WALTHAM-ABBEY, or HOLY-CROSS, a parish
in the hundred of WALTHAM, county of ESSEX, comprising
the market-town of Waltham-Abbey, and the
hamlets of Holyfield, Sewardstone, and Upshire, and
containing 3982 inhabitants, of which number, 2097
are in the town of Waltham-Abbey, 23 miles (W. by S.)
from Chelmsford, and 12 (N. by E.) from London.
The name of this place is compounded of the Saxon
words Weald and Ham, signifying a residence in, or
near, a wood; the adjunct is a term of distinction
derived from an ancient abbey which was founded
here. The town derived its origin, so long since as the
time of Canute the Great, from the facility and inducement
for hunting afforded by the neighbourhood, which
led Ralph de Toni, standard-bearer to that monarch,
to build a few houses. A church was soon afterwards
erected, principally for the preservation of the
holy cross, to which many legends of miraculous efficacy
were attached; and, upon a lapse of the property
to the crown, Harold, to whom it had been given by
Edward the Confessor, founded, in 1062, a monastery
for Secular canons; for which, in 1177, Henry II. substituted
monks of the order of St. Augustine, and dedicated
it to the Holy Cross. At the dissolution, the
revenue was valued at £1079. 12. 1.: within the choir,
or eastern chapel, the body of Harold, who was slain
in the battle of Hastings, with those of his brothers,
Gurth and Leofwin, was entombed. In a place
called Romeland,.adjoining the, abbey, was a house
at which Henry VIII. occasionally resided; and to a
conversation held here, on the important subject of the
king's divorce, Dr. Cranmer was eventually indebted
for the royal favour, and his ultimate elevation to the
see of Canterbury. The town, which is spacious and
irregularly built, consisting chiefly of one long street
is situated on the banks of the river Lea, which here
divides into many streams, and separates the two
counties of Essex and Herts about half a mile to the
west, and also the parishes of Cheshunt and Waltham-
Abbey: the inhabitants are well supplied with water.
The gunpowder mills belonging to government are
situated here, and at present afford employment to
nearly two hundred persons, but in time of war from
four to five hundred were engaged. About one hundred
persons are occupied in printing silk handkerchiefs, and
some business is done in the manufacture of pins,
though it is by no means so extensive as formerly: here
are also a brewery, flour-mill, and two malt-kilas. In
the hamlet of Sewardstone is an extensive factory for
throwing and spinning silk, in which between two
and three hundred persons are employed; at the west
end of the town is the new cut from the river Lea.
The market is on Tuesday: fairs are held May 14th
and September 25th, for horses and cattle; and on
the 26th is a statute fair for hiring servants. Courts
leet and baron are held on Whit-Monday.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the jurisdiction
of the Commissary of London, concurrently with the
Consistorial Court of the Bishop of London, and in the
patronage of certain Trustees. The church, which is
dedicated to the Holy Cross and St. Lawrence, and
comprises only the nave of the old abbey church, is a
spacious structure in the Norman style of architecture,
with a tower of later date; on the south side is the
Lady chapel, now used as a vestry and school room. In
the interior are three tiers of semicircular arches, enriched
with zigzag ornaments, supported on circular
massive piers, some of which are also decorated with
waving lines; the windows are of various kinds: beneath
the Lady chapel is a fine crypt, now arranged
in vaults. Among the various monuments and sepulchral
tablets the principal is one to the memory of
Sir Edward Denny, who died in 1599; under an
arch of veined marble are recumbent effigies of him
and his lady, and beneath those of their children, in
a kneeling posture, surmounted by an appropriate
inscription: a slab near the communion-table retains
the impression of an abbot with his crosier, the brass
having been taken away. There are places of worship
for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists. A free school,
in which fifteen boys and eight girls receive instruction,
is supported by voluntary contributions. The Leverton
school, founded, about 1824, by Mrs. Rebecca Leverton,
widow, for the education of fifteen boys and ten girls,
who are also clothed at her expense, was extended for
four additional boys by Mr. John Edmondson, who,
in 1708, bequeathed a piece of land, now let for £18
per annum, for their benefit: this school has an interest
in the reversion of £6000 three per cents, consolidated
annuities, left by Thomas Leverton, Esq., for.
charitable purposes, subject to the life of. the abovementioned
Mrs. Rebecca Leverton, his wife. Greens
almshouses, for four poor widows, originally built, ana
endowed with an orchard and barn, now let for »»Cfc
annum, by - Green, Esq., in 1626, were rebuilt
enlarged, in 1818, with four additional rooms, by
means of a bequest from Robert Mason, in 1807.
iEight poor widows reside in them: those occupying
the additional rooms receive a weekly allowance of two
shillings and sixpence each, arising from the interest of
£1350, given, in 1826, by Mowbray Woolard; from
this bequest also, one shilling weekly is allowed to five
poor men and five women in the workhouse. The
only remains of the venerable abbey, exclusively of the
church, are a fine gate with a postern, the bridge leading
to it, and some dilapidated walls: in the gardens
formerly belonging to the institution, and now let as
nursery ground, is an ancient tulip tree, the trunk of
which is nine feet six inches in circumference, considered
a great curiosity when in flower.