A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



Epping. The approach to Hill Hall is by a drive off the 

 Stapleford Tawney road.'" North Farm, at the Mount 

 End cross-roads, appears to date from the first half of 

 the 1 8th century. Tarlings, nearly opposite the north 

 lodge of Hill Hall, was formerly a smithy." About J 

 mile south-east of North Farm is the site of a former 

 brick and tile works. The new rectory has recently 

 been built here." Near the rectory, in the lane leading 

 to Beechet Wood, are two pairs of council houses. 

 Coleman's Farm, J mile east of Hill Hall, is about 50 

 years old. There was a building on this site in 1777, 

 then called Cotes. '^ Near Coleman's, on the edge of 

 Hill Hall park, is Icehouse Plantation, which probably 

 takes its name from the former icehouse of Hill Hall. 

 This may have dated from the 17th or i8th century.'* 

 In the extreme south of the parish is Skinners, a timber- 

 framed house to which a gabled brick front was added 

 late in the, 19th century. In the dairy is the three- 

 centred arch of a former oak doorway in which a 

 mullioned window has been inserted. This suggests 

 that the house dates from the i6th century or earlier. 

 Brook House, ^ mile west of Skinners, probably dates 

 from the early 1 8th century." 



The lane from Mount End to Hobbs Cross and part 

 of the road from Mount End to Stanford Rivers follow 

 the line of a Roman road. Roman remains were 

 found in this area in the 19th century.'* The Hobbs 

 Cross road was presented at Quarter Sessions in 1582-3 

 as a 'noisome way'." The road to Coopersale, which 

 now passes to the north of North Farm, is shown on 

 the 1777 map as farther south.' * Between 1777 and 

 about 1800 HiU Hall park was extended to the east. 

 This involved the diversion of the road so as to bring 

 the church within the park, from which it was fenced 

 off in 1953-4." About this time the old rectory near 

 the church was demolished^" and (perhaps somewhat 

 later) the former manor house of Mount Hall was also 

 taken down.^' 



For transport and postal services Theydon Mount 

 has depended upon Epping and Romford. Piped water 

 is supplied by the Herts, and Essex Waterworks Co.^^ 

 but there is no main drainage. ^^ Electricity was supplied 

 by the Eastern Electricity Board in 1950.^* A branch 

 of the county library was opened in 1935.^' The 

 village hall is the former school. 



From the 15th century until the 20th most of the 

 and in the parish was in the hands of a single owner. 

 With the building of Hill Hall in the i6th century the 

 parish became more than ever dominated by the manor 

 house. In 1838 Sir John Smijth owned all but some 

 70 acres of the parish.^* The Hill Hall esute had 

 increased in size since 1700, when three other owners 

 had land in the parish.^^ During its four centuries as 



a private house Hill Hall must have provided sub- 

 stantial opportunities for local employment. Those of 

 the inhabitants of the parish not employed there were 

 mainly engaged in agriculture. There has been very 

 little industry in Theydon Mount. The market and 

 fair granted to Paulinus de Theydon in 1225 (see 

 below, Manor) did not survive into modern times. 

 One industry, brick- and tile-making, appears to have 

 gone on (perhaps intermittently) from the i6th century 

 to the 20th. The brick-works to the north of Hill Hall 

 was still in operation in 19 14.** It was perhaps the 

 successor of the works from which bricks were pro- 

 vided about 1580 for the completion of Hill Hall 

 itself,^' and of the brick kiln 'on the top of Mount 

 Hill' in 1655.30 



Before 1066 THEYDON MOUNT was held by 



Godric as a manor and as 3 hides and 80 

 MANORS acres. After the Conquest it was given by 



William I to Robert Fitz Wimarc, who 

 was still alive in 1069 but had been succeeded in or 

 before 1075 by his son Swein. Robert was Sheriff of 

 Essex and the office was later held by Swein.3' Swein 

 made his castle at Rayleigh, which became the head of 

 his honor and from that time the manor of Theydon 

 Mount was always held of the Honor of Rayleigh.'^ 

 In 1086 the manor was held of Swein by one Robertas 

 Swein was succeeded by his son Robert of Essex, the 

 founder of Prittlewell Priory, and Robert of Essex was 

 succeeded by his son Henry of Essex.''* 



In 1 163 Henry of Essex, then Constable of England, 

 failed to clear himself of a charge of cowardice during 

 a war against the Welsh, and was deprived of all his 

 lands.35 Henry II appears to have granted 3 knight's 

 fees in the Honor of Rayleigh to one William, there- 

 after known as William de Theydon. This William 

 was apparently alive in 1194.3* Upon his death these 

 lands passed to Robert de Theydon, probably his son. 

 Robert or a namesake had had the wood at Theydon 

 as early as 1 163 and when this property was taken by 

 the king he received compensation of 20s. a year.'' 

 Robert was succeeded by his son Henry de Theydon 

 who seems to have been in possession of Theydon 

 Mount early in the reign of John. In 1 2 1 5 Henry was 

 one of the garrison of Rochester castle when it sur- 

 rendered to the king.38 His lands were undoubtedly 

 taken into the king's hands but in 12 17 Henry's son 

 Paulinus de Theydon was granted the lands formerly 

 held by his father in Gloucestershire'' and it is prob- 

 able that he received Theydon Mount at the same 

 time. Paulinus certainly held Theydon by 1225 when 

 he was given licence to hold a weekly market and an 

 annual fair there.*° In 1227 he was also granted deer 

 for the park.'*' He died in or shortly before January 



•» For Hill Hall see Manors, below. 



" 0.5. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), sheet Iviii. 



" See Churches, below. 



" Chapman and Andri, Map of Eisex, 

 ITJT, sheet xvi. 



'* Cf. Icehouse Wood near the site of 

 Bellhousc in Stanford Rivers. 



** 'Brock House', mentioned 1600 

 (E.R.O., Q/SR 149/43), "'y have been 

 on this site. 



■' Troc. Soc. Antiq. {2nd «er.), ii, 1 84-6 ; 

 iv, 446. 



" E.R.O., Q/SR 84/24. 



" Chapman and Andr<!, Map of Eiux, 

 1777, sheet xvi. 



'» Ibid. Cf. 0.5. I in. Map (ist edn.). 



*® See Churches, below. 



" In 1838 there was only a cottage on 

 the Mount Hall site: E.R.O., D/CT 351 ; 



and see below, Manors. 



^^ Inf. from Herts. & Essex Water- 

 works Co. About 1900 Mount End was 

 supplied with piped water from a well dug 

 by Sir William Bowyer-Smijth: Howard 

 and Burke, Theydon Mounts xi. 



" Inf. from Rev. E. B. Rces. 



^* Inf. from Eastn. Elcc. Bd. 



'5 Inf. from County Librarian. 



" E.R.O., D/CT 351. 



" J. J. Howard and H. F. Burke, Theydon 

 Mounts xi. 



"» Kelly'! Dir. Essex (1914). 



» See Hill Hall. 



30 E.R.O., D/DSh T2. 



" r.C.H. Essex, i, 490*. For the date 

 of Robert's death see: H. W. C. Davis, 

 Regesta Regum Angh-Normannorum, 22 ; 

 J. H. Round, Cal. Docs. France, 2 1 ; 



Freeman, Norman Conquest, iv, 736. 



32 Cf. Wards ^l^lii-O] (Feodary Survey 

 Apr. 1632). 



33 y.C.H. Essex, \, 490*. 



3* J. H. Round, Geoffrey de MandeviUe^ 

 391. 



35 This paragraph is based on A. L. 

 Browne, 'The de Theydon Family', 

 E.A. T. N.s. xxi, 84-88 and J. H. Round, 

 'The Manor of Theydon Mount', ibid, 

 xii, 198-202. For Henry de Essex sec p. 

 287. 



36 Rot. Cur. Reg. (Rec. Com.), i, 122. 

 3' Pipe R. 1163 (Pipe R. Soc. vi), 22, 



and later Pipe Rolls. 

 38 Rot. Lit. Pat. l^k. 

 30 Rot. Lit. Claus. i, 320. 

 *° Ibid, ii, 62. 

 '•■ Ibid. 180. 



276 



