Navestock: Roman catholicism

ROMAN CATHOLICISM

Sir Edward Waldegrave (d. 1561), the first of his line to own the manor of Navestock, suffered imprisonment under Elizabeth I for his recusancy. (fn. 1) The Waldegraves appear to have remained Roman Catholics until early in the 18th century. In 1717 Henrietta, dowager Lady Waldegrave and her son James Lord Waldegrave, both appeared in the county register of papists' estates. (fn. 2) Soon after this James turned Protestant: in 1722 he took his seat in the House of Lords. (fn. 3) There are records of a few other Roman Catholics in the parish in the 17th and early 18th centuries, (fn. 4) and Roman Catholic worshippers at Kelvedon Hall (fn. 5) and at Wealdside (fn. 6) in the 18th and 19th centuries may have included some from Navestock. For some time up to about 1939 Roman Catholic services were held in a small weather-boarded building immediately to the west of the 'King William IV' at Horseman Side. This building stands in the garden of a double-fronted weather-boarded cottage, formerly a school, (fn. 7) dating from the late 18th or early 19th century.