Darrow School - Shaker Post Yearbook (New Lebanon, NY)

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1936 The Peg Board CHADWICK HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND THE BOYHOOD HOME OF ELDER FREDERICK W. EVANS Courtesy of Tha National Trust. 69

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The Peg Board 1936 The story of Frederick Evans's life after he came to America falls outside the scope of this article, but we should note in closing this study of his boyhood that his experiences at Chadwick Hall had, apparently, a considerable inliuence upon his future career, for he says: The example of the order and economy practiced at Chadwick Hall was not lost upon me. Two uncles, John and James managed the farm. One remained at home mostly, the other attended the fairs and markets, which latter are held twice a week at the principal towns. Here the farmers and dealers meet to sell and buy all the products of their farms, the grain being bought and sold by samples. The fairs were much the same thing, but the sales were principally of live stock on a large scale. On these occasions servants Cmale and femalej congregated together, and hired themselves out for the ensuing year, each one pro- ducing his character on paper from his former employer. To these markets and fairs my uncle John used frequently to take me, and there I learned somewhat of the relative value of property, and how to buy and sell. At home I learned to take care of horses, cattle, and sheep. Everything moved as if by machinery. For instance, there were some twenty horses, and in the morning at a regular hour, they were all turned out to water, as we now turn out cows. Whilst they were gone, their mangers were cleaned, and the racks emptied of any hay left in them over night, this was put aside to be aired, and fresh hay was given, at night, however, the aired hay was first fed out, nothing was wasted or lost. In the house it was the same. Once a month they washed, once a week they baked bread made from unbolted wheat, black enough, but sweet. S. P. C. fr. Chadwick Hall HADWICK Hall, the boyhood home of Elder Frederick Evans has had an interesting history The following account was received from the Mayor of Worcester, England, who had it in turn from Mr. E. F. A. Keen, Librarian and Secretary of the Public Library, Art Gallery, and Hastings Museum, Victoria Institute, Worcester: EXTRACTED FROM THE VICTORIA HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER, VOLUME 3 Chadwick Manor House, about 3M miles north of Bromsgrove, on the west side of the Halesowen road, is a late 17th-century building of brick with stone dressings. In the Domesday survey it is stated that 3 hides at CHADWICK fCeldwic, xi cent., Chadelwic, Chadleswich, Chadeleiwyz, Chadewyz, xiii cent., Chadeleswych, xiv cent., Chaddyswyche, xv cent.j had been formerly held by thegns of Earl Eadwine, but in 1086 it was part of the royal manor of Bromsgrove, and Urse held it of the king, Alvred being the tenant under Urse. The interest of Urse passed to the Beauchamps and followed the descent of Elmley Castle. In the 12th century Ralph de Lens was holding the vill of Chadwick in demesne, and in I I95, after his death, his widow Beatrice of London held Chadwick and Willingwick as dower, with reversion to her son Roger. In 1232 Roger son of Ralph de Lens gave to the hospital of St. Wulfstan, Worcester, his capital messuage and lands in Chadwick. Roger's son Ralph, who probably succeeded him shortly after, was also a benefactor of the hospital, and in 1248 he gave to it the dower lands of his mother Felicia. In return for this the hospital gave to him and his wife Mary a corner house in Worcester, opposite that of Hugh de Pakenton, and a corrody, half of which was to cease on the death of either Ralph or Mary, and the other half on the death of the survivor. Thomas de Lens appears at one time to have held the manor, but before 1274 it seems probable that the Master of St. Wulfstan's had acquired it, for at about that time he appropriated to himself the asize of 68

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The Peg Board 1936 bread and ale at Chadwick, and unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his suit at Bromsgrove. Successive Masters of St. Wulfstan's held the manor until the hospital was dissolved in the 16th century. Henry VIII sold the manor to Richard Morrison in 1540, adding in 1544 a rent reserved in 1540. In the following year Richard Morrison released it again to the king, receiving other lands in exchange, and in 1546 Chadwick was given to the Dean and Canons of Christ Church, Oxford. The whole of the Chadwick estate was sold by the Dean and Canons in 1904 to the Chadwick Estate Ltd., with the exception of the site of the reservoir, which is on lease to the East Worcestershire Waterworks Co. for 99 years from 1902. A John Lacey, writing in 1778, states that the ancient mansion-house had belonged in the 17tl1 century to the Lowe family, from whom it came by marriage to Henry Vaughan Jeffries. His son Humphrey sold the lease of it in 1777 to John Hutton of Birmingham. In 1813 the manor-house was put up for sale. It afterwards came into the hands of John Carpenter, a gentleman farmer, the author of a treatise on agriculture, who mortgaged it to Mr. Penn. On the bankruptcy of the latter it was bought by Mr. Wilcox, who left it to his nephew John Osborne, the owner in 1826. In 1849 Manor Hall was the property of Francis T. Rufford. Chadwick Manor is now a farm-house. In addition to the extract just quoted we have these notations graciously submittedto us by Mr Harry E. Palfrey of Stourbridge, England: The manor house of Chadwick is a square brick-built residence, situated in a valley, and so surrounded that it cannot well be seen, until close to it. It has a fine stream of water running close by it, and extensive pools of water in the rear. It is now tenanted by Mr. D. Stevenson and forms a commodious farm-house. Near the house there was once a chapel, dedicated to St. Chad, but it has long since disappeared. Chadwick, probably so named from its numberless springs and wells, was one of the twelve manors which formerly existed in the parish Cof Bromsgrovej. By some it was called Chadwells, and is now sometimes called Chaddeswick. A portion of this manor be- longed to Dodford Priory and was called Willingwick, the value of which in 1485 was three pounds, seventeen shillings, sixpence per annum. In this manor was the Lickey Beacon and a spring, called Chadwick Holy Well. This well probably gave the name to the farm known as Holy Well Farm. The manors of Chadwick and Willingwick were parts of the barony of the Castle of Worcester in the time of Henry III, and were held in fee form of the King by William de Beauchamp, the heir of D'Abetot. Ralph, son of Roger de Lench, had a wood in Chadwick, which he gave, for perpetual alms, to the prior and con- vent of Worcester, and afterwards William de Abyston, with the consent of his wife, Isabelle de Lench, resigned to the prior and convent all the title which he had in the right of his said wife to their wood, called Southwood, given him by Ralph de Lench. The manor fell to the Crown by the attainer of Edward Plantaganet, Earl of Warwick, the heir of the Beauchamp family, 1499, fifteenth year of Henry VII, and Henry VIII by patent dated October 1, A.R. 37 granted the manor of Chadwick and Priory, with the Parsonage of Clanes, and various other lands, parcel of the possessions which his majesty had, by exchange with Richard Morrison Esq., amounting in the whole to fifty- seven pounds, two shillings per annum, to the college of Christ Church, Oxford, to which the manor of Chadwick now belongs. By them it was leased to the Lowes, from whom it passed, by marriage, to Henry Vaughan Jeffries of Worcester, whose son Humphrey sold the lease ofit to john Hutton, the historian of Birmingham, in 1776, who thus refers to the purchase:- I bought the manor and estate of Chadwick 4500 pounds, upon a promise, from an attorney, of supplying me with what money I should want. I let it for 300 pounds a year and kept it one year, when it appeared that I could not fulfill my bargain, because my attorney had deceived meg nor the seller his, because in some places he had charged me near twice as much land as there really was. He was pleased that I had secured a tenant at an advanced rent, and we mutually agreed to dissolve the contract. My family re- joiced, but I lamented. The lease is now held by Francis Tongue Ruffor Esq. fof Stour. bridgej. 70