Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1959)

Christmas 1959

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex. December, 1959.

Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly". John 10.10 "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them .... and be their God". Rev. 21.3

Dear Friend,

The oncoming of Christmas finds us thinking again of friends to whom we would send greeting. Somehow the drawn curtains, shutting out the darkness of the night and the glow of a fire, conduce to nostalgic memories of past events and associations.

We have just entered the Season of Advent for the third time since coming to Blackmore. The past year has brought encouragement and a clear indication that the extension of Christ's Kingdom in this Parish will be stubbornly contested by Satan through every worldly influence with which it is possible to captivate the minds of men.

Our congregations are made up mainly of the older generation, among whom are some fine Christians. The middle generation, parents of school-age children, seem generally to have no interest in religion. The younger generation, lacking parental example are casual in their interest, although our Mission Church and Parish Church Junior Sections have some forty to fifty regular members. The women's meetings and especially the small Bible study group continue healthily.

Much repair work has been done to the Parish Church, at a cost exceeding £2,000. At least a further £3,000 will be needed to finish the work. It is surely honouring to God that a parish church should be in good repair, and whilst we are bending our efforts to this end, we have a greater desire to see the living church adorned with the likeness of Christ her Lord and effective in making known the Gospel of God's grace.

Several younger people, who appeared to be growing spiritually, have fallen away. This can be understood, for apart from brief periods in church fellowship there is nothing at home or abroad to promote spiritual development. For this and other aspects of God's work in Blackmore we ask and shall value your prayers.

It is our hope that this outline of news from Blackmore will encourage our friends to reciprocate with word of their own affairs to the strengthening of those mutual ties, which we value greatly.

The year has brought us, as it surely has every child of God, testing and discipline by which the Spirit would purge our dross and refine our natures. We are discovering that abundance of life is God's design for his children and so we give you the texts at the head of this letter. The "more abundantly" is the rich reward for dying to this world and its ways. The Apostle John wrote "he that hath the Son hath life". Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them. How stimulating to courage, how comforting to the mind, to know that in the Christ, whose birth we commemorate at this Season, God dwells with every believer, and will show himself their God in the vicissitudes of life.

May your Christmastide be filled with holy joy and the New Year enable you to prove the unfailing grace of God.

Cordially your friends,

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1958)

Christmas 1958

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex. December, 1958.

"His name shall be called - the Prince of Peace" Isa. 9.6. "Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save His people from their sins". Matt 1.21.

Dear Friend,

Once again my wife and I find ourselves thinking and speaking of friends far and near, for once again we approach the Season of Goodwill. How quickly the cycle of another year has turned and how much seems to have happened in our lives.

With a copy of the letter we sent a year ago before us, we are reminded that we had then newly entered upon our Ministry in this Parish of Blackmore. As we foresaw then so we have found since, we like Blackmore, the place and the people. And according to our ability we have sought to serve them as Ministers of the Gospel of Christ.

As to the living church, our numbers have been augmented. Several have made a clear-cut decision for Christ and there is evidence of a deepening of spiritual life as the Holy Spirit does his gracious work in the lives of men and women. We have commenced a small but sustained work amongst the children. The Women's Fellowship is an encouraging feature in our church life. Recently we have commenced a conversational Bible-study group which is appreciated. We are grateful for increased attendances at our Sunday Services.

We are also able to report favourably on the Parish Church, which dates back to 1115 A.D. The fabric and the churchyard were in a deplorable state and it is estimated that it will cost £5000 to bring them into good order. In January we set ourselves to the task and have succeeded in raising 1375 in our own Parish to date. A legacy of £100, a loan of £750 and grants from charitable organisations have brought us a total of £2100 towards the £2800 needed for the first stage of our repairs. The scaffolding about the tower and steeple is evidence that the work is in hand.

The Vicarage, which was newly built when we came to live in Blackmore just over a year ago looks much more presentable now that the garden is taking shape. We believe God has helped us to make it a place where folks feel welcome. We have no church hall and so most mid-week gatherings are held in our home and my wife has performed the duties of hostess most ably.

It is with a sense of humble gratitude to God that we record the foregoing and feel it a pleasant duty to inform our friends, since we are conscious of much prayer being offered on our behalf. The demands that result from the spiritual care of more than 1500 souls in an extended parish are considerable and we are constantly proving that only the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for these things.

We greatly rejoiced in the response from the many we have come to know and love through past years, resulting from our letter of a year ago. It has been particularly gratifying to see and hear friends from across the Atlantic and we treasure the memory of those fleeting reunions.

Now we approach that Season when we remember that the Saviour of the World is come. We who are Christians recognise that He is the source of all blessing so that the close of the Old Year leads us to look back in thankfulness for His mercies and on into the New Year with trustful expectation.

Again we anticipate news from those who are in our thoughts at this time and again we send our affectionate greetings and good wishes for the coming year.

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1957)

Christmas 1957

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex. December, 1957.

"Fear not - I bring you good tidings. Unto you is born - a Saviour. This shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe". Luke 2 10-12

Dear Friend,

My wife and I are sitting in my study. We have been thinking and speaking of our many friends in many places. Our thoughts have roved to Scandinavia, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the U.S.A., to say nothing of numerous places in the British Isles. And is it not fitting that this Season which recalls God's good tidings of peace on earth to men of goodwill, should find us thinking in affectionate mood of those who are dear to us by ties of nature, friendship and Christian fellow-ship.

I had hoped to prepare a more elaborate greeting than this. One which would have pictured the setting in which God had placed us for His service, as well as news of our doings. But our commitments have left insufficient time. However, we hope each recipient will receive this as personal to themselves and as conveying the warmth of personal regard which they know us to feel for them.

Radical changes have taken place in our lives since the end of the war. There have been times of testing and proving but through it all the hand of God has been upon us for good. Step by step our blessed Lord has led us in the way of His appointment and we rejoice in a sense of His nearness as well as in our partnership together. My call to the Ministry in the Church of England, going into College, and subsequent curacy in Walthamstow, challenged our faith continually but brought such sweet consolations in Christ, such joy in service that we would not, looking back, have chosen another way. We feel we can say with the hymn writer "We'll praise Him for all that is past and trust Him for all that's to come".

In July I was instituted to the Parish of Blackmore but we were unable to move into the Vicarage, which was then in building, until the end of October. Blackmore is a country parish some thirty miles from London. The Village is old and has quite a history. There was once a priory which was despoiled at the Dissolution. King Henry the Eighth was in the habit of stealing away from Westminster to find solace with one of his paramours in Blackmore. The Priory has gone but the lovely old Norman Church remains with its 14th century wooden tower and steeple. Countless generations of Blackmore people have knelt to worship Christ our Saviour within its walls and an age-long sanctity seems to reveal itself as we who worship there now bring God the offerings of our hearts and voices.

The Parish had been without a vicar for seven years. A neighbouring minister had maintained the services in the church. We shall never forget the cordial welcome we received nor shall we cease to be grateful for the help and kindly interest of the people of Blackmore. We are nicely settled in the new Vicarage and feel wonderfully at home. The slight stroke I suffered in August of last year seems to have cleared without leaving any ill-effects. Both my wife and I feel that great opportunities for Christian service are before us and we are confident that our Lord will enable us to seize those opportunities for his glory. It is our prayer that we may be found truly humble and usable.

We look forward to greetings from those we know and love and, where possible, news of their doings. This brings our own message of affectionate goodwill and prayers for your joy and blessing this Christmastide and throughout 1958.

HILDA & MONTAGUE H. KNOTT.

The Diary of Richard Stonley: Life in Tudor Doddinghurst: All Saints Church, Doddinghurst. 29 November 2015

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All Change in Blackmore

Starting with pub news, Blackmore has a new landlord at the Leather Bottle, which is undergoing extensive refurbishment.  Brentwood Borough Council has rejected a planning application to change The Bull to residential use.  The Post Office business is planned to move from its present building sometime soon on the retirement of the present postmistress.  Finally, at St Laurence Church Blackmore villagers will be welcoming the new Vicar, Revd. Samantha Brazier-Gibbs, at her induction on Tuesday 24 November. 

Remembrance Sunday.

ESAH160: Remembrance Sunday: Harlow: Harlow Council house developments named after soldiers Commemorating local people in street names is a very appropriate way to mark the local history of a community. In Harlow new Council homes are named after Private Robert Foster, who died in Afghanistan in 2007.

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Blackmore: Womens' Institute Centenary

Blackmore WI celebrates its Centenary this week with a special meeting. The group was formed in 1915 and is one of the longer running and earliest formed. Pictures here include the commemorative rose planted in Blackmore Road, appropriately in full bloom, and Blackmore WI in 1918.  Happy Centenary Ladies!

Mother and Son: Bessie Blount and Henry Fitzroy of Blackmore

Two books closely related to the history of Blackmore have recently been purchased for the Library of the Essex Society for Archaeology and History. ‘Bessie Blount, Mistress of Henry VIII’ (told in the title of the book by Elizabeth Norton), a lady in the retinue of Catherine of Aragon, was sent in confinement to Blackmore Priory in 1519 where in the neighbouring house she bore his child, Henry Fitzroy (told in ‘Bastard Prince. Henry VIII’s Lost Son’ by Beverley A. Murphy).

This note unravels the research and establishes whether Henry VIII may have really “gone to Jericho”.

According to Beverley Murphy, the King’s affair with Elizabeth may have been brief and began following the pregnancy of Catherine in April 1518. “It is a sad irony that Katherine’s happy condition was probably the impetus for her husband to seek solace in the arms of Elizabeth Blount” (Murphy, 27).  Elizabeth Norton disagrees, because as early as autumn 1514 Bessie had met the King: “without the birth of Henry Fitzroy, Bessie’s own affair would have probably gone unrecorded” (Norton, 119).  The birth date of Henry Fitzroy is unclear other than he was six years of age in June 1525.  About the time that Bessie was to become visibly pregnant Thomas Wolsey discreetly dispatched her to Jericho House in Blackmore, the home of the prior Thomas Goodwyn (Murphy, 30).  “Bessie made her final appearance at court early in October 1518” (Norton, 131). 

Wolsey was charged with taking an active interest in Henry’s illegitimate child: Blackmore was “sufficiently quiet not to rouse unwelcome gossip” (Norton, 133). Henry VIII is alleged to have been a frequent visitor to Jericho House and is said to have given orders not to be disturbed hence the expression used in Court, “He has gone to Jericho”. This has entered into local folklore fuelled by Philip Morant who used these words in his ‘History of Essex’ (1768) adding that the Priory was one of the King’s “Houses of Pleasure”.  Subsequently historians have suggested that Blackmore Priory was dissolved in 1527 because of its immoral goings-on. From “the records of the dissolution … it does appear that the prior was somewhat more worldly than he should have been” (Norton, 134): its debts ran to one third of the annual income.  But then if a future King lived there perhaps the debts were with some justification? 

Henry VIII may have visited Elizabeth at Blackmore, contrary to the view expressed by Murphy. Bessie certainly did not resume her duties following the birth of Fitzroy (Murphy, 31) and there is no record of the King staying overnight (Norton, 134). But this should not suggest the King had nothing further to do with Bessie.  Blackmore is relatively close to Newhall, Chelmsford, which was renamed Beaulieu in 1523, from where the King “set out to visit her. This is once again evidence that Bessie’s departure from court was not the end of the affair between her and the King” (Norton, 134). It is possible that she later had a daughter by the King around 1520 (Norton, 139) perhaps conceived in Blackmore (Norton, 151). Fitzroy’s biographer disagrees (Murphy, 32).  

The King was delighted with the news of the birth of a son and whilst in Essex that summer might have held a formal celebration at the manor of Havering-atte-Bower (Murphy, 31).  Cardinal Wolsey was named the child’s godparent, as he had been for his half-sister Mary, the only surviving child born of Queen Catherine, some three and a half years earlier. Although no christening records survive Wolsey’s absence from Court from 19 June to 29 June 1519 may have been due to his attendance at Fitzroy’s baptism probably at Blackmore.  Could the font have been the place where the ceremony quietly took place?

Bessie Blount was married off to Gilbert Tailbois (or Tailboys), who hailed from a rich Lincolnshire family.  This may not have happened as quickly as historians have suggested: the first record of marriage is recorded in June 1522 (Murphy, 33; Norton, 139). They may have married in April 1522 because “the king began to be conspicuously generous to Gilbert Tailboys” (Norton, 141).

Historians are again divided as to whether Bessie had any involvement in Fitzroy’s upbringing. Her biographer suggests “it seems probable that she would have retained custody of her son … perhaps playing a part in raising both Henry Fitzroy and Elizabeth Tailboys until her marriage in 1522” (Norton, 151).

Much admired and spoilt by Henry VIII, Henry Fitzroy was, by the age of six, created Duke of Richmond with the titles Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Somerset. This placed Henry Fitzroy in an honoured position because the title held precedence over all other Dukes except potential legitimate sons of the King. By doing so, Henry VIII had elevated his son’s position in society such that he would be a more eligible bachelor. By the age of eight Henry Fitzroy was Admiral of England, Ireland and Normandy but died in 1536, aged seventeen of tuberculosis. He was buried at Thetford Priory.  Had he survived the course of English history could have changed and Fitzroy crowned Henry IX.

Andrew Smith

Principal Sources:

Murphy, Beverley. A.. Bastard Prince. Henry VIII’s Lost Son (Sutton Publishing, 2001)

Norton, Elizabeth. Bessie Blount. Mistress to Henry VIII (Amberley, 2011)

Home Guard Research Request

A friend and I have published a book entitled "Captive in East Anglia". Since its publication we have gathered more information on the same subject so are continuing to gather it together for a possible sequel. In the meantime we have started a 2nd book, about the home guard. We are looking for appropriate personal memories and photos. Unexpectedly finding your contact details on line I wondered if you have any information that we could possibly use.

Regards

Rosemary Carter

Blackmore Village Fayre: 24 & 25 May 2015: Knott Archive on display Sunday

Sunday and Monday, 24 & 25 May 2015, is Blackmore Village Fayre - which is held every two years.  The Priory Church of St Laurence is serving ploughmans lunches both days and there is a historic photo exhibition.  On Sunday the Knott Archive will be on display for the first and perhaps only time.  Rev. Montague Knott (1906-2006) was Vicar of Blackmore for 28 years until 1985.

Remember

We remember today the name at the top of the list of the fallen on the Blackmore War Memorial and Doddinghurst War Memorial. Gerald Wellesley Pigott, aged 18 of Blackmore House, Hook End, died on 14 May 1915.  For more information click the links to the website and the blog. 'The Shrine', long gone, was erected in Hook End as a memorial by his family.

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