Does anyone know please of the Halden Family History in Brent Pelham Area. My Wife's Gt Gt Grandfather was Thomas Podmore Halden born about 1800 in Brent Pelham.He left the area for Staffordshire 1837 to 1841.TPH Brother was John Halden(c1804) who with his Wife Hannah(Bayford) ran the Red Lion for a good number of years. I understand there are at least 2 Memorial Stones built into walls in Brent Pelham Church of Haldens. Other names I know of are the Parents of TPH John and Catherine who both died in the area in 1840.

Thomas Halden of Brent Pelham Hall died prior to mid 1787. Thank you-any help would be great. Howard B

The Haldens came to Brent Pelham sometime in the mid 18th. Century. Thomas Halden married Mary Floyer, the heiress of Thomas Floyer of Brent Pelham Hall. Certainly they jointly held the manor in1767. She died in 1773. Her descendants held the manor until 1839 when John Halden died and it was sold to George Hallam of Whitebarns, Furneux Pelham. Thomas Floyers Great Grandfather was Francis Floyer, a city merchant trading with Turkey. He appears to have been reasonably good at this as he was a Sherrif and alderman of the City of London before buying Brent Pelham and largely rebuilding The Hall. The main front in Wren _style_ is his and also some of the interior works including the main staircase on which his coat of arms still appears. The arms contain three arrows. A Floyer or Flyer was, I understand, a Saxon arrowmaker. If he had been Norman he would have been called Fletcher. His arms also appear on the challice which he gave to St Mary`s Church, Brent Pelham, and which is still used. The Floyer monument is on the North wall of the Church. it is rather grand and difficult but not impossible to read. Somebody tried to clean it with the wrong solution. In the vestry and behind the organ are tablets recording charitable donations by the Floyers. These are still distributed occasionaly but no longer as "bread for the poor" .
The Haldens are mostly burried under the floor of the church and thus their memmorial stones have suffered from being trodden on and from Victorian improvements. Some are partly readable and one has been reused as a step into the bottom of the tower.
You mention the Red Lion. This stood at the entrance gate to the Hall, about where the lodge now is. It seems to have been still run by one of the Halden family at the the time of the 1881 census. It was removed about 1896 by my great grandfatherwho replaced it with the lodge and a club room (now the village hall) where soft drinks and improving books could be obtained. This was of limited appeal.
Still standing is the windmill at the kennels. From memory the stone over the entrance is engraved " William Halden 1828"
Yor mention of Staffordshire is of interest as I am pretty certain that that is where the Floyers came from. I wonder if the family had kept some property there and returned there after Brent Pelham was sold. Francis Floyer was also a proprieter of The Massachusetts Company which was set up as to colonise that area. This may explain the number of Floyers in the U.S. Today.
Ted.