History of the parishes of East and West Ham ... Edited and revised by G. Pagenstecher

Preface

. jg§r^|58 HOUGH full\* aware that prefaces are seldom read, it HaH DpfjjB would be unpardonable to offer this publication to the wt»S «^w3 subscribers without some introductory remarks. My «i«^n»ajB)) chief object, however, is to have it fully understood that, in editing Miss Fry's history of the parishes of East and West Ham, I have not been actuated by personal vanity or ambition, but rather by love of the subject and respect for the memory of the authoress — or perhaps still more by the desire, that so valuable a manuscript, which contains a great deal of accurate and solid information as regards this locality, might not remain buried in oblivion. In undertaking this task, I am fully * conscious of my own incompetency, and that large allowances must be made for my shortcomings, still I cherish the hope that my humble efforts may be somewhat appreciated, and that this publication may prove not only valuable to the professed antiquary, or to anyone who may hereafter attempt to treat the subject more completely, but also interesting and entertaining to the generality of readers.

Since engravings preserve the memory of things and convey a much better idea to the mind, than written descriptions, several woodcuts have been introduced, some of which are made from sketches by the accomplished authoress herself, and I am not without hope, that these embellishments may meet with general approbation. It may not be out of place to insert here a short biographical sketch of the authoress, whose memory will always be regarded with feelings of respect by all who had the happiness of her personal acquain tance. Miss Katharine Fry was the eldest daughter of Mr. Joseph and the celebrated Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, and passed the greater portion of her days at the little village of Plashet, leading a life of tranquil retirement, yet full of activity. Being devoted to archaeological and topographical researches, and pursuing with great eagerness the traces of ancient times and manners, she used occasionally to write interesting articles on antiquarian subjects, which were published in the " Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society," of which she was a distinguished member.

At the same time she collected with great zeal and industry an immense amount of valuable material of local interest, which by degrees took the shape of an historical account of this neighbourhood. Though highly gifted and accomplished, Miss Fry was most unassuming and modest, and it was very seldom, and then only to her most intimate and congenial friends, that she disclosed the treasures of her richly stored mind. In the village she was highly respected and beloved by all, and many little traits are remembered both of her kindness and liberality to the poor, and her love for the young. Enjoying a freshness and vigour of body and mind, which only a few weeks before her end were clouded by an apoplectic fit, she peacefully expired at her residence " Plashet Cottage," on the 15th of May, 1886, at the ripe age of 85 years.

In concluding these few remarks, it is my pleasing duty to offer my sincerest thanks to all my kind friends, from whom I have received most valuable assistance and information, as well as great encouragement. Portway, West Ham, 1888. THE EDITOR.

Introduction

. fcsSlVBSlI "^ t^le continual passage of travellers obliterates the foot- __V_2S«I prints of those who have gone the same road before, so Hwre*S^B| do the successive generations of men destroy in their .Ea^SSta-Bl onward course the traces of their predecessors in the localities which they inhabit. The necessities of the present race sweep away the remains of the former until, especially in suburban districts, everything becomes so modern and utilitarian, that a description of the places, as they once were, would sound almost like a romance. But there are fragments, illustrative of former days, scattered amongst ancient books, or buried in the Rolls of our Public Records, which, if collected and arranged in an accessible, simple form, would assume considerable local interest, especially for the inhabitants of the district to which they relate.

To do this, as it concerns the parishes of East and West Ham, is the object of this collection. Though the matter contained in it may probably be familiar to the professed and learned antiquary, the general reader will doubtless find in it facts and information both novel and curious. In combining information of a popular character with the results of antiquarian research, it has been my endeavour to maintain strict historical accuracy, and in cases, where the facts and the evidences respecting them are only fragmentary, no attempt has been made to embellish them with imaginary incidents, or to supply suppositious links to a broken chain. To those, therefore, who seek amusement only, and are accustomed to ancient story as prepared for them in the lighter literature of the day, this collection will, it is feared, prove somewhat dry.

The historical notices are VI. obviously rather disjointed, as is generally the case in topographical histories, since the circumscribed space of a parish, or even of a town, rarely is the theatre of historical events or romantic incidents. However, it is hoped, that to the residents in the parishes of East and West Ham the information collected in the following pages may not be without interest. Plashet Cottage. KATHARINE FRY. falSTORY OF THE PARISHES OF •* GA$T 4- add 4- 0JG$T 4- I)Am> CHAP. I. — Roman, Saxon, and Danish Period. Norman Conquest. CHAP. II. — The Highway, Bridges, and Causeway. CHAP. III.— The Feudal Lords, and Origin of the Manors CHAP. IV. — Dismemberment of the Lordship of Montfichet and Origin of the present Manors. CHAP. V. — Genealogy of the Families of Montfichet, de Plaiz, etc.

CHAP. VI. — Account of the Co-heirs of the Barony of Montfichet in East and West Ham. CHAP. VII. — A History of the Abbey of Stratford Langthorne, commonly known as West Ham Abbey. CHAP. VIII. — Traditions and Remains of the Abbey and the Distribution of the Abbey Lands. CHAP. IX. — Stratford and Events there, People, etc.; also the High Road and Travellers. CHAP. X.— West Ham Church, Vicars, Registers, etc. CHAP. XI. — Account of the Villages of Upton and Plaistow ; also of some of the Residents and their Families, CHAP. XII. — Account of the Village of East Ham; also of some of its Inhabitants.

Chapter I

(Contents). Original Condition. Roman Occupation. Cemetery and Coffins found. Saxon Period. Land given to Westminster Abbey by King Edward the Confessor. The Highway and Old Ford. St. Erkenwald's funeral and miracles at Ilford. King Alfred and the Danes. Channels of the River Lea. Domesday-Book and entries. Alestan and Lettred the Saxon Proprietors. Robert Gernon and Ralph Peverel the Norman Lords. Norman Invasion. Westminster A bbey Estate. Robert Gernon. Ralph Peverel. ROMAN, SAXON, AND DANISH PERIOD. NORMAN CONQUEST. p|pSP!S|JHE parishes of East and West Ham occupy the south-west lft§3 tfS&W corner of the count}* of Essex between the confluences Hfsl KrwS °-: t*le K'ver and Roding with the Thames, which jfejgg^jM river forms their southern boundary, whilst on the north they extend to Epping Forest.

There is no doubt, that the surface of the whole upland in this part of the county was originally covered with primaeval forest and that this only ceased where the morass, formed by the great estuary of the Thames, forbade the growth of trees. Holinshed in his "Chronicles" published in 1577, says of it: "I find also by good record, that all Essex hathe in time past wholie been forest ground, save one (Cantred or) Hundred ; but how long it is since it lost the said domination, in good sooth, I do not read." That this district was occupied by the Romans is proved by the discovery of a Roman Cemetery near East Ham Church, during the B — construction of the great High Level Sewer, in November 1863. "In the process of excavation the workmen came unexpectedly on a large stone sarcophagus within which were two skeletons lying at opposite ends, one larger and more entire than the other.

A skull was at each end and in one the teeth were nearly complete, the entire skeleton, indeed, being very perfect. When first found one of the skeletons was Roman Sarcophagus and Leaden Coffins, in the entrance to East Ham Church, discovered in a field near. Nov. 1863. entire and but little decayed. Two leaden coffins were also discovered, and close to them many bones and cinerary urns. Persons skilled in such matters pronounced both the stone and leaden coffins to be un questionably Roman, although no date whatever could be traced." The Rev. Edward F. Boyle, then Vicar of East Ham, to whom we are indebted for this interesting description, was very active in his exertions for the preservation of these remains of antiquity, which must be at least one thousand four hundred years old, and permitted them to be placed under the tower of the Church, used as a porch.

After they had been open to public inspection for about six weeks, the leaden coffins were taken away to be deposited in the British Museum. Roman remains may also be seen at Barking, where Roman material is worked into mediaeval walls ; and at Uphall Farm, which is about a quarter of a mile north of that town, there are still visible the remains of a considerable ancient entrenchment, more than a mile in circumference. Mr. Lethieullier, a late lord of the manor, in his unpublished history of Barking, thinks " that this entrenchment was too large for a camp;" his opinion therefore, is, that it was the site of a Roman town, but he confessses that no traces of buildings have been found on the spot, and accounts for it on the supposition, that the materials were used for building Barking Abbey, and for repairing it after it was burnt down by the Danes.

As a confirmation of this opinion he relates that, upon viewing the ruins of the Abbey in 1750, he found the foundations of one of the great pillars composed of Roman bricks. At Stratford-le-Bow, scarcely four miles distant from East Ham, sepulchral remains were found in considerable quantities, and in the year 1844 a leaden coffin. Camden, a learned antiquarian who, in 1586, published his Britannia, states " that urns and other antiquities were found at Leyton, by the site of the old road from Essex through Old Ford to London, now called Blind Lane." It has also been conjectured, that the road leading from West Ham to Plashet, called " Portway," derived its name from its Roman origin ; this road led to North End in East Ham, and thence down Jews Farm by the ferry over the river Roding to the earthworks at Uphall.

We may, therefore, fairly assume, though we have no authentic record of it, that this part of Essex was at one time occupied by the Romans. Meagre and scanty as the annals of the period are, which followed the departure of the Romans from Great Britain, A.D. 432, we possess authentic evidence that the marshes, bordering on the Thames, in what is now called the parish of East Ham, were available property at the time of the Saxon Heptarchy ; for it is recorded that King Offa 1 endowed the monastery of St. Peter's, Westminster, with two hides of land in " Hamme." This gift was subsequently confirmed by King Edgar, and afterwards also by King Edward the Confessor, in a charter, dated January, 1066, wherein amongst other grants made to Westminster Abbey by the kings, his predecessors, two hides of land in " Hamme " are recited.

In Domes day-Book 2 the estate, owned by St. Peter's in " Hamme," is called " a Manor and two hides of land, containing always one carucate (or plough-gang) of arable, worth in Saxon times twenty shillings, but in Norman sixty shillings, then three bordars, afterwards five, and woodland to find pannage for eight hogs." In 1542, this property of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster was described as " a farm in the marshes of East Ham, near Barking." Part of this estate was sold by the Dean and Chapter, and afterwards converted into the North Woolwich public gardens on the bank of the Thames — alienated, after a possession of over twelve hundred years, by a corporation of clergymen, to become a tea-garden ! In Saxon, if not in Roman times, the great highway leading from London into the Eastern Counties passed along the northern extremity of these parishes, crossing the river Lea at Old Ford, and the river Rheding or Roding 3 at Ilford.

It is considered, that the earliest mention of this road, which is now called the Romford Road, is on the occasion of the death of 1 Dart in his history of Westminster Abbey calls Offa, the great King of Mercia, but bearing in mind that Westminster Abbey was founded by the Saxon King Sebert, it is more probable that it was Offa, King of the East Saxons, whose family held large possessions in this neighbourhood. Moreover, Speed in his history of Great Britain says : " This King Offa, the son of Sighere and Queen Oswith his wife, was a man noted for his comely feature and sweet countenance. He both enlarged with buildings and enriched with lands the goodly and beautiful church of Westminster." 'Domesday — the name is probably derived from " Domus dei " as the treasury, in which it was kept at Winchester, was named.

In an appendix to the work itself it is called "Liber de Wintonia," or the Winchester book from its first place of custody. 3 Rheding or Roding from the primaeval root " rhe " to " flow " and " ing " a "plain or meadow." St. Erkenwald at Barking Abbey, * in the year 685, when on a visit to his sister, St. Ethelburga, the first Abbess. It is said of him that he discharged his episcopal functions in a missionary spirit amongst a semi-barbarous people, and even when aged and infirm his pious labours did not cease, as he was carried throughout his diocese in a litter constantly teaching and preaching to his flock. In a work entitled " The Golden Legend," printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1527, the following description is given of the circumstances attending the removal of his corpse from Barking Abbey to St. Paul's, London, through Ilford and Stratford : " Whan this blyssed saynt Erkenwolde, as God wold, came to Berkyng, he fell into a grete sekeness, in whiche he ended his temporal lyf, and for so moche as he knewe it before, he sent for his servauntes and such as were drawynge to hym and gave to them holsome and swete lessons, and blyssed them with grete devocyon and amonge them he yelded up his spiryte to Almyghty God ; in whose passyng was felt a mervaylous swete odour, as the hous had been full of swete baume.

And whan the high Chanons of Saynt Poules at London herde this and the Monkes of Chirchesey also, anone they came to this holy body for to have it. And the Nonnes sayd, they ought to have the body bycause he dyed there, and also bycause he was theyr founder. And the Monkes sayd, they ought rather to have hym, bycause he was bothe theyr Abbot and founder. Than the Chapytre of Poules and the people sayd, that they strove in vayne, for he sholde be brought to London into his own chirche. 1 Barking Abbey, one of the richest and oldest Abbeys in England and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is said to have been the first convent for women in this kingdom. It was founded about 670 for Benedictine nuns hy St. Erkenwald, Bishop of London, who was closely allied to the Saxon monarchs, in compliance with the earnest desire of his sister Ethelburga, who was appointed the first Abbess.

The Abbey was destroyed in the year 870 by the Danes, but rebuilt in the tenth century ; there is scarcely a vestige now remaining of the once magnificent Abbey. It was surrendered to King Henry VIII. who granted a pension of 200 marks to Dorothy Barley, the last Abbess, and various pensions to the nuns who were then 30 in number. Barking or Berkyng probably derived from "beorc" — a birch tree, and "ing — a plain or meadow. "Thus there was grete stryfe, and at the last they of London toke up the body and bore it towarde London and as they went, there fell a grete tempest, and so moche water1 that they myght not passe, but were constrayned to set downe the corpse, and in all the storme the tapers that were about the body were alwaye bryght brennynge. And than the Nonnes sayd, that God shewed well, that they of London ought not to have hym, bycause of the tempest.

And at the last after many wordes, there was a Clerke, whiche had ben longynge to St. Erkenwolde and sawe this stryfe and strode up and commanded scylence, and tolde the people a grete commendacyon of the vertuous lys of this holy Saynt and sayd, that it was not honest ne accordynge to mysentreate the holy body by vyolent hands, but let us beseche Almyghty God with good devocyon and meekness of herte for to shewe to us some token by revelacyon, in what place this holy body shall rest. And all the people consented thereto and kneled downe and prayed devoutly, and as they were in prayer they sawe the water divided lyke as it did to Moyses in the Reed See, and to the children of Israel goynge through into the deserte. In lyke wyse God gave a drye path to the people of London for to convey this holy body through the water to the Cytei and anone they toke up the body with grete honour and reverence and by one assent they bare it through the path, the water *standyng up on every syde; and the people not wetyng theyr feet and so they came to Stratforde and set down the bere in a fayre mede full of floures.

And anone after the weder began to wexe fayre and clere after the tempest, and the tapers were made to brenne without puttynge to fyre of any mannes hande. And thus it pleased our Lorde for to multyplye myracles to the honour and worshyp of this holy Saynt." Picturesque as this legend is, it must not be accepted as contemporary authority, but as this event occurred about the year 685 — two hundred and fifty years after the Romans left Britain — it goes far to prove, that the road between London and Barking passed through the sites of the present towns of Ilford and Stratford, and that along the line of the present highway a road did exist in Saxon or even Roman times. i In the Antwerp Edition of the Acta Sanctorum (164*5 — 1794) the name of this water is called " Yleford." For two hundred years after the death of St. Erkenwald no particular circumstance is mentioned affecting the district of Ham.

It was included in the territory called East Anglia, which was ceded by King Alfred to Guthrum the Dane, in 878. In this treaty, which is still extant, the boundaries are defined ; one of these was the River Lea. It was on occasion of a terrible invasion of the Danes, in 895, that Alfred the Great undertook a work, which has proved of essential benefit to this district. The Danes had drawn their ships up the River Lea 'to a place about twenty miles above London — either Ware or Hertford — where they constructed a fortress, and wintered. The citizens of London and others, who attacked them, were repulsed by them with great loss. During the following harvest, however, Alfred with his army encamped in the neighbourhood of the City, to protect the inhabitants whilst they reaped their corn. Riding one day by the banks of the Lea he conceived the idea of altering the channel of that river, so as to cut off the retreat of the enemy.

Henry Huntingdon, to whose opinion Sir Henry Spelman inclines, says " that he caused the mouth of the Lea to be opened and divided into three parts, there being, it seems, some straitness before towards the mouth which kept up the waters above, and at low water made a great descent of the current, as we may perceive by the Danes toughing (towing ?) of their ships up against it. The mouth being opened into three several branches, it laid the stream so low as moored (stranded ?> their ships, so as they could not at their pleasure have them forth again." It is Spelman's opinion " that this might be the first winning of that great level of rich meadow and pasture from Hertford to Bow, which divers ways now beneficial, through the fertility thereof both to the City and the towns adjoining, is likely enough to have been formerly only fens and waters, and to have had the improvement of it first occasioned by that act of the king's." The numerous water-courses connected with several mills of more modern date render it difficult of clear elucidation, yet the name of the Channelsea river, given to one of the branches of the Lea, seems to point to this origin.

During the following reigns the terrible wars, that raged between the Anglo-Saxon and Danish races, also swept occasionally over this district, but we are left to infer, that events recorded in history must have had great influence on its local condition, until the time of King Edward the Confessor. Of the owners of the land, its extent, and population at that period, undoubted information is given in Domesday-Book. From this indisputable authority we learn that, in the reign of Edward ihe Confessor, two Saxon freemen, Alestan and Leured, held each a manor of considerable extent in Hamme, that the Abbey of St. Peter's, Westminster, held a third but much smaller estate, and that Edwin, a free Priest, possessed a small estate, adjacent to that of Leured, consisting of three virgates of land, containing one carucate of arable, nine acres of meadow, and forest sufficient to afford pannage for ten hogs ; to this little estate two bordars (cottagers) were attached.

A socman x also held thirty acres of land close to the manor of Leured. For " Edwin the Priest " there was doubtless a presbytery, and probably a church. The silence of "Domesday" by no means proves that a church did not exist. The architecture of East Ham Church permits the idea, that part of that most curious edifice may even have existed at this date. A manor (manerium) was originally so called from being the residence of the owner, surrounded by an estate, part of which, called demesne (Lat. dominium, Norm, de mayne, de mansio), he retained in his own hands for the use of the family ; another part was divided amongst the tenants, and the remainder served as common pasture for himself and his tenants. The manor of Leured seems to have been to the East and North side of Ham, in what is now East Ham, and about Forest Gate.

It comprised from 800 to 1000 acres of arable, 50 acres of meadow, and woodland sufficient to afford "pannage" from the acorns and beech mast for 700 hogs. There were 34 villains, 3 boors, and 19 serfs on the estate, 8 head of cattle and 20 hogs ; the annual value was -£10. The manor belonging to Alestan was worth £16 per annum. It contained about 1,040 acres of arable, 60 acres of meadow, and woodland enough for only 100 hogs. To this manor were attached 32 villains, 1 Socmen were inferior landowners, who had land in the " soc " or franchise of a great baron on some fixed and determined rent service. boors and 3 serfs ; 1 cow, 6 sheep and 5 hogs. There were also 9 mills. These 9 mills indicate the position of this estate to have occupied the Western side of Ham, where the Lea and its various cuts afforded them water power.

This map, though not correct as to detail, has been inserted here to show the relative positions of the manors of Alestan and Leured, and also the probable site of the old Roman road by the "Ford." C It may be interesting to many of our readers here to insert the following extracts from "Domesday" — being the entries which relate to what are now the Parishes of East and West Ham — with a literal translation. Liber Domesday, vol. II. , sol. 64 et 72. Terra Roberti Gregonis, Hund. de Beuentree. The land of Robert Gernon in Beacontree Hundred. Hame tenet Robertus in dominio, quod tenuit Alestanus, liber homo, T.R.E. (tempore Regis Edwardi) pro manerio et pro VIII hidis1 et XXX acris. Et hoc manerium Willielmus Rex dedit Ranulfo Piperello et Roberto Gregoni. Tune V carucatae in dominio, modo IV.

Tune VIII carucatae hominum, modo XII. Ham is held by Robert in demesne ; it was held by Alestan, a free man, in the time of King Edward, for a manor and for 8 hides1 and 30 acres. And this manor King William gave to Ralph Peverell and Robert Gernon. Then there were 5 carucates in the demesne, now 4. Then 8 carucates of the vassals, now 12. Then 32 villains, now 48. Then 16 bordars, now 80 less one. Always 3 serfs. Pannage for 100 hogs. 60 acres of meadow land. 9 mills, now 8. Tune XXXII villani, modo XLVIII. Tune XVI bordarii, modo LXXX — I minus. Semper III servi. Silva C porcis. LX acraeprati. IX molini, modo VIII. 1 A hide of land ; derivation, exact meaning and extent of the hide have all been sharply contested and are by no means settled yet. Perhaps it orginally meant as much as would maintain a family.

Familia in Bede is translated " Hide land " by Alfred and the derivation is probably "Hyd" a habitation. Spelman thinks it 100 acres. In Essex the Inquisitors considered it theoretically as consisting of 4 virgates or 120 acres. A Carucate. No expression has given rise to more discussion. Caruca means a team, not simply existing but actually employed on the land. The quantity of land therefore, that was actually cultivated by a team, including such part as in the course of husbandry would be lying fallow for the year, but exclusive of meadow or pasture held with it. In the time of Richard I. a carucate was 60 acres of 26 feet to the perch. The quantity varied in different counties and also according to the mode of tillage — probably from 60 to 80 acres. The hide was the measure of land in the Confessor's time, the carucate that, to which it was reduced by the Conqueror's new Standard.

Tune valuit XVI libris et quando receperunt XII libris, modo valet XXIV libris. Et de hoc manerio habet Ranulfus Piperellus medietatem. Et in dominio Roberti recepit Ranulfus I runcinum et modo similiter ibi est. Tune I vacca, modo IX animalia. Tune VI oves, modo XII. Tune V porci, modo XL It was then worth £16 and when they got possession £12, and it is now worth £24. And of this manor Ralph Peverell has the half. And in the demesne of Robert, Ralph received 1 horse and now there is in it the same number. Then 1 cow, now 9 beasts. Then 6 sheep, now 12. Then 5 hogs, now 11. De hoc manerio tenet Osber nus de Roberto XXX acras et dimidium carucatae et valuit X solidis in eodem pretio. Of this manor Osbern holds of Robert 30 acres with half a carucate, and this was worth 10 shillings of the above named value.

Hame tenet Robertus in dominio quod tenuit Leuridus, liber homo x T.R.E. pro manerio et pro VII hidis. Semper III carucatae in dominio. Tune VII carucatae hominum,2 modo XIII. Ham is held by Robert in demesne ; it was held by Leured, a freeman1 in the time of King Edward for a manor and for 7 hides. Always 3 carucates in the demesne. Then 7 carucates of the vassals,2 now 13. Tune XXXIV villam 3, modo XXXVIII. Tune III bordarii*, Then 34 villains,3 now 38. Then 3 bordars,4 now 26. Then 1 Homines Liberi — freemen — were freeholders, holding on some fixed and determined rent-service. 2 Homines — homagers, vassals — so frequently mentioned in Domesday-Book included all sorts of feudatory tenants, they owed the duty of submission and professed dependence to their lord. 8 Villani — villains, villeins — either from the word " vilis " or else villa, because they lived chiefly in villages — occupied small portions of land, but were not allowed by law to acquire any land.

They were burdened with stated services due from themselves to their lord. * Bordarii— bordars or cottagers, from " bord " a cottage — were a little inferior to the villains, but still vastly superior to the serfs, subject no doubt to services more onerous and servile than the villains. serfs,5 now 3. Pannage for 700 hogs, 50 acres of meadow land. Then 8 beasts now 15. Then 20 hogs, now 34. Now 200 sheep less 20. Now 4 horses and 3 hives of bees. modo XXVI. Tune XIX servi 1, modo III. Silva DCC porcis, L acrae prati. Tune VIII ani malia, modo XV. Tune XX porci, modo XXXIV. Modo CC oves XX minus. Modo IV runcini et III vasa apium. Et huic terrae additae sunt III virgatae tempore regis Willielmi, quas tenuit Edwinus, liber presbiter T.R.E. And to this estate belong 3 virgates in the time of King William, which were held by Edwin, a free priest in the time of King Edward.