1848 Whites directory Mountnessing
MOUNTNESSING parish has a small village , or ” street,” on the London road, 2 miles S.W. of Ingstestone, and 4 miles W.N.W. of Billericay ; but it has many scattered houses, and its church is 1½ mile to the east, near the small river Wid, which receives here several tributary brooks. The parish is crossed by the Eastern Counties Railway, and contains925 inhabitants, and 4,131A. 3R. 38P. of land, of which 240A. is wood, 2,6294. arable, and 1,064A. pasture land, generally fertile, and skirting both sides of the river Wid. Lord Petre is lord of the manors of Cowbridge, Bacons, and Mountneys ; the latter of which belonged to the ancient family of Mountney, from whom the parish was called Mountney’sing. Part of the soil belongs to other proprietors. H. P. Blencowe, Esq. , is lord of the manor of Arnolds Arnolds, and owner of THOBY PRIORY, a pleasant seat, 2 miles W.S.W. of Ingatestone, occupied by Thomas Helme, Esq. a pleasant seat, 2 miles W.S.W. of Ingatestone, occupied by Thomas Helme, Esq. This sylvan seat is the site of a priory, founded about 1150, by Michael de Čaprâ, for Augustine canons. It took its name from Tobias, or Thoby, its first prior. Its annual revenues were valued at £75. 6. 10d. in 1525, when it was suppressed and granted to Cardinal Wolsey.
After the fall of Wolsey, the manor of Thoby was granted to Sir Rd. Page. It afterwards passed to the Prescot family, whose heiress, about 1750, carried it in marriage to the Blencowes.
The CHURCH, dedicated to St. Leonard, or St. Giles, consists of a nave and aisles, a chancel, and a south aisle, or chapel ;
with a wooden framed belfry and shaft at the west end, containing one bell. It was appropriated to Thoby Priory, and contains many neat mural tablets, inscribed to the memory of the Prescots, who were long seated at Thoby. Lord Petre is impropriator of the rectory, and patron of the vicarage, valued in K.B. at £ 11 , and in 1831 , at £117, and now enjoyed by the Rev. T. M. Ready. The vicarial tithes were commuted in 1840, for £214 per annum; and the glebe is 32A.2R. 31P.
A legacy of £50, left for the poor, by Endymion Canning, in 1681 , after accumulatingto £75, was laid out in 1705, in the purchase of 6A. of land called Ryer’s Field, now let for about £18 a year, which is distributed in bread by the churchwardens. This field is in Thoby manor. An unknown donor gave 5R. of land to the poor, and it is now let for 24s. a year. In 1787, John and Amy English , agreeable to the intentions of Richard Bailey, (father of the latter,) bequeathed, for the support of a Free School, for poor children ofthis parish, a farm of 17A. 3R. 16P. , called Pinchion’s, and now let for £30 a year. H. P.
Blencowe, J. Agnis, and others, are the trustees, and after paying for repairs, &c. they pay the surplus to two schoolmistresses , for teaching poor children, at the rate of 1d. per week, per head.
Agnis Joseph, miller and baker
Berrington Mrs. My. St. Ann’s Cottage
Dowsett William, butcher
Cross William, bricklayer
Helme Thos. Esq. , Thoby Priory
Moore Mr. Giles , Rosetta Cottage
Moore John, plasterer, &c.
Osborne Mr. Chas. , Melchet Place
Palmer Emanuel, builder
Ready Rev. Thos. Martin, vicar
Smith Mrs. Adelaide Cottage
Snow Joseph. vict. , George and Dragon
Spackman Saml. , wheelwright, joiner, and blacksmith
Tibball Joseph , carpenter
FARMERS. (* are Owners.)
Beale William, Grange
Bishop William
Boosey James
Bridgman George, Westlands
Brown Daniel
Clarke William
Collins William
Cross Richard
Crush Isaac, Mountney Hall
Havers William, Esq. , Bacons
*Merrington William
Joslin John
Moss Wm. Mitchell, Cowbridge
*Nicholas Thos. Esq. , Arnolds
Read Jas .
Rumball Thos.
Sopwith James, Holbrook
Staines Thomas, Woodlands
*Staines William, Jourdans
Thorogood William, Grange
Beer Houses.
Alexander Chas. – Fox
Hawkins James – Pineapple
Kendall Michael – Plough
Philpot Charles
Shoemakers .
Rose Jonathan
Willey John
Shopkeepers
Reeve James
Scott John
Spackman Wm.
POST OFFICE at S. Spackman’s.
Letters from Ingatestone daily.