LAMARSH, OR LAMMARSH

Marshy ground in this parish, on the borders of the river Stour, seems to have given occasion for its Saxon name, compounded of Iram, dirt, or dirty, and Mersc , a marsh : in records it is variously written Lamarsh, Lambmersh, Lamershe, Lammershe, Lan mershe, and, in Domesday, Lamers.

* It extends northwards from Alphamstone to the extremity of the hundred, bordering the river Stour, and is nearly twenty miles in circumference ; distant five miles from Sudbury , and eight from Halstead .

This parish presents great inequality of surface, in some parts hilly, in others low; with corresponding varieties of soil; among which is found a good proportion of a rich sandy loam, excellent for turnips; with strong rich land, on which hops have been cultivated.

In the time of Edward the Confessor, Algar and Alward were owners of these lands; which, at the survey, were become the property of Ranulph Peverel, whose under tenant was Turold.

The manor of Lamarsh remained several ages part of the honour of Peverel, till it became annexed to the honour of Clare , in which it has continued . About the time of Henry the Second, this honour was holden by David, earl of Galway and Huntingdon, third son of David, king of Scotland; but, in the reign of King Edward the Third, the posterity of Robert Bruce asserting the independence of their country against the designs of the English monarch, it was given to Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex; whose daughter and co-heiress, Mary, being married to King Henry the Fourth, conveyed it, with part of the dutchy of Lancaster, to the crown.

In the earliest times, the demesne lands of the manor were holden, under the earl of Huntingdon, by the family of Beauchamp, of Essex; Stephen de Beauchamp is supposed to have become possessed of this manor by marriage with Isolda, daughter and co-heiress of Robert Ferrers, earl of Nottingham and Derby, by Margaret his wife, daughter of William Peverel, lord of Nottingham.

He was high sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1168, and died in 1185. Besides this manor , he also had lands in Henny , Twinsted , and Alphamstone . His son Stephen died without issue , and his four surviving daughters were Isolda , married to Richard Fitzjohn de Sudbury ; Maud , wife of Sir William de Wastail ; Alice , of Ralph de Arden ; and Idonea , of Henry D’Auney . Sir William de Wastail was of the family of that name , of whom several are recorded to have accompanied King Richard the First to the holy wars (Speede's Chron . p.517).

Philip Basset, the next recorded possessor of this estate , was descended from Ralph Basset, chief justice of England in the reign of King Henry the First, from whom several noble families descended. * This Philip was baron of Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, celebrated as a brave soldier, and a wise senator. He was chief justice of England, and ambassador to the Pope at the council of Lyons. He married, first, Helewise; and, to his second wife , had Ella, daughter of William Longespee, earl of Salisbury, widow of Thomas Beauchamp, earl of Warwick.

By the first , he had his daughter and heiress Alivia , married , first , to Roger Bigot , earl of Norfolk , by whom she had no children. Hugh le Despenser , slain at the battle of Evesham , in 1265 , , was her second husband , to whom she bore a son, named Hugh , created earl of Winchester. The lady Alivia died in 1280. This manor next belonged to the Bigot family , and Roger Bigot , earl of Norfolk , conveying it to the crown , King Henry the Second granted it to his brother , Edmund Plantagenet, afterwards earl of Kent , and beheaded for attempting to release the said King from confinement. This estate being , on that event , forfeited to the crown , was granted , by Edward the Third , in 1330 , to Oliver de Ingham , for life . I The earl of Kent's attainder being afterwards reversed , his two sons possessed his estates ; but both died without issue , and their sister Joan , “ the fair maid of Kent , ” became their successor , who conveyed this estate , by marriage , to Thomas Holland , earl of Kent ; in whose family it continued , till from defect of male heirs , it descended to Margaret , wife of John Beaufort , earl of Somerset and marquis of Dorset ; and to Edmund his son . Passing , by forfeiture , to the house of York , it became the property of John de la Pole , earl of Lincoln , from whom , being conveyed to Margaret , mother to King Henry the Seventh , it passed , on her death in 1509 , to King Henry the Eighth , who gave it to Fitz-Roy , his natural son ; and , on his death , it was granted to John de Vere , earl of Oxford , whose son , by extravagance , becoming poor , suffered a fine and recovery of this estate , in 1586 , to John , lord Darcy , and others ; and , the next year , sold it to Christian Turner , widow , of Cheping Hill , in Colne Wake , whose only daughter , Margaret , conveyed it to her husband , Thomas Smyth , Esq . of Blackmore ; of whose family it was purchased , by Samuel Fiske , apothecary , of Halstead.Ş The manor - house is near the church , and is a very handsome modern building , the residence of Thomas Par mentier , Esq . the present proprietor of this estate . The church , dedicated to the Holy Innocents , is a small low building , of great apparent antiquity : the nave is separated from the chancel by a wooden screen , and, at the east end , there are three very narrow lancet - shaped windows . There is a round tower at the west end , the wall of which is of great thickness . In 1575 , John Clark , of Lamarsh , gave £ 8 . to be employed as a stock , to remain for ever for the benefit of the poor of this parish . This sum has been considerably enlarged , and the interest is distributed to the poor yearly , at Easter . John Smyth , lord of this manor , gave 40s . yearly , to be distributed at Christmas , to the poor of this parish . In this parish , in 1821 , there were three hundred and thirty-one , and , in 1831 , three hundred and twenty - three inhabitants .

Holy Innocents Church is a particularly fine example of a beautiful, ancient building in a tiny parish that has served the community for nearly 900 years. It is amongst the small number of buildings to receive a Grade 1 listing by English Heritage, which means that architecturally, structurally and historically it is of the highest quality.

The dedication to "Holy Innocents", the infants murdered by King Herod in the hopes of eliminating the baby Jesus, is one of only five in all England.

Although Lamarsh, (then known as Lamers), is mentioned several times in the Domesday Book (1086), there is no reference to a Church and it is probably only when the Manor of Lamarsh came into the hands of the Beauchamps, a Norman family loyal to King Stephen, that the building was constructed. Interestingly, the raised clay foundations differ markedly from the surrounding soil.

Some Historical Notes.

As full a list of Rectors as has been verified to date is given, but a few biographical notes about those whom more is known may be of interest.

Richard de Bello Campo (Beauchamp). He was the first Rector to be named and great-grandson of Simon, the 5th Baron Bedford in whose life time the church was built. It was this Richard’s father who had given ¼ of a Knight’s fee in Lamarsh and Alphamstone to the Priors of Colne and it was this Richard’s sisters, Isolda, Maud, Alina and Idonea, who married respectively, Richard of Sudbury, William de Wascoyl, Sir Ralph de Arderne and the Sire D’Auney, and of these, through his wife, it was de Wascoyl who inherited the Manors of Lamarsh and Great Henny.

Brian who succeeded Richard, was appointed by Maud de Wascoyl and John of Sudbury , her nephew. At this time Sir Ralph de Arderne and Alina were living at Lamarsh. This manor was now the principal of a group of 5 and the Court Baron was evidently kept busy. There are numerous references to transactions and court cases dealt with there during the next 100 years, so it was reasonable that Sir Ralph should wish to have his own Chapel at the Court. For this he had to apply to the Rector for a license and Brian agreed that they “should build a Chapel in their Court of Lammersch and provided the Chaplains appointed to the said Chapel take an oath to the Rector to indemnify his Church and pay over to it all offerings made to the Chapel: such Chapel to cease to exist if the said Ralph and Alina or their heirs grant their Manor of Lammersch to any religious house.” Richard de Meysy. He must have been presented right at the beginning of the 14th century as he received land from Richard Hereward, parson of Alphamstone, in 1309. This could seem to be a building up of the Lamarsh Glebe in the part of Lamarsh that lay in Alphamstone. John Little. He too seems to have been interested in the increase of Lamarsh Glebe. Presented in 1361, he bought, 10 years earlier, a field close to the Church in Pebmarsh. The conveyance was certainly made in the name of John Little. William Swalowe. He and his successor, Robert Cotton were in turn presented to the living by Cardinal Wolsey although at this time the presentation lay with the King as Lord of the Manor. Peter Mannerynge. (1536) Was one of Henry VIII's presentations and was a chaplain to the king. In addition to Lamarsh he already held the vicarage of Wydecombe and Berepondry in the west country and in 1547 he was made "one of the prebends resident of Chrystes Church in Chester and master of the hospital of St. Julian of Boughton-by-Chester." John Woodthorpe. The Woodthorpes were wealthy clothiers living in the neighbourhood of Lavenham and so were well established as a local family. John Woodthorpe must have been quite a young man at the time of his appointment for he was to sped 43 years of his life in the living. He was the first married rector having taken immediate advantage of Edward VI’s permission for the Clergy to marry. His wife, Agnes, bore him 5 children between 1558 and 1568. She died and was buried in Lamarsh in 1572. All these facts were entered in the Parish Register by John himself for it was he that started the keeping of the Register in 1555. This remarkable man, married in the reign of Protestant Edward VI, survived the regime of Catholic Mary and died in 1597, only 6 years before his third Sovereign, Elizabeth I. His eldest son, also John, became a farmer and his land lay in the southern part of the parish along the White Colne road. It seems quite possible that his farm was Specks but this is not proven. In all there were 5 generations of John Woodthorpe at Lamarsh. Lionel Foster Succeeded John Woodthrope and came from Little Tey, being presented by the Queen. He had come to notice in 1595 through a Court Case in which he stood bail for the Vicar of Elmstead who had been charged with stealing 13 cheeses. But Foster is memorable to us for the fact that he re-wrote the Parish Register from its inception and continued it until his death in 1622. This register, beautifully written on vellum, is now in the care of the Essex Record Office. Edward Glover (1622). He noted his arrival in the Parish with the birth and death of an infant son, but later had 3 further children all of whom survived. He, like Foster, lent a hand to a suspected parson. In 1636 William Frost, Rector of Middleton, faced the grave charge of incest, but, as this could not be proved, he was allowed to purge himself according to Church Law. To do this he had to find 8 fellow parsons who would vouch for his integrity, and one of these men was Edward Glover. John Siday, M.A. (1637) was a member of a prolific local family. With the Commonwealth cataclysm approaching Siday must have felt the wind of change for unlike many of his fellows in this district he was accepted by the new regime. Perhaps this was the price the Parish had to pay for its lost brasses and monuments. Even in Pebmarsh, which was ruled by rabid Protestants, the FitzRalph brass survived. At an Inquisition held at Braintree in 1650 it was said: “Mr. Siday performs the Cure himself and by the assistance of Mr. Martin by his appointment and that the said Mr. Siday and Mr. Martin are able and orthodox divines”. Siday would certainly have needed Martin’s help for the former also had the Parish of Roding Beauchamp and could not have conducted services in both parishes each Sunday. In 1657 Siday got into trouble through an informer who complained that Siday and his family were residing in a house not the Rectory, this being against the Statute. The fine was a heavy one, £10 a month for 11 months: a sum few parsons at that time would have been able to afford. His absence from the Rectory may have been caused by its falling into disrepair, coupled with his long absences in Beauchamp Roding. It was during the latter years of this Rector that the Church, as well as the Rectory, fell into disrepair, but reference to this has already been made. John Lillie M.A. (1690), presented by John Smyth, he was already married to Hannah, one of Smyth’s sisters, whilst another sister, Wybrow, had married Jeremiah Fish, Rector of Alphamstone. Lillie was inducted on Advent Sunday by his brother-in-law. As we have seen, the bulk of the restoration work on the church must have been done under Edmund Chapman, Lillie's Predecessor. Ten years after his appointment John Smyth died and the Manor was shared between the families of the 3 surviving sisters. Thus for many years John and Hannah Lillie presided over the Courts Baron and they were followed by two daughters who married and lived locally. James Chalmers D.D. was inducted 1717 following the death of John Lillie. Chalmers kept some useful notes in the Parish Register concerning tythes, taxes and Charity payments. There are several Wickham St. Paul marriages in the Lamarsh Register, caused by the fact that Chalmers was Rector of both parishes. But Chalmers, though he had two parishes, did not neglect Lamarsh. With him Confirmation became the rule and he brought many married couples before the Bishop for this purpose. In 1974 he wrote of one child: “Penelope Goulding excepted, who did not accompany the rest because of rainy weather, which was but a poor excuse.”. There were also the old incorrigibles to be wrestled with. In 1720 “William Peartree of parish of Missly aged 68 was baptized in this parish upon his death bed by James Chalmers, Rector.” Chalmers had one son, Henry, who also became parson of Wickham St. Paul’s. Brook Hurlock, B.A. the next in line, was the fourth successive parson to have local connections. He was the son of James Hurlock of Elmstead Hall and was related to two other local families, the Clarkes and the Loves. He had a daughter, Lucy, born in 1765 and twins, James Thomas and Brook Baines, born the following year. The twins must have been named in part after Thomas Baines, curate of Gt. Henny and later curate of Lamarsh. When his children were growing up Brook Hurlock obtained the curacy of Langham from Dr. Fisher, the reason being that he wanted his sons to go to school at Dedham where he had been himself. This occasioned a long string of curates at Lamarsh. While the Hurlocks were still at Langham John Constable was also pupil at Dedham school and Lucy Hurlock, ten years older than John, became his friend and encouraged him with his painting. When, later, she married, Constable gave her four watercolours as a wedding present. Meanwhile the Hurlocks had introduced Constable to Dr. Fisher who arranged meetings between the young artist and his future bride. James Sperling. Appointed by his father, Henry Sperling of Dynes Hall in 1812 following the death of Brook Hurlock. James also had the living of Gt. Maplestead and after 1832 the register shows a number of curates in Lamarsh. Charles Baker Teesdale. Also presented by his father in turn. C.B. Teesdale inherited his father’s share of the Manor and the Rectory, he effectively ruled Lamarsh. His gifts and restorations have already been listed. He died in 1892 so that from the appointment of Chalmers in 1717 to the death of Teesdale, a span of 175 years, there were only 4 Rectors.