ONGAR HUNDRED 



HIGH ONGAR 



Thomas Dryffeld, goldsmith of London and Margaret 

 his wife." Probably Margaret de Walden had 

 married Thomas Dryffeld. 



By 1434 the manor had come to Thomas Bataille, 

 by virtue of the settlement of 1404.20 It was from his 

 family that the manor derived its alternative name of 

 Batells or Batailles. Thomas was succeeded on his 

 death in 1439 ^7 ^'* 5°" John.^' A third part of the 

 manor was retained in dower by Isabel, wife of Thomas 

 Bataille. She was alive in 1447 and was then the wife 

 of Robert Thornhill.^^ In 1454 John Bataille tempor- 

 arily forfeited two-thirds of the manor. He had pledged 

 the property as surety for the good behaviour of 

 Robert Poynings, who had been 'carver and sword- 

 bearer' to Jack Cade and had subsequently been bound 

 over to keep the peace, but had failed to do so.^^ Now 

 the king seized Bataille's part of the manor and delivered 

 it to John Leventhorpe and Richard de la Felde to be 

 kept for fifteen years 'if the premises shall remain so 

 long in the king's hand' at an annual farm of 20 marks.^* 

 In 1473 Bataille received the royal licence once more 

 freely to hold the manor.^s Presumably he had by this 

 time become seised of the third of it formerly held in 

 dower by Isabel. He died in 1474, leaving John 

 Bataille his son and heir.^* 



Richard Bataille, perhaps son of the last named 

 John Bataille, died in 1 540.27 Under a settlement 

 made in 1 5 1 8 the manor passed to Richard's niece 

 Joan (Feme) and her husband William Shelton.^' 



William Shelton was dead by 1553, when a con- 

 veyance of the manor was made by his widow and their 

 son Humfrey Shelton.^' In or about 1590 Ongar 

 Park was being leased by Humfrey Shelton to Edmond 

 Felton.30 Humfrey died in 1605 and was succeeded 

 by his son William Shelton.3' In 161 5 William Shelton 

 conveyed the manor to William Copley,^^ but after 

 Shelton's death in 1 620-1 there was a dispute over this 

 transaction, between Copley and Robert Napper, 

 Shelton's executor.33 An agreement was eventually 

 reached providing for the payment by Copley to 

 Napper of ,{^4,300, for which Copley gave as security 

 a bond for ;^6,ooo and a lease of Ongar Park for 99 

 years. 



William Copley died in 1623.3* Shortly before his 

 death he had settled the manor on trustees for the 

 repayment of his debts. It was probably these trustees 

 who sold Ongar Park to Sir Richard MinshuU, who 

 held it in 1641 .^s He was a zealous royalist in the Civil 

 War and after the fall of Oxford compounded for his 

 estates in Bucks., Essex, and elsewhere. 3* He died in 

 1667 and was succeeded by his son Richard.^' In 

 1700 the manor was conveyed to trustees by Richard 

 Minshull in order that it should be sold to pay his 

 debts and to provide for his only child Mary. 3 8 In 



1705 Ongar Park was sold to Sir Thomas Webster, ist 

 Bt. (d. 175 1) of Copped Hall, Epping." 



In 1738 Webster sold the manor to Aaron Franks 

 of London, who held it in trust for Henry Franks, son 

 of his brother Isaac (d. 1736).'*'' Henry, who was a 

 lunatic, died childless in 1796, and Ongar Park then 

 passed under the terms of his father's wiU to Jacob 

 Henry Franks, son of Henry's sister Phylah (d. 1 764) 

 by her husband Napthali Franks (d. 1796).'*' In 1805 

 Jacob H. Franks sold the manor to Capel Cure of 

 Blake Hall in Bobbingworth.''^ It subsequently 

 descended along with Blake Hall (q.v.). An undated 

 plan of the manor 'belonging to Mr. Franks' shows all 

 field boundaries and farm buildings. The total extent 

 of the estate was then 1,327 acres.^ It included six 

 farms, of which the largest was 300 acres. Ongar Park 

 Wood was 280 acres and was the only substantial part 

 of the estate kept in hand. The manor extended into 

 the parish of Stanford Rivers. In 1 849 the part of it in 

 High Ongar alone consisted of some 700 acres, includ- 

 ing Cold Harbour, Wardens, and Newhouse farms.** 

 There was in addition about 1,000 acres in Stanford 

 Rivers by that time.'ts Ongar Park farm was put up 

 for sale in 1919. It then comprised 637 acres of which 

 392 acres were in High Ongar. It was then let to 

 James and T. C. Kerr at an annual rent of ;^6oo.** 



The timber-framed east wing of Ongar Park Hall is 

 probably of medieval origin. Timbers in a partition 

 between two bedrooms represent part of a roof truss 

 which may have divided the open hall into two bays. 

 The ridge purhn is still in position at the level of the 

 bedroom ceiling, but the rest of the construction has 

 been destroyed by the insertion of a later chimney. 

 The south wing, also timber-framed, was built or recon- 

 structed in the i8th century. Later additions were 

 made in the 19th century. 



The manor oi ASHLTNS lay partly in High Ongar 

 and partly in Bobbingworth and North Weald.*^ It 

 derived its name from Richard Ascelyn who made con- 

 veyances of land in and near High Ongar in 1320, 

 1324, and 1327.** 



The estate is first described as a manor in 1475, 

 when it was among the possessions left by Walter 

 Wrytell, at his death.*' His son and heir John Wrytell 

 died in 1485 leaving an infant son, also named John. 5" 

 Katherine widow of Walter Wrytell evidently held the 

 manor in dower until her death in 1493.51 John son of 

 John Wrytell died in 1507. He was survived by his . 

 wife Audrey, daughter of John Shaa.s^ His daughter 

 and heir Juliane was dead by 25 November 1509, 

 when the heirs to Ashlyns and other manors were 

 declared to be the daughters of Walter Wrytell: 

 Eleanor, wife of James Walsingham and Gresilda wife 

 of Edward Waldegrave.53 



" Cal. Pat. 1422-9, 9. 



^0 Ibid. 1429-36, 343. 



" C. 39/98. 



" Cal. Pat. 1446-52, 25. 



" Cal. Fine R. 1452-61, 92. " Ibid. 



» Cal. Pat. 1467-77, 393. 



»' C140/44. 



" C142/62/31. 28 Ibid. 



29 Cal. Pat. 1553-4, 364; CP40/1156 

 m. 22. 



3" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1581-90, 710. 



" C142/293/54. 



3» CP25(2)/29S Trin. 13 Jas. I. 



" C3/320/61. For Wm. Shelton's 

 death see P.C.C. Tear Bki. of Probates, 

 1620—4, p. 275. 



" 0142/405/159. He left infant 



daughters Mary and Anne. 



35 CP25(2)/4i8 East. 17 Chas. I. 



3' Complete Peerage, viii, 7 1 1 . His seat 

 was at Bourton, Bucks. 37 Ibid. 



38 Notes & Queries (4th ser.), xi, 458. 

 According to Complete Peerage, viii, 712, 

 Ricd. son of Sir Ricd. Minshull died child- 

 less in 1673, but no evidence is cited for 

 this statement. 



39 E.R.O., D/DCc T27. *o Ibid. T28. 

 ♦' Ibid. During the lifetime of Henry 



the estate was administered by Napthali 

 Franks: E.R.O., Q/RSg 3 (1765) and 

 4(1784). " E.R.O., D/DCc T28. 



« E.R.O., T/M 212. 



«* E.R.O., D/CT 263. 



*» Ibid. 327. 



«' E.R.O., Sale Catalogue, 1919. 



♦' P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 72. 



♦' Feet of F. Essex, ii, 200, 209-10; 

 iii, 3. 



*9 C140/52. For the earlier pedigree of 

 the Wrytells see Fisits. of Essex (Hart. 

 Soc), 621-2. In 1475 the manor was 

 said to be held of Anne, Duchess of 

 Buckingham. The previous descent of the 

 manor, in the r5th century, may have been 

 the same as that of Bobbingworth manor 



(q.v.). 



5» Cal. Inq.p.m. Hen. FII, i, p. 63. 

 " Ibid. 384. After Wrytell's death she 

 had married Sir Richard Haute. 



52 C 142/2 1/2. 



53 L. &■ P. Hen. Fill, i (i), p. 135. 



177 



Aa 



