" The population of Halstead parish, in 1821, was three thousand eight hundred and fifty-eigḥt; and, in 1831, the number of inhabitants was four thousand six hundred and thirty-seven. "

" This large irregular town consists chiefly of one wide and spacious street, rising by an easy ascent from the river Colne; it has retained its ancient Saxon name of þal stede, healthy place, which is with great propriety applicable to the pleasant eminence it occupies, the soil of which is dry and sandy.
In records, this name is corruptly written Halsed, Hausted, Hawlstede, Howsted; and, in more modern writings, has sometimes been named South Halstead, to distinguish it from a town of the same name in Suffolk. "

" It is on the high road from London to Sudbury, Bury, Norwich , and Yarmouth ; and the road from Colchester to Cambridge also passes through it. "

" It is distant from Colchester thirteen, from Sudbury seven , and from London forty six miles. It has a market on Tuesdays, and two fairs, the first on the sixth of May, and the other on the twenty-ninth of October. A market appears to have been established here in the time of the Saxons, as is indicated by the name of Cheping Hill, given to the ancient market-place , which is near the church, and on the same side of the street. The proprietorship of this market was retained by the crown till the year 1251, when it was granted, by Henry the Third, to Abel de St. Martin, who held two knights' fees in Halstead and Belchamp, under Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford. This Abel de St. Martin was indicted by Hugh de Vere for setting up a market at Halstead, which was stated to be prejudicial to the earl's market at his castle of Hedingham; but Abel, producing the royal grant, and proving the town's prescriptive right, the difference was adjusted, Abel agreeing to pay the earl the sum of half a mark yearly. The market is stated to have been held in the king's highway at the time of this occurrence, but was ordered to be removed to its ancient station on Cheping Hill, where it continued till the time of Queen Elizabeth, when it was again fixed in its present situation, near the centre of the town. "

" Besides the occupations of agriculture, the labouring population are engaged in the straw-plat manufacture; and the silk trade, introduced here since the failure of the bay trade, gives employment to a considerable number. The town contains many very good houses, and there are places for religious worship, belonging to Independents, Baptists, and Friends. Public meetings are generally held at the George Inn, there being no appropriate building for that purpose. The ancient prison has been destroyed by fire, and a new house of correction erected on the south side of the river. * The parish is of considerable extent; the soil of various descriptions, but generally good ; and , in the lower grounds , hops of a superior quality are successfully cultivated.t In the reign of Edward the Confessor these lands were holden in soccage , under Earl Godwin , and , at the general survey, were in the possession of Richard Fitz Gilbert , earl of Clare; William de Warren, earl of Warren and Surrey; and Robert Malet, lord of the barony of Eye. "

" There are three capital manors in this parish. Bois Hall Richard, the eldest son of Gislebert, or Gilbert, and grandson of Geofrey, natural son of Richard, duke of Normandy, was in possession of the lordship of Halstead, at the time of the general survey : he claimed relationship to the Conqueror , from whom he received thirty - five lordships in Essex, ninety - five in Suffolk , and thirty-eight in Surrey ; he had also Tunbridge in Kent , from which he is, in records , sometimes named Richard de Tonebruge . The chief seat of the family was Clare , of which honour the lordship of Halstead was holden , by the service of four knights ' fees ; it originally included within its jurisdiction nearly the whole of the parish , and also extended into many of the surrounding parishes . Soon after the Conquest , it was held under the earl , by a family surnamed De Hausted , from the place ; and in the reign of King Stephen , or in that of Henry the Second , Peter , the son of Richard de Hau sted , sold the manor of Halstead to Abel de St. Martin . His house , where the court used to be kept , has remained to the present time ; it is an ancient building , of mean appearance , in Hedingham - lane , yet known by the name of Abels . The ancestor of this family of St. Martin is believed to have been Sir Renaud de St. Martin , a knight banneret in the reigns of Henry the Third and Edward the First . In Edward the Second's reign , Robert de St. Martinț conveyed this estate to John de Bourchier, of the family of that name, of Stansted Hall, which became their capital seat, and under whom, as lords paramount , Abels continued to be holden by the Maldon , and other families . William de Maldon had a grant of this manor , and another manor was holden of it, named Dynes Hall and Bois Hall ; another manor , called Brend Hall , on account of its having been consumed by fire , also named Moorfields and Maldon's Place; these were all included afterwards in the manor of Bois Hall, as the chief manor-house. "

" The Maldon family were succeeded by those of Warner, Hunwick , and Bream ; Arthur Bream, Esq. having, in 1576, purchased Abels of Sir William Waldegrave , also succeeded the Hunwick family in the possession of Bois Hall and Brent Hall ; and his daughter conveyed these considerable estates to her husband, Thomas Gar dener, Esq. , who , in 1605, rebuilt Bois Hall in a very superior manner , as may be seen by some part of it yet remaining. He sold this estate , including the manors of Tryon fa- Abels , Bois , or Brent Hall and Dynes Hall , in 1620 , to Sir Samuel Tryon , Knight , of Layer Marney Hall . The first of this family that came into England , was Peter Tryon , who left his native country of the Netherlands , on account of the persecutions under the Duke of Alva. His ancestors had long flourished there , in the enjoyment of wealth and honours; he came , therefore , to seek peace and safety , and not a for tune , for he is said to have brought property to the amount of sixty thousand pounds . His daughter , Mary , was married to Sir Sebastian Harvey , lord mayor of London , in 1618 ; and her younger sister , Esther , became the wife of Sir William Courteen , Bart . The sons of Sir Samuel were Moses and Samuel . Moses , the eldest , on his decease , left only a daughter , so that Samuel , the second son , succeeded to the family inheritance . He was born in England , and , in 1613 , was knighted by King James the First . Layer Marney was the first estate he had in this county , which he purchased of Peter Tuke , Esq . He died in 1626 , and was buried in the chancel of Halstead church . His widow , Elizabeth, daughter of John Eldred , after his decease , was married to Sir Edward Wortley , Knight , brother of Sir Francis Wortley , of York shire . This second marriage proved unfortunate to her only son , Samuel Tryon , Esq . , for this father - in - law , obtaining his wardship , wasted his estate , and married him young, to a niece of his own , for whom his ward had no real affection , which made him careless and wasteful of his patrimony . He was knighted in 1615 , and created a baronet in 1620. His chief residence was at Bois Hall , and he was remarkably charitable to the poor , His son and successor was Sir Samuel Tryon , Bart . who was high sheriff of the county in 1650. He married Eleanor , daughter of Sir Henry Lee , of Quarendon , in Buckinghamshire , by whom he had Samuel , his successor , and Eleanor , married to Sir Richard Franklyn. His second wife was Susan , daughter of Jolin Harvey , of Newton , in Suffolk, by whom he had several children, who all died young, except Samuel John. "

" On the decease of Sir Samuel, the father, in 1670 , his son of the same name succeeded to the inheritance, which he enjoyed only a few years; and, dying unmarried, the dignity and some part of the estate descended to Sir Samuel John , his brother by the second wife; (footnote *) but the bulk of the estates, and this of Bois Hall in particular, went to his sister Eleanor, wife of Sir Richard Franklyn, knight and bart . "

" They held their first court in 1673, and afterwards sold their whole estate here to Sir Josiah Child, knight and bart. from whom it passed to his grandson, the right honourable Earl Tilney. "

" The manor-house was near the town, on the road to Sudbury; it has been taken down, and a good modern house erected, which is yet known by the name of Bois Hall. "

" Various manors, or reputed manors , were subordinate to the capital manor of Abels, or Bois, which were named from the first proprietors. "

" Blamsters, in the reign of King Edward the Second, belonged to William Blome-Blamster, or Blamster; the mansion house is pleasantly situated, on the highest part of sters. Windmill Field, near the Braintree road, (footnote +) and the footpath to Gosfield, and commands an extensive and interesting prospect north= eastward over the town of Halstead. "

" This estate was purchased, in 1410, by Richard Nicholls ; it was conveyed, by marriage, into the family of Worthie; and went afterwards, successively, to those of Golding and Martin, and to Earl Tilney. "

" There is a capital mansion on this estate, named Atwoods, the residence of the Rev. J. Saville. "

" Bartholomew de Baddlesmere possessed this estate in 1165, and, during a succession of ages, it continued the property of that noble family , from one of whose under tenants it took the name of Dungeons: from the Baddlesmeres it passed to the Bourchiers, and afterwards became the property of Sir Hildebrand Jacob. The house is by the side of the road from Stansted Hall to Colne Park. "

" The manor-house of Priors is on the right-hand side of the road from Halstead to Earl's Colne; in 1483, it belonged to Henry, earl of Essex; to George Sewell, in 1627, and afterwards became the property of Mrs. Brage. "

" A family surnamed Simnell held this estate from a remote period till the time of Simnells. King Henry the Eighth: in modern times, it belonged to a person of the name of Ponder, of Witham, and afterwards to Mrs. Bunting. The house is on the southern extremity of the parish, bordering Stisted. "

" The ancient manor-house of Gladfen Hall is very pleasantly situated on rising ground, Gladfen above Boone brook, near the road to Stisted. A younger branch of the noble family of Gernon formerly resided here, taking from it the surname De Gladfen: upon the founding of Lee's Priory, by Sir Ralph Gernon, in 1230, this estate was given to it, by Richard de Gladfen, and, at the dissolution of monasteries, passed, with their other possessions, to Sir Richard Rich, who sold it, in 1543, to William, marquis of Northampton, from whom it passed, as Bois Hall did, to Waldegrave, Breame, Gardiner, Tryon, and Mrs. Brage. "

" The Saxon name Stansted, applied to this place, is descriptive of the stony or gravelly ground it occupies. The mansion is a mile and a half south-east from the church. In 1553, a survey was taken of this noble baronial seat, which describes it as a quadrangular building of brick, inclosing a court, and surrounded by a moat forty-four poles in circumference. The gate-house was on the southern front , two stories high , embattled; flanked with large projecting turrets. On one side was the porter's lodge, and on the other the dungeon , or prison, underground . The court , on the east, had five rooms on the ground floor , and six above, having, in each, two fire-places. A large chapel formed the north side of the court . The whole building was of great extent , and surrounded by a park, four miles in circumference, extending to the parsonage bridge, at Halstead , and containing seven hundred and eighty-seven acres of land . It would support five hundred deer, forty horses , and twelve cows ; and had , at the time of the survey , a thousand deer. It had also several large ponds and a pool , the fishery of which was then valued at £10 a year: there were also growing in this park, three thousand, six hundred and twenty oaks , of a hundred years' growth, and one hundred ashes, all timber . Nothing now remains of the ancient building, except some part of the kitchen and offices, converted into a farm-house. In the Confessor's reign, Stansted was in possession of Godwin, a freeman ; and , at the general survey , belonged to Robert Malet, whose under tenant was named Hubert. This district is entered in Domesday, as including a considerable village; and , in old court rolls, is called the hamlet of Stansted, being taxed separately for its poor , and having a constable for that leet, till 1262, when it was united to the rest of the parish of Halstead, on Robert Malets joining the party of Robert Curthose, against King Henry the First; for which he was divested of his office of chamberlain of England, deprived of his estates , and banished the kingdom; at that time, Hubert de Munchensy, of Edwardston, in Suffolk, was the feudatory tenant here , and obtained this lordship , becoming the founder of a family of barons, who long flourished in wealth and dignity, seated at Swainscamp, in Kent. Dionysia, heiress of the chief branch of the Munchensy family, conveyed that barony, by marriage , to Hugh de Vere, second son of Robert, earl of Oxford, in the time of Edward the First: and Joan de Munchensy , an heiress of a younger brother , was married to Sir Richard Waldegrave, to whom she brought a very great estate; and this of Stansted was given by Hubert de Munchensy, son of Warine, to one of his sons, who had a son named Roger . This Roger, being a minor "

" Halstead derives its name from the Old English word 'heald' meaning a sloping hillside and 'stede' a place of shelter. Archaeological evidence indicates that Halstead has been occupied since the early Bronze Age. The sites of Iron Age and Roman settlements, including a villa, were discovered in the vicinity of Greenstead Hall, where Saxon pottery was also found. "

" The Domesday Book of 1086 records the landowners of Halstead and its three water mills along the River Colne. There was evidence of a market in Halstead before 1251 when a Royal Charter was granted for a weekly market and an annual fair. Further grants were made in 1330 and 1467 for the market which was then held in Chipping Hill. St. Andrew's Church was in existence by 1276 and the town developed around the Church and nearby market. "

" In about 1413 Holy Trinity Chapel was erected near the junction of the present Chapel Hill with Trinity Street and Mount Hill. This chapel disappeared by the eighteenth century and during 1843 it was replaced by Holy Trinity Church, a Gothic Revival building. In addition Halstead had a number of non-conformist Chapels of which a few survive. "

" The town had two principal manors namely Abels and Bois Hall. The manor houses together with the Guildhall were all demolished during the twentieth century. The Old Grammar School in the High Street was founded in 1594 and closed in 1906. The Workhouse for Halstead Union was built in 1838 and demolished in 1922. "

" One of the main sources of employment in the town was weaving, initially of cloth and latterly silk and crepe. The Courtauld silk weaving mill was the major employer in the town until its closure in 1982. Other large employers included Charles Portway & Son Limited and The Tortoise Foundry Co. Limited, which made the well known tortoise stoves. There were two major breweries namely T. F. Adams & Sons and G. E. Cook & Sons. Henry Cocksedge & Son were timber merchants and wood turners who also operated steam saw mills. These and other industries used the Colne Valley and Halstead Railway which operated to Halstead from 1860 until 1965. "

" A number of fine buildings remain in the town such as the former Corn Exchange built 1864-65 now the Library, the Cottage Hospital opened 1884, the Townsford Mill and many old buildings which adorn the High Street. The industrial housing built by members of the Courtauld family during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is particularly attractive as are the public gardens opened in 1901. "

" This historic market town still continues to expand well beyond its original centre around the steep High Street between the River Colne and St. Andrew's Church.

Adrian Corder-Birch, D.L., F.S.A.
Patron of The Halstead & District Local History Society "