The History of Harold Hill and Noak Hill.
By B.F.Lingham. A.L.A.
First published 1969
The documentary history of Harold Hill really begins with the Norman Conquest when the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086; the estate then formed part of the Royal Manor of Havering.
At the time of the Conquest and earlier, reaching back into pre- history, Harold Hill, Noak Hill and surrounding areas, in fact the whole hinterland of Essex was covered by a dense forest, which was known in the Middle Ages as the Forest of Waltham or Essex. To the early medieval kings it was their domain, not to be ploughed or encroached upon, but to be left virgin and wild so that they could hunt the deer and boar that lived in the forest. However, under the pressure of increasing population the greater part of this forest was cleared by the sixteenth century. Place names in the immediate area point to its former presence; Harold Wood, Brentwood, South Weald (Weald - Wood), and Noak Hill (Noak - oak tree or leaf).
This is why little evidence of occupation has ever been found, other than Roman in this particular area. Both Saxons and the ancient British, Celts etc., built mainly in wood, which was abundant nearby whilst the denseness of the forest inhibited settlement. The only pre-Roman find that has been made in the close vicinity was a cache of bronze swords at Brentwood. Archaeologists have found greater evidence of occupation in the Thames gravel at Rainham where implements from the Old, Middle and New Stone Ages have been excavated. These discoveries, although circumstantial, do show the pattern of development. As Aryan and Celtic invaders from Europe crossed the North Sea, they settled first on the rich bottomlands beside the Thames at Rainham and Dagenham. Then, using the river as a path to pass round the forests, they travelled into the interior of the country.
The Roman Conquest of Britain began by the Emperor Claudius in 43 A.D. with Vespaspian as the general in charge of the expedition. To consolidate the military conquest, settlements were placed in certain strategic positions, two of which were London and Colchester. They became the main military and administrative centres in East Anglia, Essex and the Thames Valley. These two centres were linked by a military road cut through the forest with three intermediate stations called Durolitum, Caesaromagus (Chelmsford), and Canonium, designed primarily as military outposts to protect the road, Durolitum is thought to have been placed at or near Romford, near Gidea Park or by the River Rom. The present London to Colchester Road follows closely the old Roman road.
A number of Roman finds have been made at Romford and Hornchurch, but the most significant discovery was made at Noak Hill in 1814. After the enclosure of the Common lands, Noak Hill Road was laid down; during the construction an area of Roman tiles three hundred paces long were uncovered. This is the only concrete evidence ever found of a Roman settlement in Harold Hill, They were found between North Hill Drive and the Bear. It is now thought that there were two settlements in Havering, Durolitum at Romford and the other at Noak Hill.
After the Roman evacuation of Britain and. the subsequent Saxon invasions, the Kingdom of the East Saxons was established in an area of eastern England now covered by the counties of Essex and Suffolk. The place name Essex is derived from 'East Saxons'. During the eighth and ninth centuries, Alfred the Great created the Kingdom of England out of the many small kingdoms then in existence. The later Saxon or English kings established a hunting lodge in the forest at Havering-atte- Bower, where they hunted deer and boar. Because of its convenience to London and its great potential as a hunting preserve, Havering became part of the king's demesne lands (demesne = land kept by the king for his own personal use).
It became a favourite retreat for Edward the Confessor and, on his death, passed with the kingdom to King Harold, the place names Harold Hill and Harold Wood are derived from this connection, although there is no evidence that King Harold ever visited Havering-atte-Bower.
After the Norman Conquest and the decisive battle at Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror inherited by right of conquest the Kingdom of England,
The arrival of William the Conqueror heralded a new era in land tenure in England. Henceforth, real ownership of the land was to be vested solely in the Crown of England and in exchange for knight or military service, the Barons would hold the land in trust of the King. This system of holding land in exchange for military and other services extended throughout the whole social structure. The basic land unit was a manor or Lordship. Each great land grant made to a Baron consisted of varying numbers of manors.
The king kept a great many manors for his own personal use, which formed his demesne (This was a general term; any land kept by a Baron or Lord for this purpose was known as his demesne). The Manor of Havering-atte-Bower was one of these manors; and it was used primarily for hunting, although some of the land was granted to tenants in exchange for military service, later commuted, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, to a monetary rent. The tenants who held land direct from the King were either freemen who paid rent or part military service, or villeins who gave services in return, i.e. ploughed, sowed and reaped the harvest on the king's land etc. Villeins were unfree and could not leave the manor without the king's permission, whereas freemen could, the king's palace was at Havering-atte-Bower (bower is Old English, meaning a dwelling, or in this case, a palace) and his manorial court was held there each six weeks when it was compulsory for tenants, freemen and villeins to attend. The court was presided over by either the Steward of the Manor or the Bailiff, who passed sentences after the body of the court had passed judgement. These two officials were in charge of the administration of the manor. The tenants, freemen and villeins enjoyed special privileges during the Middle Ages because of the close relationship with the king. A charter was granted in 1465 confirming these privileges which made them valid in law (see: Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower pp. 25).
The manor of Havering in 1086, when the Domesday Book was compiled, consisted of the present area of Romford, Hornchurch, Collier Row, Harold Wood, and Harold Hill and Havering-atte-Bower. The manor took the shape of a wedge, with the blunt end centred on Have ring-atte-Bower and decreasing in width, with the thin end of the wedge finishing at the Thames. The entry in the Domesday Book gives some indication of the amount of land then available for cultivation, which was small in relation to the total acreage of woodland. It can be calculated roughly that there were over 2,000 acres of woodland in Havering. The forest, despite the efforts of medieval kings to preserve it intact through law, suffered from encroachment and denudation, and rapidly decreased in size during the Middle Ages. At the end of the sixteenth century, all that was left of the three great forests, one of which was Harold Wood, was the Common land of Romford, Collier Row and Noak Hill. As a result, more arable land, pastures and meadows became available for farming. With the increase in population, plus the king's incessant need for more money, the manor was split into twenty sub-manors. The manors of Dagenhams, Cockerels and Gooshays were three of these sub-manors. They covered approximately the same area as the Harold Hill Housing Estate does today.
The manors of Dagenhams, Cockerells and Gooshays
Both the manors of Dagenhams and Cockerells lay to the northeast of the present housing estate; Dagenhams was centred on Dagnam Park and Cockerells lay just beyond Dycourts Priory School in Dagnam Park Drive. The manor of Gooshays lay by Gooshays Drive and west to Straight Road.
Cockerells
The name came from a tenant called Cockerell who held the manor during the reign of Henry III. Roger Cockerell or Kokorell is frequently mentioned in the Hornchurch Priory Documents as witness to deeds issued 1253-56.
John de Wand who died 1251, held by a grant in capite (capite -grant direct from the king), 120 acres of arable land, 5 acres and 1 rood of pasture and the service of tenants, at a rent of 61s. 6d. In the 'Documents' dated 1378 and 1385, Cockerells is described as a tenement, not a manor. The manor seems to have been added to that of Dagenhams during the tenure of the De Dakenham family, during the late fourteenth century. In 1420, Thomas de Dakenham held 'terra Cockerells' (Close Roll 7 HSN V).
Dagenhams
The manor was named after a family named De Dakenham or Dagenhams; possibly, they came from the neighbouring parish of Dagenham. Successive generations held the manor - possibly by direct grant — from the early thirteenth, (Henry III) to the late fourteenth century (Richard II), Names of three members of the family are recorded in the Hornchurch Priory Documents, Gilbert de Dakenham 1261, Thomas de Dakenham 1285-1306 and William de Dakenham 1321-26. Thomas was bailiff of the manor of Havering- atte-Bower during the reign of Edward I.
There are two entries in the medieval records that prove the de Dakenhams held lands in Havering, The first is dated 1334. John de Dover held of William de Dakenham 37 acres at Delle - which was near the present Putwell Bridge, then Dellebrigge, (Inquisitions Post-mortems). The other is dated 1420. A grant was made by Queen Catherine to her companion, Pernell Aldrewiche, of revenues from the lands late held by Thomas de Dakenham, as of the manor of Havering-atte –Bower. Namely, a messuage (house with a garden), 430 acres of land, a windmill; a messuage and 120 acres called 'Terra Cockerells', third part of a virgate at Mellonde (Maylands) and 37 acres 'Novelles Terra', at a total rent of 141s. 1d. (Close Roll 7 HEN V). John Organ, citizen of London, purchased the two manors - possibly from Thomas de Dakenham - for his son, Thomas and his wife, prior to 1403 Thomas Organ enfeoffed in turn, Nicholas Collerne and others in 1403; Thomas Prudance and Simon Bernwelle in 1406; in the same year Thomas Prudance renounced all rights to the manors by quit-claim in favour of Simon Bernwelle,
In the revenue grant of l420, Edmund Mortimer, 5th earl of March, held a grant in capite of the manors of Dagenhams and Cockerells. The grant was probably made in l413, when Mortimer was released from close detention on the accession of Henry V. Mortimer had been held in custody, though honourably treated, because of the possible claim he had to the throne. He had been recognised as heir presumptive by Richard II in 1398.
In Mortimer's will, dated 1425, the manors were left to his niece, Isabel, sister to Richard, Duke of York, to whom the greater part of the earl's estates had been left. Unfortunately, for Isabel, the bequest to her was not allowed and the manors reverted to the Crown.
Dagenhams and Cockerells next came into the possession of Henry Percy, 2nd earl of Northumberland. The grant was made by Henry VI in 1436, Percy had successfully campaigned against the Scots that year, and in return for his services, the king made a grant of £100 a year for life - the manors and their revenues formed part of that grant. An entry in the close rolls for 1443 is an order from the king to Percy that he is to go no further from London than his manor of Dagenhams, on pain of a fine of 1,000 marks. In late 1442, Percy quarrelled with John Kemp, Archbishop of York; his men entered the See and damaged property. The quarrel was finally settled in Council at London.
The reason for the order
Both the earl and his son, Henry, were confirmed Lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses. The earl was killed at the Battle of St. Albans in 1455. The Title and estates passed to his son who became the 3rd earl; he was killed six years later at the Battle of Towton. After the Yorkist victory, the 3rd earl was attainted and his property confiscated - including Dagenhams and Cockerells.
Isabel, now the wife of Henry Bourchier, 1st earl of Essex, petitioned her nephew Edward IV, that the bequest made to her in the will of Edmund Mortimer, earl of March (1425) be granted. The bequest was allowed and the manors of Dagenhams and Cockerells were granted to her in 1464, Gooshays in 1461.
Although it is known that the earls of March and Northumberland, and Isabel, Countess of Essex held the manors by tenure in capite, the names of those who were enfeoffed of Dagenhams and Cockerells are not known. It was possible that Avery Cornburgh, who also held Gooshays, was enfeoffed of Dagenhams. In the will of Sir William Husy, it is stated that he was enfeoffed by Avery Cornburgh. Sir William must have received a direct grant of the manors from Edward IV or Richard II before Avery's death, which was in 1486. This grant was confirmed in 1492 by Elizabeth, Queen of Henry VII, who had been given the manor of Havering-atte-Bower early in 1487.
Sir William Husy, an eminent lawyer during the reigns of Edward IV, Richard II and Henry VII, was Attorney General in 1471; Chief Justice from 1481 until his death. He presided over the tribunal, which impeached the Duke of Clarence for treason in l478. Clarence was later found drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine at the Tower of London. Sir William died in 1495.
In his will of 1495, and in other records of the same period - Close, Patents rolls, etc. - Dagenhams now became known as Dagnams - (Cockerells seems to have boon dropped from the title) - because the name tended to be confused with the neighbouring parish of Dagenham.
His son and heir, Sir John Husy, held Dagnams until 1514. Husy, an important official during the reigns of Henry VII and VIII, served in positions of great responsibility. He fought in the Battle of Stoke in 1487 on the side of Henry VII. In 1502 Sir William Courtenay, who married the Queen's sister, Katherine, daughter of Edward IV, had been sent to the Tower under suspicion of being implicated in the schemes of his brother-in-law, the Earl of Suffolk, who fled abroad. Sir William's children were sent to Sir John Husy's house in Essex, Dagnams where they stayed for six months. One of the children, Edmund, died at Havering - possibly at Dagnams. Husy became involved in the exactions during the latter years of Henry VII's reign; he was pardoned, and may have been imprisoned, on the accession of Henry VIII in 1509. In 1514 an Act of Parliament was passed, confirming a petition made in 1512 by Husy to the King, for Dagnams to be exchanged for other manors in the north. The exchange may have been made with William Butterley and others; for the same Act confirmed a grant of Dagnams to them and they enfeoffed Peter Christmas. He was only in possession of the manor for two years, for he died in 1517. His heir was William Turk.
It is not known if William Turk was enfeoffed of Dagnams in turn, On the scanty evidence available it does not seem that he was, for in the manorial roll for Dagnams dated 1520, the name of William Butterley appears as Lord of the manor.
Dagnams passes next to the Legatt family. The Legatts had been prominent landowners in Hornchurch from as early as the early fifteenth century. One member was High- Sheriff of Essex in 1401 and 1408, Thomas Legatt died in 1555; he held not only Dagnams, but also the manors of Gooshays and Gobions, as well as the licensed house, earlier known as The Bull, and renamed The Angel in Romford, and other lands and property in Havering.
In the Domestic State Papers for the year 1533, Thomas Legatt made a supplication to Thomas Cromwell, then Steward of the Manor of Havering, who was also Lord Chancellor of England. We do not know why he supplicated, but it was possibly for a grant to be made to him by the King, of the manor of Dagnams.
Thomas Legatt was succeeded by his son Thomas in 1555, by his grandson, John in 1604 and by his great grandson Thomas in 1607. Both Thomas and his son John were magistrates under the Charter of the Liberty of Havering in the late seventeenth century. Thomas of the fourth generation was elected but declined to serve. In 1596, Thomas Legatt was one of three commissioners, the others being Sir Henry Grey of Pyrgo and George Hervey of Marks, appointed to raise a subsidy from the Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower for troops to protect Essex from the Spanish threat. Eight years earlier, the planned invasion of England by the Spanish Armada had failed.
Dagnams passed to the Wright family of Kelvedon Hall sometime between 1618-1633; the estate was in the possession of Dr. Laurence Wright in 1633, for the earliest known map of the manor was issued on his instructions that year. He received a direct grant from King Charles I in 1637.
John Wright, father of Dr. Laurence Wright, owned the land and mansion at Wrights Bridge, also lands at Noak Hill and Maylands Farm. He, with Peter Humble, was challenged by James I to prove title to certain lands in Havering-atte-Bower created by encroachments and assarts - this may have been land of Havering Plain, Noak Hill, (see Manor of Gooshays). Dr. Laurence Bright (1590-1657) was an eminent surgeon during the Commonwealth, physician to Oliver Cromwell and the Charterhouse, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Physicians, After he died in 1657, his son and heir, Henry, was created a baronet in 1658 by Cromwell, and married Anne, daughter of Lord Crewe of Stone, the year after his father's death. Sir Henry died in 1663 at the age of 27 years. His young son, Henry, inherited Dagnams and the estates. During the minority of her son, Lady Anne Wright acted as trustee, living at Dagnams with her other child, Anne.
It was during the year of the Plague, in 1665, that Samuel Pepys visited Dagnams to arrange the marriage of Lady Jeminah, daughter of Lord Sandwich, to Phillip the son of Sir George Carteret, treasurer to the Navy. Lady Jeminah was niece to Lady Anne Wright and sister-in-law to Lord Sandwich, who was Vice-Admiral of the fleet and to whom Pepys was secretary. Pepys, an inveterate snob, was only too happy to act as intermediary, because of the great honour of being invited to stay at Dagnams and the possible influence the two great aristocratic families could bring to bear on his future career at the Admiralty, if the marriage settlement was successfully negotiated. During the negotiations, Pepys visited Dagnams several times, and his visits were recorded in his diary:
"July 15th [1665]. Mr. Carteret and I to the ferry-place at Greenwich, and there staid an hour, crossing the water to and again to get our coach and horses over; and by and by set out, and so toward Dagenhams. But L—d! what silly discourse we had as to love matters, he being the most awkward man ever I met with in my life as to that business. Thither we come, and by that time it began to be dark, and were kindly received by Lady Wright and my Lord Crewe…"
The marriage between the young couple was finalised 31st July, l665. Afterwards, Pepys was regarded highly by Lord Sandwich, the Carterets and Lady Wright, and to his intense pleasure he was congratulated by King Charles and his brother James, Duke of York,
One of the reasons that Pepys was pleased to leave London was to escape the Plague, but it reached Romford in late 1665 when 90 burials were recorded.
The second Baronet, Henry, died before he came of age, in 1681, at the age of 19 years. Dagnams then passed to Anne, his sister, now a great heiress. In 1689, she married Edmund Pye, of Farringdon, Berkshire, and later William Rider; and by these two husbands had a large family. During the first two decades of the eighteenth century, the estate was heavily mortgaged; Anne entered into bonds with Edward Carteret [1711], and the Earl of Dysart [1720], and others.
Anne seems to have leased Dagnams for short periods on several occasions. In 1716, Lord Derwentwater, a leader in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, was executed for high treason; a request was made by his wife to bury the body in Scotland, which was refused for political reasons. Lady Derwentwater, who had leased the house during that year, disobeyed the order taking the body away secretly, and on the journey to Scotland, it lay in the Chapel of Ease at Dagnams for three days.
Anne Rider (nee Wright) in her will dated 1726, left Dagnams to her cousin Edward Carteret instead of her husband, William Rider, or her children. Dagnams was conveyed to Carteret by deed of title at the time of the will. The proviso to the bequest stated that he was to redeem all mortgages and other debts outstanding on the estate after her death. The reason for the bequest is not known, but possibly the estate was so heavily encumbered that it had to pass to a member of the family - Edward Carteret - who could afford to pay all debts outstanding. Alternatively, Carteret may have held mortgages on Dagnams - deed of mortgage between Anne Rider and Edward Carteret, 1711, so that the bequest of the estate to him in 1726 may have been one way of redeeming the bond.
Edward Carteret, related to the family by the marriage of Lady Jeminah and Phillip Carteret in 1665, was Postmaster General during the reign of George II, and came into full possession of the estate after the death of Anne Rider in 1731. He married Lady Bridget, Sir John Sudbury's widow, by whom he had several children, Carteret died in 1739, Dagnams passing to his two remaining children, Bridget, Maid of Honour to the Queen Caroline, and Anne-Isabella, the wife of Admiral Cavendish.
During their term of ownership, the sisters lived in London and it seems that Dagnams was let on a short terra lease. The Neave family deeds at the Essex Record Office, Chelmsford, includes a lease between Messrs. Johnson and Robinson to Mr Cole of Dagnams dated 1746. A second map of the Manor of Dagnams was commissioned by a Mr. John Crow, dated 1748. Dagnams was sold in 1749 by the Hon. Mrs. Cavendish to Henry Muilman, who wrote "A Gentleman's History of Essex". The estate was then sold to Richard Neave, a wealthy London merchant. His son, Richard Neave, entered into partnership with his uncle, Thomas Truman Jnr, as a West Indies merchant. During the early 1740s, they hired and purchased several ships to carry general merchandise to the West Indies and America. The Glasgow was purchased in 1746, to trade out of London to Sierra Leone and America. Richard Neave owned several plantations in the West Indies, Nevis, Leeward Islands and Montserrat.
It was a very prosperous partnership. Having made his fortune, Richard Neave, as did many of his contemporaries, turned away from trade to the land, to become an aspiring member of the landed gentry. To be accepted into Society, one's fortune and income had to be derived from the ownership of land; to earn an income from trade was not acceptable. Richard Neave followed the practice of many rich merchants, who after making their fortunes in India or the Indies, renounced trade, making the transition from merchant to landed gentleman, by purchasing a country seat and estates. The first stage in Richard Neave's transition from merchant to country gentleman was to buy Dagnams; the second stage was the purchase of large amounts of land, a policy continued by his son, Thomas.
Dagnam Park, in 1772, covered 680 acres, consisting of capital messuage (Dagnams) and land of 200 acres, Cockerells 160 acres, Maylands 250 acres and Priestlands 80 acres. The policy of land acquisition began in 1785 with Morse's Farm 24 acres, Wrights Bridge Mansion and lands with Little Wrights Bridge in 1788, Payne's Farm 40 acres in 1799, the Manors of Earls Well and Prittlewell in 1791. He also acquired a lease to the Manor of Havering- atte-Bower from Richard Benyon in 1801. Richard Neave still kept his connections in the City, he was the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England from 1781-1783 and Governor from 1783-1785. He was created Baronet in 1795, possibly for his services during the Gordon Riots of 1780. He was created Sheriff of Essex in 1794. In the early part of the Napoleonic Wars, he became part owner of the privateers 'Glatton' and 'Royal Duke' 1796. Sir Richard died in 1814.
His son, Sir Thomas, the second Baronet inherited the estates. The policy of land acquisition was continued by him: 'The Bear' in 1820, 'The Angel' public house in 1818 and North End Farm, 185 acres in l824, all at Noak Hill, Manor of Dovers 255 acres in 1825 and Manor of Gooshays 1,280 acres in 1829. The lease of Havering-atte-Bower was acquired again in 1821.
The family were now well established in Havering as landed gentry and being important members of the community took part in the local administration of government and justice, which was thought to be the responsibility and duty of their class. Sir Thomas was Sheriff of Essex in 1820, and Steward of the Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower in 1806 and 1809; his son Digby in1821; and he was also Magistrate under the Charter of the Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower in 1826 and 1828. Sir Thomas died in 1848.
The third Baronet was Sir Richard Digby Neave, grandson of Sir Richard and son of Sir Thomas Neave. He added to the estates Brick Kiln Farm in l849 and Spice Pitts Farm in 1854. The Neaves were also in possession of Gidea Hall in 1849, probably on a short-term lease, where Sir Thomas' widow was living at this time. Sir Richard died in 1863.
The fourth Baronet was Sir Arundel. The 'Priory' was probably built about this time, and subsequently leased to Mr. John Sands. In 1877 Sir Arundel died and was succeeded by his young son Sir Thomas, who was then only three years old,
Sir Thomas married Dorina Lockhart in 1908. Although he does not seem to have served in the First World War, he did see some military service.
From 1919 to 1947, the farms and estates, acquired during the previous 150 years were gradually sold, either to sitting tenants or through auctions. Many of the farms were sold at auction in 1919; they included Gooshays, New Hall, Brick Kiln Farm (which was later known as Hilldene Farm) and others. Their reasons for selling are not known, but possibly it was because of the increase in general taxation and the rising costs in maintaining a large mansion such as Dagnams. The total acreage of the Estate that remained to the Neaves was 558 acres in 1947.
Sir Thomas died in 1940, His son and heir, Arundell, was then serving in the Armed Forces during the Second World War as a Major in the Welsh Guards. He was at the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. After the war in 1946, the London County Council offered to buy Dagnam Park for the proposed new housing estate; Sir Arundell made no objection and agreed to sell. After Dagnam Park was sold, Sir Arundell moved to his other estate in Anglesey. The title of Lord of the Manor of Dagnams then lapsed.
Gooshays
The earliest record of land tenure at Gooshays, in the reign of Edward III, is dated 1334, John de Dover, who died that year, held in Gooshays a messuage, 60 acres of arable land and 4 acres of meadow at a rent of 37s. per year. Philip, his son, who inherited the estate, died in 1335, he was succeeded by his son, Richard de Dover.
Edmund Mortimer, 5th earl of March, later held the grant in capite, early in the fifteenth century - possibly 1413? The manor of Gooshays reverted to the Crown on his death in 1425. (See Manor of Dagenham, p.4).
John Chaderton, or Chatterton, then held the manor between 1425? and 1461. In that year the manor was granted to Isabel, Countess of Essex, by her nephew, Edward IV, The grant was made in 1461-2.
Throughout the early part of the fifteenth century (1407-1461?), the manor was held from Edmund Mortimer, John Chaderton and the Countess of Essex, either in fief, or by charter of demise by Richard Hamme, his son John, and possibly Richard's grandson Henry. (A pardon was given to Henry Hamme, late of Gooshays, in 1472. Close Roll Ed IV). John Hamme was granted a charter of demise after the death of his father Richard, by John Chaderton in 1444.
Avery Cornburgh held the manor by socage from 1468? He was made a Justice of the Peace in that year, and held the position until his death in 1485. Cornburgh originally came from Devon and was appointed Sheriff of Cornwall in 1464-5, and 1468-9. He was in the service of Edward IV and Richard III as squire of the body from 1474 until his death. Gooshays was his home in Essex though official duties kept him in London. Later, he was appointed Sheriff of Essex 1472-3 and of Hertfordshire 1477-8. He is best known in Romford, amongst other benefactions, for an endowment of a Chantry House for the officiating priest in l480, who was not only to say masses for the dead, but also to lecture in the church of Romford, and to preach at least two sermons every year in the churches of South Ockendon, Hornchurch, Dagenham and Barking. He endowed it with £10 per annum, for a priest to pray for the souls of himself and his friends. This endowment was suppressed in 1577, when it was worth £15 per year.
The Chantry is now known as the Church House. From 1600 to 1908, it was used as a licensed house, the 'Cock and Bell' Inn.
Avery Cornburgh died in l485, his heirs being Agnes, sister to Avery, and a nephew.
The manor at this time consisted of 6 messuages, 20 cottages, 40 tofts, 500 acres of arable land, 100 of meadow, 500 of wood at a rent of 10 marks per year,
It is difficult to trace ownership of the manor during the sixteenth century, but we know the names of two owners, Thomas Legatt who died in 1555 and Thomas Moreton who died in 1591. Thomas Legatt held Dagenhams and Cockerells at the same time.
Richard Humble owned the manor after the death of Thomas Moreton, possibly from 1591 until 1616. Humble was a London merchant, a vintner by trade and an Alderman of that city. After his death in 1616, the manor and its estates passed to his son Peter.
Both James I and Charles I were keen huntsmen. They frequently visited Havering, to hunt in the park, which was then enclosed within the Forest of Waltham, deer being their main quarry. They were never popular at Havering mainly because of their attempts to enlarge the boundaries of the Forest - the Forest of Waltham stretched through Loughton to the north of Havering-atte-Bower in the seventeenth century - and during their reigns it increased in size. A typical attempt to get land for afforestation was made in 1617, when James I made a claim to certain lands in Havering then owned by Peter Humble, John Wright and others. It was alleged that the lands had been created by encroachments and assarts out of the Forest of Waltham within the bounds of the manor of Havering-atte-Bower. Their defence, made before Henry Yelverton, the Attorney General, was based on 'The extent of the Manor of Havering' of 1307-8, which referred to the forests then in existence. They also showed deeds of title to the land.
Peter Humble died in 1623, and his son having died previously, the manor of Gooshays passed to his sister Elizabeth, who was married to Richard Ward, a wealthy goldsmith from London. Richard Ward was jeweller to Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles II. They did not live at the manor, which had been leased to Thomas Roche in 1635. The Roche family had held the neighbouring manor of Gobions (Harold Wood), from 1549, when Sir William Roche had a grant in socage.
The estate passed to their son, Humble Ward. For services to the king during the Civil War, Humble, a confirmed Royalist, was knighted in 1643, and later advanced to the peerage as Lord Ward of Birmingham in March1664. He married Frances, granddaughter of Edward Sutton, Lord Dudley. On the death of Lord Dudley in 1643, Frances, his heir, inherited the estates and became Baroness Dudley, Lord Ward died in 1670. His eldest son, Edward, from whom the Earls of Dudley are descended, inherited Gooshays,
The manor was sold by Baron Ward's other son, William, to William Mead in the 1680s. Mead's son-in-law was George Fox, the founder of the Quaker Movement. In the last years of his life, Fox frequently visited Gooshays. His visits are recorded in his journal;
"When I had stayed about a month in London I got out of town again. For by reasons of the many hardships I had undergone in imprisonment and other sufferings for truths sake, my body was grown so infirm and weak that I could not bear the closeness of the city long together but was fain to go a little into the country, where I might have the benefit of the fresh air. At this time I went with my son-in-law, William Mead, to his country house called Gooses in Essex where I stayed about two weeks."
This visit was made in 1687; there are other references in the journal. His last visit was made in 1690, some months before his death,
Both William Mead and William Penn - after whom the State of Pennsylvania in the United States of America is named - were tried at the Old Bailey in 1670, on a charge of unlawfully preaching in Gracechurch Street. Sir Nathaniel Mead came into possession of the Gooshays Manor after his father's death sometime between 1690 and 1714.
Sir Nathaniel sold the manor and estates to William Sheldon in 1754. At this time the manor and lands were in Havering, Romford, Noak Hill and other places. Gooshays passed to his son, William in 1798, and then to William Sheldon the younger in 1817.
The family lived in Middlesex, not at Gooshays; the land was leased as separate farms - Gooshays Farm, New Hall Farm, Smiths land, Pinchback, Willets, Hungerdown Farm and three others. This practice was started by Mead before 1754.
Sir Thomas Neave purchased Gooshays from William Sheldon the younger in 1829. The manor and the land now became part of the Neave estates; the title of Lord of the Manor of Gooshays lapsed and Gooshays became just another farm. The Neaves now owned all the land on which the Harold Hill estate now stands.
The farms at Harold Hill
Harold Hill from Domesday 1086 to 1947 was a farming community agriculture being the main industry. In the middle ages, the land within the manors of Dagenhams and Gooshays was cultivated and held by freemen and villeins, in small strips and sections scattered throughout the fields or arable land, from the Lord of the Manor. Freemen paid rent whilst villeins or serfs, in return, cultivated the Lord's demesne lands two or three days a week. An example of medieval land holding can be found today on a farm at Noak Hill, where the Church of Hornchurch owns a small section of two acres in a field. This land was probably acquired in the Middle Ages by Hornchurch, which was then the parish church for the whole of the Manor of Havering atte Bower.
The farming land, during this period, was very different in appearance from a modern farm today. The fields of arable land, pastures and meadows were not enclosed, except during harvest time as protection against the cattle and pigs that were allowed to graze unhindered. The fields were separated from each other by a wilderness of wood, common and wasteland. Freeman and villein had the right to graze their animals in this uncultivated land - a right common to all.
The manorial system of land-holding became out of date during the changing economic conditions of the l4th and l5th centuries, to be superceded by the Lords of the manor, at first the Lord's demesne, being leased on a short term basis, by the Lord, to small tenant farmers who paid an annual rent. The farms were really smallholdings or crofts, possibly not more than 30 acres in size. The earliest reference to a small farm of this type, is in the medieval rolls dated 1461, to New Hall Farm which formed part of the Manor of Gooshays. The manor was granted in that year to Isobel, Countess of Essex, by Edward IV; and the farm was leased by Agnes, the widow of Richard Aired. This change in land tenure continued throughout the l6th century - villeinage was declared legally extinct in 1618. In the manorial rolls of the Manor of Dagenhams (1520-1655), the names of tenants and the fields they held which formed their smallholdings were given, including the rents paid.
During the l7th and early l8th centuries, this form of land tenure was still in existence, with its open unenclosured fields and primitive farming methods. Maps of the Manor of Dagenhams, dated 1633 and 1748 show the same fields, still unenclosed, although a century separates the two maps. From 1750, the modern farm appears, created by a new Agrarian Revolution. It was found that a large, rather than a small farm was more economic; and also, with the introduction of new farming methods, winter feed for cattle and other farm stock, enclosure of both open fields and common lands, which released more farming land, together these changes revolutionised the farming industry of the late l8th and 19th century. The change that took place in the industry during the hundred years between 1750 and l850 can be illustrated in the deeds of sale of the manor of Gooshays in the years 1754 and 1829. In 1754, when the manor was sold to William Sheldon, the land specification in the deed gave a detailed but medieval description of the land owned, 500 acres of arable, 400 acres of wood, 300 acres of pasture, etc. But when the manor was sold to Sir Thomas Neave in l829, some development had taken place, for the land is now specified in the form of farms with their acreage and names, Gooshays farm 285 acres, Smith's land 19 acres, Pinchback 43 acres, Willets and Hungerdown 46 acres, New Hall Farm 150 acres and three other farms 221 acres together,
The Neaves then re-organised the farms at Harold Hill, after the land of the manor of Gooshays had been added to Dagnam Park estates, the result was fewer farms but with larger acreages. Some small-holdings were merged with others to create Harold Hill Farm, which also included Payne's Farm, purchased by the Neaves in 1799, whilst Pinchbeck was added to either Gooshays or New Hall Farms. The only land at Harold Hill that was not part of the Neave estates in 1829, was Brick Kiln Farm, which was purchased later in 1849. During the 19th century the farms were let on annual leases.