ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIGWELL 



1 2th century the manor was granted to the Sanford 

 family to hold in serjeanty by virtue of the office of 

 chamberlain to the queen. 88 A John de Sanford held 

 the manor in 1210— 12*9 and Cecily de Sanford in 

 i2ig.9o Gilbert de Sanford held Woolston in 1236, 

 in which year he officiated at the coronation of Eleanor 

 of Provence." He was still hving in 1248,'^ but was 

 dead by April 1249 when the wardship of his daughter 

 and heir Alice de Sanford was bought by Fulk Basset, 

 Bishop of London. 93 In June 1249 the bishop sold 

 the wardship to Hugh de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who 

 married Alice to his son and heir Robert.'* In 1259 

 John de Rivers, lord of Ongar hundred, granted to 

 Robert de Vere and Alice his wife a release of 41/. rent 

 at their view of frankpledge at Woolston. 's In 1265 

 Robert's estates were forfeited for his part in the 

 Barons' War ; the tovraship of Woolston was then said 

 to be worth £(> 6s. 8J. a year.'* Robert recovered his 

 estates under the Dictum of Kenilworth, but before 

 this, in October 1265, all Alice's hereditary lands had 

 been restored to her.''' 



In 1284 Robert and Alice granted the reversion of 

 Woolston after their deaths to their daughter Joan and 

 her husband William de Warenne, son and heir of 

 John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey (d. 1304).'^ Robert 

 died in 1296; Woolston was then being held of him 

 and Alice by William le Plomer." Alice died in 1 3 1 2. 

 She had outlived both her daughter Joan and William 

 de Warenne and Woolston passed to John, Earl of 

 Surrey, son of Joan and William.' Before 1321 John 

 conveyed the manor to his sister Alice and her husband 

 Edmund Fitz Alan Earl of Arundel.^ Woolston did 

 not escheat after the execution of Arundel in 1326 be- 

 cause it was his wife's inheritances Alice died between 

 1330 and 1338, and the manor passed to her son 

 Richard Fitz Alan, who had been restored to the earl- 

 dom of Arundel in 1330.'' In 1345 Woolston was 

 being held for life by Isabel Dispenser, the divorced 

 wife of Richard. 5 Richard died in 1376.* The manor 

 passed to his son Richard, Earl of Arundel, who was 

 executed in 1397.' The attainder of this earl was 

 reversed in 1400 and his titles and estates were restored 

 to his son Thomas, who in 1405 granted Woolston for 

 hfe to his servant John Wele.* Thomas died in 141 5 

 and John Wele in 1420.' Shortly before he died Wele 

 was involved in a Chancery action against the king in 

 respect of Woolston.'" In 142 1 the manor was 

 divided between Thomas's three daughters, Elizabeth, 

 Duchess of Norfolk, Joan, Lady Bergavenny, and 

 Margaret, wife of Rowland Lenthal." 



In 1425, shortly before her death, the Duchess of 



•• J. H. Round, Kingi Sergeants and 

 Oficers of State ^ I 32 f. Woolston was one 

 of five manors appurtenant to this ser- 

 jeanty, the others being Margaretting and 

 Fingrith (in Blackmore) in Essex, and 

 Great Hormead and Nuthampstead (in 

 Barkway) in Herts. 



89 RedBk. ofExch. $07; Bk.ofFee!,iii. 



»» Bk. of Fees, 275. 



»' Ibid. 589; J. H. Round, op. cit. 133. 



" Bk. of Fees, 1361, 1412. 



95 Complete Peerage, x, 214. 



0* Ibid. 



95 Harl. Chart. 55 D. 24. 



96 Cal. Chart. R. ii, 57; Cat. Inq. Misc. 

 i, p. 200. 



9' Complete Peerage, x, 216. 



98 Cal. Pat. 1281-92, 173. 



99 Cal. Inq. p.m. iii, p. 230; Cal. Fine R. 

 1272-1307, 378. 



* Cal. Inq. p.m. v, p. 2 1 6. 



» Feet off. Essex, ii, 204. 

 3 Complete Peerage, i, 242. 

 ♦ Ibid. 243. 



5 Cal. Pat. 1343-5,488. 

 ' Complete Peerage, i, 244. 

 ' C136/101. 



8 CT38/45. 



9 Ibid. ; Complete Peerage, i, 246. 

 '» Cal. Close, 1419-22, 116. 

 " Cal. Fine R. 1413-22, 389-90. 



Elizabeth was widow of Thomas de 

 Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk (d. 1399). 

 Joan was widow of William Beauchamp, 

 I St Lord Bergavenny. 



"z Feet of F. Essex, iv, 6; Cal. Pat. 

 1422-9, 341. 



■3 Cal. Close 1429-35, 338-9 ; Ci 39/62; 

 C139/142. 



'■• Ibid.; Ca/. Fine R. 1445-52, 222. 



■5 Cal. Pat. 1446-52, 512. 



'6 J. C. Wedgcwood, Hist. Parliament: 



31 



Norfolk granted her third part of Woolston to Norman 

 Babington and Margaret his wife.'^ Norman died 

 holding it in 1434 and Margaret held it at her death 

 in 145 1. '3 It then passed to Norman's brother Sir 

 William Babington.'* In the same year Sir William 

 settled the manor upon his sons William, Robert, and 

 Thomas Babington and the heirs of Robert.'' Sir 

 WiUiam died in 1454, his son William in 1474 and 

 Thomas in 1471,'* but it is not known how this third 

 of the manor passed between 1471 and 1485, when it 

 had come to William Scott (see below). 



In 1428 Joan Lady Bergavenny enfeoffed Robert 

 Darcy and others with her third part of Woolston. '^ 

 In 1457 the surviving feoffees settled the property on 

 Joan's grandson, Thomas Ormond, with successive 

 remainders to his brothers John Ormond and James, 

 Earl of Wiltshire." In 1476 Thomas Ormond con- 

 veyed it to William Scott and Robert Hardyng." 



After the death of Margaret Lenthal her third part 

 of the manor was held by her husband until he died in 

 1450. It then passed to John de Mowbray, Duke of 

 Norfolk, grandson of the above Elizabeth, Duchess of 

 Norfolk, and to George Neville, later Lord Bergavenny, 

 great-grandson of Joan, Lady Bergavenny.*" In the 

 division of Margaret Lenthal's inheritance between 

 Mowbray and Neville the third part of Woolston was 

 assigned to Mowbray.*' In 1468 John de Mowbray, 

 Duke of Norfolk, conveyed the property to Thomas 

 Hoo and others.** This was the first of a complicated 

 series of conveyances between various parties, including 

 George Neville, by which this third of Woolston was 

 conveyed to WiUiam Scott and Robert Hardyng.*' 



By 1485 all three parts of the manor had been united 

 in the hands of William Scott, who had been acting as 

 lord three years earlier when he signed an agreement 

 between his baihff and his tenants, detailing the ser- 

 vices to be performed by the latter.** He died in 149 1, 

 leaving Woolston to his fifth son George, who died 

 without issue in I534.*5 George probably lived at 

 Woolston Hall. At his death the manor was said to 

 include 10 acres of arable, 24 acres of meadow, 80 

 acres of pasture, 8 acres of wood, and £<) rent.** 



George Scott's heir was Walter Scott, lord of the 

 manor of Stapleford Tawney (q.v.), who was the 

 grandson of John Scott (d. 1 527), eldest son of William 

 Scott (d. i49i).*7 Walter Scott died in 1550 and his 

 son Roger in 1 585.** George, son of Roger Scott, died 

 in 1589.*' Neither Walter nor Roger nor George 

 acted as lord of the manor, for by the will of George 

 son of William Scott a 99-year lease of Woolston had 

 been granted to William's sixth son Hugh.'" Hugh 



Biographies i43g-isog, 31-32. 



" Feet of F. Essex, iv, 12; Cal. Pat. 

 1422-9, 486; E.R.O., D/DP T51. 



■8 Cal. Pat. 1452-61, 355; E.R.O., 

 D/DPT51. 



■9 E.R.O., D/DP A470. Hardyng was 

 a London goldsmith and was probably act- 

 ing as Scott's financial agent. 



" C139/143. 



2' Cal. Fine R. 1445-52, 266. 



" E.R.O., D/DPT51. 



" Ibid.; E.R.O., D/DP A468, 469. 

 The conveyances cover the period 1468— 

 73. M E.R.O., D/DEs M95. 



'5 P.C.C. 19 Dogett; Cal. Inq. p.m. 

 Hen. P'll, i, p. 334. For the early history 

 of the Scotts see E.R. Ixii (Jan.), pp. 42-44. 



^<> C142/82/4. " C142/82/4. 



28 C142/208/181. 



29 Crisp, Par. Reg. of Stapleford Tatvney, 

 38. » P.C.C. 28 Hogen. 



