A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



1761." It then passed to Arthur, son of the 6th earl, 

 who was held to have succeeded to the family's tide 

 of Viscount Valentia although he failed to secure 

 recognition as Earl of Anglesey .3* In a 1 7th-century 

 document the total rents from the Gaynes Park estates 

 (including Hemnalls) were stated to be ^^251." 



Valentia retained Gaynes Park until about 1792.38 

 He sold it to Sir Thomas Coxhead, who died in 1 8 1 1 

 leaving it to William Coxhead Marsh, described as the 

 natural son of Sarah Marsh late of Ashwell (Herts.).^' 

 Marsh had been living at Gaynes Park from about 

 I Sod.*" From 181 1 Gaynes Park descended in the 

 Marsh (later Chisenhale-Marsh) family. The present 

 owner is Mr. Hugo Chisenhale-Marsh.'" In 1840 

 W. C. Marsh owned 718 acres in Theydon Garnon, 

 of which 497 acres were in his own occupation.*^ He 

 also owned 18 acres in Theydon Mount.*' In 1873 

 Thomas Coxhead Chisenhale-Marsh owned a total of 

 1,361 acres in Essex, with an estimated gross rental of 

 ^2,357.'" Part of the increase, but not all of it, is 

 accounted for by the acquisition of the manor of 

 Theydon Garnon (see above) in 1858. 



In the 1 7th century Gaynes Park Hall was described 

 as a well-built brick house with gardens, orchards, 

 yards, stables, and outhouses, enclosed with brick walls 

 and fish ponds, and it was said to have cost j^8,ooo to 

 build.*' This house existed in 1696 but had been 

 demolished by about 1740.** By 1777 a new house 

 had been built about J mile farther north.*' This was 

 usually known as Park Hall. A print of 1 8 1 8 shows a 

 long white front of two stories having a central bay 

 flanked by Venetian windows.** After the middle of 

 the 19th century Thomas Coxhead Chisenhale-Marsh 

 incorporated this building in a large stone mansion of 

 Kentish rag which he completed in 1 870.*' The house 

 is in Tudor style with a pierced parapet and many 

 gables. 



The manor of HEMNALLS seems to have com- 

 prised the north-west corner of the ancient parish of 

 Theydon Garnon. The modern Hemnall Street in 

 Epping, which runs parallel with High Street to the 

 south-east, was formerly just within the boundary of 

 Theydon Garnon. The name probably derives from 

 the family of Henry de Emhal' {c. 1 248) and Roger de 

 Hemenhal {c. 1254) who may have come from 

 Hempnall (Norf.).5o 



Hemnalls is first referred to as a manor in about 

 1340, when Adam de Welle granted a rent which 

 issued partly from it (see Gaynes Park, above). At 

 the inquisition made after Adam's death in 1345 

 Hemnalls was described as a tenement in Theydon 

 Garnon and Theydon Bois, held of John Fitz Walter 

 by service of 26/. a year. The jurors did not know 



whether it was held by knight service or by socage." It 

 was referred to again as a manor in 1387 and was 

 always subsequently so termed.'^ In 1461 it was said 

 tobeamember of Gaynes Park'3 but in 1507 and 161 2 

 to be held of the manor of Hubbards Hall in Harlow 

 at a rent of 26/." 



From about 1 340 to 1 8 1 1 the tenancy in demesne 

 descended with the manor of Gaynes Park, except for 

 two brief periods when that manor appears to have 

 been granted separately (1475 and 1485). On the 

 death in 1 8 1 1 of Sir Thomas Coxhead Hemnalls 

 passed under his will to his widow Deborah for life, 

 with remainder to Thomas Coxhead Marsh of Union 

 Wharf, Wapping (Mdx.), who was also the natural 

 son of Sarah Marsh of Ashwell (Herts.).55 T. C. 

 Marsh died, apparently without children, in 1 847, and 

 Hemnalls passed under the terms of Sir Thomas Cox- 

 head's will to W. G. Marsh of Gaynes Park.s^ T. C. 

 Marsh appears to have spent his later life in Paris, 

 where he had a hotel. 5' He owmed no land in the 

 parish of Theydon Garnon in 1840,5* so that by that 

 time, if not earlier, his interest in Hemnalls consisted 

 only of the manorial rights, if any. Since 1847 Hemnalls 

 has once again descended along with Gaynes Park. 

 The site of the ancient manor house is not known. 



COOPERS ALE HOUSE was formerly the seat of 

 the Archer family and subsequently one of the resi- 

 dences of the Archer- Houblon family. Although never 

 styled a manor it was the centre of one of the largest 

 estates in Theydon Garnon. 



References to the Archers are found very early in 

 the history of Theydon Garnon, but the first of them 

 to become important was Henry Archer who on his 

 death in 1616 held a capital messuage of the manor of 

 Hemnalls.s' His successor was his son Sir John Archer 

 (d. 1682), a justice of the Common Pleas. John Archer, 

 son and heir of Sir John, died without issue in 1707, 

 leaving the estate to William Eyre of Gray's Inn on 

 condition that he should adopt the name of Archer and 

 marry Eleanor Wrottesly, John Archer's niece. Eleanor 

 died without issue and William Eyre (now William 

 Eyre Archer) later married Susanna, daughter of Sir 

 John Newton, Bt. Their son John Archer succeeded 

 to the estate in 1739 although he had no connexion by 

 blood with the original family of Archer.'" He died in 

 1800, leaving as his heir his daughter Susanna, who 

 in 1770 had married Jacob Houblon (d. 1783) of 

 HaUingbury Place.*' She went to live at Coopersale 

 at her father's death. The house had been unoccupied 

 since her mother's death in 1776.*^ In 18 19 Susanna 

 adopted the name of Mrs. Houblon Newton. *3 She 

 died in 1837, the estate passing to her grandson John 

 Archer-Houblon.** In 1838-40 he owned 703 acres in 



" Complete Peerage, i, i 34. It is possible 

 that the 5th Earl held Gaynes Park in 

 1707, 3 years before succeeding to the 

 title: E.R.O., Q/RSg i. 



" Complete Peerage, i, 138. 



" E.R.O., D/DAc 228. 



'» CP43/837 M 271-3; E.R.O.,Q/RPI 

 697. 



3» P.C.C. 525 Crickitt. 



♦0 E.R.O., Q/RPI 711, D/P 152/11/3, 



G/RSg4. 



*' For the pedigree see Burke's L.G. 

 (1952 edn.), 8.V. Marsh, also J. J. Howard 

 and F. A. Crisp, Visit, of Eng. and fVales, 

 iv, 5-8. 



*> E.R.O., D/CT 350. 



♦' Ibid. 351. 



♦♦ Retnl. of Owners of Land, 1873 



[C. 1097], Essex, p. 29, H.C. (1874), 

 Ixxii (i). 



*5 E.R.O., D/DAc 228. 



*' Oliver, Map of Essex, 1696; N. 

 Salmon, Hist. Essex, 48. 



*' It is shown in this position by Chap- 

 man and Andre, Map of Essex, lyyy, sheet 

 xvi. 



*' E.R.O., Prints, Theydon Garnon. 



■*^ The date appears on a gable. 



5» P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 23. 



5* Cat. Inq.p.m. viii, p. 433. 



5^ Earl Fitzwilliam (Milton) Deed 

 1683. 



" C140/3/32. 



'♦ Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VII, iii, p. 270; C 

 142/665/50. 



55 P.C.C. 525 Crickitt. ■ 



268 



56 For T. C. Marsh's will see P.C.C. 

 340, 1847. 



5' Ibid. 



58 E.R.O., D/CT 350. 



5« C 1 42/3 59/ 1 39. For Henry Archer's 

 Charity see below, Charities. 



*" E.R. xxxi, 165; Lady Alice Archer- 

 Houblon, Houblon Family, its story and 

 times, ii, 306, 323. For Sir John Archer 

 and his heirs see p. 289, 



" Lady Alice Archer-Houblon, Houblon 

 Family, ii, 279, 322. For the marriage 

 settlement see E.R.O., D/DB T120. 



62 Houblon Family, ii, 279-80. 



'3 Ibid. 274. She was heir to the 

 Newton family as well as those of Archer 

 and Houblon. 



'* Ibid. 293. 



