SMITH, Susan Catherine

  Noted events in her life were:

• Historical. ¹
FARMS OCCUPIED BY THE FAMILY
ALDENHAM LOOOE , A1denham, Hertfordshire by Joseph and Mary Smith from about ,. 1775 to 1820.
STUBBERS. North Ockendon, Essex, by George and Sarah Smith from 1839 and
subsequently taken over by George and Harry Smith with Bretts, demolished.
BRETTS, Ave1ey, Essex, by Percy and Mary Smith from 1843 and subsequently taken over by his sons George and Harry Smith until 1920.
FANNS, Wennington, Nr. Rainham, Essex, by Russell Smith, but as far as is known
did not work the farm.
MANOR FARM, Stanford-Ie-Hope, Essex, by George and Ethel Smith and his brother
Harry from 1920 to 1935. Demolished.
BROADHOPE; Standford-le-Hope, Essex, by Percy and Elizabeth Smith from approximately 1880 to 1924 and subsequently taken over by his son Norman and Ethel Smith from 1924 to 1967. Demolished.IVY WALLS, Stanford-Ie-Hope, Essex worked in conj unction with Broadhope.
Farm house demolished.

GREAT GARLANDS, Stanford-Ie-Hope, Essex, worked in conjunction with Broadhope until approximately 1935 when it was taken over by Bennet Smith until his death in 1974.
CORNER FARM, North Ockendon, Essex by Harold and Dorothy Smith from 1917 to 1924.
OAKHURST FARM, Navestock, Essex, by Norman and Ethel Smith from 1911 to 1916.
TROTTERS FARH, Great Hakering, Essex, by Norman 2nd Ethel Smith from 1916 to 1924.

• Historical: Hist. ¹
From "Royal Coremission on Historical Monuments (England)
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An Inventory of the historioal monuments in Essex, Volume IV.1923.
A VELEY .
BRETTS, house and moat, about l¼ m. N.N.W. of the ohuroh.
The House is of two storeys; the walls are of plastered timber-framing and briok and the roofs are oovered with slate. It was built possibly in tho 14th oentury and is of half H-shaped plan with the oross-wings extending towards the E. Alterations were made in the 16th and 17th.
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centuries. Modern work inoludes the one storey addition on the E. front and oonsiderable alterations to the roof.The reset l5th-oentury entranoe doorway has a four-centred head with trefoiled spandrels,within a square moulded frame.The 17th-oentury chimney-stacks areI
rectangular and have moulded string courses just above the ridge of the roof. Inside the Building some of the main ceiling-beams are exposed and the passage in the N. wing has the joists showing, and a four-oentred archway. In the E. wall of. the original hall are two blooked windows, . t".;: ! .
,eaoh of two oinquefoiled lights in a square head with a moulded label;they have stone dressings and are of 15th-century date. There are two moulded batten doors of early l7th-century date and the N.W. room has~ a fireplace with a segmental-pointed head. On the first floor some of the timber-construction is exposed.In the E. wall are two blocked1 \\
windows with diamond-shaped mullions and two of the rooms have open. fireplaoes with four-oentred heads. The hall was divided into three bays and had, ourved braoes to the roof trusses, forming two-oentred arches. The wall-plates to the'middle bay are riohly moulded but are apparently not in situ.The roof over the N.E. wing is of central-purlin type withcurved braces.
The Moat is incomplete.The N. and W. arms remain: and are'. I
still'filled with water and on the E. side is a sunk wall of: old.brickwork which was possibly a retaining wall to the E. arm.
Condition of house, good.
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• Historical. ¹
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/, .;: History of "Le Byrttes Place" or "Bretts Manor House'"
//.,Aveley., I
Compiled from Salmon, Morant, Palin and otber sources.

G.Z.W Hayes (Vicar of West Thurrook) August 18 1914
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1042.Tbo district of Avaley about tbe time of Edward tbe Confessor (1.e.1043)had 4 manors:-
- bad. 4 manors:1. Avaleia or Alvithlei or ..'....
'; !"'2. Delbous or :Belhuaor"
3. Bumpsted orand ......
4. Ke1iture or Bretts
'....
In 1060. Suere a great nobleman of Essex held Ave1eia from tbe King as a manor, containing three hides and a balf (See Domesday Book
19) but other landowners in Aveleia about that time, or in 1066 were Jobn de Waldan. Odo Bishop of Bayeux and Ansgar a Norman cook.,'.
Suere, as head landlord however, held Ke1iture (afterwards called Bretts). It continued a separate manor until the time of Henry III (1199 to 1272). It was called Keliture from 'two old saxon words
signifying If cold town or "blea.k townl'" standing as it did, a.bove "
the Thames.' About lO66 Suere held no other land in the Hundred. ,.
save Keliture and Warley. This, Suere had, as tenant, (in Kingi:
Edward's time) one Ulstan but the plaoe tben had only one hide ot .~
land attached to it.In 1067 Suera had as tenant one Le' ; ~
Between 1040 and'1066 we find tha t 3 f'reemen held it for part of tbe '
time, and during this time it had 4 hides o:r land attacbed! .
(Domesday 54).-.j,
In 1068 William de warren held it 'for exchange; but, meantime! i
sublet it to Wilbert. The manor had increased in value trom 25/- '~~
to 97/-.Ha1f a hide ot' this same manor was held as a distinct
ho1ding for many years. For instanoe, Uffin or freeman be1d the ~ ~
half hide ,in 1040 and one Dolf beld it in 1067. Hugo de Bret, of In 1230 Normandy held this manor of Ke1iture about 1230 and died l250 in ;tbe 51st of Hen.lll (see Lesto de Nevill). He oalled it after his : own name, and it bo1ds this same for the last seven centur1es and
. more..'.
, This Hugo had a son John Ie Brett who held other lands also ???
1298 (of Humphrey de Bohun ot .Earl de Warren and of Jobn de :Brianzon- ~~ :;
(who owned Purfleet a.nd, West Thurrook ma.nors).-
This John Ie Brett had as a son and heir Simon le Brett..!:,
The latter died in 3rd. of Ed.lll {1315}.He left Elizabeth le';;
Brett as his daughter and heir but her sister Joane had- an I.;;',
assignation ot her dowry out of tbis manor and ,soma 'other .tenements.. in Alvithy or Ave1ey .(See Bria.Ann.4th. Ed.lll ,'. ". ). , ..' ... tff.
We do not know at what period the place became fortified by a moat: }of water and a drawbridge but like some other manors this may have 'been only executed for fashion sake after .the manner ot castles a.nd ,'fortified a.bbeys. , The' place does not seem to really 1end itself to defensive fortifications but tha oid moat existed!down to the
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?th century and a traoe of it, and the drawbridge still remains.D u:ring some repair operations oarried out in 1914, after stripping the walls of the existing house on the site, several very massive beams were
uncovered, showing that at one time the ceillings were many feet higher.Several small semi-circular w indows were also discovered near the :roof in the front (West) wal in one place together, as if the old mansion was once lighted in its upper storey by a range of small round topped,or semi-Gothic windows. Furthermore, on the basement may yet be seen the upper part of the remains of a stone doorway or large window of a distinctly eclesiastical,design (either the foil or quinqua foil)"
A fragment of a similar door or window oan be detected at the end of what is now used as a pantry. These remains are of the 13th. Or l4th.century at which period many noblemen copied ecclesiastical,architecture both in their castles and mansions. Doubtless these remains gave rise to the local tradition that at one time Bretts Manor house was a monastic institution but this is not true. The usual story is also told about a series of extensive underground, passages and wine cellars "used by the' monks". (?) , Of course, it is probable that the Bretts had good wine, ' cellars, cut in the chalk underneath, and it is also possible that a smal1
tunnel once existed from the interior of tbe mansion down under the moat and opening into a grove some distance off. as a means of escape from the enemy but since Danish times such passages in private manors would be of
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little use.I
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1350. A.bout 1350 tbis manor was in possession of Henry Bawdwin a ,-I .'
descendent of the' great William, Bawdwin ,who :is burried at North Ockendon.'. ~
He died in 1316.(see~',
In l356 one John Boyrton possessed it and we find that in 13?0 or there abouts one William Soutre was Lord of the Manor. He grants out of- . I
"aand all his lands and tenements in Alvythele. Upmynstre and "
Kenynton called Bretts Place to John Breyrnore (Clerk) a oertain yearlyI
~, rent of 12 marks "to be received for his lifetime."
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1465. In the 9th. of Henry vll (1465) one Riohard Selye or Ceely held
this manor ,of :Bretts in Alvetbley, from tbe Lady Inglethorpe. She had ~
:3 daughters being Margaret, Isobella and Barbara. One ot them it is ' supposed married Sir John Baker and brought B retts to him. At any rate we find that Sir john Baker'.....the mansion to Edward Barrett, Esq.
'His grandson (another Edward Barrett) was, by inquisition of the Court "
1600. of wards, found to bold Bretts Manor, of Lord Henry Hansdon of Raleigh. After tbis the manor came as part of Belbouse estate to
Thomas Lennard :Barrett Esq. (as the manor of Bumpstead was also merged into this estate).When Morant wrote in ....he says Bretts Manor 1s large and "encompassed with a wide moat of olear water".' It is known tbat Charles Barrett Esq. the father ot Lord Newburgh once lived in it.
.Morant says "the lower storey is of brick with very ancient Gothic windows tbe rest of plaster or roughcast". Edward Barrett had a daughter Ann who married Sir Thomas Corbet. While on tbis point, I may mention that, : there is a plaoe not far from here called Corbet Tey (the word "Tey'
being an old Saxon word for enclosure). 'This word naturally means Corbet enclosure, but some wit in the 18th oentury seems to have spun a yarn that Queen Elizabeth on her way to Tilbury, calling out to her knight who was riding too fast thus ' Corbet: stay " and from benceforth
the place was known as 'Corbets Tey. The absurdity of this fraudulent
story can be oniy equalled by the other fraudulent" tale about Purfleet'.
.that the
Queen stood on Botany Gardens Hill and reviewed her fleetin
, the Thames crying out "Ah 1 my poor fleet" and henceforth the place!
," was called Poorfleet or Purfleet ... The fact is' that the name Purfleet is simply a. con tracted form of Portfleet or the North of the fleet (called the Mardyke).It had its name as early as the time of the, Edviards, and is mentioned in court documents. These foolish stories seem to have been first told to Holman (whose manuscript is in Colchester museum) :from whom all subsequent historians slavishly copied them.
In tbe yearMrSmith formerly ofbecame tenant of Bretts manor house with a portion of land adjoiningacres leased from Sir ... and his sonnow occupies the house, which
of oourse, is quite m odernised to meet present day tastes. '
- '- Appendix to 'local history.In Dr.C.Cox's "ESSEX" see p.88 it is stated that "The moated house of. .
Bretts is said to have been the seat of Le Brett one of tbe murderers of A'Archbisbop Becket" but there is no proof that such was tbe case. Other families of tbe same name lived in Little Chesterfield and at Thunderley
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}Hall. The knights who slew Thomas a Becket are given as Reginald Fitzurse "
, William de Tracy t Hugh de Norville and Richard Brito or the Breton, and
it may only be the similarity ot "Brito" to "le Brett" that occasioned
the story. The nephew of, Thos.a Becket once had some land in Stifford..
and when Becket was Dean of the Collegiate Cburch, inside the castle of Hastings he. in his official capaci ty t appointed one of the chapter tbere to be incumbent of WEST THURROCK which church was a Pretend of theChapel of St .Mary-in-the-castle for many c enturies unt i1 the Reforrnatlon.
We have a record ot a Jobn de Brett living in Little Chesterfield in
Utlesford Hundred in 1239 and a Thomas de Brett held Little Chesterfield'
in 1302 under: .Matthew de .........


.Following is from Salmon's History of Essex 1740-42
The ,M a nor of, BETTS :
John Ferrers ;Esq. May '5' 1'8 Ed, IV was seized of this Manor.,The ,reverson of it
belonged to thc heir of George, late Duke of Clarence,vhich was Edward, Earl :of Warwick ,then five years oId
King Hen. VIII, in the eleventh yeair of his reign; settled the Manor of Bretts in Westham on..his Queen consort.
Qeen Elizabeth granted the Manor of Bretts in West~ham, to Peter Gray and Edward Gray,
by letters patents, May. 8, in the eighteent, year of her :reign,.
Michael Hencage,Esq; William Pointz Esq.and Milo Grey Esq; were seized of this Manor, for the use of Sir 'I'bomas Hencage Knight, and Anne his wife; without impeachment of waste; the remainder to Moil Finch and Elizabeth his wife,daughter of Sir Thomas Hencage and Anne his wife, by indenture, dated July.24~ 18 Eliz., This Manor, with appurtenances, was, :by: Sir Thomas .Hencage a1ienated to Roger Townshend Esq; by Iicence, dated June 10, 25 Eliz.And by Roger, March 26.. 26, Eliz., to Edward de,Vere Earl. of Oxford. Edward de Vere died the 24th of June last.
and' held the Manor of Bretts with appurtenances in West-ham;Henry de Vere is his son and heir., eleven years and four months old.
Henry Wollaston died Nov. 22, ,'14- Jac, I, :and. held theManor 'of Bretts of the King in capite;William his son and, heir, thirty years and more,,,,,,,,,,
Thomas Willmer died Feb; I7 last: past. and held lands in West-ham of the King in capite, parcel of.the Manor of West-ham, and the Rectory of' St. Leonard's,.Bromley, in Middlesex. Henry his son, six, years:old, held lands in West-ham of Sir W1l1iam Courteene.Knight.In the Church is an epitaph for Thomas Wilmer, w!thout date; another for George, son of George Wilmer Esq; who died 1626. ,: .
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Susan married Ronald Ian ANDERSON, son of Dr. Ralph Blyth ANDERSON and Helena Elizabeth DAVEL, on 11 Apr 1970 in Salisbury (Now Harare Zimbabwe). (Ronald Ian ANDERSON was born on 10 Feb 1947 in Salisbury (Now Harare) and died on 7 Jul 2011 in Leighton Buzzard, U.K..)