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Serving the communities of Bures St Mary and Bures Hamlet

 
   THE WALDEGRAVE CONNECTION WITH SMALLBRIDGE HALL.
(The Waldegraves also owned the Manor of Wormingford Hall)
This is not a definitive Waldegrave Tree, but an `attempt` to see which family members lived in Smallbridge.
There seems to be a great variation in birth and death dates online, so this tree may vary to others

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NOTE 1.
It would appear that the Waldegraves not only owned "Smallbridge" but the adjoining property of "Wormingford Hall" from 1383 until 1702.
Previous owners being the `de Poyning` family who owned the manor in 1254 (feet of fines 1310 - 1311)
1702 would have been the time the Waldegraves vacated Smallbridge.

Wormingford has two manors, viz., Wormingford Hall and Church Hall, and John Jolliffe Tufnell is lord of both; but a great part of the soil belongs to Geo. Nottidge, Esq., and several smaller owners. Wormingford Hall, now a farm-house, had formerly a park; and a mere of 12A., formed by the Stour, opposite Smallbridge, belonged to it.
Ref:- White's Directory of Essex 1848

Land transfer. Wormin[g]ford Hall, Essex.
Deccimo Sexto die Novembris Anno die Millimo Sexcent. ‘20th Aug 1691’
in ink on verso. Reign of William and Mary. Named parties includes Baron Thomas Waldegrave, John Harrison, gentleman, and Richard Newton. Refers to Mount Bures [Essex]. Refers to sale of tenements or cottages. Signed by John Harrison. In Latin. Provenance unknown.
Ref:- http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu

By 1383/4 the manor was held by Richard Waldegrave
He or his heir of the same name held it in 1420
and then it passed to his son Richard (d. 1435),
and to Richard's son Richard (fl. 1455)
In 1480 Elizabeth, widow of Sir Thomas Waldegrave, held the manor with her second husband William Say.
They were followed by William Waldegrave (d. 1526)
William's son George (d. 1528)
and by George's son William (d. 1553)
From William's son, Sir William (d. by 1584)
it passed to his son William (d. 1610)
William's son William (d. 1612), whose widow Jemima held in dower in 1635.
Their son William Waldegrave (d. by 1650)
succeeded, then his son Thomas Waldegrave.
Thomas sold the manor with Church Hall in 1702 to John Currance, whose son Clement held it in 1704.

Ref:- A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10

...................................the third sister being ["sister Waldegrave"] Jeminma Bacon who married, firstly, Sir William Waldegrave(circa 1650) [ex of Smallbridge] of Wormingford Hall, of a familly closely connected to the Harris family of Essex,
Ref:-http://captainthomasharris.webs.com/

Later Wormingford Hall was owned by Abraham Constable who`s uncle was John Constable RA,
Ref:-http://www.bures-online.co.uk/constable/Constable.htm


The end of the Smallbridge occupancy

Note 2.
After 350 years the last Waldegrave in Bures, Elizabeth widow of John Barrington died at High Pale (Bures)
Ref:- The Church of St Mary the Virgin Bures, Handbook

Note 3.Elizabeth and her sister Mary were the final co-owners of the Smallbridge Estate.
Ref: Isacc Wyncoll (e)web page
This may have been superceeded by the History of Essex information above, giving Thomas Waldegrave as the final owner


Note 4. Many Waldegrave family trees show Geurin`s birth as AD1000 in Waldgrave, Northants.
Records indicate he came over with William 1 in 1066.
Therefore:-
(a) If he was born in Waldgrave
during ad 1000, why did he return to France and then return with William some 26years later.
(b) The concept of Gurein being born in Waldgrave is incorrect, he was really a native of France or Germany
(c) Morant states both Guerin and John Waldegrave met after John`s lands had been confiscated, this would have been after the invasion in 1066.
Why had they not met before in Waldgrave, considering Guerin would have been there for the past 26yrs.

None of these sites produce any evidence he was actually born in Waldgrave so I find this statement unsubstantiated and confirmed by Morant below.
Author

Note 5. According to Morant, the Waldegrave family is "said to have flourished in this Kingdom before the Conquest and to have been originally seated in Northamptonshire, where they gave name to the parish of Waldegrave. John de Waldegrave, it is reported (see Weever's Funeral Monuments, p.757-758), lost his lands upon the Conqueror's invasion, but having an only daughter and meeting with a namesake of his in William's service that was come out of Germany, upon conferring together they found they were related, and the German promised the other to obtain a restitution of his lands, and a pardon from the Conqueror if he would give him his daughter in marriage. It was accordingly performed. The pardon and re-grant of the lands, in old French, with King William's seal, remained in the possession of the Lord of Navestock Manor in the year 1612" (see Morant's Essex, vol. i. p.181).
Ref:- Isaac Wyncoll (E)web page

Note 6. I think that the Norman who comes over must be a straight Guerin Warin who marries a WALDGrave and the Waldgrave is the old Anglo Saxon (German) name. Warin is a French /Norman name, and Waldgrave is definitely not.
Rebecca Fraser - Author and Historian

Note 7. Guerin or Warin de Waldergrave a Norman came to England with William the Conqueror and by his command married the daughter and sole heir of William Waldegrave, Twyvell and Slepton.
Surnames were introduced by the Normans and were noted with a "de" as in William de Waldegrave The family derived their name from a German name "Wald" meaning Power or Authority and the Saxon word "Gereva" now contracted into "Grave" meaning Governor
Ref:- The History and Antiquities of All Saints Church, Sudbury
published 1851

Note 8 A dower house is usually a moderately large house on an estate which is occupied by the widow of the late owner. The widow, often known as the "dowager" usually moves into the dower house, from the larger family house, on the death of her husband, the new heir occupies the now vacated principal house.


Research by Alan Beales 16/05/2010
Birth/death dates may be +/- a few years