ONGAR HUNDRED 



STONDON MASSEY 



in Margaret Roding.** This manor, which was held 

 of Hamon dapifer as I hide and 1 5 acres was then 

 worth ^5. Serlo had a son Hamon living in iiji.*' 

 In the early 13th century, and probably by 1197, 

 another Serlo de Marcy held the manor of Stondon as 

 well as lands in Margaret Roding later known as 

 Marks Hall. He had apparently succeeded a Hamon 

 de Marcy.'" The manor of Marks Hall constituted a 

 chapelry dependent upon the rectory of Stondon 

 Massey, to which it has continued to pay tithes until 

 the present day." It is thus probable that Stondon as 

 well as Margaret Roding was held from the nth 

 century by the first Serlo de Marcy and his descendants. 



In 1 2 10-12 Serlo de Marcy held \\ knight's fee in 

 Roding (i.e. Marks Hall)." He died before 1244 

 leaving as heirs his two sisters, Alice wife of John de 

 Merk and Agnes, wife of Nicholas Spigurnel. In 1244 

 it was agreed between the sisters that Agnes and 

 Nicholas and the heirs of Agnes should hold the manor 

 of Stondon of Alice and John and the heirs of Alice.'^ 

 In 1296 and 1308 it was reported that the manor was 

 held of Ralph de Merk by knight service, the amount 

 of which was said to be f fee in 1 296 and \ fee in 

 I3o8.7* In 1485 the tenure was said to be of the Duke 

 of Bedford as of his hundred of Ongar, by %d. rent for 

 all services.75 



Nicholas Spigurnel died before 1275 and was suc- 

 ceeded by his son Edmund. In 1275 an inquisition 

 ad quod damnum was held relating to Edmund's pro- 

 posed inclosure of his wood at Stondon. The verdict 

 was that grave detriment would result from any in- 

 closure of the great wood but none from inclosing a 

 wood of 4 acres adjoining the manor house.''* Edmund 

 died in 1 296 and was succeeded by his brother John 

 who died in 1308." John's epitaph, in Norman 

 French, is said to have been visible in the parish church 

 as late as 1768.'^ He was succeeded by his son 

 Edmund who died in 13 16 leaving as heir his infant 

 daughter Joan, later wife of William Gobyon." Joan 

 and William were confirmed in their possession of the 

 manor of Stondon in 1333.*° She was still living in 

 1385 but by 1 391 the lord of the manor was John 

 Gobyon, perhaps her son.*' John was still living in 

 1396 but was succeeded before July 1410 by William 

 Gobyon. 82 By 1412; if not earlier, the manor had 

 passed to Sir John Hende, who had been Mayor of 

 London in 1391 and 1404.83 He died in 1418 leaving 

 two sons both named John, to the younger of whom he 

 devised the manor of Stondon.** John Hende the 

 younger died in 1464.85 He had devised the manor, 

 in default of his issue, to Joan daughter of his elder 

 brother John and wife of Walter Wrytell, in tail, with 

 remainder to Joan's mother Griselde, wife of John 



Hende the elder and daughter of Hamon Belknap, and 

 Griselde's heirs. *' Joan Wrytell died before her uncle 

 John Hende and Stondon descended to John Wrytell 

 her son, who died in 1485 leaving as his heir an infant 

 son John. 8' In i486 the king committed the custody 

 of Stondon during John's minority to Sir Reynold 

 Bray, Sir Edmund Shaa and John Shaa.'* John 

 Wrytell died in 1507 leaving an infant daughter and 

 heir Juhana who died in i 509.8' The manor then 

 passed, according to the entail created by John Hende 

 the younger, to Sir Edward Belknap son of Sir Henry 

 Belknap (d. 1487) brother of Griselde Hende.'" Sir 

 Edward died in 1 5 2 1 leaving as his heirs his four sisters. 

 Stondon fell to the share of his sister Alice, wife of Sir 

 William Shelley, a Justice of the Common Pleas." 

 Sir William died in 1 548 having devised the manor to 

 his eldest son John.'^ In 1550 John Shelley died leaving 

 Stondon to his younger son William, then a minor.'s 

 About this time the manor may have been leased to 

 Rainold Hollingsworth (d. 1573) whose brass is in the 

 parish church.''' 



William, son of John Shelley, was an active Roman 

 Catholic. He was imprisoned as a recusant in 1580 

 and spent most of the remainder of his life in con- 

 finement. Between 1580 and 1584 he was released 

 several times on bail and during one of his periods of 

 freedom he appears to have become implicated in the 

 Throgmorton plot. '5 He was rearrested in 1584 for 

 treason and in 1586 pleaded guilty and was sentenced 

 to death. He was subsequently reprieved but his estates 

 were declared forfeit and he remained in prison until 

 1596, when he was released in failing health, to die 

 early in 1 597.'* He left no children and his heir was 

 his nephew John Shelley. After William's death his 

 widow Jane tried to obtain possession of Stondon Place, 

 which was part of the estate and which she claimed as 

 part of his marriage jointure. This tenement had been 

 leased by William Shelley in 1582 to Lawrence and 

 William HoDingsworth for 21 years." In 1589 the 

 Hollingsworths divided the property between them. 

 Lawrence died soon after, leaving his share to his 

 nephew John Hollingsworth, who sold it to William 

 Hollingsworth, who thus became sole tenant under the 

 Crown. William then mortgaged his lease to William 

 Chambers and in 1 593 he and Chambers assigned their 

 interest in the property to William Byrd, the musician, 

 for y^3oo. Stondon Place then consisted of about 200 

 acres. Part of it had been sub-let to Dennis Lolly, 

 whose lease expired in 1 597. '8 In 1595 Byrd secured 

 a Crown lease of the whole of Stondon Place for the 

 lives of his three children successively. His position 

 was remarkable: although a well-known recusant him- 

 self, he was willing to profit by the forfeiture of a fellow 



** Ibid. 501a and A, note 4. 



'» Tipe R. 1130 (Rec. Com.), 54, 59. 



"> Feet of F. Essex, i, 10, 148 ; ReJ Bk. 

 of Exch. (Rolls Ser.), 505 ; Pipe R. iigy 

 (Pipe R. Soc. N.s. viii), 74; Pipe R. 1201 

 (Pipe R. Soc. N.s. xiv), 70; Pipe R. 1202 

 (Pipe R. Soc. N.s. xv), 269 ; Pipe R. 1203 

 (Pipe R. Soc. N.s. xvi), 133. 



'* See below, Church. 



" Red. Bk. of Exch. (RoUs Ser.), 505. 



" Feet of F. Essex, \, 148. Cf. J. H. 

 Round, 'Stondon Massey and its Chapelry', 

 E.A.T. N.s. IV, 148-52. It was also 

 agreed in 1 244 that Alice and John de 

 Merk should hold Serlo's land in Margaret 

 Roding. It was from the Merks that 

 Marks Hall took its name. 



'* Cat. Inq.p.m. iii, p. 197; ibid, v, p. 43. 



'5 Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. Vll, i, pp. 61-62. 



" C 143/4/6. 



77 Cal. Inq.p.m. iii, p. 1975 ibid, v, p. 43. 



'* Morant, Essex, i, 187. 



" Cal. Inq. p.m. v, pp. 43, 278. 



80 Feet ofF. Essex, iii, 28. 



8> Newcourt, Reperl. ii, 545. 



81 Ibid. 



85 Feud. Aids, vi, 445; A. B. Beaven, 

 Aldermen of London, i, 81,217. 



8* Morant, Essex, i, i88 j Cal. Inq. p.m. 

 (Rec. Com.), iv, p. 37. 



85 Cal. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Com.), iv, p. 323. 



8' Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VII, i, pp. 61-62. 



8' Ibid. 



88 Mails. Hist. Reign Hen. VII (Rolls 

 Ser.), i, 474. 



89 C142/21/2; L. & P. Hen. VIII, i. 



p. 103. 



9» L. & P. Hen. VIII, i, p. 103. 



9" C142/36/69. 



'^ Reeve, Stondon Massey, 31. 



" C142/93/70. 



9* Reeve, Stondon Massey, 30 5 see below. 

 Church. 



95 N. & g. (ipth ser.), iii, 441-3; 

 Conyers Read, Sir Francis ffalsingham, ii, 

 387. 



9* N. Sf Q. (loth ser.), iii, 441-3. He 

 had lands at Michelgrove (in Clapham, 

 Suss.) ini jure uxoris in Herefordshire. 



97 Lawrence and William were cousins 

 of Rainold Hollingsworth : Reeve, Stondon 

 Massey, 30. 



98 E. H. Fellowes, fVilliam Byrd, zo. 



243 



