A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



Water was supplied by the Herts, and Essex Water- 

 works Co. in 1912.^3 There is no sewerage system.^ 

 Electricity was laid on in part of the village in 1950.^5 

 A sports ground is used by the football club.^* 



High Laver has always been a rural parish devoted 

 almost exclusively to agriculture. The owners of the 

 capital manor never lived in the parish after the first 

 decade of the i6th century.^' The owners of Otes 

 lived in the parish during most of the period 1614- 

 1767.^* They were not resident from 1767 until 

 shortly before 1841.^' For a few years after 1841 they 

 did live in the parish but ceased to do so before 1863 

 and were never resident again.^" 



In 1848 the parish consisted of 1,894 acres.3' 

 William St. Quintin owned 475 acres but farmed 

 none of it himself. George Starkins Wallis owned, but 

 did not occupy. High Laver Farm (340 acres). ^^ John 

 and Thomas Inkersole owned 223 acres of which 

 Thomas farmed 74 acres.33 There were two other 

 substantial farms in the parish: Holts Farm (118 acres) 

 and Tilegate Farm (100 acres). The respective 

 owners, Joseph Davies and J. M. Gilbertson, did not 

 occupy them.34 There were five other farms of over 

 40 acres. 35 



High Laver has always been a parish of mixed farm- 

 ing with a heavy predominance of arable. In 1086 

 there were loj ploughs in the manor of High Laver; 

 there was woodland for 200 swine and 37J acres of 

 meadow. 3* In 1847 there were estimated to be 1,428 

 acres of arable, 368 acres of pasture, and 12 acres of 

 woodland.37 



In the 17th and 1 8th centuries Otes manor house, 

 the residence of the Mashams, was a large and well- 

 known dwelling which must have employed a con- 

 siderable amount of domestic labour. In 1691 John 

 Locke the philosopher (1632-1704) went to live there 

 as a paying guest of Sir Francis Masham and his wife 

 Damaris, who had been Locke's friend for some years.3 8 

 He paid ^i a week for himself and his manservant and 

 IS. a week for his horse.^' He was given two of the 

 best rooms in the house and he remained until his 

 death.''" While he lived there Otes was 'one of the 

 really important addresses in the world of European 

 letters' .■♦■ Locke assembled there a library of nearly 

 4,000 volumes."*^ He also had 'his desk and his specially 

 constructed chair, his meteorological instruments set 

 up "in the Drawing Room", his telescope, his botanical 

 specimens, and a great porous stone through which all 

 the water he drank — and he drank nothing else — had 

 to be carefully filtered' .*' 



From 1723 Otes was occupied by Samuel, ist Baron 

 Masham, and his wife Abigail who from 1707 until 



Herts. & Essex Water- 



1714 had been Queen Anne's friend and one of the 

 most powerful persons in the country .♦^ Abigail died 



in '734-'" 



It is not possible to distinguish with certainty be- 

 tween High Laver and Little Laver in 

 MJNORS Domesday but it is probable that before 

 the Conquest Lewin held a manor in High 

 Laver worth jT'^.''* Alwin held 'another part of that 

 manor as a manor but Ingelric added it to his own 

 manor' in another parish."*' In 1086 High Laver was 

 probably held in demesne by Eustace, Count of 

 Boulogne, and valued at j^20.''* Eustace's heir was his 

 daughter Maud, wife of King Stephen. William, Count 

 of Boulogne, son of Stephen and Maud, apparently 

 granted the manor in free alms to the Benedictine 

 abbey of St. Sulpice in Brittany ."t* This grant must 

 have been made by 1 1 59, when William died, but it 

 was ignored until shortly after 1234.50 After the death 

 of William the honor of Boulogne passed to the king, 

 who held the manor of HIGH LAFER in demesne 

 until 1 1 84 or 1185 and from that time until 1237 as 

 immediate overlord of the Alchers.si Between 1234 

 and 1237 Mabel, abbess of St. Sulpice, claimed the 

 manor from Richard fitz Alcher.52 A lawsuit ensued 

 after which the parties came to an agreement. 53 In 

 1237 Richard fitz Alcher acknowledged the manor to 

 be the right of St. Sulpice which was to hold it in chief 

 as \ fee.5-t The abbess. Amice, then granted the estate 

 to Richard fitz Alcher and his heirs to hold of the abbey 

 as J fee and at an annual rent of j^io.55 In 1259 St. 

 Sulpice transferred its rights in the manor to Waltham 

 Abbey.56 After 1267 Henry fitz Alcher, then lord of 

 the manor, refused to admit that Waltham had any 

 rights in the estate. 5' In 1275 a jury declared that he 

 held the manor as tenant of the abbey. 5 8 Afterwards, 

 at the command of the king's justices, Henry did 

 homage to the abbot and paid his arrears of rent. 5' 

 Henry fitz Alcher died in 1303 holding the manor of 

 Waltham abbey.*" It is not clear how much longer the 

 abbey retained the tenancy in chief In 1475 the 

 manor was held of Anne, widow of Humphrey Stafford, 

 Duke of Buckingham (d. 1460).*' In 1485 it was held 

 of Jasper, Duke of Bedford (d. 1495), and his wife 

 Katherine, whose first husband had been Henry 

 Stafford, Duke of Buckingham (d. 1483).*^ The 

 manor was still held of Jasper and his wife in I493.*3 

 By 1 5 10 the Crown received j^io ^ y^^"" fro™ t^^ 

 manor,*"* and this rent was paid until after I559.*5 

 In 1584 the manor was held of Robert, 3rd Baron 

 Rich, at a rent of iJ. a year.** 



In 1 167 it was reported that the estate could not be 

 farmed because it was not stocked but during the 



*3 Inf. from 

 works Co. 



2* Inf. from sub-postmistress of High 

 Laver. 



" Inf. from East. Elec. Bd. 



'' Inf. from sub-postmistress of High 

 Laver. 



" D.N.B. XX, 685-7; E.R.O., D/DW 

 T41; ibid. Q/RTh I, 5; ibid. Q/RPl 

 685-737; ibid. D/P 111/27/2; Kelly's 

 Dir. Essex (lS$^{.). 



^' See belovif, Manor of Otes ; P. Laslett, 

 Hist. To-day, iii, 536—4.3. 



29 See below, Manor of Otes ; P. Laslett, 

 Hist. To-day, iii, 5+2-3; E.R.O., D/DEw 

 Tz; ibid. Q/RPl 685-737; "'i''- D/P 

 111/27/1. 



3» E.R.O., D/P 1 1 1/27/2; fFhitc'sDir. 

 Essex (1863) ; Kelly's Dir. Essex (i 870 f.). 



3" E.R.O., D/P 1 1 1/27/2. 



3» Ibid. " Ibid. 



34 Ibid. 35 Ibid, 



s' y.C.H. Essex, i, 467a. 

 3' E.R.O., D/P 1 1 1/27/2. 



38 P. Laslett, Hist. To-day, iii, 536-9. 



39 Ibid. ♦» Ibid. 



4" Ibid. « Ibid. « Ibid. 



+• Complete Peerage, viii, 540-1 ; D.N.B. 

 xii, 1295-7; Hist. To-day, iii, 539-40. 



45 D.N.B. 



46 y.C.H. Essex, i, 467a and n. 2. 



4' Ibid. For Ingelric see Manors of 

 Chipping Ongar and Stanford Rivers. 



48 F.C.H. Essex, i, 467a. 



49 B.M. Harl. MS. 3739, f. 93. 

 5° Ibid. 



51 See below. 



52 B.M. Harl. MS. 3739, f. 93. 



53 Ibid. 



54 Ibid. ff. 94-96, 108. 



88 



55 Ibid. 



5' Ibid. ff. 96-98, 1 10-12. 

 5' Ibid. ff. 98-104. For details of this 

 dispute see below. 



58 B.M. Harl. MS. 3739, ff. 102-3. 



59 Ibid. ff. 103-4. 



'" Cal. Inq. p.m. iv, p. 112. 



'■ C140/52. 



'2 Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VIl, \, pp. 61-63 i 

 Complete Peerage, ii, 73. In the inquisi- 

 tions post mortem on John Wrytell (d. 

 1485) and Katherine (d. 1493) widow of 

 Walter Wrytell, the wife of Jasper, Duke 

 of Bedford (d. 1495), was wrongly 

 described as Anne. 



63 Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VU, i, p. 383. 



64 E.R.O., D/DDw M78. 



65 Ibid, 

 ^s Ibid. 



\ 



