ONGAR HUNDRED 



Ongar hundred. Those of 1811-41 note that Thornwood and Hastingwood 

 were in Harlow hundred and those of 1 821-41 show Berwick Berners as in 

 Dunmow hundred.'^ The 1851 census, though not arranged by hundreds, 

 states that the hamlet of Birds Green was partly in Beauchamp Roding and 

 partly in Willingale Doe (Dunmow hundred). In the late i8th and early 19th 

 centuries Birds Green was for some purposes certainly reckoned as part of 

 Dunmow hundred, though no evidence has been found that this was so at any 

 earlier date. 



The lordship of Ongar hundred was given by Henry II to Richard de Lucy." 

 It descended along with the manor of Chipping Ongar (q.v.) to the Rivers 

 family and subsequently to the Staffords, earls of Stafford, and later dukes of 

 Buckingham. At various times in the 14th and 1 5th centuries the hundred was 

 in the king's hands for short periods owing to the minority or forfeiture of its 

 owners.18 It was finally forfeited to the Crown along with the manor of Chip- 

 ping Ongar in 152 1. In that year Henry VIII appointed his yeoman Robert 

 Stoner as bailiff and 'wardstaff' of the hundred,' « and in 1543 the hundred was 

 granted for life to John Stoner, serjeant-at-arms.20 In 1547 it was granted to 

 Richard Rich on his creation as a baron.^' It descended along with Paslow 

 Hall in High Ongar (q.v.) until the death in 1673 of Charles Rich, Earl of 

 Warwick. In the subsequent partition of the earl's estates the hundred was 

 allotted to Henry St. John, who in 1689 granted it to Philip and Rowland 

 Traherne." In 1694 the Trahernes conveyed it to Sir Eliab Harvey of 

 Barringtons in Chigwell (q.v.) and it subsequently descended along with 

 Barringtons. Vice-Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey was lord of the hundred in 1 8 14.^2 



The original meeting-place of the hundred is not definitely known. The site 

 of Ongar castle and Toot Hill in Stanford Rivers have both been suggested. ^^ 

 In and after the 1 5th century Ongar hundred was closely associated with 

 Harlow half-hundred, whose lordship had also been acquired by the Staffords.^s 

 From the late i6th century Ongar and Harlow were grouped with Waltham 

 half-hundred, the common meeting-place being at Waltham Holy Cross.26 

 These Waltham meetings, however, were probably for business other than that 

 anciently associated with the hundred. It is not known whether separate meet- 

 ings for Ongar hundred alone were held in the 1 7th century. 



On a quo warranto inquiry in 1277 John de Rivers, lord of the hundred, 

 claimed no return of writs within the hundred except the withdrawal from the 

 sheriff of the King's debts and the execution of the other orders of the king 

 therein." As to pleas of withernam he said that the hundred had been grante d 

 by Henry II to his ancestor Richard de Lucy and that Richard and his descen- 

 dants had had those pleas. The Crown advocate rejoined that in Henry II's 

 time there were no such pleas and that in any case they were not mentioned in 

 Richard de Lucy's charter. 



'* But in and after 1 83 1 the population was enumerated in Abbess Roding as part of Ongar hundred 



'7 Plac. Quo Warranto (Rec. Com.), 232; Rot. Hundr. (Rec. Com.), i, I53- 



'8 e.g. Cal. Fine R. 1413-22, 362; Cal. Pat. \ifil-ll, 561. 



'9 L. y P. Hen. Fill, iii (2), p. 973. 



20 L. y P. Hen. Fill, xviii (i), p. 193. According to the 1 543 grant Stoner was to be bailiff and wardstaff 

 of the hundred, not its lord, but the 1 547 grant to Rich, quoting that of 1 543, states that the hundred had been 

 granted to Stoner for life. " C"'- P"'- ' 547-8, i lo-i i. 



" E.^.T. N.s. ix, 402; E.R.O., D/DCw T26. " E. Ogborne, Htst. Essex, 236. 



^ E.A.T. N.s. xviii, 192. ^5 Morant, Essex, ii, 482; E.R.O., D/DP M570, 585, 588, 595. 



2* Norden, Description of Essex, 1 594 (Camd. Soc), 12; E.R.O. Guide, i, 3- 



" Plac. Quo Warranto (Rec. Com.), 232. 



