Milton Hall
Milton
Hall
known
as
Nazareth
House,
was
formerly
the
manor
house
of
the
manor
of
Milton,
owned
by
the
Priory
of
Holy
Trinity,
Canterbury.
The
Manor
was
certainly
held
by
the
Priory
in
pre-
Norman
times
and
a
monastic
cartulary
ascribes
the
grant
to
a
certain
Leofchild
in
822.
A
confirmation
charter
of
Edward
the
Confessor
contains
this
emphatic
curse:
“If
anyone
shall
hereafter
presume
to
alter
the
same
let
him
be
for
ever
anathematized
and
damned
with
the
traitor
Judas.”
In
the
Middle
Ages
the
manor
was
managed
by
a
bailiff,
who
was
answerable
to
the
Priory
for
the
proceeds
in
money
rents
and
agricultural
produce.
In
the
time
of
Henry
VIII
the
total
annual
value
from
all
these
sources
amounted
to
£30.
The
buildings
included
a
hall,
rebuilt
in
1305
at
the
cost
of
over
£30,
a
grange,
dairy
and
outhouse,
sheepcote,
pigeon
house,
stables
and
carthouse;
there
were
also
the
bailiff’s
quarters
and
at
one
time,
a
private
chapel
or
oratory.
The
Prior,
as
Lord
of
the
Manor,
had
extensive
privileges
and
franchises,
including
the
right
to
a
court
and
gallows.
Corn
for
the
Canterbury
monks
was
sent
by
ship
from
Stratende
(the
Old
Town
at
Southend),
Millflete
a
landing
place
on
the
shore),
or
from
Cricksea,
on
the
Crouch.
The
whole
of
the
foreshore
belonged
to
the
Manor
and
the
very
valuable
mussel
fishery
thereon
yielded
an
annual
rent
of
the
£2.
The
Manor
suffered
severely
in
1327
from
an
inundation
which
flooded
280
acres
of
pasture
land
and
destroyed
a
tidal
water
mill.
In
the
reign
of
Henry
VIII
it
passed
into
the
possession
of
the
Rich
family
and
subsequently
into
that
of
the
Scrattons.
At
the
sale
of
the
estate
in
1871
the
house
was
purchased
for
use
as
a
school
but
later
came
into
the
ownership
of
the
Sisters
of
Nazareth,
who
kept
it
as
an
orphanage
and
home
for
the
aged
and
infirm.
The
original
building
has
almost
entirely
vanished,
so
great
have
been
the
additions.
In
the
crypt
of
the
church
attached
lie
the
remains
of
Mr.
Clement
Scott,
author
of
the
once
well
known
song,
“The
Garden
of
Sleep,”
and
Bishop
Bellord,
a
war
tried
Army
chaplain.
It
was
upon
land
originally
belonging
to
to
this
estate
that
the
L.
M.
&
S.
Station
(London,
Tilbury
and
Southend
Railway)
was
built,
and
the
first
great
section
of
agricultural
land
in
the
parish
which
was
utilized
for
building
purposes.
Milton
Hall
is
marked
on
Norden’s
Map of Essex 1594.
Sea of Change Southend-on-Sea
Milton Hall/Nazareth House Southend-on-Sea
The History of a Seaside Town
Sea of Change Southend-on-Sea © 2010 - 2021 P. J. Wren. All Rights Reserved.
Sea of Change Southend-on-Sea