Castle Hedingham 1863 Whites directory
HEDINGHAM (CASTLE), a large and well-built village, with several good houses, shops, and inns, is situated upon a pleasant acclivity on the east side of the Colne valley, opposite SibleHeding- ham, 4 miles N.W. of Halstead, 17 miles N.W. by W. of Colchester, and 19 miles N.N.E. of Chelmsford. It is near Hedingham Station, on the line which was opened hence to Halstead in 1861, and to Yeldham in 1862. It was anciently a market town, and has still two annual fairs, one on May 14th, for cattle, &c., and the other on July 25th, for pleasure and pedlery. The Hedingham Gas Works, for lighting the two villages of Castle and Sible Hedingham, were finished in January, 1862, by a company of shareholders, to whom Mr. C. D. Hustler, of Halstead, is secretary. The Gas Works and the Railway Station are in Sible Hedingham parish, between the two villages. Castle Hedingham parish contains 1203 souls and 2431 acres of land. Ashhurst Majendie, Esq., has a handsome brick residence, built in 1719, near the remains of the ancient castle. He is lord of the manor, and owner of a great part of the parish; but Kirby Hall farm belongs to J. H. Nunn, Esq., and here are several smaller proprietors, mostly copyholders. Hops are grown in the parish and neighbourhood, and an annual hop meeting is held at the Bell Inn, where Petty Sessions are held every alternate Tuesday for North Hinckford Police Division, which has a Police Station here, built in 1843. Mr. Stedman, of Sudbury, is clerk to the magistrates.
The large and strongly fortified CASTLE, built here soon after the Norman Conquest, was the head of the extensive barony belonging to the Veres, Earls of Oxford, to whose ancestor, Aubrey de Vere, this and many other lordships were givenby William the Conqueror. It remained in the possession this noble family, with but little interruption, till 1625. The Honor of Castle Hedingham had twenty-eight dependent knights’ fees. The Castle in its original state covered avery large area, but all that remains of it is the great tower, or Keep, which is large and lofty, and in its outward appearance is still nearly entire, the great strength and solidity ofits walls having resisted the ravages of time and man. It stands on an artificial eminence, and is in the pure Anglo-Norman style. The walls are about 12 feet thick at the bottom, and 10 at the top. Its shape is nearly square, the east and west sides measuring about 55, and the north and south 62 feet.
It is more than 100 feet high, and at each angle, on the top, was formerly a turret, which, with the platform, or upper story, were embattled; but the parapet-wall, the battlements, and two of the turrets are destroyed. The materials of which this massive tower is composed, are irregular flints and stones, embedded in grout, or fluid mortar; but the whole outside is cased with squared stones, laid with great neatness and regularity, and supposed to have been brought from Barnack, in Northamptonshire. The original entrance is on the west side, where the grooves of the portcullis may yet be seen. The interior consists of five stories, and was constructed with every attention to security from the attacks of external enemies. At the bottom the apertures are mere loop-holes, sufficient only to admit a scantylight, and to allowthe discharge of offensive weapons from within. In the second story are small windows somewhat ornamented, and in the third are larger windows. In the fourth story the windows are double, and in the fifth, or attic story, they are richly ornamented with the zig-zag of the early Norman era;
thus, in proportion as the distance from danger increased, the architect seems to have introduced light g, air, and ornament. The fourth story was the armoury and hall of audience, and is anoble apartment, 38 feet by 31, exclusive of the gallery which surrounds it. Its height, from the floor to the centre of the great arch, is 21 feet, and to the ceiling 28 feet. In this chamber the ancient Barons received the homage of their feudal tenants, and entertained their visitors. The Ballium, or inner court, in which the castle stands, contains nearly three acres, and within it were several towers and other buildings, which were destroyed about 1592. Some other buildings stood in the outer court, on the sites now occupied by the handsome mansion and its offices, which were built by Robert Ashhurst, Esq., in 1719. The Empress Maud, wife of King Stephen, is said, by some authors, to have died at Hedingham Castle. During the contest between the Barons and King John, it was taken by the latter from Robert de Vere, the third Earl of Oxford, in 1216. In the following year, after the accession ofHenry III, it again became the object of contention, and was surrendered to Prince Louis, the Dauphin of France; who, however, was soon afterwards dispossessed by the joint moderation and firmness of the Earl of Pembroke, governor to the young King. Robert de Vere, who had taken such an active part in favour of the barons, that he was by name excommunicated by Pope Innocent III. , was also
pardoned, and restored to his inheritance. From this period, nothing particular occurs relating to the Castle, till the time of John, the 12th Earl, who espoused the cause of the Lancasterians, and continued so firm in his allegiance to Henry VI., that Edward IV., at a parliament held in the first year of his reign, caused him, though then nearly sixty years of age, to be attainted, with Aubrey, his eldest son, and afterwards, with several others, to be beheaded on Tower hill. John, his second son, immediately took the title of Earl of Oxford, and seems, during the first part of Edward’s reign, to have been actively employed in the restoration of his deposed sovereign; in which object he, with his friends, succeeded for a short time, and was reinstated in his estates and honours. The superior fortune of Edward having once more regained the ascendancy, the Earl, after the decisive battle of Barnet, fled into France, whence, returning in a short time with a small force, he surprised St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall, but was soon obliged to yield himself a prisoner, and was sent by the King to the Castle of Hammes, in Picardy, where he was closely confined for about twelve years, but he at length escaped, and joined the army of the Earl of Richmond. On the accession of the latter, as Henry VII., he was restored to his honours and his estates, and lived here in great splendour and hospitality. Edward, the 17th Earl of Oxford, was noted for his unbounded profusion, which occasioned him to alienate many of his family estates. He pulled down nearly the whole of his Castle here, except the keep, and divided the three parks into farms, and afterwards sold the Honour of Castle Hedingham to Lord Chancellor Burleigh. He married Lord Burleigh’s daughter, and left by her three daughters, and by his second wife he had one son, Henry. He died in 1604, and his son Henry was restored to this estate by agreement with his half-sisters and their husbands. After the death of Henry, the 18th Earl, without issue, in 1625, this lordship was held by his Countess, on whose decease, in 1655, it passed to the Trenthams (his mother’s family), who held it till 1713, when it was sold to Robert Ashhurst, Esq., from whose family the present owner has descended.
Aubrey, or Alberic de Vere, the first Earl of Oxford, and his wife Lucia, who became the first prioress, founded a Benedictine PRIORY here, before the year 1190. This nunnery wasvalued at the dissolution at £29. 12s. 10d. per annum, and some remains of it are converted into a farm house. An Hospital, sometimes called the NewA bbey, was founded here about 1250, by the fourth Earl of Oxford. It stood on the south-east side of the Castle, but all traces of it are gone.
The Church (Saint Nicholas), is a stately and ancient Gothic structure, except the brick tower, which was rebuilt in 1616, when four of the five bells were sold to assist in defraying the expense of the new erection. The spacious chancel is separated from the nave and aisles by a lofty carved wooden screen, and contains some ancient and modern monuments. On a plate upon a tomb are engraved the figures of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, and his lady, and on the sides are kneeling figures of their four sons and four daughters. The timber work of the roof of the nave is variously ornamented, and supported on circular and octangular pillars. Anciently, a free chapel stood near St. James’s well,- a remarkable spring, formerly celebrated for the miraculous cure of diseases. A. Majendie, Esq. , is impropriator of all the tithes (commuted in 1845 for about £900 per annum), and patron of the benefice, which is a donative, in the incumbency of the Rev. S. R. Mills, B.C.L. , and valued at £120 per annum. In the village is an Independent Chapel, erected in 1842. The Church Sunday School was built in 1858. On Chapel Green is a large Independent Chapel and School, built in 1853, and enlarged in 1860. Hinckford Hundred SAVINGS’ BANK is at Castle Hedingham, and Mr. Jeffery Carter is the actuary.
In 1573, Wm. Martyn left a small farm here, now let for £15 a year, in trust to pay two-thirds of the rent for the poor of Bocking, and one third for the poor of Castle Hedingham. The Church Almshouses are three tenements, which have been held for the use of the poor since the 16th century. Two other Almshouses, occupled by paupers, were founded by Dunstone Baldwin, in 1586. Another Almshouse, for four aged poor people, was founded in 1612, by Edward Brewer, and endowed with a yearly rent-charge of 40s., out of land at Sible Hedingham. The Hon. John Vere, in 1612, left a house, in four tenements, for the residence of four aged poor parishioners, and endowed them with a yearly rent of £5. out of Ovington Hall. The income is applied in repairs, and in supplying the inmates with coal. In 1630, the Countess Dowager of Oxford left for the poor £20, which was expended in a cottage and garden. Two cottages at Pye Corner, occupied by paupers, were purchased with poor’s money. In 1780, Giles Salmon left £10 and a cottage for poor dissenters.
The latter was pulled down, and the materials sold for £73, which, with £10, is now vested in three per cent. consols. The poor of the parish have a yearly rent charge of 10s. , out of Wythsfield, left by Joseph Alliston,
in 1629.
CASTLE HEDINGHAM.
POST OFFICE at J. Carter’s. Letters via Halstead. Money Orders granted and paid.
Andrews Edward, surgeon
Andrews Wm. carrier & horse letter
Baker J. excise officer
Balls James Mayhew, auctioneer, and land and insurance agent, Nunnery Farm
Bingham Edward, terra cotta and ornamental pottery manufacturer &c.
Bridge Thomas Littell Morley B.A.Esq.
Carter Jeffery, postmaster, bookseller, insurance agent & actuary of Savings’ Bank
Curtis Joseph Chas. relieving officer
Davey Miss S. fancy repository
Deeks Walter, farmer, Priestfield
Dodson Miss
Duffield John Archer, ironmonger, brazier, and insurance agent
Dyson James, stationer, &c.
Fendick John B. draper and grocer
Fitch Samuel, French polisher
Fryer Joseph Breedon, civil engineer
Gatward Mrs E.
Hasell Miss H.
Hayward Miss
Glascock Josiah, farmer, Great Lodge
Hall Richard, druggist & insurance agent.
Harrington Jno. bricklyr. & shopkeeper
Hart John, brick and tile maker
Harvey Dl. Horton, draper & grocer
Harvey Richard, police inspector
Hearn William, cattle dealer
Humphreys Charles, plumber, &c.
Hustler Charles Devereux, solicitor
Jarman James, cabinet maker, carpenter, and builder
Majendie Ashurst, Esq.
Castle Mills Rev. S. Rd. B.C.L. incumbent.
Nunn Jas. Hardy, Esq. Kirby Hall Farm, (and Great. Yeldham)
Payne James, corn and flour dealer
Perry Joseph, hairdresssr
Plummer William, farmer
Rayner Henry & Joseph, gentleman, Chapel green
Rogers James, saddler, &c.
Root Thomas, coal agent
Ruffle William Cousins, corn miller
Smith Frederick. plumber, painter, &c.
Sperling Charles Brogden, gent.
Steer Rev. Samuel, (Independent)
Stevenson Miss
Smith Mrs L.
Stubbing John, farmer, Little Lodge
Turner Mr John
Burbridge J.
Warters Joseph, cooper
Westrop Robert, basket maker & brewer
INNS AND TAVERNS.
Bell Inn, James Knight
Blue Boar, James Bridge
Crown, Edward Steward
King’s Head, George Smith, saddler
ACADEMIES.
Bingham Edw.
Brown Miss
Dyson James
Percival Sarah
Ruffle Eliza
BAKERS, &C.
Lee William
Root Isaac, and farmer
Westrop John
Westrop Richard
BEERHOUSES.
Burns William, and carpenter
Hammond Hy.
Kendall George – Falcon
Pannell Charles
Redgewell George
Westrop Robert
BLACKSMITHS.
Howe Robert
White Joseph Rt.
BOOT & SHOEMAKERS.
Hall Samuel
Jay Jonah
Percival George Smith Robert
BUTCHERS.
Bowyer Henry
Gatward John
Gatward Robert
Hammond Hy.
GARDENERS.
Claylon Stephen
Coppin Samuel
UpsonJames
GROCERS, &c.
Coppin John
Dyson James
Fendick J. B.
Harvey Daniel H.
MILLINERS.
Dyson Mrs
Digby Elizabeth
Harrington A.
RAILWAY
Trains several times a day
CARRIER.William Andrews, to Sudbury and Braintree
MAIL CART To Haverhill and Halstead