of Highams Farm
In the 15th and 16th centuries various
members of the Higham or Heigham family resided at Highams
Farm, which is on the border between Goldhanger Parish and Tolleshunt Major
Parish. The most notable local record of their involvement within the village
is in St Peters Church as the family are said to
have been responsible for the building of the South isle and Lady Chapel, and
one of their tombs remains in that chapel. There is also a family tomb and a
plaque in St. Nicholas Church, Tolleshunt Major.
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Highams Farm in the early 1900s |
Highams Farm from a 2000 sales
brochure |
The family seems to
have built or acquired Highams Farm before the time of the Reformation, which is when Henry VIII gave what was
to become Beckingham Hall and its estates, to Sir Thomas Seymour, and then
subsequently gave it to Stephen Beckingham in 1543. Although Highams Farm was
later included in the Beckingham Hall estate it is uncertain if it was gifted
at the time by Henry VIII.
In 1975 a member of the Higham family wrote a
78-page booklet about the family history which is entitled: From Black Dog to Family Sheep. Four
pages of the booklet refer to Highams Farm and the members of the family who
lived there. Extracts from these pages are available on this website...
...a sketch from the booklet
Family
members known to live at Highams Farm...
Robert Higham
d:1427+ Letecia Heigham, buried in St. Nicholas (Morant)
Robert Higham
d:1429 + Margaret Heigham, buried in St. Nicholas (Morant)
Robert Higham
d:1460 + Johanna, buried in St. Nicholas (Morant)
Thomas Heigham
d:1531 + Awdie & Francis Heigham, buried in in St Peters (Morant)
Anthonye
Heigham/Heyham d:1540, buried in St Peters (Morant)
Anthonye
Heigham/Heyham d:1540 + Anne Heigham, buried in St Peters (Frickl)
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Highams Manor as described by Philip Morant in 1768... |
a brass effigy of Awdie Heigham in St Peters Church... |
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Extracts from “Goldhanger - An Estuary
Village”
In 1970 Maura Benham produced a 4-page pamphlet on the history of
St. Peters that included a reference to the Higham Family
Then in 1977 Maura published Goldhanger - An
Estuary Village which contained these references to the chapel in St.
Peters and the Heigham family...
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from page-21 |
from page-28 |
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from
page-29 |
from page-31 |
Miller
Christy wrote about the Higham Basses on their tomb the Lady Chapel
In 1911 Miller Christy published a 4-page paper in The Essex Society for Archaeology &
History transactions about the brasses
on the Higham family tomb in the Lady Chapel of St Peters. The 4-page paper can be read here...
The
funding St. Peters bell tower
From the extracts
above and from other sources we know that the tower was built in the 1400s. Substantial
Church towers such as St. Peters tower were always
expensive to build, as they needing both expertise and a significant labour
force, so one can only wonder who locally might have funded it. The prime
candidates must be the wealthy Higham family who resided at Higham Manor
between 1400 and the 1545.
Family
members identified elsewhere...
There were many
members of the Higham family, particularly in Suffolk at around the same time,
and that also had the first names of Thomas and Robert, making it difficult to
track the family relationships. However, it highly likely that the family came
from the village of Higham near Dedham in the early 1400s and returned to the
hamlet of Cowlinge/Cooling near Bury St Edmunds in the mid 1500s...
from... http://www.welbank.net/norwich/hist.html
There were several
generations of Thomas Heighams in the
village of Higham near Dedham in Suffolk, they were born in: 1368, 1398, 1400,
1420
In Goldhanger -
an Estuary Village, Maura Benham wrote on
page-32...
"...but the Heighams
went back to their family seat in Suffolk in 1545"
from... http://members.iinet.net.au/~trig/web/familyhis/pafg09.htm#1391
Antony HIGHAM died
on 15 Nov 1540 in Goldhanger.
He had the
following children:
Robert
HIGHAM died in Cowlinge.
Robert
married Margaret.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/6014231919/in/photostream/
Cowlinge
Church, Suffolk,
"Robert Higham Esq
died the 10 day of May AD 1571 aged 45"
"Robert's father
Antony and Anne and grandfather Thomas are in brass at Goldhanger Essex"
From
The Visitation of Suffolk...
Other
references found to the family have included...
The
earliest reference found to a Heigham family member in Goldhanger, dated
1417...
from... http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol19/no1/pp71-87
Letters &
Papers of Henry VIII: February 1544...
Grants
in February 1544
Wm. Tooke.
Annuity of 20l. out of the manors of Battell Herons, Higham and Wikham, and
lands in Bradwell, Tollesbunt Major, Goldhanger, Althorne and Danberye, Essex,
which belonged to Ant. Higham, dec, and are in the King's hands by the minority
of Robt. Higham, s. and h. of the said Anthony; with wardship and marriage of
the said heir.
from Kelly' s
Directory - Essex 1882...
Tolleshunt Magna (or Major or
Beckingham), Essex
The Church of
St Nicholas is half a mile south east of the village and comprises a chancel,
nave and brick tower with 3 bells: in the church is a memorial with effigies
and an inscription to Robert Higham and his wife: he died 23 June 1427: and
other inscriptions to Robert Higham, secondus, 10 August 1429 and Margaret his
wife: and Robert Higham, tertious, 4 February 1460 and Johanna his wife,
daughter of Thomas Barrington.
Many families with
the surname of "Heigham" have been found
associated with the parishes of Heigham in Norwich city and Potter Heigham in
Norfolk from around the same period. The full 75-page Booklet From Black Dog to Family Sheep could
well reveal all of these family connections.
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