FRINTON: SOCIAL HISTORY

THE MIDDLE AGES

The small population of Frinton was probably dominated from the early Middle Ages by the occupants of the manor house or houses. Only 7 people were assessed for subsidy in 1319, and only 8 in 1327.[1]Apart from Geoffrey Burnham, the lord of the manor, assessed at 11s. 4¾d. for the eighteenth in 1319 and at 11s. 11d. for the twentieth in 1327, and Henry Winchester, assessed at 2s. in 1319 and at 6½ d. in 1327, no-one was assessed in both years. In 1319 the second highest assessment, William Flambard's 6s., was half Geoffrey Burnham's, and another man was assessed at 3s. 5d., but in 1327 the second highest assessment was only 2s. 6d. The Godmanston lords of the manor, William (fl. 1399, 1426), John (d. 1459), and William (d. 1471),[2] spent part of their time at Frinton, although they also had a manor and house at Little Bromley. They may have been benefactors of Frinton church.[3]

THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

Until the 1690s the lords of the manor were non-resident, visiting Frinton only occasionally.[4] The manor house and the demesne usually seem to have been leased to two tenants, presumably each holding one of the medieval manors. John Mace, tenant of part of the manor and of the small rectory estate, lived in Frinton by 1538, presumably at the Hall, and acted as rent-collector for the absentee lords.[5] He was one of only two men assessed for subsidy in the parish in 1543; his assessment, at 13s. 4d. on his moveable goods, greatly exceeded the other's 2s. 4d. John Hubberd, tenant of the remainder of the manor in 1543, presumably lived in a neighbouring parish.[6]In 1552 John and Mary Moreton granted a 52-year lease of the whole manor to John Thurston, who later seems to have married the widow of one of the Hubberds.[7]Thurston, who held freehold land in Great Clacton and copyholds in Clacton, Thorpe, Kirby, and Holland, died in 1572 or 1573, leaving his lease of Frinton Hall to his son John.[8]The younger John and one of his three brothers, with two other Frinton men, were drowned in 1578.[9] The accident must have been devastating both for the Thurston family and for the small parish; there is no later record of the Thurstons at Frinton Hall.

A few other substantial yeomen lived in the parish in the 16th century. Humphrey Maptyd who died in 1594 employed several servants. Although he devised no land in the parish by his will, his stable and pigs were mentioned in an inquest on the still-born child of one of his servants. His bequests totalled at least £145, including £22 to his neighbour Edward Heard.[10] Edward too employed servants.[11] His brother Richard Heard, also of Frinton, in 1601 bequeathed cash sums of at least £60, including legacies to his nephews Edward and John, sons of his brothers Edward and John. The only land devised was in Kirby-le-Soken.[12] By contrast, Nicholas Hayward, a husbandman, and his wife Joan, who died within days of each other in 1611, apparently owned little except for their clothes and household goods.[13]

None of the five households in the parish in 1671 was exempt from payment of hearth tax.[14]The Hall, occupied by James Baker from 1661 or earlier,[15] was then by far the largest house in the parish, assessed on six hearths; the Wick farmhouse, occupied by Robert Alefounder, was assessed on only three, the rectory house and the remaining house on two hearths each.

THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES

Thomas Warren and his son Jeremiah briefly occupied the manor house in the 1690s and the early 18th century, but by 1731 it had been leased to William Baker, who still occupied it in 1749.[16]In 1760 Ann Lynn leased the manor to Joseph Swallow, who died the following year; Richard Stone acquired the lease,[17]which passed to his son and grandson, both also called Richard, who dominated the parish until it was developed as a resort.[18]The younger Richard died, aged 84, in 1892.[19]

Other gentlemen or yeomen were recorded in Frinton in the 18th century, presumably living either at the Hall or the Wick, the only two houses reported by the curate in 1766,[20]although they do not seem to have farmed either estate. In 1722 William Shepherd of Frinton was qualified to vote by a freehold in St. Osyth, in 1734 Joseph Cakebread of Frinton was qualified by a freehold in Colne Engaine, and in 1763 Thomas Skipper of Frinton was qualified by a freehold in Kirby.[21]Skipper and his widow occupied a small estate in Frinton until 1807.[22]

By 1846 Frinton was being affected by the development of Walton, and Richard Stone noted that the church had ';of late years' been visited by ';several hundred' people staying at Walton.[23] In 1861, when ';Rifle Volunteers' practised target shooting on the beach, Stone entertained 83 Volunteers and a few spectators to cake and ale in the churchyard, while the band played ';favourite airs' to his wife and daughters and other ladies.[24]

THE POOR

In the late 1770s and 1780s between three and five people, mainly women and children, were maintained by the parish, among them in 1779 the widow and child of John English, the late parish clerk. It appears that most of the small population, apart from the farmers at the Hall and the Wick, were liable to become dependent on parish relief if they suffered injury, illness, or bereavement. Regular allowances were paid to widows and children, and clothing was bought for them. Doctors were employed for the sick, as when Dr. Fox was paid for attending Robert Freeman in 1777 and Dr. Annis for Moses Nise's leg in 1778.[25]

There were no endowed charities in the parish, possibly because there were few poor people. John Thurston in 1572 left sums of money ranging from 3s. 4d. to 20s. to the poor of Walton, Thorpe, Kirby, Great Clacton, Great Holland, and Little Holland, but nothing to the poor of Frinton.[26] Anne Lynn, by will proved 13 August 1767, left £20 to the tenant of the Frinton Hall estate to be distributed among the poor of the parish. Presumably the money was duly distributed; no trace could be found of the capital c. 1860.[27]From 1844 or earlier coal, blankets, and cloth were distributed to six poor families at Christmas, the money being given by Robert Hills of Colne Park, Colne Engaine, owner of Frinton Wick, and F. V. Luke, the rector.[28]In 1861, in exchange for permission to take a strip of the churchyard into his garden, Richard Stone undertook to give the poor 5s. worth of bread on Christmas Day as long as he was tenant of the Frinton Hall estate.[29] In 1868 ';bread and meat' were distributed to 13 individuals or families, including Stone's 'Old Uncle'.[30]

EDUCATION

There were no schools in Frinton until the Board school in Whitton Wood Road opened in 1898. In 1810, and presumably later in the 19th century, any children in the parish attended schools in neighbouring parishes. In 1897 they went to Walton school.[31]