152
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
in of the roof of Chelmsford Church in 1800, thereby destroying the old edifice of
1424, except the tower and some small portions of the building, are events about
which much has been written, but which I must not now dilate upon. The events
of the present century are matters of newspaper history, and have scarcely arrived
at antiquarian age.
I feel there are many points about which I might have touched with advantage.
For instance, there is the "Old Chapel" here and there alluded to, and supposed
to have been situated between the Church and the Rectory. Then, again, the
religious house known as the "Friars ;" and, again, the Chapel situate up Long
Stomps. All these want digging out. Much information may be gleaned from
books and old deeds and documents. For instance, in turning over some
papers relating to Chelmsford the other day, I found copies of some old deeds,
extending from 1439 to 1504, relating to a parcel of land called "Aroesmithies
Croft," lying in Chelmsford, between the land of the Bishop of London on the one
side, the land of John Herling and Guy Herling on the other side ; the King's
Highway, called the "New Strete," on the one end, and a meadow, called
"Tonemanmeade," on the other. There can be little doubt that this represents
the plot of land abutting upon Victoria Street, and occupied by the orchard and
the cottages in front.
In conclusion, allow me to summarise what I have been talking about, with the
view of inducing some of my audience to take up one or other of the periods into
which I have somewhat roughly divided the history of the town, so that further
details may be filled in, and eventually a fairly complete history of Chelmsford
compiled.
I therefore suggest the following sub-divisions :—1. Pre-Roman period. 2.
Roman period—say, to the year 500. 3. Saxon and Danish period to the year
1066. 4. Norman and Mediaeval period to the year 1540. 5. From 1540 to 1700.
6. From 1700 to 1800. In doing this I am anxious that some practical result should
arise from meetings of this kind. You will find the occupation of collecting and
collating these old items of history a fascinating one, and it will throw an interest
upon sites and buildings which to you have previously been uninteresting, and will
give a new zest to your daily rambles about the town.
[The culminating event in the history of Chelmsford as a town was the granting
of the Charter of Incorporation under the Great Seal on September 7th, 1888.
Mr. Chancellor was elected first Mayor on November 9th in the same year.
See the "History of the Incorporation of the Borough of Chelmsford," Chelmsford,
1889.—Ed.]
In welcoming the members at the Museum, Mr. Durrant gave a short sketch of
the history of the town, and mentioned the tradition that Writtle was at one time
a more important place than Chelmsford. It was alleged that Writtle had the
market and Chelmsford the Church-bells, and that afterwards these were
interchanged.
The Mayor said that he wished to annihilate the Writtle tradition mentioned by
Mr. Durrant. When the Local Board purchased the Market, it was necessary to
investigate the title, and it was found that the charter had been granted by King
John to the Bishop of London, and that therefore the title came direct to the
owner in Chelmsford, and the Market had never belonged to Writtle.
Quitting the Museum, the party crossed the foot-bridge over the river Cann
temporarily replacing the iron bridge which was destroyed by the great flood of
August 2nd, 1888. They then came to the site of the "Friars"—a Priory for