I’m often asked why did I call my business “Essex Voices Past”.
Well, here’s the answer!
In 2011, at 3am one night, I was researching my Cambridge University masters’ dissertation on Great Dunmow. I attempted to decipher a chunk of handwriting written in the 1520s.
There was one line of Tudor text that was particularly perplexing and mysterious. It had puzzled me for days. So, I resorted to saying the text out loud. Phonetically.
The old Essex accent
As the words came out of my mouth, I found myself talking with the true old Essex country accent.
Loud and clear, I heard the voice of a long-dead Tudor parish-clerk emerging through the night-air. My baffling text was finally solved.
Essex Voices Past
It occurred to me in that moment, that the ancient documents I had been avidly studying contained not only the stories from Essex’s rich past, but also their voices. And thus, Essex Voices Past was born. Originally as a blog to record stories of Essex’s heritage. Now I, as Essex Voices Past, research stories of our past.
And now, finally, after nearly 10 years, my research that inspired me to start Essex Voices Past has now been published!
Nothing like lock-down to focus the mind and get stuff done!
Now available through Amazon. It’s on Kindle and paperback.
Click the book below to “Look Inside” my book on Amazon
The story of a north Essex town
This is book is a must read for anyone interested in Reformation history at a local level. Or anyone interested in the local history of an Essex town. It is also of interest for anyone with Tudor ancestors who hailed from Great Dunmow. Numerous local family names are detailed within the book.
During this period, society and religion were firmly interlinked. This study provides a narrative of one Essex town during the turbulent 16th century.
If you are, you might be interested in my new book about Great Dunmow and the English Reformation.
It’s taken me nearly 10 years and a global pandemic to finally stop making excuses and just do it…
10 years ago I spent countless sleepless nights studying and writing. This was coupled with many trips to Cambridge University and Essex Record Office before I emerged triumphant.
I had finally studied, researched and written up my dissertation for my Masters degree in local history.
My topic?
The impact of Henry VIII and his three children’s religious policy on Tudor town of Great Dunmow in Essex.
The hard work was worth it – it’s the “MSt” you will see after my name – “Master of Studies”.
I was awarded my masters degree at the end of 2011.
And, as I enjoyed my research so much, I immediately created my blog – Essex Voices Past so I could continue to write about Tudor Great Dunmow.
I have also given many talks across Essex about the happenings in Tudor Great Dunmow.
And there was some terrific “happenings”… Anyone for the burning of an effigy of a Scottish Catholic Cardinal in the middle of not so sleepy Great Dunmow in 1546!
The effigy even had its very own mock-castle built so that local youths could practice their archery by shooting at it and the Cardinal!
Despite all the stories I discovered, my complete dissertation got put to one side. To rub salt in the wound – Cambridge University even sent me back their copies of my dissertation. They didn’t have the storage room to keep masters dissertations so back mine came.
For nearly 10 years, only I had my dissertation. No archive or library had a copy. Only various bits of it I’d had the time to post online on this blog, Essex Voices Past.
Until covid-19 and lockdown…
Nothing like a pandemic to focus to mind and return to the past.
Both my past and Great Dunmow’s Tudor past.
I’ve spent lockdown days productively and have turned my dissertation into a Kindle book. That was a feat in itself! But thanks to covid-19, I finally had enough time to devote turning my dissertation into a book:
Numerous other Essex towns and villages – along with their association to Great Dunmow – are also mentioned in my book. These include Great Bardfield, Barnston, Bocking, Broxted, Great and Little Canfield, Great and Little Dunmow, Great and Little Easton, Good Easter, Hatfield Broad Oak, High Easter, The Rodings, Lindsell, Northend, Panfield, Rayne, Little Sailing, Shalford, Stebbing, and Thaxted.
My book also includes Tudor history from the 1520s for Maldon and Heybridge. Both towns had a strong connection and association to Great Dunmow by way of Tudor vicar, William Walton.
If you purchase it and enjoy, please could you leave me a review on Amazon? It would help me tremendously to get more exposure if my book has reviews.
History is full of coincidences and ironies. The date of 28th January is one such coincidence – 28 January 1457 and 28 January 1547 – two dates 90 years apart. The former the date of birth of the first Tudor despot, the later the date of his son’s death, the most tyrannical Tudor monarch of all.
Calendar page for January with additions from three different handwritting: 1. the obit of Catherine de Valois and the date of marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York (black ink); 2. the date of birth of Henry VII (in Latin – faded brown ink); and 3. the obit of Henry VIII (brown ink at bottom of folio), from Book of Hours (The ‘Beaufort/Beauchamp Hours’), Use of Sarum, (England (London), after 1401, before 1415) shelfmark Royal 2 A XVIII f.28 January
Below are close-ups of the entries for the birth of Henry VII and the death of Henry VIII.
Natale d[omi]ni Henrici filij Emundi comitis Richemondie ac d[omi]ne M[ar]rgarete vxoris sui filie Joh[ann]is nup[er] duc[?is] Somersete anno d[omi]ni millio cccc quinquagesimo sexto. Born Henry son of the Earl of Richmond and Margaret his wife daughter of John, Duke of Somerset 1456. (Latin text kindly transcribed by Rob Ellis of Medieval London)
The xxviijth [28th] daie of January deceassd the noble prynce Henry the eight the yere of owr lorde 1546
Although Henry VII’s date of birth was 1457, and Henry VIII’s date of death 1547, the years above of 1456 and 1546 are correct because these are contemporary entries written at times when the old Julian Calendar was still in use in England. Until 1752, the 1st January was only the start of the ecclesiastical New Year but not when the year-date changed. The change to a new year started on Lady Day (25th March). Thus English documents written prior to 1752 will have any dates between 1st January and 24th March written in the Old Style. Modern historians either have to adjust these dates to the New Style or ‘double date’ the entry to show both old and new date (e.g. the above dates would be dated ‘1456/7’ and ‘1546/7’).
Henry VII from Guild Book of the Barber Surgeons of York (England, N. (York?), 2nd half of the 16th century) shelfmark Egerton 2572 f.7.
Henry VIII from Guild Book of the Barber Surgeons of York (England, N. (York?), 2nd half of the 16th century) shelfmark Egerton 2572 f.8.
Henry VII giving the manuscript to the monks of Westminster from Indenture for Henry VII’s Chapel (England, S. E. (London), 1504) shelfmark Harley 1498 f.98.
Henry VIII praying in his bedchamber from The Psalter of Henry VIII (England, S. E. (London), c1540-1541) shelfmark Royal 2 A XVI f.3.
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A slightly strange thing to be doing on a cold winter’s afternoon on a Sunday in January, but those of you who know me, know that I’m slightly obsessed with the witches of Essex. Essex people (mainly women) who – between the 1560s and c1680s – were legally convicted of the crime of witchcraft.
Living close to the Essex town of Maldon, I’m a mere stone’s throw from some of the major “outbreaks” of England’s Tudor witchcraft. So, hence my decision to go on a witch-hunt.
Today, I visited the village Hatfield Peverel. In this village lived one of the first people to be executed for witchcraft in England. She was executed in 1566. If Essex was Tudor witch-county (which it was), then Hatfield Peverel was witch-village. The parish had more Elizabethan witches living in it than anywhere else in Essex (and therefore, by default, anywhere in England).
Hatfield Peverel today, despite being near the City of Chelmsford, is still relatively small. It is probably better known for its a train station with fast trains into London and its very easy access to the A12.
Not many people realise that it was once a witch village.
So, I went hunting for poor Agnes Waterhouse of Hatfield Peverel – executed in Chelmsford in 1566 for being a witch. Her grandmother, sister and daughter – all of Hatfield Peverel – were witches too.
A woodcutting of Agnes Waterhouse. Executed in 1566 for murdering William Fynee by witchcraft
Today, there is very little trace of the Tudor or medieval village. A small amount of remnants are present in a few buildings and within the names of some of the houses. Such as Priory Lodge – located where there was once a medieval priory. Later, the ruins of the former priory were heavily amended during the 18th century.
Born in the early 1500s, Agnes Waterhouse and her family would have known the original Benedictine priory. It was closed in 1536, during Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries – part of the consequences of the English Reformation. Long before her execution in 1566, as a young poor woman of the village, Agnes might have visited the priory, seeking charity and alms – such as bread and milk – for her family from its monks.
With most of the medieval/Tudor village long gone, the nearest I could get to poor Agnes was today’s parish church – St Andrew’s.
Agnes Waterhouse was born in the early 1500s – during the reign of Catholic Henry VII. Today’s parish church was originally part of the pre-Reformation Catholic priory’s church. But by the time of her trial in 1566, England had changed and was Protestant under Queen Elizabeth I’s Religious Settlement.
So much religious change happened during the 60 years of Agnes’ life.
A booklet printed at the time of her execution stated that Agnes said her prayers in Latin. A clear indication to Tudor folk that she was of the old religion – the banned Catholic faith. During Elizabeth I’s reign, England was a Protestant country and everyone was legally forced to say their prayers in English – the language of Protestantism.
Agnes’ prosecutors used the fact that she said her prayers in Latin – the language of the banned Catholic faith – as evidence that she was a witch.
Strange times…
Unfortunately, today Hatfield Peverel’s church was locked, so I couldn’t get inside it. The interior probably looks very different to how it was during Agnes’ childhood. Back then, at the start of the 1500s, the priory’s church must have been highly decorated with paintings of Catholic saints and symbolism. The interiors of English churches were white-washed on the orders, first of Henry VIII and then later by his son Edward VI.
Today, 450 years on, it was the nearest I could get to Agnes Waterhouse.
It was very peaceful in today’s churchyard – although I could hear the constant roar of the nearby A12 – East Anglia’s equivalent to a motorway. A murder of crows was calling in the churchyard’s trees (I love that expression – I’ve always wanted to say it!). But even in the coldness of the first Sunday in January, snowdrops were in full bloom.
Normally, when I’m witch-hunting, my next steps would be to look in the parish registers – baptisms, marriages and burials. It’s unlikely I’d find the burial of a convicted Essex witch– they were buried in a pit of executed criminals in Chelmsford – in unconsecrated ground. But I might find a witch’s victims buried in the local churchyard.
However a quick look at Essex Record Office’s website shows that Hatfield Peverel’s parish registers start in the early 1600s. I don’t know the complete history of St Andrew’s – particularly when it started to be the village’s parish church after the priory (and therefore it’s church) was closed. Agnes may have worshiped at another nearby church such as the one at Ulting.
So that’s one avenue of my research closed.
I didn’t quite find Agnes. But I certainly found the places where she played and roamed – and learnt her craft of being a witch – as a child in Henry VII’s and Henry VIII’s England.
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By the way, many people think that the major road in Chelmsford – Waterhouse Lane – was named after her. Even Chelmsford’s local newspaper has published an article saying that it was….
But think about it carefully… Witches were feared throughout England. Would a road (even what was, in Tudor times, a small country lane) really be named after a convicted notorious and much dreaded executed witch? Moreover, poor Agnes came from Hatfield Peverel – not Chelmsford.
But then, playing devil’s advocate, maybe the lane was named after her because of her place of execution. Chelmsford’s gallows was located approximately at the start of Waterhouse Lane. The hangman’s gallows were roughly where the road called Primrose Hill now is.
Then again, would the great and good of Tudor Chelmsford really really name a road after an executed and much feared witch from Hatfield Peverel who had a cat called Satan – who spoke to her and told her to say her prayers in Latin.
I think not.
Agnes Waterhouse’s cat – Satan
You can learn more about Agnes Waterhouse and other witches of Essex by enrolling in my online course on the Witches of Elizabethan and Stuart Essex. Click the “Learn More” button below to discover more details…
I give talks all over Essex and Suffolk on various aspects of local history (full list as below). A fully illustrated PowerPoint presentation accompanies all my talks and I will bring all the equipment required (including a portable screen). I am on the approved Panel of Speakers for the Federation of Essex Women’s Institutes. I am available to give talks during both the day and evening – all talks last for between 45 minutes and an hour. If you want to arrange me to speak at your group, please contact me via email on kate[at]essexvoicespast.com.
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Talk 1: The Witches of Elizabethan Essex
During the sixteenth century, the cry “she’s a witch!” was heard throughout many towns and villages across England; particularly within Essex. Our county indicted and prosecuted more than double the combined totals for those legally accused of witchcraft within Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. My talk puts the witchcraft trials of Essex into their legal and historical context and explores local Essex cases to explain why there were so many witchcraft court-cases within Essex.
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Talk 2: Great Dunmow and Henry VIII’s English Reformation
The first half of the sixteenth century was a turbulent time to live within any English town or village. The king, Henry VIII, increasingly attacked English parish life in his quest to rid England of the influence of the pope. This talk is about the impact of the English Reformation on the rural town of Great Dunmow and how the town moved from its pre-Reformation Catholic communal life and finally embraced Henry VIII’s Reformation by publicly re-enacting a notorious and bloody murder of a prominent Scottish Catholic. (NB This talk is more suitable for local history groups & societies, rather than general interest.)
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Talk 3: From rural Essex & Suffolk to the Battles of the Somme: the story of a nurse of the Great War
In the months before the First World War, a young woman from Suffolk joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment nursing service and nursed in small military hospitals within Essex and Suffolk. Just weeks before the opening days of the Battles of the Somme, she was sent as a volunteer-nurse to one of the largest military hospitals on the Western Front where she nursed casualties from the battlefields. This talk is the story of Clara Woolnough’s life as a nurse of the Great War in Essex, Suffolk, and France.
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Talk 4: Al Capone’s gangster car and the Kursaal in 1930s Southend
Hotly pursued by the FBI through 1930s gangster Chicago, my great-uncle exported Al Capone’s bullet proof car from America to England. My talk is the story of my American great-uncle, who, to use his own words, was a ‘showman from yester-year’. And how Al Capone’s car (along with an enormous embalmed whale called Eric) ended up at the Kursaal amusement park in 1930s Southend. My talk also includes the life of my great-grandmother who literally ran away to the circus to perform as Thauma – theHalf Living Lady for American 19th century shows such as Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.
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Talk 5: Postcards from the front: 1914-1919. The story of how postcards sent home to loved ones became the Facebook and Twitter of the Great War.
Between 1914 and 1918, a special mail-train left Victoria train station in London every single day bound for the Western Front, carrying with it letters and postcards sent from British people to their loved ones serving overseas. With millions of items of correspondence passing over the channel, postcards became the social media phenomenon of the day. My talk charts the First World War and its immediate aftermath through postcards.
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Talk 6: Christmas in Medieval Essex
Boy Bishops, the Feast of St Nicholas, the Lord of Misrule, the Christmas Candle, Plough Monday, and the Twelve Days of Christmas. These were once all part and parcel of Christmas celebrations in many parishes within Medieval and early Tudor Essex. This talk looks at some of the Christmas revells our Essex ancestors enjoyed. You may be surprised to discover which ancient customs have evolved into modern day much-loved traditions!
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Talk 7: My ancestor was a witch: The Witches of Elizabethan & Stuart Essex
Please note that this talk is only suitable for local or family history groups. The talk is similar to my witches talk (detailed further up this page). However, this talk is longer at 1½ hours and concentrates on the historical and primary source evidence used when researching Essex Tudor witches. Therefore this talk is only suitable for societies or clubs whose members are very familiar with historical sources and research methods.In 1562 a devastating Act of Parliament against Conjurations Enchantments and Witchcrafts was passed in England. For the first time, the “common sort” could be put on trial for their life, accused of the diabolical act of witchcraft. With most legal proceedings taking place in Essex, the county became infamous for its witches. This lecture traces the progress of the Elizabethan and Stuart witchcraft prosecutions in Essex, detailing cases from across the county. Also considered are the sources available to family historians researching witches, including legal court records, contemporary sensational pamphlets, and sources once kept in the parish chest.
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Happy talk clients
As featured in…
I look forward to receiving your booking!Kate J Cole, MSt Local History (Cantab)
It is widely known that following Henry VIII’s break with Rome in 1533, he went on to forcefully dissolve and destroy all the numerous religious monasteries across England. This he achieved by the end of the 1530s. Dissolved religious houses included priories, abbeys, and friaries from all the religious orders; the Augustinians, the Dominicans, the Cistercians, the Franciscans, the Carmelites. The monasteries were a massive medieval mechanism with houses and institutions all over England. From large and complex abbeys such as Furness Abbey in Cumbria, to smaller houses such as Little Dunmow Priory in Essex.
Artist impression of the remains of Little Dunmow Priory in 1820 (now part of Little Dunmow’s church)
Whether the hundreds-years old medieval monastery-system was a corrupt and decaying hulk deserving to be destroyed, or a network of religious houses who gave much needed relief to the poor and sick, is still widely debated today.
What isn’t so widely known is that there was mass whole-scale looting of the religious houses as each shut its doors. During my research on Great Dunmow (Essex) and for my two new local history books on Sudbury (Suffolk) and Saffron Walden (Essex), I came across two instances of looting which had been carried out, quite openly, by parish churches from dissolved religious houses.
Great Dunmow’s parish church and Tilty Abbey Tilty Abbey in North West Essex was surrendered to the king’s commissioners on 3 March 1536. It had been present in Essex since the middle of the twelfth century and was probably founded in September 1153. By the time of its surrender, it had a net yearly value of £167 2s 6d with a gross value of £177 9s 4d. This was considered to be a small house, so would have been forcefully dissolved under the First Suppression Act of 1536 if its abbot hadn’t voluntarily surrendered it. On the same day, an inventory was taken; the abbey had goods to the value of £19 19s 0½d, along with forty-three ounces of plate valued at £7 18s 8d. [1]
Artist impression of the remains of Tilty Abbey in 1784 (now part of Tilty church)
This was just the tangible goods which could be carried away and sold off. The abbey also had valuable building material in its very structure. In the churchwardens’ accounts for St Mary’s Great Dunmow, it can be determined that both the vicar and the churchwardens openly took advantage of the nearby dissolved abbey which was just four miles away. Sometime in the months between April 1537 and September 1538, Richard Parker sold 24 paving tiles from Tilty Abbey to Great Dunmow’s churchwardens for 2s 8d. He also sold lime sand for the tiles and charged the churchwardens 7d to bring them from Tilty Abbey to St Mary’s. Another person, Richard Barker, was paid 6d for laying the paving tiles in the church. To put this into context, at this time, the average day’s wage for a labourer was approximately 4d.
Great Dunmow churchwardens’ accounts folio 28r[2] – Tilty’s paving slabs
Item payd for lyme sande & for fecchyng
24 pavyng tyle from Tyltey ——————————————————7d
Item payd to Rychard P[ar]ker for the sayd 24
pavying tyle———————————————————————————2s 8d
Item payd to Rychard Barker for laying the
[a]forsayd pavying tyle in the church ——————————————6d
The accounts are silent as to how and why the 24 paving tiles were in Richard Parker’s hands in the first place. However, between 1525 and 1533, Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts had documented several times that Richard Parker was a “tyler” living in Windmill Street (now Rosemary Lane). How many other paving tiles did Richard Parker, the tiler, sell off to nearby churches? Did he also sell paving tiles to Great Easton church? Little Easton church? Thaxted church? There were enough churches in the immediate area of Tilty Abbey for him to have furnished them all with fine tiles from Tilty Abbey. We will probably never know how many he did manage to sell, as the relevant records have not survived in other nearby parish churches. Also, we don’t know what type of tiles these were, but perhaps they were hard-wearing stone slabs worthy of 11d per dozen. I like to think that this is the first recorded instance of the Tudor equivalent of an Essex man in his white-van doing dodgy door-step trading.…
There is some excellent unwitting testimony about the paving tiles. Firstly, the churchwardens had very openly disclosed that they had bought the tiles by documenting them within their financial accounts for the church. Secondly, at this time, churchwardens’ accounts were open documents available to the scrutiny of not just the parish clerks, vicar and churchwardens, but also any king’s commissioners who just happened to be passing by (remember, this was the late 1530s – troubled times for parish churches within England). Finally, churchwardens’ accounts were read out in church to the entire parish after evening service at the end of each accounting year – probably by the vicar himself. Therefore the whole parish (from the local elite to the paupers) would have heard for themselves that 24 paving tiles from Tilty Abbey had been bought from Richard Parker. So this was not a hidden transaction but had been openly declared and was probably considered to be of good positive benefit for the church in Great Dunmow. This really was not “dodgy dealings”.
In a similar manner, but less detailed in the churchwardens’ account, St Mary’s church in Great Dunmow bought a tabernacle from the recently dissolved Hatfield Regis Priory. The tabernacle was an ornate vessel which was used to hold the Eucharist when it was not in use during mass. Hatfield Regis’ tabernacle cost the churchwardens 20 shillings. This was a considerable amount of money. It is likely, therefore, that the priory’s tabernacle was very ornate and probably made of silver. Ironically, this “loot” was likely to have been given up to Henry VIII’s son, when church plate had to be handed over to the king’s commissioners during Edward VI’s reign.
St Mary the Virgin, Great Dunmow. Does the church still contain 24 paving tiles from nearby Tilty Abbey?
Saffron Walden’s parish church and Sudbury Priory
There is a legend that when John Hodgkin became the vicar of St Mary’s in Saffron Walden in 1541, he brought with him the chancel roof of the recently dissolved Dominican priory in Sudbury. John Hodgkin, who was made suffragan bishop of Bedford in 1537, had previously been a friar at Sudbury[3]. Lord Chancellor Thomas Audley (c.1488-1544) is alleged to have helped Hodgkin with the task of bringing the roof to Saffron Walden’s church. Whether this is true or not is open to debate. I have not seen any primary source evidence that it happened, and in my research for my book on Saffron Walden, I could not find any secondary source evidence that referenced Thomas Audley’s help. However, whilst researching my other book on Sudbury, I did find secondary source supporting this theory [4]. Of course, Thomas Audley himself was living at nearby dissolved Walden Abbey, which Henry VIII had granted to him in 1538 (now known as Audley End House). Therefore, if the roof from Sudbury’s priory had come to Saffron Walden’s church, then Thomas Audley would have been ideally placed to help.
Sudbury Priory’s remains in 1748
Moreover, as we have seen in the case of Tilty Abbey, it is indisputable that looting by parish churches of former monastic buildings had happened. It is therefore possible that Hodgkin had taken the priory’s chancel’s roof with him. The involvement of someone as senior and influential as the Lord Chancellor in this “looting” and that Hodgkin was a suffragan bishop demonstrates that this was perfectly legitimate practise for the time.
Thomas Audley,1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord Chancellor of England 1533-1544
Rich pickings from themonasteries It has always been well known that extensive looting by locals for their own houses is the reason why former monastic buildings now stand in ruins. However, it is often thought that this looting was carried out some years – or even centuries – later. Townspeople taking stone for their buildings; eighteenth century gentleman touring Britain, taking home a little souvenir with them. However, the evidence at Great Dunmow/Tilty and Saffron Walden/Sudbury shows that this looting happened as the monasteries closed their doors. Moreover, this looting had occurred whilst Henry VIII was still alive and on the throne. The King’s will had been absolute. The monasteries had been closed by him. And there was no going back. The people were in no doubt that this was not a short lived whim of the king, but the new way of life and the new status quo. Furthermore, this was not “looting” but was a legitimate business transaction between interested parties. All open, and all above board. The firm evidence of Tilty Abbey’s paving tiles used in St Mary’s church in Great Dunmow, along with the more circumstantial evidence of Sudbury priory’s roof used in St Mary’s church in Saffron Walden, both suggest that dissolved former monastic buildings were, at least in north Essex, “rich pickings” for entrepreneurs and local parish churches in the immediate aftermath of the dissolution of monasteries.
St Mary’s, Saffron Walden in the early 1800s Did some of its 1530s’ roof come from Sudbury Priory?
Footnotes [1] ‘Houses of Cistercian monks: Abbey of Tilty’, in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 2, ed. William Page and J Horace Round (London, 1907), pp. 134-136 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol2/pp134-136 [April 2015].
[2] Great Dunmow’s Churchwarden accounts (1526-1621), Essex Record Office, reference D/P/11/5/1.
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During my research of Great Dunmow’s Tudor past, I have come across quite a few mysteries and conundrums. One such mystery is that of Griffith Ap Rice, a Welshman who appears in Great Dunmow’s records in the 1520s and 1530s. I have a lot of circumstantial evidence as to who he ‘might’ be. But no hard concrete evidence as to who he really was. More to the point, exactly what was a lone Welshman doing in the relatively sleepy backwaters of a small East Anglian town nearly 40 years after the Battle of Bosworth brought many soldiers out of their native Welsh hamlets and villages and into England? Like a medieval ghost, our Welshman flits through the records of Great Dunmow every now and again; and only the mere tantalising hint that he existed can be glimpsed in the records.
So here he is, my unfinished research on Griffith ap Rice, the only Welshman in Tudor Great Dunmow. To help with reading my post, I have Anglicised his name in my commentary but have kept to the many various original spellings for when he appears in the records.
Who was Griffith ap Rice? He was a stray in Great Dunmow’s Tudor records during the reign of Henry VIII and can be counted as one of the “middling sort” of the town – one of the wealthy elite of the town, but not quite in the upper echelons of the town’s society – and the only person in Tudor Great Dunmow with a definite Welsh name.
Documents/Records where Griffith ap Rice is recorded?
1523 – Great Dunmow’s lay subsidy returns. Grephyd Ap Rice was assessed for goods to the value of 20 shillings and paid tax of 12d. He was the joint 37th wealthiest man (out of 139 households) listed in the lay subsidy returns. My post onHenry VIII’s Lay Subsidydescribes this levy – a tax to raise money for the king’s wars with France.
1525-6 – Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts : Essex Record Office D/P 11/5/1 folio 2r. Collection for the Church Steeple – Grefyn Apryce paid 2s (average was 4d per household). Griffith ap Rice’s entry is the 16th entry in the list of the whole parish. The list was written-up into the churchwardens’ account book in strict social-hierarchical order – thus the parish’s clergy were first on the list, followed by the elite, then the middling sort. The person who contributed the most to the collection, Thomas Savage, who gave £3 6s 8d, is listed at number 24 – lower down than Griffith ap Rice. ap Rice’s entry is amongst the entries for the middling sort.
1527-9 – Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts– collection for the Church Bell: Grefythe Apryce paid 14d (average 2d or 4d per household). In this complete list of all the heads of houses in Great Dunmow, Griffith ap Rice is listed in 15th place – amongst all the middling sort of the town. In this list, a complete list of the entire town, heads-of houses from 19th place onwards are listed alongside the location of their dwelling-place in the town. So, for example, John Swetynge is listed as living in Windmill Street, and Nycolas Aylett as living in the High Street. However, the first 18 heads-of-houses listed do not have their location in the town named. It is as if these people are so important that the church did not need to make a note of these people’s houses. Griffith ap Rice’s name is within this portion of the list and so his precise location in the town is unidentified but the lack of location gives firm testimony that he was an important person in the Tudor town of Great Dunmow.
1529-30 – Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts – collection for Church Organs:
Gryffeth Appryce paid 12d (average 2d or 4d per household). In this collection, he is detailed 8th in the list of contributors towards the church’s organs – immediately under the town’s elite and amongst the town’s middling sort.
He did not contribute towards the church’s collection for the ‘New Guild’ (1532-3) – but was almost certainly dead by time of this collection.
1532-3: Great Dunmow’s Churchwardens’ accounts : Essex Record Office D/P 11/5/1 folio 17v. Gift of money from Griffythe Appryce £3 6s 8d. ‘Ite[m] resayvyd of John Honwyke [churchwarden] & John ffost[er] off gefte of Greffythe Appryce iijli vjs viijd’ This sum of money was probably a bequest left to the church by Griffith ap Rice in his will. In the nearly ten years between his entry in the 1523 Lay Subsidy returns, and his entry in the churchwardens’ accounts for his bequest at the time of his death, his wealth increased from owning goods to the value of 20 shillings (or £1) to leaving in his will a sum of money over three times that amount.
Apart from the instances noted above, Griffith ap Rice does not appear anywhere else in Great Dunmow’s surviving records for the period. Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts start in 1525 and numerous local people are named in these accounts – names of churchwardens, the elite of the town, the church’s lay-officials, local builders, the church’s tenant farmers, and labourers appear throughout the accounts – but he is not mentioned anywhere else in the accounts, nor, despite his wealth, was he named as being any of the town’s Lords of Misrule. Is this unwitting testimony that as a Welshman, even though he was fairly wealthy and one of the middling-sort of the town, he was not allowed to take on one of the more prestigious roles within this Tudor parish? Or am I reading too much into him being totally missing from the rest of the churchwardens’ accounts?
Do we know Griffith ap Rice’s vital details? Birth: No later than 1502 (because of entry in 1523 in Lay Subsidy). I do not know the minimum age for contributing towards this tax levied by Henry VIII so am assuming that 21 was the minimum age. The subsidy was imposed on the heads of households – so by 1523, Griffith ap Rice was the head of his house. This puts his date of birth more likely to be in the mid to late 1400s.
Marriage: Do not know if he was married or if he had children. Great Dunmow’s marriage records start in 1558 and baptisms start in 1538 – so theses records are too late to discover details about him or a possible wife and children. However, it would seem that ap Rice either was unmarried at the time of his death, or died a childless widower. His financial bequest to the parish church in Great Dunmow was physically handed over to the church by the churchwardens, John Honwyke & John ffost[er], not by a member of his family. Elsewhere in the churchwardens’ account, monetary bequests of money are stated to have been handed over by the dead man’s widow or kinsfolk to the church. Also, the name “ap Rice” disappears totally from the churchwardens’ accounts: the name is not detailed in any further parish collections, nor in any other context within the accounts.
Death: 1532/1533. We know this because of the gift of money entry in Great Dunmow’s churchwardens’ accounts and the fact that he is not named in the later church collections raised by Great Dunmow on the entire parish. Great Dunmow’s burial records start in 1558.
What was Griffith ap Rice’s wealth? Wealth: Paid more than the average donation to each of Great Dunmow’s church collections levied on the entire parish – he is listed with the three (nearly) yearly collections to buy items for the church and is consistently listed in the section containing the “middling-sort” of the town. In the town’s Lay Subsidy returns, he was the equal 37th wealthiest man in Great Dunmow (out of 139 recorded households – not including the clergy and paupers). So in terms of wealth, he was in the top 20-25% of the town.
Will: No surviving 1530s ap Rhys will in Essex Record Office, London Metropolitan Archives, or National Archive. ERO has 10 surviving wills from Great Dunmow for the period 1520s to 1546. LMA is missing ALL wills for the London Consistory Court from 1521 to approx 1539. The entire registers are missing and have been probably since the Reformation – see my post onReformation Wills and Religious Bequests. Great Dunmow was in the archdeaconry of Middlesex but many nearby towns and villages (for example, Maldon and Chelmsford) were in the archdeaconry of Essex. If a testator had land in two archdeaconries, then the will would be proved in London Consistory Court. Lay subsidy and parish collections show that ap Rice was of the middling-sort (top 20-25% in terms of wealth), so very possible that he had land not just Great Dunmow but possibly in two archdeaconries. So very likely that his will has not survived as it would be in the missing registers.
That’s it! That’s all I have on my Tudor conundrum – Griffith Ap Rice, the only Welshman in the village. Who was he?
Can a link to another person help? With the little detail I have on Griffith ap Rice, could researching another person help me work out who he was? To do this, I looked at two Tudor people, Lord Stourton, 7th Baron Stourton and Agnes ap Rice.
Kinsfolk/Linkage to Agnes Rice (aka ap Rhys) William Stourton, 7th Baron Stourton (c1505-1548) of Wiltshire had an ‘association’ (as a Victorian book on the Stourtons so prudishly put it) with Agnes Rice (born circa 1522, died 1574) – who was also known as Agnes ap Rhys. Lord Stourton bigamously married her whilst his first wife was still alive. On his death in 1548, Lord Stourton left his considerable fortune to Agnes and their child, but his will was ultimately overturned because of the bigamous nature of their marriage, and the small fact that his legal heir was his eldest son, Charles, by his first (legitimate) marriage.
Although the Baron Stourtons’ family home was in Wiltshire, they owned the ecclesiastical living of Great Easton in Essex (about 3 miles from Great Dunmow) and their names are present in numerous records in both Great Dunmow and Great Easton from the 1300s onwards. (See Lord Mowbray, Segrave and Stourton, C., The history of the noble house of Stourton (1899)). This 1899 book states that the evidence seemed to point that the Lord Stourtons did not live in Great Easton/Great Dunmow. However, my research shows that the National Archive holds a couple of records proving that, even if the 7th Baron was not living in Great Easton, he had considerable interests in the village and legally defended those interests in the courts of law of the timewhen the Abbott at nearbyTilty Abbey tried to infringe on his interests at the church in Great Easton.
There is no hard evidence that William, Lord Stourton, nor Agnes ap Rice lived in (or visited) Great Easton but it is a great coincidence that in the town just 3 miles away was a Griffith ap Rice, who, although not the wealthiest of townsfolk, was amongst the middling-sort. Great Easton had very strong Tudor connections to Great Dunmow – the latter seeing itself as the “mother” town to all the nearby villages – especially when celebrating the Catholic ritual year such as May Day and the community feast-day of Corpus Christi when people from outlying villages came into Great Dunmow to make merry and celebrate. Moreover, there is a further link between Great Easton and Great Dunmow and the elite of the two villages. The vicar of Great Dunmow between the 1490s and 1520s was a Robert Sturton. The town of Great Dunmow was stuffed full of elite Sturtons (including two other men named ‘Robert Sturton’), and, although only one Sturton will has survived from the 1550s, I can loosely connect this vicar to all these Great Dunmow Sturtons (ie they ‘have’ to be related to each other but, because he was an unmarried cleric without children, I’m not sure exactly how). So this was a long established elite family with various members living in some of the medieval manors of Great Dunmow and one of their own, a Cambridge University educated man, was the town’s vicar. Therefore, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence linking the Lord Stourtons of Wiltshire to Great Dunmow’s Sturtons and that these Essex Sturtons were a lesser branch of the Wiltshire Stourtons – probably connected in some-way during the 1300s or 1400s. My post on thevicars of Great Dunmow gives more details about the Sturton/Stourton connection.
So why are the links between Great Easton/Great Dunmow and the Sturtons/Stourtons so important when trying to discover who Great Dunmow’s only Welshman in the village was? To answer this, we have to look at the genealogy of the mistress (or bigamous wife) of William Stourton, 7th Baron Stourton, Agnes ap Rice.
Agnes ap Rice’s parents were Rhys Ap Griffith (1508–1531) and Catherine Howard (daughter of the Duke of Norfolk) – making Agnes the first cousin of Henry VIII’s queens, Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn. Her father, Rhys ap Griffith (executed by Henry VIII for treason in 1531) was the son of Gruffydd ap Rhys (c1478–1521). Gruffydd ap Rhys was a prominent knight firstly at the court of prince Arthur and then at the court of Henry VIII and he was at the Field of the Cloth of Gold with Henry VIII.
His father was Rhys ap Thomas (1449–1525) who was a fierce supporter of Henry Tudor at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. There is a still current rumour that it was this Rhys ap Thomaswho cut down and killed Richard III on the battlefield with a pole-axe (boo, hiss!) When Henry Tudor became King Henry VII, Rhys ap Thomas, the slayer of the anointed king of England, became the most powerful man in south Wales.
If you’ve managed to follow these Welsh family with their patronymic names, well done! I got very lost working out who was who – so I had to draw up a very rough and ready family tree.
Was Agnes ap Rice a kinswoman of Great Dunmow’s Griffith ap Rice?
The possible links between Great Dunmow’s Griffith ap Rice and Agnes ap Rice are tantalising. With the Welsh patronymic naming system, was our Griffith ap Rice’s father Rhys ap Griffith? But if his father was thus named, then our Griffith wasn’t Agnes’ brother as Agnes’ brother, Griffith ap Rice, is well documented in the records. So if they are related, the links would be further back in time then the 1520s.
I’m so near, but so far from working out who Great Dunmow’s only Welshman in the town really was.
Had our Griffith ap Rice (or his father) come to
East Anglia after the Battle of Bosworth with Henry Tudor’s Welsh army
alongside their kinsman Rhys ap Thomas
(Or am I, as a historian, getting way too much carried away with myself!)
This is still very much work in progress, and maybe one day I’ll discover who Tudor Great Dunmow’s Welshman was.
Postscript Agnes ap Rice, in her own right was a very interesting character. After the death of Lord Stourton, 7th Baron Stourton, she went on to marry Sir Edward Baynton. There is a very interesting account on theBayntun History website of the death in 1564 of Agnes’ and Edward’s only living son, William, allegedly by witchcraft .
History is full of coincidences and ironies. The date of 28th January is one such coincidence – 28 January 1457 and 28 January 1547 – two dates 90 years apart. The former the date of birth of the first Tudor despot, the later the date of his son’s death, the most tyrannical Tudor monarch of all.
Calendar page for January with additions from three different handwritting: 1. the obit of Catherine de Valois and the date of marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York (black ink); 2. the date of birth of Henry VII (in Latin – faded brown ink); and 3. the obit of Henry VIII (brown ink at bottom of folio), from Book of Hours (The ‘Beaufort/Beauchamp Hours’), Use of Sarum, (England (London), after 1401, before 1415) shelfmark Royal 2 A XVIII f.28 January
Below are close-ups of the entries for the birth of Henry VII and the death of Henry VIII.
Natale d[omi]ni Henrici filij Emundi comitis Richemondie ac d[omi]ne M[ar]rgarete vxoris sui filie Joh[ann]is nup[er] duc[?is] Somersete anno d[omi]ni millio cccc quinquagesimo sexto. Born Henry son of the Earl of Richmond and Margaret his wife daughter of John, Duke of Somerset 1456. (Latin text kindly transcribed by Rob Ellis of Medieval London)
The xxviijth [28th] daie of January deceassd the noble prynce Henry the eight the yere of owr lorde 1546.
Although Henry VII’s date of birth was 1457, and Henry VIII’s date of death 1547, the years above of 1456 and 1546 are correct because these are contemporary entries written at times when the old Julian Calendar was still in use in England. Until 1752, the 1st January was not the start of the New Year, but instead the change to a new year started on Lady Day (25th March). Thus English documents written prior to 1752 will have any dates between 1st January and 24th March written in the Old Style. Modern historians either have to adjust these dates to the New Style or ‘double date’ the entry to show both old and new date (e.g. the above dates would be dated ‘1456/7’ and ‘1546/7’).
Henry VII from Guild Book of the Barber Surgeons of York
(England, N. (York?), 2nd half of the 16th century)
shelfmark Egerton 2572 f.7.
Henry VIII from Guild Book of the Barber Surgeons of York
(England, N. (York?), 2nd half of the 16th century)
shelfmark Egerton 2572 f.8.
Henry VII giving the manuscript to the monks of Westminster
from Indenture for Henry VII’s Chapel (England, S. E. (London), 1504)
shelfmark Harley 1498 f.98.
Henry VIII praying in his bedchamber
from The Psalter of Henry VIII (England, S. E. (London), c1540-1541)
shelfmark Royal 2 A XVI f.3.
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To cheer you up on a cold, wet Friday in winter, here are images of British costumes during the reign of Henry VII (born 1457, died 1509) and his son, Henry VIII (born 1491, died 1547).
Cigarette cards printed and published by cigarette manufacturer, Ogdens. Title of set is ‘British Costumes 100BC to 1904′ and printed circa 1905. The selection of cards below are costumes from the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII.
Time of Henry VII – 1488 Time of Henry VIII – 1510
Time of Henry VIII – 1530 Time of Henry VIII – 1540
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![Natale d[omi]ni Henrici filij Emundi comitis Richemondie ac d[omi]ne M[ar]rgarete vxoris sui filie Joh[ann]is nup[er] duc[?is] Somersete anno d[omi]ni millio cccc quinquagesimo sexto.</em> Born Henry son of the Earl of Richmond and Margaret his wife daughter of John, Duke of Somerset 1456. (Latin text kindly transcribed by Rob Ellis of <a href="http://www.medievallondon.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Medieval London</a>)](https://i0.wp.com/www.essexvoicespast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Henry-VIIs-Birth-1457.jpg?resize=677%2C262)
![The xxviijth [28th] daie of January deceassd the noble prynce Henry the eight the yere of owr lorde 1546](https://i1.wp.com/www.essexvoicespast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Henry-VIIIs-Death-1547.jpg?resize=711%2C180)
During the sixteenth century, the cry “she’s a witch!” was heard throughout many towns and villages across England; particularly within Essex. Our county indicted and prosecuted more than double the combined totals for those legally accused of witchcraft within Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. My talk puts the witchcraft trials of Essex into their legal and historical context and explores local Essex cases to explain why there were so many witchcraft court-cases within Essex.
In the months before the First World War, a young woman from Suffolk joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment nursing service and nursed in small military hospitals within Essex and Suffolk. Just weeks before the opening days of the Battles of the Somme, she was sent as a volunteer-nurse to one of the largest military hospitals on the Western Front where she nursed casualties from the battlefields. This talk is the story of Clara Woolnough’s life as a nurse of the Great War in Essex, Suffolk, and France.
Hotly pursued by the FBI through 1930s gangster Chicago, my great-uncle exported Al Capone’s bullet proof car from America to England. My talk is the story of my American great-uncle, who, to use his own words, was a ‘showman from yester-year’. And how Al Capone’s car (along with an enormous embalmed whale called Eric) ended up at the Kursaal amusement park in 1930s Southend. My talk also includes the life of my great-grandmother who literally ran away to the circus to perform as Thauma – the Half Living Lady for American 19th century shows such as Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.
Between 1914 and 1918, a special mail-train left Victoria train station in London every single day bound for the Western Front, carrying with it letters and postcards sent from British people to their loved ones serving overseas. With millions of items of correspondence passing over the channel, postcards became the social media phenomenon of the day. My talk charts the First World War and its immediate aftermath through postcards.
Boy Bishops, the Feast of St Nicholas, the Lord of Misrule, the Christmas Candle, Plough Monday, and the Twelve Days of Christmas. These were once all part and parcel of Christmas celebrations in many parishes within Medieval and early Tudor Essex. This talk looks at some of the Christmas revells our Essex ancestors enjoyed. You may be surprised to discover which ancient customs have evolved into modern day much-loved traditions!
In 1562 a devastating Act of Parliament against Conjurations Enchantments and Witchcrafts was passed in England. For the first time, the “common sort” could be put on trial for their life, accused of the diabolical act of witchcraft. With most legal proceedings taking place in Essex, the county became infamous for its witches. This lecture traces the progress of the Elizabethan and Stuart witchcraft prosecutions in Essex, detailing cases from across the county. Also considered are the sources available to family historians researching witches, including legal court records, contemporary sensational pamphlets, and sources once kept in the parish chest.
Natale d[omi]ni Henrici filij Emundi comitis Richemondie ac d[omi]ne M[ar]rgarete vxoris sui filie Joh[ann]is nup[er] duc[?is] Somersete anno d[omi]ni millio cccc quinquagesimo sexto. Born Henry son of the Earl of Richmond and Margaret his wife daughter of John, Duke of Somerset 1456. (Latin text kindly transcribed by Rob Ellis of 
The xxviijth [28th] daie of January deceassd the noble prynce Henry the eight the yere of owr lorde 1546.
