250 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUR. 



known. He was elected Common Serjeant of London, 1453, Recorder in 1454, 

 and is then styled " a discreet and circumspect man," and elected " for his 

 prudence and affability." In 1461 he represented London in parliament. He 

 took the side of the House of York, and in 147 1 he, with some of the aldermen 

 " that hade reule of the cyte," let King Edward in at " dynertyme," and then took 

 King Henry VL and Archbishop Nevill, and put them "in warde" the next day. 



On the 22nd of May, 1472, Sir Thomas was appointed Chief Baron of the 

 Exchequer, and held this until his death, seven years later. Amongst his estates 

 we find " the Manor of Marks with two messuages, a windmill, 360 acres of 

 land, and no'/ rent." He also held the Manor of Uphavering or Gobions, in 

 Romford (Marks Gate), of Elizabeth, Queen of Edward IV., consisting of a 

 messuage, 222 acres of land, and a rent of 8/1. 



There are also memorial tablets to members of the Fanshawe family, and on 

 the south wall to Jacob Uphill, 1662, the father of Richard, previously mentioned^ 



On the north wall of the nave are tablets to Thomas Waters, 1756, John 

 Tyler of Mawney's, 1807, and one recording the munificent gift of /'io,ooo by 

 Wm Ford, a farmer, in 1825, for the building and endowment of a free school 

 at Dagenham. He also left ;^900 for clothing the poor. On the south side are 

 memorials to Nathaniel and James Rogers, Alex. Millner, Jonathan Arnold, of 

 Whalebone Cottage, 1857, John Guillemard, F.R.S., 1844, and William Stone, 

 1839. On either side of the tower are two small vestries. 



The church and manor formerly belonged to the Abbey of Barking ; and are 

 therefore not mentioned in Domesday Book. They took the great tithes, which 

 now form part of the endowment of the Free School at Brentwood, founded by 

 Sir Antony Browne, and endowed a vicarage here. The present patron is Mr. T. 

 C. Moore. The Rev. John Langhorne, D.D. (I73S-I779), poet and joint author 

 with his brother William of a Translation of " Plutarch's Lives," by which 

 he is now best known, came here as curate in 1761, after his unrequited attach- 

 ment to Miss Anne Cracraft, and here penned his '' Hymn to Hope." 



Mr. Crouch concluded his remarks by calling attention to a gravestone close 

 by the door of the vicar's chancel, in memory of James Palmer, for twenty-four 

 years clerk and sexton of this church, who met his death by the falling in of a 

 grave in 1878. Beneath is a stanza from " Miss Kilmansegg," by Tom Hood, 

 beginning " 'Tis a stern and startling thing to think." The vicar then said ihat 

 he had suggested the epitaph, and asked if it was not an appropriate one. 



On leaving the church, the walk lay across the fields to Rippleside, where in 

 olden times stood the Manor House of " Cockermouth." This, and even the 

 name, has entirely disappeared, the modern residence of Mr. W. \^arco Williams, 

 named " Merrie-lands," being built on the site. John de Cockermouth held this 

 of the Abbess of Barking, temp. Edward III. At the Dissolution it was sold to 

 Sir Antony Browne. 



Thence by way of Chequer's Lane the party arrived at Dagenham Level, and 

 the margin of the Thames, overlooking the great Breach which occurred here on 

 the 17th December, 1707. Permission to visit here had been accorded by Mr. 

 \Villiams, the owner, and one of his sons kindly received the members and gave 

 some details of the machinery, and the work on which they are engaged. Standing 

 on the new wooden jetty, with the four lofty hydraulic cranes towering above, a 

 paper was read by Mr. Crouch on the course of the river, the characteristics of the 

 locality, and the incidents and repair of the great Breach (this paper will be 

 printed in extenso in the next number). 



