ONGAR HUNDRED 



HIGH LAYER 



following year it was restocked at a cost of ^5 2/. 'id!''' 

 In 1 184-5 ^he king granted to William son of Alcher 

 ithe huntsman land in Laver to the annual value of 

 jTS.** In 1 199 Richard fitz Alcher gave King John 

 100 marks to have ;^8 of land in Laver which his 

 brother William had by the gift of King Richard and 

 of which William died seised.*' In June 11 99 the 

 king granted to Richard fitz Alcher all the land which 

 his brother William had in Laver of the gift of King 

 Henry, to hold in chief as \ fee.'" In 1 204 Richard 

 fitz Alcher gave 10 marks and a goshawk for licence to 

 assart 1 5 acres of his land in Laver and to have them 

 put outside the forest boundary." It was presented 

 from the honor of Boulogne in 1 2 1 2 that Richard son 

 of Alcher held Great Laver in chief for \ fee.'^ In 

 February 1227 Henry son of Richard fitz Alcher was 

 granted his father's lands in Laver according to King 

 John's charter.'^ Henry died in 1234 and his son 

 Richard then had livery of J fee in Laver held in chief'* 

 In 1237 this estate consisted of 2 carucates of land.'' 

 In 1253 Peter de St. Hilary paid a gold mark to escape 

 proceedings for the death of Richard fitz Alcher.'* 

 Richard was succeeded by his son Stephen." 



Shortly after 1259 Stephen entered into an agree- 

 ment with Simon, Abbot of Waltham, whereby the 

 abbey was to farm the estate for eight years instead of 

 receiving an annual rent from it.'^ Stephen was dead 

 by 1267." Afterwards his brother and heir Henry 

 would not let the abbey farm the estate and refused to 

 pay rent.*" In 1269-70 servants of Geoffrey, Prior 

 of Waltham, went to High Laver to distrain Henry 

 for arrears of rent.*' They took some cattle but Henry's 

 men then assaulted them and the cattle were restored.*^ 

 In 1272—3 Henry brought an action against Richard 

 de Harewes, then Abbot of Waltham. Henry alleged 

 that 24 of the abbot's men had, at his command, 

 trespassed upon High Laver manor and carried off 

 livestock to the value of ^40 after ill treating Henry's 

 men and killing two of them. Henry claimed that he 

 had suffered ^50 damages in consequence of the assault. 

 The abbot pleaded in defence that in taking the live- 

 stock he was exercising his lawful power of distraint, 

 since Henry, unlike his predecessor Stephen, had 

 refused to do homage to him for the manor and was 

 five years in arrears with his rent. Henry denied that 

 previous abbots had ever received either homage or 

 rent for High Laver manor. In 1275, after the verdict 

 against him, Henry made an agreement with the abbot 

 whereby he paid four years' arrears in addition to the 

 current year's rent.*3 When Henry fitz Alcher died 

 in 1303 the estate consisted of a dwelling house worth 



3/. 4<j'. a year, 362 acres of arable worth /J6 o/. %d. a 

 year, 1 3 acres of meadow worth 1 9/. i>d. a year, and 

 5 acres of pasture worth 3/. \d. a year.** The rents of 

 assize of freeholders amounted to ^5 6/. a year.'' 

 Annual outgoings, including the ^^lo rent due to 

 Waltham Abbey, amounted to ^10 8/.'* The net 

 annual value was thus ^2 10/. ()d.*'' 



Henry fitz Alcher left as his heir his son Alcher.'* 

 In 1 3 1 5 Alcher granted the manor to his son Henry 

 and Henry's wife Beatrice and their heirs to hold of 

 Alcher and his heirs and do all services to the chief 

 lords." In 1324 Henry fitz Alcher and his wife 

 Beatrice granted a life interest in the manor to Robert 

 Norman for ^^lo a year.»" In 1343 Henry fitz Alcher 

 and Beatrice granted the manor to John de Depeden 

 and his heirs to hold of the chief lords except for £10 

 of rent and the homage and services of seventeen 

 tenants which were to be paid to Henry fitz Alcher 

 and his heirs." In 1 346 John de Depeden was reported 

 as holding \ fee in High Laver which Henry Alcher 

 once held. '^ At theend of 1358 Maud, widow of John 

 de Depeden, empowered the Rector of High Laver to 

 sue for her dower of every freehold which belonged to 

 her husband in the counties of Essex, Hertford, and 

 York. '3 A rental drawn up in 143 1 suggests that Maud 

 held the manor of High Laver in dower.''* After her 

 death it passed into the possession of another John 

 Depeden, probably her son or grandson. In July 1406 

 John de Neuton, treasurer of St. Peter's, York, and 

 other trustees of Sir John Depeden's estate quitclaimed 

 to Robert Ramsey and his heirs the manor of High 

 Laver and all other lands in Essex and Herts, which 

 belonged to Sir John Depeden in demesne and in 

 reversion.'' In 141 2 John Ramsey was reported as 

 holding one manor in High Laver worth £10.'* In 

 1428 Robert Ramsey was holding the J fee which 

 Henry Alcher once held in High Laver." According 

 to the rental of 143 1 Robert Ramsey was still holding 

 the manor of High Laver in that year, but shortly after- 

 wards it came into the possession of his daughter 

 Eleanor and her husband Richard Priour who in 1436 

 received confirmation from the Crown.'' In 1452 

 when he presented to the church, Richard Priour was 

 still lord of the manor, but within a few years the estate 

 came into the possession of Walter Wrytell, son of 

 Eleanor Priour by her first husband Ralph Wrytell." 



Walter Wrytell died in 1475; his widow Katherine 

 held the manor in dower until her death in 1493.' The 

 estate then descended to John Wrytell, son of John 

 (d. 148;), son of V/alter Wrytell.^ In 1493 the estate 

 consisted of 230 acres and was valued at ^^4.' John, son 



" VipeR. ii67{P.R.S.xi), \c,j;TipeR. 

 1 168 (P.R.S. xii), 45-46. 



'8 Bk. of Fees, 1432; Pipe R. I185 

 (P.R.S. xxxiv), 44-45. 



M Rol. de Ob. et Fin. (Rec. Com.), 5. 



"> Cal. Pat. 1436-41, 26. The land was 

 granted to Richard as the next heir of his 

 brother William. See also Bk. of Fees, 121. 



" Rot. de Ob. et Fin. (Rec. Com.), 224. 



'^ Bk. of Fees, 121. In early documents 

 High Laver was also called Great Laver 

 and King's Laver. 



73 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, II. 



'« Ex. e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i, 255. 



'5 B.M. Harl. MS. 3739 ff. 94-96, 108. 



" Ex. e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), ii, 149. 



" B.M. Harl. MS. 3739, ff. 97-i°3. 

 110-12. 



'« Ibid. f. 103. 



" Ibid. ff. 97-103, 1 10-12. 



8» Ibid. f. 103. 



81 B.M. Cott. MS. Tib. C. ix, f. 180. 



82 Ibid. 



83 B.M. Harl. MS. 3739 f. 98-104; 

 B.M. Cott. MS. Tib. C. ix f. 180-1. The 

 effect of this agreement was that Henry 

 paid all rent owing from the time that 

 Richard de Harewes was elected abbot in 

 October 1270. Richard died in 1273 and 

 was succeeded by Reynold de Maidenhcth 

 (see F.C.H. Essex, ii, 171) who made the 

 agreement with Henry fitz Alcher in 

 1275. 



84 B.M. Harl. MS. 3739, ff. 321-6. 



85 Ibid. 



86 Ibid. 87 Ibid. 



88 Ibid.; Cal Inq. p.m. iv, p. 112. 



89 Feet ofF. Essex, ii, 156. 



90 Ibid. 214. 



9' Feet of F. Essex, iii, 65. John de 

 Depeden acquired several other estates 

 from Henry fitz Alcher about this time. 



92 Feud. Aids, ii, 160. 



93 Cal. Close, 1354-60, 532. 



94 E.A.T. N.s. xxii, 256. The rental 

 refers to the manor as 'formerly of Maud 

 Depeden'. 



95 Cal. Close, 1405-9, 265; Cf. Cal. 

 Close, 1354-60, 611, 614. Sir John 

 Depeden died c. 1403 {Cal. Close, 1402-5, 

 12, 305). 



96 Feud. Aids, vi, 441. 

 9' Feud. Aids, ii, 222. 



98 E.A.T. N.s. xxii, 256; Cal. Pat. 

 1436-41, 26; E.R.O., -D/DEl Mi95i 

 ibid. D/DB T96/69. 



99 Newcourt, Repert. ii, 368; E.R.O., 

 D/DB T96/69. For the Wrytells see also 

 Manors of Bobbingworth, Ashlyns in 

 High Ongar, and Lampetts in Fyfield. 



' Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. FII, i, p. 383. 

 ' Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. FII, i, pp. 61-63, 

 383. > Ibid. 



89 



