ONGAR HUNDRED 



KELVEDON HATCH 



proposed that it should be rebuilt in brick, but it was 

 eventually decided to rebuild in timber at a cost of 

 ;^i 40.28 In i8jy Langford Bridge was described by 

 the county surveyor as a timber structure of consider- 

 able span. Its condition was then good.^' It was 

 restored in 1878-9 and about 191 3 was replaced by 

 the present concrete bridge.^o 



In 1845 an official post-office was established at 

 Kelvedon Common.^' In 1848 the office was at 

 William Nutt's.^^ A telegraph office was set up in 1885 

 and the telephone service in 1923.23 



Piped water has been supplied since 1935 by the 

 Herts, and Essex Waterworks Co.''* There is no main 

 drainage.35 Kelvedon Hatch was in the area of the 

 original Romford Gas Co. but powers to supply the 

 parish were not obtained until 1935.2* There is now a 

 supply to part of the parish.^^ There is no electricity 

 except in a few outlying farms.'* 



Early in the present century the Church House was 

 used as a Working Men's Club and coffee house.39 

 In 1953 a newly formed village hall committee bought 

 from the owner of Reed's Stores the building once used 

 as a mission hall. The same committee holds 6 acres, 

 formerly part of the charity lands, on the south side of 

 School Lane. This has been sown with grass for a play- 

 ing field and is the intended site of a new haU.'*" A 

 branch of the county library was opened in l^zS.*' 

 A police officer is stationed at Kelvedon Common.^^ 

 The first reference to a constable there is in the directory 

 of 1908." 



The ownership of the land in Kelvedon Hatch was 

 from the i6th to the 20th century mainly in the hands 

 of two families, the Wrights of Kelvedon Hall and the 

 Luthers (and their heirs the Fanes). In 1838 John 

 Fane and J. F. Wright between them owned almost 

 1,300 acres, leaving less than 400 acres for all other 

 owners.'*^ Two other properties contained more than 

 50 acres: Brizes (76 acres) and 83 acres forming part 

 of the Waldegrave estate (see Navestock). Until the 

 death of J. F. Wright in 1 868 he and his family usually 

 lived in the parish. For long periods between 1600 and 

 1900 the Luthers and Fanes were also resident in 

 Kelvedon Hatch, and so were the owners of Brizes, the 

 third of the big houses of the parish. Their mansions 

 with the ornamental gardens must have provided a 

 good deal of employment during the i8th and 19th 

 centuries. Apart from such domestic work, agriculture 

 has been the main occupation in the parish. In 1838 

 it was estimated that there was about the same quantity 

 of arable land in the parish as meadow and pasture — 

 some 700 acres in each case — while there were 193 

 acres woodland. There were some seven farms in the 

 parish, mostly small.*' Other occupations have been 

 those incidental to agriculture. The existence of a 

 village smithy is attested as far back as 1729, when 

 the effects of the smith, which had been distrained upon 



for arrears of rent, were bought by the churchwardens 

 of Stanford Rivers.'** There was still a blacksmith in 

 the parish in i9o6.'" The mill at Kelvedon Common 

 has been mentioned above. In 1845 the miller also 

 kept the 'Eagle' .ts 



Although Kelvedon Hatch had resident gentry in 

 the 19th century it is clear that they did not provide 

 the vigorous leadership in parish affairs that might have 

 been expected. The most important reason for this 

 was that the Wrights were Roman Catholics. Their 

 lack of interest in the village school may be inferred 

 from the early difficulties of the school and from the 

 fact that a compulsory school board had to be estab- 

 lished in order to provide a permanent school building. 



Three estates were listed under Kelvedon Hatch in 

 Domesday Book. One was held in 1066 

 MANORS by Leueva as a manor and as i hide and 

 45 acres and in 1086 by Ralph de Marcy 

 of Hamon dafifer.'''^ This estate may have become 

 part of the manor of Navestock (q.v.) held by the 

 Marcy family and later formed part of the manor of 

 Myles's (see below). Another estate in Kelvedon 

 Hatch was held in 1066 by Algar, a freeman, as \ hide 

 and 20 acres and in 1086 by Ivo nephew of Herbert 

 as tenant of the Bishop of Bayeux.s" The subsequent 

 history of this estate has not been traced. The largest 

 of the three estates was held in the time of Edward the 

 Confessor by Ailric as a manor and as 2 hides.'' This 

 estate was later known as the manor of KELVEDON 

 HATCH alias KELVEDON HALL. 



In 1066 Ailric 'went to take part in a naval battle' 

 against William of Normandy.'^ Probably he joined 

 the fleet asembled by King Harold off the Isle of Wight 

 during the early summer of 1066.52 On his return 

 home (possibly in September 1066) he fell ill and then 

 gave his Kelvedon Hatch estate to Westminster Abbey .5* 

 In 1086, however, the Domesday Commissioners 

 reported that this gift had not received King William's 

 sanction. 55 It is not clear whether the king ever con- 

 firmed the gift, but it is certain that the manor was held 

 by Westminster Abbey as tenant in chief until the dis- 

 solution of the abbey in 1540.5* 



By 1225 the abbey had granted the tenancy in 

 demesne of the manor to the Multon family of Egre- 

 mont (Lines.). In that year Thomas de Multon was 

 given 10 does and a buck for stocking his wood at 

 Kelvedon. 57 In 1232 he received licence to inclose 

 and impark the wood.58 He died in 1240 and his son 

 and heir Lambert in 1246.5' Lambert was succeeded 

 by his son Thomas who supported Simon de Montfort 

 in the Barons' Wars.*" In 1265 the manor of Kelvedon 

 Hatch, then worth £10 os. 6d., was taken into the 

 king's hands with the rest of Thomas's lands.*' Soon 

 afterwards, however, he recovered the property .*2 In 

 1277 he subinfeudated Kelvedon Hatch to Henry, son 

 of Thomas de Multon (possibly his own younger son), 



28 E.R.O., Q/SBb 272, D/DFa £5. 



" E.R.O., Q/ABz 3. 



3» Ibid.; inf. from Capt. F. L. Fane. 



31 P.M.G. Mins. 1845, vol. 84, p. 28. 



32 Whitc'i Dir. Essex (1848). 



33 P.M.G. Mins. 1885, vol. 301, min. 

 14357; ibid. 1923, min. 3076. 



3-t Inf. from Herts. & Essex Water- 

 works Co. 

 35 Inf. from the Revd. W. Tirrell. 

 3* Inf from North Thames Gas Bd. 

 3' Inf. from the Revd. W. Tirrell. 

 38 Ibid. 



3^ See below, Church. 

 «> Inf. from Mr. J. P. Fitch. 



*' Iiif. from County Librarian. 



«2 Inf. from Chief Constable of Essex. 



« Kelly's Dir. Essex (1908). 



■M E.R.O., D/CT 197. 



45 Ibid. 



■♦<> E.R.O., D/P 140/6/2. 

 ■•' Kelly's Dir. Essex (1906). 

 48 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1845). 

 4« F.C.H. Essex, i, 503a. 

 50 Ibid, i, 457A. 

 5' Ibid, i, 44Sa. 



52 Ibid. 



53 Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 579- 

 80. 



54 V.C.H. Essex, i, 445a. 



55 Ibid. A charter of 1066 (Kemblc, 

 Cod. Dip!, iv, 173) purporting to be a grant 

 of this among other properties to West- 

 minster Abbey by Edward the Confessor, 

 is spurious: E.A.T. N.s. xvii, 16. 

 ^s' B.M. Cott. MS. Faust. A. iii, f. 60 j 

 Westm. Abbey Mun. 2^469; C142/36/ 

 71; C142/55/61. 



5' Rot. Liu. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, 89*. 



58 Cal. Chart. R.\, i;i. 



5» Complete Peerage, ix, 401-2. 



«o Ibid. 



" Ibid.; Cal. Inq. Misc. \, p. 201. 



'2 Complete Peerage, ix, 402. 



^S 



