A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



the last of its farm buildings through a gale in 1834.^* 

 Gross Leys is a timber-framed house on a moated site, 

 rebuilt probably in the 17th century, and encased in 

 brickwork in the late 1 8th or early 19th century. There 

 is an old timber barn. 



Bundish Hall is on the parish boundary, near its 

 southern extremity. ^5 To the west, on the other side 

 of the Cripsey Brook, stands Wood Farm on the road 

 from Moreton to Shelley. This farm, formerly South- 

 end Farm^* or Henhouse Farm,^' has an 1 8th-century 

 farm-house. 



The inhabitants of Moreton were at first responsible 

 for the upkeep of Moreton Bridge which spans the 

 Cripsey Brook where it forms the boundary between 

 the parishes of Moreton and Bobbingworth.^* At a 

 vestry meeting held in 1 76 1 the parishioners of Moreton 

 agreed that a new cart bridge should be built in place 

 of the old horse bridge and that, having obtained an 

 estimate of the cost of a timber and of a brick bridge, 

 they should meet the parishioners of Bobbingworth to 

 determine of what materials it should be built.^' A 

 combined meeting took place in May 1762 when it 

 was agreed that the money raised should be spent on the 

 bridge only and that each parish should 'make their 

 way to the bridge at their own expense'.^o It was also 

 agreed that work on the bridge should begin im- 

 mediately.3' A grant of ^^30 was made from county 

 funds towards the building.^^ By 1783 the bridge had 

 become a county charge and in the same year it was 

 ordered that it should be rebuilt with brick according 

 to the plan prepared by John Johnson, the county 

 surveyor.33 In 1857 the county surveyor described it 

 in detail.34 



A postal receiving house was set up at Moreton in 

 1846 to serve the surrounding villages; the receiver 

 was to have £\ a year and a messenger i zs. a week.^s 

 There is now a post-office in the village. The tele- 

 phone service was established in 1927.36 A police 

 officer is stationed in the village." 



Water is supplied by the Herts, and Essex Water- 

 works C0.3* There is no sewerage but a site for a 

 pumping-station has been agreed on. 3' Electricity was 

 provided in 195 1.'"' The village hut was built in 

 1920.4' A branch of the county library was opened in 

 April 1929.42 



Moreton has always been a rural parish devoted 

 mainly to agriculture. Few of the large landowners 

 have lived there. The owners of Upper Hall were 

 never resident except possibly for a few years after 

 1349.45 During the whole of the period 1342-1832 

 the owners of Nether Hall were not resident except in 

 the time of William Cozens, lord of the manor from 

 1775 until 1790, and even he did not live at the manor 

 house or farm the main part of the estate.44 W. H. 



»4 W. Talbot, MS. Hist. Moreton. 30 Inf. from Rector of Moreton. 



" See below. Manor of Bundish Hall. 4o j^f. from East. Elec. Bd. 



*' Chapman and Andri, Map of Essex 

 J777, plate xii. 



2' T. Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 353; W. 

 Talbot, MS. Hist. Moreton. 



« E.R.O., <2/SR 175/53; ibid. Q/CP3, 

 p. 127. 



" E.R.O., D/P 72/8/r. 



30 Ibid. 3> Ibid. 



31 E.R.O., Q/SO 10, pp. 338-9. 



33 Ibid. Q/SO 13, pp. 369, 384. ' 



34 E.R.O., Q/ABz 3. 



35 P.M.G. Mins. 1 846, vol. 87, p. 5. 



36 British Postal Guide, 1927. 

 3' Inf. from Chief Constable of Essex. 

 3' Inf. from Herts. & Essex Water- 

 works Co. 



4' Inf. from Rector of Moreton. 



42 Inf. from County Librarian. 



43 See below, Manor of Upper Hall. 



44 See below. Manor of Nether Hall. 



45 Ibid. 

 4' See below, Manor of Bundish Hall; 



E.R.O., Q/RPl 685. 



47 E.R.O., Q/RPl 693-737. 



48 E.R.O., D/CT 244. 

 4» Ibid. 50 Ibid. 

 5> Ibid. 52 Ibid. 



53 y.C.H. Essex, \, 551a. 



54 Cal, Doc, France, ed. Round, 162. 



55 W. Talbot, MS. Hist. Moreton. 



56 E.R.O., D/CT 244. The woodland, 

 which was south-east of Moreton Bridge, 



Alger, lord of the manor from 1829, was resident at 

 the Hall by 1840 and both he and his son, who died 

 in 1900, farmed most of the estate.45 The owners of 

 Bundish Hall did not live in Moreton in the middle 

 of the 1 6th century; there is no further evidence about 

 their place of residence until 1780, when the owner 

 was not resident.46 After Richard Eve purchased the 

 estate in 1787 it was occupied by members of the Eve 

 family.47 



In 1840 W. H. Alger owned 256 acres in Moreton 

 of which he farmed 197 acres himself.48 J. H. Frere 

 of Upper Hall owned 246 acres but farmed none of it 

 himself.49 Bundish Hall Farm, then owned by the 

 trustees of the late J. Chaplin, and occupied by W. 

 Eve, consisted of 166 acres of which 107 acres lay in 

 Moreton. 50 There were two other substantial owners 

 in the parish; J. White owned Wood Farm (153 acres) 

 which he farmed himself, and E. F. Maitland owned, 

 but did not occupy, Newhouse Farm (129 acres).'' 

 There were three other farms of over 40 acres. 5^ 



Moreton has always been a parish of mixed farming. 

 In 1086 there were 5 plough teams in the manor, 

 woodland for 400 swine and 20 acres of meadow. 53 In 

 the late 12th century the manor contained a flax 

 ground. 54 In the i8th century there was a malt kiln 

 in the parish, situated probably at the east end of North 

 Lane. 55 In 1838 it was estimated that there were 

 1,151 acres of arable, 273 acres of pasture, and II 

 acres of woodland. 5^ 



There was once a water-mill on the Cripsey Brook 

 near Padlers End. The mill house was demolished 

 about 1860.5' Moreton windmill is still standing but 

 ceased working about 1932.58 It is of a type formerly 

 common in the area: a weather-boarded post mill, 

 turned by hand, with the base enclosed by a brick 

 'round house'. At the base of the central post are three 

 cross-trees instead of the more usual two. It is said 

 that the mill was formerly at Bishop's Stortford and 

 was erected in Moreton early in the 1 8th century.'' 

 The central post is dated 17 15 and 1821.*" The mill 

 was reroofed in 191 8.*' After it ceased working it was 

 given by Messrs. C. and A. Gould to the Society for 

 the Protection of Ancient Buildings.*^ In 195 1 one 

 sail came off and another had to be removed for safety.*^ 

 The thatched mill house is partly occupied as an office 

 for Messrs. C. and A. Gould. 



In about 1885 it was said that until 1832a fair was 

 held in the village annually on I May*4 but that 'having 

 degenerated from its former social gathering into an 

 annual disorderly assembly, an edict was issued by the 

 magistrates for its abolition .*5 . . . Mr. George Rogers 

 of Upper Hall** attended personally in the village with 

 the constable to force obedience to the edict, but the 

 ancient fair still tries to lie on private premises.'*' 



was uprooted in 1 883 ' to the general regret 

 of the parish'. 



5' W. Talbot, MS. Hist. Moreton. 



5* It was still working in 193 1 : E.R. xl, 

 130. 



59 W. Talbot, MS. Hist. Moreton. 



60 D. Smith, English (Vindmills, ii, 51. 

 «■ Ibid. '^ S.P.h.^.Ann.Rep. 1933. 

 M Inf. from Messrs. C. and A. Gould. 

 64 W. Talbot, MS. Hist. Moreton. It 



did not appear, however, in the lists of 

 Essex fairs compiled in 1780 and 1792: 

 Essex, Herts, and Camhs. Almanack, 1 780; 

 Rep. Com. Mkt. Rights [C. 5550], p. 161 

 (1888), liii. 



*5 This order cannot be traced. 



66 See below, Manor of Upper Hall. 



" W. Talbot, MS. Hist. Moreton. 



130 



