Title:
Deeds to Mill House, Mountnessing
Level: Category
Estate and Family records
Level: Fonds
RECORDS DEPOSITED BY A FIRM OF SOLICITORS
Level: Sub-Fonds
DEEDS
Scope and Content:
These deeds document first the assembly by Joseph Agnis, miller, of a property consisting of (i) two strips, variously measured together at between a quarter and half an acre, on the eastern side of Thoby Lane, copyhold of the manor of Thoby or Thoby Fee, of which he became tenant in 1810 and 1825; and (ii) four and a half acres to the east, formerly part of Home Field, Malbrooks Farm, on which a windmill had been erected by William Bentall farmer of Felstead, whose lease was assigned to Agnis in August 1819. On his copyhold land Agnis put up a number of buildings, apparently including Mill House and Mill Cottage; there was also a butcher's shop, a bakehouse, and various outbuildings. The leased mill and its field were mortgaged in 1827 to John Copland gentleman of Chelmsford and in 1835 to James Clarke gentleman of Southminster and William Clarke gentleman of Cold Norton, the copyholds being used as security. Joseph Agnis was succeeded by his son of the same name - formerly a baker - in 1850. The copyholds were enfranchised in 1893 and inherited in 1907 by Robert Agnis. On his death in 1914 they passed to Walter Walker otherwise Agnis, formerly of Ongar, who as miller took out a new 14-year lease of the mill in 1915 (the last document here relating to the mill). Mill House and Mill Cottage passed after his death in 1932 to his widow, although by 1938, when the site was acquired by Mountnessing Parish Council, Mill Cottage had been demolished. In 1962 the Council put what by then was the site of Mill House up for sale.
Dates of Creation:
1810-1962
Extent:
22
Related Unit of Description:
For leases of the mill in 1861 and 1908 see D/DU 197/5, 12. For the history and preservation of the mill see Kenneth G. Farries, Essex Windmills Millers and Millwrights, volume 4 (1985), pp. 80-83.