154
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
At 6.30 o'clock leaves were taken and the homeward journey begun :
Stratford was reached just before 8.30 o'clock, the party discovering on
arrival that they had been fortunate in escaping a heavy rainstorm
which had been experienced during their absence.
VISIT TO THE WOODFORD BRIDGE DISTRICT
(718TH MEETING).
SATURDAY, 17TH JUNE, 1933.
In alternating sunshine and storm a party of twenty-five members
spent a delightful afternoon in visiting, under the guidance of Mr. Charles
Hall Crouch, F.S.G., some of the older buildings in the Woodford Bridge
neighbourhood on the above date.
Assembled at 2.30 o'clock at the entrance to the Ray House property
in Snakes Lane, now a lordly sports-ground belonging to the well-known
firm of Bryant and May, of Bow, the party proceeded along the avenue,
nearly 1/2 mile in length and bordered on each side with fruit trees, at the
end of which is Ray House, a modern stuccoed building which stands on
the site of the former larger mansion of that name which was in the 18th
century the seat of Sir James Wright, Bart. Only the stables of the old
house remain to-day, and these have been converted into dressing-rooms
for the male and female employees of the firm, who enjoy the privileges of
this delightful and well-kept sports domain. A charming view is obtained
from here across the Roding valley to the sunlit heights of Woodford
Bridge and Claybury embowered in trees.
Entering the enclosed garden, a relic of the old mansion, which is of
octagonal plan, surrounded by a high red brick wall having four longer
and four shorter lengths, as shown on old maps of the property, our leader
began to read an account of the history of the estate. But a sudden
heavy storm of thunder and rain interrupted the narration, and the party
had to beat a retreat to some greenhouses near at hand until the storm
had passed. Resuming his discourse, which was illustrated by the
exhibition of some old maps of the district, Mr. Crouch remarked :—
The manor of Ray House was, in the 16th century, mainly in Barking
parish, but afterwards was included wholly in the parish of Woodford.
The manor was parcel of the possessions of the abbot and convent of
Stratford Langthorne, and was granted in 1541 to Morgan Philips alias
Wolfe. His son, Walter Morgan, inherited the property, but sold it in
1570 to John Pilkington, who, in the same year, transferred it to Nicholas
Fuller. In 1582 Fuller conveyed it to Thomas Pereson, who a year later
alienated it to Israel Amyce. In 1586 Robert Earl of Leicester bought the
estate from Amyce and resold it immediately to Sir Horace Pallavicini, of
the Ongar family of that name. Sir Horace's younger son, Sir Tobias
Pallavicini, transferred Ray House in 1624 to Sir Charles Montagu.
In the early 18th century Ray House was the seat of the Cleveland
family, from which it passed to that of the Hannots: it was Bennet Hannot
who, in 1770, sold it to Sir James Wright, Governor of Virginia, and after-
wards British Minister at Venice. Sir James Wright was the son of Thomas
Wright of Warwick by Mary, one of three sisters and coheirs of Sir John
Huband, Bart., of Ipsley, Warwickshire. In his will, Sir James desires