Preface

PREFACE.

The long delay in the issue of this volume—its publication was intended in 1907—requires a note of explanation. It is no secret to the friends of the Committee that their activities have been largely hampered by lack of funds, and although the postponement of the Volume was due, in the first instance, to some difficulty in obtaining the necessary data for the Survey, the subsequent delay has been the result of insufficient resources to admit of earlier publication. The timely assistance of the London County Council has enabled the Committee to prepare in the meantime the more important Parish Surveys which have already been printed, and the only Monographs which have appeared since the account of East Acton Manor was projected, namely, Crosby Place, Morden College, and Eastbury Manor House, have had reasons of urgency or importance which could not be set aside. It is hoped that the task of the Committee will now become an easier one, and that a more regular issue of volumes will be possible in the immediate future.

The thanks of the Committee are due to Mr. Walter T. Prideaux and the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths for the valuable information afforded them from the Company's records, and for permission to reproduce the delightful painting shown on Plate 1; also to Mr. William King Baker for his notes and the loan of photographs; to Mr. S. Lord, the Treasurer of the Urban District Council, for information as to the names of residents at the Manor House; and to the Rector, the Rev. G. S. de Sausmarez, for placing his parish records at our service; also to Mr. F. Middleton, of the Acton Scientific and Literary Society, for his photograph of the drawing of the interior of the hall; and to the Librarian at the Acton Library for permission to photograph it. Finally, also to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who so kindly gave the Committee permission to examine the early Court Rolls, and copies of leases, etc., which were in their possession, and to the officials at H. M. Record Office and the Middlesex Land Registry for their assistance in examining the documents from which the early history of the house has now been definitely obtained.

Philip Norman.