ROM 
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town of Chelmsford, and 12 miles east-north-east from London. 
This town is supposed by Stukelev to occupy the scite of 
the Roman station Durolitum. The same author conjec¬ 
tures that its present name is a contraction for Romanford; 
and in this opinion he is supported by Mr. Lethieullier. 
Lysons, however, derives it from the Saxon words Rom 
and Ford, which signify the Broad-Ford, in allusion to an 
ancient passage through a rivulet which flows past the 
western extremity of the town. Romford is first mentioned 
in record in the Red Book of the Exchequer; where it is 
said that, in 1166, Roger Bigod, duke of Norfolk, held 
“ the wood of Romford by serjeancy, and payment of five 
shillings a-year.” It is next noticed in 1277, at which time 
the manor formed part of the possessions of Adam de Cre- 
tinge. It afterwards passed to Thomas de Brotherton, earl 
of Norfolk, from whom it descended by marriage to the 
Mowbrays, dukes of Norfolk; but on the death of John, 
the fourtli duke, without male issue, in 1477, it became 
vested in James, lord Berkeley. Since that period it has 
belonged to different families, and is now the property of a 
gentleman named Newman. 
Romford is governed by a bailiff and wardens, who, 
though forming no corporation, are empowered by letters 
patent to hold a weekly court, for the trial of all causes, 
whether civil or criminal, high treason not excepted. In 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, however, it is subordinate to 
Hornchurch, except so far as concerns the maintenance of 
the poor; in which particular it was recognised as a sepa¬ 
rate parish, in the year 1786. The privilege of holding a 
weekly market was first granted to the inhabitants by king 
Henry III.; but at present here are three: one on Mon¬ 
day, for the sale of calves; another on Tuesday, for hogs; 
and a third on Wednesday, for corn and cattle. There is 
likewise an annual fair on the 24th of June. The church 
or chapel of Romford is an ancient structure, and was pro¬ 
bably erected about the commencement of the 15th century, 
when the inhabitants obtained a bull from the pope, autho¬ 
rising them to consecrate a cemetery adjoining the town, for 
the burial of their dead, who had, previously to that time, 
been carried to Hornchurch burying-ground. In this 
chapel were, in Catholic times, a guild and a chantry; the 
former of which was valued at Al. 10s. 2d., and the latter 
at 13/. annual revenue, at the era of the dissolution. The 
principal monuments here are those of Sir George Hervey, 
knight, lieutenant of the Tower, who died in 1605, and 
his lady, both of whom are represented kneeling ; and of 
Sir Anthony Cook of Gidea-Hall, and his lady, whose ef¬ 
figies are exhibited in similar positions, tin the latter 
tomb are several inscriptions in Latin, said to have been 
written by the daughters of the deceased, who were the 
most learned females of the age. Not far from the church 
is a charity school for forty boys, and another for twenty 
girls, which were founded and endowed in 1728; and at a 
short distance from the western end of the town are bar¬ 
racks for the accommodation of a regiment of cavalry, 
erected in 1795. According to the population census of 
1811, the parish of Romford, including the Townward, 
Collier-row ward, Harrold’s-wood ward, and Noah-hill 
ward, contained 620 houses, and 3244 inhabitants. 
The district called Havering-alte ward, which compre¬ 
hends the three adjacent parishes of Hornchurch, Romford, 
and Havering, anciently constituted part of the demesnes 
of the Saxon kings; and even to this day it possesses peculiar 
privileges, both as prescriptive rights, and by charter, 
granted by Henry IV., and since confirmed by several of 
his successors. Near the village of Havering-atte-Bower 
was formerly a palace, which tradition ascribes to king Ed¬ 
ward the Confessor, and which subsequently became the occa¬ 
sional residence of more than one monarch of the Norman line. 
The situation of this palace is very fine, and commands ex¬ 
tensive views over parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, 
Middlesex, and Surrey, as well as of the river Thames. 
The surrounding park, now the property of the crown, 
but let on lease, exceeds a thousand acres in extent. To 
the westward of this park, about two miles, lies Hainault- 
347 
Forest, in which stood the famous tree, called Fairlop-oak, 
which Gilpin informs us, in his “ Remarks on Forest 
Scenery,” is traced by tradition “ half way up the Christian 
era.” It is generally said to have been the largest tree in 
this kingdom, (measuring 36 feet in girt near the base or 
root, and spreading its branches over a circumference of 
300 feet). But at Hampstead, in Essex, there was a tree of 
much larger dimensions. 
About a mile to the eastward of Romford is Gidea-Hall, 
an ancient seat of the Cook family; and near it stands 
Hare-Hall, a mansion formerly belonging to John Arnold 
Wallenger, Esq. The house was built under the direction 
of Mr. Payne, in 1769, and is constructed of Portland 
stone; it consists of a centre, with two wings, connected 
by colonnades. A small villa in this neighbourhood, at 
Hare-street, is the residence of Humphry Repton, Esq. 
distinguished for his taste and talents as a landscape-gardener. 
He is also author of two or three elegant volumes on pic¬ 
turesque scenery, and the principles of taste, as displayed 
in the embellishment of parks and gentlemen’s mansions. 
His son, John Adey Repton, is also justly celebrated for 
his intimate knowledge of the principles and history of the 
ancient architecture of England. Four miles to the east¬ 
ward is the village of Brentwood, or Burnt-wood, which 
was anciently a market town ; but this privilege is now lost. 
Its former importance, however, may be conjectured from 
the fact of the county assizes having been held here for 
many years. The remains of the town-hall and prison are 
still discernible in the main street, which stretches itself 
along the Harwich road, and abounds with inns and 
public houses for the accommodation of travellers. Here 
is a grammar-school, founded in 1537 by Sir Anthony 
Brown. Camden supposed the Roman station of Caesaro- 
magus to have been situated at or near Brentwood ; but this 
opinion is not supported by any facts, or even probability. 
Five miles westward from Romford formerly stood 
Wanstead House, the seat of William Pole Tilney Long 
Wellesley, Esq. M. P., who acquired it by marriage with 
Miss Tilney Long, eldest daughter and co-heiress of the 
late Sir James Tilney Long. It was a very spacious and 
magnificent building, measuring 260 feet in front, and 
nearly 80 feet in depth. Within the park, on its southern 
side, a tessellated Roman pavement was discovered in the 
year 1735. It was about 20 feet long, and was conjectured 
by Mr. Lethieullier to have been the pavement of a banquetting 
room. In the centre was the figure of a man, and around 
him a great variety of ornaments. 
ROMHILD, a small town of Germany, in the duchy of 
Saxe-Meinungen, the chief place of a domain belonging in 
common to the princes of Saxe-Meinungen and Saxe-Coburg. 
Population 1600; 17 miles south-south-east of Meinungen. 
ROMI a village of Diarbekir, in Asiatic Turkey ; 45 miles 
south of Kerkesieh. 
ROMILEY, or Romeeigh, a township of England, in 
the parish of Stockport, Chester, near Altrincham. Popula¬ 
tion 1015. 
ROMILLY (Sir Samuel), an eminent lawyer, distin¬ 
guished also as a partriot and philanthropist. Descended 
from a race of ancestors, whose attachment to civil and reli¬ 
gious liberty constrained them to sacrifice their property, to 
abandon their native land, and to seek an asylum from per¬ 
secution in this country, it was reserved for him to maintain 
and perpetuate the honour of the family from which he de¬ 
rived his origin. Of his family and its emigration, it will be 
sufficient to transcribe the following account given by him¬ 
self in an address to the citizens of Bristol, when they invited 
him to become a candidate for representing them in parlia¬ 
ment. “ It has been published in this city that 1 am a 
foreigner, and that if you elect me, you will send a 
foreigner to represent you in a British parliament. Gentle¬ 
men, I was born and educated, and have passed my whole 
life in England, with the exception of a short interval, 
which was spent in visiting foreign countries. My father 
too was born and educated in England, and spent his whole 
life in it; my grandfather, it is true, was not an Englishman 
