Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: Harold's Town and Its Vicinity Waltham Abbey Waltham Cross Cheshunt and High Beech Epping Forest by Bunting Freeman Branfill J A C John Arthur Capel Photographer
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page
Ebook has 397 lines and 41863 words, and 8 pages
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
"The Foundation of Waltham Abbey." Rt. Rev. William Stubbs.
"History of the Abbey of Waltham." John Farmer.
"The Parish of Waltham Abbey." John Maynard.
"History of Waltham Abbey." W. Winters.
"History of Waltham Holy Cross." Rev. J. H. Stamp.
"The Norman Conquest." E. A. Freeman.
"Architecture and Early History of Waltham Abbey." E. A. Freeman.
"A History of Abbeys." Stevens.
"London and its Environs." Hunter.
"Circuit of London." Hughson.
"Church History of Britain." Thomas Fuller.
"Worthies of England." Thomas Fuller.
"Cheshunt in the Olden Time." Rev. A. Brown.
"Visitors' Handbook to Cheshunt." W. Winters.
"The Family Memoirs of the Rev. W. Stukeley."
"'Gentleman's Magazine' Library." Vol. 17. G. L. Gomme.
"British Topographer." Vol. 1. R. Gough.
"History of Herts." Cussans.
"History of Herts." Salmon.
"History of Herts." Clutterbuck.
PREFATORY NOTE.
THIS little book is intended for the ordinary individual rather than the earnest student or the ardent antiquary. As I have attempted to embellish the dry bones of history and to present the undoubted beauties and charms of the corner of England that lies upon the Herts and Essex border in a manner likely to interest the former, my effort will possibly appear to the latter to have several shortcomings.
That part of the book dealing with Cheshunt has presented some difficulty. One day, perhaps, some industrious historian will prepare a really good history of the ancient parish of Cheshunt, and utilise to the best purpose the wealth of material that lies hidden away in the parish chests.
To the Rev. J. H. Stamp, I am indebted for reading the proofs and for some valuable information, as well as for his kind permission to use the chronological data prepared by him. To Mr. H. Collingwood Lee my thanks are also due for his kind assistance.
FREEMAN BUNTING.
WHITE WEBBS, July, 1905.
The Publisher's Address to the Reader.
THIS little volume forms one of the Homeland Handbooks, a series founded in 1897, with a view of providing adequate information respecting special localities and districts. They are issued at popular prices, and contain everything likely to interest the intelligent visitor regarding the History, Traditions, Worthies, and Antiquities of the neighbourhoods with which they deal.
In each case the books are written by a qualified Author, with special local knowledge.
Other Volumes in the Series likely to interest the reader of this book are as follows:--
CLOTH. PAPER. Hertford, and the Country of Charles Lamb and 2/- 1/- Izaak Walton The City of St. Albans, its Abbey and its 2/6 1/- Surroundings Dunstable and its Surroundings 2/- 1/-
'DON'TS' FOR PICNIC PARTIES.
THE Council of the Selborne Society urgently requests visitors to treat the country they are visiting with the reverence due to natural beauty.
DON'T disturb the birds in their breeding season.
DON'T litter the places visited with waste papers or torn letters.
DON'T leave empty bottles and other d?bris of your picnic to vulgarise the spots, the scenery of which you have been enjoying.
HAROLD'S TOWN AND ITS VICINITY.
WALTHAM ABBEY, WALTHAM CROSS, CHESHUNT, AND HIGH BEECH, EPPING FOREST.
Though within just over half an hour's journey by rail from the Metropolis, and but a crow flight of some thirteen miles therefrom, it would be pretty safe to say that not one per cent. of the inhabitants of the great city have made any sort of acquaintance with the beautiful old minster of Waltham, which stands to-day for one of the finest examples of Norman architecture, vying with Westminster Abbey in this respect, whilst its history is, as old Thomas Fuller has observed, "the history of the Church of England." And if this ancient pile represents so much architecturally and ecclesiastically, it occupies no mean position among those various influences that have gone to the making of English history.
The bustling train lands the visitor at Waltham Cross Station, in the county of Herts, and one must proceed for about a mile on foot eastward to attain the Abbey and town of Waltham Holy Cross, which lie in the adjoining county of Essex. But after the "mean things that are new" have been passed, the way is pleasant. The road is bordered on one side for a goodly distance by the marshlands and crosses many times over the river Lea, which, as old Fuller humorously observes, "not only parteth Herts from Essex, but also seven times parteth from itself, and is crossed by so many bridges." Beyond the waterside inn on the bridge that spans the Lea navigation, and displays the comforting sign of the "Old English Gentleman," Highbridge Street is entered, and the old town opens out, with the tower of the Abbey, but just restored to its original dignity of design, closing in the view. The principal entrance to the Royal Gunpowder Factory lies just to the left here, and much that is picturesque and quaint will strike an observant eye on the way. The diversity in character and style of the houses and shops, the irregularity of their disposition, with their time-tinted exteriors, and the bits of garden and splashes of verdant foliage, which break up the line of bricks and mortar, timber and stucco, give the old street that peculiar charm which is so often characteristic of an ancient town.
Romeland.
Just before the Abbey is reached, approached by a way that allows little more room than is needful for a cart to pass, is an open square of very old houses, a most picturesque corner of the old town, that bears the somewhat curious appellation of Romeland. How and why the place came to be so called it is not easy to determine; but the abbots of Waltham, whose seat was at Copt Hall, had their London house on or adjacent to a site in the parish of St. Mary-at-Hill, adjoining what is now Billingsgate Market, which was also called Romeland. To the rent of this, as well as the market square at Waltham, the Pope laid claim, and the latter was then known as Romescot or Peter's Piece. It is to this circumstance, probably, that the place owes its name.
It was in the house of Master Cressy, a long-fronted structure, which stands on the left of the entrance to Romeland, that, in 1533, Cranmer, Fox, and Gardiner discussed the question of Henry's divorce from Katherine of Aragon. Then it was that Cranmer "struck the keynote of the Reformation," by claiming "for the Word of God that supremacy which had been usurped by the popes for centuries." Fuller refers to this as a significant circumstance and says: "Thus did Waltham give Rome the first deadly blow in England."
A King's Diversions.
Bluff King Hal was very partial to Waltham and enjoyed the hunting in the forest. He frequently stayed at his house in the Romeland, still standing at the north-east corner. There are many stories, often with the "merry monarch" for a hero, connected with his patronage of Waltham. One day he left his hunting companions and returned to Waltham in the guise of one of his attendants, and, being invited to the abbot's table, ate heartily of the sirloin of beef placed before him, to the great admiration of his host. "Well fare thy heart," the latter toasted his guest, "here is a cup of sack, and remember the grace of thy master. I would willingly give one hundred crowns on condition that I could feed as heartily on beef as thou dost! Alas! my weak stomach will hardly digest the wing of a small rabbit or chicken." The king pledged his host, and thanked him; in due time he departed as secretly as he had come. A little while after, the abbot was suddenly arrested and conveyed to the Tower, where he was kept for some days on bread and water. Then a sirloin of beef was set before him, of which he ate heartily. The king entered in the midst of the meal, and demanded of his prisoner payment of the hundred crowns, which, when the abbot recognised the trap into which he had fallen, he gladly paid.
On another occasion, when Henry was the guest of Sir Henry Colte, of Nether Hall, Roydon, the latter provided a novel entertainment for his royal guest. It is related that the knight and his men waylaid the monks on Waltham marsh one dark night, having been informed by spies that they were on a visit to Cheshunt nunnery, and, catching them in a buck stall left them wallowing in the mire until dawn. Then the "knight of merry conceits" conducted his dejected captives to the king, and presented them to his majesty as the splendid game he had been able to secure. King Harry burst into a loud fit of laughter, and declared that, though he had "often seen sweeter, he had never viewed fatter venison."
Having so far diverged from the direct road to the Abbey, we may well go a little further, taking a narrow roadway that runs by the mill leading to the Abbey fields.
The Abbey Gateway.
Higher up the Corn mill stream, in the Abbey fields, and bordering on the "pool," is another beautiful remnant of very early architecture, probably contemporary with the Abbey church, known as Harold's Bridge. Tradition says that in early times this was the only passage across the stream, and that not only Harold, but Tovi before him, used this bridge, when proceeding into or from the royal forest of Waltham. It is a most interesting architectural relic. There are still visible two of the five beautiful ribs which originally adorned this fine arch. Recently steps were taken to preserve this interesting monument of antiquity by restoring the stonework forming the base of the bridge. The Abbey farmhouse, with its picturesque Elizabethan front, which is said to have formed the abbot's stabling in mediaeval times, stands to the north-east of Harold's Bridge.
The Abbey Church.
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page