William Chapman Waller

“ Tenants’ Duties.
‘Every tenant of the three vills aforesaid (Alderton, Debden, and Loughton) shall come with his team to the boon-ploughing twice in winter. Every tenant of five acres shall come and harrow twice in Lent, if he has horses, and shall have his food. Every tenant of 10 acres, whether he has horses or not, shall come in like manner. So all shall come to mow, to lift hay, to weed, and to gather nuts. If, owing to bad weather, they have to give up work, they shall return on the morrow to finish. ”

“ In a plan of the manor made one hundred and fifty years ago Great and Little Monk Wood are set out, with their bounds; and in a still earlier survey (1612) the rights over them of the lessees of the manor under the Crown are recognised. About thirty years before that date certain circumstances had led to the empanelling of a jury of the neighbourhood, which, as part of its verdict, found that Monk Wood—i.e. the timber therein—had been three times sold within the memory of man: one time by the Abbot of Stratford, and twice in Queen Elizabeth’s time. ”

“ If the lord of the manor wished it, he had to come, with one scythe, to mow the meadow, and had his rations. He provided and fed a man to lift hay until all was carried. On two days he weeded from morn till eve and had two meals. He drew a load of hay and had his breakfast given him. He sent a man to one boon-day, when beer was not provided; and two men to three others. If he reaped oats on the great boon-day he bound them on another and got no rations. He had to send a man for one day to gather nuts till eve, and the man had food given him ”

“ Through that marriage Debden Hall and Holyfield Hall (in Waltham) came into the Hamilton family. Mr. Alexander Hamilton, we may note in passing, was an uncle of the famous ‘Single Speech’ Hamilton. By his second wife he left a son, William, who succeeded him at Debden Hall, where one of his daughters, who married Mr. Nicholas Pearse, afterwards lived. To her memory there is a window in the chancel of the parish church, and it is in illustration of her works of charity that the subject of it is Christ surrounded by little children. ”

“ When we come to Domesday Book we find no less than eight separate entries, all of which apparently relate to Loughton. The Canons are found to hold Debden and Alderton, with two other manors merely described as ‘Loughton.’ Peter de Valoines held two more, equally nameless, one being his demesne, and the other held by an under-tenant called Ralph; the latter was probably near North’s Farm on Buckhurst Hill; Robert Gernon held 44 acres, his under-tenant being W. Corbun; and the King held 20 acres, which were seemingly a sort of perquisite of the royal Reeve at Havering. ”

“ In later times, however, this was overlooked, and it seems to have been held that Monk Wood was only reserved to the lord on the condition that his tenant farmers should be restrained from lopping at large in the Forest and so infringing the privileges of copyholders. Monk Wood was lopped for the last time somewhere about 1840. In 1767 the tenant of Alderton Hall had under his lease an assignment from it of 1000 faggots yearly ‘to be made up as London ware,’ and 100 logs; in 1787 he had 500 faggots and 250 logs: all to be used on the premises. ”

“ These hens, handed down as we have seen, from very early times, were sometimes called ‘smoke hens,’ just as we read of ‘smoke-silver.’ And it is probable that they were originally something in the nature of a hearth-tax. It is particularly interesting to note that the England family—from whom England’s Lane has its name—paid two hens and a cock so late as 1675, just as five hundred years earlier our friend John Pyrle paid the same rent for the same freehold land. ”

“ If any man’s daughter is seduced while in his house, her father shall pay a fine to the lord. No one may marry his daughter p. 10without the lord’s licence. No one may sell horse or ox, except such as he himself has bought, without showing it to the bailiff. No one may sell a tree. The lord may appoint anyone to be his reeve, and can take tallage (tax) at his will. Everyone belonging to Luketune or Tipeden shall bind the oats he reaps without having food found him; they of Alwartune shall bind only those which they reap at the great boon-day ”

“ Among them are three—Lukinton, Tippedene, and Ælwartun, which are incontestably to be identified with the places we now know as Loughton, Debden, and Alderton. The boundaries of Lukinton, or Loughton, p. 4are unfortunately wanting. Not, of course, that it would be any longer possible to trace them; even in the case of Debden, where the natural features are mentioned, it is doubtful of what extent the manor was; in the case of Alderton none of the boundaries can be connected with any names occurring in documents of a later date. ”

“ But they will filter down, for on every side we see signs of awakening among the members of the architectural profession, though the process is often retarded by the necessity of satisfying inartistic clients. ”

“ Typeden (Debden) comes next, and Luketon (Loughton) makes a bad third. The explanation of this is probably that the manors of Loughton were kept in hand and farmed, while the others had been granted out to what may be roughly styled ‘copyholders.’ Of such copyholders there were in Alderton 28, holding 371 acres, paying between them something over 40s. a year in money, 47 fowls, and 4241⁄2 eggs. In Loughton were eight tenants holding 75 acres, and paying about 14s., and 9 fowls. In Debden there were 24 tenants, who held 160 acres, and paid about 23s., 17 fowls, and 26 eggs. ”