Category Archives: Maps

A Map of Chadwell


Thanks to Thurrock Museum for permission to use this image.

This charming hand painted sketch map of Chadwell c. 1960 is in the Chadwell map drawer at Thurrock Museum. It shows Sleeper’s Farm, St Mary’s church, Chadwell House, Chadwell Hall (now demolished), Chadwell Place and the World’s End public house. The representation of these buildings appears to be very accurate, although their positions on the map have been adjusted to suit the fit.

The position of the Cross Keys public house is marked, but the building is not illustrated. The amphora pitcher may indicate the approximate location of an archaeological find. The figure at the bottom is probably Daniel Defoe. The outline around the map appears to be a reasonably accurate representation of the Chadwell parish boundary.

There is no indication as to who drew the map, when it was drawn or why. The way in which the buildings have been drawn does not match a much larger map of historical places in Thurrock and also does not match the illustrations in the book Forgotten Thameside. Identification of the coats of arms at the top and bottom might give some clues as to its origin.

The Manor of Barrowhall

In his classic book, “Forgotten Thameside”, Glyn Morgan states that there were three manors in Little Thurrock – the manor of Little Thurrock itself, the manor of Torrells and the manor of Berewes or Barons “which stood near the road to Chadwell”. Morant’s “History of Essex” gives Barowe as a manor in Little Thurrock, but with appurtenances in Chadwell. It used to appear in the Manorial Documents Register as Barrowhall and Longhouse where it was listed as one of five Chadwell manors. The recent digitisation of the MDR seems to have culled Barrowhall from the register.

Domesday mentions only one manor in Little Thurrock, so presumably Barrowhall was created sometime after 1086. The earliest mention of this manor seems to be in 1466 when one Richard Blyot acquired “the manor of Barrow and one toft and 18 acres of marsh” in Little Thurrock and Chadwell from Nicholas Codorowe and his wife, Elizabeth. It is interesting to note a warranty against the Abbot of Westminster, although his connection is unclear. When Humphrey Tyrell died in 1507, his possessions included the “Manor of Berowe, worth £12., held of the earl of Routeland (Rutland), as of his castle of Rochester, by fealty and a rent of 12s. yearly.” Once again the connection with Rochester castle or the Earl of Rutland is unclear. The rent of 12s is listed as “castleguard” in “Villare Cantianum” by Thomas Phillpott in 1659. Castle-guard was an obligation to provide guards for royal castles or payment in lieu.

The manor appears in three other feet of fine in the 16th century, as well as various 17th century deeds in the Essex Record Office. In 1607, it came into the possession of Sir Alexander Temple along with a number of other local properties. In 1610, he was  hauled over the coals for not providing a cart and workman for the highways of Little Thurrock which he should have done as the owner of Barrow Hall.

The manor passed to James Temple (Sir Alexander’s son) who sold it to James Ravenscroft. He commissioned a magnificent estate map. The map has a cartouche which names the owner as James Ravenscroft and described the estate being mapped as “the manor of Barowhall and of Longhouse”.  The cartouche goes on to say that the survey was made on 26th April 1646. The survey work for this map was undertaken by Richard Colier. It gives an accurate measurement of the size of each field – a key consideration in setting rents. The survey results were then used by Sylvanus Morgan to paint the map. Morgan was a heraldic painter and author of several books on heraldry.

In 1700, James Ravenscroft’s son Thomas sold the Thurrock estate to Sir William Russell of Stubbers in North Ockendon and it remained in the Russell family until the 20th century. The manor largely disappeared from public view after being mention in Phillpott in 1659.

 

Lodge Lane

The society received an enquiry about the Lodge Lane area and particularly some house built on Lodge Lane around 1902. The name “Lodge Lane” is puzzling – what “Lodge” ? The route itself seems to be of considerable antiquity along the ridge of chalk and gravel cut off from the North Downs by the changing course of the Thames in pre-history.

From the 1910 Ordnance Survey map

The road was probably resurfaced, widened and slightly repositioned in the 1920s/30s. It is possible that the road gets its name from the lodge to the Grays Hall Estate. This was quite a large estate and probably had a lodge. Lodge Farm was just north of Lodge Lane. A scheme for building houses south of Lodge Lane on the Greys Hall estate was announced in August, 1918 and a more detailed plan was published in 1921. According to Terry Carney’s book, Thurrock in the Twenties, in 1928, two newly built houses on Lodge Lane were on sale for £500. The Oak had its license application granted in April 1929 and a number of shops were built adjoining it at the beginning of the 1930s. The “Nutberry” estate on the north side of Lodge Lane was also built at the beginning of the 1930s. The name “Lodge Estate” was applied to these various developments and it was described in the Thurrock Gazette as being “like a new suburb or Garden City”.

One of the early houses on Lodge Lane was built to the design of and to be lived in by Christopher Shiner the local architect and another was lived in by William Edwards, school master and council chairman after whom the school was named.

(Contributions from Susan Yates, John Webb and Norma Leach.)

Aerial Photos

Cambridge University has a collection of aerial photos taken at various times after the 2nd world war. They are beginning to make digital versions available on-line. The first of these have been released and contain some images of Thurrock. For example, here is a link to the aerial photo of Tilbury Fort, taken in 1964 and shown below.

The initial release covers approximately 1,500 of the 500,000 images in the collection. Low resolution images can be downloaded through the site for research or educational use. There is more information about the project here.

Old Maps and Older – a talk by Mike Ostler

At the March meeting of the Thurrock Local History Society Mike Ostler used his personal collection of maps to show how they have changed in format over the years. He went back in time, firstly showing military maps from when he was in the RAF in Borneo and Burma. They were from various sources, being important for navigators, especially in wartime, showing contours. A 1934 Ordnance Survey (OS) map showed lighthouses and their signals.

He illustrated various local maps, including Bartholomew’s 1924 map showing the old A13, also the 1” to 2 miles OS map of Basildon. Other OS maps plotted Zeppelin raids, including Purfleet, also target ranges. The 1906 OS Barnstaple map was issued for the purpose of mobilisation, also manoeuvres, showing camps and rifle ranges.

The OS Victorian East Anglia map of 1897 was 4” to the mile, showing lighthouses, including Purfleet. The 1895 map for the Thames was blank where Tilbury Fort was, a security precaution. The railways were added to the 1843 map in 1888. In 1837 Mogg printed its Strangers Guide to London showing buildings along the Thames, a forerunner of today’s tourist maps. Maps by Patterson showed roads from London, describing routes. The 1779 Marstow map showed roads of England and Wales, giving miles between towns.

Earlier maps were Chapman and Andree in 1777 and various others in the late 17th century showing routes in strips, with places to visit, even windmills. The 1610 map of London was a panoramic view of the Thames and an earlier Norton map of 1594 also showed some roads in Essex.

Our latest Panorama No.53 was on sale at this meeting and can be obtained via our website, price £4.