Journal of Proceedings. xli
paths, easements, liberties, franchises, and hereditaments whatsoever
to the same capital messuage pertaining within the parish, towns,
and fields of Roydon and Nazing then or lately in the occupation of
Nicholas Butler, Esq., and George Clarke, yeoman." Fuller tells a
story—which, although it has been more than once repeated, may be
given for the sake of those who have not met with it—of Sir George
Colt of Nether Hall. He was much in favour with King Henry VIII,
for his merry conceits, and when he came late one night to Waltham
Abbey (about six miles from Nether Hall) and heard that some of the
monks at Waltham were harboured at Cheshunt nunnery, he pitched a
buck stall in the narrowest part of the marsh, or meadow, where they
were to pass over, leaving some of his confederates to watch the same,
and enclosed them as they were returning in the dark to their abbey.
Next morning he brought them and produced them to the king, who
remarked that "he often had seen sweeter but never fatter venison."
Mr. Beddington gave a number of technical details of the descent of
the manor, which it is unnecessary to print here. In answer to a
question put by one of the members, he said that some attempt had
been made to demolish the ruins, but they were built too well and the
endeavour had to be abandoned. Some years ago some pigstyes had
been built of the bricks, but it was found that this cost far more than to
buy new bricks.*
Mr. David Houston, F.L.S., read a paper on "Bushes and their
Origin," which was illustrated by a large number of specimens and
diagrams. Some time was spent in examining Mr. Parish's original
drawings of Nether Hall, and other "bits" in the neighbourhood, and
*A day or two after our visit, the Essex Archaeological Society held a meeting at
Nether Hall, at which our member Mr. C. Foster Hayward made some interesting
remarks. He said that the pile was a fragment of what was evidently once a very noble
hall. At the period when it was built gentlemen's houses were in a state of transition,
and people began to think that they might safely have their own front doors, and this
they did, but still they retained many features of magnificence which were hardly
necessary for safety; and the chief gateway was frequently put into the plan for
grandeur rather than for use. In this specimen there was an arrangement behind the
gateway for a portcullis, although probably it was never used, and the numerous loop-
holes in the walls were certainly constructed more as a remembrance of what was
valuable in former times than anything else. The gateways to these immense structures
were frequently excessively sumptuous, and were often absolutely the dwelling-places of
their owners. At Layer Marney there were somewhat similar remains, but in that case
the main building was never constructed at all, but the proprietor lived in the gateway.
In respect to Nether Hall, it might be that it was never completed; there were certainly
no signs of it now, and there was ample accommodation in the gateway for a gentleman
and his family to live in ease and luxury when the place was in its prime. He believed
that Nether Hall, however, did at one time exist, and that its remains were removed
about a century ago. The first floor was undoubtedly at one time a splendid apartment,
having a beautiful mullion window in the centre. At each angle of the irregular square
which formed the courtyard there was a semi-octagonal turret, remains of which were to
be seen, and from one of them there was a door opening into the moat. This, no doubt,
gave rise to the rumour that there was an underground passage between this place and
Bye House. Of this he need say nothing ; but there was a connection between Nether
Hall and Rye House in their architecture. They were similarly built, and probably by
the same men.