Extracts from the minutes of the Epping and Ongar Highway Trust from ... 1769 to ... 1870. With ... illustrations, etc

Preface

. One of the concluding clauses in the Act of Parliament which established the Epping Highway Trust ordered that the trans actions of the Trustees should be entered in a book or books, kept for that purpose. Mr. John Windus having been clerk to the Trustees when the Trust terminated in 1870, the books have been retained in the office of Messrs. Windus and Trotter, Epping. The entries made in the Minute Book the first half of the hundred years during which the Trust existed have in many places perished, and in others have become almost obliterated. The mildew, which has been at work for some time, will no doubt continue its work of destruction ; and in a few years the records of the earlier transactions of the Trustees will be obliterated, and the information they contain lost. On the establishment of the Trust, it at once proceeded to take measures for lessening the gradients of Golden's and Buckhurst Hills; a little later on the Trustees undertook the formation of a road suitable for coaches as far as Writtle, on the way to Chelmsford, and in 1830 they commenced making the new road through the heart of the Forest, from the " Wake Arms " to Woodford.

These matters have at least a local interest. I have, therefore, thought it advisable, by printing the records of transactions of the Trustees, to preserve the history or accounts of the work carried on for the improvement of the important high road through Epping into the eastern counties. Until 1769 the road was under the management of local Justices and County Justices of the Peace, assembled at Quarter Session. From the Acts of Parliament passed in the last century some knowledge may be obtained of the opposition against which they had to contend, and also the powers with which they were entrusted to enable them to meet difficulties as

PREFACE.

. IV they arose. The objection to the payment of tolls gave rise to riots, leading to the destruction of turnpikes, toll-houses, &c. So serious were the disturbances that laws had to be made inflicting severe punishments on offenders. The accounts of riots in Herefordshire and in Bristol are copied from the "Gentleman's Magazine," as they illustrate the lawless pro ceedings which the Acts were passed to suppress. The construction of vehicles, waggons, carts, &c, appears to have obtained more attention from the framers of Highway Acts of Parliament than the best manner of making roads suitable for the traffic passing over them. The width of the fellies of the wheels of carts and waggons, the weight of their loads, and the number of horses to draw them, as well as their position when harnessed, were all regulated by Acts of Parlia ment, and the Justices of the Peace at Quarter Sessions were empowered to impose fines and penalties on delinquents.

Occasionally Highway Acts are noticed in the "Gentleman's Masrazine." Abstracts of some of the comments have been o _ made, as they show the state of the roads at the time the Acts were passed, and the opinions formed of the measures taken to improve them. Many of the Acts of Parliament and other matters mentioned are anterior to the formation of the Epping High way Trust — when the road was under the management of the Justices of the Peace — the Act, however, which created the Trust, did little more than transfer to the Trustees the duties and powers exercised by their predecessors, so that the refer ences to Acts of Parliament, and extracts from the "Gentleman's Magazine," are not perhaps out of place, although the sole object of this publication is to preserve records of the pro ceedings of the Epping and Ongar Highway Trusts.

The desire shown by Archæological Societies, established in Essex as well as in most other counties, to obtain information respecting pre-historic remains, affords the explanation of my having devoted a few pages to the grass roads at Epping Long Green, Rye Hill, and Wintry Wood, and supplying what information has come under my notice relating to British TREFACE. V roads, supporting the supposition of their having been ancient British trackways. Anthropologists have pointed out that there arc characteristic differences between the English people and the Teutonic tribes from which they derive their origin. It is believed that these are due to the mingling of the blood of the Britons with that of their Saxon conquerors. The formation of their head and features, and the colours of the hair and complexion, differing from those of their kinsmen in North Germany, are adduced as evidence of the admixture of the blood of a race not Teutonic.

The people, more especially the children inhabiting the district through which the roads passed, differing so much by their dark blue eyes, rich brown wavy hair, graceful figures, and elastic step from the North German, favour the supposition that the Saxons amalgamated by marriage with the Britons, whose lands, as conquerors, they occupied. The presence of Ambresbury Bank and Cowpers Camp in the Forest — British enclosures — indicate by their extent that at one time there was a large number of the native race living in the neighbourhood of Epping. Dr. Beddoe says that, although there is little information respecting Essex, it is quite possible that in certain parts small British States, or Roman-British towns, may have allied themselves with the invaders ; and also, that he believes the people, except near the coast, are more usually dark-haired than those of Kent, Norfolk, and Suffolk.* The Minutes relating to the work done at Golden's Hill and Buckhurst Hill, the road to Chelmsford as far as Writtle, and making the new road through the Forest from the "Wake Arms " to Woodford have been arranged under separate headings, in order that the account of the alterations and improvements might appear as a continuou.<; narrative.

In accordance with an article by a writer in the "Athenæum," when reviewing a county archæological journal, in which he suggests that as opportunities arose ancient deeds, not previously "Racci of Britain," pag

PREFACE.

. VI printed, relating to property in the county should be noticed, and abstracts made ; there is, in an Appendix, copy of a deed relating to North W^eald ; also abstracts of deeds relating to Wintry Wood, Latton Priory, &c. The former I obtained by purchase ; but I am indebted to my friend, Walter de Grey Birch, for the translation ; and for abstracts of the other deeds, which are in the British Museum. He also kindly procured for me a copy of the Act of 1769, appointing Trustees of the Epping Highway, and an abstract of a deed relating to the Forest (page 89). I have to thank Mr. Walter Metcalfe, F.S.A., for the drawing of Winchelsea House, which he copied from an old deed relating to the property, and so procured valuable information, as it shows that in 1634 the road from Loughton into Epping was in use.

I have also to thank Mr. Cecil Harrison for his advice and assistance whilst the pages were passing through the press.; and my daughters, Bertha, Jessie, and Flora, the former for copying the portion of Chapman and Andre's Map of Essex, showing the old road up Buckhurst Hill, running in front of the " Bald Face Stag Inn," and the two latter for the use of their young eyes when endeavouring to read the almost obliterated entries in the earlier Minute Book, and for assistance rendered in reading proofs, &c. Mr. Henry A. Cole, of Buckhurst Hill, has made the sketches showing some of the work done on Golden's and Buckhurst Hills; and on the new road from the "Wake Arms " to Woodford. There may perhaps be errors in dates, and in the figures copied out of the accounts, which extend over many years, although care has been taken to ensure accuracy ; but the Minutes may be accepted as correctly copied or abstracted, and I trust, therefore, that the compilation will be useful as a contribution to local history.

Benj. Winstone, Ockeridge, Epping, Essex. May, 1 89 1. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Road from " *-.. ake Arms " to Epping .. v .■ ■ ,, ,. .... ff"'B ... Frontispiece. Mound in field by Latton Priory , t _r _ ,. '" *'* •" .-to face page ii Mound at back of brickfield on Ongar Road ... ... Mound by the side of lane to Coopersale Map of Roman Roads in Britain Road Waggons— Eighteenth Century Road Waggon with Conical Wheels Norden's Map of Essex, 1^4 (facsimile of a Portion) Ji Winchel.ea House (Epping Place) (facsimile Plan) 02 Golden'sHill " 1 _ ,. „ 108 Cutting at the top of Golden's Hill Chapman and Andre's Map of Essex Cutting through Buckhurst Hill Buckhurst Hill ••■ ■■■ „ 128 Epping and Ongar H ighways (facsimile Mas) Town of Epping, 18 1 8 ... Notice by the Trustees, 1828 (facsimile) " " " » „ 197 Surveyor's Return— Length of Road (facsimile) n UjS " " " „ 198 The New Road . . . . » 199 Epping and Ongar Highway (facsimile Map showing the line of the new Road) 1 ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ „ 109 Embankment on the New Road „00 Form of Account, 1823 (facsimile) ' „, Grant of a Tenement in North Weald, 1280 (facsimile of Deed) „ 2?I Latton Priory y Page -375 '■• *, »77 . »

Chapter I

)me Remarks on the Remains of Ancient Roads, etc., in Epping and the adjoining Parishes. a country becoming inhabited communications have to be intained betsveen the settlements which are formed, as the >ulation increases, at a less or greater distance from each er, and from the land occupied by the first immigrants. For this purpose paths or trackways are cut through the neval forest, or in some way marked out over moorland or n country, where the higher ground is selected, on account of being, from the natural drainage, dryer and firmer than in valleys, where heavy rains and floods might render the track lassable. In England these trackways, leading merely from one dement to another, are in many instances the origin of parish ds ; so that until more direct, and therefore shorter roads ■e made, communications between distant places had to be ntained by long and circuitous routes.

In some localities _re high roads have been constructed, portions, nevertheless, he primitive track or road remain ; and, when they have not n gravelled by the authorities, they are known as grass ds. In the Parish of Epping are the remains of two ancient ds, and, as reason can be adduced for believing them to be -Roman, they are deserving of notice when speaking of the is over which the trustees of the highways had the control, ough they have long since ceased to be recognised as roads the parish authorities — excepting the small portion from the ige in the uplands to the top of the hill leading to I'arndon, ch has been partially gravelled. But the continuation of the B road to Rye Hill in one direction, and in the other to Harrold'. Farm, exists in its primitive state. The remains of the othei ancient road is a cart track, through the portion of the Fores marked in the ordnance map Wintry Wood.* It runs fron the corner of Thornwood Common and Duck Lane to th.

Ongar Road, and was at one time the high road to London through Coopersale Common and Abridge. Britain is said to have been well inhabited at the time of the Roman invasion by Julius Cæsar ; and the cause of his interference in the affairs of the Island makes it evident that means of communication existed between distant places. The counties, Essex and Hertfordshire, have the credit of commencing the history of England. Essex was inhabited by the Trinobantes, and part of Hertfordshire by the Cassii, two powerful tribes. The chief of the latter, Cassivellaunus, whose aggressive policy had deprived several petty princes of their territories, overcame and slew Imanuentius, Prince of the Trinobantes, and, by taking possession of his country, drove his son Mandubratius into exile. It appears that Mandu bratius and the other deposed chieftains applied to Cæsar, then in Gaul, for assistance to oppose Cassivellaunus, who, like Napoleon the First, was ever anxious to extend the boundaries of his kingdom.

Cæsar's disciplined army speedily overcame the irregular troops of Cassivellaunus. He, however, being anxious to leave a country where he had experienced much opposition and hard fighting, proposed or accepted terms of peace. One of the conditions was that Mandubratius should be restored to, and remain in undisturbed possession of, his father's kingdom. Historians have taken very little notice of the internal affairs of Britain during nearly the hundred years following Cæsar's invasion, when its history commences again with the * Wintry Wood and Wintry Park are placed on the north side of th( Harlow Road in Messrs. Chapman & Andre's map, and also in that drawi for the use of the Trustees of the Ongar and Epping turnpike road. In thi Appendix is a deed relating to Wintry Wood. REMAINS OF ANCIENT ROADS. 3 domestic troubles of the kingdom of which Essex formed the chief portion.

At that time Tasciovanus ruled over the Cassii, and his son Cunobeline was the chief of the Trinobantes. Arminus, the son of the latter, having been banished the country on account of his rebellious conduct, went to Rome, where he gave such an account of the political state of the country, as induced the Emperor Claudius to assume, that a favourable opportunity was afforded the Romans for again invading Britain. The natives fought with their usual bravery; but the discipline of the Roman troops, and the facilities Gaul afforded for re-silling their ranks when thinned by fighting, enabled them to overcome the armies of the Trinobantes and Cassii, and to take possession of their countries : so that Essex, Hertfordshire, and part of Middlesex, including what is now London, became a Roman province.

It extended from the sea-coast to Verulamium, the capital of the Cassii, which the conquerors fortified and made their stronghold on the inland boundary of their conquest. The site of the capital of the Trinobantes became a colony immediately under Roman Government. Maldon is supposed by some writers to have been the site of Cunobeline's residence, and Colchester a Colony, " Colonia," formed by the Romans ; but it is generally believed that Colchester was the capital town. Maldon, however, must have been a place of great importance, as there is, close to it, the remains of an extensive firiiish encampment. Cæsar, when speaking of his invasion of Britain, mentions war chariots as a formidable portion of the armies opposed to him. There must, therefore, have been tracks or pathways traversing the country of a sufficient width, and in a suitable condition for the passage over them of wheel carriages, — both those used in war and those employed for domestic purposes.

The conveyances were, no doubt, very light. The war chariots were probably made of wicker-work, and covered with hides, like the boats used by the Picts when they crossed the river or arm of the sea to invade England, and constructed in the same manner as the coracles used in the shallow rivers in B Wales at the present day. Had they not been very light, the drivers could not have turned the horses or stopped them when at full speed, as they are said to have done, in the description of the mode of fighting given by Cæsar and Tacitus. Waggons of some kind were also in use ; for Tacitus mentions them drawn up in the rear of the famous battle in which the Queen Boadicea was defeated, and the rebellion she headed crushed. There is no description given of these waggons. It may, however, be supposed that they were somewhat like those used at the present time in some parts of the Continent, made of very light framework, and having wattle-like hurdles for their sides.

The two capitals which have been mentioned, Camulodunum (Maldon or Colchester) and Verulamium (St. Albans), as having been permanently occupied by the Romans were important places, the former being the capital of the Trinobantes and the latter the capital of the Cassii ; it may be therefore assumed that for many generations they had been the strongholds of the respective petty kingdoms, and that at the period under consideration, as Tasciovanus occupied Verulamium, and his son, the celebrated Cunobelinus or Cunobeline,* Camulodunum, these places were connected by trackways, roads suitable for the use of wheel carriages ; over which intercourse between the inhabitants of the two towns and the district surrounding them could be carried on. As the vehicles were very light, roads such as those now known as grass roads would be sufficiently hard or firm for that purpose.

On referring to a map of England it will be seen that the most direct road from Verulamium (St. Albans) to the east coast of Essex, would run by way of Hadley, through Enfield Chase into the valley of the River Lea ; and crossing the ancient road — the Ermine Way — be continued over the Lea marshes and by a ford through the river, to the land on which stands Waltham, or as it is generally called Waltham Abbey. Then by the now village of Epping Uplands, over Rye Hill, * Thomas Wright — " The Celts, the Roman and the Saxon," page 40. REMAINS OF ANCIENT ROADS. 5 running past where at the present time are the remains of Latton Priory, into the Harlow Road. But it is most likely the ancient road turned to the left and passed by the mound (supposed to be British) to join the road over Hazlewood Common a little nearer to Harlow.

From Verulamium (St. Albans), and also from Brockly Hill, near Elstree, the Roman Station of Sulloniaceæ, which Dr. Stukeley believes was once an oppidum or stronghold of Cassivelaunus, are roads which run through Hadley and Ensield Chase, into the Lea Valley. The Rev. Mr. Newcome, in his history of St. Albans, states : " There is still visible, besides Watling Way, or road from London to Verulam, another original Roman road through the forest of Ensield Chase, called to this day Camlet Way, and which seems to have been the road from Verulam to Camulodunum or Canonum." The Rev. Mr. Cass, however, doubts the road having been the road from Verulam to Camulodunum. He thinks it went by Hertford and Bishop Stortford, and supposes the Camlet Way probably ran from Sulloniaceæ. He, however, mentions that in Gunter and Rolfe's map, 1658, Camlet or Camelot is distinctly laid down as the road between Hadley Church, and the elevated ground known as Ridgway.

And that it is certain from early times 01 the most direct communications between the villages of Hadley and Ensield, through the heart of the intervening Chase, was thus designated." Ridge is but a few miles from St. Albans, and there seems to be no room for doubting that there was a communication between Ridge and St. Albans ; nor, consequently, that the Camlet Way commenced at St. Albans, and was continued through Ensield Chase, to the valley of the River Lea. Across the marsh on both sides of the river there was probably a natural causeway, banking up the river on the Hertfordshire side, and forming there a sheet of watei Farmer says, in his history of Waltham Abbey, that when * Cass' " Monken Hadly," page 5. King Alfred, in the year 876, cut the Dykes, the marshes and meadows were under water, " which great water was then navigable."

Sir H. Chauncy, in his history of Hertfordshire, speaking of Ware, says when the Danes sailed up the river (894),* the tides flowed as far as Hertford, and that the Danes erected a fort there and raised the water with a great bank or dam round the same, by which means they made a " great Weare,"t and so secured themselves from the hurt of King Alfred's army. King Alfred, by making a great wall, now Blackwall, stopped the flow of the tide in great measure up the River Lea. It is. admitted by historians of Essex that King Alfred cut the dykes which now exist at Waltham, and so, by draining off the water, left the Danish ships dry, and useless. As it is evident that the water on one side must have stood at a much higher level than it did on the other, or the dykes could not have run it off, it is not assuming much to say that there must have been raised ground to bank up the river to form the weir, or sheet of water, and this bank forming a natural causeway was, when the tide was not at its full height, the con tinuation of the Camlet Way, into Essex.

How early Waltham became inhabited cannot be determined. Its name is first introduced into history at the time the manor was granted to Tovi. But it is not likely fertile land bordering on a river or sheet of water would have been left unoccupied by the ancient Britons, who depended so much upon their cattle for subsistence ; as the ground between the hills and the river would have afforded them land for cultivation, and the marshes food for their cattle. County historians derive its * There is a discrepancy in dates ; the dates given by the respective authors are, however, correctly quoted. t In J. O. Halliwell's " Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words," weir is said to mean either a pool or dam. At Epping there was a large pond called Butler's Weir. In the title deeds of Spriggs Oak it is described as being situate on Butler's Weir Hill.

Bailey's dictionary, 1742, spells the word "ware," and gives its meaning, "dam." REMAINS OF ANCIENT ROADS. 7 name from Weald-ham, Saxon words meaning a manor or con gregation of houses in or near a wood. Tovi seems to have valued the manor on account of the quantity of game to be found in its vicinity; for (by Camden) it is stated that he placed on the land 66 men to guard his possessions ; these were probably freemen, holding their land by military tenure, and unlike the villeins who cultivated the soil for the benefit of the lord of the manor. So there must, at the time, have been a population, against whose depredation the property had to be protected. Through the extravagance of Athelstan's son, the property became vested in the Crown, when it was given by Edward the Confessor to Earl Harold, on the condition that he built a monastery on the manor in place of the little convent, with two priests, which had been established by Tovi.

The establishment consisted of a Dean and eleven secular Canons. "Secular" Canons did not, like "regulars," live always in communities. But they found their duties in the. villages and hamlets around their abbeys, living amongst the congre gations entrusted to their care. The inhabitants were, no doubt, a mixed race, having for their ancestors the Saxon conquerors and the daughters of the Britons, whose lives had been sacrificed in repeated battles, leaving their homes and children to become the property of the victors. If, as is supposed, the population around Waltham Abbey was numerous, it is not perhaps assuming much when suggesting, that where Waltham Abbey now stands there was at one time a British settlement. Although it is stated in county histories that the name Waltham is derived from Weald Wood and Ham, signifying a manor, or the dwellings constituting the village or hamlet situate in or near to woods, there are grounds for the supposi tion that it, and also Walthamstow and other places, were originally British settlements, deriving their name from Wealh, Wealas, or Wala, stranger.

It is known that Wealas, or Whealas, and Wala, were names the Saxons gave to a people not belonging to their own race, and it was so applied to the ancient Britons, who were a large population at the time of the Saxon invasion.* Although conquered in the southern and eastern portion of England they still remained, for the most part, as a servile race, cultivating the soil for the benefit of the Saxon owners of the land, as they had previously done for the Romans. In the west, of England there were in existence com munities of Cymry (Britons), using their own language and observing their own usages, 500 years after the invasion of Hengist. Beddoet mentions that in a considerable portion of Wessex, of which Berkshire and Hampshire were the nucleus, it may be admitted that as late as a.d. 700, Welshmen and Englishmen (Britons and Saxons) lived intermixed under English law ; the former, however, as the conquered race were subjected to some derogatory legal provision, but they were not altogether deprived of their land, and they remained too numerous and powerful to be treated without some consideration.

The Weregilds, or value of a life of a Wealas (British) churl was at a lower rate than that of a Saxon churl, whose life was valued at 200.C, but that of the former, though he held a hide of land, was only 120..?. ; if he had none he was rated at 60s., the price of a slave. About a.d. 530 the kingdom of the East Saxons (Essex) was founded, after 12 years' hard fighting. It consisted of modern Essex, Middlesex, and part of Herts. Union of the two races was probably completed in Essex at a much earlier period than in other parts of the country, owing to the large infusion of Teutonic blood that had been introduced by the Romans ; who, 200 years before the Saxon invasion, had made settlements of captives, in accordance with their practice of breaking up to some extent nationalities. It is stated that in England many settlements of Alamanni, South Germans, were made in the time of Probus, Emperor of Rome,! * Dr. Nicholas' " Pedigree of the English People," page 208. t Beddoe — " Races of Britain," page 65.

I Gibbons' " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," second edition, Vol. II, page 83. REMAINS OK ANCIENT ROADS. 9 and that manors having their place names ending in " ino- " and ingas for the plural, were settlements of South' German's * As there are many places in Essex having such a termination to their names, as Epping. Nazing, Matching, Shering, Rodmgs, Mountnessing, &c, it may be inferred that the German colon.es were numerous. It is also stated that these settlements were made amongst a conquered people for military purposes, in order that there might be at hand men, having no nat.onal feeling, who could be relied on, to put down an outbreak of the natives. When the Saxons overran Essex they must, in consequence of these German settlements' have found in many parts of the land people of their own stock, and also a mixed race, as well as the Britons, so that the complete union of the two races would naturally have taken place more rapidly in Essex than in most other parts of England.

The Wealas (Britons), having at a very early period ceased to be known as an alien race, their name would not be so familiar as applicable to the derivation of the names of places, as the household word Weald (Wood). The monks would therefore readily adopt the idea that the first syllable in Waltham, Walthamstow and other places, was derived from Weald, and signified the position of the place, when entering the names of the various manors bestowed on the monastery whose property they were enumerating. The name Wealtham occurs in Saxon Chronicles as late as the ioth century, in a Chronicle a.d. 909 which was a confirmation of King Edward to Tridistan, Bishop of Winchester, of land at Veranburn, Wealtham, Bramleage or Overton with Tadly Waltham, and Bradley, co. Hants; also in a grant by King Edward to the Thegn Alphage, of land in W hite Waltham, co. Berks, entitled " Carta Regis Eadmundi de Wealtham."

(See de Grey Birch, "Cartularium Saxonicum " pp 297 and 490.) One of the manors granted to Waltham Abbey is spelt Wealtham and West Wealtham, and they had also Walafar * Seebobm-" Village Community," page 358. ErPING HIGHWAY TRUST. 10 in Boreham.* Besides Walthamstow and Waltham Abbey, in the vicinity of Epping there are Norths and South Weald, whose names are supposed to have been derived from the fact that they are situated in the forest. As Essex abounded in woodland it is difficult to see why the places should have been denominated Weald by the Saxon, as characteristic of their situation, when so many other places must also have been surrounded by woodland. But, if the land was occupied by th^ ancient Britons, whom they called Wealas, it follows that in time the places would derive their name, Weald, from the earlier owners.

Some support is afforded to this suggestion by North Weald being situated on a road which ran from the British oppidum, in the forest, known as Ambresbury Camp, and perhaps from Cowper's Camp, by Loughton to Fyfield, supposed by Gough to have been a British settlement. He states: "At Fyfield by Ongar, in 1749, were found a great number of celts, with a large quantity of metal for casting them, 50 lbs. of which, with several of the instruments, the late Earl Tilney gave to Mr. Lethieullier."t At South Weald there is a circular camp. Although it is said by some to be Roman, its form favours the idea that it was originally a British oppidum, and supports the sugges tion that South Weald was also a dwelling place of WTealas, or Britons. In Nordon's "History of Essex," 1594, the name is spelt Walde, and in the "Gentleman's History of Essex," vol. 5, page 6, when speaking of the Manor, it is said, " This church was given by Earl Harold to his Abbey of Waltham under the general name of W'alde.