The History Behind the Name and Badge
The Group was formed in 1999, as the result of a re-organisation within the Brentwood Scout District.
The Group H.Q. is located in the Parish of South Weald and close to several waterways. Our name comes from one of these waterways – Weald Brook - which meanders its way beside our field.
Why a Leopard?
Some time before his accession, when he was Earl of Essex, Harold II had rebuilt and enlarged the abbey at Waltham. Under King Harold’s endowment monks held many areas of land one of which was ‘Wealda’, now known as the Parish of South Weald.
About 9 miles south of Wealda a religious house was established in the hamlet of Brook Street then known as Sideburn(e)broc. The grants also provided for a Leper Hospital, which was built at the junction of what is now Spital Lane and London Road. In the 15th century the Manor of Sideburnebroc (also called Spital Lands, Manor of Spital or Manor of Brook Street) with other land in the area was leased and farmed by the Roper family. This is the time of the Wars of the Roses, which ended with Henry VII being King. Soon after Henry Roper became a servant in the Royal Household at Greenwich and later to the Princess Catherine (Catherine of Aragon) who married Henry VIII.
In 1533 Thomas Roper sold the Spital Lands for £80 to Robert Wright of Kelvedon Hall (a descendant of Wryta of Bayeux). Robert married Mary Green in 1535 and they lived in the moated house at Brook Street.
Enough of the local history but you can see where some of our local names and place names originate. We started with a question ‘Why a Leopard’. Well just look at the coat of arms on Mary Green Manor Hotel’s sign. It is the coat of arms of the Wright family – Royal Blue Shield with two horizontal white bands and a Leopard’s head above.
Yes, our scarf colours and Group badge are taken from the Wright family’s coat of arms.
Bernard AGSL