NOTICES OF THE PARISH OF WICKEN BONANT, ESSEX. This small parish, consisting of only 841 acres, and a population of 170 persons, lies in one of those long winding valleys leading up to the back bone of high ground, which parts the tributaries of the Lea and the Cam. The subsoil is chalk which, with occasional heads of gravel, crops up to the surface in the lower grounds. The uplands of this and the surrounding parishes are overlaid with a strong clay of considerable depth, which renders the air cold and damp, and considerably retards agricultural operations. A winter brook which rapidly floods after rain, rises in the adjoining parish of Arkesden, to which it gives a name, and passing through the whole length of this parish it meets with some copious springs in the meadows adjoining Newport, and becomes a tributary of the Cam. In ancient times the parish of Wicken was equally divided between wood and arable. From Domesday Book it appears that it then contained four carucatæ, and as much arable land as four ploughs would till in a year, besides wood for 100 hogs. At the present time there is hardly any wood remaining, and but little pasture. The name has been variously spelt. Its earliest mention in Domesday Book is Wica. In the Court Rolls of the Hall, temp. Edward II, we find it under the name of Wykes, and half a century later as Wyken. There is little doubt however, that these are only corruptions of Wickham, which name was generally used in the 16th and 17th centuries, and is retained to the present day in official documents. The addition of Bonhunt, from one of the manors of the parish, is for the sake of distinguishing it from Wickham St. Paul, and Wickham Bishops, both in the same county. The materials for a history of this parish are so remarkably scanty, that it becomes a matter of no small difficulty to trace the succession of its owners. From the earliest times there appear to have been two manors, that of Wicken, or the Hall, and that of Bonhunt. Both of these are mentioned in Domesday Book. They were united in the sixteenth century and have since been reckoned as one. In Domesday Book we find the Hall in the possession of Gilbert, son of Thorold, and after him in that of Sexius, a freeman. We hear no more of this manor till 1446, when we find it in the Barlee family, who bore for arms Ermine, three bars wavy Sab. With them it continued for five generations, till 1557, when William Barlee sold it to Robert Chatterton, Esq., whose arms were Gules, a cross potent Or. He soon afterwards sold to the Bradbury family, for Matthew Bradbury Esq. died possessed of it, Feb. 26th, 1587. The arms of the Bradburys were Sable, a chevron Ermine between three round buckles Arg. With the Bradburys it continued till the early part of the eighteenth century, when in default of male issue, Dorinda, daughter of Matthew Bradbury, Esq., carried it in marriage to Joseph Sharpe, Esq. He sold (with the exception of what is now called the Brick House, with about a hundred acres of land, of which presently) to John Hetherington, Esq., whose arms were per pale Argent and Sable three lions rampant counterchanged. Mr. Hetherington sold it to Thomas Coventry, Esq., who in the beginning of the present century sold to Joseph Smith, Esq., of Shortgrove, in Newport, and it is now, 1862, in the possession of his son William Charles Smith, Esq., of Shortgrove, whose arms are Gules, on a chevron Argent between three besants, as many crosses patée fitchées Azure. The Brick House was built by William Bradbury, Esq. (who died in 1622) for his second son Wyman or Wymond Bradbury, and continued in the occupation of the second branch of the family, till at their extinction it reverted with the Hall to Mr. Sharpe. When he sold the Hall it was his intention to have kept and resided in Brick House, but the mortgages upon the Hall proving to be beyond its value, Brick House, together with its 100 acres was mortgaged for £1200 in order to carry out the sale of the remainder. In consequence of this arrangement Brick House was held under mortgage by John Martin, Esq., banker, of Lombard Street, and it has continued to be so held by his son and grandson, till Joseph Martin, Esq. (the mortgage being unredeemed) came into possession as a freeholder in the early part of the present century. Mr. Martin is of a Worcestershire family, and bears for arms Argent, three pales Gu. on chief Azure three martlets Argent. Brick House is a picturesque structure with ornamental gables, and was formerly adorned with statues, of which some remain in a mutilated state. The arms of Bradbury are over the door. The Hall, now a farm house, adjoins the church. It is a timber structure of the early part of the sixteenth century, with picturesque chimneys. It has been much curtailed and thoroughly modernized: it was formerly surrounded by a moat. With the Hall was another farm called anciently the Wood, but for the last century Howland's farın, from a tenant of that name. The manor house of Bonhunt is situated half a mile eastward of the church. We first hear of it in Domesday Book, when it was in the possession of one Aluric, a freeman, afterwards in the hands of one Saisseline. We hear no more of it till 1341, when John Flambard, of Bonhunt, had a license to endow St. Leonard's Hospital, at Newport, that the brethren might find him a chaplain to say mass for his soul within his manor of Bonhunt, in the chapel of St. Helen there. This chapel which still remains in a desecrated state, had however existed for full three centuries previously to Flambard's time. It consists of a small chancel and nave of very early Norman work, with small windows and a plain doorway on the south side The chancel arch and the east wall have been removed. The west window, a quatrefoiled circle widely splayed within, is evidently an insertion of Flambard's. Two stone coffins were a few years since dug up in the close adjoining, and from the number of human bones which have been disinterred, it seems highly probable that this building was originally not merely a chapel but a parish church, and that at a subsequent time it was consolidated with the adjoining village of Wicken. After John Flambard, the manor of Bonhunt came to the Greene family, who bore for arms Vert, three stags trippant Or. It continued with them from 1437 till 1580, when it was purchased by the Bradburys. They sold it soon after to the Nightingales, of Newport, who bore for arms per pale Ermine and Gules, a rose counterchanged. From the Nightingales it passed to the Turners, of Quendon, whose arms were Az. on a fess between two fer-du-moulins Or. a lion passant Sable. In 1717, John Turner Esq., sold it with Quendon Hall, to John Maurice, Esq., of Walthamstow, whose widow sold it to Joseph Cranmer, Esq., whose arms are Arg. on a chevron between three pelicans vulning Az. three cinquefoils Or. From Joseph Cranmer, Esq., it passed to his son Henry, and at the death of the late Mrs. Cranmer it came to Henry Webb, Esq., of Harlow, at whose death it will revert to the Byngs, the representatives of the Cranmer family. The Church of St. Margaret originally dated from the middle of the eleventh century, but the only relic of this date now remaining is a plain and massive square Norman font, standing on a central and four corner pillars also square. During the restoration of the church in 1858, fragments of windows of early date were found embedded in the walls of the church some of these when put together closely resembled those now to be seen in the chapel of St. Helen. Towards the close of the twelfth century the church was in great part rebuilt. It then consisted of a chancel 30 feet in length by twelve in width, and nave 40 feet long, and a circular western tower. The eastern portion of the nave was again rebuilt at the end of the thirteenth century, and a good two-light tracery window inserted on each side. The chancel arch was also rebuilt. With the exception of a porch, partly rubble and partly wood of the sixteenth century, nothing appears to have been done to the church till early in the eighteenth century, when the tower either fell or was taken down, a small wooden cot was then placed over the west gable of the nave to hold the bells. The church being not only in bad repair throughout, but also too small for the requirements of the parish, it was restored and in part rebuilt in the year 1858-9, at the cost of John Sperling, Esq., of Kensington, the Patron of the living. The designs were furnished and the works carried out under the superintendance of the Rector, the Rev. John H. Sperling. The church at present consists of the original Early English chancel restored, to which a new nave, south porch and tower, have been added in the Decorated style. The whole of the windows are filled with painted glass. The east triplet contains the Crucifixion with attendant figures of S.S. Mary and John in the side lights. The other lancet windows contain sitting figures of the four major Prophets and the four Evangelists, two in each window. Also a memorial window to a child of the Rector's (See p. 223), subject Jesus blessing little children. In the nave are Our Lord in the Temple with the Doctors and the Sermon on the Mount, the remaining windows being patterns in grissaile. The chancel is stalled and separated from the nave by an elaborately carved oak screen, with the arms of Sperling and Barrow in the spandrils of the doorway. The nave, which is filled with open seats, has a stone pulpit. The Norman Font occupies its ancient place, and has been raised on two steps, and supplied with a cover. Externally, the belfry stage of the tower is very beautiful, having eight |