# Purleigh

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**Purleigh** is a village on the [Dengie peninsula](/source/Dengie_peninsula) about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of [Maldon](/source/Maldon,_Essex) in the English county of [Essex](/source/Essex). The village is part of the Purleigh ward of the [Maldon district](/source/Maldon_(district)).[1] At the [2021 census](/source/2021%E2%80%932022_United_Kingdom_censuses) the parish had a population of 1,286.

The place-name 'Purleigh' is first attested in a charter of 998, where it appears as *Purlea*. In the [Domesday Book](/source/Domesday_Book) of 1086 it appears as *Purlai*. The name means '[bittern](/source/Bittern) clearing'.[2][3]

## Governance

An [electoral ward](/source/Wards_and_electoral_divisions_of_the_United_Kingdom) in the same name exists. This ward stretches south to [North Fambridge](/source/North_Fambridge) with a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 3,419.[4]

## Descent of the manor

### Eustace, Earl of Boulogne

At the time of the [Domesday survey](/source/Domesday_Book) of 1086, the [manor](/source/Manorialism) of Purleigh was held by [Eustace II, Count of Boulogne](/source/Eustace_II,_Count_of_Boulogne) (d.1087).

### Denys

Having previously been possessed by the Grey and Capel families,[5] in the late 15th century the manor was acquired by [Hugh Denys](/source/Hugh_Denys), [Groom of the Stool](/source/Groom_of_the_Stool) to [King Henry VII](/source/Henry_VII_of_England). He died without progeny and bequeathed the manor to his younger half-nephew John Denys of [Pucklechurch](/source/Pucklechurch), Gloucestershire, in which family, having modernised the spelling of its name to "Dennis", the manor remained until the early 18th century. William Dennis, 5th in descent from John, died in 1701 and was buried at Pucklechurch. He was [Sheriff of Gloucestershire](/source/High_Sheriff_of_Gloucestershire) in 1689 and died without male issue, leaving two daughters as his co-heiresses. Mary (d.1739),[6] the elder, married Col. James Butler, of the family of the [Earls of Ormond](/source/Earl_of_Ormond_(Ireland)), and Elizabeth the younger daughter married, as his second wife, Sir Alexander Cuming of Culter, Aberdeenshire.[7] The manor was retained by both sisters jointly, but was occupied by the tenant John Leaver, and comprised the [manor house](/source/Manor_house) called Purleigh Hall, a garden, orchard, 100 acres of land, 80 acres of [meadow](/source/Meadow), 140 acres of [pasture](/source/Pasture) and 80 acres of woodland. It then passed, probably by sale, to William Neale, described as a "clerk" in a decree of the High Court of Chancery dated 29 January 1741, in an action brought by the nieces of Mary Dennis and by Cassandra Cuming, the daughter of Elizabeth Dennis and the representatives of the infant James Cuming.

### Bonnell

Neale sold it in 1742 to James Bonnell.[8] James was the son of Captain John Bonnell, a merchant of London, possibly the Captain John Bonnell of the [East India Company](/source/East_India_Company) who sailed the *Chandos* to [Madras](/source/Madras) 4 February 1689 -1 January 1691.[9] James was executor of the will of his mother Margaretta Bonnell, his father's second wife, and sister and heiress of a [moiety](/source/Moiety_title) of the estate of Edmund Waterson of Graces in [Little Baddow](/source/Little_Baddow) in Essex,[10] who by his last will ordered his personal estate to be invested in land in Suffolk[11] James's siblings, John and Sarah Bonnell, authorised him to pay £4,000 (out of the total moiety of £14,735 5s.) for the purchase of the manor and farm of Purleigh Hall. Sarah Bonnell (d.1768) left at her death £3,500 in public funds for the endowment of a [charity school](/source/Charity_school) for girls in [West Ham](/source/West_Ham), still surviving as the [Sarah Bonnell School](/source/Sarah_Bonnell_School), the oldest girls' school in England. An elaborate white marble monument exists to Capt John Bonnell and his family in the Monoux Chapel of [Walthamstow](/source/Walthamstow) Church.[12][13]

James Bonnell was lord of the manor of Purleigh in 1759.[14] James Bonnell purchased Pelling Place and adjoining land including Beaumont Lodge in [Old Windsor](/source/Old_Windsor), Berkshire.[15] James Bonnell of Spring Gardens, St Martin-in-the-Field, Westminster, died in 1774 and his estate was the subject of a case in Chancery between James Beal, of St. James's, Westminster, plaintiff, who had assumed by royal licence dated 1774 the additional surname and arms of Bonnell, as was required by the will of James Bonnell,[16] and John Bonnell of Newcastle and other Bonnell [deforciants](/source/Fine_of_lands) ('land-owners') from Durham.[17] In 1853 by deed of gift Mary Anne Harvey Bonnell, spinster, of Pelling Place, Windsor, lady of the manor of Purleigh,[18] who had herself adopted the additional surname of Bonnell in 1841,[19] conveyed to James Bonnell, esq., the whole Bonnell estate. James was the middle son of James Bonnell, who set up as a chemist and druggist in [Carlisle](/source/Carlisle,_Cumbria) when a young man in 1796, who became a manufacturer of aerated soda water, trading from premises in English Street, Carlisle. He sold the business in 1846, none of his sons having wished to continue in the trade. James jnr. in 1854 married Elizabeth Lowther, his cousin through his mother Esther Lowry.[20][21] In 1860 James Bonnell obtained a licence to add the name Harvey before Bonnell.[22]

The tenant in occupation in 1836 was William Clarke (senior).[23] Clarke was born at [Little Hallingbury](/source/Little_Hallingbury), about 20 miles away, but his wife was born in 1814 at Purleigh.[24] A painting of the Bonnell family armorials is held by Essex Archives,[25] [blazoned](/source/Blazon) as follows: *Argent, a cross gules charged with five cross crosslets argent between four of the fame gules*, alternatively: *Argent, a cross gules quarterly pierced 9 cross crosslets 3, 3 and 3 counter-charged*. [Queen Adelaide](/source/Queen_Adelaide,_Cambridgeshire) breakfasted with the Bonnell family on one occasion at Pelling Place, when the family gave her a shell-work vase, one of a pair home-made circa 1779-1781 by Mrs Beal Bonnell and Miss Harvey Bonnell, the other of which stood on a mantelpiece at Pelling and is now in the [Victoria & Albert Museum](/source/Victoria_%26_Albert_Museum), London.[26]

### Irving

The manor passed to the Irving family by the marriage in 1871 of Elizabeth Bonnell, of Pelling Place, to William John Irving of [Penrith, Cumbria](/source/Penrith,_Cumbria). The marriage settlement dated 6 March 1871 deals with the manors of Purleigh and Waltons, together with a number of farms, land, a windmill, as well as Pelling Place itself and large tracts of land in Old Windsor.[27] William was a solicitor, the son of William Irving (1808–1870), FRCS, of Crown Square, Penrith, by Jane Raw of Leaming House, [Watermillock](/source/Watermillock), also in Cumbria.[28] A tragedy occurred in the summer of 1884 when William J. Irving and his children Elizabeth, Charles and John drowned.[29]

## Purleigh Colony

The Purleigh Colony,[30] established in 1896 at Cock Clarks, was a [Tolstoyan](/source/Tolstoyan) anarchist colony that grew out of the Croydon [Brotherhood Church](/source/Brotherhood_Church). Initially based on a 10 acres (4.0 ha) plot, as the group grew the colony began to rent local cottages with land attached. The colony ran a printing press, publishing translations of [Tolstoy](/source/Tolstoy) and for a while The New Order magazine. For a time the colony sheltered some of the [Doukhobors](/source/Doukhobors), forced to leave Russia to avoid political persecution. The colony was always a fissile mix, and began to break down towards the end of 1900; some colonists moved with the Doukhobors to Canada, while others went on to form the [Whiteway Colony](/source/Whiteway_Colony) in Gloucestershire. A further group, headed by Tolstoy's literary agent, [Vladimir Chertkov](/source/Vladimir_Chertkov), moved to [Tuckton](/source/Tuckton) near [Christchurch](/source/Christchurch,_Dorset) in Dorset, where they traded as 'The Free Age Press' – producing dirt-cheap versions of Tolstoy's religious and ethical texts, for an English readership.[31]

## Local amenities

There are three public houses, The Bell, The Fox and Hounds and The Roundbush. The Bell is a 14th-century building that was refurbished in the 16th century.

The local school is Purleigh Community Primary School.

Purleigh playing field is home to Purleigh Cricket Club, who in 2008 broke a British record by scoring 499–5 in just 45 overs[32] against Herongate II.

## All Saints' Church

The parish church is All Saints. It is of 14th-century origin.[33]

[Lawrence Washington](/source/Lawrence_Washington_(1602%E2%80%931652)), the great-great-grandfather of the first U.S. president, [George Washington](/source/George_Washington), was [rector](/source/Rector_(ecclesiastical)) in the village from 1632 until 1643, when he was ejected from Purleigh for being a "common frequenter of ale-houses" - though the real reason was probably that he was a Royalist. When he died in 1652 he was buried in the graveyard of All Saints' Church, [Maldon](/source/Maldon).[34]

Rev [Robert Francis Walker](/source/Robert_Francis_Walker)[35] who was a [curate](/source/Curate), from 1819 to 1854, and a well-known translator of Christian books from German to English, is buried in the churchyard.

## References

1. [Maldon District Council](https://archive.today/20070620152755/http://www.maldon.gov.uk/LocalDemocracy/Councillors/Purleigh+Ward.htm)

1. [Eilert Ekwall](/source/Eilert_Ekwall), *The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names*, p. 375.

1. Warren, Michael J (12 December 2022). ["Home and the birdsong"](https://aeon.co/essays/british-place-names-resonate-with-the-song-of-missing-birds). *[Aeon](/source/Aeon_(magazine))*. Retrieved 17 December 2022.

1. ["Ward population 2011"](http://www.ukcensusdata.com/purleigh-e05004201#sthash.JRFiRnxL.dpbs). Retrieved 22 September 2015.

1. White's Directory of Essex 1848

1. Will dated 26 Jan. 1739, recited in D/DHn L8, Essex Archives

1. Bristol Archives, P/Puc?HM/1, "Barnard Papers", includes a pedigree of Denys family; Pucklechurch parish records

1. Essex Archives, D/DHn T57, Deeds of Bonnell and Irving Estates in Essex and Berkshire

1. [East India Company: Ship's logs, ledgers and receipt books, 1605-1701, British Library, London, L/MAR/A, Reel 8, no 89, Log book of the Chandos Journal of a voyage to Madras Captain John Bonnell 4 February 1689 -1 January 1691](http://www.ampltd.co.uk/collections_az/eastwest-4/contents-of-reels.aspx)

1. Essex Archives D/DHn T21

1. notes, 1742, signed by John and Sarah Bonnell, [Essex Archives, D/DHn T18](https://secureweb1.essexcc.gov.uk/SeaxPAM/result_details.asp?DocID=119085) [Archived](https://archive.today/20120805230025/https://secureweb1.essexcc.gov.uk/SeaxPAM/result_details.asp?DocID=119085) 5 August 2012 at archive.today

1. [A survey of the cities of London and Westminster, borough of Southwark, etc. By John Stow, John Mottley, pp. 853–7](https://books.google.com/books?id=7nBZAAAAYAAJ&dq=john+bonnell+walthamstow&pg=PA853)

1. [Monumental Inscriptions Walthamstow, Part 2, Walthamstow antiquarian society, Official publication no. 27, 1932, The Bonnell Monument in Walthamstow Church, by Stephen J. Barns](https://archive.org/stream/officialpublicat27waltuoft/officialpublicat27waltuoft_djvu.txt)

1. "On 10 Apr. 1759 Mr. James Bonnell, Lord of the Manor did: "grant unto the Hon. Lieutenant General Richard Onslow Esq., and Pooley his wife licience to let or lease his [copyhold](/source/Copyhold) land to George Thrussell of Purleigh, yeoman, for 21 years from Michaelmas (29 Sept.) past." Court Rolls for Purleigh- 29 Oct. 1759, quoted in [\[1\]](http://www.reocities.com/mainegenie1/TRUSSELL.htm)

1. Essex Archives D/DHn T69

1. Essex Archives D/DHn F15

1. Essex Archives, will of James Bonnell, original exemplification, D/DHn L9

1. Essex Archives D/DC 27/972

1. Essex Archives D/DHn F18

1. [Cumberland News & Star, 3 Oct 2008, "Man with the magic soda water fountain"](https://archive.today/20120910235016/http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/1.249666)

1. Marriage settlement on marriage of James Bonnell of Pelling Place, Old Windsor, Berkshire and Elizabeth Lowry, spinster, of Green Gill, Penrith, Cumberland (25 October 1854) and release of claim (15 Sept.1869), Essex Archives D/DHn F20

1. [Essex Archives D/DHn T12](https://secureweb1.essexcc.gov.uk/SeaxPAM/result_details.asp?DocID=119079) [Archived](https://archive.today/20120805202225/https://secureweb1.essexcc.gov.uk/SeaxPAM/result_details.asp?DocID=119079) 5 August 2012 at archive.today

1. 1836 Whites Directory

1. [Roots Web Ancestry](http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/ESSEX-UK/2010-03/1269867061)

1. Essex Archives D/DHn F24

1. Item no. W.70-1981 Gallery location:British Galleries, room 120, case 15

1. [Deed source: "Dominic Winter, 7 March 2002, lot 204"](http://www.durtnall.org.uk/DEEDS/Essex%201-100.htm)

1. [http://www.clanirving.com/pdfs/Descendant%20Chart%20for%20the%20Irvings%20of%20Cumberland.pdf](http://www.clanirving.com/pdfs/Descendant%20Chart%20for%20the%20Irvings%20of%20Cumberland.pdf) [dead link]

1. Essex Archives D/DHn F23; D/DHn F2

1. *Utopias and Utopians: An Historical Dictionary* by R. C. S. Trahair p326

1. Holman, M. J. de K., 'Translating Tolstoy for the Free Age Press: Vladimir Chertkov and his English Manager Arthur Fifield', in *The Slavonic and East European Review*, vol. 66, no. 2 (April 1988), pp. 184–197.

1. ["BBC News report on Purleigh Cricket Club"](https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/7478125.stm). 27 June 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2010.

1. White's Directory, 1848

1. [The Link from Rev Lawrence Washington of Purleigh to President George Washington](http://www.essex-family-history.co.uk/washington.htm)

1. ["The life of Robert Francis Walker"](http://www.essex-family-history.co.uk/revwalker.htm)

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