Great Bardfield 1848 Whites Directory
BARDFIELD, (GREAT) a small ancient town, which had formerly amarket on Tuesdays, and has still a fair for cattle, &c. , on the 22nd of June, is pleasantly situated on the south side of the river Pant, or Blackwater, 8 miles N.W. by N. of Braintree, and 7 miles N.N.E. of Dunmow. Its parish contains 1120 inhabitants, and 3658 acres of land, bounded on the north by Little Bardfield, and on the south by Bardfield Saling. The soil is mostly a fruitful heavy loam, on clay, and partly a sandy loam. Here is a police station for Freshwell Hundred; and petty sessions are held at the White Hart Inn, every third week, before the magistrates of the neighbourhood, to whom A. C. Veley, Esq. , of Braintree, is clerk. The parish rises picturesquely from the vale of the Pant, and has several scattered farm-houses and neat mansions. An eminence, between Park Gate and the Church,
presents a pleasing view of the surrounding country, in which are seen Thaxted Church, the two Sampfords, Hempstead, Finchingfield , &c.; and from the town in various directions, there are many agreeable walks and fine prospects Two rooms, in an old house, called the Place, are memorable as having been the secret retreat of the Princess Elizabeth, when she was attempting to escape from the unnatural persecution of her bigoted sister, Queen Mary. The Rev. B. E. Lampet, M.A., is lord of the manor ; but Park Hall, or Park Gate estate, belongs to William Sandle, Esq., and the large farms of Great Bard- field Hall, Claypit Hall, Little Lodge, and Bushett, were purchased for the use of Guy’s Hospital, about 1725, when the estates belonging to Sir James Lumley were sold for the payment of his own and his father’s debts . At Domesday Survey the parish was held by Richard Fitzgislebert, or Gilbert. In 1539 , Henry VIII. granted the ” burgh of Bardfield ” to his Queen, Anne of Cleves, for her life. In 1550, Edward VI . granted it to Sir Thos. Wrothe, one of whose descendants sold the estate, including the Great and Little Parks, in 1621, to Sir Martin Lumley, Kt., who built an elegant mansion, called the Great Lodge, on the site of the old park keeper’s lodge; where his family were seated till the sale of their estates, in 1725, when the mansion and several of their manors were purchased by Edw. Stephenson, Esq. The Great Lodge was soon afterwards pulled down, and the stables were converted into a farm-house, and the park into a farm. An estate, called Pitley, in this and Little Bardfield parish, was given by one of Fitz-Gisleberts, Earls of Clare, to the Abbey of Bec, in Normandy.
It afterwards belonged to the Cheeke, French, and other families, and was given by Charles I. and one of the Haslefoots, to the Haberdasher’s Company, London, chargeable with certain annual payments for charitable uses. The Church (Virgin Mary,) is a stone fabric, with a nave and aisles, leaded ; a tiled chancel, and a tower, containing four bells, and surmounted by a tall spire of wood, leaded. It was appro- priated to the Priory and College of Stoke by Clare, which was a cell to Bec Abbey. Edward VI. granted the rectory to Anthony Bourchier and John Wiseman, who conveyed it to Wm. Bendlowe, serjeant- at- law, who, in 1556, obtained a licence to convert the vicarage into a rectory ; and having leased out the great tithes for 500 years, at 20 marks yearly rent ; he settled on the succeeding incumbents £6. 13s. 4d. per annum, out of the said rent-charge, and gave the other moiety of it for the endowment of a chantry here, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. There were also three obits in this church . The great tithes are now held by Guy’s Hospital, subject to the terms of the above-mentioned lease.
The Rev B E Lampet MA, the lord of the manor, is patron and incumbent of the vicarage, valued in K.B. at £11 and in 1831 at £180. He has a very handsome parsonage house. The tithes were commuted in 1845, the vicarial for £262 11s. 6d. , and the rectorial for £445. Here is an Independent Chapel, and also a Friends’ Meeting House, the latter built in 1804 ; and the parish has a large British School, and the following Charities : –
In 1766, William Boys left £14 per annum out of Waltham Cross Farm, for schooling 12 poor children, 10 to be chosen by the vicar, and 2 by the tenant of the farm. For teaching four poor children a schoolmistress has £4 a year from Sarah Bernard’s Charity, as noticed with Little Bardfield ; and eight others are educated and partly clothed from a yearly rent-charge of £11 . 10s. left by Thomas Pepys, in 1720, out of Wildings Farm, in Steeple Bumpstead. Jeffrey Pool, at an early date, left for the poor parishioners 134. of land, called Bardfield Lays, and it is now let for £13 a year, which is distributed at Easter. They have also a yearly rent-charge of 20s. , left by Sir Owen Afflick, out of land at Shalford. Two other small charities are lost. Four tenements, called Church Houses, are said to have been given by Sir Martin Lumley, in 1707. They are let for £10. 8s. ,
which is applied in repairing the church. WM. BENDLOWE, premier sergeant of Queen Elizabeth, in 1584, bequeathed the Guildhall to be used as an almshouse and free school, and charged his estate here, now called Place Farm, with the yearly payment of £10 for the support of the schoolmaster.
He also left several other tenements to be used as Almshouses, and charged the same estate with providing fuel, herrings, &c., for the almspeople. Though a decree of Commissioners of Charitable Uses was issued in 1661, for the establishment of Sergeant Bendlowe’s charities, and the payment of large arrears, they fell into abeyance more than a century ago. All that now remains of them consists of a few old tenements, occupied by paupers, and repaired by the parish ; four near the White Hart Inn, one opposite the Vicarage, and another at the upper end of the village. The Guildhall fell down about 50 years ago. The late Parliamentary Commissioners considered these charities a fit subject for the consideration of a court of equity.
GREAT BARDFIELD.
POST OFFICE at Chas. F. Bowtell’s .
Letters despatched 44 afternoon via Braintree
Baker Mrs Mary
Parker Mary
Ballard Thos. corn factor & tea dealer
Boulter John, conveyancer
Bowtell Chas. Flack, grocer &agent to Royal Farmers’ Ins. Co. Post Office
Bowtell Sarah, organist, &c.
Bowtell William, bricklayer
Brewster Sturgeon Nunn, Esq. Great
Lodge Brown Jas. land agent, Park Hall
Cheesman Frederick, surgeon
Goldstone James, schoolmaster
Hicks John, gent.
Philpott John
Lampet Rev. Barrett Edward, M.A. Vicarage
Low Hagger, gent.
Smith Mrs S.
Mace Thomas and Weeks Catherine Jane, British School
Messent John, brewer and maltster
Newman Thomas, brewer & maltster
Nodes John, brickmaker & maltster
Noon William, plumber, painter, &c
Raison Jeremiah, police superintendant
Richardson Benjamin, vict. Vine
Smart Jasper, cabinet maker, &c.
Smith Joseph, gent. South Lodge
Smith Joseph, corn miller
Smith Thomas, cart owner
Stebbing Mrs Rebecca, Park Gate
Veley A. C., solicitor, and clerk to magistrates ; house Braintree
Walford John, Esq.
Warters William, vict. White Hart Inn, and posting house
Wilkin Thomas Martin, solicitor, and at 3 Furnival’s Inn, London
Yates John, excise officer
Young William, ironfounder and agricultural implement manufacturer
FARMERS. (+ are owners.)
Ambrose Richard, Bushett
Bright Benjamin, Waltham Cross
+Bright John, Orgurs
Choat Charles, Noaks
Dace Samuel, Bridge-end
Legerton John Stock, Bluegate
Low Joseph, Hill Hall
King James
Letch Ann
Pawsey William Newhouse
Smith Dorcas, Claypit Hall
Smith Hezekiah, Beslyn House
Smith Henry, Great Bardfield Hall
Smith John, Little Farm
BAKERS.
Day William
Messent Daniel
BEERHOUSES.
Barker Joseph
Dodd Joseph
French William
Mumford Thomas – Boot
Wybrew Daniel
BLACKSMITHS.
Barker Joseph
Barker William
Young Thomas
BOOT & SHOE MAKERS
Dodd Joseph
Dodd Samuel
Dodd Thomas
Mumford Thomas
Sewell Edward
Smith Charles
BUTCHERS
Ketley George
King John
CARPENTERS
Hitching Samuel (& parish clerk)
Newman Thomas
GROCERS & DRAPERS.
Bowtell Chas. F.
Freelove Frs. Jno.
Hales Elijah
Turner Sarah
HAIRDRESSERS.
Hitching John
Spurge Richard
SADDLERS, &c.
Arber Joseph
Goldstone James
Turner Sarah
STRAW HAT MAKERS.
Digby My. Ann
Faircloth Sarah
TAILORS & DRAPERS.
Brown Jno. & Son
Fox Robert, glover
Smith Richard Marshall
VETERINARY SURGEONS.
King Henry Isaac Adams
Walford William
WATCH MAKERS.
Burton John
Garrard Robert
WHEELWRIGHTS.
Chipperfield Samuel (and cooper)
Prentice Harriet
COACH
From Clare to Dunmow and Bishop Stortford, on Mon. and Fri. at 7 and other mornings 9.30; returns evening