealed by Robert Peel. The price of wheat crashed and the farmers, after having years of prosperity, could not cope and many went broke leaving the tormented farms vacant.

This is when the dairy farmers came from Scotland and the West Country to fill the vacant farms. The railways were now set up and milk was needed in London. The dairy farmers in London could not provide enough fresh milk for the growing population. The new railways allowed fresh milk to be transported to London from this part of Essex every day.

My grandfather came with six boys and one girl to Bridge Farm, Loughton, from Street in Somerset, the cows and the family were on rail. Our farm was right next to Chigwell Lane Station (now Debden). The milk train left Ongar at eight o’clock every morning stopping at all the stations to pick up the churns.

Our Bridge Farm milk, with others, had to catch that train. Stories were told of horses and milk carts galloping along Chigwell Lane to catch this train, always hoping that it would be a little late. The Scottish farmers were the Gemmils, Kerrs, Torrances, McShanes and the West Country Padfields and Rowes, all now in farms that had been vacated by the previous farmers. The story is that the Padfields could farm any farm they liked rent-free for one year and then take up a proper tenancy.

Even the Gemmills brought their cows from Scotland, along with the family of ten sons and four daughters. Generally, the big estates have gradually been broken up, farms sold by successive generations. Capel Cure remains at Blake Hall and Chisenhale Marsh at Gaynes Park.

t was not until I was sorting through a file of family papers that came from my father’s house that I discovered why I had the middle name of Spear and why the family crest is a bras arme with a raised spear. Lieutenant Spear served under Capt Pellew at the battle of Trafalgar on board the 74 gun Conqueror. His first command was the 80 gun Bucentaure (a war prize ) in which he was wrecked in Cadiz Bay on October 22nd 1805.

Despite this misfortune he was promoted to Commander on December 24th, the same year.

In September 1811 Captain Spear was in command of the 10 gun brig Chanticleer when it was attacked by 3 Danish brigs packing much greater firepower. Heavily outgunned he decided to flee the scene leaving his much slower escort (the gun brig Manly, under the command of Lieutenant Richard Simmonds) to engage the enemy. Captain Spear and the Chanticleer escaped but the Manly was shot to pieces by the 3 Danish brigs and was captured. The crew of Manly consisted of 37 men and 5 boys. Despite an engagement, which lasted 2 hours 25 minutes, loses were limited to 1 dead and 3 wounded. This act of “tactical withdrawal” does not seem to have hampered Captain Spear’s promotion prospects - he obtained Post Captain rank on May 3rd 1813. It is recorded that in 1809 Captain Spear married Anne Maria Walter the daughter of John Walter, naval contractor at North Yarmouth and a descendant of John Blake the persecuted baker of Great Bardfield of whom I have previously written in the Newsletter.

My father was member of the Local Defence Force (the Home Guard) formed in 1940 as an auxiliary defence force against the threat of an invasion of the United Kingdom by German forces from the Continent. This collection of part time soldiers has been immortalised by that wonderful BBC TV Programme Dad’s Army. Many of the humorous situations featured in that popular and evergreen series were almost certainly based on true incidents, possibly as follows.

During World War Two, my family lived in the Gants Hill area of Ilford which, although on the edge of the heavily bombed East End, suffered considerably from enemy airborne action especially during the Battle of Britain. I remember my father, a Corporal although also a Captain Mainwaring “lookalike”, coming home one evening with a large greasy object wrapped in newspaper. This was an American Springfield rifle of World War One vintage, which my father restored to working order after many hours of tedious cleaning; an accompanying bayonet was similarly treated. He had been issued with a uniform some time previously but up to then had carried out arms drill with broomsticks, such was the shortage of military equipment after the withdrawal of the British forces from France at Dunkirk in 1940.

Because of the possibility of imminent invasion, it was policy for the Home Guard to retain their firearms at home. After one of the many daylight air raids during the Battle of Britain, my family emerged from our garden air raid shelter to see an aircraft issuing smoke and descending some distance away. But overhead, and apparently about to land in our garden, was an airman in his parachute. Both my father and his neighbour, another member of the Home Guard, said “Jerry” (meaning German) and rushed indoors to collect their firearms. If ammunition had been available they could, in their excitement, have filled the poor bloke with holes but he was saved by the wind which carried him rapidly away to land some distance off. We learned later that he was not German but British and one of Churchill’s Few.

During the night blitz, the local animal hospital at South Woodford was bombed and the stables set alight. The horses were released to save them and a number of these terrified animals bolted onto the nearby main road and set off at a fast pace. Several miles further on, the Home Guard with their rifles ready were manning a barricade on the Southend road to stop any invading German forces (probably armoured vehicles!) from entering London from the East. Hearing strange sounds from behind, they turned to see a bunch of horses with flared nostrils, wide eyes and flying manes bearing down on them at high speed. In the true tradition of the British Army and the Home Guard they vacated the area with equal rapidity. The horses vaulted the barricade as if at the Grand National and continued on towards Romford where they ran out of steam in the market place and were secured. The Home Guard then proceeded to brush themselves down and make a cup of tea to restore their shattered nerves.

In reality, this was a serious business. The poor devils behind the barricade would have stood no chance against armoured vehicles and none would have survived any engagement for Hitler had declared the Home Guard as irregulars who were to be shot in sight. And these soldiers had already done a full days work and often had little sleep because of nightly air raids. For instance, my father was a bank official in the City of London to which he travelled each day in a crowded steam train, which could been bombed at any time. He then may have stayed overnight at the bank to “fire-watch” and help deal with any fires caused in the blitz. His home life was taken up with cultivating an allotment where he grew vegetables to eke out our food rations, and then attend duty in the evenings with the Home Guard. Like others his health suffered badly but he battled through, as did many of his associates, and we must be eternally grateful for their efforts during this war.

In later years the BBC TV series Dad’s Army reminded many, and introduced others, to life on what was then called the “Home Front”. By chance, I had a minor association with one of the major props used in the TV Series. Before we were married my wife lived next door to a family, the grandfather of whom specialised in antique motor vehicles. One day a large and ancient Crossley type van of very early vintage appeared outside the front of the house. Its owner was the grandfather who was hiring out the vehicle to a film company. One side was inscribed “Chivers Jams” but the other was blank. He told us that this side would bear the name of a butcher’s business for its appearance in a film about the Home Guard. This was the famous Butchers van owned by the Dads Army Corporal Jones and I got to know it quite well. The cab was spacious with a hard wooden bench for driver and passengers and it could seat four. I was not allowed to drive the vehicle because of the difficulties of coping with its non-synchromesh gearbox. However when the van was featured in a recent film about the making of the TV series, the lady presenter made her commentaries from the cab while attempting to drive it. The effect on the gearbox was appalling and I’m sure that the grandfather would have turned in his grave if he had known what was happening.

Apart from being a recent contender for the most popular TV comedy programme, Dads Army has reminded us of those dark days when Britain really had its back to the wall; but the programme has also brought pleasure to thousands. The best comment made about it came from some young children who said that the programme was very funny and the more likeable because it contained no violence, bad language or reference to sex. Out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings . . .

Buried in St Margaret’s, Stanford Rivers, Noel Gay was a prolific composer and lyricist, responsible for many of the most popular and memorable songs in the UK during the ’30s and ’40s.

Born Richard Moxon Armitage, on 3 March 1898, in Wakefield. A child prodigy, he was educated at Wakefield Cathedral School, and often deputized for the Cathedral organist. In 1913 he moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music, and later became the director of music and organist at St. Anne’s Church in Soho. After four years studying for his M.A. and B.Mus. at Christ’s Church College, Cambridge, he seemed destined for a career in a university or cathedral. While at Cambridge he became interested in the world of musical comedy, and started to write songs. After contributing to the revue, Stop Press, he was commissioned to write the complete score for the Charlot Show Of 1926. He was also the principal composer for Clowns In Clover, which starred Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge, and ran for over 500 performances. Around this time he took the name of Noel Gay for his popular work to avoid embarrassment to the church authorities.

In 1930, Gay, with Harry Graham, he wrote his most successful song to date, The King’s Horses, which was sung in another revue, Folly To Be Wise. He then collaborated with lyricist Desmond Carter for the score of his first musical show Hold My Hand (1931). Starring Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale and Stanley Lupino, the songs included Pied Piper, What’s In A Kiss, Hold My Hand and Turn On The Music. During the ’30s Gay wrote complete, or contributed to, scores for popular shows such as She Couldn’t Say No, That’s A Pretty Thing, Jack O’Diamonds, Love Laughs!, O-Kay For Sound (the first of the famous Crazy Gang Music Hall-type revues at the London Palladium, in which Bud Flanagan sang Gay’s The Fleet’s In Port Again), Wild Oats and Me And My Girl (1937). The latter show, with a book and lyrics by L. Arthur Rose, and starring Lupino Lane in the central role of Bill Sibson, ran for over 1,600 performances and featured The Lambeth Walk, which became an enormously popular sequence dance craze -so popular, in fact, that when the show was filmed in 1939, it was titled The Lambeth Walk.

In the same year, with Ralph Butler, Gay gave Bud Flanagan the big song, Run Rabbit Run, in another Crazy Gang revue, The Little Dog Laughed. During the ’40s, Gay wrote for several shows with lyrics mostly by Frank Eyton, including Lights Up (Let The People Sing, Only A Glass Of Champagne and You’ve Done Something To My Heart); Present Arms; La-Di-Di-Di-Da’; The Love Racket; Meet Me Victoria; Sweetheart Mine; and Bob’s Your Uncle (1948). His songs for films included All For A Shilling A Day and There’s Something About A Soldier Sung by Courtneidge in Me And Marlborough (1935); Leaning On A Lamp Post introduced by comedian George Formby in Feather Your Nest; Who’s Been Polishing The Sun, sung by Jack Hulbert in The Camels Are Coming; I Don’t Want To Go to Bed (Lupino in Sleepless Nights; and All Over The Place (Sailors Three).

Gay also composed Tondeleyo, the first song to be synchronized into a British talking picture (White Cargo). His other songs included Round The Marble Arch, All For The Love Of A Lady, I Took My Harp To A Party (a hit for Gracie Fields), Let’s Have A Tiddley At The Milk Bar, Red, White And Blue, Love Makes The World Go Round, The Moon Remembered, But You Forgot, The Girl Who Loves A Soldier, The Birthday Of The Little Princess, Are We Downhearted? - No!, Hey Little Hen, Happy Days Happy Months, I’ll Always Love You, Just A Little Fond Affection, When Alice Blue Gown Met Little Boy Blue, I Was Much Better Off In The Army and My Thanks To You (co-written with Norman Newell). In the early ’50s, Gay wrote very little, just a few songs such as I Was Much Better Off In The Army and You Smile At Everyone But Me.

He had been going deaf for some years, and had to wear a hearing aid. After his death on the 3rd March 1954, his publishing company, Noel Gay Music, which he had formed in 1938, published one more song, Love Me Now.

His son, Richard Armitage a successful impresario and agent, took over the company, and extended and developed the organization into one of the biggest television and representational agencies in Europe.

The last fighter squadron to use North Weald was 111 Squadron who left in 1958 and the airfield then became home to a maintenance unit. In the sixties, the aerodrome was used as a private airfield but the land was put up for sale by the Ministry of Defence and was purchased by the Epping Forest Council.

North Weald Airfield Museum is situated at what was the main entrance of the famous Battle of Britain Fighter base - RAF North Weald. The former RAF North Weald Station Office has now been converted into a museum and the building is now known as Ad Astra House. There is an extensive collection of photographs and artifacts that are displayed in the theme rooms that tell the story of the airfield and its people from 1916 right through the second world war to the present day. There is access to an extensively researched history of the airfield and because of the importance of North Weald in 1940, full details of the events of this time are retold in “The Battle of Britain Room”. The area is enhanced by the new Memorial. Combine a visit to the Museum and the RAF North Weald Memorial, dedicated to all who served at North Weald.

The Battle of Britain Room commemorates this historic event in a manner that recognises the debt owed by us all. 39 aircrew were killed flying from RAF North Weald and many more died on the ground as a result of the hundreds of bombs that were dropped on the airfield and the local community. North Weald suffered badly during the time of the Battle of Britain commencing with the airfield attacks on August 24th 1940 when over 200 bombs were dropped on the aerodrome. Both the Officers mess and the pilots married quarters were badly damaged and nine soldiers of the Essex Regiment who were stationed there were killed when an air raid shelter that they were in, received a direct hit. Another attack was made on the aerodrome on September 3rd and was said to be the heaviest attack made on the aerodrome.

North Weald Parish Church stands in open countryside near one corner of the airfield. Visit the graveyard; here are graves of some of the airmen, and other service personnel, killed in enemy attacks on the airfield or after having taken off from North Weald. The first airman killed during WWII, Pilot Officer M.Hulton-Harrop took off in a Hurricane from North Weald, three days after the outbreak of war and was shot down in the infamous Battle of Barking Creek. His is the first grave in the rows of WWII graves.

On June 19th 1952, Princess Astrid, the Crown Princess of Norway unveiled an obelisk on behalf of the people of Norway close to the old main gate of the aerodrome. Sunday 3rd September, 2000, the anniversary of the declaration of war and the 60th anniversary of the heaviest raid on North Weald Airfield, saw the dedication of a unique Memorial at North Weald. It was built around the Norwegian obelisk, a stone curved memorial wall forming a fine foreground setting against the old station office, now the headquarters of the North Weald Museum.

In the year 1723 Edward Luther was Rector of this parish and signed the book at the Vestry as such. E. Smyth, of Hill Hall, also signed. At this vestry meeting a document was drawn up and signed by those present. This stated that whereas Thomas Luther, late of Suttons in the parish of Stapleford Tany (sic) in the County of Essex, Esqre., deceased, did in and by his last will and testament in writing, duly executed, bearing date the thirtieth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighteen, give and devise the sum of five pounds her annum to the poor of the parish of Stapleford Tany . . . for ever and charged several lands in the said parish with the payment thereof. Now know yr that we, the Churchwardens, etc., in vestry assembled . . . on Monday the eleventh day of April, one thousand seven hundred and twenty-six. In consideration that Jane Luther, of Suttons aforesaid, widow, the mother of the said Thomas Luther, deceased, having promised to give four pounds per annum towards the school to be sett up in the said parish of Stapleford Tany, for the instructing the poor children of the said parish . . . Doe hereby agree and consent as much as in us lyes that the ffive pounds per annum so devised unto the poor of Stapleford Tany aforesaid, in and by the said Thomas Luther, he applyed and paid annually for ever hereafter to some honest choolmaster or mistresse that shall hereafter reside in the said parish of Stapleford Tany, and instruct the children of such poor persons that are or hereafter shall be, chargeable or likely to become chargeable to the parish aforesaid, in Reading, writing and Accounts, and also in learning them the Church Catechism and bringing them up in the Religion of the Church of England, which said school master or mistress after the death of the said Jane Luther, to be chosen by the proprietors of the several mansion houses hereinafter named : that is to say the proprietors of the mansion houses called Suttons, Miles, Tany Hall and Bells; and the Rector of the said parish for the time being, etc.

Signed
E. Smyth; Mary Haddon; Wm. Nicholson
Charles Haddon; P. Parkes, Rector.
Hen. Mott, Junr.; David X Trevice
(his mark); Charles B. Sworder, Epping.

Ken was devoted to the community. He joined June Lucas to edit the High Country Magazine following the death of the Revd David Callum. The magazine presented local news, articles, and literary offerings to a wide, loyal circulation. Ken contributed his poems, though less frequently in later years since, as editor, he felt a conflict. Ken was ever-present on the magazine bookstall, fund raising at local events. No new editors came forward and the magazine closed at the start of the new millennium.

Ken observed the parish keenly. Many years ago, during some building excavations towards the River Roding, some large stones, positioned in a pattern, were uncovered in the clay. The thought took root that these might be the foundations of an ancient crossing point. Despite the disinterest of the British Museum, the idea never passed. Even recently, Ken again voiced his misgivings about the British Museum

Ken was a gentleman. In a quiet and thoughtful way, Ken contributed much. From recent conversations, it was realised that Ken’s health was failing but his passing is still a loss that was not anticipated. Our sympathies go to Elsie and his family.

Anniversary

Eternity, we are aware,
Writes all the scripts,
Plays all the parts,
Directs all the scenes;
And will strut the stage endlessly
After we have lost the lights
And are gone.

Yet pray with me
That this past year
That now we celebrate
With cards, candles, and kind regards
May echo on in thoughtful words;
To some longevity.

O’ scar with lasting substance
The fading shadows that were You and Me
One year in all Eternity.

Ken Feakes

In September 1898, Lady Cunliffe Smith opened the fountain in front of Stanford Rivers parishioners who assembled en masse,. Through the tap, water from the terra cotta fountain gushed forth “bright and clear”. Two gunmetal cups, inscribed “V.R.”, were attached. Messrs F. N. Noble and Sons built the fountain, the architect being a Mr. F. Rowntree of Glasgow. The cost was £90 in all.

The school has gone but the fountain remains today. In recent years, local residents have successfully opposed the removal of the fountain by the local authorities.

A photograph of the event appears on the cover of this newsletter.

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a Rector and a Vicar? Well.....

A Rector was originally the incumbent of a parish who received all the tithes and customary offerings and dues. He was responsible for the upkeep of the chancel and rectory, and for the provision of vestments and service books. When an ecclesiastical body, such as a monastery, annexed a benefice it became nominally the rector and appointed a deputy called a Vicar (from the Latin vicarius - meaning ‘substitute’ or ‘deputy’) to administer the parish. However the Great Tithes went to the monastery as Rector, and the Small Tithes to the Vicar. After the reformation many monastic estates fell into lay hands and subsequently Lay Rectors became common; they had the right to nominate the vicar but had to seek the bishop’s approval. They also inherited the obligation to keep up the chancel and vicarage.

Tithes were virtually abolished in 1936 and a Vicar is now appointed to all new livings. The designation Rector now being applicable to the incumbent of a new joint benefice or united parish, or on the creation of a team ministry, even where none of the constituent parishes had a Rector in the immediate past.

And..... A Parson was originally a Rector, though the term is now applied also to a Vicar. Before the seventeenth century a Curate was any minister who had the cure of souls, especially a deputy who was in full charge of a parish, but could be removed by his employer. Since then the term has come to mean an assistant to an incumbent or an unbeneficed clergyman. A Perpetual Curate was the minister of a parish in which the Great Tithes had been annexed by an ecclesiastical body or lay person.

Now that’s cleared that up - I think!

Many of you will know that the old Ongar Union Workhouse at Stanford Rivers, is currently occupied by Piggotts. A planning application has been submitted to Epping Forest Council for a proposed redevelopment of the site to provide fifty dwellings, ranging from one bedroom flats to 3 bedroom houses. There is local opposition to the plan, but to date we do not know whether this application will be allowed.

Are you a photographer? Do you have an interest in photographing the buildings of the High Country? Would you like to participate in a small team to carry out such a project during 2001?

The committee is keen to stimulate some projects in the local history of the High Country. One of the projects that has been suggested is to record the buildings of the area. The recent talk by Corrie Newell emphasised the value of such a project.

Photographers are needed! A basic requirement of one photographer per parish would be sufficient to start the project. So far, we have two volunteers, one to cover Stanford Rivers and one to record Greensted. Theydon Mount and Stapleford Tawney are not yet covered. However, any help would surely be appreciated. Are you interested in participating? If you are then please contact Rob Brooks. Further details will be confirmed when the team is together.

The windmill at Aythorpe Roding is a type known as a post mill. The earliest kind was a fixed structure usable only when the wind was blowing in the right direction. Originally it had no roundhouse beneath it, to protect the trestles upon which the mill was supported from decay, but later types had an exterior housing which helped to preserve the trestles and provided storage space within.

In the Middle Ages the body of the mill, which contained the machinery which drove grinding stones and sails, was balanced on a central post and could be turned into the wind by means of a pole at the back of the mill. The oldest surviving example of this kind is at Bourn, Cambridgeshire, and was erected in 1636. In 1745 a method was patented which used a fantail and gears for keeping the mill facing into the wind. Many post mills were built upon a raised mound to gain extra wind-power.

Other types of mill are smock mills in which only the cap with the sails revolved and tower mills. The difference between the two was that the former was constructed of wood whereas a tower mill was constructed of either brick or stone.

The recently published Journal of the Essex Field Club for the year 2002/2003 contains a paper, written by Gerald Lucy, titled “Essex erratic boulders: a gazetteer”¹. An erratic is a large boulder that did not originate from its current position. During the Ice Age, the boulder would have been carried from its origin by a moving ice sheet and deposited on the melting of the ice in its present position. This would have occurred some 450,000 years ago.

The gazetteer notes that the vast majority of Essex boulders are sarsens and puddingstones, both extremely hard silica-cemented sandstones and conglomerates, respectively. The Essex boulders are distributed mainly in the northwest of the county (in the districts of Braintree, Chelmsford, Epping Forest and Uttlesford).

The search and recording of erratics in Essex has a history going back to 1830. The Journal paper, building on earlier recording, develops a gazetteer of known erratics in Essex. The list is limited to those boulders which are larger than approximately 150cm x 90cm x 45cm, following from the traditional measure of 5’ x 3’ x 1’6” used in the early recording. The quoted measurement records the size of that part of the stone that is visible. Generally, only those boulders that can be seen from the public highway are included. Often they are to be found in churchyards, and occasionally churches are discovered to have used a glacial erratic in their foundations.

One entry in the Journal records:
“Stanford Rivers
Hidden in the grass by the road near the entrance to St Margaret’s Church (TL 534009) is a sarsen (90 x 85).”

Are there more in the High Country?
We are able add one more to the list. An erratic sits outside Temple Cottage, near to Coleman’s Farm in Clatterford End, Toot Hill. The stone has been moved from the vicinity of Burrows Farm, about 300 metres to the north. The stone is visible from the bridle path. We have reported this to Gerald Lucy. Are there any more?

Project?

In addition, it is hoped that members will participate in a group project. There have been many suggestions from the acting committee; these include capturing a photographic record of the High Country today, archiving old photographs and writing some histories of aspects of the area. Do you have a pet project that you would like to propose? Better still, would you like to lead the group in that project? Please let the Editor know.

To the Worshipful the Magistracy of the County of Essex in Quarter Sessions Assembled. The humble petition of the inhabitants and rate payers of the united parishes of Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount in the County of Essex.

Herewith, that although the rural police has made a considerable addition to the Burthems laid upon your petitioners, it has not answered the ends for which it was instituted, within the parishes: the number of depredations during the night, having increased rather than diminished since its institution.

That it seems to your petitioners impossible to prevent such depredations in ...... localities, without an increase of expense, too great to be borne by rural parishes.

That your petitioners consider themselves by the Act of Parliament, entitled to a strict equality of taxation, for the usual police, with the Towns and Larger Villages; whereas in reality, the Burthem of this Force falls most unequally upon portions of the Count strictly against rural, the Towns and larger Villages having nearly all the Benefit from the Police; which is rarely seen in the more secluded situations.

Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly pray he Majesty’s Justices of the Peace of the County of Essex, in Quarter Sessions assembled, to take into their serious consideration whether it is not expedient forthwith to report it as their opinion to one of Her Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State, that the rural Police should be discontinued in the County of Essex.

The above resolution were agreed upon at a meeting of the Inhabitants and Rate payers of the two united Parishes aforesaid, holden in the Vestry Room of Stapleford Tawney, on Monday Dec 27, 1841; Sir Edward Bowyer Smijth of Hill Hall, in the chair.

Edward Bowyer Smijth, Bart.
Francis Tanner (Churchwarden)
John Smith
James Spencer
Thomas Rumball
Samuel Miller
Edward Hyde
John Mumford
Phi... Bailey
Thomas Shepher
Daniel Rumball
William Wood
Elizabeth Purviss
Mary Smith, Lady. Suttons
H Soanes (Rector)
Jon. Stokes
Richard Young
Charles Stevens
John Pavitt
Henry Stannard
Mary Cooper
William Dawkins
Christiana Worters
William Flack
William Sworder
James Wood
Charles Clark
Samuel Threader
John Rumball
Charles Osborn
Ann Stubbins
James Worters (Churchwarden)

3 other name indecipherable.

As we prepare to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee this year, let us look back at the only other Queen’s Golden Jubilee in British history, from the handwritten parish records of Stapleford Tawney [Essex Record Office D/P 141/8/4].

1887
“On Saturday June 18th a Service was held at Stapleford Tawney Church for that and Theydon Mount parishes in commemoration of the Jubilee of the Reign of Her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria. The special service¹ was used and a sermon preached by the Rector². The lesson was read by Sir Charles Cunliffe-Smith Bt³, nearly all the parishioners being present. [This part of the sentence was vigorously underlined] Church crowded. Medals were presented to all the parishioners in the Churchyard and an adjournment made to Church Mead⁴ where a band enlivened the proceedings. A substantial meal was served in the Hoppet⁴. Sports, swings, donkies [sic], fire [or fine?] balloons etc. Beer, tobacco and ginger beer, a lovely warm afternoon.

Over the entrances to the Mead and Hoppet, arches with inscriptions and a number of large flags had been placed. About 40£⁵ was expended including presents to those who were absent through infirmity.”

NOTES
¹The special service was used: Evidently the Church of England had created a service specifically for Jubilee commemorations.

²The Rector: This was Rector Lewis Prance, who served from 1872 until his death in 1912. As a member of the Royal Horticultural Society, he was fascinated by plants and flowers, as indeed were the whole Prance family. They planted the blue anemones by the church path and probably the winter aconites and snowdrops, and there are many unusual and foreign plants in the Tawney Rectory garden. The Rector’s grandson Professor Ghillean Prance was an Amazonian jungle explorer and became Director of Kew Gardens in 1988.

³Sir Charles Cunliffe-Smith: He lived at Suttons Manor (now a private clinic) and was churchwarden and chief benefactor of the church. He was also quite autocratic, as were most of his class at the time. The Suttons estate spread into several parishes, and included the blacksmith’s at Cutlers Forge, the mill at Passingford Bridge, the village shop and the Talbot Inn, both near the bridge on the main road. On summer evenings, the local working men would sit in the distinctive wide porch of the Talbot, supping their ale. One day, it is said, Lady Cunliffe-Smith went past in her carriage and overheard a coarse remark. She reported it to Sir Charles, who immediately had the inn shut down, never to re-open, and it has been a private house ever since.

⁴Church Mead and the Hoppet: The area between Great Tawney Hall and the church was until the 1970s a moated site, where the old Stapleford Tawney Hall once stood. This was demolished in 1764 and replaced by the present farmhouse. The moat gradually dried up and became a wide shallow ditch. The eastern arm of the moat, with the area of grass next to the road, was known as Church Mead (Plot 131 on the 1873 Ordnance Survey map). The rest of the site (Plot 130) was the Hoppet - an Essex word for a small field or paddock, which is still its name today.

⁵40£: Does anybody know how much in 1887 £40 would be worth today?

[EDITOR - The answer is £2541.92]

Plans are currently being made for the 2002 Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount Jubilee celebrations on June 1st. They include - guess what? Sports, balloons, pony rides (rather than donkeys), flags, medals, a substantial meal, beer and a band to enliven the proceedings. Let’s hope for the ‘lovely warm afternoon’ of June 1887.

He was commemorated in brass, as an infant in swaddling clothes, in Stanford Rivers in 1492. What was the infant’s name?
How did the parish of Stanford Rivers commemorate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria?
When was the Ongar Union Workhouse established?
Why is the burial of William Nayler in Stanford Rivers churchyard a puzzle?
Starve Goose Field is named in the Greensted Tithe Award of 1841. Why was the field called by this name?
Greensted Church was restored in Victorian times. Who was the vicar at the time of this restoration?
Name a site of a Victorian post box within the four parishes of the High Country.
In 1839, James Brine married Elizabeth Standfield in Greensted Church. Why is this marriage of some historical significance?
The ghosts of Roman centurions have reportedly been seen walking from Blake Hall through the High Country. Why do these centurions have some historical connection?
Where is the old school house in Greensted?
The post mill at Toot Hill was struck by lightning on the 26th June 1829. The Miller suffered serious injuries. What was the miller’s name?
What is the K6 near North Farm, Theydon Mount?
What relevance is Molehill Green (near Stansted Airport) to Theydon Mount?
What bus route made five return trips daily through Theydon Mount to Toothill until the late seventies?
To whom precisely is the church at Theydon Mount dedicated?
What industrial activity once took place on the site of the present Theydon Mount rectory?
Which towns are or were linked by the roman road that runs through Theydon Mount and Toot Hill?
What is the corrugated iron structure immediately adjacent to the roman road at Badger’s Corner, Tawney Common?
What is special about the northern verge of the roman road, roughly between Galloway’s Farm and High Warren?
What is the name of the new road - built within the last 200 years - that links the cottages at the north end of Beachet Wood with the roman road at Badger’s Corner?
What connects Stanford Rivers Church and the songs “Run Rabbit Run” and “The Sun Has Got His Hat On.”?
In which year did the following fires occur?

a. Hill Hall
b. St Mary’s Stapleford Tawney
c. St Margaret’s Stanford Rivers.

The body of which Saint rested at Greensted Church on its last journey?
Which famous explorer ‘preached’ in the Congregational Chapel at Stanford Rivers?
What are Peggles and Butter Harsies?

The Answers to these questions will be given in Newsletter No. 5. Best of luck!

Does anybody have any information on the Rainbird family who lived in Stanford Rivers in the 19th century? Thomas Rainbird, unmarried and aged 60, of Stanford Rivers is mentioned in the Census of 1851. David, a miller, and Emma Rainbird, of Kelvedon Hatch are mentioned in the Census of 1871. Emma and two of their children, Anne and Emily, were born in Stanford Rivers in 1835/6, 1864 and 1865/6, respectively. The 1881 Census shows Emma’s mother living with this family. Can anyone add to this?

One now forgotten custom was to carry a garland, in the shape of a crown adorned with flowers and paper trimmings, at the funeral of an unmarried girl and to hang it in the church afterwards. This practice can be traced back to the 16th century and must be much older still it probably went into decline in the 17th and 18th centuries, restrained by Puritan reformers and the tidy-minded, but it has not entirely died out in modern times. In 1973, a garland was made for a funeral at Abbots Ann, Hampshire, where forty-nine garlands can be seen in St. Mary’s church.

A survey carried out 20 years ago by Gereth M. Spriggs identified 64 churches which preserve maidens’ garlands. Since then, only one other has been identified, in St. Michael’s church, Theydon Mount, it is one of two which a photograph of 1905 shows to have once hung from the nave roof. Since the other one disintegrated in a cloud of dust some years ago, efforts have been made to preserve the surviving example. It is currently being painstakingly restored at the Conservation Laboratory of the York Archaeological Trust.

The conservation of the garland has shed much light on its construction and history. The wooden frame, now worm-eaten and very fragile, was made of ash. Attached to it are sprigs of box, surprisingly well preserved, though the leaves have now gone brown. They are tied on with string made of hemp. As an evergreen shrub, box has been associated with burial practices since at least Roman times. Most interesting of all has been the analysis of the now very fragmentary paper decorations. Some of these have printed patterns in black or red on a white background, which look as if they date from the later 17th century. As such, they are the best dating evidence for the garland and indicate that it is very much older than previously suspected. Indeed, it is one of the oldest surviving garlands as well as being the only one in East Anglia.

The conservation of the garland has been made possible through the generosity of the Essex Heritage Trust, the Manifold Trust, and Essex County Council.

As many of you are aware our Chairman, Rob Brooks suffered a serious heart attack on the 18 January and he remains seriously ill in hospital. Our thoughts and prayers are with Anne, Susannah and Paul at this very difficult time for them all,, and we wish Rob a speedy recovery.

As a result of Rob’s illness we have had to postpone some of the events we had planned for this year, although I am pleased to say that the talks will go ahead and you will see that we have arranged some excellent speakers on a variety of subjects.

Rob wrote two of the articles in this newsletter, ‘The Desecration of Essex’ and the ‘Tithe Commutation Awards’.

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting on the 13th when I hope I will be able to give you more news.

Martyn Lockwood

Romans in Essex? Colchester comes to mind immediately, but Roman occupation had been widespread. There is evidence that Harlow was a religious and trading centre of local importance before the arrival of the Romans. Although there is little evidence of actual settlement, a small hill, known as Stanegrove, within the flood plain of the River Stort, appears to have been used for religious ceremonies.

After AD 43, Harlow found itself within the triangle formed by the Roman roads of Stane Street, Ermine Street and the military road linking London and Colchester. Settlement during the Roman period is demonstrated by the discovery of two villas within the boundary of modern Harlow. In 1940, an enemy bomb ‘excavated’ another villa. The site of Stanegrove developed as a venerated centre and around AD 80 a Roman temple was built there of flint and mortar. The temple was extended over the next century, eventually falling into decay around AD 400¹.

Are the hops in a Greensted hedgerow evidence of some Roman settlement?

James Woolmore had served as churchwarden at St Margaret’s church, Stanford Rivers for 55 years when this photograph was taken in February 1905.

During his long service he served under four Rectors.

James died in 1910 aged 83 years.

Sir Charles CUNLIFFE SMITH, of Suttons, Romford, died there on Monday, at the age of 78, after a long illness. Although born in London (the only son of the 2nd baronet of the title, by his wife, a daughter of William Gosling, of Roehampton), Sir Charles was intimately connected with Essex during the whole of his life. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he succeeded his father in 1831, when he was only four years old, and as a large landowner and landlord, has always been popular in the county. He was a good sportsman, and in his younger days a frequent follower of the hounds: a typical country squire, whose tenants and servants were content to remain with him and to seek no other homes. He was the oldest of the county magistrates, having been placed on the Commission of the Peace for Essex in April 1851. He was High Sheriff in 1852, a D.L. for the county, and until quite recently chairman of the Ongar bench of magistrates, from whom, on his retirement, he received a handsome presentation. Sir Charles married in 1855 Agnes Frederica, youngest daughter of Capel Cure, of Blake Hall ; their golden wedding was celebrated a few months ago. He is succeeded by his elder son, Drummond Cunliffe Smith, born in Grosvenor Street, W., in 1861, and leaves another son and two daughters. Suttons is situated in the parish of Stapleford Tawney, and there Sir Charles was buried on Friday.

Thomas Smythe was born at Saffron Walden, Essex, 23 Dec 1513, the eldest son of John Smith (d. 1547) and Agnes Charnock (b. Lancashire; d. 1547). His father was wealthy: served as sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1538/9; and had the grant of arms confirmed to him in 1545. Thomas enjoyed reading, writing and painting from a young age. Before May 1525 he “was placed under the care of Henry Gold of St. John’s College, Cambridge.”

Thomas Smythe entered Queens’ College, Cambridge in 1526, was appointed King’s scholar the following year, was elected fellow on 25 Jan 1529/30, and graduated M.A. in 1533. He then lectured on natural philosophy and Greek. In May 1540 he went abroad, visiting Paris and Orleans before studying in Padua. Back home, he sought to restore the correct pronunciation of Greek, quite a controversial matter at the college; and he also wrote a tract advocating extending the English alphabet to include 10 vowels.

His university career advanced in 1544 when he was appointed regius professor of civil law and served as vice-chancellor of Cambridge. He also became chancellor to the bishop of Ely; he was ordained priest in 1546; and claimed to have received a prebend in Lincoln Cathedral.

Smythe was early a protestant and retained moderate protestant views all his life. After Edward VI’s accession, he entered the service of Protector Somerset, to whom he always remained loyal, in February 1546/7, and later that year became provost of Eton and dean of Carlyle. He and Sir William Petre were made the two principal secretaries of state in April 1548, succeeding Paget. The next summer Smythe was sent on a special mission to Flanders, negotiating for mercenaries and for support against France, but it didn’t go well. Later that year he worked on the English feudal claim over Scotland. In 1549 he was knighted.

In September 1549, he was with Protector Somerset at Hampton Court and accompanied him to Windsor where Smythe lost his major offices: the council, the post of secretary, and his professorship at Cambridge. He was imprisoned in the Tower for close to five months. Shortly afterwards, summoned as a witness against Gardiner, he seems to have used his influence rather in Gardiner’s favour - which stood him in good stead in Mary’s reign.

May 1551 took Smythe back to France, accompanying Northampton on his embassy to the court. Most of this year and the next he was at Eton, where he had a hard time with the other fellows until Northumberland stepped in on his side. Then in 1553, after Mary’s accession he was summoned before her commissioners, but Gardiner protected him and he even obtained an indulgence from the pope.

In September 1553 Smythe was Member of Parliament for Grampound, Cornwall. He spent the rest of Mary’s reign in private study, but returned to public life on Elizabeth’s accession. He was again M.P. in 1558/9, this time for Liverpool. Smythe was a member of the ecclesiastical commission reviewing the Book of Common Prayer, and their meetings were held in his house in Cannon Row, Westminster.

In 1562, during the struggle between the Guises and the Huguenots, Smith went to France in the role of Ambassador. Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was joint ambassador, an unhappy arrangement as there was jealousy between them and some mistrust from Elizabeth. This was a difficult assignment, given that Elizabeth was interested in helping the Huguenots, and also used the occasion to seize Le Havre; Smythe was even imprisoned at Melun for 3 weeks in 1563. He stayed in France two years beyond the signing of the peace of Troyes in April 1564, returning to England in May 1566.

Having failed to obtain the chancellorship of the duchy of Lancaster, he spent the next three years in retirement in Essex. March 1570/1 saw him readmitted to the privy council. In April 1572 he was made chancellor of the order of the Garter, succeeding Burghley, then was elected knight of the shire for Essex, and in July appointed secretary of state. That year he persuaded Elizabeth to send help to Scottish protestants.

In his last years, besides much official work, he was involved in establishing a colony at Ards, county Down, where he left his illegitimate and only) son in charge, only to lose him quickly, in 1573. All parties lost their investments as well. His health declined in earl 1576 and he died at home at Hill Hall, Theydon Mount, 12 August 1577. He was buried in the parish church. By his will, his library went to Queens’ College,

Smythe was an accomplished “physician, mathematician, astronomer, architect, historian and orator” whose friends included the leading scholars of his time. His more notable work - of many - was De Republica Anglorum: the Maner of Government or Policie of the Realme of England, called “the most important description of the constitution and government of England written in the Tudor age.” There is a portrait of him by Holbein and a further portrait at Queens’ College, Cambridge.

Charming Local History Committee, genuine, desperately seek Lady or Gent, age 16 to 100, High Country based, for companionship at local history activities, to manage finance for small group, no previous experience necessary, GSOH an advantage, no late evenings, no Euros involved (yet!), no polo in Home Counties either, sorry!

John Hanson Rector of Stapleford Tawney committed adultery with his housekeeper, Anna Lamborne and only had to do penance and pay 10 shillings to the scholars at Oxford.

**

William Norrington of Theydon Mount, butcher, indicted for grand larceny. On the 30th October 1607 at Stanford Rivers stole a sorrel gelding (£4) from John Fynch, sen.
GUILTY - to hang.
[Calendar of Assize Records - Essex Indictments - James I]

There is something about country-church graveyards that their town and city counterparts lack. Usually tucked away from the community they serve,they offer an atmosphere of calm and tranquillity that can soothe away the stresses of everyday living; and, as we wander amongst the stone memorials of people who have lived before us, we can put our own lives in perspective of eternal existence.

We gathered by the old Norman church on a lovely late-spring evening, under a clear blue sky with only a faint whisper of the cold north-easterly of previous days still with us; and it was easy to imagine that peace and tranquillity had been here throughout the centuries. So it was something of a shock to be told by Brian Pugh, our very knowledgeable guide that it was quite otherwise, and early in its history there had been quarrelling between the monks of the Priory attached to the church, and the parishioners, so acrimonious and violent that Richard II ordered a brick wall to be built to separate the Priory from the church. This still exists as the east wall of the church. However, in 1066, before all this tumult a Saxon church made of wood and measuring 80ft by 40ft. stood on the site until in 1135 Alberic de Vere first Earl of Oxford, founded a monastery and attached it to the existing Saxon structure. The Priory was of the Benedictine (Black Monks) Order.

In 1230 fire destroyed parts of the Priory, and Henry 3rd. granted oaks from Hatfield Forest to assist with necessary repairs. The monastery was extended in the 14th century by benefactors Robert Taper, and his wife, Millicent, and measured 230ft in length.

Parishioners thereupon decided to restore the parochial church. A quarrel followed, and in 1376 the parishioners attacked the monastery. The monks appealed to Richard 2nd and he ordered the building of the dividing wall. The church was then largely rebuilt. The wall on the North side is Norman and 4ft thick.

In 1534 the Monastery was surrendered to the King’s Commissioners, and the monastic church was dismantled. In 1708 the Vestry was built to house the library founded by the then Rector, Revd George Sterling. The books cover a range of philosophy, theology, history, and biography, and include a Breeches Bible and a Vinegar Bible. Later, in 1782 the present peal of eight bells was installed in the Tower, and around 1843 extensive repair work to the church was carried out. The pews of today were installed at the same time.

The only surviving part of the medieval Rood Screen, stands across the entrance to the Barrington family chapel. They, with the de Veres are the most notable families linked with the church, and the village. A stone effigy of Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl Of Oxford in chain armour, stands near the altar.

A very enjoyable evening of discovery culminated in a climb up a narrow, spiralling stone stairway to the top of the 81ft tower. My legs protested for a few days afterwards, but the effort was rewarded magnificent view over Essex.

The endless tides of history have washed the green hill-country of Theydon Mount a thousand years. Nothing more important in the life of the parish than the building of its church has happened there throughout that time. With Hill Hall, St. Michael’s encompasses the whole history of the parish in its noblest and humblest dimensions. A great Elizabethan lies within it, adding lustre to the more prosaic memory of parishioners ‘who, like him, worshipped there in the faith for which this pleasant little Essex church was built. We do not know if Godric, who farmed the lands of the Saxon manor, shared this privilege, or if the Fitz-Wimarcs, the powerful Norman magnates who usurped his inheritance at the Conquest, raised a Norman church at the site.

In history there is no church at Theydon Mount until 1236 when, the Essex archives tell us Robert the parson was involved in a dispute about land. But the absence of a reference to one on the manor at the time of the Domesday Survey does not preclude the presence of a church in 1086. The parochial system was well established in Essex before the Normans came and it is at least possible that the first church at Theydon Mount had been built by the end of the twelfth century or even earlier. We have, unhappily, no information that would enable us to describe the earlier church. It is likely to have been largely of timber construction for there is little building stone available in Essex and such a precious commodity would almost certainly have been beyond the resources of such a small community or, at any rate, not readily discarded when the present church was built. Oak on the other hand, stood in abundance on the clay slopes of the wooded ridge that still characterise the parish landscape. That too would explain the apparently complete loss of the old church by fire, as a result, it is said, of being struck by lightning in 1611.

The old church was dedicated to St. Michael and St. Stephen. It enjoyed, like its successor, the present church, the patronage of the lords of the manor who presided at the great houses on the Mount within the shadow of which it stood. Its destruction, like that of Hill Hall 350 years later, was a major event in the story of the parish. It made way, however, for the fine brick built church we now admire, and much, as the most famous of Essex historiographers, Philip Morant, wrote in 1763 ‘stands pleasantly’ in the parkland around the ruined shell of Hill Hall. At the time a note of frustration and impatience, a not unfamiliar experience today, was sounded by the rector who, in the parish register, wrote: –

‘for Two yeeres we had none Christened in or Church because it-was so long building, after it was burnt‘

It was not until 1614, with Margaret Juby, the first of the rector’s four children to be christened at the church, that the entries were resumed in the parish registers. At the time there appears to have been more than a little anxiety to disturb the tranquillity of this remote parish. In the year of the fire the Parochial Visitations note that George Mott, warden, tackled about his deteyning a chest in his custody belonging to the church alleged that the chest was broken open when the church was robde, and that it was cast broken into a field. ‘They want’, it was said, ‘a strong chests or box for the almes for the poore’. No one could deny it! And again, the Visitation of 1638, the new church no doubt still lacking in many respects, reports the need to rail the communion table and provide plate, cloth, a book of homilies, a book of commons, a book for the fifth of November, a new chest for the ‘ornament of the church’, an alms box for the poor with lock and keys, a new cover for the pulpit cushion and a font cover. The churchyard fence was to be ‘repayred and mended’. A new parchment register was to be provided for christenings.

The registers - to which we now return were, the rector was instructed, ‘to be kept in ye chest’. The whole spectrum of parish life is exposed in the fading mundane pages of these documents. Mingled with entries recording the baptisms, marriages and deaths of the great folk of Hill Hall are such as the ‘vagrant’s child’ buried in 1638 and Jane Anderson, ‘Daughter of a travelling stranger’ baptised in June 1642. There is poignant tragedy too. Willyam Doucet had a little son baptised and ‘next day dyed and buried’. And the continuity of family life within the ambit of the parish church was set down for posterity. Thomas Winter and his sweetheart, An Weldon, married in the church in May 1626, brought Thomas and Rebecca their ‘Twines sonne & daughter’ to the font in 1629.

Pre-eminent is the name of Sir Thomas Smith whose burial in the chancel was recorded in the register on 5th September 1571, with an unique verbal flourish in contrast to the normal economy of the rector’s clerical routines:

‘Thomas Smith miles et principalis secretar nobilissime principis Elizabethe Regine Anglie.’

This great man’s name dominates the history of Theydon Mount and Hill Hall. Essex-born, and an intellectual of the first rank in Tudor England, Sir Thomas, after a life of achievement and tribulation, ended his days at Hill Hall the architectural conception of which sprang largely from his fertile inspiration and experience. His tomb in the chancel, elaborate and impressive, is believed to have designed himself. It forms part of a luxuriantly incongruous array of monuments to the Smith family whose members were for more than three centuries closely associated with the church as patrons and rectors. But if St. Michael’s has today outlived its role as a family sepulchre for the Smiths, their stony presence still transcends the otherwise simple piety of this modest church, as if reluctant to relinquish the status they once enjoyed.

The new building was one of fifteen pre-Victorian parish churches in Essex dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, thus symbolising the triumph of virtue and the church in its militant aspect. It is interesting that this dedication is not infrequently found attached to churches with hill-top sites like that at Theydon Mount. The dedication was made when the new church was consecrated by John Lang, the Bishop of London, in 1614. Not large, the church is none-the-less an unusually complete example of its period which was not prolific in church building in Essex or indeed elsewhere. But for the fire, Theydon Mount is unlikely to have had a new church before the Gothic Revival of the nineteenth century.

We may, perhaps, appropriately pause here to consider the church in its architectural aspects. There is much good brick building in Essex and the church stands comparison with the best although it has not the striking external diaper work of Ingatestone or the scale or elaboration of the towers at East Horndon, Rochford or Layer Marney. Its agreeable red-brick textures harmonise well with its immediate environment. Probably the bricks were made in the kilns which, according to the Chapman and Andre map, still operated in the fields to the north of the church in the eighteenth century. Certainly, it is the homogenise of this medium and the sepulchral edifices which crowd the chancel, that are the most significant feature of the building. I like the proportions of the neatly recessed and shingled spirelet that satisfied but refuses to compete with the sturdy battlemented three-stage tower on which it rests. The fenestration is fittingly simple with moulded labels and unsophisticated intersecting tracery.

Conversely, the porch, with curvilinear sable and classical decoration, is slightly fussy and inconsistent with the architectural idiom as a whole. The Smith memorials divert attention from a plain but well contrived arch-braced roof of the nave and such details as the elegant and unusual marble font reputedly of Italian origin, and apparently contemporary with the main fabric. The benches too must be survivals from the early seventeenth century.

In 1791 Humphry Repton, the famous landscape gardener, was concerned to exploit the aesthetic qualities of the church, its tower ‘imbosomed high in tufted trees’ for the benefit of the vistas from Hill Hall. A glimpse of the church at that time is thus afforded by his brief descriptive reference and the little water-colour with which he illustrates his proposals in the Red Book prospectus he prepared for the Smiths:

‘The church which I now suppose is of red brick, in which there is less harm than in the attempt to ornament it by white windows and a white spire....’

Less harm indeed! It is the use of this sturdy and pleasant medium, characteristic of an Essex building tradition of the period, that we now find so attractive. A less sophisticated view was taken in 1845 in an article in The Penny Magazine describing Hill Hall and the park, then well-stocked with deer, which called it ‘a neat little church’. A present authority, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner acknowledges its architectural quality and rarity in his monumental modern Domesday Book of buildings in England. For the external elevations are suitably described in a lapidary reference to Dr. John Dod whose memorial of 1762 is in the churchyard. Like him, the church was endowed with ‘A simplicity of manners which would have done honour to a better Age’. For the time in which it was built in fact heralded a decline from the cultural and intellectual standards of Tudor England and a period in which the vicissitudes in the affairs of church and state did little honour to either.

Theydon Mount did not escape the pressures of the doctrinal confusion and political turmoil of the seventeenth century. Its rectors, Daniel Whitby, accorded the dignity of appointment by the Crown in 1637 as the patron was still in his minority, suffered, along with many of his contemporaries in Essex, the indignity of ejection during the Civil War and the Commonwealth. ‘Since my Returne to Mount’ as he wrote in the register in 1661, he was faced with restoring the diminished prestige and flagging morale of his church and the pastoral life of the parish. Whitby’s place had been taken in 1643 by Walter Wells. The parochial records bear witness to the supportive role of the parish church, despite the stresses of that time, in buttressing the social fabric of the community. It was thus in the corporate life of the parish that the people of Theydon Mount eventually compounded their political and religious problems under the spiritual aegis of their restored rector and his successors. Not until modern times was the church again faced with a social challenge of the same order as that which confronted Daniel Whitby and his tiny rural community at the Restoration.

Always there were matters of general and local status to attend to. The churchwarden’s accounts express the church’s concern in secular affairs and its own house-keeping. The petty cash was available for assistance to the indigent or for needy travellers. So, typically, we find sixpence provided in August 1752 ‘To several sailors in their passage to Sussex’. In January 1753 to shillings was offered as a ‘thanksgiving for the ceasing of the Contagious Distemper amongst the Cattle’. Half that sum was produced in 1813, according to the Apparitor at the following Easter, for the fee for the ‘Proclamation for General Thanksgiving on the Victories of the Allied Armies’ over Napoleon. A proper sense of local priorities one might think, and, returning to matters of more immediate concern, 10s.6d. was spent by the churchwardens on painting the ‘stiple’ in 1828 and, in 1834, it cost three shillings to mow the churchyard. Such is the pecuniary reality of collective philanthropy, gratitude, and necessity at the parochial level.

In 1755 the rectory of Theydon Mount was joined with that of St. Mary’s at Stapleford Tawney. In the year of Victoria’s accession, during “the incumbency of the Rev Sir Edward Bowyer Smyth, the church was considerably restored after over 200 years of service. In addition to repairing the fabric a gallery was erected at the west end for the use of the musicians who supported the singing and the servants from Hill Hall who could not, with propriety, sit among their masters below. This, the most significant work on the church since it was re-built in 1614, was noted by an inscription on the string-boarding underneath the gallery. Also in late-Victorian times was received, by gift, additions to the church furniture, including the chancel chair, the pulpit, reading desk, and credence table.

In 1926 a Faculty was granted, by the Bishop of Chelmsford for changes that left the church in appearance much as it is today. The plastered ceiling was opened up to reveal the timbered roof and the ‘existing unsightly gallery’, which, as we have seen, had been erected in 1837, was removed. Three years later the church was honoured, as is rarely the experience of our remote country churches, by the visit of the reigning monarch’s Queen. Not since 1400, when Pope Boniface IX, who was liberal with such benevolence, granted a ‘Relaxation of Penance’ for three years and 120 days to pilgrims visiting the church at Theydon Mount on certain days, had the church received notice by such an eminent personality.

On 29th June 1926 Her Majesty Queen Mary travelled by road from Buckingham Palace to Hill Hall where she was entertained by Sir Robert and Lady Hudson. During the visit she was received at the church by the rector the Rev. S.J. Stanley and her royal name thus lends distinction to the annals of this secluded and unpretentious church in the pretty Essex countryside on the slopes above the Roding. It has thus had its moments of conspicuous glory: royal visit, a Papal Indulgence and the memory of a great Tudor statesman and scholar embellish the story of the secular and pastoral life of this little parish church. But, much as we may value its personal associations with the gracious Queen and the illustrious Sir Thomas Smith it is, nevertheless, in its parochial role that its enduring significance lies. St. Michael the Archangel still ‘stands pleasantly’ at Theydon Mount cherished by all who know it. Thus, it continues to sanctify and enrich the lives of the parishioners it serves, quietly and agreeably, in character with the restraint and spiritual qualities of its architecture.

West Chiltington,
March 1973

I had intended to write about one Essex airfield near to the High Country but was diverted onto another, literally but not physically! Of the two, only one of these is still in operation and neither of them is at North Weald.

Edward Hillman

The airstrip at Stapleford Tawney has an interesting history. The early days of the airfield were closely connected with a man called Edward Hillman. Hillman was one of the early entrepreneurs involved in air travel within the United Kingdom. Edward Hillman was born in Croydon in 1889. He started on the buses, purchasing his first bus in 1928. He drove the bus himself on his first commercial route in December of that year between Stratford and Brentwood. By the end of the following year, the route was extended to Colchester calling at Chelmsford on the way.

Services were tailored to customer needs, and through his success Hillman was able to expand his fleet of coaches from 18 in March 1930, to 57 by December of that year. The service now ran to (wider) East Anglian destinations including Ipswich, Great Yarmouth, Clacton and Norwich. As an indication of the quality of the service the single journey from Stratford to Chelmsford took 90 minutes at a fare of two shillings, but sixpence was discounted for the return fare.

Hillman was quick to realise the opportunity to link his coach business with the developing commercial air transport activity. After purchasing two aircraft, Puss Moths, Hillman took over the licence of Maylands aerodrome from its former licensee in November 1931. His initial charter business was transformed into an air taxi operation, offering greater convenience, as a matter of course. Trips from Hillman’s Aerodrome, as it was now known, flew from 8 am until dusk. Long distance flights were priced at 3d. per mile, and destinations extended to Belfast, Dundee and Plymouth. You were invited to; “Meet your friends and watch the flying over a Cup of Tea” and the advertising included “All Refreshments at Popular Prices.” You could; “Drive your car onto the Ground where it will be safe whilst you are taking Refreshments or in the Air, or travel by our Coaches direct to the Ground.”

In 1932, and one can be amazed at the pace that Hillman generated, he instigated an Aviation Display on 24 September 1932. The attractions included the flight of the Lord Mayor of London to the display, and an air race for the Hillman Trophy. The publicity that was created for Hillman was invaluable and his first service to Paris was introduced in April 1933.

The period of rapid and seemingly unfettered growth was to be checked. The bus routes had been under threat from acquisition by the London Passenger Transport Board, who had taken over the majority of the road transport side of the business. The final 28 coaches (from a peak of 116!) were sold to Eastern National in 1934, and Hillman could now devote himself and his growing investment to his commercial air business.

Essex Airport, Stapleford Tawney

He was to move from Maylands, having been squeezed by the need to run larger aircraft and the restrictions placed on his operation because of the size of the aerodrome. He bought some land at Stapleford Tawney and opened the Essex Airport there on 23 June 1934. Advertising ran as follows:

ESSEX AIRPORT
Stapleford, near Abridge, Essex
Telephone – Stapleford 291 (10 lines)
Open Day and Night

The Essex Airport is situated on the main road between Abridge and Passingford Bridge, and is a forty minute run by road from King’s Cross.

All Hotel facilities are available at the Airport, and our own Express Coach service operates between King’s Cross Coaching Station and the Airport in connection with the arrival and departure of all Air Liners.

Private Charters are carried out from 5/- upwards, and machines are available day or night.

The Essex Airport has fully equipped workshops, and private owners can have their machines cleaned, housed or repaired at any time of the day or night, and complete C. of A’s are undertaken. A free Car Park is also provided.

In order to avoid delay passengers passing through Customs are requested not to leave the Customs Office until all the necessary formalities are completed.

Note that the phone has ten lines, the airport is just forty minutes from King’s Cross, and car parking is free. How flying has changed!

Two Accidents

The early days at the Essex Airport saw a further strengthening of Hillman’s commercial air business. The General Post Office awarded Hillman an airmail contract, which enabled him to fly to Glasgow. However, tragedy was to visit the company. A Hillman airliner crashed on 2 October 1934 - remember this was would have been only about six years from the purchase of his first bus. The plane, an 89 Dragon Rapide, crashed into the sea four miles off the coast at Folkestone and the pilot and six passengers perished. Lack of navigational skills by the pilot was stated to be the official cause of the accident. Two months later, on the 31 December 1934, Edward Hillman died at the age of forty-five.

On 21 February 1935, a further catastrophe befell the airline. Two American girls, the only passengers, apparently fell out of one of Hillman’s planes. They were the daughters of Coert Du Bois, the American Consul in Naples, Jane and Elizabeth, aged 20 and 23. The inquest was held on 25 February and considered the two bodies, lying close together on the ground in Upminster, and the deserted items found in the cabin - a lady’s shoe, a whisky bottle and sealed letters address to Mr and Mrs Du Bois. It was a celebrated accident, and there had already been considerable speculation in the press about the deaths of two apparently wealthy, high-living young girls. The deaths of two Air Force officers, who had died in a flying-boat disaster in Sicily on 15 February 1935, with whom the girls were believed to have formed close attachments, were thought to be connected and to have resulted in severe depression within the girls that might have culminated in the suicide of the girls “whilst the balance of their mind was disturbed”.

The passenger door of the aircraft was insecure and it was likely that the weight of both girls would have been necessary to force the door open against the slipstream of the aircraft. Suggestions were made that to avoid such accidents in the future; either a central locking system should be installed, or a flight attendant would be required to close the door. Shortly after, the board of Hillman Airways was to change and the pilot involved in the incident, Joe Kirton, left the company, hastened by an unrelated incident a week before the accident when a cargo of gold bullion was lost from the same aircraft.

Decline

In September 1935, plans were being worked out to merge United Airways and Spartan Airways with Hillman Airways, to form a new company, Allied British Airways which later the following month became known as British Airways. Hillman was dead and his airline had ceased to exist but, through Edward Hillman, Stapleford Tawney had formed an important chapter in the development of a national airline.

Stapleford Tawney airfield had seen the rapid expansion of a charter and taxi service into an airfield with international destinations. The period contrasts dramatically with the post-war years and the development of the de Havilland Comet just twenty years away. The controversy regarding the siting of the Third London Airport in the early 1970s, and the furore over the expansion of the resulting airport at Stansted, contrast markedly with the less dramatic, faster moving but considerably less regulated business growth at Stapleford Tawney in the mid-1930s.

In the last newsletter we looked at the history of Stapleford Tawney during the years leading up to 1939, when it was a busy commercial airfield. Our story continues with its role during World War Two.

In 1938 a flying school, No 21 Elementary and Reserve Flying School, was established at Stapleford Tawney to train the ever-increasing number of pilots that were needed by the RAF. Reid and Signist Ltd who were under contract to the Air Ministry carried out the flying training. One trainee who went on to have an illustrious career with the RAF, retiring in 1966 as an Air Vice Marshal, was J.E. ‘Johnnie’ Johnson, who became the top-scoring pilot with 38 ‘kills’ to his name. Johnson at the time was a civil engineer living in Loughton who learnt to fly at the weekends.

Shortly after the outbreak of war work was carried out to enlarge the airfield and by the end of March 1940 it was considered ready and was handed over to 11 Group and became a satellite for North Weald.

Squadron No151 was the first to operate regularly from the airfield and during its short stay it lost six aircraft and two pilots, one of which was the commander – Squadron Leader Eric King. No 151 Squadron was replaced by 46 Squadron, which had recently seen action in Norway and had lost all its aircraft and may of its personnel when the aircraft carrier Glorious was sunk. The pilots went straight into action. On the 3rd September when North Weald was attacked the squadron lost five aircraft whilst accounting for two enemy aircraft. The following day three more Hurricanes were lost. During their first month of operations the squadron claimed 19 victories for the loss of twenty aircraft with eight pilots killed.

During August a highly secret unit (No 419 Flight) moved into North Weald, but due to heavy raids it was moved to Stapleford in September. The unit was the operational air-arm of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The flight was responsible for dropping agents and supplies into enemy occupied territory, but by October had moved to Stradishall.

In April 1941 No 242 Squadron flew in form Martlesham Heath. The squadron got off to a bad start for on their first operational flight (20th April) three Hurricanes collided over the Channel killing all three pilots, including the CO, Squadron leader Paddy Treacy. They were followed by 3 Squadron. Its motto ‘The third shall be first’ commemorated the fact they were the oldest squadron in the RAF, having been formed in 1912.

Towards the end of 1941 an Air Sea Rescue Squadron was formed at the airfield – No 277. This was to be their base for the next 12 months and there was no operational flying from the airfield. The squadron’s HQ was at Dudbrook Hall, Navestock.

In March 1943 the airfield was taken out of Fighter Command and handed over to No 34 Wing of the Army Co-operation Command, and it became a satellite of Sawbridgeworth. No 656 squadron which was an air observation post unit also moved in, but by August they were on their way to India.

No 34 Wing was disbanded in June 1943. They were replaced by a large number of ground personnel, including Signals, RAF Regiment and two Repair and Salvage units. However the majority of these left for the south coast in preparation for the D Day Landings.

The airfield suffered a number of attacks, the most serious being when a V2 rocket fell on the main camp site on 23 February 1945, killing 17 and injuring another 50.

In April 1945 the last few ground units left and Stapleford was reduced to a care and maintenance status under North Weald.

In 1953 the Herts and Essex Aero Club took over the airfield and it remains to this day a popular venue for light aircraft.

We were joined by members from the Ongar Millenium History Group on the 25th October, for this talk on the landscape gardener, Humphry Repton, given by Anne Padfield. An audience of some 68 people were present - our largest audience so far - and all bodes well for the future of our Society if we can attract this number each time.

The following article was sent in by Patrick Griggs and is taken from the handwritten copy. It seems appropriate to publish this article at this time as it is the 300th anniversary of the birth of John Wesley, who is associated with the foundation of Methodism.

John Blake was a Baker residing at the village of Great Bardfield in Essex, and having at the time my story begins [1793] a wife and five small children whom he was maintaining by dint of industry and great frugality in respectability and comfort. He is represented by those who knew him well as “Diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”

The village had obtained an unenviable notoriety in the surrounding neighbourhood for the profligacy of its inhabitants and was known at a time not at all conspicuous for a high standard of public morality, as Wicked Bardfield.

The pious Baker viewed .....uncontrolled iniquity that wounded him, and desiring as far as his humble abilities would allow to raise the standard of the gospel in the village he invited some itinerant Methodist preachers to hold services in his Bake Office which was licensed for the purpose in conformity to the law.

There on Sabbath days was a little band collected to hear the words of life and seated round the Bake Office upon the binns, flour sacks or perchance on some more convenient resting place provided for the occasion. Some of the inhabitants of Wicked Bardfield listened for the first time to the invitation of mercy addressed to them by the self denying labourers who “went about doing good”, and hesitated not through evil report and cowardly maltreatment to Proclaim to sinners round.

What a dear Saviour they had found. These irregular proceedings at the Bake Office aroused the vie of the Parish Minister who considered the Methodists as poachers on his preserves and forthwith took measures to oblige the Baker to discontinue the services; he formed a Committee consisting of Two Shopkeepers, a Publican, A Farrier, who was also Churchwarden and two Farmers of the neighbourhood who entered on their work with businesslike precision and energy. The Committee in order to effect the ruin of the Baker advertised in the public newspaper for one of the same business to come and set up in opposition, and having obtained one, they supported him and a considerable expence. But the former Baker making confessedly good bread and they did not succeed according to their sanguine expectations. The Committee then attempted to engage the whole town and parish in combination not to trade with the baker. This scheme they devoutly hoped would completely starve the poor man and his family or compel him to renounce his judgement and conscience in matters of Religion. Accordingly a writing was drawn up by some persons and presented by the............. for approbation proposing at the same time that it should be copied and stamped paper the next day an signed by themselves ad many as they could prevail upon to join with them. In this nefarious Deed they covenanted for themselves and their families, not to buy anything of the poor man, under penalty of ten shillings for every offence committed by a Master tradesman or farmer and five shillings for every journeyman or labour.

It does not appear that the foregoing was ever completely carried out in effect but it was drawn up and they carried out its design as far as possible.

These means not succeeding a course of greater violence was pursued, a number of lewd fellows of the baser sort were instigated to attack the unoffending religionists and on Sunday 14th July 1793 the preachers on arriving at the Bake House at half past ten a.m. found a mob assembled round the door in a high state of excitement crying “We have a good church, you have no business here. The Gentlemen don’t like it.” One of the Preachers replied, “We don’t come here to oppose the Church. We only come to worship God according to our consciences”. This only provoked greater wrath and fiercer cries on the part of the Mob who were armed with Branches, Bludgeons and stone, and seemed determined to Murder the preachers, who on attempting to leave the house were seized by the rioters who threatened “to do for them” it was with great ........the house and bolted the Door. The Rioters remained all the afternoon and Evening and declared frequently with the most horrid imprecations that they would not leave the place till they got them out.

The Preachers finding they were in a dangerous position and no Magistrate being in the neighbourhood they forwarded a letter by two friends who managed to get clear off with it requesting assistance from Bocking. In the meantime the Mob surrounded the House pouring in through the windows in almost every direction showers of stones and some of them with such violence as to make deep indentations in the partitions opposite, The family who belonged to the House were in the greatest distress, the cries of five small children, frightened by the noise. The stones were so excessive that it was expected every moment that some of them would fall into.... The distress of the mother weeping floods of tears over her children is beyond all description. The compassionate father was driven to his wits end to contrive some method of relieving them. He could not take them into the chambers for fear of their being killed by the stones. At length he removed his children to the barn, putting the youngest in a crate of straw, and covered him up But even here the unmerciful savages disturbed them by knocking against the wall.

The mob sent frequent messages threatening to pull down or burn the house and at last a fire brand was brought for that purpose but at this crisis a Magistrates warrant arrived from Bocking directed to one of the Constables which after being delivered to him sorely against his Will, he dispersed the mob and ministers escaped under the protection of another Constable and reached the village of Weathersfield about Midnight, thanking God for their great Deliverance.

The nature and extent of this riot having made a great sensation in the neighbourhood it was determined to bring the offenders to justice and accordingly a ringleader named Cole and seventeen others were tried before the Honourable Mr Justice Lawrence at Chelmsford Assizes in the month of May 1794 and found guilty of rioting prosecutions were also established against three men and one woman for assaulting the preachers and other acts of violence and they were all found guilty and brought before the Court of Kings Bench for sentence. The judge (The Right Honourable L C Kenyon saying that the indictment should hang over their heads and that if they were ever guilty again of the like crime they would be indicted capitally and hanged. Lord Kenyon also informed the Bail that they were very much mistaken if they supposed they were authorized in encouraging these riots and that by the Toleration Act they were as much open to punishment who disturbed a congregation of Methodists or Dissenters as those who might disturb the Church of England. The recognizances were then taken in £200 each Defendant and their two...

Thus in the issue of these trials a great principle of Religion Liberty was successfully asserted John Blake lived many years a humble and consistent Nonconformist not fearing to be prosecuted for righteousness sake. Two of the five small children still survive surrounded by numerous descendants who delight to hear from their lips the history of the Persecution and Deliverance of John Blake the Baker of Great Bardfield.

L. Blake,
Great Yarmouth, October 1861.

[Note: Patrick can claim ancestry to John Blake through his maternal grandmother]

The Bell House estate was owned and occupied by a branch of the Petre family for much of the 17th and 18th centuries. An account book in the Essex Record Office reveals a little of part of its history, as well as the extent of the estate in the first half of the 18th century. It is clear that, by 1738, the property was seriously encumbered by debts run up by William Petre. The annual income from rents amounted to just over £1061. However, bonds and mortgages, secured on the estate, amounted to £4500, and Petre also had personal debts amounting to about £1750, including unpaid bills to a periwig maker, a coal merchant and a wine merchant. These difficulties were overcome by the 8th Baron Petre, of Thorndon Hall, taking over the administration of the estate. William Petre was to be paid £350 pa tax free, and the rest of the income was devoted to paying off debts, and the interest on the mortgages and bonds, as well as the outstanding capital repayments. All the details are clearly laid out in the account book, and all debts were cleared within six years - quite an achievement!

The main interest, however, is the list of farms and properties comprising the estate, though unfortunately only the annual rent, rather the acreage, of each is listed. Those with a good knowledge of the parish may be able to identify some of the more obscure names, including the rather sinisterly named “Creepers Lane”. The properties listed (in their original spelling) are:
Bellhouse Farm: rental £100
Merrills Farm: rental £156
Teraceys Farm: rental £156
Barwick Farm: rental £150
Stanford Hall Farm: rental £160
Herdhouse Farm: rental £130
Wallers farm: rental £45
Hollingford Farm: rental £43
Godsafe Cottage: rental £5
Thorogood Cottage: rental £5
Ramseys Cottage; rental £2-15s
Gibbs Cottage; rental £2
Green Cottage; rental £1-16s
Cottage adjoining; rental 18s
Groves windmill: rental 10s
Jones Wassh: rental 10s 6d
Part of Creepers Lane; rental 7s 6d

Herdhouse, Wallers and Hollingford farms seem to have disappeared (small farms - judging by their rental - which were presumably amalgamated subsequently with larger neighbours). “Groves windmill” was perhaps the one that stood on the south side of the chase leading to Littlebury Hall, as the Toot Hill mill was not built until the 19th century. Any guesses on the whereabouts of Creepers Lane?

[Editor: Epping Road, Toot Hill, near Does Farm was known locally as ‘Creepers Hill’]

Our local Elizabethan mansion, Hill Hall in Theydon Mount, is currently being redeveloped as luxury apartments, after a splendid exterior refurbishment by English Heritage. It is proving very popular, as over half the apartments are already sold. Its new residents, thinking about the families who have lived there in the past, might imagine four centuries of worthy upper class respectability. This may have been a true picture in some periods, but in others, scandal has rocked Theydon Mount!

Sir William Bowyer-Smyth was born in 1814, the eldest son of the Revd Sir Edward Bowyer-Smyth of Hill Hall. Educated at Eton and Trinity College Cambridge, he was admitted to Middle Temple in 1837 and called to the Bar in November 1840, although there is no record of him ever practising. Perhaps he was too busy practising archery, at which he was an international champion, as well as shooting, fishing, sailing on his schooner and real tennis. He started to borrow money at an early age, thus beginning a long-sustained tradition of debts, loans and mortgaging his inheritance, which was substantial. The Hill Hall estate covered all of Theydon Mount and half of Stapleford Tawney; the family also owned Horham Hall in Thaxted and Attleborough Hall in Norfolk, as well as houses in Camberwell and London. By marrying Marianne Meux, daughter of the “millionaire” Sir Henry Meux of Theobalds Park, in 1839, he added a welcome cash injection to his finances.

During the 1840s, the couple had three children; William became a JP and stood unsuccessfully for Parliament. In 1850 his much-respected father died and William inherited the title of 11th Baronet, as well as the income from the estates. At first he was quite keen, making improvements to various farms; he built new barns at Great Tawney Hall, Little Tawney Hall and Woodhatch, enclosed Tawney Common (which was a real common until then) and built ‘New Farm’, now called Mount Farm, on its edge. He became a Deputy Lieutenant and in 1852 he again stood for Parliament, this time becoming Conservative MP for the whole of South Essex. He seems to have made little impact, and was defeated at the next election in 1857.

Once the initial enthusiasm for running the estates wore off, he spent much of his time in London, leaving Hill Hall to caretakers and agents. It was in London in 1855 that he first met a 13-year-old Scots girl, Eliza Malcolm, who was to change his life. Eliza was the only daughter of a relatively modest military family (her grandfather was a regimental captain), but both her parents had died young and she had been brought up by a succession of aunts. Apparently she and William met socially in some way, then met again in Scotland three years later, when she was sixteen and he was 44. In the language of the time, they ‘formed an attachment’. William persuaded the aunt to allow Eliza out with him on an unchaperoned carriage ride. During the drive, he produced a ring and pronounced the words, ‘With this ring, I thee wed’. He then persuaded Eliza, and later her aunt, that under Scottish laws this constituted a legal marriage. (Trust me, I’m a lawyer?) The fact that he was already married, with three children older than Eliza, apparently slipped his memory.

In a court case nearly 60 years later, Eliza claimed that at the time she did not even know he was a baronet - he had told her he was plain Mr William Smith. When she discovered he had children, he said he was a widower. When she finally learned that his wife was still alive, she had too many family responsibilities to end the ‘marriage’. Her opponents claimed that she must have known the true situation almost from the beginning ... but she was, after all, only sixteen and entitled to be naive.

Whatever she knew or didn’t know, William and Eliza settled down to a life of apparently genuine married bliss. They were devoted to each other, and Eliza very soon produced the first of twelve illegitimate children. The family lived for several years in France and then in Cheltenham, Hill Hall being occupied by tenants and the estates run by trustees. No doubt to finance his lifestyle, Horham Hall was sold. In March 1875, Sir William’s first wife died. A few days later, he married Eliza legally, and a few days after that, their thirteenth child arrived. There followed a stillbirth and a miscarriage, then the last child, Adela was born in 1878. Eliza had been through sixteen pregnancies and had 14 children under 20 and was still only 35.

Now legally married, the couple and their enormous brood moved into Hill Hall, where they spent a blissfully happy time, filling the house with life and activity and exploring the grounds and the village. One of the children, Mary, described their childhood in a delightful memoir ‘Our Lives’, transcribed in 1993 by Suzanna Brooks.

After two or three years at Hill Hall, Eliza became restless. She perhaps felt insecure, as William’s eldest legitimate son was entitled to move into Hill Hall if he married. Or maybe they were not quite accepted by the locals, who remembered Sir William’s kindly, upright clergyman father. Whatever the reason, Eliza insisted on moving to Twineham Court in Sussex. In Mary’s words, “As we were all away and no-one to say her ‘Nay’, she did as she liked, as Papa had always let her do” - a remark which casts an interesting light on their relationship. Sir William actually refused at first to leave Hill Hall, and stayed on with his eldest daughter Kitty for a while, but eventually capitulated and joined Eliza in Sussex. Within a few months however, he had died, aged 69. According to Mary, “We all think he never recovered from being torn away from Hill Hall, his old home.” Whether he knew it or not, no Bowyer-Smyths would ever live at Hill Hall again.

Eliza later remarried, but it was not a success and they separated. She lived to be 80, and a photograph taken the year she died shows her as a strong, handsome woman with hardly a line on her face.

Sir William’s eldest son who, interestingly, was on good terms with his half brothers and sisters and gave the girls away when they married, became a career diplomat. (Perhaps he had a lot of practice at diplomacy, with his father’s double life being an open secret, politely not mentioned in respectable Victorian society.) He himself never married and never lived at Hill Hall, which remained empty and overgrown for many years until some colourful new tenants moved in. But that’s another story…

Essex Archaeological and Historical Congress is the umbrella organisation for local history societies in Essex. The High Country History Groups is a member of this organisation, since we believe that the Congress can offer a co-ordinating role for such societies.

Each year, Congress organises both an archaeological and a historical symposium. The Local History Symposium for this year, 2004, has the title The Church in Essex.

The symposium is to be held on:

Saturday, 20th March 2004
10.00 am to 4.30 pm
at
Christ Church, New London Road,
Chelmsford.

Speakers will include:
Professor Nigel Saul
Dr Julian Litten
Stephen Nunn
Andrew Phillips, and
Dr Jennifer Ward.

There is no limit on the number attending from societies or groups – everyone is welcome. The cost for each attendee is £15, or £10 excluding lunch.

Cheques or postal orders should be made payable to “Essex Congress”, with a stamped, addressed envelope, and sent to the Hon. Sec., Mrs G. Morris, 56, Armond Road, Witham, Essex CM8 2HA.

The Trust (formerly The Redundant Churches Fund) was set up to care for Church of England churches no longer needed for parish use. All the churches are architecturally or historically important with most Grade I or Grade II.

Set up in 1969, the Trust now cares for over 325 churches.

Ten churches in Essex are cared for, including St Andrews at Willingale.

You can read more about the trust on their website - www.visitchurches.org.uk

Stebbing church 1856

The most outstanding feature of the churches of Great Bardfield and Stebbing is the mediaeval stone rood screens. With the exception of Trondheim cathedral in Norway, they are the only two screens of their type in the world.

Rood screens were normally constructed of wood and serve as a divider between the chancel and nave. The Great Rood itself is a crucifix upon which is the figure of Christ, his face still and at peace, and the rood was usually flanked by figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist. A loft erected over the screen provided access to the rood and enabled tapers and candles to be lit in its honour. Stone stairs were built in church walls in order to reach the lofts.

At Great Bardfield and Stebbing the rood screens are of beautiful stone tracery. They were erected in the 14th century but suffered much in the period of the Reformation. The stone steps which once led to the rood loft can still be seen in the wall at Stebbing Church; and also in evidence are stone corbels which once supported the loft. The screens themselves were necessarily much restored in the 20th century.

Trondheim was at one time the main city of Norway and its cathedral was built in the 12th century. It too suffered much decay and destruction during the Reformation. One wonders whether its mediaeval stone screen was somehow by the same architect as those of our two churches in Essex?

Great Bardfield Church was built in the 11th century and amongst the list of recent incumbents of the Church is a Richard Oswald Masheder from 1947 to 1974, whose son is Charles Masheder, our own Rural Dean for Ongar. To commemorate Richard Masheder’s period at Great Bardfield is a stained-glass window dedicated to St. Cedd.

Also at Great Bardfield is the tomb of William Bendlowes (1516-1584), who was a Serjeant-at-Law. Educated at Cambridge, he was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn and called to the Bar at the age of 23. He contributed to the prosperity of Thaxted by persuading clothiers to come into the town, He was returned to the House of Commons in three Parliaments representing Cornish boroughs, he was appointed to rid Essex of heretics and in 1555 was promoted to Serjeant-at-Law, a post which he retained until his death.*

The two churches are well worth a visit, especially to see their remarkable mediaeval stone screens. I found them to be open to visitors during the weekdays, and in addition in the attractive village of Great Bardfield is a small museum. If there is any time remaining in the day a visit to nearby Thaxted is recommended.

Built 1820. Destroyed by fire 1927.

The Chapel stood on the corner of London Road, Stanford Rivers and Church Road. All that remains today is the boundary wall and a headstone from one of the graves. It had an undistinguished history for the 107 years of it existence. Its claim to fame lies with the explorer David Livingstone.

In 1839 Livingstone, then a student at Chipping Ongar, was requested to preach in the chapel. He is said to have suffered from ‘stage fright’ and to have been unable to finish his sermon. He quoted his text and said “Friends, I have forgotten all I had to say” and stepped down from the pulpit.

In 1904 there were 34 Sunday School children and 2 teachers. On Sunday 2nd January 1927, an oil lamp was accidentally overturned and the building destroyed.

Yet again Essex is threatened. The planned multiplication of transport links with London now challenges any peace remaining in the Essex countryside. Does Essex have to play the host to these insidious threats? Does rural Essex need this Hadean progress?

Plans for the proposed development have been published. They show the full extent of the damage that may be expected to our homes. The development, if we can associate the word development with such an outcome, will destroy a wide sweep of Essex farmland. It is just this land that we associate with the tranquillity, the beauty and the honesty of Essex. The development will carve a strip out of the county from which only the pockets of the operators will flourish.

The development will bring the sore of the unsightly, supporting infrastructure. Despite our Master’s stated intentions towards control of this disfigurement, our lives will be blighted into eternity. There will be pollution. The evil and noxious gases will threaten the health of all that they contact, plants, trees, animals, you and me. We urge you to resist the plan. Support our campaign with all the energy you can muster!

We refer, of course, to the:

Plans and Sections
of the London and Bury St Edmunds Railway
Commencing by a Junction with the
Eastern Counties Railway
in the Parish of Stratford in the County of
Essex
and Terminating in the Cricket Field in the
Parish of St James in the Borough of Bury St
Edmunds
in the County of Suffolk
1845-461,2

These plans have recently been published and their availability is due to the solicitors Pennington and Bisgood. The plans show the railway leaving Stratford. The rail line then passes through West Ham, Wanstead, and, following the Roothing Valley, Woodford, Chigwell and Loughton. After Theydon Bois and Lambourne, where the railway crosses the River Roothing, the line cuts through the southern tip of Theydon Mount, passing through the land of the Reverend Sir Edward Bowyer Smyth.

The proposed railway then just touches Stapleford Abbots, before passing through Stapleford Tawney and the land of both the Reverend Smyth, referred to already, and the late Sir Charles Smith, his estate presently being administered under his will by the trustee Spencer Smith. The route enters Stanford Rivers near to Passingford Bridge. Still within the estate of the late Sir Charles, the line veers to the North of the cottages wherein live Jonathan Stokes, James Mead, Widow Clark, Samuel Hutchins and John Bareham. Mary (Widow) Jennings, who lives in Lawns, farms most of the land around here. The railway intends to cross the road, from West to East, between Lawns and Wayletts, where Mary Mott resides. How their peace will be disturbed!

The proposed line now crosses the River Roothing for a short distance before crossing back to approach close behind our new Ongar Union Workhouse. How long will the Workhouse survive when subjected to the constant thunder of the heavy engines? Living South of the Workhouse, in John Kynaston’s cottages, Isaac Taylor, William Pivet, William Furlong and John Mott, and their families will sleep no more. The Reverend Horrocks Cocks, in the Chapel, must prepare to have services greatly disturbed.

Those good people of Stanford Rivers, tenants of Capel Cure, towards Ongar, Charles Clark, James Green, John Knight, William Rayner and Edmund Haymer will not rest easy. Joshua Wilson’s holding, and his tenants Edward Garret, Robert Star, Robert Dix, will be within earshot. Capel Cure, and his tenants, James Mansfield, William Judd, James Lane, James Flack, William Wood, John Welsby, William Pearce, Mary Woolmer, Sarah Thorogood, Thomas Wood and Abraham Surry, the baker, and all their families, will all forsake their tranquillity.

The railway then crosses again, briefly, the River Roothing, where it enters Navestock, before passing East of Coleman’s Mill and the Windmill of William Kynaston, leaving to enter High Ongar, East of Green House and Bottles Farm.

The line then departs Ongar, at a distance of 17 miles from its origin, almost crossing the River Roothing at High Ongar Bridge before passing through Fyfield (and “Clatterfool End”). On its Route to Dunmow, the line skirts West of the Church at Beauchamp Roothing. Never very far from the River Roding, the successive parishes of Abbotts Roothing and Leaden Roothing are visited before the line leaves the river to pass through Aythorp Roothing, High Roothing, Great Canfield and Great Dunmow. The Cricket Field in Bury St Edmunds is reached 59 miles and 4 furlongs from Stratford.

HELP US DRIVE THIS
MONSTER FROM OUR MIDST!

At a scale of 13.3” to one mile, the map accompanying the plan runs to 31 sheets, of which 24 are in Essex. At such a scale, the map is very detailed, as implied by the above commentary. The survey appears to be accurate but the surveyor is unknown. The map defines the intended track and a region 100 yds on either side of this track. The owner and tenants of all fields and houses within this region are noted in the Book of Reference. The map was published 5 years after the local Tithe Award map, adding to such parish detail. Additionally, within the map volume, a number of sheets provide details of the gradients. Of course, the railway, like many others, was never built.

During the first half of the 19th century, since the ending of the Napoleonic Wars, agriculture had suffered during a period of crisis. Falling wages contributed to hardship for the agricultural labourer. Indeed, wages dropped so much that eventually they fell below a subsistence level. Disaffection led to workers either organising themselves into groups, able to negotiate wages collectively with local farmers, or engaging in more direct action . . . arson. Farmers, landowners and the magistracy, the “establishment”, were, of course, eager to see law and order maintained. Discontent was widespread but there was a need to avoid any over-reaction on the part of the authorities, an over-reaction subsequently and tragically culminating in 1839 at Newport, Monmouthshire, where troops fired directly into demonstrators, killing at least 22 men.

In 1834, farm labourers in Tolpuddle, Dorset, formed themselves into a society called the Friendly Society of Labourers¹. They were led by the example of other similar, established local societies. Included in the rules of the society, the “union”, were details on the use of a password to enter the “Lodge” and a rule that prohibited obscenities. The society’s rules further stated: “That the objects of this society can never be promoted by any acts of violence, but on the contrary all such proceedings must tend to injure the cause and destroy the society itself”. They swore an oath, before a drawn sword, to carry out the aims of the lodge and to keep secret the rules. The labourers were determined but were high-minded men.

Anxious to counter the threat of such collective action, cautions from magistrates were published locally. Soon after this action, on 24th February 1834, the labourers were arrested by the local constable, a Mr James Brine. Under questioning, the group consistently stated that they were not aware of having violated any law. Various charges were brought against them. The act, which outlawed all forms of unionism, was repealed in 1824, but the principle charge concerned their taking an oath. The evidence against them was selective but scant. Nevertheless, an unrepresentative jury found them guilty. The judge, Judge Williams, sentenced them to be transported for a period of seven years. Furthermore, the judge refused parish relief for the families of the convicted men.

There was much subsequent support for the labourers against their conviction. A large demonstration attended by trade unionists took place in Copenhagen Fields on 21st April 1834 and, after a march, peacefully conducted, through the heart of London, a petition was presented to an absent Lord Melbourne at the Home Office.

Contemporary press correspondence indicated a deep concern. Parliamentary reaction was mixed and strongly polarized. Despite this, there was to be no immediate pardon and James and George Loveless, Thomas and John Stanfield, James Hammet and James Brine were transported on 17th May 1834 to Botany Bay.

Lord John Russell, sympathetic to the cause of the labourers, became Home Secretary in April 1835. Russell believed that George Loveless “had given a very fair . . . and true account of the evidence against him, was agreeable to the fact but . . . he did not know it was unlawful”. Furthermore, Russell believed that “the illegality on which they were committed was contrived”. Tellingly, Russell also drew attention to the King’s brother, the Duke of Cumberland, who as Grand Master of the Orange Lodges had himself taken an oath, was similarly “doing the same thing only with more cunning, and deserve at least a more severe punishment”!

Hansard of 14th March 1836 records that, in answer to a parliamentary question, Lord John Russell stated that His Majesty had been pleased to grant the Dorchester Labourers a free pardon. They were also granted a free passage back to England.

It took time for them to arrange the return voyage. Five returned as soon as they were able James Hammett could not be found at the time). They set sail on 11th September 1837 and arrived in Plymouth on 17th March 1838, a journey of six months. They landed to be greeted by celebrations and demonstrations in Dorset. They attended a procession through London.

On 8th October 1839, The London Dorchester Committee staged a benefit evening for all the labourers in a London theatre, and by then James Hammett had returned. The event was the last stage in an appeal to raise between £400 and £500 which was necessary to purchase small farms. Whatever the final sum, farms were leased in Essex, New House Farm in Greensted and Fenners Farm in High Laver in August 1838. It was now well over three years since the granting of the pardon. The farm in Greensted was leased from John Sympson Jessopp, a lawyer living in Ostend.

Chartism was the concern of those charged with maintaining law and order. In Greensted, the Loveless and Brine families continued to be a focus of some mistrust and prejudice, and this despite behaviour that was invariably honourable. The Morning Post of 17th December 1839 carried a long article “upon which the public may confidently rely”, which reported the arrival of the Dorchester labourers in Essex. “And what was the effect of this Ministerial counter-colonisation from Botany Bay to the rural parishes of Essex?” the paper asks. “The new settlers at Grinstead and High Laver had not been long established among the hitherto quiet and well-conducted population of these parishes before they began to agitate, and to agitate in a manner and with a degree of success which showed but too plainly that their mission of mischief had not been entrusted to unpractised or unskilful hands”. The article further asks “What spot . . . can be supposed free from this foul infection Chartism) when it is seen to have pervaded even the quiet and secluded hamlets of the county of Essex?” Of course there is a strong political undertone to the article with Lord John Russell, the Minister, the eventual object of the attack.

A local magistrate wrote to the Morning Post on 28th December 1839:

“I must request your insertion of the following remarks . . . It is true that some half dozen radicals in Ongar subscribe certain weekly halfpence to take in that immaculate print the People’s Charter.

It is true that a wagon load of delegates from some political union in London came down one day some six months ago, with ribbons in their buttonholes, to endeavour, I presume to get some beer and bread and cheese out of their Chartist brethren, in which praiseworthy object however, I believe they failed as signally as they did in endeavouring to enlist the people of Essex under the banner of Chartism.

It is true that these firebrands, the dreaded Dorchester labourers, are four poor ignorant creatures, who literally do not know how to plough the land they occupy.

And lastly it is true and let me tell them they are marked men) that if these half dozen democrats neither Essex men nor true agriculturists are they) should attempt to disturb the peace of the county, they would be put down, not by military forces as at Newport, not by an armed gendarmerie of rural police, but by the good sense and strong arm of the TRUE agricultural yeoman and labourers of Essex and I would stake my existence on the fact) would follow their landlords to the last drop of blood in defence of the cause - the cause of religion, their laws, and their own firesides, -

I am sir,
A Conservative
magistrate for the County of Essex”.

The letter, with its irony, says much about local feelings towards the Dorchester Labourers amongst one sector of society. There is some evidence to suggest that these local feelings were echoed by the Reverend Philip Ray, the long-serving Rector of Greensted.

New House Farm was auctioned on 8th October 1840 in Waltham Abbey.

Following the High Country History Group’s recent visit to the Records Office at Wharf Road, Chelmsford, I received a list of Essex Records Office events, one of which was an opportunity to view the only complete set of plans in existence for a workhouse in Essex, those of the Epping Union Workhouse. Having spent eight years employed in the administrative offices of St. Margaret’s Hospital housed in the workhouse, these plans were of particular interest to me.

The Epping Union Workhouse was a good example of the type of complex built for relief of the poor. The Poor Laws have been in existence since Elizabethan times when it was the responsibility of each parish to provide them with outdoor relief. From 1601 small parish workhouses were erected as an alternative. People unable to find work were set menial tasks in return for food and shelter. However this did not deter the able-bodied from seeking relief and as numbers and costs increased more drastic measures were considered, culminating in the introduction in 1834 of the Poor Law Amendment Act. Under this new Poor Law well regulated Union Workhouses were built serving several Parishes. At this time there was harsh discipline and segregation of the inmates. The Epping Union Workhouse was designed by Lewis Vulliamy and was built in 1838 at the northern end of Epping Town and within the Parish of Theydon Garnon It was built of red brick with a slate roof En 1896 boundary changes placed it in the new Parish and Urban District of Epping.

The original plans of 1838 show the Workhouse to consist of two parallel ranges with cross-wings and a central projecting range, these buildings being of three-storeys and housing inmates in dormitories separated by their gender and social class. Spanning from each side of the central projection were a group of single-storey buildings - the cookhouse, bakehouse and stores. A few of these buildings still existed up until recently. Behind the three storeys were more low buildings creating an enclosure of four separate yards used for the segregation of men, women, boys and girls during recreation. These were divided by walls with a central tower where the Master was able to monitor all activity within the yards. Detached from this block was the washhouse and sewing room. By the mid-19th century the corrupting influence of adult paupers on workhouse children was causing concern and detached industrial schools were erected to prepare children for adult life. These were a disaster, disease was rife and children mal-adjusted These schools were replaced by cottage homes.

In 1882 a third parallel range of three storeys was added to the Workhouse. It is believed that this was the isolation infirmary. Lavatory and ablution arrangements were shared with other inmates in the Workhouse. Water pressure was insufficient for the upper floors so this was supplemented by the hydrant point and also the well which ran dry in the summer months. There were inadequate drainage and sanitary arrangements. The babies in the Nursery were bathed in the kitchens and there were no lavatories at all in the Nursery. The kitchens had no refrigerators-

Poor Laws were disbanded in 1929 when their role was transferred to Borough and District Councils. The Epping Workhouse continued in use after 1930 as a Public Assistance Institution, being renamed St. Margaret’s Hospital in September 1938 and afterwards in July 1948 it became an NHS Hospital. The original Workhouse building housed the Hospital administration offices until these moved out in mid 1998. The front projection of the building became the Porter’s Lodge and Hospital switchboard.

Also housed in the workhouse area were the kitchens serving the whole Hospital, the Catering Department, the cleaning contractors, the linen services, the medical photographers and darkroom, the Pharmacy, the Voluntary Services Organizer and a restroom for gardening staff. The original boiler houses were demolished and new boiler rooms erected. Some of the medical staff were accommodated in the workhouse and geriatric patients were housed in Forest Wing (the third parallel range to be erected). Nursing staff were the jurisdiction of the Matron and initially they lived in the infirmary building erected on the site in 1913. Later this became the Medical Library and Post Graduate Medical Centre. It is now known as Birchwood House and its use has changed. The original wash house of the workhouse still stands as in 1989 this received Grade II listing. It accommodates the current Hospital laundry with the original attached single-storey buildings in use as linen stores. The Nursery building also remains, along with a few other single-storey buildings.

Until recently Essex had retained a large number of its workhouses. St. Margaret’s Hospital was still buzzing with activity in its heyday in the 1960’s and 197G’s. This was the time the new Out-patients building was erected, the Hospital expanded and the majority of the workhouse area was in use. Now with modern health reforms the old buildings are surplus to requirements, and in this Millennium the Epping Union Workhouse was demolished in stages.

Forest Wing was the first to go, closely followed by the main institution. The rustic bricks and the huge workhouse bell-tower which topped the building were sold. Occurring simultaneously with the demolition of the Epping Workhouse, was the demolition of the Workhouse at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford. This was the only workhouse remaining in Essex constructed to a cruciform plan. A campaign to save it was launched, but it was argued that the interior of the building had changed so much that it was not worth saving.

The coat of arms for Essex is a historic one - and stretches back into history.

The name Essex means “Land of the East Saxons” and refers to the invasion and settlement in Britain by a race of people from Saxony, Germany.

This occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire and before the Norman invasion of 1066. The Saxons settled mainly in Essex, Kent, and the London area, and their influence was strongest in 600-700AD - the years before the Viking incursions.

The official granting of the current Essex arms by the College of Arms dates back to only 1932.

The official wording is:
Gules, three Seaxes fessewise in pale Argen., pomels [knobs] and hilts [handles] Or, pointed to the sinister and cutting edges upwards.

A facsimile of the document granting armorial bearings can be seen in the Grand Jury Room in the Shire Hall, Chelmsford. The swords on the coat of arms are seaxes which evolved from the Saxon short sword or sword-knife, which varied from between 20cm to 45cm in length and was about 5cm wide.

A complete seaxe has not been found, although archaeologists believe the sword was straight, not curved. It is also likely that the notch was introduced to distinguish the seaxe from the scimitar. A straight seaxe was found in Kent and dates back to the 9th or 10th century: this bears the maker’s and owner’s names - Biorhtelm and Gebereht respectively - and is in the British Museum.

The weapon was found from about the 6th century and used in one form or another, as an item of a man’s personal equipment, until the 1300s.

Most certainly the coat of arms does not date back to the Saxon period as heraldry as we know it today was established in the early 12th century.

It is more likely that the Essex arms were adopted in the late 1500s by romantics and historians, or as a pun on “Es-seaxe”.

The first description of the three seaxes as the arms of Essex came in 1605 in a pamphlet A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence printed in Antwerp, Belgium. The author Verstegan says Erkenwyne, king of the East-Saxons, “did beare for his armes, three argent, in a field gules”.

In 1770, Peter Muilman’s History of Essex featured a picture of a woman unrolling a map. Next to her is a shield on which three seaxes look remarkably like fish knives. Similar arms are shown in the Chelmsford Gazette, a forerunner of the Essex Chronicle.

In 1802, the arms are used on a fire plate of the Essex Equitable Insurance Society, while the flag of the Essex Local Militia (1809-1817) in Chelmsford Cathedral shows three curved swords without notches. From then on, the design became a common representation for Essex and was used for the Sheriff’s official stamp from about 1850.

The Project has the aim to record names of roads, streets, fields, farms, houses, woods, inns, rivers, streams, mills, owners and tenants from old documents and maps, dating from current Ordnance Surveys, through 19th century tithe maps, estate maps, medieval, Anglo-Saxon and (occasionally) Roman documents, parish by parish.

To explore local areas in each parish where there are current or earlier names which suggest their history, industrial or agricultural use (milling, cloth making) or archaeological remains (such as former buildings and burial mounds), to see if any evidence still exists.

And to make available this information to any person or group who wish to use it for further research into history, archaeology, genealogy, linguistics, philology or related subjects.

The recording is done by volunteers, who may be individuals, groups, or local societies. The information they gather will be put onto a database which will be made available for research.

If you are interest in recording, working with maps and if you have computer skills, further information is available from the Essex Record Office.

The Essex Police Museum was established in 1991 with the aims ‘to advance the education of the public in the history of Essex in general and in the Essex Police Service in particular by collecting, preserving, interpreting and documenting material, evidence and associated information for the public benefit by the maintenance of a museum for items of historic police interest, and the display and demonstration of such items’.

The museum, which is based at Police Headquarters in Springfield, Chelmsford, holds archival material relating to the history of the force from 1840, including personnel, disciplinary and other records, together with more general documents and a large photographic record.

Research is carried out on behalf of the public and researchers, on request to the curator, may view some of the material held. In addition the museum holds details of murder cases, especially those from the last century. Some material has been deposited at the Essex Record Office at Chelmsford, where it can be viewed.

Many of the exhibits link with topics within the national curriculum including the Victorians and the two World Wars. The museum has produced a number of publications and a series of ‘History Notebooks’ on various aspects of the force. These are published six times a year.

Collects and preserves the county’s written heritage. The archives of countless local organisations, families and individuals are stored there, ensuring that they can be studied by present and future generations of researchers.

The archives can help you to explore:

Family history
Local history
The history of your house
Local geography
Archaeological sites and historic buildings
Any aspect of Essex life past and present
National events from a local perspective
Sources

The Record Office’s collections are the prime evidence for the history of Essex and its people over a thousand years. They include records from:

Local authorities
Churches and chapels
Poor Law Unions
Schools
Local businesses
Landed families and estates
Local clubs and societies

The collections include:

Parish registers
Wills
Title deeds
Rate books
Maps and plans
Photographs, prints and drawings
Sound and video recordings
Census returns
Newspapers
Electoral registers
Books and pamphlets

The Essex Record Office in Chelmsford is on the riverside at Wharf Road. It is five minutes’ walk from the High Street, along the riverside path from the Meadows shopping precinct. If you are coming by car there are public car parks in Wharf Road.

You will need to apply for a readers’ ticket unless you already possess a County Archive Research Network ticket.

[Take proof of identity containing your name, address and signature, such as a UK driving licence]

Tithe was a tax fraught with difficulties both in fair administration and efficient collection. Its origins date back to the earliest days of the church, when the parish priest - in exchange for looking after the spiritual welfare of his parishioners - claimed for his support one tenth of the crop produced by the parish. In some places “tithe in kind” persisted into the nineteenth century. The rector or, more usually, one of his agents) having been given notice by the farmer, arrived at the harvest field to collect one tenth of the crop. This was an expensive and inconvenient arrangement as the rector’s share had to be carted away, stored and marketed - particularly troublesome with perishable products like milk. By the eighteenth century it was more usual but by no means universal) for “tithe in kind” to be commuted for a cash payment. This could be a lump sum, or modus, often at fixed level over a very long period, or at a set rate per acre for a particular crop. Both systems were insensitive to improvements in yield due to new agricultural methods. There could be problems in years when the crop was poor - the farmers felt penalised - but also in good years, when the rector felt that he had not received his just desserts. It took little or no account of yearly fluctuations in market prices, a major problem with crops such as hops where this varied markedly from year to year. Disputes were frequent and when the rector felt particularly aggrieved about the inequity of cash payments, he was entitled to demand a return to the very unpopular “tithe in kind”. Legal costs could be very high, but so were the benefits of winning - either a much improved income for the rector and his successors, or, for the landowner, the continuation of a fixed payment at an unrealistically low level.

John Redman was the owner of Greensted Hall and its estate near Ongar from 1771 till his death in 1798. His will suggests that he was a somewhat unusual individual, directing that his grave was to be 10 feet deep was this a precaution against body snatchers?) and that he was to be buried at 7 o’clock in the morning with “neither gravestone, hatchment, escutcheon, mutes, nor porters at the door”. Careful instructions including travel arrangements) were left to his executors to spend 6 weekends in the year after his death at Greensted Hall “to help drink out the wine in the Vault”. After a year, any remaining wine was to be distributed equally amongst them.

Only fragments of what appears to have been a lengthy and acrimonious tithe dispute have survived. In 1786, Redman noted “Parson Harris, having demanded an arbitrary and undue Tythe for the pts. of Woodland which he strove to establish as a Precedent”. Parish precedent was extremely important in tithe collection as it established a right in subsequent years, and was therefore likely to be opposed by parishioners. The rector, the Rev. John Harris, had clearly been reluctant to agree to arbitration as Redman added “after much Altercation, Evasion and Jesuitical Shuffling on the part of that Old Church Leech (he) agreed to be left to arbitration”. The final agreement was for 6s 9d per acre, presumably).

An undated memorandum throws further light on the problems associated with tithe, as well as Redman’s somewhat intemperate language. Headed “Rules in regard to Tythe in kind or alms for the support and maintenance of the parish priest & catchpenny couple beggar of Grinstead” he noted ironically “Apples his Holiness is above claiming Windfalls. They are claimed by the parish Hoggs, but the tenth barrel of good apples for the good man’s cheer at Xmas must be strictly preserved and carried to the Church porch”.

Another memorandum written by Redman in 1795 indicates that there had been further trouble over the Greensted woodland. He noted that it had been partly cleared but that trees (?standards) had been left, making it impossible to plough or cut hay. The land was only suitable for “soiling” horses ie. feeding them on cut fodder). “The timber Trees not only draw the ground, but No Grass can grow - it produces Great Crops of all kinds of Weeds”. There are further very unflattering references to the rector, “a haggling wrangling drunken parson”, “a parish couple beggar” and “a low scrub fellow”. It appears that this bombast was the result of the partial clearance of the woodland perhaps those fields called First Stub Piece and Second Stub Piece in the 1839 Tithe Award). The rector, “like a Thief in the Night”, had employed a surveyor to measure up the land without the consent of either Redman or his tenant “Mrs P”. The result of this was an increase in tithe from £28 per annum to 60 guineas. Redman implies that another of his tenants, Mr Lawrence, “by Lying, Swearing, Drinking - for which he was unparall’d) had colluded with the rector possibly in exchange for a bribe) and agreed to a similar increase, thereby establishing a precedent. It was common practice though usually without a bribe!) for a rector to persuade one amenable parishioner to agree to an increase which could then be imposed on the rest of the parish. The document is not easy to follow, possibly because Redman was beside himself with rage! However he firmly advised his tenant, “Mrs P”, to offer no more than £40 “as the utmost the farm can bear”. There is nothing further in the papers to indicate how this dispute was resolved.

Harlow has a new Museum. Opened in March 2002, the Museum has taken over the leafy site of the 19th Century Stable Block of Mark Hall Manor at 5, Muskham Road, Harlow. The site is well suited to the needs of the Museum yet keeps the character of the original building. The gardens of the Manor are retained at the rear of the Museum.

The Museum has four galleries devoted to Pre-Historic Harlow, Roman Harlow, Saxon to Georgian Harlow and Victorian to New Town Harlow. The Museum displays a few of the bicycles from the Collins cycle collection that previously occupied the site.

A Harlow Archive Access Point consists of copies of records, held on microfilm and microfiche, relating Harlow and all parishes in the Deanery of Harlow and the parish of Matching. Computer access is provided to the Essex Record Office. There is a local history library, well-stocked with local newspapers from 1953, census returns, maps and plans, programmes and scrap books, photos, slides, tapes and videos.

In support, there is an Interactive Room, Community Room, and Reception and Shop. We visited shortly after the Museum opened to find the Community Room filled with active 9 year-olds busily pursuing the history of Harlow.

The Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm, but closed for lunch on Saturday. The Museum can be contacted by e-mail on tmoh@harlow.gov.uk
. The Museum’s website is www.tmoh.com
.

Pay a visit to the Museum when you are next in Harlow.

On 1st January 1900, celebration of the new century in London was muted due to the Boer War. British forces were under pressure and resources were stretched.

In Stanford Rivers, however, planning for the Jubilee had begun earlier. A public meeting was held in March 1898 to decide how to commemorate the event.

A local paper reported:

A lively debate took place, led by Mr. Mugleston of Littlebury Hall, who described parish issues and proposed various commemorative ideas:

A hospital
A parish nurse
A reading room
A school bell
A fountain in the school yard

Eventually, it was agreed:

A school bell should be installed
Tea should be provided for both adults and children

However, disagreement followed. A later private meeting reversed the decision:

The bell was replaced with a fountain
Meat was to be distributed to the elderly

The local press humorously reported widespread discontent:

Black flags were displayed on Jubilee Day
This was not disloyalty, but dissatisfaction with the modest celebrations

Further disputes arose over funding:

Mr. Mugleston claimed the project lacked funds
Concerns were raised about using school funds

“Old Nat Wilson” countered:

The school water supply was inadequate
A fountain was more beneficial than a bell
Suggested additional community benefits such as food and prizes

Mr. Mugleston opposed:

Objected to using school funds
Questioned financial fairness

Despite disagreements, the fountain was eventually built.

The Fountain
Opened by Lady Cunliffe Smith
Located in front of Stanford Rivers parishioners
Built by Messrs F. N. Noble and Sons
Architect: Mr. F. Rowntree of Glasgow
Cost: £90

The fountain still remains today, though the school no longer exists. Local residents have successfully opposed its removal.

[Report from the Poor Law Commission in 1838]

“The Governor is a retired supervisor of excise; his former occupation has accustomed him to accuracy in accounts, and his services on the Kent and Sussex coast have inured him to the firmness required in his present situation; and the most refractory have given way to the discipline of the house.

The building is in general judiciously planned. The Governors apartments in the centre, between the male and female wards, and overlooking the two yards.

The number of inmates at present is 62, principally aged, deserted children, and a few children of parents who are unable to maintain them.

The able bodied, who are sometimes sent in are soon induced by the order, the cleanliness, the abstinence of fermented liquor, and the general restraint, to quit as soon as possible and seek work for themselves. Nearly 200 persons are sent into the house in the course of the year.

The able bodied are employed in raising and drawing gravel and in the repair of roads. The cheapness at which they can be maintained is a material object; for the charge is heavy. Some obstinate paupers frequently use that as a means of wearying out their parish and obtaining their own way.

As children can be maintained here for 1/6d per week, the parishes avoid the evil of the large allowances usually made for bastards which operate as a premium on immorality.”

Established in 1834 as a result of the Poor Law Amendment Act of that year, the Ongar Union comprised some 26 parishes under the control of a Board of Guardians. The workhouse was established at Stanford Rivers and was to remain in use until 1930 when the inmates were transferred to the workhouse at Epping. The building still stands, Piggotts Factory, the legacy of a sad chapter of social welfare in C19th Britain.

The Essex Record Office at Chelmsford has the minute books from 1834 until 1930 which give detailed descriptions of life within the workhouse. Here is just a sample of the entries to be found in the records:

Entry for 4 May 1847
“We have today visited the workhouse and personally examined all the weak minded and idiotic paupers now in it. They were in a tranquil and comfortable state and appeared to be kindly treated.....”

1882
Outbreak of smallpox reported at the workhouse. Nurse Bowman is suffering from the disease. [In April 1883 Bowman is awarded £5 to pay towards her medical expenses when she caught smallpox.] In July 1882 she resigns (I’m not surprised).

1883
September - 4 cases of typhoid reported. Inspector describes the sleeping apartment of the schoolmistress as ‘injurious to health’

1905
“The coffins had no name plates, were made of unplaned wood and unlined, nor did contractors always use a hearse as specified; the contract was altered in 1897 and an additional clause added “and otherwise carried out in a decent manner”. However a clerical Guardian in 1905 said of a funeral that ‘there was no one to take the coffin out of the hearse - or box on wheels I should call it - but the Clerk of the church, the driver and some fellow they scraped up of from the road. I do not see that because it is the body of a poor old pauper who had been in the Union-House for years, a decent burial should not be given him.”

1910
A Guardian saw a hearse standing outside a public house in which the contractor was taking refreshment, for which he was called to account!

In an occasional series we will look at the 4 village schools which served the High Country area, none of which unfortunately survive as schools today.

Stanford Rivers school was opened in 1850. By 1858 it was reported that there were 30 boys and 37 girls enrolled but there was much truancy, but by 1870 the numbers had risen to 117. In 1962 the numbers of children attending had dropped to 20 and a decision was taken to close the school in 1965. The buildings were pulled down and the site used as a permanent site for gypsies.

Stanford Rivers School Foundation Committee 1851.

The land at the Stanford Rivers School was given to the Rector and Churchwardens for ever - upon trust. The School to be managed by a committee, all of whom must be members of the Church of England; the committee to be the Rector, his Curate, or Curates if appointed by him, the Churchwardens and three others, Sir C. C. Smith to be one. A vacancy to be filled at a meeting duly convened for the purpose, by those who have paid 10/- towards the expenses of the school during the current year and each subscriber shall have one vote for every 10/- up to the number of six. The Chairman can receive votes in writing from those unable to attend the meeting.

The Master and Mistress must be members of the Church of England.

A Ladies Committee of five can be appointed every year in the month of May by the Managers to superintend the sewing and infants.

Signed 1851, Sir Charles Cunliffe Smith.

One aim of the High Country Community Magazine now sadly defunct) was to record our past, and our present for the informing of the future. Set against geological time the whole of Human history is little more than a blink of the eye of Eternity. But the Soul is as old as time itself and “Intimations of Immortality” are a backdrop to all our lives. The artists painting on the walls of caves by the light of tallow flares were us, and we go back far,far before them. This may seem a fanciful concept, but if you believe with Plato that the soul is immortalised through reincarnation, and that knowledge is the soul’s recollection of previous incarnations, then the tremendous leap in scientific knowledge and technology that has taken place in the past few centuries becomes explainable. Our interest in the past is more than mere curiosity;it is a manifestation of what Jung called the Collective Unconscious. We have this urge to keep in touch with what we were, are and always will be “a remembering soul with access to divine knowledge through ‘intuitive thought.’” But apart from all that what an inspiring turnout we had for our first AGM.

Anne and Rob Brooks entertained us with slides, Ghosts and tales of ghosts always enthrall, and it struck me that when we watch old films, or look at photographs of dead people we are actually seeing ghosts. In that sense we are all ghosts of the future; but hopefully not of the scary variety!

Now we can all look forward to enjoying the programme of events mapped out by the committee. I am looking forward very much to visiting Hatfield Broad Oak.
Ken Feakes

Text from United Dairies “Our Notebook January 1926”.

The growth and development of Welford and Sons Limited. during the past 80 years affords an instructive illustration of the process of evolution in the dairy trade, which has been fostered by the ever-increasing population of London. Since 1845 the name of Welford has been famed and respected by all engaged in supplying the metropolis with its milk. In that year Mr. Richard Welford, a cowkeeper of Holloway took over Warwick Farm. Paddington, and thus founded the firm which eventually became the largest retail milk business in London. The locality of Warwick Farm is to-day commemorated in the names of Warwick Avenue, Warwick Place, and Warwick Crescent. The cowsheds were situated between the Harrow Road and Warwick Crescent. It is interesting to note that the “mother” dairy shop still flourishes on the site of the old farm in Warwick Avenue.

To make way for the Great Western Railway and the consequent encroachment of the ubiquitous builders, the cow-sheds had to be removed a few years later to Oakington Manor farm at Wembley, then in its most rural state. At this date the Harrow Road from the crossing of the Grand Junction Canal was “quite in the country,” with a residence here and there dotted on the south side, and in particular Westbourne House, once in the occupation of Mrs. Siddons, the famous actress. The bridge over the canal in that now busy thoroughfare-Great Western Road-was not in existence, but a punt was provided to take foot-passengers across at a fare of a halfpenny- But these topographical details are a digression.

In 1858 Mr. Richard Welford died at the early age of 41 and the business was taken over by his son, Mr. John Welford, then a youngster in his teens, but possessed of an unusual amount of ambition and perseverance.

The milk trade was then a puling infant and certainly did not rejoice in the reputation it has to-day; but it was Mr. Welford’s confirmed opinion that quality always won, the truth of which was proved in ~~ uncertain fashion during his long and successful career. The London Dairy Trade in those days was quite unorganised, and the need for a trade status became so pronounced that the four stalwarts of the Trade-Mr. George Barham (afterwards Sir George), Mr. S. S. Dancocks, Mr. E. S. Tisdall and Mr. John Welford-with others, were prominent in founding the British Dairy Farmers’ Association, the Metropolitan Dairymen’s Society, and the Metropolitan Dairymen’s Benevolent Institution.

About this time an interesting and enlightening brochure was issued, and in it customers were told that “During the Passover cows will be brought to those who wish it and milked direct into their own cans” A pleasing thought!

For the production of milk fresh from the cow three farms were taken at this period-College Farm, at Kensal Rise, which is now entirely built over, the Home Farm, Harlesden, and Haycroft Farm, Harlesden. Haycroft has recently been converted into the local bottled milk distributing depot.

In the meantime, with great foresight. Welfords had secured the co-operation and assistance of eminent medical men. The first medical officer associated with the business was Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, and he introduced as their first active medical officer Dr. Mahomet, the then leading authority on the control of infectious disease, and he in turn, was followed by Sir Lauder Brunton.

In glancing through the Guard Books one is struck by a portion of a letter dated April 13th, 1882, from the Medical Officer of Health of St. Marylebone. He wrote :-“I shall be doing a service to the public health by expressing in strong terms my approbation of the arrangements I have recently inspected at the Warwick Dairy. I have always held the view that the milk supply of a great city should be in the hands of men of considerable capital, and carried out on a large scale; in this way, and in this way only, can there be that costly installation absolutely necessary to prevent the possibility of contamination of the milk by disease. The entire arrangements are equal, if not superior, to anything of the kind ever established in this country and are well worthy of imitation.”

By this time the horse van was rapidly superseding the yoke and pail as a method of delivery, and this was soon followed by the now familiar hand cart, or “pram.” Surprising as it may sound, it is none the less true that a small dairy firm which was taken over by Welfords as recently as 1913, was then still employing the yoke and pail for the delivery of their milk. The Welford brothers were keen exhibitors at the London Dairy Shows, and the Company holds to-day the Silver Cup; awarded for the best pair of dairy cows at the last Royal Agricultural Show held in London at Kilburn in 1879. Mr. Harry Trotman joined the firm early in the year 1884, and was appointed Manager of the Company’s working dairy (including a herd of cows) at the International Health Exhibition at South Kensington in the same year. The exhibition provided the opportunity of a lifetime for the furtherance of the scope of this rapidly growing business. The dairy was the sensation of the day, particularly amongst the aristocracy, and for charitable purposes on several occasions the dairy sales counters were presided over by ladies of title. The working dairy was patronized time and again by the then Prince of Wales (the late King Edward VII.), and for their exhibit the Company was awarded a gold medal.

In 1896 the Company was called upon to supply nursery milk for the use of H.R.H. the present Prince of Wales, and all the Royal children were brought up on Welford’s milk. The appointment of “Dairyman” to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (now H.M. King George V.) was granted on March 1st. 1902, to Mr. John Welford. Chairman and Managing Director of Welford & Sons.

The business grew by leaps and bounds, and the leading society paper indicated that “it was fashionable to deal with Welford.” Additional branches were opened, and it was felt that the time had come for the business to be converted into a public company. Messrs. Welford & Sons, Limited was incorporated in 1885 and Mr. Trotman was appointed Secretary. The Company’s business continued to expand, and eventually their service extended from Chiswick on the west, to Stroud Green on the north, and Poplar on the east. New machinery was introduced, and the Company was amongst the first to use refrigerating plant in their London dairies, the keynote of the business in all stages being cleanliness, freshness and high quality.

In 1914, the year of the outbreak of the war, Mr. John Welford felt that at his advanced age he should retire, and on his recommendation Mr. Trotman was appointed Joint Managing Director with Mr. F. R. Welford. The stress of the war was particularly trying to the dairy trade, and in particular in the West End and Belgravia areas, the town houses and mansions, usually taking large supplies, being left in the hands of a caretaker and a cat, but even then the volume of trade was well maintained (at the expense of revenue) by supplying the numerous war-time hospitals and homes.

Pressure from the Government for the release of men and horses, and the need for economy in material, brought about conversations between the leading members of the London Dairy Trade, as a result of which Welford & Sons. Ltd. and other companies become associated with United Dairies, Ltd.

That Burdensome Tithe

By the early nineteenth century, the payment of the tithe had become inconsistent, burdensome and outdated¹. In England and Wales, the tithe represented the payment of one tenth of farm production to the established church. The payment by agricultural communities had been a contentious issue since the eleventh century but in Scotland the tithe (teind) had been abolished as early as 1623, while in Ireland the tithe disappeared in 1823. However, it remained in England and Wales.

The tithe took at least three forms. It could be levied on crops such as corn, hay or wood, on animal products such as lambs, wool, milk or honey, or on gains through labour such as fishing and milling. However, there were local anomalies, which had become established.

The tithe owner had a right to claim payment in kind, but since the 17th century a monetary payment had become more usual. The annual payments in cash were known as compositions, which could be adjusted or terminated by common agreement. A further method of settling payment of the tithe was the modus, which took the form of a permanent charge in lieu.

Dissatisfaction

Perhaps, the problems involved here can be imagined. How can a tithe, payable in kind, be collected when the number of animals owned is less than ten? If the number is greater than ten, how are the tithed animals chosen from this number? When during the year should the tithe be assessed and collected? How is the monetary payment to be calculated when the price of a commodity is varying significantly? How is a modus agreed? A modus had generally been fixed before the middle of the 16th century, and was confirmed by parish custom. A quaint example was found in the parish of Llanfihangel Esgeifiog in Anglesey, where in lieu of hay the farmer supplied dinner for the tithe owner and feed for a horse on alternate Sundays. On the other Sundays, dinner and feed were supplied at another farm! Of course, the owner of the tithe was the local minister.

The discriminatory and intrusive tax was much resented by those who had to pay. The reasons for this were several. The disparity in the incidence of the tax between urban and country areas was discriminatory. The tithe fell particularly harshly on agricultural land under development. A tithe owner, who contributed nothing towards such improvement, nevertheless reaped a considerable proportion of any profit from the investment. Dissenters rebelled against any such payment because it was made to an established yet unsupported church. They sometimes refused to pay. Since there also existed numerous stratagems to evade payment, it follows that the assessment of tithes could be, and was, frequently disputed. Costly legal proceedings could follow.

The possible consequences of an unjust, unpopular and impractical system of taxation were heightened during the economic depression, following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. The issue of the tithe was just one of the causes of political unrest in England. This unrest was particularly disruptive in rural areas, where farm wages were allowed to slip below a subsistence level. In Essex, some the population resorted to hayrick burning. In the Dorset village of Tolpuddle, farm labourers had formed themselves into a trade union in order to add weight to their cause. In Kent, angry mobs were known to have attacked their parsons. Initially, this lawbreaking was subject to severe justice, but increasingly fearful of the level of civil unrest and its possible repercussions the Government was called upon to look critically at the causes.

The Tithe Commutation Act

The Tithe Commutation Act, introduced by Lord John Russell on 9 February 1836, was passed six months later by Parliament on 13 August 1836. The bill was passed with an urgency not experienced in earlier parliamentary attempts at such reform. The Act commuted the tithe in England and Wales and replaced it with a fluctuating tithe rent-charge. This rent-charge was to follow a seven-year average of the price of wheat, barley and oats.

A Tithe Commission of three commissioners was set up in London to administer the Act. Considering the task, the Act imposed an ambitious timescale. Commissioners were to confirm those agreements reached before 1 October 1838, and thereafter impose awards in the remaining districts. Local agents were recruited to oversee the process.

One of the first tasks of the commissioners was to set up the districts within which the tithe surveys were to be undertaken. The scale of the task may be understood when it is realised that the total number of tithe districts reached 14,829 and covered 36.2 million square miles. The district usually equated to a parish or township. Not all districts required detailed work, certainly in cases where the tithe owner and the payer were the same; such districts numbered 3,044, leaving about 11,800 to be fully completed.

Surveyors were taken on, both to value the land and apportion the rent-charge, and to generate an accurate map of the district. Adequate maps already existed for some districts but surveyors had to be recruited in the majority of districts. Although the original deadline was not met, by 1856 only the tithe in seven districts remained to be agreed. In 1863, just five were unresolved with the final commutation of the Barham district in 1883. The delays were invariably due to boundary or other legal disputes.

Early agreements, some completed even before the end of February 1837, were accompanied by maps which were often deemed unsatisfactory by the commissioners. The standards of map-making, usually at a scale of three chains to the inch (1:2,376)³, were increasingly refined since it was realised that the opportunity could be used to generate a national resource. Great demands were placed on the surveying—and map-making industry in the short-term. However, the archive has proved to be invaluable, and the foresight justified. Indeed, the tithe award provided the most complete survey of England and Wales since that recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Tithe Commutation in the High Country

Within the High Country, the last parish to commute its tithes was Greensted in 1840, the map being signed by Roger Kynaston, the Assistant Tithe Commissioner for the district, on 30 December 1840. The details of the maps for the four parishes follow.

Parish Date Scale Size Surveyor
Greensted 1838 26.6” to 1 mile⁴ 38” x 27” E. Corfield
Stanford Rivers 1839 13.3” to 1 mile 116” x 92” Robert Hale
Stapleford Tawney 1838 13.3” to 1 mile 51” x 23”
Theydon Mount 1838 8” to 1 mile 44” x 28”

Stapleford Tawney maps is 1:4,752 and that of Theydon Mount is 1:7,920. The amount of detail differs slightly from map to map; the Stanford Rivers map is the most detailed.

The accompanying apportionments are written on rolls of parchment sheets. They list each tithe area with a reference number, which links the area to the map. The following is then listed against each area (by reference number):

○ owner,
○ occupier,
○ name and description of the area,
○ state of cultivation,
○ area in statute measure,
○ amount of rent-charge, and any remarks, but these are generally scarce.

From this, the extent of the information included in the tithe submission can start to be appreciated. In a future note, the information within will be discussed. It is worth noting that the Greensted map and apportionment has already been the subject of a volume within the Essex Place-Names Project⁵.

Log Books from 1894 to 1932 for the former school have survived and are now found in the Essex Record Office at Chelmsford and they provide a social picture for the time. Below I have highlighted some of the entries.

Names of pupils in 1884.

Arthur Stubbings
William West
Frederick Starling
Henry Turner
George Tarling
Sydney Summers
George Stubbings
Charles Stubbings
Walter Stubbings
Stephen Starling
George Perry
Henry Gould
Edwin Freshwater
Archibald Prior
Oscar Tarling
William Tucker
Samuel Starling
Charles Latchford
William Toomie
Thomas Stubbings
Walter Freshwater
Horace Doe
James Starling

Lily Green
Emily Pain
Margaret Freshwater
Dora Freshwater
Hetty Stubbings
Minnie Freshwater

Rose Freshwater
Frances Toomie
Celia Threader
Rachel Summers
Florence Toomie
Eva Toomie
Ellen Gould
Daisy Threader
Maud Starling

Christina Spark – teacher

Average weekly attendance in 1895 was 27

Oct 1st 1895
The new school year commences today....... Two children are absent.....Stephen Starding who has not been back to school since the Harvest Holidays. I have sent several messages to his guardian and have since sent Miss Bonner (Infants Teacher) to his home to request that he should be sent back, but his guardians say that he cannot come for want of clothing and shoes.

Nov 29th 1895
Several children are absent on account of the damp weather.

There are many entries in the log book where attendance was low due to the weather. This may indicate that many of the children did not have sufficient clothes or shoes to deal with the cold and the wet.

In 1896 The Inspector of Schools reported, “The children attending this little school are orderly and attentive, but not very bright.....”

Jan 23rd 1899
School closed on account of nearly all the children being ill with measles. The school was re-opened on the 15th Feb but attendance poor as several children prevented as measles are still in their homes.

Nov 6th 1899
Marion Payne commenced duties as Mistress of the school today.

2nd Jan 1900
Flossie Augusta Burrage took charge for the first time.

2nd Feb 1900
Attendance has not been good as six of the elder boys have been away brushing.

Week ending 25th Jan 1901
Attendance this week has been very poor, owing to the absence of nearly all the boys, on account of the shooting. They were engaged in brushing’ in the wood

Nov 23rd 1902
Henrietta L. Cawley commenced duties as Mistress.

There are several poignant entries during the period 1914 -1918 when news of former pupils of the school are reported in the log book as ‘killed in action.’