Catalogue description Deeds of Sempstead Farm, Ewhurst

This record is held by East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Record Office (ESBHRO)

Details of AMS6001
Reference: AMS6001
Title: Deeds of Sempstead Farm, Ewhurst
Description:

These documents, which were sent to the depositor by a firm of Hastings solicitors, relate to an estate assembled by Ansell Day of Mayfield at the end of the eighteenth century. Sempstead Place and the appurtenant manor of Knoll had formed a portion of the Lade family's property and was among the parts of that estate puchased by Day in partnership with a Brenchley Timbermerchant in 1784. The neighbouring Castledens Farm, which included three tenements held of Ewhurst manor, was purchased in 1804 from the tenant of Sempstead, John Colbran, amid much acrimony concerning the title, Day's land in Ewhurst also included a tenement called Winches but the documents give no indication of the means of its acquisition

 

As well as deeds, the archives also contains a small but useful series of vouchers covering a period (1800 - 1805) when extensive building work was carried out at Sempstead, and a page of notes relating to the release in 1756 of the Day estate from legacies charged on it by the will of Richard Day in 1746 (43 below)

 

For a sale off of brookland by Richard Day in 1842 with supporting examined abstracts and a copy of a map of 1784, see DAP box 59

 

Sempstead Place and the manor of Knoll, purchased by Ansell Day in 1784

 

On 9 Feb 1683 Edward Piers of Ewhurst esq, a son of Thomas Piers of Stonepit in Seale, Kent, bt, deceased, mortgaged a house, barns, stables and land (160a) called Sempstead Place in Ewhurst, occupied by Richard Gill, to Henry Piggott of Chiddingstone, Kent, yeoman for £100 at 6%. On 3 Apr 1684 Piers's £50 mortgage of 20 Aug 1682 of a barn and seven pieces of land (40a and 3a wood) in Brede occupied by John Clinsett was assigned by Thomas Glover of Southfleet, Kent, yeoman to John Ashdowne of Chiddingstone, who advanced a further £20. On 7 Jan 1685 Piers mortgaged a house, barns, stables and 18 piece of land (70a) called Lordingstreet in Ewhurst and Northiam, occupied by Stephen Catt whose lease had been granted by Sir Thomas Piers, to Edward Medhurst of Cowden, Kent, yeoman for £50 at 3%; the Brede land was also charged. On 25 Mar 1687 all these mortgages were assigned to William Woodgate of Chiddingstone yeoman who undertook to pay £600 to satisfy Edward Piers's debts; a later deed recites that £400 only was paid. Lordingstreet was subsequently sold to Anthony Sheep of Battle yeoman for £650 and the Brede land to Richard Gill for £343 and Woodgate assigned his interest in each to the one purchaser in trust for the other

 

On 17 Aug 1689 Edward Piers, in need of a further £700, assigned his estate in Sempstead Place, its land (140a) and woodland (90a) and the appurtenant manor of Knoll to William Streatfield of Heaver, Kent, gent in trust for Woodgate, to whom the legal estate was mortgaged for the full debt of £1,100 at 8% on 19 and 20 Aug; the term created by an earlier mortgage to one Samuel Cole was assigned to John Streatfield of Penshurst, Kent and Richard Gill, the tenant, was instructed to pay his rent to Woodgate to discharge the debt (1-3)

 

On 11 and 12 May 1692 Piers was joined by his elder brother, Thomas Piers of Stonepit in Seale bt, to sell Sempstead and the manor of Knoll to Gabriel Egles of Uckfield gent for £1,500, of which £1,223 was paid to Woodgate to discharge the mortgage (4, 5). In Michaelmas term 1707 the property formed part of that conveyed by fine by John Egles gent to Ferdinando Penkhurst esq, no doubt as part of a settlement (6)

 

On 1 and 2 Oct 1717 the estate, with the exception of Goldspur Wood and Croft (7a), was conveyed to John Lade of St Saviour Southwark esq for £1,200, of which £215 was paid to Elizabeth Mountague of Lewes widow in discharge of a £200 mortgage of part of the property made on 19 and 20 Mar 1715. The term created by the 1683 mortgage was assigned by William Streatfield of Heaver gent to John Fuller of Brightling esq in trust for Lade. The deeds present in this deposit lack the release of 2 Oct 1717, which is, however, among a group of Egles and Streatfield family documents presented by Hove Library in 1956, AMS1204-1222, as AMS1204. Also present in that group, AMS1205, is a document recording a payment, under the warranty clause, of £10 10s by Egles to Lade in respect of the quitrents issuing from the property: 13s 4d to the manor of Herstmonceux and 1d to Bodiam. This document, executed 30 Nov 1719, exonerated the vendor from any further claim (7-9)

 

The estate descended in the Lade family (for details see AMS5718/28-33, 39, 52-55, 58-61) until by deeds of 27 and 28 Feb 1784 Philip Jennings Clerke of Duddleston Hall Salop bt and Henry Smith of Newhouse St Albans esq, who had been appointed trustees of John Lade of St George Hanover Square bt on 30 and 31 Jan 1783 (for which see AMS5718/53) sold the estate, let to John Colebrand at £50, including hopground and with 77a woodland in hand, to Ansell Day of Mayfield gent and William Collins of Brenchley, Kent timbermerchant and John Collens the younger of Goudhurst, Kent yeoman his trustee for £3,000 (10-14)

 

On 16 and 17 Apr 1784 the Collens's moiety of the Lade estate in Warbleton (details as AMS5718) and Ewhurst were conveyed to Day for £4,012 17s 2½d; this deed is present in the form of an undated copy watermarked 1838 (41)

 

Castledens Farm, purchased by Ansell Day in 1804

 

The farm consisted of a 25-acre freehold (shown on 21 below) and three copyhold tenements held of Ewhurst manor called Deans, Heels and Parties (quitrents 1s 8d, 4d and 1s 5d), shown on 30 below. Apart from a receipt for court fees for the 1804 sale, no documents relating to the copyhold portion of the estate are present

 

Although in 1804 an irate vendor believed that Castledens Farm had been in the hands of the Blackman family since at least 1714 (23), an eleven-year lease by John Blackman of Rolvenden yeoman to Thomas Bartlett of Ewhurst farmer at £10 a year of 13 Nov 1755 was the earliest document that could then be found. It describes the farm, occupied by Bartlett, as a house, barn, stable and six pieces of land (24a) and includes a provision for free carriage of materials by the tenant if Blackman decided to rebuild the house (15, 16)

 

On 19 and 20 Nov 1764 John Blackman and his wife Mary conveyed the farm, which also included a shaw (1a), to John Bartlett of Ewhurst yeoman for £350; on 10 and 11 Nov 1793 Bartlett, then of Beckley gent, and his wife Elizabeth, sold the farm to John Colbran of Ewhurst yeoman [the tenant of Sempstead Place: see 10-14 above] and William Durrant of Rye gent his trustee for £850; the occupiers were Bartlett, Edward Smith and Thomas Durrant and a bond was given against the dower of Bartlett's wife Elizabeth (17-21)

 

A map of Castledens Farm dated 1795, showing the house, agricultural buildings and a cottage, with names of neighbouring owners and including a sketch of Sempstead Place, drawn on paper watermarked 1801, may have been prepared for the conveyance of 1804 (22)

 

On 27 Feb 1804, during negotiations for a sale to William Day, but before the contract was signed, John Bartlett wrote to John Colbran from Beckley objecting to Colbran's request that a fine should be levied. He had been to see Mr Woollet and Mr Pope [the Rye solicitors who had drawn the 1793 conveyance]: "I think it very strang for you and Mr Philcox [Colbran's solicitor] to give me so much trouble ..... Mr Pope and his partner made a joke of it". Thinks the Blackman family had the property more than 90 years ago; "I hope you will be satisfied as to the title for as Mr Pope thought it a good title 40 years ago shurly it is not got worse now" (23)

 

A contract for the sale of Castledens and the copyholds for £720 and £392 respectively, probably drawn by William Day, was agreed by Colbran and Day "provided my solicitor does not object to the title that Mr Colbran can produce" on 25 Mar 1804. They also agreed that John Colbran or his son Thomas was to be given a lease of Sempstead, Castledens and the copyhold at £120 for 14 years or £130 for 21 years (24). An abstract of title was drawn by [James] Philcox of Burwash and examined for the purchaser by John Morgan of Castle Street Holborn on 7 Sept 1804, who pointed out the shortness of the title, the need to levy a fine or for the bond against Elizabeth Bartlett's dower (21) to be assigned to Mr Day (25). The conveyance took place on 27 and 28 Sept 1804; William Day was described as of Leicester Place, St Ann Westminster esq and Thomas Day of the same address acted as his trustee (26, 27). The copyhold estate passed at a special court held on 2 Oct 1804 (28)

 

The whole estate

 

As soon as the purchase was complete, a schedule of parcels (watermarked 1804) and a map (watermarked 1797) of the entire estate were prepared, indicating that of the total acreage of 267a 1r 4p, the woodland in hand amounted to 95a 0r 5p. The acreages included two fields and a wood called Winches (22a 0r 13p), the date of acquisition of which by Day is not made clear (29, 30)

 

Also present with the deeds are several bundles of vouchers and other financial papers, mostly concerning major repairs to Sempstead Place; over £200 had been spent there by Dec 1804 and estimates for a further £350 worth of work had been prepared by John Norris of Beckley, as his partner Edward Sevenoaks, a Northiam carpenter who had executed the work, wrote to Colbran at that time. Apart from rates and taxes, the vouchers relate to the purchase of reeds (Edward Playford), measuring (T Colbran), sawing (John Barnes, Thomas Wimble), smith's work (A Gilbert), bricks (John Thamsett), thatching (William Jewhurst) and mason's work (Richard Sevenoaks) and are grouped under 25 Mar 1804 (31), 25 Mar 1805 (32) and 29 Sept 1805 (36). Also present are an analysis of Sempstead Place bills for 1800 - 04 by William Day (33), a letter from Colbran to Day including their account and Edward Sevenoaks' account with a request to pay it, 16 Feb 1805 (34) with the account, settled by a bill to S Gilbert drawn on William Day (35); some of these documents formerly acted as wrappers for the bundles of vouchers. Half a letter sent by Sevenoaks to Day on 11 Sept 1805 has been used for a list of woods and acreages with an alphabetical system of reference; a comparison with the 1804 map shows that a further nine acres of wood had been planted (37)

 

On 5 Aug 1808, William Day's widow Susannah Day of Montague Street, Bloomsbury and his brother Thomas Day of the same address, on behalf of William's son Richard to whom the property had been left, granted a 21-year lease of the whole estate to Thomas Colbran farmer from 29 Sept 1804 at £130. The lease, which contains detailed husbandry covenants, is endorsed with an authority to Colbran to underlet the house, cottage and garden at Castledens on condition that he pays for repairs (38). [For a copy of William Day's will, proved in PCC 26 May 1807, see SAS/RF9/100.]

 

On 10 Sept 1830 James Parsons wrote to T[homas] W[alter] Reeves esq at Church House, [Beckley] with his measurement of Long Wood at Sempstead Farm and a calculation of the value at £15 an acre. An unnamed correspondent replied to Reeves on 25 Sept pointing out the disparity between Parsons's measurement and that on the map drawn by Mr Beck of Ewhurst in 1825. Also discussed is the report of Mr [Thomas] Austin [the tenant: see land tax] of damage done in the woods at Sempstead by Mr Hilder's hop-pickersunder pretence of taking sear-wood. Mr Day is reluctant to prosecute for the theft of sear-wood but wishes Mr Austen to keep people out of the woods and to take any found causing damage before a magistrate (39, 40)

 

Soon after 1838 (watermark) a copy was made of the release of the Lade estate by John Collens to his partner Ansell Day, no doubt in preparation for a subsequent transaction (41)

 

The plan of lots 1-5 in the sale of the late Edward Jeremiah Curteis's estate in Ewhurst and Northiam (New House and Marchants, Northiam Place, Padgham and Shoreham Farms) in 1843 is present with the deeds; much of the estate bordered Richard Day's land and a purchase may have been contemplated (42). [For a better, coloured, copy, see SAS/JC 490 and for an unexecuted agreement between E J Curteis's sons for a partition, Dec 1843, see SAS/JC 462]

 

Day estate

 

Also present with the deeds is a page of rough notes concerning legacies under the will [of Richard Day of Hadlow in Mayfield, 20 Oct 1746] and concerning settlements of Gatehouse, Impingtons and Broadreed [in Mayfield], 1672 and 1684 and of deeds of [Twyfords] Marsh in Pevensey, all prepared c1754 [when Richard Day's children released his estate from legacies charged in the will: for details, see the deeds of Twyfords Marsh in Pevensey, AMS5861, particularly numbers 31-33] (43)

 

PCC letters of administration of the goods of Elizabeth Barton of Staplehurst, Kent, widow, granted 3 Nov 1807 to Elizabeth wife of George Taylor, widow and administratrix of EB's son Thomas Barton, have no apparent connection with the estate (44)

Date: 1683 - 1843
Held by: East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Record Office (ESBHRO), not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Immediate source of acquisition:

Documents deposited 6 August 1987 (ACC 4894)

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