THE HUNDRED OF BECONTREE
The hundred of Becontree occupies the south-western corner of the county, bounded
on the south by the Thames and on the west by the Lea. It is now entirely urban
except on the northern fringe, which includes parts of Epping Forest and Hainault
Forest. There has been much industrial development, especially on the Thames bank,
where are the three 'Royal' docks, Beckton Gas Works, and the Ford Motor Works.
Domesday Book lists some 19 estates in Becontree hundred, containing 104 hides
in 10 villages distinguished by separate names. (fn. 1) Most of these villages later gave their
names to the parishes of the hundred, but there were some exceptions. Ham was
subsequently split into the two parishes of East Ham and West Ham. Higham later
became part of Walthamstow parish. One of the estates in Leyton later became Cann
Hall in the neighbouring parish of Wanstead, forming the anomalous 'Wanstead slip'.
Dagenham, which certainly existed in 1086, and which became a separate parish, is
not named in Domesday, no doubt because it was then, as later, part of the manor of
Barking. In 1086 the hundred included three estates in Loughton, a village which was
then partly, and later entirely, in Ongar hundred. (fn. 2) The Domesday manor of Havering
comprised the area later known as Hornchurch parish. In 1465 this became the Royal
Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, and was thus severed not only from Becontree
hundred but also, for most civil purposes, from the county of Essex. (fn. 3) After 1465
Becontree was sometimes called a half-hundred. (fn. 4)
THE HUNDRED OF BECONTREE
With the exceptions already mentioned the composition of the hundred seems to
have varied little. In taxation rolls of the 14th century and later the villages separately
assessed were identical with the parishes, except that Wanstead and (Little) Ilford
were jointly assessed. (fn. 5) Three of the parishes in the west of the hundred had detached
parts, the full details of which appear on 19th-century maps. (fn. 6) One such part, belonging
to Wanstead, was locally situated in West Ham. One belonging to Leyton was locally
in Walthamstow, while the 'Walthamstow slip' was in Leyton. Another piece of
Walthamstow lay locally in Chingford, and was thus detached from the hundred as
well as the parish. The southern boundary of the hundred followed the Thames except
in two places, one in East Ham and one in West Ham, where there were, and still are
(1963) detached parts of Woolwich, and therefore of the county of Kent (later London). (fn. 7)
The lordship of Becontree hundred was granted by Stephen to Barking Abbey,
between 1140 and 1152. It was to be held in free alms, but subject to an annual rent
of £3. (fn. 8) In 1198 the abbey compounded for this rent by paying Richard I 100 marks. (fn. 9)
The lordship subsequently descended along with the manor of Barking. (fn. 10) The ancient
meeting place of the hundred court was probably Becontree Heath, in Dagenham,
which before the detachment of Havering was central in the hundred. (fn. 11)
Stephen's grant gave Barking the right to hold the hundred as freely as the abbeys
of Bury St. Edmunds and Ely held their hundreds, with all pleas except pleas of the
Crown. Whatever may be the exact meaning of this reference to Bury and Ely, with
its ambiguous qualifying phrase, it is clear that Barking never came to enjoy the highly
privileged immunities held by the other two abbeys. (fn. 12) The nuns' jurisdiction was,
indeed, subsequently curtailed by franchises acquired by the various manorial lords in
the hundred. In 1220 the Abbess of Barking granted to the Prior of Holy Trinity,
Aldgate, lord of Cann Hall, exemption from all suits, customs and plaints belonging
to the hundred, stipulating only that the serjeant of the hundred should be present at
the annual view of frankpledge in the manor court. (fn. 13) In other cases the lords seem to
have acquired franchises by prescription. By the end of the 13th century those holding
most of the principal manors in the hundred had, or were claiming, view of frankpledge
and usually also the assize of bread and ale. Gallows had been erected at Havering,
Woodford, and on a manor in East and West Ham. The lord of Woodford also claimed
return of writs and pleas of withernam. (fn. 14) In other ways, also, Barking Abbey's hundredal
rights were being challenged or ignored. In 1227 the abbess unsuccessfully prosecuted
the lord of Little Ilford for failure to pay rents alleged to be due to the abbey as lord of
the hundred. (fn. 15) In 1274–5 it was stated that Richard de Montfitchet had for ten years
withheld wardpenny rents in East and West Ham. (fn. 16) He was a prominent baron who had
been a royal justice and sheriff of Essex. (fn. 17) He was not the only powerful lord holding
land within the hundred. Among others were Waltham Abbey (at Woodford),
Stratford Langthorne Abbey (at West Ham, Little Ilford, and Leyton), and the Tony
family and the co-heirs to the Valognes barony (both at Walthamstow). It was not
easy for Barking Abbey to maintain its hundredal rights against these men. Occasionally, also, those rights were attacked from above, by the sheriff. (fn. 18) Such aggression was
most likely to occur, and most difficult to resist, when the sheriff was himself a landholder in the hundred. It is stated that Richard de Montfitchet, when he was sheriff
(1242–6), set up gallows, held view of frankpledge, and enforced the assize of bread
and ale in East and West Ham without the hundred bailiff. (fn. 19)
At the end of the 14th century, when the revenues of Barking had been greatly
reduced by flood damage, the nuns tried to re-assert their ancient hundredal rights.
In 1379 they secured a royal grant empowering them to have return of writs in all
pleas arising in the hundred, to the exclusion of the sheriff, all fines, amercements and
forfeitures, and the assize of bread and ale. (fn. 20) Similar grants were made in 1392, 1399,
1462, and 1464. (fn. 21) The grant of 1392 stated that the return of writs had been granted
by King Stephen but 'not enjoyed as fully as the charter implied'.