We recently shared more information about over 2,000 settlement papers on Essex Archives Online for the parishes of Boreham (D/P 29), Dedham (D/P 26), Coggeshall (D/P 36), and Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4). Archive assistant Hannah Crunden-Jones tells us more…
Like all historical research, there is a sense working at ERO that the work is never done. There is always something more to add, or catalogue, or read about, to further enrich the information that we can provide visitors to our Searchroom. The continual work to individually catalogue our settlement papers is one such example, and an ongoing project. In what could be viewed as the third instalment to our settlement series (see the first two, ‘‘The secrets of settlement papers’ and ‘An introduction to settlement papers’ by David Perkins), this post aims to both provide an update as to what has been going on and emphasise the value of this cataloguing and the possibilities it provides.
As a recap, settlement papers were documents relating to one’s right to legal settlement in a certain parish. These are made up of settlement certificates which proved that someone had settlement and so could receive poor relief, removal orders which ordered individuals to be removed from a parish to where they had settlement, and examinations which recorded the lives of those applied for poor relief but did not have legal settlement.
St Mary the Virgin, Hatfield Broad Oak, 1819 (I/Mb 171/1/17)
These documents are hugely valuable in helping us gain at least a partial insight into poor relief from the 17th to the 19th century. However, the volume of these materials is enormous; at the ERO we hold records for hundreds of parishes throughout Essex and subsequently thousands of settlement papers. While the records for some parishes have been catalogued, for others it has been impossible to search specifically for individuals who feature in these documents, with searchers needing to go through multiple documents to find what they are looking for. Now, as part of an ongoing project that aims to improve our pre-existing catalogue, it is becoming increasingly easy to look through our settlement papers and find individuals, who are starting to be catalogued – and named – individually. We have also been working to ensure that wives and children, where possible, are identified and named.
Alongside the papers from Rayleigh and Hadleigh that had previously been added to our catalogue, searchers can now explore those from Boreham (D/P 29), Dedham (D/P 26), Coggeshall (D/P 36), and Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4), with more parish settlements due to be added in the coming months. The volume of newly searchable records is great: a total of 2041 settlement papers, making research at the Essex Record Office increasingly streamlined. It also provides further ease for searchers working on family histories to track ancestors over time more precisely rather than looking through a multitude of uncatalogued documents. Used in tandem with our parish registers, it is now possible to uncover a rich history of movements and relationships.
As discussed in previous posts, the settlement papers do not provide historians with a personable or emotional account of one’s life, but they do provide a window into the factual movements and whereabouts of more ordinary folk. This also contributes to a diversification of the archive, and consequently a richer source of information for the past. Already visitors have been utilising our updated catalogue to aid research into family histories and have discovered a great amount of information through the settlement papers, and we are excited to watch this continue.
Exploring these records during the cataloguing process has been an illuminating experience, shedding light on the stories and movements of those living in Essex between the 1600s and 1800s. It is particularly interesting to spot the same names appearing multiple times in removal orders. An example of this can be seen in the removal orders for Hatfield Broad Oak, where Israel Searle, his wife Louisa, and their children had been removed from parishes of Middlesex to Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4/13/3B/133, 135, 136).
In both December 1836 and July 1838, the family was removed from Little Stanmore and Staines respectively and returned to Hatfield Broad Oak where Israel was legally settled. As his wife, Louisa obtained settlement status from her husband, and their children inherited their father’s place of settlement from their father, so this example of the whole family moving together is a common one. In 1838, Israel Searle was removed alone from Enfield, where he was residing in the Union Workhouse in Edmonton, back to Hatfield Broad Oak. This individual removal order provides further interesting details, mentioning that eighteen months previously he had been removed from the parish of Edgware. Not only are our settlement papers useful for research into individuals, but also for social or economic research.
Removal order of Israel Searle from Enfield Workhouse to Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4/13/3B/135)
One of the largest parishes currently catalogued is Coggeshall, with nearly 1000 settlement documents. Given Coggeshall’s reasonable proximity to the road into London, and its connections to the wool trade, one could suggest that movements in and out of the parish to other areas of London and Kent were more common than that from smaller parishes, and the opportunity to become established and successful elsewhere a more realistic possibility. For instance, in 1825 was the removal of “Caroline wife of Robert Hume… (who has deserted her) with their three children” from Bromley in Middlesex to Coggeshall (D/P 36/13/3/95). Like the situation of Lousia above, Caroline’s settlement status was obtained by her husband, returning her and her children to Essex to receive poor relief despite Robert’s unknown whereabouts. This situation was not uncommon and demonstrates further examples of the benefits of settlement papers in documenting the role and rights of women throughout history.
Removal order of Caroline Hume and children from Bromley, Middlesex to Coggeshall (D/P 36/13/3/95)
New information about settlement papers is being added to Essex Archives Online on a regular basis. Please enquire with staff for updates and further information, or if there is a certain parish you would like us to catalogue next!
“During the Second World War, there must have been more than a hundred community efforts up and down the country, each with their own little group of folk, each building their own Jerusalem. Their histories have not been written, but one day, diaries and journals might be available, and when they are, we can learn much of the effort and idealism poured out by groups of all kinds.”
‘Community Life’, Joe Watson, c.1949
The Essex Record Office is proud to announce the launch of a new archive that sheds light on one of Britain’s largest and longest-running pacifist communities:Frating Hall Farm, active from 1943 to 1954.
Harvest festival in the barn at Frating Hall Farm, 1947, taken by Douglas Went Studios, Brightlingsea (D/DU 3663/5)
About Frating Hall Farm
Featured in Ken Worpole’s acclaimed book No Matter How Many Skies Have Fallen (Little Toller Books, 2021), Frating Hall Farm was one of many pacifist communities established in Britain during the Second World War.
The origins of the community lay in the Adelphi Centre at Langham, which became a hub for socialist and pacifist thinkers in the 1930s under the leadership of the writers John Middleton Murry and Max Plowman. After the centre disbanded, a small party led by the charismatic Consett steelworker Joe Watson left to build ‘their own Jerusalem’ at Frating Hall Farm.
Over the next decade, the farm became a home, sanctuary, and gathering place for dozens of people, from those who lived and worked there to the many pacifists, refugees, writers, poets and musicians who visited. As member Leila Ward wrote in 1946, it was a place of ‘comradeship amongst the frozen cabbages’, which drew people together through their shared commitment to cultivating a new way of life on the land.
“From north, south, east and west we come to Frating… The politician is here and the intellectual; the musician and the poet; the worker and the-one-who wants-a-bit-of-a-push-now-and-then; in fact, we are a seemingly haphazard collection of individuals, with all the usual failings of humans and with their capacity for being great at odd times.”
Frating Hall Community (1949)
About the archive
The newly assembled archive gathers together a wide range of material, including:
Frating Hall Farm Society reports, accounts and publications; a yearly record of the joys and challenges of managing the farm and the contributions of individuals involved
Over 750 letters, offering an intimate window into the people and relationships that shaped the community, as well as their connections to the wider world
Dozens of photographs, capturing everyday life at the farm in addition to the busy – and much-loved – calendar of festivals, celebrations, and performances
Biographical writing, including the papers of Joe Watson
Ken Worpole’s interviews with people who grew up in the community at Frating
Together, the archive offers a deeply personal insight into the lives of members of the community and the broader currents of pacifism, co-operative farming, and communal life in the mid-twentieth century.
“We wanted to found a pacifist, socialist and Christian community and demonstrate to the world that cooperation, and sharing could produce greater happiness and blessedness than individual strivings – that all you threw into the melting point would be returned to you sevenfold.”
Letter from Trevor Howard to his daughter Katherine, 1962
The archive includes contributions from the families of:
Joe and Doris Watson, whose papers span their early married life in County Durham in the 1930s to their time at Prested Hall, near Colchester, in the 1950s. Includes a significant collection of correspondence, with letters from John Middleton Murry, Frank Lea, Jack Common, Shirley Williams, and the composer William Wordsworth. Reference: D/DU 3663
Joe and Doris Watson at the harvest festival at Frating Hall Farm in 1947; this photograph was published in an article on Frating in Peace News, titled ‘Community From Within and Without’ (D/DU 3491/2/3/1)
Derek Crosfield and Marian Thomas, who met in the community and took over the management of the farm in the 1950s. Highlights include reports and letters from Frating Hall Farm Society, family photographs, and a detailed map of the farm. Reference: D/DU 3491
Marian’s son, Martyn Thomas, at Frating Hall farm in the late 1940s (D/DU 3491/5/2/4)
Trevor Howard and Enid Whitmore,a young couple who married at Frating in 1943 and raised their family there. Includes family photographs and over 50 letters between Trevor and Enid while Trevor was helping to establish the community. Reference: D/DU 3492.
Trevor and Enid Howard on their wedding day at Frating Hall Farm, 1943 (D/DU 3492/6/2)
Helen Johnson, a Cambridge student who volunteered at Frating during university holidays. Comprises 8 letters about her time at the farm in 1950, sent to her future husband Arthur Fox. Reference: D/DU 3493.
L-R: Shirley Williams, Derek Crosfield, Ray Smith, and Helen Johnson with a potato planter at Frating Hall Farm, 1947. In a letter to his brother, Noel, Ray wrote that the day the photograph was taken was especially cold, with Shirley – down at Frating for Easter with her mother, Vera Brittain – in borrowed clothes, including Ray’s raincoat and Irene Palmer’s boots.
“Jeanne showed me up to my room after supper, a nice one only recently vacated by the marriage of its occupant, with a clean white cloth on the dressing table, a pot of geraniums in the window, a vase of sweet peas on the cloth and a ring bowl of some sort of red blossom with shiny dark green leaves on the other chest of drawers… It’s very pleasant to have a sort of second home to come to, even if one does have to work rather hard.”
Letter from Helen Johnson, 13 June 1950
Accessing the archive
You can search the Frating archive on our online catalogue, Essex Archives Online. The catalogue gives a description of each item in the archive and includes digital images of key reports and publications, as well as some photographs and letters.
Original material can be accessed in the searchroom at the Essex Record Office, on Wharf Road in Chelmsford. It is free to visit the searchroom and there is no need to book an appointment in advance, but you do need an Archives Card to order items to look at.
The archive exists thanks to the generosity of the depositors – Pat Smith, Katherine Weaver, Martyn Thomas, and Andrew Fox – and the dedicated research and ongoing support of Ken Worpole.
It was catalogued by Rielly Kitchener, an MA Placement student funded by the University of Essex and the Friends of Historic Essex, and Essex Record Office volunteers.
Frating archive depositors and Ken Worpole at the Essex Record Office, October 2025
“We have grown in stature and I believe our roots are taking firm hold in this plot of earth we call ours. Joy we have had in full measure, trials and tribulations to keep us humble, but also to bind us together. Children to comfort and plague us, new members to strengthen our bulwarks, old friends to be glad to join us – and good crops to maintain us.”
‘There are old men yet dwelling in the village where I remain which have noted…three things too much increased. One is the multitude of chimneys lately erected, whereas in their young days there were not above two or three…but each one made his fire against a reredos in the hall where he dined and dressed his meat’. So wrote William Harris in ‘The Description of England’ in 1587.
But why were chimneys becoming more common in this period, and how did the design and style of the chimney change over time?
Exterior of Chadwell Farm, Birdbrook (I/Ha 19/1/3)
According to the Oxford England Dictionary, the word ‘chimney’ is thought to derive from the latin word ‘caminus’ meaning furnace or oven. Historically, the word ‘stalk’ was used to describe the part of the chimney visible above the roof, with a group of chimney stalks being known as a ‘stack’.
Fires were an essential element of the home from the earliest dwellings, for providing both heat and light, and for the preparation of food. By the medieval period, most houses in Essex would have had the fire in the centre of the home or hall, where the smoke would leave through an opening in the roof. These were not usually that effective, and one can only imagine the smoky atmosphere in living dwellings at this time.
Exterior of Sparrow’s Farm, Terling (I/Ha 196/1/14)
It was during the medieval period that there was a move from fireplaces in the centre of a room to being at a side wall, which would make it easier to channel the resulting smoke through a funnel or hood. These are likely to have initially been made of wood and plaster. This would have been more effective than the simple hole in the roof previously used. As smoke was more successfully removed from the building, rather than much of it remaining in the upper areas of the building, it meant further rooms could become functional closer to the roof giving an increase to a second floor of rooms. The increase of internal walls meant the fireplace(s) would often still be in the centre of the building during this period. By the chimney being placed here it meant the heat would be carried to the rooms on the upper floor, as well as providing a support for the structure. The Chimney shafts visible above the roof during the late medieval period were octagonal or circular and these stylistic fashions can help date chimneys still visible today.
Exterior of Boynton Hall, Finchingfield (I/Ha 83/1/15)
The chimneys in the Tudor period remained in the centre of the building. Brick chimney shafts were being added to high status dwellings by the mid-fifteenth century. These would have been highly decorated in the interior of the house and during the sixteenth century this appears to have extended to outside of the house, leading to some of the beautiful decorative brick chimneys we can still see. Brick was an expensive material during the Tudor period, so if you could display a large and ornate chimney it was a real display of wealth.
Exterior of house at Tindon End, Great Sampford (I/Ha 176/1/3)
After the hearth tax was introduced in 1662, householders were charged 2 shillings per year for every hearth in their property. This further reinforced the importance of the chimney as a visible status symbol. Some houses had chimney stalks that were never even connected to a fireplace, purely for the illusion of housing multiple hearths. The Hearth Tax was incredibly unpopular, and was repealed in 1689 as promised by William of Orange, at the beginning of his reign. By the end of the 17th century the popular style of chimneys had changed to square chimneys, set ‘diamond-wise’ or concertina style. As the design of larger houses changed to accommodate a central staircase, chimneys began to be placed at the ends of the property.
Exterior of Upper Hall, Matching (I/Ha 133/1/6)
The rise in the prominent use of coal as a fuel for the fire in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the need for more efficient channelling of smoke out of the living areas. Chimney pots, which sit on top of the chimney stalk were found to be effective for this by increasing the height of the chimney stalk which enhances the natural draught.
During the Victorian era, with the increase of large quantities of identical terraced housing, there was a desire to personalise property exteriors, especially chimney pots. There are literally thousands of different chimney pot designs, which range from the simple to the truly elaborate; with a variety of shapes and styles.
With the dawn of alternative heating systems such as electricity and gas, the popularity of the traditional chimney declined during the twentieth century. In some cases chimneys were removed entirely. In recent years there has been a resurgence in the chimney once more.
It’s fascinating how the humble chimney is intrinsically entwined with the design of dwellings and that the chimneys that survive to this day give clues as to the date and history of their buildings.
There are many and varied chimneys shown in the photographs of the Hayllar Collection, a collection of more than 2000 photographs, mostly showing architecture and buildings across more than 250 parishes in Essex taken between 1920 and 1950. Throughout this post are a small selection of these showing some truly beautiful and interesting chimneys.
If you’re interested in finding out more about chimneys:
Ferguson, Catherine, Thornton, C. and Wareham, A. (ed) 2012, Essex Hearth Tax (British Record Society)
Edelen, G. (ed) 1994, William Harrison: The Description of England (Folger Shakespeare Library)
Priestley, H. 1970, The English Home (Frederick Muller Ltd.)
Erica Donaghy writes about repackaging the photographs and enhancing the catalogue for the collection of Mr J Hayllar and requests your help to identify some mystery buildings!
An important aspect of the work we do here at ERO is ensuring items are housed in a way which protects them, assisting with their long-term preservation, whilst also allowing easier access to researchers where possible. Our first County Archivist, F.G. Emmison, wrote an article, ‘The Sage of the Big Intake’ (Essex journal, 26 (3) 1991, pp.56-58, 71) in which he described the ‘astonishing accumulation of historical documents’ in the first years when ERO was established. We constantly strive to improve the storage of these documents, especially as we now have access to acid free materials and un-dreamt of resources that our predecessors were not so lucky to have.
Tanner’s Farm, Great Dunmow (I/Ha 68/1/13)Middleton Church (I/Ha 135/1/1)Dagenham (I/Ha 63/1/4)
(Click on a picture above to be taken the a gallery for more information)
With this in mind, the Hayllar Collection (catalogue reference: I/Ha), which was deposited with the ERO in June 1950, has recently been re-housed and listed to item level. Not much is known about Mr J. Hayllar, other than that he lived in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. He travelled through various parishes in Essex photographing the parish churches, as well as secular buildings and other parts of the parish between 1920 and 1950. The photographs range from the exterior and interior of parish churches, to local estates, farms and mills as well as other local landmarks. The photographs are mostly focussed on the buildings themselves, but some show fascinating human elements such as vehicles, shop fronts, children playing and people going about their day.
The photographs were arranged by parish and stored in envelopes labelled with the parish name. These had already been catalogued to parish level by ERO staff.
Windmill, South Ockendon (I/Ha 146/1/4)The Old Sun Inn, Saffron Walden (I/Ha 210/1/29)Falcon Inn, Castle Hedingham (I/Ha 99/1/12)
(Click on a picture above to be taken the a gallery for more information)
In 2023 a project began to re-house the photographs into pocketed transparent melinex sheets which would then be kept in acid-free boxes. This would not only contribute to their long-term preservation by protecting them from environmental factors, but would also reduce the risk of them being damaged or affected by being handled.
As this re-housing project was being undertaken, it was also a good opportunity to look more closely at their catalogue and it was decided to list each photograph individually. Mr J. Hayllar labelled his images clearly, often providing the names of buildings and streets or roads. This information has now been included in the catalogue in more detail, enabling researchers to search for photographs that might be of potential interest to them.
Whilst many photographs were labelled with enough information to identify the subject, whilst others were simply labelled ‘view in the village’, ‘street in the village’ or ‘old house in the village’. To try and identify as many of these as possible, staff here at the ERO used other images in the collection, images on the Historic England website as well as Streetview through google maps online. This has helped identify at least some of the subjects of the photographs, and if researchers have any further information to offer about other still-unidentified photographs we would be happy to hear from them!
(Click on a picture above to be taken the a gallery for more information)
The Collection has now been fully re-housed, labelled and stored at a new location in the repositories here at ERO. Fortunately for us, the new packing has not created a lot more volume than the original, as so often happens when items go to conservation! The item listed catalogue will be published online in due course at Essex Archives Online, and hopefully at some point in the future the photographs might be digitised to further protect them and increase access to these fascinating and beautiful images.
Edward Harris, Customer Service Team Lead, together with Neil Wiffen, Archive Assistant and “Tintinophile” (though he prefers Asterix) have been exploring the connections between newly listed tombs at St Clements, Leigh on Sea and Hergé’s salty sea-dog Captain Haddock.
Here at the Essex Record Office, we all love the history of our county, and are always on the lookout for further research. We were pleased to hear recently news about the listing by Historic England, of the chest tomb dedicated to Mary Anna Haddock (neé Goodlad, c.1610-1688), mother of Sir Richard Haddock (c.1629-1715), in the churchyard of St Clement, Leigh-on-Sea (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1481879).
Leigh Church (St Clement) – I/Mb 220/1/6
An added attraction was the suggestion of a connection with Hergé’s Captain Haddock, Tintin’s nautical sidekick.
Historic England state that the tomb ‘is relatively unusual as a single memorial to a named women of this date’ and that it is ‘an exceptional early example of a churchyard memorial … for the craftsmanship evident in the carved panels, posts, and tomb slab.’ How interesting and what might the Record Office have on Mary Anna Haddock and her important tomb?
While we do not focus on physical monuments in themselves, we do look after parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials for the Diocese of Chelmsford (under which St Clement falls) so, ‘do we have Mary Anna’s burial entry’ in the archive? If we do, it’s always nice to then share it with our followers – simple really. Well, no! As is so often the case when undertaking historical research.
Historic England’s listing informs us that Mary Anna died on January 6th 1688, so taking a look at the relevant register (D/P 284/1/1), there is an entry for a burial taking place on January 13, 1688 (which seems right for arrangements to be made for burial from the time of death) for ‘Mrs [mistress – presumably stressing that she was elderly and respectable] Hannah Haddocke’ but not ‘Mary Anna Haddock’. Our interest was piqued!
Hannah Haddock burial 1688 – D/P 284/1/1
A couple of obvious answers, as to why there are differences, might be that the names ‘Hannah’ and ‘Anna’ were interchangeable in the period, or that she was simply known by ‘pet’ or preferred name as opposed to the name given to her at birth. The incumbent could have also made a mistake, especially if he was writing up the ‘official’ burial entry later than when the burial took place. What else can we find out though?
We initially went, as is normal, to the relevant volume of the monumental inscriptions produced by our friends at the Essex Society for Family History. That for St Clement being T/Z 151/89 (which is indexed and contains a great plan of the church yard). Due to weathering of inscriptions, they pointed us towards John Bundock’s 1978 Leigh Parish Church of St. Clement: a historical description:
There are two tombs to members of the Haddock family … [one] a large altar tomb with only the top inscribed. Part of it is not very legible. For this and most of the churchyard monuments described here the author has reproduced the readings of earlier copyists. (p.54)
For an ‘earlier copyist’, when the inscription must have been legible, we consulted Philip Benton:
This tombe was erected by Sir Richard Haddock, Kt, in memory of his Grandfather, Capt Richard Haddock who died 22 May, 1660, aged 79 years. As also his father, Capt William Haddock, who died 22 September, 1667, aged 60 years. And his mother, Anna Haddock, who died 6 January, A.D. 1688, in the 78 year of her age, who all lie underneath in the vault. Also the body of Dame Eliz. Haddock, wife of Sir Richard Haddock, who died 26 Feby, 1709-10 aged 59 years. As also the body of Sir Richard Haddock, Comptroller of his Majesties Navy who died 26 January, 1714-15, aged 85 years. (P. Benton, The History of the Rochford Hundred, 1 (Rochford, 1867), p.352.)
Sir Richard Haddock I/Pb 8/2/2
An early twentieth century publication, when the tomb might still have been legible, describes the tomb thus:
In churchyard – E. end … to Capt. Richard Haddock, (1660?), Capt. William Haddock, 166-, Anna Haddock, 1688, Elizabeth Haddock, 1709, and Sir Richard Haddock, 1714, Controller of the Navy, table-tomb. (Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Essex, 4 (London, 1923), p.83.)
So, it is clear that the tomb contained several members of both sexes of the Haddock family and that Anna/Hannah was one of them. We have not found a sniff of a ‘Mary Anna Haddock’, the nearest we have got is the burial entry to ‘Mrs Hannah Haddocke’. As the tomb in question, and several others around it, are so weathered now as to be illegible, we must rely on previous authors and, of course, what is written in the burial register. We just hope that we are talking about the same tomb and burial as Historic England. Unfortunately, the Leigh parish register that we have consulted is the earliest still extant. Any earlier registers, dating back to 1538, do not survive so we cannot check baptism or marriage entries for the Haddock family, which might have made clearer some of the family connections.
We did however find an entry in the burial register of St Olave, Hart Street 1684-1805, held by The London Archive saying that ‘Mrs Anna Haddocke wid[ow] was caryed to be buryed at Leigh in the County of Essex.’ So this must have been where the funeral service took place, but still not, Mary Anna Haddock! (P69/OLA1/A/010/MS28870 – The London Archive)
As to the Tintin connection, like physical monuments this is not one of our areas of expertise, but a quick look at the online ‘go to’ place for answers, Wikipedia, states that:
Haddock’s name was suggested by Hergé’s wife, who noted that haddock was a ‘sad English fish’ over a fish dinner. Hergé then utilised the name for the English captain he’d just introduced … Although it has not been suggested that Hergé based Haddock on any historical persons, it transpired that there were several Haddocks who had served in the navy. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Haddock)
Tintin.com (a fantastic website for the avid Tintinophile) does add:
As for his family, we know that he is the descendant of the knight François de Hadoque, a navy captain who served under Louis XIV. The king of France entrusted François de Hadoque with the command of the frigate “The Unicorn” which the latter lost under circumstances which were revealed in The Secret of the Unicorn. (https://www.tintin.com/en/characters/captain-haddock#)
The original french language version has the The Unicorn in the background flying a Bourbon Flag, interestingly, the English translation shows it flying a union flag only adopted in 1801, 86 years after the death of Louis XIV. The English translation also has François Hadoque become Francis Haddock who sailed in the English Navy in the reign of Charles II. Coincidentally (as Tintin’s Unicorn is fictional with the art based on a model of the French second rate ship of the line Brilliant) our Captain Richard Haddock commanded the HMS Unicorn from 1648 -1652.
Blistering barnacles, what do you think?
So often with historical research, things are not clear cut and very rarely is there a definitive answer. However, that’s the joy of looking at archives. If you would like to look at the images of parish registers held by the Record Office, further details can be found at: https://www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk/ParishRegisters.aspx
Archives are a rich source of inspiration for many creatives interested in the histories of people and place – artists, writers, filmmakers, photographers, musicians, designers and producers. But it can be difficult to know where to start.
To help, we’ve put together a new guide to the Essex Record Office for creatives. The guide covers how to search, access, and use the archives, what we can offer, case studies, and inspiration from the collections.
If you haven’t come across us before, the Essex Record Office is the county archive for Essex. We’re based on Wharf Road in Chelmsford, where we preserve nearly 1,000 years of Essex history. That includes all sorts of records, from medieval charters to twenty-first century digital files. You can search the archives on our catalogue, Essex Archives Online, and access them either online or in-person in our searchroom.
The Search Room at Essex Record Office, Robert Priseman
As visual, material, textual objects, the archives preserved at the Essex Record Office can tell many different stories. We hope that this guide will help you find something that inspires you in your creative practice.
In turn, creative interpretations of the archives can give us new ways of understanding them. They also help to share them with a wider audience and open up a conversation about what has been preserved from our past – and what we should preserve for the future.
We’re thinking of the guide as a work in progress – let us know if you think we’ve missed anything that would be useful to know!
Please note that the charges given in the guide are accurate for 2024-25, and may change in future.
If you are part of a creative network or studio and would like a physical copy of the guide, please get in touch.
Customer Service Team Lead, Edward Harris, looks at the highs and lows of research using our manuscript map collection.
We may have said before that we love maps here at ERO. But some of our manuscript maps can leave you scratching your head.
We have often ordered up something titled “Map of the Parish of…”, hopeful that it will give us an extensive view of the parish in question, only to get something like D/DWe P5 below. A map of Bagg Wood belonging to Thomas White Esq surveyed in 1703.
Map of Bagg Wood in Aldham (D/DWe P5)
These maps may show one or more field with very little context and no real clue of where it is. We do at least know that it is in Aldham and which part of the ditch it was measured to!
Examining a Google maps satellite images leaves us with scant help. While many of the woodlands do reveal a name when clicked on, none of them are named Bagg Wood. A perusal of the National Library of Scotland’s excellent Geo-referenced map resource (https://maps.nls.uk/) reveals only one candidate that is roughly the right shape, but called Hoe Wood on the 2nd Edition 25” to the mile Ordnance Survey. I suppress a little frustration that the surveyors in the late 1880s didn’t include an acreage as they had done in the 1870’s.
The perfect next step was our collection of copy Tithe Maps. Listing the owner, occupier, acreage and cultivation of every plot of land in the parish, but often also the names of houses, fields and woodland.
The Tithe Map of Aldham, surveyed in around 1839 (D/CT 2B) and it’s accompanying Award (D/CT 2A) is wonderfully clear and easy to consult, but it is also clear that there is no Bagg Wood. What is however, is a vast array of land owned by a Thomas Western, the major landowner in Aldham. One plot of land is the aforementioned Hoe Wood with an Acreage of 21 Acres 2 Roods and 21 Perches. Close enough?
Tithe map of Aldham 1843 (D/CT 2B)
Then I realised that I had fallen for yet another pitfall of a manuscript map, North is not always at the top of the page. A quick 90 degree counter-clockwise rotation of the parchment revealed the North is actually to the right hand edge of the map, and Bagg Wood and Hoe Wood are one and the same.
To add to the clues, the “DWe” part of the maps reference, tells me that it is part of the papers of the Western family.
Manuscript maps are often less clear even than this one, half the fun is in trying to locate their features on a modern map. Manuscript maps can be beautiful. Having a set of maps beautifully crafted for your estate was the status symbol of its day.
By way of example, here is another estate map for the estate of Thomas Western. D/DCm P29 dating to 1809 and surveyed by Robert Baker meticulously records all of the estate over several membranes and is beautifully decorated.
The value of this volume of estate maps can be seen in the gold leaf and beautiful colours used. It has also been separated from the other family papers at some point which can be seen by the different reference. Was this because it was sold off at some point to raise some vital funds? Can you spot Bagg Wood? Also, bonus points if you spotted the route of the railway marked across the estate.
Back in April, we held an event to commemorate the 80th anniversary of when the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) reached peak strength in Essex in the run-up to D-Day, Welcome to Essex. We were delighted that Dr Catherine Pearson gave a fascinating talk based on the diary entries of E.J. Rudsdale, about relations between the Americans and the Essex locals. We are even more delighted that Dr Pearson has kindly taken the time to turn her talk into a blog post. To mark the anniversary of D-Day, we have also recorded an edited version of Rudsdale’s entry for that momentous day.
Eighty years ago, in the midst of the Second World War, Essex had become home to thousands of US service personnel in readiness for the allied invasion and liberation of occupied Europe. Essex Record Office holds a contemporary diary account by Colchester Museum curator, E.J. Rudsdale (1910-1951), which records the impact of the arrival of the USAAF in Colchester and the nearby USAAF airfields of Boxted and Wormingford.
Rudsdale was seconded from Colchester Museum in 1941 to become Secretary of the Lexden and Winstree District Committee of the Essex War Agricultural Committee for the duration of the war. This gave him a valuable insight into the development of the American airfields because the USAAF commandeered agricultural land from the Essex War Agricultural Committee for the construction of the airfields at Boxted and Wormingford.
Owing to the drive to increase agricultural production for the war effort, the Essex War Agricultural Committee viewed the takeover of farmland for airfields with some trepidation and a degree of antagonism. This is evident from Rudsdale’s first official encounter with USAAF personnel:
April 29 1943
Went to the Office of the Clerk of the Works [at Wormingford Aerodrome], … and found to my surprise that it was not Air Ministry men whom I was to meet but United States Air Force Officers. Two of them I had seen [in Colchester], a Major Miller and a Lieutenant Walters. … Miller … looks the typical “small-town” American one sees in so many films, his worn, lined face surmounted by rimless glasses. … Walters was dark and dapper … The arrangement was that we all went off in two cars, driven by English girls in pseudo-American uniform, to inspect sites for a shooting butt. I was supposed to say whether the site was suitable from an agricultural point of view.
As we moved off along the concrete perimeter road, through a desert of derelict farm land, I remarked “Well, there has certainly been a change since I was here last. Why, you’ve changed the whole landscape.” I said this quite innocently, but at once Major Miller turned on me and snapped out “Well, wouldn’t you rather have us here than the Germans?” … He went on “We can’t bother about the convenience of a few British farmers, you know.” It was obvious from his manner that he had already had a good deal of criticism since he came to England.
(D/DU 888/26/3 pp.568-571)
It was clear that greater accommodation on both sides was necessary for establishing more harmonious relations and Rudsdale’s next encounter with American personnel was of a warmer nature. On 1 July 1943, he was called to Boxted Airfield to discuss the USAAF’s further plans for the site and wrote:
… Major Anderson of the USAAF … was very affable. … [He] looked at the lay-out plan, and said: “This is a mean site, I guess this is the meanest site I’ve ever seen.” Then we went into various details, and their final requirements were not unreasonable. …
We rode all over the site in two jeeps – old [Gardiner] Church [a member of the Lexden and Winstree District War Agricultural Committee] was very tickled, and said “These are the things for farming, boy! I’m going to have one o’they after the war!”
(D/DU 888/26/4 pp.819-822)
In 1944, Rudsdale visited Wormingford Airfield in order to rescue historic timbers from Harvey’s Farmhouse, which was demolished in the course of the aerodrome’s expansion, and his diary entry recorded:
January 15 1944
Thick fog this morning, and bitterly cold. … we got busy loading the moulded ceiling timbers, with the help of three Land Girls. The driver ventured onto the mud, against my advice, and soon the lorry was stuck fast, so that no amount of tugging could release it. Took one of the Land Girls … and went off to see if we could get any help. It was very strange to wander about among planes and lorries in the thick fog, hearing the accents of America and Ireland intermingled as we passed groups of mechanics or labourers.
Found the big hanger, which thrilled the Land Girl a good deal – “Well,” she said, “I never thought I should see the inside of a hanger.” Neither did I.
… The sergeant could not do enough for us, and within a matter of minutes [an] enormous tractor, … was ploughing through the mud towards us. … [a] wire was attached to the lorry’s front axle, the motor raced, and out she came, … leaving behind four pits almost as big as graves, where the wheels had been.
By this time … we … set off back to Colchester… first collecting one of the Land Girls from the pilot’s seat of a nearby ‘plane, where a sergeant was showing her the controls. …
(D/DU 888/27/1 pp.48-51)
Rudsdale also discussed the black servicemen and women who formed part of the American Forces and were regularly seen in Colchester. African-American service personnel were employed as drivers or military policemen or worked in supplies or in the construction of aerodromes. Under American segregation orders, black troops had their own club in Priory Street in Colchester, and white troops had a club in Culver Street. However, Rudsdale and his fellow curator, Harold Poulter (1880-1962), regularly talked to the black service personnel. On 10 June 1944, Rudsdale wrote that he had ‘called at the American Red Cross Club in Priory Street’ to deliver a message from Poulter to a Miss Marie Wall, who Rudsdale described as a ‘delightful’ black servicewoman ‘of about 25’ and went on to record that they ‘Talked for an hour or so’. (D/DU 888/27/3 p.491).
Colcestrians do not appear to have been in favour of American segregation orders. Rudsdale noted black and white Americans troops sitting in the same café in Colchester in February 1944, albeit at separate tables (D/DU 888/27/1: 25/2/1944 p.182). He also recorded that black service personnel staged a week’s theatre performance at Colchester Repertory Theatre in December 1944 (D/DU 888/27/5: 30/11/1944, p.820).
American servicemen on the Castle Walls, Colchester Castle, 1944. Harold Poulter, Curator of Hollytrees Museum, is in the centre of the photograph and Lieutenant Stich, Public Relations Officer at Wormingford Airfield, is on the left (D/DU 888/27/4 p.590)
The positive developments in Anglo-American relations in Colchester were made apparent in late 1944, when the Americans were invited to stage an exhibition at Colchester Castle. The display was the brainchild of Lieutenant Stich, Public Relations Officer at Wormingford Airfield and Harold Poulter, the Curator of Hollytrees Museum. The exhibition, entitled The England that America Loves, featured paintings and photographs of English scenes that had appealed to the American troops during their time in the UK (Colchester Museum and Muniment Committee Report 1948, pp.5-6).
An American serviceman and a woman visitor at The England that America Loves exhibition at Colchester Castle Museum, 1944 (Courtesy of Colchester and Ipswich Museums)
Visitors to The England that America Loves exhibition at Colchester Castle Museum, 1944 (Courtesy of Colchester and Ipswich Museums)
The shared experience of war was a further factor in bringing the allies closer together. One of those who participated in the Castle exhibition, Lieutenant-Colonel Elwyn G. Righetti, a pilot at Wormingford, lost his life on 17 April 1944 when his plane went down over Germany. A party to celebrate his 30th birthday had been prepared for him back at the airbase to which he never returned (Benham 1945, p.57). Such tragic incidents increased the local community’s gratitude for the sacrifices being made by the Americans.
Pilots of the 55th Fighter Group, Wormingford Airfield, meeting the Mayor of Colchester at The England that America Loves exhibition at Colchester Castle Museum, 1944 (Courtesy of Colchester and Ipswich Museums). Left to right: Lt-Col Elwyn G. Righetti (who lost his life on 17/4/45 over Germany, aged 30); Col George T. Crowell; Arthur W. Piper, Mayor of Colchester; Col Joe Huddleston; unknown.
With the arrival of VE Day on 8 May 1945 and the close of hostilities in Europe, there were opportunities for the troops to relax and local people were invited to visit the US airbases. As the USAAF prepared to leave Colchester in July 1945, they presented Colchester Corporation with a silver rose bowl to thank the town for its hospitality and this remains part of the City’s regalia today.
The presentation of a silver rose bowl to Colchester Corporation to thank Colchester’s inhabitants for their hospitality towards American service personnel, 1945 (Courtesy of Colchester and Ipswich Museums)
After the war, American veterans made regular visits to the UK to remember their time in Essex and to pay homage to fallen comrades. One ex-serviceman wrote to the curator of Colchester Castle in 1988, that the veterans ‘would like to see a museum exhibition depicting their life as it was here in Colchester from 1943-1945 … with its bitter sweet memories’. (Colchester and Ipswich Museums, Historic Displays & Exhibitions file, Lewis to Davies, 22/11/1988). Colchester and the Castle Museum, therefore, remained as touchstones for the veterans’ wartime experiences in Essex.
Colchester Castle Museum, 1944, a photograph by Lieutenant Stich, USAAF. Note the air raid shelter sign in the rose bed (D/DU 888/27/4 p.586)
In this excerpt from Rudsdale’s diaries, read by the ERO’s Neil Wiffen, he recalls 6 June 1944 – D-Day – from being woken up by planes warming up at Wormingford Airfield at 2am to hearing the King’s speech on the radio at the end of the day. You can read a transcript here.
Dr Catherine Pearson will be speaking to us about E.J. Rudsdale at ERO Presents on Tuesday 3rd September. Book your tickets on our Eventbrite page.
References
Primary sources:
Rudsdale, E.J., (1939-1945). ‘Colchester Journals’, Essex Record Office, ERO D/DU 888.
Colchester and Ipswich Museums, ‘Historic Displays and Exhibitions’ archives.
Secondary sources:
Beale, A., (2019). Bures at War: A Hidden History of the United States Army Air Force Station 526.
Benham, H., (1945). Essex at War, Essex County Standard: Colchester.
Pearson, C., (2010). E.J. Rudsdale’s Journals of Wartime Colchester, The History Press: Stroud.
Archive of the American Air Museum in Britain, Imperial War Museum Duxford, including the Roger Freeman Collection of USAAF images: https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive Accessed 16 April 2024.
SA 8/14/1/6/1 (Colchester Recalled reference 2141): Interview with Harry Finch, 1990; involvement in the D-Day invasion, including movements of warships
SA779 (Colchester Recalled reference 1532): Interview with Arthur Parsonson, 1988; NCO with 431st Bty, 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 8th Armoured Bde during D-Day (see also Imperial War Museum interview)
SA 20/1138/1: Interview with Geoff Barsby, 1983; serving in the Royal Navy during D-Day, covering the Canadian landings, escorting the battleship Nelson, and being based off Normandy
SA 20/1533/1: Interview with Jack Nelson Wise, 1981; serving in the Royal Navy, operations in preparation for D-Day, MTBs
SA 20/1/47/1: Interview with Howard Stone, 1984; serving as a Telegrapher Air Gunner in the Fleet Air Arm during D-Day
SA 20/1/22/1: Interview with Sylvia Ebel, 1983; serving in the ATS during D-Day, D-Day preparations at Eastleigh, near Southampton
SA 79/1/1/1: Interview with Alec Hall, 2016; serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps during D-Day; stationed along the east coast of England, then travelling to Arnhem by glider
SA 79/1/3/1: Interview with Alfred Smith, 2016; serving in the Royal Army Service Corps during D-Day, driving his lorry onto Gold Beach, Normandy
SA 79/1/4/1: Interview with Ken ‘Paddy’ French, 2016; serving in the RAF during D-Day, flying over American troops at Omaha Beach
SA 79/1/5/1: Interview with Alfred Fowler, 2016; serving in the Royal Navy during D-Day; being involved in the dummy convoy to Norway
SA 86/1/3/1: Interview with Ron, 2017; serving in the Royal Navy during D-Day, escorting HMS Belfast on HMS Ulster at Gold Beach
SA634: Interview with Olive Redfarn, 2012; working on HMS Leigh, printing instructions for D-Day in the weeks beforehand [including her own diary entry of the 6 June 1944]
Among a recent deposit of postcards is this one showing a man and woman on a motorcycle with sidecar. But who are they?
A postcard showing a man and woman on a motorcycle with sidecar from the Dowsett Collection (catalogue ref: A15840)
The licence plate is clearly visible which means that we can look it up in our Vehicle Licensing Registers (C/DF 11). An Enfield with the licence HK3016 was registered to Frederick Jay, High Street, Mountnessing on 8 June 1917. Is this an image of Frederick Jay on his new Enfield motorcycle? Or is it another person with aspirations of one day owning such a machine?
Register of motor vehicles ‘M2’: motor cycles showing entry for Frederick Jay (catalogue ref: C/DF 11/17)
The photograph was taken by Geo. Francis Quilter, a photographer in Ingatestone, who’s listed in the Kelly’s Directory for 1917. In the same Directory is Harry Raven, dairyman, whose shop can be seen in the background of the postcard, and Mark Wells, cycle agent, who operated from Ingatestone High Street. At this time motorcycles were often called “cycles”, so it is likely that this cycle agent sold motorcycles, perhaps even the one shown?
Mountnessing is about 2 miles south-east of Ingatestone and was home to two people named Frederick Jay – a father and son. The 1911 Census tells us that the younger Frederick, then aged 21, was a boarder at 3 Redcliffe Road, Moulsham Street, Chelmsford while working as an “Engineer Journeyman [ball bearing works]”. By 1921, he was back at his parents’ house in Mountnessing and working at the Hoffmann Manufacturing Company.
Marriage Register from St Giles Church, Mountnessing showing the marriage of Frederick Jay and Kate Everett on 3 Jun 1922 (catalogue ref: D/P 73/1/10)
On 3 June 1922, Frederick Jay married Kate Everett at St Giles’ Church, Mountnessing. Is the woman in the sidecar Kate or one of Frederick’s sisters? Sadly, we will probably never know for sure, but it’s nice to imagine that this is an image of Frederick Jay, the proud new owner of a motorcycle which he used to commute from his home in Mountnessing to work at the Hoffmann’s premises in Chelmsford.
