ROYDON
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
ROYDON, a village and a parish in Epping district, Essex. The village stands on the the river Stort, and on the Eastern Counties railway, at the boundary with Herts, 4½ miles W by S of Harlow; is sometimes called Woodredon; was formerly a market-town; and has a station on the railway, and a post-office under Ware. The parish comprises 2,995 acres. Rated property, £6,254. Pop., 910. Houses, 186. The property is subdivided. Roydon Lodge and Mount Pleasant are chief residences. Nether Hall, an ancient mansion, belonged to the Colte family, but is now represented only by a gateway; and the property connected with it belongs to J. A. Houblon, Esq. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £150. Patron, the Earl of Mornington. The church was repaired in 1854; and has an embattled tower and a new spire. There are an Independent chapel which was enlarged in 1865, an endowed school with £47 a-year, and charities £11.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
ROYDON (or Woodredon) is an ancient town and parish on the borders of Herfordshire, on the road from Waltham Abbey to Harlow and on the navigable river Stort, over which is a stone bridge of one arch, erected by the Essex County Council in 1920: it has a station on the Cambridge section of the London and North Eastern railway, and is 22 miles from London, 5 south-west from Harlow, 5 1/2 east from Hertford and 7 north-west from Epping. The parish is in the Epping division of the county, Harlow and Waltham hundred, Harlow petty sessional division, Epping rural district, Waltham county court district, and in the rural deanery of Harlow, archdeaconry of Southend and Chelmsford diocese. The church of St. Peter is an edifice of flint in mixed styles, repaired in 1854, and consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, and an embattled western tower, with small spire, containing a clock and 6 bells: in the church are brasses with effigies to Thomas Colte esq. "Edward regis consul honorificus," ob. 1471 and Joan (Trusbut) his wife, both figures having collars; to John Colte esq. ob. 1521 and his wives Mary (Anle) and Elizabeth (Eldrington), with 18 children; to Elizabeth (Dinn), wife of John Stanley gent. ob. 1589, with five children, and the figure of a civilian, c. 1580: the font is of the 13th century and there is also a 14th century oak rood screen: in 1890 an oak lectern was presented by Major Longley, son of Dr. Longley, archbishop of Canterbury, and a new organ was provided in 1906: the church affords 300 sittings. The register dates from the year 1567. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £190, with residence, in the gift of Earl Cowley, and held since 1903 by the Rev. Cecil Copland M.A. of Pembroke College, Cambridge. A lych gate was erected in 1922 and a stone cross placed in the centre of the village in memory of the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. In the village is a Congregational chapel, founded in 1798, with 200 sittings, and at Broadley Common one erected in 1870, seating 100 persons. Nether Hall, an ancient mansion near here, of which only the gateway now stands, formerly belonged to the Colte family, some of whom were buried in the chancel of the church: the gateway is constructed of brick, with a semi-hexagonal tower on each side of the entrance, and bears the arms of the family supported by two colts: the whole pile when complete was surrounded by a moat and a wall: the property is now in the possession of Major H. L. Archer-Houblon J.P. Sir Thomas More, chancellor in the reign of Henry VIII. married as his first wife Jane Colte of this place in 1505; she died in 1512, leaving one son and three daughters. Roydon Lodge, now (1933) unoccupied, is a mansion of brick and stucco, close to Roydon railway station. Earl Cowley is lord of the manor, and Major H. L. Archer-Houblon J.P. is the principal landowner. The soil is mixed, mostly heavy; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and turnips. The area is 3,007 acres of land and 24 of water; the population in 1931 was 1,262.
Post, M. O., T. & T. E. D. Office. Letters through Ware
Post, T. & T. E. D. Office, Broadley Common. Letters through Waltham Cross. Nazeing nearest M. O. office
Police Station
Railway Station (L. & N. E)
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