Local History Early History of Berden | Early History of Berden |
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Situation Berden is at the North West corner of Essex, on the border with Hertfordshire and only 5 miles from the border with Cambridgeshire. It is one of the higher parts of the county rising to almost 120m and is part of the chalk uplands that stretch across to Royston. There is one strange exception to this. On the southern side of Little London is a deep stretch of clean sand which might just give some credence to the theory, referenced in The Estuary, by A.K.Astbury (The Carnforth Press 1980), that the river Thames might originally have flowed through Bishops Stortford to its outlet to the sea somewhere around Kings Lynn. Brief History The history of Berden starts 3,500 years ago, in the Bronze Age. When the foundations for the Wesleyan Chapel were being dug in 1907, a Bronze Age skeleton was unearthed. The Wesleyan Chapel has since become Berden Village Hall but the architecture of its original purpose can still be seen. It must have been an exciting day when the Village heard that the men digging the foundations for the new Chapel, George Knight, George Mynott and William White, had unearthed a skeleton with an armlet and beaker some 18" below the surface. Within a few hours, the armlet had been sold to the blacksmith named S. Sibley but was seen by Rev. H. K. Hudson who was then the Vicar. It was not until 1918 - 19 that Guy Maynard F.R.A.L. and G. Montague Benton MA heard of the important find. Luckily they were able to take independent statements from the men on their return from service in the First World War Their reports can be summed up-as follows: "A trench was being dug for the wall footings. William White drove his pick through the skull. The skeleton was about 18" below the surface and appeared to be lying on its back at full length and all the bones seemed to be present. Near the wrist of the left arm was a ring of dark metal and the two bones of the arm were stained green where they had passed through it. George Knight picked up the ring and sold it afterwards to Mr. Sibley, the blacksmith. The earthenware pot was dug out with the bones and seemed to be on the left side towards the feet. We found the skeleton before breakfast. On our return from breakfast, we found the bones scattered and the skull had disappeared. We never heard what became of it. After a time, we buried the remaining bones in one of the wall trenches." The above was mainly from William White's statement.Lord Abercrombie LLDFSAScot. thought the beaker a remarkably fine one and that the grave would originally have been under a tumulus. The armlet was traced to a dealer in dealer Saffron Walden but then the trail was lost.. However, the bones and beaker or what could be found of them later, can be seen at Saffron Walden Museum. Roman Times Jumping some 1500 years, we come to Roman times. Braughing was an important military centre situated at the junction of a main north - south route, Ermine Street, and Stane Street, the road to Colchester passing through Bishops Stortford and 5 miles from Berden. Another Roman Road ran from Braughing to Great Chesteford, passing through Brent Pelham and only 1 ½ miles from Berden. Given its proximity to these highways, it is not surprising that coins and other traces of habitation have been found in the fields around the village. No doubt with deeper modern ploughing more evidence will come to light. At the time of the first Roman invasion by Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC, the powerful Trinobantes tribe in Essex sued for peace and Ceaser appointed Mandubracius as chief and undertook to protect them. After the initial Roman withdrawal from Britain, the Trinobantes continued their connection with Rome and increasing their power and influence, spreading to what is now Middlesex, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire by AD 43. The power of the Trinobantes reached its height under Cunobeline, the Cymbeline of Shakespeare, who struck coins similar to those of Rome. He made his capital at Camulodunum (Colchester) but supplanted one of his brothers who appealed to Rome. This strained relations with Rome who then determined to carry out their plans for the subjugation of Britain that they had planned for some time. The Emporer Claudius sent an army to Britain under Aulus Plautius and in 61 AD, Essex became involved in the fighting. There were various battles but ultimately the Britons were defeated, Boadicea, their leader, committed suicide rather than be captured. (Essex by P.H.Reaney, 1928) The Roman occupation lasted about 400 years but other than the magnificent roads, many of which still exist under our modern roads, there is little evidence of their work. Saxon Times After some 200 years of peace and prosperity, Saxon raids on the south-east coast began. Around 500 AD, the Saxons founded Essex, the country of the East Saxons whose name means ‘sword' still commemorated on the coat of arms of the county. In the 9th Century, the Danes cast a greedy eye on East Anglia and there were many skirmishes between them and the English even at Farnham, perhaps closer still as there is a legend of a battle at Nutsteads - that is the field near the Pelham boundary. These raids continued until 1016, eventually Cnut becoming king of the whole country. Norman Times In 1066 when William the First marched triumphantly through the land, he, like the last Saxon King Harold, liked Essex and soon dispossessed the landowners in favour of Norman nobles. Echoes of the past come down to us in place names "Harolds" and "Swinstead" from Sweyn..... the late Rev. M. Stewart of Manuden believed a last stand was made along the Clavering Road. The Name Berden and others The name BERDEN has had many spellings from BERDANE, BEARDEN, BYERDEN, BARDYNE, BYRDEN but the most likely suggestion is that they derive from old English meaning "Swine pasture valley". Another authority suggests the name means "Corn Valley". It may be in the early days of large forests, swine would find their own food from beech mast, acorns etc., but later when inroads had been made on the huge trees for building, the ground was cleared and cultivation of corn possible. The loss of standing trees has gone on, partly for the wooden ships for war needs, 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 but during the last decade, disease has taken its toll. Frequently, we find that names are the first identifiable evidence of habitation, many reflecting the former owners; Arnold Spring from John Arnold of Clavering 1373. Coles Green from John Cole 1273. Rookes Farm - John de Rooke 1327. Dews Green is listed as Douse Green 1777 but I can nothing further. Little London may be "a little lane leading to the London Road". It occurs widely in England and seems to be not far off the main roads. In the Calendar of Patent Rolls 1312, there is reference to the house and site of the Black Friars of Langley, Hertfordshird as the place called "Little Loundr where the Priar preachers occupy". The writer thought it was jocular but could it be where the Austin Friars from the Priory took refuge? Domesday Book Now came the time for William to count his gains and begin the formalisation of taxation which has been refined over the centuries. Clerks we're sent out to record the men, animals, implements acreage etc, which was recorded in the Domesday Book. This is the first written account of Berden providing a valuable record, if somewhat difficult to interpret. The following detail comes from The Victorian History of England, In the Half Hundred of Claveringa (Clavering) BERDANE (Berden) was held, in King Edward's time by Godman, a sokeman of Robert (Fitz Wimarc). It is now held of S (uain) by Alvred as a manor and as 2 hides. Then as now,(semper) 1 plough on the demesne, and two plough belonging to the men, and 4 villeins and 5 borders. Then and afterwards 4 serfs, now none. (There is) Notes: 2. Clavering was referred too variously as a Hundred but more generally as a Half Hundred. The meeting place, usually associated with a Hundren, has not been identified. The Clavering Half Hundred seems to have been carved out of the Uttlesford Hundred for the benefit of Suain of Essex, its Domesday Lord. The origin of The Hundred is one of the more difficult problems in Saxon history. Many seem to represent provinces or regions that were the territory of specific tribes or clans in earlier days. Others represent the hides or acreage, frequently one hundred hides, which was used to parcel up the feorm or food rent payable to the king or the fyrd-service due to the king, such as bridge building and defensive works. They also seem to have marked the boundaries of public justice and were a key element in the administration of public finance in Southern England. 3. It seems two surveys were done, then was possibly around 1066, as now about 1086, this indicated by semper. 4. In the time of Domesday, England was largely a manorial economy, the essential feature of which was the lord's house and the demesne. Manors held in demesne were those in which the tenant in chief (who held directly of the Crown), retained in his own hands, instead of en-feoffing under tenants therein. Where the demesne of a manor is spoken of, the term denotes that portion which the holder (whether the tenant in chief or an under-tenant) worked as a home farm with the help of labour due from the peasants who held the rest from him. 5. A hide was a unit of measurement divided into 4 virgates. The acreage of a hide varied across the country but in Essex was generally some 30 acres. It was really more of a fiscal unit. 6. The social order seems to be freemen and sokemen followed by villeins, borders, and serfs. The sokeman (lat. sochemanni) stood above the unfree element of the manorial peasantry but were never the less under their lords jurisdiction and probably held land as tenants. The villein, another vague term that comes down to us as villager, had his own piece of land within the village but was bound to labour on the lords land. The borderer or cottager does not appear to have owned his own land. The serf was the bottom of the ladder and was effectively a slave that went with a piece of land. If the land passed to another owner, the serf went with it, hence serfdom 7. A plough was reckoned to have 8 oxen. 8. A rouncey is defined in OED as a horse, especially a riding horse. Robert fitz Wimarch was a Breton rather than a Norman and was with Norman King Edward at the Battle of Hastings where the English King Harold was beaten and Britain came under Norman rule. By 1086, his title had passed to Swain, (Sweyn or Suain) Sherrif of Essex, a position held by the family under both Edward the Confessor and William. He was also known as Lord of the Marshes, his land carrying over 4,000 sheep. There is reference to Swain having a park at Rayleigh and 6 arpents of vineyard which yields 20 muids of fine wine in a good season. The father of Swain of Essex built the pre-Norman Castle at Clavering, the rectangular remains of which can still be seen. It is probable that the Half Hundred of Clavering was removed from the Uttlesford Hundred for the specific benefit of Swain. Villagers were described as villeins, bordars, serfs in that pecking order. Villeins usually owned some land but were still bound to the overlord. Bordars more like cottagers and perhaps owned teams and a little land. Serfs came last. Socmen were a superior type of villein, often noble Saxons dispossessed, losing their property to the Normans after William had taken his pick. The numbers of animals increased rapidly so that by 1086 there were 3 horses, 2 foals, 13 beasts, 21 swine,122 sheep, 8 goats and a hive of bees but there is general evidence of subjugation by the Norman conquerors. The beehives were particularly important providing the only source of sugar and hence alcohol and the beeswax was used for candles. By 1086 flocks of sheep, pigs and goats ran in the countryside. Sheep were dairy animals and cheese making a profitable home industry. Oxen were found to be more suited to the heavy land than horses, but the pigs were razor backed wild creatures and not much different until the 17th Century. We still have an echo of long ago in Sheepcote Green, where the animals were housed. Rev. M. Stewart thought the family of Goodwin or Godwin living in the village may have been descended from the Saxon, Godwin, and had an article in the local paper on the subject. The Norman invasion had its good side because Saxon and Dane had fought across Essex for the previous 200 years. The incoming Normans brought new ideas about agriculture and building heralding a more settled period. They made good use of what they found, bringing stone from Caen to start some of the Churches still to be seen. There is a trace in of this Norman influence in Berden Church at the western end. The Monasteries bred many sheep and it is recorded that Crowland Abbey had 11,000 in the 14th Century. It seems a large number, did a monk slip in an odd nought? Perhaps not as the beautiful churches in East Anglia are said to owe their existence to the wool industry. The old drover roads can still be traced where shepherds took their charges to market towns on hoof and a drover trail is still so named on the modern maps of Berden, leading across to Rickling. Having subdued the English, William soon set up look but posts. The mounds at The Crump, what was Stocks Farm, and Cumber Hill, have been variously dated between the 11th and 13th centuries. The path leading past the mound at The Crump was dated recently by Manuden History Society at 13th century. They might have been look out posts but there is considerable dispute about the age and purpose of these mounds and they are also described as a burial mounds. In living memory, Cumber Hill was a fine playground for children running up and down and jumping the ditch. It was demolished in about 1952 and Mr. Ted Brett who took part in the work said that they dug well down finding nothing but pig bones. Whether these bones were from some unlucky animal falling in the surrounding moat or some hungry labourer hiding the evidence of a midnight feast, none can tell. Originally it could have been 10 feet to 20 feet high with a wooden watchtower on a flat top surrounded by a palisade and moat. The adjoining bailey would also be surrounded with fence and moat with the necessary buildings for stables, barns etc., inside. There are traces of many similar mounds in Hertfordshire and Essex but there purpose has not been fully defined beyond dispute. There may be a connection with Berden's mounds and castles and Sweyn who built something similar at Rayleigh in the 11th Century.
Sources; 1. Essex by P.H.Reaney, The Borzoi County Histories, 1928 2. Roman Britain and the English Settlements, Collingwood and Myres, The Oxford History of England, 1937 3. A History of The County of Essex, The Victorian History of England, Vol. 1. 4. Anglo Saxon England, Stenton, The Oxford History of England, 1946 5. History of Berden, C.J.Cherry, October 1980 6. The Estuary, by A.K.Astbury (The Carnforth Press 1980) |
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The sketch of Cumber Hill mound and moat, called at one time The Plantation, was copied from a map dated 1839. It was then owned by Nicholas Calvert and farmed by Isaac Hodges and situated between Berden Hall and Park Green, about 700 ft. west of Easingwell Pond. When it was levelled in 1950 - 51, only the mound, pig bones and a muddy ditch were found. The interesting shape shown in the sketch had disappeared, no doubt weather and little feet had obliterated the significant arrow pointing north like a cross. The land is heavy clay and work was hard enough in days gone by without digging fancy shapes without purpose.
The mound at Stocks Farm, now called The Crump, is thought to be the remains of a motte and bailey type of defence and about nine hundred years ago would have looked something like the sketch from P.S.Fry's work on British medieval Castles.