Local History Recorders Report: May 2011 The building of new houses in Takeley continues, but as yet no firm archaeology reports on the sites. We have at last finished the architectural description of Holy Trinity, Takeley, church. This was undertaken by Roy Tricker, who used to work for the redundant churches organisation, and it is very thorough. This will be available in the church by the time this report comes out. Fortunately we were able to definitely give an explanation for the early Tudor space in the wall to the West of the pulpit. This has previously been described as a blocked in window, but the will of John Gyva, proved 1511, makes it certain that it was an important altar to St Thomas. We do not know if this was Thomas the Apostle, or Thomas a Becket, but the close association between the birthplace of Becket, and the site of the Ironmongers Hall makes the latter the most likely. Also very interesting is the funeral pall of John Gyva that still exists in the Ironmongers Hall in London. The side panels have been replaced but the elaborate medallions that adorned it have been put back in their original position. The pall is displayed in a place that prevents it being damaged by sunlight, but this did make it very difficult for my husband to photograph. The picture we have is the best he could manage, but it does show something of the beauty of the original. We also noticed that they are hanging it upside down, but did not like to point this out as it makes no difference to the appreciation of this ancient fabric. Gyva was a man of very considerable wealth as his will shows, and it is very possible that he was responsible for our church pulpit and the very unusual font cover. Although I have looked at the early Ironmongers records in the London Metropolitan Record Office, there is no way of telling from them how a Takeley man from a relatively modest background came to occupy a senior position in the Guild. The family is recorded in our early records dating to the mid 14th century. Only a few weeks ago we found where the Biblical figures that were painted onto the walls of Holy Trinity church are to be found. These were paid for by Miss Florence Ross who in the early years of the 20th century gave the rood screen, choir stalls and many other gifts to the church. As yet we have no account of why these large wall paintings were covered over with paint. They stood either side of the altar. As well as the architecture booklet, we are also in the process of putting together a history of the church and Parsonage of Takeley. This is made difficult by the several changes of Diocese and the inevitable loss of records. The mysteries of the Great Bentley payment and the memorial slab to David Dunbar that I mentioned in the last report, remain just that—a mystery. We are having to resign ourselves to never solving these two items. The account of an additional room to the Parsonage, also gave us an account of the materials and the cost of re-roofing the chancel of the church. We can say that the work was done on the chancel as the record is in the archives of the Bishop of London who at that time was the Rector of Takeley. The investigation into house histories continues, and with Pat Salmon’s help I have managed to identify and place most of the larger houses on Lower Bambers Green that have now disappeared. Pat is working on a history of the whole of Bambers Green. Eventually we hope to have a parish map on display in the Silver Jubilee Hall showing the site of all these vanished houses. Another project that we hope will appear before the end of the year is the personal recollections of the Forest. I mentioned this last year, but various reasons have made this a slow process It does now seem to be reaching the finishing point. We have had one new book published by the Local History Society. Peter Tebbit has put together what we know about his ancestors the White family who gave their name to Whites Farm in Takeley Street. If the name originated as Fairhead, then the family can be traced back into the Medieval period. Even if we never make this link, there have certainly been Whites in Takeley since the early 16th Century. One long running investigation that does at last seem to be solved is that of the Guild house. We are now 99% sure that it was the house called 'The Chestnuts' near Brewers End. A new reading of the documentary evidence, together with a visit, have made the identification very sound .It is an impressive house of the correct period i.e. it is a early 15th century hall house, quite close to the church and situated in Takeley parish. Our thanks to Mullucks Wells of Bishop’s Stortford for allowing us completely unrestricted access when the house was empty. In conjunction with Pat Salmon I have answered many family history enquiries that have been made to the Local History Society. These come from all over the world. The most recent being an American who is investigating the life of Robert Fowler, the Archbishop of Dublin, who died in Takeley in 1801 and is buried in our vault. There is no memorial of any kind to Fowler or the 20 or so other people who are buried under Holy Trinity Chancel. When our new incumbent has had a chance to settle in, this is something I wish to discuss with him. We are also trying to get an investigation started to determine why there are so many Roman tiles in the graveyard and walls of Takeley church. There are many theories—some more sensible than others, but as yet no acceptable explanations. Another long running project is putting abbreviated versions of all the pre-1860 Takeley wills on line. Hopefully this will be available by the summer. Nia Watkiss
Takeley Local History Society 2010-11Takeley History Society membership remains healthy at 60 members with a few new members joining and some old ones leaving. We continue to meet at least four times a year and we are grateful to Takeley Primary School who allow us to hold our meetings in their hall. We also try to arrange one local outing during the summer and this year on 9 July we are going to view a private collection of old farming implements. We are now in our 12th year and so some of our speakers are being 'recycled' and are being invited back after many years. Since the last Parish Assemble we have had the following speakers. 14 September Bruce Munro. –Thaxted. Bruce was our first speaker in 1999. We welcomed him back after 11 years. 23 November AGM and Speaker Steve Schorah—the Dunmow Flitch. 1 February. Speaker Alf Wright. Photographs of the Five Parishes. 3 May. Speaker Dr. Nunn. Early General Practice. We have produced a further 3 booklets since this time last year: The Whites of Takeley by Peter Tebbit is the story of one of our local families from Takeley Street. Genealogy is still one of the most popular hobbies making use of the internet and so we continue to get many enquiries by email about family links to Takeley and the information that people have found through our web site. The website gets visited on average 4,000 times a month. Our next speaker will be Tim Turner, a local auctioneer and member of the society. He will be speaking on the subject of Miniature Furniture on 13 September 2011. Steve Hazon |