At the first meeting on Friday 8th September in St Mary’s Church a total of 20 villagers plus a representative of Braughing Field Walkers association attended, a further 10 villagers sent apologies. The meeting was to encourage the attendees to discover more about the past life of the village and explore common interests such as the buildings, past residents and the archaeology of pre-written history periods.

The first talk was on the formation of an independent Parish using Hertfordshire and Church records. The Domesday survey lists only a Parish of Pelham with one church, four manors and three estates. By 1152 we know there were two churches, one in Burnt Pelham and one in Furneux Pelham, because the Bishop of London transferred them from his control to the Treasurer of St. Paul’s control. The talk included a brief review of the dates various parts of the current church were built, with one of the most notable being 1237 when Symon de Furness or Furnell obtained permission to build a new Chapel on the site of a previous building which was leaning over. His tombstone is under the Victorian organ in the Chancel confirming this is the oldest part of the building.

Next, Chris Hadley gave a presentation entitled: “Was this church built on the site of a prehistoric temple?’ Chris examined claims about the prehistory of the village made in George Cameron’s 1935 History of Furneux Pelham. Archdeacon Cameron, a former vicar of the parish, based his claims on very tenuous evidence, but in 1939 he learnt that there had been Bronze Age artefacts from Furneux Pelham in Lord Braybrooke’s museum room at Audley End -- the first hint of real evidence for prehistoric activity in the village.
Chris discovered that there had been a socketed axe-head from Furneux Pelham at Audley End which was now at Cambridge University. It was from the late Bronze Age, some 3000 years ago, and manuscripts, also at Cambridge, specified the location of the find, and described it as a hoard.
Chris concluded that there was some plausible evidence for the smelting of Bronze in Furneux Pelham. The artefacts and a skeleton had probably been found in Great Brazen Field to the east of Barleycroft End on land owned by George Morris. They were probably acquired by Mathew Adcock Ward, a Saffron Walden auctioneer, who gave the axe head to the 4th Lord Braybrooke in about 1848. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to locate any other artefacts from the find.

Then Stephen Bratt using Church records from 1560 to date showed how the population of the village grew throughout the centuries to over 600 ( currently about 500) with set backs when the plague arrived and when Hertfordshire had a scarlet fever epidemic. He also focused on some individual families and their tragedies during these times. Records also show that two residents were sentenced to hang for their crimes but the sentences were commuted and they were deported to Australia.

The talks were appreciated by the audience and have inspired some to find out more about the history of their houses and to participate in field walks. We propose to hold another meeting in the Village Hall during November, the exact date will be advertised in the next magazine and in the Calendar on this website

Malcolm Ewen

Up and coming Meeting Dates for 2007 will appear automatically in the side panel