Sleeper's Farm
Sleeper's Farm at the top of Chadwell Hill dates back to the 15th century. It gets its name from the Sleeper family who lived in Chadwell in the 14th and 15th century. It was owned for many years by the Russell family of Stubbers in North Ockendon.
During renovation work in 1967, a bundle of papers was discovered - now known as the Sleeper's Farm papers. They had been collected by two residents in the late 18th and early 19th centuries - William Manning and Edward Driver. The papers included:
- an account of
receipts and disbursements of William Manning as his
mother's executor, described in Behold the
Painful Plough;
- a number of official papers belonging to Edward Driver
as holder of various local offices, described in Panorama
12;
- two letters from C Linzell to her nephew and nieces,
transcribed in Panorama 14;
- a 19th century sale catalogue of the farm equipment in
use and the furniture (room by room), described in
Panorama 24 .
Copies of the papers are held in the Grays Library.