270 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
polygonal bay, although shorn of half its original importance by the
destruction of the northern portion, is still an imposing and pleasing one.
The staircase, with spiral balustrade and elaborately carved bracket ends
to the stairs, and panelled dado, is a beautiful feature of the interior,
and elicited the general admiration of the visitors.
Leaving this interesting house, the party proceeded to Broomhill
Road, where "Essex House" (formerly known as "Grove House") had,
with the adjoining residence, known as "Grove Cottage," kindly been
thrown open for inspection by the respective occupiers, Mr. and Mrs.
G. R. Verity and Mr. and Mrs. S. W. Furniss. Here our conductor read
an exhaustive account of the premises and their earlier occupants, derived
from his own researches : the following abridged account is taken from
Mr. Crouch's notes.
The first house on this site of which anything is known was built in
1580 by one John Lambert, a citizen and grocer of London, and his third
wife Blanche. A portion of this original building still exists : in the
present north wall of "Grove Cottage" may be seen a brick panel with the
initials of John and Blanche Lambert and the date 1580.
John Lambert did not long live to enjoy his new house, for he died
before the beginning of 1582, leaving the property to his son Lionell.
The widow, by the way. was, like her husband, a pluralist, for she had
already been married before she espoused Lambert, and after his decease
she married Thomas Skinner, alderman, of London.
Soon after John Lambert's death, the property appears to have
been purchased by Sir Henry Lee : it would seem that at that time the
estate extended the entire length of the present Broomhill Walk and
Broomhill Road, and included the site of the residence, "Hurst House,"
which the party had just visited, for Sir Henry Lee, by his will, left the
sum of 40s. per annum to the poor of Woodford, which sum is still paid,
upon application, by a firm of London solicitors : until recently the
amount was a rent charge on successive owners or occupiers of any part
of the estate, but the rent charge has now been redeemed.
An engraving of the old house shows a picturesque rambling building
of many gables, and one of its spacious chambers, known as the ball-
room, was adorned with a remarkable series of twelve pastoral scenes in
fresco around the walls, one of which bore the date 1617. Two hundred
years later, the house was tenanted by a Mr. Richard Trubey, who kept
a boys' school here, and the "ballroom" became a dormitory : when the
scholars were in bed, in the dim twilight of the long summer evenings,
the figures represented in the scenes on the walls troubled their imaginations
and kept them awake. Trubey was no antiquary, and he removed his
scholars' fears by whitewashing over the pictures. Fortunately, after
Trubey had left, the decorations of the room fell into disrepair, the white-
wash peeled off and the frescoes, although somewhat damaged by time
again became visible and were copied by a lady artist.
In 1832 the sixteenth century house was wholly demolished, except
for the northern portion already mentioned, which now forms part of the
separate dwelling known as "Grove Cottage." Set in a red brick chimney
L
stack is a sunk brick panel bearing the initials and date LB. recording
1580
the original erection of the building.