A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



of the parish. There are several areas of parkland and 

 plantation, mainly at the lower altitudes. Of these the 

 principal are at Navestock Park and in the upper part 

 of the WetstafF Valley near Bois Hall. Curtismill 

 Green in the extreme west of the parish is the patch 

 of open woodland, about loo acres in extent, which 

 was formerly part of the forest of Essex. Its north- 

 eastern and south-eastern corners are still marked by 

 :he old forest boundary stones, known respectively as 

 Richard Stone and Navestock Stone. Navestock Com- 

 mon, the name of which survives in the south-west, was 

 formerly much larger in extent, stretching across the 

 south of the parish for most of its length and containing 

 some 600 acres. 



The main centre of population is Navestock Side in 

 the extreme east of the parish, where the houses cluster 

 round a green. There are also some houses around 

 Navestock Heath which was formerly a more important 

 hamlet than it is today. The former workhouse and 

 the old almshouse, both now demolished, were at the 

 south end.'* The village school has been closed and the 

 vicarage, which adjoins it, is unoccupied. The Heath, 

 which is still used for grazing cattle, has a desolate ap- 

 pearance. 



The parish church is a mile north of Navestock 

 Heath, adjoining the old manor house of Navestock 

 Hall. A little to the north of them, in Navestock Park, 

 is the site of the former mansion of Navestock Hall, 

 built in the i8th century by Lord Waldegrave but 

 demolished about 100 years later. Other ancient 

 manor houses were at Slades near Beacon Hill and 

 Bois Hall ^ mile south on the same spur.s A home- 

 stead moat still survives at the former site of Slades 

 and there are other moats at Dycotts in the south- 

 west of the parish and at Yew Tree Farm to the north 

 of Navestock Heath. 



Fortification Wood, on the south side of the road 

 about J mile west of Bois Hall, covers an entrenchment 

 some 350 ft. long by 240 ft. wide.' It occupies a good 

 defensive position and. has been thought to be a 

 fortification at some unknown date. It is probably 

 identical with a wood called 'the defence' which 

 existed in 1222.' Another ancient earthwork, of which 

 hardly any traces remain, was situated on Navestock 

 Common, by the road from Ditchleys (in South 

 Weald) to Princesgate, near the parish and hundred 

 boundary. It was visited on several occasions in the 

 l8th century by William Stukeley (1687-1765) who 

 described it as an 'alate temple'.* 



Navestock probably means 'the stump on the head- 

 land',' a derivation which suits the topography and 

 suggests early Saxon settlement on one of the spurs. 

 Although some of the parish place names, including 

 those of the manor houses, are medieval,'" none of the 

 present buildings, apart from the church, appear to be 

 earlier than the 1 6th century. Navestock Hall (see 

 Manors) is perhaps the most interesting of these. Like 

 Stondon Hall in Stondon Massey it is an old manor 

 house that has survived the grander house built in the 

 1 8th century to supersede it as the residence of the lord 

 of the manor. Dabbs Farm, formerly Hole Farm, 

 about J mile south-west of Shonks Mill Bridge, is 

 probably on the site of a medieval house. It is now 



approached by a track past Howletts Hall Farm, the 

 lane leading from the east being impassable. The 

 house, which was probably built in the late i6th 

 century, is timber-framed. It retains a chimney with 

 six shafts set diagonally. Sabine Cottage, about J mile 

 east of Navestock Heath, facing the end of Tan House 

 Lane, is a small timber-framed building of the i6th 

 century or earlier. This house and the neighbouring 

 Sabine's Green take their name from the family of a 

 13th century resident, William fitz Sabine." 



At Dycotts a medieval building undoubtedly oc- 

 cupied the moated site but the oldest building there 

 now is part of an outbuilding which has 16th-century 

 timbers. Wattons Green, which lies between Dycotts 

 and the road, extends north-west as a narrow strip of 

 common until it strikes the Navestock-Havering road 

 south of Jenkins Farm. Its name is derived from the 

 family of John de Walton (fl. 1319).'^ 



By the 17th century the pattern of settlement in the 

 parish was probably very much as it is today. Larger 

 houses dating from that period are Bois Hall (see 

 Manors), Beacon Hill Farm, in the north-east corner 

 of the parish, and Yew Tree Farm. Beacon Hill Farm 

 is a red-brick house probably built in the late 17th 

 century. It was much altered in the i8th or earher 

 19th century but retains some original woodwork 

 inside. The cottage which adjoins the house on the 

 north is probably of the same period with fewer 

 alterations. Yew Tree Farm, probably built in the 

 17th century, has a cruciform chimney set diagonally 

 on a square base. Two wings at the back and other 

 features date from the i8th century. North of the 

 house is part of a large rectangular moat. The surface 

 of the ground inside it is uneven, suggesting the posi- 

 tion of an earlier building. Several smaller buildings, 

 all timber-framed, also date from the 17th century. 

 Brook House, to the east of Curtismill Green, is a 

 weather-boarded cottage probably built in the second 

 half of that century. On the north side of the road 

 almost opposite Bois Hall is a cottage of the 17th 

 century or earlier with an original chimney. At Nave- 

 stock Side and near it there are other cottages of about 

 the same period. Houghtons, on the north side of the 

 road at Horseman Side, may well be an ancient house 

 altered in the i8th or early 19th century. It is a 

 weather-boarded range of four cottages. 



Shonks Mill was probably rebuilt in the 17th 

 century. It took its name from a medieval family, but 

 this may have come indirectly from some other topo- 

 graphical feature in the area. A map of 1835, based 

 upon one of 1785, shows the old course of the Roding 

 'before Shonks Mill was erected'. '' This suggests that 

 the existing mill had been built not very long before 

 1785, and the humped brick bridge that still survives 

 on the site and has a small arch for the mill race is prob- 

 ably of the 17th century. The parapets have been 

 rebuilt. The mill itself was still standing in the present 

 century but does not appear to have been used after 

 about 1 860, and it has since been demolished.'* 



Great changes took place in Navestock in the i8th 

 century. Early in the century the new mansion of 

 Navestock Hall was built and a large park constructed 

 around it. '5 Later came the inclosure of Navestock 



< See below Parish Government, also 

 Charities. 



' For the manor houses, including Loft 

 Hall, sec below, Manors. 



' For details see Hist, Mon. Com, Eisex, 

 ii, 193; V,C,H, Essex, i, 279. Described 



on O.S, 2j in. Map as a camp. 



' Dom, of St, Paul's (Camd. Soc. 1858), 



79- 



* Essex Naturalist, viii, 214, 220-2. 

 Stukeley's drawing of the site is repro- 

 duced ibid. 214. His last visit was in 176 1. 



9 P.N, Essex (E.P.N.S.), 70. 



■<• Ibid. 70-71. 



" Ibid. 71. " Ibid. 70. 



■3 E.R.O., D/DXa 24. 



'< Local inf. ; Kelly's Dir. Essex (i 845 f.). 



■5 See below, Manors. 



140 



