Continuing on with the plates from Philip Morant’s eighteenth century book on Essex. The county’s first history.

This next plate/engraving is of the Priory of St Osyth Priory.  Originally a religious priory, it was closed by Henry VIII at the Dissolution of Monasteries in 1539.

In 1553 the estate was granted to Thomas, 1st Lord Darcy (1506-58), for £3,947.   According to The National Archives’ online Currency Convertor, in the 1550’s, this was the equivalent in today’s money of a staggering £1,084,235!!!

If you live in the Maldon area, you will be very familiar with the D’Arcy name.  It was this family that built the Moot Hall in the High Street in the fifteenth century.  And why the village of Tolleshunt D’Arcy’s is so named – after the village’s estate that was in the hands of the D’Arcy family from the 15^th century onwards.

They were a fabulously wealthy, powerful and influential family – not just in Essex, but in England too.

The D’Arcy family also became the owners of St Osyth’s Priory from 1553, and owned the Priory for the next hundred or so years.

You may be aware that I have great research interests in the Witches of Elizabethan Essex. One event that has fascinated me includes Essex’s (and probably England’s) first witch-hunt.  This witch-hunt took place in St Osyth’s – led by none other than a member of the D’Arcy family.

Brian D’Arcy was a lesser member of this great and powerful Essex family.  He was born at Tiptree Priory sometime in the mid-sixteenth century.

By 1582, he was living in St Osyth’s Priory and “merely” the local JP/magistrate.  Unfortunately for the local women of the village, he decided that he wanted to be as powerful as his famous D’Arcy relatives.

This he achieved with appalling results for the local population.

He carried out a witch-hunt.

The first person to be interrogated was the local midwife – Ursula Kemp.  She immediately confessed to being a witch and confessed that she had caused the death of a baby.

This started a snowball effect with many women throughout St Osyth and nearby Great Clacton implicated in the alleged witchcraft activities.  These activities had apparently taken place in the village and surrounding area.

By the end of Brian D’Arcy’s 1582 witch-hunt, at least 10 women – all from the village or the nearby area – were tried and executed in Chelmsford for murder by witchcraft.  Many more were incarcerated in Colchester Castle (Essex’s county gaol), but released after being found not-guilty during their trial.

It has been calculated that for the whole of the 1580s, the activities of Brian D’Arcy account for 13% of all trials for all crimes that took place in Essex that decade.  That is a tremendously high number!

St Osyth today is small. Back then, the population was tiny.  Probably every single family or house in the village were under the shadow of this appalling witch-hunt.

After the witch trials were over, Brian D’Arcy got his wish to be all powerful. He became the Sheriff of Essex in 1585. On the back of his witch-hunting activities.

Many people have heard about Matthew Hopkins – the self-styled Witch-finder General.  But few know about Brian D’Arcy.  Essex’s (and England’s) first witchfinder.  Who, for his own political ambitions, conducted England’s first ever witch-hunt – with devastating consequences for local St Osyth’s women.

Across today’s Maldon District, the legacy of the D’Arcy family is tremendous.  The beautiful village bearing the family’s name. Maldon’s fabulous Moot Hall.

But less known is the legacy of Brian D’Arcy’s terrible witch-hunt of 1582.

St Osyth’s Priory in the eighteenth century

My online course on the Witches of Elizabethan and Stuart course explains more about the strange story of witchcraft in Essex. Click the “Learn More” button below for full details.

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

On my last blog-post, I wrote about Philip Morant’s 1760s book that documented eighteenth century Essex:

“The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex”.

It was the first county history of Essex and published in two volumes: the first in 1763 and the last in 1768.

The book contained a number of plates/engravings with maps of the Hundreds of Essex and other engravings.  All beautifully executed and drawn.

This plate/engraving was dedicated to Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 17th Lord Dacre. It shows the Quarterings of England.

This wasn’t the coat of arms for Lord Dacre so I’m not sure why it was included in the book. Although, I think once again, Philip Morant was currying favour with the great and the good of Essex. And implying that Lord Dacre was a significant player within Georgian England.

Ironically, at my local history talk last week for Stebbing History Society, someone asked me about raven on emblems. Apparently ravens appear a flag/emblem within Thaxted church. And here in this plate for the Quarterings of England, there are at least two ravens!

I know very little about Coats of Arms and Heraldy. Can anyone help?

Engraving showing the Quarterings of England. Dedicated to Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 17th Lord Dacre.

Check back next week when I’ll be putting on my blog other images contained within Morant’s book

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

In my last few blog-posts, I written about Philip Morant’s 1760s book that documented eighteenth century Essex:

“The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex”.

It was the first county history of Essex and published in two volumes: the first in 1763 and the last in 1768.

The book contained a number of maps of the Hundreds of Essex, along with line drawings of grand Essex mansions (and the occasional church).  All beautifully executed and drawn.

Unfortunately, because of these beautiful engravings, many surviving books have suffered considerable damage – with many plates removed and sold separately.

Here are some of the engravings of eighteenth century Essex from this book.

Beautiful engraving of an idyllic Woodford Row. Today this is known as Woodford Green. The pond still exists and is on the High Road.

The impressive and grand Wanstead House.  According to good ole wikipedia, the House was demolished in 1825 – after the death of Britain’s wealthiest heiress. Its gardens are now part of the London Borough of Redbridge’s Wanstead Park.

Moulsham Hall in Moulsham.

On my last blog-post, I wrote about Philip Morant’s 1760s book that documented eighteenth century Essex:

The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex.

It was the first county history of Essex and published in two volumes: the first in 1763 and the last in 1768.

The book contained a number of maps of the Hundreds of Essex.  All beautifully executed and drawn.

Unfortunately, because of these beautiful maps, many surviving books have suffered considerable damage – with many plates removed and sold separately.  Many of these maps are on eBay today!

Here they are, the Hundreds of Essex, as they were in the 1760s.  Can you spot your own home town?

Hundreds of Barstable, Rochford and Dengy

Map of Beacontree, Waltham & Ongar Hundreds, and Havering Liberty

Map of Lexden Hundred

Map of Chelmsford & Witham Hundreds

Map of Dunmow Hundred

Map of Hinckford Hundred

Map of Clavering, Uttlesford and Freshwater Hundreds

Map of Thurstable, Winstree and Tendring Hundreds

Check back next week when I’ll be putting on my blog other images contained within Morant’s book

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

The last few posts on my blog, I’ve shown you images from Philip Morant’s 1748 book on Colchester

“The History and Antiquities of the most ancient town and borough of Colchester”

In the 1760s, he also wrote about the whole of Essex

📚“The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex”.📚

This later book was the first county history of Essex. It was published in two volumes: the first in 1763 and the last in 1768.

As with his earlier Colchester book, this history also contains beautiful elaborate engravings and plates – this time of grand Essex houses and churches, and maps of Essex.

After hunting around the internet, I’ve found that there were approximately 250 first edition copies printed, and the complete 2 volume first edition should contain

• 24 engravings of grand Essex houses and churches
• 9 maps

But, once again, many surviving books have suffered considerable damage – due to these beautiful images – with many plates removed and sold separately.

💸This perfect copy – with all its plates intact – is currently for sale in America – at the price of $3,500 (plus import duty). 💸

There is a 1970s reprint – but even copies of that start at £125 and that’s only for a copy in “acceptable” condition!!

💸I really must start doing the lottery!💸

This map is just inside the front cover of the book (if it hasn’t been detached and sold separately!).  It is a map of the entire county – as it was in the 1760s – including all the parts of Essex that are today considered to be administrative London Boroughs (although geographically still part of Essex).

Philip Morant’s map of Essex in the 1760s

Check back next week when I’ll be putting on my blog some of the beautiful maps of Essex’s Hundreds contained within Morant’s book

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

The last few posts on my blog, I’ve shown you images from Philip Morant’s 1748 book on Colchester

“The History and Antiquities of the most ancient town and borough of Colchester”

Today’s post shows some of the images from his book

Below is Morant’s description of the Castle.

This stately pile stands on the north-side of the High-Street, almost opposite to All Saints Church. It is a square of about 224 yards in circumference on the outside, all projections and windings included. The four sides lie nearly to the four principal points of the compass. The building consists of the outer walls 12 feet thick in the lower story, and 11 in the upper, flanked at the corners, with strong and lofty towers: On the inside there run, north and south, two strong parallel walls, which served for partitions and supports to the several apartments, but the greatest part of the westernmost wall is taken down. The easternmost is built in the Roman, that is, the herringbone fashion.”

The gate of the Castle is on the south-side; and within, on the left hand, and in the south-west tower, is the grand staircase. On the right hand as you go in, is a large vault above ground, well arched; over which, out door leading from the grand staircase, was the passage into the chapel: This stands in the south-east tower, or rather bastion, being strongly arched at the top; the length of it from east to west, is 47 feet; the width of it from north to south 40 feet, where widest; and the height proportion able. Below it is a good arched vault, now used for a prison; or bridewell.”

Within the ground, under the. greatest part of the Castle, there are side and spacious vaults; they were discovered not above seventy years ago, being full of sand on which the arches were turned; the sand was taken out at a considerable expense, by John Wheely, who was endeavouring to pull the Castle down; and, to carry off the sand, he cut a cart-way through the foundation-wall near the north-east corner, where the wall is 30 feet thick, but it did not answer expectation. The partition in these vaults supporting the arches, is exactly in the form of a cross.

Taken from “The History and Antiquities of the Most Ancient Town and Borough of Colchester in the County of Essex”

South East View of Colchester Castle, 1748

North-East view of Colchester Castle, 1748

Learn more about Colchester Castle and the role it played during Essex’s witchcraft trials of the 16th and 17th century from my online course

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

Last week, I showed you pictures of one of my most coveted books – Philip Morant’s

“The History and Antiquities of the Most Ancient Town and Borough of Colchester in the County of Essex, in Three Books. Collected Chiefly from Manuscripts. With an Appendix of Records and Original Papers.”

Morant was arguably the most important chronicler of Essex.  Writing in the eighteenth century, his books give us, the, modern reader, a unique peak into Essex as it looked nearly three hundred years ago.

His first book about the town of Colchester was published in 1748.

Next is the plate showing the north prospect of the town – as it was in 1748. I suspect that those fields in the foreground of the engraving are now long gone?

Below is Morant’s plate showing St John’s Abbey Gate – as it was in 1748.  Today in the care of English Heritage and Colchester Borough Council, the Gate is an important part of the town’s heritage.

This quote about it is directly taken from English Heritage’s website…

“This elaborate 15th-century gatehouse is all that remains standing of the Benedictine abbey of St John the Baptist that stood outside the walled town of Colchester. The extent of the abbey is still defined by the much-repaired precinct wall, and the gatehouse stands at the centre of the northern boundary.”

“The abbey was founded in 1095 by Eudo Dapifer, William the Conqueror’s High Steward and Constable of Colchester Castle. From its inception the abbey made a major contribution to the development of medieval Colchester and became a wealthy and privileged house, despite losing part of its buildings to fire in 1133.”

“In the late 14th and early 15th centuries, perhaps as a result of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, the abbey strengthened its defences and the gatehouse was added as part of this revamping around 1400.”

“St John’s was one of a handful of abbeys that refused to surrender to Henry VIII’s Commissioners during the Suppression, succumbing only after the execution of the abbot for treason.”

“The property was eventually acquired by the Lucas family who converted some of the abbey buildings into a house. It remained their family seat until the mid-17th century, but it suffered considerable damage as a Royalist stronghold during the siege of Colchester in 1648. The gatehouse itself was stormed by Parliamentary troops and their artillery damaged the vaulted roof and destroyed part of the upper storey.”

“The site was used to house Dutch prisoners in the 1660s, after which the remaining abbey buildings appear to have been demolished; there are no references to occupation after the mid-18th century.”

By the time of Philip Morant’s work, only the Gate of this once great abbey remained (as above). So, Morant included another engraving – depicting the abbey’s church as it was back in the 1500s – before Henry VIII dissolved it and the abbey’s abbot was executed for high treason for rebelling against the king.

The engraving in Morant’s book was based on a much earlier sixteenth century drawing. A drawing that was then (in the 1740s) in the “Cotton Library” (see the text at the bottom of the plate).

From Wikipedia, this is the description of the Cotton Library:-

“The Cotton or Cottonian library is a collection of manuscripts once owned by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton MP (1571–1631), an antiquarian and bibliophile. It later became the basis of what is now the British Library, which still holds the collection. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, many priceless and ancient manuscripts that had belonged to the monastic libraries began to be disseminated among various owners, many of whom were unaware of the cultural value of the manuscripts. Cotton’s skill lay in finding, purchasing and preserving these ancient documents.”

A great picture – but of a scene that no longer existed by the time of Philip Morant’s 1748 book.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

If you want to receive regular local history, social history and family history emails from me, then please do subscribe to my email using the button below.

Every day throughout 2019, I have been posting a short historical post on my Facebook page.  Click the link and join me on my page! https://www.facebook.com/KateJCole/

As a historian and an avid enthusiast of old books, I love a good rummage around a second hand book shop. My children despair over the number of books in my house. We have bookcases upon bookcases.

📚📚📚📚📚Books everywhere.

I’m a firm believer that you can’t have too many books. But, I must admit that I’m not a great lover of Kindle. I have a handful of books on Kindle – as I much prefer to hold a real book.

📖 Books. The original hand-held device!📖

Although last week, I went against everything I’ve just said about Kindle. I purchased a book on my Kindle! My reasons being that the Kindle version was about a twentieth of the price of the “real thing”.

I would much rather own the real thing. Maybe one day when I win the lottery… However, until I win the lottery (not that I do it), I’ll have to make do with my Kindle version.

📖The book I purchased on Kindle was a facsimile edition of a Harvard University owned copy of the splendidly named:

“The History and Antiquities of the Most Ancient Town and Borough of Colchester in the County of Essex, in Three Books. Collected Chiefly from Manuscripts. With an Appendix of Records and Original Papers.”

✍️This important work was written in 1748 – nearly 300 years ago – and is the first “travelogue” and guide to an Essex town.

Written by Philip Morant, this book, along with his later 1760s book (covering the whole Essex), are arguably the most important works about Essex.

There is a great deal of information on the internet about Philip Morant – including the various Essex parishes and rectories where he was the rector. Although born on the island of Jersey, he was very much an important Essex man, and the first chronicler of our county.

He is still remembered today in the name of one of the secondary schools in Colchester – the Philip Morant school.

📖Back to his first published book… “The History and Antiquities of Colchester, in the County of Essex.”

📖On second-hand bookshop websites, copies of the Colchester book ranges in price from £200 to £800. Hence me purchasing my £3 Kindle copy!…

📖The price-range of Morant’s books are so great (particularly First Editions) because he produced the most amazing plates of maps and engravings of Essex buildings.

These were all included in his books. Over the centuries these engravings have become – err-hmmm – detached from their original book and sold separately.

Two hundred copies of the Colchester book were printed in 1748 as the First Edition.

With such a scarce number of originals surviving, it is incredibly hard to work out how many engravings and plates the book should have. And what those engravings/plates should be!

From digging around the internet and reading various summaries, I’ve found that the Colchester book should have about 9 engravings/plates (can anyone confirm that?).

My Kindle copy (from no less the Harvard University!) has only 4 plates! Hmmmm…..

Exactly where did those missing plates go….? ✂️👩‍🎓👨🏼‍🎓👨🏼‍🎓

The image below is the book plate from Harvard University and the librarian’s date stamp showing that the book was last lent in 1974.

📖Below is an image of one of Philip Morant’s books that’s currently for sale on the internet – at the price of £800. With such high price (others start at £200), it must have all its plates and engravings intact.

💵Maybe I should just Crowdfund my blog and Facebook page – then I might have enough money to buy it. 💵

Can’t you just smell the book from this delicious photo!

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

If you want to receive regular local history, social history and family history emails from me, then please do subscribe to my email using the button below.

Every day throughout 2019, I have been posting a short historical post on my Facebook page.  Click the link and join me on my page! https://www.facebook.com/KateJCole/