THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
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have been wholly or 'in great part pulled down to make room for the Italian
mansion built by Signor Leoni for Benjamin Mildmay, Earl Fitzwalter ; and as he
died in 1756, aged 86, it is probable that the rebuilding took place between 1720
and 1730. From a description of this mansion, as it appeared in 1770, surrounded
by its extensive park and gardens, it must have been a lordly residence; but
nought now remains, for about 1814 it was pulled down, deparked, its pleasant
gardens wasted, and the site amalgamated with the adjoining farm lands. 2
From 1540 up to the present time the family of Mildmay have succeeded to the
position formerly occupied by the Bishops of London, and, to some extent, by the
De Veres, in the history of the town ; and there can be no question that for a period
of nearly 300 years they have occupied the foremost position in the history of the
town, as owners of the manors, the advowson, and the great bulk of the parish and
surrounding lands, and as performing multifarious duties in connection with the
county.
The absence of any great military stronghold in the immediate vicinity of
Chelmsford would free it from those stirring events which attended the struggle for
their possession between the contending parties in the State, especially in the War
of the Roses, or the times of the Commonwealth ; and so the history of our town
must be principally made up of minor events—events of a domestic character rather
than of great public events affecting the country at large.
The siege of Colchester would, no doubt, interest many of the townspeople, and
so would the stirring events happening in the Metropolis, or in some more distant
part of the country ; but beyond the fact of some few townsmen taking part in the
struggle, the townsmen generally would feel about the same interest in these some-
what remote events as we do in the struggles going on in Egypt.
The establishment of a Grammar School by Edward VI. in 1552 testifies to the
interest taken by that monarch in the town, which he would pass through when
visiting New Hall in the lifetime of his father—notably in 1542, when King
Henry VIII. held a grand feast at New Hall, and so was very ready to accede to
the petition of Sir William Petre, Sir Walter Mildmay, Sir Henry Tyrell, and
Thomas Mildmay. The School was originally held in a large room joining part
of the Friars; but this fell in 1633, and some years afterwards the present school-
room was built.
In 1642 there was an outburst of Puritanical zeal, which culminated in an attack
upon the Church, when the mob destroyed the painted glass in the east window
and the escutcheons and banners of the ancient donors to the Church. It is a
question whether these were the acts of Chelmsford people, for it may have been
that the recruits for the Parliamentary Army had made Chelmsford their rendezvous,
and so for the time overawed the more loyal townsfolk.
From the description of the Manor, which I read just now, it will be seen that
in Chelmsford town or borough, as it is there called, there were 300 houses ; this
would represent a population of 1,500. The number of houses in Moulsham is
not stated ; but probably there would be about 100, so that the whole population
in 1591 may be taken at about 2,000. In 1738 an account was taken of the
number of the inhabitants, which was then 2,150. In 1821 the number was 4,994.
In 1840 the number was 6,789.
The founding of the Charity School in 1713; the construction of the canal from
Chelmsford to Maldon in 1765; the erection of the Shire Hall in 1790; the falling
2 Full particulars of the Mildmay family will, we understand, be given in Mr. Chancellor's
forthcoming magnificent work "The Ancient Sepulchral Monuments of Essex"—Ed.