146 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
by marriage to Lord Archer, of Umberslade. The old mansion, which stood
north of the present one, was pulled down in 1770. In the chapel attached were
effigies and monuments of the Greys, Chekes, and Archers, but all appear to have
vanished, though the bodies were removed to Havering Chapel.
The estate (about 700 acres) passed through several owners, and in 1852 the
present fine stone mansion was built by Cubitt, which was enlarged and beautified
in 1862 from designs by E. M. Barry, R.A., costing over £60,000. It was
unoccupied for some years, and was sold last year to W. E. Gibb, Esq.
At the lodge gate the carriages were again entered, and the road to Romford
taken, by Gallows Corner (the site of the gallows in olden time) and the main
road to Hare Street, passing on the left Hare Hall, a fine palladian residence built
by John Arnold Wallinger, Esq., about 100 years ago. At Hare Street Mr.
Crouch pointed out the residence of Humphrey Repton, the first "landscape
gardener," of whom he read a memoir later in the evening. Also just beyond,
on the right, the park of Gidea Hall, a manor house begun by Sir Thomas Cooke,
one of the forty-two Knights of the Bath created by Edward IV. at the coronation
of his queen in 1465, who in 1467 received the royal license to build "a castle of
stone and chalk, turreted, moated, and embattled ; "but he only built the front,
having been imprisoned during the troublous times known as the "Wars of the
Roses." It was completed by his great-grandson, Sir Anthony Cooke, one of the
teachers of King Edward VI., and High Steward of the Liberty of Havering.
He was a learned and a good man, and his daughters highly cultured. Here in
1568 he entertained Queen Bess, and here in 1638 came Mary de Medici, the
mother of Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., on the way to London ; the
guest of Lady Cooke, the widow of Sir Edward Cooke. The only view of this
old hall was published in 1639, in La Serres "Account of the Entrance of Mary
de Medici into England." On its front, were inscriptions in Latin, Greek, and
Hebrew. In 1657, after two centuries, this estate passed out of the Cooke family,
and was sold for £9,000 to Richard Ernes of Romford. The old hall was pulled
down in 1720, and the present red brick house erected by Sir John Eyles, which
was enlarged by Richard Benyon, a subsequent owner, who improved the park
with plantations, and a sheet of water reaching to the high road, and an ornamental
bridge of three arches designed by Wyatt.
Arriving at Romford, tea was taken at the "White Hart" Hotel. After tea
an Ordinary Meeting (the 78th) was held, Mr. T. V. Holmes, president, in
the chair, at which the following were elected members of the Club :—Messrs. A.
Akers, W. Bewers, W. E. Bovill, W. H. Bradshaw, H. J. Cook, Mrs. Cook,
Messrs. S. A. Courtauld, C. J. Dawson, T. Gowland, Mrs. S. Hall, Mrs. Heath-
cote, Messrs. C. R. Higgins, F. Parr, A. Lussignea, W. J. Pickworth, H. T.
Twine, Mrs. H. Wall, and Mr. W. C. Waller.
Letters relating to the subject of the meeting were read from Sir Richard
Owen, C.B, F.R.S., and Mr. McLachlan, F.R.S., and the Secretary announced
that Mr. S. Carvalho had presented to the Club a valuable cabinet of British
fossils. Mr. Walter Crouch exhibited a series of views, engravings, and books
relating to the district traversed during the afternoon. He also called attention to
the fact that in the short notes on the programme he had only touched upon the
interesting historical reminiscences of Havering and Romford. Many notable
names would occur to all who had studied the records of the district, such as Sir
Anthony Cooke and his family, whose home was the centre of classical culture ;
the learned Sir John Cheke, the first Professor of Greek at Cambridge; and there