JOAN SIMPSON AND HER CHIGWELL LAND. 165
Chamber to King Henry 8th ; in February of that year he had
been granted, with Joan his wife in survivorship, the manor of
Canon Hall, Wanstead, with all its lands in Wanstead
and Westham, formerly the property of the Priory of Holy
Trinity, which had fallen into the King's hands.
This is the earliest mention of the Simpsons that I have come
across, and it effectually disposes of the tradition that Joan was
a washer-woman ! But what of her connection with Chigwell ?
Well, twenty years later than the above Grant, in 1555, licence
was granted to Anthony and Joan Browne, of South Weald, to
alienate some of their landed property in Chigwell, comprising
a close of pasture known as Brache Close (111/2 acres) and also
two parcels of meadow (together about 3 acres) lying in
Stanmede, a large meadow abutting on the river Roding and
the Loughton boundary : these lands were bought by Joan
Simpson, she being now a widow.6
In 1557 Joan established a Trust to implement the Charity by
which her name is remembered ; fifteen trustees were appointed
to bestow the annual rentals derived from the above-named
parcels of land, then estimated at £3 6s. 8d., in repairing the
highways between the Abridge boundary and Stratford Lang-
thorne ; and the land was accordingly duly conveyed to the
Trustees.
The sum seems to us absurdly inadequate for the purpose
designed ; but when we remember that money in the mid-16th
century was worth at least sixteen times the same nominal
amount in modern currency (or, say, £53), Joan's contribution
to the upkeep of the roads, having regard to the very moderate
requirements of her times, would prove a quite useful one.
By her will, dated November 6th, 1560 and proved on
May 9th, 1562, Joan devised her mansion house "Stiche Marsh"
(or "Stichmere"), with other messuages, to her late husband's
nephew Nicholas. It is therefore abundantly evident that she
was a lady possessed of considerable estate.
Joan Simpson died at Chigwell and was buried there on
21st November, 1560.
The subsequent history of her Chigwell property and of her
Trust may now be summarized.
In March, 1590, the Trust land was leased to James Alkin of
Chigwell, for a term of 66 years from Michaelmas, 1589, at a
The exact date of Nicholas Simpson's death is not known : he is believed to have
been buried at Chigwell, but owing to the deplorable condition of the parish register books,
due to an influx of water about the year 1854, many of the entries are illegible. His will is
dated October 2nd, 1552.