appurtenances are reckoned up 1. Passefield 2. Walde 3. Upminster 4. Walthfare 5. Suppedene 6. Alwertowne 7. Wodeford 8. Lambehide 9. Nesingan 10. Brickindon 11. Melnhoo 12. Alichsea 13. Wormeley 14. Nichelswells 15. Hitchche 16. Lukendon 17. West-Wealtham Anno Dom. 1066 Anno Regis Harel 1. All these the King granted unto them cum Sacha Socha Tol and Team c. free from all gelts and payments in a most full and ample manner Witness himself Edith his Queen Stigand Archiepiscopus Dorobornensis Count Harold and many other Bishops and Lords subscribing the same Charter Anno Dom. 1067 Anno Regis Will. Conq. 1. Afterward Harold usurpeth the Crown but enjoyed it not a full year kill'd Harold Crowned killed buried at Waltham in Battle-fight by King William the Conqueror Where either of their swords if victorious might have done the deed though otherwise both their titles twisted together could not make half a good claim to the Crown Githa Mother of Harold and two religious men of this Abby Osegod and Ailric with their prayers and tears hardly prevailed with the Conquerour at first denying him burial whose ambition had caused the death of so many to have Harolds Corps with his two Brethren Girth and Leofwin losing their lives in the same battle to be entombed in Waltham Church of his foundation He was buried where now the Earl of Carlile his leaden Fountain in his Garden then probably the end of the Quire or rather some Eastern Chappel beyond it His Tomb of plain but rich gray Marble with what seemeth a Cross-Floree but much descanted on with art upon the same supported with Pillarets one Pedestal whereof I have in my house As for his reported Epitaph I purposely omit it not so much because barbarous scarce any better in that Age but because not attested to my apprehension with sufficient Authority A Picture of King Harold in glass was lately to be seen in the North-window Deforming Reformers of the Church till ten years since some barbarous hand beat it down under the notion of Superstition Surely had such ignorant persons been imployed in the dayes of Hezekiah to purge the Temple from the former Idolatry under the pretence thereof they would have rended off the Lilie-work from the Pillars and the Lions Oxen and Cherubims from the Bases of Brass However there is still a place called Harolds-Park in our Parish by him so denominated Let not therefore the village of Harold on the North side of Ouse neer Bedford properly Harewood or Harelswood on vulgar groundless tradition contest with Waltham for this Kings interment The Re-foundation of WALTHAM-ABBY by HENRY the Second ONe will easily believe that at the death of King Harold Waltham-Abby Waltham Canons in a sad condition Founded by him was in a swoon and the Canons therein much disheartned However they had one help which was this that Edward the Confessour was the confirmer of their Foundation whose memory was not onely fresh and fair in all mens mindes bearing a veneration to his supposed sanctity but also King William the Conquerour had the best of his bad titles by bequest of the Crown from this Confessour So that in some sense Waltham-Abby might humbly crave kindred of King William both deriving their best being from one and the same person The industry of Rob. Fuller last Abbot of Waltham Know Reader that what ever hereafter I alledg touching the Lands and Liberties of Waltham if not otherwise attested by some Author in the margin is by me faithfully transcribed out of Waltham Leidger-Book now in the possession of the Right Honourable JAMES Earl of Carlile This Book was collected by Robert Fuller the last Abbot of Waltham who though he could not keep his Abby from dissolution did preserve the Antiquities thereof from oblivion The Book as appears by many inscriptions in the initial Text-letters was made by himself having as happy an hand in fair and fast writing as some of his Sir-name since have been defective therein Anno Dom. 1102 Anno Regis Hen. 1 3. Not long after the Conquest Waltham-Abby found good Benefactors and Queen Maud gives Waltham Monks a Mill. considerable additions to their maintenance For Maud the first Queen to King Henry the first bestowed on them the Mill at Waltham which she had by exchange for Trinity-Church in London which I take to be part of the Trintly-Priory now called the Dukes-place Anno Dom. 1130 Anno Regis Hen. 1. 31. Adelisia second wife to King Henry the first being possessed of Waltham as part of her Revenue gave all the Tythes thereof as well of her Demesnes Queen Adelisia the Tythes as all Tenants therein to the Canons of Waltham Mean time how poorly was the Priest of the place provided for Yea a glutton Monastery in former ages makes an hungrie Ministrie in our dayes An Abby and a Parsonage unimpropriate in the same place are as inconsistent together as good woods and an Iron Mill. Had not Waltham Church lately met with a Noble Founder the Minister thereof must have kept more fasting-dayes then ever were put in the Roman Calender Anno Dom. 1135 Anno Regis Steph. 1 King Stephen though he came a wrong way to the Crown yet did all King Steven his bounty right to the Monastery of Waltham as who generally sought the good will of the Clergie to strengthen himself and confirmed all their Lands profits and priviledges unto them Anno Dom. 1156 Anno Regis Hen. 2 2. King Henry the second utterly dissolved the foundation of Dean and eleven King Henry dissolves the Dean and Canons at Waltham Canons at Waltham The debauchedness of their lives is rendred in his Charter as the occasion thereof Cum in ea Canonici Clericique minùs religiosè aequaliter vixissent ita quòd infamia conversationis illorum multos scandalisasset Whether these were really or onely reputed vitious God knows seeing all those must be guilty whom power is pleased to pronounce so Sure it is King Henry outed this Dean and Canons and placed an Abbot and Regular Augustinians in their room encreasing their number to twenty four And because to use the Kings own words it was fit that Christ his Spouse should have a new dowry he not onely confirmed to this Monastery the primitive patrimony mentioned in the Confessors Charter cum peciis terrae With many pieces of land and tenements which their Benefactors since bestowed upon them but also conferred the rich Manors of Sewardstone and Eppings on this Monastery The whole Charter of King Henry is too long to transcribe but some passages Augustinians substituted in their room therein must not be omitted First the King had the consent of Pope Alexander for the suppression of these Canons the rather moved thereunto quia praedictis Canonicis sufficienter provisum fuit because the aforesaid expelled Canons had sufficient provision made for them For grant them never so scandalous this was to add
THE HISTORY OF Waltham-Abby in Essex Founded by KING HAROLD Patria est ubicunque est bene Bene vixit qui bene latuit By THOMAS FULLER the CURATE thereof SIC OMNI TEMPORE VERNO LONDON Printed in the Year M. DC LV. To the Right Honourable JAMES HAY EARL of CARLILE VISCOUNT Doncaster BARON of Sauley and Waltham I Have formerly in this History presumed to trouble your Honour and now adventure the second time Indeed this Treatise containeth the description of your large Demesnes and larger Royalty and Command Should I therefore present it to any other save your self it would be held as a STRAY indeed wandring out of the right way it should go in and so without any thanks to me would fall to your Lordship as due unto you by the Custome of your Manor Your Honours most obliged Servant and Chaplain THOMAS FULLER THE HISTORY OF Waltham-Abby PRovidence by the hand of my worthy friends The Authors design having planted me for the present at Waltham-Abby I conceive that in our general work of Abbies I owe some particular description to that place of my abode Hoping my endeavours herein may prove exemplary to others who dwell in the sight of remarkable Monasteries to do the like and rescue the observables of their habitations from the teeth of time and oblivion Waltham is so called from the Saxon Ham Waltham why so named which is a Town whence the Diminutive Hamlet and Weald or Wealt that is woody whence the Weald of Kent it being Anciently over-grown with trees and timber Thus Kiriath-jearim or the City of the woods in Palestine Dendros an Island in Peloponnesus Sylviacum an Ancient City in Belgia got their names from the like woody scituation Some will have it called Waltham quasi Wealthie-Ham I wish they could make their words good in respect of the persons living therein though in regard of the soyl it self indeed it is rich and plentiful The Town is seated on the East side of the River Ley which not onely The situation thereof parteth Hartford-shire from Essex but also seven times parteth from its self whose septemfluous stream in coming to the Town is crossed again with so many bridges On the one side the Town it self hath large and fruitful Medows whose intrinsick value is much raised by the vicinity of London the grass whereof when first gotten an head is so sweet and lushious to Cattle that they diet them at the first entring therein to half an hour a day lest otherwise they over-eat themselves which some Kine yearlie do and quickly die for it notwithstanding all their Keepers care to the contrary On the other side a spacious Forest spreads it self where fourteen years since one might have seen whole Herds of Red and Fallow Deer But these late licentious years have been such a Nimrod such an Hunter that all at this present are destroyed though I could wish this were the worst effect which our woful Wars have produced The aire of the Town is condemned by many for over-moist and Aguish Excused from bad air caused by the depressed scituation thereof In confutation of which censure we produce the many aged persons in our Town above threescore and ten since my coming hither above threescore and ten years of age so that it seemes we are sufficiently healthful if sufficiently thankful for the same Sure I am what is wanting in good air in the Town is supplied in the Parish wherein as many pleasant hils and prospects are as any place in England doth afford Tovy a man of great wealth and authority as being the Kings Staller First Founded by Tovy that is Standard-Bearer first Founded this Town for the great delight which he took in the game the place having plenty of Deer He planted onely threescore and six in-dwellers therein Athelstan his son proved a Prodigal and quickly spent all his Fathers Falls back to the Crown goods and great estate so that by some transactions the place returned to the Crown Anno Dom. 1060 Anno Regis Edw. Con ∣ fessor v 18. Edward the Confessour bestowed Waltham with the Lands thereabouts Bestowed on Earl Harold on Harold his Brother-in-law who presently built and endowed therein a Monastery whereof nothing at this day is extant save the West end or body of the Church A structure of Gothish-building rather large then neate firm then fair The model of the modern Church Very dark the design of those dayes to raise devotion save that it was helped again with artificial lights and is observed by Artists to stand the most exactly East and West of any in England The great pillars thereof are wreathed with indentings which vacuities if formerly filled up with Brasse as some confidently report added much to the beauty of the building But it matters not so much their taking away the Brasse from the Pillars had they but left the Lead on the Roof which is but meanly Tiled at this day In a word the best commendation of the Church is that on Lords-dayes generally it is filled with a great and attentive Congregation To the South-side of the Church is joyned a Chappel formerly our Ladies Mortality triumphant now a School-house and under it an arched Charnel-house the fairest that ever I saw Here a pious fancy could make a feast to its self on those dry bones with the meditation of mortality where it is hard yea impossible to discern the Sculls of a rich from a poor wise from a simple noble from a mean person Thus all counters are alike when put up together in the box or bag though in casting of account of far different valuation King Harold Dedicated the Monastery to the honour of an Holy Cross A Dean and Canons founded at Waltham found far West-ward and brought hither as they write by miracle whence the Town hath the addition of Waltham-Holy-Cross but the Church we finde in after ages also Dedicated to St Laurence His foundation was for a Dean and eleven Secular Black Canons Let none challenge the words of impropriety seeing a Dean in Latin Decanus hath his name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ten over which number he is properly to be preposed For nothing more common then to wean words from their infant and original sense and by custome to extend them to a larger signification as Dean afterwards plainly denoted a superiour over others whether fewer then ten as the six Prebendaries of Rochester or moe as the three and thirty of Salisbury The Dean and eleven Canons were plentifully provided for each Canon having a Manor and the Dean six for his maintenance Anno Dom. 1062 Anno Regis Edw. Con ∣ fessor v 20. For in the Charter of Confirmation made by King Edward the Confessor Seventeen Manors confirm'd to them by the Confessor besides north-North-land in Waltham now called as I take it North-field wherewith the Monastery was first endowed these following Lordshops with all their
was High Sheriff of the County in the year 1480. leaving Edmond Denny to inherit his estate Edmond Denny was one of the Barons of the Exchequer in credit and favour Edm. Denny Baron of the Exchequer with King Edward the Fourth and Henry the Seventh He Married Mary the Daughter and Heir of Robert Troutbeck Esquire on whom he begat Thomas Denny from whom the Dennies in Norfolk are descended Anthony Denny second Son to Baron Denny was Knighted by King Henry Anthony Denny his high commendations the Eighth made Gentleman of his Bed-chamber Privy-Councellour and one of his Executors I cannot say he was bred any great Scholar but finde him a Mecaenas and grand favourer of Learned men For when the School of b Ascham Commend Epist fol. 210. Idem fol. 208. Sedbury in the North belonging to St Johns in Cambridg was run to ruine the Lands thereof being sold and embezeled Sr Anthony procured the reparation of the Schoole and restitution of their means firmly setling them to prevent future alienation Hear what character c Mr Ascham gives of him Religio Doctrina Respublica omnes curas tuas sic occupant ut extra has tres res nullum tempus consumas Religion Learning Common-wealth so employ all thy cares that besides these three things you spend no other time Let then the enemies if any of his memory abate of this character to what proportion they please pretending it but the Orators Rhetorical Hyperbole the very remainder thereof which their malice must leave will be sufficient to speak Sr Anthony a worthy and meriting Gentleman I finde an excellent Epitaph made on him by one the Learned'st of Noblemen His Epitaph made by the Lord Howard and Noblest of Learned men in his age viz. Henry Howard Earl of Surrey and eldest son to the Duke of Norfolk worthy the Reader his perusal Vpon the Death of Sir Anthony a Weavers Funeral Monuments p. 852. Denny Death and the King did as it were contend Which of them two bare Denny greatest love The King to shew his love 'gan far extend Did him advance his betters far above Neer place much wealth great honour eke him gave To make it known what power Princes have But when Death came with his triumphant gift From worldly cark he quit his wearied ghost Free from the corps and straight to Heaven it lift Now deem that can who did for Denny most The King gave wealth but fading and unsure Death brought him bliss that ever shall endure Know Reader that this Lord made this Epitaph by a Poetical Prolepsis otherwise at the reading thereof who would not conceive that the Author surviv'd the subject of his Poem Whereas indeed this Lord died beheaded 1546. in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth whom Sr Anthony out-lived being one of the Executors of his Will Nor was it the worst piece of service he performed to his Master when all other Courtiers declining the employment he truly acquainted him with his dying-condition to dispose of his soul for another world Sr Anthony died about the second of Edward the sixth Dame Joan his His issue by Dame Joan his wife Wife surviving him Daughter she was to Sr Philip Champernoon of Modbury in Devon-shire a Lady of great beauty and parts a favourer of the Reformed Religion when the times were most dangerous She sent eight shillings by her man in a Violet coat to Anne b Fox Acts Monuments fol. 1239. Aschough when imprisoned in the Counter a small sum yet a great gift so hazardous it was to help any in her condition This Lady Joan bought the Reversion in Fee of Waltham from King Edward the Sixth paying three thousand and hundred pounds for the same purchasing therewith large priviledges in Waltham-Forest as by the Letters Patents doth appear She bare two Sons to Sr Anthony Henry Denny Esquire of whom hereafter the second Sr Edward who by Gods blessing Queen Elizabeths bounty and his own valour atchieved a fair estate in the County of Kerry in Ireland which at this day is if any thing in that woful war-wasted Countrey can be enjoyed by his great Grandchild Arthur Denny Esq of Tralleigh The condition of Waltham Church from the Dissolution of the Abby untill the Death of King HENRY the Eighth HAving the perusal of the Church-Wardens accounts wherein their Ancient expences and receits are exactly taken fairly written and carefully kept I shall select thence some memorable Items to acquaint us with the general devotion of those dayes Know then there were six Ordinary Obits which the Church-wardens did annually discharge viz. For Thomas Smith and Joan his wife on the sixteenth of January Thomas Friend Joan and Joan his wives on the sixteenth of February Robert Peest and Joan his wife on the tenth of April Thomas Towers and Katharine his wife the six and twentieth of April John Breges and Agnes his wife the one and thirtieth of May. Thomas Turner and Christian his wife the twentieth day of December The charge of an Obit was two shillings and two pence and if any be curious to have the particulars thereof it was thus expended To the Parish-Priest four pence to our Ladies-Priest three pence to the Charnel-Priest three pence to the two Clerks four pence to the Children these I conceive Chorisâ—ers three pence to the Sexton two pence to the Bell-man two pence for two Tapers two pence for Oblation two pence Oh the reasonable rates at Waltham two shillings two pence for an Obit the price whereof in Saint Pauls in London was fourty shillings For forsooth the higher the Church the holier the service the dearer the price though he had given too much that had given but thanks for such vanities To defray the expences of these Obits the parties prayed for or their Executors left Lands Houses or Stock to the Church-Wardens Thomas Smith bequeathed a Tenement in the Corn-Market and others gave Lands in Vpshire called Pater-noster-Hills others ground elswhere besides a stock of eighteen Cows which the Wardens let out yearly to farm for eighteen shillings making up their yearly accounts at the Feast of Michael the Arch-Angel out of which we have excerpted the following remarkable particulars Anno 1542. the 34th of HENRY the 8th Imprimjs For watching the Sepulchre a groat This constantly returnes in every yearly account though what meant thereby I know not I could suspect some Ceremony on Easter-eve in imitation of the Souldiers watching Christs grave but am loath to charge that Age with more superstition then it was clearly guilty of Item Paid to the Ringers at the coming of the Kings Grace six pence Yet Waltham Bells told no tales every time King Henry came hither having a small house in rome-Rome-land to which he is said oft privately to retire for his pleasure Item Paid unto two men of Law for their counsel about the Church-leases six shillings eight pence Item Paid the Attorney for his Fee twenty pence
scandal to scandal to thrust them out of house and home without any means or maintenance Secondly this Charter presents us with the ancient liberties of Waltham-Church that Semper fuit Regalis Capella ex primitiva sui fundatione nulli Archiepiscopo vel Episcopo sed tantùm Ecclesiae Romanae Regiae dispositioni subjecta And though since Reformation the Church hath been subjected to the Arch-Bishops jurisdiction as succeeding to the Royal power and sometimes with grumbling and reluctancy to the Episcopal power yet it never as yet owned an Arch-Deacon or appeared at his Visitation The metioning of the consent of Pope Alexander to the suppression of Rome-land in Waltham Waltham Dean and Canons and substituting Augustinians in their room mindeth me of a spacious place in this Town at the entrance of the Abby built about with houses called Rome-land as Peter-pence were termed Rome-scot at this day It is generally believed that the rents thereof peculiarly belonged to the Church of Rome Thus the Pope would not be so bad a carver as to cut all away to others and reserve no corner to himself Anno Dom. 1189 Anno Regis Ric. 1 1. King Richard the first though generally not too loving to the Clergie Fitz-Aucher setled at Copt-Hall amply confirmed his Fathers Foundation and gave Lands to Richard Fitz-Aucher in this Parish to hold them in Fee and hereditarily of the Church of Waltham-Holy-Cross This Fitz-Aucher fixed himself at Copt-Hall a stately house in the Parish Whether so called contractedly quasi Cobbing-Hall from Cobbing Anno Dom. 1226 Anno Regis Hen. 3 10. a rivolet running not far off or from two ancient and essential Turrets of that house which are coped and covered with Lead or from in my minde most probable an high and sharp Hill thus Copeland so called in Cumberland whereon the house is founded In or about this Kings Reign Hugh Nevil with the consent of Jone his Hugh Nevil a bountiful benefactor wife and John his son bestowed the Manor of Thorndon on the Monastery of Waltham of whom largely before King Henry the third to spare Court-keeping came often and lay long at Abbies so that Waltham the nearest mitred Abby to London had much of his company Being a Religious Prince great were his desires but withall necessitous small his deeds in endowing Churches However what he wanted in giving himself he supplied in confirming the gifts of others And finding it the cheapest way of benefaction to give liberties then lands he bestowed on Waltham a weekly Market and a Faire so called à feriando from peoples playing there to last seven dayes which now is divided into two but of shorter continuance the one on the third day of May the Invention the other on the fourteenth of September the Exaltation of the Cross We now have a Market on Tuesday but cannot boast of much trading Waltham Market therein Indeed there is plenty of Flesh but little Corn brought thither and Bread is the staff as of a man so of a Market Nor let us impute the thinness of Chapmen in Summer to Husbandmens having no leasure as busied in tillage Hay or harvest or in Winter to their having no pleasure to repair thither in so deep and dirty wayes seeing the plain truth is no underwood can thrive neer the droppings of so great an Oke the vicinity of London The golden Market in Leaden-Hall makes leaden Markets in all the Townes thereabouts Anno Dom. 1245 Anno Regis Hen. 3 30. In the first year that Simon was made Abbot which by exactest proportion Broils betwixt the Abbot and the Townsmen about Commons we collect to be about the thirtieth year of King Henry the third the * M. S. of Edward Stacy written as appears by character 140 years since fol. 42. men of Waltham came into the Marsh which the Abbot and his Covent formerly enjoyed as several to themselves killed four Mares worth fourty shillings sterling at least and drove away all the rest The Abbot was politickly pleased for the present not to take notice thereof The next year some men of Waltham went to the Abbot the Thursday before Easter in the name of the whole Village and demanded of him to remove his Mares and Colts out of the Marsh This the Abbot refused to do adding withal that if his Bailiffs had placed his Cattle otherwhere then they ought they might do well to have it amended yet so as to defer the matter till Tuesday after Easter Anno Dom. 1246 Anno Regis Hen. 3 31. On that Tuesday Richard Brother to the King Duke of Cornwall came The sturdiness of the Townsmen to Waltham at what time both the men and women of the Town repaired to the gate of the Abbey to receive the Abbots final answer He told them that he could not speak with them for the present as providing himself for a long journey into Lincoln-shire there to visit the Justices itinerant but by his Prior and other Canons he desired them to be patient till his return when he would mend what was to be mended Not satisfied therewith and neither respecting the spiritual holiness of the Abbot nor Temporal greatness of the Duke railed at and reviled him Then into the pasture they go and in driving out the Abbots Mares and Colts drowned three worth twenty shillings spoiled ten moe to the value of ten marks and beat their keepers who resisted them even to the shedding of bloud But after the Abbot returned from Lincoln-shire the Townsmen fearing The most guiltie first accuse they should be trounced for their riot desired a Love-day submitted themselves unto him and profered to pay him damage But next day when the performance of these promises were expected away went the Waltham-men with their wives and children to the King to London inraging him as much as in them lay against the Abbot accusing him that he would disinherit them of their right Anno Dom. 1246 Anno Regis Hen. 3 31. bring up new customes take away their Pastures and to use their own words eat them up to the bones and that he had wounded and abused some of them who stood defending their own rights Which false report was believed of many to the great disgrace of the Covent of Waltham The Abbot would not put up so great a wrong but having Episcopal The Abbot comes off conqueror power in himself proceeded to the Excommunication of the Rebellious Walthamites But the Townsmen went another way to work namely to defend their right by the Common Laws of the Realm Whereupon Stephen Fitz-Bennet Simon of the Wood William Theyden and Ralph of the Bridge in the name of all the rest implead the Abbot for appropriating their Commons to himself But in fine after many cross pleadings here too long to relate the Abbot so acquitted himself that he made both his own right and the Townsmens riot to appear who at last at the Kings-Bench were glad
to confess that they had done evil and were amerced twenty Marks to the Abbot which he not onely remitted unto them but also on their submission assoiled them from the Excommunication Anno Dom. 1248 Anno Regis Hen. 3 33. The brawls betwixt the Abbot and Townsmen of Waltham were no sooner The sute betwixt the Abbot of Waltham and the Lord of Chesthunt ended but far fiercer began betwixt the said Abbot and the Lord of Chesthunt on the like occasion This Chesthunt is a large Parish in Hertford-shire confining on the West of Waltham so called saith * In his short Survey of Hertford-shire Norden quasi Castanetum of Chestnut-trees though now I believe one hardly appears in the whole Lordship In this sute Plaintiff Peter Duke of Savoy the Kings dear Uncle first founder I take it of the Savoy in London on whom the King conferred many Lordships and Chesthunt amongst the rest Judges Ralph Fitz-Nicolas John of Lexington Paulin Peyner Seneschal Henry of Bath Jeremy of Caxton Henry de Bretton Defendant Simon the Abbot and the Covent of Waltham Solicitor Adam de Alverton The Case The Plaintiff endeavoured to prove that the stream of Ley called the Kings-Stream dividing Hertford-shire from Essex ran thorow the Town of Waltham all the land West thereof belonging to the Manor of Chesthunt This was denied by the Defendant maintaining that Small-Ley-stream running welnigh half a mile West of Waltham parted the Counties all the interjacent meadows pertained to Waltham Perusing the names of these the Kings Justices at Westminster who would A like not the same not suspect but that this Henry of Bath was Bishop of that See considering how many Clergy-men in that age were imployed in places of Judicature But the suspicion is causless finding none of that name in the Episcopal Catalogue Others in like manner may apprehend that Bretton here mentioned was that Learned Lawyer afterwards Bishop of Hereford who wrote the * See Godwin in his Bishops of Hereford Book De Juribus Anglicanis and who flourished in the latter end of the Reign of this King Henry the third But his name being John not Henry discovereth him a different person Not long after this sute was finally determined and Peter Duke of Savoy remised and quit-claimed from him and his Heirs to the said Abbot and his Successors the right and claim he had to ask in the same Meadows and Marshes of the said Abbot This is called in the Instrument sinalis concordia though it proved neither final nor a concord For soon after this palliaâ—cure broke out again and the matter was in variance and undetermined betwixt Robert the last Abbot and the Lord of Chesthunt when the Abby was dissolved Many accessions besides those common prolongers of all sutes namely the heat of mens anger and the bellows of instruments gaining by Law did concur to lengthen this cause 1. The considerableness and concernment of the thing controverted being a large and rich portion of ground 2. The difficulty of the cause about the chanels of that River which Proteus-like in several Ages hath appeared in sundry formes disguised by derivations on different occasions 3. The greatness of the Clients Chesthunt Lordship being alwayes in the hand of some potent person and the Corporation of Waltham Covent able to wage Law with him Hence hath this sute been as long-liv'd as any in England not excepting that in * Cambden in Glocester-shire Glocester-shire betwixt the posterity of Vice-Count Lisle and the Lord Barkley seeing very lately if not at this day there were some sutes about our bounds Waltham Meadows being very rich in grass and hay but too fruitful in contentions For mine own part that wound which I cannot heal I will not widen and seeing I may say with the Poet Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites No power of mine so far extends As for to make both parties friends I will not turn of an unpartial Historian an engaged person who as a neighbour wish well to Chesthunt as a Parishioner better to Waltham as a Christian best to both And therefore so much for matter of fact in our Records and Leiger-books leaving all matters of right for others to decide Mean time whilest the Abbot and Monks of Waltham were vexed with the men of Chesthunt they found more favour if publick fame belies them not from some loving women in that Parish I mean the Holy Sisters in Chesthunt-Nunnery whose House when ever Founded I finde some ten years since thus confirmed by Royal Authority Henricus Rex Anglie Dominus Hybernie Dux Normanie Aquitanie Chesthunt Nunnery Founded Comes Andegavie c. Shestrehunt Moniales totam terram Dom. teneant cum pertinentiis suisque Canonicis de Cathele c. quos amoveri fecimus Datum apud West xj Aug. Anno Regni nostri xxiiij But this subject begins to swell beyond the bounds intended unto it lest therefore what we intended but a Tract should swell to a Tome we will here descend to matters of later date Onely be it premised that some years before the Dissolution Robert the Copt-Hall past to King Hen. 8. last Abbot of Waltham passed over the fair seat of Copt-Hall unto King Henry the eighth Thus as the Castor when pursued by the Hunter to make his escape is reported to bite off his own stones as the main treasure sought after and so saves his life by losing a limb So this Abbot politickly parted with that stately Mansion in hope thereby to preserve the rest of his revenues However all would not do so impossible it is to save what is design'd to ruine and few years after the Abby with the large Lands thereof were seized on by the King and for some Moneths He alone stood possessed thereof The Extraction Charter Death and Issue of Sir Anthony Dennie on whom King Henry the Eighth bestowed WALTHAM-ABBY AT the Dissolution King Henry bestowed the Site of this Abby with A Lease of Waltham-Abby given to Sir Anthony Denny many large and rich Lands belonging thereunto on Sr Anthony Dennie for the terme of Thirty one years Let us a little enquire into his extraction and discent I finde the name very Ancient at a Speed or rather Sr Rob. Cotton in Huntingdon-shire Chesterton in Huntington-shire where John Denny the great souldâ—er in France the Heir-general was long since married to the worshipful and Ancient Family of the Bevils It seems a branch of the Male-line afterwards fixed in Hertford-shire Whereof John Denny Esquire valiantly served Henry the fifth in France where he was slain and buried with Thomas his second Son in St Dionys his Chappel their interment in so noble a place speaking their worthy performances In the Reign of Queen Mary a Frier shewed their Tombes to Sr Matthew Carew together with their Coates and differences Henry eldest son of this John Denny begat William Denny of Chesthunt in Hertford-shire which William
Item Paid for Ringing at the Prince his coming a penny Anno 1543. the 35th of HENRY the 8th Imprimis Received of the Executors of Sr Robert Fuller given by the said Sr Robert to the Church ten pounds How is this man degraded from the Right Honourable the Lord Abbot of Waltham the last in that place to become a poor Sr Robert the title of the meanest Priest in that age Yet such his charity in his poverty that besides this legacy he bequeathed to the Church a Chalice a The Church-wardens account Anno 1556. silver and gilt which they afterwards sold for seven pounds Anno 1544. the 36. of HENRY the 8th Imprimis Received of Adam Tanner the overplus of the money which was gathered for the purchase of the Bells two pound four shillings and eleven pence It seems the Kings Officers sold and the Parish then purchased the five Bells being great and tunable who as they gave bountifully so I presume they bought reasonably and the surplusage of the money was delivered Item Received of Richard Tanner for eight Stoles three shillings A Stole was a vestment which the Priest used Surely these were much worn and very rags of Popery as sold for four pence half penny a piece It seems the Church-wardens were not so charitable to give away nor so superstitious to burn but so thrifty as to make profit by sale of these decayed vestments Item Paid for mending the hand-bell two pence This was not fixed as the rest in any place of Church or Steeple but being a Diminutive of the Saints-bell was carried in the Sextons hands at the circumgestation of the Sacrament the visitation of the sick and such like occasions Item Paid to Philip Wright Carpenter for making a frame in the Bell-frey eighteen shillings four pence The Bels being bought by the Parishioners were taken down out of the decayed Steeple and we shall afterwards see what became thereof Mean time a timber-frame was made which the aged of the last generation easily remembred in the South-East end of the Church-yard where now two Yew-trees stand and a shift made for some years to hang the Bells thereon Anno 1546. the 38. of HENRY the 8th Item For clasps to hold up the Banners in the body of the Church eight pence By these I understand not Pennons with Arms hanging over the Graves of interred Gentlemen but rather some superstitious Sireamers usually carried about in Procession Item Paid to John Boston for mending the Organs twentie pence The state of Waltham Church during the Reign of King EDWARD the Sixth OLd things are passed away behold all things now are become new Superstition by degrees being banished out of the Church we hear no more of prayers and Masses for the dead Every Obit now had its own Obit and fully expired the Lands formerly given thereunto being imployed to more charitable uses But let us select some particulars of the Church-wardens accounts in this Kings dayes Anno 1549. the 3d. of EDWARD the Sixth Imprimis Sold the Silver plate which was on the desk in the Charnel weighing five ounces for twenty five shillings Guess the gallantry of our Church by this presuming all the rest in proportionable equipage when the desk whereon the Priest read was inlaid with plate of silver Item Sold a rod of iron which the curtain run upon before the Rood nine pence The Rood was an Image of Christ on the Cross made generally of wood and erected in a loft for that purpose just over the passage out of the Church into the Chancel And wot you what spiritual mysterie was couched in this position thereof The Church forsooth typified the Church Militant the Chancel represents the Church Triumphant and all who will pass out of the former into the latter must go under the Rood-loft that is carry the cross and be acquainted with affliction I add this the rather because a Fox Acts Mon in the examination of Tho. Hawks pag. 1590. Harpsfield that great Scholar who might be presumed knowing in his own art of Superstition confesseth himself ignorant of the reason of the Rood-scituation Item Sold so much Wax as amounted to twenty six shillings So thrifty the Wardens that they bought not candles and tapers ready made but bought the wax at the best hand and payed poor people for the making of them Now they sold their Magazine of wax as useless Under the Reformation more light and fewer candles Item Paid for half of the Book called Paraphrase five shillings By the seventh Injunction of King Edward each Parish was to procure the Paraphrase of Erasmus namely the first part thereof on the Gospels and the same to be set up in some convenient place in the Church Item Spent in the Visitation at Chelmsford amongst the Wardens and other honest men fourteen shillings four pence A round summe I assure you in those dayes This was the first Visitation kept by Nicholas Ridley newly Bishop of London whereat Waltham-Wardens ever appeared out of their own Town whose Abbot formerly had Episcopal Jurisdiction Anno 1551 the 5th of EDWARD the 6th Imprimis Received for a Knell of a servant to the Lady Mary her Grace ten pence Copt-Hall in this Parish being then in the Crown the Lady afterwards Queen Mary came thither sometimes to take the air probably during whose residence there this her servant died Item Lost fourty six shillings by reason of the fall of money by Proclamation King Henry much debased the English Coyn to his own gain and the Lands loss if Soveraigns may be said to get by the damage of their Subjects yet all would not do to pay his debts His Son Edward endeavoured to reduce the Coyn to its true standard decrying bad money by his Proclamation to the intrinsick value thereof But prevented by death he effected not this difficult design Adultery in Men and Adulterateness in Money both hardly reclaimed which was afterwards compleated by the care of Queen Elizabeth Item Received for two hundred seventy one ounces of Plate sold at several times for the best advantage sixtie seven pound fourteen shillings and nine pence Now was the Brotherhood in the Church dissolved consisting as formerly of three Priests three Choristers and two Sextons and the rich plate belonging to them was sold for the good of the Parish It may seem strange the Kings Commissioners deputed for that purpose seised not on it from whose hands Waltham found some favour befriended by the Lord Rich their Countrey-man the rather because of their intentions to build their decaied Steeple Church-alterations in the Reign of Queen MARY NEw Lady new Laws Now strange the Metamorphosis in Waltham Condemn not this our Como-graphie or description of a Country-Town as too low and narrow a subject seeing in some sort the Historie of Waltham-Church is the Church-History of England all Parishes in that age being infected alike with superstition Nor intend I hereby to renew the memorie of Idolatrie but to revive
our gratitude to God for the abolishing thereof whose numerous trinkets here ensue Anno 1554. Mariae primo Imprimis For a Cross with a foot copper and gilt twentie five shillings Item For a Cross-staff copper and gilt nine shillings and four pence Item For a Pax copper and gilt five shillings Greet one another saith St a 1 Cor 16. 20 Paul with an holy kiss on which words of the Apostle the Pax had its original This Ceremony performed in the Primitive times and Eastern Countries was afterwards to prevent wantonness to make the more expedition commuted into a new custome viz. A piece of wood or metall with Christ's picture thereon was made and solemnly tendred to all people to kiss This was called the Pax or Peace to shew the unity and amity of all there assembled who though not immediately by the Proxie of the Pax kissed one another Item For a pair of Censers copper and gilt nine shillings and eight pence These were pots in the which frankincense was burned perfuming the Church during Divine Service Item For a Stock of brass for the Holy-water seven shillings Which by the Canon must be of marble or metall and in no case of brick b Durantus de Ritibus Eccles num 6. pag. 173. lest the sacred liquor be suck'd up by the spunginess thereof Item For a Chrismatory of pewter three shillings four pence This was a vessel in which the consecrated oyl used in Baptisme Confirmation and Extreme Vnction was deposited Item For a yard of silver Sarcenet for a cloth for the Sacrament seven shillings eight pence Here some Silkeman or Mercer must satisfie us what this was The price seems too low for Sarcenet inwoven with silver and too high for plain Sarcenet of a silver colour Item For a Pix of Pewter two shillings This was a Box wherein the Host or consecrated wafer was put and preserved Item For Mary and John that stand in the Rood-loft twenty six shillings eight pence Christ c John 19. 26 c. on the Cross saw his Mother and the Disciple whom he loved standing by In apish imitation whereof the Rood when perfectly made with all the appurtenances thereof was attended with these two images Item For washing eleven Aubes and as many Head-clothes six pence An Aube or Albe was a Priests garment of white linen down to their feet girded about his middle The thin matter denoted simplicity colour purity length deep d Duranius de Ritibus Eccles num 9. pag. 316. Divinitie perseverance and the cincture thereof signified the person wearing it prompt and prepared for Gods service Their head-clothes were like our Sergeants Coifes but close and not turned up Item For watching the Sepulchre eight pence Thus the price of that service but a groat in King Henries dayes was doubled However though Popery was restored to its kinde yet was it not re-estated in its former degree in the short Reign of Queen Mary for we finde no mention of the former six Obits anniversarily performed the lands for whose maintenance were alienated in the Reign of King Edward and the Vicar of the Parish not so charitable as to celebrate these Obits gratis without any reward for the same Item For a Processioner and a Manual twenty pence Item For a Corporas-cloth twelve pence This was a linen cloth laid over or under the consecrated Host Item To the Apparitor for the Bishops Book of Articles at the Visitâ—â—ion six pence This Bishop was bloudy Bonner that corpulent Tyrant full as one said of guts and empty of bowels who visited his Diccess before it was sick and made it sick with his Visitation His Articles were in number thirty seven and John a Fox Acts Mon. pag. 1474. Bale wrote a book against them The Bishops chief care herein was the setting up of compleat Roods commonly called but when without his ear-reach Bonners Block-almightie If any refused to provide such blocks for him let them expect he would procure fagots for them Anno 1556. Mariae tertio Imprimis For coles to undermine a piece of the Steeple which stood after the first fall two shillings This Steeple formerly stood in the middle now East end of the Church and being ruined past possibilitie of repair fell down of it self onely a remaining part was blown up by underminers How quickly can a few destroy what required the age and industry of many in long time to raise and advance It soundeth not a little to the praise of this Parish that neither burthensome nor beholding to the Vicinage for a collection they re-built the Steeple at the West end of the Church on their own proper cost enabled thereunto partly by their stock in the Church-box arising from the sale as is aforesaid of the goods of the Brotherhood and partly by the voluntary contribution of the Parishioners This Tower-Steeple is eighty six foot high from the foundation to the battlements each b The thirty three foot on the top difficulty danger of climbing made it the dearer cost fourty shillings a foot as appeareth by the Church-wardens accounts Anno 1563. foot whereof besides the materials preprovided costing thirty three shillings four pence the building Three years passed from the founding to the finishing thereof every years work discernable by the discolouration of the stones and the Parish was forced for the perfecting of the building to sell their Bells hanging before in a wooden frame in the Church-yard so that Waltham which formerly had Steeple-less-Bells now had for some years a Bell-less-Steeple The condition of the Church from the beginning of Queen ELIZABETH to this day IN eleven full years viz. from the last of King Henry the Eighth Anno 1547. till the first of Queen Elizabeth 1558. this Church found four changes in Religion Papist and Protestant Papist and Protestant again The last turn will appear by the Wardens following accounts Anno 1558. Elizabethae's primo Imprimis For the taking down of the Rood-loft three shillings two pence If then there living and able I hope I should have lent an helping hand to so good a work as now I bestow my prayers that the like may never in England be set up again Item Received for a suite of Vestments being of blew velvet and another suite of Damask and an Altar-cloth four pound Item For three Corporasses whereof two white silk and one blew velvet two pound thirteen shillings four pence Item For two suits of Vestments and an Altar-cloth three pound Now was the superstitious Ward-robe dispersed and that no doubt sold for shillings which cost pounds They were beheld as the garments spotted with sin and therefore the less pity to part with them But see what followeth Anno 1562. Elizabethae quinto Item For a cloth of Buckeram for the Communion-Table and the making four shillings Having sold so much could they not afford a better Carpet Is there no mean betwixt painting a face and not washing it He must have
a fixt aim and strong hand who hits decency and misseth gaudiness and sluttery But there is a generation of people who over-do in the spirit of opposition such conceive that a tressel is good enough for Gods Table and such a Table Covering enough for it self Item For Lattices for the Church-windows fifteen shillings Fain would I for the credit of our Church by Lattices understand Casements if the word would bear it Yet surely it was not for covetousness wholly to spare glazing but thrift to preserve the glass that these Lattices did fence them on the outside Item Paid for a Bay Nagge given to Mr Henry Denny for the Abby wall three pound seventeen shillings This Nagge was rather a thankful acknowledgment of Mr. Denny his propriety then a just valuation of what the Parish received from him for it followeth Item To Labourers which did undermine the said wall fourty five shillings nine pence What then may the materials of that wall be presumed worth in themselves I conceive this was a building which ranged East beyond the old Steeple the demolishing whereof brought much profit to the Parish whose Wardens for some years drave a great trade in the sale of Lead Stone and Timber all devoured in the roofing flooring and finishing of their Steeple Anno 1563. Eliz. 6 to Imprimis For an old house in the old Market-place thirteen pound six shillings eight pence This Tenement low-rented yielded annually nine shillings Now the Parish sold it and another house in West-street outright letting Leases also of their other Church-lands for twenty one years such bargains made a Feast for the present age and a Famine for posterity Item For the old timber in the little Vestiary of St Georges Chappel fifteen shillings In vain have I enquired for the scituation hereof long since demolished and no wonder if St George his Chappel cannot be found when St George himself is affirmed by c Phâ—â—â—ppus Melancthon in Apologia Articulo 21. confessionis Augustana some as one never existent in rerum natura Item Received of Mr Denny for one Cope of Cloth of gold three pound six shillings eight pence Item For two Altar-Cloaths of Velvet and silk two pound It seemeth the Parish did not part with all their gallantry at once but made several stakes thereof and parcelled them out as their necessities did require Item Received of Mr Tamworth twenty loads of timber ready hewed which he gave to the Parish This Gentleman by his bounty to the Publick seems better known to God then to me having neither heard nor read of any of his name living in or near to Waltham Item For taking down the stairs in the Abby seven shillings eight pence This was part of the Nag-purchase whereby we collect that a large structure was by this bargain conveyed to the Parish Item For taking down the Lead from the Charnel-house and covering the Steeple eighteen shillings The Steeple was conceived above the Charnel-house as in height so in honour Wherefore now the Lead taken from it b was a Which is now but tiled translated to the covering of the Steeple Call this removing of this metal from one part of the Church to another onely the borrowing of St Peter to lend to St Paul Item For the Arch-Deacons man coming for a Record of all the Inhabitants of the Parish four pence I know not on what Canon this was founded It may be her Majestie in those dangerous times desired not out of Pride but necessary Policy to know the number of her Subjects and might enjoyn the Arch-Deacons in their respective Visitations to make this inquiry But Day begins to dawn and the light of our Age to appear matters coming High time to knock off within the memory of many alive We will therefore break off Waltham since affording no peculiar observables Onely will add that Sr Edward Grand-childe to Sr Anthony Denny was created by King James a Camdens Brit. in Essex Baron of Waltham and since made by King Charles Earl of Norwich A Noble person who setled on the Curate of Waltham to whom before a bare Stipend of Eight pound did belong one hundrod pound per annum with some other considerable accommodations tying good Land for the true performance thereof The Abby is now the Inheritance of this Earls Grand-childe by Honora his James Earle of Carlile present owner of Waltham Nicholas the most eminent Abbot of Waltham daughter James Hay Earl of Carlile who Married Margaret Daughter to Francis Earl of Bedford by whom as yet he hath no Issue for the continuance of whose happiness my prayers shall never be wanting The Reader may justly expect from me a Catalogue of all the Abbots of this Monastery But to do it falsly I dare not lamely I would not perfectly I cannot and therefore must crave to be excused Onely let me observe that Nicholas Abbot of Waltham was most triumphant in power of any in his place he flourished in the Reign of King Richard the second and was b Hen de Knighton de eventibus Angl. lib. v. pag 2687. one of the fourteen Commissioners chosen by Parliament to examine the miscariages in that Kings Reign since the death of his Grand-father Amongst the Natives of Waltham for States-men John de Waltham bears John de Waltham away the bell He was keeper of the Privy Seal in the Reign of King Richard c Hen. Knighton ut prius pag. 2685. Roger Waltham a learned writer the second being the third in number chosen amongst the fourteen Commissioners aforesaid impowred to examine all misdemeanours of State And now was not Waltham highly honoured with more then a single share when amongst those fourteen two were her Gremials the forenamed Nicholas living in Waltham and this John having his name thence because birth therein But amongst Scholars in our Town Roger Waltham must not be forgotten Canon of St Pauls in London and a great favourite to Fulk Basset Bishop thereof He wrote many learned books whereof two especially one called d Bale de script Brit. cent 4 pag. 302. Hugh Nevil buried in Waltham Compendium Morale the other Imagines Oratorum commend his parts and pains to posterity Pass we from those who were Born to eminent persons Buried therein Here we first meet with Hugh Nevile a Minion of King Richard the first he was Interred in Waltham Church saith my e Mat. Paris in Anno 122â— page 315. and also Robert Passe lew Author in Nobili Sarcophago Marmoreo insculpto in a Noble Coffin of Marble engrav'd If a Coffin be call'd Sarcophagus from consuming the Corps surely Sacriledg may be named Sarcophago-phagus which at this day hath devoured that Coffin and all belonging thereunto We spoil all if we forget Robert Passellew who was Dominus fac totum in the midle and fac nihil towards the end of the Reign of Henry the third Some Parasites extolled him by allusion to his name Pâ—ssâ—le-eau