ONGAR HUNDRED beauchamp roding 



champ and her husband. In 1235-6 Beauchamp 

 Roding was held for I knight's fee.3* It descended 

 along with Eaton Socon until 1 291, when Ralph de 

 Beauchamp granted the reversion of it to Adam le 

 Tailleur and Joan his wife.37 The manor was then 

 being held for life by Richard de Brumpton, and was 

 said to consist of a messuage, 60 acres of land, 16 acres 

 of meadow, 5 acres of wood, and 6 acres of pasture. 

 In 1292 or 1293 William de Marny and Amice his 

 wife conveyed 28 acres of land and 12a'. rent in Beau- 

 champ Roding to Adam de Biddik and Joan his wife.^* 

 Adam de Biddik and Adam le Tailleur were probably 

 identical. The manor was certainly in the hands of the 

 Biddiks soon after 1 29 1 . Henry de Biddik was lord in 

 1328 when he presented to the church. 3 9 He was 

 dead before 1348 and Beauchamp Roding had been 

 granted in dower to his widow Joan,^" who subse- 

 quently married Arnald Mounteneye. In 1350 

 Thomas son of Henry de Biddik granted the reversion 

 of the manor, after Joan's future death, to Thomas de 

 Forde of London.^' In the following year Joan and 

 Arnald leased the manor to Simon Fraunceys of London 

 at a rent of 40 marks a year.''^ Simon Fraunceys died 

 in 1358,^3 and in 1360 Joan and Arnald conveyed the 

 manor to William atte Welde, draper of London, in 

 return for an annuity of 40 marks during Joan's hfe.*^ 

 It is not clear what had happened to Thomas de 

 Forde's interest in the manor: possibly it had been 

 acquired by Joan and Arnald Mounteneye. The grant 

 of 1360 certainly had the effect of vesting the lordship 

 of the manor in the Welde family. Richard de Welde 

 presented to the church in 1387 and I389.*s He was 

 dead by May 1391, when the custody of Ehzabeth 

 his daughter and heir was granted to Roger Marshall.** 

 By October 140 1 Elizabeth, still under age, had 

 married Lewis Mewes.*' Lewis or a successor of the 

 same name presented to the rectory in 1430 and 1447, 

 and Thomas Mewes in 1463.** 



Sir Geoffrey Gate (d. 1477) had married Agnes, 

 probably the heir of Thomas Mewes.*' After Geoffrey's 

 death Agnes married William Brown. She died in 

 148 1 leaving Beauchamp Roding to her son William 

 Gate.50 The latter died in 1485 leaving Geoffrey 

 Gate, an infant, his son and heir.'' Geoffrey, later 

 knighted, died in 1526 and was succeeded by his son 

 (Sir) John Gate or Gates (1504 .'-15 5 3) who was 

 executed for his support of Lady Jane Grey.'^ In 

 1553, soon after Sir John's death, the Crown granted 

 the site of the manor of Beauchamp Roding to Rowland 

 Scurlocke.sJ The Crown retained the manorial rights. 

 It undertook to bear the cost of repairs to the houses of 

 the manor in timber and tile, while Scurlocke was to 

 bear those in thatching and daubing and was to have 

 fireboot, ploughboot, harrowboot, and hedgeboot. In 

 1554 the manor was granted for hfe to Mary, widow of 

 Sir John Gate. 54 She was still alive in 1 570, when she 



presented to the rectory. Meanwhile in 1558 Long- 

 barns (or presumably its reversion) was granted by the 

 Crown to (Sir) Richard Weston of Skreens in Rorwell, 

 then Solicitor General and later a justice of Common 

 Pleas.55 He died in 1572 and was succeeded by his 

 son (Sir) Jerome (d. i6o3).5* The manor descended 

 to Jerome's son Sir Richard (1577-163 5) who in 1633 

 was created Earl of Portland.57 Sir Richard still held 

 Longbarns in 1624 but he must have sold it soon after, 

 for in 1638 it was sold by Sir John Ramsden and Anne 

 his wife to Sir John North, K.B.s* On North's death 

 in 1639 the manor passed to his brother Dudley, Lord 

 North (d. 1 666). 5' 



In 1668 this Lord North's successor sold Longbarns 

 to Sir Michael Heneage (d. 1711).*° The manor 

 descended to Michael's son Charles (d. 1738) and 

 subsequently to Charles's daughters Elizabeth (d. 

 1765) and Cecil (d. 1779) neither of whom married.*' 

 By 1770 Longbarns had been acquired by the Harveys 

 of Barringtons in Chigwell (q.v.). It was held in that 

 year by William Harvey (d. 1779).*^ It passed like 

 Barringtons to Thomas W. Bramston of Skreens. In 

 1843 Bramston's estate in Beauchamp Roding com- 

 prised 629 acres which was made up mainly of the 

 separate farms of Longbarns (some 230 acres), Frayes 

 (see below), and Wood End.*^ In 1848 it was stated 

 that all the parish was freehold except about 8 acres 

 and that Bramston owned most of the land.** By 1866 

 Longbarns had probably been acquired by Robert 

 Parris, who lived there from about that date until 

 about 1880 and was described in 1878 as the lord of 

 the manor and principal landowner.*' Since 1886 

 Longbarns has been occupied by a succession of farmers 

 who have probably also been the owners.** In 1933 

 Mr. John Latham was the farmer and one of the two 

 principal landowners of the parish.*' In 1943 the 

 farm was bought by the London Co-operative Society, 

 together with Frayes (see below). The two farms 

 together comprise 417 acres and mixed arable and 

 dairy farming is carried on.** 



Longbarns farm-house is timber-framed and plastered 

 and was probably built or rebuilt in the late i6th 

 century. The original part consists of a central block 

 with cross-wings to the east and west. The upper floor 

 of the east wing oversails at its south end. On the 

 north front a two-story porch gives access to the central 

 block. In line with this on the south side is a projecting 

 staircase wing. The house was considerably altered in 

 the 19th century. It has recently been converted into 

 two dweUings for employees of the London Co- 

 operative Society. 



The manor of f RAKES may have derived its name 

 from the family of John Fray, to whom a tenement in 

 Beauchamp Roding was conveyed in 1408 by William 

 Sudbury, draper of London, and Cecily his wife, and 

 Peter Wymundham, also draper of London.*' In 



3' Bk. of Fees, ^»t). 



" Feet of F. Essex, ii, 70 ; W. Farrcr, 

 Hons. and Knight^s Fees, iii, 253 f. 



3* Feet of F. Essex, ii, 74. 



39 Sec below. 



« Cal. Close, I 34.6-9, 498. 



♦' Feet of F. Essex, \\\,^%. 



** Ibid. 99. Simon was a mercer : cf. 

 ibid. 109. <3 Cal. Inq. p.m. x, p. 348. 



** Feet of F. Essex, iii, 129. 



*5 Newcourt, Repert. ii, 502. 



*^ Cal. Fine R. 1383-91, 356. 



♦' Cal. Close. 1399-1402, 424. 



*' Newcourt, Repert. ii, 502-3. 



« C140/56. 50C140/80. 



" Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. Vll, i, p. 1 1. 



5» D.N.B. Sir John Gates. 



" Cal. Vat. 1553-4, 325. 



5< Ibid. 318. 



5S Cal. Fat. 1557-8, 464; D.N.B. Sir 

 Ricd. Weston (1577-1635). 



" €142/160/35; Visits, of Essex (Harl. 

 Soc), 319. i-> D.N.B. 



»8 CP25(2)/296 Micii. 22 Jas. I; 

 CP25(2)/4i8 East. 14 Chas. I. 



" C142/494/37. 



•o CP25(2)/653 Mich. 20 Chas. II ; 

 CP43/343 rot. 10, 168. 



'■ CP25(2)/i3o6 Hil. 3 Geo. Ill; 

 Burke, Land. Gent. 1937, p. 1093. 



'2 Hist. Essex by Gent, iii, 339. Cf. 

 E.R.O., Q/RPl 685 f. 



" E.R.O., D/CT 294. 



'♦ rrhite's Dir. Essex (1848), 435. 



<" Kelly's Dir. Essex (1866-8^). A 

 John Parris was tenant of Longbarns in 

 1813: E.R.O., Q/RPl 718. And see 

 below Frayes. 



" Kelly's Dir. Essex (i 886-1937). 



6' Ibid. (1933). 



^^ Inf. from London Co-op. Soc. 



69 Feet of F. Essex, iii, 250. 



199 



