Residents, Commercial, & Commercial2
BRENTWOOD is an improving town and chapelry, in the parish of South Weald,
and has a station on the Eastern Counties Railway, It is seated on a
pleasant eminence, in a picturesque and woody district, on the high road
from London to Colchester, 11
miles S.W. by S. of Chelmsford, 6 miles W. of Billericay, and 18 miles
E.N.E. of London. Its chapelry is a separate township, which contains only
about 400 acres of land, and had only 1007 inhabitants in 1801, but in 1851
they had increased to 2205, and in 1861
to 2811 souls. Since the opening of the railway, in 1846, the town has been
much improved, and, with its suburbs in South Weald and Shenfield, it has
now more than 4000 inhabitants. Its market, formerly held on Thursday, has
been long obsolete, but it has still ,
two fairs for cattle. etc, held on July 18th and 19th, and October 15th and
16th. It has a well endowed Grammar School, and is the head of large Polling
and County Court Districts; and of a Police Division, for which petty
sessions are held on the second and last.
Tuesdays of every month. C. C. Lewis, Esq., the coroner, is clerk to the
magistrates. The Police Station was built in 1844, at the. cost of about
�2OOO, and Mr.William Bridges is the superintendent. The Gas Works were
commenced in 1834, and have cost about,
�6000, raised by a company of shareholders. In 1862, it was proposed to
supply Brentwood with water from the South Essex Water Works, at Grays
Thurrock. As afterwards noticed, Essex Lunatic Asylum, and Shoreditch
Industrial Schools, built in 1853 and 1854,
are in the suburbs; and on the Ongar road are the extensive MACHINE WORKS of
Messrs. Burgess & Key, commenced some years ago, for the manufacture of
reaping machines, etc. The partners in this firm are - Mr. William Burgess
and Sir Kingsmill Grove Key,
Bart., and they employ about 180 hands, of whom about 60 form part of the
Brentwood or 3rd Essex Rifle Volunteers. Brentwood is in Billericay Union.
Brentwood was anciently called Burntwood, and being a great thoroughfare, it
has several good inns and taverns. Assizes were once held here in the
ancient Town Hall, which stood in High street, where its site is still held
by Trustees, who contemplate the erection
of a new Town Hall, now much wanted. Cphr. Thos. Tower, Esq., of Weald Hall,
is lord of the manor of Brentwood or Costead Hall, but part of the soil
belongs to smaller proprietors. Brentwood Hall Estate, which belonged to W.
H. Kavanagh, Esq., was sold some
years ago, in lots. The Hall is now the seat of Searles Wood, Esq., and part
of the estate belongs to the National Freehold land Society. Camden supposed
the Roman Station Casaromagus to have been near Brentwood, but his opinion
is not supported by any other
antiquary, though some Roman antiquities have been found in the
neighbourhood, and there are traces of a circular camp on the south Western
side of Weald Hall Park. The manor of Brentwood was given to St.Osyth Abbey
by William de Wochendon Camerarius. At
the dissolution it was granted to Lord Cromwell, and in 1553 to the Browne
family; but in 1759 it was purchased by T. Tower, Esq., together with South
Weald. The ancient CHAPEL (St. Thomas a Becket) was founded, in 1221, by the
abbot of St.
Osyth; but being too small for the increased population, it was converted
into a National School in 1835, when the present CHURCH was finished, at the
cost of �3500, raised by subscription, and a grant of �300 from the Church
Building Society. This neat church
is a white brick structure, in the early English style, consisting of a nave
and aisles, with a tower containing two bells and a clock. The benefice is a
perpetual curacy, valued at �124, in. the patronage of C. T. Tower, Esq.,
and incumbency of the Rev. J. F. H. English,
LL.D. A Burial Board, was established in 1862, for the purpose of providing
a New Burial Ground for the chapelry. The ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, erected
here in 1861, in lieu of the Old chapel, built in 1837, cost about �3000,
and is a handsome stone
fabric, in the early English style, with a tower and spire, and beautiful
stained glass windows. Near it are schools for boys and girls, and a good
house for the priests - Revs. J. Kyne and R. Debbaudt.In the New road is a
neat INDEPENDENT CHAPEL, in the
Italian and Grecian styles, erected in 1846-7, at a cost of �1600, in lieu
of the old one, built by a congregation formed in 1707. A school is attached
to it, and the Rev. H. P. Bowen is the minister. Here is a small Wesleyan
Chapel, erected in 1840. The National
Schools are supported partly by subscription, and are endowed with the
interest of �500, left by John Offin, butcher, in 1840. The LECTURE HALL,
built in 1856, at the cost of �650, belongs to Mr W. D. Daynes and other
proprietors, and is used for public meetings,
lectures, concerts, etc Here is a Harmonic Society, with much musical
talent. The HUNTER MEMORIAL, at the east end of the town, but in Shenfield
parish, is a handsome red granite obelisk, erected by subscription, in 1861,
in memory of William Hunter, a
native of Brentwood, who, at the early age of 19 years, was burnt here, in
1555, for his adherence to the Protestant religion. It cost about �350,
raised by more than 200 subscribers.
The FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, at Brentwood, and the ALMSHOUSES, at South Weald,
were founded by Sir Anthony Browne, serjeant-at-law, and afterwards a Judge
of the Common Pleas. In the 5th of Philip and Mary, he obtained a license
under letters patent to found a Grammar School in
Brentwood, for the better instruction and education of the youth of the
neighbouring country, to be governed by a master and two wardens, who should
be a body corporate, with a common seal, etc, and be appointed by the
founder's heirs, aa patrons of the school. By his will, dated Dec.
28th, 1565, he also bequeathed to the "master and wardens" five tenements in
South Weald, as an almshouse for five poor folks of South Weald parish; and
a messuage, close, etc, to such uses, and according to such ordinances as by
him, his heirs, and executors, should be declared. He
died without issue, and no ordinances for the regulation of the school and
almshouses were made till 1622, when a body of statutes was ordained, under
the authority of a decree of the Court of Chancery. The property of the
charity, exclusive of the school and almshouses, consists of the
schoolmaster's house and garden, an estate of 182A. 3R. 7P., at Chigwell;
and the great tithes of Dagenham. The yearly income of the charity is now
about �1300. When the Parliamentary Commissioners enquired into this
charity, about 85 years ago, they found that the duties of the
school were performed by a classical master and an English usher and two
assistants, who had under tuition about 100 boys, of whom 20 were in the
grammar classes. For the improvement and future regulation of the charity,
the Commissioners deemed it proper to submit it to the consideration
and judgment of a court of equity, but, though a decree was made in 1831, it
was appealed against, and never prosecuted. The case was again brought into
the Rolls Court, in 1846 ; but it was not till 1851 that a new scheme was
sanctioned by parliament, under which the school is now
free for Latin and Greek to boys of this and 17 surrounding parishes, but
they pay �6 a year for the other branches of an English education. There are
now 12 wardens, appointed by the owner of Weald Hall, as patron of the
school and almshouses. At South Weald, ten new aImshouses
were erected in 1854, in lieu of the five old ones. Yearly stipends of �20
each are paid to eight of the ten almspeople, and �25 to each of the other
two. The rest of the income is applied by the master and wardens in
repairing the school and almshouses, etc, and in supporting the Grammar
School, which has now an efficient staff of masters, at the head of whom is
the Rev. W. D. L. West, M.A. There is an exhibition of �6 per annum
at Caius College, Cambridge, given by Dr. Plume, with preference to a
scholar from Brentwood, Chelmsford, or Maldon.
The Poor of Brentwood have a yearly rent-charge of 20s. out of 2A. of land
called Pottels, at Hullets Green, left by George Gittens, in 1711. For
buying coals or wood they have the dividends of �150 Old South Sea
Annuities, left by Joseph Massa, in 1771. They have also for distribution in coals the dividends of �1000 three-per-cent Reduced Annuities, left by
Stephen Martin, Esq., in 1803. For distribution in money, they have the
dividends of �115.18s. 2d. three-per-cent Reduced Annuities, purchased with
�100 left by William Newman, in 1835. They have also
a share of Waller's Charity, as noticed with South Weald. These
distributiona are made by the minister and churchwardens.
BRENTWOOD POLLING DISTRICT for the Southern Division of Essex, comprises the
parishes, etc, o� Brentwood, Childerditoh, Doddinghurst, East and West
Horndon, Ingrave, Kelvedon Hatch, Mountnessing, Navestock, Chipping Ongar,
Shenfield, South Weald, Stondon Massey, and Great and Little Warley.
BRENTWOOD COUNTY COURT DISTRICT comprises all the Polling District
enumerated above; and also the parishes of Basildon, Blackmore, Bobbingworth,
Great and Little Binstead, Bulphan, Corringham, Downham, Dunton,Fobbing,
Fyfield, Greenstead, Horndon-on-the-Hill, Hutton, Laindon, Laindon-Hills,
High Laver, Moreton, Nevendon, Norton-Mandeville, High Ongar, Orsett,
Ramsden-Crays, Ramsden-Bellhouse, Shelley, Stanford-le-Hope,
Stanford-Rivers, Theydon-Mount, and Vange. The Court House is in the New
road, and the court is held every alternate month. Wm. Gordon, Esq., is the
judge; C C. Lewis, Esq., registrar; C. Godfrey, high bailiff; and Benj.
Bacon, bailiff. SHOREDITCH INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS, erected at Brentwood, in
1854, for the pauper children of the populous parish of Shoreditch, London,
is a large building in the Elizabethan style, and has accommodation for 150
boys and 150 girls. Mr. Fras. and Mrs. Dening are governor and matron; and
the teachers are -Mr. Thomas Nowell, Eliza King, and Eliz Bithray. ESSEX
LUNATIC ASYLUM is pleasantly situated about a mile south of Brentwood, and
comprises an extensive and handsome range of buildings, with accommodation
for about 500 pauper lunatics. It was finished in 1853, at the cost of about
�90,000, including the purchase of about 100 acres of land, of which eight
acres form the site and pleasure grounds, etc, and the remainder is
cultivated as a farm. It is in South Weald parish, on the Brentwood Hall
estate, and was built from designs and plans by Hy. E. Kendall, Esq., of
London. It is in the mediaeval style of the Tudor period, which is well
adapted for the purpose, being substantial, cheerful, English in character,
and very suitable to our climate. Its oriel and bay windows, clock and water
towers, turrets, spires, gables, etc, give it a most picturesque appearance;
and its stone dressings and red brick facings, interlaced with black, form a
pleasing contrast. For the purposes of an asylum for those afflicted with
the worst of human maladies, the site is well chosen, having cheerful and
beautiful views, good falls for drainage, and an abundant supply of
excellent water. The airing courts and gardens attached to the several wards
are spacious and secure ; and are laid out with broad gravel walks,
terraces, grass plots, and flower parteries. The entrance is through the
eastern front, in which are commodious dwellings for the superintendent and
other resident officers. The entrance hall and arcade communicate by
cloisters or galleries with the patients wards. There are seven wards and
two infirmaries on one side, and SIX wards and one infirmary on the other
side; the whole accommodating about 600 patients - more than 150 in single
and the rest in associated rooms. All the wards are spacious, light, and
lofty; and are thoroughly warmed and ventilated. Work rooms are provided for
sempstresses, shoemakers, tailors, etc; and school rooms for male and female
patients; also, a large assembly room, where the patients often enjoy
dancing, and musical entertainments. The chapel is in the centre of the west
front, and is built of Kentish stone. It has 300 sittings, and has easy
access with the wards on each side. The kitchens are fitted up with the best
cooking apparatus, and they and the store rooms, cellars, etc, are
sufficiently large, even if the asylum should be increased to double its
present size. The water reservoir, at the bottom of the grounds, is supplied
from copious springs, and holds 40,000 gallons. From it, the water is forced
by a steam engine to a tank of 10,000 gallons, at the top of the water
tower, whence it is sent in pipes to all parts of the asylum; which are also
supplied with hot water from the boiler rooms in the basement, and through
the mains which warm the galleries, etc This large and well-regulated
"Asylum for the Pauper Lunatics of Essex and the Boroughs of Colchester,
Maldon, and Saffron Walden," was erected pursuant to an Act of Parliament of
the 8th and 9th of Victoria. The building was commenced in 1849 and finished
in 1853. It cost, including subsequent enlargements and the purchase of
about 100 acres of land, nearly �90,000, mostly borrowed by the county
magistrates, to be repaid out of the county rates and the contributions of
the three boroughs. In September, 1862, there were in the asylum 212 male
and 280 female patients - all pauper lunatics. The principal OFFICERS of THE
ASYLUM are - D. C. Campbell, M.D., resident medical
superintendent; A. R. Harrison, surgeon, medical assistant; Rev. Joseph.
Sowter, chaplain; Mr. Charles Rayner, steward and clerk; and Mrs. Elizabeth
Crabb, matron.