ONGAR HUNDRED 



BOBBINGWORTH 



is likely that William granted the overlordship of Blake 

 Hall to Eleanor of Castile, for her grandson, Gilbert, 

 Earl of Gloucester, was holding it when he died in 

 1 3 14.3* Gilbert was succeeded by his sister and coheir 

 Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, of whom the manor 

 was held by the service of J knight's fee. 37 Afterwards 

 the tenancy in chief followed the same descent as that 

 of Magdalen Laver manor (q.v.).'* 



In 1 3 14 the tenant in demesne was Robert de 

 Hastings who sold the manor to Adam Atforth.^o It 

 was subsequently held by Sir John de Loundres.'*" In 

 142 1 Sir Robert Brent died in possession of the manor 

 leaving as his heir his sister Joan wife of John Trethek.'^' 

 In 1424 John and Joan Trethek conveyed the manor 

 to William Trethek/^ William immediately granted it 

 to Sir Reynold West, Richard Wentworth, and Richard 

 Arderne in exchange for the manor of Poldu (Cornw.) 

 which they had acquired from Nicholas Thorley and 

 his wife Alice, Countess of Oxford/^ West, Arderne, 

 and Wentworth were probably acting as trustees for 

 Nicholas Thorley in the purchase of Blake HaU as they 

 certainly were in the purchase of Bobbingworth manor 

 (see above) in the same year. Sir Nicholas Thorley 

 died in 1442, leaving as his heir Walter Estoft, son of 

 his sister Katherine.'^^ In about 1 504 William Thomson 

 became lord of the manor .♦s At the same time he pur- 

 chased 217 acres of land from Robert Brent.^* William 

 and his wife Agnes, who may have been a daughter of 

 Walter Estoft, were still in possession of the manor in 

 151 1, but by September 1512 Sir William Capel was 

 lord.*7 At that time John Glascock farmed the manor 

 at a rent oi £% Sl year.* * Capel died in 1 5 1 6, leavin g as 

 his heir his son Giles who, with his sons Henry and 

 Edward, conveyed it in 1 539 to Sir Richard Rich, later 

 1st Baron Rich.*' In 1563 Rich conveyed the manor 

 to John Waylett.5" In 1564 Waylett granted it to 

 John Glascock who in 1562 had been described as 'of 

 Blake Hall'.s' In 1598 John Glascock, perhaps the 

 son of the purchaser of 1 564, sold the manor to Robert 

 Bourne but retained 56 acres of its demesne land for his 

 own son George. ^^ In the same year Bourne pur- 

 chased from Sir Thomas Walsingham the demesne 

 lands which Walsingham's father had acquired in 1575 

 as his share of Bobbingworth manor (see above).s3 In 

 1628 Bourne purchased some land from John son of 

 George Glascock. 5* In 1639 Robert Bourne died, 

 having settled Blake Hall manor on his wife Katherine 

 for hfe with remainder to his son Robert.ss The 

 younger Robert had only one child, a daughter Alice 

 who in 1656 married John, 3rd Baron Digby, and 

 afterwards 3rd Earl of Bristol.s* She died without issue 

 in 1658.57 Robert Bourne made a settlement whereby 



Digby was to hold the manor for life with remainder to 

 John Cooper, nephew of Bourne.ss Bourne died in 

 1666." In about 1675 Cooper tried unsuccessfully to 

 sell his reversion.*" At that time he rented the manors 

 of Blake Hall and Bilsdens (see below) from Digby for 

 ^462 a year." He succeeded to the estate on Digby's 

 death in 1698 and died in 1701.*^ His heirs were his 

 sisters Dorothy, wife of Richard Thompson, and Anne, 

 wife of Charles Fowler.^J In 1 709 they sold the estate 

 to John Clarke for ^8,ooo.*« Clarke died in 1726 

 having devised the manor to his eldest son Richard.*' 

 In 1735 ^^^ manor house was in the occupation of 

 Richard Clarke and the manor farm in that of Robert 

 Crabb.** Richard died in 1770, apparently leaving 

 considerable debts. He had devised the manor to his 

 brother Dennis who by his will of 1770 devised it to 

 his sisters Ann, wife of Sir Narbrough D'Aeth, and 

 Catherine, wife of Barnabas Eveleigh Leigh, for their 

 lives with remainder to his nephew Narbrough 

 D'Aeth.*7 Catherine Leigh died before i78o.*8 In 

 1780 Sir Narbrough D'Aeth, nephew of Clarke, 

 mortgaged his reversion of the manors of Blake Hall 

 and Bilsdens (see below) and the advowson of Bobbing- 

 worth for ;£i,ooo.*9 Between 1781 and 1788 Sir 

 Narbrough and his mother Lady Ann D'Aeth borrowed 

 further sums on the security of their Bobbingworth 

 estate, making the total mortgage {j],ioo in March 

 1788.70 Before this they had mortgaged their other 

 properties for sums totalling at least ;^I4,500." It may 

 have been this load of debt which made Sir Narbrough 

 sell his Bobbingworth estate to Capel Cure in 1789.72 

 Since that time Blake Hall has remained in the family 

 of Capel Cure. By Morant's time it no longer had 

 manorial tenants.73 In 1 840 Blake Hall farm consisted 

 of nearly 220 acres and was in the occupation of Capel 

 Cure.7'« At about that time Blake Hall was the centre 

 of an estate of some 3,800 acres, mainly in Bobbing- 

 worth and neighbouring parishes.75 It included the 

 manors of Blake Hall, Bobbingworth Hall, Bilsdens, 

 and Ongar Park (in High Ongar, q.v.) and a total of 

 some 20 farms. 7* Capel Cure was the impropriator of 

 Norton Mandeville (q.v.) and Compton Abdale 

 (Glouc.) as well as patron of Bobbingworth.77 



In about 1700 Blake Hall was a typical timber- 

 framed Essex building with two gables to the front.78 

 This house appears to have been completely demolished 

 early in the i8th century. The central rooms at the 

 front of the present house are part of the Georgian 

 mansion which superseded it. In 1 804 the house was 

 of two stories with seven windows across the front, a 

 colonnaded porch, and a central pediment.79 By 1 804 

 the straight avenue of trees, which in the late 1 8th 



'* Cal. Inq. p.m. v, p. 349 ; Complete 

 "Peerage^ v, 707, 712-14. Joan of Acre, 

 daughter of Edward I and Eleanor of 

 Castile, married Gilbert, Earl of Glouces- 

 ter, and had by him a son Gilbert who 

 became Earl of Gloucester on his father's 

 death in 1295. 



" DL30/123/1861; Complete Peerage, 

 iii, 245. 



« C136/106; €138/56; Ci39/i9S9i 

 Cal. Close, 1419-22, 1775 Cal. Close, 1422- 

 9, 248-9. 



" DL30/123/1859; Cal. Inq. p.m. v, 

 p. 349. 



«» 01,30/123/1859 and 1861. Possibly 

 the John Loundres who was knighted in 

 1397 : Shaw, Knights of Engl, ia, Ix. 



••' C138/56. 



« Feel of F. Essex, iv, 3. 



« Cal. Close, 1422-9, 120, 144. 



♦• Complete Peerage, x, 236. 

 ••5 DL3o/i23/i859 and 1862. 

 «' DL30/123/1859. 



«' CP25(2)/ii/5i Mich. 3 Hen. VIII. 

 <8 B.M. Add. MS. 40,6323. 

 " £142/30/16; CP25(2)/i2/67 Mich. 

 31 Hen. VIII. 

 50 CP40/1207. 

 5- CP25(2)/i27/i624; E.R.O., QjSR 4. 



52 DL30/123/1861. 



53 CP25(2)/l 38/1750. 

 5t DL30/123/1861. 



55 Sepulchral Mems. of Bohhingworth, ed. 

 F. A. Crisp, 33. 



i<> E.R.O., D/DMgT3i ; Complete Peer- 

 age, ii, 322. 



5' Complete Peerage, ii, 322. 



58 UL30/123/1861-2; E.R.O., D/DAc 

 24-25. 50 E.R.O., D/DMg T3 1. 



<>» E.R.O., D/DAc 24-25. " Ibid. 



" DL30/1 23/1 862 ;£.y4.r.N.s.ici, 177. 



« DL30/123/1862; E.R.O., D/DCc 

 T./.-3. 



64 E.R.O., D/DCcTi/1-3. 



6s E.R.O., D/DCc T1/3. 



" Ibid. " Ibid. 



M Ibid. '» Ibid. 



'0 E.R.O., D/DCc Ti/i and 2. 



" Ibid. 



'2 Ibid.; E.R.O., D/DCc T4. 



'5 Morant, Essex, i, 148. 



'4 E.R.O., D/CT 38.- 



75 E.R.O., D/DCc E6. 



7' Ibid. 77 Ibid. See below, Church. 



7* As shown in a small drawing on an un- 

 dated map at Blake Hall. For photostat of 

 map see E.R.O., T/M 2!o. 



7» This is -shown on an estate map of 

 1804. For photostat of mao see E.R.O., 

 T/M 213. 



13 



