BOWDLER, John and family
John Bowdler Senior BOWDLER, John1746-1823Founder member of Church Building Society, author, campaigner for moral reform John Bowdler, the son of Thomas Bowdler and Elizabeth Cotton, married Henrietta Hanbury in 1778 and inherited a small fortune on the death of his father in 1785. He settled in Hayes at Pickhurst Manor in 1793 and for twenty years ‘fulfilled all the duties of that useful character in the community – a country gentleman’. Pickhurst Manor was recorded as having 48 window and in 1795 he paid tax on three male servants, a carriage and five horses. There were also three daughters still living at home and four maid servants. During the Napoleonic Wars John Bowdler was required to enlist special constables, aged 17 to 55, in case of a French invasion. He was one of the ten people chosen. He was well known for his benevolence. When the government started to gather information about the poor and the practices in various parishes John Bowdler prepared the details for Hayes in 1801. It is a fascinating document providing an insight into the life of the poor in Hayes including their diet, their wages and support from the parish when sick, giving birth, or going into service. He made regular contributions to the village school of which he was a trustee and left £15 to charity in his will. His wife also helped, for instance, by giving the Rector a large bundle of boys’ clothes to be distributed to the needy. John Bowdler’s family Revd John Till was the Rector of Hayes at that time and he spoke highly of the Bowdler family and their strong religious views. Revd Till prepared Jane Bowdler (1788 -1870) for confirmation in 1803 when she was fifteen. In the same year her elder brother Thomas (1782-1856) took a curacy in Essex and Revd Till wondered whether he would be able to withstand the fate of many clergymen of becoming ‘portly through eating and drinking too much; your turbots and your turtles are apt to betray their friends into a conspicuous rotundity of face.’ Thomas officiated at the marriage of his sister Jane to George Gipps of Lincoln’s Inn in Hayes Church in 1810. Their eldest sister Elizabeth (1779- 1810) suffered from ill health and unable to bear the winters in Hayes went each year to the Isle of Wight. She died in Hastings in 1810 a few months after the bells of Hayes Church had rung at her sister Jane’s marriage . John Bowdler Junior (1783 – 1815) Charles Bowdler (1785 – 1879) Her younger brothers, John and Charles Bowdler, spent considerable time in Hayes and Revd Till followed their pursuits with interest. Writing to Lord Lewisham, Revd Till said: ‘there is no young man, whatever his rank and abilities may be, who can fail of receiving both pleasure and advantage from an intimacy with John Bowdler.’ He was called to the bar in 1807 but followed his father’s literary interests. He became a religious writer and after his early death in 1815 his father collected and published his ‘Select Pieces in Prose and Verse.’ His brother Charles later published ‘The Religion of the Heart as Exemplified in the life and writings of John Bowdler’.
FRY, James Thomas
FRY, James Thomas1804 – 1872Registrar of the Court of Chancery On 30 May 1851, James Thomas Fry bought Baston, ‘an excellent and convenient family residence with capital stabling, coach house and offices and 117 acres of land’. It had sufficient bedrooms for his large family of eight children but more rooms were added as well as a schoolroom. In 1861 five of his children were still living at home and he employed a resident cook, parlourmaid, housemaid and kitchen maid. Ten years later he had retired and described himself as a gentleman farmer employing 4 labourers and a boy and farming 97 acres. He still employed four servants but only his sons James, a solicitor and Charles, a stockbroker, were still living at home. His eldest daughter Ann died in 1870 but his daughters Joanna, Henrietta and Mary had married merchants who were all born in Germany. Henrietta’s husband, Julius Caesar, was described in the census as a British subject born in Germany. The existence of the Common so close to his property was both an advantage and a disadvantage. In the 1850s James Fry was reminded not to extract gravel from the Common but was given permission to take the game and shoot in the area of his house. The danger of arson was always a threat and he helped to identify some boys who had set fire to the Common. He also complained about some villagers who were planning to cut down firs in front of his gate and felt the police should be taking a greater watch on what was happening. He kept some sheep and took advantage of the opportunity to turn some out onto the Common at the appropriate time of the year. On 9 November 1868, the Common Ranger Charles Spraggs recorded that Mr Fry had turned out 85 sheep and the following June 132 sheep for 28 days. James Fry died in 1872 and was buried in Hayes Churchyard. His widow Ann put the estate up for sale and the family moved away from Hayes.
RANDELL, James
RANDELL, James Lived in Hayes 1795 – 1823 Malt factor from Queenhithe In 1795 James Randell paid £2000 for part of the Baston estate sold by the executors of John Luxford. He purchased 53 acres and ‘a part brick and part plaister and tiled house’ (Baston House), coachhouse, stable, two barns, outhouses, gardens and orchards. He was a bachelor when he moved in employing four resident servants. In 1801 he also bought Mary Lander’s cottage on the Common and received agreement to an exchange of land in 1804 as he wished to erect a fence and straighten up the boundary of his garden. He married Anne Lucy and between 1806 and 1819 had seven children who were baptised in Hayes Church. He contributed to the support of the local school but his main efforts were directed to improving his property which saw major changes. In the course of these improvements in 1813 some very ancient wood panels, painted in oil and said to date from about 1460, were found lining a cupboard. These panels are now held by the Society of Antiquaries. His improvements were reflected in the rates he was expected to pay. The rateable value increased from £57 to £65 in 1809 and in 1813 he successfully appealed against an increase to £120. It was reduced to £85 for the remainder of his ownership. The family left Hayes when he sold Baston to Samuel Nevil Ward in 1823.
WARD, Samuel Nevil
WARD, Samuel Nevil 1773 – 1850 Merchant, Property Owner Samuel Nevil Ward moved with his wife Mary and family from Balham Hill to Hayes in 1816. He took the lease of Hayes Grove owned by Sir Vicary Gibbs and remained there until he purchased Baston Manor in 1823. Many of the major houses were owned or tenanted by women who, at the time, were not able to participate in local government and so he was delegated to represent their interests. He was asked by Miss Williamina Traill of Hayes Place, for example, to be her spokesperson during the discussions which took place over the assessment of tithes following the Tithe Commutation Act in 1836. He was churchwarden in 1825-26, contributed annually to the fund for poor relief set up by Revd John Till and became an Overseer of the Poor in 1833. The baptisms of four of his children Henry (1816), Elizabeth (1818), Charles(1821) and Emmeline (1830) and the marriages in 1835, 1845 and 1850 of his daughters Lydia, Elizabeth and Mary took place in Hayes Church. He purchased Baston Manor, four cottages, 150 acres of land, 50 acres of meadow, 50 acres of pasture, 50 acres of wood and common pasture from James Randell for £12,000. Desirous of improving the property he employed Decimus Burton, who had worked with Nash in designing Cornwall and Clarence Terraces in Regent’s Park where Samuel owned several leasehold properties. In his will he allocated 39 of these properties to his four sons and five daughters. At Baston he created a fashionable house with ten bedrooms, a large drawing room and a dining room. He was buried in Hayes churchyard on 2 November 1850. His widow Mary sold Baston Manor and died in 1855 at the age of 71. When alterations were made to Hayes Church his family paid in 1858 for three roundels in the south sanctuary window to be reset ‘in memory of their parents who lived in Baston Manor.
BURBAGE, Cuthbert and family
BURBAGE, Cuthbert1565-1636London theatre owner including the Globe Theatre In 1629 Cuthbert Burbage bought from Robert Wade of Grays Inn for £1472 ‘ the site of the manor of Baston, a capital messuage called Baston Farm with appurtenances and 180 acres of land, meadow, pasture and several parcels of woodland containing 86 acres and other premises …..lying in the parishes of Hayes, Bromley and West Wickham.’ He therefore became one of the major landowners in Hayes. He and his wife Elizabeth died at Baston in 1636 but they were buried in the crypt of St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch, the church used by Burbage’s Company of Players. Cuthbert Burbage burial entry (Hayes Church Register) The property remained in his family until the middle of the 18th century. BURBAGE, Elizabethd 1671Generous benefactor to Hayes Church Elizabeth Burbage was the daughter of Cuthbert Burbage and inherited his Hayes properties on his death. She married (1) Amyas Maxey 1620 by whom she had two children, a daughter Elizabeth and son James Burbage (2) George Bingley 1630 – 1652, auditor of the imprests. He had a house in Bromley which Elizabeth sold in 1662. She preferred to live at Baston and in the 1664 Hearth tax her home was rated for 7 hearths. The land was leased to the Delver family but she paid the quit rents of 20/- to the Manor of Orpington for Baston Heath. She provided Hayes church with a large wainscot pulpit with a rich damask cushion and cloth covering and gave a pair of Communion flagons. The Vestry was in disrepair and unused and so was the passage to it so at her own expense Mrs Bingley provided a pew against the passage for her family, friends etc. and enjoyed it until she died in 1671. The inventory made after her death suggests that the house was divided and shared with her son James. The contents of her two chambers, parlour and kitchen were valued at £29. Her parlour had a fireplace and was furnished with several wall hangings and pictures, a couch and six chairs. Boxes and a trunk in her chamber contained books and musical instruments worth £2, the same value given to her feather bed, bolster, pillows, curtain and valence. In her will she left £5 to be distributed to the poor of Hayes. Her son James Burbage Maxey inherited the Baston lands and it was his wife Elizabeth, who later married Colonel Evan Lloyd, who had a new house built on the site of Baston Manor. LLOYD, Elizabeth née BurleyDied 1693Encouraged the education of poor Hayes children Elizabeth Burley married James Burbage Maxey who inherited Baston Manor on his mother’s death. He died in 1677. She had a new house and coach house built joining the original Baston house. By 1682 her estate consisted of ‘two messuages, three barns, three stables, three gardens, three orchards, 120 acres of land, 40 acres of meadow, 50 acres of pasture, and 90 acres of woods plus the appurtenances in Bromley, Hayes and West Wickham.’ She married Colonel Evan Lloyd who supported her in a number of local legal disputes. One concerned her right to sit in a particular pew in the Church. Originally the family had sat in one built by the vestry for her mother-in-law Elizabeth Bingley. In 1685 the parishioners decided to repair the vestry and this meant reopening the passage way to it. Mrs Lloyd moved into another pew but this was disputed by John Clerke, a farmer. She appears to have won this case at the Church Court but she was not so successful in her attempts to dispute the rights of the Lennard family over part of Baston Heath which she claimed had not been sold to them. On her death, she left £3 a year from some of her Hayes lands to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the parish of Hayes for ‘putting to school poor children to learn to read’ and any money left over was to be used ‘in putting to apprentice one or more of the said poor children’. Her husband Evan Lloyd remained at Baston Manor until his death in 1714.
HEYDON, Henry and family
Arms of Henry Heydon and his wife Ann, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Bulleyne(Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) HEYDON, HenryDied 1504Lawyer, landowner, Justice of Peace, knighted The Heydon family was based in Norfolk and accumulated their wealth and prestige during the 15th century. Henry Heydon bought the manors of West Wickham and Baston the year after the birth of his son John in 1468. He had married Ann, the daughter of Geoffrey Bulleyne (Boleyn), a rich London mercer and it seems that she preferred to be nearer to her family in Kent. It has been said that Henry would regularly ride around his estate and discuss with his steward its various assets or problems. For most of the early years he resided at Wickham Court although that became more difficult after his father John died in about 1479 and he needed to spend more time in Norfolk. Baston was usually let on seven year leases and dues were paid to him. His widow Anne continued to hold manorial courts until her death in 1510. HEYDON, JohnDied 1550Landowner, knighted John inherited Baston on his father’s death in 1504 but left its administration to others as he was trying to make his way at the court of Henry VIII. It was his son Richard who trained as a lawyer, and resided in London who was entrusted with the management of his Kentish estates. Richard resided at Wickham Court for some of the time and also kept an eye on the administration of Baston Manor. HEYDON, ChristopherDied 1579Landowner, deputy lieutenant Norfolk, knighted Christopher, the grandson of John Heydon, inherited the properties as his father Christopher had died in 1541 He added to his lands in Kent In 1561 by purchasing from Sir Percival Harte some 210 acres of heath at Baston. A few years later, however, there were claims that his lands were not being well looked after. A survey of his woods showed that valuable timber was being spoiled by unwise felling. It seems that he was not an able administrator and was living beyond his means. He became famed for his lavish hospitality. He was well known in the neighbourhood and some thirty years after his death was still remembered for his drilling of the local militia during one of the scares caused by the threat of Spanish invasion. Camden wrote in 1610: ‘As for the other small intrenchment not farre off W. Wickham, it was cast in fresh memory when old Sir Christopher Heydon, a man then of great command in these parts trained the country people.’ In his will he instructed his heir Sir William to sell the Kentish estates to settle his debts and legacies. This ended the involvement of the Heydon family in Baston although legal wrangles about the Kentish lands continued in the next century. Further information Wickham Court and the Heydons, Mother Mary Gregory, Archaeologia Cantiana 1963
COLLINS, Arthur
Arthur Collins, Mayor of Bromley 1944-45 COLLINS, ArthurAbt 1882 – 26 July 1952Accountant, specialising in local government Shortly after he was 40 years old Arthur Collins resigned his post as treasurer of Birmingham City Council and set up a private practice in Westminster acting as a financial adviser to local authorities. By 1924 he had moved to Greenways, a house built just before the First World War, situated on the edge of Hayes Common. He soon became very involved with the affairs of Hayes. With Edwin Preston, he purchased some of the land adjacent to Hayes Church to provide a site for the building of a Village Hill which was opened in 1927. When the Parish Council ceased to exist in 1934 he became Chairman of the Hayes Common Conservators and had a significant effect in advising Bromley Council on the legal and financial issues involved. Prior to the demise of the Parish Council, the maintenance of the Common had been paid for out of a separate Common Rate which continued to operate while new arrangements were made. When the Second World War broke out and the War Office wished to requisition part of Hayes Common for an anti-aircraft gun site and other military requirements the negotiations by the Conservators with the Lands Branch helped to ensure that after the war had ended the land was restored to the community. In 1934 he moved to Baston Manor. He was a very keen tennis player and his son was twice a Junior Kent Champion and in 1931 reached the semi-final of the Junior Lawn Tennis Championship at Wimbledon. He arranged for exhibition matches to be held on his two tennis courts in 1935 to raise funds for Hayes Tennis Club of which he was president. In March 1939 he became President of the Hayes Cricket Club remarking on the club’s high reputation and stating ‘Cricket is a glorious game and we who live in Hayes have a glorious place to play it in.’ After the war, his loan to the Hayes Cricket and Sports Club enabled them to buy their ground in Barnet Wood Road. He was also generous in opening his house for use for fetes and other charitable occasions such as entertaining groups of women, who had come from Miss Knowles’ Mission Church in the East End, to tea in his garden. His wife was also involved in many of these activities. In 1941 he was co-opted on the Bromley Council as a representative of the Sundridge Ward. He became Mayor of Bromley 1944-45, then chairman of Bromley Housing Committee but in 1947 decided not to stand for re-election. In 1948 he became an Alderman and the following year was granted the Freedom of the Borough for his immense contribution. He died in 1952 leaving a wife Mary and three grown-up children.
TORRENS, Alfred
Captain Alfred Torrens (Bromley Record October 1895) Torrens, Alfred 1832 – 22 January 1903 Captain 66th Royal West Berks Regiment, MCC & West Kent Cricket Club In 1873 Captain Torrens and his wife Ann, the daughter of Sir Claude Scott of Sundridge, leased Baston Manor from John Farnaby Lennard and moved there with their young family. By this time he had retired from his position as a Captain in the 66th Regiment and also in 1874 gave up his position as adjutant of volunteers which he had held for seven years. He made several improvements to the outbuildings but his main passion was his garden. He brought back exotic specimens from his travels for his greenhouses and became well known for the chrysanthemums he was growing. In the early 1890s, he was elected to a seat on the Board of Guardians and the Rural Sanitary Authority as the representative for Hayes. He was elected a member of the Hayes Parish Council from its inception in 1894 until his death. He was also a Conservator of Hayes Commons and on several occasions was involved in efforts to quell the fires which broke out on the Common. He was well known for his generosity and more than one soldier who had served with him came to Baston Manor and received assistance. As his obituary said ‘ In the village, his cheery smile and cordial greeting will be sorely missed. To young and old, rich and poor alike, his old-world courtesy never failed. He was, indeed, a true English gentleman.’ His widow Anne continued to live at Baston Manor until she moved in 1916 to the Grove where she died in 1924. She supported the Church and in 1920 the dedication of the replica Pitt Banner, which she had made to replace the one lost in earlier renovations, was dedicated. Torrens, William Matthew 1869 – 15 February 1931 Stockbroker William Matthew Torrens was the eldest son of Captain Alfred and Ann Torrens. He lived with them at Baston Manor and in 1896 he was commended for his bravery in confronting a notorious burglar, Charles Taylor, who was stealing silver from the house. After his marriage in 1906 to Lilian Fardell, he moved to Prickley Wood and they had two daughters and a son. When his mother moved to the Grove they joined her and remained living there until 1930, leaving shortly after their daughter Betty married Randle John Baker Wilbraham in a very fashionable wedding at St Martin’s in the Field. Canon Percy Thompson, Rector of Hayes, was one of the officiating clergy. Matt Torrens was very active within the community, member of the Parish Council from 1925 until 1930, Hayes Common Conservator, Chairman of the Hayes, Keston & West Wickham Conservatives, member of the Hayes Flower Show Committee and of the Hayes Cricket Club. Attwood Alfred Torrens Torrens, Attwood Alfred 1874 – 8 December 1916 Stockbroker, Cricketer, Major RFA Attwood Torrens, the second son of Alfred and Ann Torrens, was born in Hayes and lived with his parents at Baston Manor. He was involved with the Scouts. He was a good cricketer, a keen supporter of Hayes Cricket Club and in 1906 joined the MCC on their tour to New Zealand. At the outbreak of the First World War, he joined the Public Schools Battalion and then the Royal Field Artillery as a Major. On 8 December 1916, he was struck by a piece of shell while trying to lead his men to safety. He was described as an excellent officer and very popular in the brigade. At the age of 42, he is the oldest of the First World War casualties to appear on the Hayes War Memorial.
Pickhurst Manor
PICKHURST MANOR Early History The manor of Pickhurst existed from early medieval times and was associated with the Hever family for more than a century. Richard de Hevere paid six shillings (30p) in the 1373 tax and John Hever was one of the men who took part in Cade’s rebellion in 1450. The property was sometimes referred to as Hevers. It descended through the Hever family until bought by Robert Rede, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, in 1503. His daughter Jane, married to John Caryll, inherited and passed on the land to her sons. In 1590 it was bought by William Jackson and his heirs sold it in 1642 to John Cliffe. In 1674 John Cliffe received £870 for ‘the manor and manor house of Pickhurst in the county of Kent’ from Thomas Cooper, a London citizen and salter. Twelve years later John Hall of Reading bought the manor house and 96 acres for £950 and in 1693 sold it to a brewer Matthias Walraven of Rotherhithe, Surrey. The exact site of the manor house in medieval times is not known but by the 18th century it stood in approximately the position today of Hayes Free Church on Pickhurst Lane. 18th Century The manor descended to Peter Walraven but he had difficulties in repaying the mortgages on the property and in 1757 it was bought by William Cowley of Westminster, a Malt Distiller for £2200. William Cowley sold it in 1765 to Mariabella Elliot. The house was described in the auction catalogue as ‘an elegant and almost new brick built dwelling house, finished in the present taste and consisting of two handsome parlours with Venetian bow windows, two bedchambers on the first and three chambers on the second with convenient closets, a kitchen, wash-house and offices’. In addition there was ‘a large and good farmhouse.’ Miss Mariabella Eliot paid £3,500 for the house and farm. Plan of ground floor of Pickhurst Manor 1765 (LMA 1017/441) Sadly, Mariabella died in 1769 at the age of 33 but her brother John then resided at Pickhurst until the 1780s. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, who owned Hayes Place wanted John Eliot to exchange three of his fields for land at Brook Wood. John refused, writing: The three fields mentioned in thine received yesterday are to me a very valuable part of my little property here as they lie contiguous to and form an agreeable view from the House so that I think my Neighbour placing himself in my situation would hardly wish to sever them from the other land, however I cannot think of doing it. John Eliot was the last owner to live in the property. After his death Pickhurst Manor was inherited first by his son John and then his daughter who married Luke Howard. It remained in the Howard family’s ownership until 1931. 19th Century Following short stays by Mr Drummond, Mr and Mrs James Margetson & Mr James Cruikshank, a 40 year lease was made with John Bowdler of Sevenoaks in April 1791 at a rent of £100 a year on condition that he spent at least £500 on the building. In 1813 Miss Mary Dehany, owner of Hayes Place took a sublease of the property which was then occupied by Dowager Lady Viscount Isabella Hawarden who lived there for ten years. In 1823 the lease was transferred to the Hon. Caroline Eustatia Morland, a widow from West Wickham and sister of William Courtney, Earl of Devon. The rent was fixed at £150 per year and £10 for every acre of old enclosed meadow or pasture that was tilled. She could replace (but not erect) any new farm buildings and fire insurance must be taken out for at least £2,000. Every four years all outer doors, windows, gates, ironworks etc. were to be painted ‘in good and proper oil colour’. Within the lease it was stipulated that ‘the house must not be used for a school, boarding house or receptacle for insane persons or for any trade or business or for any other use or purpose that may tend to impair the value or lessen its respectability as a place of residence’. The lease detailed the fixtures and fittings in each room, including the enriched plaster cornice, tinted walls hung with satin papers and gold mouldings in the drawing room, the veined box marble chimney with slate stone hearth in the dining room, paved flag stone floor in the scullery and the brick stairs to the cellar. Outside were wine and ale cellars, a wash or brew house, servants’ privy with a deal double seat, coal hole, hen house, cow house and carthorse stable. Pickhurst Manor, seat of Lady Caroline Morland (Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) Lady Morland died on 6 March 1851 and for a few months Revd H R Dukinfield, Rector of St Martin in the Fields, lived at Pickhurst Manor. Lady Morland’s son William had married Margaretta Eliza Cator in 1843 and it was her brother, John Farnaby Cator, who took over the lease at a yearly rent of £198 17s 0d (£198.85). His wife had died in 1850 leaving him with two young children but in 1852 he married Julia Hallam, whose father the historian Henry Hallam (1777 – 1859) sometimes stayed with them at Pickhurst. Their third child was born in 1860 and was named Henry after his grandfather. When John Cator inherited Wickham Court from his uncle in 1863 the family left Pickhurst Manor and the lease was assigned to Hon Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird MP of Pall Mall. He agreed on a new lease with the owner Robert Howard at £300 a year that included an adjoining barn and additional fields and he compensated the farmyard tenant. He remained there seven years before Charles Devas became the new tenant and his family remained at Pickhurst Manor until 1909. Major additions were made to the building in the 1870s and the house was well described by his grandson Walter who spent
SCOTT, Stephen
SCOTT, StephenOctober 1578 – 25 June 1658Gentleman Pensioner to Charles 1, sheriff of Kent 1647 Sir Stephen Scott’s arms on his ledger stone in Hayes Parish Church Stephen Scott first leased Hayes Place from the heirs of Robert Hall. He then bought it in 1624 with his brother Edmund who left his half to Stephen when he died in 1638. Described as a gentleman pensioner to the king, Stephen remained at Hayes Place until the execution of the King in 1648. He was careful to pay his dues during the Civil War between Parliament and the King, contributing £30 in 1642 towards the defence of the County and £6 for the April 1644 tax. In 1647 he was appointed sheriff of Kent at a time when there was considerable discussion about the way forward and the moderate petition from Kent presented the following year was seen as inflammatory by Parliament. Stephen chose to leave Hayes for Cheshunt where he died at the age of almost 80. However, he was buried in Hayes Church where his ledger stone remains. Twice married, his five children by his second wife, Elizabeth Brograve, were all born and baptised in Hayes. He bequeathed Hayes Place and his property in Hayes to his wife and after her death to his son John. Descendants of Stephen Scott SCOTT, Johnbaptised 6 Jan 1627 – 8 April 1670 ‘Gentleman of his Majesty’s Privy Chamber in ordinary, Justice of the Peace in corum for Kent’ John Scott inherited Hayes Place on his mother’s death in 1667 but died three years later. On his ledger stone, it says that he had married Sir Humphrey Style’s widow, Dame Hester Style. He may have moved to Beckenham but when Dame Hester was buried in Beckenham Church in 1671 there is no mention of the marriage. He had no children and Hayes Place was left to his younger brother Stephen. SCOTT, Stephen1641 – 1712Knighted Stephen Scott married Elizabeth Butler in 1670 and lived at Hayes Place, which he inherited from his brother John. A daughter Arabella in 1684 and a son William in 1688 were baptised in Hayes Church. In the 1680s difficulties arose regarding the preacher at Hayes Church and in June 1681 an unlicensed minister Mr Alsop preached in the open air to a large crowd assembled in Mr Scott’s farmyard. The meeting was timed to coincide with Revd Robert Bourne’s reading of the service in Church. Stephen Scott supported efforts to allow Mr Alsop to preach in the Church and when the curate Mr Metcalf barred the doors against him it is reported that Stephen Scott threatened to beat the Curate if he continued to come to Hayes. Stephen Scott like many gentlemen had taken out loans on Hayes Place to finance his lifestyle. In 1695 he mortgaged all the property and two years later sold it to John Harrison. He then lived in London until his death in 1712 when he was buried at Hayes on 20 March.