A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



acres lay together, 56 acres which were in the occupa- 

 tion of four copyholders at rents totalling £,z 1 3/. a 

 year; and the rents, amounting to {j. 19/. i,d. a year, 

 and services of all the twelve freeholders.'* The share 

 of Sir Thomas Walsingham was to be 218 acres of 

 demesne land which lay in two parcels of 122 acres 

 and 71 acres and several smaller ones, and 44 acres 

 which were in the occupation of four copyholders at 

 rents totalling C't 4^- * year." 



John Rochester was dead by 1584.' He was suc- 

 ceeded by his second son Edward who in 1 586 sold his 

 half of Bobbingworth manor to the above mentioned 

 John Poole.* This estate afterwards became known as 

 the manor oi BOBBINGWORTH HALL.^ 



The demesne land acquired by Sir Thomas Walsing- 

 ham in I 5 7 5 was sold by his son Sir Thomas Walsingham 

 in 1598 to Robert Bourne, owner of Blake Hall (see 

 below).* The greater part, if not all, of this land after- 

 wards remained as a permanent part of Blake Hall 

 estate, some of it being attached to the manor of Blake 

 Hall and some of it to the manor of Bilsdens (see 

 below).' 



John Poole died in 1602 having devised Bobbing- 

 worth Hall to his son John with the stipulation that 

 his widow Lora was to have 'her dwelling and house 

 room in the new parlour belonging to Bobbingworth hall 

 and the two upper rooms over the same parlour'.* John 

 Poole the son, a London alderman, died in 1633.' His 

 considerable estate consisted largely of claims on 

 foreigners and these had to be recovered before 

 legacies totalling about ;^lo,ooo could be paid.* He 

 devised the manor of Bobbingworth to his wife Anne 

 for life and then to his brother Richard after whose 

 death John son of Richard was to inherit the estate.' 

 Richard Poole died in about 1642."* In 1674 John 

 Poole, son of Richard, made a settlement on his own 

 son John when the latter married Mary Powel." By 

 this the manorial rights, the capital messuage with its 

 appurtenances, and 93^ acres passed immediately to 

 John the son who was also to receive a further 71 acres 

 on the death of his father.'* The elder John retained 

 the free disposition of about 12 acres.'' Immediately 

 after the settlement he leased to the younger John 39i 

 acres of the 71 acres in which he retained a life interest, 

 at a rent of ^20 a year.'* The elder John died in about 

 1676." The younger John died before 1701, leaving 

 his widow Mary to enjoy a life interest in the manorial 

 royalties, the manor house, and 93^ acres under the 

 terms of the settlement of 1674.'* He left the 71 acres 

 which he had inherited on his father's death to his son 

 John who was also to have the reversion of Mary's 

 estate.'^ In 1701 John Poole mortgaged his rever- 



»« E.R.O , D/DB T98. w Ibid. 



• Ibid. » Ibid. 3 Ibid. 

 4 CPz5(2)/.38/,7so. 

 » E.R.O., D/DCc E6; T/M 210, 213. 



Morant stated {Eisex, i, 148) that the 

 eatate which Walsingham sold to Bourne 

 in 1598 was reattached to Bobbingworth 

 Hall by the Houblons in the i8th cent., 

 but surveys of c. 1725, 1804, and 1820 

 make it clear that at least 160 acres re- 

 mained attached to Blake Hall. 



« E.R.O., D/DB T98. This is a large 

 group of documents. 



» E.R.O., D/DB T96/83. 



• E.R.O., D/DB T98. 

 » E.R.O., D/DB T96/83. 



'» E.R.O., D/DB T98. 



■' Ibid. " Ibid. " Ibid. 



•* Ibid. » Ibid. '« Ibid. 



" Ibid. " Ibid. " Ibid. 



sionary interest to Charles Houblon for ^^600.'* In 

 1704 he sold to Houblon for ;^i,o8o the 71 acres he 

 had in hand." In 1708 Houblon also bought the 

 manor house and the lands mortgaged to him by John 

 Poole in 1701, Mary Poole selling her life interest for 

 ^^498 and John Poole his reversionary interest for 



The estate which John and Mary Poole sold to 

 Houblon in 1704-8 consisted of a large part of the 

 estate acquired by John Rochester in 1575. Houblon 

 also bought other property in Bobbingworth.*' He 

 may have bought a small part of the lands sold by 

 Walsingham to Bourne in 1 598." 



Houblon never made his home in Bobbingworth.*' 

 He died in 1 7 1 1 .** From this time the manor descended 

 in the direct male line of the Houblon family until 

 1834.*' From 1729, when Jacob Houblon took up 

 residence at Great Hallingbury, until 1834 the owners 

 of Bobbingv/orth manor did not live on their Bobbing- 

 worth estate.** In 1833 this estate consisted of 6 acres 

 of woodland in hand; 231 acres of arable and pasture 

 in the occupation of John and Thomas Speed at a rent 

 of ,^205 a year; 6 copyhold messuages and 26 acres of 

 copyhold land, rents for which totalled £1 6s. \d. a 

 year; and freehold lands, rents for which totalled 

 ^i 7/. <^d. a year.*' In 1834 John Archer Houblon 

 sold this estate, and his share of the advowson of 

 Bobbingworth (see below) to Capel Cure of Blake 

 Hall for ^fifijj of which ;^577 was paid for the timber 

 on the estate.** The manor of Bobbingworth has 

 subsequently remained in the family of Capel Cure. 

 It had copyhold tenants as late as 1919.*' 



The present farm-house is timber-framed and weather- 

 boarded and is probably of early-i 8th-century date. It 

 is L-shaped and has a hipped tiled roof with moulded 

 brickwork to the central chimney. 



In the 1 2th century the manor oi BLAKE HALL 

 was held of the honor of Boulogne by Pharamus 

 of Boulogne, great-grandson of Count Eustace of 

 Boulogne.'" It is not clear whether Pharamus held 

 the manor in demesne. He died in 1 183-4 ^'^'^ was 

 succeeded by his only daughter and heir Sibyl de 

 Fiennes." Sibyl was holding the manor of the honor 

 of Boulogne in 1221-2.'* By the early 14th century, 

 however, the manor was, apparently, no longer con- 

 sidered part of that honor." 



Sibyl's heir was her son William de Fiennes.'* 

 William's grandson. Sir William de Fiennes (d. 1302), 

 was second cousin of Eleanor of Castile, to whom he 

 pledged part of his estate in 1 275 when, at his request, 

 she engaged to pay ^1,000 to Humphrey de Bohun on 

 the latter's marriage with William's sister Maud." It 



»<i Ibid.; E.R.O., D/DWv T51. At the 

 time of the sale Poole still owed Houblon 

 the ;^6oo he had borrowed in 1701 and 

 £i%S interest on the loan. Houblon had 

 therefore to pay Poole only ,^215 in cash. 



" A. A. Houblon, The Houhhn Family, 

 ii, 1-2. 



" Cf. Morant, Eiiex, i, 148. And see 

 note 8 above. 



^3 A. A. Houblon, Tie Houhhn Family, 

 ii, 2. " Ibid. 



'5 Ibid.; E.R.O., D/DCc T2; D/DCc 

 E2, 6. 



'« A. A. Houblon, The Houhlon Family, 

 i, 1 1 f. From 1717 until 1729 Jacob son 

 and heir of Charles Houblon lived in Bob- 

 bingworth with his uncle Jacob, then 

 rector of the parish. 



*' E.R.O., D/DCc E2. The lands occu- 

 pied by John and Thomas Speed were 



divided into 4 farms : Bobbingworth Hall, 

 Rachells,Hobbans, and Galnthorps. In 1 829 

 they had agreed to pay a rent of ^270, but 

 this had been reduced to ,^205 when J, A. 

 Houblon succeeded to the estate in 1831. 



" E.R.O., D/DCc T2 ; D/DCc E6. 



" E.R.O., D/DCc Mi. 



3° Bk. of Fees, 1428 ; Genealogist, N.s. xii, 

 145—51. For Pharamus see also Manor of 

 Lam bourne. 



3' Bk. of Fees, 234-5; Genealogist, n.s. 

 xii, 145-51- 



" Bk. of Fees, 240, 1435. 



'3 Cal. Inq. f>.m. V, p. 349. 



3* Bk. of Fees, 235; Genealogist, N.s. xii, 

 149. 



35 Complete Peerage, vi, 466, ix, 283 ; C. 

 Moor, Kts. of Edtv. I (Harl. Soc. Ixxxi), ii, 

 21-23'; De La Chenaye-Desbois et Badier, 

 Diclionnaire de la Noblesse, viii, 39-41. 



12 



