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Waltham-Abbey in Essex County England History and GeographyWALTHAM-ABBEY, or HOLY-CROSS, a parish in the hundred of WALTHAM, county of ESSEX, comprising the market town of Waltham-Abbey, and the hamlets of Holyfield, Sewardstone, and Upshire, and containing 3982 inhabitants, of which number, 2097 are in the town of Waltham-Abbey, 23½ miles (W. by S.) from Chelmsford, and 12½ (N. by E.) from London. The name of this place is compounded of the Saxon words Weald and Ham, signifying a residence in, or near, a wood; the adjunct is a term of distinction derived from an ancient abbey which was founded here. The town derived its origin, so long since as the time of Canute the Great, from the facility and inducement for hunting afforded by the neighbourhood, which led Ralph de Toni, standard-bearer to that monarch, to build a few houses. A church was soon afterwards erected, principally for the preservation of the holy cross, to which many legends of miraculous efficacy were attached; and, upon a lapse of the property to the crown, Harold, to whom it had been given by Edward the Confessor, founded, in 1062, a monastery for Secular canons; for which, in 1177, Henry II. substituted monks of the order of St. Augustine, and dedicated it to the Holy Cross. At the dissolution, the revenue was valued at £1079. 12. 1.: within the choir, or castern chapel, the body of Harold, who was slain in the battle of Hastings, with those of his brothers, Gurth and Leofwin, was entombed. In a place called Romeland, adjoining the abbey, was a house at which Henry VIII. occasionally resided; and to a conversation held here, on the important subject of the king's divorce, Dr. Cranmer was eventually indebted for the royal favour, and his ultimate elevation to the see of Canterbury. The town, which is spacious and irregularly built, consisting chiefly of one long street, is situated on the banks of the river Lea, which here divides into many streams, and separates the two counties of Essex and Herts about half a mile to the west, and also the parishes of Cheshunt and Waltham-Abbey: the inhabitants are well supplied with water. The gunpowder mills belonging to government are situated here, and at present afford employment to nearly two hundred persons, but in time of war from four to five hundred were engaged. About one hundred persons are occupied in printing silk handkerchiefs, and some business is done in the manufacture of pins, though it is by no means so extensive as formerly: here are also a brewery, flour-mill, and two malt-kilns. In the hamlet of Sewardstone is an extensive factory for throwing and spinning silk, in which between two and three hundred persons are employed: at the west end of the town is the new cut from the river Lea. The market is on Tuesday: fairs are held May 14th and September 25th, for horses and cattle; and on the 26th is a statute fair for hiring servants. Courts leet and baron are held on Whit-Monday. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the jurisdiction of the Commissary of London, concurrently with the Consistorial Court of the Bishop of London, and in the patronage of certain Trustees. The church, which is dedicated to the Holy Cross and St. Lawrence, and comprises only the nave of the old abbey church, is a spacious structure in the Norman style of architecture, with a tower of later date; on the south side is the Lady chapel, now used as a vestry and school room. In the interior are three tiers of semicircular arches, enriched with zigzag ornaments, supported on circular massive piers, some of which are also decorated with waving lines; the windows are of various kinds: beneath the Lady chapel is a fine crypt, now arranged in vaults. Among the various monuments and sepulchral tablets the principal is one to the memory of Sir Edward Denny, who died in 1599; under an arch of veined marble are recumbent effigies of him and his lady, and beneath those of their children, in a kneeling posture, surmounted by an appropriate inscription: a slab near the communion-table retains the impression of an abbot with his crosier, the brass having been taken away. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists. A free school, in which fifteen boys and eight girls receive instruction, is supported by voluntary contributions. The Leverton school, founded, about 1824, by Mrs. Rebecca Leverton, widow, for the education of fifteen boys and ten girls, who are also clothed at her expense, was extended for four additional boys by Mr. John Edmondson, who, in 1708, bequeathed a piece of land, now let for £18 per annum, for their benefit: this school has an interest in the reversion of £6000 three per cents. consolidated annuities, left by Thomas Leverton, Esq., for charitable purposes, subject to the life of the abovementioned Mrs. Rebecca Leverton, his wife. Green's almshouses, for four poor widows, originally built, and endowed with an orchard and barn, now let for £20 per annum, by ' Green, Esq., in 1626, were rebuilt and enlarged, in 1818, with four additional rooms, by means of a bequest from Robert Mason, in 1807. Eight poor widows reside in them: those occupying the additional rooms receive a weekly allowance of two shillings and sixpence each, arising from the interest of £1350, given, in 1826, by Mowbray Woolard; from this bequest also, one shilling weekly is allowed to five poor men and five women in the workhouse. The only remains of the venerable abbey, exclusively of the church, are a fine gate with a postern, the bridge leading to it, and some dilapidated walls: in the gardens formerly belonging to the institution, and now let as nursery ground, is an ancient tulip tree, the trunk of which is nine feet six inches in circumference, considered a great curiosity when in flower. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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