Title:
'Map Book'
Level: Category
Estate and Family records
Level: Fonds
PELLY FAMILY OF EAST AND WEST HAM
Level: Sub-Fonds
MANORIAL
Level: Series
Manor of West Ham
Scope and Content:
Survey of [? Plaistow Ward only] in West Ham.
[According to Philip Morant, History and Antiquities of the County of Essex, volume 1 (London 1763-1768), page 16, the four wards of West Ham were Church Street, Stratford Langthorne's, Plaistow and Upton.]

Comprises:
(i) Fields, entered in numerical order, the numbers corresponding with the map below. For each field shows number, acreage, owners, occupiers, rent, field-name (and earlier name, if any), name of marsh in which situated, length of Thames or sea-wall for which liable (or acreage liable), whether copyhold (if so, manor stated), freehold or 'ancient demesne'. Under owners and occupiers, names given for approximate period 1725-1790 but occasionally as early as 1624 or even the Dissolution and as late as 1803.

The following are typical of the additional notes in this and the next section: 'In Trinity Marsh the Pound belonging to this ... called Eldertree Pound by reason of a great elder tree growing by it, 1748, this old tree died this year, it was about 3ft. in girth & it broke out at the bottom'; 'In Middle Marsh there is a cowhouse built in this field, this being a gift to the poor before 1693, pays no Land Tax ...' [poor of St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, Surrey]; 'This was formerly a garden ... to a great house belonging to the family of Garralds, Barts., the last Sir Thomas that lived in it left about 1683, it remained empty & was pulled down about 1696, the well that now is was then in the kitchen ...'; 'There is an old gate-way into Lord's yard on which, cut in brick at the top, is engraved "Christ is the gate to everlasting life, 1579", in this yard stands a large barn of 4 bays'

(ii) Houses, entered alphabetically (but not marked on map). [? Plaistow Ward only or whole parish: the houses are not readily identifiable.] For each house, details similar to above, with brief descriptive notes, e.g.'a brick-fronted & boarded back, built about 1730, 2 storys, 2 rooms on floor'.

(iii) Abstracts of title to several small properties, citing deeds, 1617-1739

(iv) 'A map of Plaistow Ward taken by Ino. Iames 1742'
No scale; size 8 x 6 inches.
No field-names; names of marshes. Distinguishes by colour the manors (West Ham, Bretts, West Ham Burnells, Plaise) of which properties were held, but many fields left uncoloured. Shows pounds, gates, 'upland fences', common sewers, ditches and counterwalls; 'Blackwall and basin', 'Pods Elms', 'Hangmans,' 'Barley mow', 'Leymouth', 'Leywick (Level)', and gallows on Thamesside. Reference numbers to written survey above.

(v) Map of 'Mannor of Bretts. Drawn by Mark Pierse Anno Domi 1624. Copy'd by John James Anno 1753'
Scale of 80 poles to 1 inch [1:15840], with two scale bars showing that this was a reduction to one fifth of the scale of Pierse's original; size 8 x 6 inches.
18 (mostly very small) parcels scattered over the parish. Some field-names. Distinguishes between 'marsh or water fences' and 'upland or dry fences'. Shows Gallows Green on highway to Romford, Woodgrange Farm, 'Half Moon' (inn), and 'a common field'. Reference numbers and symbols to an 'Explanation' giving acreages and brief descriptions and (in some cases) reference numbers to map of 1742 above.
Dates of Creation:
1742 (additions to 1803)
Extent:
1 volume
Access:
Transferred to Passmore Edwards Museum, Newham, December 1986 (and not returned on the museum's closure, 1994).
Existence of Copies:
For microfilm copies see T/A 809/11 or Ph 4/137.
Not Available:
Transferred to another repository

Key terms

TypeKey termsDescription
Subjects Manorial Survey of Plaistow Ward, manor of West Ham, 1742-1803