A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



of John Wrytell, died in 1507.* His heir, an infant 

 daughter Juliane, was dead by November 1 509.5 The 

 heirs to High Laver and other manors were the 

 daughters of Waher Wrytell: Eleanor wife of James 

 Walsingham and Gresilda wife of Edward Walde- 

 grave.* A partition of their inheritance was made in 

 May 1 5 10 and the manor of High Laver was ap- 

 portioned to Eleanor and her husband.' In 15 10 the 

 manor was said to be worth ^14 14/. iJ. a year.* The 

 demesne was apparently farmed out, the chief farmer 

 being Reynold Foster.' Rents from the farmed land 

 amounted to j^iy 9/. 44/.'" In addition there were 

 twelve freeholders paying rents totalling £-^ \os. i^J. 

 a year and 4 copyholders paying rents amounting to 

 ;^4 6s. ^i/." A rental of 1 540 showed no change in the 

 value of the manor.'^ 



James Walsingham died in 1 540. '3 Sir Edmund 

 Walsingham, elder son of James, apparently succeeded 

 to the estate, for in 1550, the year in which he died, 

 his only surviving son Thomas held his first court for 

 the manor.'* In June 1552 the demesne land consisted 

 of 266 acres.'s By 1559 the annual value of the manor 

 had risen to £17 9/., the rents from farmed land 

 amounting to ^{^20 ys. 81/.'* There were apparently 

 only three copyholders at this time." Sir Thomas 

 Walsingham died in 1 5 84, leaving as his heir his son 

 Edmund; the manor was then said to be worth ^{^5.'' 

 Edmund died in 1589 and was succeeded by his 

 younger brother Thomas who retained the manor until 

 his death in 1630. ■« His son and heir, Sir Thomas 

 Walsingham, disposed of the estate about 1655 to 

 Anthony Stanlake.^" During the ownership of the last 

 two Walsinghams, at least part of the estate was leased, 

 the lessees being in turn G. Day and Josias and Thomas 

 Tunbridge.^' 



Stanlake was described as lord of the manor in 1659 

 and it may have been on his death, sometime after 1662, 

 that the estate descended to coheiresses: Sarah, wife of 

 Jacob Foster, and Martha, wife of Richard Matthews.^^ 

 In i682and 1686 Foster and Matthews were described 

 as lords of the manor in right of their wives.^3 In 169$, 

 1699, and 1706 Richard Matthews and Abraham 

 Foster, a London grocer and probably son of Jacob 

 Foster, were lords.^* Mary, daughter of Richard 

 Matthews, brought one half of the estate in marriage 

 to her husband Samuel Beachcroft who was lord of 

 the manor with Abraham Foster in 1713.^5 



On Abraham's death his widow Anna held her 

 husband's half manor for life.^* On her death this half 

 was divided between Abraham's two daughters: Sarah, 

 wife of Richard Merry, a London merchant, and Mary, 

 wife of Lewis Scawen.^' The quarter inherited by 

 Mary and Lewis Scawen descended to their only son 



Thomas who in 1753 devised all his real estate to his 

 uncle Robert Scawen. ^^ In addition to 'an undivided 

 fourth part' of High Laver manor, Robert also held an 

 'undivided half of Hayleys manor in Epping.^' In 

 June 1766 he and the owners of the other 'undivided' 

 half (of Hayleys) and quarter (of High Laver manor), 

 Richard Merry and his heir Anthony, agreed that it 

 would be to their mutual convenience to make a 

 physical division of their properties.'" Lots were cast, 

 as a result of which the two quarters of High Laver 

 manor fell to the share of Robert Scawen. 3' 



There must have been an agreement about the same 

 time with the owner of the other half of the manor, 

 which had remained in the Beachcroft family until 

 after 1762, for the sale of the whole manor, for by 

 August 1767, when he held his first court, Thomas 

 Darby had become sole lord.'^ At the time of the sale 

 to Darby the whole estate, which consisted of about 

 370 acres, was leased to Abraham Thorrowgood." 

 Thomas Darby, who continued to live at Sunbury 

 (Mdx.), died in 1769, having devised the manor of 

 High Laver to his wife Dulcibella for her life and then 

 to his brother George.^'* Dulcibella died in 1784 and 

 George in 1790. 



George Darby was succeeded by his son William 

 who changed his surname to St. Quintin. In 1802 

 William mortgaged the manor to Mrs. Elizabeth 

 Dashwood for ^^2, 557. The estate was still encumbered 

 with this debt in 1805 when William died, leaving as 

 his heir his son William, a minor. The trustees of the 

 estate eventually repaid Mrs. Dashwood in 18 12. In 

 183 1 William St. Quintin mortgaged the manor for 

 ;^5,ooo. In each of the years 1840 and 1850 he bor- 

 rowed a further ^1,000, making a total mortgage on 

 the estate of j^7,ooo. This was still outstanding when 

 William St. Quintin died in 1859. 



The St. Quintins never lived in High Laver. After 

 the death of Abraham Thorrowgood and his wife the 

 manor house and farm were leased to the Speed family 

 and, from 1826, to William Barnard and his son who 

 paid a rent of ^^425 a year for the first 12 years, ;^36o 

 a year for the next twelve, and ^^373 a year from 

 1850. 



William St. Quintin stipulated in his will, made 30 

 years before his death, that all his lands, except those 

 in Yorkshire, should be sold by his trustees. The 

 manor of High Laver was sold for ^{^1 2,050 to John 

 Watlington Perry Watlington, M.P., and the mortgage 

 on the estate was paid out of the purchase money. At 

 the time of the sale the estate consisted of 374 acres.'' 

 J. W. Perry Watlington was still owner in 1874.3* By 

 1886 he was dead and Robert Wicksted Ethelston had 

 succeeded to the estate. 3? Ethelston died in 19 14.3* 



■• C142/21/2. 



i L. & P. Hen. yill, i, p. 103. 

 ' Ibid. 



' E.R.O., D/DB T96/69 ; ibid. D/DDw 

 M78. 

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

 « Ibid. 

 '0 Ibid. 



" Ibid. " Ibid. 



" Ibid.; Conyers Read, Sir Francis 

 Wahingham, i, 7; D.N.B. xx, 685. 



'4 E.R.O., D/DDw M75; D.N.B. xx, 

 685—7. Thomas was knighted in 1573. 

 ■5 E.R.O., D/DEl M195. 

 ■« E.R.O., D/DDw M78. 

 " Ibid. IS Ibid. 



" C 142/467/71; D.N.B. XX, 686. He 

 had been knighted in 1597. 



2» CP25(2)/55ifi Mich. 1655. 



" E.R.O., D/DW T4I. 



2i E.R.O., D/DW T41. A note in the 

 register of burials describes Anthony 

 Stanlake as lord of the manor in 1659: 

 D/P iii/i/i. He presented to the church 

 of High Laver in 1662: Newcourt, 

 Repert. ii, 368. 



23 E.R.O., D/DDw M76. 

 « Ibid. 



25 Ibid. 



24 Ibid.; E.R.O., D/DW T41. 

 " E.R.O., D/DWT41. 



28 Ibid. " Ibid. 



3" Ibid. 31 Ibid. 



32 E.R.O., D/DDw M77. 



33 E.R.O., D/DW T41; ibid. D/DDw 

 T32; ibid. D/DEs T88. Previous oc- 



cupiers were Samuel Brooks, Thomas 

 Roddington, and John Pavell. 



3* E.R.O., D/DEs T88. Information 

 for all that follows has been obtained from 

 this group of documents. 



35 E.R.O., D/DEs T88. Cf. D/P 

 1 1 1 /27/2 (Tithe Award 1 848) which gave 

 the acreage as 356 of which 278 were 

 arable. 



36 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1874). From 

 1870 the manor of High Laver was 

 described in Kelly's Directories as the manor 

 of High Laver Hall to distinguish it from 

 Otes manor which was apparently 

 described at this period as the manor of 

 High Laver. 



3' Kelly's Dir. Essex (1886). 



38 Burke's L.G. (15th edn.), 712. 



90 



