Author Archives: hurdler46

Upminster Hall: manor and estate

Posted on 30/01/2021 by hurdler46

This is the third and final article about Upminster Hall, its owners, and the manor and estate.
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Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged Copyhold tenure, Enclosures from waste, Great Tomkyns, Upminster Golf Club, Upminster Hall Manor | 8 Comments

Seven Years!

Posted on 21/12/2020 by hurdler46

It was seven years ago today, on 21 December 2013, that I launched this Upminster website and here we are 35 lengthy blog posts, around 100,000 words and around 70,000 website hits later we’re still going strong. When I started, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Upminster Hall: owners and buildings

Posted on 25/10/2020 by hurdler46

Upminster Hall and its estate have a history that can be traced back almost a thousand years to before the Norman Conquest of 1066. Unlike Upminster’s other main manor, Gaynes, which frequently changed hands before it was split up and … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged 49 Wing HQ RFC, Branfill, George Wiseman, Goldsmiths, Ralph Latham, Timber framed building, Upminster Estates, Upminster Golf Club, Upminster Hall Manor, Upminster Tithe Barn, Waltham Abbey, William Garbutt Key | 2 Comments

The Branfills at Upminster Hall

Posted on 04/08/2020 by hurdler46

The aftermath of the recent Black Lives Matters protests has thrown a spotlight on historic figures who had links with the slave trade. Upminster has not escaped this scrutiny which has brought to light unpleasant local connections with the Branfills … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster People & Events | Tagged Andrew Branfill, Benjamin Branfill artist, Branfill, Braund family, Champion Branfill, Champion slave ship, Guinea man, John Harrison EIC, Rev James Bearblock, Robert James East India Company, Royal African Company, Upminster Hall, Upminster Hall Manor | 3 Comments

South Upminster: gravel pits and ancient bits

Posted on 30/04/2020 by hurdler46

The part of Upminster which stretches south from Corbets Tey, bordered on the west by Rainham, by North Ockendon to the east and Aveley to the south and south-west, has few inhabitants and a landscape scarred by past and present … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged archaeological investigations, Bramble Farm, Bush Farm, Chafford Heath, Cockhide Farm, gravel pits, Heath Farm, Hunts Hill Farm, John Lowen DD, market gardening, Snows & Elders Farm, Thomas Barrett Lennard, Upminster, Whitehall Woods | 1 Comment

Big houses and farms around Corbets Tey

Posted on 27/03/2020 by hurdler46

The two previous items about Corbets Tey have looked at the village and the area around Hacton. This third piece looks at four large houses and farms around the village centre, three of which still survive, and shines a light … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged #Ditched enclosure, #Frith family, #Great or New Sunnings, #Harwood Hall, #Iron Age settlement, #Isaac Matthews Gay, #Little Sunnings, #London's, #P Z Cox, #Philip Macham's Charity, #Potash Making, #Sullens, Sir James Esdaile | 1 Comment

Around Corbets Tey: Hacton Hamlet

Posted on 14/01/2020 by hurdler46

The populous Upminster hamlet of Hacton seems to be one of three clusters of medieval settlement in the parish, the other two being the village centre and Corbets Tey. The area was to the west of the Gaynes manor estate … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged Anglo-American Museum of Art LSU, Belle of Essex, Benjamin Pead, Branfill, Champion Branfill, Hacton Bridge, Hacton House, Hacton-on-the-Hill, Humphrey Repton, Park Corner Farm, White Hart Hacton, William Braund | Leave a comment

Corbets Tey Village

Posted on 29/10/2019 by hurdler46

During much of the Victorian era the hamlet of Corbets Tey supported three alehouses, and boasted a full range of local services including a Post Office, butcher, baker, a grocer and drapers, as well as two carpenters, a blacksmith, wheelwright, … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged Bearblock's Cottages, Cabbage Corner, Corbets Tey, Henry Suckley Charity, High House Corbets Tey, Huntsman & hounds, John Saunders' boarding school, Keelings, Mary Freeman Shepherd, Michael Fallet, Rev James Bearblock, Sir George Wharton, Smithy Corbets Tey, The Anchor, The George | 5 Comments

Upminster Common Revealed – Part 2 – Gaynes Common and south from the Four Want Way

Posted on 11/12/2018 by hurdler46

Gaynes Common – otherwise known as Mill Common or Upminster Common – lay to the west of Nags Head Lane and north and south of what is now known as Shepherds Hill. This common extended to almost 70 acres in … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged Derham's spring, Four Want Corner, Gaynes Common, Gaynes Mill, Greathouse, Harold Court, Harold Wood, Ivy Lodge Farm, Martin's farm, Northlands or Hawes Farm, Padfield's Dairy, Pages Farm, Pinchon family, Poddies Farm, Shepherd & Dog, Sir William Clarke Hall, Upminster, Upminster Common, Upminster Windmill | 1 Comment

Edna Clarke Hall (1879-1979): Artist of Upminster Common

Posted on 05/12/2018 by hurdler46

A renowned artist, once described as the “most imaginative artist that we have”, lived quietly near Upminster Common for over 75 years, unknown to most of the people of Upminster. The talents of Edna Clarke Hall – Lady Clarke Hall … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster People & Events | Tagged Benjamin Waugh, Edna Clarke Hall, Edward Thomas poet, Great Tomkyns, Greathouse, Henry Tonks, NSPCC, Sir William Clarke Hall, Slade School of Art, Upminster Common, Wuthering Heights pictures | 6 Comments