ID: PH01_SLY / Elaine Barker

TitleHistory of Sleyes, Peldon
Abstract

Sleyes
A Grade II listed building in Peldon, Essex

PELDON CHURCH ROAD 1. 5214 Sleyes TL 91 NE 17/26 II 2.
Mid C18, timber framed house
with red brick facade, and red plain tile hipped roof.
Two storeys, Two window range C18 double hung vertical sliding sashes with glazing bars, in gauged arches.
Dentilled eaves course, and stucco string. Modern porch.
South front has C19 brick facade with modern casement windows.
Rear wing also timber framed. Gabled and lean-to extensions at rear.

Listing NGR: TL9894216705
historicengland.org.uk/listing

Sleyes is the cottage on the corner of Church Road and Church Green in Peldon. There are three cottages on Church Green leading up to St Mary's Church, Peldon, they are Sleyes, Priests House and Church Cottage.

The Grade II listing entry for Sleyes, a mid eighteenth century timber-framed cottage, gives no indication of the earlier age of the original house; there are references to it in a will from 1612. As is so often the case, the cottage has been added to over the centuries and the part where the kitchen is situated, I am told by the current owner, is the oldest.

The earliest documents in the possession of the current owner, (2020) date to 1635 and reveal the house was the property of John Lawrence. Once, part of a bigger estate called Sleyes, the cottage had an orchard and rights to one half of the pond, which is still there, lying in the garden of the house next door, Wayside Cottage.

In eighteenth century documents, the house is, at different times, referred to as Sleyes, the Chequer, The Pantile Shop and the Butcher's Shop. In a receipt for the purchase of the house for £301.10s dated 1937 the house seems to have been called Ramblers. I suspect later owners, interested in the house's history, upon reading the deeds, returned to its old name of Sleyes.

The earliest description of the house in 1635 is as follows

One tenement w[i]th An Orchard therunto belonginge & the one halfe of the pond therunto adioyninge scituate lyenge and bee in Peldon

These earliest documents, in tandem with John Lawrence Senior's will proved in 1612 (held at the Essex Records Office) reveal the house was passed between family members over a period of more than a hundred years. The will tells us John Lawrence Senior was a tailor and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that it is he, in the Archdeacon's Court documents of 1597, who is accused of leaving a church service at St Mary's, Peldon.

His misdemeanour was

'going out of church before the sermon ended to charm a thorn out of a maid's leg'.

This he denied, saying that

'he was sent for by goodwife Westbrowne of Abberton to do the matter he is accused of'

These Courts, often referred to as 'the Bawdy Courts', focused on moral lapses of ordinary people and it would seem that his behaviour was considered 'improper'. Then there was the question of having left the church service at a time when you had to attend church! If you did not admit the offence, you could be required to produce character-witnesses and the number of people to vouch for you specified. In John's case he had to find four people who would give him a character reference at the next court sessions and swear an oath.

Elizabeth Westbrowne, duly summoned at the next session, brought along Abraham Foaks, who vouched for her 'very good name', adding that she was 'good to the poor'.

So it seems Elizabeth Westbrowne was a respectable woman, and, we also know from Peldon and Mersea wills that Abraham Foaks was from an upstanding local family and wealthy to boot!

Is it not likely that John, being a tailor with presumably good eyesight and having needles as his stock-in-trade was often called upon to remove splinters and thorns for his neighbours within the parish?

In his will of 1612 John makes provision for his wife, Anis, two sons and six daughters. The house, Sleyes, passed to his son, John Lawrence junior, whose daughter, Anne, married John Anger. It was John Anger to whom Anne's father transferred the property in 1635. The house subsequently passed through two more generations of the Anger family before Mary Mills née Anger (John Lawrence Senior's great great granddaughter) passed the house on to a son by her first marriage, Peter Knowles, an oyster dredgerman.

In 1729, the house passed out of the family's ownership to John Hopkins, a Wivenhoe mariner and fisherman. In his will, a copy of which is with the house deeds, Hopkins subsequently wills that all his estate be sold, although individual properties are not itemised. Following this will of 1734, John Hopkins's widow, Susanna (who had remarried), her husband, Daniel Gentry, and her father, Thomas Martin, of Little Bentley sold the house to John Bennett of East Mersea, a farmer.

Amongst the house deeds we have John Bennet's will of 1758 (proved in 1760) in it he writes

Imprimis I gave and devise unto my daughter Elizabeth the Wife of John White of Peldon in the said County of Essex Butcher all that my Freehold Cottage or Tenement formerly called Sleyes but now The Chequer with the orchard & half of the Pond with the Appurtenances thereunto belonging situated being in Peldon aforesaid and now in the occupation of him Mr John White unto my said daughter Elizabeth for and during the Term of her natural life And from immediately after her decease Then I give and devise the same unto my Grandson Edward Ransome and to his Heirs and Assignes for ever

In this will there is the first reference to the house being occupied by a Butcher. And in 2020, 260 years later, the field opposite the house and the early twentieth century council houses built there are still known as Butcher's View.

It would seem that Elizabeth Bennet married her first husband, Edward Ransome, only days after her eighteenth birthday and presumably without her parents' permission. Their marriage appears in a Clandestine Marriage and Baptism Register for London. The marriage is on 27th August 1739, her address is given as East Mersea and Edward is a butcher of Peldin.

Elizabeth and Edward have two children, both baptised in Peldon, Elizabeth (born in 1743) and Edward (born in 1745), and it is Edward to whom his grandfather leaves Sleyes. It would seem Edward, the children's father, died in 1754 and was buried in Peldon Churchyard. Elizabeth went on to marry John White at Peldon Church on 9th March 1755.

In 1772 John Bennet's grandson, Edward Ransome, transferred the shop to his widowed step-father, John White. It is in the documents from this year that mention is first made of a newly erected brick'd messuage built on the orchard and Edward sells both the Shop and pound now referred to as The Pantile Shop, which is copyhold*, and the newly erected brick messuage which is freehold.

All that Pantile Shop and Pound opposite to the said Bricked Messuage or Tenement now in the occupation of the said John Matthewman and holden of the Manor of Peldon by Copy of Court Roll.

*Copyhold: essentially a kind of leasehold from the Lord of The Manor. A tenant could sell or bequeath a property but he or his heir had to appear at court and pay a customary 'fine' while the new tenant had to be 'admitted'. The agreement or indenture for Sleyes has a wavy line at the top showing that the document is a copy which has been cut from the original - hence copyhold

It must be noted that the majority of owners did not occupy these premises and had tenants or under-tenants. References to John Matthewman as a tenant feature in several of the deeds and from a later entry in Pigotts Trade Directory (1823) for Colchester it would seem there were a number of butchers in the Matthewman family. In the Diary of Joseph Page of Fingringhoe, held at Essex Records Office we read

April 15th 1800 sold a heifer to John Ladbrook and Matthewman butchers D/DU 251/89

It is not until 1772 that amongst the deeds we find documents marked as being from the Peldon Manor Court. These mark transferring the ownership of this copyhold house from Edward Ransome to John White. The Lord of The Manor at this time is the Reverend William Samuel Powell, archdeacon of Colchester.

Following John White's death sometime in the late 1770s, his next of kin, brother Henry, a Serjeant in the first regiment of Foot Guards did not appear as required at the Manor Court and after some considerable delay the properties were sold to Joseph Ward in 1787. Joseph was a Colchester baker and farmer of land in Langenhoe and Peldon. He paid the Manorial Court 'fine' that had remained unpaid by Henry White, due, as was the custom upon the death of his brother.

The Ward family were big landowners locally and in the Land Tax Redemption pages for Peldon in 1798, Joseph Ward is given as owner of several parcels of land; in one instance the occupier is William Hubbard who we know to have been a butcher, which points to this entry pertaining to Sleyes, where we know he lived.

Over a period of twenty years, Joseph and his heirs held the houses before selling at the start of the nineteenth century to a Peldon widow, Mary Wilsmore. At this time Charlotte Hubbard was living in one of the houses, the widow of William the butcher.

It would seem the Chequer had been divided sometime before 1802 into three; the occupants named are William Bright, Daniel Harvey and Robert Hale, previously Edward Ransom, James Leasy and John Pain.

In a document dated 1817 it is clear that Mary was having to stake her claim for the property at the Manorial Court. On her behalf, her solicitor claimed she was mid-negotiation with Joseph when he died in 1801 and part payment had exchanged hands. By this time Mary is no longer living in Peldon but in West Bergholt.

For the period up to 1850 there are no documents except for an undated torn fragment. There is a gap for deeds of ownership between 1817 and 1850.

From the fragment it would seem that the property had been sold by Mary at an auction. (there is a tiny 'Lot 2' written on the document) to Martin Harvey, yeoman. Martin Harvey was the farmer living at Pete Hall (prior to it being replaced by the current building in the late 1840s). He was at Pete Hall on a 14 year lease and was definitely there in 1830 according to a memorandum Book by Joseph Page who delivered stone to Martin Harvey of Pete Hall in that year; he was still there in 1841 but by 1851 living in Surrey, a 'farmer out of business'. Three tenants of Sleyes are listed in this fragment, Richard Springett, Thomas Baldwin and William Claydon.

The documents showing Mary Wilsmore's sale to Martin Harvey and his likely subsequent sale to Robert Partridge of Shelly Hall in Suffolk are missing. We do find Robert Partridge in the 1842 Copy of Register of Electors listed as a landowner in Peldon with tenants Pooley and Cooper whom, we know, were tenants of Sleyes.

From the 1850 copy of the will of Robert Partridge the elder, gentleman, of Shelly Hall in Suffolk, we learn he left property in Shalford, Raydon, Hadleigh and Layham to his sons. To son Thomas

all that freehold messuage or tenement hereditaments and premises situate in Pelden in the County of Essex now in the occupation of Miss Stammers And also all that copyhold shop, hereditaments and premises situate in Pelden aforesaid now in the occupation of William Pooley

The properties remain in the Partridge family until an 1862 Conveyance of a Freehold Cottage situate at Peldon Essex between Mr Thomas Partridge of Aldham Hall, Suffolk and The Revd C R Harrison. This reveals the Bricked Messuage is being sold to the incumbent of St Mary's Church, Peldon.

It is thanks to this incumbent, the Reverend Harrison, we have the first locally written history of Peldon, now held in the Essex Records Office. He was to resign as Peldon's incumbent in 1867 and his address on the conveyance to the next owner, Henry William Burgess, shows he had moved to North Curry, Somerset.

This sale to Henry William Burgess Esq of Hampstead in 1867 was to start a longer period of stability in the ownership of Sleyes when the Aspinwalls and Burgesses, related through marriage, lived at The Lodge, Lodge Lane. As a wealthy family with homes in London, Peldon was their 'country residence'.

The pulpit, low screen and lectern were donated in 1860 by Mrs Aspinwall and Mrs Burgess of Peldon Lodge, as a memorial to their late brother, Mr C F Oldfield. The initials "A.B." are discreetly incorporated in the low screen to the left of the pulpit. Alan Ellis A History of St Mary The Virgin, Peldon

The current owner tells me in 1884 the cottage was badly damaged in the earthquake. The drawing below shows Wayside Cottage on the left and Sleyes on the right. The roof of Sleyes looks to be damaged in several places and brickwork missing on the front wall just under the roof.

Our cottage passed between members of the Burgess/Aspinwall family, the final document in the deeds, being dated 1903, conveying the freehold cottage to James Leigh Aspinwall

The 1903 conveyance for Sleyes which includes the plan below is the final deed pertaining to Sleyes in the hands of the current owner.

Although the deeds in the possession of the current owner end here the story is picked up in the deeds for the house next door, Priest's House and the school logbook.

From the school logbook we learn of James Leigh Aspinwall leaving Peldon in 1904, and the huge negative impact on employment.

September 23rd 1904 Mr Aspinwall is giving up The Lodge and Farm, a serious loss to the village as the men will be out of employment.

An Indenture of Conveyance dated 12th September 1907 made between James Leigh Aspinwall and Herbert Nicholas, a baker, is referred to in a deed for Priest's House. Although referred to in detail, this conveyance seems to be lost. In it, all three cottages fronting Church Green were being sold together, Sleyes, Priest's House and Church Cottage. We do know James Aspinwall died in 1908.

All that bakers shop cottage and bake office situate near the Church in the Parish of Peldon aforesaid [Church Cottage] together with the stables outhouses yards gardens and appurtenances thereto belonging as now in the occupation of the Mortgagor and also All that cottage built of lath and plaster and tiled situate near the premises lastly described[Priest's House] and now or recently occupied by Daniel Harvey and thirdly All those three cottages or tenements (formerly one messuage and called or known by the name of 'The Chequer') situate and being in the Parish of Peldon aforesaid and adjacent to Peldon Church and now or recently occupied by Allen White and Abbott

Another indenture is referred to dated 24th May 1922 between Herbert Nicholas and Rhoda Emma Wattam. She was buying

a piece or parcel of land being the southernmost portion of the piece of land

From a later plan (1929) which gives the names of owners on each plot it is clear this is Sleyes.

A map from 1929 showing the residents near the church

Amongst the deeds for Sleyes is a 1937 solicitor's receipt marking the sale of the cottage, by then known as Ramblers, by Mr Ardley to Mr and Mrs D M Goldsworthy for £301.10.0 with the two black and white photographs included here. Doris Goldsworthy was still living there in the 1939 register.

Freddie and Geraldine Walker lived in the cottage during the 1960s and 70's, selling to the current owner in the mid 1980s.

Sleyes on the left, Priest's House on the right facing Church Green. Photograph taken c 1937

Elaine Barker
Peldon History Project

Thanks to the current owner of Sleyes

Appendix: A List of all the documents amongst the deeds of Sleyes.
Where there are images of the documents the Mersea Museum website links are given. The images are accompanied by transcriptions.

Seventeenth Century
A Feoffment deed from June 1635 between John Lawrence and John Anger both husbandmen. John Lawrence has inherited the property by virtue of his father's will and the death of both his sisters, Dorkis and Mary. Mersea Museum SLY_001_101 .

A deed from June 1635 for John Lawrence and John Anger. John Lawrence Senior's will was proved in 1612. He was a tailor and owned the house at the time of his death. John Anger and his wife have a son Henry who has a daughter Mary who is in possession of the house in the next document ninety two years later SLY_002_101 .

Eighteenth Century
4th September 1727 with a 'wavy' top showing it was the lower copy of a mortgage agreement between Mary Mills née Anger formerly Knowles and Peter Knowles her son.
Mary Mills
To       } Mortgage for 15£
Peter Knowles
Mary was the only daughter of Henry Anger, husbandman, who was son of John Anger, deceased. She is selling to her son Peter Knowles of West Mersea, an oyster dredgerman. The Cottage or tenement is now called The Chequer with an orchard and half a pond. The estate it belonged to is called Sleyes. Mary or an undertenant is in occupation of the house. The term is for one thousand years, the sum £15 and the rental is a Pepper Corn to be paid on the feast day of St Michael The Archangel.

May 1728 an indenture for the above

30th July 1729 Lease for a year between Mary Mills and John Hopkins made in the second year of the reign of George II. In it Peter Knowles turns out to be her eldest son and heir begotten by Mary's first husband, John Knowles. The year's lease is between them and John Hopkins from Wivenhoe, a fisherman, the rent is five shillings. The house is in the occupation of Mary Mills and John Tansley. It is witnessed by Thomas Martin and John Hurlock they write it is sealed and delivered being written on parchment and three sixpenny stamps. £37 16s

31st July 1729 Deed of Feoffment An Indenture of Feoffment with livery of Seizin between Mary Mills and Peter Knowles. He's buying the cottage for £30 and all mortgage arrangements are discharged. It mentions the duties to the Chief Lord or Lords of the Feoff. Witnessed by Sam Aldrick and John Tansley on 10th June. On the back there is a release to John Hopkins dated 31st July 1729

31st July 1729 Release between Mary Mills and John Hopkins. The document is entitled A Messuage called the Chequer in Peldon. With this sale of the house ends over 100 years of the house passing through the same family.

20th May 1734 John Hopkins's Will Copy of probate Mariner and fisherman proved in the seventh year of George II. He wills his entire estate of land and property be sold for the best price to support his family. He has an eldest son, Thomas Hopkins. His father-in-law Thomas Martin and brothers Thomas Hopkins and Robert Hopkins are his executors. SLY_003_101 .

1741 The Opinion of James Boys. In this document of 1741, a solicitor, James Boys, answers John Hopkins's executor as to whether he can sell the property under the terms of the will, given the other two executors have since died, the answer was in the affirmative. SLY_004_101 .

26th April 1742 Lease for a year between Thomas Martin and others [executors and heirs of John Hopkins's will] and Jonathan Bennett

Mr Martin & others
To         } lease for a year 26 April 1742
Mr Jonathan Bennett

This indenture written in the 15th year of George IIs reign is between Thomas Martin farmer of Little Bentley the last surviving executor of John Hopkins, mariner, deceased and Daniel Gentry of Wivenhoe, victualler, and Susannah his wife who was the relict of John Hopkins of the one part and Jonathan Bennett, farmer, of East Mersea of the other acknowledges receipt of 5s Previously in the occupation of Mary Mills and John Tansley, since in the occupation of John Gooday and now Edward Ransom. Peppercorn rent if demanded. Jonathan Bennett is buying the house for £95 called Chequer in the occupation of Mary Mills and John Tansley ... Since of John Gooday and now of Edward Ransome part parcel and member of a certain Messuage or Tenement commonly called or known by the Name of Sleyes

27th April 1742
Mr Martin and others
To           } Release with Covenant to Levy a Fine and the use thereof Declared
Mr Jonathan Bennett

Thomas Martin of little Bentley, farmer, surviving Executor of the will of John Hopkins late of Wivenhoe, mariner, and Daniel Gentry of Wivenhoe, victualler and Susanna his wife which said Susanna was the widow and relict of John Hopkins. John Hopkins' will was dated 20th May 1734 and the properties to be sold for the maintenance of his children. His executors were his two brothers Thomas and Robert Hopkins, since dead, and Thomas Martin.

1742 Document entitled Trinity Term (September term) 16th George 2nd Indenture of Fine, with a 'wavy' line at the top. This court is held before the 'justices of our Lord the King' John Willes, John Fortescue Ward, Thomas Parker Thomas Bennett and others. The land and property owned by the late John Hopkins and administered by Thomas Martin, Daniel and Susanna Gentry and a William Ward and wife Mary including property at Elmstead, Mile End, Colchester and Peldon records their 'quitclaim' in favour of purchaser Jonathan Bennett.

1760 Jonathan Bennett's Will written 1758 and proved 1760. In this fifteen page will Jonathan Bennett of East Mersea bequeaths Sleyes in Peldon to his daughter Elizabeth White and then to his grandson (and her son) Edward Ransom.
Imprimis I gave and devise unto my daughter Elizabeth the Wife of John White of Peldon in the said County of Essex Butcher [first mention of butcher] all that my Freehold Cottage or Tenement formerly called Sleyes but now The Chequer with the orchard & half of the Pond with the Appurtenances thereunto belonging situated being in Peldon aforesaid and now in the occupation of him Mr John White unto my said daughter Elizabeth for and during the Term of her natural life And from immediately after her decease Then I give and devise the same unto my Grandson Edward Ransom and to his Heirs and Assignes for ever SLY_005_101 .

10th August 1772 Regrant and admission of Edward Ransom (J Bennett's grandson) at Peldon Manor before Steward, Charles Gray SLY_006_101 .

12th October 1772
Ransom
        } Agreement for Estate
White
This memorandum gives the clearest explanation of the accommodation. SLY_007_101 .

20th October 1772 Lease between Edward Ransom and Mr John White [his step-father] Mr Edward Ransom
To         } Lease for a year 20th October 1772
Mr John White

Twelfth year of George III
Both are farmers in Peldon
The price is 5 shillings. The house is
formerly called The Chequer with the Orchard and half the pond thereunto belonging and also all that Brick'd Messuage or Tenement Barn Stable and Buildings lately erected and built on the said Orchard now in the several occupations of John Wright and John Matthewman
John White buys it for £300. His wife was Elizabeth White daughter of John Bennett. Edward Ransom is Elizabeth's son and John Bennett's grandson so John White's stepson. [the Bricked messuage must have been built between 1758/60 and 1772]

21st October 1772
Mr Edward Ransome
        } Absolute Surrender
Mr John White
Note on front: John White was admitted upon this surrender at a Court 12 October 1774 and surrendered to the use of his Will. SLY_008_101 .

21st October 1772
Mr Edward Ransome
To         } Release being a Conveyance
Mr John White

John Bennett of E Mersea, farmer, has a will dated 19th April 1758. In it he leaves the cottage formerly known as Sleyes, then the Chequer, to his daughter Elizabeth White wife of John White. Elizabeth subsequently dies and John remains there after her death. Under the terms of John Bennett's will his grandson Edward Ransome inherits the cottage and newly erected Brick Messuage. Bennett's will is proved 12th July 1760. John White agrees to buy the Copyhold Shop and Pound and Brick Messuage for £300.

All that Pantile Shop and Pound opposite to the said Bricked Messuage or Tenement now in the occupation of the said John Matthewman and holden of the Manor of Peldon by Copy of Court Roll..next General Court Baron

12th October 1774 Peldon Manor At the General Court Baron, Admission of John White (appearing before John Round the deputy steward) to Charles Gray Esq Chief on behalf of the Rev William Samuel Powell (Lord of The Manor). This refers back to a Court held on 10th August last passed when the previous Court Baron was referred to. At this previous Court Baron on 21st October (1773) Edward Ransom surrendered the Pantile Shop and pound. No person (John White, the purchaser) came to be admitted to the premises although proclamation at the Manor Court was thrice made thereof according to the Custom of the said Manor.
It would appear the bailiff was called in. Now John White has humbly appeared and been admitted. SLY_009_101 .

19th November 1780 Lease for a Year
Elizabeth and Henry White
To         }
Mr Joseph Ward
This lease mentions the Bricked Messuage is newly built on the orchard

20th November 1780 Release and Bargain and Sale being a Covenant of Freehold and Copyhold Premises in Peldon with Covenant to levy a Fine
Elizabeth White and others [John's brother, Henry White and wife Ann]
To }
Joseph Ward

The two documents are folded together and attached along the bottom, one begins with a large heading Shop and Pound and the other an Indenture which states Henry was a Serjeant in the first regiment of Foot Guards
The newly erected Brick Messuage is freehold

These messuages were in the occupation of John Wright and John Matthewman later of John Matthewman, Edward Ransom, James Leasy and John Pain

20th November 1780 The Manor of Peldon
Mr Henry White
only brother heir of Mr John White deceased
To           } Absolute Surrender
Mr Joseph Ward
admitted upon this surrender at a Court 20th November 1780 and surrendered to the Use of this will.

Henry White, while a Serjeant in the first regiment of Foot Guards surrenders the Cottage to Joseph Ward.
His brother John White, a farmer, formerly of Peldon, but afterwards of Langenhoe died intestate without issue.
Henry his wife Ann and Elizabeth are on the one part and Joseph Ward the second part on this indenture. It would appear John White died mid-negotiation and £100 had already changed hands towards the £300 asked.

All that Freehold Messuage or Tenement formerly called The Chequer with the Orchard half the Pond thereunto belonging And also all that brick'd Messuage or Tenement with the Barn Stable & Buildings (then) lately erected & built on the said Orchard ... SLY_010_101 .

11th December 1787 Peldon
Admission of Mr Joseph Ward

The Manor of Peldon at a general Court Baron Court of Charles Jolland, gentleman, steward Samuel Ennew

This refers back to a previous Court on 12th October 1774 when John White was admitted tenant of the Pantile Shop and pound with the appurtenances in Peldon opposite to the bricked messuage or tenement then in the occupation of John Matthewman and holden of this Manor by Copy of Court Roll.

At the last Court on 31st October 1787 they learned John White had died and his only heir, brother Henry did not attend court and pay the necessary money. Three warnings were given but he had not attended. In November 1780 he surrendered the property. Joseph Ward, baker of Colchester pays Henry's fine as well as what is due from him as new copyhold owner. He promises a yearly Rent, Fealty Suit of Court and all other Services and Customs therefore due SLY_011_101 .

Nineteenth Century
11th December 1801 Attested Copy of the Original Will of Mr Joseph Ward deceased
(declared to be a copy of the original on 15/3/1802)
Joseph was a Baker of Colchester and had a farming business in Langenhoe and Peldon. His son Joseph was a minor at the time of the Will. Jospeh leaves his land and property to his son and arranges an annuity to his wife Mary.

All that my Messuage Tenement Farm lands and premises now in my own occupation situate in the parish of Langenhoe in the said County of Essex And also all those Lands and premises which I lately purchased of Mrs Hodson of Cambridge situate and being, in the parish of peldon in the said County late in the occupation of William Mortimer or his assignes and now also in my own occupation ... Also I give and devise unto my said son Joseph ... at his said age of twenty one years All that my copyhold Messuage or Tenement and premises (late Rachel Morton's) lying opposite the pound in Peldon aforesaid and held of the Manor of Peldon by copy of Court Roll As the same premises are now in the Occupation of John Edwards and Richard Mortlock

If his son dies before the age of 21 he wants to give the option to buy his land and property to the son of his brother, John Ward Junior (his brother being John Ward Senior). He has a deceased brother, Jesse.
The freehold property in Peldon he lately bought from John White, now occupied by widow Hubbard [is this the newly-built messuage?] he leaves to his brother John, nephew (altho he refers to him as cousin) and Bezaleel Blomfield the Younger of Abberton

January 1802 Abstract of Mr Joseph Ward's Title to a Freehold Messuage and two Tenements with the Appurtenances in Peldon in the County of Essex
Much of the above detail has been gleaned from this Abstract, they were doing exactly as I am, looking at all the same documents and distilling their meaning and legal implications.

9th April 1802 Lease
Messers Ward [John the Elder and John the Younger] and B Blomfield the Younger
To         } lease for a year
Mrs Mary Wilsmore

In this indenture Mary is of Peldon
Bricked Messuage, barn stables and buildings John Matthewman was the occupier then the late William Hubbard now his widow Charlotte.
The Chequer is now divided into three, occupied by Edward Ransom, James Leasy and John Pain but now by William Bright, Daniel Harvey and Robert Hale.

10th October 1802 Release of Messuages at Peldon in Essex
In the 42nd year of the reign of George III

From Messrs John Ward Senior 'the Elder of Colchester' gentleman, all executors of the will of Jospeh Ward, Baker, late of Colchester
John Ward the Younger of Colchester farmer
Bezaleel Blomfield the Younger of Abberton, farmer

To
Mary Wilsmore widow

Joseph Ward's will was dated 11th December 1801. The Messuage was lately purchased from John White and then in the occupation of Widow Hubbard or her undertenants. He willed the properties should be sold.
Mary agreed a price of £330 with Joseph about 18th January of the year he died (1801) and paid him £30 then he died 25th February before making any conveyance to her and without having altered his will.
The Chequer is now divided into three.
Had been in the tenure of Edward Ransom, James Leasy and John Pain
Now in the tenure of William Bright, Daniel Harvey and Robert Hale

20th November 1817 Mary Wilsmore's solicitor is before Joseph Quincey Esq Lord of the Manor to prove the claim she bought the Messuage from Joseph Ward. It goes through several court proceedings starting with 1787. It seems to be occupied by someone called Bless Scofield? (added later) Mary is from West Bergholt altho formerly lived in Peldon. Peter Firmin is the Court Steward from Dedham. Interestingly Mary's attorney is also a Firmin. It seems Joseph's son Joseph died before reaching 21 so Joseph's brother John inherited.

Fragment, undated, it seems to be a note where Mr Sergeant is offering to go through the cottage's documents for the use of the Butcher's House. (A Mr Sargeant, attorney appears signing and witnessing the Lease for a Year dated 9th April 1802 above).
Tenants named Richard Springett, Thomas Baldwin and William Claydon
Mrs Wilsmore to Martin Harvey of Peldon, yeoman there is a small 'Lot 2', was it auctioned?
On the other side it says Lucy Richardson v Joseph Mitchell. Was there a dispute of ownership? SLY_012_101 .

There is a gap of ownership here between 1817 and 1850. Martin Harvey was the farmer living at the the old Pete Hall Manor house prior to it being replaced by the current building. He was definitely there in 1830 and had a 14 year lease. He was still there in 1841 but by 1851 living in Surrey, a 'farmer out of business'.]

September 1850 copy of the will of Robert Partridge the elder gentleman of Shelly Hall in Suffolk. He leaves property in Shalford to his son Robert, and land and property in Raydon, Hadleigh and Layham to son Thomas

And also all that freehold messuage or tenement hereditaments and premises situate in Pelden in the County of Essex now in the occupation of Miss Stammers And also all that copyhold shop, hereditaments and premises situate in Pelden aforesaid now in the occupation of William Pooley
Both his sons are executors of his will.

18th January 1862 Conveyance of a Freehold Cottage situate at Peldon Essex
1st part Mr Thomas Partridge of Aldham Hall, Suffolk.
2nd part The Revd C R Harrison
3rd part Joseph Savill of Colchester.
Thomas Partridge is selling the Bricked Messuage to the Rev Harrison for £100 (formerly in the oocupation of John Matthewman, then of William Hubbard, Butcher since of Charlotte Hubbard, widow and now of Pooley). Witnessed by Arthur John Partridge of Aldham Hall.

16th December 1867
The Rev Christopher Robert Harrison
To         } Conveyance of a freehold Cottage situate at Peldon in Essex
Henry William Burgess Esq

1st part Rev Harrison who has already moved to North Curry in Somerset
2nd part Henry William Burgess is of Sandwell House, Hampstead
3rd part is Horace Philbrick of 51 Lincolns Inn Fields, gentleman
The brick built messuage is sold for £95.

21st May 1872
The Trustees under the Will
of Henry William Burgess Esq
to           } Conveyance of a freehold Cottage situate at Peldon in Essex
Charles O Aspinwall Esq,
1st part Mary Louisa Burgess of Sandwell Hse West End, Hampstead, widow, William Henry Burgess of Childs Hill, Hendon and James Leigh Aspinwall of 62, Dorchester Terr; Paddington (executors of Henry Burgess's will)
2nd Part Charles Oldfield Aspinwall of 62, Porchester Terrace

Henry William Burgess of Sandwell House died on 14th November 1869. His will is dated 3rd July 1868. Louisa is his widow and William his brother. His brother-in-law is James Leigh Aspinwall
The house is being sold for £95

All that brick messuage or tenement with the Barns Stables and buildings thereunto belonging situate lying and being in the parish of Peldon in the County of Essex as the same were formerly in the occupation of John Matthewman then of William Hubbard Butcher afterwards of Charlotte Hubbard Widow, afterwards of [William] Pooley, afterwards of Christopher Robert Harrison and now of William Wheeler

21st February 1903 Release of Freehold Cottage in the parish of Peldon in the County of Essex

Lt Colonel James Henry Aspinwall and Mrs Louisa Frances Blaikie
To
James Leigh Aspinwall Esq

James Henry Aspinwall is a Colonel in the army, his residence is 4, Clifton Terrace, Hyde Park, Louisa was formerly Louisa Frances Aspinwall the wife of Charles Oldfield Aspinwall Esq and now the wife of Arthur Babington Blaikie of Oswestry. James Leigh Aspinwall lives in 4, Clifton Terrace with his son James Henry. This document is a supplement to a former indenture dated 21st May 1872 made between Mary Louisa Burgess Widow, William Henry Burgess Esq and James Leigh Aspinwall on the one part and Charles Oldfield Aspinwall of the other part. The will dated 28th January 1882 of Charles Oldfield Aspinwall appoints James Henry and brother-in-law William Evan Kinsey Hayward executors and Trustees. They are to pay his widow during her lifetime an annuity. Charles Oldfield Aspinwall died on 11th February 1894 predeceased by his brother-in-law.
Louise re married on 19.5.1897
The document is a very complex document detailing mortgages and debts. The death of Elizabeth Ann Aspinwall in 1899 and her Will are also relevant. She was James Leigh Aspinwall's wife.
A plan of the property is included.

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Priest's House
Sleyes Deeds transcribed

AuthorElaine Barker
PublishedApril 2020
SourceMersea Museum
IDPH01_SLY
Related Images:
 Peldon Church. The house on the left is Sleyes.  PH01_261
ImageID:   PH01_261
Title: Peldon Church. The house on the left is Sleyes.
Source:Peldon History Project
 Peldon Church. The house on the left is Sleys. Postcard 83153  PH02_237
ImageID:   PH02_237
Title: Peldon Church. The house on the left is Sleys. Postcard 83153
Date:Before 1953
Source:Peldon History Project
 From Deeds of Sleyes, Peldon.
 Photograph probably taken 1937 when property was for sale. Sleyes is on the left - it was called The Ramblers at the time. The church is off to the right.  SLY_001_001
ImageID:   SLY_001_001
Title: From Deeds of Sleyes, Peldon.
Photograph probably taken 1937 when property was for sale. Sleyes is on the left - it was called The Ramblers at the time. The church is off to the right.
Date:c1937
Source:Peldon History Project
 From Deeds of Sleyes, Peldon.
 The back of the house, probably in 1937 when the house was for sale. It was called The Ramblers at the time.  SLY_001_003
ImageID:   SLY_001_003
Title: From Deeds of Sleyes, Peldon.
The back of the house, probably in 1937 when the house was for sale. It was called The Ramblers at the time.
Date:c1937
Source:Peldon History Project