The people's History of Essex, etc

Front matter

L??crmsAu64 AAr/A/c/rA, -XArX-X COLLER (B. W.) History of Essex from the Earliest Ages, the Hundreds and Boroughs, with Descriptive Sketches of their Antiquities and Ruins, and an Epitome of the Parochial Charities. 8vo, folding map, new half calf neat. 12s Chelmsford, 1861 ESSEX — The Peoples' History of Essex, a Narrative of Public and Political Events in the County, from the Earliest Ages, by D. W. Coller. Thick 8vo (over 600 pages), folding map, cloth. 12s Chelmsford, 1861 Contains descriptive account of the Hundreds and Boroughs, their antiquities and ruins, and and an Epitome of the Parochial Charities. HEMPSTED. — It is with something like a feeling of regret that we learn the venerable oak standing upon Great Dawkins Farm, occupied by Mr. Myhill, and which had a kind of historical importance attaching to it, inas much as it was so far out ofthe run of ordinary trees as to have been mentioned by Morant, in his History of Essex upwards of a hundred years ago, was destroyed by thehurricaneof Saturday se'nnight.

For some years it had been decaying fast, and as it Btood within about 80 yards of the house, Mr. Myhill was anxious to preserve it as long as possible, and an arm that had split from the trunk had been propped up. On the 1st the aged oak was unable longer to resist the storm, and the main part of the trunk came down, leaving only a smsJl por tion standing. Some idea of the dimensions of the tree may be formed from the fact that the part which was blown down was 34 feet in circumference and 70 feet long. There were formerly two of these oaks standing within a short distance of each other, bnt one of them has been down for many years. Tble late Mr. Palmer, of Nazinopark.— A recent notice iu The Times meutioned tbe fact that Lord Selborne is the nephew of the late Mr. George Palmer, of .Naziug-park, Essex, who was for many years deputy-chairman 01 t.'ie National Lifeboat Institution.

Mr. Kichard Lewis, the secretary of the institution, supplies us with some incidents in the life of this gentleman which he deems worthy of permanent record. Mr. Palmer was horn in 1772, his moWier being the sister of the well-known I'ishop Horsley. He was educated at th« Charterhouse, wbidi he left at an early age to enter the naval service of tbe East India Company, aud he made his first voyage as & ipidshipman iu the Carnatic iu 178'j. In 1788 the narrowescape of a boat's crew under his command first directed his at 1 tenMon to the equilibrium of boats and the lueana of pre 1 veutin/ them from sinking. The accident occurred ih the Macao ro*ds, the boat, containing himself, with 12 seamen anil a coxswain, being u-piet by a sudden squall. AU cl«n«*j to the bottom of the boat, but as it was not buoyant enough to sustain so a weight, M'r. Palmer bade the sailors throw away tueir clothes.

Preface

. The purpose of tbe People's History or Essex, we hope, will speak for itself. The chief object has heen, as we stated at the outset, to present "a popular aud historical picture of the county from the earliest ages to the present day, — its political and social changes, — the wars and struggles of which it has been the scene, — the races by which it has been overrun, — the great families who have owned or still own its soil, — its castles, antiquities, remarkable churches, charities, and govemment." The History ofthe County had been a sealed book to the many. This seal, which bore the impression of two or three sovereigns — the price of the bulky tomes upon the subject — it has been the endeavour to break ; and the sale of the work, as it has appeared in monthly numbers, assures us that we have been to a great extent successful.

We flatter ourselves that we have opened a new mine of information for thousands — at least some thousands, we know, have already explored it — and have Ducn able to give readable interest to facts and events which iiMi'ii.uly appear dry and uninviting. The aim has been to impart a popular tone, wherever the matter would admit of it, to the pages of the People's History, giving just enough of any general public and political occurrences to explain the motives and illustrate the movements ofthe local actors; and thus convey to the Essex reader an idea of the interesting and hoary memories that cling to the soil on which he lives, and the part which his county has taken in the events, the triumphs, and struggles of the past. In pursuance of this object, we have traced the old paths and trodden over much new ground. Nearly every ruin and relic of importance in the county has been visited. The old halls have been explored. The modern homes of the

PREFACE.

. nobility and leading gentry have been entered ; and pictures, feeble, perhaps, but faithful, of their interior, as well as their outward and architectural character, are presented. The dusty genealogies of perished houses have been cast aside, save where the names of individuals are found in them who have influenced events in the county ; but the histories of men of celebrity, and of living families of note, have been carefully traced. The People's History may thus lay claim to originality and a character of its own. It would be unbecoming not to acknowledge the ready and valuable assistance received in the progress of the work — the courteous freedom with which the gentry threw open their doors, and, where necessary, the records of their families, to the inquirer, — the promptness with which the Clergy replied to the numberless applications made to them for information on parochial matters, — the aid rendered by several members of the Essex Archæological Society, and the information drawn from the rich store-house of the published works of tbe Society itself.

Since the work has been in the course of publication, death has made some changes in the halls and homes of the county. The noble Lord Braybrooke has just been suddenly smitten down in the princely house of Audley-End. His brother, Charles Cornwallis, the heir presumptive, was born in 1823, and married in 1849 the third daughter of Viscount Hawarden. The benevolent* Bishop Murray, too, has passed to the tomb, and the Episcopal Palace of the See of Eochester (described page 238) is now the home of the Right Rev. Dr. Wigram, who was consecrated to the diocese in 1860, and is the ninety sixth Bishop of the See. His Lordship is the son of the late Sir Robert Wigram, and was bom at Walthamstow in 1798; he married in 1837 the daiighte^gf Peter Arkwright, Esq., of Willersley. /^T?K HISTORY OF ESSEX.

Chapter I. The County Under The Ancient

BRITONS— ITS EXTENT, RIVERS, ASPECT, AND SOIL— ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OE THE BRITONS— THE DRUIDS IN ESSEX. HE History of Essex in those early ages when the pen was little used, and the press was altogether unknown, presents few features to distinguish it from the general history of the country. Yet from the occasional glimpses we catch of it in the fragmentary records of that olden period, it appears to have been of some importance even from the time when the foot of the first settler penetrated into its dark forests. Its soil and situation, and still more its proximity to the coast and the spots where adventurers from the continent in search of plunder or a new home were likely to land, brought it under the notice of the successive invaders, thus making it the scene of their struggles, and, as they consolidated their conquests, oftheir settlements.

And here we cannot, standing on the threshold of its history, contemplate the present aspect of the county,— its high cultivation, displaying in all directions the skill and labour of the agriculturist, who has cleared the wilderness, and has stocked the once impassable marsh with cattle or clothed it with waving crops even up to the verge of the Thames, — its busy towns and thriving villages, with their sacred spires peeping out of clumps of trees upon the hill-tops or resting quietly in the vallies below, — the mansions which stud the landscape, either bearing about them some venerable traces of the past, or displaying the taste and genius of the modern architect, — the free access afforded to all its parishes either by road or rail, — we cannot look upon these without remembering that when the ambition and craving rapacity of the Roman first brought him to our shores, he found the whole one vast wild, beautiful, no doubt, though not so rich as we now see it, in the early spring and brightness of summer, but rough as nature left it.

If be had taken his stand on Laindon or Danbury P bills, or the high lands about Thaxted, a woodland scene would have appeared extended before him of which he could see no limit, and through which he must have forced his way with difficulty as through a newly-discovered land. Inhabitants there were indeed, for even in the time of the ancient Britons Essex is stated to have been well peopled. Their dwellings, which were mere huts, formed of poles cut from the forest, and covered with skins, thick boughs or turf, might be seen in the thickets. Clustered into collections, as the shelter or surface of the ground suited, without order or arrangement of streets, these hovels formed their towns. The inhabitants themselves, hardy and athletic, might be seen bounding after the game in their native woods, — for the original Essex men, like all uncivilized tribes, were great hunters, and there were no game laws in those days ; or tending their cattle, or engaged in the partial cultivation of patches of soil — rocking the cradle, as it were, of our present full grown Agriculture.

In the mild season of the year the Briton would be found naked, his body painted or stained with the forms of flowers, trees, ancl animals. " The painter, not the tailor dress'd him out, For grand assembly, gala-day, or rout ; Oreen down the breast, and purple, brown, and black , In graceful mixture curving up the back ; Hoops, blue and red, encased the legs below ; A coat of Tarnish finish' d off the beau." When the snow came he changed this light summer wear ; ancl was covered in winter with the skins of beasts. Such was the state of the county at that period — such the picture of our ancestor when we are first introduced to him by authentic record. This being the aspect of the county when we first catch a view of it through the dim telescope of tradition, it may be convenient here to take a glance at its present condition.

By slow degrees, as successive conquerors passed over it, the wild wood gave place to the enclosed and cultivated field, and the tracts of heather were subdued by the spade ancl the plough. For ages after the time of the ancient Britons its boundaries were undefined and its name uncoined. In the earlier Saxon times it acquired the title of East-Seaxa, which was changed by the Normans into Exsessa, and has since been modernized into Essex. At that period it comprised precisely the district, including part of Hertfordshire and Middlesex, which up to the ecclesiastical change a few years ago formed the diocese of London. It was not till the time of Alfred that its limits as a county were set out and defined, and these have continued its boundaries down to the present day. Its extent from east to west, that is from Walton-on-the-Naze, which juts out at that point the farthest into the sea, to Roydon, on the borders of Hertfordshire, is rather over G i miles ; and from Bartlow Hills, on the edge of Cambridgeshire, on the north, to Tilbury Fort, on the south, it measures about 50.

Its circumference, taking the capriciousness of its landmarks and the windings of its waters, is 225 miles. This tract, within which are included 420 parishes, 970,000 acres of arable, meadow, waste and forest lands, and 309,318 inhabitants, is almost enclosed by water. The Thames, occasionally jutting its creeks some distance inland, bounds it on the south ; the German Ocean washes it to the east. On the north the Stour, rising near Haverhill and forming a mere, which gives name to the parish of Stourmere or Sturmer, passes by Clare, Sudbury, Nayland, Dedham, and Manningtree, emptying itself into the sea at Harwich ; and on thc west the Stort loses itself in the Lea at Roydon, and its waters pass on to Waltham Abbey and Barking. Other important rivers intersect and water the county. The Colne flows from Ridgewell along the rich valley ofthe Hedinghams, to Halsted, the Colnes, and Colchester, and swelled by tributary brooks mingles its stream with the sea be: tween Mersea and St. Osyth.

The Blackwater, or Pant, rises from a well at Radwinter, joins a small stream which has its source at Debden, and runs through Bardfield, Bocking, Coggeshall, Kelvedon, by Wickham Mills, to Maldon.* The Chelmer has its source at Henham, and its course is through Thaxted, Dunmow, Felsted, and the Walthams to Chelmsford, where having given its name to the town it is united to the Cann, and turns eastward to Maldon. The Crouch originates in two springs at Little Burstead and Laindon, and taking a direction eastward divides Dengie and Rochford Hundreds, joining the sea below Buniham. The Roden has its birth at Little Easton, and passing through the important agricultural district to which it gives its name, reaches tbe Thames by Ongar, Ilford, and Barking. These rivers, with numberless little nameless brooks, that run bubbling along the low grounds, watering fertile tracts of meadow land, flanked by rich com fields, occasionally intersected by belts of woodland, give to the county a different aspect to that expected by the stranger who has formed his opinion from old report.

Essex does not, indeed, present the picturesque beauty of the west, and the bold contour of some of the northern counties ; neither does it fatigue the sight * This river appears to have been navigable at one period far into the county. At Wimbish, we are told " there hath been in times past a pretie water, and in such quantities that boats have come from Billie-Abbeie, beside Maldon, into tbe Moore, in Radwinter." with the almost unvarying flatness and uniformity of Cam bridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. There is no rude mountain or barren crag to give what has been called " the charm of desolation" to the scene. There is scarcely an acre, save of its forest lands on the north and west, and a few scattered commons, which, either by stealthy encroachment or legal enclosure, have been gradually disappearing, that has not been rendered productive.

Cultivation has been carried to the highest hill tops. But amidst its gentle undulations of hill and vale, some high lands stand out in bold relief, and afford platforms which command a fine extent of surrounding country. On the summit of Laindon Hills the prospect on a clear day in summer is admitted to be one of the finest in the kingdom. The view stretches over the vale of the Thames almost from London to the Nore, the river being commanded for an extent of nearly forty miles, with the bold hills of Kent as a back-ground to the picture ; and it has been said that in summer, when the lands below are covered with verdure, nothing can exceed the beauty of this scene, " unless that which Hannibal exhibited to his disconsolate troops when he bade them behold the glories of the Italian plains."

At Little Baddow, at Brentwood, and near Thaxted and Epping, delightful views may be also obtained by those who love to look upon rural scenery, rich with farm and woodland, and studded here and there with village and hamlet. It is, however, chiefly upon its Agriculture that the im portance and reputation of the county depend. Its wheat always figures at a good price in the records of Mark-lane; and its hay, straw, vegetables and milk, are poured in largely, especially from the southern and western divisions, for the supply of the great metropolis. Various writers have dwelt upon its fertility. Drayton in his Poly-Olbion (1580) after singing the forests and rivers of the county, rejoices that " Essex is our dower, which greatiy doth abound With every simple good that in the isle is found."

This brings us to the constitution and character of its soil. This is so variable in different districts that it is impossible to assign to it any general description. The Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, when such an insti tution existed, was driven in his survey to class the greater portion of the county under the head "miscellaneous soils." A writer in 1772 says—" Essex is a county in many respects inferior to none ; from the pleasantness of its situation, the fertihty of its soil, the conveniency for water carriage, and the goodness of its roads, it derives advantages few others can boast." Chamberlayne, in his Magna Britannia Notitia, nearly a century and a half ago, observed — " The soil in some places is so rich that after three years bearing saffron, it will bear good barley for almost twenty years together without dunging" — a description, we fear, that few of our modern farmers find borne out in practice.

The good old itinerary must have been hoaxed, or have fallen in with some experi mentalizing Piper of fomier days, who, like him of Colne Engaine, had the secret of growing five quarters of wheat per acre year after year without the aid of the muck cart or the plough. A recent practical writer (Mr. R. Baker, of Writtle,) describes the soil as resting in general on chalk as the substratum, wliich crops out at Saffron Walden on the north, and at Grays on the Thames on the south, at both of wliich places there are extensive lime works. The upper soil and subsoil consist of gravel, loam, clay, sand, &c. in admixture, many portions of which show that great disturbance by the action of water has takfvn place. About Chelmsford the soil is for the most part very go f, and well adapted for the production of turnips as well as grain crops of every description.

The Hundred of Dengie is a tenacious clay subsoil, difficult of cultivation, but in dry seasons wheat is a heavy crop, far exceeding that of any other district. Roch ford Hundred possesses some ofthe finest land in the kingdom, being part of it unrivalled for productiveness. About Colchester and Tendring Hundred are fine turnip and corn lands. In the district of Braintree the soil is chalky clay, producing excellent wheat and barley. About the Heeling-hams is a rich vale, partly devoted to the culture of the hop, which old surveys inform us was formerly grown about Chelmsford. The lower part of the Romford district, towards Brentwood, is rather inferior. Around Epping and Loughton there is a great deal of pasture ; and towards the Thames is a rich tract of marsh land. The upper part of the county is principally devoted to market gardens, from which immense quantities of vegetables are sent into London.

The axe of the woodman and the spade of the drainer have been busy for the last half century clearing its forest lands, of which 1,873 acres have recently been enclosed ; and the extent to which agricultural drainage has been carried has greatly improved the healthful ness of the county and increased its produce. The coast is in many parts broken into a series of islets and peninsulas, cut in deeply by arms of the sea ; and the oyster beds about Col chester, Mersea Island, Burnham, and other parts, render the shore and its waters as profitable as its most fertile tracts of land. It has been said that the county is so overloaded with veal and wheat that it has no room for those objects that arrest the footsteps ancl employ the curiosity of those learned in the things of old. Barbarism, it is true, has sent the plough over many a spot hallowed by time and the associations connected with it ; but it has still left many of the landmarks of former ages.

Suckling, speaking of Essex, thus vindicates its character upon this point — " Few districts offer subjects of higher interest,*' ancl although I must admit the want of the beauties of a stately Cathedral, yet its remains of Roman constructions, its castellated and romantic ruins, its ecclesiastical and domestic structures, present in singularity of design and construction unparalleled examples of ancient art. The Roman works at Chesterford considered by some as the most entire in England, — the Castles of Colchester and Hedingham, — the Abbey of Waltham and the Priory of St. Botolph, both exceed ingly curious specimens, — the Round Church of Maplestead, and above all the wooden Church of Greenstead, perhaps a genuine instance of Anglo-Saxon architecture, — the houses of Layer Marney and Audley End, — these and various others that might be justly adduced will, I think, bear me out in asserting that the county of Essex is not to be surpassed in the possession of those curious ancl interesting remains which constitute the riches of architectural antiquities."

Having thus glanced at the county in its present state, as com pared with its aspect at the time of earliest record, wben, it may almost be said " wild in the woods the noble savage ran," it may be necessary to go a step further back, and enquire whence came the people who had thus pitched their huts in the Essex woods, as elsewhere in the island, and appeared to possess the land as by right ? The early epochs of most nations are lost in obscurity or clothed in fable. The poets were the first historians, and with the dim traditions of the people, they interwove the exaggerated and trustless legends of their craft. This nation, too, has its fabulous period. One story would persuade us that Brutus (whence the name of Briton), the grandson of Æneas, came here about 120 years after the destruction of Troy, and peopled the island ; so that some of us may be descendants of the grim warriors whose exploits have been recorded in the deathless verse of Homer.

Another tells us that thirty daughters of a King of Syria, led by one named Albma (giving the title of Albion) murdered their husbands on thenwedding night, and escaping, floated in a vessel without sails or oars to these coasts, where they became acquainted with a peculiar class of spirits and bore a race of giants. It is vain to enquire whether there be a spice of truth in these remnants of old romance. Trustworthy writers all assert that the ancient Britons were a tribe of the Gauls or Celts, who came over from the continent ; and it is evident that the part on this side ofthe Thames was one of their earliest settlements, the inhabitants here being called Trinobantes or Trinovantes, which etymologists have traced to mean " the country beyond the stream." That this tribe was populous and of some importance is shown by the fact that its chief or king, Cassi bellanus, was selected as the commander of the united British forces assembled to resist the invasion of Julius Cæsar.

Prior to that event the people were free and independent. They were divided into principalities and states, and had a monarchical government, but enjoyed a large share of liberty. Indeed that stubborn character of independence which has manifested itself through ages appears to be indigenous to the soil, for we are told of these first inhabitants, — " They were at times fond of liberty almost to a degree of madness, and were then so tenacious of it as to yield up their lives a voluntary sacrifice rather than submit to what had to them only the appearance of slavery, which they so abhorred and detested." The poet has made Caractacus thus address the captives taken in the attack on Mona, and probably it expresses the British feeling even in those rude days — " Hear me, Romans, hear, That you are captives is the chance of war ; Yet captives as ye are, in Britain's eye Ye are not slaves.

Barbarians tho1 ye call us, We know the native rights man claims from man, And therefore never shall we gall your necks With chains, or drag you at our scythed cars In arrogance of triumph. Nor till taught By Rome (what Britain sure shoidd scorn to learn) Her avarice, will we barter you for gold." In times of peace the civil government was administered by the Druids, who, being also priests, by the influence of their religion exercised enormous power ; for no species of super stitition, we are told, was ever more terrible. In Essex there are no monuments left to mark the spots where the tribes mustered, and the Druid, with his flowing vestments and hoary beard, performed his mysterious rites. In some other districts — at Stonehenge for instance — these are to be found ; but the huge blocks of stone of which they consist were not obtainable in this part of the kingdom.

Not a vestige therefore remains. But there is no doubt that in many a spot now familiar to us. Druidical altars have been raised, within the dark groves usually chosen for their sites, and that the earth about them has been wet with the life blood of the victim of human sacrifice.

Chapter II. Invasion Oe The Romans And Conquest Of

ESSEX— SITE OP CAMULODUNUM — SETTLEMENT OF THE ROMANS THERE— ROMAN ROADS AND STATIONS IN THE COUNTY- REVOLT OF BOADICEA, MASSACRE AT CAMULODUNUM AND BATTLE AT EPPING. j^^^pifeT would seem that the Celts, as the original ■Pal -A if v ' settlers, enjoved the land in peace for some centuries. But there was an invasion prior to that sill^^)7;KK'!/ °f R°msms- The Belgæ, a tribe of the S^^^f^Kt^; Teutonic race, came here about 350, B.C. with hostile views and intentions of conquest. They occupied apartof theEastern district — by some they are supposed to have laid theonginal foundation of Colchester. From thattime quarrels and contests followed; battles were frequent; as a natural consequence the warlike arts were cultivated, and a martial spirit prevailed; so that when Cæsar landed here in 55 B.C. with an army from Gaul, for the purpose of adding this island to the Roman empire, he found a people unwilling to submit to his yoke, and able to make a formidable stand even against the Imperial arms.

They had a Senate and Council ; factions and parties, the effect even then as now, of liberty, prevailed in their communities and villages ; commerce began to develope itself, and foreign merchants had establishments on some parts of the coast, the Phœnicians, it is knowD, having from a very early age traded with this country for tin ; and thus advanced, the Britons were not disposed to submit to the yoke of a new master. Their internal feuds were therefore hushed ; a general in-chief of the armies was appointed, Cassibellacus, the king of the Trinobantes, which included the Essex men, being selected for that office ; and when the Romans appeared off the coast in the autumn of 55 they found the cliffs covered with armed natives ready to dispute their landing. The invaders it is known made good their footing, but on the whole could boast of little success in the first attempt.

Their second expedition in the following year appears to have been more effective. Cassibellanus who must have commanded a numerous army, as it is stated he had 4,000 of their scythed chariots in the field, was defeated ; and afterwards we find the natives agreeing to a tribute to the conqueror. At. this time Essex had been divested of part of its wild character. Tho natives, instead of shifting their habitations as danger threatened, or finer pastures for their cattle tempted them to removal, had begun to settle down, to cultivate the land, and to build strongholds. Cæsar describes this part of the country as containing " an infinite number of people, with houses very thick, and built after the manner of the Gauls." There is good reason to conclude that the place which afterwards became the Camulodunum of the Romans was at that period of some importance, and the seat of government.

The site of that celebrated station has been a point of dispute between historians, Colchester and Maldon contending for this hoary honour of old antiquity. Camden gives it very decidedly in favour of the latter, but this must be taken rather as an individual opinion than as a verdict given on the examination of trustworthy evidence. Authority and circumstances decide the antiquarian suit in favour of Colchester. The word Camulodunum has been interpreted to mean " The town on a hill, at the winding of a river," and this would apply to either place ; but at Maldon the pick-axe has brought to light only a few coins to confirm the title, or to show that it was at this time a Roman station at all, remarkable as it is in after history ; while at Colchester the earth teems with traces of its once imperial masters, and remnants which prove it to have been a seat of their power.

Morant speaking of Colchester says — •' As to Roman coins and medals, immense numbers, nay bushels, have been found in and about this town ; and amongst them many gold coins of the higher empire ; even the richest cabinets in this nation have been furnished from hence." Cromwell adds — " Not only have fragments of the Supellex Eomana, or Roman household utensils, of all kinds, been found whenever the earth has been disturbed within or near the circuit of the walls, but remains of that nation which com paratively occur but seldom, namely, oftheir buildings, are to be seen incorporated with, or rather forming the chief materials of, all tbe more ancient public edifices. The walls themselves, the castle, and the churches, are in great part reared with bricks and tiles of Roman manufacture. Nay, as though the Roman genius continued to reign in this place long after the extinction oftheir power, the pure forms of their architecture were preserved, in some instances, in the erection of the monastic edifices of Anglo-Norman times — a circumstance not a little remarkable, and as we believe not to be noticed elsewhere in buildings of a similar kind."