MRP: Albyns
Sir Robert Abdy's house, Albyns, Stapleford Abott, Essex
Editorial history
THIS ENTRY IS IN PREPARATION
Sir Robert Abdy purchased the manor and manor house of Albyns in 1654 from Baron Coleraine for £5,360. The house was demolished in 1954, but at Abdy's time was what the Victoria County History of Essex describes as a "very fine manor house," which incorporated parts of a smaller, earlier C16th house. A survey of the building exists, carried out by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments and published in 1920.
The house was brick-built, enclosing a courtyard on four sides. The Victoria County History, drawing on the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments report, describes it as "entirely of the King James Gothic," with mullioned and transomed windows, and two storey bays on three sides. There was a long gallery on the first floor of the west wing, with fine panelling and an elaborate chimney. The quality of fittings and plasterwork was high. "The shields in the spandrels of the older fireplaces were painted with the date 1654 and the initials A B K (for Robert and Katherine Abdy) and the panelling bore the arms of Abdy and Gayre."
There is a detailed estate map of Albyns from the period of its acquisition by Sir Robert Abdy, the work of John Kersey. "It shows the layout of the grounds with stables and a dovehouse to the east of the mansion and a straight avenue leading south from the main entrance."
Sources
XXXX, A new display of the beauties of England, 1st vol., 3rd ed. (London, 1776), p.39
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (XXXX, 1920), p. ?
Powell, W.R., 'Stapleford Abbots: Introduction', A History of the County of Essex, vol 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 222-223
Powell, W.R., A History of the County of Essex,vol. 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), plan of Albyns, Stapleford Abbots, from an estate map of 1654 (Essex Record Office D/DC 27/1121), p. 226
Essex Archives: D/DAy Records of the Abdy family of Albyn, Stapleford Abbots and Felix Hall, Kelvedon
Essex Archives: D/Day E3 Rents, Manor of Albyns, Garnish hall and Barndon Hall, c. 1640
