131 Berechurch Hall Road, The Maypole public house

Timber-framed, two-storey house with peg-tile roof, ?rear wing and extension. Needs investigation but presumably C17 or earlier in origin. Gothic detailing over front windows? Now with two front dooors and a porch, originally with one front door and two rows of four windows? Standing in its own large plot with a semicircular driveway, fronting onto Berechurch Hall Road. Very attractive old house. A significant farmhouse. A lobby entrance house. Should be listed.
C19 brick outbuilding – ?stable.
Surviving adjacent farm buildings, ie a surviving farm complex.
Farms were extremely important; around Colchester, they provided the food for the town for centuries and created the landscape. A farm house or farm complex must be looked at in the context of the farm land which they were the centre of and in relation to the town and neighbouring farms.

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‘A Lobby-Entrance House of 1615: Model Farm, Linstead Magna, Halesworth, Suffolk’, by J Walker, in “Vernacular Architecture”, 34, 2003, pp 79-83
‘Hill Farm, Laxfield: a lobby-entrance house of the late 17th century’, by I Johnson, in “Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology & History”, 35, pp 53-9
‘Whiteheads, Hatfield Broad Oak: an Essex lobby-house reconsidered’, by J McCann & I Johnson, in “The Journal of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology”, 14, pp 189-97
See 18-19 Eld Lane, Colchester – a timber-framed lobby entrance house on the local list
See Tubswick House, Mill Road, Colchester – a Grade II listed, 18th-century lobby entrance house, destroyed by fire in 2009
See also 2-4 East Street, Coggeshall –
See also GREEN FARMHOUSE, STAMBOURNE, BRAINTREE, ESSEX; Grade II listed, C17 lobby entrance house
See also Cowicks, Sawbridgeworth Road, Sheering, Essex; Grade II listed, C17 lobby entrance house
See also house near St Stephen’s Cottages, Chalk Lane, Harlow, Essex; Grade II listed, early C17 lobby entrance house
See also Harsnetts, High Road, Loughton, Essex; Grade II listed, lobby-entrance house, c 1600
See also the Bell pub. at Woodham Walter, Essex – ‘… Built as a lobby entrance house with a rectangular plan …’ – at http://www.thebellpub.biz/history/index.html
See also YEOMANS PLACE, 1 CRABTREE LANE, HEADLEY, EAST HAMPSHIRE; Grade II listed; ‘… suggestive of a timber-framed lobby entrance house …’
See also Shedfield House, Sandy Lane, Shedfield, Hampshire; Grade II listed, C16 lobby entrance house
See also Bilboa House, Doctors Lane, Mells, Somerset – Grade II listed, lobby entrance house
See also Brookfield House, Yateley, Hampshire; Grade II listed; former farmhouse; ‘… a timber-framed late C15 or early C16 probable open hall adapted into a lobby entrance house in the C17 and refronted in brick in 1760 …’ – at http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-1405941-brookfield-house-yat…
etc
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Originally in the manor of Berechurch.
‘… After the rebuilding of Berechurch Hall in 1882 a few estate houses were built. Of the other houses in the parish, the Maypole inn, formerly a farmhouse, and Park Farm may date from the 18th century. An octagonal lodge on Berechurch Hall Road survives from the early 19th century …’ – from VCH Essex, 9; online at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22022 [also read the history of the parish of Berechurch there] After the former St Michael’s church (now offices), the Maypole public house is one of the two oldest surviving buildings in the ancient and historic parish of Berechuch (with Friday Wood Farm house). In the Middle Ages, Berechurch formed part of the area of West Donyland, along with St John’s Green and Old Heath. The Essex Record Office holds extensive documents relating to Maypole Farm/the Maypole inn. The Maypole Farm house is associated with the important Smyth family of Colchester (Berechurch Hall). Fridaywood Farm house also survives and stands nearby to the Maypole public house; the two form an important pair of historic buildings in the parish of Berechurch. (In 1902, the two farms were even farmed by the same man, Robert Page Blyth of the local Blyth farming dynasty.) The two farms were also paired in property deeds for several centuries.
‘… Field boundaries and cropmarks north of Maypole green may be those of Roman smallholdings. There were three settlements in West Donyland in the Middle Ages. That at St. John’s green was geographically and economically part of the town. The others were at Old Heath, within the manors of West Donyland and Battleswick, and at Berechurch, where Saxon pottery has been found on land adjoining the church … Farthing Corner on Berechurch Road, Maypole green at its junction with Layer Road, and Friday wood green are remnants of a chain of greens probably cleared from woodland … No major roads ran through Donyland, but the Colchester-Maldon road formed its western boundary; two minor ones, the Colchester to Layer-de-la-Haye road and the Colchester-Mersea road, cross the area from north to south. Berechurch Road and Old Heath Road linked Berechurch and Old Heath to the town. Old Heath Road continued to East Donyland in the Middle Ages, but its eastern branch to Rowhedge was made between 1846 and 1876. (fn. 20) Layer Road and Mersea Road are connected by Berechurch Hall Road, which was diverted north of Berechurch church in the 18th century. A medieval road leading directly to the church from a westerly bend in Berechurch Road survives as a footpath. Two lanes, one following Berechurch dyke and the other running from Mersea Road at Black heath, converge at a ford and footbridge over Roman river …’ – http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22022
[The Maypole inn was formerly the farmhouse of Maypole Farm – ‘… In the 18th and 19th centuries the Smyth family enlarged the Berechurch Hall estate, cultivated parkland and woodland, and established Park, Friday Wood, Maypole, and Blackheath farms …’ – http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22022 ] The Maypole has a really interesting and unusual dual identity as a former farm house and a former public house. Public houses and inns are important, as buildings and as social and cultural public buildings. Far too many pub.s in Colchester have not only been closed, but also demolished.
Maypole Farm:
neighbouring farms:
Fridaywood Farm (surviving, now a B&B; photo. at http://www.fridaywoodfarm.co.uk/index.htm )
In 1902 (“Kellys Directory”), Robert Page Blyth, farmer, was listed as proprietor at both Maypole Farm and Friday Wood Farm in Berechurch (see Blyth information below).
Berechurch Hall:
Sir Robert Smyth MP – http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/smyth-…
Sir George Smyth MP – http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/smyth-…
early aviation
The Essex Record Office holds these documents:
* ERO D/DE/T170 – Deeds of manor of Berechurch alias West Donyland, Black Heath Common and Berechurch Park, Maypole Farm, Old House Farm, and Friday Wood Farm in West Donyland alias Berechurch, Colchester; manors of Layer de la Haye and Blind Knights, Layer Heath, Layer Week Farm, Hill House Farm and Great House Farm, etc, 1759-1776
* ERO D/DEt T65 – Deeds of farms called the Maypole, Blackheath Farm in Berechurch, 1775-1878
* ERO SALE/A1059 – Sale catalogue: Berechurch Hall Estate, Colchester, 3,246 acres comprising Berechurch Hall, Berechurch (or West Donyland), Fingringhoe, Layer-de-la-Haye, Abberton, Langenhoe and East Donyland, 1,674 acres; Friday Wood House, adjoining Friday Wood Farm, 5 acres; The Home Farm or Friday Wood Farm, 326 acres; Friday Wood Lodge, 1 acre; Friday Wood Cottages; The Berechurch Brickyard, 6 acres; The Blackheath Farm, Berechurch, 305 acres; The Maypole Farm, Berechurch, 247 acres; The Park Farm, Berechurch, 129 acres; The Rock Farm, Fingringhoe, 215 acres; The Water Mill with farm, Layer-de-la-Haye, 42 acres; The Kiln Farm, Layer-de-la-Haye, 33 acres; 3 enclosures of arable land in Friday Wood Farm, 50 acres; accommodation land adjoining Kiln Farm, Layer-de-la-Haye, 23 acres, 5 enclosures of arable and meadow land, Layer-de-la-Haye and Peldon, 23 acres; 7 cottages in Berechurch; 2 cottages in Fingringhoe; The Manor of Blind Knights in Layer-de-la-Haye; The Great House Farm, Layer-de-la-Haye, 146 acres; Hill House Farm, 1893
* ERO D/B 6 Pb3/1318 – Building plan of new drainage and additions, Maypole Farm, Berechurch, Colchester, 1899
* ERO D/B 6 Pb3/1332 – Building plan of two cottages, Maypole Farm, Berechurch Hall Estate, Colchester, 1899
* ERO SALE/A304 – Sale catalogue: Berechurch Hall Estate. 2,790 acres. Berechurch Hall, Colchester, 168 acres; Park Farm House, Colchester, 285 acres; Maypole Farm, Berechurch, 339 acres; Laundry Cottage, Berechurch Road, Colchester; 28, 29, 30, and 31 Berechurch Road, Colchester; Friday Wood House Farm, Berechurch, 1920
* ERO SALE/B5164 – Sale catalogue of Berechurch Hall Estate, Berechurch, comprising Berechurch Hall and Park, including the ancient church of St Michael, 168 acres; Blackheath Farm, 278 acres; 3 cottages at Blackheath; Friday Wood House Farm, 172 acres; Maypole Farm, 340 acres; Park Farm, 286 acres, Rock Farm, 223 acres, 5 Laundry Cottages and laundry premises, Berechurch Road; 28, 29, 30 31, Berechurch Road, Colchester; and Billetts Farm (90 acres), Blind Knights Farm (223 acres), Manor of Blind Knights, Kiln Farm (38 acres), 6 cottages at Lower Houses, 11 cottages at Malting Green, 2 cottages at Mill Grove, Rye Farm, Wick Farm, all in Layer de la Haye. With photographs and plans. 1921
* ERO D/DJ 2/2/61 – Sale catalogue of Maypole Farm, Berechurch, 11-12 and building plot in Berechurch Hall Road and building plot in Bounstead Road, Colchester, 1937
[[A rough history of the Maypole can be pieced together from the dates of these documents. The farm was created between 1759 and 1775, along with several neighbouring farms in the manor of Berechurch. In 1775/6, Maypole Farm and Berechurch Farm together became part of the Berechurch Hall Estate. Maypole Farm was sold in 1878, 1893, and again in 1920/21 and 1937. Improvements were undertaken in 1899.]] —————–
From the Camulos web-site: ‘… Maypole – Berechurch – Berechurch Hall Road – 1954 to date – a public house – The name of this pub. is a reference to Maypole Green, opposite to this pub. and where, during the past 300 years, was the site of a maypole. The pub. was originally a farmhouse by the name of Maypole Farm. A maypole was a pole decorated with garlands, around which people danced on May Day and was a pagan fertility ritual. The building is a timber-framed 17th-century farmhouse which gained its first licence in 1954 at the expense of the closing of the Rifleman on Ipswich Road, being owned by Ind Coope. Some people believe that the building was originally a pub., then became a farmhouse and then in 1954 was converted back to a pub. . However no evidence of the earlier pub. has been found and in the 1851 Census it was shown as a farmhouse only.
What is clear is that the pub. has a ghost which used to terrify one of the landlord’s dogs. It would not venture downstairs at night for fear of the ethereal being that lurked in the vicinity of the fruit machine and in the ladies’ toilet …’ – at http://www.camulos.com/inns/inns5eto5m.pdf
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‘Last orders at Maypole pub’, 8th August 2012, at http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/9863003.Last_orders_at_Maypole_pub/
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The Blyth family were, apparently, farmers around Colchester from the late 17th century, in Boxted, then Langham, later Ardleigh and Mile End, and extending into St Osyth. The family was centred on Colchester. Robert Page Blyth seems to have been the first of the family to occupy Maypole Farm at Berechurch (also Fridaywood Farm at Berechurch). In the 19th century, the family must have been Nonconformist, having associations with the Lion Walk Baptist Church in Colchester and with Langham Baptist Church: ‘… The Blyth family, important landowners and farmers in Langham, were major benefactors of the chapel …’ (see below). The Blyth family is a very interesting family in Colchester and Colchester district, with associations with quite a few farms, farmhouses and other buildings in and around the town.
‘… Langham: Protestant Nonconformity – The Particular Baptists who met with Independents at Langham in 1689 were probably members of the Eld Lane Baptist church, Colchester. Samuel Blyth of Langham (d. 1753) was later a leading figure in that church, (fn. 3) and it was only after his death that a separate Meeting was formed at Langham in 1754. The Blyth family, important landowners and farmers in Langham, were major benefactors of the chapel which drew members from many neighbouring parishes including Boxted, Dedham, and Great Horkesley. A meeting house on Dedham Road was bought in 1756, (fn. 4) probably the licensed nonconformist meeting house recorded in 1790. (fn. 5) One of the two dissenting ministers recorded in 1800 was prob- ably a Baptist. (fn. 6) In 1829 the minister claimed to have an average congregation of 450, (fn. 7) and the meeting house was registered for marriages in 1838. (fn. 8) On census Sunday 1851 the minister reported attendances of 70 and 35 at two morn- ing services and 120 in the afternoon, some of the congregation coming from neighbouring parishes. (fn. 9) The chapel, presumably erected c. 1756, fell down after the church closed in 1940. The former manse was converted into a private house. (fn. 10) …’ – at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15270
‘… Robert Page BLYTH was born about 1850 in Mile End, Essex. He was the Executor to the Will of his father, Thomas Blyth, on 27 Aug 1892 in Ipswich, Suffolk. He was a Farmer as per 1881 Census in Berechurch, Colchester, Essex. 1881 Census: Robert was at Maypole Farm, Berechurch. He had 240 acres, employed 5 men and 3 boys.
1891 Census: Robert was still farming Maypole Farm.
1901 Census: Robert still was at Maypole Farm. He was shown as an employer.
1902 Kellys Directory lists in Berechurch: Robert Page Blyth, farmer, Maypole & Friday Woods Farms.
18 Apr 1878: Thomas, of Myland, was appointed as one of 12 trustees of Langham Baptist Chapel.
1881 Census: Robert, 31, was with his wife and daughter at Maypole Farm, Berechurch.
3 Feb 1882: Robert Blyth of Berechurch, and his wife, were admitted into Lion Walk Nonconformist Church, Colchester. They left to attend Berechurch Church in 1888.
1891 Census: Robert, 41, was living with his wife and 4 children at Maypole Farm, Berechurch. There was also a Governess and Servant living with the family.
1901 Census: Robert, 51, was living with his wife and 6 children at Maypole Farm, Berechurch. They had a general servant and a housemaid with them.
Sarah COOPER was born in 1851 in Colchester, Essex. 1881 Census: Sarah, 30, was with her family at Maypole Farm, Berechurch. They also had a domestic servant living with them.
1891 Census: Sarah, 40, was still living with her husband and 4 children at Maypole Farm.
1901 Census: Sarah, 50, was living at Maypole Farm with her husband and 6 children. Robert Page BLYTH and Sarah COOPER had the following children:
child792 i. Ida BLYTH was born in 1881 in Berechurch, Colchester, Essex. 1881 Census: Ida, 3 months, was living with her family at Maypole Farm, Berechurch.
1891 Census: Ida, 10, was still living with her parents at Maypole Farm. She was a scholar.
31 Aug 1898: Ida was admitted into Lion Walk Nonconformist Church, Colchester.
child+793 ii. Alec B. BLYTH.
child794 iii. Rosamund BLYTH was born on 2 Jul 1884 in Colchester, Essex. She was baptised on 28 Sep 1884 in Lion Walk, Colchester, Essex. She was also known as Rosa. 1891 Census: Rosamund, 6, was living with her parents at Maypole Farm, Berechurch. She was a scholar.
1901 Census: Rosa, 16, was living with her parents at Maypole Farm, Berechurch. She was a scholar.
child795 iv. Olive C. BLYTH was born in 1886 in Colchester, Essex. She died between 1 Jan 1927 and 30 Jun 1927 in Colchester District, Essex. Olive died aged 41 years. 1891 Census: Olive, 5, was living with her parents at Maypole Farm, Berechurch. She was a scholar.
1901 Census: Olive, 15, was living with her parents at Maypole Farm, Berechurch. She was a scholar.
child796 v. Ruby Sarah BLYTH (Private).
child797 vi. Cooper BLYTH (Private).
child798 vii. Edna BLYTH (Private) …’ – at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/annapizzey/data/d910.htm
‘… 793. Alec B. BLYTH was born in 1883 in Colchester, Essex. He was a Chemists Apprentice as per 1901 Census. He was a Farmer in Wivenhoe, Essex. 1891 Census: Alec, 8, was living with his parents at Maypole Farm, Berechurch. He was a scholar.
1901 Census: Alec, 18, was living with his parents at Maypole Farm, Berechurch.
He was married to Mabel Constance FAIRHEAD on 12 Nov 1918 in Berechurch, Colchester, Essex. Alec B. BLYTH and Mabel Constance FAIRHEAD had the following children:
child+1066 i. Nancy BLYTH.
child+1067 ii. John Robert BLYTH …’ – at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/annapizzey/data/d982.htm
‘… 1067. John Robert BLYTH was born on 11 Jan 1925 in Wivenhoe, Essex. Born at Park Farm, Wivenhoe. He died on 4 Dec 1993 in Hamilton, New Zealand. He was a Farmer in West Street Farm, Rickinghall, Suffolk. John, Barbara and their three sons emigrated to New Zealand in December 1958 on the Southern Cross. They settled in Wiakato where they had a dairy farm. John was also a real estate agent.
He was married to Barbara Kathleen BARKER in Sep 1949 in Colchester, Essex. John Robert BLYTH and Barbara Kathleen BARKER had the following children:
child+1353 i. Alan BLYTH.
child+1354 ii. Martin John BLYTH.
child+1355 iii. Robert Peter BLYTH.
child+1356 iv. Susan Carol BLYTH.
child1357 v. Anne Elizabeth BLYTH (Private) …’ – at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/annapizzey/data/d1010.htm#P1010
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Notes
In 1642, the Colchester mob attacked Berechurch Hall – and other buildings on the estate?? – see
In 1644, an ordinance to remove trees from estates in Kent and Essex for the Royal Navy, including estates of Sir Henry Audley (Berechurch??) – at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=55933
Sir Robert Audley died 1624 –
Sir Henry Audley – monument in former St Michael’s church, Berechurch, dated 1648 – but date of death?? [c 1672??] –
.
the history of Maypole Farm from the documents:
acreage and field names of the farm (Tithe Maps) –
.