ONGAR HUNDRED 



THEYDON BOIS 



A farm in Gregories Lane was known in the 19th 

 century as Little Gregories.'* 



There was a church at Theydon Bois in the 12th 

 century and perhaps earlier.'" The 

 CHURCH advowson was originally held by the lord 

 of the capital manor. William de Bosco 

 granted the church to the priory of St. Bartholomew, 

 Smithfield. This was confirmed by Henry II in 11 87*" 

 and in 1 248 Hugh de Bosco quitclaimed the advowson 

 to the prior.'" The priory retained the advowson until 

 its dissolution in 1539. It presented rectors until 1335 

 when the rectory was appropriated to the priory.** 

 No vicarage was instituted and the church was thence- 

 forth a curacy or donative. In 1 540 the rectory and 

 advowson were granted by the Crown for life to Robert 

 Fuller, who had been the last Abbot of Waltham, and 

 who was also granted the manor of Theydon Bois.*' 

 He died in the same year** and the rectory and advow- 

 son reverted to the Crown, which granted them in 

 1 544 to Edward Elrington, the last lessee of the rectory 

 under the priory .*s He died in 1559.** His son and 

 heir Edward Elrington died in 1578 and was succeeded 

 by a son of the same name.*' It was the third Edward 

 Elrington who in 16 16 acquired the manor of Theydon 

 Bois, and the manor, rectory, and advowson subse- 

 quently descended together. 



The rectory of Theydon Bois was valued in about 

 I2 54at^4 i3i.4d'.,*8at£5 in I257,*9andat^4 13^.4^'. 

 again in 1291.5° Before 1306 it was customary for the 

 priory to receive 2 marks a year from the glebe lands, 

 but a rental of that year stated that those lands had long 

 been uncultivated and it was therefore agreed between 

 the priory and the then rector that only i mark should 

 be paid until the land had been brought into cultiva- 

 tion. This rent was received by the cellarer of the 

 priory. In the same document the church was said to 

 be taxed at ^5 6s. 8</. and to be worth Cio.^^ In 1 5 26 

 the priory leased the rectory to Juliana Fenrother at an 

 annual rent of £,^, and in the following year she was 

 granted leave to cut down and retain all wood on the 

 property, except great trees, and provided that she did 

 not damage the young springs, for the payment of ^2. 

 As security against damage she had to deposit ^^4.'* 

 She died in 1536, leaving the lease of the rectory to 

 Edward Elderton alias Elrington, grandson of her late 

 husband." In 1538 it was leased to Elrington by the 

 priory, still at an annual rent of ;^4.5* 



The tithes of Theydon Bois were commuted in 1850 

 for ^^463 19/., of which ;^I93 i^s. was payable to the 

 owTiers of Theydon Bois manor (the Hall Dares), 

 ^103 15/. to Henry Elwes, owner of Theydon Hall, 

 and ;^i66 9/. to the curate. '' The tithes payable to 

 Elwes were those arising from his own estate. At the 

 time of the commutation the curate had glebe amount- 

 ing to 8 acres. 



The curate's income was very small. In 1604 it was 

 estimated at only £13 6s. SJ.^^ In 1650 the cure was 



3' O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), sheet Iviii. 



3^ See below. 



♦" E. A. Webb, Red. of St. Bartkohmm)': 

 Priory, i, 481. 



*' Feel of F. Essex, i, 172. 



♦' E.R. liv, 35; Newcourt, Repert. ii, 

 ;SijCa!.Pal. 1334-8, 173. 



" L. & P. Hen. Fill, xvi, pp. 715-16. 



" Webb, Recs. of St. Bartholomezu's 

 Priory, i, 259. 



*5 L. & P. Hen. nil, xix (l), p. 278. 



♦« C142/118/52. 



*' C142/1 80/47. 



*' Lunt, P^al. of Noriuich, 336. 



*» Cal. Papal Letters, \, 347. 



50 Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 21 A. 



5* Webb, Recs. of St. Bartholomew's 

 Priory, \, 382, 440. 



s^ Ibid, i, 333. Her husband Robert 

 Fenrother had died in 1524 leaving her 

 lands in Theydon Bois: P.C.C. 19 

 Bodfeldc. 'J P.C.C. 37 Hogen. 



54 Webb, Recs. of St. Bartholomew's 

 Priory,[, 333, 384. 



55 E.R.O., D/CT 349. For these owners 

 see above, Manors. 



51s H. Smith, Eccl. Hist. Essex, 17. 



57 y.C.H. Essex, ii, 64; H. Smith, Ecc. 



said to be destitute, there being not more than £20 a 

 year assigned for a minister, so that 'no godly able 

 minister will accept of it'.'' The tithe commutation 

 figures show, however, that by 1 848 there had been an 

 endowment of the curacy with some tithes and a small 

 amount of glebe. 58 The living was also augmented 

 out of Queen Anne's Bounty and in 1870 the incum- 

 bent, the Revd. George Hambleton, set out to raise 

 j{^300 by private subscription to increase the stipend 

 and so qualify for further assistance.59 Under the 

 Incumbents Act (1868) the curacy became a titular 

 vicarage.*" 



It seems from Chapman and Andre's map of 1777 

 that the present Parsonage Farm was then the residence 

 of the curate.*' In estate maps of 1799 and about 

 1800, however, it was called Theydon Manor Farm 

 and was occupied by a tenant of John H. Dare.** It 

 is a timber-framed house probably dating from the 

 15 th century. In its original form it was a well- 

 recognized type of late medieval 'hall' house of which 

 Bridge Farm, Theydon Garnon (q.v.), is another 

 example. In 1920 its medieval origin was confirmed 

 by the architect in charge of restoration work, who 

 reported the existence of an open hearth on the floor 

 of the hall.*' This hall, in the centre of the main block, 

 was originally open to the roof while the side wings 

 were of two stories. All three sections were combined 

 under a single roof, gabled at the ends. At the front of 

 the house the side wings oversailed at first-floor level 

 but the wall of the hall was vertical. Large curved 

 braces, one of which can still be seen, helped to support 

 the deeply overhanging eaves of the central section and 

 originally stood clear of the wall. In the 1 6th or early 

 17th century the hall was divided into two stories and 

 the upper part of the front wall was built out to incor- 

 porate the curved braces. A slight break in the moulded 

 bressummers which cover the joist ends makes it clear that 

 the central overhanging section is a later insertion. The 

 large brick chimney would be contemporary with the 

 division of the hall, but the two bay windows at the 

 front of the house are modern. One of the projecting 

 wings at the back was open to the roof within living 

 memory and may have formed part of the medieval 

 house. There have been further additions to the house 

 in recent times and the timber-framing has been ex- 

 posed both inside and out. Internally there is a door- 

 way with moulded jambs and a four-centred head and a 

 window with square mullions set diagonally. Parts of 

 the entrance door also appear to be ancient. 



In 1832 the Dares as lord and lady of Theydon 

 Bois manor and patrons successfully applied to the 

 Treasury for 5 acres of the manorial waste in the forest 

 as the site of a house, with glebe, for the incumbent of 

 Theydon Bois.** Failure to build within the stipulated 

 period of one year vacated the grant, but a fresh grant 

 was made in 1838 to trustees on the application of 

 Elizabeth Dare, now a widow.*' The house was duly 



Hist. Essex, 273. 



58 The endowment was much better 

 than that of the curacy of Norton Mande- 

 viUe (q.v.) at the same period. 



59 E.R.O., D/DBx Fi. 

 *° 31 & 32 Vict. c. 117. 

 6' Chapman and Andre, Map of Essex, 



1777, sheet xvi. 



" E.R.O., D/DBx Pi, 2. 



" V..V..O., Sale Cat. A. 821. 



*** The application was made under the 

 Crown Lands Act, 10 Geo. IV, c. 50 

 (.829). 



«5 E.R.O., D/DBx T2. 



255 



