High Country History Group

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.

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.

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

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.