Herongate is a village in south

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England. The village is situated on the

A128 road The A128 is an A-road in Essex, England. The road is approximately long and it runs from Orsett, at its southern origin, to Chipping Ongar at its north end. At its southern end, the A128 originates as an exit from the Stanford-le-Hope by ...

between Brentwood and

West Horndon West Horndon is a village and civil parish in the south of the Borough of Brentwood, Essex on the boundary with Thurrock. It is located 20 miles (32 km) east north-east of Charing Cross in London. The civil parish also includes East Horndon ...

. 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

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 East Horndon is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of West Horndon, in the south of the borough of Brentwood in Essex in the East of England. It is situated just south of the A127 road near Herongate. The village Church of Al ...

; 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 ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

'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 (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

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 Catholic Relief Act 1829. Family ...

. 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 "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

. 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 bo ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

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