Freebridge Hundred and Half: Emneth, or Enemeth

EMNETH, or ENEMETH,

So called as lying in the meads, or meadows, is an hamlet in the parish of Elm in Cambridgeshire, and the isle of Ely; but this hamlet being in Freebridge hundred and in the county of Norfolk, it becomes requisite to give what account thereof has fallen into out hands.

Part of this hamlet belonged to the great manor of the prior of Lewes, in West Walton, which extended here.

Hackbeach Manor.

In the 5th of King John, it appears that there was a place in the aforesaid hamlet called Hagebech, which gave name to a family, then, as it seems, lord of it. Alexander de Marisces then sued Agnes, widow of Jeffrey de Hagebech and Alan, son of Agnes, for a carucate of land there, and Adam de Hakebech and Mariotta his wife, were living in the 5th of Hen. III. probably son of Alan; (fn. 1) Sir Adam de Hakbech lived in 1277, son, as I take it, of Adam aforesaid, and then held the manor of Hakebech, of the prior of Lewes, as belonging to the prior's manor of West Welton, which extended itself here; and the said Sir Adam had wreck, assise of bread and beer, &c.

Sir Robert Hakebech, John, son of Osbert de Denever, and Egelina his mother, and Sir Robert Howard, held in the 21st of Edward I. here, in Walpole and Walton, half a fee of the dutchy of Lancaster.

Robert de Hakebeche occurs in 1295, son of Adam, and one of the same name in 1323; and in the 8th of Edward II. William de Hakebeche and Florentia his wife conveyed lands by fine to Adam, son of Peter de Enemethe, in the said town.

In the 10th of Edward III. Roger de Hakebeche was a commissioner to see to the repairs of the banks and sewers in Mersheland; and in the 26th of that King, Sir Robert de Hakebech gave by deed, dated at Quapplode in Lincolnshire, October 3d, lands there, to Sir William de Thorpe, Knt.; witnesses, John de Quappelode, &c.; to this deed hangs a seal about the bigness of a common shilling, two bars; and circumscribed, Sigillum Rob. de Hakebech. One of the same name, and a knight, lived in the reign of Henry VI. A^o. 14, whose widow Margaret died in the 34th of the said King, and Reginald de Hakebeche was a commissioner, as aforesaid, in the 1st year of Richard II.

But this lordship, on the death of the last Sir Robert de Hakebech, in King Henry the Sixth's time, seems to have come to Sir Andrew Ogard, Knt. who was found to die possessed of it, Buckenham castle, &c. in the 33d of that King: Sir Andrew Ogard was a famous general in the wars of France, Baron of Denvale, of Beaufoe, Caux, lord of the castle of Favillers in Anjou, of the castle of Mervyle, by St. Savory, of Yffe, by Towke in France, and had to the value of 1000l. per ann. in lands, &c. and in a chest of French gold, at the house of Robert Whitingham, about 7000 marks of English; he married Margaret, only daughter of Sir John Clifton of Buckenham castle. (fn. 2)

Afterwards it came to the family of Hewar, and on an inquisition taken September 2, 1579, Thomas Hewar, Esq. was found to die seized of this manor, on May 15, in the said year; which extended itself into Walsoken, Upwell, and Outwell, held of Philip Earl of Arundel, of his manor of West Walton in soccage, and the rent of 5l. 5s. 6d. ob. per ann. and of 87 acres of land, meadow and pasture, held of the King, &c. in soccage, and the rent of 44s. 6d. per ann. By Winefred his wife, daughter of John Repps, Esq. of West Walton, relict of William Ogard, Esq. of Emneth, he had Sir Thomas Hewar: this lordship (as I take it) came to the Hewars on the marriage of Ogard's widow. Sir Andrew Ogard, abovementioned, left at his death Henry Ogard, (fn. 3) his son and heir, aged 4 years; and Andrew Ogard, Esq. and George and Henry, sons of Andrew, were feoffees to Sir Andrew aforesaid; from some of these, this manor passed and came to William Ogard. Esq.

Sir Thomas Hewar, by his will dated January 21, in the 5th of King Charles I. left it to his nephew, Lawrence Oxburgh, (and died May 15, in the 6th of that King,) who was second son of Thomas Oxburgh, (by Etheldreda, his wife,) who was the son of Thomas Oxburgh (who died in 1628) and Thomasine his wife, sister of Sir Thomas Hewar. (fn. 4)

In this family it remained till Hewar Oxburgh, Esq. sold the manor-house to Sir Thomas Peyton, Bart. (Hackbeach hall) and his son conveyed the manor to the said Sir Thomas, who is the present lord.— It came to Lawrence, his elder brother, Hewar Oxburgh dying in 1628.

Sir Andrew Ogard abovementioned died at Buckenham castle in Norfolk, on St. Calixlus day 1454; he bought this lordship of Emneth, of Gilbert Holtoft, Baron of the Exchequer for 100l. he being one of the executors of Sir Robert Hakbeche, Knt.

Bellasis, or Ingaldesthorp's Manor.

The ancient family of Ingaldethorpe held a manor here of the prior of Lewes, as heirs to the Burghs of Cambridgeshire: in the 16th of Edward I. Thomas son of John de Ingaldesthorp, settled the manor of Bellasis, in Enemeth, on Thomas Bishop of Rochester, for life, which Thomas was of the name and family; and in the 1st year of Edward III. Thomas de Ingaldesthorp was found to hold it of the prior in fee farm at 47s. 5d. rent; in this family it continued, and Sir Edmund de Ingaldesthorp died seized of it, in the 35th of Henry VI. leaving one daughter and heir, Isabel, who married John Nevill Marquis Montacute, by whom she had 2 sons and 5 daughters, and on the death of George Nevill (their brother) Duke of Bedford, s. p. were found to be his sisters and coheirs. On a division of his inheritance, this manor came to Elizabeth, one of the said sisters and coheirs, who married Thomas Lord Scroop of Upsal and Masham, who by her will dated in the 5th of Henry VIII. ordered that if her niece Lucy Brown, daughter of Sir Anthony Brown by her sister Lucy, (his wife,) did not agree to marry John Cutts, she should have none of her lands.

John was son and heir of Sir John Cutts of Childerley in Cambridgeshire, under treasurer of England. This marriage being effected it came into that family, and John Cutts, Esq. a descendant, was lord in the 12th of Elizabeth.

In the 20th of Henry VII. a fine was levied between Sir James Hobart, Sir Richard Southwell, Sir Henry Ogard, Knts. and Richard Braunche, Esq. querents, Thomas Sutton, and Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Robert Godard, deforciants, of the manor of Denvers and lands in Walpole, Tilney, Terrington, &c. See in Walpole.

Bishop of Ely's Manor.

The manor of Elm belonged to the see of Ely, but the manor which the Bishop held in this hamlet of Emneth, was that which belonged to his capital manor of West Walton; Alan de Hakebech held in the reign of King John 112 acres of land in Hakebeck, paying 33s. and 8d. rent, and lands in Walpole of the Bishop, and was then called a free tenant, but it was afterwards esteemed a lordship. Hubert, son of Geffrey de Barking held lands in the reign of Henry III. and was accounted also a free tenant; the Bishop had all rights and privileges belonging to it as to his other manors, and Robert de Hakebech, son of Adam, is said to hold half a fee here of the Bishop, paying the aforesaid rent, and doing suit to West Walton court.

Henry de Walpole also held here about the same time a messuage and 120 acres of land of the Bishop, by knight's service; Robert de Insula 80 acres of the gift of Jeffrey Redal, Bishop of Ely; Richard Muschet held 160, and Thomas de Inglethorp had lands belonging to the see of Ely; it continued in the see till granted to the Crown in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by act of parliament.

In the 6th of Henry III. a fine was levied betwen Bartholomew de Glanvile, and Isabella his wife, petents, and Richard de Berking, tenant, of 80 acres of land here, as the dower of Isabel, from Jeffrey de Berking, her former husband. Hubert, son of Jeffrey, is therein named, which was released to Richard; and in the 6th of Henry VII. passed by fine to Sir Robert Drury, and Sir Henry Haydon, &c. with the manor of Fitz-John's, and several lands here and in Walsoken, with the advowson of the free chapel of Berking in this place, which was likely what was held by Hubert, son of Jeffrey de Berking.

A manor which belonged to the nunnery of Nun-Eaton, in Warwickshire, extended into this hamlet, held of this see in Upwell.

Adam, son of Adam de Wisebeach, gave by deed, sans date, to Ralph, son of Lemar. de Well, all the land which Walter his brother held of him in Broken, (quere if not Berking,) in Elm, viz. 12 acres and an half of the fee of the nuns of Eton, for one pound of cumin, to him, and 6s. and 9d. per ann. to the said nuns at the beginning of Lent, also an acre of the Bishop of Ely's fee, where the buildings are, paying to the said Adam 3d. per ann.,—witnesses, Alan the bailiff, Jeffrey de Hagbech; seal of white wax, about 2 inches and an half diameter, with a man in armour on horseback, but very rude.

The manor of Lovells in Elm, &c. extended into this place; in the 33d of Edward III. a fine was levied between John Warin, &c. and Sir Hugh Lovell, and Joan his wife, when it was settled on Sir Hugh and his lady; and after their lives on the heirs of them; this afterwards was held by Gilbert Haultoft, Baron of the Exchequer, in the reign of King Edward IV. and by the marriage of Alianor his 3d daughter and coheir, came to Simon Bachcroft, and William Bachecroft of Bexwell, died possessed of it in 1518; and John Repps, son of Henry Repps, Esq. had livery of it about the 22d of Elizabeth, being then called the manor of Clare, alias Lovell's.

The tenths, &c. of this hamlet were 13l. per ann.—Deduct 1l. 6s. 8d.

To this hamlet belongs a large chapel, larger than most churches, having a nave, north and south isle, and a chancel dedicated to St. Edmund the King and Martyr.

Elm is the mother-church, has a rector, and a vicar, both in the pationage of the see of Ely; the rectory is a sinecure; the valor of the rectory, with the portion of the prior of Lewes, in 1291, was 80 marks; the rectory is now charged at 7l. 10s. 0d½. and the vicarage at 14l. 15s. 10d. and pays first fruits and tenths.

At the east end of the south isle of this chapel of Emneth, enclosed with iron rails, is a sumptuous monument erected altarwise, on which lie the effigies of Sir Thomas Hewar, and his lady, at full length, and at their feet, that of a child, his son, who died young; over this monument is a canopy of marble, &c. supported by marble pillars.

M.S. Thomas Hewar, eques auratus, vir bonis et honestis moribus præditus, de pratria et principe optime meritus, hoc juxta parentes suos hic sepultos monumentum mortis suæ non immemor sibi proposuit.

Duxit in uxorem Emmam Willi. Laurence. de villa Sti. Ivonis in agro Huntingdoniensi, armigi. filiam spectatæ fidei et vitæ integerrimæ fœminam, de qua unicum filium Thomam teneris annis ablatum suscitavit.

Fixa fides cælo, dispersaq; fama per orbem, Te prohibent Hewar, te moriente mori.

On the summit of the canopy are these shields, sable two talbots heads, erased, or, between two flaunches, ermin, Hewar, quartering, argent, a lion rampant, sable, a chief indented p. fess, gules and of the second, sable, a chevron engrailed, between three leopards heads, or; quere if not Wentworth? and argent, three piles, wavy gules, and an orle of martlets, sable, Coo. Hewar, with the said three coats, quartered, impaling argent, a cross ragulée, gules, on a chief of the 2d, a lion passant, guardant, or, Lawrence; also or, two bars, azure, over all a lion rampant, guardant, gules, Oxburgh. This monument was erected in January, 1617, by Mr. Nicholas Stone, master mason to King James I. who had (as I find) 95l. for it.

In the said chapel, against the wall, is a neat mural monument of marble; on the summit of it is Hewar, quartering as above, and Anno Dni. 1586; below that—Altera pars nostri cœli pars altera terrœ.

Also these shields, Hewar with his quarterings, impaling Repps and Smith, quarterly, as in West-Walton; Hewar, &c. impaling argent, two bendlets, sable, Kay.

Armiger en Thomas Hewar, Winefredaq; conjux Armigeri fælix Johannis filia Repsi, Quæ prius insigni Gulielmo nupsit Ogardo, Lumine nunc cassi tumulo clauduntur in isto. Hæc Thomam, Thomâ, Thomasina, ac Elizabethâ Fecerat hac triplici gaudentem prole maritum Margeriam Thomas ducebat post Winefredam, Uxorem fatis extinctam, quæ fuit orta Edvardi patris generoso sanguine Kaij, Sed Gulielmi erat hœc primo fidissima conjux, Laurenti armigeri, sic bis fuit orba marito.

Winefreda obt. 9 Feb. Ao. Dni. 1576, ao. ætat. suæ 47, Thomas obt. 12. Martij A. D. 1585, ao. ætat. suæ 66.

On a window of the north side of the nave, over an arch, is quarterly, gules, a cross ingrailed, argent, in the first and fourth, and argent on a fess indented, sable, three bezants,—Ingaldthorp and Burgh, of Burgh Green in Cambridgeshire. On a window on the south side, gules, a chevron, between three bezants, Bevill, or Golding; and on the wood work of the roof, these arms are carved; a saltire, which I take to be for Nevill; gules, a saltire, argent;—three water-budgets, which I take to be for Ross; gules, three water-budgets, argent. Jordan de Ross, and Margaret his wife, gave by deed, sans date land here to Castleacre priory;—witnesses, Adam de Hackebeck, William de Alenzun, Richard Muschet, John, son of Jordan de Ross, and Robert his brother, &c.

Checque, probably for the Earl Warren, lord of the fee, or and azure, or for Vaux, or, and gules; and on the wood-work of the belfry, Inglethorp, and the shield of St. Edmund the King and Martyr, azure, a bunch of arrows in a coronet, or, and the arms of the see of Ely; besides these, there were formerly in this church, or, two bars, azure, said to be the shield of Hakebeche, and as some say, on the bars, two and one ducal coronets of the field; and the arms of Carvile, gules, a chevron, or, between three leopards heads, argent.

Rectors.

Walter de Kirkham, rector about 1250.

Nicholas de Ely occurs in 1254, afterwards Bishop of Winchester.

Jeffrey de Kingston occurs in 1293, also rector of Downham, by Ely.

Peter de Arskarn occurs in 1298.

Robert Scarlet occurs in 1297.

Hervy de Stanton occurs in 1317, and 1339.

In the 11th of Edward II. he had a patent to grant a toft by the chapel yard, for the chaplains of the chapel, for their perpetual habitation, given by him.

William de Petteworth on the 18th of September, 1370; the prior of Lewes let to him and his successours, a portion of tithes due to him at Emneth, by the consent, &c. of the Bishop of Ely, patron of the church of Elm, for 20l. per ann. payable to the prior and his successours, in the parish church of West Walton, and the rector to pay all taxes relating thereto. This was for tithes belonging to the fee and demeans of the Earl Warren and Surry, their men and tenants in Enemede, &c.—canon of Chichester.

John Copping, rector.

Thomas Reynold occurs rector in 1440, when there was a suit between him and the prior of Lewes, for default of paying the 20l. per ann. aforesaid, and recovered the same; he died in 1445.

William Stanley collated by the Bishop of Ely.

1464, Thomas Markham, alias Throwland, fellow of St. Peter's college, by the Bishop, on Stanley's resignation.

William Read, on Markham's resignation.

1467, Thomas Markham, iterum.

1488, Thomas Aleyn, A.M.

1500, William Doughty, LL. B. chancellor to the Bishop.

William Wodde died rector, 1522.

1522, Raphael Caldebeck.

1540, Giles Ayre, S.T.B. (on the death of the last rector) prebend of Ely.

Thomas Barkwick occurs rector in 1564.

Thomas Ithell, LL. D. occurs rector in 1573; in 1579, master of Jesus college, prebend, and chancellor of Ely.

1579, Richard Bridgwater, LL. D. occurs in 1587,

Sir Richard Swale, Knight, occurs in 1590, chancellor of Ely.

1608, Boniface Watts, S.T.P.

1616, Roger Andrews, master of Jesus college, prebend of Ely.

Daniel Nicholls.

1641, Robert Dove, A.M.

1645, Joseph Beaumont, A.M. on Dove's death, master of St. Peter's college, &c.

1647, Thomas Dove, by the parliament.

1651, Henry Johnson, A.M. fellow of St. John's college, Cambridge.

1700, Robert Tillotson, A.B. fellow of Clare Hall.

173-, Potter, son of Doctor Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Vicars.

Peter occurs vicar about 1254

Walter de la More.

Hugh occurs 31 Edward I.

1376, John Comberbury, on the resignation of More, by the Bishop.

1393, John Wetyng.

1401, John Stacy.

1404, William Aleyn.

William Stanley occurs in 1474.

1474, Edmund Roweray.

1540, Nicholas Walpole.

Bernard Hunteley, deprived 1554.

Mark Saunders occurs 1573.

Richard Dowe occurs 1576.

Robert Linsey occurs 1578, and 1596.

1599, - - - Griffith.

William Giles occurs 1603, and 1641.

1641, William Alanson.

1660, Henry Johnson, A. M.

1662, Robert Cole, A.M. on Johnson's death.

1665, Thomas Hutton, A.B.

Charles Dawkes occurs 1669, fellow of Jesus college, Cambridge.

1698, Thomas Mallabar, A.M.

1709, Thomas Davies, A.M.

1709, Martin Challis, A.M.

1729, Edmund Castle, A.M. master of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge.

1731, John Newson, A.M.

In this chapel was the chantry of St. Mary, founded by Sir Adam de Hakebech, where the monument of Hewar is, and the lights and images of St. Edmund, St. Mary, our Lady of Pity, St. John, St. Erasmus, St. Laurence, &c.

There was a free chapel called Berking chapel, standing in 1389, in a hamlet of that name, that gave name to an ancient family.