Village Maps.NtHistory .
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"I will that there be a sermon in White Notley church said for me,
and to the preacher 6s. 8d."
Almost all English villages have some dispute as to the origins of their name and White Notley is no exception. The speculation involves the neighbouring village of Black Notley which lies just 2 ½ miles away. White Notley and Black Notley were once a combined settlement known as Notley. The Domesday Book gives no less than seven allusions to Notley (Nutle[i]a as it was there called); but there is no distinction of Black and White, so it is evidently but one Parish at the time, though divided very shortly afterwards. The name Notley is supposed to have been derived from the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) “knut” and “ley” (meaning “nut pasture”).
One, perhaps unlikely, version is that part of the township (Black Notley) was affected by the Black Death, but those who lived in the other part (White Notley) escaped that plague.
The most widely accepted theory is that shortly after the completion of the Domesday Book, in 1086, Notley was divided between two barons. Roger Bigod, whose descendants became the Earls of Norfolk, received the lands that became known as White Notley and Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, became the overlord of what is now Black Notley. Later, White Notley passed into the hands of the d’Engayne family. The origins of the names “White” and “Black” for the Notleys are unknown, but is has been suggested that the prefix “White” might be derived from the nickname of one of the d’Engayne family – “Demi-Blanc”.
Earlier records show that, during the reign of St. Edward the Confessor (1042 – 1066), Notley was in the possession of Harold; Achi (a freeman); Alestan (a freeman); Esgar; Levecild and then the Bishop of London (Robert de Jumièges). In 1086 much of England was surveyed for tax purposes and the information was compiled into the Domesday Book. At that time Notley was held by the Earl of Boulogne, Suene of Essex and Hamo Dapifer.
By 1211 the Eugaine family we holding the manor, and retained possession until 1399, when it went to the family of Pakenham and successively passed into the families of Aylesbury, Cheney, Vaux and the Wrights of Kelvedon Hatch. White Notley Hall was occupied for a considerable period of time by a family of the name Whitbread; they inter-married with the Smyths of Cressing. Thomas Whitbread, by will dated 21st November 1684, devised a parcel of land and two cottages, the proceeds to be distributed annually to the poor in bread. The "parcel of land" is the Garden Field at the Green, White Notley. The cottages were sold in 1933, realising £188 and the field is still rented out. The distribution of bread was stopped altogether in 1951 by permission of the Church Commissioners, and other arrangements made. The Whitbread Charity is currently administered by White Notley Church. Following the death of any resident of White Notley, the charity gives a donation of £50 to their spouse.
The Church Register, which dates from 1538, also contains records of the Smyth family, they lived at Cressing Temple and White Notley Hall at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century, one of whom, Henry Neville, restored the chancel in 1638 as recorded on the shield in the roof of the Church.
"The soil is heavy clay; subsoil, clay and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, barley, turnips and beans; peas are extensively grown here for the London markets. The area is 2,243 acres; rateable value £3,000." [1886A.D.]
Traditionally, White Notley was predominantly a farming community. A strong loam on a clay bottom is the general geology of the land, providing the characteristic fertile soil of Essex, and indeed East Anglia. Both the Notleys had their own mills, though neither used the River Brain (a tributary of the Blackwater). White Notley's single-storey two-pair mill was fed from a large pond which remains at the back of the Cross Keys. Two mills are mentioned in the Domesday Book and both must have been connected with this lake, as there is no sufficient fitting water supply for a mill anywhere else in the immediate locality. One fully functioning mill still existed at the site between the Cross Keys and White Notley Hall up until the late 1890's. It was insured in 1806 by the Lord of the Manor, Sturgeon Nunn Brewster, and was probably the Hall's small private mill. It was a picturesque ruin in 1907, when it was stated that it gave up work in 1865, though it continued grist grinding after this. The demise of many small local mills took place during this time as cheaper grain imports arrived from America and Australia, milling then took place at the docks and farmers only used their unprofitable mills to produce food for livestock. The iron frames of the pit wheel and spur wheel, together with one stone, still lie where they were abandoned. The overshot wheel became so heavily encased in lime that though its wooden spokes have rottted away their shape is still clearly shown in a sort of lime cast, along with the wheel shaft.
At one time White Notley had three Inns situated in the centre of the village; The Lion, The Bell and the sole remaining Cross Keys.
Census Data
Year |
(1848) |
1861 |
1871 |
1881 |
1891 |
1901 |
Population |
470 |
508 |
409 |
438 |
417 |
335 |