JOURNAL OF THE RUISLIP NORTID-IOOD AND EASTCOTELOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY

------~----------------------PRESIDENT:CHAIRMAN:EDITORS:

Sir Christopher CowanD. Tottman, B.Sc.K.J. McBeanL. Krause

SECRETARY: Mrs. J.•Bedfordl~ Arlington DriveRuislip

••

R. BedfordC. Bowlt

56

--------------.APRIL 1978

-------------CONTENTS

Page

A Baker~ Dozen : Conference at Hatch EndSummer Outings 1978Summer Outings 1977

1

2

2

Memories of the SocietyExcavations at Manor Farm

by D. Edwar-ds

James Ewer's DiaryThe Barn at EastcoteThe Poor in EalingYew Trees at St. Martin's

9

1415171820

22

R.G. EdwardsR.H. LightningC••BOlvlt

Some thoughts on MilesBishop Winnington Ingram SchoolA Local SonnetGen. Fuller of Highgrove

E.A. ChingA. HumphreysR.G. Edwar-dsK.J. McBean 23

~.'.

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The Journal cover is an original design by Tom Allum who presented thefinished artwork to the Society in 1978.

In this 14th year of the Society when our environment has ,been changed bythe removal of the line of electricity pylons and hundreds of dead elm treeswe pay tribute to DoreenEilwardswho 'for 13 yearshas>been Editor of theSocietytsBulletin. "Among changes of membership, 'attitUdes and the scope ofour activities Mrs. Edwardst contribution to the Society stands unique in itsdedicated continuity. At our request she has written brietly of the earlydays and we are pleased to give it pride of p~~ce.

This issue comes to you under the new title of 'The Journal of the RuislipNorthwood and Eostcote Local History Society and it is appropriate that it isgraced f~r ~hef'irst time by a 'proper' cover, For this we are greatly obligedto a Local Artist'~ho found his inspiration in an item in our Jubilee Exhibition.

For the first time the Journalincludesp,lans prOduced by the EdHot-;Modern technology makes this possible and we hope futUre contributors will beable to take advantage of it.

\-le welcome the extension cifthe Eastcote Conserva.tion Area and thereplanting of the open spaces along the River Pinn. The Ladies Organisationsof the District have done splendAd work alreadY in some places by tidying upand plunting drifts of daffodils. 'Perhaps they'will re'1lemberthat not only wilddaffodils grew in the Pinn meadows but also the w~ld Fritilla~ was to be foundthere right into the 1920's.

Finally we cOlUl1lj:1ndto your attention the list of summer activities :for1978.

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T'HE LOCAL HISTORY CONFERENCE HATCH END

Therci always seems to be all air of friendlyiriforntality about the annualLocal History Con:ference 'arranged by the Harrow College of Further Educationwher~ we rUb ahou.Lder-a with neighbours ,from Stanl~ore, Harrow, etc. !.ndso ~ii;proved to'be on Saturday, '4th Februury, when some' ten members of'the SOciety'attended the Conference at Hatch End. JUllong'the various eihibits was anexcellent display arranged by Mrs. Valeric Cresswell on our behalf dealing withRuiDlip on the cOnference theme CifLife<'1.ndinstitutiol1Sin,fhe,Suburbs of'the19th and 20th CentUries.

lmffiediatelyafter our weicome by the Mayor of Harrmi we watched n delightfulfilm tracing theflouristiing of the Odean chain of cf~mas with its \rez'Yindividual style of "showmanshiptl architecture ciridthis was foilmredby theciairtspeakers. First R.M. Robbins, C.B.E., on traQaport and suburhart development andthen Alan Jackson on suburban life, both of ~ great interest and bothstimUlating Iiv-ely discussion.

Altogether a most enjoyable and in:formative day_ J.M •

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1.

PROGRAMME OF S~WER OUTINGS 1978=============~======;====~====e~===The fo110;'1ingoutings for'the spring and sumrnerhavebeen arranged by

Mrs. Morris:-

SaturdaY~ 22nd April StrawberrY HillHouse~nd st. M~ts Church, Twicket;lham.,M~et at 2.30 p.m. Wald€rgrnvo£t.;c,.~. ,'. .Turn"right '(west) off the Twickenham-Kingston Road (A310)along lY~ldergrave Road (1\.309)a:nd turn in the first 'entrance on the 1eft~

Saturday, 13th May Marble' Hill House and Orleans Gallery, Twickenham.Neet 0.1; 2.30 p.nt. at the Hou~G.

MOJ.?-day,•5th June - Tour of Rickmansworth conducted by Mr. Godfrey Cornwall.Meet at 7.30 p.m. at the Parish Church.

Saturday, 1st July rlaterwaysMuaoum, Stoke Bruerne. Coach leavElsSt. Martints ,CatyPark at 10.00 a.iJl.

To be announced Tour of DenhamMrs., Tindall.meeti~g.

Village and Church to be conducted byDetails will be given at the ~onthly

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" J S~1ER OUTINGS 1977=============;====;==

The following are brief accounts of the,visits which members of the Societypaid dUring last swmner -

SWAKELEYS MANOR: ~6th March,

In March 1977 a parto'£inembers visited Swakeleys House which is describedby Radcliffe in his book ItTJJ.e County of Midp.lesex" as "one of the most famous ofthe lesser ,country houses to be fouPd.onywhere in England". Looking'o,'ttheexterior-ot, the l:;)Uiidingonecouldsee that this descriptJ.on may wel1:bejl,lstified.Th~ interior showed how {lrand it had once been put ita present condition can leavenothing but a feeling of depression. " .

'IThe house was built between 1629 a.l1d1638 for Sir Ec1muud 'wright whowasLord Mayor of LOndcm in 1641. In 1765 it was sold to another Lord Nayor,Sir Hobert Vyner who was largely responsible for completing the interiorqecoration. In design .it,is.said to be a typical example of the country houseswith curved. Dutch gables wh1.OO were beingb:uil t in the reign .ofChar.lesthe, first.Th~,17th ,century brickwork is very.pleasing - red bricks relieved withpC;1,tternsqfb:urnt blUe bricks~ . ,

"The house stands in grounds of some 25 acres and since 1929.both tIlehouseand grounds have been used for private sports and r~creational purPoses, first bythe Foreign o,+fice Sports Association and in recent years by tbe Lo~don RegionPostal Workers Sports Club. The use of the house as e.sports club tends todestroy any beauty the. interior once quite clearly had. This use, coupledpresumably with the lack of sUfficient funds to maintain the building properlyis inevitably leading to further deterioration.

On the ground floor the main hall has a 11th century wooden screen paintedas zstone and marble. There are s~ne fine staircase paintings attributed toRobert Stree.ter about 1670. Some of the upper rooms are not accessible either

2.

Fortunately for us he was sufficiently literate to jot down miscellaneousscraps of general knowledge,accounts, farmers' recipes, information' aboutweather, crops, prices and co~nents on local affairs.

TWO DEVON DOCTORS

The book he used is a curiosity in itself. It is approximately 9" x 7",leather bound and originally belonged to two Devon Doctors, Ja.'!lesCornw~ll.ofSouth Boveyand John Frampton of Blandford. They Used it to keep account of themedicines prescribed for their patients in the 1730s. The prescriptions end inl7~0 when the partnership Was apparently disrupted. A memorandum says that thebook was given into the hands of an Excise Man who was to burn it shouldJohn Fra.~pton's son set up practice within ten miles of South Bovey. Was thisa case of a doctor jealollsly guarding his professional secrots? .

Tl-!E EWER ENTRIES

By "Whatmeans it found its way to Hill Farm I cannot, imagine, but by 1746this entry appears: "Record of Willia.~ Bonsey, Agent. Rent due at MidSUmmerlast £2". Bonsey is a Ruisllp n~ne. The entries follow no particUlar order,but fill the blanks before, after and between the Doctors' prescriptions.

They come in two batches 174:6-1750. 1774-1829 "rith a single memor-andumsigned Richard Ewer, Hill Farm,Ruislip, dated 1878. James Ewer, Hill Farm,Ruislip is written at one end. Obviously more than one generation used it as aCommonplace Book. I surmise that the 17~6-50 section is the work of the fatherof the Ja~es Ewer who oarried Mary Anderson in 1762, while their eldest son alsocalled Jrunesfilled in the l8l~-29 entries.

PRONUNCIATION OF RUISLIP .DIJ'LECT

The writing is often large and unformed as of a person unused to holding Clpen and the spelling conforms to no known rules. If it is phonetic as see~slikely it may give some clues to the pronunciation of the Ruislipdialect at theturn of the 18th/19th centuries. For example, "boil" is constantly spelt "bile",llheld"as "hild" and "beans" as "bains".

ACCOUNTS FOR BUILDING THE WORKSHOUSE 1759

From a historical point of view the l<lOstinteresting entry is liTheAccountof the money laid out on the Workhouse, 1789". -Jemoa Ewer was Church,'!ardeninthat year. His name is one of four on a tablet above the porch of the OldWorkhouse~

wo'!;.I can now correct the article on the Wory~ouse whichAPublished in the 1975edition of this Journal. Work began on the building rather earlier than thenappeared and cost more, £760.10s.~d. to be precise. Mr. Paig of Uxbridge dug .the well and the Poors' ground was "seled out" in April 1789. Estimates.weretaken in May and in July a meeting was held at Mr. Doughtys to discuss borrowingmoney towards costs. £400 was lent, at 50/0 interest, by Daniel ~"ilshin, a farmerof Pinner. The meeting at Mr. Doughtys ran up expenses of lIs. It must havebeen a convivial evening.

The Workhouse was insured at a premium of £1.0.9. and the House Raising wason the 5th September. Bricl~ were purchased from CoWley. Perhaps the localbrickfields at Northwood and Eastcotewere not functioning in that particularyear.

11.

FARMING NOTES

"I did not begin rikking until Agust in,the year 1799""I did not begin housing wheat in i799,til Sept.2fl

"I began rikking 1800 Agust 10'""Made an end of haymaking Agust 14 1802""Began rikking Agust th~ 15 1B02lj

"Began rikking 16 Agust 1805. Made an end of carrying wheat the same y.earSept. 6"

"Made an end of haymaking July 2 l808n

IMPROVFl1ENTSAT HILL FARtVI

"An account of the money Laid out in Repairs to my Hous 1783 The'HollS cost meforty pounds"

"Stable and Cowhotisebuilt 1791""My Barne flower (floor) was laid with oke planks 1799""I bilt the high Carthouse in 1801""June lBll Our Grenery (Granery) and hay barne and front of the house was

bilt"

HOUSEHOLD REMEDIES

"A Rec't. to cure the DropseyOne quart of the best GinOne ounce of the best Mustard SeedOne ounce of scraped horse Radish2 heds of Gar1ick Bruse them and put them into the Gin and take a

cupful in the morning fasting"

TITHES Tithes originally a tenth of crops, produce, were usually commutedto a money paYment.

"A Rec·t. to cure a calf that runs outTake 3 pints of milkbile it while it comes tow 2 (rises up the pan?)and bile in it about a Dobel (double) handful of ocke bark brusedand take half a pint morning an nightit is as good for a Christian as a dom Beast the aame quantity"

LHe lived to the age of a§l"A Rec't. to cuer a sore Leg

take a pint of the best Gin and put in it 2 ounces of fl~qer or BrimstoneShako it together and take a large sponful nito and morning ••••••11

"March ye IB 1746 paid !vIr. Allom a years tithes for Mr. Carr lOs 6dll

(Mr.Carr was Vicar of Ruislip 1743-1755. In 1778 Henry Duckworthresigned theliving and Weldon Chartlpneyswas installed. Apparently the new Vicar refused toaccept money payments, which if the above entry is any guide were certainlysmall)."1778 Oct. Whereas a Despute Arises bctwene the Present Minester and the Parish

concerning prive tiths (privy tithes) and so he wold take in kind I havingbut one Cow I mesuard the firs pail and,their was nine pints

Joseph Vincon (Vincent) Witness"(A Corn Rent based on the prevailing price of corn replaced tithes in 1836 as aresult of the Tithe Commutation Act. Corn Rents ended in 1925)

13.

GEl\J"ERAL KN<MLEDGE

"Rislip Church was bilt in the year 1337" (Jame~ Ewer was wrong)"Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain erected by one Aurelius in the year 270"

(wrong aga.irt)"It is computed that a 7l~ Gun Ship tackes Up ,3000load of ocke timber"

PERSONAL NOTE

"1811 James :-::AIC!" was married Sept.17 at London"

A VILLAGE TRAGEDY.1An account of sesin (siezing) on the good(s) of Mr. Steven Par-ka or Pafe on

~uesday 12 Oct. 1784

Constable Is Od2 Assessors 2s OdA man in posison 5 days 10s OdThe Actonier (Auctioneer) £1 Is OdCrier Is OdStamp 2dLand Tax £1 15s 2dLand Tax £3 6s oel-lindowLights £1 Os 4dSold the things on the premises for £6 Is 6d ,"

REFERENCE The "Diary" M.C.R.O. Acc.538 (1) 8/11

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to Mrs. Phyllis Ewer for information about the Ewersin the 20th century

to Mr. Golland of P.H.E.L.A.S. for dral'1l'ingmyattention to the f1Diaryrs" e::;dstence

to Uxbridge Library for permi~5ion to reproduce themap of Hill Farm

14.

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THE BA.."W, FIELD END F.ARi.'1EASTCOTE 'by , R.G. EDWARDS=========================~==!c=================================The Barn at Field End Farmt Eastcote, which is at present undergoing

renovation (1977). is OfficiallY 1ioted by the Department of the Environment asbeing of 'historical interest, is Grade II and is estimated by them as bOing oflate 16th century construction. It is obviously going to be impossible toprecisely date such a building as it is most unlikely that any written recordsurvives concerning its construction and erection, and this timber-fr~ned typeof building was similar in form from the 12th century onward. There hasbeonsome controversy over the dating of the Great Barn at Ruislip, ~hich is 'listedby the DoE as late 16th century, but a later authority is suggesting that itmay be 200 years earlier, based on the type of tools which must have bee~ usedto fa~hionthe timbers.

The reconstruction of Field End Barn did permit 'examination of the basicstruc~ure. The roof is exceptionally high when compared with the grbund area

~ementse, The structure shows a tie bea.'11,supporting three queen posts~n turn support a cellarbea.~. The tie bea.~is further strengthened by

two supporting braces. This form of construction is rather more elaborate thanthe simple tie be~~ supporting a central kind post up to the roof ridge. AsDoreen Yurwood in liTheArchitecture of England" poitits out, collar beams wereintroduced to take the strain of larger span roofs and also when lighterconstruction methods were used when the more nassive and lengthy baulks oftimber were unavailable.·· ..

~his latter bears out the camnents of the clerk of works involved in thereconstrUction, who conjectures that Field End Barn, displays characterics of aIfactory-made' barn. These were made by specialists in a form,~hich could betransported to the required site where final const:ruction occurred. The mainupright timbers show nJortl.seholes which could have carried an intermediatefloor but there is no evidence of thom having·been used for this purpose atEastcote.! If this theory is correct it would help to·e::o..?lainwhy the height ofthe roof is disproportionate to the floor area. There is no evidence of thebuilding having been shortened at any tilae. In other words, the ready cuttiobers could have been used for a variety of purposes, e.g. barns, houses,etc.according to the ·pUrcho.ser. .

THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE POOR IN EALING BETIfEl'~N 1700 Al"ITD1834by H.H. ·Lightning=========================~==========================================~

The clerk of works also pointed out that the majority of the original timberis elm but some repairs had been carried out in ocl~- probably in the 19th century.Some other additions had been made to the building at<the front at a later date.We Can see, therefore, that there are many questions left 'which will probably nevorbe an~lered - where was it fashioned, when was' it constructed and who were theoriginal workmen. One can guess that with a fair degree of accuracy that a barnof this type would not have been constructed until the farmer was prosperous anddeveloped enough to have surplus yields to store in large qUantities. The sitingis also of interest - close by the farmhouse - and could indicate that it mighthave also served as a store for implements and an indoor workplace for the winterperiod. The size would also suggest that it sorved the purpose of that farm alone'and was an integral :part of the total vlorkp1ace. Any ~:tht.-r information andcomments would be \~elcome.

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In recent editions of the Btilletin there have been several references to theOld Workhouse in Ducks Hill and nlsoreferencesto the workings of the Old Poor La",in general. It is enlightening on occasions to make comparisons in Local History,so perhaps a small a:rticle on h~~ the poor in another Middlesex Parish were -employed ,-dll not be out of place here.

The need for a Workhouse in the Parish of Ealing Was recognised as early as1698, for in that year the churchwardehsand overseers were ordered to "take andprovide one or more houses for worrJlOuses to employ the poor of this parish towork in, and also to provide SUfficient mock of implements at the change of thes'aidparish to employ and set the poor to work.ll

This ea:rlyattempt to set up a wbrkliouseaPl)ears to have been a failure, forat a public·Vestry meeting in 1724 after discussing the i.ssuethat "the poor ofthis parish-dcil,yincrease and that there are no ways or means used to employsuch poor", it was decided to hire a house or houses to be set up as a workhouse.

It is likely that the desire for a-prope:rly regulated wor-khouse was inspiredby the Workhouse Act of 1722 which stated that it was lawful ·toset up a workhousewith the consent of the majority of the parishioners, the parish takir-If}lfthobenefitof the work, 1abouP'a.nd service" of those in its'charge.