“The one that got away!” Survey and Valuation of the Estate of the Earl of Essex in Parishes of Stebbing, Saling, Raine and Bocking (D/DU 3713/1)

Posted on September 1, 2026 by admin

The vast majority of the records preserved at the Essex Record Office have been donated or loaned freely for the benefit of the public. We, and generations of researchers and residents, are grateful for the generosity of donors and owners of records who help to ensure these documents are safely preserved and widely accessible to the public.

However, from time to time the Record Office is alerted by The National Archives to documents coming up for auction. If it is something significant enough and suitable to acquire for the archive, we seek external funding for the full cost of the purchase. Our first approach is usually to the Friends of Historic Essex, the charity that supports ERO. For relatively small amounts, the Friends are generally more than happy to finance the purchase of documents themselves, which are then added to our holdings for all researchers to access.

Occasionally the documents we are told about are more expensive than the Friends on their own can fund, so we may need to apply to other awarding bodies to help build a bigger pot of cash. The Essex Heritage Trust, the Essex Society for Archaeology and History and other local organisations have kindly provided grants for this. But for higher value documents it is often the support of the Friends of the Nations’ Libraries (FNL), with their generous contributions, that has allowed us to successfully acquire the item in question.

However, this is not always the case and just recently we were delighted to be directly approached by a vendor who had just purchased a document which we unsuccessfully bid for in 2019 – the ‘Survey and Valuation of the Estate of the Earl of Essex in Parishes of Stebbing, Saling, Rayne and Bocking’, which we remembered as ‘the one that got away’!

In 2019 we were alerted that this volume was about to be auctioned and the then Chair of the Friends, Dr Chris Thornton contacted FNL, who gave a promise of funding, and the Stebbing Local History Society (SLHS) to see if they might be willing to contribute as well.

The very active SLHS were excited with the possibility of this volume being acquired for the ERO, as they have a long-running research programme with American academic Prof Lawrence Poos of the Catholic University of America, looking at the landscape history of their parish.

For many of our parishes, the earliest complete map showing individual plots of land detailing ownership, tenancy and land use can often be that created (with the accompanying ‘Award’) for the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836, with the resulting maps dating from the late 1830s into the early 1850s. While there will almost always be earlier estate maps, these can often be of only limited areas rather than an entire parish. Therefore, this volume which contains many maps of areas across Stebbing, as well as adjoining parishes, would be very useful as it shows the area 40 or so years earlier than would have been surveyed on the Stebbing tithe map (D/CT 332B).

All was progressing nicely: a member of SLHS had visited the auction house to examine the volume to give it the once over and had given the ‘thumbs up’; a decent sum of money had been pledged and our bid was made. Come the day of the auction, we waited with bated breath to see if we were successful – and we were not! SLHS passed on their details to the auction house, for forwarding to the successful purchaser, in the hope that they might be permitted to photograph it for academic purposes – nothing was heard. Chris Thornton counselled us to keep an eye out for it appearing again in the future, for you never know …

Fast forward six or so years and ERO were approached early in 2026 by someone who had been attending an antiques fair and had come across the very same volume of maps on a stall and being retailed for much less than we had lost it for. Realising its importance, he purchased it and got in contact to offer it to the Record Office for what it had cost him. ERO sprang into action and approached the Friends of Historic Essex to ask if they would cover the purchase price. They of course said yes.

However, it was remembered that SLHS had been approached before and the Friends thought it only right and proper to let them know that they were about to purchase it. And this is the lovely bit: SLHS came back, quick as a flash, having spoken with Prof Poos over in America, saying that between them they would pay the purchase price of the volume as well as the cost to have it digitised so that interested researchers around the world would be able to have access to the maps via Essex Archives Online. Prof Poos says:

It’s heartening to be reminded that though we can’t buy history, we absolutely can sponsor its rescue. I’m just pleased to have been able to help the Essex Record Office ensure that this book will be where it belongs, partly of course because of my own Stebbing research but equally for the benefit of who knows who will want to study it in the future.

While Graham Jolliffe, Chair of SLHS adds:

The Stebbing Local History Society recognises that the ‘Survey and Valuation of the Estate of the Earl of Essex’ volume is the most important piece of Stebbing history that has come on to the open market since the foundation of the society thirty years ago. After the disappointment of not being able to secure its purchase in 2019 we are absolutely thrilled that it is now in public ownership and in the very safe hands of the Essex Record Office. As a consequence, the SLHS is very pleased to be able to contribute the monies required to enable the volume to be digitised. We very much look forward to being able to use it to throw a light onto Stebbing in the late 18th century.

On a recent research trip to Essex, the Record Office and FHE were pleased to host Prof Poos and Graham Jolliffe for a first showing of this important document.

**(L-R) Jenny Butler, Chair of FHE; Richard Anderson, Archive and Collections Lead, ERO; historian and academic Prof Larry Poos; and Graham Jolliffe, Chair of SLHS**

Also present was the current Chair of The Friends of Historic Essex, Jenny Butler:

The Friends were delighted to be asked to fund the purchase of this important collection of maps for the Record Office, having missed out on acquiring them in 2019, especially so after my predecessor as Chair, Dr Chris Thornton, had raised a considerable ‘fighting-fund’ from several funders. The Friends are even more pleased to have helped identify our current generous donors which has allowed our own resources to be preserved for future purchases of documents.

**First page of the detailed breakdown of the lands of Porters Hall**

This volume of maps has been added to the archive of documents that the Record Office looks after, covering almost a thousand years of the history of the county.

If you would like to visit and undertake your own research with us, you can find out more about visiting here.

To help the work of the Friends of Historic Essex in supporting ERO, you can contact them through their website: Friends of Historic Essex – 70 Years of helping to preserve Essex’s archival heritage; their support is greatly appreciated, and there’s always something they can help us with!

We look forward to seeing you soon as you undertake your own research at the Record Office.

Tracing lives through allotment records

Posted on August 18, 2026 by admin

Once you’ve explored the main family history sources, it’s worth investigating the records that survive for the towns and boroughs where your ancestors lived. Local records can reveal a lot about their lives, documenting their trades, involvement in community affairs, notable achievements or misdemeanours, and even the allotments they cultivated.

The records for the Borough of Saffron Walden contain a fascinating insight into allotments in the 1830s and 1840s. As with many places across the country, “spade husbandry” was introduced as a form of poor relief, with unemployed men being offered a piece of land to grow food for their families and provide an income at a reasonable rent. The 1830s was a period of instability in rural communities with poor harvests and increased mechanisation meaning food prices and unemployment rates were high and wages were low. This led to the Swing Riots where arable workers in the south and east of England destroyed threshing machines and set fire to haystacks in protest of these conditions. Saffron Walden’s Justices of the Peace were concerned enough about disturbances to call upon certain householders “to act as Special Constables for the prevention and suppression of any tumult, riot or felony” in the area (catalogue ref: D/B 2/QSS5/34).

Front cover of Register of proceedings in matters relating to Spade-Husbandry and Allotments’ [title page], recording minutes of committee relating to provision of allotments for poor labourers, 1829-1834 (D/B 2/PAR9/5)

Saffron Walden set up an Allotment Committee in 1829 and the surviving records include committee minutes (D/B 2/PAR9/5 and D/B 2/PAR9/6), allotment rent accounts which record the names of people cultivating plots (D/B 2/BRL5/71), and maps of the fields with allotment plots marked out and numbered so they can be linked to the rent accounts, allowing individual plot holders to be identified (D/B 2/BRL5/72). The minutes also contain maps of the allotments and have been digitised so can be viewed on Essex Archives Online.

Plan of Turners Field with numbered plots and named plot holders in Register of proceedings in matters relating to Spade-Husbandry and Allotments’ [title page], recording minutes of committee relating to provision of allotments for poor labourers, 1829-1834 (D/B 2/PAR9/5)

The Allotment Committee managed several fields provided by local landowners and charities such as Lord Braybrooke, and the banker and philanthropist Wyatt George Gibson among others. Two such fields were Turners Field and Warners Field. Both fields have been identified on Saffron Walden’s tithe map of 1848 (D/CT 378B) – marked in green with Turners Field on the left. Turners Field is recorded as “Next Windmill Hill Road” on the tithe apportionment, but the owner is the Trustees of the Turners Charity and the shape of the plot corresponds to the shape of Turners Field as drawn in the account books and allotment plan. There are still allotments on this site.

Section of tithe map with Turners Field and Warrens Field highlighted in green — Section of the Tithe Map for Saffron Walden, 1848, showing Turners Field on the left and Warners Field on the right (D/CT 378B)

Allotments were primarily assigned to men such as John Cornell who is recorded in a rent account book as working a 30-rod plot in Turners Field and a 40-rod plot in Warners Field, however, there is a note that he died in 1838 and that the plots were taken on by his widow. In Warners Field, John Auger had a 20-rod plot and there is a note that he was killed in 1840 with the plot being taken over by his widow, so women and children were likely involved in cultivating the plots. The fact that widows took on the plots shows how important they were to the household.

Entry for Widow Cornell’s plot in Turners Field in the allotment account book 2, 1838-1887 (D/B 2/BRL5/71)

In Warners Field, Charles Byatt had a plot until 1840 when he is recorded as a “rate payer” and the plot was taken over by Richard Barker. At one point the plot was “all potatoes” which went against the rules stipulated by the Allotment Committee.

It looks like a survey was carried out in 1838 and the rent accounts have been annotated with the crops being grown. Oats and barley are the most common crop along with potatoes and a very few carrots and turnips.

Allotment account book 2, 1838-1887, with plot holders names and their crops marked in pencil (D/B 2/BRL5/71)

The first extant minute book concerns the provision of fields for the allotments, digging wells, drawing up the rules and regulations and the assignment of allotments for cultivation. There are lists of men with the number of children in their family together with the number of rods they were offered and whether they were accepted, and later applications for allotments or additional rods. It also contains the signatures or marks of the plot holders, depending on whether they were able to write their name, and includes their address.

Extract from the Register of proceedings in matters relating to Spade-Husbandry and Allotments’ [title page], recording minutes of committee relating to provision of allotments for poor labourers, 1829-1834, showing the marks or signatures of the plot holders and their addresses (D/B 2/PAR9/5)

The survival of both committee records and plot-by-plot rent accounts is particularly valuable, allowing researchers to connect named individuals with specific pieces of land and, in some cases, the crops they grew.

The committee’s concern with productivity and proper cultivation echoes wider contemporary attitudes towards agriculture. One of the final pages records the following quotation:

“To judge of a Nation we have only to throw our eyes in the Markets and the Fields. If the Markets are well supplied, the Fields well-cultivated, all is right. If otherwise we may say, and truly say, these people are barbarous or oppressed”. (Samuel Rogers, Italy: A Poem. London: T. Cadell, 1830)

Extract from *Italy: A Poem*, by Samuel Rogers,  as written on the back page of allotment account book 2 (D/B 2/BRL5/71)

For a detailed look at these allotments and the wider social history of Saffron Walden see The Well-Ordered Town. A story of Saffron Walden, Essex, 1792-1862 by Jacqueline Cooper (Clavering: Cooper Publications, 2000) which is available in the ERO reference library (LIB/E/WALDS1).

Of Gallows

Posted on July 22, 2026 by admin

Here at the Essex Record Office our Archive Assistant (and events wrangler) Neil Wiffen has been looking at things again, specifically the 1777 Chapman and André map of Essex. Here he explains all:

Extract from the Walker Map of Chelmsford 1591 (D/DM P1).

Hopefully you are all aware of the wonderful Chapman and André map of Essex. If not, you can view it in incredible detail on Tim Fransen’s excellent website (I dare you not to be amazed and to lose hours of your life by exploring the late eighteenth century landscape of Essex: you have been warned!)

So, I was preparing an event listing for our 2027 season of talks, where we will be discussing the (spoiler alert!) witchcraft statutes of 1563 and 1604. To accompany the text there is always a need to have an illustration or two and, thinking outside the box, I thought that showing the Chelmsford gallows, as shown on John Walker’s 1591 map (above) would be a suitable image, albeit well known. There are not many images of gallows and the couple of other instances I could think of where those depicted by Chapman and André.

Chapman and André sheet 21. Showing the gallows/gibbets along the river Thames between Barking Level and Dagenham Marsh.

The first was of one of the sites along the river Thames and either shows gallows or a gibbet (could they be both?) and the other was those just to the north-east of Romford on the common, what we now know as Gallows Corner.

Chapman and André sheet 17. The gallows/gibbets on Romford Common.

As interesting as these are, I thought I would check out the site of the Chelmsford gallows to see what Chapman and André show. Well, you could knock me down with a feather! There, it was in a semi-circular enclosure – what a view it must have been to the surrounding properties. I had never ‘looked’ before and it was hiding in plain sight, albeit at quite a small scale!

Chapman and André sheet 12. Chelmsford gallows.

This might not be news to any of you out there, it might just be me not looking! Do let me know though if this is news to you and, do let me know what else you have found surprising/delightful on the Chapman and André map. And the funny little field of ampersands opposite the gallows – well I’m fairly sure they are hops. Take a look at the big field in Castle Hedingham!

Neil

If you would like to discover more about witchcraft in Essex, come to our talk and book launch for “Witchland” with Marion Gibson on the 29th September, we are running it twice! Once in the morning at 10:40 and once in the afternoon at 18:40.

Tickets available through our website!

“This looks like a big business”: The 1926 General Strike in Essex

Posted on April 30, 2026 by admin

‘Strike scenes at Colchester, May 14’ by E.J. Rudsdale

“Strike full on. Military guards at the station and all over the barracks… There are no newspapers at all… This is proclaimed to be a state of emergency. I think this looks like a big business.”

Diary of 16 year-old E.J. Rudsdale, writing in Colchester on 4 May 1926 (D/DU 888/9)

In early May 1926, Britain was brought to a standstill. For nine days, over 1.5 million workers stopped work in support of coal miners facing wage cuts and longer working hours. Although the strike was national, its impact was profoundly local. Workers walked out across Essex – halting transport, ceasing the printing of daily newspapers, and prompting emergency committees to spring into action.

Records we look after here at the Essex Record Office reveal how people across the county experienced the strike, and how they remembered it long afterwards.

*The Essex Chronicle*, Friday 7 May 1926 (D/F 66/1/111)

“The Strike Begins”

The strike was called by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and involved a wide range of different unions, including the National Union of Railwaymen and the Transport and General Workers’ Union. When the strike began on Tuesday 4 May 1926, the transport network in Essex was brought to a halt.

In Southend and Colchester, the tram drivers, conductors, and car shed staff all went out on strike. The Essex Chronicle describes “lively scenes” near the bus garage in Southend, where tramwaymen demonstrated against the busmen, who continued running a reduced service.

Most of those who worked on the railways also went out on strike, including all the workers at Chelmsford railway station bar the stationmaster and a few clerks. By Friday 7 May, the Chronicle reported that the London and North Eastern Railway was running a skeleton service, with a singular train from Liverpool Street to Norwich carrying “chiefly parcels and mails” along with a “few passengers, one of whom alighted at Chelmsford”.

The trains that were running were operated by volunteers recruited by the rail companies. Clacton’s ‘Times’ Bulletin reported that the first train to leave Clacton station since the start of the strike was driven by two Air Force men from Felixstowe, assisted by a farm pupil from Manningtree. The train carried around 200 passengers, cheered off by a “large crowd”.

Although the strike only lasted for nine days, it had a significant – and lasting – impact on railwaymen and their families. In an oral history recorded by Basildon Heritage in 1986, Gwen Ollington recalled her memories of 1926. Her father was a railway foreman in Wickford, working on the Southend and Burnham line. Although only eight at the time, she vividly remembered his conflicted feelings about the strike, her mother making what the family called ‘strike dinner’, and the man who stepped into her father’s role.

Interview with Gwen Ollington (SA 3/532/1), recorded by Basildon Heritage in 1986. Copyright Basildon Council / Essex Sound and Video Archive. See transcript.

While tram and rail services were disrupted, people turned to the roads. National Company omnibuses continued to run across the county, and the Chronicle reported a “big volume of road traffic” through Chelmsford, with motor charabanc service connecting Essex towns and London “well filled with passengers and luggage”.

Not all journeys were straightforward. One charabanc from Brentwood was met with a “rough reception” on arrival in London, when a crowd turned over the vehicle, while passengers on their way out of London later that day were ordered off at Whitechapel, from which they walked four miles to Stratford to join a different service.

“Milk for the babies” and “Shortage of beer”

The disruption extended beyond passenger transport to postal services, food supplies, and fuel.

Article in *The Essex Chronicle* reporting on milk lorries marked with ‘Milk for the babies’ (D/F 66/1/111)

Local authorities appointed emergency committees and Food and Coal Officers to oversee supplies and prevent profiteering (see the minutes of Colchester’s Emergency Committee, D/B 6 M7/2, Chelmsford Borough Council, D/B 7 M1/49, and Walton-on-the-Naze Urban District Council, D/UWn M1/29). Councils warned against panic buying, issuing notices to reassure residents there were “ample supplies” of milk with “NO increase in price”. In Burnham, shopkeepers were asked not to serve customers beyond their usual requirements, which was reported under the headline ‘No Selfishness!’.

Fuel shortages also prompted action. Government regulations restricted coal purchases to one hundredweight per household per week and prohibited the use of electricity or gas for advertising signs or “un-necessary illumination”. In Clacton, the seafront lights and illuminated town clock were switched off, while in Romford the public baths were closed to conserve coal.

The shortages affected industry, too. The Chelmsford Corporation Gas Works reduced gas pressure at certain times of the day, and the ‘principal works’ of Marconi’s, Hoffman’s, and Crompton’s considered shortening the working week. On Wednesday 12 May, the TUC called out additional unions, including the Workers’ Union and the Amalgamated Engineering Union – affecting those in Chelmsford’s works and about 1,200 men at Crittall’s works in Braintree and Maldon, although the strike was called off later that day.

Volunteers

Councils also responded by recruiting volunteers to help maintain services and supplies. Over 800 volunteers enrolled in Southend, and recruiting offices were set up at Shire Hall in Chelmsford and the Geisha Restaurant in Clacton. Among the volunteers was Jabez Pluck of Braintree, aged 93, who offered to “walk about the streets and say a pleasant word to the people he met”.

The Chronicle reassured readers that “volunteers will not be asked to engage in strike breaking, but only to maintain food supplies and other essentials”. However, the boundaries between volunteering and strike-breaking were contested, and while volunteers were praised by the government, others – especially those who worked on the railways or in printing – were seen by strikers as undermining their efforts.

Some volunteers had even been preparing for a strike long before May 1926. George Miles, who later became an Essex County Councillor, recalled being taught to drive as early as 1924, becoming part of the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies (OMS). The OMS, previously an independent organisation, was taken over by the government in 1926. When the strike began, George drove lorries from Woodford down to the docks. After being injured in the crowd, he was helped by a trade unionist from the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers, who lent him books by Marx – leading him to leave the right-wing Junior Imperial League and join the Young Communist League in Walthamstow.

“When we got down to the docks it was a sea of cloth caps – you’d never seen anything like it in your life”

Interview with George Miles (SA 10/587/1), recorded in 1990. Copyright Essex Sound and Video Archive. See transcript.

Policing the strike

The Essex police also recruited volunteers as special constables during the strike, largely to replace the regular constables dispatched elsewhere in the country. In Essex itself, the police were put on duty escorting lorries from the docks, where work had ceased and crowds gathered to stop convoys leaving.

On 5 May, pickets targeted the oil depots at Thames Haven and Purfleet. In response, Chief Constable J.A. Unett reinforced the local division with additional officers to escort the oil lorries. Clifford Hymas, who had joined the Essex Constabulary only weeks before the strike, was one of those drafted down to Grays. In 1991, he described his duties and the atmosphere around the docks. His reminiscences align with Unett’s report at the time that “at no time in Essex was there any bad spirit between the Strikers and the Regular Police”.

Interview with Clifford Hymas (SA 25/1/3/1), recorded by Maureen Scollan in 1991 for the project ‘Sworn to Serve’. Copyright Essex Sound and Video Archive / Clifford Hymas. See transcript.

News without newspapers

Members of the Printing and Kindred Trades Federation joined the strike in solidarity with the miners, forcing many newspapers to cease or reduce publication. Rudsdale noted in his diary that they could only get hold of a double-sheet version of the local Standard, as well as the government’s British Gazette, which gave a critical view on the strikers. In response to the British Gazette, the TUC issued its own publication, The British Worker, with 500 copies delivered to Chelmsford daily (Malcolm Wallace, The Railway Clerks’ Association and the 1926 General Strike, LIB/331.892 WAL).

Some local papers issued shorter newsheets or bulletins to keep residents informed of the latest developments. A handful of these survive in our collections, offering a remarkable day-by-day record of the strike. Clacton’s ‘Times’ Bulletin (which aimed to “take no sides in the dispute”) and the Southend Times each give a summary of the day’s news and notices, ranging from local train services to news on negotiations between the Government and the TUC.

Clacton’s ‘*Times’ Bulletin*, 12 May 1926 (D/P 47/28/9)

News was also circulated on the wireless, with one report describing crowds gathering to listen to broadcasts at Mr A.R. Dell’s shop in Rosemary Road, Clacton. Another remarkable survival from 1926 are a series of handwritten newsheets, displayed in the window of A.J.J. Baker’s pharmacy on Leigh Broadway, Leigh-on-Sea.

Newsheets displayed in A.A.J. Baker’s Pharmacy, Leigh-on-Sea (D/DS 51/1)

The end of the strike?

On Wednesday 12 May, the TUC called off the strike. Transport services soon resumed, although some workers, particularly railwaymen and miners, remained out for longer, with the miners eventually returning to work in November 1926.

While life largely returned to normal, the strike had a significant impact on those who took part and the cause of trade unionism. As Malcolm Wallace argues, in Chelmsford the strike reinvigorated Chelmsford Trade Council, which continued to raise funds for miners’ families and mobilised opposition to the 1927 Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act (known as the ‘Blacklegs Charter’).

You can take a look at many of the records shown in this post at the Essex Record Office – find out more about searching our catalogue and visiting us on our website.

For more background on the strike, and other archive material, take a look at The National Archives’ blog post on the 1926 General Strike.

News from Westcliff-on-Sea, The Essex Chronicle, 7 May 1926 (D/F 66/1/111)

Transcribing 16th Century Wills: ERO Search Service

Posted on March 29, 2026 by admin

In the first in a series of case studies on our search service, Archive Assistant Robert Lee takes a look at a search request to show what a will transcription may involve.

Transcribing wills is not always an easy endeavour, and it can be a lengthy process, though never boring. One request was recently commissioned by David Howe, a historical researcher in America, for the transcript of two wills from the 16^th century. They concern a Thomas Wallys (1552 – D/AEW 2/413) and a Thomas Welles (1555 – D/AEW 3/99) respectively, both of Stanford Rivers. This search was an attempt to untie an old genealogical mystery regarding David’s 10^th Great Grandfather Robert Howe (1571-1637). Robert’s father John Howe (1540-92) married Joan Welles (1540-1617) in 1560 in Bobbingworth, but the trail goes dark beyond Joan’s parentage. These wills were selected with a view to establishing Thomas Welles/Wellys as Joan’s father.

There were several reasons why these transcriptions were a somewhat difficult task. Notwithstanding idiosyncrasies in word abbreviations, general deviations from established forms of handwriting, and defects in the paper itself, wills are packed with historical and theological allusions. One is introduced to legal and monarchical nuances now well past obsolete. It is a great pleasure to be able to examine them at this level of detail. My early modern British history is wanting, but to look so intimately into the lives of those who experienced it is the most helpful method of revision.

The will of Thomas Wallys was composed in 1552, during the reign of Edward VI. As the will begins:

1. *In the name of God amen the third day of marche in the fifth year of the*
2. *reigne of his sovereign lord king Edward the syxth kyng of England France*
3. and of Irland & in r-pect of the church of England and Irland the supme-
4. *hed.*
(D/AEW 2/413)

This format will be familiar: an introduction which appeals to God and the reigning monarch. We see the first of a few abbreviations here, note the use of r[es]pect and sup[re]me. The year is not given explicitly (not as a cardinal number), rather as the fifth regnal year of Edward VI (being 28 January 1551 – 27 January 1552). Thomas bequeaths his soul unto God, and shares out his livestock and money amongst his children. His two sons are promised:

ii Hen and
fyve marks in money to be delivered… at the age of xxi years…

and three daughters promised:

ii hen and fortye shilynge
agree to be delyvered to them & either of them at the day of theyre maryages.

Filial inequality aside, we can observe uses of the silent e (‘fortye’ & ‘shylinge’; ‘maye’ and ‘reigne’ in the previous lines), and parallel use of i and y, both common in early modern English. Like the regnal year, monetary values are written as roman numerals and other amounts are mostly given in word form. Whilst Arabic numerals had been introduced in England some centuries before this will, they had not yet taken on ubiquity, and as such roman numerals were preferred by scribes. A ‘Mark’ is a monetary value equivalent to 13 shillings and 4 pence (or 2/3 of a pound).

One section that caused some confusion is his initial bequest.

The handwriting here is particularly difficult, but we concluded that this states:

10. [I give] and bequeath to the amendyng of the highways xxxiiii S viii d which
11. was left in my hands by Thomas Welles my father of the legacye &
(D/AEW 2/413)

Thomas here bequeaths money toward the upkeep of the roads in Stanford Rivers. The monetary value ostensibly reads as xxxiiii S (34 shillings) and viii d (8 pence), but on second glance it may be more complex. 34 shillings is an odd value, given that 20 shillings make up a pound: i li xiv S viii d (1 pound, 14 shillings, 8 pence) might make more sense. What is more, the symbol after 34 more resembles an R (Perhaps a reader can clarify this?).

Some other interesting extracts:

29. I wyll to Thomas Wallys & George Wallys one weynell calff
(D/AEW 2/413)

A weynell calff (weanel calf) is a young calf, six to seven months old, that has been “weaned” from its mother, and is thus on a diet of grass rather than its mother’s milk.

13. (I) bequeath to Catheryn my wyfe w-thassent & consent ^of^ my Landlord Willm grene
14. of London marchannt-taylor or thassent & consent of hys guarantors & assynes
15. to whome the lease of Stanford Hall wherin I dwell shall own of hym or of
16. any of them obtayned all that my lease and terme of yeres yet to
17. come of Stanford hall where I dwell to have and to hold to her for
18. and duryng the termes of yeres yet to come yf she so long do lyve upon
19. condycyon that she the sayd Catheryn my wyff shal be orderyd unlyd and
20. advysed by my sayd landlord & such as shall be by hym made owner or
21. owners of the sayd lease at Stanford hall aft hym & upon condycyon that
22. she do not marry agayne aft my decease w_out hys or theyre argreement or
23. agreements to any persons duryng the sayd yeres and further I Wyll
(D/AEW 2/413)

A verbose passage. It appears to be saying, simply: My wife can have my lease so long as my landlord agrees and so long as she doesn’t marry again. One is often reminded of the adage that scriveners of this period were “paid by the line”.

The subsequent will for Thomas Welles, though dated only three years hence in 1555, is immediately different. As it begins:

1. In the name of God amen the xixth (19th) daye of October in the iid (2nd) and
2. thirde yeare of kyng phillipe & quene marys most excel-
3. -lent majestyes, by the grace of god, kyng & queene of England,
4. France, Naples, H(J)erusalem, & Ireland, defenders of the fayth
5. Princes of spayne & Sicilie, archdukes of Austria, dukes
6. Of Mylan, Burgondie & Brabande, counties of Hasburge
7. Flaunders and [Ti]roll and in the year of our Lorde god a
8. Thousand fyv[e] [hun]ddred fyftie & fy[ve]…
(D/ABW 3/99)

Emendation of inspeximus and confirmation of patent with large initial portrait of King Philip and Queen Mary and elaborate decoration on heading (D/B 3/13/11)

As the seasoned historian will observe, this deluge of titles is indicative of the royal marriage which had recently taken place between Mary I of England and Phillip II of Spain. The titles reflect the royal domains which were granted because of this marriage, which is believed to have been foremost a political endeavour.

18. …Item I give to the povertie of
19. Standf[o]rd Rivers x S to be equally divyded amongst them
20. That hath most neade…
(D/ABW 3/99)

And furthermore we can find historical, if domestic, idiosyncrasies, particularly with the inventory of goods being bequeathed:

28. *(I) Gyve to Joanne Wells my daughtter ii payer of sheets a borde*
29. *clothe ii table napkynes a Kettell of viii galonds a harness*e
30. girdle a pewter platter a ca-stycke & iiiL vi S viii D of curra-t
31. money to be delyvd unto her by margaret my wyffe…
(D/ABW 3/99)

The goods are recognisable (I am still not 100% on what a harness girdle is, though I have learnt not to haphazardly google every phrase that presents itself in historical documents) and perhaps reinforce the stark nature of property and belongings in Early-modern Britain.

Over the course of transcribing this will – penning through indexes of historical trades and picking the brains of my colleagues – I admit I’d initially overlooked the mention of Joan/Joanne Wells, indeed the point of this research to begin with. We agreed that the dates would line up with Joan’s alleged birth year of 1540, and that perhaps this is the person we’re looking for. Unfortunately, the Joan mentioned is unmarried, and thus this will, alone, cannot prove that this Joan married John Howe. As ever, certainty is rarely guaranteed in matters of genealogical history.

An Introduction to the ERO Search Service

Posted on February 24, 2026 by admin

Various books laid out over the top of an OS map. There is a magnifying glass on top of one of the books.

Here at ERO we offer an in-house search service, wherein researchers can request archival material to be examined and reported on. This can be ideal for those keen to access historical Essex records that cannot otherwise visit the archives in person. This service can assist with:

Zoomed in and blurred image of the corner of a baptism register

Genealogical enquiries
We can search our records to help you with your family history, utilising our parish register collection, marriage license bonds, poor law records, estate records, hospital records, school records, manorial court rolls, or any other records which hold details of your ancestors.
ERO also has access to services like Ancestry and FindMyPast and so can cross-reference with national indices such as the 1841-1921 census returns and civil registration birth/marriage/death entries.
See our guide on starting your Family History for more details.

House history
We can search our records for information on the history of properties within Essex. The ERO holds a large collection of pre-1946 building plans, as well as historic maps, pre-registration deeds, electoral registers, and sale catalogues.
See our guide on starting your House History for more details.

Transcribing Handwriting
We can transcribe wills, deeds, or any other documents from our collection comprised of antiquated script, or otherwise mystifying handwriting. Please note however that we do not offer a translation service so cannot transcribe documents in Latin or any other language.

Any other historical interests
If you have interests in other aspects of Essex history, not included in the above categories, there may still be interesting material we can search for you, so please do get in touch for a discussion.

Black and white photograph of a lady looking at a deed. There is a pile of books on her desk.

If you are interested in a search, email us at ero.searchservice@essex.gov.uk and we can send a request form over to you. Searches are currently charged at a rate of £43.75 per hour.

Once searches are complete, you will be contacted to make payment either over the phone, or you may wish to pay in advance with a cheque or postal order. We will then email over a written report, outlining everything that was compiled and examined, along with all the information was collected from them*. Where appropriate we can also include photographs of documents. We advise all researchers to first have a look over our online catalogue Essex Archives Online to identify material of potential interest. You can then include the relevant document references on the application form.

Photograph of Essex Archives Online search page.

*It is always worth remembering that we cannot guarantee positive information from a search, and it may well be that search results are minimal or negative.

Stay tuned for our upcoming monthly series showcasing a selection of case studies that our search service team have worked on. Next month we will be exploring sixteenth century will transcriptions.

Our 2025 Christmas Curiosity Cabinet

Posted on December 23, 2025 by admin

Archive Assistant Desmond Crone describes his selection for this year’s Christmas Curiosity Cabinet – the 1923 Little Baddow Nativity Play, The Guiding Star, by Jesse Berridge.

All over the country parents and families have been enjoying end of term school productions of the story of the Nativity. For many, their school nativity play is their first experience of drama on a stage.

In the UK, the start of the modern tradition – successor to the medieval mystery plays – has been attributed to Laurence Housman. A younger brother of the poet A. E. Housman, the playwright and illustrator wrote a nativity play Bethlehem based on a Coventry mystery play which was first performed in 1902 at the University of London. It was subsequently published by Macmillan and by the 1920s a London production was touring the country and inspiring local productions of the story.

In our display you can see a copy of the text of a nativity play from 1923, performed in Little Baddow Church. It can usually be found in the local studies pamphlet box collection in the searchroom.

Front cover of The Guiding Star nativity play by Jesse Berridge — *The Guiding Star* nativity play by Jesse Berridge, 1923 (LIB/E/BADL21)

It was written by Jesse Berridge, Rector of Little Baddow from 1916 until 1947. Berridge was a close friend of Edward Thomas, the writer and poet who died on the Western Front in 1917. They met in 1901, when Jesse was a clerk in a bank in the City of London and Edward (who had recently graduated from Oxford University) was a book reviewer and author. Both had married young and both were writers.

Jesse was born in Warwickshire in 1874, the son of master mariner Captain Henry Berridge. As the family fortunes took a precipitous dive on the captain’s retirement from the sea, Jesse had to leave school before he had turned 16 and joined a bank as a clerk. He was dismissed in 1895 when the bank discovered he had married (junior staff not being permitted to marry), and then spent ten years working for the London agency of the Deutsche Bank. He and his wife had most likely met at the art school which he attended for a time. By 1904, he was running a Christian mission in the Royal Albert Docks and had enrolled as an evening student at King’s College, London to study for the Anglican priesthood. He left the City in 1905 and in 1906 was ordained as a deacon in the diocese of St Albans (the Diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914). He was curate in Harrow Green, Colchester, Witham, Leyton and Wanstead. In 1915 he was chaplain at the Essex County Asylum in Warley, and in 1916 he became rector of Little Baddow, where he remained until 1947.

Two-page spread of 'The Guiding Star' nativity play by Jesse Berridge — Two-page spread of ‘The Guiding Star’ nativity play by Jesse Berridge LIB/E/BADL21

At Little Baddow Jesse introduced the monthly parish magazine, the sharing of Remembrance Day, carol services with the local Congregational church and the annual Nativity play. In the church he uncovered the 14^th century wall painting of St Christopher, the Norman north door and the medieval beams in the nave roof. Beyond the parish, he was a member of the council of the Essex Archaeological Society and helped with setting up the Essex Record Office as well as being Cathedral Librarian.

You can find his five historical novels – all set in Essex – in the searchroom.

Photograph of the curiosity cabinet in the Essex Record Searchroom — Curiosity cabinet in the Essex Record Office Searchroom

Grateful acknowledgement: the notes on Jesse Berridge and Edward Thomas come from a volume in the local studies library, The letters of Edward Thomas to Jesse Berridge edited and introduced by Anthony Berridge, London: Enitharmon Press, 1983 (LIB/B/BERR).

Cataloguing Essex building plans

Posted on December 19, 2025 by admin

This year our volunteers have catalogued over 1000 building plans, primarily from Canvey Island and Southend-on-Sea. Thanks to Annabelle, Ashley, Elizabeth, Freya, Issy, Patrick, Olivia, and Sophie for this monumental achievement!

What are these building plans?

At the ERO we look after hundreds of thousands of building plans, created and collected by architects, owners, and local authorities. The building plans we’re currently cataloguing were submitted to local authorities in the early 1900s. During this period, councils were responsible for making sure that buildings conformed to local bye-laws (for the more detail, see Roger Harper’s Victorian Building Regulations (LIB/690 HAR)). To build a new building – or alter an existing one – you had to send in an application form and your plans to the surveyor of the local council. These were then kept by the council and eventually made their way to us.

What can the records tell us?

Each application will usually include an application form and at least one plan. The application forms are different for each local authority. In this example, from Rochford Rural District Council, the form asks the applicant:

Where the building is: the street name and sometimes the property name, but not always a number
What it is: a bungalow, hotel, casino, or even a simple tool shed
The name and address of the owner, architect, and builder
Various dimensions
The number of rooms
The materials used to build the property

Application form for Eugene E. Lawrence’s bungalow on Trevia Avenue, Canvey Island, 1921 (D/UCi 2/1A/3008)

The forms can also tell us about the application process – on the reverse of this form, the surveyor reminds the applicant that all plans must be drawn “on tracing linen” to a scale of not less than one inch to every eight feet, and submitted “seven days at least” before they are examined by the council.

The plans usually feature:

Elevations and sections: drawings of the building from the front, side, or back
A floor plan: a drawing of the building from above, showing the different rooms
A block or key plan: a drawing of the site from above, showing nearby properties and roads

Alongside the form and plan(s), sometimes the packet also includes letters between the council surveyor and owner, architect, or builder, and certificates documenting the inspection or completion of the building.

Letter from Miss Jessie McNaughton of Arcadia Tearooms to ‘the surveyor’ stating that the kiosk would “enable me to sell my sweets and tobaccos outside the tea room as they are affected with the steam of cooking inside… I was quite ignorant of the fact that I had to submit a plan being as it is portable and only for the summer months…”
(D/UCi 2/4/1981)

If you’re trying to find out more about the building you live in, or the building your ancestors lived in, a building application is a great way to start.

Together, the plans can also reveal a huge amount about how Essex developed over time. Take Canvey Island as an example…

Tell me more about Canvey!

*Captivating Canvey: An Isle of Delight in the Mouth of the Silvery Thames* c.1927 (LIB/E/CANV55)

People have lived on Canvey Island since the Roman times, when it was home to a large salt-making industry. The Saxons then introduced sheep farming, with the sheep taking refuge from flooding on the ‘red hills’ left by the salt industry. In the 1600s, Canvey’s landowners instigated a Dutch-led project to build a sea wall around the island, making the land more productive. The population of Canvey really took off, though, in the early 1900s, when it became a popular place to visit. Plots of land were sold off to Londoners wanting to escape the city – for the weekend, or for life – and the island community grew from there, reaching several thousand by 1931.

We look after over 70 boxes of building plans for Canvey alone, with each box including 50 to 150 plans. These document the construction of modern Canvey on an incredibly granular level.

Types of buildings

Many of the properties built on Canvey from the 1900s to the 1930s were bungalows (which, sadly, is partly why Canvey was so badly affected by the 1953 North Sea Flood).

We especially loved the range of names people gave them – some of our favourites included The Nook, Maybemaydo, Itsowers, Tarry-A-While, and Waiting.

*The Haven* on Haven Road, for Mr and Mrs Delviso, 1931 (D/UCi 2/4/1293)

In amongst the many applications for bungalows are applications for other buildings – shops, kiosks, huts, sheds, pubs, and (a rare treat!) cinemas and hotels. There are even some applications for caravans, like The Maple Leaf, pictured here.

Coffee stall on the high street, 1931 (D/UCi 2/4/1325)

Canvey’s architects and builders

We will be sharing more blog posts about the characters we found in the records, but in the meantime, here are a few of the names we became familiar with. Many of the people listed below are explored in more detail on the Canvey Community Archive website, a wonderful resource for all things related to Canvey’s history.

Architects

Captain W.H. Gregson, who worked on Canvey from at least 1902, and was based at the Lake House (later the Dr Feelgood Music Bar)
Alfred G. Loe, who worked on Canvey from around 1912, initially from his home in Walthamstow and later at his bungalow Carradene
Eugene E. Lawrence, who self-built his bungalow on Trevia Avenue in 1919 (shown above) and went on to design over 200 properties on the island
A.G. Millns, who self-built on Roggel Road in 1920, and ended up designing over 100 properties on Canvey
Thomas McLaren, who worked from the Clock House, where he also ran an emporium selling stationery, photographs, fancy goods, and maps of the island (some of which he drew up himself)

Advert for A.G. Millns, surveyor, valuer, & architect

Builders

Alfred Wainwright, master builder, who built properties on Canvey from around 1907
Roland George Francke (based at Inglenook, on Fairlop Avenue) and William Johnstone (at Rudyard, on Arcadia Road, and then the Clock House), both active from the mid-1920s
H. Price Powell and Hubert Redman, who worked as builders and estate agents from the 1920s
Frederick Fisk, who specialised in brick buildings in the early 1920s and went on to own and build a number of properties, including the Maison Wyck estate
Susan Fielder and her son Horace Fielder, who bought land on Canvey and, from the mid-1920s, went on to build over 1,000 properties on the island

Adverts from Captivating Canvey, c.1927 (LIB/E/CANV55) and The Guide to Canvey Island, c.1930 (LIB/E/CANV56), as well as a letter from Frederick Fisk, 1937

A special mention also goes to…

The surveyors of Canvey Island Urban District Council – H.J. Sidwell, C.R. Butcher, and especially P.G.W. Stokes, whose rigorous enforcement of the bye-laws goes against the assumption that Canvey Island was like the wild west of planning at this time. In one letter regarding a bungalow on Van Diemens Pass (D/UCi 2/4/1359), Stokes wrote that:

“…the whole position [of the building] is unsatisfactory and I suggest you call at this Office as soon as possible and put the matter in order.”

That doesn’t mean that the owners and architects didn’t push back – in another letter, the architect Eugene E. Lawrence argues against Stokes’ “unreasonable” disapproval of some of his plans, “given his representatives had seen exactly what they constituted” (D/UCi 2/4/1154).

There were also an unusually high number of applications, especially in the early 1900s, from individuals who owned, designed, and built their own properties – including the enterprising friends Henry Perkins and Alfred Barnes, who bought two ex-army huts at Hornchurch in 1921 and applied to re-erect them on Hornsland Road, Leigh Beck.

Letter from Alfred Barnes on behalf of himself and Henry Perkins, and plans of the army huts, 1921 (D/UCi 2/1A/2936)

What information can be found on the catalogue?

When cataloguing archive material, it is always difficult to decide what information to include on the catalogue, and what to leave out – bearing in mind that, in Canvey’s case, there are over 70 boxes to get through.

Using the application for Twilldoo, on Lottem Road, as an example, the information we have put on the catalogue includes:

Reference: D/UCi 2/4/1209
Title: Building plan and application for addition at ‘Twilldoo’, Lottem Road, Canvey Island
Description: Owner: Mrs Mate, ‘Twilldoo’, Lottem Road, Canvey Island. Architect: Wilmot Marks, ‘The Arcade’, High Street, Canvey Island. Builder: W. Johnstone, ‘Rudyard’, Beach Road, Canvey Island.
Extent: 2 items
Dates: Submitted 27 Jul 1931; disapproved 31 Jul 1931 (poor Mrs Mate – some of the plans were indeed disapproved)

Packet, application, and plan for addition to *Twilldoo*, 1931 (D/UCi 2/4/1209)

How can I find a specific plan?

To search for a specific plan, go to Essex Archives Online and search for ‘building plan’ and the street name you’re interested in.

The results will be organised by the ERO reference. If you know when the building you’re interested in was built, you can organise the search results by date, which might make it easier to find if there are a lot of results.

If you search the catalogue and don’t find what you’re looking for, we might still have the plan – it might just not have been catalogued yet.

For Canvey Island, we have catalogued:

All of the individual plans relating to Canvey Island that were submitted to Rochford Rural District Council between 1902 and 1926:

21 January 1902 – 16 February 1915 (reference D/UCi 2/1)
3 October 1916 – 30 March 1912 (reference D/UCi 2/1A)
2 October 1923 – 23 March 1926 (reference D/UCi 2/1B)

Some of the individual plans submitted to Canvey Island Urban District Council from 1927 onwards (all reference D/UCi 2/4):

2 March 1927 – 19 October 1927
23 June 1931 – 18 January 1932
29 May 1933 – 15 July 1933
21 January 1935 – 12 February 1935
7 July 1936 – October 1936

We are in the process of cataloguing more boxes, so this will be updated in due course. In the meantime, if you’re looking for another year, or a specific street, you might be able to check the council’s registers of plans. You could also use our search service to look into it for you.

What if I’ve found the catalogue record for the plan I’m interested in, but want more detail?

You would be more than welcome to view the building plan in person, in our searchroom. Find out more about visiting us on our website.

Alternatively, if you’ve found the catalogue record for the plan, you can order a digital copy. This can be done through an online form.

Would you like to find out more about the history of your house? Take a look at our guide to house history!

A study in settlement

Posted on November 5, 2025 by admin

We recently shared more information about over 2,000 settlement papers on Essex Archives Online for the parishes of Boreham (D/P 29), Dedham (D/P 26), Coggeshall (D/P 36), and Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4). Archive assistant Hannah Crunden-Jones tells us more…

Like all historical research, there is a sense working at ERO that the work is never done. There is always something more to add, or catalogue, or read about, to further enrich the information that we can provide visitors to our Searchroom. The continual work to individually catalogue our settlement papers is one such example, and an ongoing project. In what could be viewed as the third instalment to our settlement series (see the first two, ‘‘The secrets of settlement papers’ and ‘An introduction to settlement papers’ by David Perkins), this post aims to both provide an update as to what has been going on and emphasise the value of this cataloguing and the possibilities it provides.

As a recap, settlement papers were documents relating to one’s right to legal settlement in a certain parish. These are made up of settlement certificates which proved that someone had settlement and so could receive poor relief, removal orders which ordered individuals to be removed from a parish to where they had settlement, and examinations which recorded the lives of those applied for poor relief but did not have legal settlement.

St Mary the Virgin, Hatfield Broad Oak, 1819 (I/Mb 171/1/17)

These documents are hugely valuable in helping us gain at least a partial insight into poor relief from the 17^thto the 19^th century. However, the volume of these materials is enormous; at the ERO we hold records for hundreds of parishes throughout Essex and subsequently thousands of settlement papers. While the records for some parishes have been catalogued, for others it has been impossible to search specifically for individuals who feature in these documents, with searchers needing to go through multiple documents to find what they are looking for. Now, as part of an ongoing project that aims to improve our pre-existing catalogue, it is becoming increasingly easy to look through our settlement papers and find individuals, who are starting to be catalogued – and named – individually. We have also been working to ensure that wives and children, where possible, are identified and named.

Alongside the papers from Rayleigh and Hadleigh that had previously been added to our catalogue, searchers can now explore those from Boreham (D/P 29), Dedham (D/P 26), Coggeshall (D/P 36), and Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4), with more parish settlements due to be added in the coming months. The volume of newly searchable records is great: a total of 2041 settlement papers, making research at the Essex Record Office increasingly streamlined. It also provides further ease for searchers working on family histories to track ancestors over time more precisely rather than looking through a multitude of uncatalogued documents. Used in tandem with our parish registers, it is now possible to uncover a rich history of movements and relationships.

St Andrew’s Church, Boreham, 1834 (I/Mb 42/1/1)

As discussed in previous posts, the settlement papers do not provide historians with a personable or emotional account of one’s life, but they do provide a window into the factual movements and whereabouts of more ordinary folk. This also contributes to a diversification of the archive, and consequently a richer source of information for the past. Already visitors have been utilising our updated catalogue to aid research into family histories and have discovered a great amount of information through the settlement papers, and we are excited to watch this continue.

Exploring these records during the cataloguing process has been an illuminating experience, shedding light on the stories and movements of those living in Essex between the 1600s and 1800s. It is particularly interesting to spot the same names appearing multiple times in removal orders. An example of this can be seen in the removal orders for Hatfield Broad Oak, where Israel Searle, his wife Louisa, and their children had been removed from parishes of Middlesex to Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4/13/3B/133, 135, 136).

Removal orders of Israel Searle and family (D/P 4/13/3B/133, 135, 136)

In both December 1836 and July 1838, the family was removed from Little Stanmore and Staines respectively and returned to Hatfield Broad Oak where Israel was legally settled. As his wife, Louisa obtained settlement status from her husband, and their children inherited their father’s place of settlement from their father, so this example of the whole family moving together is a common one. In 1838, Israel Searle was removed alone from Enfield, where he was residing in the Union Workhouse in Edmonton, back to Hatfield Broad Oak. This individual removal order provides further interesting details, mentioning that eighteen months previously he had been removed from the parish of Edgware. Not only are our settlement papers useful for research into individuals, but also for social or economic research.

Removal order of Israel Searle from Enfield Workhouse to Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4/13/3B/135)

One of the largest parishes currently catalogued is Coggeshall, with nearly 1000 settlement documents. Given Coggeshall’s reasonable proximity to the road into London, and its connections to the wool trade, one could suggest that movements in and out of the parish to other areas of London and Kent were more common than that from smaller parishes, and the opportunity to become established and successful elsewhere a more realistic possibility. For instance, in 1825 was the removal of “Caroline wife of Robert Hume… (who has deserted her) with their three children” from Bromley in Middlesex to Coggeshall (D/P 36/13/3/95). Like the situation of Lousia above, Caroline’s settlement status was obtained by her husband, returning her and her children to Essex to receive poor relief despite Robert’s unknown whereabouts. This situation was not uncommon and demonstrates further examples of the benefits of settlement papers in documenting the role and rights of women throughout history.

Removal order of Caroline Hume and children from Bromley, Middlesex to Coggeshall (D/P 36/13/3/95)

New information about settlement papers is being added to Essex Archives Online on a regular basis. Please enquire with staff for updates and further information, or if there is a certain parish you would like us to catalogue next!

Archive reveals hidden history of Frating Hall Farm community

Posted on October 24, 2025 by admin

“During the Second World War, there must have been more than a hundred community efforts up and down the country, each with their own little group of folk, each building their own Jerusalem. Their histories have not been written, but one day, diaries and journals might be available, and when they are, we can learn much of the effort and idealism poured out by groups of all kinds.”

‘Community Life’, Joe Watson, c.1949

The Essex Record Office is proud to announce the launch of a new archive that sheds light on one of Britain’s largest and longest-running pacifist communities: Frating Hall Farm, active from 1943 to 1954.

Harvest festival in the barn at Frating Hall Farm, 1947, taken by Douglas Went Studios, Brightlingsea (D/DU 3663/5)

About Frating Hall Farm

Featured in Ken Worpole’s acclaimed book No Matter How Many Skies Have Fallen (Little Toller Books, 2021), Frating Hall Farm was one of many pacifist communities established in Britain during the Second World War.

The origins of the community lay in the Adelphi Centre at Langham, which became a hub for socialist and pacifist thinkers in the 1930s under the leadership of the writers John Middleton Murry and Max Plowman. After the centre disbanded, a small party led by the charismatic Consett steelworker Joe Watson left to build ‘their own Jerusalem’ at Frating Hall Farm.

Over the next decade, the farm became a home, sanctuary, and gathering place for dozens of people, from those who lived and worked there to the many pacifists, refugees, writers, poets and musicians who visited. As member Leila Ward wrote in 1946, it was a place of ‘comradeship amongst the frozen cabbages’, which drew people together through their shared commitment to cultivating a new way of life on the land.

“From north, south, east and west we come to Frating… The politician is here and the intellectual; the musician and the poet; the worker and the-one-who wants-a-bit-of-a-push-now-and-then; in fact, we are a seemingly haphazard collection of individuals, with all the usual failings of humans and with their capacity for being great at odd times.”

Frating Hall Community (1949)

About the archive

The newly assembled archive gathers together a wide range of material, including:

Frating Hall Farm Society reports, accounts and publications; a yearly record of the joys and challenges of managing the farm and the contributions of individuals involved
Over 750 letters, offering an intimate window into the people and relationships that shaped the community, as well as their connections to the wider world
Dozens of photographs, capturing everyday life at the farm in addition to the busy – and much-loved – calendar of festivals, celebrations, and performances
Biographical writing, including the papers of Joe Watson
Ken Worpole’s interviews with people who grew up in the community at Frating

Together, the archive offers a deeply personal insight into the lives of members of the community and the broader currents of pacifism, co-operative farming, and communal life in the mid-twentieth century.

“We wanted to found a pacifist, socialist and Christian community and demonstrate to the world that cooperation, and sharing could produce greater happiness and blessedness than individual strivings – that all you threw into the melting point would be returned to you sevenfold.”

Letter from Trevor Howard to his daughter Katherine, 1962

The archive includes contributions from the families of:

Joe and Doris Watson, whose papers span their early married life in County Durham in the 1930s to their time at Prested Hall, near Colchester, in the 1950s. Includes a significant collection of correspondence, with letters from John Middleton Murry, Frank Lea, Jack Common, Shirley Williams, and the composer William Wordsworth. Reference: D/DU 3663

Joe and Doris Watson at the harvest festival at Frating Hall Farm in 1947; this photograph was published in an article on Frating in Peace News, titled ‘Community From Within and Without’ (D/DU 3491/2/3/1)

Derek Crosfield and Marian Thomas, who met in the community and took over the management of the farm in the 1950s. Highlights include reports and letters from Frating Hall Farm Society, family photographs, and a detailed map of the farm. Reference: D/DU 3491

Marian’s son, Martyn Thomas, at Frating Hall farm in the late 1940s (D/DU 3491/5/2/4)

Trevor Howard and Enid Whitmore, a young couple who married at Frating in 1943 and raised their family there. Includes family photographs and over 50 letters between Trevor and Enid while Trevor was helping to establish the community. Reference: D/DU 3492.

Trevor and Enid Howard on their wedding day at Frating Hall Farm, 1943 (D/DU 3492/6/2)

Helen Johnson, a Cambridge student who volunteered at Frating during university holidays. Comprises 8 letters about her time at the farm in 1950, sent to her future husband Arthur Fox. Reference: D/DU 3493.

L-R: Shirley Williams, Derek Crosfield, Ray Smith, and Helen Johnson with a potato planter at Frating Hall Farm, 1947. In a letter to his brother, Noel, Ray wrote that the day the photograph was taken was especially cold, with Shirley – down at Frating for Easter with her mother, Vera Brittain – in borrowed clothes, including Ray’s raincoat and Irene Palmer’s boots.

“Jeanne showed me up to my room after supper, a nice one only recently vacated by the marriage of its occupant, with a clean white cloth on the dressing table, a pot of geraniums in the window, a vase of sweet peas on the cloth and a ring bowl of some sort of red blossom with shiny dark green leaves on the other chest of drawers… It’s very pleasant to have a sort of second home to come to, even if one does have to work rather hard.”

Letter from Helen Johnson, 13 June 1950

Accessing the archive

You can search the Frating archive on our online catalogue, Essex Archives Online. The catalogue gives a description of each item in the archive and includes digital images of key reports and publications, as well as some photographs and letters.

Original material can be accessed in the searchroom at the Essex Record Office, on Wharf Road in Chelmsford. It is free to visit the searchroom and there is no need to book an appointment in advance, but you do need an Archives Card to order items to look at.

To find out more about visiting us, visit the Essex Record Office website: www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk

With thanks

The archive exists thanks to the generosity of the depositors – Pat Smith, Katherine Weaver, Martyn Thomas, and Andrew Fox – and the dedicated research and ongoing support of Ken Worpole.

It was catalogued by Rielly Kitchener, an MA Placement student funded by the University of Essex and the Friends of Historic Essex, and Essex Record Office volunteers.

Group of nine people in front of table laid with documents, with large glass windows behind. — Frating archive depositors and Ken Worpole at the Essex Record Office, October 2025

“We have grown in stature and I believe our roots are taking firm hold in this plot of earth we call ours. Joy we have had in full measure, trials and tribulations to keep us humble, but also to bind us together. Children to comfort and plague us, new members to strengthen our bulwarks, old friends to be glad to join us – and good crops to maintain us.”

Doris Watson in ‘Three Years A-Growing’, 1946

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