THE HUNDRED OF ONGAR 



THE hundred of Ongar, lying in the south-west of the county is 

 roughly oval in shape and about 17 miles long. Although only 10 

 miles from London at the nearest point and 27 miles at the farthest it 

 is still mainly rural. The River Roding flows south-west through the 

 hundred. In the summer it is usually no more than a narrow stream but is some- 

 times severely swollen in winter, and the repair of its many bridges was a serious 

 problem down to the 19th century. In the Roding valley the land is never 

 more than 200 ft. above sea-level. Elsewhere it is usually under 300 ft. and 

 there are few hills. 



The south-west corner of the hundred is largely urbanized, for here is 

 Chigwell Urban District, which includes the towns of Loughton (with Debden), 

 Buckhurst Hill, and Hainault, and now has a population of about 56,000. 

 Even here, however, the forests of Epping and Hainault and the old houses and 

 cottages of Chigwell recall a simpler society. Farther north and east there is 

 gently undulating country with high hedges, meadows, ploughed fields, 

 streams, and spinneys as far as Chipping Ongar. The soil of this south-western 

 half of the hundred is mainly London Clay, with some areas of Boulder Clay 

 and some patches of glacial sand or gravel.' It is a land of mixed farming, with 

 many dairy herds and sheep. 



Chipping Ongar, which gave its name to the hundred and was for long the 

 principal place in it, was an ancient market-town and contained a. Norman 

 castle. Though very small it still has some local importance as the administra- 

 tive centre of the Ongar Rural District. North of it the landscape changes. 

 There are low hedges, few trees or meadows, and the roads are narrow. The 

 soil is almost entirely Boulder Clay. It is good corn land and cattle are com- 

 paratively rare. The end of the hundred is reached at Beauchamp Roding and 

 Abbess Roding, which are as remote and isolated as any part of Essex. 



Nucleated villages are unusual but there are many hamlets and scattered 

 farms. The older farm buildings are timber-framed and either plastered or 

 weather-boarded. They are often enclosed by moats, especially in the north. 

 Brick houses of the i8th century and later are fairly common. Few are older, 

 but among them is Hill Hall (in Theydon Mount), a 16th-century mansion 

 noted for its early use of renaissance detail. In and after the 1 6th century the 

 south-western part of the hundred was a fashionable residential area for wealthy ' 

 landowners and a number of large houses were built there. In the 1 8th century 

 and later landscape gardeners transformed the surroundings of some of these - 

 houses. In most parishes the church stands on an isolated site beside the princi- 

 pal manor house, and is usually a small flint building with a short, shingled 

 spire. But by far the best-known church, the Saxon church at Greenstead, is 

 not of flint at all, but has walls of timber. 



■ For the geology of the area see F.C.H. Essex, i, I (map), which still represents the latest information 

 available cartographically. 



