Navestock 1863 Whites directory
NAVESTOCK, a pleasant scattered village from 4 to 5 miles S. of Chipping Ongar, and from 5 to 7 miles N.N.E. of Romford, is partly on the south side of the vale of the Roding, and partly on the cultivated heath, which has a hilly surface, and extends southward to the bounds of Havering. Its parish contains 982 inhabitants, and 4152 acres of land, nearly all the property of the Dowager Countess Waldegrave, the lady of the manor, which was granted by Queen Mary, in 1553, to Sir Edw. Waldegrave, whose descendant, Sir Henry, was created Baron Waldegrave in 1626. The son of the latter was created Earl Waldegrave in 1729, and built Navestock Hall, which was a large and handsome building, standing in a well-wooded park, and was the seat of the succeeding Earls till 1811, when it was pulled down, and the park converted into a farm.
The Dowager Countess Waldegrave resides at Dudbrook House, in this parish. The remains of an ancient fortification are apparent on Navestock Common, near a high embankment, which has a deep ditch on each side of it.
The Church ( St. Thomas) is an ancient cemented structure, with a wooden belfry containing five bells, and surmounted by a spire of the same material. It was restored and newly seated about 1848. The north door is in the Norman style. The nave has a south aisle, and in the chancel is a large and handsome mural monument in memory of the two first Earls Waldegrave. Nearly opposite this is a beautiful monument, executed by Bacon, and erected in 1812, in memory of the Hon. Edward Waldegrave, who, after distinguishing himself as a lieutenant under Sir John Moore in Spain, was shipwrecked off Falmouth. The monument represents a mother weeping over the canteen of her son, which has been washed ashore, and in the background is seen a boy unfurling the British standard. Here are several other memorials of the Waldegraves, and under the north side of the chancel is their family vault, where manyof them are interred. Another handsome monument is in memory of the late Viscount Chewton, whowas a captain of the Scots Fusiliers, and died in 1854, of wounds received at the Battle of Alma. He was father of the present Earl Waldegrave,
who was born in 1851. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £13. 3s. 9d., and in 1831 at £461, is in the patronage of Trinity College, Oxford, and incumbency of the Rev. William Stubbs, M.A., who has an old residence with neat pleasure grounds, and 13A. 30p. of glebe. The great tithes, which belong to the said College, were commuted in 1840 for £574 per annum. The vicar is the lessee, and pays a small quit-rent to the College, and a fine certain of £60.
In 1625, John Green bequeathed, for the use of the poor parishioners, the following property, viz. : A house and yard at Brent- wood; a cottage at Navestock ; Heathfield Meadow, 4A. 3P.; Bunn’s Field, 4A. 25P.; Pinksty Field, 2A. 3R. 9P.; and three pieces of meadow land (3A. 2R. 18P.) Part of this property has been sold, and the charity now yields about £70 per annum, which is distributed in clothing, shoes, &c. In 1669, Lewis Betts left to this parish two yearly rent-charges out of the Red Lion Inn at Romford, viz. , £1 for the four oldest labouring men, and £2 for apprenticing a poor child. The poor parishioners have a yearly rent-charge of 20s. out of Dycotts’ Farm (belonging to Sir R. D. Neave,) left by James Wallinger in 1605; and eight poor persons, not receiving alms of the parish, have the dividends of £275 Three per Cent. Reduced Annuities, left by Elizabeth Prince in 1796.
Brown Joseph. blacksmith and wheelwright
Carley John, beerhouse – BeeHive
Felstead Mrs Mary, shopkeeper
Friend Fredk. Alfred, schoolmaster
Gooding Robert, baker & shopkeeper
Hall Collinson, jun. corn miller
Harris Jas. parish clerk, Post Office
Heslop Joseph, carpenter
Ottley Chas. and Philip, beerhouses – Alma Arms
Paine Henry, vict. Green Man
Pope Wm. shopkeeper.& vict. Plough
Stubbs Rev. William, M.A. vicar
Waldegrave Dowager Countess, Dudbrook House
Wakeling Henry, blacksmith
FARMERS.
Bull John, civil engineer, Hall
Buttle Richard
Bridges James
Colson Ambrose, Abbott’s Wick
Hall Collinson, Princess Gate
Hawksley James
Coleman Mr
Hicks Daniel, New Hall
Lenny William, Cuddlesmere Green
Miles Robert
Lenny William
Miles John Norris, Howlett Hall
Newcomb John
Mollett Edwin
Pratt Mrs Charlotte, Loft Hall
Sadler Thomas Hartley, and miller, Yew Tree
Seal Charles
Tyrell Henry
Smith James, Watton’s green
POST OFFICE at James Harris’s.
Letters via Romford