^$!iit^ ®l)t ©lien ®iu» ___ ____^_ . J-".~V '" S^^SSS^! j . yelloly wMsmmm iK£& Gforttell MmueraUy Slibntty 3tt)ata, Welti fntk BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 Cornell University Library DA 670.E7W33 Tendring Hundred in the olden time; 3 1924 028 033 078 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028033078 TENDRING HTJND IN THE OLDEN TIME. A SEEIES OF SKETCHES BY J. YELLOLY WATSON, F.G.S., J.R, ESSEX, TENDRING HUNDRED DIVISION. COLCHESTEK ; PUBLISHED BY BENE AM & HARBISON, & J. B. HARVEY; AND E. DUKEANT & Go,, /CHELMSFORD. MDCCCLXXVII, / A4S C H ' 3 PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND BOBBINS, CHELMSFORD. INTRODUCTION AND DEDICATION. It has been no secret in the Tendring Hundred that the writer of the following Sketches has for some years past written a variety of papers upon sporting and other matters ; many of them described as " In " and " Out of the Saddle." The " Tendring Hundred " Papers were commenced for a few " Out-of-the-Saddle " Sketches ; but as they proceeded in a serial form, so many communications were received, and so much interest seemed to be excited by them, that the writer was induced to extend his researches, and go far deeper into the subject than he originally intended. And now, at the particular request of many friends, he has enlarged the Sketches, added notes, and brought down particulars of several families to a later date, for publication in the present form. In the first Sketch issued he stated that he should not confine himself to any particular or classified form of procedure, but should fix his " meets " at the best authorities, and make the run- ning as the scent might carry him. He has not, therefore, taken the parishes alphabetically, but just as they seemed best to illustrate any particular custom, old form of tenure, or any other point of ancient history that he had in hand, or desired to illustrate. As he proceeded he invited communications from Clergymen and others in regard to old entries in parish registers, and also IV INTRODUCTION AND DEDICATION. from representatives of families named in the old records ; and in the present volume the Sketches are fuller in regard to the former, and more interesting in respect to the latter. The principal works consulted by the Author have been — Domesday Book for Essex, as translated by the late Mr. Chisenhale Marsh; Camden's Britannia; Speed's History of England; Morant's History of Essex ; Hume and Smollett ; Dr. Lyttleton's History ; Schomberg's Naval Chronology; and various encyclopaedias and other works ancient and modern. The writer has also been indebted to several friends for copies of old records, and much useful and valuable information ; to Mr. John Woodgate, from whom, besides the privilege of referring to his valuable library of old works, he has received many interesting notes respecting Little Bentley Hall and Church; to Mr. F. M. Nichols, M.A., F.S.A. — whose new work on the " Boman Forum " is creating some sensation among Archaeologists — he is indebted for some particulars of Lawford Hall ; to the Bev. Harding New- man, D.D., for some notes on the Schutz family, on Clacton, and the smugglers' den ; to the Bev. George Burmester, for interesting extracts from the old register of Little Oakley ; to the Bev. B. B. Mayor, for the same from Frating ; and to the Bev. Canon Joynes, from Holland. Also to the Bevds. A. H. Bumboll (Thorpe), J. M. Chapman (Tendring), S. W. Stagg (Kirby), and W. L. Watts (St. Osyth). To Mr. B. Stone, of Frinton Hall, he is indebted for a variety of dates and much interesting information ; to Mr. J. B. Harvey, for some information as to the " Soc " of St. Mary's. To Mr. W. H. Cobb, Member of the Boyal Archaeological Institute, he is indebted for many valuable notes. When any extraordinary old fox bad been unearthed from " Domesday," had dodged the writer through all the " covers " on his own book- shelves, and he had met with a check, Mr. Cobb would take the horn, and, by a few clever " casts " in the British Museum, enable him to cry, " Who-whoop." In writing Sketches as these have been written — in a serial INTRODUCTION AND DEDICATION. V form from week to week — and when the subject-matter had to be collected from a variety of ancient documents and from old his- torians and their quaint language — repetitions, differences of style and phraseology, and even in spelling of proper names, must necessarily occur occasionally ; but the writer has done his best to dovetail in and assimilate the whole into a narrative form, as well as to moisten up the musty and dry old bones. Morant, in his introduction to the History of Essex, says — " The county of Essex is one of the best situated in the kingdom." The present writer, in a much humbler way, has endeavoured to show that the part of Essex called the Tendring Hundred is not only connected with the earliest history and grandest associations of the county, but stands proudly in the van when considered in relation to the names and importance of its ancient possessors ; just as we all know at the present time that it is among the healthiest, the most luxuriant, and the best cultivated of all the " hundreds." He has shown, also, that it has had its romances and its romantic episodes, and abounds in interesting facts, which are sometimes " stranger than fiction." That his work is worthy of the occasion, or as full, complete, and interesting as it might have been in abler hands, he does not for a moment ask his readers to believe. Such, however, as it is — - A TENDEING HUNDRED MAN DEDICATES IT, WITH RESPECT, TO THE TENDRING HUNDRED PEOPLE. The Grange, Thorpe-le-Soken, 31st August, 1877. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION AND DEDICATION page iii HARWICH AND DOVERCOURT. Naval Battle in 884 — Size and Description of Tendring Hundred — Origin of Hundreds — Origin of Parishes — Parson, Poor, and Church- — Harwich made a Borough Corporate — First Mayor — First Members — Destruction of the Town of Orwell on the West Rocks — Theories as to the Deluge — Ancient Gates of Harwich — Domesday Book — Description of Dovercourt — Its Ancient Importance — The Dukes of Norfolk, &c .page 1 THORPE-LE-SOKEN. The Romantic Story of Kate Canham, the Wife of Two Husbands, both of whom (the Vicar of Thorpe and Lord Dalmeny) follow her to the Grave — Extracts from old Register — Ancient Manors — Description of Thorpe — Thorpe Hall — The Whartons — The Martin Leakes — Landermere — Ancient Knight — Hugenot Names in Register, &c page 8 BEAUMONT-CUM-MOSE. The Union of Beaumont with Mose — The Troublous Times of Richard II. — Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, and Duke of Ireland — His Fate — Sir James de Berners and his Fate — Hugh de Berners and Descendants ; Ber- ners of Wolverstone — Richard III. — John, Duke of Norfolk — Battle of Bos- worth — Darcys — Guildf ords — The Hall — Canhams — Sewells — Manor of Bernhams and Owners, from Geoffery de Mandeville — Origin of Knights' Fees, &c .page 15 Vlll CONTENTS. GREAT BENTLEY. Lords of Manor lad Privilege of Choosing the Wives of Copyhold Tenants — Description of "Villeins" and Ancient Customs — Origin of Heriots — Copy- holders — William the Conqueror and the Norman Invaders — His Plunder and his Income — Creation of Manors and Description in Domesday Book — Description of Hides, Caraeutes, Assarts, &c. — Curious Tenures of Land — Alberic, the First of the De Veres — His Grandson made First Earl of Oxford in 1137— Death of 20th and Last Earl, 1703— John, the 13th Earl, and his Splendour — Entertainment of Henry VII. at Hedingham Castle — Thomas, the 8th Earl, Resident at Bentley— Troubles of John, the 12th Earl— The Ruin of the 17th Earl — Sale of Ms Estates — Corsellis Family — Papillon Family — Norman Baronies all Extinct — The De Courcys— Lord de Ros — Origin of the Stanleys, Earls of Derby page 21 LITTLE BENTLEY. In the Time of Edward the Confessor — Value of Wheat, of Money, of Horses, Sheep, Cows, &c. — Extravagance of William II. in Buying a Hunter — The Invasion of the Danes in 829, and their Yoke for 200 Years — Recovery of the Throne by Saxons, and their Jubilant Extravagance — The Priests in those days — Death of Edward, and Short Reign of Harold — Division of Eng- land into Counties by Alfred the Great in 897 — William the Conqueror Nominated his Sheriffs for each — First Sheriffs for Essex before and after the Conquest — First Appointment of Justices of the Peace — The Cog- geshall Monk and the Big Teeth — Camden's Opinion thereon — Ancient Conveyance of Edward the Confessor to the Peverells — Number of Manors Held by William the Conqueror — Ancient Grant from William to his Nephew — Hugh de Groos and Family — The Suttons — Formation of Ancient Chantry or Grose-preste — The Pyrton Family — Merchant Princes in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth — Early Potatoes and Tobacco — Romantic Story of Paul Bayning, of Dedham, and his Extraordinary Success as a Merchant — Buys Little Bentley Hall — His Son made Lord Bayning and Viscount Sud- bury — His Daughters — Enormous Wealth when he Died, including Manors in the Tendring Hundred, Horkesley, Rivers Hall, Boxted, &c. — His Son Viscount Bayning's Death at Bentley Hall, and End of the House of Bayn- ing — Marriage of his Daughters (Anne and Penelope), Anne to the 20th Earl of Oxford, who Squanders away the Property, and Pulls down Little Bentley Hall — The Woodgate Family — The Church — Leper Window The Squint — Restoration of Church and Removal of Lord Bayning's Coffin to make way for a Stoke-hole — Fine Oak Benches, Monuments, &c. . . .page 29 WALTON-LE-SOKEN. The Old Customs of the Sokens, and Description in Domesday — The Old Church and other Estates gone to sea — Prcebenda Consumpta per Mare The Hall — Sir John Henry Johnson — J. Eagle — Vicarage, &c page 44 CONTENTS. IX A GOSSIPING DIGRESSION. Harking back to 1108 Years before the Birth of Christ, and into the History of Ancient Britons, from the Oldest Authorities — The Romans — Saxons — Danes — Origin of the Saxons — Origin of Englishmen — Geoffrey de Mande- ville, first Earl of Essex — His Creation by the Empress Maud — His Turbu- lence and his Death — Capels, Earls of Essex — Family of Lord Petre, &c. page 48 KIRBY-LE-SOKEN. Ancient Name— Manors — Court House of the Lords of the Soken — Elizabeth Countess of Rivers — ^Alderman La Motte — The Honywoods — History of Family — Mary, who had 867 children, grandchildren, &c, and her " craze " — Sneating Hall — Foaker — Salmon — Birch Hall Manor — L. Foaker — Colonel Williams — Wrinch — Horsey Island — Blanshard— Chapman — The Church — Strange Omission in Parish Register, &c page 54 FRINTON. Domesday — Its small Church — Godmastons — Grimston Family and Pedigree — Sir Harbottle Grimston, M.P. for Colchester — Estates Pass to Wm. Luckyn, M.P., who takes the name of Grimston — His Descendants, Viscounts Grim- ston and Earls of Verulam — The " Wapping Mariner " buys the Manor — The Hall— Stone Family, &c page 60 GREAT HOLLAND. King John and the Barons who curb him — Magna Charta — Lord Montfichet, his Family and Estates— The Burnel Family — Handlos — Botelers — Bour- chiers, Earls of Essex — Hopkins — Martin — Kirby — Travers and his Gift to the Knights of Windsor — The Hall — Hicks— The Manor — Dennis, of Beau- mont Oak, &c page 63 LITTLE HOLLAND. Ancient History— The Drurys— Kettles — Hills of Colne Park— Astles— Morant the Historian — J. S. Barnes, Lord of the Manor — J. Inglis — Ancient Records of Tendring Hundred Level — Difficulties of same, &c. page 67 MANNINGTREE AND MISTLEY. The River Stour — Camden's Description of it — When made Navigable — Man- ningtree a Hamlet of Mistley— Ancient Grants of Manors— Very Curious " Notes " — Derivation of " Mistley " and Names of Owners— Dikeley Hall- Rev. C. F. Norman— Ancient Guild— The Rigbys— The Pitts, Lords Rivers Drowning of the Third Lord in the Serpentine — Crockf ord, who " filled the Hungry with good things and the Rich he sent empty away " — Disper- sion of the Mistley Estate— Kensit — Normans— Pages— Mustard— " High Jinks " at Mistley in Rigby's time — The Parson who Shot the Actress and was Hanged '-page 71 X CONTENTS. LAWFORD. Ancient Manors— The Hall, History of— The Waldegrave Family— Lord Car- lingford and the Ancient Fortescues — Lords Crewe — The Dents — Greens — F. M. Nichols — Dale Hall and Ancient Owners— Waite Cox — Cox Hales — Abbotts and Ancient Owners — Faites and Owners — Lawford Place — Lawford House— The Nunns -page 79 BRADFIELD. Ancient History — Further History of the Grimstons and the Harbottles, from Camden — The Cardinalls — Jacques Hall — Hardy — Stour Lodge — Barton, &c .page 86 TENDRING. Centre of the Hundred to which it gives its Name — Ancient History — Owners of Manors — The Dorewards — Pyrtons — Drurys — Clarksons — Cardinalls — Old Hall— Hardy— C. Gray— Creffields— Rounds— Brett's Hall— Sir Percy Brett and his Naval Engagement with the French ship " Elizabeth" — Prince Charles Edward — Battle of Culloden — How we got the Prince's Razors — New Hall— Hanham Hall— Wolfes— The Church— New Spire built by Mr. Cardinall — Rectory, &c page 90 ARDLEIGH. Domesday Book — Who was Roger ? — His History — William the Conqueror unable to Write his Name — Norman Names were Hard Nuts to Crack — Flemish Names — Edict of Nantes in 1598 — Its Revocation in 1685, and Flight of Hugenots to England— Their Changes in Names — The Du Canes — Old Manors of Ardleigh — Largest Parish in Hundred — The De Teys Picotts — De Bovills — Martells — Guilford — Mannocks — John de Bois, &c. page 98 ALRESFORD. Description in Domesday Book, and Ancient Owners — De Fordes De Mun- derle — Botyller — Sir John de Coggeshall — His Family — The Dorewards Sir John Tyrell — Family of Tyrell — William Rufus and the New Forest— How William the Conqueror pulled down 36 Churches to make it, and how fatal it was to his Family — Matthew Martin, M.P. for Colchester — Owner of Alresfordand Wyvenhoe — His Career— His Daughter Marries Isaac Lemyng Rebow, M.P. — Isaac Martin-Rebow Marries Mary Martin — Their Daughter Marries General Slater, who takes the Name of Rebow — Their Daughter Lady Ormsby, and John Gurdon-Rebow — Family of the Gurdons of Assington and Letton — Sir John de Sutton — Sir John Howard — The Hall — Lieut.- Colonel Hawkins and his Services — C. H. Hawkins, &c page 106 CONTENTS. XI ELMSTEAD. Origin of Elmstead Market— The De Tanya— Sir Thomas Mandeville— William Pyrton — Grimston — Rich— Harlook — Peter Davey — F. Davey, &c. page 113 FRATING. Domesday — Ralph Peverill— De Fratings— De Cheddeworth— Dr. Wells- Ford — Thomas Bendish— Inscription on his Tomb— His Son, Sir Thomas— Moverons— Sir John St. Clair — Cardinall — Beriff— Rand — Brown — Frating Abbey — Boghurst — Discovery of the Skeleton Pig — Haunted Room — The Church — Extracts from the Register of 1560 page 116 THORINGTON. Odo, Bishop of Bayeaux — His Ambition and His Fall — William the Conqueror's Speech to the Saxons — Origin of Thorington — De Montchesney — De Valence — John de Hastings — Earl of Worcester — Earl of Westmoreland — The Hall — Frost, &c page 121 BRIGHTLINGSEA. A Naval Militia Formed, A.D. 979— The Fleet of Alfred the Great Pitched into the Danes, 994 — Flight to Mersea — Description of Boats of the Ancient Britons — Roman Boats — William the Conqueror formed the Cinque Ports — Their Privileges and their Duties — Brightlingsea Attached to Sandwich — The Conqueror gave the Manor to Eudo Dapifer, his Steward, who gave it to St. John's Abbey — Cromwell — Sir Thomas Heneage — Moyle Finch — Countess of Winchelsea — Wilcox — Col. Thompson — Brand — John Colt — Brand-Colts — Nicholas Magens — Dorrien-Magens — Ancient Customs of Manor — Moverons — Osbert de Brightlingsea — Bateman — Eagle — Beriffs — The Church, &c page 125 GREAT CLACTON. Extracts from Domesday — Cann Hall — History of Darcy Family — Alton Park — Travers, M.P. — Naval Knights — Smith — Jay-wic — Capt. Wegg — Rounds — Smith — Wegg the Smuggler — His Old House and " Cellar," and how he Bought Jay-wic — Cobbolds — Schutz — Boteler — Lord Percival — Estates he Bought and Sold to Col. Schutz — Elector of Hanover — George I. — Schutz's Marriage — The Harding Newmans — Clacton-on-Sea, its Origin and Pro- gress page 132 LITTLE CLACTON. Bovills and Geddys — Sir John Cary — The Deanes of Harwich — Sir Phineas Pett and his Expedition for Timber— Lodge — Laws — The Church, &c. page 140 Xll CONTENTS. ST. OSYTH. St. Clair's Hall — Deans — Cocketwiek— Earls Hall— Cooper— Park Farm— Blyth— Extent of Parish— Variance— Block House— Howards— William Howard — His Daughters — Bawtree — Matson — Watson — Yelloly — Sir W. H. Watson — Admiral Watson takes Calcutta and relieves the Sufferers from the Black Hole — Lord.Clive Co-operates with the Admiral — Hereward the Saxon — His Defence of Ely and the Traitorous Monks— William Howard of 1297 —The Dukes of Norfolk— How the First was called " Bigod "—The First Duke of the Howard line, &c -page 142 WEELEY. Eudo Dapifer and his Monastery of St. John's— Weeley, the First Manor given to it — William the Conqueror, how he Died — How Eudo and his Friends served him — How some people boast of Norman Descent — William Rufus — ■ Eudo, after Building his Monastery at Colchester, looks out for a few Monks — How they Grumble and Treat him — The " Monks of Old " — Their Habits and Pleasant Abodes — The Wittenagemot, or Saxon Parliament, and the Monks — Our First Chroniclers — Aldermen — Earls — Boroughs of Old, and their "Party Fights" — Chaucer's Description of the "Monks of Old" — Chaucer's Description of a Parson 500 years ago — Weeley ; its Possessors, from Eudo to the Present Time — Gutteridge Hall — The Rowley Family — ■ The Church — Ancient Parsonage — Curious Levy on Goods at Colchester page 151 GREAT BROMLEY. Domesday — -Bromley Hall — William de Langvalei, Constable of Colchester in 1215 — The Family of Bassett— Mortimers, Earls of March — Guilfords — ■ The Cardinalls — Sir Thomas Bowes, and the Witches — The Mannocks — Alexander Baring, Lord Ashburton — The Nunn Family — The Alstons — The Church — The Rectory, &c page 161 LITTLE" BROMLEY. Domesday — Walter the Deacon, ancestor of the Lords Hastings and Godman- stons — Sir Ralph Chamberlain — The Cockayns — Pyrtons— Sir Francis de Vere — Horace Lord Tilbury — Newmans— Braham Hall — Sir John de Braham — Cardinalls — Marlows — Rigbys — Eagles — Sprat Lane — The Church, &c .". page 167 GREAT OAKLEY. Domesday — The Hall — The Gernons — De Plaiz — Sir John Howard — Waltons — De Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford— W. M. Pyrton— Sir Thomas Darcy— Brigadier Warren — Carteret Leathes — Leathes Family — Skighaugh — Sir Thomas Darcy — Lord Guildford — Dengwell Hall — Plaiz — Howards — De Veres — Ford — Blunts Hall, and Owners — Houbridge Hall, and Owners — Stanford — The Church and Rectory — Aged persons, &c page 171 CONTENTS. Xlll LITTLE OAKLEY. The Filiols of Felix Hall, and History of Family— Darcys— Leathes— Felix Hall— The Western Family— Sir Charles Rowley— The Hall— Sewell— The Church and Rectory— Rev. Geo. Burmester, and Curious Extracts from the old Parish Register of 1558— Pewitt Island, &c page 175 WRABNESS. Domesday — Derivation — Le Blund — De Valeynes — Sir John Hende — Walter Writtle — The Ayloffes — Whitmores — Sir Thomas Davall and his Extraor- dinary Will — D. Burr, Claimant of the Estate — Roydons — Sir G. H. Smyth — Rich — The Church — Curious Timber Belfrey, &c page 181 RAMSEY. Domesday — Different Manors, or Reputed Manors, with Ancient Owners — The Roydons — De Veres — De Ramsays — Lucas — Family of Sir Charles Lucas— Grimstons — Sir Henry Smyth — Ramsey Hall — Hardy — Michaelstow Hall and Manor — Garlands of Michaelstow — Firmins — Stour Hall — Manor of Le Ray — De Rulys — Manor of Foulton — Filyols — Dukes — Lowndes — Hempson, &e page 187 WIX. Queen Edeva — Domesday — Walter the Deacon — Earl of Huntingdon— Bassetts — De Loveyns — Earl of Northampton — De Bohuns — Philipsons, M.P. for Harwich — Carbonells — Mannooks — De Suttons — Pyrtons — 20th Earl of Ox- ford, &c. — Wix Abbey and the Nuns — Cardinal Wolsey and the Abbess — The Veseys, Cardinalls, &c. — Abbey — Eagle — The Church — Curious Timber Belfry and the " Devil among the Bells," &c .page 194 THE LORDS OR STEWARDS OF THE TENDRING HUNDRED. The Old Connection between Colchester Castle and the Tendring Hundred — Ancient Lords or Stewards of both — Description of Kingswood and Severalls —Ancient Roll — Gifts to the Burgesses — How the Castle and Hundred passed to the Marshall of the King's Bench — Copy of Ancient Charter "disafforesting" the Hundred, &c page 201 ST. OSYTH PRIORY. Grant of the Right of Sporting to the Old Monks in 1168 — First Instance of Fox Hunting — How the Monks held a Market on Sundays — How they Poached — Nun's Wood and Fountain of St. Osyth — Where she was Be- headed — Conspiracy of the Monks — Lord Audley Tries to Get the Priory from them, &c page 206 CONTENTS. NUMBER II. History of St. Osyth, the Nun and Abbess — Various Grants to the Priory — , Devices and Bribery of Lord Atidley to get the Place — His Letters to Crom- well and Offers of £1,000 Bribe— Cromwell's Rise and Pall— Number of Per- sons Executed by Henry VIII. — His Character, and how he got rid of his Wives, &c -page 211 NUMBER III. Priory and Estates of St. Osyth granted to the Princess Mary — Her Letter to the King — Surrender in 1553 to Lord Darcy — The Darcy Family, and their Estates in the Tendring Hundred — Queen Elizabeth entertained at St. Osyth in 1561, and again in 1579 — Thomas Lord Darcy and Mary Kitson of Hengrave — Their Unhappy Marriage — Death of their only Son — Estates granted to Robert Carr, Viscount Rochester — Curious Letters — Lord Darcy regains the Estate and becomes Lord-Lieutenant — Made Lord Colchester and Earl of Rivers — Mary (Kitson) Countess of Rivers — Residence at Colchester — Death there — Extracts from her Will, &c page 219 NUMBER IV. Third and Last Lord Darcy and First Lord Rivers Leaves his Estates to his Daughter Elizabeth, afterwards, in 1641, made Countess of Rivers — Her Troubles During the Commonwealth — The Priory Sacked by the Rebels — Her Escape to Melford Hall, to Bury, and to London — Her Losses — Arrested for Debt and Sent to Prison — Most of Her Estates in Essex Sequestrated and Sold — Her Death — Her Eldest Son Succeeds as 2nd Lord Rivers — The 3rd Earl, his Marriage and Death — Richard, the 4th Earl, the Eminent Soldier and Statesman, left an only daughter (illegitimate), who became Bessy, Countess of Rochford — His Son, also illegitimate — The Ill-fated Poet Savage — John Savage, Heir to Earl Richard, did not Assume the Title, which became Extinct, and Estates Left to " Bessy Savage," &c. page 227 number v. Bessy Savage — Marries Frederick, 3rd Earl of Rochford — His Descent from the Prince of Orange — Lord Tunbridge his Elder Brother — Bearer of Des- patches from the Duke of Marlborough — And his Death in Battle — Suc- ceeded by the 3rd Earl, who Married Bessy — Their Son William Henry, the Celebrated and 4th Earl— Lord-Lieutenant of the County — Lord of the Bedchamber to George II. — Ambassador to Turin, &c. — Brought over First Poplar Trees, now Standing in Park — Also Red-legged Partridges — George III. Visits St. Osyth — Death of the Fourth Earl — He Leaves his Estates of St. Osyth to his Natural Son, Frederick Nassau — His Death And Sale of Priory and Estates on Death of William Frederick Nassau Purchase of the Priory by Sir J. H. Johnson, &c page 232 NUMBER VI. Mary Countess of Rivers — Her Pride — Her Disappointments — Her Goodness — And her Will, &c page 237 EEEATA. Page 16— Note on "Knights' fees" : For "became" read "become;" for " part " read " parts." Page 25 — Note on " assart " : Bead " and in Kennett's Parochial Antiquities assartum is," &c. Page 31 — In note on " Sheriffs " : For " Baiquardus," read " Baignardus." Page 52 — First paragraph : Read "in his wife's right ;" also "the two sons of." Page 89— Jacques Hall : For "1801 " read " 1804." Page 103 — End of second paragraph : For "and " read " ' who ' got the estate." Page 134— For " Colbayns " read " Colblains." THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. HARWICH AND DOVERCOURT. VTEARLY one thousand years ago — that is to say, in A.D. 884 — -L ' a naval battle was fought between the fleet of King Alfred and sixteen Danish ships off Harwich, at the mouth of the River Stour.* The Danes were defeated at first, but reinforcements coming up before Alfred could get off with his booty, he was beat in his turn, and the Danes, as usual, landed and ravaged the country. Two hundred years before this, they had landed at Chich, and cut off the head of St. Osyth, as described in our former papers on the ancient Priory. + Now St. Osyth and Harwich form, as it were, the extreme points of a Peninsula, surrounded on the * The mouth of the Stoure, a place memorable for the battaile at sea fought between the English and the Danes in the year 884, where now lyeth Harewieh, a most safe road, whence it hath the name. — Camden. + Reprinted at the end of this work. 6 2 THE TENDETNG HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. North by the Kiver Stour, East and South by the German Ocean, and West by the River Colne. This Peninsula contains upwards of 80,000 acres of laud, more than 30,000 inhabitants, and is called the Tendring Hundred. In the former papers referred to, we showed that a large tract of this Hundred was embraced in the various Manors which were the subject of so much contention and strife in the days of Cromwell, the D'Arcys, and the Rochesters ; but our remarks were chiefly directed to such points of interest as referred more parti- cularly to the old Priory of St. Osyth, and its different possessors. Our present object will be to take a turn through some of the ancient records of each parish — not, however, in any classified or particular form, but just as the humour seizes us. We shall fix our " meets " at the best " authorities," and then make our running just as the scent may carry us. The Hundred takes its name from the central village of Tend- ring, in which its ancient " Hundred " Courts were held. Origi- nally it was mostly forest, but disafforested by King Stephen in the twelfth century.* Even so lately, however, as 50 or 60 years ago, it consisted of large tracts of woodland, since stubbed, par- ticularly about Bromley thicks, Ardleigh, Dedham, St. Osyth, &c. The origin of Hundreds is somewhat obscure. They are sup- posed to have been first instituted by the Danes, or when counties were originally divided by King Alfred in 897, and so called because such sub-divisions were composed of one hundred families. In those days each division had one hundred sureties to keep the peace, and when crimes were committed the Hundred had to investigate them.t * See Copy of Charter in last article. t Alfred the Great, to reduce anarchy and disorder, divided Counties into Hundreds and Tithings, that every Englishman living under laws as a liege subject should be within one Hundred or another. And if a man were accused of any transgression, he should bring some one out of the Hundred to be bound for his appearance to answer the law. If he could not find such security, then he had to abide the severity of such laws. In case the criminal fled, the Hundred incurred a mulct or fine to the king. In this wise he brought HARWICH AND DOVEECOURT. 3' Camden says that England was first divided into " parishes " about A.D. 630.* According to another authority, the division dates from the time of the Lateran Council in 1179. These "parishes," of which the Tendring Hundred has 32, originally formed the precincts of parochial Churches, or circuits, each of which was inhabited by people belonging to one Church and under one Minister. In those days ecclesiastical revenues were divided into three portions — one for the Parson, one for the poor, and one for the Church. Subsequent legislation and the union of Church and State gave all to the Parson, made Church preferment a marketable com- modity, left the support of the poor to the owners and occupiers of land and the working bees of trade, and the fabric of the Church to be kept up and restored by sundry digs into the pockets of the parishioners. From the time of the Norman Conquest to the era of County Courts, the " Bailiwick " of the Tendring Hundred belonged to the owners of Colchester Castle, who appointed bailiffs and stewards, and they held their minor Courts at Manningtree for the recovery of debts, and the chief Court in the Castle itself. It is not our intention to enter into the history of this Castle ; but we may briefly observe that Eobert Northfolk, who had ruined himself by building houses in the High-street, sold it in 1683 to a person who commenced to pull it down and to sell the materials ; but finding they cost more money to break up than they were worth, he resold the ruins to Sir Isaac Rebow, who thus rescued them from further destruction. Sir Isaac's grandson sold the Castle to Mr. Charles Gray, who owned it in 1772 ; afterwards it became possessed by the Rounds, who may be said to have been the last " Bailiwicks " of the Tendring Hundred.t such peace and fright to the country that on highways where they crossed each other he caused bracelets of gold to be hung up to tempt the greediness of the people, but none dare take them. — Camden. * Honorius, Archbishop of Canterburie, about the year of our redemp- tion 636 began to divide England into parishes. — Camden. t See last article on " The Lords or Stewards of the Tendring Hundred." B 2 4 THE TENDR1NG HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. As we began with the battle off Harwich, we may as wel' " hark back," and say that Harwich — or, as it was called in those days, Herewic, meaning the " Army's Castle," because an army was kept there to oppose the descents of the piratical Danes — was until later years merely an appendage to the Manor of Dovercourt. Its first rise into importance was owing to the destruction oi Orwell — a town standing on the west rocks, about five miles distant — which, with a large tract of land adjoining, was over- whelmed by the sea. Harwich was made a Borough Corporate by Edward II., in 1318. By a charter of King James I. the extent of the Corporation previously granted through Sir Edward Coke in 1604 contained the "burgh of Harwich, and the tenants, residents, and inhabitants of the village of Dovercourt, near, adjacent, and adjoining to the same Borough." The first Mayor of Harwich was John Hankiu, who served in 1603. Sir Anthony Deane was Mayor in 1676. Charles Cox, 1778. The first Members for Harwich were John But and Thomas de Eaton, in 1344. The Church of Harwich remained as a Chapel of Ease to the Mother Church of Dovercourt. It was founded by Koger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk. The destruction of the town of Orwell by the encroachments of the sea, and through which Harwich rose into importance, points out one of the peculiarities, as well as misfortunes, of our coast ; and it reminds us that there are people, even in these days of enlightenment, who have an idea that this earth of ours is fiat, and not round. There was also a theory started a few years ago, and ventilated, if we remember rightly, by Charles Dickens in Household Words, that the earth might be likened to a well- balanced saucer or plate, the indented parts, like gravy receptacles, filled with water. Thus with a slight tilt the water might be made to rush from one side to the other, flooding the dry parts and leaving the old seas dry; and thus from a great tilt the theorist accounted for the deluge. At any rate there can be no doubt whatever that much of what is now dry land was formerly sea, and our seas dry land. Around HARWICH AND DOVERCOURT. Harwich and Walton, and far away inland, marine shells and other striking proofs of this in coprolites, &c, are found embedded in the soil, and the sea is fast claiming her own again. The town of Orwell went ages ago, and the stones of the " West Rock," part of its old building materials, have been ground up into cement for London builders. Old Walton hr.sgone; and now if it were not for " horses," and " groins," and sea walls, and breakwaters, the Tendring Hundred would gradually, but surely, be devoured by the " sad sea waves." When Claudius, the Roman Emperor, invaded England A.D. 40 or 43 he brought with him, according to Dion Cassius, many ele- phants — the first ever seen in England ; he crossed the Thames from Kent into Essex, where he conquered the natives and established Roman settlements. In the philosophical transactions of 1701 there is an account of some bones of an extraordinary size found at Wrabness, near Harwich, all of which, Morant says, may reasonably be supposed to be bones of the elephants brought over by Claudius^ Iu very early times Harwich was walled round, and had four principal gates — namely, St. Helen's Port, Barton's or Water Gate, St. Auston's Gate, and the Castle Port — besides three others. It had also a castle, and the Duke of Norfolk had a large house near St. Auston's Gate. In 1080 William the Conqueror had a survey of the kingdom commenced, and, when complete, it formed what is called " Domesday Book." In this book were entered the owners, before and after the conquest, of every Manor and estate ; the number of " hides " of land they contained, and the quantity of live and dead stock upon each; everything, in fact, to show its value for taxation. A hide of land was then about 100 acres. But land was chiefly swamp, wood, and poorly culti- vated arable of little value. At the same time, in looking at the value put on some Manors, we must remember the great difference in the value of money, when in those days Is. would buy a sheep, and 4s. a horse. This, however, will be more particularly referred to hereafter. 6 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. Dovercourt* — from Bwfr — water ; and Cwrr — a border or edge — anterior to the Romans was the terminus of the British road which traversed the island from Plymouth to Yarmouth, with a branch diverging from Tring, through Braintree, Lexden, Manningtree, to the place now called Harwich Harbour; and in the time of Edward the Confessor belonged to one " Uluuin." From William the Conqueror to Henry VIII. 's time it belonged to the De Veres, Earls of Oxford, and the Mowbrays and Howards, Earls and Dukes of Norfolk. From this time down to 1558, the place was evidently one of vast importance, and passed through many noble families. In 1312 Edward II. gave the Manor, of which Harwich was a part, to Thomas De Brotherton, Earl Marshal. His first wife was Alice, daughter of Sir Edward Hayls, of Harwich, and the second, Mary, daughter of William, Lord Roos. By his first wife he had two daughters, the eldest of whom became Margaret, Duchess of Norfolk. Her daughter Elizabeth, born in 1340, married John De Mowbray, Lord Mow- bray of Axholm ; and the second, but only surviving, son was created Duke of Norfolk on the 29th September, 1397. From this time Dovercourt was vested in the family of the Mowbrays, Dukes of Norfolk, until the last of that line in 1477, when the large estates of the family were divided, and went through the female branches to the Howards and the Berkleys. Margaret, the eldest daughter of Thomas, first Duke of Norfolk, and Earl Marshal of England, who died in exile at Venice in 1400, married Robert Howard, " the ancestor," as Morant says, " of the noble and numerous family of that surname" — several branches of which spread through the Tendring Hundred. Isabel, the second daughter, married James, Lord Berkley, in 1423, and to her Dovercourt and Harwich were allotted. The eldest son of this * In Domesday Book it is said, "Druurecurt is held by Alberic in demesne, it was held by Uluuin for a Manor and for vi. hides. Then viii. villeinB, now vi. Then vi. bordars, now xii. Always vi. serfs, and iii. teams in the demesne, and vi. teams of the homagers : iii. acres of meadow. Pasture for oc. sheep. Then iii. horses and xii. beasts, co. sheep, and xl. swine; and now the like number. Then it was worth vi. pounds, now xii." HARWICH AND DOVERCOURT. 7 marriage, William, Lord Berkley, had three wives, but no issue ; and the estates were made over to Henry VII., and then again came to the De Veres, for the 13th Earl of Oxford held them in 1512 of the Abbot of St. Osyth. In 1544 a fine passed between Henry VIII., plaintiff, and John, Earl of Oxford, &c, defendant, of the Manors of Dover- court, Harwich, Great and Little Oakley, Skighawe, Moose, Old Hall and New Hall in Beaumont, with " great parcels of land," the advowsons of the Churches of Great Oakley, Moose, and Beau- mont ; the advowsons of the Vicarage of Dovercourt, and of the Chapels of Harwich and Fulton. In 1588 Queen Mary granted the Manor of Dovercourt and the late lands and possessions of the Earl of Oxford to Sir Thomas White and others; but they soon afterwards fell to the Crown again, and rested there till King James sold them to Sir George Whitmore, from whose family the Manor passed through those of Davall, Burr, and others, into that of Garland of Michael- stow Hall.* Morant says that in this parish there is a strong knotted and crooked sort of elm tree, famous for uses in husbandry, and which, it is said, wears like iron. In Fox's " Book of Martyrs " it is said that in the Church there was a famous rood or crucifix, whose supposed sanctity drew from afar many votaries and pilgrims with their offerings.t * These families are referred to under the head of Wrabness. t This crucifix had such marvellous powers attached to it, that to test them, four men in 1532 — Robert King and Robert Dcbenham, of East Bergholt ; and Nicholas Marsh and Robert Gardener, of Dedham — started off to Dover- court, broke into the Church, and ruthlessly tore the crucifix from its fasten- ings, and burnt it on the green hard by. Robert Gardener escaped, but the other three were hanged in chains. THOKPE-LE-SOKEK TN the old Italian City of Verona — the home of Borneo and *- Juliet, the City of Marble Palaces and wondrous sights — there lay, sick unto death, in the year 1752, a young and beautiful woman of the Tendring Hundred. Three short years before, the young man hanging over her with the deepest devotion and distress had met her in London circles, and had become madly infatuated with her charms. He gave himself out as a young Florentine, on a flying visit to England for the first time. She gave herself out as Miss Catherine Canham. And then they married, went abroad at once, and for three happy years travelled over the greater part of Europe. But on her death bed at Verona, the heart of poor Kate yearned with an irresistible longing for England and her home in the Sokens. She implored her still youthful lover to take her body to England, and then wrung his own soul by the confession, that when she married him she was already the wife of the Vicar of Thorpe ! Poor erring Kate, she received the forgiveness as well as the undying affection of the unhappy youth. Let us hope, also, that in her heart of hearts she made her peace with God, for she had grievously sinned and deceived her husbands. Why she left Thorpe and her first husband must, we suppose, ever remain a mystery — perhaps they didn't agree, or a village life in the Sokens was too quiet for her restless temperament. THORPE-LE-SOKEN. 9 When she died her body was embalmed, packed up in a large chest, and taken to the coast, where her second husband, under the name of Mr. Williams, a merchant of Hamburgh, chartered a vessel for England. Intending to land at Harwich he was driven by stress of weather into the Colne, and the Custom House Officers being very alert in those days, boarded his vessel, and seeing the chest, congratulated themselves in finding, as they supposed, a rich prize of contraband goods, and in taking Mr. Williams as a smuggler. Judge of their astonishment, then, on opening the chest to find the body of a young and still beautiful woman ! Mr. Williams was taken into custody on suspicion of murder, and he then declared himself to be Lord Dalmeny, the eldest son of the Earl of Rosebery. He related the confession of the lady whom he had believed to be his wife, and stated that he was on his way to take her body for burial at Thorpe. While this extraordinary story was under investigation, the body of poor Kate was deposited in the Hythe Church for public inspection and review. The grief and despair of Lord Dalmeny at this sacrilege to his idol, according to old letters of the period, was something extraordinary, and he is said never to have left the Church, night or day, while the body was so exposed. The Vicar of Thorpe, Kate's first husband, was the Rev. Alexander Henry Gough, M.A. (inducted 8th August, 1745) ; and when he was communicated with, and informed of the way in which the body of his poor truant wife had turned up at last, he became very furious, which proved that he was not at all times one of the sweetest of tempers. He showed fight, and threatened to run the poor young lord through the body. But when he entered the Church, and saw the lifeless features of his early love, the devotion and despair of her second victim, his heart softened ; and over the remains of her beauty and her folly the two for- giving husbands were reconciled, became good friends, and determined to give her a splendid funeral ; and so, in a coffin richly adorned with silver nails and plate, on the 9th July, 1752, the wife of two husbands was buried at Thorpe-le-Soken, and 10 THE TENDEING HUNDEED IN THE OLDEN TIME. followed to the grave by both of them, hand in hand ! Lord Dalmeny raved and protested at first that his love was so strong he wished not only to attend her to the grave, but to be buried with her j but he thought better of it in the end. " Nothing in romance," says a letter of the period, "ever came up to the passion of this youth ;" and it was hinted that as his father, Lord Eosebery, some time previously had had a Statute of Lunacy taken out against him, his son also may have been slightly cracked, which is not at all improbable at that time. He was described as a young man of about twenty-five, small and genteel ; and pretended at first that he knew nothing of English and could only speak French and Latin. After the funeral the Vicar attended him to London in the most polite way possible, the young noble protesting that he was inconsolable, and should fly from England, never to return. But he did return, and seems to have been pretty well consoled, if Burke is to be relied upon ; for we find that Neil Primrose, Lord Dalmeny, born in 1728 — which made him twenty-four at the time of Kate's death — succeeded as third Earl of Rosebery in 1755, or three years afterwards ; and then married — first in 1764, Susan, only sister and heir of Sir Randal Ward, Bart., of Kirby, Norfolk, who died in 1771 ; and secondly, in 1775, Mary, only daughter of Sir Francis Vincent, Bart., by whom he left two sons and three daughters, and died in 1814 ; so that, notwithstanding his early romance and his inconsolable despair, he lived to the good old age of eighty-six ! In most of the old letters extant giving a description of the arrival of Kate's body in the Colne and its seizure by the Customs, the month of August is named ; but this is evidently a mistake, for in searching through the old registers of Thorpe we find under the head of burials — 1752 — Catherine, wife of Henry Gough, Vicar, July 9th. — Under the head of births and baptisms we find — 1720 — Catherine, daughter of Robert Canham and Judith his wife . 11th February. — So that she was thirty-two years old when she died. THORPE-LE-SOKEN. ] 1 Any cne walking now into the re-built Church of Thorpe by the north porch will pass over a tombstone, removed from the vestry, and utilised by a modern architect as a paving stone, and upon this he may read : — Here lieth the bodies of Bartholomew and Robert, sons of Robert and ■Judith Canham. Bartholomew departed this life in the fourth year of his age, and Robert departed this life In the seventh year of his age, 1729. These were Kate's brothers. Of Kate's marriage to the Vicar we can find no trace in the register. After the date of 6th February, 1732, there is this notice : — For several years consult Mr. Gibson's Register of Kirby. The next entry is in 1738, and continues to 1746 ; and then no entry of any marriage whatever until September, 1749. Probably, as Kate had friends at Beaumont Hall, she may have been married there or at Kirby. I A few years ago, at the sale of a tradesman's goods in Thorpe, the grimy picture of a woman was sold for 17s. It was sent to" Colchester to be cleaned, proved to be a fine portrait of Kate, and was soon afterwards sold for £40. Another fine portrait, we understand, is in possession of Mrs. Salmon, of Kelvedon, formerly of Beaumont Hall. Thorpe, in the Saxon language,* means "village" — and Thorpe-le-Soken was a village par excellence. The peculiar privi- leges and immunities of the Sokens will be more particularly referred to under the head of Walton. The copyhold land is held under fine of Is. an acre for land and 2s. for a cottage. Tenants may pull down houses without a license, and may cut down small trees. They may also grant leases even for fifty years ; and there were formerly two Manors — the Manor of Thorpe Hall and the * As a rule the names of all our parishes are Saxon, and will be referred to as we proceed. The old rhyme says — " In Ford, in Ham, in Ley, in Tun, The most of English surnames run." In Domesday Book, Thorpe is described as one of the three Sokens — " Aldul- uesnase " — and is given under the head of Walton. 12 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. Manor of Landmere. Having made in our last a few remarks upon the origin of " Hundreds " and " Parishes," we may as well in this place add a few words as to the origin of "Manors/'* especially as they will form the chief subjects of our remarks. They remain as reminders of the old feudal system and of the Norman Conquest, when the Conqueror parcelled out lauds and Baronies and Manors, and divided them, with certain rights and privileges, among his friends and retainers. These, again, were parcelled out among their dependents and others in smaller or reputed Manors, generally for certain fines or fees, or for services to be performed. The Manor houses were generally in possession of the Lords, who kept certain demesne lands in their own occu- pation, and the other or tenemental lands were distributed among their tenants or vassals under different forms of tenure. But these small or reputed Manors became at last so numerous that in the reign of Edward I. the statute of Quia Emptores was passed, which forbade further subinfeudation and the creation of fresh Manors. All Manors, therefore, bear dates prior to this time. In a future paper we shall enter more fully into the ancient land tenure and the origin of " heriots."t The Manor of Thorpe Hall was taken from the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's by Henry VIII., January, 1551. Edward * In the " Early History of Institutions," it is said that " the origin of the word Manor is one of the most distinct foreign importations in our history. It is not only a foreign word, but there is not, as there is in most foreign words which came along with it, any English word which it can be said to translate." In Domesday Book 20 acres are called a Manor (L. D. 314), and a free tenant with 12 acres is called a " Manor " (L. D. 318). The Hall, or Manor House, was the head of the Manor, the seat of justice and administration. It was generally surrounded by a wall or strong palisade, and the space " intra curiam, vel domum," in this way enclosed was almost sacred. The Hall was generally seated on an eminence overlooking a greater part of the village, and the wide- spread arable plain. + Under the feudal system of holding land for certain fees, or services to be performed, there were, it is calculated, no less than 80 different tenures, and we shall endeavour to explain them as they crop up in future sketches. We may remark here, however, that when a Manor is said to be held in capite, it is from the head or chief, generally of the king. THORPE-LE-SOKEN. 13 VI. granted it to Sir Thomas Darcy and his heirs male. Through these it descended to Elizabeth, Couutess of Kivers, who sold it to Thomas Wharton, of Gray's Inn, Secretary to Queen Henrietta, mother of Charles II, He was a son of Humfrey Wharton and Catherine Senhouse, and born at Shapp, in Westmoreland. Dying in August, 1669, aged 47, he was buried in the chancel of Thorpe Church with Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Andrew Browne, of Lincoln's Inn. A monument was erected to their memory by their son and heir, Andrew Wharton ; and the old tablet recording this has been placed in the western porch of the restored Church. Andrew Wharton mortgaged the estate, and it came into possession of Henry Nurse, of Mile-end, at whose death it was sold by a Decree in Chancery, in order to be divided, and was purchased in 1723 by Stephen Martin, of Mile-end, a descendant of a branch of the Martins of Devonshire. This Stephen Martin,* who was brother-in-law of Admiral Sir John Leake, took the name of Leake in 1721. Thorpe Hall, for a few years past, has been occupied by Lieut. -Colonel Bridges, of the Grenadier Guards, and here, Mrs. Bridges, under her nom de plume of " Mrs. Forester," has written some of her most charming novels. The earliest records of Landmere — or, as we call it, Lander- mere — show that it was held of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's by Robert Mortimer,t who died in 1485. In 1575 John Abill * His son, Stephen Martin Leake, born in 1702, was Garter King at Arms, and the author of Eeveral books on heraldry and numismatics. He died in 1773, and was succeeded by his son, John Martin, who married Mary, daughter of Peter Calvert, of Hadham, Herts. They left three sons. John Martin Leake, Chairman of the Tendring Hundred Bench and of Quarter Ses- sions, died a few years ago at Thorpe Hall, without male issue, and was suc- ceeded by his nephew, S. Martin Leake, of Marshall's, Ware, Herts. Col. Leake, the Greek scholar and antiquarian, whose collection of Grecian coins is in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, was the second of the three sons ; the third, Stephen, married Georgina, daughter of George Stevens, and was father of the present owner of the Hall. t This Mortimer was of the family of the Earls of March, described under the head of Bromley. 14 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. held it of John, Lord Darcy, and it afterwards came into the possession of Paul Bayning, whose son, Viscount Bayning, held it in 1629. Lord Bayning left two daughters, co-heirs. Annie, the eldest, married John De Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, who then held the Manor ; and it afterwards came to William Peck, then to Richard Westley, and to Robert Shearcroft, who made the Quay for loading and unloading vessels. The great tythes, which belong to the owner of Thorpe Hall, were taken from the Church by Henry VIII., and given to Sir Thomas Darcy by Edward VI., and the Vicarage was endowed with the small tythes. The present Vicar is the Rev. A. H. Rumboll. Morant says that " Between the pillars of the south aisle and the Church, under an arch, is the portraiture of an armed man, cross-legged, holding a shield in his left hand, his feet resting on a lion couchant, his head on a cushion, and his hands folded. By the dress it must be as old as the time of Henry III. or Edward I. Over him hangs his coat armour being azure, a lion rampant, argent; his mane or, between 16 crosslets fitchee ; which are the arms of Salberghe. Vulgar tradition reports that it is for the King of Landmere Hall." This old Knight, or all that is left of him, was for many years deposited as lumber in the Vestry of the old Church, but again reposes under an arch in the new. In searching through the old register of burials we find some very curious names ; for instance, in 1680 there is the burial of "Hippolite Le Gaudre." Iu 1696, Abraham de Riviere. This name again occurs in 1705, with a lot of others, we should think of Hugenot extraction — De MMe, Du Font, Espiness, Tocq, John Paschal, C. Melyman, Chas. Fouquet De Boumizeau, Comarque, and Daugerville. BEAUMONT-CUM-MOSE. AN the comparatively high ground of Beaumont ; or, as its name ^ implies, the " fine hill " — which looks down upon the humble Sokens, far away off to sea, and on the lower lands of "Mose" down by the Hainford Water — there stood in olden times two remarkably small and dilapidated Churches. That of Beaumont, o'er-topped and o'er-shadowed by the Great Manorial Hall, and by big trees, was-dedicated to St. Leonard ; that of Mose stood in a hollow by Old Mose Hall, and was dedicated to destruction. For it so happened, in the days of Charles II., that times were bad, and the inhabitants of these two small and adjoining parishes, with their still smaller Churches so near each other, found them- selves unable or unwilling to contribute towards the necessary repairs of either. In Mose there were very few farmers, and the Church became so ruinous that, " the steeple thereof being already fallen," an Act of Parliament was obtained in 1678 to unite and consolidate the two parishes (both being under one patron), and make one Church do duty for both. The Act enabled the authorities to pull down what was left of the Church of Mose, utilize the materials in repairing the Church of Beaumont, and fence in the ground where the Church of Mose had stood ; also the old Church-yard, which was then to be kept up as the burial-place of the united district, but to be used for no other purpose. The tythes and all other emoluments attaching to Mose were made payable to Beaumont. Thus we arrive at the union of Beaumont- cum-Mose. 16 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. Of the former place no mention is made in Domesday Book, or in any old authority till 1242; probably before that time it formed an appendage to the old Saxon Manor of Mose.* Beau- mont, of Norman origin, had two Manors — Old and New Hall and Bernhams— and the former belonged to the De Veres, Earls of Oxford. In 1242 Rohesia de Cockfield held it as tenant for life, with remainder to her daughter Nesta, wife of Matthew de Ley- ham. It afterwards passed to Ralph Berners, who held it of the 6th Earl of Oxford till his death in 1297, by the service of three- parts of a Knight's fee,t &c. Under the 7th Earl, who died in 1350, John de Berners held two parts of a fee ; and John Sender, or St. Clair, one-twelfth and the advowson of the Church. Then came troublesome times ; for soon after the accession of Richard II. in 1377, the people began to rebel against the feudal laws, the exactions of the nobility and their retainers, and the heavy taxes imposed upon them ; and a rising took place which, at one time, threatened to destroy the Constitution. These were the days of Wat Tyler, John Ball, Jack Straw, and others, who fomented insurrections, and tickled the ears of the mob by exclaiming — When Adam delved and Eve span, Where was then the gentleman ? * According to Domesday Book, " Mosa was held by Levesinus for a Manor and for iv. hides ; now it is held by Geoffrey in demesne. Always xiv. villeins ; now xiii. bordars, then xiii. serfs. Wood for cl. swine, vi. acres of meadow, then the mill and pasture for ei. sheep, iii. salt-works." + " Knight's fees," as introduced by William the Conqueror, empowered the King, or even a great Lord, to compel every holder of a certain extent of land called a " Knight's Fee," to became a member of a Knightly Order ; and in time of war each Knight was bound to attend the King 40 days, which was a full Knight's service. Some lands were held, as in this case, for " part of a Knight's fee," and the holder would have to perform the service accordingly. Half a Knight's fee, tweDty days, and so on. By an ordinance derived from Normandy, when " a man is deceased, who holdeth possessions in lands of the King in chief by Knight's service, as well the heire as his whole patrimonie revenues are in the King's power, protection until he bee of full age, and until by vertue of the King's letter, restitution and re-delivery bee made unto him thereof. ' ' — Camden, BEAUMONT-CUM-MOSE, 17 The insurrection first broke out in Essex, and continued more or less throughout the turbulent reign of Richard II., whose great and especial favourite was Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, and the then owner of the Manor of Beaumont ; his knight, the occupier and retainer in fee or fealty, was Sir James de Berners. Robert de Vere is described in the history of the times as a young man of a good figure and insinuating address, but of dissolute and abandoned morals ; and by fostering and aiding the King's vices, he acquired great influence over him, and became the greatest and most detested personage in the realm. He was made Marquis of Dublin, and Duke of Ireland ; but his ambition and power became so great and arbitrary at last, like that of Crom- well in after times, that he became the envy and detestation of both nobles and people, and only avoided the horrors of an execu- tion by escaping to the Continent, when all his possessions, including Beaumont, were confiscated to the Crown. He died a few years afterwards, at Louvaine, of a wound received in hunting a wild boar at Brabant. Sir James de Berners, like his master, was at one time a favourite of the King, and the declared enemy of the people, but was not so fortunate in escaping. When he was taken prisoner he oiFered to prove his innocence of the charges brought against him by single combat with any of his accusers, but he was executed for treason. On the 10th July, 1389, the King granted Beaumont, for the sum of 250 marks, to Joane de Bohun, Countess of Essex, and others. But the De Veres came to the front again soon afterwards, and Alberic, 10th Earl of Oxford, obtained a restoration of his honours and estates. Richard de Berners, the son of the decapitated Sir James, also recovered his father's inheritance of Beaumont, by fee, under this Earl, who died in 1400. His successor, as well as the 12th Earl, and his son Aubrey, were beheaded during the disas- trous wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster; and Edward IV. gave Beaumont to Richard Plantaganet, Duke of Gloucester, 18 THE TENDBING HUNDEED IN THE OLDEN TIME. The Berners family held it in fee till 1475.* Margaret, only daughter and heir of Eichard de Berners, who died in 1421, married John Bourchier, fourth son of William, Earl of Eu, who, in her right, was called Lord Berners. Her son, John Ferby, was presented to the living in 1429, and was styled Lord of Beaumont. In the year 1483, when Eichard Plantaganet, Duke of Gloucester and baby killer, had become, by crooked ways, King Eichard III., and surnamed the "crooked back," he gave the- Manor of Beaumont to John Howard, Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal ; but the Duke was killed by the side of Eichard at the Battle of Bosworth, and his eldest son, the Earl of Surrey, taken prisoner and sent to the Tower. It was to this owner of the Manor of Beaumont, while sleeping at Leicester just before the battle, that a warning as to the fate of the King was affixed to his gate — Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold, For Dickon, thy master, is bought and sold. Shakspere, with poetic license, states that this distich was found on the Duke's tent on the field of battle, and when he shewed it to the doomed and wicked King, the latter exclaimed — A thing devised by the enemy. — ****** Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law. March on, join bravely, let us to 't pell-mell ; If not to Heaven, then hand in hand to Hell. And whatever the failings of Eichard III. may have been, cowardice was not one of them ; and when later on, the battle * This family descended from Hugh de Berners, who came over with the Conqueror, and his name appears in the roll of Battle Abbey. Hugh held " Bernston," or Berner's Town, under Geoffrey de Mandeville, at the time of the Survey ; and also had Berners Roding, in this county, and Eversdon, in Cambridgeshire. John Berners, who died in 1525, was Gentleman Usher to Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., and afterwards Server or Steward to Edward V. John, his son and heir, was Receiver to Catherine Pari' dowager of Henry VIII., of her estates in Essex and Suffolk. The Berners of Wolverstone Park claim descent from Hugh de Berners. Their ancestor was William Berners, who was born in 1679, and died in 1712, leaving an only son, who married a daughter of Henry Bendysh, great-great-granddaughter of Oliver Cromwell. BEAUMONT-CUM-MOSE. 19 goes against him, and he is " out of the saddle " and at bay, he exclaims — I have set my life upon a east, And I will stand the hazard of the die : I think there be six Richmonds in the field ; Five have I slain to-day, instead of him :— A horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse ! Eiohard finds Eichmond at last, and meets his death like a man — though Richmond exclaims The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead ! Through the death of Richard III. and the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Richmond, who succeeded to the Throne as Henry VII., gave Beaumont to John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, who had all his father's honors and estates restored to him. After his death, John, the 14th Earl, held the Manor, after whom it again reverted to the Crown; and King Edward VI. gave it in 1551 to Sir Thomas Darcy, of Chich St. Osyth, who died in 1558. To him succeeded his son John, and the Manor thus descended to the Darcy Earls Rivers, of St. Osyth ; and in the distribution and sale of the Priory estates, described in former papers,* Beaumont seems to have gone into the possession of the Earl of Guildford, who was patron of the living so late as 1723 ; afterwards he sold the Manor and estate to Guy's Hospital, the present owners. There was formerly a park at the Hall, and the Lords of the Manor had the Royalty of fishing in the Hainford Water. In 1747 Bartholomew Canham, probably an uncle of Kate's, held the farm of Beaumont Hall, 443 acres, at a rental of £190 ■ a-year. It is now in the occupation of Mr. D. Sewell, whose family have long been connected with the district. The Manor (or small reputed Manor) of Bernhams, now merged in the other, also belonged to the De Veres, and was granted in fee to Wm. Tanfield by Lord Berners. Later on it was held, of Lord Rivers, by Robert Alefounder, of Dedham, who held, also, lands in Kirby, and died in 1630. The ancient Manor * Re-published at the end. 2 20 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. of Mose, also called Moose and Moyse, dates from the time of Edward the Confessor. Geoffrey de Mandeville was the first Lord of whom we have any account, and in the reign of Henry II., William de Boteler held it of him, under two Knight's fees. The daughter and heiress of the Mandeville family, Maud, married Henry de Bohun, Earl of Essex and High-constable of England, endowed him with the Manor of Mose, and it continued in the family till the death of Humfrey de Bohun, in 1372. It was then held by John de Plaiz, of Stansted Mountfitchet, who died in 1388, and his only daughter and heir, Margaret, married Sir John Howard. After her decease in 1391, Sir John held the Manor till his death in 1437, and was succeeded by his granddaughter, Elizabeth, wife of John de Vere, son and heir of Richard, 11th Earl of Oxford. When this and the 12th Earl were beheaded during the wars of the Roses, the Manor, like that of Beaumont, passed to the Crown ; then again to the 13th and 14th Earls, till Sir Thomas Darcy got it in 1551 ; and it then went to the Rivers of St. Osyth, to Lord Guildford, and to Guy's. Prom the time of Richard I. to that of the Darcys, there was a large park at Mose ; and even in late years some excellent decoy ponds. In 1747, John Quilter held the farm of Old Mose Hall at a rental of £135 for 286 acres. New Mose Hall was held at the same time by Benjamin Salmon* at £100 a-year for 257 acres. So that 130 years ago, 2,219 acres of land in Beaumont and Mose were let for £1,001 a-year. * The Salmons are a very old family of this parish and Oakley, and have spread over the Tendring Hundred. GREAT BENTLEY. TT was one of the peculiar privileges of the Lords of the Manor - 1 - of Great Bentley that they should choose the wives of their copyhold tenants. When this custom was abandoned we cannot say, but the fact of its having existed shows that the Manor owed its origin to old Saxon and Danish times, when " Might was considered right," and small occupiers of land were little better than serfs and bondsmen. In these early days the lowest form of tenure was called " Villein,"* and the villeins and slaves of the Lord could acquire no land of their own without his seizing it if he took a fancy for so doing ; and if the tenant pre- sumed to allow his daughters to marry without leave, he was subject to a fine or an action for damages. The children of such tenants were in the same state of bondage, and as much subject to the will of the Lords as their parents. All the live and dead stock they had on their farms was also presumed to be the property of the Lord, and he could seize it at any time during the tenant's lifetime. But eventually this claim was commuted, by his taking the best beast or best chattel on the death of his tenant, and this was called his " Heriot." Of course any man subject to having his things seized during his lifetime would think it no great hard- ship to compromise the claim in a way like this ; the only wonder is, that such a relic of serfdom as the " Heriot " should continue to the present day. * Villein, in our ancient customs, denotes a man of servile or base condi- tion, viz., bondsman or servant. Villenage was a tenure compounded of feudal Norman, Saxon, and Danish usages ; heriots pertaining to the latter. Under Saxon rule, the villeins or folkland were removable at the Lord's pleasure ; under the Normans they were raised to a condition slightly above downright slavery ; but inferior to every other condition. This they called Villenage, and the tenants villeins.. Villein regardant was annexed to the Manor, or land. Villeins in gross, or at large, were transferrable by deed from one owner to another. — Encyclo. Britt. Villeins lived in the village under the Lord— not under the Lord's roof, as the serfs did. 22 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. These villeins, as years rolled on, obtained partial enfranchise- ment by manumission and otherwise. They became in process of time comparatively free from the arbitrary will of the Lord, and strengthened their tenures until they were held by custom, as tenants by " Copy of Court Eoll "—men who held their land not alone by the caprice of the Lord, but according to the " Custom of the Manor," as " copyholders." When William, son of Kobert Duke of Normandy, invaded England with his horde of Norman robbers, and Harold, the last of our Saxon Kings, lay dead on the field of Hastings with a Norman arrow in his eye, William the Conqueror was proclaimed King ; and in order to deceive and induce the easier submission of the people, he took an oath that he would observe the old laws and customs of the realm, and govern Normans and English by equal laws. This was in 1066. Once, however, "in the saddle," to make his seat more secure, he " ran a muck " at the Saxon thanes, disarmed the inhabitants, seized all the old castles and estates, built fortresses and put them in command of his own followers, and parcelled out the kingdom among his barons, captains, and retainers. Then commenced the arbitrary dominion of the imperious Normans ; and having squeezed the Saxons thus far, to his heart's content, the King in 1080 ordered a general survey of the kingdom to be made, that he might see how far increased taxation could be imposed. The result, after many years' labour, together with the rights and tenure of every estate as parcelled out, was then entered in what is called " Domesday Book."* From this book all taxes were levied until the time of Henry VIII. , * Camden calls Domesday Book — " Gulielmi lihrum Cmsualem," The tax book of William — " Anglice Notitiam," The Notice of England — " Anglice Leestrum," The Survey of England. In this book, Great Bentley is described — " Benetlea is held by Alberic in demesne ; it was held by Ulwin for a Manor and iii. hides. Then and afterwards vii. villeins, now vi. Then v. bordars, now x. Always iv. serfs. Then iv. teams in the demesne, now iii. Then among the homagers v. teams, now iv. "Wood for cl. swine, vi. acres of meadow. Pasture for cl. sheep, i. salt-work. Then iii. horses, c. sheep, xx. beasts, xl. swine ; now c. sheep, and iii. horses, xxvi. beasts, xl. swine. Then it was worth vi. pounds, now x." GREAT BENTLEY. 23 when, iu 1522, a more accurate survey was taken. The Conqueror's income at this time was £390,000 a-year — equal in our money to nearly ten millions a-year ! A pretty fair Norman squeeze ! We mentioned in a former paper that as fast as Kings bestowed Manors and estates upon their private retainers for certain services performed, and most of them merely nominal, these nobles also made further grants of smaller or reputed Manors to their Knights and retainers, and these again rewarded others in the same way, until the whole process reminds one of the old doggrel rhyme — Big fleas have little fleas" to profit and delight 'em, Little fleas have lesser fleas, and so — ad infinitum. But this Manor-making became so general and confusing, that, as we stated in our remarks on Thorpe, a Statute of Edward I. was passed to prohibit further " subinfeudation " and the crea- tion of fresh Manors. Up to that time so many had been made, and the various tenures under Saxon, Danish, and Norman customs became so mixed up and multiplied, and got such curious names and devices, that it is most perplexing to have anything to do with describing them. The survey for Domesday Book was made of Manors, hides,* caracutes, virgates, and acres; * According to J. F. Morgan, in his "England under Norman Occupa- tion," the hide varies much in different counties ; for example, "a hide of 64 statute acres extends 8 furlongs, or a mile — 1760 yards in length ; it will have 8 acre basis, 176 yards in breadth." From an entry in Bucks, it is said with peculiar exactness — tenet Episcopus Lisiacensis i. hidam v. pedes minus (Sir H. Ellis) — and yet the number of acres in a hide was no more certain than the length of a perch or the extent of an acre. Dialogus de Saccario makes it 100 acres. The Malmesbury MSS., cited by Spelman, computes it at -96 acres — " one hyde equals 4 virgats, and in every virgate 24 acres." Although the hide has gone out of use, we still speak of the yardland or virgate, which is usually the 4th part of the hide, and contains about 30 acres. Of a hide of land at Felstead it is recorded that " King William gave to Roger 3 yardlands and to Gilbert the 4th." A document cited by Mr. Kemble gives 5 yardlands of 20 acres each to the hide, but it is thought that the virgate in Domesday is invariably a quarter section of the hyde, as the ferding is the farthing or 4th part of the virgate. An oxgange, or oxgate of land, is as much as an ox can till. Caracute — from the French " Charue" — is about the same as a hide, and %± THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. also numbers of freemen, socmen, villeins, homagers, cottagers, bordars* (those who supplied the Lord of the Manor with eggs and poultry), slaves, cattle, &c, &c. In the time of Charles II. most of the old customs and ancient tenures were absorbed in what is called "free socage," which fixed and determined the services to be performed and the fines to be imposed. Some of the services under which the early Manors were held of the Kings are very curious and remarkable. In Edward I.'s time the Manor of Morton, in Essex, was granted to Henry de Averning on his finding " a man, a horse worth 10s., a leather sack, and an old iron brooch." In Cam- bridgeshire the tenure of 30 acres of land in the same reign was that the tenant should furnish a truss of hay for the King's necessary whenever his Majesty should come into that county. Another had to find straw for the King's bed. In those days Kings slept as our paupers do in the present. as variously estimated. The " plougHand or caracute," according to Sir H. Ellis, is called 40, 60, 80, or 95 acres ; but Sir Edward Coke observes that oxgang and caracute are words compound, and may contain meadow, pasture, and wood necessary for such tillage (Co. Litt. 5a. 69a.) Accordingly we meet with compound ploughlands double or threefold. Fleta (temp. Edward) says, " Of land in three common fields, then 9 score acres go to the caracute, viz., 60 for winter tillage, 60 for spring, and 60 for fallows ; but if land lay in two fields then 8 score acres to caracute, one-half for tillage, the other for fallow. In modern times trinity fields have been more frequent than the twofold arrangement. (Sir H. Ellis). There was a mile peculiar to Kent, the same as acres, &c, to other counties ; and apropos — In " Camden's Remains," it is stated "Essex stiles, Kentish miles, Norfolk wiles, many men beguiles." Assart is another word found in Domesday and in "Kennett's Parochial Antiquities." " Assartum is called a piece of land within the limits of a forest grubbed up, or divested of the wood and trees, and converted into tillage." Man- wood derives it from an old French word assartir, to make plain. Spelman thinks that Assartum was from the Latin Exertum, pulled or rooted up. Simon de Gerardmulin confirmed to the Abbey of Wissenden the Chapel of Holy Cross in Piddington, et totum assartum quod adjacet. Land was not to be " assarted " within the bounds of a forest without license from the king, nor could that be obtained without a previous inquisition. * Bordars lived on the " bords" or outskirts of the Manor, and held small plots of land on condition that they supplied poultry, &c. GREAT BENTLEY. 25 Among the Chiefs who came over with William the Con- queror was Alberic de Vere, and to him the King, by robbing others, gave the Castle of Hedingham, in Essex, and fourteen Manors or Lordships — viz., Hedingham, Earls Colne, Bumpsted Steeple, Thundersley, Ugley, Manuden, Ashden, Radwinter, Can- field (Parva and Magna), Roding Aythorp, Willingale Spain, Great Bentley, and Dovercourt. This Alberic (or Aubrey, as he was sometimes called) founded the Priory of Colne, richly endowed it with various Manors (among them Dovercourt and Bentley), turned Monk himself, and died at Colne. His grandson, Alberic, was created Earl of Oxford by Empress Maud, and had a vast increase of Manors given to him, including Dedham, and the Tower and Castle of Colchester. And from this Alberic, the first Earl of 1137, to the 20th and last Earl (Aubrey), who died without issue in 1703, when the title became extinct, the family became, and continued to be, the most powerful in the kingdom, and its possessions and retainers, especially in Essex, were enormous. We have already had occasion to refer to many of them, and others will appear on the stage as we proceed. John, the 13th Earl, lived in such grandeur and with so many retainers (the latter being then against the law), that after entertaining Henry VII. nobly and sumptuously at Heding- ham Castle, the King was so impressed with the Earl's pomp and power, and the number of his retainers and vassals, that he said — "By my faith, my Lord, I thank you for your good cheer; but I may not endure to have my laws broken in my sight." And the result was that the Earl had, besides the costs of entertaining his King, to pay him a fine of 15,000 marks for his offences against the statute of retainers. This was rather shabby, but "Richmond" was new to the throne. Before the Conquest, Great Bentley was held by Uluum, a Saxon, who was possessed of several Manors in Essex. Bentley then meant Bent, a place where rushes grew ; and ley, a pasture or unploughed land — and probably referred to its famous green. At the time of the Norman Survey it was held by Alberic de Vere, 26 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. and the Earls of Oxford held it till the attainder of the 12th Earl, in 1461. Thomas, the 8th Earl, resided at the Hall, which then stood behind the Church, and he made his will there in 1370. Maud, his widow, made her will there in 1412. When John, the 12th Earl, got into trouble, as stated in our remarks upon the Manor of Beaumont, the Manor of Great Bentley reverted to the King, and Richard III. gave it also to the Duke of Norfolk, whose fate, with that of his master, has been already described. Henry VII., who was entertained at Heding- ham Castle, restored their estates to the De Veres, and Bentley then continued in the family till Edward, the 1 7th Earl of Oxford, quarrelled with his wife, sold Hedingham and its Castle, and so wasted and ruined his property that, under a warrant from the Lord Treasurer, dated 23rd July, 1590, his estates were sold for a debt of £1 1,000 ; and Bentley was purchased by a Mr. Glasscock, who afterwards sold it to Roger Townshend, of Wyvenhoe. His great grandson, Sir Horatio Townshend, sold it, with Wyvenhoe, about the year 1657, to Nicholas Corsellis, a merchant of London, and ancestor of the Corsellis family of Wyvenhoe Hall. Nicholas, a grandson of this gentleman, was M.P. for Colchester in the Parliament of Queen Anne. He died in 1727, leaving a son, who married a daughter of Sir Caesar Child, Bart., and died in 1761. Retaining Wyvenhoe, Mr. Corsellis afterwards sold Bentley to Mr. George Papillon, a London merchant. To him succeeded Samuel Papillon, of Hackney, merchant, who had two sons, David and John ; the former, the father of John Papillon, of Inglefield, Berks, The Papillons of Crowhurst and Acrise — the former repre- sented by the father of Mr. P. O. Papillon— claim descent from Toraldus De Papillon, who witnessed a deed of confirmation granted by William the Conqueror to the Church of Durham. In the reign of King John, Ralph Papillon was elected Abbot of Westminster. Camden refers to one Robert Muschamp, to whom Henry I, gave the Barony of Wollever, near Chillingham, Northum- berland, and " he bare armes," azure three butterflies, or Papilions, argent " — the same as the Papillons. The Bentley property was GREAT BENTLEY. 2? afterwards sold to different parties, and Mr. Francis, of Colchester, is now " Lord of the Manorial rights." The Church was given by Alberic de Vere to the Monks of Abingdon and the Priory of Earls Colne, and the grant was con- firmed by his son and Henry I. The great tythes were appropri- ated to Colne Priory on the 1st March, 1321, by the Bishop of London, who ordained a Vicarage in July, 1323, reserving the collation of it to himself and successors for ever. After the dissolution of Colne Priory, the Eectory and great tythes were granted to John de Vere. In 1592 Queen Elizabeth gave them to Theophilus Adams and Thomas Butler ; since which they have been sold, and belong to different persons. Having had occasion in this article to refer somewhat to the Norman Conquest, and the number of Norman baronies and peer- ages created, we may add here, as a singular fact, that all the peerages created by the Norman Kings are extinct. Not one remains ; although the oldest barony in England, that of Kingsale, which dates from 1181, and the time of Henry III., was granted to a De Courcy (Lord of Courcy, in Normandy, in 1066), one of whom, Bichard, came over with William, and, distinguishing himself at Hastings, participated largely in the spoils of the Conqueror. One of his descendants, Sir John Courcy, invaded the province of Ulster, annexed it to England, performed prodigies of valour, and was made Earl of Ulster. But when King John came to the throne, the splendid and gallant old Earl excited the envy of His Majesty and the Governor of Ireland, got into disgrace with that crafty Monarch, was condemned to perpetual imprisonment in the Tower, and his great enemy, Hugh de Lacie, got his title, with all his estates and possessions. But when King John and Philip of France got into a row about the Duchy of Normandy, and the dispute had to be settled by single combat, Philip of France pro- duced a doughty champion, but King John of England could find none of his subjects willing to take up the gauntlet for him. Whereupon the gallant old prisoner in the Tower accepted the challenge, was released, and appeared in the lists in the presence 28 . THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. of the Kings of France, England, and Spain. His appearance caused such terror to the French champion that he put spurs to his horse and bolted, rather than fight. Whereupon the old Earl was proclaimed champion; and the French King being anxious to see a specimen of his extraordinary strength, he cleft a massive helmet in twain at a single blow. For this service John offered to grant to the old Earl any gift that he might desire, and he claimed that his successors might have the privilege to remain covered in the presence of His Majesty and all future Kings of England, which claim was at once admitted, and attaches to the Barony — the oldest and now the poorest in the Kingdom — to the present day. The old Earl died in 1210, but Henry III. had, previously, in 1181, conferred upon his son Miles the Barony of Kingsale, as compensation for the loss of the Earldom of Ulster. The next oldest peerage is that of Lord de Eos, created by Henry III. in 1264. Lydulph de Aldithly, who accompanied his father to England with William the Conqueror, and got hold of large possessions of the Saxons, had a son called Adam, who married Mabella, daughter and heir of Henry Stanley, of Stonely, in Staffordshire ; and here we have the origin of the Stanleys, though the first Peer was Sir Thomas Stanley, created Lord Stanley in 1456. It was this Stanley who fought by the side of Richmond in the Battle of Bos- worth, and after the death of Richard III., as we have described elsewhere, where Richmond says, God, and our arms, be praised ; victorious friends, The day is our's, the bloody dog is dead — Lord Stanley makes reply, Courageous Richmond, well hast thou acquit thee ! Lo, here, this long usurped royalty, From the dead temples of this bloody wretch Have I plucked off, to grace thy brows withal ; Wear it, enjoy it, and make much of it. And as one good turn deserves another, Richmond, when he got to the Throne as Henry VII., made Lord Stanley, in 1485, Earl of Derby. LITTLE BENTLEY. TN the reign of Edward the Confessor the two Manors of Little - 1 - Bentley, Benetlea and Menetlea, now merged into one, were held by two noble Saxons — Elwin and Wisgar. According to Domesday, Elwin held Benetlea per xlii. and a half acres in free tenure ; Menetlea was held by Wisgar per i. hide and per i. Manor. William the Conqueror gave both to his nephew Alan, Earl of Bretagne, but they afterwards passed to Richard, Earl Fitz Gilbert, the ancestor of the Fitzwalters. Herveus de Ispania held Benetlea under this Earl, and there were then "iii. villeins, half a team, and i. acre of meadow. Wood for vi. swine. It is worth iii. shillings. This same Earl held half a hide, in which have always been iv. villeins and i. team. Wood for vi. swine ; half an acre of meadow. It is worth x. shillings." Menetlea was held by one Wisgar, and there were "iii. villeins and iv. bordars; then i. serf, now none ; always i. team in the demesne, and i. team of the homagers. Wood for c. swine ; iii. acres meadow. Then it was worth xl. shillings, now 1." Before we proceed further, however, it may be somewhat explanatory of many things hard to understand in the present day, if we " hark back " a little and give a few sketches of the manners and customs of the people anterior to the Conquest, as well as the value of money and other articles in those days. It may surprise some people to be told that in the days of Edward the Confessor, according to Saxon Chronicles, " there was 30 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. the most terrible famine ever known, insomuch that a quarter of wheat rose to ' sixty pennies f " In fhe time of Athelstan, and for some centuries after the Norman Conquest, the Saxon pound was 48s., 5d. to the shilling ; but a penny was three times as heavy as ours. The relative value of money, however, can best be shown by what it would do in those days, when a sheep was of the esti- mated value of Is., and the fleece one-fifth less j an ox Gs., a cow 4s., a horse 30s., a mare 10s., a man £1 to £3. Land sold at Is. per acre. William of Malmesbury, who wrote in the eleventh century, mentions it as an extraordinary act of extravagance that King Rufus, whose chief pastime was that of hunting, gave fifteen marks, or about £30, for a horse ! Serfs (as we have before described) were the property of the Lord, and incapable of holding any property themselves. If a man beat out his serf's eyes or teeth, the serf obtained his freedom. If he killed him, he paid a fine to the King. There were household slaves as well as serfs, and in every county of England the greatest part of the land was cultivated by the latter. The piratical Danes were a sad trouble in these times ; they began to invade and worry the Saxons, and to keep up constant depredations along the coast, many years before they effected a permanent landing in the country, which they succeeded in doing in the time of Egbert, about A.D. 829. In 851 they entered the Thames with a fleet of 352 sail, and destroyed London and Canter- bury by fire. Then came the Danish rule and the Danish yoke, which, in the quaint language of Camden, the historian, " caused such turmoils and hurliburlies as never the like was heard of; razing cities, firing Churches, and letting the raines loose in all barbarous cruelties, and turning all upside down wherever they went." They took possession of lands and manors, imposed the " Dangelt," or a tax, of Is. upon every hide of land throughout the country, and worried and afflicted the people for nearly 200 years, till their yoke was broken in 1041, and Edward the Confessor (so-called from his holiness and piety) recovered the Throne for the Saxons, The Saxons, now comparatively free from the Danish LITTLE BENTLBY. 31 yoke, began to breathe more freely, and to become jubilant. As a very old Poet says — Mores rebus cess'ere secundus. (Prosperitie perverted manners.) And notwithstanding their good and pious monarch, the people took the bit between their teeth, and ran away into all sorts of vagaries and iniquities. " The Priests" (we are quoting Camden) "were idle, drowsie, and unlearned ; the people given to riot and loose life. They fell to commit wickedness, that to be ignorant of any sinful crime was held to be a crime ; but Pride above all, whose waiting mayde is destruction, was come to a mightie head, all of which most evi- dently foreshewed destruction." Edward the Confessor, amidst all this corruption, died in January, 1066, and named William of Normandy as his successor. But Harold succeeded him in a short reign of nine months, when, at the Battle of Hastings, he died as the last of the Saxon Kings. Thus it will be seen that the Norman invaders succeeded to a wicked and unsettled kingdom, and if they robbed and plundered right and left, they did what the Danes and others had done before them ; while, unlike the Danes, they made also, in a manner, order out of chaos, and introduced laws and customs, many of which remain with us to the present day. William of Malmesbury says that the great distinction between the Anglo-Saxon nobility and the French and Norman was, that the latter built stately castles, whereas the former con- sumed their immense fortunes in riot and hospitality, and in mean houses. In the year 897 Alfred the Great divided England into counties, and when William the Norman took them in hand they numbered thirty-six, and for every county he nominated a Sheriff* * The first Sheriff of Essex was Robert Fitz Wimare ; the 2nd, his son, Suenus ; 3rd, Baiquardus ; 4th, Peter de Valoniis, who was Sheriff at the time of the Survey. After the Survey, the first was Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, 32 THE TENDEING HUNDEED IN THE OLDEN TIME. or Reeve, whose duty it was, among other things, to " gather in monies and profits of the Prince in his county." In 1076 Justices of the Peace were first appointed to " examine murderers, felons, and trespassers, as they call them, yea and many other delin- quencies."* Camden, the historian, who wrote his Britannia in 1586, devotes very little of his work to Essex, and we have sought in vain through his pages for mention of the Tendring Hundred. He refers briefly to St. Osyth, and adds — " In King Richard's time, on the sea shore, at a village called Endulphnesse, were found two teeth of a certain giant, of such huge bigness that two hundred such teeth as men have now a daies might be cut out of them." This story is attributed to Ralph the Monk, who says he saiu these teeth at Coggeshall ; but with all due deference to the Monk, we should be disposed to put them down among the records of " Coggeshall jobs." They were probably teeth of the elephants of Claudius, referred to in our first paper, or fossil remains of animals of a far earlier date. Camden describes the spot from which they were taken thus — " From theuce (St. Osyth) the shore shooting out brancheth forth as farre as the promontory of Nesse, which in Saxon is called Endulphnesse. From this promontory the shore bendeth back by little and little to the mouth of the Stoure." This description clearly points to the Nesse, Naze, or Nose of Walton, where the " promontory, or Naze," then extended some miles further out to sea. Ralph the Monk of Coggeshall wrote 350 years before Camden's time, and the latter was half-disposed to believe in the giants. He says — " Neither doe I denye but there may have been men, that for their huge bodies, and firme strength were wondrous to behold." Yet Claudius, he says, came over "with elephants, the bones of which beasts being found, have deceived very many ;" and possibly they may have deceived the Cogges- hall Monk. Camden. LITTLE BENTLBY. 33 The following is given by Camden as a specimen of " con- veyance " of an estate by Edward the Confessor to the Peverells in the Dengie or Dauncing Hundred, which was famous for its cheeses, "huge and thicke," with which "rusticall people, labourers, and handicraftsmen filled their bellies and fed upon :"— Ich Edward Koning (the King) Have given of my Forest the keeping, In the Hundred of Chelmer and Dauncing. To Randulph Peterkin and his kinding — With heorte and hinde, doe and boecke, Hare and fox, eat and brocke, Wild fowell with the floeke, Partrieh, fesant hen and fesant coeke ;* With green and wild, stob and bloeke. &c. &c. &c. When William the Conqueror placed the country under the Norman yoke, " hee thrust," as Camden says, " the English out of their ancient inheritances, and assigned their lands and lord- ships to his soldiers." He then introduced the feudal laws of France and Normandy, which thus became mixed up with the old Saxon and Danish Institutions. The kingdom at this time con- tained 750 principal Manors and 60,215 Knights' feos; and many Saxons who had received their estates free from their ancestors were now glad to hold them, grievously burdened under some oppressive Norman Lord. By a statute of Athelstan, who reigned about 901, any Saxon merchant who had made three long sea voyages on his own account was entitled to the quality of " thane," or gentleman ; and a serf, or husbandman, who had been able to purchase five hides of land (a hide is variously estimated at 60 to 120 acres), and had a chapel, a kitchen, a hall, and a bell, was raised to the same rank. The credibility of witnesses at a trial was tested in a peculiar way. A villein, or serf, was valued at 20s. A free man, * What birds were called "fesants" at this time? It is generally sup- posed that our pheasants were not introduced till about the 15th Century. D 34 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. whose value might be 120s., was therefore considered six times more creditable than the serf. The Manors of William the Conqueror increased so much before his death that, according to some, he held 1,422, and in dealing with them the Conquered had the small Falstaffian " pieces of bread," and the Conquerors the large " quantities of sack." And as the small Villein Manors (merged into Villenage) had their minor and insignificant " heriots," so the great guns had heriots of larger calibre. For " an Earl, as decent it is, eight horses (four with saddles and four without saddles), four helmets and four suits of mail, eight lances, and a spsar ; of a Baron to the King, four horses (two with saddles and two without)," &c, &c* Another thing is, that William never forgot his own kindred, and to his nephew Alan, Earl of Bretagne, as we said at our commencement, he gave the Manor of Little Bentley. In the Cottonian Library at the British Museum there is the copy of a grant to this same nephew of other extensive lands and Lordships, and we give a copy as a companion to that of the Saxon Edward above — I, William, surnamed the Bastard, King of England, do give and grant to thee, my nephew, Alan, Earl of Bretagne, and to thy heirs for ever, all those towns, villages, lands, lately in the possession of, or belonging to, Earl Edwin, in Yorkshire, with Knights' fees and CIrurches, together with all other liberties and customs, as freely and honourably as Edwin held the same. In the reign of Edward II. Little Bentley was held by Alicia and her husband, Hugh Groos. They held it of the Bishop of London, by homage and the service of 4s. a-year to the Ward of Stortford Castle. It was in the Groos family till the death of Sir John Groos in 1383. Prior to his death he had, provided he died without heirs, granted the Manor to Sir Richard de Sutton and Sir John Cherteseye, and others, with the advowson of the Church, &c, upon condition that they should rebuild the old Chapel * Camden, LITTLE BENTLEY. 35 belonging to the Church, and found therein a Chantry. Accord- ingly Sir Kichard Sutton and the others founded a Chantry for one Chaplain, called Grose-preste, and endowed it with one acre of land, the yearly rent of £8 3s., and two hundred faggots, out of their woods at Little Bentley, New Hall Tendring, and Hamnes- tall in Wykes. The widow of Sir John de Sutton married Sir Bartholomew Bourchier, who then had this Manor and estate, and left it to his second wife, Idonea. Their daughter and only heir had two husbands — Sir Hugh Stafford, youngest son of Hugh, Earl of Stafford, who in her right took the title of Lord Bourchier, and died without issue in 1421. Her second husband was Sir Lewis Robesart, Standard-bearer of England and Knight of the Garter. He died without issue in 1430. The lady died in 1433, and was succeeded by her cousin, Henry Bourchier, Earl of Eu. After this the Manor came into the Pyrton family, at that time the owners of the Manor of Sherstead. This family de- scended from William Pyrton, of Ipswich, whose grandson, de- scribed as a great warrior, and Captain of Guisne, in Picardy, was knighted, and dying on the 1st July, 1490, lies buried in the Chancel of the Church, with Catherine, his wife. The eldest son was Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1502, and resided at Digs well, in the latter county. William, his son and heir, held the Manor of Little Bentley, and all lands and tenements thereto belonging, and parcels of land called Northland, Moyses, and Boyland, with the advowson of the Church, of the Bishop of London, of his Castle of Stortford, by fealty and rent of 19s. 4d. He married Agnes, daughter of John Tymperley, and died June 24th, 1533, leaving Sir William Pyrton and two daughters. Sir William married Margaret, daughter and co-heir of William Salford, and died in 1551. Edmund, his heir, married Constance, daugh- ter of Thomas, Lord Darcy, of Chich St. Osyth, and was High Sheriff of Essex in 1574. He died 20th Oct., 1609, and was succeeded by his cousin, Edmund Pyrton, who died in 1617, leaving his brother William his heir. The father of these two brothers was slain at the Battle of Newport, in Flanders ; and d 2 36 THE TENDEING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. their grandfather had been 45 years a Justice of the Peace for Esses. Edmund Pyrton sold the estate to Paul Bayning, a merchant of extraordinary wealth, whose connexion with this and other estates in Essex was both romantic and extensive. In Queen Elizabeth's reign — when merchant princes flourished exceedingly ; when Sir John Hawkins first brought potatoes from Santa Fe, and tobacco from Florida,* and Sir Walter Ealeigh smoked the first pipe in England ; when Government officials did not scruple to fit out slavers, and join syndicates to monopolise particular trades ; and men like Sir Thomas Gresham and Thomas Sutton were raising lasting monuments of their patriotism and private enterprise — Paul Bayning, the next purchaser of Little Bentley Hall and Manor, was an Alderman of the City, and in 1593, Sheriff of London. He was the son of Richard Bayning, of Dedham, whose family came from Nayland, in Suffolk ; and Paul and his brother Andrew went forth in their youth to seek their fortunes in London, and succeeded beyond measure. Andrew died without issue in 1610. Paul accumulated his fortune, as Morant says, by " Merchandizing, so advantageous was trade, even in its infancy, which Sir Thomas Gresham, Sir Andrew Judd, Thomas Sutton, and Paul and Andrew Bayning, raised immense and incredible riches by." Sir Thomas Gresham founded the Royal Exchange and other lasting monuments of his fame in London. Sir Thomas Sutton founded the Charterhouse ; but Paul Bayning went in for " founding a family," and died in the 77th year of his age, in 1616, having founded a " house of cards." By his second wife, Susan, daughter of Richard Norden, of Mistley — she afterwards married Sir Francis Leigh, Bart., and died in 1623, Sir Francis becoming, in 1628, Lord Dunsmore, and * This is somewhat contrary to popular tradition, but our authority is a black letter copy (1589) of " Hakluyt's Voyages," in the possession of Mr. John Woodgate. LITTLE BENTLEY. 37 then in 1644, Earl Chichester— he left a sou, Paul, who had been knighted and created a baronet in his father's lifetime (1612), and was Sheriff of Essex in 1617— a year after his father died. In February, 1627, for some reason or other, he was made Baron Bayning of Horkesley, in Essex; and in March, 1628, Viscount of Sudbury, in Suffolk. He married Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Glenham, by Anne Sackville, daughter of Thomas, Earl of Dorset, and had one son, Paul his heir, and four daughters. The eldest, Cecily, married Viscount Newark, eldest son of the Earl of Kingston. Anne married Henry Murray, one of the Grooms of the Bedchamber to Charles I., and was afterwards created Viscountess Bayning of Foxley. Mary married — 1st, Vis- count Grandison ; 2ndly, Christopher Villiers, Earl of Anglesea ; 3rdly, Arthur Gorge, Esq. Elizabeth, the fourth and youngest daughter, married Francis, Lord Dacre, and was created, 6th September, 1680, Countess of Sheppy. Thus the branches of the Dedham lad and the London trader spread out through the best blood and the aristocracy of the land. Paul the 2nd, the peer and the father of these ladies, died at his house in Mark-lane, London, on the 26th July, 1629 (his widow re-married Dudley Carleton, Viscount Dorchester). His possessions were immense. Besides the Manor and nearly all the parish of Little Bentley, he held eight other Manors, to which we shall have to refer hereafter, in the Tendring Hundred, as well as in Horkesley, Kivers Hall Boxted,* and other parts of * Rivers Hall before the Conquest was owned by one " Grim," and at the Survey by Eudo Dapifer, who will be found fully described under the head of Weeley. In the reign of KiDg John, Philip de Horkesley held it. Robert de Hastings had it in the reign of Henry III., and William le Breton held it under him, as " a capital messuage, 1 caracute of land, and 40s. yearly rent," for a pair of gilt spurs every year, and by the 5th part of a Knight's fee ; also of Walter de Horkesley, he held " a water mill, 2 parts of one caracute, and 20s. per annum, by the 4th part of a Knight's fee ; " and of Hugh de Nevyll, 7 acres of land, for the yearly rent of Is. 6d. Through Maud, a descendant of the Le Bretons, it descended to Sir Richard de la Rivers, Lord of Stamford Rivers, whose daughter, Margaret, married Sir Roger Billers ; and their daughter 38 THE TENDRTNG HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. Essex; also in Suffolk and in Hertfordshire. His personal property amounted to £153,000, " without the jewels, plate, and household stuff " — a very large amount in those days. His son and heir, Paul, Viscount Bayning, born in 1616, "paid the King £18,000 for the fine of his Wardship, and for charges about the same, £185." He died at Little Bentley Hall — the last of the Baynings — on the 11th June, 1638, and was buried in a vault in the Church, to which we shall refer presently. His wife was Penelope, only daughter and heir of Sir Bobert Nauntin, Knight, Master of the Courts of Wards and Liveries in London, and afterwards Secretary of State. By Lord Bayning she had two daughters, Anne and Penelope, and afterwards married Philip, Earl of Pembroke. Anne, the eldest daughter of the last Lord Bayning, married Aubrey de Vere, the 20th and last Earl of Oxford;* and the large fortune she brought him put that nobleman on his legs, and married Robert Swillington. Sir Roger died in 1391, and John Swillington succeeded ; then, by purchase, Thomas Morstead owned it, and left it to his wife, who then married Sir John Wood, and died in 1484. One of then- daughters married a Dawtrey, whose son, Sir John, and his son, in 1576, sold Rivers Hall to John Ive. His son, Sir Mark Ive, sold it to the Baynings. It afterwards passed to Nicholas Freeman, who held his first Court on the 23rd April, 1713. From this gentleman's heirs it descended to its present owner, Mr. W. Parson. * In reference to the Earldom of Oxford, the writer has been reminded that, by some historians, the first Alberic de Vere, the Monk of Colne, is named " Earl of Oxford ;" while we state, in a former paper, that his grandson was first Earl. Our authorities are Camden and Hume, and our version will be found strictly correct. In the history of the family, written in the lifetime of the 18th Earl, Camden says — "They received the beginning of their greatness and honour here, in England, from King Henry I., who advanced Aubrey de Vere, for his singular wisedome, with sundry favours and benefits, as namely, the Chamber- lainshipe of England, and Portgreveship of the City of London. To his son Aubrey (grandson of the 1st Alberic) Henry II. offered unto him which of the titles he himself should choose of these four Earldoms — Dorset, Wiltshire, Yorkshire, and Oxfordshire — that he might divert him from Stephen, then usurping the kingdome, and assure him to himselfe. And in the end both Maude, the Empresse, and Henry, her son, now being come to the Crowne, by their several Charters, created him Earl of Oxford." LITTLE BBNTLEY. 39 was a seasonable addition to the estates of the family, which had been ruined by the follies and extravagances of Edivard, the 17th Earl, as we have before described. There was no issue of this marriage. Penelope, the other daughter, married— first, John Herbert, youngest son of Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Mont- gomery ; and secondly, John Wentworth, Esq., and died in 1657, also without issue. Thus only twenty-two years from the death of Paul of Dedham, ended the house of Bayning ! Paul had accumulated by his own exertions one of the largest fortunes of the age ; he went in, as we have said, to " found a family," and bought up old Manors and Lordships by the score. He lived, it is true, to see his eldest son a baronet, and died a ripe old age himself ; but all his honours died young. His son, as we have seen, became a peer in two counties, spread his branches by marriage through the greatest and proudest families of the land, and died in 1629. And then in 1638 — twenty-two years after the death of the architect of this great fortune and family of romance — his grandson, the last of the Baynings, lay buried in a vault in Little Bentley Church ; and the enormous possessions accumulated in so short a time were scattered through the female branches of the family, East and West, and North and South ! Even the magnificent and stately Hall pf Little Bentley, which in the reign of James I. Paul had built for his own residence in his native county — with its lofty towers of red brick with stone dressings ; its tall stone mullioned windows ; its spacious halls ; its noble arched entrance ; its western front, overlooking a large sheet of water ; with its extensive dormitories — fell to the destroyer; for the 20th and the last Earl of Oxford, who got it through his wife (with her fortune, which he spent), pulled it down, and the materials, which were sold by auction, afterwards " adorned and still adorn," as Morant says, " many houses in Colchester and elsewhere." This Mansion was surrounded by a Park of more than 400 acres, overgrown by a forest of noble oaks of enormous size ; many of these stood until the early part of the present century, when a 40 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. late proprietor cut down £10,000 worth in one year. Farm buildings now stand upon the foundations of the old Hall, the Park has yielded to the plough, but a few of the venerable trees remain ; and although there is little left to denote the former magnificence of the place, its present owner, Mr. Woodgate,* has done much to improve and embellish it as a residential pro- perty. In 1680, the Earl of Oxford, notwithstanding the enor- mous fortune he got with his wife (Anne Bayning), seems to have been again involved in difficulties, and sold the reversion of Little Bentley and other estates to Edward Peck, of Little Stamford, Serjeant-at-Law ; Edward Rigby, of Co vent Garden ; and a Mrs. Pierrepoint, &c. In 1703, when the Earl died, the survivors and heirs of those entitled to the reversionary interests obtained an Act of Parliament to settle the division of the estates, and Little Bentley Hall was allotted to William Peck, the Serjeant's grand- son. He was succeeded by his son William, who, in 1740, sold the property to John Moore, of Southgate, Middlesex, who again, in 1761, sold it to Sir Percy Brett, Captain R.N., for £8,806, from whom it passed to his only daughter, Henrietta, who married Sir George Bowyer, whom she survived. In 1812, Hamlet, the London Goldsmith, bought it, and in 1826 re-sold it to John Shaw, of London, from whom it passed to his daughter, Mrs. Bond, who died in 1868, and her heirs sold it to Mr. Woodgate. Other farms in the parish belonging to the Pecks were sold to Charles Reynolds, Lord of the Manor of Peldon, who left them to his cousin, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Powell, D.D. The Rectory * Mr. John Woodgate, who purchased the Manor and Hall Estate in 1870 — (he had resided there from 1846)— is of an old East Bergholt family, with branches at Stratford St. Mary and Dedham, where they were land- owners 300 years ago. Mr. Woodgate's father left Stratford in 1793, and settled at Falkenden, near Ipswich ; he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Plume, of Drinkstone Hall, near Bury St. Edmund's, and died in 1832. At Little Bentley, Mr. "Woodgate has accumulated a valuable library of old and rare books, to which, through his kindness, we have been enabled to refer occasionally. LITTLE BENTLEY. 41 was appended to the Manor till 1730, when William Peck con- veyed it to the Kev. John Watson, in exchange for the living of Little Stamford. Mr. Watson sold it to the Kev. Kichard Bridgeman. In 1766 the Rev. Yorick Smythies held the living. The Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is one of great interest. There is a handsome steeple of flint and wrought stone, and a peal of five bells. The nave has a splendid oak roof ; but sadly mutilated, it is supposed, by the Puritans, for saints and angels have been beheaded without mercy. Portions of the chancel are supposed to be 600 years old. On the north side there is a Chapel, and the font has upon it the arms of Pyrton ; so has the western arch of the Chapel. A handsome silver communion service was the gift of Paul, Viscount Bayning. There was also, it is supposed — but this is open to doubt — a Leper window on the south side of* the Church — one of the evidences left of the " great scourge of medieeval life, when nearly every neighbouring village had its lazar house, in which the victims of bad food and loathsome habits nursed their diseases without hope or attendance ; they were never suffered to enter the Church, but might worship their Maker, and hear the priests from the outside walls, and these low-side windows were intro- duced for their special convenience." They are rarely found now, as they were abolished by an Episcopal order some time during the 17th century. There was also, and it still remains, in this Church, the hagioscope, or " squint " — an aperture made through a pillar for watching the elevation of the host at the high altar — doubtless in olden times used by the benefactor of the sacred edifice. Here it is situated in direct view from the hall pew. A few years ago the work of restoration — as some people call it, but which to a lover of old relics, old associations and anti- quities, may be described too often as desecration and destruction — was commenced here ; and the vault of the Baynings was turned into a coal house ! Here was another blow to the romantic pride 42 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. of that short -lived family. The splendid brass-bound leaden coffin, containing the remains of the benefactor of the place, the last Viscount Paul, was removed to make way for coals and coke, and a stove was erected in its place to warm the noses of a modern congregation ! tempora, mores ! The original oak benches of the Church, with handsomely carved poppy heads, were over 300 years old ; many gave way to new, but some of them were re-arranged, and still remain as interesting relics in the centre of the Church — though in the early part of the present century the ornaments of the poppy heads, consisting of squirrels, &c, were ruthlessly cut off and given to children for playthings and toys ! At the last restoration, when Bayning's tomb was desecrated, and the great bell cracked and destroyed, a handsome brass, containing the arms and bust of Pyrton, was removed from the Church, as well as the arms of Lord Bayning, carved in wood and gilt. The iron frame which held the hour glass intended to restrain the Puritan preachers from going beyond that time in their sermons, has also disappeared ; but this is no great loss, except as a curiosity, for no one would stand a sermon an hour long in the present day. The nave has a splendid hammer beam roof of very beautiful design, the mouldings being very rich ; this was most likely carried out at the expense of some great bene- factor of the parish, and dates about the time of the Pyrtons. We mentioned in our last that Sir William Pyrton and his wife Catherine were buried in the Chancel. They had five soils and five daughters ; and from the stone slab, with old brass figures and description, removed to the Vestry, it would seem they were all either buried here or referred to on the stone. Portions of the Chancel wall show work undisturbed of. early date, some considerable amount of early brick having been used in its construction, most likely quarried from some old building demolished at no great distance. The only monuments left in the Chancel, after its " restora- tion ! " are to the memory of a former Rector and his wife's LITTLE BENTLEY. 43 family. Tho Rector is described, among other things, as of " easy virtue " — To the memory Of the Rev. Charles Lbdgotjld, Rector of this Parish 43 years, Who was just to all his relations in life ; The able Minister, the useful neighbour, The affectionate husband, the faithful friend, Of easy virtue and polished manners. He departed this life October 2nd, 1765, Aged 70. Much lamented by those who knew him ; Most by those who knew him best. And to the memory of Bridget, his wife, Who was distinguished by every religious, Moral, and social quality that could make Her justly and sincerely lamented and long And affectionately remembered. She died May 29th, 1773, aged 75. WALTOJST-LESOKEN. "QESIDES the various tenures and old manorial customs we have *-* thus far eudeavoured to describe, there was another, under which two or three parishes, in order that they might enjoy certain favours, privileges, and exemptions, were united and enrolled as one district, under the Saxon liberty of Socse, Soc, or Soken. These Sokeus where they existed, so far as we can discover, all belonged to dignitaries of the Church. Morant mentions a " Soken " in Colchester, where St. Mary's Church and houses stand, belonging to the Bishop of London. But Corpora- tions, looking, as he says, " with a jealous eye upon such exempts, have mostly drawn them under their yoke."* * Sir Francis Palgrave says that some of the Saxon " Sokes " bore a resemblance to Aldermanries or baronial jurisdiction, descended from father to son, and might be alienated by sale. They gave the Lords important powei'B, even of hanging culprits who had incautiously strayed into their legal preserves — a right known by the Teutonic terms of "in-fang-theof " and " out-fang-theof." The " Soke " at St. Mary's, Colchester, was so small that if the unlucky " in-gefangene-theof," or thief, caught within, had been placed in the centre, a hop, skip, and a jump would have carried him beyond the awful boundary. In " Stubbs' Court History" it is said — " The right of sac and soc was terrible in the days of Stephefl, when there were as many Kings as there were Lords of Castles ; but in ordinary times the Courts of the Lord exercising their juris- diction, according to the custom of the Manor, and not according to the Lord's will, soon became harmless enough. WALTON-LE-SOKEN. 45 In the Tendring Hundred, Thorpe, Kirby, and Walton, were united — tria juncta in uno— and were given by Athelstan, the Saxon King, to the Church of St. Paul, before the year 941, under the name of Eudulphesnesa, or Alduluesnasa. In Domesday Book, the three parishes are treated as one district, with the following particulars : — " Alduluesnasa has always been held by St. Paul for a Manor and for xxvii. hides. There were then lxxxvi. villeins, now Ixiii. Then xl. bordars, now 1. Always vi. serfs, and ii. teams in the demesne. Then among the homagers, lx. teams, now xxx. Wood for ccc. swine, ix. acres of meadow, now ii. mills ; then there were iii. salt-works ;* now ii. Pasture for ccc. sheep, xxii. beasts, xxx. swine, cc. sheep, iv. hives of bees. It was then worth xxvi. pounds, now xxx. and i. mark of silver." Eudulphes-noese — from Eudulf, a Saxon Thane ; and noese, or nase, a promontory, or point of land jutting into the sea — points to one of the trio, and is now called Walton-on-the Naze, but properly speaking, Walton-le-Soken. This parish is a small peninsula ; and Morant, in his time, wrote how " the raging sea keeps daily undermining and encroaching upon this parish, so that the Hall will soon be an island." The peculiar privileges of the Tendring Hundred "Soken," which at the Norman Survey still belonged to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, were, that they should be exempt from the jurisdiction of the Archdeacon, and also from the Commissary's ; " and had power and liberty to administer justice and execute laws within itself, and likewise the circuit, or territory, wherein such power is exercised." Other privileges, as well as the customs of the Manor, were referred to under the head of Thorpe. Morant wrote of the raging sea at Walton more than one * In olden time people made their salt from sea water. One of the old works still exists, we are informed, at Maldon. Inland salt-works were some- times in demesne and sometimes in hands of villeins. " Omnes istse salinEB et communes et dominicise cingebantur ex una parte quodam flumine et quodam fossato exeella parte " (Domesday, 268). 46 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. hundred years ago. Its modern name, Walltown, may probably have been suggested by the means which had been taken for pro- tecting it as much as possible. At Walton there is only one Manor — that of the Hall ; and this in the earliest times belonged to St. Paul's, then to the Darcys of Chich St. Osyth, to the Earl of Kochford, and now to Sir J. H. Johnson, of St. Osyth Priory, one of the county Magis- trates, and in 1874-5 he served the office of Sheriff of London and Middlesex. It is occupied by Mr. John Eagle, of a family referred to under the head of Bromley. The old Church, which was in ruins when Morant wrote his history of Essex, consisted of " a body and two aisles, and the chancel only of one pace." Seaward, and beyond this Church, the site of which has been covered by the sea for more than 70 years, there were formerly two parcels of land, about half-a-mile asunder — one let for £15 a-year, and the other for £4 10s. — supposed to belong to the poor of the parish, whom the sea has thus robbed. Another estate, also gone to sea, belonged to one of the Prebends of St. Paul's, London. " It had the thirteenth stall in the left side of the choir of the Cathedral, and was rated at one mark." But the sea having devoured it all, without leaving a mark to point it out, the endowment is now called " Prcebenda Consumpta per Mare." In 1793 the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty purchased two farms here for the augmentation of the living of Holy Trinity, Colchester ; one consisted of about 56 acres of freehold land, and the other 34 acres of copyhold, and the greater portion has gone to sea. Upon the Hall Estate some years ago the Trinity House built a tower or lighthouse, of brick, about 80 feet high, for " the direction and safeguard of ships passing that way." This tower stands near the old Nase point — that is, in Saxon, the nose of a promontory or point of land, as we have before explained, that juts out to sea — and no doubt long before this tower was erected the promontory extended considerably further seaward; indeed walton-IjE-soken. 47 this is evident from the description we gave from Camden in a former paper in explanation of the Saxon Eudulphnesse, or where- abouts of the big bones of the elephants of the Emperor Claudius. The Vicarages of Walton and of Kirby were united by Bishop Gibson in 1730, and in the years 1749 and 1759 the Earl of Eochford presented. There were also large Copperas Works at Walton, which is now a fashionable watering place. A GOSSIPING DIGRESSION. And as, when some amateur explorer of antiquities wanders along a beach, or potters among the cliffs, in search of some particular shell or fossil which he desires to study and to illus- trate, and in his search comes upon other pebbles and other shells equally interesting, which he puts in his pocket to be examined and particularised hereafter — or, as the botanist, hunting through big woods or tangled morass for a certain plant he has to investi- gate, comes upon other little flowers and scented blossoms which he plucks and sniffs at and delights in their perfume — so we, in our wanderings through many an ancient record, and among the pages of many an old and quaint historian, searching for news of the Tendring Hundred, come upon things that we " put by " in our note-book ; and then at times — like the present — wander away into long and straggling " digressions !" And thus we ask our readers to go back with us 1108 years before the birth of Christ, to the time we were first called " Britains •" for if the ancient tenures of land, and the customs of Manors, as we have shown, have undergone strange changes and admixtures of foreign customs, so have we, as a people, been so crossed and mixed up in blood that we hardly know at this present time our true and particular breeding. Iu searching very early history, great difficulties occur. A GOSSIPING DIGRESSION. 49 Ninius, who wrote in the year a.d. 780, " Complaineth that the great Masters and Doctors- of Britain had no skill, and left no memoriall in writing, confessing thathimselfe gathered whatsoever hee wrote out of the Annals and Chronicles of the Holy Fathers." And, with all deference to these worthy men, we fear they were not always to be relied upon, for they wrote too often — as many do now-a-days — according to their own fancies and personal feelings. Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote in the reign of Henry II. (1154), made out that the author of the name of Britain was Brutus, a Trojan, and a descendant of Jupiter and Venus, through Eneas; and this Brutus, which means " stupid fellow, fled his country for some reason or other about 1108 before Christ, and went into Greece, where he performed prodigies of valour ; then ' sailing through the straights of Gibraltar,' where he ' escaped the Mermaydes,' he mayde spoil of Gaul, and then passed over into this Island, which was inhabited by giants, whom he conquered, ' together with Gogmagog, the hugest of them all, and he named the Island Britaine,' a land he found ' plentiful! in corne and rich in pasturage.'" Camden, the great historian, who has been described " as the common sun, whereat our modern writers have all lighted their little torches," tells us that we may believe ' as much about Brutus and the Giants as we please ; for his part, he says — " Let every man, for me, judge as it pleaseth him, and of what opinion soever the reader shall be of, verily I will not make it a point much material." Strabo says the ancient Britons partly resembled the Gauls, but were more rude and barbarous, " insomuch that some of them, for want of skill, can make no cheeses, albeit they have plenty of milk." Plutarch made out that they lived to 120 years of age, for that " the cold and frozen country where they dwelt kept in their natural heat !" Clothes were not in fashion in those days, but the country produced a herb like plantain, called Woad, and from this our forefathers got a fine blue dye, and painted their bodies with all sorts of curious patterns and devices, chiefly of the 50 THE TBNDEING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. sun and moon and stars, reptiles and animals. Perhaps these kept them warm. Fifty-five years before the birth of Christ the Romans invaded Britain under Julius Caesar, but Claudius has the credit (Seneca says) of having entirely vanquished our Island when he came over into Essex with his elephants 15 years later. The first Roman colony made by Claudius, according to Camden, was at Maldon, where he built a temple, whereat the " barbarous nation adoreth." Their Priests, by name Sodales and Augustales, " under a show of religion, lavishly consumed the Britain's goods," until they could stand it no longer, and a dreadful shindy was kicked up, " three score and ten thousand Romans were killed, and the " arme of the sea overflowed its banks red as blood to see, which now, for what cause I know not, is called Blackwater." The Romans, of whom Seneca says, " where they winneth, there they woneth and inhabiteth," ruled Britain more than 400 years, and by a "joyful mutual ingrafting, as it were, have grown into one stock or nation." Then came the Saxons,* who made "bloody and deadly war against them," and ruled alternately with the Danes, as we have before mentioned, until the Norman Conquest. In the time of Charles V. of France, it was added to the Litany of Churches, " From the race of Normans, good Lord deliver us ;" but the fate of the poor Britons during the Saxon and Danish invasions has been graphically described thus : — " The barbarians drove us back to the sea, the sea again putteth us back upon the barbarians. Then between two kinds of death — either our throats are cut or we are drowned." We have thus attempted to show very briefly how from * The Saxons, according to Camden, originally descended from the Sacoe, a most noble nation, and of much worth in Asia, and called Sacosones, or Sonnes of Sacre. From out that land, " wherein mankind was first created and multiplied, the Saxons made invasions into countrys which laye farre off," and there were English Saxons and German Saxons. The Saxons first came to England, it is supposed, in 430, when the ancient Britons were solely oppressed by the Picts and Scots. The ancient badge of the Saxon was a " horse," A GOSSIPING DIGRESSION. 51 ancient and wicked barbarians we became Britons. We were then united with Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, till we became " Englishmen " — or a compound mixture of the lot— when Egbert became King and named our country " England " in 827. It is true that very much of ancient history is hard to believe, and to show how even historians differed and " loved each other," we may add that William of Newborough, a writer of great antiquity and authority, pitched into Geoffrey of Monmouth for the Trojan story of our ancestry, and said — " Moreover in his book, which he entitleth the Britaine's historie, how malapertly and shamelessly hee doth in a manner nothing but lie." Here is a bit of Roman humour for the Good Templars : — "Under Aurelias, the Roman, one Bonosus, a Briton, and a notable bibber, hanged himself, whereupon this jest went round, ' There hangs a tankard, not a man.' " Let us now return to Essex — a county, as Camden says, " large in compass, fruitful, full of woods, plentiful of saffron, and very wealthy" — and refer to some of the oldest families who figure in our annals of the Tendring Hundred. The first Earl of Essex was Geoffrey de Maudeville, whose name frequently occurs in connection with the Manors of the Tendring Hundred. He was made Earl by the Empress Maud (daughter of Henry I., wife of Henry, Emperor of Germany, and mother of Henry II.), in these words : — I, Maud, daughter of King Henry, the Ladie of Englishmen, doe give and grant unto Geoffrey de Magnaville (Mandeville), for his service and to his heirs after him by right of inheritance, to be Earl of Essex, and to have the third pennie out of the Sheriff's Court issuing out of all pleas, as an Earle should have through his cerentie in all things. This Geoffrey was rather a turbulent fellow, and being there- fore despoiled of his estate by King Stephen, put an end to his life by the sword.* His son Geoffrey succeeded him, and was * Camden says, " And hee, verily for his wicked deeds, justly incurred the world's censure and sentence of excommunication ; in which, while hee stood, E 2 52 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. restored by Henry II. to his father's honours and estates for him and his heirs, but he died without issue. A sister of the 1st Earl had a son called William de Say, whose daughter married Geoffrey Fitz-Petre, "Justice of England" — a "wise and grand personage, with a great mass of money" — and he claimed the Earldom on his wife's right ; and after a lavish expenditure and "a great piece of money presently paid, King John, at his Coronation, made him Earl of Essex."* The two sons of this Earl Fitz-Petre assumed the name of Mandeville, and each enjoyed the Earldom. Geoffrey, the elder, also by right of his wife Earl of Gloucester, was killed in a tournament as a young man. William, the other brother, took part with France against King John, and died without issue ; when their sister's son, Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and High Constable of England, became Earl of Essex. Eleanor, the last of the Bohuns, married the Duke of Gloucester, and had a daughter Anne, who married Sir Wm. Bourchier, created by Henry V. Earl of Eu, in Normandy. Their son Henry was made Earl of Essex by Edward IV. He was suc- ceeded by his grandson, who was killed by a fall from his horse, leaving an only daughter, Anne, who, according to Camden, " being little respected by Henry VIII." — much to her honour, perhaps — was thrust on one side ; and Thomas Cromwell, the Lord Chamberlain, as we described in our remarks on St. Osyth, became Earl of Essex — but as Camden also says : " In the fifth moneth after hee was Earle, hee lost his head ;" and then Sir Wm. Parr, who had married Anne, the despised and only daughter hee was deadly wounded in the head, at a little town called Barwell. When he lay at the point of death ready to give his last gaspe, there came by chance certain Knights Templars, who laid him upon the habit of religious profession, signed with a red cross, and afterwards when hee was full dead, taking him up with them enclosed in a coffin of lead, and hanged him upon a tree in the orchard of Old Temple, London. For in reverent awe of the Church they durst not bury him, because he was excommunicated." * Camden. A GOSSIPING DIGEESSION. 53 of Henry Bourchier, was made Earl. Parr dying without issue, Walter Devereaux, Viscount Hereford, a descendant of Henry Bourchier on the female side, got the Earldom from Queen Elizabeth, and his son Bobert, her great favourite, played a con- spicuous part in the history of the times. The present Earls of Essex owe their origin to Wm, Capel, the second son of John Capel, of Stoke by Nayland, who went to Loudon, like Paul Bayning, and became Knight and Alderman, and Lord Mayor in 1503. He also, like Bayning, accumulated by "merchandise '"enormous wealth. Arthur Capel, M.P. for Here- ford in the Long Parliament, was made Baron Capel iu 1641. His son Arthur, second Baron, was made Viscount Maiden and Earl of Essex in 1661. The oldest and most historical of existing families in Essex is that of Petre. Before this family got Thorndon, it belonged to a family called Fitzlewis, the last of whom, " by occasion that the house was set on fire in the time of his wedding feast, was piteously himself therein burnt to death." Sir John Petre* was made Baron Petre by James I. in 1603, but long before that time his ancestors had played a conspicuous part in the county. Sir William Petre, one of the principal Secretaries of State to Henry VIIL, accumulated a large fortune from the spoilage of the Monasteries. The family afterwards became Catholic. * Camden writes, " I saw also Thorndon, where Sir John Petre raised a goodly faire house, who now was by our Sovereigne King James created Baron Petre of Writtle." KIRBYLE SOKEN. KIRBY-LE-SOKEN— or, as it was called, Kirkby, from the Saxon " Cyric," Kirk, or Church ; and " bi," meaning near or by a dwelling — had formerly three Manors, and all belonged to the Dean and Chapter of Paul's, except one. The Manor of Kirby Hall, where the Lords of the Soken formerly kept Court, was taken from St. Paul's in the time of Henry VIII. ; and in 1551 Edward VI. granted it to Sir Thomas Darcy, of St. Osyth, from whose son John it passed to the Savages, Earls of Eivers, and then to the Earl of Rochford. Elizabeth, Countess of Rivers, of whose misfortunes we had a good deal to say under the head of the " Archaeology of St. Osyth," sold the demesne lands of Kirby away from the Manor, to John la Motte, an Alderman of London, and through his daughter they came into the Honywood family. The Honywoods of Kent and Essex are of a very old and historic family. William de Honywood, of Honywood, lived in the reign of Henry II., and died about the year 1169. John, his descendant, represented Hythe in Parliament in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; both his sons also represented Hythe. William, son of Sir Edward Honywood, Knight, was Sheriff of London in 1639. Sir John, Sheriff of Kent in 1607. His son Edward, who was also a Knight and a Royalist, lent £3,000 to Charles II. when he was KIRBY-LE-SOKEN. 55 in exile ; and as the Royal debtor when he got to the throne could not pay in cash, he made Sir Edward, as a set off, a Baronet in 1660. In 1605 Robert, one of the 16 children of Robert Honywood, of Charing, purchased the Marks Hall Estate in Essex, and made it the seat of the Essex branch of the family. Robert, the son of this gentleman, married a daughter of Sir Martin Barnham, and had 20 children, and most of them distinguished themselves. Sir Thomas Honywood, born in 1586, and knighted in 1632, married Hester, daughter and heir of John la Motte, a merchant and Alderman of London, and through this marriage, as we said before, the Honywoods got their property in Kirby. This Hester, when she married Honywood, was the widow of John Manning, a wealthy merchant, and by him she had three sons and a daughter, and the latter married the son of Sir Maurice Abbott, Lord Mayor of London, brother of George Abbott, Archbishop of Canterbury, and of Robert, Bishop of Salisbury. By her second husband, Sir Thomas Honywood, she had seven children, and one of their daughters, Elizabeth, married, in 1663, Sir John Cotton, son of the famous Sir Robert Cotton, founder of the Cottonian Library. This Sir Thomas Honywood, unlike his cousin of Kent, was a Parliamentarian, and commanded a body of Militia at the Siege of Colchester in 1648, and in 1651 led a regiment composed of Essex men at the battle of Worcester. He was M.P. for Essex in Oliver Cromwell's Parliaments, which commenced in 1654, and died at the good old age of 80. Hester, his wife, who was described as a model of " wisdom, piety, and charity," died on the 19th October, 1681, aged 75, and was buried by the side of Sir Thomas at Marks Hall Church. Thomas, the son and heir of the above, died in 1672 without issue, and was succeeded by his brother, John Lamotte Hony- wood, M.P. for Essex in 1680, and High Sheriff in 1691. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Wm. Wiseman, Bart., of Rivenhall, and died without issue in 1693. His widow married Sir Isaac Rebow, of Colchester. 56 THE TENDRING HUNDBED IN THE OLDEN TIME. This John Lamotte Honywood was the last of the Essex branch of the family at that time, and the estates passed to Robert Honywood, of Charing, who became M.P. for Essex in the first Parliament of George I. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Sandford, Bart., by Mary, daughter of Sir Francis Bowes, of Howgill Castle, Westmoreland, and died in 1735. Richard, the third and surviving son, succeeded, and died in 1755. The youngest son, Philip, became a distinguished General, and upon the death of his elder brothers, succeeded to the estates in 1758. He married Elizabeth Wastell, "a very agreeable and accomplished person," by whom he had Philip, born in July, 1760. The Honywoods, it will be seen, were a prolific as well as an ancient family, and one of them, who was a Mary Waters, was a very remarkable person besides. She was 44 years a widow, lived till 93, and had 367 children lawfully descended from her in this way: 16 of her own, 114 grandchildren, 221 great grand- children, and 9 great greats, " the Briton maketh way upon the spacious ocean." 126 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. The Romans built their boats of pine, cedar, and other light woods, with oaken bows armed with iron and brass rams. The Venetians first built with oak. Alfred the Great, who so often fought the Danish invaders of our coasts, introduced galleys, with 40 or 60 rowers, and with these he beat the Pirates, whose vessels, if they deserved the name, had high prows and stems, ornamented with all kinds of beasts and reptiles ; the smallest held about 12 men ; others had 20 or 30 benches for rowers, and instead of row-locks there were round holes in a kind of bulwark, through which the oars were worked. These vessels, however, to the number of hundreds in a fleet, were well adapted for piratical onslaughts along our coast and up our rivers, and when a battle at sea took place it was fought by lashing the boats together, the men fighting hand to hand. Henry V. began to improve the Navy, and had "grete shippes, carrakes, barges, and ballyngers." In 1418 John Alcestre wrote this Monarch concerning a ship building for him at Bayonne — "the stemme is in hithe 96 fete, and the poste 48 fete, and the kele is in length 112 feet." This was considered a big ship. William the Conqueror, when there was no regular Navy belonging to the State, established five ports — Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Romney, and Hastings — called the " Cinque Ports," and gave them important privileges, in return for which they were bound to keep 57 vessels, all well manned, at the service of the Crown, for 15 days on any emergency. But in consequence of the strength and importance of the Navy they were thus com- pelled to maintain, the " five ports " got audacious, and organised little piratical excursions on their own account, and even went to War as independent states. Gradually, therefore, their wings were clipped. The Lord Wardens of the " Cinque Ports " had always nominated and sent 16 Members to Parliament. In 1689 an Act was passed to "declare the right and freedom of election." The Reform Bill of 1832 reduced the number from 16 BRIGHTLINGSEA. 127 to 8, and the Municipal Act finally broke up their ancient organisation. These " Cinque Ports " had other ports attached to them as " members," and Brightliugsea was attached to Sandwich. In Domesday Book Brighthngsea is called " Bricteseia," and was held by King Harold for " a Manor and x. hides, now by King William. Always xxiv. villeins. Then x. bordars, afterwards xi., now xvi., and x. bordars who do not - hold any land. Then iv. serfs, now v. Then iii. teams in the demesne, afterwards and now ii. Then xvi. teams of the homagers, afterwards and now xi. Wood for c. swine. Now there is i. mill. Pasture for do. sheep, always xvi. beasts and v. horses, and clxvi. sheep, and lxii. swine." William the Conqueror gave the Manor to Eudo Dapifer,* who made it part of the endowment of St. John's Abbey, which he founded in Colchester, and his grant was confirmed by Henry I. and Henry II. At the dissolution of the Abbey, Henry VIII. gave the Manor to Thomas, Lord Cromwell, Keeper of the Privy Seal. At the fall of that gentleman, the Manor reverted to the Crown, and continued in it till 1576, when Queen Elizabeth gave "the Manor of Brighthngsea and the Manor place called Brightlingsea Hall, and all the demesnes belonging to this Manor, and the inn- marshes and the out-marshes," to Sir Thomas Heneage, who was Captain of her Guards, Treasurer of the Chamber, Vice-Chamber- lain of the Household, and Privy Councillor. The Queen also granted him in 1564 the Manor of Copped Hall, and in 1572 the Manor of Epping. Sir Thomas died in 1595, leaving an only daughter, Eliza- beth, who married Moyle Finch, created a Baronet in 1611, and died in 1614. Lady Finch in 1623 was made Viscountess Maid- stone, and in 1628 Countess of Winchelsea. She sold Brightling- sea to Eichard Wilcox, of London, who had married Alice, daugh- ter of George Parkhurst, of Ipswich. Eichard died in 1624, and his second son, Thomas, of Tottenham High Cross, of the Body * See Weeley. 128 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. Guard of Charles I., succeeded. He married a daughter of John Wakering, of Kelvedon, and had a daughter, Dionysius, born in 1629, and another of the more common name of Mary. From 1660 to 1686 Colonel George Thompson owned the estate, and left it by will to Captain John Sarth, who sold it in 1694 to Isaac Brand, of London (probably of the Brands of Pol- stead, one of whom held Moverons, Frating, of Mrs. Beriff). He left it by will to John Colt, fourth son of the Eev. Bobert Colt, of Colt's Hall, Cavendish, Suffolk, who had married a daughter of John Brand, of Edwardston, in Suffolk. John Colt was a mercer in Gracechurch-street, London, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Man, of Tooting, in Surrey, and their eldest son, Isaac Brand-Colt, died unmarried in 1759. One of his sisters and co- heirs married an Irish Lord, Trimleston; another Sir Thomas Kempe, Bart. The Trustees of Mr. Brand-Colt's will were Sir John Kempe and Benjamin Mee, and they sold the Brightlingsea estate, in 1763, to Nicholas Magens, a wealthy London merchant ; but to the great regret of the poor, his tenants, and neighbours, to whom, Morant says, he was " very charitable and bountiful," he died a year after the purchase, in 1764, and left his widow in possession, and also with " his good and benificent qualities." The estate then passed to the Dorrien-Magens, of London, bankers, and a few years ago, in 1885, was sold to some gentleman in Yorkshire. Some of the customs of the Manor of Brightlingsea Hall are very peculiar ; the youngest son inherits the copyhold. This is the case also in St. Osyth, and is a custom arising out of another which was referred to under the head of Great Bentley, where the Lord had the right of choosing the wife of his copyhold tenants, and was supposed, perhaps, to provide for the first-born. If there is no son, then the youngest daughter ; if no daughter, then the tenant's youngest brother or sister. The wife has no dowry. If two or more have a joint estate in copyholds that are heriotable, no heriot can be claimed till the death of the last survivor. Copyhold tenants may cut down timber and take down and carry away houses so long as they keep and maintain a sufficient house or dwelling on BRIGHTLINGSEA. 129 their property. Every copyhold tenant, according to custom of Manor, may put upon the commons " one sheep and a half for every acre that he holdeth of the same Manor, and as many hogs as he may reasonably keep, so that they be lawfully ringed and yoked ; and every cottager one barrow-hog only, being likewise lawfully ringed and yoked."* Moverons. — In the year 1247 Osbert de Brightlingsea died, leaving three sisters co-heirs ; and the youngest, " Khoesi," mar- ried Eichard " Mun'num," or " Muntviron," and in 1260 John de Montviron, of 'Moverons, otherwise " Munviron," "Mevarones," "Maronis," and "Mun'num," from which Moverons, its modern name, is derived, had a grant of free-warren in Brightlingsea and " Haglesley." Mariote, his daughter, claimed in succession, as against William de Harewold and Cecily, his wife, the right she had in her father's lands in " Brightlingsea, Frating, Bromley, Thuriton, Parle, and Woodham Walter." We next find Moverons in the St. Clair family, to whom " Cecily " belonged. John St. Clair (Seyntcler), who died in 1493, held "the Manor of Maronis " (Moverons) of the Abbot of St. John's, Colchester, as of his Manor of Brightlingsea. Sir John St. Clair, who died in 1546, held it, by fealty (of St. John's of the Hall) — " suit of Court to the other Manor, and yearly rent of 21s. 8d. and land called Drybookes." His son John succeeded. These St. Clairs were of St. Clair Hall, St. Osyth, and connected with the Darcys ; and in 1554 Thomas Darcy held "Moverons, with 10 messuages, 10 gardens, 1,000 acres of arable, 200 of meadow, 800 of pasture, 30 of wood, in Brightlingsea, Thorington, and Alresford, late Laurence Warrens of the 'Manor of Brickelsey.' " He died in 1557, and his son Thomas succeeded ; and Sir Thos. Darcy, Bart., sold it to Bobert Barwell, of Witham, whose son Newman again sold it in 1718 to John Colt, from whom, like the Hall, it descended to Isaac Brand- Colt, and to the Magens, and was sold in 1865 with the Hall. * There is a custom in some Manors that, where the wife has copyhold property and dies before her husband, the latter is entitled to the rents so long as he lives. This is called the " Courtesy of England." K 130 THE TENDRING- HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. In 1871 Mr. John Bateman, a County Magistrate, eldest son of James Bateman, F.R.S., J.P. and D.L., of Knypersley Hall, Staffordshire, purchased the estates of the Hall and Moverons and the Manor appertaining to the latter. The old Hall was pulled down in 1874, and an excellent residence built. As the estate had been almost denuded of timber, Mr. Bateman has been replanting it, and reminds us that if a man plants land, once ploughed, with timber he is still assessed to the rates at the full arable rate. When he stubs a wood he is charged, not at the 5s. per acre rate of wood valuation, but is put up to the increased value. And where planting goes on near exposed coast lines the former is considered " hard lines," and the attention of the Government should be drawn to it ; for, as Mr. Bateman observes, in case of an invasion every little copse " might harbour no end of gay and gallant Volunteers, who would take heavy toll of the invader, whereas in weak numbers they would be powerless were an enemy to disembark on a plain, open coast." Our "Major" of Volunteers should see to this, and that Government should specially exempt all plantations within 1,000 or 1,500 yards of salt water from the present prohibitory rating. The Hall is now occupied by Mr. F. Eagle, as ardent a sports- man as any of his ancestors referred to under the head of Bromley. A heronry existed in Thick's Wood from time immemorial, but the herons took their departure a few years ago. Brightlingsea was, as we have stated, a member of the Cinque Ports, attached to Sandwich, in Kent, and a " Deputy " or Mayor was elected up to 1802. William Beriff, "mariner," who died 2nd September, 1527, was "Deputy." The privileges of the Cinque Ports in former times were very great, but have become, as we have before described, obsolete and abolished. The inhabitants were exempt from the Militia or from serving on Juries. The William Beriff above named was of the family referred to under the head of Frating, as owner of Moverons and- other lands in that parish. The first of the family is said to have resided at a place called " Jacobes," in Brightlingsea, but they do not appear BRIGHTLINGSEA. 131 to have owned any estates in the parish. William the " mariner " ■was " Deputy " of the Cinque Ports, and died, as we have said, in 1527. But before this, John Beriff was buried at Brightlingsea Church in 1426, Mary in 1505, Margaret in 1514. After William there was John, in 1542, and the eldest son, also John, had eleven sons and three daughters, and died in 1578. The Church, dedicated to A.11 Saints, stands on a hill, and a remarkably handsome tower, ninety-four feet high to the battle- ments, forms a sea mark, visible for many miles around. It originally belonged to St. John's Abbey, Colchester, and in 1237 the Abbots and Convent gave it to St. Paul's and the Bishop of London and his successors. Soon after, according to Morant, the Dean and Canons " appropriated it to the lights of St. Paul's Church, and a Vicarage was ordained, which hath been ever since in the Bishop's collation, and exempt from the Archdeacon's jurisdiction." In 1800 the roof of the Church fell in, just after the congre- gation had left on a Sunday afternoon. The present roof is unlike the old one, being flush from wall to wall, whereas formerly a row of clerestory windows interposed. The Eev. John Sympson, Rector of St. Olaves, Hart-street, London, a native of Brightlingsea, gave 52s. a-year to the poor of the parish, payable at Michaelmas and Lady-Day, out of lands in Kirby-le-Soken — once the estate of Samuel Mott, of Colchester, afterwards of Mr. Cook, of Thorington Hall, in right of his wife, daughter and co-heir of John Westbrowe. William Whitman, also by will, proved 7th April, 1730, left £7 a-year out of lands in Kirby, Walton, and Little Clacton, to be paid to the Vicar of Brightlingsea, on condition that he preached two sermons every Lord's Day from Lady to Michaelmas, and resided with his family all that time in the Vicarage House, or in some other house in the parish, " unless some accident happens." K 2 GKEAT CLACTON. THE Clactons in Domesday Book are called " Clachintuna," and had always been, it says, "in the Bishopric for a Manor and xx. hides. There were then " — that is, in Saxon times — " 1. villeins ; now xlv. Then xx. bordars, now 1. Then xiii. serfs, now vii. Then iv. teams in the demesne, now iii. Then amongst the homagers 1. teams, now xx. Wood for ccco. swine, xx. acres of meadow. Always i. fishery. Now i. mill. Pasture for c. sheep, i. horse, and vii. beasts, and xxx. swine, and xli. sheep. It was then worth xl. pounds, now xxvi. Of this same Manor v. Knights hold iv. hides, with vi. teams, and ii. villeins, and xlv. bordars, and iii. serfs, having iii. teams ; and this is worth viii. pounds, and ii. shillings of the above-mentioned value." Morant thinks the name is derived from the Saxon word sig- nifying " clay," and " tun," a town." Great Clacton before the Conquest belonged to Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London, and he endowed his Abbey of St. Osyth with part of it. There were, at the time of the Survey, four Manors — the Hall, Canhall, Aulton Park, and Colblains. The Hall, in Henry I.'s time, was confirmed to the Bishops of London for ever ; but on the 26th July, 1545, Bishop Bonner con- veyed to Henry VIII. the " Manors of Clacton, Alton Park, and the Manor of Loddesworth, in Sussex, in exchange for other lands 6EEAT CLACTON. 133 in Worcestershire." It is now occupied by Mr. R. Salmon, a good sportsman. In 1553 Edward VI. granted "The Manor of Clacton, with appurtenances, and Walcote Marsh, lands called Westwicke, the Rouch, the Cow Park, and the parks of Aulton and Clackton " to Thomas Lord Darcy and his heirs. Cann Fall— " aula ccmonica"— originally called " Canon Hall," as belonging to the Canons of St. Osyth, was once owned by Lord Cromwell, and shared the fate of that nobleman's other estates, as described under the head of St. Osyth, and passed to the Lords Darcy. Thomas Lord Darcy, who died in 1558, held it with the other Manors; his son John, who died in 1580, also held it " with the tythes of Clacton, Bishopwic and Jay wic, and a yearly pension of 13s. 4d. out of the Rectory of Great Clacton." In 1555 Lord Darcy had obtained a license to alienate the lands of Cann Hall, together with the Rectories of Great and Little Clacton, " late be- longing to, and parcel of the possessions of, St. Osithes Monastery;" also lands " lying between Bishopwic and Alton Park, called ' Ben- nett's Land,' " and the Bishops three " wics," viz. — Creswic, Bishopswic, and Jaywic — together with Skelmasfield and Buttis- hill (probably Bull Hill), and the Pond-pittels to Henry Wyndham ; but the Manorial rights descended through the Darcys to Earl Rivers and the Earl of Rochford, and still continue in the Trus- tees of the late Mr. Nassau. Cann Hall, Clacton Hall, and other estates, together with the tythes, passed to the Botelers,* by whom * Mary, sister of Sir George Darcy, who died a minor, married Richard Boteler, and seems to have enjoyed his Clacton estates. As the Darcys played a conspicuous part in the county of Essex, particularly in the Tendring Hun- dred, we may state that the family was originally from Yorkshire. Henry Darcy was a vintner, in London, and Sheriff in 1327, Lord Mayor in 1337. His grandson, Robert Darcy, brought up to the law, was "escheater" for Essex in 1420, and married Alice Fitz-Langly, a rich widow, of Maldon. His eldest son, Sir Robert Darcy, of Maldon, and Danbury Park, Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1458, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Tyrell, of Heron. John, the younger son, settled at Tolleshunt, and gave that place the name of Darcy. He got the place through his marriage with a De Bois; and his family spread through the county, and the head of it, Sir Thomas 134 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. they were sold to Sir John Percival in 1714, and in 1717 to Col. John Schutz, as we shall show presently. Alton Park, near the sea, was the Park made by Eichard de Belmeis, Bishop of London, and he enclosed with it the wood then belonging to the Canons of St. Paul, and called " Edulvesnase " — so that there was evidently a " nase " or promontory on this spot. Edward VI. granted it in 1553 to Thomas Lord Darcy, by the name of the " Park of Alton." It was afterwards purchased by Samuel Travers, M.P. for Windsor. This gentleman built the statue of King William III. in St. James's-square, London ; and by his will, dated 6th July, 1724, left Alton Park, Great Holland Hall, and Bovills Hall, Little Clacton, to the Naval Knights of Windsor, to whom they still belong. Alton Park has long been occupied by the Smiths ; Mr. John Smith, the present occupier, being also a good sportsman. Colbayns was held by Henry Parker in 1541 — with a tene- ment called Boytons, "and 200 acres of arable and pasture thereto belonging," of Great Clacton — of the Bishop of London, as of his Manor, in "socage" (fixed tenure), by the yearly rent of 17s. (then worth £6 13s. 4d.) per annum. His son Eichard, who also held lands in the Hinckford Hundred, succeeded. But there is little or no account of Colbayns in ancient records. Jay-wic formerly belonged to the Lords Darcy, as part of the Manor, but was purchased by Captain Wegg, from whom it de- scended to the Eounds,* who now own it. It has long been occu- pied by a good old sportsman, Mr. P. B. Smith. Darcy, of St. Osyth, was made Lord Darcy, 5th April, 1551, and soon afterwards Lord Rivers. Fifth in descent from Sir Robert Darcy above named was ThomaB, of St. Clares Hall, who purchased Braxted Hall, and his son, who was created a baronet in 1660, lived at Braxted ; and his grandson, Sir George, dying a minor as above stated, his estates passed to his three sisters, one of whom was Mary Boteler ; another married Sir William Dawes, Bart., Dean of Booking ; and the other, William Pierpont, of Nottingham. * James Round, a citizen and merchant of London, purchased Birch Hall in 1724, settled in Essex, and died in 1745. From him descended the Rounds of Danbury, and Charles Gray Round, whose nephew James Round is M.P. for one division of the county. GREAT CLACTON. 135 The name of Wegg reminds us that in the olden times smug- gling was carried on to a great extent at Clacton and along the coast. Even so recently as 50 years ago we remember tales were told of daring " runs," and hair-breadth escapes, of these jolly smugglers. As a rule, farmers and gentry alike would seem to have winked at these " runs," and when a good one succeeded, and some of the farmers' horses had been taken during the night to assist, unknown to the owners, as pack horses, there was generally a cask of rare old spirits left somewhere for the master, and a few silks and ribbons for the mistress. At Clacton, Captain Wegg, a " retired " sea skipper, was said to have made enough by smug- gling to build a substantial house, and to buy Jaywick Farm, of several hundred acres. His house still stands near the old Ship Inn, and on removing a portion of it a short time ago a capaci- ous cellar was found capable of holding some scores of kegs, barrels, and chests. The access to this cellar was through a bricked kitchen, and masked. The house now belongs to the Eev. Hard- ing Newman, who is restoring it, as an interesting relic of olden times. The Ship Inn is an ancient structure of the 14th century, and has many features of interest to the curious in old mouldings and picturesque gables. It has belonged to the Cobbolds for many generations. Mr. John Cobbold owned it in 1807, and it may possibly have been the house wherein that celebrated dis- cussion took place between that gentleman and a learned Doctor of Divinity as to the best means of disposing of a certain " old gentleman." A messuage called Grays, " with 140 acres of arable and six of meadow, with 10s. rent," and another smaller messuage of 20 acres, were settled, in 1461, by Thomas Kemp, Bishop of London, on a Chantry founded by him to St. Paul's Cathedral. The Church, dedicated to St. John, was given by Richard de Belmeis to the Monastery of St. Osyth, and the great tythes being appropriated to it, a Vicarage was ordained, which continued in the Priory until its suppression, when the Rectory and advowson of the Vicarage went to the Crown, and were given by Henry VIII. to Lord 136 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. Cromwell, who held them but a short time. In 1533 Edward VI. granted them to Lord Darcy, and they descended to Lord Rivers and to the Earl of Rochford. The Vicarage was sold a few years ago. The great tythes were purchased by Colonel Schutz, with the estates previously named, in 1717. On the 24th December, 1714, Frances Longe, of Bury St. Edwards, widow of John Boteler,* of Walton Woodhall, Herts, and John Boteler, his son, sold the Clacton Hall, Cann Hall, and other estates, to Sir John Percival, of Burton, in the county of Cork. This Sir John, who was created Lord Percival in 1715, and Earl of Egmont in 1733, married Cathe- rine, daughter of Sir Philip Parker A'Morley, of Erwarton, Suffolk. The estates he purchased in Clacton, we find from deeds in our possession, were Canhall, the Hall, Hucklands, &c, &c, altogether described as " 400 acres of land, 100 acres of meadow, 200 acres of pasture, 80 acres of wood, 100 acres of furze and heath, with the appurtenances, in Great Clacton, Little Clacton, Little Holland, and Chich St. Osyth, and of the Rectories of Great Clacton, Little Clacton, and Little Holland, with the appurtenances ; also of all manner of tythes, oblations, and obventions whatsoever yearly arising, growing, or renewing in Great Clacton, Little Clacton, and Little Holland aforesaid." * The name of Boteler occurs in the history of Colchester. In the 15th year of the reign of Edward IV. it is said that " striff debate and variaunce of late bene hadde and moeved betwixt John Foorde and John Boteler, Baillies of Colchester, and Communaltie of the oon partie ; and all the inhabitants of the parish of St. Leonard's in the order partie for a waye to be hadde, used and occupied through the Haven, river, and water at the Hythe for all manner of people, therein to passe as well with hors and carte as other wise." So that I, " John, Due of Norfolk, Erie Wareyn and of Surrey, Erie Marschall, and of Notyngham, Marschall of England, Lord Segrave, of Gower, and of Mowbray, greeting— to "William Smyth, John Herington, Peter Berewyke, Walter Eyley, William Valentine, William Davey, John Berdefield the elder, John Deben, William Eden, and John Rede, dwellers, inhabitants, and free-holders in Seynt Leonard's, called Colchester Hythe, 'their heirez and assignez of every of them,' that they ' and all the King's people shall nowe for ever use have and enjoy a weye with men, hors and carte through the Haven, river, and watyr at the said Hythe, over a parcel of our grounde unto the strete called Grynsted strete." GEBAT CLACTON. 137 The price paid by Sir John Percival for all this property, about 780 acres, with the tythes over nearly 7,000 acres, was £4,747, "in full for the absolute purchase of the messuages, lands, tythes, and heriots." In October, 1717, Sir John, then Lord Percival, sold the whole of the above to John Schutz, who came over from Hanover with George I., for £6,300. The Elector of Hanover succeeded to the Throne of England as George I., at the death of Queen Anne (the last of the Stuarts on the Throne) in 1714. Queen Anne, when living, was herself desirous that her brother, son of James II., and called the Pre- tender, should succeed her, but he was a Roman Catholic ; and the subsequent result of his pretensions was rebellion, revolt, and civil war, ending in the battle of Culloden and the flight of Prince Charles Edward, as we have before described. Sophia, Electress of Hanover, the mother of George I. who during the life of Queen Anne was Duke of Cambridge in England, without a seat in the House of Peers, was anxious that he should have a seat in that assembly to strengthen his chances for the Throue, and during the life of the Queen she sent her friend and correspondent, John Schutz, to England, to watch her son's interest, and demand his seat, if necessary, in the House of Lords. This the Ministers of the day refused, and the Queen ordered Schutz back to Hanover ; but she soon had a fit of the gout, brought on by rage and disappointment, and died before Schutz reached Harwich on his return ; so that he had the honour of announcing to the Electress that her son was King, and George I. It would seem that for his services George I. had granted him a pension of £500 a-year, chargeable on " quit rents in Vir- ginia, for 31 years" from Midsummer, 1717. Then John Schutz seems to have fallen in love with an English lady — one Rachael Blakiston, of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London ; and prior to the marriage her father gave her £2,000 South Sea Stock (in settlement), and Schutz, on his part, commuted his pension so as to raise the sum of £5,000, " to be laid out," according to the 138 THE TENDBINO HUNDKED IN THE OLDEN TIME. marriage settlement, " in the purchase of lands, tenements, and heriots in that part of Great Britain called England, to be con- veyed and settled," &c. The result was the purchase of the Great and Little 01 acton estates " in consideration of £6,300 to the said John Lord Percival in hand, paid by the said John Schutz aud John Cook (trustee) in full, for the absolute purchase of the said premises," as before described. Now these estates, bought by Sir John Percival in 1714 for £4,747, and by John Schutz in 1717 for £6,300, were valued in 1808, when a large portion of them were sold, at £90,000 ; and at the present day would fetch considerably more.* Col. Benjamin Harding', a nephew of Col. Francis Eobert Schutz, the descendant of Colonel John Schutz, succeeded to portions of the estate which were not sold, and these now belong to B. Harding Newman, son of Capt. B. H. Newman, of the 20th Regiment, and nephew of the late Col. Harding. Other of the estates and the tythes are now in possession of the Rev. T. Harding Newman, D.D., of Nelmes, Romford, which is the ancient seat of the family. Of Clacton-on-Sea, a rising watering place which has sprung into strong and healthy existence during the last twelve years, we may observe, en jiassant, that more than 50 years ago Mr. Sargent Lay and other gentlemen of Colchester, in search of a healthy watering place, fixed upon the very spot where the Royal and * The price paid in 1717 for such a property seems almost incredible, but on looking through some old deeds in our possession relating to part of the pro- perty purchased in 1810 we came upon the conveyance of the estates, as de- scribed, from the Botelers to Sir John Percival, as well as from the latter to John Schutz, setting forth the prices paid in each case. We have also a copy of the marriage settlement of John Schutz, his will, pedigree, and other curious documents connected with his family. Besides which his descendant, and in- heritor of part of the estates, the Rev. Dr. Harding Newman, has favoured us with some interesting particulars. We have also, as showing the great increase in the value of land in an agricultural point of view, an old lease of a farm in Clacton granted 100 years ago by our grandfather, W. Howard, of St. Osyth, for one-fourth the rent now received for it. GREAT CLAOTON. 139 very excellent Hotel now stands. The lands were then part of the estate of the late William Howard, of St. Osyth, and settled upon his youngest daughter and co-heiress, and her children, and could not be obtained. Mr. Lay and his friends then went further along the coast and founded Walton-on-the-Naze. In the year 1865, the present writer and others concerned in the expiry of the trust, sold about 50 acres of building land to Mr. P. S. Bruff, under whose magic wand Clacton-on-Sea arose, and it has now extended over the lands of the Harding Newmans, the Rounds, the Pages, and others. And as some 26 years ago the writer had the only marine and summer residence in the place, no one is better able to speak of it as one of the healthiest spots for all ages and constitutions that can be met with on any coast. There is pure air, pure water, pure ozone, most invigorating breezes, and the town is being laid out by enterprising men in a manner worthy of its well known salubrity as a watering place within an easy distance of London. A new Church has been built, and a Chapel is in course of erection. There are also gas and water works, a Skating rink — a modern invention we have not yet tried — and public rooms. LITTLE CLACTOK LITTLE CLACTON, which also formed part of the revenues of the Bishops of London, had two Manors — Bovills and Gidea — or, as it was called, " Geddy Hall," and sometimes " Engains." This was attached to the Priory of Thremhall, in Stansted Mountfichet, and probably belonged to the Gernons, like Great Holland. After the suppression of Monasteries Henry VIII. granted the Manors of Thremhall and " Engains Hall " to John Cary and Joyce Walsingham, a widow, to hold in capite by the 20th part of a Knight's fee. Sir John Cary died in 1552, and his son and heir, Wymond Cary, succeeded. In 1565, Queen Elizabeth made him a grant of Thremhall Priory, also. In the same year he had a license to alienate the Manors of " Engaines- hall, Bosebridge, Perstede, and Wantmede, lying in Great and Little Clacton, Tendring, Welye, and Thorpe," to Henry Golding. These were afterwards in the possession of the Drurys, of Bretts Hall, Tendring, who held them in 1589. Sir John Drury was succeeded by his son, and the estate afterwards belonged to Edward Webbe, of London, to Bobert Baker, Captain Bagney, and to the Deanes of Harwich.* * In 1674 Sir Anthony Deane was Alderman and Mayor of Harwich, and served also as M.P. in 1678. He was a large shipbuilder, and Commissioner of LITTLE CLACTON. 141 Boviils Hall— sometimes called "Buffets" — in ancient re- cords was called " Devill," and in 1552 a fine passed between William Cardinall, gent., and John Brokemau, of the Manor of " Devill," four messuages and lands in Little Clacton, the right of the said William Cardinall. William Houblon afterwards owned it, and was then purchased by Samuel Travers, M.P., and left, as we have said before, to the Naval Knights of Windsor. Bovills Hall has been for many years in the occupation of the Fishers. The Lodge is owned by Mr. Wm. Laws, one of the largest agriculturists in the Tendring Hundred. " Cookes," a messuage in the parish, was held by the Arb- lasters, of Tendring, as of the Manor of Chich St. Osyth. Six pounds a-year in land, Morant says, belong to the poor to be distributed among them by the Churchwardens and Overseers. The Church, a very small one, was given by Richard de Belmeis, also to his Monastery at St. Osyth, and the great tythes appropriated to it. A Vicarage was ordained and endowed, of which the Abbot and Canons remained in possession till the sup- pression, when Henry VIII. gave them to Cromwell. Afterwards they passed, like those of Little Clacton, to the Darcys, Bivers, the Earl of Rochford, &c, when the great tythes were purchased by John Schutz, and now belong to the Rev. Harding New- man, D.D. The Rev. W. Green is Vicar. the Royal Navy. In 1686 Sir Phineas Pett, Commissioner at Chatham, went with Deane on an exploring expedition for timber, which just then was very scarce. In " Pett's Journal," wherein it is stated the Government wanted timber to build 30 ships, he says — "Tuesday, May 29th, 1677 — Sir Anthony Deane and myself came out of London in the morning early, in company with Mr. Browne and Mr. Isaac Bell. About seven we came to the " Cock," at Chelmsford, in Essex, where we met Mr. Southcraft, my Lord Petre's steward, to treat about 700 trees, viewed by Mr. Phineas Pett, master shipwright, at Woolwich. Upon treaty with the said Mr. Southcraft we could bring him to no other terms than £3 per load upon the place ; we bid him 40s., which he made slight of, and said he would give my Lord Petre £3 for the greatest part ; and so we parted and went to Witham, where we lay that night, and sent a letter to Sir Francis Mannock about his timber, to meet us at Ipswich on Friday morning next." ST. OSYTH. TN a series of papers, entitled " Out of the Saddle — on Arch- -*■ seology " — the writer, a few months ago, gave a history of St. Osyth Priory and the families connected with it from the earliest times down to the present ; and as those papers will be published at the end of these sketches, we shall say nothing more of the Priory in this place. Still we cannot pass over a parish, the largest, and once, if not at present, the foremost in the Ten- dring Hundred, without referring to some of the old inhabitants, whose families, if less distinguished, have resided in the place continuously for centuries past. At St. Clair's Hall, formerly the seat of the St. Clairs, of whom so much has been said in these sketches, the Deans have resided for about 200 years, and are still in possession. The Earls of Oxford originally held St. Cleres-Wic, and St. Cleres Park, as the Manor of Castle Hedingham. Ealph, son of Walter de Osyth, and Cecily St. Clere, held it in the reign of Henry III. ; Philip de Osyth in 1273. Then William St. Clere, and his son John, in 1334. In 1446 and 1454 William St. Clere held the 12th part of a Knight's fee in Chich, paying 4d. yearly to the Manor of Bentley. Sir John St. Clair, who died on the 25th November, 1546, held the Manor of " Chichridill," alias St. Clair's ST. OSYTH. 143 Hall, St. Osyth, of the Earl of Oxford, as of his Castle of Heding- ham, by the third part of a Knight's fee — then of the yearly ■value of £30. John was his son and heir, and in 1553 he seems to have disposed of the property, and it passed to the Daroys, of the Priory. They sold it to Eichard Daniel ; then Mr. John Bound, M.P. for Maldon, owned it ; and a few years ago it was sold to its present owner, Mr. Andrews. The house, which has a fine old hall hung with some ancient pictures, is surrounded by a moat. Cocketwick, now belonging to Sir J. H. Johnson, belonged in Saxon times to Ernulph Coket, who sold it to Eichard de Belmeis; the addition of " Wic " to the name of its ancient owner referred to its being a grazing farm. Earls Hall, now owned by Mr. Cooper, belonged at the Conquest to Eustace, Earl of Bologne. So did Frowick, called in Domesday Book " Foronica ;" and in 1312 it belonged to John de Fro.thewicke, from whom it passed to the St. Cleres and the Bourchiers, Earls of Essex. This Manor, and that of " Chiche Eidell," seem to have been distinct from the Priory estate, which formed part of the royal demesne, King Canute having granted it to Earl Godwin, who in his turn gave it to Christ Church, Canterbury ; but at the Con- quest it was taken away and given to the Bishop of London. Chiche Eidell belonged to Suinard before the Conquest, and to Ealph Peverell afterwards. The Park Farm, formerly belonging to the Priory estate, now belongs to Mr. W. W. Blyth, whose family have long been con- nected with the parish. Considering that St. Osyth is one of the largest parishes in the Hundred, containing nearly 9,000 acres of land and 1,600 in- habitants, and has always had a sort of halo of sanctity about it from its Monkish and other associations and traditions, it will sur- prise many to be told that in former times the stipend for its Minister was £60 a-year, and is little more at present ! More than a century ago the Eev. James Vallance, who claimed descent from 144 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. the ancient "Valences"* who came to England in 1236, and whose family is still represented in the parish, held the " Perpetual Curacy " for £60 a-year ! He was also Chaplain to the Earl of Rochford, and resided at the Priory, there not being even a par- sonage house. Even in our own recollection the stipend was only £60 a-year and no house ; yet the Church is the largest in the Hundred, and the tythes were once worth £2,000 a year ! Block House, near the Colne, was occupied by the Howards for some centuries, and is still in the hands of the descendant of a branch of the family. The Howards settled in the parish, it is supposed, at about the time, or soon after, that Sir John Howard, jun., came into possession of Wyvenhoe Hall (his daughter, who married John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, had a long dispute with the Corpora- tion of Colchester in regard to the Colne Fishery). The register of St. Osyth does not go back far enough to give us any information beyond private records ; and in one of these, belonging to Richard Howard, of Block House (born in 1692, died in 1766), "where," it is added, "his family had then resided for * Agues de Valence held the Manor of Valence in Essex, of the Abbess of Barking ; and the tenure was that she should ride with two horses along with the Abbess, and at her expense, upon reasonable notice. Agnes died in 1309, and was succeeded by Adomar de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who appears to have been the son of William de Valence, half-brother of Henry III., by Joan, sister of William de Montchesney, Baron of Swainscourt, referred to in a former paper. Adomar de Valence held the Manor of Braxted, with the ad- vowson of the Church, and 300 acres of land, of Robert Fitzwalter, with service of one Knight's fee, and among other payments 5s. yearly to the Abbots of St. John, Colchester. He had three wives, but died without issue 23rd July, 1323, and the estates passed through the female line to the De Hastings, Barons of Bergavenny. The Montchesneys descended from Hubert de Canisio, who came over with the Conqueror and received the Manor of " Edwardston " in Suffolk. At the time of the Survey the family held Stansted Hall and other estates. William, who died in 1280, also held " Leyer del Heye " in capite of the honour of Bologne. William, his son, held the same in 1301 of John de Frowick of the fee of Chiche Ridell by the sum of Id. a-year. Ioane de Mont- chesney, heiress of a younger son, who had the Suffolk property, married Sir Richard Waldegrave, and through her that family got Smallbridge and other estates in Suffolk. For a description of the Valence family see also Thorington. ST. OSYTH. 145 many generations." William, his son, the last male heir of this branch bearing the old crest, was born at Block House, in 1731, married Elizabeth Brett, and was buried in the middle aisle of the Church in 1809, leaving three daughters co-heiresses. To his eldest daughter, who married Smith Bawtree, of Southminster Hall, he left "Bretts," " Wigborough," and other property in St. Osyth. The eldest daughter of this Mr. and Mrs. Bawtree married William Matson, whose son still holds Block House Wick. To Felicia, his second daughter, William Howard left property in St. Osyth, and an estate in Great Clacton. To his youngest daughter, Elizabeth, he left Pilcroft and Ironsides, in Great Clac- ton, and property in St. Osyth. Upon part of the Clacton property, as we have before stated, " Clacton-on-Sea " arose. Elizabeth Howard married, in 1815, William,* eldest son of William Watson, of Adderstone House, Northumberland, who married the only daughter of Clement Yelloly, of Ditchen, cousin of the first Earl of Eldon. Captain Watson, a younger brother, distinguished himself at the storming of Seringapatam, and died suddenly when in command of the Garrison at Nottingham in 1797, leaving an only son, the late Sir William Henry Watson, who served through the Peninsula War as an officer in the 1st and 6th Dragoons, was afterwards M.P. for Kinsale and for Hull, and Baron of the Exchequer. The great grandfather of William Watson — Joseph, of Kyloe, Northumberland, bom in 1702 — was cousin of Admiral Watson (only son of the Rev. Dr. Watson, Prebendary of Westminster, who married the sister of Admiral the Bight Hon. Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the Admiralty). The Admiral was born in 1713, and died in 1757, at the early age of 44, Admiral Com- mander-in-Chief, after having taken Calcutta,t and released the * Their eldest son, William Howard, died unmarried in 1851, and the writer became the representative of the family. t Lord Clive generally has the credit of taking Calcutta, but this is a "popular error." On the magnificent monument erected to Admiral Watson 146 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. survivors from the Black Hole on the 2nd of January in that year. A splendid monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey, and his son (the ancestor of the present Sir Charles Watson) was created a Baronet, in consideration of his father's services in 1757, when only nine years of age. The Howards, about the most numerous family in England, in the north transept of Westminster Abbey, he is represented in a Roman toga, with a branch of palm in his right hand, " receiving the address of a pros- trate figure, representing the genius of Calcutta — a place in the East Indies memorable for the imprisonment of the English Garrison in a black hole, where most of them perished, and where those that survived were released by the Admiral, and the town re-taken from the Nabob in January, 1757." In the month of December, 1756, the Admiral made himself master of all the ports below Calcutta ; and on the 2nd January, 1757, he brought up his fleet to the town, destroyed the principal ports, and landed from his flag- ship, "The Kent," a party of seamen under Captain King (afterwards Sir Henry King), and the King's troops, under Captain Coote, to take posses- sion of the place. Lieut. -Col. Clive co-operated with them, and afterwards, as it is well known, performed such brilliant services that he was made Lord Clive and Earl Powis. Admiral Watson, who had so often fought and co- operated with him, after taking another important place, Chundurnagore, in March, died the following August, a young man, and in the zenith of his career. Just twelve months before the attack on Calcutta the Admiral, with Colonel Clive, on board his flag-ship, " The Kent," attacked Geriah, the strong- hold of the noted Pirate Angria. Before the attack commenced, a Council composed of sea and land officers settled the mode for distributing any prize money that might be obtained ; and it was stipulated by the Council that Admiral Watson, as Commander-in-Chief of the King's Squadron, should receive 2-3rds of l-8th of the whole ; Rear-Admiral Pocock, l-3rd of l-8th ; Lieut.-Col. Clive and Major Chambers to share with the Captains of the Fleet ; and the rest of the sea and land officers according to the usual method. Some of the land officers considered Col. Clive's proportion inadequate to his rank ; and the Admiral, rather than delay operations, stated that, as he could not set aside the articles of the Council, he would himself, out of his own share, make Clive's equal to Rear-Admiral Pocock's. On the 11th February the fleet appeared before Geriah, on the 12th entered the harbour in two divisions, and the ships bringing up against the batteries commenced a cannonade, which continued with great fury till half-past six o'clock in the evening, when the enemy's fire was silenced. The Admiral then ordered the troops to be landed under Col. Clive, and the next day the whole place was surrendered and the British flag was flying over the forts. Two hundred and fifty pieces of can- non and enormous stores were taken, and the prize money besides equalled £130,000. Geriah had been the terror of all trading nations in India for up- wards of a century, and the Admiral took it with a loss of only twenty seamen. ST. OSTTH. 147 and scattered, as we have shown, over the Tendring Hundred in olden times, claim descent from Hereward* the Saxon, son of Leofric, Lord of Brunne. Hereward was the " greatest warrior and bravest soldier among the Saxons." He drove the Norman invaders from his own estate, and was chosen Commander of the Island of Ely, which he defended against the Normans until betrayed by the Monks. William the Conqueror was wise in his generation, and knowing the Monks owned several Manors outside the Island, he seized them and divided them among his followers. He then promised the Monks to try and get them restored if they delivered up the Island ; the Abbot undertook to do this and to betray Hereward, and pay 700 marks besides. The King agreed, and the Abbot found means to admit the Normans. Hereward, finding himself betrayed, fought his way through the Norman hosts, and escaped. Those who fell into the hands of the Con- queror had their eyes put out, and the Bishop of Durham was literally starved to death. Eetribution, however, fell upon the Abbot and the Monks. They carried to William the 700 marks less " one groat " deficient in weight, and owing to this the Conqueror excused himself from fulfilling his part of the compact, and the Monks were ruined — which served them right. The images of their Saints were stripped of their gold and silver ornaments, and the sacred edifice plundered of every article of value the Normans could lay their hands on. William Howard, Chief Justice of Common Pleas in 1297, and the supposed descendant of Hereward, was the ancestor of the Saxon Howards. When Bernard Edward Howard succeeded his cousin Charles, the 11th and Protestant Duke, and became 12th Duke of Norfolk in 1815, he resolved to give a jollification to all the male relations whom he could find of John Howard, the first Duke. He ordered his steward to make cut the list, but the dinner was abandoned Mr. B. A. Freeman won't admit this. h 2 148 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. when 600 claims were admitted, and it was found there were as many more to come. The Howards, in fact, are not only the oldest, but the most extensive family in England; its branches have spread out and picked up titles by the score, while many of them lived in retirement, and died unknown beyond their own parishes. And long before the first Duke the family had large estates in Essex, and were connected in many ways with the Tendring Hundred.* In order, however, to understand the great antiquity of the Dukedom of Norfolk, which fell to the Howards, and stands at the head of the peerage, is allied to Eoyalty, and quarters the Plantagenet arms, we must " hark back " to a few generations before the Conquest. Charles the Simple, King of France, gave his daughter Gista, with the Duchy of Normandy for her portion, to one Prince Eollo, and the " homage for the Duchy was that he should kiss the King's foot ;" but when the royal toes were presented to him for that purpose, he turned up his nose and refused to kiss them ! Nor could all the pressure put upon him, nor the reminder of his friends of the great benefits conferred upon him, change his resolution. His answer was, " Ne se, by God," or " No, by God." The King then, according to Camden, " derided him and called him ' Bygod,' or hypocrite ;" and this name stuck to him and his family. He was father of William of the Longsword, and ancestor of Robert Duke of Normandy, whose natural son was William the Conqueror. And among the nobles who came over with * King Edward IV., on the 6th July, 1461, granted the Lordship of " Colchester Castle, with a mill, of two parts, and the Hundred of Tendring, to Sir John Howard, Knight, for the term of his life." As far back as 1214 Colchester and the Tendring Hundred were bound up together and intimately connected. King John in that year "granted Colchester Castle and the Borough, with the Tendring Hundred, to Stephen Harengood ;" and this connection continued for many, centuries, and was finally dissolved, as we stated in one of our former papers. During the same reign of Edward IV. John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, granted a bridge over the Hythe, as before stated. ST. OSYTH. 149 William was a Bigod, and " Hugh Bigod "* was made Earl of Norfolk, married a daughter of the first Earl of Oxford, and got the Manor of Dovercourt, as explained in our first paper. A descendant of this Earl had his " bones put out of joint at a tournament," and dying without issue, the Earldom descended to Thomas, Lord Brothertoh, son of Edward I., and whose daughter was created Duchess of Norfolk for life in 1368. Her daughter married Thos. Mowbray, made Duke in 1 397. Margaret, eldest daughter of the Duke, married Sir Robert Howard, whose son was made Lord Howard in 1470 and Duke of Norfolk in 1483. Camden says that Anne, daughter and heiress of John Howard, made Earl of Surrey in his father's lifetime, married Richard Duke of York, the young son of Edward IV. ; but Anne and her husband were " made away with in their tender years ;" and Richard III. — the " baby-killer " — gave the Dukedom to this Lord Howard, who was next cousin in blood, and heir to Anne Duchess of York. The great grandfather of the first duke, Sir John Howard, Admiral of the Fleet in Edward III.'s time, according to Morant, " bought " a great heiress, having large estates in the Tendring Hundred, for his sou. This was Margaret, daughter and heiress of Sir John Plaiz. Morant gives the contract thus — "Ego Johannes de Plaiz, Miles, recepi die confectionis presentium per manum Willielmi Cook L Marcus argenti, pro termino Pasche ultimo, de Roberto Howard, Milite, pro Maritagio Margarete filie mee cum Johanne filio ejusdem Roberti. Item C Marcas de — pro termino Pasche 3 Ric 11 regis. Dat' apud Ocle die Jovis in Septem Pasche. Sealed with a lion rampant, passant gardant." This Sir John Howard afterwards married Alice, daughter of Sir William Tendring, of Tendring. John, his eldest son (who died in 1409), married loan, daughter of Sir Richard Walton, and * This Bigod was something like his ancestor, and once exclaimed — " Were I in my Castle of Bungay, Upon the River of Waveney, I would not care for the King of Ookeney." 150 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. sister and heiress of John Walton, of Wyvenhoe Hall, whose estates they inherited. Their daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, married John De Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, who thus got Wyven- hoe Hall and other property ; and casting an envious eye upon the Colne fishery running by his Manor and belonging to the Cor- poration of Colchester (granted to them by Charter of Richard I.), he induced Henry VI., on the 4th March, 1446, to grant it to him; but the Corporation fought his Lordship, and after several trials thoroughly beat him. He afterwards espoused the cause of Henry VI. and the Lancastrians interest ; was beheaded in February, 1461 ; and his estates, including Wyvenhoe, were forfeited to the Crown, till Henry VII. restored them to his descendants, who held them of the Abbots of St. Osyth. WEELEY. "ITTEELEY was among the first Manors given by Eudo Dapifer ' » to the Monastery he had erected at St. John's, Colchester. Eudo was the fourth son of Hubert de Rie, a favourite retainer of the Duke of Normandy ; and William the Conqueror made Eudo the Steward, or " Dapifer," of his household in Eng- land. He succeeded Wm. Fitzosborn, who had displeased the King by serving him with a dish that gave him a fit of indiges- tion.* That the office was one of great power and emolument may be seen from the fact that Eudo obtained 25 Manors in Essex, 7 in Hertfordshire, 12 in Bedford, 9 in Norfolk, and 10 in Suffolk. Eudo served the Conqueror throughout his tumultuous reign, but he had an eye to the future also, and when Williamt was on * Fitzosborn served up a badly cooked goose. Eudo received on his out- stretched hand the blow that the enraged King aimed at Fitzosborn, and the latter, exasperated at the indignity, resigned office, and Eudo succeeded, and found a goose that laid golden eggs. t There are many families of the present day whose great boast it is that their ancestors " came over with the Conqueror " and preyed upon the property of the ancient Saxons. Let us now refer to Hume and Smollett, and see how the Conqueror himself was treated at his death by his robber band. We have already shown from Eachard's history how Eudo Dapifer and the young Prince William forsook him before the breath was out of his body. " I commend 152 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. his death-bed in Normandy, before the breath was out of his body, he persuaded the young Prince (William Kufus) not to lose a good opportunity, and they both started for England at once, and persuaded the Keeper of the Eoyal Treasury at Winchester to give them up the keys, when they seized the contents, amounting to £60,000 in money, besides gold, jewels, and plate. Eudo then posted to Dover, Pevensey, Hastings, and other Castles along the coast, and made the Keepers swear not to deliver them to any one but whom he should appoint. And in this they supposed that he was acting as steward of the King ; but having once secured these important points, Eudo announced the King's death, and William Kufus reigned in his stead. For these services Eudo gained still greater power with William II , and even retained the office of Dapifer in the Court of Henry I. He witnessed the signature of that Monarch to several important Charters, and in myself to the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, hoping by her intercession to be reconciled to her most dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ ;" and haying uttered these words, William the Conqueror expired on the 9fch February, 1087, in the 64th year of his age. And as soon as his death was known, " the palace became a scene of distraction." Henry, his son, flew to the treasury, and carried off all the money he eould find. His friends, whom he had made Barons and Lords, and enriched with Saxon manors and estates, hastened away to secure their lands and castles. The officers of- the household and inferior servants stripped his palace of everything valuable it contained ; and the corpse of the great Conqueror, the mighty King, who counted his own share of plunder at many millions a-year, and had enriched all those who had served him with such a lavish hand, was left naked and unattended except by a single servant ! When his remains were taken to the Church of St. Stephen, only one of his courtiers— Harlien de Coutville— paid any respect to his memory. When about to be interred in Normandy, one Fitz Arthur stood forward and boldly protested against the body being buried on the spot chosen, which had been plundered (the man said) from his father by the Conqueror— " an act of tyranny for which he summoned the defunct to answer before the tribunal of Omnipotence." The Prelates who conducted the ceremony being convinced of the truth of Fitz Arthur's statement, advanced him money to allow the burial to proceed, and engaged to pay further compensation for the remainder of his claim. This Fitz Arthur was a Norman, and if he could feel thus incensed towards his legitimate sovereign, what must some of the Saxons of England have felt ! WEELEY. 153 one instance, in reference to Colne Abbey, his signature follows that of the Queen, thus — Matilda Regina. Eudo Dapifer; When the King paid a visit to Roger Bigod in Norfolk, during the establishment of the Abbey of Thetford, Eudo accompanied him, and when the Eoyal Charter for the Abbey was signed, the King, not being able to write, made Ms mark — " Henry Rex x his mark." During the reign of the Conqueror, Colchester had been scurvily treated and oppressed, and the people petitioned William Rufus (who was shot by a Tyrell) to make Eudo their Governor, which he did ; and the Steward took up his residence in the town, redressed their grievance, and built, it is supposed, the Castle and Moot Hall. And then in 1096 he built St. John's Abbey, under the superstition existing in those days, that it was good for the souls of sinners to found Monasteries. Just as some wealthy brewers of the present day, having accumulated enormous fortunes from the curse of the age, build and endow Churches. When Eudo had finished St. John's Abbey, he asked his friend Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, to send him a few Monks to live in it. The Bishop sent him a couple to begin with ; hut " being dainty," they found fault with their living, and soon returned home. Then two others were sent, and one of them, " Radulf," is described as a pious and good man ; nevertheless, they worried poor Eudo out of his life till he settled upon them the revenues of several Manors ; and then the profits not answering the charges for collection, the Monks again quitted the place, and Eudo Dapi- fer began to repent him that he had ever built a Monastery. Stephen, Abbot of York, now came to his assistance, and sent him a dozen respectable Monks, according to the number of the Apostles, as well as an Abbot to rule over them. In 1 104 " Hugh," a man of singular piety, was chosen Abbot, and consecrated by Maurice, Bishop of London ; endowments flowed in, and the good example of the Monks induced many of the neighbours to 154 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. join them. Eudo himself died in Normandy, but at his own request was brought over to England, and buried at St. John's, Colchester, February 21st, 1120. At this time only three of the old York Monks were left — Hugh, the Abbot, one " Walter," and " Osmond, sen." We may observe here that the Abbots and Monks of olden times, to whom and their pleasant abodes we have had frequent occasion to refer in these papers, were not necessarily of the Clergy, as it is generally supposed. They were merely banded together by a common religious creed, by com- munity of interests, and perhaps by love of ease and retirement ; but originally they were all " laymen," to whom, as learned men and chroniclers, we owe much of the ancient history of our country. They lived good and simple lives, and if sometimes jovial and jolly, they were also the earliest friends of civilization, and always good to the poor. Thus far we may admire them, and might imitate them with advantage ; but when " ecclesiasticism " and other " schisms" entered their Monasteries and " divided their houses," we must draw a veil over their follies and their fall. . No doubt, however, remains that " our Monks of old " had wonderful eyes for pleasant situations, with the accessories for sport and good living,* and that for some centuries they enjoyed * P. Buckland, in his report on salmon fisheries, calls attention to the fact that 19 out of 29 Episcopal Sees are situated on the banks of old salmon rivers : Canterbury on the Stour, York on the Ouse, London on the Thames, Durham on the Wear, Winchester on the Itehen, Bangor on the Ogwen (Menai Straits), Carlisle on the Eden, Chester on the Dee, Exeter on the Exe, Glouces- ter on the Severn, Hereford on the Wye, Llandaff on the Taff, Oxford on the Thames, Ripon on the Ure, Rochester on the Medway, St. Asaph on the Elwy, Salisbury on the Avon, Worcester on the Severn, Peterborough on the Nene. The Abbot Floriacensis, who wrote in the year 970, says of the East Angles : " Inwardly the soile is fruitfull enough, and the country of a passing fresh hue, with pleasant orchards, gardens, and groves, most delectable for hunting, notable for pastures, and not meanly stored with sheepe and other cattel. I say nothing of the fishf ul rivers, considering that of the one side the sea licketh it with his tongue, and of the other side there are by reason of the broad fennes and wide marshes an infinite number of pooleB, two or three miles over which fennes doe afford to a multitude of Monks their private retyrings of a recluse and solitary life, wherein ere long as they are enclosed they need not WEELEY. 155 themselves to their hearts' content. Bat power and pomp begat pride, and their schisms and overbearing arrogance directed the attention of their enemies to them at last, as well as excited feelings of envy and cupidity towards their fine Abbeys, their Priories, and Monasteries, their enormous estates and accumulated wealth ; and though eventually their arbitrary power caused their destruction, we must give them their just and honest due as- pro- moters of civilization, religion, and charity in ignorant and semi- barbarous times. When the day for their destruction came, the hand of the destroyer in Henry VIII. enriched many families (as William the Conqueror had done before with Saxon spoils) with the plunder of the Monasteries and of many innocent victims suffering for the pride of thei» Pastors and superiors. In the old Saxon Parliament, called the " Wittenagemot," or National Council of wise men for enacting laws and acts of public administration, the Bishops and Abbots (Abbesses were admitted) were elected by the Monks as persons of the greatest Parlia- mentary consideration. Aldermen, or, as they were called, " Earls " or governors of counties, were chosen by freeholders ; and the qualification was " 40 hides " or nearly 5,000 acres of land. But some of the Aldermen were so ignorant and stupid that Alfred the Great deposed them, and appointed men of more capacity in their places. These were " wites " or wise men, and many literary battles have been fought to determine who these members of the Wittenagemot really were. One faction main- tained that they were Judges, and men learned in the law ; others the solitarinesse of any desert wildernesse. " "Neere unto the Abbey of St. Maurice, Normandy " — Leonardus Varius reporteth on the testimony of Car- dinal Granwell — " there is a fish pond, in which fishes are put according to the number of the Monks of that place. And if any one of them happen to bee sicke, there is a fish seene also to float and swimme above the water half dead ; and if the Monk shall dye, the said fish a few days before dieth." Camden says in reference to this : " As touching these matters, if they bee true, I wote not what to say, for I am no wizard to interpret such strange wonders !" 156 THE TENDRINfi HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. that they were the representatives of the Boroughs, against which theory it was argued on the other hand, that Boroughs (in those days) were so small and insignificant, that however strong the inhabitants might be in factious and party fights, they had no men among them " worthy of admittance to the National Council." And we may form some notion of this Early Parliament from a remark in Smollett's History, that " security for travelling was provided by the Saxou Laws to all members of the Wittenagemot, both in going and returning, except they were notorious thieves and robbers." Chaucer, writing more than 500 years ago, says in his pro- logue to the Canterbury Tales : — * A Monk there was, of skill and mastery proved, A bold hand at a leap, who hunting loved ; A manly man, to be an Abbot able, Full many a dainty horse had he in stable. And when he rode, men might his bridle hear, Gingling in a whistling wind as clear And eke as loud as doth the Chapel bell, Where reigned he lord o'er many a holy cell. ****** He rated not the text at a plucked hen, Which saith that hunting fits not holy men ; Or that a Monk, beyond his bricks and mortar, Is like a fish without a drop of water. ****** His boots were supple, his horse right proud to see ; Now certainly a Prelate fair was he ; He was not pale as a poor pining ghost ; A fat swan loved he best of any roast. Now let us see what Chaucer also said of the " Parsons " 500 years ago — A good man of religion did I see, And a poor Parson of a town was he. ****** Wide was his parish— houses far asunder, But he neglected nought for rain or thunder ; In sickness and in grief to visit all, The farthest in his parish, great and small ; WEELEY. 157 Always on foot, and in his hand a stave, This noble example to his flock he gave : That first he wrought, and afterwards he taught. ****** He was a shepherd, and no mercenary. And though he holy was and virtuous, He was to sinful men full piteous : His words were strong, but not with anger fraught — A love benignant he discreetly taught. To draw mankind to heaven by gentleness And. good example was his business. But " revenons a nos moutons." Weeley — or, as it is called in ancient documents, Wiley, Wigley, &c. — is supposed, from its Saxon name, " Wig," mean- ing a battle, and "ley," a pasture, to have been the place of some great battle, fought probably between the Saxons and the Danes.* In Edward the Confessor's reign it belonged to Earl Godwin. At the Survey, Eudo Dapifer had it ; and in Domesday Book it is said : " Wileia was held by Godwin for a Manor, and for iii. hides and xxxviii. acres : now it is held by Eudo in demesne. Then xiii. villeins, now xi. Then iv. bordars, now ix. Then viii. serfs, now iv. Wood for cc. swine : vi. acres of meadow. Pasture for c. sheep. And ii. soc-men held ii. hides and xlv. acres, who be- longed to this Manor. Always v. bordars, and ii. teams. Wood for xxx. swine : iii. acres of meadow. Pasture for lx. sheep. Then in the demesne xv. beasts, now xvi. Then lx. swine, now xxx. Always ccxl. sheep. Then v. hives of bees, now ii. Then the whole together was worth viii. pounds, now xix. pounds and i. ounce of gold." Eudo Dapifer endowed St. John's Abbey, Colchester, with several Manors, as we have stated, the first mentioned in the deed being that of " Wiley." His seat was at Great Lees ; which * There were extensive barracks at Weeley during the Peninsula War, and some thousands of troops stationed there. About 50 years ago they were pulled down. 158 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. Manor, with many others, went to his only daughter, Margaret, who married William, son of Geoffrey de Mandeville, first Earl of Essex. Weeley continued in the possession of St. John's Abbey till its suppression, and in 1539 Henry VIII. granted it, among others, to Thomas Lord Cromwell. After his brief career and attainder it reverted to the Crown, and Edward VI. in 1553 granted " Wileigh and tenements called Maykins and Brooke " to Lord Darcy, of St. Osyth, '■' to hold by the 20th part of a Knight's fee." This Thomas Darcy was son of Roger Darcy, of Danbury, Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1506, and Squire of the Body to Henry VII. His mother was Elizabeth, wife of Henry Wentworth, of Nettlesham, and widow of John Bourchier, Earl of Bath. Thomas was born in 1506, and held several offices under Henry VIII., for which he was created Baron Darcy of Chich, in 1551, made Knight of the Garter, and granted various Manors. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and had three sons and two daughters, one of whom married Edward Pyrton, of Little Bentley. The grandson of the first Lord Darcy was made Viscount Colchester in 1621, and Earl Rivers in 1626, and dying without male issue, his various estates, including Weeley, went to Elizabeth, the unfortunate Countess of Rivers, of whom we had so much to say under the head of St. Osyth Priory. She was fined heavily during the Civil Wars, and obliged to sell various Manors. Weeley was purchased by William Weeley, of London, who married Martha, daughter and co-heir of Joliffe Lowndes, Apothecary to Charles I. William, the eldest son, died young. Thomas Weeley, of the Inner Temple, succeeded ; and married, first, Catherine, daughter of Mr. Paine, of Leicestershire ; and their son Edward, also of the Inner Temple, dying without issue, left the estate to Samuel Weeley, who was succeeded in 1743 by his heir-at-law, Samuel, who held it in Morant's time (1768), and left it by will to John March, who took the name of Weeley, and was the grandfather of the present owner. WEELEY. 159 There was formerly another Manor in the parish called Crust- wic or "Gutteridge Hall," and in the year 1301, Maud, wife of Richard Betayle, granted to her nephew, Aufrid de Staunton, " four messuages, 200 acres of arable, seven of meadow, 12 of pas- ture, eight of wood, and 2s. rent, in Wyleigh, Great Bentley, and St. Osyth, holden by the King in capite by the service of 12d. a-year." Margery, wife of Humphrey de Staunton, held the same in 1343, described as " 240 acres of arable, 69 meadow, four of pasture, and 18 of wood, of the King in capite by the service of 12d., called Wardpennis," payable half-yearly by the hands of the Bailiff of the Hundred of Tendring. Hugh Gros, her cousin, then succeeded. Then Roger de Stonham and Mabill, his wife. In 1580, Edward Coke and Charles Cardinall obtained from George Knightly. " Crush wicke Hall Manor, four messuages, three lofts, two mills, one dove house, three gardens, 200 acres of arable, 40 of meadow, 100 of pasture, 40 of wood, and 20s. rent in Wilighe, holden in capite." It continued after this in the Norfolk family of Coke for years. Robert Coke, of Holkham, married Lady Anne, daughter of Thomas Osborn, Duke of Leeds. She afterwards married Horatio Walpole, but died without issue in 1722. And as this estate was vested in her, she sold it to William Field, who had married Arabella, daughter of Earl Rivers, by whom he had Richard, an officer in the Army ; William, of the Inner Temple ; and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Richard Lloyd, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, to whose son it descended. Gutteridge Hall now belongs to Sir Charles Rowley — in Saxon, " Row," sweet ; and " ley," field. Sir Charles is descended from Sir William Rowley, K.B., a distinguished Admiral from 1716 to 1746. His second son, Joshua, was also an Admiral, and created a Baronet in 1786. He was grandfather of the present, and also of another Baronet (created 1836). Weeley Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, stands a mile at least to the south-east of the village, and the Parsonage another mile south-west of the Church. The Rectory was appendant to 160 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. the Manor till the year 1237, when the Abbot and Convent of St. John's* gave it to St. Paul's and the Bishop of London. The old Parsonage-house, as we described it in a former paper, was a small thatched cottage on the border of St. Osyth, and sur- rounded by woods. Morant says it was one of the " worst in the kingdom, standing about a mile south-west from the Church, at the bottom of a little dirty and squealey heath upon the confines of the parish of St. Osyth ; a barn and a few other out-houses stand in the same yard. There is about the house a small glebe of 7 acres, and a piece of glebe moor of two roods about half-a- mile north of the other, by the right hand side of the road leading from the Parsonage to Weeley-street." The writer perfectly remembers the " thatched cottage " thus referred to by Morant ; but the historian of the present day looks upon a Parsonage inferior to few in the Tendring Hundred, which is saying a great deal in a district where some Parsonage-houses are more imposing in appearance, if not bigger, than the Churches. The present Rector is the Rev. J. Harding. * In the year 1300 Edward I. levied a tax of l-15th on all the " moveables in England." At Colchester 390 persons were assessed, and among them we find " The Abbot of St. John's had at Grensted, eight qrs. of rye, price 24s., at 3s. a quarter. Item four stallions, 24s., each 6s.; four oxen, 40s., each 10s.; 24 sheep, 24s., or 12d. each." Among others, "Robert Fitzwalter had at his Manor in the vill of Lexden, eight qrs. of rye, 40s., each quarter 5s." John Fitzelias, the weaver, had " one old coat, 2s. ; one lamb, 6d. ; sum, 2s. 6d. ; l-15th, 2d." GREAT BROMLEY. IN the reign of Edward the Confessor, Great Bromley was held by the Saxon Brictmar, and was named from " Brom," broom, and " ley," a pasture. At the time of the Survey it was held by Ealph Linel, or Radulfus. " Brumbeleia and Westnan- etuna," it is said in Domesday Book, " were held by Brictmar, for a Manor and for iv. and a half hides ; and there were there ii. (manorial) halls. They are now held by Kadulfus. Always v. villeins. Then and afterwards xxv. bordars, now xxiii. Then vi. serfs, now ix. Then iii. teams in the demesne, now ii. Then and afterwards x. teams of the homagers, now vi. Wood for do. swine : xvi. acres of meadow. It has always been worth vii. pounds. Radulfus rendered to Geoffrey of Mandeville the service (the dues and rights of Lord Paramount) of this estate, for this reason, that Geoffrey asserted to him that the King had given him the service of this estate, on condition tbat for ii. times he gave of his income to the Ministers of the King, when the King sent his legates to this land (i.e. when the King sent his Ambassadors over to England, before the -Conquest)." There were at this time two Manors- —that of the Hall, near the north-west corner of the Churchyard ; and that of Cold Hall. M 162 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. William de Langvalei,* in the reign of Henry II., held this Manor of the De Veres, Earls of Oxford, as part of the honor or barony of Langvalei by the service of a Knight. "William de Langvalei was Warden of the Forests of Essex in the reign of Richard I., and King John made him also Keeper of Colchester Castle. He held, besides, the Manors of Stanway, Lexden, and Hallingbury, and died in 1210. His son and heir was also Keeper of Colchester Castle, and his grandson married a daughter of Alan Bassett,t and left a young and only daughter and heiress called Hawise. She was heiress to all these Manors and places, under the guardianship of Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, and Chief Justice of England, and he disposed of her in marriage to his own son, John de Burgh, who thus got the estates. Hawise died in 1249, and her only son and heir, Sir John de Burgh, who died in 1280, left three daughters— Devorguil, wife of Robert Fitz waiter; Hawise, wife of Robert Gresley; and Christian, who became a * Stowe says : — " In a certain assiege at Bridgenorth against Hugh de Mortemere, in 1165, when the King (Henry II.) was shot at by one of the enemies, a valiant man, Hubert de St. Clare, Constable of Colchester, did thrust himself betwixt the King and the danger of this stroke, and so received death for him ; whose only daughter the King taking into his custody, hee gave her in marriage to William de Langvalei, with her father's inheritance." + The Bassetts — whose names frequently occur in our Chronicles of the Tendring Hundred — descend from Thurstan, a Norman, who was Grand Falconer to William the Conqueror ; his son, Sir John, was Vice-Chancellor of Glamorgan, to Robert Fitzhamon. Thurstan acquired six hides of land in Drayton, and there are four families now claiming descent from him, viz. : — the Bassetts of Umberleigh ; Bassetts of Beaupre ; Bassetts of Bonvilstone ; and Bassetts of Tehidy. The latter claim in direct male line from Thurstan, and in 1796 Francis Was created Baron de Dunstanville— also Baron Bassett of Stratton, in 1797, with remainder to his only daughter and heiress, Frances, and her male issue. Frances, Baroness Bassett, died unmarried, in 1855, when the title became extinct ; and the present representative of the family is Mr. G. L. Bassett, of Tehidy, Cornwall. Camden says Drayton Bassett was " the seat of the Bassetts, who, springing out of Thurstan, Lord of Bassett, in the reign of Henry I., branched forth into a great and notable family. Ralph Bassett was the last of Drayton Bassett, who being a right-renowned Baron, had married the sister of John Montfort, Duke of Britaine, and, in the reign of Richard II., died without issue." GREAT BROMLEY, 163 nun of Chicksand. Devorguil died before her husband, and Robert Fitzwalter enjoyed her moiety of the estates "by the courtesy of England."* They left three daughters, one of whom married Robert de Morley, of Norfolk, The other moiety of the estates, which Hawise took to Robert Gresley, passed to the Doreward family, to which we have before referred. Thomas Doreward presented to the living in 1336, and Elias, his younger son, married a Martell, of Martell's Hall, Ard- leigh, and their son Walter presented in 1380. Walter died, leaving a sou and a daughter ; the son (Elias) inherited Martell's in right of his grandmother, and died in 1426. His eldest sou died in 1438, under age and without issue. Elias's eldest daughter, Margaret (the other died single), married David Mortimer,t who presented to the living in 1441. Robert, the eldest son of this David, held a moiety of the Manor of Great Bromley of the Earl of Oxford, by fealty and suit of Court, worth £20; also the Manor of Martell's Hall, in Ardleigh ; and estates in Dovercourt (200 acres of arable and pasture, and a messuage, 100 acres of wood, arable, meadow, and pasture, called Painterise), in Tendring and Manningtree, one messuage, 300 acres of arable, wood, and pas- ture, and 3s. rent ; in Thorpe, " Lardiner Hall " — that is, " Land- ermere," and 200 acres of arable, &c. — called " Follin Hall." David, the younger brother, held the other moiety of Bromley, called "Morleis," worth 20 marks. Robert died in 1 485, leaving an only daughter, Elizabeth. David left no issue. * Described in a note to Brightlingsea. t This Mortimer was descended from a branch of the De Mortimers, Earls of March, who formerly held large estates in Essex. Roger de Mortimer, Earl of March, and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, was slain there in 1397 ; and on the death of his son, in 1424, his estates seem to have been divided among different members of the family. His sister Anne married Richard, Earl of Cambridge, second son of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III., who was beheaded in 1414 for entering into a conspiracy against Henry V., and his estates were forfeited to the Crown. Their son Richard, Duke of York, suc- ceeded to the Thaxted and other estates in Essex, and was killed at the battle of Wakefield in trying for the Throne, M 2 164 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. Elizabeth, the heir, married George Guilford, son -of "Sir Richard Guilford, Controller of the Household to Henry VII." They had one son (John) and two daughters — Mary married Owen West, son of Lord de la Warr ; Anne, Walter Woodland, and afterwards Richard Lynne. The son, Sir John Guilford, for his second wife married Barbara, daughter of Thomas Lord de la Warr • and in 1537 he, with Barbara, his wife, conveyed the Manor and estates, together with the advowson of the Church, to Wm. Cardinall ; and as this conveyance, together with a history of that gentleman's family, was given under the head of Tendring, we need not again refer to particulars here. In 1607 Wm. Cardinall and Edward, his brother, conveyed the Manor, &c, to Nicolas Timperley and Edward Newport. These again in 1618 conveyed them to Thos. Bowes, descendant of Sir Martin Bowes, Lord Mayor of London in 1545. Thomas Bowes was also knighted, and was a Justice of the Peace of Essex for 50 years.* He died in 1676, and was buried in the Patron's * Sir Thomas Bowes made himself, as Morant describes, " cruelly busy " in the prosecution of some poor silly persons called "witches." In 1645 no less than 16 poor women were executed for witchcraft in the Tendring Hun- dred — the evidence against them being first taken before Sir Harbottle Grim- ston and Sir Thomas Bowes, in March and April of that year, and they were condemned before the Earl of Warwick, at Chelmsford Sessions, on the 29th July. Their names were Elizabeth Clarke, alias Bedingfield, Elizabeth Gooding, of Manningtree ; Anne Leech, of Mistley ; Elizabeth Harvey, of Ramsey ; Joyce Bones, Susan Cock, Margaret Landish, Sarah Hating, Rebecca Jones, of St. Osyth ; Anne Cate, alias Maidenhead, of Great Holland. These were exe- cuted at Chelmsford. At Manningtree, Hellen Clarke, Anne West, Anne Cooper, and Marian Hocket. Margaret Moon died on her way to execution, and Rose Halleybread in gaol. Among the informers against these poor women were "John Eades, Clerk," and Joseph Long, Ministers of Clacton. Sir Thomas Bowes, even on the Bench, gave testimony against them, acting as Judge and Jury at the same time. In regard to Anne West, he said -he had been told by one " Goff," a "very honest man," of Manningtree, and a glover, that as he was passing Anne West's cottage about four o'clock in the morn- ing, it being moonlight, he saw her door open, and looking in, saw " three or four little things in the shape of black rabbits, leaping and skipping about him," and having a good stick in his hand, he struck at them, thinking to kill them, but could not, but at last he caught one of them in his hand, and tried to beat out its brains on his stick, but could not, for it turned into a lock of GEEAT BEOMLEY. 165 Chapel of the Church. His second son, William, was Rector of Tendring, and was buried at Bromley in 1670. His eldest son, Thomas, married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Harlakaden, of Earls Colne, and was buried in the Chapel 28th December, 1680. Thomas, their son, married Elizabeth, only daughter of Sir Thos. Smith, of Stutton, Suffolk, and had a son (Thomas), bom in 1686, and two daughters — Elizabeth married Thomas Mason, of Man- ningtree ; and Bridget, Read Grimston, of Chappel. Neither had any issue, and Thomas, the brother, died near West Ham, in 1747, without issue. The Bromley estate some years before this (3rd June, 1704) was sold to Thomas Mannock, youngest son of Sir Francis Mannock, Bart., of Giffords Hall, Stoke. This gentleman had three wives (the first, Mary, daughter of Thomas Varvell, barber to Charles II.), but no issue ; and the estates fell to the heir-at-law, Sir Francis Mannock, and after his death, in 1758, to his eldest son. Sir William, who died in 1764, leaving an only son, a minor. The estates and Manor were sold a few years ago to Alex- ander Baring, a wealthy merchant, who was elected Member of Parliament for North Essex in 1832, and afterwards made Lord Ashburton. The Hall is now in the occupation of Mr. Alston, wool. He then tried to drown the little bunny in a spring which he knew of a short way off, but he fell down before he got thei-e, and then he crept on his hands and knees till he came to the water, " and holding it " (the rabbit) " fast in bis hands," he put his hand in the water up to his elbow, and held it under the water a good space, till he considered it was drowned, and then letting go his hand, the poor little rabbit " sprang out of the water up into the aire, and so vanished away !" Upon such evidence as this, testified to on the Bench by one of the Magistrates (Sir Thomas Bowes), poor old Anne West was hanged ! The fact was, poor old woman, she was too industrious by half, and at four o'clock in the morning, being moonlight and fine, she was spinning her wool, when this "pious and truthful" glover, "one Goff," was reeling home from some spree, and seeing her balls of black wool, took them for rabbits, and fell down because he was " indisputably drunk. " It is said that no less than 3,000 persons suffered death for witchcraft from the year 1640 to the restora- tion of Charles II. The professed witch-finder in Essex was Matthew Hopkins, a Manningtree man ; he was very properly described as an atrocious villain, and caused 60 to be hanged in Essex in one year. 166 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. whose family have long been connected with the Tendring Hun- dred.* Cold Hall belonged to John St. Clair; he held it of David Mortimer, aa of hia Manor of Great Bromley — worth five marks. He died in 1493, and his son, Sir John, held it also till his death, in 1546, together with Moverons in Frating and Moverous in Brightlingsea, St. Clair, and Frowick, St. Osytb. In 1549 his son and heir sold Cold Hall and Moverons, with six messuages and lands in Bromley, Frating, Elmstead, Aires- ford, and Great Bentley, to William Cardinall, and it afterwards belonged to Samuel Salmon. Great Bromley Lodge belongs to Mr. T. W. Nunn, a County Magistrate, and for some years Master of the Essex and Suffolk Hunt. His family, referred to under the head of Lawford, have long held a high position in the Tendring Hundred. The Church, dedicated to St. George, is described by Morant as an "elegant structure," with a Chapel called the Patron's Chapel ; and there is "abundance of painted glass in the windows of the Apostles and Saints." The Kectory belonged to the Manor till Thomas Bowes sold it to John Freeman, of Colchester, who again sold it to John Morley, of Halsted. Then Samuel Fisk, apothecary, bought it, and it now belongs to Mr. Graham. * The following entry relates to a meeting at a Mr. Alston's in connection with the " alef ounders " : — " 1684. At the house of Mr. Edward Alston met, March ye 2nd, 1684. It is ordered and agreed yt all ye weights, scales, mea- sures belonging to ye alefounders, alias ale-tasters, be sufficiently repaired and amended fitting for their use, and ye charges thereof to be disbursed by ye present Treasurer for ye town lands and stocke, and if ye said alefounders pre- sent, or ye succeeding alefounders, shall neglect to execute their office, accord- ing to their oaths, yt yn ye said Treasurer, Mr. Will Ellis, present or indyte them at ye next Assizes, which seem most convenient to him." " LITTLE BEOMLEY. T ITTLE BROMLEY, before the Survey, belonged to Queen •" Edeva,* afterwards to "Walter the Deacon," and Richard Fitz-Gislebert. It had two Manors — Little Bromley Hall and Braham Hall. In Domesday Book, " Brumleia is held of Walter by i. military retainer : it was held by Queen Edeva for a Manor and for ii. hides less xx. acres," &c, &c. William the Conqueror seems to have been liberal in the disposal of his Manors, not only to his companions and knights, but to his servitors. Eudo Dapifer, his steward, got several, as we observed in a former paper ; and " Walter Cocus " (Walter the Cook) and " Walter de Doai " (Walter the Deacon) also obtained several in the Tendring Hundred. Walter the Deacon had two sons (Walter and Alexander) and one daughter (Editha), and was ancestor of the noble house of Hastings, of which the Earl of Huntingdon is the head. They took their name from Hastings, in Sussex, where they also ob- tained property. Walter de Hastings became Steward to Henry I., and obtained a grant of the Manor of Ashill, Norfolk, on con- dition that he took care of the table linen at the coronation. The Barony of Hastings consisted of ten Knights' fees, one of * Queen Edeva. — See Wis. 168 THE JENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. which was in Bromley, Eastern, and Godmanston, in Dorset. Another was in Wix. Through the marriage of a daughter of Eobert de Hastings, Bromley passed to the Loveyns ; and in 1302, Robert de God- nianston— a branch of the Hastings family, which took the name from Godmanston, one of their Lordships, near Dorchester— held four Knights' fees in Little Bromley and Godmanston, of Matthew de Loveyn. John, his son and heir, in 1347, held under John de Loveyn.* Walter de Godmanston was Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1381 ; he had presented to this living in 1306. His son William did the same from 1395 till 1408. John God- manston was Sheriff of Essex in 1452. William, his successor, was killed, according to Morant, at the battle of Barnet, 14th of April, 1471, while fighting as a retainer of the 13th Earl of Oxford for Henry VI. Yet in 1472 he seems to have been attained of treason, with the Earl, Sir George, and Thomas de Vere, who were all restored to their homes and estates by Parliament in November, 1485, and described as "Wm. God- manston, of Bromle, Squier." Ioane, his widow, re-married Gil- bert Hussey, and after her death Philippa, sister of William, inherited. She married Henry Warner, and had a daughter, Christiana, who married— first, William Brown, who presented to the living in 1503 ; and secondly, Humfrey Dymock, who pre- sented in 1536. The property now passed to Sir Ralph Chamberlain. The Chamberlains, originally of Stoke-by-Nayland, held large property in the Hinckford Hundred. Sir Roger was Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in the reign of Henry VI. How Sir Ralph became possessed of Little Bromley, we have not been able to trace. Morant simply mentions his name, and states that he married " a Gray." But the Sir Ralph Chamberlain of this date (born in 1513 and succeeded in 1541) married Elizabeth, only daughter of Robert Fenys, brother of Lord Fenys, and left three * The Loveyns are more particularly referred to under the head of Wix. LITTLE BROMLEY. 169 daughters (Mary, Elizabeth, and Anne) and a son (Fitz Rauf), who succeeded to his Manors in the Hinckford Hundred. A Mary Chamberlain married Henry Cockain, who presented to Little Bromley living in 1579. Their only daughter, Dorothy, married William Pyrton, of Little Bentley, who sold this Manor, with his others, to Paul Bayning, whose extraordinary career was fully described under the head of Little Bentley. In 1598 it was sold to Sir Francis de Vere, a brave General, who distinguished himself in the Low Countries, and died in 1608. John de Vere, of Kirby Hall, Hedingham (eldest son of Geoffrey de Vere, who was third son of John, the 15th Earl of Oxford ; and he married Thomasin, daughter of William Carew, of Stone Castle, Kent), succeeded, and died in 1624. Horace de Vere,* Lord of Tilbury, succeeded, and dying in 1635, left five daughters co-heirs ; and Bromley went to Catherine, the third daughter, who married Oliver St. John, Lord Paulet, and the latter sold the estate in 1675 to John Warner, a clothier, of Sudbury. Warner left it to his daughter Eleanor, who married the Rev. R. Allington Harrison, Rector of West Wickhamj and their only daughter married Thomas Newman, Mayor of Sudbury. He bought this estate of his father-in-law in 1714, and left an only son, the Rev. John Newman, who presented to the living in 1733 and 1736. Little Bromley Hall and Manor now belong to Mr. T. W. Nunn, and the Hall is occupied by Mr. Edgar Cooper. Braham, Breame, or Nether Hall was held of the Manor of Little Easton, and paid " a sparrow hawk, or 6s. 8d. yearly." This estate belonged to the Montfichets — a family fully described under the head of Great Holland, &c. ; and Aveline, * This Horace was born in 1565, and in 1625 was made Lord Vere of Tilbury. He had been a brave soldier, and served with distinction in the Low Country wars, particularly the battle of Newport, the siege of Ostend, the taking of Fluys, &c. On his return to England in 1622 King Jame8 received him very graciously and, according to Morant, " stood bare to him." He was afterwards General of the English forces, Master of the Ordnance, &c, and died suddenly on the 2nd May, 1635. 170 THE TENDRING HUNDRED IN THE OLDEN TIME. one of the sisters of Kichard de Montfichet, married William de Fortz, Earl of Albemarle, in 1258. Their only child was first wife of Edmund, second son of Henry III., and in her right he enjoyed 14 Knights' fees, as of the inheritance of Richard de Montfichet, some of which lay in Braham Hall and Ardleigh. In 1347 John de Brumle held Braham Hall under John de Loveyn, by service of a sparrow hawk yearly. He seems to have taken the name of Sir John de Braham, and his heirs held one fee in Little Bromley under Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford, in 1400. John Godmanston then held it, and it passed, like the other Manor, to William Pyrton, and in 1592 he sold Braham Hall, with 78 acres of arable, 8 of meadow, and 8 of wood to Charles Cardinall, attorney-at-law. In 1 640 Robert Cardinall sold it to Richard Marlow, of East Bergholt, and his son and grandson, John Marlow, grocer, of Ipswich, inherited it. It then passed to the Sparrows and Richard Rigby, and was sold with that gentle- man's other estates. Till lately it belonged to Mr. Eagle. In Morant's time " Mulberry House " belonged to Thomas Eagle, sen., and " Stephens " to Thomas Eagle, jun. James Eagle also had an estate here. The Eagles are an old family, and still well represented in the Tendring Hundred. Nearly a century ago one of them kept a pack of hounds, and his exploits in the " Early Mornings " were often the subject of remark among old sportsmen in our younger days. It is a satisfaction to know also that the sporting proclivities of the family are still preserved among us. Sprat-lane Farm was bought, with Queen Anne's bounty, to augment the Vicarage of Brightlingsea. The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and the Rectory down to a recent period was appended to the Manor, but now belongs, we believe, to Wadham College, Oxford. The present Rector is the Rev. H. B. Newman. GKEAT OAKLEY. f\ AKLEY derives its name from "Ac," the Saxon for oak ; and ^ "ley," a pasture. Before the Conquest it belonged to Aluric Camp, and at the time of the Survey to Robert Geronis, or Gernon, of Stansted Montfichet. The two parishes of Great and Little Oakley are thus described in Domesday Book : " Accleia is held by Robert in demesne : it was held by Aluric Camp for a Manor and for x. hides in the time of King Edward. Then and after- wards xii. villeins, now xi. Then and afterwards xx. bordars, now xxx. Then and afterwards x. serfs, now v. Always iii. teams in the demesne. Then among the homagers x. teams, now is. Wood for c. swine : viii. acres of meadow : now i. mill : ii. saltworks. Pasture for xx. sheep. Then x. horses, now iv. Then x. beasts, now v. Always clxxx. sheep. Then xx. swine, now xv. Then it was worth xi. pounds, and when he got possession, the like sum : now it is worth xvi. pounds. Of this Manor Radulfus holds ii. hides and x. acres with xiii. bordars and i. team ; and this is worth xxx. shillings of the above-named value. And Eobert holds the estate of a certain free man, which is named Tendringa, which Walter holds of him for a Manor and for i. hide, less xv. acres," &c,