ONGAR HUNDRED north weald bassett 



Theydon Garnon slightly larger than that of 1 3 3 1 

 upon his son Roger and Margaret, Roger's wife. 3 « 

 Robert Mareschal occurs in 1374.'"' Margaret, widow 

 of Roger Mareschal of North Weald, executed a charter 

 in 1402.'" 



For most of the 15 th century the descent of the 

 manor has not been traced. In 1496 Joan, widow of 

 Sir Robert Billesdon, died holding 8 parcels of land 

 called Marshalls."*^ Sir Robert (d. 1492) was a 

 haberdasher of London, alderman for Bread Street 

 Ward and mayor 1483-4. He was knighted in 1 4.8^.^3 

 His wife was daughter and heir of John Williams; her 

 heir was her son Thomas Billesdon.'" Soon after her 

 death Marshalls was acquired by Sir William Fitz- 

 wiUiam (1460 ?-i 534), merchant tailor of London, 

 who was probably connected in some way with Sir 

 Robert Billesdon because he lived and traded in Bread 

 Street, and was alderman for Bread Street Ward."*! 

 In 1543 Marshalls was settled upon Sir William's 

 grandson Sir William Fitzwilliam (1526—99) on his 

 marriage to Anne daughter of Sir William Sidney.** 



In 1554 Sir William Fitzwilliam sold Marshalls 

 to John Searle.'*' The Searles were a local family, 

 many of whose names occur in the parish registers of 

 North Weald.'t* John was succeeded on his death in 

 1 591 by his eldest son John.*' In 1605 the latter 

 settled the reversion of the manor upon his eldest son 

 Samuel. 50 In 1 6 1 6, after John Searle's death, the manor 

 was claimed by Mary, widow of Thomas Searle, a 

 younger brother of Samuel Searle, but Samuel's right 

 was maintained by the court.'' Samuel, who was a 

 clergyman, was still alive in 1636.5^ He was succeeded 

 by his son Samuel, citizen and stationer of London. 53 

 In 1660 Samuel Searle the younger sold the reversion 

 of Marshalls after his death to John Archer, serjeant- 

 at-law, for £680.54 



Archer, who became a justice in the court of Com- 

 mon Pleas and was knighted in 1662, died in 1682.5s 

 It is doubtful whether he himself ever took up the 

 reversion of the manor. Samuel Searle was still lord of 

 Marshalls in 1680, and the next court, in 1683, was 

 held in the name of Eleanor widow of Sir John 

 Archer.56 In 1676 Sir John had settled the reversion 

 of the manor upon his eldest son John, and the latter 

 succeeded to Marshalls in or after 1687, in which year 

 his mother is last known to have held the court. 5' John 

 Archer died childless in 1707. He left a will desiring 

 that Eleanor Wrottesly, daughter of his sister Eleanor, 

 wife of Sir Walter Wrottesly, should marry William 

 Eyre of Highlow (Derbs.) and that Eyre should 

 assume the name of Archer and inherit Marshalls in 

 his own right. 58 The will had an unusual result. 

 Eleanor duly married WiUiam Eyre but died childless, 



3» Ibid. 123. 



" Ibid. 171. 



*' Cai Close^ 1402—5, lig— 20: cf. 

 y.C.H. /^orn. iii, 283. 



*^ Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen, VII, i, p. 542. 



<3 A. R. Beaven, The Aldermen of the 

 City of London, i, 47. 



♦4 Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. Vll, i, p. 542. 



«5 h. & P. Hen. Fin, xviii (i), p. 46. 

 For Sir William Fitzwilliam see D.N.B. 

 He also held Arneways in Lambourne and 

 Gaynes Park in Theydon Garnon. It is 

 possible that he was related to Joan 

 Billesdon's father. 



■" L. 6f P. Hen. FUI, xviii (i), p. 46. 

 For Sir William the grandson see D.N.B. 

 He was Lord Deputy of Ireland undej 

 Eliz. I. 



« E.R.O., D/DB T104. Consideration 



and Marshalls subsequently passed to Eyre's son by his 

 second wife. The manor descended in the Archer and 

 Archer-Houblon families until 19 14, when Capt. 

 Lindsay Archer-Houblon sold the manorial rights to 

 Raymond E. Trotter of Epping, solicitor, for j^ioo.so 

 In 1 84 1 J. Archer-Houblon owned 63 acres in North 

 Weald, for 57 acres of which his tenant was Thomas 

 Speed.60 



A rectangular moat enclosing an overgrown area 

 marks the position of the medieval site of Marshalls. 

 It lies to the east of Woodside, a little south of its 

 junction with Duck Lane. The house itself had dis- 

 appeared by about 1768.'' The present Marshalls 

 Farm, which dates from the 1 7th century, is a timber- 

 framed house with a chimney stack which is T-shaped 

 in plan. The base has a moulded capping above which 

 are four detached shafts set diagonally. 



The manor of PARIS HALL derived its name from 

 the Paris family, which held land in North Weald in 

 the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1280 Sir Humphrey 

 de Hastings granted Roger de Paris, citizen of London, 

 'all the lands which he holds of my fee in North Weald 

 Hasting ... to hold of me and my heirs . . . yielding to 

 me . . . \d. (a year). . . . Saving to me and my heirs the 

 whole foreign service, to wit the scutage of the king, 

 so much as appertains to the fee of one knight; and 

 making therefore yearly for me and my heirs to Ralph 

 le Mareschal and his heirs 20x. at two terms of the year, 

 and at . . . Pentecost a pair of gilded spurs or 6(2'.'*^ 

 From this it appears that Paris Hall was previously 

 held by Sir Humphrey de Hastings of Ralph le 

 Mareschal (see above, Marshalls). The family name 

 of Hastings is preserved in the modern Hastingwood, 

 which adjoins Paris Hall.^5 



In 1298—9 Robert de Lincoln and Joan his wife 

 quitclaimed to Roger de Paris \ messuage, 180 acres 

 of land, 5 acres of pasture, 8 acres of meadow, 60 acres 

 of wood, and 5/. rent in North Weald which they had 

 claimed as the dower of Joan of the endowment of 

 William de la Haye, formerly her husband.** In 1303 

 Nicholas de Paris conveyed land in Weald and Harlow 

 to Nicholas Roland.*5 A survey of the knights' fees in 

 the half-hundred of Harlow in 13 14 reported that 

 William de Paris then held \ knight's fee in North 

 Weald of the Earl of Gloucester.** In 1324 William, 

 son of Roger de Paris, and Alice, William's wife, 

 acknowledged the right of Adam de Masshebury to 

 I messuage, 180 acres of land, 13 acres of meadow, 45 

 acres of pasture, and 13J. rent in North Weald Hasting 

 and Latton; Adam thereupon granted two-thirds of 

 the property to William and Alice, and also the rever- 

 sion of one-third which Beatrice, late wife of Roger 

 de Paris, held in dower of the inheritance of Adam.*' 



stated to be ,f 200. 



48 E.R.O., D/P 84/1/1, 2. 



49 E.R.O., D/DBT104. 



50 Ibid. 

 5^ Ibid. Samuel Searle was b. 1676, 



Thos. Searle in 1680: E.R.O., D/P 

 84/1/1. 



5^ Cal. Docs. Essex Arch. Soc. : N. 

 Weald 2, 3. For his early career see Foster, 

 Alumni Oxonienses, 1500— 1704, S— Z, 

 p. 1330. 



" Cal. Docs. Essex Arch. Soc.: N. 

 Weald, 2, 3. 



54 E.R.O., D/DBT104. 



5 5 D.N.B. For Archer and his heirs see 

 also Theydon Garnon, Coopersale House. 



56 E.R.O., D/DB M73. For lists of 

 quit-rents paid by some 30 manorial 

 tenants between 1623 and 1682 see ibid. 



E8. IV 



289 



M77. 

 5' Ibid.; E.R.O., D/DB Ti 16. 



58 Lines. Archiues Cttee. Archivist's Rep. 

 1951-2, p. 20; Lady A. Archer-Houblon, 

 Family of Houblon, ii, pp. 306, 322. 



59 Family of Houblon, 306, 322; E.R.O., 

 D/DTc M4. 



<"> E.R.O., D/CT 387. 



^' Morant, Essex, \, 150. 



*2 Winstone, Epping ami Ongar, High- 

 •way Trust, 271. 



'5 A Robt. de Hastings lived in the 

 parish in 1 248 : P.N. Essex, 87. 



'4 Feet of F. Essex, n, 88. 



*5 Ibid. 93. In 1 3 16 Roland conveyed 

 the property to John Frosshe of London : 

 ibid. 170. 



'^ E.A.T. N.s. xxii, 241. 



" Feet of F. Essex, ii, 2 1 6. 



