ONGAR HUNDRED 



GREENSTEAD 



half of that century almost all the land in the parish 

 was acquired by a single owner. It was split up again 

 after 1750.^° In 1839 the parish was estimated to con- 

 tain 289 acres of arable, 325 acres of meadow and 

 pasture, 3 1 acres of woodland, and 23 acres of common, 

 waste, and roads.^' The Hall farm contained 263 acres. 

 There were three other farms of 50—100 acres. More 

 than 400 acres were owned by the lord of the manor, 

 and within the next 30 years two other farms were 

 added to the main estate, leaving very little land in the 

 parish outside the estate.^^ 



Inclosure was probably facilitated in Greenstead by 

 the small number of interests involved. A rental of 

 about 1525 has numerous references to crofts in 

 Greenstead, which suggests that much inclosure had 

 already taiien place.^^ It is, however, interesting that 

 the green which gave its name to Greenstead Green 

 should have survived until modern times.^ 



There was a mill at Greenstead in io86.^5 In 1349 

 there were two mills in the manor, one driven by water 

 and the other by wind.^* 



The sale of timber from Greenstead during the 

 Napoleonic wars is mentioned below.^' It is clear from 

 the maps that Greenstead wood was much larger in 

 1777 than it was a hundred years later.^* 



In the time of Edward the Confessor GREEN- 

 STEAD was held by Gotild 'as a manor and 

 MANOR 2 hides'.^' In 1086 it was held in demesne 

 by Hamon dapifer.^" It was also stated in 

 Domesday that one Serlo held 40 acres of the manor, that 

 three freemen had before io66 held J hide and 45 acres, 

 and that 'of this land' one Ralph was in 1086 holding 

 J hide and 5 acres. As J. H. Round has commented, 

 this is a confused passage: 'for it is not clear whether the 

 holding of the 3 free men was valued as part of the main 

 manor, nor if it were is it clear of which two portions 

 Ralph's holding was part.''' It seems most likely, how- 

 ever, that Ralph had taken over the greater part of the 

 land previously occupied by the three men. 



From Hamon the lordship of the manor descended 

 in the same way as Norton Mandeville (q.v.) to Robert, 

 1st Earl of Gloucester, bastard son of Henry I.^^ In 

 about 1 170 William, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, granted 

 the manor to Richard de Lucy, along with the service 

 of 4 knights owed by Richard de Marcy, 2 knights 

 owed by Ralph de Marcy, 3 knights owed by Maurice 

 de Toheham, and I J knight owed by Manasser de 

 Dammartin.33 It is not unlikely that Richard and Ralph 

 were relatives of the Domesday tenants Ralph and 

 Serlo."* Greenstead thus became part of Richard de 

 Lucy's honor of Ongar, and the tenancy in chief of the 



manor descended in the same way as Chipping Ongar 

 (q.v.).35 



The descent of the tenancy in demesne between 

 about 1 1 70 and about 1250 is obscure. It is possible 

 that the Marcy family continued as tenants for part of 

 this time.36 By about 1250, however, the tenant was 

 Walter de Baskerville.3' He was the son of Walter de 

 Baskerville (d. 1244) of Orcop (Herefs.).^* He fought 

 against the king in the Barons' Wars and in 1265 his 

 lands at Orcop, Greenstead, and elsewhere were 

 granted to Roger de Clifford." Baskerville subse- 

 quently regained possession and in 1279 granted 

 Greenstead to Roger de la Hay in exchange for land 

 in Great Cowarne (Herefs.).*" 



William de la Hay was lord of the manor in 1328 

 and I333.*' In 1346 he granted Greenstead to Sir 

 Robert Bourchier.*^ Bourchier was subsequently sum- 

 moned to Parliament as a peer.'*^ He died in 1 349 and 

 was succeeded by his son, John Lord Bourchier.** 

 Greenstead descended with the title to Henry, Lord 

 Bourchier, who was created Viscount Bourchier {c. 

 1445) and Earl of Essex (i46i).*5 The manor passed 

 to Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex, and on his 

 death in 1540 to his daughter Anne, suo jure Baroness 

 Bourchier, wife of Thomas Parr, Baron Parr of Ken- 

 dal.** Parr was created Earl of Essex in 1 543 and in 

 the following year conveyed Greenstead to Sir Richard 

 Rich, later created Baron Rich.*7 



In 1578 Robert, 2nd Baron Rich, conveyed the 

 manor to William Bourne.** He was the son of 

 William Bourne of Bobbingworth.*' He died in 

 1608, leaving an eldest son William (b. 1589), and 

 younger sons Richard (b. 1599) and John (b. 1602). 5" 

 The manor was probably held until her death by Anne 

 (d. 1624) widow of William Bourne.5' She married 

 Richard Young in 1613.52 After her death the manor 

 appears to have been settled on her son John. 53 In 

 1652 complaint was made to quarter sessions that 

 Richard Bourne, owner of Greenstead Hall, had been 

 dispossessed by Thomas Smith, labourer, and others 

 (named). The justices ordered that Richard should be 

 given possession of the property.^* He was probably 

 identical with Richard (b. 1625) son of John Bourne." 

 He died in 1660.56 



The next owner of the manor who has been traced 

 was John Hulson, who held it in 1683.57 Robert 

 Hulson was the owner in 1690.58 In 1695 he sold 

 Greenstead to Alexander Cleeve, citizen and pewterer 

 of London. 59 Cleeve's initial purchase comprised 

 about half the land in the parish. He subsequently 

 added to it most of the other half *» After his death 



" Ibid. 



" E.R.O., D/CT 153. 



^* See below,- Manor. 



" E.R.O., D/DFa M1/5. 



" See above, p. 58. In 1839 the green 

 contained c. 16 acres, reclconed as waste: 

 E.R.O., D/CT 153. 



" V.C.H. Essex, i, 502. 



^^ Cal. Inq. p.m. ix, p. 242. 



*' See Manor. 



^' Chapman and Andre, Map of Essex 

 J777, sheet xvii; O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), 

 sheets I, H. 



" F.C.H. Essex, i, 502. 



30 Ibid. 



3> Ibid. 



'* L. C. Loyd, Origins of Some Anglo- 

 Norman Families (Harl. Soc), 50 ; Domes- 

 day Monachorum of Christ Church, Canter- 

 bury (ed. D. C. Douglas), 55-56. 



33 E.A.T. N.s. vii, 148. The grant was 



confirmed by the king in 1 1 67-74. For 

 the Dammartins see Norton Mandeville. 



3* Ibid. 149. A Serlo de Marcy held 

 Stondon Massey (q.v.) in the 13th cent. 



3! The last record of overlordship is 

 1566: Morant, Essex, i, 152. 



36 For the Marcy family see Stondon 

 Massey, Kelvedon Hatch, Navestock, and 

 Magdalen Laver. 



3' E.A.T. N.s. xviii, 18. 



38 C. Moor, Knights of Ed-w. I {Harl. 

 Soc), i, 50 ; W. H. Cooke, Hist. Hereford 

 (1892), 187. 



39 C. Moor, ibid. 



■»» Feet of F. Essex, ii, 24. 

 ■•■ Newcourt, Repert. ii, 288. 



42 Cal. Close, 1346-9. 5'- 



43 Complete Peerage, ii, 246. 



44 Ibid.; Cal. Inq. p.m. ix, p. 242. 



45 Complete Peerage, ii, 248-g. 



46 Ibid.; Newcourt, Repert. ii, 288-9. 



59 



4' CP25(2)/i3/75 Trin. 36 Hen. VIII. 



48 CP25(2)/i3i/i684. 



49 Visits, of Essex (Harl. Soc.), pp. 156, 



354-5- 



"> Par. Regs, of Greenstead, ed. F. A. . 

 Crisp, 4, 31. Richard and John were the 

 sons of their father's second marriage, to 

 Anne Day, widow. 



" See below. Church; Par. Regs, of 

 Greenstead, 19, 31 



52 Ibid. 19. 



53 CP43/169 (1625). 



54 E.R.O., 2/SBa 2/7.9. 



55 Par. Regs, of Greenstead, 6. 



5' Ibid. 32. He founded Bourne's 

 Charity (see below. Charities). 

 5' CP25(2)/655 Hil. 34-35 Chas. II. 



58 CP43/428 rot. 81. 



59 P. J. Budworth, Memorials of Green- 

 stead— Budivorth, 6. 



'» Ibid. 8. 



