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Great Ilford Marsh or Farm was a legacy in Ambrose Spitty's will  of 1771. It would appear from the sale catalogue below and also from the acreage totals of the farm map below that the lease of Great Ilford also incorporated Little Ilford Marsh Farm (also known as Lady's Island).

In the sale catalogue (ERO Ref  :- D/DZu 209) of the estates of the late Jasper Kingsman esq. on 19/20 Nov 1789 Great Ilford is described as follows:-
"Mr William Spitty on lease for 21 years from Michaelmas 1778 :-
A compact and desirable freehold Marsh Farm, called Great Ellford's (sic), situate in the Parish of Fobbing, consisting of four rich Marshes, with the Saltings adjoining, containing altogether 127ac 2r 4p.
Lady's Island near the said Marshes - 70ac
Total acreage 197ac 2r 4p at a yearly rent of £100
The tenant covenants to depastuer and keep one horse, mare, gelding or colt constatly on the premises.
The Marshes are very conveniently situate for shipping and landing goods to and from Fobbing Creek.
This lot is subject to the payment of quit rent of ten shillings yearly to the Manor of Fobbing, out of which Land Tax is allowed"
(NB - the farm sold for £2236)
(Lady's Island is also known as Little Ilford) 

Great Ilford Farm was later known as Slatey House and was shown on the 1841 1" OS map as "Newhouse". Today only the buildings footings of brick survive. In retrospective data found in an estate map of Great Ilford surveyed during 1800, at that time, a substantial "hall house" with typical medieval or Tudor crosswings had occupied its homestall area, indicating that a reclamation of this island estate must have been completed at least three centuries or so earlier. The detailed map of 1800 shows the wharf's position, fronting a porched three-bay corn barn with its open cattle yard nearby.

Fobbings two holdings called Great and Little Ilford demonstrate well the kind of bizarre language changes which may arise for during the Tudor period they were just the westerly and the easterly word or marsh farmstead; hence Westelword (1521) and Estylward (1539). This is very much the form still found as late as 1679, when Fobbing's manor rental had shown John Peter (Petre) of Thorndon renting "East Tilward Marsh", yet within the short period up to 1736 a radical alteration to a single name of "Ilford" for both farms (Great and Little) had taken place. The common south-eastern practice of interchanging W's with V's and V's with F's (Vobbyng 1392; Fange for Vange 1203) depicts this drift.