" This parish is ten miles in circumference, and lies northward from the town of Halstead, from which it is distant four, and from London forty-nine miles. A number of new buildings give the village a comfortable and pleasant appearance; and a silk factory , erected on a small stream that passes through it , employs a considerable number of the inhabitants. The name, in records, is written Bepeners, Pe beners, Pebenhurst, Pedmarsh, Pedmersh, Pevermersh, Pebmarsh, the etymology unknown. "

" The soil is of various descriptions; too heavy and tenacious for turnips, but much of it good land, and suitable for hops. (footnote 1.) "

" This district, in the Confessor's reign, was in the possession of several freemen, and eighteen sochmen; and at the general survey belonged to Roger Bigot, or Bigod, whose under tenant was named Garengey; some of the lands were also holden by Richard, son of Earl Gislebert, lord of Clare. Afterwards, these estates were divided into four manors. "

" The manor-house of Pebmarsh , (footnote 2.) also named Fitz-Rafes , is in Pebmarsh Street , Manor of near the brook; at one end of the building there is an ancient chapel, and there was formerly a castle not far distant, the place where it stood yet retaining the name of Castle Meadow. "

" This lordship was a long time retained by the Bigot family. Hugh Bigot, the son of Roger, was steward of the household to King Henry the First, created earl of the East Angles, or Norfolk, by King Stephen, and died in 1177. Roger, his son, succeeded, whose successor was his second son, Hugh, who died in 1220; and Roger Bigot , the succeeding earl, in 1246 , obtained the office of marshal of England, on the death of William Mareschal , earl of Pembroke. The last of this family was Roger Bigot family . "

" Bigot , who is placed among the first English patriots . He joined the Earl of Hereford and others in opposing a levy demanded by King Edward the First , for an expedition into Flanders ; as also the payment of a tax which had been granted to that king ; and obtained a confirmation of the Great Charter , and the Charter of the Forests , as also the articles called Articuli super Chartas. Having no issue , King Edward became his heir , to whom he surrendered all his right to the earldom of Norfolk , and marshalship of England , in 1302. Peter Neirford held one fee and a half in Pebmarsh of this earl ; he was of the famous family of the Neirfords of Norfolk. Earl Bigot died in 1307 ; and , in 1312 , King Edward the Second conferred the earldom of Norfolk, and the marshalship of England , upon his brother , Thomas de Brotherton , the fifth son of King Edward the First , who died in 1338 : and this estate seems to have been parcel of the earldom of Norfolk , and inseparable from it . From the Bro therton family it passed, by marriage, to John , lord Mowbray , earl of Nottingham , also constituted marshal of England . "

" His grandson, John , lord Mowbray , became Duke of Norfolk , and died in 1432 , possessed , among other large estates, of half a fee in Pebmarsh , formerly holden by Peter de Neirford . His sister Margaret , mar ried to Sir Robert Howard, conveyed the title of duke of Norfolk to that family . A family named Fitz-Ralph afterwards took the surname of De Pebmers , and Fitz Ralph fa anciently held the demesne lands of this manor . William, son of Ralph , or Fitz-mily . Ralph de Pebmers, and Agnes , his wife , lived here in the reign of King Henry the Third. "

" Sir William de Pebmers was their son , who was the father of William ; of Ralph , a priest ; and of two daughters . William Fitz-Ralph, the eldest tensive possessions in this and many neighbouring parishes; he held here, in particular, half a knight's fee of Roger Mortimer, earl of March, who died in 1398. The chil dren of William Fitz - Ralph , were Ralph , Laurence , Lora , married to Sir Thomas Corneth, and Catharine , to Sir Robert Belet . Ralph , the eldest son , and the last of the family that took the surname of Pebmers, was the father of John Fitz-Ralph , who married Mariona , daughter and co - heiress of Sir Thomas Mortimer , of the Mortimers of Attilborough , in Norfolk , an ancient and noble family, whose inheritance came into that of Fitz-Ralph. "

" John Fitz - Ralph had by Mariona , his son and heir John , whose grandson, John , was the last male of the direct line of this family ; * who dying in 1440 , a very considerable estate descended to his sister Elizabeth, which she conveyed by marriage to Sir Robert Chamberlayn ; t and one of the family sold this manor to Thomas Bedingfield, Esq., whose son , Sir Henry Bedingfield , sold it to Charles Cornwallis , Esq . , from whom it was conveyed successively , to Roger Gwyn , Nicholas Manning , Esq . in 1633 , and to Sir Harbottle Grimston. "

" Dagworths is only a reputed manor; it is on the left - hand side of the road from Pebmarsh to Sudbury , in Panimer's Street . It was named from a family who were possessed of it , and who were succeeded by Fitz - Ralph , Chamberlayn , Bedingfield , Manning , and by Henry Bingham , whose son , Adam Bingham , sold it to Thomas Carter , of Sudbury , who , in 1706 , by will , settled this manor , Walshes , and other lands in Pebmarsh , in trustees , for the use of the poor of Sudbury . Polhey . The manor of Polhey , or Pooley , anciently called the hamlet of Polley . "

" At the time of the survey, William de Warren had lands here; and in Domesday - book the name is written Polhei. From the time of Henry the Third to Richard the Second, a family of some note resided here, who took their surname from the place; and , in 1334 , it was in the possession of Ralf le Hunt , from whose family the manor house took the name of Hunt's Hall, which it has retained to the present time. In the year 1400 , it belonged to the Fitz-Ralph family, and afterwards to the families of Chamberlayn , Gwyn , Manning , Johnson , Hammond , to Sir Harbottle Grimston in 1663 , and afterwards to the Rev. Thomas Bernard . Stanley The lands of this manor meet those of Halstead parish , into which they formerly extended , having possessions also in Bulmer , Ashen , and Twinsted ; it was subor dinate to the manor of Stansted , under whom it was holden by a family surnamed Hanningfield , in the reign of King Edward the Second . Sir William Hanningfield is believed to have lived and died here , for his arms were in the windows of the church . It afterwards belonged to the families of Brockdish, Darcy, Ayleward, Basset , Bonham , Maxey , Church , Meriton , and Glover , in 1699 ; and afterwards passed to Earl Tilney. "

" Stanley Hall is a good building , of considerable antiquity, surrounded by a moat; it is about a mile west from the church.
The mansion-house, called Spoons Hall, is recorded to have belonged to the family Spoons of Ford, of Great Horkesley. William Ford held it in 1501 ; Robert succeeded in 1504 ; after whom , a second and a third William , and John , whose daughter Eleo nora married Thomas Bendish, who in her right held a moiety of Spoons Hall . After having belonged to individuals of the names of Warren , Gwyn , and Manning , it became the property of Sir Harbottle Grimston , Bart . in 1667 . The lands belonging to the manor of Bonets , or Poults , are chiefly in this parish , Bonets . but the manor - house is in that of Bulmer . "

" Hunt's Hall is a tenement about a mile westward from the church; it was also Hunt's named Old Hall ; and a building , called the Great - house , anciently belonged to John at the Cangell , then to the Polleys , and afterwards to Hunt , from whence it took the name of Hunt's tenement , and was holden of the manor of Goldingtons in Colne Engaine . From the year 1427 to 1652 , it belonged to a family named Sewell , and was sold , by Edmund Sewell , to Thomas Cooke of this parish , whose ancestors seem to have had a small estate here , in 1520. This Thomas Cooke was colonel of the militia in this county during the civil wars , and , as Mr. Holman remarks , “ was a great Oliverian ; a busy and vexatious sequestrator , who made all far and near tremble in the days of his greatness , and lived to see himself as much slighted . He had Wickham St. Paul's , belonging to the dean and chapter , which he stripped of all the wood and timber . " He was , with several others , created doctor of civil law at Oxford , a nd in 1654 , * was one of the knights of the shire for Essex , in Cromwell's parliament . His son - in - law , Anthony Parsons , was his heir ; who was succeeded by Mr. Henry Sykes , apothecary , and the estate afterwards belonged to Samuel Ruggles , Esq. "

" The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist , has spacious side aisles , separated Church . from the nave by light pillars, supporting Gothic arches ; it has a chancel , and a tower containing five bells . This church has been lately repaired , new pewed , and a gallery erected. "

" The rectory originally belonged to the priory of St. John the Baptist, of Clare, in Suffolk, which contained seven prebends , founded by Eluric , in the time of Edward the Confessor. "

" This church was the endowment of the fifth prebend , named Swains . In 1090 , the priory was given to the abbey of Bec , in Normandy , by Gilbert de Clare, son of Richard Fitz-Gilbert , earl of Brion; t and when the revenues of the alien priories were seized by King Edward the Third , this church , as part of them , came to the crown , and , in 1376, was presented by Lionel , duke of Clarence ; it afterwards passed to the Fitz - Ralphs , and other lords of this manor.
It has a glebe of twenty acres. "

" The rent arising from a small piece of land in this parish is appropriated to the relief of the poor . "

" In 1821 , there were six hundred and one , and , in 1831 , six hundred and forty - two inhabitants in this parish. "

" Roger came from a fairly obscure family of poor knights in Normandy. Robert le Bigot, certainly a relation of Roger's, possibly his father, acquired an important position in the household of William, Duke of Normandy (later William I of England), due, the story goes, to his disclosure to the duke of a plot by the duke's cousin William Werlenc. "

" Robert Malet (c. 1050 – by 1130) was a Norman-English baron and a close advisor of Henry I.

Malet was the son of William Malet, and inherited his father's great honour of Eye in 1071. This made him one of the dozen or so greatest landholders in England. According to the Domesday book he held 221 manors in Suffolk, 32 in Yorkshire, eight in Lincolnshire, three in Essex, two in Nottinghamshire, and one in Hampshire. He also inherited the family property in Normandy. "

" The site of Stanley Hall has been inhabited from very ancient times. Deep ploughing just to the south and slightly east of the house in 1959 revealed traces of Roman occupation which were surveyed in 1962 revealing evidence of iron-working and a Roman road. Traces of another substantial building, probably also of Roman times, are visible from the air in one of the fields nearer Oxley wood.

Other features may pre-date even the Romans. The back drive, leading to the house from the direction of Pebmarsh is exactly aligned to the rising sun on mid-summer day. The path leading from the front door is exactly oriented to the setting sun at mid-winter.

The name Stanley Hall is said to derive from the Saxon words Stan and Leah, meaning stony clearing. The area would have been heavily wooded in early times and the ground is indeed full of flints. The former keeper’s house nearby is called “Stoneylands”.

The 2-acre site lies at 210 feet, one of the highest points around surrounded by a moat. Such moats are relatively common in this part of Essex/ Suffolk, though none are as large or as completely preserved. It is thought to date from the 12th century and its particular triangular shape with two intermediate bays suggests that there may have been an early motte and bailey type construction on the smaller area to the south east, which was later enlarged to provide an outer bailey on the larger western area where the present house stands.

Pebmarsh had four manors in medieval times, of which Stanley Hall was one. It was most probably originally part of the enormous estate of The Earls of Oxford that stretched over almost the whole of this part of Essex. Some time before 1418, it was acquired by Sir William Hanningfield, one of the trustees of Richard de Vere, the 11th Earl (We know Wm Hanningfield was also the mortgagee for two other of the Earl’s other Essex manors in 1412, when he needed to raise 500 Marks in cash). He died in 1426, leaving three daughters of 4, 2 and 30 weeks. In 1438 the eldest daughter Elizabeth married John Bassett of Chishill, the son of one of his executors, and inherited Stanley Hall and also Bradwell Hall, near Braintree. Their son, Gregory Bassett, died young in 1528 leaving an only daughter, Dorothy, who married first Robert Bonham and then, later Sir Anthony Maxey of Saling Hall. It is these Maxeys who must have been the builders of the present Stanley Hall, in around 1570.

In 1588 the estate was sold to Thomas Meriton of Wimbish, who owned it until 1696 when it was bought by John Morley, the Halstead butcher, marriage broker and property developer, who also owned Bluebridge and Munchensies in Halstead. There are some subsequent records of purchases and sales and tenancies over the years but nothing of great interest or distinction.

The present hall seems to have been built on the L-shaped plan which was so popular in Tudor Essex – two adjacent but separate buildings at least. In 1871, one leg of the L became ruinous (charring and smoke damage on the beams of the surviving part of the hall indicated there may have been a fire) and was taken down, its panelling being used to line the stables and pig-sty. The remainder was converted into two farm cottages.

In 1929 the property was bought by Percy Middleditch. He thoroughly restored the remains of the hall in a style influenced by the arts and crafts tradition, buying in additional panelling and other antique fittings to improve the house and employing Ernest Beckwith of Coggeshall to do further oak carving. The ironwork was done by Ed Rowland, the blacksmith in Coggeshall, and the timber came from the Marks Hall estate. Mr Middleditch made a number of discoveries during the course of the restoration including a fine 17th century carved overmantle, a bronze 15th century spoon and two silver coins, one dating from the time of Henry V, the other from the reign of Mary Tudor. Both are now set into the great post in the main hall.

Ean Stewart-Smith, son of Sir Dudley Stewart-Smith, living in Paris before the war and with no property in the UK, acquired the estate in 1938 as insurance against the impending German invasion of France. On the outbreak of war, Stanley Hall was requestioned by the army and occupied until the Stewart-Smith family took back possession in 1945. The rear additions to the house were added by Edmée, wife of Ean Stewart-Smith, in the 1950’s and further alterations were completed in 2006 to provide some ground-floor bedrooms and to improve the view of the house from the north-east. The Stewart-Smith family continue to live at Stanley Hall, farming the surrounding land. "