My Suffolk Family
Name List
Mary MEDCALF
Husband
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Wife Mary MEDCALF
Born: 30 Oct 1791 - Denston, Suffolk Christened: - Denston, Suffolk, England Died: Buried:
Father: Henry MEDCALF (Abt 1756-1808) Mother: Susannah FITCH (1751- )
Children
Research Notes (Wife)
1782 Dec 1 John s of Henry and Susan Medcalf baptised
1784 Mar 14 Samuel s of Henry and Susan Medcalf baptised
1786 Jun 4 George s of Henry and Susan Medcalf baptised
1788 Jul 6 Thomas s of Henry and Susan Medcalf baptised
1791 Oct 30 Mary d of Henry and Susan Medcalf baptised
1796 Feb 28 Edward s of Henry and Susan Medcalf baptised
1808 Jun 26 Henry Medcalf, Labourer, buried
1810 Jun 1 John Metcalfe, buried]]
Mary MEDCALF
Husband
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Wife Mary MEDCALF
Born: Abt 1822-1824 - Hundon, Suffolk, England Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: William MEDCALF (1794- ) Mother: Hannah NUNN (1801- )
Children
Mary (1) MEDCALF
Husband
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Wife Mary (1) MEDCALF
Born: 5 Mar 1800 - Hundon, Suffolk, England Christened: 28 Mar 1800 - Hundon, Suffolk, England Died: Bef 1818 Buried:
Father: Samuel MEDCALF (1774-1829) Mother: Elizabeth GRANGER (1780-1873)
Children
Mary Ann MEDCALF
Husband
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Wife Mary Ann MEDCALF
Born: 1828 - Hundon, Suffolk Christened: 28 Dec 1828 - Hundon, Suffolk Died: Buried:
Father: Mother: Ann MEDCALF (1804-After 1881)
Children
Christening Notes (Wife)
28 Dec 1828 Mary Ann METCALF base born of Ann METCALF of Hundon Pauper
Is this Ann's daughter?
Mary Ann MEDCALF
Husband
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Wife Mary Ann MEDCALF
Born: 6 Feb 1842 - Denston, Suffolk Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Henry MEDCALF (1808- ) Mother: Mary Anne GYPPS ( - )
Children
Michael Ralph MEDCALF
Husband Michael Ralph MEDCALF
AKA: Mick Born: 1915 - Saffron Walden, Essex Christened: 1915 - Saffron Walden, Essex, England Died: Between 1990 and 1995 Buried:
Father: Mortimer MEDCALF (1875-1962) Mother: Bessie HARRINGTON (1882-1958)
Wife
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Marriage: Never Married
Children
Minnie MEDCALF
Husband
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Wife Minnie MEDCALF
Born: 1881 - Hundon, Suffolk Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Henry MEDCALF (1839- ) Mother: Jane BOWERS (1844- )
Children
Living
Husband
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Wife Living (details have been suppressed)
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Mortimer MEDCALF (1875-1962) Mother: Bessie HARRINGTON (1882-1958)
Children
Mortimer MEDCALF and Nellie May PIGRUM (First Wife)
Husband Mortimer MEDCALF
Born: 21 Mar 1875 - Hempstead, Suffolk Christened: 10 Apr 1875 - Hempstead, Suffolk Died: Sep 1962 - Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England Buried:
Father: Esau MEDCALF (1842-After 1901) Mother: Hannah SMITH (1842-After 1903)
Marriage: 26 Nov 1903
Other Spouse: Bessie HARRINGTON (1882-1958) - 18 Mar 1907 - Saffron Walden, Essex
Noted events in his life were:• Fact 1: Saffron Walden, Essex, England. Thomas Mortimer is child of Mortimer Medcalf's first marriage to Nellie May Pigrum
Wife Nellie May PIGRUM (First Wife)
Born: Jun qtr 1873 - Edmonton Registration District, London, England Christened: Died: 1904 - Saffron Walden, Essex, England Buried: 1904 - Saffron Walden, Essex, England
Father: Thomas PIGRUM ( - ) Mother: UNKNOWN ( - )
Children
1 M Thomas Mortimer MEDCALF
AKA: Tom Born: 1904 - Saffron Walden, Essex, England Christened: 1904 - Saffron Walden, Essex, England Died: 1978 - Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England Buried: - Norfolk, England
Death Notes (Husband)
Mortimer was staying for a short time visiting his eldest and favourite son Thomas, (Tom) and his wife Frances, who lived at Great Yarmouth, when he caught cold, and died of Jaundice, pneumonia and pleursy.
I am not sure if he was buried there or taken back to East Bergholt where he lived at that time to be buried with Bessie.
General Notes (Husband)
My grandfather Mortimer Medcalf farmed at Copt Hall Farm, Saffron Walden for many years. My mother, Molly and her siblings i think were all born there. Mortimer had previously farmed at Hempstead.
Research Notes (Husband)
HEMPSTEAD, or Hemsted, a large straggling village, 7 miles E. of Saffron Walden, and 6 miles N. by E. of Thaxted, has in its parish 789 souls, and 3567a. of land, including Hempstead Wood, Smith Green, Cabbage End, Gallows End, and many scattered farmhouses, &c.
"HEMPSTEAD, a village and a parish in Saffron-Walden district, Essex.
The village stands near the river Pant, 5¾ miles SSW of Haverhill r.station, and 6½ E by S of Saffron-Walden; is an ancient place; and has a post-office under Saffron-Walden. The parish includes also the hamlet of Blackden. Acres, 3,565. Real property, £5,008. Pop., 797. Houses, 168. The property is subdivided. Winchlow Hall was the seat of the Harveys, one of whom was Dr. Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. The parish is noted for its trees, and has a famous "Hempstead Oak," of remarkable size. The living is a p. curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Great Sampford, in the diocese of Rochester. The church is ancient; and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with lofty tower."
At Domesday Survey, it was held by Richard Fitz-Gislebert. Cecil Fane, Esq., is now proprietor of most of the soil, and lord of the two manors called Hempstead Hall and Crouchmans, or Winslows, which were purchased by the Harvey family about 1640. The Hall, which was formally an occasional seat of the Harvey family, is demolished, but the moat remains, and also part of some outhouses, converted into a cottage. Of this family was the celebrated Dr. William Harvey, to whose memory there is a handsome monument in the church, displaying his bust, and recording, in a Latin epitaph, his discovery of the circulation of the blood, and other circumstances connected with his professional knowledge. He died in 1657, aged 80. He was physician to James I. and Charles I., and adhered to the royal cause in the civil wars. He was the son of Thomas Harvey, of Folkestone, in Kent, and elder brother of Eliah Harvey, who purchased the Hempstead estate. He was not only an excellent physician, but of an admirable character as a man and a christian philosopher. Having no children, he gave his paternal estate to the College of Physicians, to which he added a valuable library and museum.
That notorious highwayman, Dick Turpin, was born here, in the house now the Rose and Crown Inn.
The parish is well wooded, and celebrated for having produced remarkably large trees. Arthur Young mentions two immense oaks, in a field near Great Dawkins farmhouse, but only one of them is now standing, and much mutilated and decayed. This venerable oak is supposed to be a thousand years old, and was formerly 99 feet in height, and its boughs covered an area of about 36 yards in diameter. An estate called Moynes was long held by the Moigne family of the Earls of Oxford. J. Drummond, Esq., and several smaller owners, have estates here.
The Church (St. Andrews,) is a large ancient structure, on a hill, nearly in the centre of the parish. It has a nave, with aisles, a chancel, and a handsome tower, containing five musical bells. The interior is highly ornamented and beautiful, and the nave is separated from the aisles by four clustered pillars on either side, supporting pointed arches. In a chapel, or apartment over the vault of the Harvey family, are several handsome monuments, one of which has a well-carved bust of Dr. Harvey, who immortalized his name by discovering the circulation of the blood, as already noticed. The benefice is a curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Great Sampford, to which this parish is sometimes called a chapelry.
The Dean and Chapter of Canterbury have here 57a. 3r. 4p., of rectorial glebe, and are appropriators of the great tithes, which were commuted in 1836, for £725. 18s. 5d., and the small tithes for £235. 10s. 9d. per annum. Two houses, called the Workhouse and Almshouse, are occupied by paupers, and are supposed to have been given by John Pound. The parish has three tenements, let for about £12 a year, which is applied with the poor rates. Several pieces of land, which have long been held as private property, are supposed to have belonged to the poor parishioners.
Famous for being:
- the birthplace of Dick Turpin (the highwayman); and - the burial place of William Harvey (see above).
Wool & Weaving Although Saffron Walden was never one of the principal centres of the woollen industry in medieval times, it was a market town important enough to have its own Woolstaplers Hall. The annual procession of the Woolstaplers on St. Blaize's Day (February 3) was a colourful occasion that was held until 1778 with the Mayor and Corporation taking part. Members of the Guild walked in their robes of wool dyed for the purpose, wearing feathered hats and led by someone dressed as Bishop Blaize, their patron saint. Then came the chaplains, a band of musicians, shepherds and shepherdesses, one riding with a lamb in her lap. Orations were given at stopping points along the way, and the procession even went beyond the boundaries of the parish as there were many weavers in surrounding villages. The church bells welcomed their return and they all feasted at the Rose (and Crown). The traditional cloth woven in this area was the "white" or undyed type, although the town supplied the saffron dye for the whole area. It is also recorded that teazel, caraway and coriander were grown as a triple crop. The teazel, used for raising the nap on cloth, is still found in gardens and hedgerows.
Although there was a general decline in the woollen industry, weaving continued spasmodically and the spinning of worsted yarns was certainly being carried on in Saffron Walden in 1823. There was also an unexpected revival in the early 19th century with the introduction of Norfolk crepe weaving, and there were as many as 900 looms busy in the town and the villages, working for the factory in Bridge Street. Cottages were built for weavers in East Street, Mount Pleasant and Copt Hall. The Lord Braybrooke of that time deplored this industry which employed mostly young women, for "the high wages led to idle and extravagant habits, so that the discontinuance of the work cannot be matter for regret."
His moral concern was soon to be satisfied and the day came when the last loom was silenced.
Saffron Trade Saffron was grown in many places in north-west Essex and adjacent parts of Cambridgeshire. What made Saffron Walden special was that it was the local market centre for the majority of these places, so became the centre of the trade in this precious produce.
For a commodity which must have been so important to the town, it is remarkable how little we know today about the stuff. There are not many anecdotes connected with its manufacture; no illustrations, let alone any physical evidence, to tell us how the saffron strands were dried and prepared for sale. Not even an unequivocal indication that merchants came here to buy it on the occasion of Ursula's Fair on 21st October, although this must have been the basis upon which the town acquired its distinctive prefix.
However that may be, there is no doubt it was a significant commodity from the time it was introduced in the 15th century, until it started to become difficult to get hold of locally in the early 1700s. For about 250 years it was harvested every autumn, the whole flowers picked from the early morning before sunrise until about 10 or 11 am, carried by the 'crokers' (growers) to Walden or some other centre to be prepared. The stigma or chives were plucked out of the centre of the flower and all the petals and stalk discarded. There are reports of the gutters of Walden streets clogged with saffron petals each autumn. The chives were packed together and laid on a wire mesh over a drying fire, covered in hair cloth, layers of paper and weighted, for a couple of hours. Further drying took a day and the hay saffron was then ready for sale.
William Harrison, the rector of Radwinter, a few miles from Saffron Walden, writing in the late 16th century remarks 'warme nights, sweet dewes, fat grounde, and misty mornings are very good for saffron; but frost and cold do kill and keep backe the flower or else shrinke up the chive'. Stories of adulteration occur wherever saffron is grown, whether here or in Spain or north Africa. Marigold strands were a favourite substitute and if caught in Nuremburg the penalty was being burnt alive.
Another strange thing is that nobody seems to be very clear what the main purpose of this expensive stuff was. It is clear that dyeing was the main use, but it is better known as a spice and as a medicine. It certainly does not seem to have been used in cooking locally - there are no recipes, no tradition of saffron cakes as in the west country, where it could not be grown because neither the soil nor the climate was right for it. There are, however, recipes explaining and extolling its use as a medicine; a pick me up for anyone who was under the weather.
There are also representations of the saffron flower to be seen in Saffron Walden in the decorated plasterwork, old (particularly on the Old Sun Inn building in Church Street) and new, in spandrels in the south aisle of the parish church and on the coat of arms on the Town Hall.
The Malting Industry
Malting was carried on in Saffron Walden from the reign of Richard II. One reads of complaints even in 1372 of the tax demanded of one farthing on each quarter of malt bought or sold. In 1600 there were six maltings in the town; climate and soil here produced high quality barley suitable for making malt. By the end of the 19th century when London and other towns were expanding rapidly, twenty-two maltings were operating and the record number of thirty-three was reached thirty years later. There was only one brewery in the town owned by the Gibsons, the leading maltsters, so all had to be transported to London. Problems were too many for a command of the market to last - lack of water transport which nearby Bishop's Stortford could provide, heavy taxation, and the fact that the breweries began to cultivate their own supplies. So the decline followed that of wool and saffron, and the remarkable skyline of 'cowls rising up in all directions' began to disappear. Only ten maltings were left by 1901, but the sweet, heavy smell was to drift across the town for many years and one malting was still working after the last war.
The Youth Hostel is the finest unspoilt medieval building in the town, early 16th century and used at an early date as a malting. The oak wheel sack hoist is still in postition in a large dormitory open to the rafters. The building is L-shaped and on the side facing Myddleton Place are two original moulded oriels.
Birth Notes (Wife)
Births Jun qtr 1873
PIGRUM Nellie May Edmonton 3a235
General Notes (Wife)
Possibly died in Childbirth or soon after?
Research Notes (Wife)
She may have had a female child before she married Mortimer?
This entry found on Free BMD.
Births Dec qtr 1902
Pegrum Nellie May Brentford 3a150
Notes (Marriage)
Marriages Dec Qtr 1903
Medcalf Mortimer Saffron W 4a1500
Pigrum Nellie May Saffron W. 4a1500
Noah MEDCALF
Husband Noah MEDCALF
Born: Abt 1866 - Stoke By Clare, Suffolk Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Benjamin MEDCALF (1822-1883) Mother: Sophia GRIDLEY (1825-1909)
Wife
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Children
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This Web Site was updated 10th February 2008 with Legacy from Millennia