Article
The Petre Documents relating to Stanford Rivers, by The Rev. J.L. Fisher, M.A.
The Petre Family Documents and the Manors of Stanford Rivers
Source: Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, New Series, Volume 23 (1942), pp. 66, 73 and 83.
The Petre Collection at the Essex Record Office
Of the many valuable collections of documents that have been deposited in the Essex Record Office at Chelmsford during the past two or three years, the most notable is that of Lord Petre, from Ingatestone Hall.
It is now possible to summarize the contents of this very varied series of documents, of which the most prominent feature is their early date; for as they furnish the titles to the various properties acquired by Sir William Petre (1506–1571), they are mostly pre-Elizabethan.
In addition to a wealth of court rolls, compotus rolls, and rentals, and a large number of early estate maps, the collection includes a quantity of ancient deeds, to which Canon C. T. Kuypers has compiled a most valuable calendar.
The purpose of this article is to give some indication of the scope of these deeds and of their value to students of local history.
The Ancient Deeds
The ancient deeds in this collection have been given the distinguishing letter A; they are numbered 1–2074.
Actually, a certain number of rentals and compotus rolls had been accidentally included in the series; these have now been extracted and placed among the manorial documents, thus reducing the list of deeds to about 2,000.
Of these, 982 are of a date prior to 1400, ranging from the reign of Stephen to that of Richard II; of the remainder, about 500 are of the fifteenth century.
A few scattered items, and also one small compact group of documents dealing with properties at Stanford Rivers, are of the seventeenth century.
The deeds are not systematically numbered, but some attempt has been made here and there to group together documents connected with some particular parish.
Lord Petre's Acquisition of the Stanford Rivers Manors, 1622
In 1622, Lord Petre purchased two manors at Stanford Rivers, with other property in Stanford Rivers and Ongar, from Sir Thomas Elliott.
There are a number of deeds concerned with this estate; none of them go back beyond the middle of the sixteenth century and some are as late as the end of the seventeenth century.
The Mill at Littlebury
Deed A.45: Deals with the mill at Littlebury.
This is not the village in the Hundred of Uttlesford, but a manor in High Ongar and Stanford Rivers.
Date: N.D. (No date recorded).
Footnotes
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Volume 23, p. 182, refers to acquisitions by the Essex Record Office in 1938. It includes:
"ESTATE, MANORIAL AND FAMILY MUNIMENTS. Ingatestone, Thorndon, and other Essex estates of the Petre family (barons Petre of Writtle); in all, about 9,000 documents."
Of these, 89 deeds relate to Stanford Rivers, dating from 1344 to 1775, together with manorial court rolls for Stanford Rivers covering the period 1560–1773.
Historical Significance
The Petre family collection is an important source for the history of Stanford Rivers and its surrounding manors. The deeds and manorial records document landownership, property transactions and estate administration over several centuries.
The purchase of two Stanford Rivers manors by Lord Petre in 1622, together with the surviving records relating to Littlebury Manor, provides valuable evidence of the area's changing patterns of landownership.
The 89 deeds relating to Stanford Rivers, dating from 1344 to 1775, and the court rolls covering 1560–1773 are particularly significant for researchers studying the medieval and early modern history of the parish.
Source and References
- Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, New Series, Volume 23 (1942), pp. 66, 73 and 83.
- Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, New Series, Volume 23, p. 182 – Essex Record Office acquisitions of 1938.
- Petre Family Collection, Essex Record Office, Chelmsford – Ancient Deeds, Series A.
- Deed A.45 – Mill at Littlebury Manor, High Ongar and Stanford Rivers.
