A Study of the Strood by W.E. Duane. Chapter 8. Page 45.

The Church and Strood Lands contd.

The Tithe award of 1842 contains no reference to any such field names, neither do they appear in the extraction of place-names from the Court Rolls of West Mersea Manor 1547-1558 [Note 1] Perhaps they refer to former owners of the land. To establish the extent of the property the Tithe Maps and Award 1842 were examined. The total holding at this time was 81 acres 9 perches, and it was disposed as shown on the chart opposite [SOS_008_003 ]. The field numbers and boundaries have been marked on Ordnance Survey Map Sheet TM.01. so that the location of the fields can be seen. At the time of the Charity Commissioners report 1817-1837 there was considerably more than the original 30 acres of land and it was let as follows:-

[Note 2] "About 40 acres of arable land are let to Robert White Forster, upon an agreement for a lease for nine years at a rent of £55. The remainder of the arable land is let to William Pullen as year tenant at a rent of £5. The woodland remains in the hands of the trustees, who apply the proceeds of the sale of the wood in the same manner as the rents and profits of the land. Two houses have been built out of savings of income on the above premises, one has been used as a workhouse, and for this the overseer pays a rent of £20, the other is also let to the parish officers at a rent of £9.12s.d."

The report goes on to say that because the repairs to the Church and Strood have been so substantial in the late twenty years a great deal of the wood has been cut down and it therefore produces no more than about £5. per annum.

Note 1 Transactions of E.A.S. Vol. 13 Page 81.
Note 2 Essex Charities Page 432.

Date: 1965