St. Johns

Just 14 miles from the centre of London, lies the Manor of St Johns, or St Johns in Lambourne, just beyond the end of the Central line, on the edge of the Hainault Forest.

The manor, originally referred to as Lambourne and Abridge, was created in the 12th century through the acquisition of land by the Knight Hospitallers and gifts from a number of local landowners, including Peter de Valoines and William de Bois. The Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem was founded in 1099 after the First Crusade, and officially recognised by Pope Pascal II in 1113. The order was founded to support the work of the hospital, which tended Christian travellers in the city. The order followed the principals of the Augustinians, taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. It soon developed into a military order, to protect pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land and it received donations of land across Europe to pay for its activities.

The manor remained in the hands of the Hospitallers until the order was dissolved in 1538. For a time the Lordship rested with the Crown before being granted to Richard Morgan and Thomas Carpenter. These were likely land speculations since the estate was soon sold to Robert Taverner, who died in 1556. His son and heir, Thomas, was still a minor at the time of his father’s death and he was made a royal ward. St Johns was recorded as being valued at £23 15s and his mother was granted dower in it until her son reached the age of 21.

Thomas Taverner sold the manor in 1597-8 to Sir Robert Wroth. He was a wealthy forest official in Enfield Chase and sat in nine Elizabethan Parliaments as a Member for Middlesex, and was a client of the Secretary of State, Robert Cecil. He amassed a fortune in land purchases and sales at his death in 1604 left the Lordship of St Johns to his eldest son, Robert. In 1608 the manor was assessed and found to include 4 messuages, 2 gardens, 100 acres of land, 20 acres of meadow, 100 acres of pasture, 80 acres of wood, and 8s. rent. In 1630 St Johns was sold by John Wroth to Richard Peacock who received the royal confirmation of all rights and privileges connected with the manor but lived only four more years, dying in 1634, leaving the estate to his son, Edward.

In 1641 Edward sold, or leased, the Lordship to John Charles and in 1647 it was sold once more, to George Bagstar. Bagstar subsequently sold St John’s Farm to William Browne of Abridge but the manor and its rights was sold separately to Edward Palmer, squire of Dews Hall in the parish.

Between 1668 and 1697 Henry Billingsley Palmer, son of Edward Palmer, took out a number of mortgages on his estate. One of the mortgagees being Richard Lockwood. In 1709 Palmer sold the manor to Catlyn Thorogood, an official of the South Sea Company. He was responsible for the renovation of St Mary and All Saints Church in Lambourne, giving it the Georgian appearance that is still retains today. After his death in 1732, Thorogood’s son and heir, Pate, sold his estates, including the manor of St Johns, to Richard Lockwood, described by the Essex historian Philip Morant as an eminent Turkey merchant, and the son of the above mentioned Richard Lockwood. Lockwood made his fortune trading in the ‘Levant’ and was appointed a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Anne. He was returned as a Member of Parliament for Hindon, one of the so-called rotten boroughs, abolished in 1832. Lockwood fought, won and lost several elections before becoming a Member for the City of London in 1722. He used the fortune he made in trading to enlarge Dews Hall. His son and heir, Richard, held the Lordship of St Johns for forty years after the death of his father. He died in 1794 and was succeeded by his brother, the Revd. Edward Lockwood.

After Edward’s death in 1802 there was a separation of the Dews Hall estate between members of the family but it was reunited under William J. Lockwood in 1842. The manor subsequently descended to Lt.-Gen. William M. Wood, son of W. J. Lockwood who had assumed the surname of Wood in 1838 on inheriting the property of an uncle. Lt.-Gen. Wood died in 1883 and was succeeded by his son Amelius R. M. Lockwood, who had reassumed the original family name in 1876. Amelius was a former soldier who became a Member of Parliament for Epping from 1892 to 1917. He was man who lent his talents and influence to a variety of causes and organisations, including being Provincial Grand Master of the Essex Freemasons, Vice President of the RSPCA, President of the Royal Horticultural Society and Chairman of the Governors of Chigwell School from 1893 to 1922. He was also a director of the London and North-Western Railway and was appointed a Privy Councillor in 1905. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Lambourne of Lambourne in 1917 but by then his only heir, his nephew, Richard Lockwood, had been killed at the Battle of Aisne on September 1914. After his death in 1928 the estates were sold, including the manor of St Johns, which had been reunited with St Johns Farm in the 19th century. The manor of St Johns was sold in the 1970s and once again, to the family of the present owner, in 1989.

A Selection of Manorial Documents in in the Public Domain:

1349-1350: minister’s account, with other manors The National Archives

1580-1730: steward’s papers Essex Record Office

1691-1735: court rolls

1713-1742: steward’s papers

1718-1729: rentals

1726-1747: steward’s papers

1730-1735: court rolls

1730-1735: presentments

1730-1730: court roll

1730-1730: rental

1734-1734: rental

1746-1746: presentments

1746-1746: court roll

Rights, customs and incidents

In 1630 St Johns was sold by John Wroth to Richard Peacock who received the royal confirmation of all rights and privileges connected with the manor but lived only four more years, dying in 1634, leaving the estate to his son, Edward.
Bagstar subsequently sold St John’s Farm to William Browne of Abridge but the manor and its rights was sold separately to Edward Palmer, squire of Dews Hall in the parish.

Historical holder / succession information

1. Richard Morgan and Thomas Carpenter
   granted_to · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: For a time the Lordship rested with the Crown before being granted to Richard Morgan and Thomas Carpenter.
2. Robert Taverner
   1556 · sold_to · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: These were likely land speculations since the estate was soon sold to Robert Taverner, who died in 1556.
3. His son and heir, Richard [source claim requiring identity review]
   held_manor · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: His son and heir, Richard, held the Lordship of St Johns for forty years after the death of his father.
4. Lt [source claim requiring identity review]
   passed_to · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: The manor subsequently descended to Lt.-Gen.