Frederick Park and Ernest Boulton, aka Fanny and Stella

Posted on February 21, 2013 by admin

We have been busy preparing copies of one of our more unusual sets of photographs to go on display in Chelmsford Library, before going on tour to other libraries around the county.

We are very fortunate to have c.7,000 images from the Spalding family (three generations of the family, all named Fred, worked as professional photographers), taken in the last half of the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century.

One of the more unusual sets of photographs within the collection is a series of portraits of two young men, Frederick William Park and Ernest Boulton, taken in c.1869.

Park and Boulton were popular theatrical players during the late 1860s, and were better known as their female alter egos, Fanny and Stella.

Fanny and Stella, photographed in Chelmsford by Fred Spalding, c.1869 (D/F 269/1/3712)

Fanny and Stella, photographed in Chelmsford by Fred Spalding, c.1870 (D/F 269/1/3712)

Along with several other players they were performing with in Chelmsford, the pair commissioned the portraits from Spalding, and copies of the photographs were sold in great numbers, presumably to their audiences.

Female impersonation was a fairly widespread and acceptable form of entertainment, but the pair found themselves in trouble when they began to take their act off stage. Often travelling to and from their performances in costume, initially they attracted little attention, but eventually they gained a certain moral notoriety, visiting theatres in female dress as patrons and frequenting the Burlington Arcade dressed as and claiming to be women. They were arrested by the Metropolitan Police in 1870 and involved in a major court case at Queen’s Bench in May 1871. Park and Boulton were charged with “conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence”.

Amongst the evidence produced at the trial was the existence of “an album with photographs beautifully executed of Boulton in female attire”. Possibly this could have included Spalding’s studio portraits.

It is not known whether Park’s family connections in the legal sphere – his father was one of the Masters of the Court of Common Pleas – had any significant part to play in the trial, for Park’s father appeared as a witness for the defence and the two men were eventually acquitted. The verdict was greeted with popular acclaim and Park and Boulton disappeared from the public eye for good.

A selection of Spalding’s portraits of Boulton and Park will be on display in Chelmsford Library throughout March, before touring around other libraries around the county. The display marks the publication of a new book investigating the case by Neil McKenna, Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England, which will shortly be available to borrow from Essex Libraries.

Neil McKenna will be reading extracts from his book and taking questions at Chelmsford Library on Thursday 14 March 2013 at 7:30pm as part of the Essex Book Festival. To book tickets please call the Box Office on 01206 573948 or book online.

Shire Hall: Past, present and future

Posted on February 7, 2013 by admin

Shire Hall is one of Chelmsford’s most significant landmarks, and features heavily in our collections of images of the historic city centre. From its opening in 1791 until 2012, Shire Hall served as the County Court. As the County Council asks residents to submit ideas for the building’s future, we took a look back through the archives to see what they reveal about the Hall’s past.

Shire Hall replaced two earlier buildings which served as the county’s court rooms. The Tudor Market Cross, or Great Cross, had been built in 1569, replacing an earlier Medieval building, and it served as both market place and court house. The ground floor was open-sided, with enclosed galleries above, as depicted in John Walker’s map below. Despite the fact that it was open to the street and dusty, draughty, and noisy, the county Assizes and Quarter Sessions courts were conducted in the open piazza on the ground floor, and corn merchants conducted their trade there on Friday market days.

At some point between 1569 and 1660 a second, smaller court building was built, apparently on the west side of the Great Cross, known as the Little Cross. While the Great Cross continued to host the Crown Court, the Little Cross hosted the Nisi Prius (civil) Court.

Extract from John Walker’s 1591 map ofChelmsford, showing the north end of the High Street, with the Tudor Market Cross building in the centre of the market place (D/DM P1)

In October 1788, the Tudor court houses were condemned by the Quarter Sessions as ‘not in a fit condition for transacting the publick [sic] business of the County’, and the County Surveyor John Johnson was commissioned to build a new ‘Shire House’.

The authorities quickly settled on a site for the new building at the north end of the High Street, between the market place and the churchyard, which was then occupied by the existing court houses and several private properties. The new building was to be set further back from the market place, offering some relief to the traffic bottleneck at the top of the High Street.

We are fortunate to have John Johnson’s original plans for the building, including elevations of the south, west and north sides of the buildings, and plans of each of the four storeys, with the plan for the ground floor including internal layouts for the Nisi Prius and Crown Courts. In 1789, a county rate was levied to raise £14,000 to buy the site and construct the new building.

Plans and elevations for the ‘County Hall of Essex’, 1788 (Q/AS 1/1)

The builders of Shire Hall encountered some of the problems experienced today when working on enclosed sites in built-up areas; the old courts were not demolished straight away as they had to carry on functioning, and the churchyard could not be turned into a builder’s yard, so a field was leased in Duke Street to assemble and store materials and carry out preparative carpentry and masonry work. Contractors complained bitterly about the extra time, effort and monetary cost of transferring materials, and also the interruptions to their work caused by the running of the court, and by the annual fairs in May and November.

Despite these challenges, the new building was completed in 1791, and the old courts demolished, revealing the impressive Portland Stone façade of the new Shire Hall.

Shire Hall soon after its opening. Engraving by J. Walker after an original picture by Reinagle, 1795 (I/Mb 74/1/59)

The three central arches of the new building led into a large hall, which replaced the old Market Cross and functioned as market space and corn exchange. Beyond the market hall at the back of the ground floor Nisi Prius and Crown Courts, and a retiring room for judges. A grand staircase lit by a glazed dome led out of the market hall up to the grand jury room and the ‘county room’ or ballroom, which took up the whole of the front of the first floor. There was also a small waiting room for witnesses and an office for the Clerk of the Peace and his records. The building’s façade included three emblematic figures by John Bacon, representing mercy, wisdom and justice.

On 3 June 1791 the Chelmsford Chronicle gave its verdict the transformation to the town centre. The new building ‘…exhibits a splendid object to all persons coming up the town; this elegant building when completely finished will not only do credit to the taste and spirit of the magistrates of this opulent county, and honour to the architect, but will be of the greatest service and accommodation to every person frequenting the public meetings.’

Hundreds of thousands of cases have since been heard in the court rooms of Shire Hall since that time, including witchcraft trials in which women were sentenced to be burned alive, and trials which sentenced people to transportation for what would now be considered minor offences.

Shire Hall has also been the focal point of many grand occasions inChelmsford. Not least of these were the judges’ processions which opened the Assizes each year (where the most serious cases were heard). This was a tradition that continued until the late nineteenth century; prolific photographer and Mayor of Chelmsford Fred Spalding, reminisced in the 1930s:

‘Even the coming of the Judge to open the Assize has altered. It was a great event in my young days – the High Sheriff with his carriage and four horses, trumpeters, marshals, footmen with powdered wigs. I can remember the late Mr. John Joliffe Tufnell ofLangleys, Gt Waltham was Sheriff. A procession of tradesmen, farmers and others from the town and surrounding villages of nearly a mile long, went out to Broomfield to meet him and accompany him to Church with the Judge.’ (D/Z 206/1/93)

Engraving by J. Ryland showing the judges’ procession through Chelmsford High Street before the opening of the Assizes, attended by the High Sheriff and his officers. Pre-1788 (I/Mb 74/1/109)

Shire Hall has also been the iconic backdrop to the many large gatherings of Chelmsford residents in Tindal Square which have accompanied momentous occasions such as pronouncements of new monarchs and election campaigns, as well as social gatherings.

George V is proclaimed King from the steps of Shire Hall by the High Sheriff of Essex, Ralph Bury, 1910. Photograph by Fred Spalding (SCN 1445)

Election of 29 October 1924, candidates addressing the public in front of Shire Hall. Photograph by Fred Spalding (SCN 3396)

Dance in the ballroom, c. 1924. Photograph by Fred Spalding (SCN 4476)

The exterior of the building is little changed today; the west side was extended in 1851, and the east side remodelled in 1903-06.

Shire Hall in 1895, with addition on the west side, and the clock added to the pediment (I/LS/CFD/00011)

The interior, however, underwent more radical changes in 1935-6, when the lobby, courts, picture room and stairwell were substantially reconstructed by the County Architect J. Stuart, bringing in Art Deco aspects. These features are today considered to be an essential part of the building’s architectural character, but they were not universally accepted at the time. Fred Spalding, who took a particular interest in Shire Hall, was dismayed by the changes:

‘…alas!, what of the interior? During 1936, the architects of the present day, have altered it to such an extent that those who knew it, now fail to recognise it. The vestibule has had all its stately columns removed and now looks more like the entrance of a modern cinema. The Crown Court and Nisi Prius Court have been strip[p]ed of all their old solemnity…The whole atmosphere is changed.’ (D/Z 206/1/93)

Photograph of the Crown Court room in Shire Hall, taken by Fred Spalding before the alterations in 1936 (D/Z 206/1/89)

Court room after the 1930s alterations (SCN 4191)

The vestibule before 1936 alterations. Photograph by Fred Spalding (D/Z 206/1/89)

The vestibule after the 1930s alterations (SCN 4211)

Shire Hall is an important focal point in Chelmsford’s history, and in the present cityscape. Listed at Grade II*, it is recognised as a building of great significance.

If you would like to find out more about this Chelmsfordian icon, you can search for Shire Hall on Seax, or see Hilda Grieve’s magnificent history of Chelmsford The Sleepers and the Shadows, available in the ERO Searchroom and libraries across the county. To find out more about Shire Hall’s architect, see John Johnson, 1732-1814: Georgian Architect and County Surveyor of Essex, by Nancy Briggs, again available in libraries around the county and the ERO Searchroom (in the ERO library and also for sale).

To take part in the future use of Shire Hall consultation visit www.theshirehall.com or email shire.hallconsultation@essex.gov.uk.

The closing date for comments and expressions of interest is Friday 15 February 2013.

The 1953 Floods in Essex

Posted on January 31, 2013 by admin

On the night of Saturday 31 January 1953 a severe storm coincided with a high spring tide in the North Sea, and the resulting tidal surge caused great devastation all along the east coast. In eastern England 307 people were killed, 120 of them from Essex. The worst hit communities in the county were Canvey Island, where 58 died, and Jaywick, where 37 people were killed (5% of the population). A major operation was mounted to rescue as many people from the flooded areas as possible. Along the east coast of the UK, 30,000 people were evacuated from their homes.

Damage was caused to over 1,600 km of coastline, as well as to thousands of homes. It is estimated that the damage in monetary terms today would be over £5 billion.

It was of course not just England that was affected by the floods; 19 people died in Scotland, 28 in Belgium, and a staggering 1,836 in theNetherlands. Over 230 people also died on ferries, fishing boats and other vessels which were in the North Sea that night.

We have been going through some of the many documents in the ERO which tell some of the stories of the floods in Essex, a small sample of which will be on display in our ‘Document of the Month’ case in the Searchroom throughout February.

To the sea – rescuers at work in Jaywick (D/Z 35/15) (Photo: Reuters)

Fire Brigade log book reporting phone calls to say that Jaywick was completely flooded (D/Z 35/3/1)

Tilbury underwater (D/Z 35/15) (Photo: Southend Standard).

Albermarle St & Alexander Road, Harich (T/Z 241/1)

Photograph of the junction of Albermarle Street and Alexandra Road in Harwich. The flood in Harwich was described as a two metre high wall of rolling water. Eight people drowned trapped in their basements in Main Street (T/Z 241/1) (Photo: Harwich and Dovercourt Standard).

The ground floor and playground of Harwich Junior School were flooded to a depth of 1½ metres (T/Z 241/1).

Harwich police station telephone log (D/Z 35/6/1)

This note in the Harwich police station telephone log tells us that at the army base on Bramble Island, near Harwich, the magazines had been breached by the flood waters. High explosives had floated away and the police and public were advised to be on the look out for them, and not to touch them (D/Z 35/6/1).

Photograph of Peter Pan’s Playground, Southend (D/Z 35/15) (Photo: Southend Standard). At Southend the effects were not as severe as at Canvey. The Kursaal flooded, along with the Gasworks and Southchurch Park.

Letter from Mr E. Staunton (C/DC 11/Fd43)

Letter written month after the floods by Mr E. Staunton of Benham Road, Canvey to Essex County Council to pass on the ‘thanks and gratitude’ of himself and ‘friends in this area’ to the fireman who sounded the air raid siren ‘thus giving us a chance to dress and find out over the telephone what was the meaning of the warning’ (C/DC 11/Fd43).

A selection of these documents will be on display in the Searchroom throughout February. Others can be ordered to view in the Searchroom. Find out how to visit us.

To find out more about the floods, why not go to hear Patricia Rennoldson Smith talk about her new book The 1953 Essex Flood Disaster: The People’s Story as part of the Essex Book Festival.

Stories from the stores: what’s in a wax seal?

Posted on January 14, 2013 by admin

One of the joys of working in an archive is the potential every day holds for coming across something beautiful or interesting in our collection. Last week’s star find was a medieval deed, D/DRg 6/5, or more specifically, one of the wax seals attached to it.

The document was in the Conservation Studio with a group of other similar documents all in need of a bit of attention and better storage to protect their fragile wax seals.

The deed dates from 5 April 1462, and is part of the collection of Charles Gray of Colchester, an eighteenth-century lawyer, antiquarian and MP, and major figure in Colchester’s history. Gray assembled a large collection of medieval deeds relating to Colchester, catalogued as D/DRg 6 and D/DRg 7; the earliest dates from 1317 (D/DRg 6/2).

This particular deed grants land to William Gerard, Chaplain of the Chantry of Joseph Elianore in the church of St Mary-at-the-Walls in Colchester. Chantry chapels were endowed by individuals who left money to pay for a priest to pray for their souls to help them on their way to heaven; in this case for the soul of Joseph Elianore, a Bailiff of Colchester, and various members of his family and other associates.

The land which Gerard was being granted was 4 and a half acres, with buildings on, next to the highway leading across New Heath, bordered on the north by ‘Magdleyngreene’, on the south by land formerly owned by Robert Gete and now by John Stede, on the east by land owned by John Auntrous, and on the west by the lane leading towards ‘Bournepond Mill’ or ‘Boornemelle’.

As we mentioned recently, this is one of the advantages of using deeds in your research; they can list who owns not only the piece of land in question, but the land around it, and sometimes even previous owners.

The document has two wax seals attached to it, one very small, one medium sized. Seals were a form of security, often used to hold a letter or envelope closed, so that it could not be opened or tampered with until delivered to the intended recipient. Wax seals were also attached to the bottom of documents, as in this case, when they served as a means of authentication.

The larger of the two seals attracted our attention because the impressions in the wax are so deep and the imagery so detailed. A little investigation showed it to be the second Common Seal of the Borough of Colchester.

The obverse of the seal shows St Helena, the patron saint of Colchester. St Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, was believed to have been born in Colchester, the daughter of King Coel. She reputedly travelled to the Holy Land, and found relics of the True Cross and the burial place of the Magi, which is why Christian iconography depicts here (as here) with the cross.

Below St Helena are the borough arms, which were granted by Henry V in 1413. These again reflect St Helena’s influence, showing the True Cross and the crowns of the Magi. On each side of St Helena are niches containing angels holding shields; on the left bearing a cross, and on the right the fifteenth-century royal arms. In the niche above St Helena is a half-length Christ. The reverse of the seal shows a medieval depiction of a castellated town, with a river in front of it crossed by a bridge.

Both seals attached to the deed have been cleaned by our Conservators with a mild detergent called synpernoic A7 and distilled water, before being stowed in their own custom-made cushioned bags. These little bags are made from Tyvek with a polyester wadding. The materials are cut to size, and then heat sealed around the edge. The whole document is then wrapped in acid-free manilla before being stored in one of our special archival quality boxes.

Stored in protective wrappers in our climate-controlled repositories, this 671 year old document – and its wax seals – should survive for many years to come.

The return of Sargant Wilson: deeds in family history

Posted on January 2, 2013 by admin

Archives Assistant Edd Harris blogs for us about just a few of the things family historians can learn from property deeds…

Do you remember our friend Sargant Wilson? At the beginning of October we discovered his marriage licence which told us that in 1834 at the age of 60 he married Karenhappuch Morgan, ten years his junior. We have come across the couple again although unfortunately in less happy times.

This document is an admission onto copy hold land (D/DCf M73). This is a type of land holding used when land is part of a Manor. The people who hold land from the Manor are recorded in the Manor Court Roll along with any payments or rents that they are due to pay as well as a description of the land and its previous owners. The new landholders are then provided with a copy of that entry in the Court Roll, hence the name ‘copy hold’.

In the recitals of this particular example from Southminster in 1844 (ten years after his marriage) we are told that Sargant Wilson has died. The land that he held has been passed back (surrendered) to the Manor. The admission then goes on to say that Sargant Wilson left the land to his wife by his will which is quoted at length, describing the property and revealing that it was bequeathed to him by his former wife Dorothy and that he had a son who predeceased him. It goes on to admit his second wife Karenhappuch onto the land in his place and collects a fine or payment for doing this.

This just goes to show that family history can move far beyond the usual records of births, marriages and deaths. We now know that Sargant Wilson had a previous marriage to a Dorothy with whom he had a son, he had written a will, held land in the Manor of Southminster and we have a rough date for his death, all from one document.

You can search for deeds on Seax by the name of a person or property. Not all deeds are catalogued to this level of detail however, in which case manorial court rolls may be helpful. These records can be challenging, but as we have seen in the case of Sargant Wilson they can also be extremely rewarding, not only for family history but for house history and local history too. If you would like any further advice, then talk to ERO staff in the Searchroom, e-mail us on ero.enquiry@essex.gov.uk, or telephone 01234 244644.

Essex Ancestors update complete!

Posted on December 20, 2012 by admin

Our regular users may already be familiar with our Essex Ancestors service, which allows subscribers to view digital images of Essex parish registers and wills.

These are two of the most important and useful resources for family historians. Parish registers contain baptisms, marriages and burials for each parish in Essex, while wills can give you fascinating information about your ancestor’s lives.

Launched in November 2011, the service initially included all of our pre-1837 registers, and post-1837 registers for parishes beginning with letters A-F, along with about 20,000 of our 70,000 wills.

After much hard work from our digitisers, archivists and software developers, we have now completed the process of uploading the post-1837 registers for parishes from G-W. This amounts to 228,786 images!

You can use the Essex Ancestors service free in the ERO Searchroom, or from home as a subscriber. Find out how to subscribe on the Essex Ancestors home page, where you can also access the user guide and FAQs.

Register of baptisms, marriages and burials for St Edmund and St Mary, Ingatestone, 1558-1732 (D/P 31/3/1)

Parish registers are some of the most useful resources for family historians, and can date back to 1538.
Register of baptisms, marriages and burials for St Edmund and St Mary, Ingatestone, 1558-1732 (D/P 31/3/1)

User tips

– Always check before you subscribe that the images you want are definitely available. Not all registers from every parish have survived or been deposited with us, and currently only 20,000 wills of our total collection of 70,000 have been uploaded

– To be certain whether images have been published for a particular register, view its catalogue description. If there is not an image available, you will simply see a description of the document. If there is an image available, there will be a box on the right hand side with an Essex Ancestors logo.

– We cannot publish images of marriage registers post-1957

Next steps for Essex Ancestors

The current update will mean that Essex Ancestors covers almost the complete historic county of Essex. Just one small area will be completely missing: registers for the London Borough of Waltham Forest, covering the parishes of Chingford, Leyton (including Leytonstone) and Walthamstow, are held by Waltham Forest Archives. A project to copy these Waltham Forest registers is due to be completed in 2013.

We have also started work on digitising our remaining wills, this is a big job involving our Conservation Studio as well as digitisation, so look out for more updates in the future.

In the meantime – happy searching!

A Riverside Country Town

Posted on December 14, 2012 by admin

We recently unearthed this film made by Essex County Council in 1981 to promote the largescale new development of South Woodham Ferrers.

A Riverside Country Town – click to be taken to the video on YouTube

The five minute film is a shortened version of the full 23 minute promotional film released to attract families to the then newly developed town.The short film positioned South Woodham Ferrers as the ideal country town, providing a rural lifestyle yet with all the amenities and transport links sought after by the industrious family in the booming early 1980s.

The film also includes a song written especially to promote the town, including the lyrics, ‘South Woodham Ferrers, it’s a whole new place to be … now’s the time to be here, there’s all you’ll ever need’.

Anyone interested in viewing the full version order it in our Searchroom (reference VA 3/8/9/1).

Also available are the original pamphlets promoting the town, which are advertised at the end of the film. The brochures promote the town’s ‘Very attractive buildings to delight the eye and rest the mind’, and asks ‘Where are the shops?… the housewife’s inevitable and very important question.’ (Have a look in pamphlet box W9 in the ERO library).

It’s well worth a watch, but be warned, the song is dangerously catchy…

What have we been up to? Stocktaking 2012

Posted on December 11, 2012 by admin

We have just re-opened after our two week annual stocktaking closure where we take the opportunity to do all the jobs which we cannot do while we are open to the public.

Stocktaking gives us an opportunity to sort out large accessions, carry out large re-boxing projects, and reorganise shelving to make the most of our storage space.

Hard at work in the Conservation Studio re-storing medieval deeds

One of the big projects undertaken during stocktaking was begining the re-storing of hundreds of medieval deeds. The deeds were stored in boxes arranged a bit like filing cabinets, hanging in plastic folders. A huge amount of effort must have been put into storing them like this a few decades ago, but the boxes had deteriorated and the ‘filing cabinet’ system had collapsed in most of the boxes.

Medieval deeds stored in a ‘filing cabinet’ box. The plastic folders collapse, and damage the deeds inside.

The deeds have now been stored in custom designed ‘Harris folders’ (named after one of our archive assistants!) which are wedge shaped to allow space for the seals at the bottom of the documents. The deeds are held in place on a board using thin strips of melinex (a special acid-free plastic), and then placed in the wedge folders, before being placed in acid free archival boxes. This means that the documents are going to be much happier in their new storage, and they are easier for the staff to find and produce.

Storing deeds in ‘Harris’ folders. These are wedge shaped to protect the seals attached to the documents.

Much of the work that we do during stocktaking involves re-boxing documents. This means removing documents from old cardboard boxes, which over time become acidic and eat away at the documents inside, and placing them in new, acid-free cardboard boxes made especially for archives. These boxes are also designed to fit perfectly on our shelves, making the best use of the available space. The boxes arrive flat packed, and we have made up around 500 of them!

Look how many boxes we made!

Putting documents into special acid free boxes

Some outgoing old storage containers, replaced with specialist archival materials

This year’s stocktaking also saw the exciting replacement of one of our Searchroom windows. Regular users have probably noticed that a crack in one of the large glass panels had grown much more serious recently, and before it became a hazard the window has been replaced. Installing the new window was quite a feat to watch!

Installing the new window in the Searchroom

We have also made some minor alterations to the Searchroom, and given everything a good clean and tidy up.

Thankyou all for bearing with us while we get these important jobs done.

How to Speak Essex: 20th Century Voices from the Essex Sound and Video Archive

Posted on December 6, 2012 by admin

Martin Astell, our Sound and Video Archivist, blogs for us about one of the things Essex is most famous for – its accent…

Are you looking for a Christmas gift with a difference? Our CD called How to Speak Essex: 20^th Century Voices from the Essex Sound and Video Archive may be just the thing for that awkward relative or friend who seemingly has everything.

The CD includes examples of Essex accents and dialect recorded in the twentieth century. The earliest example dates from 1906, while the majority are recordings of people born between 1900 and 1940. The CD includes both speech and song, with examples from across the county.

I wanted to produce the CD both as a way of promoting the Essex Sound and Video Archive – not everybody is aware that the Essex Record Office collects and preserves sound recordings and videos – and in order to present genuine examples of the way ordinary people in Essex spoke in the twentieth century.

The decline of the Essex dialect and accent, and the seemingly unstoppable spread of theLondonaccent, has been discussed and mourned a great deal in recent times. When people think of the language of Essex they are most likely these days to think of ‘Estuary English’ rather than a soft and lyrical rural accent akin to that heard still in other parts of East Anglia. On the other hand, someEssexresidents can, perhaps, have a nostalgic or exaggerated view of the accents used by former generations. Our CD should provide enough genuine examples to enable a realistic understanding of the language of Essex people born prior to the Second World War.

The recordings should also demonstrate the diversity of accents in Essex. I have split the county into ten geographical areas so that the listener can compare, for instance, the accents of villages in the north of the county borderingSuffolkwith areas of historic Essex now deemed to be part of Greater London. However, even within these relatively small areas a good deal of variety can be heard.

The extracts cover a range of topics and will hopefully provide some insight into life inEssexduring the twentieth century. I have tried to group them in ways which provide a degree of narrative, thus helping to make the CD enjoyable as well as instructive. However, the main effect should be to bring alive the speakers and their use of language.

The CD is available direct from the Essex Record Office priced at £10.20, including postage and packing. You can order your copy by telephoning 01245 244644, or writing to: Essex Record Office, Wharf Road, Chelmsford, CM2 6YT, enclosing a cheque made payable to Essex County Council.

To make minc’d Pye meat without meat

Posted on December 3, 2012 by admin

A little while ago we brought you some recipes from the kitchen of Mary Rooke of Langham Hall, and today we see the sort of things that she got up to at Christmas.

You can view images of Mary’s entire recipe book on Seax here (D/DU 818/1).

To make minc’d Pye meat without meat (image 25)

3 pounds of apples grated 2 pounds of Beef Suet chop’d very fine 2 pounds of Currants wash’d well & pick’d clean, 2 pound of raisins chop’d, the Rind & pulp of 2 Lemons boil’d very tender, and pounded in a marble mortar, half a Pint of Brandy the same of Port Wine, the juice of 4 Lemons, Sugar to your taste, half a pound of almonds blanch’d & sliced thin, mix these ingredients very well together put them into small jars covered with Bladder to be tied close down that the air may not get into it, when open make your Pyes have Citron Orange & Lemon / candy’d / cut in small slices put in them more on top as you like, & have in a bottle ready mix’d Brandy and Port Wine put a little of it in them it makes them moist & just as of fresh made.

Orange Cakes (page 45 image 24) (in a different hand)

Take fresh seville oranges weigh them and take their weight in sugar beat small, cut the oranges in two, cross way take the pulp out free from strings and pippins and the strings from the insides of the skins then cut the skins into thin pieces and shred it very fine beat it as while in a marble morter you may by degrees put in the sugar and pulp beating it till it is very fine then drop it upon a pewter dish in cakes the size of a Crown and dry them in a stove or any warm place to a pound of orange put two very large spoonfulls of Lemon juice.