166
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
rental of £3 10s. per annum ; and in 1606 the three acres of
meadow in Stanmede were transferred by Alkin to John Penning-
ton, another considerable landowner in Chigwell.
Archbishop Harsnett, vicar of the parish from 1597 to 1605,
held a lease of the mansion house "Stitchmarsh" and doubtless
resided there during his incumbency. His will, dated
February 13th, 1630-1, left it to his nephew Samuel Harsnett
and his heirs male, with successive reversions to three other
nephews and their heirs male : if any of his nephews should
endeavour to cut off this entail, the testator besought God that
he might never thrive in anything. The Archbishop was buried
at Chigwell on June 7th, 1631.
In 1619, he, being then Bishop of Norwich, had taken the
residue of the 66 years' lease of Joan Simpson's land at the
unimproved rental of £3 10s. per annum.
• In 1645 this land was valued officially by a Chancery Com-
mission at £10 per annum.
More than a century passes before Joan Simpson's estate is
again in evidence, during this time we may assume that the
objects of her Trust were being faithfully carried out.
The Archbishop's denunciation of any break of the entail had
served its purpose, for Morant tells us that in 1768 a house which
had belonged to Archbishop Harsnett "hath been lately repaired
"and modernized by a descendant of his, Mr. William Park
"Fisher, jeweller in Tavistock Street, Covent-garden." This
clearly refers to "Stitchmarsh."
In 1805 the three acres of meadow in Stanmede were exchanged
for 4 ae. 2 r. 10 p., part of a parcel of land called "Long Lees"
(which adjoined Brache Close). The house "Stitchmarsh" was
then occupied by a later descendant of Archbishop Harsnett,
Barbara Fisher, who, dying in June, 1808, at age 95, bequeathed
it to Arthur Bush Baker ; he was, according to Ogborne, owner
in 1816. "Stitchmarsh" has since been demolished.
In 1857 the Trustees' land comprised a long field (No. 202)
estimated as containing 16 ac. 3 r. 38 p., with a cartway access
from the main road.
In 1866, by the terms of the Chigwell Enclosure Award, Joan
Simpson's Trustees were allotted as compensation a small plot
of land measuring 2 roods 8 poles between the "Bald Hind" and
the Barkingside boundary (No. 31 on the Enclosure Map). This
allotment was sold by the Trustees in 1871 for £44, the sum being
invested in the 3% Consols.