Herongate is a village in south

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England. The village is situated on the A128 road between Brentwood and

West Horndon West Horndon is a village and civil parish in the south of the Borough of Brentwood in Essex, England. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross in Central London. West Horndon civil parish was abolished in 1934 and created again in 2003 wi ...

. The population of the village is listed in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Herongate and Ingrave.

History

Herongate goes back to the Saxon period, The Anglo-Saxon and medieval settlements were devoted to arable and livestock farming. Herongate was part of the parish of East Horndon; the tradition that the name derived from a heronry there is apocryphal, and it probably derives from the Heron family who held Heron Hall into the fourteenth century. The manor is mentioned in 1232 as 'Fyndegod(s)hurne' and in 1379 as 'Herne'. By the late 14th century it was owned by Sir William Heron, who left the manor on his death to his daughter Margaret who was married to James Tyrell. The manor continued to be held by the Tyrells, an important Essex family, until at least the late 17th century. In the 16th century the messuage (estate) is recorded as including "100 acres of arable, 200 acres of pasture, 60 of wood and 40 of meadow". The Heron family held Heron Hall until it was taken over by the Tyrells, as a result of marriage, and the Tyrell family were leading members of local society down to the seventeenth century. Heron Hall was pulled down about 1790. The present 18th-century Heron Hall is Grade II listed.

Heron Hall Moat

The moated site immediately east of Heron Hall is one of the best known examples of moated sites in Essex. The site, with its surviving brick revetting and tower bases together with its known historical background, illustrates the very grand and possibly defensive nature of the site and reflects the wealth and social standing of its inhabitants.

Marengo, Napoleon's War Horse

Marengo, one of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's war horses, was captured in 1815 at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

William Petre, 11th Baron Petre William Henry Francis, 11th Baron Petre (22 January 1793 – 3 July 1850) was an English nobleman, based in Essex. He was the first Baron Petre to take his seat in the House of Lords after the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829. Fa ...

. Petre brought the horse back to the

Ingatestone Hall Ingatestone Hall is a Grade I listed 16th-century manor house in Essex, England. It is located outside the village of Ingatestone, approximately south west of Chelmsford and north east of London. The house was built by Sir William Petre, a ...

, and the Herongate estate which the Petre family owned, so it is thought likely Lord Petre would have ridden Marengo through the village and perhaps stabled Marengo outside the Boar's Head in Herongate as local legend states, and sold him on to Lieutenant-Colonel Angerstein of the

Grenadier Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...

. Marengo's skeleton can still be seen at the

National Army Museum The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the " Chelsea Pensioners". The museum is a non-departmental public bod ...

in Chelsea.

Herongate Historic Pubs

The Boar's Head is a Grade II listed country pub overlooking the village pond close to Button Common. It started life as three Tudor cottages and first became licensed premises in the 18th century, once part of the Heron Hall Estate owned by one of the county's most influential and ancient families, the Tyrells, but The Boar's Head pub sign still retains the Tyrell crest, a boar's head holding a peacock's feather in its mouth. The family boasted many noted parliamentarians and close servants to the Crown in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Boar’s Head originally comprised three Tudor cottages, forming a group with other buildings around the village pond, it first became a licensed inn in the 18th century serving the small village community.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Essex Borough of Brentwood