Wethersfield, Essex

According to Thomas Wright's History and Topography of Essex (1831/36) describes the marriages and political activity of families associated with Belchamp Walter. The Wentworth family were "owners" of the manor of Belchamp Walter until it was "sold" to John Raymond in 1611.

The church of St. Mary Magdalene, Wethersfield is described here.

The 1831/36 account by Thomas Wright says:

Yet he afterwards was pardoned and his lands restored; for John, his son, held the manor of Wethersfield, with the advowson of the church, of the king, by sergeancy; he also held of the king, the manors of Great Wakering, and Little Hallingbury, besides other estates. * Sir John de Neville, his son, succeeded to these possessions, particularly to this of Wethersfield, which he held by the service of finding one sack and a prue, (chenili,) a peculiar kind of garment of taffeta, in the king's army in Wales. He had also Chichnal , which he held jointly with his wife Alice , for the term of their lives ; to be succeeded by William de Bohun , fifth son of Humphrey de Bohun , earl of Hereford and Essex . Sir John died in 1358 , without issue , succeeded by the said William , earl of North- ampton , who died in 1360 ; his son and successor Humphrey also died before the said Alice , in 1372 , so that neither the father nor son enjoyed the estate , which passed into the possession of one of the two daughters , co - heiresses , Eleanor , wife of Thomas of Woodstock , duke of Gloucester ; and their only surviving child Anne , conveyed it in marriage , successively , to her three husbands , Thomas , and Edmund , earls of Stafford ; and William Bourchier , earl of Essex . She lived till 1438. Humphrey Stafford , duke of Buckingham , Hereford , Essex , and Northampton , her son by her second husband Edmund , is understood to have had this estate , but he was slain in the battle of Northampton , in 1460 , fighting for king Henry the Sixth ; when , upon the occupation of the throne by king Edward the Fourth , this and the duke's other estates were seized , and from the year 1463 Wethersfield became vested in the crown , was annexed to the dutchy of Lancaster , and holden of the honour of Clare . It continued vested in the crown till 1544 , when Henry the Eighth exchanged it with Sir John Wentworth , of Codham Hall . He had , besides this , various other estates in the county ; and on his decease in 1567 , was buried at Gosfield , which belonged to his father. He left, by his lady Anne , daughter of John Bettenham , Esq . , of Pluckley, in Kent, an only daughter, Anne, who had three husbands; Sir Hugh Rich; Henry Fitz-Alan, lord Maltravers; and Henry Dean, Esq., but left no issue ; and on her decease in 1580 , her estates descended to John Wentworth , esq . , the son of her uncle Henry; he resided at Gosfield, and marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher St. Laurence , baron of Houth in Ireland , had by her John , who married Cicely , daughter of Edward , and sister and co-heiress of Sir Henry Unton , † by whom he had John, knighted in 1603, and created a baronet , in 1611. He married Katharine , daughter of Sir Moyle Finch, knt . and bart . , and dying in 1631 , settled this estate upon his lady , with the reversion to Hugh Hare , lord Colerain . The lady died in 1639 , and Lord Colerain kept his first court here in the same year, but soon afterwards sold it to Thomas Allen, Esq., of Finchley, in Middlesex; of whom it was purchased by John Clerke , M.D. , an eminent physician in London, born at the Brooke Farm, in this parish , where his ancestors had lived for several ages , and whose original name was Youngman. * Dr. Clerke was succeeded by his son, Joseph Clerke , Esq . , of Lincoln's Inn , who died in 1682 , and was succeeded by John Clerke, Esq. his nephew , † of Meadow End, in Tilbury ; whose son of the same name was his heir ; succeeded by Joseph Clerke , Esq . ‡ The estate of Little Codham Hall, at a short distance southward from the church , belonged also to the same family , whose descendant , Thomas White , Esq. resides on his estate of Dobbins , and is the proprietor of this and the greater part of the estates of Wethersfield , which have generally been divided into smaller occupations. Codham Hall is about two miles and a half south-east from the church. The mansion is near the river Pant. It is a hamlet to the manor of Wethersfield, and had a chapel on the green near the house, in which divine service was performed, till the latter part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; but it was afterwards used as a barn. There was also a fine park here , of considerable extent , which has been converted into fields . A family named De Codham resided here soon after the Conquest, of which Henry de Codham was living in 1255. The same name appears among the benefac- tors of Colne Priory ; and John de Codham, prior of Dunmow , died in 1270 . The Coggeshall family were proprietors of this estate , and resided here in the reign of Edward the First ; and Sir Ralph , the grandson of Sir Thomas , was living here in 1294.§ On his decease , in 1305 , his son John having died before him , his grandson of the same name succeeded to his estates , holding this in particular of Margaret Neville . He died in 1319 , having married the sister and heiress of Philip , son of Jordan de Peu , by whom he had his son and heir , Sir John de Coggeshall , knighted in 1337 , by Edward , the Black Prince , at that time duke of Cornwall . He held this manor of Lady Alice de Neville , as of her manor of Wethersfield ; and during the reign of Edward the Third , was many years sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire ; and dying in 1360 , was succeeded by his son , Sir Henry , who married Joan , daughter and heiress of William de Welle , in whose right he held the manor of Great Samford . He died about the commencement of the reign of Henry the Sixth, having married Antiochia, daughter and heiress of Sir John Hawkwood , by whom he had Blanch , married to John Doreward , Esq . of Bocking ; Alice , the wife of Sir John Tyrrell , of Herons ; Margaret , married to William Bateman , Esq . of Little Samford , and afterwards the wife of John Roppeley , Esq .; and Maud , first married to Robert Dacre , Esq . and afterwards to John St. George. Margaret , the third daughter , having this estate for her purparty , conveyed it to her husband, William Bateman , Esq . who had by her his only daughter , Margaret , married to William Green , son of John Green , Esq . of Widdington . He died in 1488 , and his wife in 1494 ; but neither of them died possessed of this estate , which had previously become the property of Henry Wentworth , Esq . ( second son of Sir Roger Wentworth, of Nettlested , in Suffolk ) , the first of the family that settled in Essex, and the progenitor of the Wentworths of Oxfordshire, Berkshire , Buckinghamshire , and of the various branches in this county . Sir Roger Wentworth , of Codham Hall , his son and heir , was sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1499 , and marrying Anne , only daughter of Humphrey Tyrrell, Esq . of Little Warley, had by her John, Henry , and other children , and died in 1539 , leaving Sir John , his eldest son , his successor ; who married Anne, daughter of John Betten- ham , of Pluckley , in Kent , by whom , on his decease in 1567 , he left an only daughter, Anne, successively married to Sir Hugh Rich , Henry Fitz - Alan , Lord Maltravers , and William Deane . On the death of this lady , in 1580 , John Wentworth , Esq . her uncle's son , inherited this and her other great estates. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher St. Laurence , baron of Howth , by whom he had John , who , by his wife Cicely , daughter of Edward Unton, Esq . had his son John , another son , and several daughters. John Wentworth , the son , was knighted in 1603, and created a baronet in 1611. Marrying Katharine , daughter of Sir Moyle Finch , he had by her a son , who died young , and four daughters , of whom Cecily, † the third, was married to Sir William Grey , of Chillingham, in Northumberland , created , in 1624 , Baron Grey , of Werk . Lucy , the fourth daughter and co - heiress , was the second wife of Thomas Wentworth , earl of Cleveland , by whom she had an only daughter , Katharine , married to William Spencer , Esq . of Cople , in Bedfordshire , to whom she conveyed the manor of Codham Hall ; which his son , William Spencer , Esq . sold to Sir Richard Pyne , lord chief justice of Ireland , who left it entailed to his son , Henry Pyne , Esq . and his heirs male : but this gentleman sacrificing his life in a duel , in

chalybeate

containing or impregnated with salts of iron, as a mineral spring or medicine.