A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



the total debt in January 1773 ;^3,ooo.»<' In the years 

 1762-4, when James Trebeck lived in the parish of 

 St. George, Hanover Square, part of Shelley manor 

 house was let to John Brecknock; the other part of the 

 house was let with the manor farm to Robert Tabrum." 

 In 1 768 Trebeck was appointed Rector of St. Michael's, 

 Queenhithe (Lond.).'^ He must have sold his Shelley 

 estate soon after the period of heavy mortgaging, for by 

 May 1780 it was owned by Thomas Richards.'^ In 

 1790 Richards was succeeded by Edward Kimpton, 

 Vicar of Rogate (Suss.), who was apparently his 

 nephew.''* In November 1799 it was reported that the 

 lord of the manor was Harvey Kimpton who was ap- 

 parently the son of Edward Kimpton. «5 Harvey 

 Kimpton held the estate until his death in 18 17.'* 

 Elizabeth Kimpton, probably the widow or daughter 

 of Harvey, then held the estate until 1819-20 when 

 it was purchased by James Tomlinson, a London 

 solicitor.'^ In 1839 the manor farm consisted of 168 

 acresofwhich 138 acres werearable.'* TheTomlinson 

 family held the manor until 1902 or soon after." In 

 1 899 the estate was put up for sale by auction.' At that 

 time there were three copyhold tenants who paid rents 

 totalling £1 3/. 6J. a year and two freeholders who paid 

 a total of 5/. 2<s'. a year in rents.^ At the time of the 

 auction most of the land belonging to the estate was let 

 to John Harvey who did not, however, occupy Shelley 

 Hall.3 The estate was apparently not sold in 1 899 but 

 by 1906 it had come into the ownership of W. A. 

 Fleming who held it until after 1914.* By 1922 it 

 belonged to James Kerr who is still (1953) the owner.5 



Shelley Hall, a timber-framed structure, has been 

 remodelled at various times. The oldest part is at the 

 south end where there was originally a 15th-century 

 hall of two bays, open to the roof. The hall has subse- 

 quently been divided and two ceilings inserted so that 

 the only evidence of its existence is in the roof space. 

 Here the original roof timbers, blackened by smoke 

 from an open hearth, still remain and the two bays are 

 divided by a 15th-century truss. The square king-post 

 has a moulded cap and four-way struts. The hall may 

 originally have been flanked by two cross-wings but 

 if so the one on the south side has disappeared, the south 

 wall at this end of the house being of more recent con- 

 struction; the wing on the north side, probably the 

 service wing, survives in a somewhat altered form. The 

 present dining-room fireplace with other blocked fire- 

 places adjacent to it may represent the base of the 

 medieval kitchen chimney. 



Late in the l6th century the house was remodelled, 

 almost certainly by John Green who acquired the 

 property in 1582 and had a very large family.* The 

 open hall was divided into two stories each of which 



»» E.R.O., D/DFaTi7. The mortgagee 

 was probably Samuel Evans of Shelley 

 House: Hisl. Essex by Gent, iii, 365; T. 

 Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 356; E.R.O., 

 g/RPl 685 f. 



" Ibid. 



" G. Hennessy, Novum Repert. Eccl. 

 Par. Land. 249. 



" E.R.O., e/RPl 685-95; T. Wright, 

 Hist. Essex, ii, 355. The estate may have 

 been sold c. 1776, for copies of the title 

 deeds were made at that date. 



«♦ E.R.O., Q/RPl 695-6; ibid. g/RSg 

 4; T. Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 355. 



" E.R.O., Q/RSg 4; T. Wright, Hist. 

 Essex, ii, 355. Wright stated that Harvey 

 Kimpton did not acquire the estate until 

 Edward Kimpton's death, which took place 

 in iS:i. In the Land Tax Assessments 



'the 



the owner of the estate was named as 

 Revd. Kimpton' until 1813-14. 



9<> E.R.O., Q/RSg 5 ; ibid. Q/RPl 722-3 ; 

 T. Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 355. 



" E.R.O., Q/RPl 723-5; T. Wright, 

 Hist. Essex, ii, 355. 

 98 E.R.O., D/CT 314. 

 »« fVhite's Dir. Essex (1848, 1863); 

 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1870 f.). 



■ E.R.O., Sage Coll. (Sale Parties.), 1/7. 

 2 Ibid. 



' Ibid. Shelley Hall was let to another 

 tenant. 



< Kelly's Dir. Essex (1902 f.). 

 5 Kelly's Dir. Essex {1922 f.); inf. from 

 Mrs. Calcraft, present (19S3) occupier. 



' See below, Church, for his memorial 

 brass. ' E.A.T. n.s. xii, facing p. 27. 



^ Ibid, facing p. 26. 



206 



was divided into two or more rooms. The plastered 

 walls of one of the upper rooms were painted with the 

 black and white stencilled decoration of the period. 

 Later still a lower ceiling was inserted above the first 

 floor, so that the paintings have disappeared in the 

 room itself (now the first floor landing) but are still 

 visible in the loft above. They consist of running 

 designs on the timber studs with panels of a con- 

 ventionalized flowers on the plaster between.^ One 

 panel shows a large bird, probably a cock.* 



Also in the late i6th century the north wing was 

 altered, the roof being reconstructed to give a gabled 

 attic, and a second wing, of approximately the same 

 size, was built beyond it. This second wing has a large 

 external chimney. The doorway beside the chimney, 

 now the back door of the house, has a four-centred oak 

 lintel carved with the date 1 587. The other feature of 

 this period is the carved oak chimney-piece in the stair- 

 case hall. As there is no chimney connected with it, the 

 assumption is that it has been moved from elsewhere, 

 probably from some other position in the house.' The 

 overmantel has pairs of round-headed arches flanking 

 a central panel and the whole is enriched with arabesque 

 and jewel ornament. 



The present dining-room was fitted with panelling 

 during the first half of the 1 8th century. There is a 

 splayed bay window on the east side and the opposite 

 wall has been splayed also to give an eight-sided room. 



A writer of about 1770 evidently did not consider 

 that Shelley Hall was 'a good house'.'" Considerable 

 alterations took place in the first half of the 19th 

 century; the staircase and many of the windows appear 

 to be of this date. In about 1835 the Hall was described 

 as 'now a handsome residence of moderate size . . . 

 retaining very little appearance of antiquity'." In 

 1 869 it was encased in gault brick with red-brick dress- 

 ings'2 and the porch was added. '^ The two red-brick 

 additions to the west date from 1933. '* 



Among the farm buildings is a three-bay open shed, 

 probably of the i8th century, with its hipped tiled roof 

 terminating in a dove-cote. 



Until the end of the 19th century the advowson of 

 Shelley was usually appurtenant to the 

 CHURCH manor but in and after the i6th century 

 there were several occasions when it ap- 

 pears to have been granted for single turns to persons 

 who did not hold the manor. In about 1250 the patron 

 was reported to be the heir of Peter, probably Peter 

 Fitz Oger.'s The advowson probably descended with 

 the manor through Peter's heirs to the Legh family. 

 In 1329 John de Legh presented to the living.'* His 

 heirs continued to present until the i6th century.'^ 

 In 1 509 Thomas Legh died in possession of the advow- 



9 Its existence was noted by Wright c. 

 1835: Hist. Essex, ii, 3 54. 



'" Hist. Essex by Gent, iii, 365. 



" Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 354. 



" Kelly's Dir. Essex (19 12). 



" It is dated 1869. 



■■* Inf. from Mrs. Storkey, Shelley 

 Lodge. 



" E.A.T. N.s. xviii, 19. The patron is 

 described here as the heir of Peter son of 

 Roger but this is almost certainly a 

 transcriber's error for Peter son of Oger. 



*6 Newcourt, Repert. ii, 520. 



" Ibid. Thomas Arblaster who pre- 

 lented from 1441 to 1468 was an executor 

 of Thomas Legh (d. 1439) and married 

 his widow Alice. Thomas Legh's heir was 

 only 6 months old at the time of his 

 father's death: Cal. Pat. 1446-52, 392. 



