PENTLOW
White's History, Gazetteer & Directory of Essex ~ 1848
Submitted and Transcribed by Essex Villages
PENTLOW, a scattered village, pleasantly situated on the south side of the Stour Valley, 3 miles E. of Clare, opposite Cavendish, in Suffolk, has in its parish 364 souls, and 1805 acres of land.> H. C. Mathew, Esq., is lord of the manor, and resides at Pentlow Hall, a fine ancient mansion, which has recently been repaired and enlarged, and is encompassed by well wooded grounds, near the river.> It was successively held by the Baynard, Fitzwalter, Ratcliff, Fitz-Humphrey, Norman, Cavendish, Felton, Kemp, and other families, some of whom were long seated here.> A great part of the parish belongs to Earl Howe, the Rev. Edward Pemberton, J. Sperling, Esq., and several smaller owners, mostly freeholders.
The quit-rents of Bowers Hall, an ancient manor and farm-house, belong to Hill's
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
PENTLOW, a parish in the district of Sudbury and county of Essex; on the river Stour, at the boundary with Suffolk, 5 miles NW of Sudbury r. station. Post-town, Sudbury. Acres, 1,847. Real property, £3,117. Pop., 397. Houses, 68. The property is divided among a few. An octagonal tower was erected, in 1859, by the Rev. E. Bull, to the memory of his father; is a fine structure, in the Tudor style; and commands an extensive panoramic view. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £550. Patron, the Rev. E. Bull. The church has an apse chancel and a round tower, and is good. Charities, £24.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
PENTLOW is a parish on the river Stour, on the borders of Suffolk, 1 mile south from Cavendish station on the Sudbury and Haverhill branch of the London and North Eastern railway, 4 miles east from Clare and 5½ north-west from Sudbury, in the Saffron Walden division of the county, hundred of Hinckford, North Hinckford petty sessional division, Sudbury county court district, rural district, rural deanery of Belchamp archdeaconry of Colchester and Chelmsford diocese. The church of SS. Gregory and George is an edifice of flint in the Norman and Early English styles, consisting of apsidal chancel with north chapel, nave, south porch and an embattled round tower at the west end containing 5 bells: in 1908 the tower was restored and the bells rehung at the expense of the then rector: the original Norman church was probably destroyed in the 14th century, after which the present structure was erected on the old foundations, the tower being reared against the Norman west doorway: in the chapel is a very fine monument, with recumbent figures, to George Kempe, ob. 1606, John Kempe esq. his son and Ellinor his wife, together with the kneeling figures of their children, 10 daughters and 4 sons: the chancel contains an altar tomb with shields of arms to the Felton family, bearing the date 1542, but without inscription, as well as memorial tablets to the families of Mathew and Bull: the font is Early Norman and has a 15th century canopy, which opens with doors: in 1887 the nave and chancel of the church were thoroughly restored, at a cost exceeding £1,000: the pulpit is a memorial to the late Mrs. Edward Bull, and all the woodwork is of English oak: the only fittings retained were the Jacobean communion table and the rails around it: in 1931 a stained window was erected to the memory of William Orbell of the parish; he left £600 for the poor of the parish: there are 120 sittings. The register dates from the year 1539 and there is a list of rectors from 1323. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £485, with 21 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Misses Bull, and held since 1933 by the Rev.
In 1859 an octagonal tower in the Tudor style was erected in the rectory grounds by the Rev. Edward Bull M.A. then rector, to the memory of his father; from the top of the tower an extensive view is obtained, more than 45 churches being visible. The charities include the rents arising from a small farm in Pentlow, left by Mrs. Susan Gooch, of Great Livermore, now administered by a body of trustees, consisting of the rector, churchwardens and overseers, a special confidence being imposed by the testatrix in the rector and “The fine of the Alienation of Panels,” whensoever it falls, given by George Kempe, to the reparation of the church of Pentlow for ever; but this does not appear to be recognised. There are three manors, viz.: Pentlow Hall, Bowes or Bower Hall, and Paines. Of these, Pentlow Hall is the chief. The noble families of Baignard, FitzWalter, and Ratcliffe, Barons FitzWalter and Earls of Sussex, continued chief lords of it for a long time. Under them it was held by the families of FitzHumphrey, Norman, Kempe &c. Paines Manor, an early Jacobean house, is the property of Charles Cornell esq. Col. William Archibald Stewart O.B.E. is lord of the manor of Pentlow Hall. The principal landowners are Col. William Archibald Stewart O.B.E. Charles Cornell esq. and John Brand esq. The soil is clay, loam and gravel; subsoil, various. The chief crops are wheat, oats, beans, barley and sugar-beet. The area is 1,888 acres of land and 10 of water, the population in 1931 was 197.
Letters through Cavendish (Suffolk), which is the nearest M. O. & T. office