ONGAR HUNDRED 



NAVESTOCK 



as Bois HaO. John Boys was no doubt identical with 

 the man of that name who succeeded the Suttons in 

 the manor of Langenhoe.s He also had property in 

 Tolleshunt d'Arcy where he was buried in 1419.* 

 Before his death, however, Bois Hall had passed out of 

 his possession. In 1412 it was held by Edmund Prior,7 

 and it remained in his family for over a century. In 

 1507 Andrew Prior died holding the manor of the 

 Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, and was succeeded by 

 his son John, then a minor. ^ John Prior still held the 

 manor in 1527' but soon after that date it passed to 

 Constance, wife of Lawrence Claydon, with reversion 

 to Alice, wife of John Prest. John Prest died in 



1546 leaving a son William by a former marriage and 

 a daughter Frances, heiress to her mother Alice. In 



1547 Alice married, as her third husband, Richard 

 Blackwall."' She died in 1 561 and was succeeded by 

 her daughter Frances, now the wife of William Brad- 

 borne." In 1564 Frances and William conveyed the 

 manor to William Tusser and Charles Belfield, who 

 sold it in the following year to John Greene. "^ Bois 

 Hall remained in the hands of the Greenes for almost 

 two centuries. John Greene was succeeded by his son 

 Thomas and he by his son John Greene II (d. 1653), 

 a judge of the sheriff's court in London and serjeant- 

 at-law. The latter was succeeded by John Greene III, 

 who became Recorder of London in 1659 and died 

 in the same year. His son John Greene IV (d. 1725), 

 serjeant-at-law, was succeeded by his son John Greene 

 V, who died in 1752 leaving Bois Hall to his cousin 

 Dr. Maurice Greene, organist of St. Paul's Cathedral 

 and a composer of some eminence.'^ After Dr. Greene's 

 death in 1755 the manor was bought by Earl Walde- 

 grave (d. 1763) and was merged with the main manor 

 of Navestock.'* From 1654 the Bois Hall estate 

 included Loft Hall (see below). In 1840 Bois Hall 

 farm, then including Slades (see below), comprised 

 480 acres and was occupied by a tenant farmer, Litch- 

 field Tabrum.'s This was not the first time that 

 the two places had been united, for the Greenes 

 of Bois Hall had also held Slades between 1 604 and 

 1637. 



There were formerly two rainwater heads on the 

 front of Bois Hall house bearing the date 1687 with 

 the arms and crest of Greene.'* If the present house 

 is of this date considerable alterations must have taken 

 place late in the i8th or early in the 19th century. It 

 has a formal brick front of two stories with a moulded 

 string and cornice. There are five sash windows to the 

 first floor, three of them being grouped in a slightly 

 projecting central bay. The porch has Doric columns 

 and a dentil cornice. The front is flanked by screen 

 walls and approached by a straight drive. A kitchen 

 at the back of the house was demolished in 1948 and 

 repairs to the roof in 1953 resulted in the removal of 

 the dormer windows and the two inscribed rainwater 

 heads. '7 



Bois Hall is now (1954) owned by the Church Com- 

 missioners and occupied by Mr. T. E. Bere, who farms 

 the land here and at Beacon Hill.'' 



The manor of LOFT HALL probably derived its 

 name from the family of Isabel atte Lofte who held 

 land in Navestock about 1350." The first reference 

 that has been found to the manor itself was the grant 

 of a rent issuing from it in 1483.^" In 1507 Thomas 

 Intilsham conveyed the manor to John Sedley, member 

 of a well-known Kent family, who was auditor to the 

 Exchequer under Henry VII and Henry VIII.^' The 

 manor was held by the Sedleys for a century and a 

 half." John Sedley was succeeded after 15 14 by his 

 son William, Sheriff of Kent in 1547, and he by his 

 son John, Sheriff of Kent 1566, who died in 158 1 

 leaving William Sedley his son and heir.^' In 161 1 

 William Sedley was created a baronet, and the manor 

 descended with the baronetcy until 1654, when Sir 

 William Sedley, 4th Bt.,sold it to John Greene III of 

 Bois Hall.^* From that time Loft Hall descended along 

 with Bois Hall and passed after the death of Dr. 

 Maurice Greene in 1755 with Bois Hall into the 

 Waldegrave estate of Navestock. In 1 840 Loft Hall 

 farm comprised 223 acres and was let to a tenant 

 farmer, C. Pratt.^' The Pratt family remained tenants 

 until 1 92 1. 



The present farm-house of Loft Hall was evidently 

 rebuilt in red brick in the 19th century. The remains 

 of a moat lie to the north of it. 



The manor of SLADES appears to have belonged 

 to Sir Humphrey Starkey who was Chief Baron of the 

 Exchequer in 1483 and died in i486. His widow 

 Ehzabeth died in 1496 holding it as life tenant with 

 remainder to Sir Humphrey's heirs.^* The heirs were 

 his four daughters. One of these, Emma, had married 

 Henry Torrell (d. 148 1), another landowner in Nave- 

 stock, and her son Humphrey Torrell, aged 17 in 

 1496, inherited Slades as heir to his mother's pur- 

 party.27 In 1503 Humphrey made a settlement of the 

 manor in connexion with the marriage of his son 

 Henry with Anne, daughter of William Mordaunt. 

 The marriage took place in 1 5 1 3 and Henry died in 

 1526.^* He was succeeded by his son Humphrey, 

 who died in 1 544 leaving an infant daughter Anne, 

 later wife of Henry son of Sir Thomas Joscehn.^' 

 Anne died in 1589 and Slades passed to her son Sir 

 Thomas Joscehn.^o In 1604 Sir Thomas sold the 

 manor to Thomas Greene of Bois Hall and his brother 

 Robert. 3' In 1637 Robert Greene sold Slades to 

 Henry Alexander and John Howe.^^ It afterwards 

 belonged to the Howlands of Stone Hall in Little 

 Canfield and was later purchased by the Waldegraves. 

 In 1768 Slades belonged to Lord Waldegrave but 

 was no longer styled a manor.33 It remained part 

 of the Waldegrave estate (see above, Manor of Nave- 

 stock) and in 1840 was part of Bois Hall farm (see 

 above). 



' Morant, Essex, i, 4.17. 



' Ibid. 395-7. 



' Feud. Aids, vi, 4.4.3. 



« C142/467/173. 



' CP40/1051 mem. 348. 

 ■» C142/84/64. 

 " C142/134/141. 

 ■^ 'Monnt, Essex, \, 183. 

 '3 Ibid. ; Gents. Mag. xxii, 44. For Dr. 

 Greene see Wallcer, Hist. Music in Eng. 

 (3rd ed. by J. A. Westrup), 243 f., 253 f. 

 '* Morant, Essex, i, 183. 

 " E.R.O., D/CT 248. 



^* Hist. Mon. Com. Essex, ii, 193. 



" Inf. from Mrs. T. E. Bere. 



'8 Ibid. 



>» Hist. MSS. Com. gth Rep. pt. i App. 

 pp. 33*, 38a. 



" CP25(i)/72/29i I Ric. 111,9. 



" CP40/979. 



*2 Cf. Burke's Extinct and Dormant 

 Baronetcies, pp. 482—3. 



" Ibid.; CP25(2)/ii/53 Mich. 7 Hen. 

 Villi P.R.O. List of Sheriffs, p. 69; 

 C142/199/94. 



^* G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, \, 73-74. 



" E.R.O., D/CT 248. 



2' Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VII, i, pp. 514- 

 15. For the origin of the name Slades see 

 P.N. fssejcfE.P.N.S.), 71. 



" For Henry Torrell see Cal. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec. Com.), iv, p. 4.02. 



28 C142/44/95. 



" C142/70/22; Visits, of Essex (Karl. 

 Soc), 230 ; y.C.H. Sussex, iv, 42. 



3» C142/224/44. 



3> CP25(2)/292 East. 2 Jas. I. 



" CP25(2)/4i7 Hil. 12 Chas. I. 



35 Morant, Essex, i, 1 84. 



H5 



