A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



y 



passed to his son William.^^ In 1725 a settlement of 

 the manor was made by William Stane and Alice his 

 wife, William Stane the younger and Richard Stane.^ 

 By 1774 Forest Hall had passed to John Westbrook 

 who in 1770 had married Mary Alice daughter of 

 William Stane.^s Forest Hall farm, surveyed in 1774, 

 contained 277 acres.^* Mrs. Westbrook died in 1801, 

 having devised the estate to the Revd. John Bramston, 

 son of Thomas Berney Bramston of Skreens in Rox- 

 weD.^' As a result of this legacy John Bramston 

 assumed the additional surname of Stane. Forest Hall 

 gave its name to an estate in High Ongar and neigh- 

 bouring parishes which included the manors of Nash 

 Hall, Chivers Hall, Newarks Norton, Herons in 

 Fyfield (q.v.), Norton Mandeville (q.v.), and Rockells 

 in Willingale Doe. A map of the estate drawn about 

 1840-50 shows all these except Rockells, which was 

 acquired later. At that time the total area of the estate 

 was about 1,000 acres, of which about 750 acres were 

 freehold.^ 



The Revd. J. B. Stane died in 1857 and was suc- 

 ceeded by J. Bramston Stane his son.^' In 1862 J. B. 

 Stane bought an estate at Sherfield upon Loddon, 

 Hants, where he built himself a house. so In the same 

 year the Forest Hall estate was put up for sale. It then 

 consisted of 2,228 acres of which 271 acres were lease- 

 hold. Some 750 acres were in hand and there were 

 eight farms let to tenant farmers on leases varying from 

 8 to 1 2 years. The total rent roll (including estimates 

 for the lands in hand) was £^,^21.^' The estate was 

 purchased over the next four years by J. L. Newall. 

 The conveyances included the purchase of the free- 

 hold of Norton Hall farm and manor (see Norton 

 Mandeville) which had been the leasehold part of the 

 estate.32 During the next 30 years Newall made sub- 

 stantial additions to the estate. He lived at Forest Hall 

 until his death about 1900. His son, J. W. Newall, 

 leased the hall from about 1902 to H. M. McCorquo- 

 dale.33 In 1919 the whole estate was put up for sale 

 and broken up. At that time it consisted of 3,831 

 acres in the parishes of High and Chipping Ongar, 

 Norton Mandeville, Fyfield, Shelley, Willingale Spain, 

 and Willingale Doe.''' In addition to the manors 

 named above, it included Paslow Hall (see below) and 

 Fyfield Hall, which belonged to the estate, but without 

 the manorial rights formerly appurtenant to them. 

 There were altogether seventeen farms in the estate, 

 ranging in size from Paslow Hall (619 acres) to 

 Welchman's (64 acres, in Fyfield). Forest Hall house, 

 together with Little Forest Hall and Newarks Hall, 

 were bought about 1924 by H. M. McCorquodale, 

 who lived at the Hall until his death in 1943.35 His 

 executors sold the property to the Air Ministry, which 



" Morant, Essex, i, 131. 



M CP25(2)/ioi+ Hil. II Geo. I. Ricd. 

 Stane was probably the twin of Wm. 

 Stane the elder : Hist. Essex hy Gent, iii, 329. 



" E.R.O.,D/DC 27/1 115; Gen/J.M<7^. 

 xl (1770), 344; ibid. Ixxi, 276. 



" E.R.O., D/DC27/1115. 



" Gents. Mag. Ixxi, 276. 



»8 E.R.O., D/DC 27/1127. Norton 

 Mandeville manor was being leased from 

 Merton College. 



29 Gen s. Mag. cxl, 496. 



30 y.C.H. Hants, iv, 103, 107. 

 3' Sale Catalogue, 1862. 



32 Sale Cat. 1 91 9, lent by London 

 Co-Op. Soc. 



33 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1902 f.). la{. 

 from Mr. K. McCorquodale. 



3< Sale Cat. 19 19. 



35 Inf. from Mr. K. McCorquodale. 



ss Ibid. 



3' T. Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 334. No 

 remains of the old house now survive, but 

 the old caretaker of Forest Hall remembers 

 that a stable-yard pump existed on the site 

 until the First World War, when it was 

 removed for scrap. 



38 E.R.O., Sale Cat. A. 225A (19 19) 

 gives photograph and description of Forest 

 Hall. For another photograph, showing the 

 front of the house, see Nat. Bdgs. Rec. 



39 Inf. from caretaker. Forest Hall. 

 The gasworks stood north-east of the 

 house: see O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), 

 sheet I. They were demolished early in 

 the 20th cent, when an electric generator 

 was installed. 



*o P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 74, cf. 73 



resold the house and some 80 acres adjoining to the 

 Essex County Council.^* 



An 'elegant family mansion of brick' was built by 

 Richard Stane about 1700.37 The present mansion, 

 about 300 yds. farther south, replaced it about 1845. 

 It was built by the Revd. J. B. Stane and is a large 

 square three-story house of gault brick with stone and 

 stucco dressings. The front has seven windows to each 

 of the upper floors and a central pediment. The 

 Tuscan portico has three bays. There are extensive 

 service quarters and out-buildings. The house has 

 been empty since 1943.38 



Forest Hall is one of the largest mansions in this 

 part of Essex. In the late 19th century, during the 

 ownership of J. L. Newall, it employed some 50 

 indoor and outdoor servants, and had its own gasworks 

 and sawmin.3 9 



FRITH HALL alias OLD FRITH alias OLD 

 THRIFTS gave its name to William del Frit (temp. 

 Henry III) who was probably the tenant. It may 

 originally have been associated with Chivers Hall (see 

 above) .^0 In 14 14 a conveyance was made by Thomas 

 Roche, vintner, and William Leverpole, goldsmith, 

 both of London, to John Cosoun, Arundel Herald 

 and Agnes his wife of i messuage, 1 50 acres of 

 land in Norton Mandeville and High Ongar called 

 Frythall.'*" 



Henry Parker (d. 1541) left to his son Roger the 

 manor of Frith Hall in the same parishes.*^ Roger 

 Parker conveyed it in 1555 to Richard Sampforth.*' 

 In 163 1 John Sandford, no doubt a relative of Samp- 

 forth, conveyed the manor to Robert and John Sorrell.+« 

 In 1660 a conveyance of Frith Hall was made between 

 Thomas Sorrell of the one part and Robert Sorrell and 

 Anne his wife of the other.'*' They were probably 

 members of the Sorrell family of Writtle.** The Sand- 

 fords may have remained on the estate as tenants: in 

 1 67 1 a Sandford occupied a house with eight hearths 

 in High Ongar, and an Edward Sandford occupied a 

 house (probably Readings) in Norton Mandeville 

 (q.v.).47 



By 1687 the manor was acquired by Dr. Anthony 

 Walker, Rector of Fyfield, who by his will of that year 

 left Old Frith as part of the endowment of the charity 

 which he founded for the education of the children of 

 Fyfield (q.v.).''^ The charity became effective on 

 Walker's death in 1692.*' In 1835 Old Thrifts Farm 

 consisted of 56 acres, occupied by Thomas Stokes as 

 tenant of the charity trustees at a rent of ^45 a year.'" 

 Stokes was still tenant in 1849.5' In 1926 the farm was 

 let by the trustees for ^60 a year.s^ Now (1953) it is 

 let by them to the London Co-operative Society and 

 forms part of Paslow Hall farm.53 



'Cheversfrith'. 



<• Feet o/F. Essex, iii, 262. Cf. Burke't 

 Landed Gentry, 1952, cviii. 



« C 142/64/78. For the Parkers see 

 Visits, of Essex (Harl. Soc), 259. 



43 CP2S(2)/83/7IO. 



♦4 CP25(2)/527 Mich. 7 Chas. I. 



45 CP25(2)/652 Trin. 12 Chas. II. 



*' Visits, of Essex (Harl. Soc), 490. 



4' E.R.O., Q/RTh 5. 



♦' Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), H.C. 216, 

 p. 225 (1835), xii (i). See Fyfield, also 

 Charities below. 



4' Newcourt, Repert. ii, 262. 



5° Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), p. 226. 



5" E.R.O., D/CT 263. 



52 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1926). 



53 Inf. from London Co-Operative 

 Society Ltd. 



180 



