Leyton: Manors and estates

MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.

Domesday Book describes six separate estates in Leyton. Ralph Baynard held of Westminster Abbey an estate worth 40s. comprising one hide held by Tosti before the Conquest, 20 a. of meadow, and a mill. (fn. 1) It was probably the estate 'near Walthamstow' which the abbey claimed to have been given by Aelfnoth of London, nephew of Swein. (fn. 2) This Baynard holding appears to have broken up. The mill remained among the abbey's possessions at least until the 14th century, but was considered to be in West Ham. (fn. 3) Another parcel, described from the 13th century as 15 a. of meadow, descended as part of another Baynard estate, the manor of Tothill, later Bloomsbury (Mdx.); this was held by the London Charterhouse from 1375 to the Dissolution. (fn. 4) This parcel, called Leyton Made, (fn. 5) lay in Walthamstow Marsh (fn. 6) north of the present Lea Bridge Road. Part of Baynard's manor may have become the estate in Leyton and Walthamstow held in the 15th century by the Knott family, (fn. 7) for that estate was warranted against Westminster Abbey when it was sold in 1452. (fn. 8)

Hugh de Montfort held in demesne 3 hides and 30 a. which Alsi held as a manor before 1066, (fn. 9) including one hide once held by a sokeman of the manor of Havering. (fn. 10) This holding appears to have passed to the priory of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, about 1121, and subsequently formed the manor of Cann Hall, Wanstead. (fn. 11)

Robert Gernon held in demesne half a hide worth 5s. which a freeman had held in 1066. (fn. 12) This probably was later merged in the manor of Leyton (see below).

Peter de Valognes held in demesne a manor and 3 hides worth 40s. (fn. 13) The descent of this estate is traced below under Ruckholt manor.

The greatest part of the parish belonged in 1086 to Robert, son of Corbutio, whose two holdings, comprising 7¼ hides, descended together as the manor of LEYTON. The manor lay in the centre and north-east of the parish, stretching from the Lea marshes to the forest. The Phillebrook formed much of its southern boundary, and Walthamstow and the Leyton lands of Mark Hall the northern. Before 1066 four sokemen held 4 hides in Leyton of the manor of Havering. (fn. 14) Three of these hides were held in 1086 by Robert, son of Corbutio, who also held in demesne a manor and 4¼ hides which Harold held before 1066. (fn. 15) The manor probably remained in the Corbutio family until about 1200, when Ralph de Arderne confirmed a grant to the abbey of Stratford by Richard son of Walter Corbutio (Corpechun) of the church of St. Mary of Leyton and the wood of Leyton. (fn. 16) In 1237 or 1238 Richard, son and heir of Geoffrey, son of Richard Corbutio (Corbicun), acknowledged the right of Hugh, abbot of Stratford, to 2 hides in Leyton, which he had of the gift of Richard Corbutio, his grandfather; the abbot used to render 8 marks yearly, but henceforth was to hold in free alms. (fn. 17) In 1253 Henry III granted free warren to the abbot and convent of Stratford for their demesne lands in Leyton, with licence to inclose, assart, till, and empark their grove of 'Corpech' in Leyton. (fn. 18) By the late 12th century Stratford Abbey's estate in the parish may also have included the half-hide held in 1086 by Robert Gernon, (fn. 19) for Robert's fief, which escheated to the Crown, was granted by Henry I to William de Montfitchet, (fn. 20) the founder of Stratford Abbey, whose son Gilbert was also a benefactor. (fn. 21) Among the possessions of the abbey taxed in 1291 Leyton was assessed at £23 3s. 6½d., excluding the rectory and advowson. (fn. 22) The abbot of Stratford held ½ a knight's fee in Leyton in 1303 and 1346. (fn. 23) By that time a fourth holding had been added to the estate.

In 1267 Godfrey de Liston died holding land in Leyton of Sir Hugh de Neville. (fn. 24) He was succeeded by his son and heir, John (d. 1303), who was in turn succeeded by his son, Sir John de Liston (d. 1332). (fn. 25) Before the latter's death part of his property in Leyton passed into the hands of Edmund Basset and Roger Samekyn, who had licence in 1331 to alienate to the abbey a messuage and 126 a. of land of the clear yearly value of 38s. 7d. (fn. 26) Stratford also acquired in 1329 or 1330 from Sir John de Liston a plot in Leytonstone called 'Jonesthyng of Liston', worth £10 yearly. (fn. 27) Alfred de Vere, earl of Oxford, appears to have been the abbot's tenant in 1401, but the manor had apparently reverted to demesne by 1428. (fn. 28) At the Dissolution much of the demesne land was shared by nine tenants, among them Morgan Wolfe, the remainder, with the manorhouse and buildings, rectory and tithes, being leased to Thomas Campion. (fn. 29)

Stratford Abbey was surrendered to the King in 1538. (fn. 30) Thomas, Lord Wriothesley, Lord Chancellor, was granted the manor and rectory of Leyton for life in 1544, and in 1545 was granted the reversion in fee with licence to alienate to Sir Ralph Warren. (fn. 31) In 1546 Warren was granted the reversion of the rents which had been reserved in the grants to Wriothesley. (fn. 32) Sir Ralph, who had been lord mayor of London in 1536–7 and 1544, died in 1553, (fn. 33) devising the manor and advowson of Leyton for life to his wife Joan, daughter of John Lake of London. She married Sir Thomas White in 1558 and died in 1572, (fn. 34) being succeeded by her son Richard Warren. When Richard died in 1587 he held the manor of Leyton in chief for 1/40 knight's fee, the yearly value being estimated at £20. His heir was his nephew, Oliver Cromwell, son and heir of his sister, Joan, wife of Sir Henry Williams alias Cromwell. (fn. 35) In 1599 Oliver Cromwell first leased the manor for 20 years to Edward Ryder, a London haberdasher, then later in the same year was licensed to alienate it to Ryder. In this lease and at other times later the manor was called LEYTON GRANGE. (fn. 36) Edward Ryder died in 1609. He left his estates to his brother, Sir William Ryder (lord mayor of London in 1600), and to Sir Thomas Lake (secretary of state, 1616), husband of Sir William's daughter Mary, in trust to pay off his debts and provide for his children. (fn. 37) Later the same year a chancery commission awarded two-thirds of the manor to Sir William Ryder and Sir Thomas Lake, who had bought off Sir Baptist Hicks, to whom it was mortgaged. The remaining third was reserved for Edward Ryder's eldest son, Edward, a royal ward. (fn. 38) Sir William Ryder died in 1611, leaving his share to his two daughters, Mary Lake, and Susan, widow of Sir Thomas Caesar, subject to an annuity to their mother. (fn. 39) In 1617 Edward Ryder apparently came of age and conveyed his share, including the manor-house, to his cousin Mary, and her husband, Sir Thomas Lake. (fn. 40) After Lake died in 1629 the manor appears to have formed part of his widow's jointure; she was described as lady of the manor in 1636. (fn. 41)

Lake's son, Sir Thomas Lake, sold the manor in 1650 to Captain George Swanley, Bernard Ozler, and Robert Abbott. Swanley's share is said to have included the site of the manor. (fn. 42) John Smith (d. 1655), a London merchant, subsequently purchased Abbott's one-third share, and by his will, dated 1653, devised it, subject to the life interest of his niece, Elizabeth Coker, widow, to the poor of the parishes of St. Swithin and St. Peter Eastgate, Lincoln. (fn. 43) Swanley lived in Leyton and took an active part in parish affairs. (fn. 44) By his will, proved 1658, he devised his third of the manor to his wife, Barbara (d. 1686) with reversion to his son William (d. 1688). (fn. 45) This third subsequently became vested in George Swanley's three daughters, Martha, Lady Clutterbuck, Sarah Limberry, and Mary, wife of John Hanson. (fn. 46) In 1696 John Chinnall bought Sarah Limberry's ninth. (fn. 47) Lady Clutterbuck's share was purchased by Oliver Martin in 1696 and sold by him the following year to Chinnall, who had by then also acquired Mary Hanson's ninth. In 1703 Chinnall sold Swanley's reconstituted third share to David Gansel. (fn. 48) Bernard Ozler's share apparently passed to Robert Ozler, who by his will, proved 1698, left his whole estate to Charles Hopton, his cousin. Hopton sold Ozler's third share of the manor to David Gansel in 1710, probably to raise money for the free school to be provided under Ozler's will. (fn. 49) David Gansel died in 1714 (fn. 50) and was succeeded by his son, David (d. 1753), and he by his son Col. (later Lt.-Gen.) William Gansel, who died in debt in 1774. General Gansel's affairs passed into Chancery and his heirs did not receive permission to dispose of his property until 1783. Gansel's twothirds of the manor were then purchased by John Pardoe, a director of the East India Company. (fn. 51) In 1794 Pardoe purchased the remaining third from the corporation of Lincoln, less their one-third share in the reversion of the Forest House estate, which they had already sold to Samuel Bosanquet (d. 1806). (fn. 52) John Pardoe (d. 1798) was succeeded by his grandson, John Pardoe (d. 1870). (fn. 53) By 1843 the demesne comprised only 131 a. (fn. 54) John Pardoe was succeeded by his son, the Revd. John Pardoe (d. 1879), vicar of Leyton, 1848–73. His son, the Revd. John Pardoe (d. 1892), rector of Graveley (Herts.), was succeeded by his son, Lt.-Col. Frank Lionel Pardoe (d. 1948). His only surviving son, Lt.-Col. Philip Pardoe, is the present (1966) lord of the manor. (fn. 55)

A house called Leyton Grange was occupied by John Hanger, husbandman, in the 1470s. (fn. 56) In 1535 Thomas Campion, merchant tailor of London, obtained a 60-year lease of the manor-house of Leyton, in which the parlours, buttery, stable, and hayhouse were mentioned. (fn. 57) This lease of the 'grange of Leyton' was bequeathed by him in 1539 to his son, William, (fn. 58) subject to his widow's life interest. The manor or grange house was mortgaged to Anthony Holmead by Edward Ryder in 1608. (fn. 59) This earliest recorded house probably lay east of Leyton church and may have disappeared about the late 1640s when the site of the grange house and 'the ground on which it stood' is first mentioned, though the gatehouse apparently remained. (fn. 60) The house later known as Leyton Grange probably occupied the site of its predecessor; it was built by David Gansel (d. 1753) to his own designs and completed in 1720. The house, although not large, had considerable architectural pretensions. Contemporary engravings show a front elevation of two storeys and five bays, the three central bays being flanked by Corinthian pilasters and crowned by an open scrolled pediment behind which was a small dome; four classical figures stood on the balustraded parapet. The central doorway had a semi-circular porch with a round-headed niche above it. The grounds are shown with an ambitious layout, including converging avenues of trees and a forecourt flanked by out-buildings. The house lay on the line of the present Grange Park Road, north of Church Road. (fn. 61) In 1730 Gansel purchased East Donyland Hall. (fn. 62) This may explain his sale of Leyton Grange to (Sir) John Strange, later Master of the Rolls, (fn. 63) about 1735, thereby separating the house from the manor. (fn. 64) Strange (d. 1754) added two wings to the Grange before 1746 and altered the grounds. (fn. 65) After his death his son, John, sold the house to Thomas Blayden (d. 1780), governor of Maryland, (fn. 66) whose heirs sold it in 1781 to Nathaniel Brassey. Thomas Lane bought it from Brassey in 1796; his son, John, was living there in 1824. (fn. 67) William Rhodes, brickmaker, the grandfather of Cecil Rhodes, was John Lane's tenant between 1829 and 1843. (fn. 68) John Lane was residing there in 1848. (fn. 69) Edward Charrington, the brewer, was the tenant from about 1855 until the Grange was sold in 1860 to the British Land Company, who demolished it in the following year and developed the estate. (fn. 70)

When John Pardoe bought part of the manor in 1783 he already owned a red-brick house on the north side of Capworth Street, with grounds stretching back to Lea Bridge Road. He had bought it in 1763 from one of the heirs to Sir Richard Hopkins's estate, which was broken up in 1746. The house, which was square in front with bowwindows at the back, may have been built by Anthony André about 1758 to replace an older one. From 1783 it became Leyton manor-house. (fn. 71) Between about 1800 and 1820 it was leased to Thomas Flower Ellis; it was empty between 1826 and 1831, but John Pardoe lived there from 1832 until his death in 1870. The Revd. John Pardoe occupied the house in 1874; it was burnt down in 1884. (fn. 72)

The BARCLAY PARK estate was built up in the 19th century by the Barclays, the bankers, (fn. 73) by the purchase of adjoining properties; the two largest were the house known in the 19th century as Barclays or Knotts Green House (fn. 74) and another house, owned in the 18th century by the Bertie family, (fn. 75) known in the late 19th century as Leyton House. The estate was bounded by the present Lea Bridge Road, Leyton Green Road, and James Lane, and adjoined the Forest House estate.

The Knotts Green House property probably originated in the house and 7 a. of land at Diggons Cross, with 7 a. more at Leyton Bridge, for which Thomas Curteys paid rent in 1537–8. (fn. 76) In 1631 William Johnson left a house and an old decayed tenement at Diggons Cross, with adjoining closes containing 10 a., and about 21 a. land including an 8 a. close at Leyton Bridge, to his son Thomas. In 1649 Thomas sold this to Thomas Hopkins, whose daughter, Alice, married Sir Thomas Lee. In 1698 the Lees sold it to Peter Cartwright. (fn. 77) In 1768 Charles Jackson had a 40-year lease of what appears to be the same property, with its adjoining 10 a., but by then described as on Knotts Green. (fn. 78) In 1786 he bought it from the heirs of Richard Burbidge and his wife Mary. (fn. 79) In 1787 Gilbert Slater (d. 1793), an East India merchant, replaces Charles Jackson as owner in the land tax assessments. (fn. 80) He had married an Elizabeth Jackson (d. 1797) in 1784 and the property may have come to him under some form of settlement. (fn. 81) Slater left the house to his wife, who in turn left it to their son, James, a minor. In 1815 James sold it to John McTaggart, whose father John (d. 1810), a Scottish shipping merchant, had acquired the lease of it, with 38 a. land, in 1798. (fn. 82) In 1821 John McTaggart sold it to Robert Barclay (d. 1853). (fn. 83) In 1843 it amounted to 31 a., with a further 8 a. adjoining, leased from Samuel Bosanquet of Forest House. (fn. 84)

The house and grounds owned by the Bertie family in the 18th century were sold in 1788 by Catherine Dorothy, daughter of Peregrine Bertie, with 20 a. of land, to William Masterman (d. 1845). (fn. 85) In 1843 Masterman owned about 50 a. in Leyton and the Walthamstow Slip. (fn. 86) His son, John, died in 1862, when the house and about 27 a. were sold to Joseph Gurney Barclay, son of Robert. (fn. 87) By 1863 the house had come to be known as Leyton House. (fn. 88)

The Barclays also bought neighbouring fields and small properties, and by 1898, when J. G. Barclay died, (fn. 89) the estate, with park and gardens, covered a compact 100 a. In 1898 the estate was auctioned and, with the exception of the house and 2½ a. grounds, sold for development. (fn. 90)

The original house at Diggons Cross, for which Thomas Hopkins was assessed at 11 hearths in 1662, and his widow, Sarah, at 12 in 1670 and 1674, (fn. 91) had been pulled down some years before 1786, and replaced by a 'capital modern built house', unnamed but described as 'on Knotts Green', perhaps built by Charles Jackson. (fn. 92) The new house was a plain two-storeyed building of yellow brick with a mansard slate roof. (fn. 93) From a brick dated 1791 it appears that Gilbert Slater, who occupied it from 1786 to 1793, (fn. 94) built bow-windowed extensions on each side. In contrast to the plain exterior the interior was elaborately decorated, possibly by Slater. The entrance hall had plaster moulded panels. Other rooms were enriched by plaques, mouldings, and Adam-style ceilings, and by mahogany and satinwood doors. The first-floor landing had an open-columned screen, and open, oval balustraded gallery. Slater, an ardent gardener, planted the grounds with rare items collected from China, the East Indies, and America. (fn. 95) After 1821 Robert Barclay added an east wing to the house, which became known as Barclays or Knotts Green House. In 1854 an observatory was built in the grounds. (fn. 96) In 1900 Knotts Green House was bought by Livingstone medical college for missionaries, which had opened in Bow in temporary premises in 1893. During the Second World War the college was occupied by the army. It reopened in 1946 but moved to Reigate (Surr.) soon after 1947. (fn. 97) The house remained empty until 1951 when it was acquired by Leyton borough council. (fn. 98) In 1952 the Livingstone Court flats were built in the grounds. (fn. 99) The house itself, leased as offices for a few years after 1954, (fn. 100) was demolished in 1961. (fn. 101) A block of flats called Livingstone College Towers was built on the site in 1963. (fn. 102)

The Bertie family's house, called Leyton House from the late 19th century, is said to have been built in 1712 and pulled down in 1915. (fn. 103) A watercolour dated 1902 shows an 18th-century house of two storeys, the main front of five windows having attics above, and flanked on each side by flatroofed bays. (fn. 104) The site was occupied in 1968 as a bus garage. Further south the former gardener's lodge stands at right angles to the road, backing on Barclay Hall. It was originally a substantial timberframed house, probably of the 17th century, but the front and side walls have been rebuilt in brick. Only the back wall and the tie-beam roof contain original timbers. The building was attached about 1896 to the Barclay Hall mission (fn. 105) as a house for the missioner. It was modernized in 1949. (fn. 106)

The BOURNE estate in Leytonstone was created by Robert Harrington of Leytonstone, a native of Witham-on-the-Hill (Lincs.), who, by will proved 1657, left all his lands in Leyton to the poor of Bourne (Lincs.). (fn. 107) The copyhold lands, in the manor of Ruckholt, had been surrendered to the use of his will in 1650. (fn. 108) The Bourne trustees do not appear to have been admitted until 1673. (fn. 109) In 1736 the copyhold was described as 5 houses and 47 a. land. (fn. 110) In 1843 the estate comprised some 39 a., including the Crown Inn, Leytonstone, the west side of Leytonstone High Road from Church Lane to the present railway line (including 20 a. of land occupied by Protheroe and Morris, nurserymen), and 11 a. of inclosed marshland meadow, part of Tumbling mead and the site later of the Temple Mills sidings waggon works. (fn. 111) The nursery ground was developed as a building estate in 1894. (fn. 112) The estate, which in 1962 amounted to 28 a., (fn. 113) produced in 1967 an income of £12,334, derived from rents and managed by trustees. (fn. 114)

The FOREST HOUSE estate, near Whipps Cross, lay between the forest, the Phillebrook, and James Lane, and included part of the Walthamstow Slip. (fn. 115) It originated in 1492, when the abbot of Stratford, lord of the manor of Leyton, leased to John More of London, stockfishmonger, three crofts called 'Cristemassebreche', containing about 20 a., for three consecutive terms of 99 years (expiring 1789). (fn. 116) In 1650, when the manor was divided into three parts, (fn. 117) the profits of the lease were similarly divided. In 1750 Samuel Bosanquet (d. 1765) secured from David Gansel renewal of the lease as to two-thirds of the property for 300 years from its expiry in 1789, on the same terms as before. (fn. 118) Lincoln corporation were apparently prepared to negotiate a similar renewal as to their one-third share, but instead in 1780 sold to Samuel Bosanquet (d. 1806), the leaseholder, the reversion expectant (in 1789) of their one-third share. (fn. 119) In 1858 the trustees of John Pardoe sold to Samuel R. Bosanquet the reversion of the remaining two-thirds. (fn. 120)

At an unknown date John More's lease came into the hands of Richard Barnes, whose widow, Agatha, in 1568, granted it to Thomas Powle and others, in trust for herself and her children. (fn. 121) In 1579 Powle and the children sold it, with 'the Forest house', to Henry Johnson of Woodford, (fn. 122) whose widow, Dorothy, sold it in 1592 to Ralph Colston, skinner. (fn. 123) Barnes, Powle, and Colston were all keepers of Leyton walk in Waltham forest. (fn. 124) In 1599 Ralph also bought from Oliver Cromwell, lord of the manor, a lease of an orchard, for two consecutive terms of 99 years, backdated to 1591. (fn. 125) In 1601 Ralph sold both leases, said to cover 33 a. and the orchard, to Sir Thomas Baker (d. 1625) of Sissinghurst (Kent). Sir Thomas already owned a house and 16 a. freehold land, which he had acquired about 1594 from Edmund Withypoll; these lay in Walthamstow (the Slip) and had hitherto divided the leasehold crofts. (fn. 126) Sir Thomas's son, Thomas (d. 1657), was heir to the freehold, and also inherited the leasehold, which had formed his mother Constance's jointure, on her death in 1625. (fn. 127) In 1658 his widow, Alice, married Charles, Lord Goring (d. 1671), who became earl of Norwich in 1663. Thomas Baker had died intestate, and it appears that Alice, who administered the estate, retained the leasehold portion, while the freehold portion was inherited by Sir John Hanmer, whose mother, Elizabeth, was Thomas's sister. In 1665 the estate was reunited when Sir John conveyed the freehold to Lord and Lady Norwich. (fn. 128) Shortly before her death in 1680 Lady Norwich, in financial difficulties, assigned Forest House and 44 a. of land to Sir Henry Capel and his wife Dorothy, her niece and next-of-kin. (fn. 129) They redeemed mortgages made by Lady Norwich and in 1681 sold the estate to (Sir) James Houblon (d. 1700), a founder of the Bank of England, and friend of Evelyn and Pepys. (fn. 130) In 1703 Sir James's sons, Wynne and James, sold it to Sir Gilbert Heathcote (d. 1733), another founder of the Bank and lord mayor of London (1710), reputed to be the richest commoner in England and the meanest. (fn. 131) In 1743 Sir Gilbert's son, Sir John, sold it to Samuel Bosanquet (d. 1765), a London merchant of Huguenot descent. (fn. 132) The estate as conveyed by Heathcote appears to have extended to Whipps Cross, including the site of the house later known as Forest Lodge. (fn. 133) In the next hundred years, during which the estate descended in succession to Samuel Bosanquet (d. 1806), governor of the Bank of England (1792), and his son Samuel (d. 1843), it was consolidated by the purchase of Whitings Grove (1783) and enlarged by acquisitions elsewhere in Leyton. (fn. 134) In 1843 Samuel R. Bosanquet (d. 1882) owned some 139 a. in Leyton and the Walthamstow Slip. (fn. 135) After 1831 Dingestow Hall (Mon.) became the Bosanquets' permanent home, (fn. 136) but until the 1920s the family continued to be one of the two largest landholders in Leyton. (fn. 137) In 1889 Samuel C. Bosanquet (d. 1925) sold Forest House and 44 a. grounds to the West Ham board of guardians. (fn. 138) Forest Lodge was sold in 1900 (fn. 139) and 30 Bosanquet properties on the west of Leyton High Road, with a rental value of £1,804 a year, in 1926. (fn. 140)

By 1568 the leasehold estate included a dwellinghouse. (fn. 141) By 1579 there were two, the chief one called the Forest House. (fn. 142) It lay at the north-east end of James Lane. Between 1601 and 1625 Sir Thomas Baker enlarged the 'great' house, (fn. 143) which was known as Goring House during the occupancy of the earl of Norwich but called Forest House in his will. (fn. 144) In 1664 Lord Norwich secured a 99-year lease of an acre of the adjoining forest waste, with licence to inclose it; and in 1681 Sir Henry Capel was licensed to build a brick wall round the garden created there. (fn. 145) According to the hearth tax assessments of 1662, 1670, and 1674 it was the largest house in Leyton, with 23 hearths. (fn. 146) In 1683 John Evelyn recorded that James Houblon was building a new house. (fn. 147) This was the house which, with later alterations, including a stuccoed exterior and perhaps the addition of the third storey, survived until 1964. It had eleven bays, a capped parapet, and a four-column Tuscan portico. (fn. 148) To the north-west stood a red-brick stable range of the original date. The entrance hall of the house and many of the first-floor rooms had late-17th-century panelling, some of it painted. There was a fine well staircase with twisted balusters and moulded panelling. Decorative work in the Adam style was commissioned by the Bosanquets, the initials SB being painted with classical subjects on one of the ceilings. Sir John Soane's workmen were busy at the house in 1786 and the front was altered to his design in 1787, but the bills only amounted to £130. (fn. 149) The house was assessed in 1785 for 80 windows, a number only exceeded in Leyton by the Great House. (fn. 150) Mary Bosanquet, the Wesleyan preacher, grew up there. (fn. 151) The Bosanquet family occupied it until 1831 after which it was let until about 1884. After the West Ham guardians bought it in 1889, it lay empty for several years until it was adapted as an auxiliary workhouse for about 300 old men. (fn. 152) Transferred to West Ham borough council in 1930, it became a home for old people. (fn. 153) It closed in 1962, when a new hostel, Samuel Boyce Lodge, was opened in the grounds. In 1964 it was demolished and the site sold to the N.E. Metropolitan Hospital Board. (fn. 154) A long stretch of the red-brick garden wall, presumably that erected by Sir Henry Capel in 1681, is still standing.

The GREAT HOUSE estate lay in the centre of Leyton, on the east side of the High Road, opposite the sports ground. It adjoined the Moyer House estate on the east, and was mainly copyhold of the manor of Leyton. In 1686 Nathaniel Tench (d. 1710), one of the first directors of the Bank of England, became a ratepayer in Leyton, (fn. 155) having apparently united two properties hitherto separately rated. One of these may have been the house known later as Walnut Tree House and now as Essex Hall. (fn. 156) In 1697 Nathaniel's son, Fisher Tench (d. 1736, created a baronet 1715) was admitted with his wife Elizabeth to a capital messuage and 29 a. of land on the surrender of his father. (fn. 157) In 1713 Fisher Tench also acquired, from the Atlee family, the adjoining copyhold property called Cross House alias Bushes (which had belonged to Thomas Pullison in 1572), (fn. 158) with 30 a. of land. (fn. 159) Sir Fisher was succeeded by his son, Sir Nathaniel Tench (d. 1737), and he by his sister Jane, who in 1740 married a widower, Adam Soresby. (fn. 160) When she died in 1752 her stepson, William Soresby, was admitted. (fn. 161) He surrendered the estate in 1758 to Thomas Oliver (1740–1803), whose father, Richard (d. 1763), a West India merchant, acted for him and may have bought it in his name. Thomas's son, Richard, was admitted in 1803. (fn. 162) At that date the estate comprised some 94 a., (fn. 163) including the Great House, Cross House, Walnut Tree House, (fn. 164) and Knotts and Brooklands. (fn. 165) In 1805 William Fry was admitted, then in 1806 John Theophilus Daubuz (d. 1830). (fn. 166) The estate continued in the Daubuz family until the late 1870s. (fn. 167) In 1843, with Knotts and Brooklands, it comprised some 133 a. (fn. 168) Walnut Tree House and the house on the site of the original Cross House were sold to Jesse Jackson, a builder, about 1878. (fn. 169) The Great House was sold to developers with 50 a. of land in 1881 and the estate built over in the 1880s and 1890s, (fn. 170) the house itself being demolished in 1905.

Essex Hall, formerly Walnut Tree House, which is thought to be the oldest surviving building in Leyton today (1968), may be the original house acquired by Nathaniel Tench about 1686. It always belonged to the Great House estate, and, though it was said to have been kept as a dower-house, it was usually let after the Great House was built to the north-east of it. (fn. 171) It is a structurally timber-framed building of two storeys, probably dating from the 16th century. Later alterations have obscured most of its ancient features but the first-floor jetties have survived at the front, along one side, and at a gable-end at the rear. The house appears to have been remodelled c. 1700 and again in the early 19th century, giving the long front facing Jesse Road and the two sides a largely Georgian appearance. Most of the sash windows and the wide central porch with Doric columns date from the early 19th century. Also in the 19th century sheets of slate were screwed to the framing to give a flush surface externally. The house contains a late-16th-century stone fire-place with a frieze carved with arabesques and an early-18th-century staircase with twisted and turned balusters. A sundial in the garden formerly bore the date 1666. (fn. 172) In 1804, when Richard Oliver leased the house to Robert Smith, it was called Walnut Tree House, and in 1813 when J. T. Daubuz leased it to Joseph Cotton, previously an elder brother of Trinity House and father of William Cotton, preservation of the large walnut tree in the garden was stipulated. (fn. 173) The 1804 lease provided that the house should not be used for a school, tavern, or factory, but it did indeed become a school about 1870. (fn. 174) Since 1890 it has been let to the Leyton Constitutional (now Conservative) Club, and known as Essex Hall. (fn. 175)

The Great House was built by Fisher Tench, probably before 1712, when his 'handsome mansion house' is mentioned. (fn. 176) It is possible that 'Tench Hall' named on a map of c. 1700, was the new house. (fn. 177) It was a large mansion of two storeys, basement, and attics, built in the 'Wren' style of the period. (fn. 178) The walls were of dark red brick with dressings of lighter brickwork and stone. The entrance front faced the high road (fn. 179) and consisted of a central block flanked by lower and slightly recessed side wings. The main block had full-height Corinthian pilasters and a central pediment, while the wings had rusticated stone quoins. The whole façade, of thirteen bays, was surmounted by a modillion cornice, a panelled parapet, and hipped roofs with dormer-windows; six large stone vases broke the line of the parapet. The garden front was of similar size and character. The cupola now on the tower of St. Mary's church (fn. 180) may have been a central feature of the house. Internally there were doorcases, panelling, and a fine staircase, of the original date. (fn. 181) Paintings on the ceilings and staircase dome, of gods, goddesses, cupids, and flowers, said to have been executed by Sir James Thornhill, still survived in 1895. (fn. 182) A stable range with a pedimented central feature stood at right angles to the house at its south-west end and the grounds were elaborately laid out with canals and vistas. (fn. 183) The main floor (including the drawing room and dining room) and first floor were remodelled in the later 18th century according to plans made for Thomas and Richard Oliver by the Adam brothers. (fn. 184) Decorative features included a fine plaster ceiling and delicately carved chimney-piece and doors in the drawing room, all of which survived in 1901–2. (fn. 185) Sash windows were probably inserted throughout the house at this time. The central portico with columns on the entrance front may also have dated from this remodelling, though it could have been later. (fn. 186) In 1785 the house was assessed for 98 windows, the highest assessment in Leyton. (fn. 187) After the death of Lewis Charles Daubuz in 1839 the house was often let. It was occupied for a few years from 1850 by Canon Nathaniel Woodard's military and engineering school, where boys from Lancing College studied science, fortification, map reading, surveying, and Hindustani. (fn. 188) In 1855 it was a boardinghouse. (fn. 189) The last Daubuz to occupy it, in 1858–60, was James, Lewis's son. (fn. 190) In 1883 the estate developers sold it to the tenant, who was using it as a private lunatic asylum. (fn. 191) In 1895 it was put up for sale again, with the remaining 5 a. of grounds, as a building estate. (fn. 192) After remaining on the market for some time (fn. 193) it was demolished in 1905 (fn. 194) and flats built on the site. In 1909 a memorial plaque was put up.

Cross House had been pulled down by 1806 and the house now known as Grove House built on the site, which lies farther south in High Road. (fn. 195) It was occupied by Magdalen Daubuz, sister of John Theophilus, who left it to her in 1830. When she died in 1844 she left it to her niece, Mrs. Robert Innes, who let it until 1878, when she sold it to Jesse Jackson, who lived there. Since 1879 it has been known as Grove House. (fn. 196) It is a three-storeyed house of yellow brick with a columned porch and bay-windows. For the late-Victorian treatment of the bay-windows Jesse Jackson was probably responsible, and he may also have added the top storey. The house now (1968) belongs to the Leyton and District Trades Hall and Institute.

The HALIWELL PRIORY estate originated in the 12th-century gift to the priory of Haliwell in St. Leonard, Shoreditch, by Gunnore de Valognes of the 'vill' of Leyton, and the 40s. rent substituted for this in 1201. (fn. 197) The estate lay in Ruckholt manor, mainly between the present Langthorne Road (in 1721 called Hollewel Lane), (fn. 198) and Leytonstone High Road, and included Halywell (later Holloway) Down. (fn. 199) In the late 15th century the priory demesne lands, listed in a tithe dispute with Stratford Abbey, comprised 87 a. (fn. 200) In 1535 the estate was valued at £3 6s. 8d. (fn. 201) In 1542 it was granted to Morgan Phillips alias Wolfe (d. 1552), the King's goldsmith, (fn. 202) who was granted the manor of Rayhouse in Barking in the same year. (fn. 203) In 1550 Phillips bought remission from the Crown of yearly rent for the property. (fn. 204) The estate descended with Rayhouse until 1570, when it was in the possession of Walter Morgan and his wife Jane, (fn. 205) but by 1581 it had become separated from Rayhouse. (fn. 206) Its subsequent ownership has not been traced, but it is said to have been broken up. (fn. 207)

The estate called KNOTTS, later THE POPLARS, from which Knotts Green probably took its name, is first mentioned in 1588, (fn. 208) and may have originated in the estate in Leyton and Walthamstow inherited by William Knott from his father Thomas before 1451. (fn. 209) In 1452 William sold this estate to Henry Benet, goldsmith of London, who sold it in 1456 to John Wardale, clerk. (fn. 210) In 1576 Thomas Pullison bought from Walter Fish four pastures, all 'lately parcels of … Knotts in Leyton or Walthamstow'; this suggests that the estate had partly broken up. (fn. 211) In succeeding centuries the ownership of fields in the Knotts Green area was constantly changing. In 1587 Robert Rowe (fn. 212) died seised of the capital messuage called Knotts 'and other tenements there', his son and heir Thomas (later Sir Thomas) being a minor. (fn. 213) Thomas, explorer of the Amazon and first English ambassador to India and Turkey, (fn. 214) parted with it, for in 1611 Toby Wood died seised of it with over 20 a. of land. (fn. 215) In 1630 his son and heir Toby claimed for Knotts common of pasture in the forest, with pannage, estimating the lands at 100 a. (fn. 216) In 1670 this claim was repeated on behalf of Mary Bland, widow. (fn. 217) In 1671 John Bland was party to a conveyance of the capital messuage called Knotts to Mathias Goodfellow, (fn. 218) a merchant who occurs in hearth tax lists of 1670 and 1674, assessed for 14 hearths, (fn. 219) and who is rated at £50 from 1669 to 1685. In 1686 Goodfellow is replaced in the rate books by Captain Thomas Pulman (d. 1703), who is rated until 1702. (fn. 220) The estate has not been traced further by name, but the location given in 1685 and 1698 of a small croft which abutted westward on the estate held at times by Thomas Rowe, John Bland, and Mathias Goodfellow, shows that it lay north of Wild Street Lane (now Lea Bridge Road). (fn. 221) It may, therefore, be identified with the 'capital mansion' and grounds on either side of Hoe Street and opposite the pond in the road, which was owned in the mid 18th century, with 34 a. of land, by Peter Cartwright's heirs. (fn. 222) It is shown, with the pond, on Rocque's map, 1741–5. The property was acquired in 1791 by Henry Wildman; it then comprised about 46 a., including adjoining land and Court House in Walthamstow. The whole estate was sold in 1819 to William Copeland (d. 1826), partner of the potter, Josiah Spode. His son, William Taylor Copeland, as lord mayor of London in 1835, entertained Princess Victoria and her mother, the duchess of Kent, to lunch there. (fn. 223) In 1843 Copeland held it with about 29 a. in Leyton; the whole estate was sold in 1854 and broken up. (fn. 224) The house on the site in 1775, then called the White House, was apparently being rebuilt at that date. (fn. 225) The altered or new house, known later as The Poplars, was described as one of the largest and finest in Leyton. (fn. 226) In 1892, when it was put on the market with 8 a. as a building estate, it had 17 bedrooms. (fn. 227) It was demolished about 1893, when the plans of the layout of the Poplars estate were approved. (fn. 228) The only known picture shows part of the front of a brick building having a central three-storeyed block of five bays with an oval window in its pediment; the central windows have stone architraves with a balustrade below that on the first floor. There were lower flanking wings with balustraded parapets. (fn. 229)

The KNOTTS AND BROOKLANDS estate probably originated as part of the 15th-century Knotts estate described above. In 1537 Robert Elrington (fn. 230) was the manorial tenant of land at Phillebrook called Brokeland and also of land at Knotts Green. (fn. 231) Forty-five acres called 'Knottes lands' were mortgaged in 1542 by John Elrington and his son Robert (fn. 232) and in 1545 John Elrington and his wife, Ursula, sold a messuage and 29 a. to George Baldock. (fn. 233) In 1572 an arbitration award against Henry Wolley acknowledged their son, Robert's title to 24 a., called Knotts and Brooklands, lying east of the high road leading from the church to Stratford, abutting north on Cross House. (fn. 234) This description shows that the estate lay in that part of Leyton High Road known by 1838 as Blue Row, (fn. 235) and now backing on Buckland Road, together with the land in Phillebrook to the east and south. In 1645, when the estate contained 28 a. of freehold land with houses, under the will of Edward Martin, weaver, a moiety of it was charged with the provision of bibles for the children of the parishes of Bermondsey and St. Olave, Southwark, (Surr.), and St. George (Lond.). (fn. 236) In 1796 this legacy was producing £9 a year, but was said to be capable of improvement on the expiry of a long lease. (fn. 237) By 1803 the estate was being held with the Great House. (fn. 238) In 1811 John Theophilus Daubuz, who held the lease with three more years to run and who already owned the other half of the estate, bought the freehold of the half charged with the provisions of Martin's will. The estate, which then consisted of 21 dwellings and 26 a. of land, (fn. 239) continued in the Daubuz family, (fn. 240) held with the Great House estate. (fn. 241) The Blue Row houses were sold about 1853 and the land in the 1870s. (fn. 242)

The manor of MARK in Leyton and Walthamstow is dealt with under Walthamstow. (fn. 243)

The MOYER HOUSE estate, built up in the 17th century, combined two adjoining properties, Masters and the Brewhouse. Masters, which lay on the south side of Masters (later Wallwood or Moyers) Lane, now Hainault Road, belonged to Richard Hanger, who by his will (proved 1479) left 5 marks to repair the road leading from that house to the church. (fn. 244) Thomas Hanger, greatgrandson and heir of Richard, sold Masters in 1530 to Morgan Wolfe, the King's goldsmith. (fn. 245) It was held of the manor of Leyton, and in 1541 Wolfe was granted the annual 17d. rent formerly payable to Stratford Abbey. (fn. 246) The estate had descended by 1570 to Morgan Wolfe's son, Walter Morgan, and his wife Jane. (fn. 247) Jane, widowed, was holding it in 1585 when Seth Lacy and John Mathew sold the reversion of Masters after her death to Hugh Kayle. Kayle's son Robert sold it in 1617 to Robert Hudson. (fn. 248) In 1649 Hudson's executors sold it, with about 19 a. of land, to Captain Lawrence Moyer (d. 1685), warden of Trinity House, (fn. 249) an outspoken Parliamentarian. (fn. 250)

The Brewhouse estate, also held of the manor of Leyton, lay mainly between Masters and Wallwood. (fn. 251) Before 1449 it belonged to John Hanger, and it may have come into Richard Hanger's hands about that date. (fn. 252) The land comprised 17 a. in 1537, when it was held by John Hanger. (fn. 253) It was copyhold, and in 1562 Francis Hanger surrendered it with the land to John Pragell, after whose death Richard Stoneley was admitted in 1585. (fn. 254) In 1590 Stoneley surrendered it to John Fuller, who mortgaged it in 1592 to Thomas More, (fn. 255) with an additional 9 a. of pasture by Wallwood. In 1599, the money not having been repaid, More was admitted, but returned the property to Fuller on condition that he should not alienate it for six years to anyone but More, who was then to have it below the market price and be repaid his admission fine. The property finally came into More's hands in 1606 and was immediately sold to Richard Baldock, but reserving to More and his son, Christopher Cresacre, the footand cart-way from Wallwood to their dwelling house. As this way (fn. 256) led off the high road past Masters and the Brewhouse property, this suggests that the More house was that shown on Rocque's map (1741–5) on the north side of the lane, near the junction with the high road, on the site occupied in the late 19th century by Lea House and Lamb's printing works. (fn. 257) The covenant reserving the way was repeated in 1615 in favour of Cresacre More, when Richard Baldock sold the Brewhouse estate to Robert Hudson. In 1649 Hudson's executors sold this estate also, by then apparently freehold, to Lawrence Moyer. It then comprised the house and 26 a. of land. (fn. 258)

Lawrence Moyer's estate passed after his widow's death in 1687 to his nephew Lawrence (d. 1721), son of Samuel Moyer. By 1739 the estate stretched from Moyer's Lane to the angle of Grove Green Road beyond the Phillebrook, and amounted to 69 acres. (fn. 259) Lawrence's son and heir Benjamin (fn. 260) died in 1759. His daughters Lydia (d. 1822), who married John Heathcote, (fn. 261) and Catherine Moyer (d. 1831), succeeded to the estate as coheirs. Catherine left it to her nephew, John Heathcote (d. 1838), for life, then to his third son, the Revd. George Heathcote. (fn. 262)

The Moyer land was let to farmers after the death of Benjamin Moyer. Twelve acres farmed together in 1843 became known as Cashford's farm. (fn. 263) The remaining 48 a., farmed in the 19th century by the Bent family, with a farm-house built after 1843 near the angle of Grove Green Road, were known as Bents or Grove farm. (fn. 264) Shortly before his death in 1893 George Heathcote sold the estate for development. By 1894 the Tottenham and Forest Gate railway ran across it and occupied a large area for sidings and goods yards. (fn. 265)

Masters became known as Moyer House. Captain Lawrence Moyer mentions in his will that he had enlarged it. (fn. 266) It was always occupied by the Moyer family, and in 1783 was described as the oldest house in the parish. (fn. 267) It was also one of the largest, being assessed for 12 hearths in 1662, and for 69 windows in 1785. (fn. 268) Benjamin's widow, Frances, lived there with her daughter Catherine until her death in 1804, and Catherine, the last occupant, until her own death in 1831. By 1832 the house had been pulled down; (fn. 269) but some out-buildings remained, converted to a farm cottage for the tenant of Cashford's farm. (fn. 270)

The manor of RUCKHOLT lay in the south and south-east of the parish and included the hamlet of Leytonstone. (fn. 271) In 1815 it comprised 892 a. (fn. 272) 'Leintuna' was held in 1066 by Swein the swarthy as a manor and 3 hides, worth 20s. (fn. 273) In 1086 it was held in demesne by Peter de Valognes and was worth 40s. (fn. 274) Gunnore de Valognes, great-granddaughter of Peter, gave the 'vill' of Leyton to Haliwell priory; in 1195 the gift was confirmed by Richard I. (fn. 275) In 1201, apparently in settlement of a dispute arising out of this gift, Gunnore and her second husband Robert fitz Walter bought from the priory some lands in Leyton, but granted to it 40s. of rent in Leyton. (fn. 276) In 1201, too, the wood of 'Rocholt' ('rook wood'), held by Hugh de Marney, is mentioned. (fn. 277) Robert outlived both his wife and their daughter and heir Christine, widow of William de Mandeville, earl of Essex. After his death in 1235 the Valognes barony devolved upon three co-heirs, daughters of Gunnore's cousin, William de Valognes (d. 1219). (fn. 278) These three, Lora, wife of Henry de Balliol, chamberlain of Scotland, Isabel, wife of David Comyn, and Christine, wife of Peter de Maule, (fn. 279) in 1240 granted a carucate in Leyton for ½ knight's fee to William de Marney; William was holding the wood of Ruckholt in 1248. (fn. 280) In 1257 Peter de Maule and his wife Christine granted a messuage and a carucate in Leyton to William de Bumpstead for ½ knight's fee. (fn. 281) The connexion between this and the preceding transaction is not clear. In 1275 Robert de Bumpstead gave John de Munchensy £20 for life from his lands in Leyton, 'for his praiseworthy counsel'. (fn. 282) In 1284 or 1285 William, son of Robert de Bumpstead, granted his manor called 'Rocholte Hall' to Sir Richard de la Vache. (fn. 283) In 1286 it was agreed that William was to hold the manor of Richard in fee tail for ½ knight's fee, but in the event of William dying childless the manor was to revert to Richard, after the death of William's wife, Maud. (fn. 284) William de Bumpstead was alive and holding ½ knight's fee in 1303, but dead by 1316, when his widow, Maud, had letters of protection. (fn. 285) In 1331–2 his son William vested the manor in trustees, including John de Shordych and his wife Ellen. This was apparently a settlement in advance of his marriage to Joan, daughter of Nicholas de Shordych, about 1341, when the manor was vested for life in Sir John de Shordych with remainder to William, Joan, their heirs, and the heirs of William. (fn. 286) In 1345 the manor was forfeited to the Crown, because William had been hanged for killing Sir John de Shordych. (fn. 287) The Crown returned it to Joan, William's widow, later in the year, but she died soon after without issue. In 1346 Sir Richard de la Vache, cousin and heir of the other Sir Richard de la Vache, held as ½ knight's fee the manor formerly held by William de Bumpstead, (fn. 288) having succeeded to the reversion of the estate. In 1359 Sir Richard's surviving trustee enfeoffed Adam Fraunceys, citizen and mercer of London, and his wife Agnes. (fn. 289) Adam Fraunceys died in 1375 and was succeeded by his son, Adam, who, as a knight, was holding the manor in 1412. (fn. 290) Sir Adam Fraunceys died in 1417; (fn. 291) his wife Margaret (d. 1444 or 1445), held Ruckholt in dower until her death. (fn. 292) The manor then passed to their daughter, Agnes, wife of Sir William Porter. Agnes died in 1461; her heir was Sir Thomas Charleton, son of her sister, Elizabeth, who had married Thomas Charleton. (fn. 293) Sir Thomas died seised of the manor in 1465 and was succeeded by his son, Sir Richard. (fn. 294) Between 1417 and 1465 the manor was regarded as part of the honor of Warenne because Steeple Bumpstead, the chief holding of the Bumpstead family, formed part of that honor in 1086. (fn. 295) Sir Richard was killed in 1485 at Bosworth. By a subsequent Act of Attainder his lands were forfeited to the Crown, who granted Ruckholt to Sir John Risley. (fn. 296) Ruckholt then descended along with King's Place in Chigwell, (fn. 297) until 1592, when William, Lord Compton, sold it to Henry Parvishe. (fn. 298) Parvishe died in 1593, having settled the manor on his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Gabriel Colston, for life. (fn. 299) The widow married Michael Hicks, secretary to Lord Burleigh; Hicks held courts in right of his wife from 1595 to 1611, and after his death in 1612 she held them in her own name until 1633. (fn. 300) In 1635 Gabriel Parvishe, son and heir of Henry Parvishe, sold the manor to his stepbrother, Sir William Hicks, Bt. (fn. 301) It descended with the baronetcy until 1720, when Sir Harry Hicks, Bt., grandson of Sir William, sold it to Robert Knight, cashier of the South Sea Company. (fn. 302) Later the same year Knight sold it to his brother-in-law, Benjamin Collyer, (fn. 303) who mortgaged it in 1727 to Robert Knight the younger, and in 1731 was forced to part with his equity of redemption to Knight. In 1731 Knight sold Ruckholt to the trustees under the will of Frederick Tylney of Tylney Hall, Rotherwick (Hants). Tylney's will, proved in 1725, made provision for his niece, Dorothy Glynne, wife of Richard Tylney, Earl Tylney, and her children. Her eldest son Richard died unmarried in 1736, and the estate passed to his brother John. (fn. 304) Ruckholt subsequently descended as part of the Wanstead House estate. (fn. 305) In 1843 the demesne comprised 264 a. (fn. 306)

A house was in existence by 1257, (fn. 307) known by 1284 as Ruckholt Hall. (fn. 308) Henry Parvishe, lord of the manor from 1592 to 1593, is said to have built a manor-house, (fn. 309) probably the Ruckholte listed in 1594 in Norden's Description of Essex among houses of note. (fn. 310) Reference in 1719 to the old house 'which stood near the now house' suggests that Parvishe's house was built on a new site. (fn. 311) Ancient entrenchments still visible at Ruckholt in 1803, including a moated circular embankment, may have marked the site of the medieval house. (fn. 312) Parvishe's house was described by Evelyn in 1659 as a melancholy old house surrounded by trees and rooks; Pepys in 1665 thought it a 'good seat … let run to ruin'. Its condition was probably the result of Sir William's misfortunes during the Civil War and Interregnum. (fn. 313) Sir William Hicks, 2nd baronet, who succeeded his father in 1680, at great expense encased the house in brick and improved it in other ways. (fn. 314) A map of 1721 shows it standing on the south side of Temple Mills Lane (now Ruckholt Road), half-H-shaped in plan, its main axis lying north-south and the wings projecting on the east front. Between 1721 and 1728 Benjamin Collyer altered the grounds, converting the Phillebrook to the north into a canal shaped like a keyhole, with an ornamental island at the west end. (fn. 315) The Tylneys did not occupy the house after purchasing the manor in 1731; it was converted into a public breakfasting house by William Barton between 1742 and 1744. For about six years the place was popular with the gentry, who were entertained with music and other gaieties on Monday mornings during the summer. (fn. 316) The house was pulled down in 1755–7; the materials sold included a marble hall chimney-piece about 13 feet high with trophies and entablature. (fn. 317) A farm-house, in existence by 1777, was built north of Temple Mills Lane with farm buildings lying south of the lane near the site of Ruckholt. (fn. 318) It was occupied by Samuel Turner until his death in 1804, when he was succeeded by his son, William, (fn. 319) who farmed about 180 a. at Ruckholt. (fn. 320) He was succeeded by his son-in-law, John Tyler, who was farming Ruckholt in 1843, and continued to do so until his death in 1880. (fn. 321) The house was occupied as a cottage hospital from 1889 to 1891, (fn. 322) when it was pulled down and Ruckholt Road board school (fn. 323) built on the site. (fn. 324)

The WALLWOOD estate lay in the north of Leytonstone, most of it in the manor of Leyton, but the south-east portion, including Wallwood house, in Ruckholt manor. It originated in the wood granted to Stratford Abbey by Richard Corbutio before 1200. (fn. 325) The abbey was licensed in 1248 to inclose the wood, and in 1253 it was disafforested. (fn. 326) In 1291 it was known as Corpychonesfrith, and by 1323 Wallewood (fn. 327) perhaps from the earthworks built to inclose it. (fn. 328)

After the Dissolution Wallwood was described as the king's wood in 1538. (fn. 329) The grants of the manor of Leyton to Lord Wriothesley in 1544–5 did not mention Wallwood, though his licence in the same year to alienate to Sir Ralph Warren included unnamed woods belonging to the manor. It is clear, however, that Wallwood was regarded as Crown property in the 16th century, with the Crown appointing woodwards. (fn. 330) A survey of the king's woods in 1604 included Wallwood, (fn. 331) but stated that Edward Ryder, as lord of the manor of Leyton, had challenged the Crown's title in the courts in Elizabeth I's reign. (fn. 332) Ryder actually devised Wallwood with the manor of Leyton on his death in 1609. (fn. 333) His grandson, Skinner Ryder, also claimed it in 1653, (fn. 334) but in 1655 a decree was made confirming the lord protector in possession (fn. 335) and in 1660 Ryder finally relinquished his claim. (fn. 336)

In 1660 Gobert Sykes was holding, presumably of the Crown, woodgrounds called Wallwood containing, with a small piece of marsh, 173 a. That year he leased them for 21 years to a Leyton grazier, Edmund Osmond, with covenants for the upkeep of the ditches, mounds, walls, and fences which inclosed the grounds, and an agreed allotment of timber for the purpose. (fn. 337) In 1693 the Crown leased Wallwood for 99 years to Richard Savage, Lord Colchester, later Earl Rivers. (fn. 338) Between 1679 and 1710 the wood was cleared (fn. 339) and became a farm. The Crown lease to Lord Colchester was acquired by the Owsley family, perhaps after the death of Lord Colchester in 1712 or of his daughter and heir Elizabeth in 1715, (fn. 340) and almost certainly by 1721. (fn. 341) The Owsleys also held by 1721 some copyhold property in Ruckholt manor, adjoining the Wallwood estate and farmed with it. (fn. 342) In 1778 Dorothea Owsley was granted a new lease from the Crown. (fn. 343) A map of 1777 (fn. 344) shows that the Crown estate then comprised 159 a. lying south-west of the forest and Assembly Row.

From 1778 Wallwood farm descended separately from the dwelling-house which had been built on the estate. (fn. 345) The Crown lease of the farm was inherited from Dorothea Owsley by Robert Adams, grazier, who was being rated for it from 1778. (fn. 346) It came later into the possession of Philip Sansom of Leytonstone House (d. 1815), whose daughter Elizabeth bought the farm from the Crown, as 119 a., in 1820. (fn. 347) She still held it in 1843, when it comprised 122 a. farmed by Richard Payze. (fn. 348) In 1850 Charles Sansom began the development of the farm as the Fillebrook estate; by 1860 the large brick houses in Fillebrook Road, backing on the railway line, had been built. Fairlop Road was laid out next, followed by Colworth, Wallwood, Hainault, Bulwer, and Lytton Roads. (fn. 349) The central part of this area was not built on at first, but let for grazing or for nursery-gardens. By 1887, however, there were 1,000 houses on the estate, which was completed by 1890. (fn. 350)

The original Wallwood farm-house adjoined Leytonstone High Road; it was built on the Owsleys' copyhold property in Ruckholt manor, and was in existence by 1721. (fn. 351) Richard Payze, the farm tenant, occupied it in 1843. (fn. 352) When the building of the railway in the 1850s cut off the farm-house from the farm a new farm-house was built at the end of Moyers Lane (now Hainault Road). (fn. 353) This disappeared with the development of the estate. (fn. 354)

There was no mention of a dwelling-house in the Crown lease of Wallwood to Lord Colchester in 1693, (fn. 355) but the evidence of the rate books suggests that by 1697 a house existed, which was occupied by Newdigate Owsley until his death in 1714, except for the years 1703–9, when John Lescalleet was the occupant. (fn. 356) By 1721 it was known as Wallwood House. (fn. 357) Charles Owsley (d. 1731), son of Newdigate, also lived there, from about 1719 until his death. From 1732 a succession of tenants of the Owsleys occupied the house. (fn. 358) In 1778 Dorothea Owsley leased it with about 40 a. of land for 31 years (the term of her own Crown lease) to Thomas Farrer, who had been occupying it since 1764. On Farrer's bankruptcy in 1783 his lease was sold to Robert Williams. (fn. 359) Between 1803 and 1812 George Millet occupied the house. (fn. 360) Williams died in 1814 just before the execution of a new 99-year Crown lease on his behalf backdated to 1809, the end of the Owsleys' term. The lease, which stipulated that the house was to be rebuilt within the next four years at a cost of at least £4,800, was assigned in 1815 to William Cotton, the philanthropist, son of Captain Joseph Cotton of Walnut Tree House. (fn. 361) In 1816 the vestry consented to Cotton's inclosure of part of the forest, bringing the Wallwood boundary on the north-east up to the present (1968) Whipps Cross Road. (fn. 362) In 1817 Cotton purchased Wallwood House with 39 a. from the Crown. (fn. 363) The new house was erected in 1817–18 to the designs of John Walters on a site northnorth-east of the old house; the contract with the builder, Thomas Cubitt, specified the use of Ipswich facing bricks and the best Portland stone. (fn. 364) It was a severely plain square building of two storeys with a pedimented portico on double columns on the north-west entrance front; the principal rooms faced south-east on the advice of Humphry Repton. A lower L-shaped wing, which may have incorporated older work, adjoined the main block on the southwest. It is known that some out-buildings of the former house and the kitchen garden had been retained. (fn. 365) William Cotton died in 1866; his son Sir Henry sold the estate in 1874 to John Griffin, who mortgaged it the following year. (fn. 366) Development plans, first laid before the local board in 1883, (fn. 367) were delayed by a boundary dispute with the adjoining Fillebrook estate, and by 1890 only six buildings were erected in Colworth Road. (fn. 368) By 1893 the Imperial Bank, Ltd., now the mortgagee and itself in liquidation, was in possession of the estate, which was sold in 1894 by the London Joint Stock Bank to Ernest Edward Rayner. In the same year Rayner sold Wallwood house with 5 a. to Thomas Ashbridge Smith. The Wallwood Park estate was then laid out on the remainder of the property. (fn. 369) T. A. Smith occupied Wallwood House until about 1921; the house was demolished shortly afterwards. (fn. 370)