ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIGWELL 



well and elsewhere was assigned to Philippa, wife of 

 Roger de Lancaster and granddaughter of Margaret de 

 Bolbec, sister of Richard de Montfichet.^s On his death 

 in 1 360 John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, held J knight's 

 fee in Chigwell.s* It had probably come to him by re- 

 versionary grant in the same way as Stansted Mount- 

 fichet.37 



The manor continued to be held of the earls of 

 Oxford. In 1537 it was held of the then earl as of the 

 honor of Hedingham Castle.3 8 



The de Veres appear to have had an earlier interest 

 in the manor than that which came to them in the 14th 

 century. Early in the 1 2th century an Aubrey de Vere, 

 one of the ancestors of the earls of Oxford, enfeoffed 

 Eustace de Barrington with land in Chigwell which 

 afterwards descended in the Barrington family.'' It 

 seems probable that before enfeoffing Barrington 

 Aubrey de Vere had been tenant in demesne holding 

 of Robert Gernon. 



The family name of Barrington was derived from 

 Barrington (Cambs.). Eustace de Barrington held land 

 there in 1 1 30.''<' He also held land in Hatfield Broad 

 Oak which was later known as Barrington Hall, and he 

 was a forester of Hatfield Forest, serving under Robert 

 Gernon.*' His son Humphrey de Barrington received 

 confirmation by Aubrey de Vere of the grant previously 

 made to Eustace.*^ Humphrey was succeeded by his 

 son, another Humphrey, who was a minor at his father's 

 death, which took place early in the reign of Henry II.*' 

 The younger Humphrey lived until the early 1 3th cen- 

 tury; he was under-sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire 

 in 1 197.+* He was succeeded by his son Sir Nicholas de 

 Barrington who held the manor in 1 2^g.*^ Sir Nicholas 

 was succeeded by his grandson, Nicholas, who was lord 

 in 1274 and died about l330.-«* The manor then 

 passed to the younger Nicholas's son Nicholas Barring- 

 ton III, who settled it in 1 344 on his eldest son John.'" 

 John died about 1368 and his son and successor John 

 about 1426.** Several deeds relating to Chigwell be- 

 tween I3i9and I384suggest that the Barringtons were 

 at least occasionally resident in Chigwell during that 

 period.*' Certain copyhold lands within the manor of 

 Woolston were held by this family and the descent of 

 these as shown in the court rolls was probably the same 

 as that of the manor of Barringtons. 5" 



Thomas son of the last named John Barrington died 

 in 1472 leaving his manor of Chigwell to his wife Anne 

 for life with reversion to his son Edmund. 5' Anne is 

 said to have died on the day after her husband.s^ In 

 1479 Margaret, formerly the wife of a Thomas Barring- 

 ton, was declared to have previously held the manor 

 jointly with her husband.*' On her death in that year 



" Cal.Chu, 1272-9,82. 



3' Cal. Inq. p.m. r, p. 522. 



3' Cf. Morant, Essex, ii, 577. 



J8 C 142/82/62. 



39 Morant, Essex, i, 166. 



«> W. Farrer, Feud. Hist. Camhs. 233. 

 In the I2th-i4th cents, tlie usual form of 

 the name was Barenton. 



■•' G. A. Lowndes, 'Hist, of Barrington 

 family', E.A.T. n.s. i, 251 f. The original 

 charters used by Lowndes are now in the 

 British Museum: Add. Ch. 28313-637. 

 Some of them are calendared in Hist. MSS. 

 Com. yth Rep. App. pp. 537 f. 



** Morant, Essex, i, 166. 



«3 Hist. MSS. Com. yth Rep. App. p. 

 588. 



+• E.A.T. N.s. i, 255; V.R.O. List of 

 Sheriffs, 48. 



*5 E.A.T. N.s. i, 257; B.M. Add. Ch. 



28478. 



■•' E.A.T. N.s. i, 261-3. Sir Nicholas's 

 son Nicholas had predeceased him. 



■•' Feet of F. Essex, iii, 72. 



4« E.A.T. N.s. i, 267, 272. 



«» E326/917, 919, 921, 961, 964, 969, 

 1849; £315/32/119; E315/41/58, 217; 

 E3 1 5/42/200. 



so E.R.O., D/DEs M94-109. 



»■ P.C.C. 6 Wattys. 



" E.A.T. N.s. i, 273. " C140/70. 



54 The elder Thomas certainly had a son 

 Humphrey : P.C.C. 6 Wattys. 



55 E.R.O., D/DEs M95; P.C.C. 38 

 Holgrave. 



s* C142/30/18. " C142/82/62. 



5> CP25(2)/l26/l62I. 



'9 The Barringtons continued in Hat- 

 field Broad Oak until the 19th cent.: 

 f./i.r. N.s. ii, 50-54. 



Barringtons passed to her husband's brother Humphrey 

 Barrington. Humphrey and his brother were probably 

 sons of the Thomas Barrington who had died in 1472.** 

 Humphrey Barrington died before 1487 and was suc- 

 ceeded by his son Nicholas, who died in 1505.55 

 Nicholas's son and heir Nicholas died in 1515.'* John 

 Barrington, son of the younger Nicholas, died in 1537.5^ 

 He was succeeded by his son Thomas Barrington, who 

 sold the manor of Barringtons in 1563 to Thomas 

 Wiseman of Great Waltham,'* thus breaking a con- 

 nexion which had lasted for as long as 450 years.59 



Thomas Wiseman died in the year that he bought 

 the manor and was succeeded by his third son Stephen, 

 who died childless in I567.*" Stephen's heir was John 

 Wiseman, son of his brother William.*' In 1573 Wil- 

 liam Tyffin of Wakes Colne did homage for Barringtons, 

 presumably on account of his marriage to Mary, widow 

 of Stephen Wiseman, who had a hfe interest.** During 

 his hfetime Stephen had demised the manor with certain 

 lands in Chigwell to John Morley and one Goldringe 

 who were to pay rent to him and after his death to his 

 widow; this rent was in arrear and was the cause of 

 legal proceedings.*' John Wiseman died in 161 5, 

 leaving Barringtons to his eldest son Thomas, who con- 

 veyed it in 1617 to John Hawkins.** 



In 1626 Hawkins and his wife Sarah sold the manor 

 to William Rolfe.*s Rolfe sold it in 1629 to Henry 

 Jackson, who in 1630 and 1634 claimed forest rights in 

 respect of the manor.** In 1639 Jackson sold Barring- 

 tons to Thomas Wilmer, whose father had already pur- 

 chased Rolls, the mansion house of the manor.*' The 

 first surviving court roll of the manor (1653) gives as 

 lords Edmund Denny and Thomas Wilmer.** Wilmer 

 was a major in the royalist army; he had probably sold 

 half the manor to Denny to pay the fine for his delin- 

 quency.*' In 1 65 5 he sold the remaining half to Robert 

 Abdy of Albyns (in Stapleford Abbots, q.v.) and John 

 Chapman of London.'" Abdy and Chapman were 

 apparently trustees for Robert Abbott of London, who 

 made his will in 1657, leaving a moiety of Barringtons 

 to his wife for life and in 1658 added a codicil leaving 

 all his manors to his executors in trust to provide por- 

 tions for his children." The executors were Abbott's 

 wife Bethia and John Chapman her brother. In 1668 

 Abdy and Chapman conveyed this half of the manor to 

 Sir Eliab Harvey and John Prestwood.'* Eliab died in 

 1 699, leaving all his manors in Essex to his son William." 



Edmund Denny, who had acquired the other half of 

 Barringtons from Thomas Wilmer, died in 1 6 56, leaving 

 it to his wife Anne for life with reversion to his cousin 

 William Gardner.'* In 1657 Anne married Francis 

 Comyn of London, vintner, and in the same year 



<"> C142/147/148. '■ Ibid. 



''2 Morant, Essex, i, 1 66; Mary was 

 sister of Andrew Jenour of Great Dun- 

 mow: Ci42/i47/i48; Morant, Essex, ii ,' 

 222; Fisits. of Essex (Harl. Soc), 222. 



63 C3/327/2. 



** C142/359/115; Morant,£iKr, i,i66. 

 's CP25(2)/4I5 Mich. 2 Chas. I; 



CP43/I76- 

 " CP43/i84;C99/i3om.88;C99/i32 



m. 16. 



67 C66/3067 m. 34i CP25(2)/4i8 

 Mich. 15 Chas. I. 



'8 E.R.O., D/DU 97/1. 



'9 Cal. Ctee.for Compounding, 2535. 



'"> C54/4020 m. 21-22. 



" P.C.C. 305 Wootton. 



" CP25(2)/653 Hil. 19 & 20 Chas. II. 



'3 P.C.C. 42 Pett. 



'♦ P.C.C. 317 Berkeley. 



27 



