Braintree and Bocking 1848 Whites directory
BRAINTREE AND BOCKING.
BRAINTREE, a well built and improving market town, is partly in its own parish, and partly in that of Bocking, and extends about two miles on both sides the high road, southward from the river Pant, or Blackwater, to the small river Brain ; 12 miles N. by E. of Chelmsford, 6 miles S. by W. of Halstead, 9 miles E. of Dunmow, 15 miles W. by S. of Colchester, 8 miles N.N.W. of Witham, and 40 miles N.E. of London. It is a polling place, and the chief place of election for the Northern Parliamentary Division of Essex, and the head of a large Union and County Court District. The northern part of the town, extending to the river Blackwater, is in Bocking parish, and the southern part in Braintree parish, but some of the streets in the heart of the town are in both parishes. The town rises boldly from both rivers, and the principal street is a great thoroughfare, and has many good houses, inns, and well stocked shops, as also have some of the other streets. It contains about 7000 inhabitants, and is now being considerably improved on its south-eastern side, where a new road has been made, and a handsome Station erected, as the terminus of the Maldon, Witham, and Braintree Railway, which was finished in 1848, and crosses the Eastern Counties Railway at Witham. This railway is about 14 miles in length, and has cost its proprietors about £40,000 per mile. Braintree Parish contains 2242 acres of land, and 3670 inhabitants ; and Bocking Parish extends over 4198 acres, and had 3437 inhabitants in 1841 ; but part of the houses of the latter parish are in BOCKING CHURCH STREET and HIGH GARRET, at the distance of from 1 to 3 miles north of the market place. The woollen manufacture, which formerly flourished here, disappeared many years ago, but is succeeded by the silk manufacturer, which employs a great number of the inhabitants. Four firms, who have also establishments in London, have large silk factories here, and one of them (Courtauld and Co.,) employ about 600 hands in throwsting and in making silk and crape. Some women and children of the town and neighbourhood are partially employed in making straw plat ; and here are two breweries, several malt-kilns and corn mills, an iron foundry, and a large brush manufactory. The market, held every Wednesday, is well supplied with corn, cattle, and all sorts of provisions ; and here is a handsome Corn Exchange, built in 1839, at the cost of about £3000, raised in £25 shares, and having a neat front of the Ionic order. Two annual fairs for cattle, &c. , are held on May 8th and October 2nd. The large Workhouse, and the officers, &c. , of Braintree Union. Here are Gas Works, and the streets are well paved. PETTY SESSIONS are held at the White Hart Inn, every alternate Wednesday, for South Hinckford Police Division , for which a Police Station was built here in 1843.
Messrs. Veley and Cunnington are clerks to the magistrates. The COUNTY COURT, for the recovery of small debts, owing in the parishes of Bocking, Braintree, Bradwell, Cressing, Finchingfield, Black and White Notley, Panfield , Pattiswick, Rayne, Great Saling, Shalford, Stisted, and Wethersfield, is held monthly at the White Hart; and Mr. E. G. Craig is the clerk, and Mr. W. C. Kirkham, bailiff for this district.
BRAINTREE is variously called in old records Branketre, Branche-tren, Bromptre, &c. In the Confessor’s reign, most of the parish was held by the Bishop of London ; but at the Domesday Survey, only part of it was held by the Bishop, and the rest by Hamo Dapifer, and Richard, son of Gilbert, Earl of Clare. In 1190 , William Santa Maria, Bishop of London, obtained a grant for a weekly market and an annual fair, at Braintree, which was then divided into three manors, viz. , the BISHOP’S, NAYLINGHURST, and MARKS, which have since been held by various families. The manorial rights now belong to T. M. Gepp, Esq. , of Chelmsford ; and the principal land owners are George Skingley, (owner of Marks Farm, &c. ,) Rt. Rolfe, Esq. , John Gosling, Esq. , Richard Lacey, Esq. , and the Master and Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge. The latter own lands called Hubbalds and Mallands. A farm of 103A. 2R. 9P. , belongs to a charity at East Ham, and here are many smallers owners.
BOCKING was held by two Saxon thanes, who gave it in 1006 to the priory of St. Saviour, in Canterbury. At the dissolution of the religious houses, it was granted to Roger Wentworth . The Devisees of the late Rev. John Thomas Nottidge, are now lords of the manor, and owners of Bocking Hall estate ; but a great part of the parish belongs to other proprietors. Dorewards, Bradfords, and Harries estates belong to W. P. Honeywood, Esq.; Bovingdon Hall estate is the property of the Corporation of the Sons of Clergy; Bocking Park and the Lodge farms belongs to the Earl of Essex ; and C. S. Onley, Esq. , S. and C. Tabor, Esq. , G. Gosling, Esq., Mrs. Rankin, and several smaller owners have estates and neat houses in this extensive parish .
BRAINTREE is said to have anciently been a hamlet to the parish of Rayne, and its rise as a town, is supposed to have been owing to its convenient situation on the high road from London to Suffolk and Norfolk, and to the building of inns and lodging houses for the reception of the numerous pilgrims who passed through it, in the days of superstition, to the shrines of St. Edmund and our Lady of Walshingham. After the Reformation the town was deserted by these periodical visitors; but it soon afterwards obtained consequence from the Flemings, who settled here in the reign of Elizabeth, after being expelled from the Netherlands by the Duke of Alva. These refugees introduced here the bay and say, and other woollen manufactures, which continued to flourish here till the latter part of last century, but gave place many years ago, to the silk manu- facture, as already noticed. The town is in the line of the Roman road, which led from Colchester to St. Albans. In 1828, the late Mrs. Tabor’s gardener, when digging near that part of the road which is the boundary of Braintree and Bocking, found a large quantity of Roman coins, mostly brass and partly silver. Several urns and other antiquities have been found near the same place ; and some years ago, an urn filled with Roman coins, chiefly of the Emperor Vespasian, was found at High Garret. About the same time, a coin, or medal, of Antoninus was found in Braintree. Samuel Dale, M.D., a celebrated antiquary and botanist, was originally an apothecary, at Braintree, and died at Bocking, in 1739, aged 80. He published a Pharmacopeia and Materia Medica, which passed through numerous editions. Ray, the distinguished naturalist, went to school in Braintree. Jas. Challis, M.A., the present professor of astronomy at Cambridge University, is a native of Braintree, where his father was a mason. In the year 1844, there were three incendiary fires in the town and neighbourhood ; one at Rayne Lodge, on March 16th; one on March 18th, when 19 cottages were burnt, in Coggeshall road ; and another on April 8th, when a building near the Wheaf Sheaf was set on fire.
BRAINTREE CHURCH ( St. Michael,) is a spacious structure of flint and stone, standing on the south side of the town, on an elevated site, which appears to have been a military camp. It consists of a nave, chancel, and lofty side aisles, with a tower at the west end, surmounted by a tall spire. The building was commenced in the reign of Edward III., as appears from the arms which decorate it, of the neighbouring gentry who contributed towards the erection; and also from the will of John de Naylinghurst, who, in 1349, left a black bullock ” towards the work of the church. ” It was afterwards greatly enlarged, particularly in the reign of Henry VIII. , when the roof was heightened, and the south aisle built. The expense of these alterations was partly defrayed by the receipts of three plays acted in the church, and entitled St. Swithin, St. Andrew, and Placy Dacy, or St. Ewestacy. After the Reformation the players’ robes were sold for 50s. , and the playbooks for 20s. On the chancel wall outside is an inscription in memoryof Dr. Samuel Collins, who was some years physician to Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy, and died in 1670. On the walls are many neat tablets, and in the vestry is a long list, written on vellum, of persons who died here of the plague, in 1665. The church is a fine specimen of early English and per pendicular architecture, but it is in a very dilapidated condition, the long pending ” Braintree Church-rate case,” having delayed those extensive repairs which are necessary for the preservation of the edifice. Dissenters are very numerous and influential in the town, and their concientious opposition to church rates, ought to be palliated by voluntary subscriptions among all classes, for the necessary reparation of this sacred fabric, which is highly ornamental to the town. The rectory was appropriated, in 1416, by the Bishop of London, to the monastery of the Charter House. After the Reformation it passed to Richard Lord Rich, who gave it as part of the endowment of the Felsted Charities, to which it yields about £686 per annum. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £12. 13s. 4d., and in 1831 at £227, is in the patronage of Lady Stuart, and incumbency of the Rev. B. Scale, M.A. The tithes were commuted in 1847.
BOCKING CHURCH (Virgin Mary,) stands in Bocking Church street, about 2 miles N. of Braintree church. It is a stately fabric of flint and stone, situated on high ground, and forming a conspicuous object at a considerable distance. It is a fine specimen of the architecture of the time of Edward III . , and has a nave and chancel with side aisles, and a tower at the west end, containing six bells. Before the Reformation it contained three altars and five chantries. It was thoroughly repaired in 1814, and will seat 1500 hearers. In the south aisle are effigies of a man and woman, supposed to represent some of the Dorewardfamily, who flourished here in the 14th and 15th centuries. The benefice is a rectory and deanery, valued in K.B. at £35.10s. 8d., and in 1831 at £923, in the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and incumbency of the Rev. Henry Carrington, M.A., who is commonly styled Dean of Bocking, and has a fine old residence, called the Deanery, and 108A. of glebe. Bocking is the head of the Archbishop’s peculiars, in Essex and Suffolk, for which the dean is commissary ; but all peculiar jurisdictions are, or will soon be abolished by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
The Independent Chapel, at Bocking End, adjoining Braintree, is a large and handsome building which was erected in 1707, but greatly enlarged and partly rebuilt in 1818, at the cost of about £2000. It has sittings for more than 1600 hearers, and during the last 47 years, it has been under the ministry of the Rev. Thomas Craig. The new Independent Chapel, in Braintree, is a large and elegant structure of white brick and Bath stone.
It has 1500 sittings, and is under the ministry of the Rev. John Carter. It was built in 1832, in lieu of the old chapel, which was built in 1788, and enlarged in 1813, and stood in the burial ground in Back lane, now well enclosed, and having in its wall an inscription showing where the front of the chapel stood. The site of the new chapel was given by the present minister. The Baptist Chapel, in Braintree, is a neat brick building, erected in 1830, at the cost of £1500, in lieu of the old chapel, which belonged to a congregation formed in 1680. The Rev. David Rees is the minister. A small chapel, in Bocking, used by the Wesleyans, belongs to John Gosling, Esq.; and in Rayne road is an old Friends’ Meeting House.
There are in the two parishes several National, British, and Infant Schools, numerously attended on week days and Sundays, and supported by the various denominations, who also subscribe liberally to Bible, Missionary, and other institutions for the propagation of religious knowledge. Here are also several school endowments, and various charities for the relief of the poor, as afterwards noticed.
Braintree and Bocking Literary and Mechanics’ Institution, was established in 1845, and occupies rooms in Rayne road, where it has a library of about 1000 volumes, and a well supplied reading room. There are upwards of 200 members. The Rev. Sir J. P. Wood is the president, and Mr. Thomas Hammond, secretary. Here is an Harmonic Society, possessing muchmusical talent ; and also a Temperance Society, with a numerous list of members. Balls and Assemblies are occasionally held in the large and elegant room at the White Hart Inn, and the Corn Exchange is sometimes used for concerts, lectures, and exhibitions. The large Hundred of Hinckford has an Agricultural Society and Conversative Club ; and also a Savings’ Bank, but the head office of the latter, and the anniversary meetings of the former are held at Castle Hedingham.
BRAINTREE CHARITIES : The Free School, where about 100 children are educated gratuitously on the National system, in rooms adjoining the church, has an endowment of £63 per annum, arising as follows : £18 from a house and land and Stoke by Neyland, left by Jas. Coker, in 1702 ; and £45 from £1500 three per cent. annuities, left by the Rev. James Burgess, in 1827. HENRY SMITH, alderman of London, in 1620, assigned his real and personal estates to the Earl of Essex, in trust, to allow him £500 a year during his life, and to allow the residue to such charitable uses as he should by deed or will appoint.
The trustees laid out most of the money derived from his personal estate in the purchase of land for charitable uses ; and one of their chief acquisitions in this way was the purchase (for £2800) of a farm of 295A. 2R. 8P. at Tolleshunt D’Arcy, now let for £325 per annum. When purchased, this farm was of the yearly value of £140, which by the trust deed was to be applied for the use and benefit of the poor of 14 parishes in various specified shares. Of these 14 parishes, only 4 are in Essex, and their shares of the £140 are stated in the trust deed as follow: Braintree, £6 ; Terling, £14 ; Henham, £12 ; and Tolleshunt D’Arcy, £12; but owing to the increased value of the estate, these payments, for the poor of the several parishes, are now more than doubled. The estate was conveyed to 24 new trustees in 1819. Mr. T. Joslyn is the treasurer. The other 10 parishes participating in this charity are Bungay, Ilketshall St. Margaret and St. Peter’s, in Suffolk ; Walden St. Paul’s, in Hertford; St. Mary’s, near Chester; and Fletching, Hurst Pierpoint, Rotherfield, Frant, and Southover, in Sussex.
TEN CHARITIES, yielding £61 11s. 10d. per annum, are received by the treasurer of the various trusts, and distributed in money, shirts, and shifts, among the poor of Braintree. This fund arises as follows :-£14 from 2A. of nursery ground, called Hyne’s Croft ; £8 from a pasture of one acre, given by John Thorne, in 1571 ; £12 from 5A., (given by Alice Griggle, in 1579 ; 17s. from lA. , given by Mark Mott, in 1623 ; £2 10s. from part of the vicarage garden, given by John Lawrence, in 1626 ; £5. 12s. 4d. from a rent-charge out of the manor of Barksden, purchased with £112 benefaction money; £10 from 3A., purchased of John Maryon, in 1673, with £80 poor’s money ; £6. 12s. 6d. from land left by John Aylett, in 1707; 20s. from a garden purchased with £20, left by Joseph Clarke, in 1685 ; and 20s. from a rent-charge out of land at Watford, in Herts. , left by John Perier, in 1728. THOS. TROTTER, in 1630, granted a house and 4A. of land, called Sampson’s Hyde, then worth £5. 10s. per annum, intrust, to apply that amount as follows :-£4 to be distributed among 20 aged poor of Braintree ; 10s for repairing the church ; 6s. 8d. to the vicar ; 5s. to the churchwardens; 5s. to the overseers ; and 3s. 4d. to the clerk. The house was burnt down in 1651, and the land is now a garden, let for £12. 10s. a year. The surplus, above £5. 10s ., is all applied to the repairs of the church. SIR STEPHEN WHITE, in 1640, gave a yearly rent-charge of £6. 13s. 4d. out of a farm at Black and White Notley, to be distributed in clothing and bread among six poor women of Braintree. HENRY SUMMERS, in 1698, left ayearly rent charge of £7. 10s. out of his manor of Gaynes, in the county of Huntingdon, and directed £5 thereof to be distributed in bread among the poor of Braintree, on Feb. 4th, and the remaining £2. 10s. to be spent in a dinner for the trustees, minister, and churchwardens. For distribution in bread, on Nov. 21st, the poor have £5 from £166. 13s. 4d. three per cent. Reduced Annuities, left by Ralph Polley, in 1831. An Almshouse, which was long used as the parish workhouse, is said to have been given by one Surinam, and afterwards enlarged by grants from Lord Rich and the Earl of Warwick.
BOCKING CHARITIES :-Dr. John Gauden, dean of Bocking, and afterwards Bishop ofWinchester, directed his executors to invest £400 for the foundation of a FREE SCHOOL for the education of poor children of Bocking, under the visitorial control of the Dean of Bocking, the Rector of Stisted, and the Vicar of Braintree ; £100 to be laid out in building the School-house ; and £300 to be laid out in the purchase of land. The £400 was paid to Henry Finch and Robert Maysent, who retained it to their own use till 1676, when they were compelled to invest it in trust, together with £75 arrears of interest. The whole was expended in building the school-house, and in purchasing a farm at Great Leighs, now let for £50 ayear, which is paid to the master, who teaches reading, writ- ing, and arithmetic to about 100 boys. Messrs. J. and J. T. Nottidge, J. E. Tabor, J. E. Walford, J. Tweed, R. Strait, A. Taylor, and W. H. Phillips, were appointed trustees in 1811, and in the following year, the school and master’s house were rebuilt on a much larger scale, at an expense which was wholly defrayed by voluntary subscription. AnALMSHOUSE, occupied by 10 or 12 poor people, is supposed to be the hospital, or ” Maison de Dieu, ” founded by John Doreward, in 1438, and endowed by him with £10 a year, out ofthe manor of Tendring; but the only property now belonging to it is an adjoining garden of halfanacre, let for £3, which is applied in repairing the building, and supply- ing the inmates with coals, as also is a yearly rent- charge of £2. 13s. 4d. left for the poor by Sergeant Wm. Bendlowe in 1574, out of 16A. ofland, called Baylie’s. The yearly sum of £87, arising from the seven following charities, is distributed among the poor parishioners, about Christmas, by a board of trustees, called the ” GIFT MEETING :”-£10 of this fund arises from land at Castle Hedingham, left by Wm. Martyn, in 1573 ; £16 from 6A. 1R. 16P., called Went- lands, left by Wm. Skinner, in 1628 ; £9 from a house and croft, called Arnold’s, purchased in 1692 with £54, left by George Elkins ; £2 as the interest of £40, left by the Rev. Joseph Jekill, and lent to the overseers, in 1712 ; £34 from land and buildings at Braintree, and £133.16s. 11d. three per cent. Con- sols, all derived from the will of John Matham, in 1721 ; £10 from £333. 6s. 8d. three per cent. Consols, left by Jane Tailworth, in 1791 ; and £6 from £200 three per cent. Reduced Annuities, derived from the gift of a Mr. Garrard.
JOAN SMITH, in 1601, left a yearly rent-charge of 20 marks, in trust, to distribute 5s. worth of bread every Sunday amongst the poor parishioners, and to pay 6s. 8d. to the distributor for his trouble. This annuity of £13. 6s. 8d. is now derived from £444. 8s. 4d. three per cent. Consols. In 1680, £155, obtained as arrears of Mrs. Smith’s rent- charge, was laid out with £30, given by SIR STEPHEN WHITE, in the purchase of 10A. of land, now let for £29 per annum, which is distributed in weekly doles of bread at the church, together with £5, arising from a house and land purchased with £100, derived from the savings of these joint charities, in 1783. JOHN AYLETT, in 1707, left a house and 3A. of land, (now let for £13,) in trust to distribute the rent yearly, in linen cloth, among the poor of Bocking and Braintree. The churchwardens distribute £6. 10s. worth of cloth in each parish. In 1723, JOHN MAYSENT left a yearly rent- charge of 40s. , out of the Queen’s Head Inn, to be applied, as far as necessary, inrepairing his son’s tomb, and the surplus to be distributed among the poor of Bocking. In 1831, RALPH POLLEY, by will, directed his executors to purchase asmuch stock as would yield £10 per annum, to be distributed in bread among the poor of Bocking yearly, onthe 21st November. The stock purchased consists of £333. 63. 8d. three per cent. Reduced Annuities, and the dividends are distributed by the minister and churchwardens.
BRAINTREE AND BOCKING Gentry, Clergy 1848 Whites directory
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BRAINTREE AND BOCKING 1848 Whites Directory Trades Hempen Cloth to Milliners
BRAINTREE AND BOCKING 1848 Whites Directory Trades Painters to Carriers