Favourite ERO documents: Walker map of Chelmsford, 1591

Posted on August 19, 2013 by admin

As well as asking our users about their favourite documents from our collections, we have also been asking ourselves. Here Public Service Team Manager Neil Wiffen tells us about his favourite document, John Walker’s 1591 map of Chelmsford.

My favourite document at the ERO has to be one of the best known and most widely reproduced – the 1591 Walker map of Chelmsford. This might be an obvious choice (and could it be said boring?) but for me it works on so many levels.

Extract from the Walker map of Chelmsford, 1591 (D/DM P1)

First of all it is a map and I think everyone likes a map because we can all get something from a map so very easily. We don’t need to read Latin or funnily written handwriting to be able to enjoy an historic map. As maps go it is a sumptuous and artistic map. The colours are still so very vivid even after 422 years and the wonderful portrayal of the buildings by John Walker is exquisite.

Being Chelmsford born and bred it works for me on a local level, a source of civic pride. I can’t help when I walk down the High Street but try and imagine what it would have been like when Walker surveyed the town. Indeed walking down the High Street is to walk in our predecessors footsteps so little has the basic layout of the town changed over the centuries. In a way the map is the nearest we can ever get to late Tudor Chelmsford, so it allows us to travel in time. It is a map that continues to keep me thinking about town development. If ever you’ve been shopping on a Friday or Saturday when they have the market stalls in the High Street you can just imagine what it was like when the Middle Row was developed over centuries. Stall holders didn’t bother to take down their stalls overnight but slept under the counter or added another level and before you knew there was a row of permanent shops which Walker depicts.

It can also be a dangerous map as well. Looking at the layout of Chelmsford in 1591 we can be lulled in to thinking how much nicer it would be to live in a small Chelmsford. Urban development and awful planning decisions of the 1950s-70s have deprived the town of much interest which is there in the Walker map. However, we must not forget the appalling inequality, insanitary conditions and harsh punishments of those earlier centuries.

Last of all it is a map of wonder. How did John Walker survey the town and produce the map? Whenever I look at the map I always think – ‘John Walker, what a clever bloke!’

If you would like to nominate your own favourite ERO document, we would love to hear from you. Simply download this form, and return it to the Searchroom desk or by e-mail to hannahjane.salisbury[at]essex.gov.uk. There are also paper copies available at the Searchroom desk. Nominated documents may be featured on this blog or in displays at our open day on Saturday 14 September 2013.

Could this be our smallest document?

Posted on August 6, 2013 by admin

D/DLu 17/6 is definitely very small.

D/DLu 17/6 measures just 36 x 26 mm and is so small that we have had to construct a special folder to keep it safe and to make it harder to lose.

D/DLu 17/6 in its specially made folder.

All wrapped up and ready to go back into storage. The larger folder certainly makes it easier to keep track of.

D/DLu 17/6 is a tiny sketchbook created by Clarissa Sandford Bramston [née Trant] who was married to the Reverend John Bramston from 1832 (vicar of Great Baddow, 1830-40; vicar of Witham, 1840-72; Dean of Winchester, 1872-1883). It is impossible for us to know when the document itself was created other than to say it must have been created before 1844 when Clarissa died. Perhaps someone with a strong magnifying glass and an interest in Essex architecture may be able to suggest a date?

Galleywood Chapel which pre-dated the church before it was a parish in its own right.

The sketches show several churches, chapels and houses of Essex and a rather attractive view of Danbury, all in a surprising amount of detail for its diminutive size.

A view of Danbury.

Alongside this miniature sketchbook, Clarissa also left us several other documents of more reasonable size, including her journals and diaries running from 1800 right up until her death in 1844 and numerous other scrapbooks, recipes and items of correspondence, all of which are part of the Luard and Bramston deposit (catalogued as D/DLu).

Billericay High Street in 1950s photographs

Posted on July 31, 2013 by admin

We have recently had deposited with us a series of 146 photographs taken (for uncertain reasons) by the RAF of Billericay High Street in the 1950s (A13652 Box 1).

The High Street was systematically photographed, and the images include residences, local businesses, chain shops, pubs, and people. The full set of photographs can be ordered to view in the Searchroom, but you can see below for a few sneak previews.

42 High Street & 1-3 Chapel Street – Goodspeeds fish and caterers

61, 59 & 57 High Street – E. Smith, family butcher

63 High Street – J.E. Morris, Off Licence

88 & 90 High Street, W.H. Iles Estates Ltd and Bata shoes

97-95 High Street – Essex County Library and Slade’s boot and shoe repairs

101 High Street – Woolworths

Letters Patent and the Calendared Rolls

Posted on July 25, 2013 by admin

Archive Assistant Edd Harris presents a handy guide to these documents from the medieval royal courts…

The documents produced by the workings of the medieval royal courts may seem like a mysterious and inaccessible subject for all but the most committed scholar of history, let alone a local historian or genealogist. However, there is much which can be of use to both of these disciplines, particularly as they reach back far beyond the limits of many of the more traditional documentary sources such as the Parish and Electoral Registers.

One of the largest collections of court records is that of the Patents Rolls. Running from 1201 to the present day (although our collection of calendars ends in 1582) these record the open (unsealed for the public to view) correspondence of the monarch called “Letters Patent” from the Latin “litterae patentes”. The plural, ‘Letters’ is always used as it refers to the arrangement of individual characters, not the item of correspondence itself, and as such there is no singular form. The Letters represent the means by which the monarch makes public pronouncements, and are still used today. Most recently the news that should Prince William have had a daughter, she would be given the title of Princess was given by way of Letters Patent as was the grant of City Status to Chelmsford. (See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-18342211)

Historically Letters Patent were used by the monarch (or proxies acting for the monarch) for a variety of tasks, including bestowing titles, making grants of land directly from the monarch, giving licences to alienate (sell) land and granting other rights to individuals or corporations.

These documents present a number of challenges, not least the style of handwriting and the fact that they are often written in medieval Latin. If the idea of attempting to read a medieval Latin document is striking fear into you, worry not for we have good news. The Letters Patent are transcribed, translated and indexed in the Public Record Office (PRO) Calendars, which can be found in the ERO Library in the Searchroom.

D/DVz 2: A Crown Grant by Letters Patent dated the 14th December 1384, to John de Burghcher of the right of "Free Warren" (the right to hunt game) on his demesne lands. It is shown allongside the corresponding calendar of patent rolls.

D/DVz 2: A Crown Grant by Letters Patent dated 14 December 1384, to John de Burghcher of the right of “Free Warren” (the right to hunt game) on his demesne lands. It is shown alongside the corresponding calendar of patent rolls and with its Great Seal still attached.

D/DVz 2: Here you can see the precurser to the heavy illumination which will appear on later Letters Patent.

The calendars only record those Letters Patent enrolled in England; however, many other Patents were produced in English foreign territories and a vast number in northern France, many dated at Rouen and authorised by the Castilian of the Castle whilst it was still an English possession.

D/DP T1/1848: This is a confirmation of land by Letters Patent dated at Rouen on the 7th September 1481. It is written entirely in medieval French following the French style. This will unfortunately not appear in the PRO calendars.

D/DP T1/1848: This is a Patent confirming a grant of land and dated at Rouen on 7 September 1481. It is written entirely in medieval French and following the French style. This will unfortunately not appear in the PRO calendars.

In the course of your research you may find the calendars useful whilst researching land ownership (particularly the history and grant of manorial land), the origin of titles or even the history of companies. They are particularly useful whilst looking at the many original Letters Patent held in our collection as they include a full transcription of the often difficult to read documents.

For example, one of our original Letters Patent (D/Q 23/1/1) dated the 14th May 1575 grants incorporation and lands to create a free Grammar School in Dedham (later attended by the landscape painter John Constable), it is calendared as number 3271 in the Patent Rolls volume running 1572-1575. A simillar set of Letters also exists for King Edward the Sixth Grammar School in Chelmsford (D/DP O28).

D/Q 23/1/1: Letters Patent granting the incorporation of a "free and perpetual grammar school" at Dedham together with the corresponding pages of the calendar.

D/Q 23/1/1: Letters Patent dated the 14th May 1575 granting the incorporation of a “free and perpetual grammar school” at Dedham together with the corresponding pages of the calendar. In this image you can see where the Great Seal would have been attached, though here it is sadly missing.

D/Q 23/1/1: More recent Letters Patent are often highly illuminated and many will be written in Latin as this one is, making the calendars all the more useful.

D/Q 23/1/1: The calendars provide a complete transcription and in normally a translation of the latin.

D/Q 23/1/1: The calendars provide a complete transcription and normally a translation of the latin.

If you would like to try your hand at using the PRO Calendars or Letters Patent then just ask a member of staff in the Searchroom.

Herongate on film

Posted on July 23, 2013 by admin

Do you have a relative who lived in Herongate before the Second World War? If so, they may well appear on a film which has recently been catalogued by the Essex Sound and Video Archive (ref: VA 27/16/1).

The film – entitled Jubilee – shows celebration activities held on fields adjoining The Green Man public house in Herongate on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935. To the original silent, black and white film has been added a sound narration spoken by Steffie Hope as the voice of Mrs Nash who appears on the film and was apparently Herongate’s oldest resident at the time.

The film begins with a photograph of The Elms, Herongate – the home of Mrs Nash. We see various group shots and then a shot of Mrs Nash talking with Reginald Houlston, the Vicar of All Saints, East Horndon with St. Andrew, Herongate. Then we see schoolchildren parading past the camera and a group shot of all the ladies in the village (some of whom are holding babies). There are then close-up shots of most of the women and a number of men from the village – all of whom are named in the spoken commentary.

The film then shows a series of children’s running races, followed in each case by close-up shots of the winners. Again, most of these are named; although one participant in the wheelbarrow race is called simply ‘the boy Hodge’.

The film is only eight and half minutes long, but is an invaluable resource for local, social and family history.

The film is available to order in the ERO Searchroom – all you need is a valid reader’s ticket (you can register for this on arrival if you don’t already have one, just bring some ID with your signature and address) and staff will advise you on how to order the film to view.

See below for some stills from the film. Many of these people are named by the commentator, making the film an especially fascinating insight into the past.

Herongate film 5

Parish register stories

Posted on June 28, 2013 by admin

Parish registers are some of our most frequently used documents, and as well as providing useful information on baptisms, marriages and burials, sometimes an individual’s story is recorded in more detail. This is more common in the earlier centuries of the keeping of parish registers before standardisation, when record keepers could write as much or as little as they liked. Inevitably, however, such entries nearly always raise more questions than they answer.

The register for Little Clacton contains a very sad and somewhat mysterious story dating from 1592, when a bride, Prudence Lambert, hanged herself the morning after her wedding to Clement Fenn:

Clement Fenn singleman, and Prudence the late wife of Nycholas Lambert, wch dwelt in Little Clacton Lodge; were maryed uppon Teusdaye [six], the xvth day of August; but the (most accursed creature), did the verye next morning, desperatelie hang her selfe, to the intolerable grieffe of her new maryed husband, and the dreadfull horror and astonishment of all the countrye.

Extract from Little Clacton parish register, 1592 (D/P 80/1/1 image 45)

Prudence’s burial is recorded two days later in the same register:

Prudence Fen, now the wife of Clem[e]nt Fen, and late the wife of the above named Nicholas Lambert; was buried out of the compass of Christian burial; in ye furthest syde of the churchyard northward; uppon the xviith daye of August; for that shee most accursedlie hanged her selfe.

Extract from Little Clacton parish register, 1592 (D/P 80/1/1 image 61)

Another unusual case was found in the pages of the register for Great Hallingbury in 1708:

Anne the daughter of John Hastler and Sarah the Relict of his Father Edward Hastler (by an Incestuous cohabitation for which she did publick penance in the Parish Church of this Parish of Sunday the 11 of March last past and Sunday the twenty eighth following; the first time in the Parish Church of this Parish and the second in the parish Church of Bishop Stortford the father having absconded himself) was baptised privately on the 25^th day of 8ber 1707 and her baptism publicly certified in the Church on Easter Sunday April the 4^th.

Extract from parish register for Great Hallingbury, 1708 (D/P 27/1/4 image 29)

A story which hopefully had a happier ending is found amongst the baptisms in the parish register of Ugley in 1759:

Anne daughter of John Grimshaw, a Sailor in the Dreadnought Man of War, & Jane his wife found in Labour in the Road, & taken care of by the Parish, was born June 27^th & baptized July 7^th

Extract from Ugley parish register, 1759 (D/P 373/1/2 image 17)

If you want to explore parish registers for yourself, you can do so using Essex Ancestors, which is available online for a subscription, or for free in the ERO Searchroom. You can also look out for our Discover: Parish Registers sessions to really find out how to get to grips with these amazing documents.

Essex’s Industrial Archaeology: Courtauld’s – silk weaving in Braintree

Posted on June 7, 2013 by admin

Today we bring you some more industrial treasures from the archive in the run up to our special one-day conference on Essex’s Industrial Archaeology on Saturday 6 July. Tickets are £15 and can be booked by telephoning 01245 244614. Details on our speakers and their topics can be found here.

Courtaulds, founded in 1794, became one of the UK’s largest textile businesses. It was established by George Courtauld, the son of a family descended from a Huguenot refugee, and his cousin Peter Taylor.

George was apprenticed to a silkweaver in Spitalfields at the age of 14 in 1775, and after his seven year apprenticeship set up on his own as a silk throwster. After making several trips to America between 1785 and 1794, where he married and began his family, Courtauld returned to England and established George Courtauld & Co. The company began with a water-powered silk mill at Pebmarsh, and by 1810 George’s son Samuel (1793-1881) was managing his own silk mill in Braintree.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, George Courtauld ‘proved to be a remarkably incompetent businessman’. By 1816, the company was in financial trouble, and his ambitious son Samuel took over to rescue the family business.

Samples of fabrics manufactures at Courtauld's

Samples of fabrics manufactured at Courtauld’s

Under Samuel’s leadership, the company became known as Samuel Courtauld & Co., and opened new mills in Halstead and Bocking. Samuel expanded into hand-loom and power-loom weaving as well as silk throwing, and from about 1830 began manufacturing the fabric that really made the family’s fortune – black silk mourning crape, which became the standard mourning dress in Victorian England.

The firm was always heavily dependent on young female workers; in 1838 over 92% of workforce was female. By 1850, the business had grown to employ over 2,000 people in three silk mills, and over 3,000 by the 1880s.

Looms at the Courtauld works (A6798 pt 12 )

Machinery at the Courtauld works (A6798 pt 12)

Looms at the Courtauld works (A6798 pt 12)

Machinery at the Courtauld works (A6798 pt 12)

Silk production used machines for spinning and weaving and centralised production in factories, gradually bringing to an end the tradition of weavers working on hand looms at home. Samuel Courtauld introduced a shift system, using two 12-hour shifts so that his mills were working all day and night.

Plan of housing built for Courtauld’s workers (D-RH Pb1-16)

Samuel’s biographer D.C. Coleman describes his leadership as a ‘benevolent despotism’. Under him the company built workers’ cottages, schools, reading rooms and a hospital in Braintree. He refused to allow any trade union activity at his factory but offered his own system of rewards and punishments for his workforce.

Samuel’s hard work in building up the business paid off; by the time of his death in 1881 he was worth about £700,000.

Courtauld’s Ltd will be the subject of one of our talks at Essex’s Industrial Archaeology, delivered by the present George Courtauld, who worked for the company for about 20 years.

Essex’s Industrial Archaeology

Saturday 6 July 2013, 9.30am-4.30pm

Tickets £15 – please book in advance by telephoning 01245 244614

See here for more information

‘Mutual preservation’ in eighteenth-century Great Oakley

Posted on June 2, 2013 by admin

Archivist Allyson Lewis blogs for us about an exciting new accession…

We recently purchased the Articles of Association of an Association ‘for the mutual preservation of property and the more effectual prosecution and bringing to justice of house-breakers, horse stealers and thieves of every kind’ (Accession A13635 (D/DU 2835)). This early form of insurance/neighbourhood watch scheme was formed by the inhabitants of Great Oakley and surrounding parishes on 4 February 1794. The deed is signed by all the members, including new members to 1899.

The heading of the Articles of Association (click for larger version)

Each member paid a membership fee of at least 10s 6d. This money was used to publish a description of stolen property on hand bills and in the newspapers and to offer rewards for information leading to the recovery of stolen property. The Articles specify the following rewards to be offered to anyone apprehending and convicting offenders who had committed a crime:

House breaking £5 5s

Stealing of horses or cattle £5 5s

Highway or footpad robbery £5 5s

Breaking open barns, stables or outhouses £3 3s

Stealing poultry, turnips, apples, pears, damaging hedges etc £1 1s

Signatures of members of the Association

In the days before any police force, local associations of this kind were felt necessary, particularly in times of war or trouble. This Association dates from the period of the Napoleonic wars which gave rise to a general fear of revolution and invasion. The parishes are in the neighbourhood of Harwich where many men would be stationed in the Martello tower and as militia organised to defend the county from attack by the French. Perhaps the members of the Association had experienced thefts from deserters or militia men trying to head home. It is surprising that the Association was still considered necessary at the end of the 19^th century, long after the formation of the county police force in 1840.

Essex’s Industrial Archaeology: Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd

Posted on May 24, 2013 by admin

On Saturday 6 July 2013 we are hosting a special one-day conference on Essex’s Industrial Archaeology.

Essex is perhaps not thought of as a typically industrial county, but industry is a fascinating part of our county’s past, and shaped the lives of the people who lived here. We have six speakers who will be covering a range of topics and roving around the county:

David Alderton: Why Industrial Archaeology?

Prof. Roy Simons OBE: Marconi, the Father of Wireless

Paul Gilman: title TBC

David Morgans: Beeleigh Steam Mill

George Courtauld: The history of Courtaulds Ltd. InEssex– the first 100 years

Tony Crosby: Industrial housing inEssex

You can find out more about some of our speakers and their talks here. Tickets are just £15 which includes refreshments and a buffet lunch.

In the run up to the conference, we will be bringing you some industrial treasures from our collections to show you some aspects of Essex’s (sometimes surprising) industrial past, beginning with a sample of photographs from our collection of Marconi’s famous New Street factory, taken by Fred Spalding soon after its opening in 1912.

Professor Roy Simons OBE will be discussing the history of this famous company at the conference. Professor Simons is a Marconi veteran himself – he began working on radar systems for the company in 1943 – and since his retirement he has researched the early history of Marconi’s. We will also be showing archive footage of Marconi’s factory shot in 1934, where you can see some of the photographs below brought to life.

Guglielmo Marconi – the ‘father of wireless’ – was an extraordinary man, and Chelmsford owes much to him and the companies he established. Marconi established the world’s first wireless factory in Hall Street in Chelmsford in 1898, but by 1912 demand for the equipment manufactured there had grown so much that the company moved to new purpose-built premises in New Street. Marconi wireless equipment was used to broadcast distress signals from the Titanic, and the first publicised entertainment radio broadcast came from the New Street factory in 1920, when the famous Dame Nellie Melba sang. The company continued to improve on voice transmissions, and later became involved in the development of television. Marconi’s also played a crucial role in developing radar, which was critical to Allied victory in the Second World War. The New Street site has now been unused for a number of years, and after much discussion is currently being redeveloped.

Marconi’s factory in New Street, Chelmsford, built over just 17 weeks by a workforce of over 500 people (D/F 269/1/3676)

Men working in the machine shop at Marconi’s New Street factory (D/F 269/1/3683)

Women working in Condenser and Mounting shop at Marconi’s New Street factory (D/F 269/1/3678)

The Power Test Room at Marconi’s New Street factory (D/F 269/1/3680)

The Carpenters Shop at Marconi’s New Street Factory (D/F 269/1/3681)

Essex’s Industrial Archaeology

Saturday 6 July 2013, 9.30am-4.30pm

Tickets £15 – please book in advance by telephoning 01245 244614

Click here for more information

Your favourite ERO documents: a death penalty debate

Posted on May 19, 2013 by admin

As part of our 75th anniversary celebrations this year, we recently asked you, our users, to nominate your favourite ERO documents. Thank you very much to those of you who have sent in nominations so far – today we bring you the next in a series of your favourites.

Today’s nomination (D/DEb 85/6) comes from Kate Masheder, who has been using the ERO for over ten years:

This letter relates to William Palmer who was condemned to death for sheep stealing in 1819. He was the husband of Hannah Noakes Reeve, my gt gt gt grandmother but not (so far as we know) the father of Joseph, her firstborn, my gt gt grandfather. William’s death left Hannah with a young son and baby, plus the six children from his first marriage. Although Thomas Gardiner Bramston (MP) sent a letter appealing to Mr Justice Bayley for clemency, the death penalty was upheld. I often wonder how Hannah managed during the year following his death and what happened to William’s children. She did remarry but died in 1824 at the age of thirty.

In his letter, Mr Justice Bayley asked T.G. Bramston if he could think of any special grounds for clemency but none were forthcoming. The crime was not a violent one but, because of his occupation as a butcher (with the means to get rid of the evidence) it was felt an example should be made of him.

The death penalty was a harsh one for a man with eight children but perhaps transportation would have left Hannah in worse circumstances as, even after a short sentence, he might not have returned home and she would have been unable to remarry.

The letter from Mr Justice Bayley discusses why it was decided to make an example of William Palmer by sentencing him to death for sheepstealing. As a butcher, he was able to easily conceal his crimes, and had stolen for sale rather than for food. Bayley discusses the problem of sheepstealing in Essex and the need to deter others, even though Bayley wrote that ‘it would have relieved my mind from great uneasiness, could I have found any Circumstances in the Case which would have warranted me … to have granted a Reprieve’.

Thank you very much to Kate for nominating this document as a favourite. We’ll be bringing you more favourites over the next few months. Nominate yours by downloading our form and either returning it in to the Searchroom desk or e-mailing it to hannahjane.salisbury[at]essex.gov.uk

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