Visit to Toot Hill in Essex 2006

Our understanding had been that Arthur & Eliza (Marjoram) Hunt had moved from Debenham in Suffolk to a cottage called Wellington Place, White Webbs Lane, Enfield in Middlesex.

Arthur & Eliza Hunt & family at Wellington Place
with Chris' Mum Phyllis Hunt the youngest child

We know that Arthur was a farm labourer and in his time a cowkeeper and thatcher.

The 1901 Census had a surprise in that in entry for Wellington Place, it states that Daisy Hunt aged 5 was born at Toot Hill in Essex in 1895/6, i.e. before the family reached Enfield.

We called in on Toot Hill, near Chipping Ongar, on the way back from a visit to Maldon in Essex with our friends Graham & Nola Owers.

There were a number of farms in the Toot Hill area and a large house with stables now called the Green Man. It was pouring with rain but I did manage to take two photgraphs out of the car window:

Glenda Patterson, our U3A Genealogy study group leader was kind enough to call in on Toot Hill on the way to Essex to try to learn more. She found out that the large house also used to be a bakers.

There were a number of old photographs in the Green Man which depicted what life was like when the Hunts lived there:

Village Scene

Another Village Scene with a large building (the Green Man) in the background

Outside the Green Man

Remarkably, from phtographs taken at the time, the pub had a fire and the pub was rebuilt in 1896. So it is likely that Arthur Hunt worked on the rebuilding and may be pictured in photographs at the time.

Rebuilding of the Green Man

Extraodinarily, the above photograph was presented by a T.O. Owers in 1907 and there were photographs in the pub showing that the Owers family were the landlords of the Green Man! (There was a photograph of an 1881 Census extract showing John Owers as publican).

Colin Bower
March 2007

Visits to Places of Interest - Index

Since the visit, I obtained a copy of Daisy Hunt's birth certificate dated 27 July 1895, giving Arthur Hunt's occupation as cowman and address as Stanford Rivers (Registration of Chipping Ongar):

Link: Arthur Hunt in the Family Tree:

• Arthur Hunt