Stanstead Abbotts Local History Society

A Monastery in Stanstead Abbotts, continued……

An early brewing house in Stanstead Abbotts?

    The Red Lion building is described in the British Listed Buildings website as “Late C15, former open hall between the 2 cross-wings replaced in late C17 by block of 2-storeys and attics. Size of original hall appropriate to a manor house (Royal Commission for Historical Monuments Typescript)”.

    Interestingly Stansteadbury is referred to on the same site as “Manor house of Stanstead. Oldest part is SW wing, late C15 for Abbey of Waltham”. So both buildings were begun at the same period. It is clear that the abbey would not erect two buildings at the same time with a similar purpose, and it is just as obvious no-one else at the time had the money, need, nor authority to build a second structure. The original part of the Red Lion building must have been constructed by the abbey for a different purpose.

      Under the feudal system (which admittedly was in decline by this time), tenants were expected to work for the lord of the manor (in our case the abbey) on his lands for a number of days each year, and the produce from the lord’s lands could have been stored here, ready to be transported down the river. (The Corn Mill was owned by the lord of the manor and tenants were obliged to get their corn milled there - for a fee (!!)) Tithes for the manor were paid to the Augustinian priory at Merton in Surrey which held the “advowson” [the right to appoint a priest] of St James Church, so Waltham Abbey did not benefit from these.

    The Red Lion site could also have been a brewing house where the abbey produced ale to supplement what was produced in the abbey brew house This, to me, is the more likely scenario. The large ground area would have been ideal both for storage and for laying out the corn as part of the malting process.

    There is uncertainty about the source of water which could have been used to brew the ale. The origins of the Mill Stream which, once built, would have provided a convenient source, as well as the means to transport the finished product down river, are lost in the mists of time. If it was not cut till later, what water was used? However, Rob (Dick) Dixon of the SALHS has discovered a spring behind the present St Andrews Church which now flows underground and can be heard flowing throughout the year, which could have been a good source of pure clean water, ideal for brewing (It could also have been the source for the drinking fountain on the fence outside the church, erected in the nineteenth century!) If the Mill Stream did not exist back in the late fourteenth century, it was only a short haul along the present High Street to a wharf near the Thele Bridge.

    All this is conjecture and cannot be proved, but it makes more sense than any idea of a second manor house built at the same time as Stanstead Bury. It would also explain the idea which has come down to us, not that it was a monastery, but at least that it had a connection with the abbey. The abbey cellarer or a couple of his underlings (Augustinian canons always had to travel in pairs when out of the abbey , according to the Rule of St Augustine which they followed) would have come to Stanstead periodically to attend to any business connected with it and so could have stayed at Stanstead Bury. The brewing house, if it existed, would have been worked by lay brothers and some of the local labour.

The end of the abbey connection

    In 1522 the abbey leased the manor for sixty-one years (reserving the manorial rights) to John Rodes of London and his wife Margaret, so there must have been some change in circumstances which we do not know about. Then in 1531 the manor was exchanged with King Henry VIII for a monastery at Blackmore in Essex, the priory manor and other lands. The following year the king gave the farm and reversion of the manor to Anne Boleyn on her creation as Marchioness of Pembroke, and married her at the same time. We do not know what happened about the remainder of the sixty-one year rent agreement as a result of these changes. When Anne was executed in 1536, the manor reverted to the crown.

    In 1540 Waltham Abbey became the last victim of Henry’s policy of closing every monastery in his kingdom, “the Dissolution or Suppression of the Monasteries.” At the closure of Waltham there were only seventeen monks left, three of whom had come from other monasteries when they were closed. Waltham had obviously fallen on difficult times and, like many other such establishments, had been suffering for some time from a sharp decline in numbers of enrollments.

Conclusion

So here is the suggestion, together with background evidence. It has to be admitted that, at this distance in time, there are large gaps in our knowledge of the period and this therefore remains speculation. However, it tries to take into account the idea of a monastery in the village, which there was not (!) but also gives some credence to the possibility that there was a connection with brewing and, of course, with the abbey. Cheers!!

Ron Davies