ONGAR HUNDRED 



SHELLEY 



the heirs of Geoffrey de Mandeville, by the service of 

 one fee, until the death of Humphrey, Earl of Essex, 

 in 1373.^' It was then assigned in dower to Joan, 

 widow of Huniphrey.52 She died in 1419.S3 After- 

 wards the manor was held in chief of Henry V whose 

 mother Mary (d. 1 394) was a daughter and coheir of 

 Earl Humphrey.5< Thereafter the manor continued 

 to be held in chief of the Crown. 



The tenant Rainald devised the manor to his 

 daughter Aubrey who in 1 1 34 was the widow of 

 Eustace de Sellea and whose son and heir was Eustace. ss 

 In 1 182 William de Selflege, son of Emma, died in 

 possession of Shelley and some other manors. 5* His 

 inheritance was divided between his two daughters.*' 

 Shelley was allotted to his elder daughter Amy, wife of 

 Oger Fitz Oger.'* Her heir was her son Peter Fitz 

 Oger from whom the manor descended to his daughter 

 Emma and afterwards to his granddaughter Joan de 

 Saunford, daughter of Emma and wife of Waleran de 

 Monceaux.59 On Joan's death without issue in 1278 

 there were two claimants to Shelley.*" One was 

 Aveline, wife of Roger de Lees and daughter of 

 Geoffrey de Cruce, son of Mirabel, sister of Peter 

 Fitz Oger.*' The other was Sir William de Clovile, 

 the origin of whose claim is not clear but who ap- 

 parently had some connexion with a sister of one of the 

 family, probably another sister of Peter Fitz Oger.*' 

 Whatever the basis of his claim. Sir William evidently 

 expected difficulty in establishing his right to Joan's 

 lands. In 1280 he agreed to enfeoff Queen Eleanor, 

 the king's consort, of all the lands of Joan de Saunford 

 to which he could establish his claim, saving for him- 

 self and his heirs Joan's lands in Suffolk.*^ In 1281 

 WiUiam seems to have established his claim to the 

 lands and Queen Eleanor was presumably enfeoffed 

 with them, according to the agreement, for a considera- 

 tion of 250 marks.** Eleanor may in her turn have dis- 

 posed of her right to these lands to the king's brother 

 Edmund, for in 1286 Edmund acknowledged the 

 manor of Shelley to be the right of Alan Waldesef and 

 Aveline his wife to hold to them and their joint issue 

 with remainder to the right heirs of Aveline.*' Aveline - 

 wife of Roger de Lees seems to have married Alan 

 Waldesef as her second husband but to have had no 

 issue by him, for on her death in 1299 John de Legh 

 was named as her son and heir.** In 1302 John de 

 Legh was recorded as holding 2 fees in Shelley and 

 Frinton.*7 In 1349 this or another John de Legh 



evidently held the manor of Shelley.*' In 1374 

 Thomas de Legh was reported as holding 2 fees in 

 Shelley worth j^io.*' In 1422 John de Legh died in 

 possession of the manor of Shelley .'" He was succeeded 

 by his son Thomas who died in 1439 leaving as his heir 

 an infant son Thomas." In 1 509 Thomas Legh 

 died,'^ having settled the manor on his son Henry and 

 Margaret, wife of Henry, with remainder to Giles, 

 son of Henry and Margaret.'^ Henry had died in 

 1494 and Giles de Legh therefore succeeded to the 

 manor in 1509.7* In 1538 Giles conveyed the estate 

 to Sir Richard Rich, afterwards ist Baron Rich.'' 

 Rich died in 1567 leaving as his heir Robert, 2nd 

 Baron Rich, who settled Shelley on his eldest son 

 Richard when Richard married Katherine Knevett.'* 

 Richard died, without issue, before his father who was 

 succeeded on his death in 1581 by his second son 

 Robert, 3rd Baron Rich.'' In 1582 Lord Rich con- 

 veyed the manor of Shelley to John and Thomas Green 

 and William Stane.'* John Green died in 1595 and 

 was succeeded as lord of Shelley by his sixth son 

 Robert Green." Robert died in 1624 and was suc- 

 ceeded by his son John.*" The Green family still held 

 the estate at the end of the 17th century. Hadsley 

 Green died in 1699 leaving a son John who died in 

 infancy.*' The manor was then divided between the 

 two daughters of Hadsley Green, Sarah and Mary.'^ 

 In 171 5 in anticipation of the marriage of Mary Green 

 to Andrew Trebeck, later the first Rector of St. 

 George's, Hanover Square (Mdx.),*^ it was agreed 

 that the half of the manor which Mary inherited from 

 her brother should be put in trust for Andrew Trebeck 

 during his life and, after his own and Mary's death, 

 for their eldest son and his male heirs.** The marriage 

 settlement also provided that Andrew Trebeck should 

 increase the estate by the purchase of lands to the value 

 ofj^Soo.'s Andrew Trebeck died in 1759.** Mary 

 survived until at least 1769.*' By the end of 1764 

 James Trebeck, son and heir of Mary, and Andrew, 

 had secured possession of the half of the manor inherited 

 by his aunt Sarah subject to the payment of an annuity 

 of jC3° to ^^^ fo'' I'fs ^"'l to the payment of ;^375 on 

 her death to Bernard Baker, who may have been her 

 grandson.** In November 1764 James Trebeck 

 mortgaged his interest in the manor to Mary Grosvenor 

 for ;^6oo.*' In 1771 he mortgaged the manor to 

 Samuel Evans for ,^600 and within the next eighteen 

 months he borrowed further sums from Evans, making 



" Fett of F. Essex, i, 9; Cal. hq. Misc. 

 i, p. 5 10 J Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, p. 145; Com' 

 flete Peerage, V, 135. 



52 Cal. Close, I 374.-77, 22-23. 



*3 Complete Peerage, vi, 474. 



5« C138/55; Complete Peerage, vi, 474- 

 7. A final partition of the inheritance was 

 made in 142 1 when Henry V received the 

 fee of the Earldom of Essex. 



55 J. H. Round, 'The Early Lords of 

 Shelley', E.A.T. N.s. xi, 363. 



" Feet ofF. Essex, i, 9, 1 8. 



" Ibid, i, 9. 



58 Ibid. 



59 Cal. Inq. p.m. ii, p. 145. 

 «« Ibid. 



«> Ibid. 



»» Ibid. Cf. Morant, Essex, i, 146. 

 Aveline was certainly descended from 

 Peter Fitz Oger's sister and not as Morant 

 states from the sister of Joan de Saunford. 

 Although there is not the same clear 

 evidence in the case of Sir William de 

 Clovile, it is probable that his claim was 



derived from some relationship with 

 another sister of Peter Fitz Oger. 



f" Cal. Close, 1279-88, 53. 



<■•• Cal. Fine R. i, 149. 



'5 Feet ofF. Essex, ii, 57. 



»« Cal. Fine if. i, 415, 417. By at least 

 one more legal process in 1288 [Feet of F. 

 Essex, ii, 63) Aveline had secured full 

 rights in Shelley manor to her heirs. 



" Cal. Inq. Misc. i, p. 5 10. 



''^ Cal. Inq. p.m. ix, p. 314. 



<"> Cal. Close, 1374-77, 23. The report 

 that Thomas held 2 fees in Shelley was 

 probably a mistake. All other records 

 speak of Shelley being held as i fee. 



"> C138/55. 



'■ Ibid.; C139/90. 



" C142/24/12. 



'3 Ibid. ^ '■» Ibid. 



'5 CP4o/i096rot. 100; CP25{2)/i2/65 

 Hil. 29 Hen. VIII; CP25(2)/i2/66 East. 

 30 Hen. VIII. 



'6 C142/147/14I. 

 " C142/192/29. 



'8 CP25(2)/i3i/i686. 



'9 Morant, Essex, i, 147. 



80 C142/747/158. 



«' E.R.O., D/DFa T17. John Green, 

 son of Robert Green (d. 1624), had two 

 sons. The elder was Robert whose son 

 and heir John married Sarah, daughter of 

 Edward Hadesley, and had by her John, 

 living in 1664. Hadsley Green (d. 1699) 

 was son of this John Green : Morant, 

 Essex, \, 147. 



8J E.R.O., D/DFa T17. 



83 G. Hennessy, No-vum Repert. Eccl.' 

 Par. Lond. 164. St. George's was con- 

 secrated in March 1725. Trebeck was 

 appointed rector in May of that year. 



84 E.R.O., D/DFa T17. 



85 Ibid. It seems that he did not do this. 

 8' Ibid. 87 Ibid.; E. 331/39. 



88 E.R.O., D/DFa T17 ; Morant, Essex, 

 i, 147. 



89 E.R.O., D/DFa T17. At this time 

 Mary Trebeck, mother of James, had a 

 life interest in | of the manor. 



205 



