3S ESSEX AS A WINE-PRODUCING COUNTY. 



Coggeshall, North Ockendon, Havering, and Tendring, fields 

 which are still called "The Vineyard," while at Roydon there is 

 a " Vineyard Hill," at West Bergholt a Wine Mark Field, 

 at Great Horkesley a Vinese Field, and at Stapleford Abbotts 

 there is a field known as " Vineys " — the latter very likely a 

 corruption. I remember that, many years since, the Rev. W. 

 Gibson, of Tilt}', pointed out to n^e a pasture still called " The 

 Vineyard " which lies immediately adjoining the site of the 

 Abbey of Tilty, on the western slope of the picturesque and 

 well-sheltered valley in which the Abbey stood. Dr. Laver 

 informs me that, at Copford, there is a field, close to the village 

 school, which retains the name of " The Vineyard." At Chelms- 

 ford, adjoining the Recreation Ground, there is a road known 

 as the Vineyards ; and, at Great Baddow, close to Chelms- 

 ford, there is a residence known as " The Vineyards ; " but 

 I cannot say whether these n^imes are ancient or not. 



The residence of our member, Mr. William Murray Tuke, 

 standing in a elex'ated position near the sunnnit of Windmill 

 Hill and overlooking the whole of the town of SaftVon Walden, 

 is known as "The Vineyards." Mr. Tuke gave the house 

 this name (as he has been good enough to inform me) when he 

 built it, some fifteen or twenty years ago, owing to the fact 

 that a field (9 acres 19 perches in extent, a portion of which 

 now^ forms part of the grounds attached to the house), bore the 

 same name, as it had probably done for centuries. It is by no 

 means improbable that this field (which lies on the hill-side, 

 with a considerable slope to the southward) may formerly 

 have been cultivated as a vineyard by the monks of the Abbey 

 of Walden, the site of which is scarcely more than a mile distant. 

 Again, at Ingatestone Hall, theie is a small piece of ground, 

 lying on the south side of tiie house, which is said '" still to bear 

 the name of " The Vineyards." 



At Holfield Grange, near Coggeshall, about half-a-mile 

 westward from the house and on the margin of the park, there is 

 a wood known as " Vineyard W'ood," which I have recently been 

 able to visit through the kindness of Mr. R. D. Hill. In this 

 wood, there is a small sheltered valley, sloping sharply to the 

 south-west, which is probably the site of the ancient vineyard 

 from which the wood took its name. There can be very little 

 doubt that here, in mediaeval days, the monks of the Abbey of 



17 See A'o/ts iiiul Queries, 28tb Dec. 1850. 



