Belchamp Walter - (a village in North Hinckford) - 1831/36
The account of Belchamp Walter's history from Thomas Wright's book History & Topography of Essex.
The history and topography of ... Essex – Thomas Wright --- 1831/36
This page has ALL of Thomas Wright's text (relating to Belchamp Walter) from his book
- the idea was to format it in a page with expandable sections.
A cut-and-paste from the ebook on Google Play. I have added line breaks to make reading easier.
My notes are between these sections
The section of Thomas' book is from "Hundred of Hinckford" - page 577 onwards.
Belchamp Walter - in the time of Conquest and Domesday
BELCHAMP WALTER - 1836
This parish extends south eastward from Belchamp Otton to Bulmer, from which it is separated by a small brook, originating
in Gestingthorp, and emptying itself into the Stour.
Belchamp Walter is distant from Sudbury four, and from London fifty- three miles.
In the reign of Edward the Confessor, this parish belonged to Ulwin, and, at the general survey, to Alberic de Vere,
ancestor of the earls of Oxford. It contains three manors.
Top
The Hall was "modern" in 1831/36
Belchamp Walter Hall - described when this history was written
The chief manor-house of Belchamp Walter Hall is a large and handsome modern building, near the church,
pleasantly situated, with a fine prospect over the surrounding country, particularly toward Bulmer, in Essex, and Lavenham, in
Suffolk.
The principal front, chiefly composed of foreign bricks, has a south-easterly aspect; on the south there is a spacious terrace,
skirted with lofty trees, and having, at one of its extremities, an ancient building, the windows of which are ornamented
with painted glass; on the opposite end there rises a lofty mount,
crowned with an ornamental summer-house, and a pleasant lawn extends from the mansion, in a gently sloping direction,
to a flowing stream, at the distance of about two hundred yards.
This page is part of an on-going research project on the history of Belchamp Walter and
the manor of Belchamp Walter.
If you have found it making a web search looking for geneological or other information on the village then please bookmark this page and return
often as I am likely to make regular updates. If you delve deeper into this website you will find many other pages similar
to this one.
Among the fine paintings which internally ornament this seat, is a large picture, of three subjects,
by old Teniers. A painting by Rubens, of Christ appearing to Mary in the garden. A landscape, with an approaching storm;
Jacob Ruysdale.
Two pictures. of architectural ruins; Viviani. Christ in the garden; Ben. Luti.
A landscape by Booth. Another, finely painted by Wynants; and a third by Waterloo. The Wise Men's Offering, an altar-piece ;
Albert Durer.
This picture, with a large gun, some pistols, and powder-flasks, inlaid with gold and ivory, were presented to the Raymonds,
by Sir William Harris,
a sea officer, who took them, with other property, in the action with the Spanish Armada, in 1588.
Two fine paintings, by Cornelius Jansen, of Sir Hugh Middleton and his lady, of Goldingham Hall, in Bulmer.
The birth of Maud de Beuchamp. Circa 1200 - My second page on de Vere
The Belchamp Walter Estate - Aubrey de Vere - Henry 1
This estate belonged to Aubrey de Vere, in the reign of King Henry the First; and Roese, his daughter,
had it for
her marriage portion, with her first husband,
Geofrey de Mandeville, earl of Essex; it was also holden by her second husband, Pegasus, or Payne de Beauchamp, baron of Bedford.
She bore to this second husband a son, named Simon de Beauchamp, steward of the household to King Stephen; his son and successor,
William, acquired military fame by his prowess and conduct, but proving unfaithful to his sovereign, King Henry the Third, his
castle at Bedford was ordered to be demolished.
Early Medieval Belchamp
He died in 1259, or 1260, leaving, by his wife Avicia, his sons Simon, William, and John; and his daughters, Maud,
Beatrix, and Ella. Simon, the eldest son, survived his father three years, leaving an only daughter, who did
not succeed to this inheritance, it being granted by the lord paramount, Hugh de Vere, earl of Oxford,
to William, her father's brother, to be held by the service of one knight's fee.
On his death, in 1264, he was succeeded by the third and last brother; but, sometime in that year, being among the
barons who rose in arms against King Henry the Third, he was slain at the battle of Evesham, and his confiscated
lands given to prince Edward, the king's eldest son.
1259-1260 after the Battle of Evesham.
Maud de Beauchamp, Maud Fitz-Otho and Sir John de Botetourt - 1270's - 1325
Maud, the eldest daughter of William de Beauchamp, was married to Roger de Mowbray : Beatrix became the wife of
Thomas Fitz-Otho ; and, on his decease,
was married to William Montchensy, of Edwardstown; and Ella, the youngest of these sisters, was married to
Baldwin Wake, to whom she bore Ida, married to John de Steyngreve; Elizabeth, the wife of John de Horbiry;
and Joan, married to Michael Picket.
These co-heiresses and their husbands, or joint heirs, upon paying their compositions, in pursuance of the
"dictum of Kenelworth," had livery of the barony of Bedford,
and the great estates which belonged to them, and, in 1278, on the death of Avicia, widow of William Beauchamp,
of Bedford, a partition was made between these co-heiresses.
Roger, the son of Maud, held lands here in 1281, of the earl of Oxford; his successor was his son John: and
John de Steyngreve, on his death in 1295,
also had possessions here : Isabel, his only daughter, was married to
Simon de Pateshull, who, in her right,
held these lands at the time of his death, in 1296.
He left a son named John, and Isabel, his widow, was married to Walter de Tey. In 1286, William de Montchensy died,
holding this manor and other estates, of the inheritance of his wife Beatrix, deceased, formerly wife of
Thomas Fitz-Otho. His son William was his heir.
But this estate descended to Maud, the last surviving daughter of Fitz-Otho, by the before-mentioned Beatrix;
and this Maud conveyed it to her husband, Sir John de Botetourt, of Mendlesham, in Suffolk, to whom she was married
in 1302.
They had four sons, Thomas, John, Otho, and Robert, and a daughter. Sir John died in 1325, holding jointly with his
wife this and other estates, which were entailed
on the second son John, who, on his death, in 1339, to left his only son, Sir John, his successor.
He married Joan, daughter and co-heiress of John Gernon, of the family of Stansted Montfitchet, whose only daughter
was named after her mother; she was a very rich heiress,
conveying the large possessions of the Botetourts and Gernons to her husband, Sir Robert Swynborne, of
Little Horksley.
John Helion Circa 1450 - Sir Thomas Montgomery, Esq. of Faulkbourne Hall
According to her epitaph in this church, she died in 1400, but this is supposed to be an erroneous statement,
as the year 1433 is mentioned in the inquisitions as the time of her decease.
She bore to Sir Robert five sons, who all died without issue, and two daughters, Alice and Margery; the latter married to
Nicholas Berners, of Aberden Hall, in Debden,
and Codham Hall, in Wethersfield, whose daughter Catharine was wife of Sir William Fynderne;
but this estate was the inheritance of Alice, the eldest daughter, married to
John Helion, Esq. of Bumsted Helion.
John Helion, Esq. was their son and heir, who, dying in 1450, left, by his wife Editha, daughter and co heiress of
Thomas Rolfe, Esq. of Gosfield, Philippa, married to Sir Thomas Montgomery, Esq. of
Faulkbourne Hall; and Isabel,
the wife of Humphrey Tyrell, Esq. of Little Warley, to whom she bore an only daughter,
named Anne, who, by marriage, conveyed this and other great estates to Sir Roger Wentworth, of Codham Hall,
in Wethersfield.
The estate was conveyed to Sir John Wentworth (who died 1588). Who grandson, another Sir John,
sold it to John Raymond I. Phillip the father of Oliver who married Frances daughter of Sir William Harris (of Spanish Armada fame).
John I married Anne Sparrow of Gestingthorpe, date unknown but she is interred in
the Raymond family vault in St. Mary the Virgin Belchamp Walter.
Phillip father of Oliver
It continued for several generations in the possession of this family. John Wentworth, Esq. of Gosfield, held this manor at
the time of his death in 1588, Raymond and his grandson, Sir John, created a baronet in 1611, sold it to John Raymond, Esq.
of the family of that name, of
Essex and Norfolk, whose ancestors were from Raymond, a place in Kent.
Philip Raymond, of this family, was resident at Hunsdon, in Hertfordshire, and, by his wife Agnes, daughter and heiress of
William Sterne,
of Essenden, had Roger, whose son John married Judith, daughter of Chadd Cockayne, of Cockayne Hatley, in Bedfordshire, by
whom he had John Raymond, Esq. the purchaser
of this estate: he married Anne, daughter of John Sparrow, Esq. of Gestingthorpe, by whom he had John, William, Oliver,
St. Clere; Frances, Elizabeth, Judith, Jane, Sarah, Mary.
The English Civil War - What was going on in Belchamp Walter.
Cromwell to John Raymond III
The two eldest sons died young; Oliver, on the death of his father, succeeded to the estate. He was representative
for Essex in the two parliaments under Cromwell, in 1653 and 1656; and married Frances, daughter of
Sir William Harris, knt. of Margaretting, by whom he had
twenty-one children; of these, Anne was first married to John Laurence,
and afterwards to John Eden, Esq. and Frances was married to John Darcy.
Oliver Raymond was a silk-mercer in London; St. Clere, the eldest son, succeeded his father
on his death in 1679, and married Anne, daughter of Laurence Wakeham, by whom he had eight children: William, the second son,
was of the six clerks' office, and John, the eldest, who succeeded to the estate, was educated at
Emanuel College, Cambridge, and was after wards of Gray's Inn.
On his death, in 1690, he left, by his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Burgoyne,
of Sutton, in Bedfordshire, an only son, named John, who, by will, in 1720, left the entailed and other family estates to his legal heirs;
some parts of these were purchased by Samuel Ruggles, Esq.
but the Hall remained in possession of, or was purchased by, the family, and, with other estates,
belongs to Samuel Millbank Raymond, Esq.
The estates belonging to Samuel Ruggles, Esq. in Belchamp Walter, were devised to his son John, who left
these possessions to Joseph Saville, Esq whose son, of the same name, left them to his children, who are minors.
Other estates and their fates pre and post Raymond.
Mary Hall 1270-1276 .... Thomas Botetourt ..... John Smith 1466 ...
Raymond and Ruggles
The manor-house of Mary Hall, sometimes called Merry Hall, is supposed to have Mary been so named from the
patron saint of the church, from which it is not far distant.
This manor, in 1270 to 1276, belonged to John Manduit, and afterwards to Thomas Botetourt, who sold it to
Thomas de Ufford, earl of Suffolk, whose son William, earl of Suffolk,
conveyed it to Adam de Hautboys, and others. It afterwards be longed to Thomas Danmartin, and, in 1442, to William Pannel.
John Smith was possessed of it in 1466, and Roger Martin and John Worral, from whom it passed to the Raymond
family, and to Samuel Ruggles.
Easton Hall is a handsome modern building, erected by William Wright, Esq. on the site of the ancient manor-house; it is about a
mile and a half eastward from the
church, upon an eminence, not far distant from Borley church, to which parish this — ~ estate was formerly reckoned to belong.
The lands lie in Borley, Belchamp Otton, and Belchamp Walter, and are supposed to be what in Domesday-book are entered as among
the encroachments on the king's demesnes :
before the Conquest, these lands belonged to Grima and Godeva, two freemen, and afterwards to Anchetil.
William le Gros, earl of Albemarle and lord of the parish of Borley, left two daughters, of whom Amicia was the mother of
Constance, whose son was named Ranulph de Eston;
and several persons assumed this surname, as is supposed, from this place, and resided here as late as the reign of Richard the Second.
Nicholas de Beauchamp appears to have held possessions here, and was succeeded by the De Veres, in which noble family this estate
continued several generations. John, the fifth earl of Oxford, granted it to Maud, wife of William de Beauchamp.
It belonged to Alberic, the tenth earl, some time before the year 1400; and it was holden by his widow, Alice, of the earl of March:
it afterwards belonged to Richard, the eleventh earl, and was holden by Alice, his widow; succeeded by their son John, who held it
till his attainder, for his
adherence to the house of Lancaster,
when it was given to John Howard, duke of Norfolk; but it was restored, by King Henry the Seventh, to John, the thirteenth earl
of Oxford, and remained in the family
till it was disposed of, with other estates, by Edward, the seventeenth earl.
It afterwards became the property of the Pemberton family, descending from the Rev. Jeremiah Pemberton to his son, the Rev. Edward,
who sold it, in 1811, to William Jones, Esq. who left it to its present proprietor.
Clarke's farm, Fisher's farm, and other estates in this parish, belong to S. M. Raymond, Esq.
The reported history from most sources starts here. My interest was sparked by the reasons for the removal of the chantry.
The Raymond family is documented from circa 1611 to the present. The time between Conquest and the English Civil War
there was a LOT going on in England,
I think that it is interesting to know what was going on in Belchamp Walter.
The Church of St. Mary and Botetourt's chapel
The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is in good repair, and lofty, though not large; it is built partly of stone
and partly of brick, has a handsome square tower, and there remains an arch on the north side of the nave,
which was the entrance to a chapel called Botetourt's chapel.
There is an orchestra, with a fine-toned organ. This church, belonging originally to Alberic de Vere,
was given by him to the priory of Earl's Colne, and this house appropriated to itself the great tithes, which, going to the
crown on the general dissolution, left the living (which is a vicarage) very small; but it was augmented by
William Raymond, Esq. and others, in 1727, who gave £100, and
a house valued at £6 per annum, which insured the further augmentation of the living by a donation of £200
from Queen Anne's bounty.
Monument
ln the chancel there is a handsome monument of white and grey marble, ornamented menu. _ .....
with sculptures,
erected to the memory of various individuals of the Raymond family, whose names are inscribed on a marble
table, with their ages, and time of their decease.
This family have a vault under the church. There are also the remains of a very ancient monument, of elaborate
workmanship, said to be erected to the memory of one of the earls of Essex, but the inscription has been
entirely defaced.
Population
In 1821, this parish contained six hundred and eight, and, in 1831, six hundred and seventy inhabitants.
The Timeline
Hopefully some of the extracts from "The history and topography of ... Essex", above will help to fill in the blanks.
Thomas de Ufford
This Thomas de Ufford was a contemporary of John Botetourt 1st lord. His son may have been the Thomas who bought Mary Hall
from Thomas de Botetourt.
Thomas de Ufford (died 1314), Lord of Wrentham, was an English noble. He was killed during the Battle of Bannockburn
against the Scots on 23 or 24 June 1314.
He was a younger son of Robert de Ufford, Justiciar of Ireland. Thomas fought at the
Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, where he was killed. He was buried at Langley Abbey, Norfolk.
Adam de Hautboys
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/vol14/pp227-237
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7576596
Background to this page
This page started off as a "dump" of the text from Thomas Wright. I also used it to experiment in a web design technique
to implement dropdown expandable sections, the Accordian.
The text on this page also forms the basis of other pages based on the names
mentioned by Thomas Wright.
This pages source file is named "hinkford.html" - it is really Thomas Wright's account of
"
North Hinckford".
I am attempting to expand the texts of Thomas Wright for the complete region of
The Hundred of Hinckford
In a similar manner to other pages on this website I am monitor visits to pages and
make edits based on what I think the visitor may be searching for.