ESSEX SOCIETY FOR ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY (Founded as the Essex Archaeological Society in 1852) Digitisation Project FEET OF FINES FOR ESSEX VOLUME 6 2017 ESAH REF: F1600000 FEET 0 F FINES FOR ESSEX A TYPICAL FINE, RELATING TO THE RURAL PART OF BARKING, 1602 This document (A of the tripartite ) This simple form of Fine, indenture) is preserved among title 1 judging by the description, deeds as evidence of purchase. (B was in ) clearly concerns a farm in the theory handed to the vendor.) The A 1 B extreme north part of the 'foot' is extant, with countless 'Feet of 1 (ancient) parish of Barking, Fines', in the records of the Court of near London, later perhaps Common Pleas, now in the Public _ ) _ _ represented by Highlands Record Office. (Sir) Sebastian Harvey - - - - Hill Wood or Fencepiece was Lord Mayor of London, 1618, and C Farm. It is a good example of owned the manor of Mardyke in · fairly accurate acreages (see Hornchurch. (See p.188, no.4.) p.xxi). (~size of original.) 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EMMISON LEOPARD'S HEAD PRESS 1993 1993 Published by LEOPARD'S HEAD PRESS LIMITED 2a Polstead Road, Oxford OX2 6TN © Frederick Emmison 1993 ISBN 0 904920 26 7 All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission, in writing, of the publisher. 1jpeset by Denham House, Yapton, U&t Sussex and printed in Great Brit.ain by A""°'!J' Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire CONTENTS Acknowledgements Vil Introduction . lX The property market lX judges Xlll Manors and Morant XlV Fractions . • xvi Complementary evidence of Fines and Wills xvi Advowsons, Chapels and Tithes xvi ii Common ofpasture and foldage XlX Place-names xx Acreage . XXl Family History and Indexes XXl Miscellanous XXll Other series ofpublished Fines XXlll CALENDAR of Feet of Fines 1 Index of Places 195 Index of Persons 213 Index of Subjects 251 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Because of advancing age, I have been anxious to get into print the indexed calendar of the Fines for the remaining half of Elizabeth.* When this material w~ finished ten years ago, it was obvious that the problem of financing its publication would be difficult, as printed Fines do not produce narrative books but are mostly used for reference in libraries and record offices. In the circumstances, Dr Marc Fitch, despite his munificence to so many other record and archaeological publishing projects, expressed his willingness to give substantial support in due course. The Friends of Historic Essex, of which he is a former Chairman, decided to support the project with a major grant, to which were added welcome sums by Miss Anne Barker and an anonymous donor. It may be useful, before referring to the work undertaken for Volume VI, to repeat from Dr Fitch's Preface to Volume V: 'The originals were calendared seventy years ago by the great scholar, R. C. Fowler (an Assistant Keeper, P.R.O.), and the balance by myself'. Of the present calendar, I prepared about one-fourth~ Then Dr Fitch and I were fortunate in obtaining the assistance of Miss Olwen Hall (Mrs Abbott) of Ingatestone Hall Cottage, who had already gained valuable experience in connection with Tudor palaeography and Essex topography. After many visits to the P.R.O. on her free afternoons, she completed the rest of the calendar with remarkable accuracy. I am responsible for having checked it and for the relatively small proportion of complicated Fines. The big Index of Persons was also made by Miss Hall, those of Places and Subjects by myself. With such a large number of names, it is feared that some errors may have occurred, and it will • See M. F. B. Fitch and F. G. Emmison, eds., Feet of Fines far Essex, 1547-1580 (Leopard's Head Press, 1991). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS be appreciated if they are notified to the Essex Record Office. Mr Kenneth Neale, Chairman of The Friends of Historic Essex, kindly made some suggestions for the Introduction. I wish to pay tribute to Mr Roy Stephens for the ways in which his publishing expertise has eased my editorial burden. Crown copyright in the Essex Fines (part of C.P.25(2)/131-140) is acknowledged. F.G.E. With the publication of this, the sixth volume of Essex Feet of Fines, the long standing ambition to see the Fines in print down to the end of the reign of Q,.ueen Elizabeth I has been achieved in a few years less than a century. It is most appropriate that the volume which completes this series should have been edited by Dr F. G. Emmison, MBE, DU, FSA, now in the middle of his ninth decade. No worthier scholar could have been found to follow the pioneer footsteps of R. E. G. Kirk, editor of the original volume, the first part of which was published in 1899 or of Robert Copp Fowler, OBE, BA, FSA, an Assistant Keeper at the Public Record Office who left, in manu­ script, abstracts of Essex Fines from 1327 to 1574 which later editors have found impeccably accurate. And now 'Derick' Emmison whose works on Elizabethan Essex are rightly held in high esteem, brings to a conclusion a series invaluable both to the national and local historian and which will also be by many strangers honoured. May his vibrant energy yet find new fields to conquer. At this late date the enigma of the 'anonymous donor' mentioned on p.vii need no longer remain a mystery. It is none other than Derick himself. GENEVA, AUGUST 1993 MARC FITCH viii INTRODUCTION another Queen's Bench attorney, has been traced only as a legatee in the will of Thomas Cotton of South Ockendon, gentleman, perhaps as a reward for professional work. Thomas Powle (p.162), a Chancery clerk, was plaintiff and apparently purchaser, and John Rotheram, another of the Six Clerks, likewise. John Pickering, a serjeant-at-law, was witness to the will of Dame Dorothy Josselyn of High Roding in 1575. On the other hand, John Picker~ng (or Puckering), also a serjeant-at-law (pp.23, 5 7, 92), was to become Lord Keeper of the Seal and was knighted (p.101), certainly acted in a legal capacity, as did Thomas Owen, serjeant-at-law (pp. 7 7, 105). Manors and Morant The most important contribution of our books of Fines to Elizabethan Essex history is probably that relating to manors, especially as the Essex Victoria County History volumes so far cover only about one-fourth of the county, so that the chief source for their ownership still remains Morant's History ofEssex (1 763-6 8). To all, and certainly to archivists, having regard to the then poor accessibility of original material and the meagre indexes or other finding aids, Philip Morant's achievement is indeed remarkable and will for ever command our admiration. Having said that, it is permissible to remind readers that his 'manorial descents', despite their being his principal aim, are often necessarily incomplete, particularly for the minor and other quasi-manors. For this volume, a good deal of collation of Morant with the Fines has established how much extra information concerning manors is now available for many of the manors. Such information is heterogenous and it ranges from their filling gaps, long and short, in Morant's accounts, to supplying additional names for some manorial families. In general, too, Morant (and V.C.H.) rarely give the names of the vendor's wife (an essential fact required for many of the Fines' transactions), nor details of the number of messuages, etc., with the acreages, also the consideration (of which see p.xxi). The evidence often being involved, to state precisely what new data is afforded for each manor would add excessively to the length of the Introduction. As a compromise, therefore, a few illustrative examples are now furnished, all affecting manors. 1. Gaps in Morant, filled by Fines. a. Shingly Hall alias Olyves in Great Dunmow (p.29). Gap, 1525-1627. xiv INTRODUCTION The prestigious series of calendars of Essex Fines from 1182 to 154 7 was published by Essex Archaeological Society between 1899 and 1964. They lacked introductory notes, whereas Volumes V and VI, covering Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth, each have a fairly full introduction.