Tag Archives: Coggeshall

A study in settlement

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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 17th to the 19th 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!

A Poem Upon the Ceremonial Opening of Coggeshall’s Listening Bench

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As part of our Heritage Lottery Funded project, You Are Hear: sound and a sense of place, we are working with volunteers to install listening benches across Essex. These solar-powered park benches play clips of recordings from the Essex Sound and Video Archive, recordings chosen and put together by our volunteers. The listening bench for Coggeshall was successfully unveiled on Tuesday 11 July. Each listening bench launch has its own character, but this was the first to include a poetry recital in honour of the bench! We loved the poem so much that we wanted to reprint it, with an introduction by another volunteer to explain how the Coggeshall bench came about.

Miall James writes:

Back in January I went into the Coggeshall Library, and one of the staff asked me if I knew anyone who’d be interested in setting up a Listening Bench. So I asked what it was, was told, and said, OK, I’ll give it a go. I recruited my friend Nic Johnson, a well known, if fairly new in Coggeshall terms, local resident, and together we enlisted the aid of two more, thought that was enough and presented ourselves to the Essex Record Office.

Photograph of volunteers with listening bench

Volunteers who worked on Coggeshall’s listening bench (L-R: Michael Horne, Nic Johnson, Miall James, Stan Haines (who opened the bench), and Sylvie Overnell).

One of the two was Michael Horne, a well-known local historian and poet (and Lord of the Manor of Little Coggeshall), who in fact wrote some of what finally went onto the bench; the other was Sylvie Overnell, a retired local teacher, with local contacts. We looked at what was required, divided up the work and got on with it. There were no arguments; we discussed what to do, agreed and got on with it. Indeed it’s wonderful what can be done if no one’s bothered about who gets the credit! Finally, after about five months’ work we were ready, and the bench was ready for use.

Photograph of Miall James and Stan Haines standing behind listening bench

Miall James with Stan Haines officially ‘opening’ Coggeshall’s listening bench

We recruited Stan Haines, who has lived in the town most of his life, and was Chairman of the Parish Council for 48 years, to officiate at the opening.

The only thing that went wrong was the weather on the day, which wasn’t as kind as it might have been!

We’ve had some very good feedback, and we feel that, with a little fine-tuning, our Listening Bench will be something our fellow citizens can enjoy for many years to come.

Michael Horne’s poem composed for the occasion

A Poem Upon the Ceremonial Opening of Coggeshall’s Listening Bench at Doubleday Corner
11 July 2017

Photograph of Michael Horne in front of bench

Michael Horne reciting his poem

On this occasion so polite,
I can do nothing but endite
A hymn of praise, with joy intense,
To Coggeshall’s newborn Listening Bench.

We’ll take upon us, even now,
An eleemosynary vow
To set up Peace, Goodwill and Sense
Upon our worthy Listening Bench.

The stories that we now can hear
Bring memories back that are so dear
To all who’ve taken up residence
Near Coggeshall’s stalwart Listening Bench.

[one_half]They speak of pubs and crafts and trades
From days of yore, of men and maids
Who gave our town its eminence,
Preserved now on the Listening Bench.

In times of great austerities,
With caps on pay and a pension squeeze,
When fiscal stocks we must retrench,
We’ll still possess our Listening Bench.

People will come this bench to view
Both in and outside the EU,
And accents Dutch, Peruvian, French
Will echo from our Listening Bench.[/one_half]

[one_half_last]So men may come and men may go,
Enslaved by Time’s incessant flow,
But anything of permanence
Will stay within our Listening Bench.

And now I’ll cease these paltry rhymes
Unworthy of these glorious times,
Let’s shout instead, with Power Immense,
Three cheers for Coggeshall’s Listening Bench![/one_half_last]

Check our website for details of further listening bench launches, and to keep track of our two touring benches. Can you visit them all?

Map of all 18 listening benches

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Document of the Month, May 2017: School bills and receipts, 1897

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May’s Document of the Month has been chosen by our Learning from History Manager, Valina Bowman-Burns. Valina runs workshops for schools to help students discover the past through documents, maps and images from the ERO’s collections, and recently has been building a session for a Coggeshall school using records from their own local past.

This little bundle of receipts (D/NC 1/5/17) dates from 1897, and gives us an insight into the daily life of Coggeshall Congregational School in the late Victorian period. They are also aesthetically interesting, many of them featuring some beautiful artwork and lettering.

The Coggeshall Congregational School has its roots in a Sunday School that was established in 1788 with 200 places for children aged over 7 (there were 268 applicants, suggesting a great deal of local demand for education). The Sunday School movement began in the 1750s, running schools for children of poor families on Sundays as children were often needed to work during the week.

The Congregational School existed by 1855, when the school master was dismissed for drunkenness. By 1857 there were 90 children on the roll; this number was to rapidly expand over the rest of the century as education became compulsory, firstly for children aged 5-10 in 1880, and then up to age 11 in 1893, and up to age 12 in 1899. By the time this bundle of receipts was created there were 258 boys and girls on the school registers, with an average attendance of 190 (Kelly’s Directory, 1898).

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The documents will be on display in the ERO Searchroom throughout May 2017

The most numerous receipts are for purchases made from local coke and coal merchant William Sutton – hopefully enough to keep the pupils and teachers warm while they learned.

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This handwritten receipt records the items in everyday use within the school including slates and pencils, blotting paper and exercise books. Three dozen exercise books were purchased in February and twelve dozen purchased in April meaning that between January and June 180 exercise books were delivered, almost one for every child in the school.

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One way the school raised money was through the sale of needlework; one document records the sale of needlework items throughout 1897 raised £5 1s 5¾d (about £300 in today’s money). Mr Scott’s pillowslips fetched 1s 5d a pair, while Miss Unwin’s knickers made 1s 9d each.

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Among the receipts is this insurance certificate from the London & Lancashire Fire Insurance Company, insuring the school for £800, about £45,000 today, for a premium of 12 shillings.

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The school ordered items not only from local supplies but from those further afield. This bill is from school suppliers E.J. Arnold & Son who were based in Leeds, and had embraced new communications technology by having a telephone (they were contactable on ‘Nos. 33 & 331’). Directions to their works for visitors, however, were for people who were walking or riding.

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If you are interested in arranging a local history workshop based on real sources from our collections (where we do all the research for you!) do take a look at our Learning from History webpages to see how we can help bring history to life.

Mrs Abigail Abdy her Booke

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As The Great British Bake Off continues on BBC2, we bring you the second in our special series exploring some of the recipe books in our collections. 

Today we look at another of our very earliest recipe books, written by Abigail Abdy, beginning in 1665 (D/DU 161/623).

Title page of Abigail Abdy's book - reading 'Mrs Abigail Abdy her book May the 24th 1665'

Title page of Abigail Abdy’s book – reading ‘Mrs Abigail Abdy her book May the 24th 1665’

Abigail was born in 1644, the daughter of Sir Thomas Abdy of Felix Hall, Kelvedon, a lawyer and landowner. Sometime after 1670 she married Sir Mark Guyon, son of Sir Thomas Guyon, a rich clothier, becoming his second wife.

Much of the book is taken up with medical concoctions, for both humans and animals, such as ‘A very good Drink for ye Rickitts’, ‘A good Receipt for sore eyes, when one has the smallpox’, ‘To make the plague water’, ‘To make cordiall water, good against any infection, as the plague, small pox &c.’, and ‘A very good drinke for a Bullock’.

Given that the book was begun in 1665, during the Great Plague in London, it is not surprising that the recipes concentrate on warding off and treating infection.

 Alongside these mixtures are recipes much more recognisable to modern eyes, such as these for macaroons and sugar cake: 

Abigail Adby's recipe for macaroons

Abigail Adby’s recipe for macaroons

To make mackaromes

Take 2 pound of Veliney Almonds to a pound of double refined sugar, it must be beaten & searced [sifted] then take your almonds and lay them in water, overnight, & let them lye till the next morning, & then blaunch [blanch] them & put them into a mortar, & beat them & as you beat them, put some sugar amongst them, & onely wet your pestle with rose water to keepe them, from oyling, this must be beat but half as much as Marchpain then take the whites of 2 or 3 eggs and beat them till they froath, then put the Almonds into a dish upon a Chafinedish [chafing dish] of Coales & put in the froath of your eggs, & keepe it stirring or  else it will burne to the dish you must stirre it till it be through hott then lay it upon wafers the ovin must be something hotter than for marchpain.

 

Abigail Adby's recipe for sugar cake

Abigail Adby’s recipe for sugar cake – including the instruction to beat the mixture for an hour!

 To make sugar Cakes

Take a pound of flower, halfe of it [rice] flower a pound of sugar finely sifted, 8 or 9 eggs halfe the whites, but all the yolkes, beat the eggs very well with rose water, then put in ye [the] flower, by degrees then beat it a little, then put in the sugar too by degrees it must be beaten about an houre then your Ovin bring of a good heat, beat them up, putting in a few Coliander seeds, then your pans being well buttered, put them in the Oven, being well hett, set them & when they be rissen take them out, knocking them out, scraping the botomes of the pans, then if they be not baked enough put them in againe, & let them stand a little longer.

 

Abigail died in 1679, aged just 35. Joseph Bufton, the Coggeshall diarist, records that she was buried quickly, late in the evening by torches, without a sermon, suggesting that she had died of an infectious illness, possibly the plague. This was not, however, the end for Abigail’s book – find out more in our next post, coming soon!

If you’re visiting the Record Office soon, look out for our display of recipe books in Reception, or pop up to the Searchroom to order Abigail’s book (D/DU 161/623), or Miss A.D. Harrison’s article about it (D/DU 161/661).