A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



Paul's Walden (Herts.) and Berwick Berners subse- 

 quently descended along with the manor of Hoo.^ In 

 1870 Berwici; Berners Hall farm, containing 285 

 acres, was put up to auction by Thomas Lord Dacre.3 

 It was then let to Joseph Barker on a yearly tenancy at 

 £^lo, the tenant paying tithe rent charges. The 

 'manor of Berwick', i.e. the manorial rights, was not 

 included in the sale. The present owner of the farm is 

 Mr. N. Stacey, who bought it in 1937 from Mr. 

 Robert Soper.^ 



A note attached to the court roll of Berwick Berners 

 for 1390 states that Oger Fitz Michael gave to Ralph 

 Berners his garden and curtilage in Roding Abbess 

 'and all his man Gervase, with 6 acres land and William 

 Green with 3 acres land . . . and Geoffrey Finch with 

 I J acres land and the relict of Richard le Fynch with 

 I J acres land'.s This Oger Fitz Michael was probably 

 the man of that name who in 1233 or 1234 granted 

 100 acres of land in Roding to Alice daughter of 

 William Purle,* and he was probably son of Michael 

 Fitz Oger. If so, it appears that there was an estate in 

 Abbess Roding which in the 12th century was held by 

 William de Selflege, lord of Shelley (q.v.), as tenant of 

 the Mandevilles and which descended in 1182 to 

 Michael Fitz Oger as the purparty of his wife Sarah, 

 daughter and coheir of William de Selflege.' This 

 estate would then seem to have been acquired, in whole 

 or in part, by Ralph de Berners from Oger Fitz 

 Michael during the first half of the 13th century. In 

 1374 the fees of the Countess of Essex included one 

 in Abbess Roding formerly held by Oger Fitz Michael.* 

 Early in the 15 th century a knight's fee in Abbess 

 Roding and in the hundred of Dunmow formerly held 

 by Oger Fitz Michael was said to be held by the Abbess 

 of Barking of the Duchy of Lancaster.' It is possible 

 that the abbey's claim to land formerly belonging to 

 ■Oger Fitz Michael was derived from a grant made in 

 1235 by Stephen de Caldecote,'° for Hugh de Calde- 

 cote had been a tenant of Michael Fitz Oger in 1 1 82." 

 The connexion with the hundred of Dunmow was 

 maintained by the later custom by which the inhabitants 

 of Berwick Berners hamlet elected their own constable 

 and sent him to attend the Dunmow hundred court 

 (see below. Parish Government). 



Berwick Berners Hall stands on the ancient site but 

 the house does not appear to be earlier than the 17th 

 century. It is timber-framed and there is zigzag par- 

 geting to the panels. The front of the house has widely 

 spaced sash windows and a modern porch. At the back 

 are two small wings, one containing the staircase. A 

 third wing dates from the 19th century. North of the 

 house are the remains of a moat and at the north-west 

 corner of the site is a railed-in enclosure which was 

 formerly a pound. '^ A fine timbered barn of nine bays 

 was destroyed by German incendiary bombs in 1940." 



The manor of ROOKIVOOD HALL alias 

 BROJVNES was first so styled in 1488, when it was 



held of the Earl of Oxford as of his honor of Heding- 

 ham.'^ The same tenure was apparently still acknow- 

 ledged in 1632. '5 It is not unhkely that this part of 

 Abbess Roding was included in the manor of Roding 

 held in 1086 by Aubrey de Vere, ancestor of the earls 

 of Oxford, of Alan, Count of Brittany.'* The main part 

 of that Domesday manor was undoubtedly in Beau- 

 champ Roding (q.v.)." 



In 1359 it w*5 stated that the heirs of William Fitz 

 Richard held J knight's fee and William Welde I fee, 

 both in Abbess Roding, as tenants of the Earl of 

 Oxford.'' It is possible that the J fee was that which 

 in 1 1 66 was held by Walter Fitz Richard of Aubrey 

 de Vere." 9 According to Morant, who quotes no 

 sources for the statements, John Fitz Richard held 

 Rookwood in 1250 and was succeeded by Richard 

 Fitz William, who was the tenant in 1268.^0 William 

 Welde became lord of the manor of Beauchamp 

 Roding (q.v.) in 1360. This suggests that Rookwood 

 was then part of the manor of Beauchamp Roding and 

 it seems possible that it had been so continuously since 

 Domesday.^' 



In 1467 John Browne died seised of the manor of 

 Abbess Roding (i.e. Rookwood). He had inherited it 

 from his brother Baldwin, who had died without issue; 

 his own heir was another brother Thomas.^^ Thomas 

 Browne died in 1488 leaving Rookwood Hall alias 

 Browne's manor to his son (Sir) Wistan. The manor 

 then comprised 300 acres of land, 200 acres of pasture, 

 26 acres of meadow, 10 acres of wood, and also a toft, 

 garden, and J acre of land, in Abbess Roding and 

 neighbouring parishes.^3 



Rookwood descended in the direct male line of tht 

 Brownes until 1580 when Wistan Browne, son of 

 George, died leaving as his heir his son Anthony.** 

 Anthony died without issue in 1 583.^5 Rookwood was 

 then divided between his sisters Jane, wife of (Sir) 

 Gamaliel Capel, and Katherine, wife of Nicholas 

 Waldegrave of Borley.^* Capel apparently acquired 

 Waldegrave's share in addition to his own. He 

 certainly lived at Rookwood Hall,*' and there is no 

 evidence of a continued Waldegrave connexion with 

 the manor. After 1 599, when Capel bought the 

 manor of Abbess Roding, Rookwood formed part of 

 a larger estate in the parish and does not seem to have 

 been named as a separate manor. Rookwood Hall, 

 however, continued to be the residence of the Capels 

 throughout their connexion with the parish. In their 

 time it was a house of considerable size. Mrs. Sarah 

 Capel, who was buried at Abbess Roding in 1698, was 

 probably the last of the family to live there.** Rook- 

 wood descended as part of the Abbess Roding estate 

 until the i8th century. It still formed part of the estate 

 in 1739 ''"'■ appears to have been separated from the 

 manor of Abbess Roding by 1770, when the owner of 

 Rookwood was a Mr. Pratt of St. Ives (Hunts.).*' 



William Mills owned Rookwood in 1780. He con- 



» y.C.H. Herts, ii, 408. 

 3 E.R.O., D/DU 199/24. 

 * Inf. from Mr. N. Stacey of Berwick 

 Farm. » E.R.O., D/DHf M29. 



' Feet of F. Essex, i, 96. 

 ' Ibid. 9, 18. See below, Church, 'for 

 evidence concerning the tithes of Oger 

 Fitz Michael, which supports the suggested 

 descent. ' Cal. Close, 1374-7, 23. 



« Feud. Aids, vi, 587. 

 '° Feel of F. Essex, i, 104. 

 ■> Ibid. 9. " O.S. 6 in. Map {lit edn.). 

 " Inf. from Mr. N. Stacey. 



>•» Cal. Inq.p.m. Hen. VII, \, p. 175. 



■5 C142/465/3. 



«> V.C.H. Essex, i, 473a. 



" For the problem of overlordship see 

 further under Beauchamp Roding. 



" Cal. Inq.p.m. i, p. 522. 



>» Red Bk. of Exch. 353. 



2" Morant, Essex, i, i«37. 



" Morant's statements are difficult to 

 fit into this theory : see Beauchamp 

 Roding. 22 C140/28. 



23 Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VU, i, p. 175. 



2< C 1 42/ 1 94/50. For the pedigree see 



Visits, of Essex (Harl. Soc), 166-7. 



25 Morant, Essex, i, 118. 



26 CP2S(2)/i34/i7io, 13S/1719. '36/ 

 1731. 



2' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1603-10, 568; E.R. 

 xiii, 97. 



28 E.R.O.,D/Pi45/i/i. Thomas Capel, 

 buried at Abbess Roding in 1703, and 

 Charles Capel in 1709 were both from 

 London. 



2» Morant, Essex, i, 118; Hist. Essex hy 

 Gent, iii, 342. See above. Manor of Abbess 

 Roding. 



192 



