of Flemish birth were required to pronounce the
shibboleth "bread and cheese" ; those who could
only say " brod and case " had their heads struck off
forthwith. Heygate has it that this sanguinary
practice gave the name to "Bread and Cheese Hill,"
on the London Road, about a mile and a half west of
Hadleigh.
Space does not permit of any account being given
of the entry of the rebels into London and of the
outrages committed there, including the murder of
the Archbishop and the Treasurer and the sacking
of John of Gaunt's magnificent palace of the Savoy.
It seems that many Essex men obtained "Charters"
from the King granting their demands—abolition of
villeinage in favour of a quit-rent of fourpence the
acre, freedom of markets and indemnity for offences
committed during the rising—and that they returned
quietly to their homes, for the most part ; but when
the King entered Essex with a strong army they
banded themselves together again. The men of this
district gathered at Rettendon and Great Baddow and
marched to Billericay, where they occupied a position
skilfully defended with ditches and rows of carts
joined together, a means of defence probably suggested
by soldiers returned from the French Wars, who are
known to have been amongst them. They were,
however, decisively beaten by a force commanded
by the King's uncle, Thomas of Woodstock. Court
records show that when the new Chief Justice,
Tresilian, came into Essex to punish such of the
insurgents as could be found, he had before him men
from Fobbing, Muckford and Stanford, together with
one "Thomas Spragge of South Benfleet and others
of the same place."
THE REFORMATION.
Essex was the most actively Protestant of any of
the English counties, and we can trace evidences of
this activity in and around Benfleet. The popu-
lation of the Parish at this time must have been
13