Hatfield Peverel 1848 Whites Directory
HATFIELD PEVEREL is a large and well-built village, pleasantly situated on and near the London road, 2 miles S.W. of Witham, and 6 miles N.E. of Chelmsford. It has a station on the Eastern Counties Railway, and its parish lies on both sides of the small river Ter, and extends southward to the Chelmer, and eastward to the Blackwater ; forming a fertile and well-wooded district, with several handsome residences and scattered farm houses. A pleasure fair is held in the village on Whit-Tuesday, and the parish increased its population from 1008 in 1801, to 1383 souls in 1841. It contains 4929A. 2R. 28r. , of which 3550A. are arable, 6664A. pasturage, 57A. waste, and 508A. wood. The soil is generally light and gravelly, and the woodlands of the parish were formerly much more extensive than at present, many of them heing grubbed up and cultivated to great advantage, in the latter part of last, and the early part of the present century. At the Domesday survey, the parish belonged to Ralph Peverel, but it is now in five manors, of which the following are the names and their present lords- Hatfield Peverel, or Priory, and Earnestfee, or Bovingtons , Peter Wright, Esq.; Hatfieldbury, G. B. M. Lovibond, Esq.; Topingo Hall, Lord Rayleigh ; and Smallands, belonging to Abraham Johnson, Esq. , who has a handsome modern seat, called BERWICks, on an eminence, near Topingo Hall. The latter had its name from the To-pingo family, and what remains of it is now a farm-house, in the Elizabethan style, with some fine cedars in the adjacent grounds. Samuel Shaen, Esq. , has an elegant mansion, called CRIX, about a mile S.W. of the church, overlooking the vale of the Chelmer, and having beauti- ful pleasure grounds. W. M. Tufnell, Esq,, resides at Hatfield Place; and P. Wright, Esq., owns the PRIORY, a large and elegant mansion, in a beautiful park, built about 1776, by J. Wright, Esq. , who pulled down the old mansion, which stood at a short distance, near the church, and was the remains of a Benedictine Priory, founded by William Peverel, about A.D. 1100, on the site of a College of secular canons, founded by his mother, who was the daughter of a noble Saxon, and had been concubine to William the Conqueror, before she married Ralph Peverel. The Priory was subordinate to St. Alban’s abbey, and was endowed with lands and tithes in this and other parishes. In 1231 , it was nearly destroyed by fire, but was afterwards re-edified.
At the dissolution, its annual revenues were valued at £83 19s . 7d.; and it was granted to Giles Leigh, Esq., whose daughter carried it in marriage to the Alleynes, one of whom was created abaronet in 1629. His descendants sold the manor and rectory to J. Wright, Esq. , in 1768.
The Church (St. Andrew,) is an interesting Norman structure, consisting of a nave, chancel, and a spacious north aisle, with two turrets at the west end, surmounted by small spires ; a small chapel on the south side ; and a modern north porch. It has undergone many repairs, and was the Priory church. When the old Priory House was pulled down, the church was thoroughly repaired, and a beautiful window of old painted glass inserted. An old stone effigy is said to represent Lady Peverel, the foundress. The original parish church stood on an eminence, near the river, still called Church-field, though all traces of the building are gone. The benefice is a discharged vicarage, valued in K.B. at £8, and in 1831 at £88 . The Rev. Sir C. Payne, Bart. , B.C.L., is the incumbent, and has a good residence, and 8A. 2R. 22P. of glebe. P. Wright, Esq. , is patron of the vicarage, and also impropriator of the rectory, which has now, in lieu of tithes, the following yearly rent- charges-£1474. 19s. 10d. from this parish ; £36.9s. 2d. from Ulting ; £75 18s. 10d. from Witham ; £5 18s. 6d. from Little Baddow ; and £6 5s. 4s. from Boreham. Here is a Parochial School, supported by subscription, and a small Wesleyan Chapel, built in 1826. The poor parishioners have the following Charities :-
Charity of Sir E. Alleyne and Others :-In 1638, Sir Edward Alleyne Bart., left £100 for schooling and apprenticing poor children of this parish. It was laid out, in 1671, with £33 poor’s money, in the purchase of a house and 9A. at Great Totham, and a house and 3R. at Wickham. In 1657, John and Margaret Tregett, in consideration of £22, granted for the use of the poor two houses at Hatfield Green. In 1671, John Alleyne , in consideration of £17, part of the parish stock, granted for the poor lA. IR. of land at Boreham. In 1677 and 8, John Rust and Thomas Saffold, in consideration of £69, poor’s money, granted 3A. of land in Little Baddow. The above, and other land and buildings bought and given for the benefit of the poor parishioners, have long been vested in the same trustees, and now comprise about 36 acres, and several houses, cottages, &c. , let for upwards of £74 per annum. One of the buildings was long used as the parish workhouse, and on part of the trust estate are 14 Almshouses, occupied rent-free by poor families. Out of the annual income, £5 is paid to a schoolmistress for teaching 11 poor children, and the residue, after paying incidental expenses, is distributed in coals and bread among the poor parishioners, by the parish clerk, under the direction of the vicar.
Lovibond’s Almshouses consist of four comfortable dwellings, with gardens, built by Martha Lovibond, for the residence of two married couples and two single persons, and endowed by her, in 1820, with weekly stipends of 18s. for each married couple, and 12s. for each single person; as well as 5s. on the 5th of August for each inmate. To provide for these payments, she left £5270 three per cent. consols, and directed the surplus of the yearly dividends, after paying the stipends of the almspeople, and the expenses of repairs, &c., to be paid over to the rector of Chelmsford, for the relief of prisoners in Chelmsford Gaol, or their families. The furniture in the almshouses was provided by the foundress, and the almspeople are selected by the vicar from the aged and infirm poor of the parish.
HATFIELD PEVEREL.
(Marked + are at the Green.)
Baker Edward, auctioneer, and land and insurance agent
Cowell Mr Ambrose
Cowell William, veterinary surgeon & druggist.
Crisp Thomas, veterinary surgeon
Flory Isaac, station master
Francis William, brewer and maltster
Gaywood Henry, butcher
Harrison Fras. wine & spirit merchant
Hawkes Samuel, vict. Swan
Humphreys John Peter, asst. overseer
Johnson Abraham, Esq Berwicks
Kerly Rev. Richd. Wm. , M.A. curate
Kirkham Joseph, builder and vict. Duke of Wellington
Ong Samuel, fishmonger. & vict. Crown
Payne Rev. Sir Coventry, Bart. , B.C.L. vicar of Hatfield and Mundon
Rance Mr Thos.
Turner Geo. Rd.
Shaen Samuel, Esq. Crix
Shelly Mark, cabinet maker
Taverner James, bricklayer
Todd Charles, post master
Tufnell William Michael , Esq. Hatfield Place
Wagstaff Ann, dress maker
Ward Jno.Esq.
Wilson Jas. roadsrvr.
Webb Sarah, butcher
+Wisbey Rt. carpenter, & William, higler
Wright Peter & Jno. , Esqrs. Priory Lodge
Wright John, tailor and draper
BAKERS
Dowsett William
Oliver William
BEER HOUSES.
+Gardiner John
+Ginman William – White Hart
+Lucking Alfred
+Shadrach William
+Wisbey Robert
BLACKSMITHS
Harris Joseph
Horsnell John
CORN MILLERS.
Bott William
Warren Thomas
FARMERS.
Allaker William
Algor Thomas, Hatfieldbury
Barnard Osmd
Bott William
Clark William
Crozier Isaac, Nownsley Grn.
Courtman Christopher,
Cousins _, Topingo Hall
Dines William, Sthwood.
Ellis George, Bovingtons
Francis William
Gooden Samuel
Grimwood James
Hutley William Evt.
Jeggins James John
Ling John, Mugden Hall
Ling John, jun. , World’s end
Ling William
Ong Sl. Brewsters
Rush Kitty
Shelly John Shelly John, jun.
Simmons Charles
Walford William
Warren Thomas
Wisbey William
SCHOOLS.
Humphreys J. P.
Wagstaff Ann
SHOEMAKERS.
Aves James
Hansell David, (& hair dresser)
+Lucking Simon
Mann James
SHOPKEEPERS.
+Gardiner John
Johnson James
+Lungley Jas. ( & parish clerk)
Shelly John
+Turpin Thomas
WHEELWRIGHTS
Bearman George, ( and cooper)
Hazell William
Post daily, to all parts.
RAILWAY TRAINS
twice a day to London, Colchester, &c.