Walthamstow 1863 Whites Directory

WALTHAMSTOW, one of the largest and handsomest suburban villages near the metropolis, is delightfully situated on the eastern side of the vale of the river Lea, within the southern verge of Epping Forest, from 1 to 3 miles from Lea Bridge, Low Leyton, and Leytonstone Stations; and from 5 to 7 miles N.E. of London, It extends northward to near Snaresbrook and Park Stations, and Epping Forest; and contains many handsome villas, with tasteful pleasure grounds, mostly occupied by merchants and others, who have their places of business in London. It is in several detached members, called Church-end, Chapel-end, Hale-end, North-end, Marsh street, Higham Hill, Clay street, Whips Gross, Wood street, etc. Its parish is in the diocese of London, and contains 4436A. of land, including about 400A. of open forest, on the north-east, and a tract of rich marshes, on the banks of the river Lea, which separates it from Middlesex. Its population increased from 3006 souls in 1801, to 4959 in 1861, and to 7144 in 1861. It has a large ancient church, three neat modern chapels of ease, a free school, a large collegiate grammar school, numerous charities for the poor, and a Station attended by the metropolitan police. The parish is in five MANORS, of which the following are the names and lords: Walthamsow. Toni, Viscount Maynard; Low Hall, or Walthamstow Francis, S. R. Bosanquet. Esq.; Higham Bensted, Edwd. Warner, Esq.; Salisbary Hall, W. Vale, Esq.; and the Rectory Manor, Captain Haviside. A great part of the soil belongs to many smaller proprietors, both free and copyholders. At domesday survey, the parish was mostly held by Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, Peter de Valoines, and Ralph de Toni. Viscount Maynard holds courts leet and baron at the Ferry Boat Inn, and Hy. Cheffins, of Little Easton, is the steward.
The PARISH CHURCH (Virgin Mary) is a stately fabric, on an eminence, and is supposed to have been erected in the 12th century, but the nave and part of the tower were rebuilt by Sir George Monox, about 1535; and the building was enlarged, repaired, and beautified in 1817, at the cost of £3430. Galleries, and a new organ and clock, were erected in 1807, and the nave was remodelled, and the east window enriched with stained glass, in 1843-'4, at the cost of about £1000. The organ was enlarged in the latter year, at the cost of nearly £300. The church is of brick, covered with cement, and has many elegant mural monuments to the Conyers and other families. In the tower is a fine peal of eight bells. In the vestry is a parochial library of about 600
volumes. A large and costly mausoleum was erected in the churchyard in 1848, in memory of the late M. Wilson, Esq. The vicarage, valued in KB. at £13. 6s. 2d., and in 1831 at £8ll, is in the patronage of Edward Warner, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. Thos. Parry, M.A. The vicar has about £80 a year from Maynard's charity, as afterwards noticed. All the tithes were commuted in 1843 for £1153. 6s. 8d., of which only about one-third belongs to the impropriate rectory. In the parish are three district churches, each, of which is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the vicar. ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, at Chapel-end, is a white brick fabric, which was built in 1829, at the cost of about £2000; but, in 1861-'2, it was restored and greatly improved, at a considerable expense, by W. T. Hooper, Esq., and other subscribers. The Rev. 0. J. S. Russell, B.A., is the incumbent, and has a neat Parsonage House, built in 1856, at the cost of £1600. ST. JAMES'S, in Marsh street, has a tower and one bell, and is a brick structure, erected in 1841-'2, at the cost of £1460, raised by subscription, except £250 given by the Church Building Society. The site was given by the vicar, and the Rev. Robt. Heap is the incumbent. St. PETER'S, on the forest side of the parish, was built by subscription, in 1840, at the cost of about £3000, and is a handsome brick structure, with a tower and one bell, and now in the incumbency of the Rev. Fredk. Quarrington, M.A., who has a good Parsonage House, built in 1860, at the cost of £1450. In Marsh street is an Independent Chapel, built in 1795,. and there is a smaller one in Wood street, erected in 1845. The latter is now used as a school-room, in connexion with the Congregational Chapel, built in 1862, at the corner of the West Avenue. In Shernhall street is a neat Catholic Chapel, erected in 1853. The following account of the Schools, Almshouses, and numerous Charities belonging to this parish, is abridged from the reports of the Parliamentary Commissioners.
ALMSHOUSE AND FREE SCHOOL - In the 33rd of Henry VIII., Sir Geo Monox built an almshouse and school here, and bequeathed a yearly rent-charge of £42.17s. id., out of forty messuages in the parish of Allhallows Staining, London, to be applied yearly as follows: - £6. 13s. 4d. to a
priest, who should teach from 20 to 30 free scholars; £5. 13s. 4d. to the said priest, for an obit to be kept in the parish church for the souls of the donor and others; £19.14s. 4d., to be paid in weekly stipends of 7d. each to the thirteen almspeople (eight men and five women) ; £5. 6s. 8d. to the parish clerk, to sing and serve God in the parish church, and to help to teach the children there; and £5, for distribution in coals among the thirteen almspeople. He also charged the same premises with the reparation of the almshouse and school; and they were further charged by Edw. Alford, in 1599, with the yearly rent of £9. The following additional benefactions have been made to the thirteen almspeople, viz.:- £286.13s. Three-and-a-half per Cent. Stock, arising from the bequest of John Harman, Esq., in 1815 ; £756 Three-and-a-half per Cent. Stock, arising from the bequest of Richard Banks, in 1812; and £500 of the same stock, left by Wm, Bedford, in 1822. The almshouses are on the north side of the churchyard, and comprise thirteen tenements for the almspeople, with an apartment in the centre, and several upper rooms, held by the schoolmaster. Behind them are small gardens, occupied by the almspeople. Under Monox's gift the schoolmaster has £6.13s. 4d. yearly, and the rent of the rooms over the almshouses, which he lets for about £30 per annum. He also receives about £46 a year from Maynard's Charity, "for his better maintenance, and for his care and pains in reading prayers in the church every Sunday, and in teaching eight poor children of Walthamstow, to be nominated by the testator's heirs." The scholars on the foundation are taught Latin, English, writing, and arithmetic, and pay 10s. each per quarter, for which they are provided with all necessary stationery except printed books. At Church-end is a National School, established in 1815, and now attended by 170 girls and 180 boys. There are Infant Schools at Chapel-end, Hale-end, and in Marsh street; and National Schools are attached to St. James's, St. John's, and St. Peter's churches. The Catholic School, at Whips Cross, was built in 1850. In Shernhall street is an Industrial School for about 40 boys, committed by the magistrates. In Marsh street is a British School, with 180 scholars.
MAYNARD'S CHARITY. In 1686, Henry Maynard bequeathed to this parish £950, to be laid out in, land, and the yearly proceeds applied to the under mentioned uses, in the proportions specified. This £950 was laid out in the purchase of a farm of 52A. 3R. 24p. at Higham Hill, now let for about £120 per annum. Though this estate was purchased in 1691, the charity was not established till 1715, when £450 was recovered from the trustees as arrears of rent, and invested in the purchase of a farm of 30A. 2R. 14P., at Hale-end, now let for £100. The clear yearly income arising from these farms is dispensed as follows,- eight-nineteenths to the vicar of Walthamstow, six-nineteenths for distribution among the poor parishioners, four-nineteenths to the master of the free school, and the remaining nineteenth in purchasing rings for the churchwardens and overseers for their care in distributing the portion belonging to the poor.
SQUIRE'S ALMSHOUSE, for six poor widows, were built by Mary Squire, who endowed them, in 1795 and '6, with £2900 Three per Cent. Reduced Bank Annuities, to provide yearly stipends of £13 for each of the almswomen, £3 for the reparation of the almshouses, and £6 for distribution
in coals among twelve poor housekeepers of Walthamstow, members of the Church of England.
BREAD CHARITIES, arising from the five following benefactions, and producing £61. 2s. per annum, are applied in weekly distributions of bread, every Sunday, at the church. This fund arises as follows:- £39 from a rent-charge given by James Holbrook, in 1805, out of a farm in Marsh lane; £7.10s. from an annuity left by Tristram Conyers, in the 1st of James I., out of land now belonging to the Harman family; £3 out of land and buildings in Marsh street, left by Richard Garnett, in 1642; £2.12s. out of about ?A. of land, left by Thomas Gamuel, in 1642, and now let for about £14 a year; and £9, as the interest of £110, of which £180 was left in 1711, by Thomas Turner, and £25 by Anthony and Dinah Compton. The two latter sums accumulated to £180, which was vested with the churchwardens, who expended it, in 1792, in building a parish Workhouse, which has lately been converted into the sexton's residence and vestry-room. The rest of Garnett's charity is applied in a distribution of coals, with Maynard's charity. In 1735, JEREMIAH WAKELIN left the Pound Field, IA. 2R. 17P., to the churchwardens, in trust, to distribute the rent yearly, on New Year's Day, in bread or meat, among the poor parishioners. This land is let for about £8 per annum. A yearly rent-charge of £2, left by Robert Sampson, in 1585, is paid out of Stone Hall estate, which he also charged with several small rent-charges for the poor of other parishes.
In 1752, THOS. LEGENDRE left for the poor £600; and in 1757, KATHERINE WOOLBALL bequeathed to them £400. These sums are now vested in £1009 Three per Cent. Reduced Annuities, the dividends of which are distributed in coals. In 1810, MARY NEWELL. left £500 Three per Cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities, to the churchwardens, in trust, to apply two-thirds of the yearly dividends in apprenticing one poor boy of this parish, and to pay the remainder towards the support of the Church Sunday school.
Discretionary CHARITIES.- The following charities are either such as are given generally for the use of the poor, at the discretion of the minister, parish officers, and vestry, or some of them; or gifts for keeping tombs in repair, or for purposes to which they are now inapplicable, and of
which no ulterior appropriation is made by the donors. These, when not required for the specified uses, are carried to the charity account. Various Benefactions, amounting to £95, were laid out in 1650 in the purchase of 13A. IR. 16P. of land, now in four fields, let for about £49 per annum, which is distributed chiefly in blankets and potatoes. In 1633, £120, derived from the bequest of THOS. COLBY, was laid out in the purchase of 13A. 3R. 8p. of land in Hale-end lane, now let for about £40 a-year, which is mostly distributed in coals. In 1674, EDWARD CORBETT left property now consisting of three houses, gardens, &c., let for about £85 per annum, which, is mostly distributed in coals to the poor parishioners, and in monthly pensions to poor widows ; but 20s. is paid to the minister, and 5s. to the clerk, for a sermon on the 26th of May. In 1487, the Rev. Wm. Hyll, gave to the churchwardens 3R. 6P. of land, now let for £2 a-year. In 1723, SIGISMUND TRAFFORD left to the minister and churchwardens a yearly rent-charge of £10, out of Grainge Hill Farm, near Lincoln. After paying for cleaning and repairing the donor's monument, the remainder is distributed among the poor. In 1732, EDMUND WISE left 6A 2R. of land, now let for about £20 a-year. After paying for the repairs of his tomb, the rest is dispensed in charity. In 1782, THOMAS SIMS left £100 Three per Cent. Consols, for the reparation of his family tomb. What is not wanted for that purpose is-carried to the general charity account. The dividends of £100 of the same stock, left by John RIGGE, in 1806, are applied in the same manner. By contributing 2s.1/2d. per fortnight to a Coal Club, established in 1827, labourers and other poor inhabitants of this parish obtain coal at the wholesale cost price. About 150 tons are distributed annually among the poor from the funds of the before-mentioned charities.
The Forest School, now in connection with King's College, London, is pleasantly situated In an open part of Eppiag Forest, near Snaresbrook, but in Walthamstow parish, and forms an extensive range of brick buildings, with large boarding houses, spacious school-rooms, &o. It was founded, in 1834, by a number of proprietors, including some of the principal merchants, etc., of London. It has about 80 pupils, who pay 70 guineas a-year for board and education. The school has three exhibitions of 20 guineas, and three of 80 guineas each. Day scholars pay £21 per annum. The Institution for the Education of the Daughters of Missionaries, in Marsh street, was established in 1838, and is supported by subscription, for the purpose of affording a comfortable residence, board, and a liberal education, to the daughters of missionaries, for small charges not to exceed £12 per annum for each girl under 10 years of age, nor £15 for those above that age. For clothing, each is charged £5 per annum. There are generally about 50 pupils.