ONGAR HUNDRED 



MAGDALEN LAYER 



Farm (126 acres) and Christian P. Meyer owned 

 MoUmans Farm (in acres) but did not farm it him- 

 self.35 There were seven other farms of over 60 acres; 

 of these three were more than 90 acres.3* 



Magdalen Laver, like neighbouring parishes, has 

 always been a parish of mixed farming with a marked 

 predominance of arable. In 1331 the manor contained 

 331 acres arable, 30 acres pasture, 6 acres meadow, and 

 80 acres wood. 37 In 1 847 it was estimated that there 

 were 835 acres arable, 150 acres meadow and pasture, 

 and 15 acres woodland. 3 8 



From 1680, if not before, until 1731 a regular item 

 of income in the churchwarden's annual account was 

 6s. id. 'faire money'.39 This suggests that until the 

 second quarter of the i8th century a fair was held 

 annually in the parish, although it is not clear why it 

 should have been a source of income for the church- 

 wardens. No reference to 'faire money' has been found 

 after 173 1."*" 



In 1066 MAGDALEN LAFER was probably held 

 as a manor by Sexi.*' In 1086 it was prob- 

 MANOR ably held of Ralf de Toesni by Roger.t2 At 

 both dates it was worth 70^.'t3 In the 12th 

 century the manor was held of the honor of Boulogne 

 and of Pharamus of Boulogne, great-grandson of Count 

 Eustace of Boulogne.''^ Pharamus died in 1183 or 

 1 1 84 and was succeeded by his only daughter and heir 

 Sibyl de Fiennes.*5 The manor was held of the honor 

 of Boulogne and of Sibyl in 1 22 1-2.'«* Sibyl's heir was 

 her son William de Fiennes, whose grandson Sir 

 William de Fiennes died in 1 302.''7 In 1 33 1 the manor 

 was held as \ knight's fee of Hugh, Lord Audley (d. 

 1347), and his wife Margaret 'as of her right and 

 inheritance' .'•8 By 1352 the tenancy in chief had 

 passed to Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, sister of 

 Margaret.^' At that time the manor was held by the 

 service of J knight's fee. 5" Elizabeth died in 1360.5' 

 Her heir was her granddaughter Elizabeth, suo jure 

 Countess of Ulster, wife of Lionel, later Duke of 

 Clarence. 52 In 1361 the manor of Magdalen Laver 

 was held of Lionel as of the honor of Clare. 53 Lionel 

 survived his wife Elizabeth and was succeeded on his 

 death in 1 368 by their only daughter and heir Philippe, 

 wife ofEdmund Mortimer, Earl of March (d. i38i).54 



The heir of Philippe and Edmund was their son Roger, 

 Earl of March, who was tenant in chief of Magdalen 

 Laver at his death in 1 398.55 Roger was succeeded by 

 his son Edmund, who died in 1425.5* The manor was 

 then held of Edmund's widow Anne until her death in 

 1432.5' She was succeeded by Richard, Duke of York, 

 son of Anne, sister of the last earl.'* Richard died in 

 1460 and the manor was then held of his widow.5» 



It is not clear who held the tenancy in demesne of 

 the manor in the first half of the 12th century. It was 

 probably during this period or shortly before, however, 

 that it came into the possession of the Marcys. In the 

 reign of Henry II the tenant was Ralph de Marcy who 

 also held an estate in Navestock.*" In Navestock at 

 least Ralph had by 1 152 succeeded William de Marcy, 

 son of the Ralph de Marcy who in 1086 held a manor 

 in Kelvedon Hatch (q.v.).*' Ralph the younger was 

 dead by 1 1 89 when his son William paid a mark for a 

 recognizance of mort d'ancestor.*^ William died be- 

 tween 1 198 and 1205 leaving his son Ralph as heir to 

 his estates in Navestock and Magdalen Laver.*' Ralph 

 was probably dead by 1217-18.*'' He was succeeded 

 by his daughter Joan wife of Gilbert de Breaute.*5 

 In 1237 Magdalen Laver was known as Laufar 

 Breute.** In 1270 Joan de Breaute acknowledged 

 the manor of Magdalen Laver to be the right of 

 Robert de Burnevill, her son or son-in-law, who 

 granted a life interest in the estate to Joan with reversion 

 to himself.*' In 1285 Cecil de Terling, son of Joan de 

 Breaute, brought an action against Robert de Burnevill, 

 grandson of Joan.** Cecil claimed the manor from 

 Robert on the ground that Joan, Cecil's mother, was 

 seised in her demesne as of fee of the manor at the time 

 of her death.*' A jury declared that Joan had granted 

 the manor in fee to Robert de Burnevill, father of the 

 defendant, and that Robert the father had then granted 

 her a life interest in the estate.'" Robert de Burnevill 

 the son was therefore confirmed in his seisin." 



In 1 32 1 John son of Robert de Burnevill conveyed 

 the manor to Humphrey de Walden'^ and it after- 

 wards followed the same descent as the manor of Ongar 

 Park in High Ongar (q.v.) until 1468.73 In 1331 the 

 manor of Magdalen Laver, then worth £12 16/. id. 

 a year, was granted to John de Cantebrigg to hold 



" Ibid. 



s« Ibid. 



" C135/26. 



3» E.R.O., D/CT211. 



3« E.R.O., D/P 62/5. 



40 Ibid. 



*' y.C.H. Essexi'i, $;^. It is impossible 

 to distinguish with certainty between the 

 three Lavers in Domesday. 



42 Ibid. 



« Ibid. 



« Bk. of Fee!, 1428; Genealogist, n.s. 

 xii, 14.5— 51. Pharamus was grandson of 

 Geoffrey, who was apparently a natural 

 son of Count Eustace. For Pharamus and 

 his heirs see also Lambourne and Bobbing- 

 worth. 



45 Bk. of Fees, 234-5; Genealogist, N.s. 

 xii, 145-51. 



4' Bk. of Fees, 240, 1435. 



47 Ibid. 235-6; GcfiM/o^f/K, N.s. xii, 149; 

 De La Chenaye-Desbois et Badier, 

 Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, viii, 39-41; 

 C. Moor, Knights of Ediu. I, ii, 23 ; Cal. 

 Inq. p.m. iv, p. 60. 



48 Cal. Inq.p.m.vn,f.2^0. Lord Audley 

 was grandson of Margaret, daughter of 

 Sir William de Fiennes (Complete Peerage, 

 \, 346, 347). As, however, the manor had 



apparently descended not to Lord Audley 

 but to his wife Margaret it is likely that 

 Sir William de Fiennes granted the over- 

 lordship of Magdalen Laver as well as that 

 of Blake Hall in Bobbingworth (q.v.) to 

 Margaret's grandmother, Eleanor of 

 Castile, to whom he pledged part of his 

 estate in 1275. 



4' Cal. Inq. p.m. X, p. 5 ; Complete Peer- 

 age, i, 346, iii, 245. Elizabeth de Burgh 

 inherited the honor of Clare on the death 

 of her brother Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, 

 in 1 3 14 (ibid, iii, 245). Her sister Margaret 

 died in 1342, 5 years before her husband. 

 Lord Audley (ibid, i, 346). 



5» Cal. Inq. p.m. x, p. 5. 



!■ Complete Peerage, iii, 245. 



52 Ibid. 



53 Cal. Inq. p.m. xi, p. 1 84. 



54 Complete Peerage, iii, 245. 



55 Ci36/io6; Complete Peerage, viii, 



448-50- 



56 C 1 39/19; Complete Peerage, vni, 



45°-3- 



57 C139/S9; Complete Peerage, viii, 453. 



58 C 1 39/98; Complete Peerage, viii, 453. 



59 C140/68. 



'0 Cal. Chart. R. 1341-1417, 186-7, 

 where a charter of Ric. I is quoted; Dom. 



of St. Paul's (Camd. Soc. Ixix), 133. 



" Domesday Studies (ed. P. E. Dove), ii, 

 553-5; Hist. MSS. Com. 9M Rep. pt. i, 

 App. 3ii, 66a; Dom. of St. Paul's (Camd. 

 Soc. Ixix), 133. 



62 Cur. Reg. R. viii, 387; Pipe R. 11 89 

 (Rec. Com.), 29. 



OJ Rot. Cur. Reg. R. (Rec. Com.), 197; 

 Pipe R. 1205 (Pipe R. Soc. N.s. xix), 1 19, 

 189. 



''4 Bk. of Fees, 240. He was certainly 

 dead by 1222 (see n. 65 below). 



<'5 Dom. of St. Paul's (Camd. Soc. Ixix), 

 75; Feet of F. Essex, i, 100, 214, 271. 



'' E.A.T. N.s. xix, 35. It was so 

 described by the assessors and collectors of 

 the 3^ of 1237. Cf. like description in the 

 Norwich Taxation of 1254 (Lunt, yal. 

 of Norioich, 337). 



'7 Feet of F. Essex, i, 271, 



" Just. Itin. 1/243 ■"• 5^- 



69 Ibid. 



7» Ibid. 



" Ibid. 



72 Feet of F. Essex, W, 197. 



73 Cal. Inq. p.m. vii, p. 250, x, p. 5, xi, 

 p. 1 84, xii, p. 1 64 ; Feet of F. Essex, iii, 

 241; Cal. Close, 1419-22, 78; C139/98; 

 E.R.O., D/DAT199. 



