A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



and conveyed by him in 1903 to trustees for use as a 

 club. In 1920 two houses in Meadow Road were con- 

 veyed to the trustees. Their rents provide much of the 

 club's income, which in 1941 was ^194 and was used 

 for current maintenance and expenses.^' 



Loughton now (1953) has many clubs and societies, 

 including at least four for amateur dramatics.*^ The 

 Loughton Community Association acts as a co- 

 ordinating body. There are several private sports 

 grounds, including that of the Loughton Cricket Club 

 opposite the 'King's Head'. The local council has 

 provided about 100 acres along the Roding for play- 

 ing fields and recreation grounds. ^3 A branch of the 

 County Library was first opened in 1936. The pre- 

 sent library, a fuU-time branch, was opened in 1948.^'* 



During the First World War Loughton provided 

 accommodation and financial support for Belgian 

 refugees. The subscriptions totalled ;^420 in 191 5 

 and ^£310 in 1916.85 



Domesday Book mentions no fewer than six separate 

 estates in Loughton and also two others, 

 MANORS Alderton and Debden, which later be- 

 came part of the parish of Loughton. A 

 small holding of 20 acres in Loughton belonged to 

 the manor of Havering: it had been held in 1066 by the 

 reeve of King Harold and in 1086 was held by the 

 reeve of King William.** Peter de Valognes had two 

 manors in Loughton in 1086: each was worth 20/.*^ 

 One of them, containing a hide and 30 acres was held 

 of Peter by Ralph. Before the Conquest it had been 

 held by Ulvric, a free man. The other, of I hide, was 

 held in demesne. It had been held in 1066 by Leofcild. 

 The descent of a part of these lands of de Valognes is 

 traced below under Monk Wood. Some other parts 

 became merged in the main manor of Loughton (see 

 below). 



An estate of 44 acres which had belonged to a free 

 man before the Conquest was held in 1086 by W. 

 Corbun of Robert Gernon; it was then worth lor.** 

 This also seems to have been later merged in the manor 

 of Loughton. 



By far the greatest part of the parish belonged in 

 1066 and 1086 to Waltham Abbey. The abbey's 

 property was listed in Domesday book as four manors. 

 Two manors were named Loughton: one contained 4 

 hides and 20 acres and was worth 40/.; the other con- 

 tained 2j hides and was worth 20/.*" These manors 

 were said to be in Becontree hundred. The other two 

 abbey manors, Alderton and Debden, were in Ongar 

 hundred.'" Alderton consisted of 4I hides and 10 

 acres and was worth ^^4 in 1086. Debden consisted of 

 3 hides and 40 acres and was worth 40^. All these lands 

 in Loughton, Alderton, and Debden had been given 

 to the abbey on its foundation in 1060 by Earl Harold. 

 The gift was confirmed by Edward the Confessor in 

 1062.91 



Waltham Abbey remained owner of most of the 

 land in the parish until the Dissolution, and its pro- 

 perty was known from the 13th century onwards as 

 the manor of LOUGHTON. A detailed rental of 

 about 1 1 80 deals separately with the three estates 

 although they had all belonged to the abbey for over 

 a century. It lists 32 tenants in Alderton who paid 

 £2 5^. 3^(2'. in money rents in addition to rents in kind 

 and labour services. The tenants of Loughton num- 

 bered only 8, who paid 12s. 2\J. rent. There were 24 

 tenants at Debden paying 16/. ii^J.'^^ 



It was probably soon after this time that the abbey 

 acquired the manor in Loughton which in 1086 had 

 been held of Robert Gernon. This had descended with 

 Gernon's other lands to Richard de Montfichet (d. 

 1202). He or his son Richard de Montfichet (II) 

 (d. 1267) granted the Loughton estate to Waltham 

 Abbey. '3 At the time of the grant there were two 

 tenants of the manor, Edward Reyntot, who paid an 

 annual rent of 2s. \d., and John son of Roger de Pyrle, 

 who paid ix. Both these tenants held lands in the 

 neighbourhood of the modern Pyrles Lane.''' About 

 the same time Waltham Abbey acquired further land 

 from Reyntot and Pyrle themselves. '5 Another 

 acquisition, early in the 13th century, was of one- 

 quarter of Monk Wood ; the remaining three-quarters 

 became the property of Stratford Abbey (see below. 

 Monk Wood). 



In about 1254 the manor of Loughton (now ap- 

 parently including Alderton and Debden) was valued 

 at £\ I 12/., of which ^8 issued from the demesne and 

 £1, J2S. from rents.'* 



The property of Waltham Abbey was taken into the 

 king's hands in 1 540 on the dissolution of the abbey. 

 The manor of Loughton was at that time occupied by 

 John Stoner on an 80-year lease running from 1522.'^ 

 Stoner died in the year of the dissolution and was suc- 

 ceeded as lessee by his son George.'* 



In 1 5 5 1 the manor was given to Thomas Darcy, 

 Baron Darcy of Chiche, as part of the endowment of 

 his barony, created in that year." A year later, how- 

 ever, he gave the manor back to the king in exchange 

 for property in Surrey.' In 1553 Loughton was 

 granted to Mary Tudor two months before she be- 

 came queen.^ The manor was thus again merged in 

 the Crown. In 1558 it was annexed to the Duchy of 

 Lancaster. 3 It remained part of the duchy until i6i3.'* 

 George Stoner, who had inherited the lease of the 

 manor, died in 1559.' His son and heir John Stoner 

 built a house at Luxborough in Chigwell (q.v.) in 

 which he usually lived. It was, however, at Loughton 

 Hall that he entertained the queen in 1578.* He died 

 in 1579 and the lease of Loughton passed to his 

 daughter Susan and her husband Robert Wroth. 

 Susan and Robert were probably established at 

 Loughton Hall before Stoner's death.^ Robert Wroth, 



8' Char. Com. Files; Kelly's Dir. Essex 

 (1914). 



82 Chigwell U.D. Official Guide (2nd 

 edn.), 41-47. *' Ibid. 28. 



*♦ Inf. from County Librarian. 



85 E.R.O.,T/P 13 iv. 



«« y.C.H. Essex, i, 430a. 



8' Ibid. 537 a, b. For Peter de Valognes 

 sec also North Weald. 88 Ibid. 515^. 



89 Ibid. 446A. '» Ibid. 447a. 



9' Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv, pp. 156-7. 

 For a discussion of the bounds of Alderton 

 and Debden in 1062 see P.N. Essex 

 (E.P.N.S.), 65-66. 



«2 W. C. Waller, Loughton, \, 17. The 



rental is in a Waltham Abbey cartulary, 

 B.M. Cott. MS. Tib. c. ix. For Waller's 

 comments on it see ibid. 11—17. 



95 Waller, Loughton, i, 159. For the 

 Gernon— Montfichet descent see Staple- 

 ford Abbots. 



'♦ Ibid. 1 58, 29-30. The modern name 

 of the lane is a return to the ancient form. 

 For centuries it was known as Pooles and 

 Poles lane. '5 Ibid. 158. 



96 W. E. Lunt, Val. of Norivich, 521. 

 9' Waller, Loughton, \, 36-37. The 



original lease was for 40 years. In 1535 

 this had been extended for a further 40 

 years. 



1x8 



98 E.A.T. N.s. viii, 146-7. 



99 Cal. Pat. 1550-3, 136; Complete 

 Peerage, iv, 78. 



' Cal. Pat. 1550-3, 458. 



2 Ibid. 1553, 176. Mary had also 

 acquired the manor of Stanford Rivers 

 (q.v.). 3 Ibid. 1557-8, 50. 



* Cal. S.P. Dom. 161 1-18, 187; Waller, 

 Loughton, i, 62. 



5 E.A.T. N.s. viii, 147. 



6 Ibid. For the Stoners and Wroths see 

 also Chigwell Hall in Chigwell. 



^ W. C. Waller, 'An Extinct County 

 Family, Wroth of Loughton Hall', E.A. T. 

 N.s. viii, 148. 



