ONGAR HUNDRED 



BOBBINGWORTH 



at intervals of 5-10 weeks in addition to his final 

 annual account at Easter. There is no evidence that 

 the interim accounts continued after 1775, but in view 

 of the increasing costs of poor relief it is very probable 

 that they did so. By 1772, perhaps before 1760, the 

 churchwardens, constables, and surveyors were no 

 longer granted separate rates. Their expenditure was 

 met by the overseer who included it in his account. 

 This practice continued until 1 8 1 1 . From 1 8 1 1 to 



1 8 1 2 there was again a separate highway rate and from 



1813 to 1 8 14 there was a separate church rate. 



In 1720 the rateable value of the parish was about 

 ^^917. In 1790 a 2J. dd. rate produced £106 15^.; this 

 implies a rateable value of about ;£854. During the 

 Napoleonic wars the rateable value was generally be- 

 tween j{^90o and £(^\%. In 181 5 a reassessment was 

 ordered as a result of which the rateable value became 

 ^^1,635; in 1823 it fell to ;^i,559 and in 1831 rose to 

 ^1,586. 



There was evidently a poorhouse in Bobbingworth 

 in 1692— 3, for in that year \os. was paid by the overseer 

 for 'straw at the allmnshouse'. By 1783 the poorhouse 

 was situated in Pensons Lane, and seems to have been 

 the cottage which Robert Bourne (d. 1666) left in 

 trust to provide clothing for the poor.s* It was rented 

 by the overseer at ^^i 10/. a year. In 1779-80 the 

 poorhouse was fitted with a 'poor's oven.' In 1784-5 

 the building housed at least one poor family and in each 

 of the years 1791-2, 1797-8, 1800-1, 1803-7, and 

 i8i9-2oit housed at least one poor person. In 1807—8 

 1$. 6d. was paid by the overseer for '6 yards cloth for 

 strawbed for poorhouse'. Minor repairs were often 

 carried out and in 1 807-8 more substantial repairs were 

 done at a cost of ^^55. In 1823 the stove was repaired. 



In most cases, however, poor relief was given, in 

 various forms, outside the poorhouse. In each of the 

 years 1 8 1 3-1 5 there were 20-2 1 adults on 'permanent' 

 outdoor relief. 5 5 Provision for the poor was made in 

 various ways including the binding out of paupers' 

 children as apprentices, the provision of spinning- 

 wheels, the payment of rent and allowances for lodging 

 or nursing, the provision of wood and clothes, and the 

 payment of weekly doles. 



Parish apprentices were allotted on a rota system to 

 farmers in the parish. In the period between 168 1 and 

 1 7 1 8 three 'great' farms and thirteen 'lesser' farms were 

 on the rota. About 1 1 children were apprenticed 

 during the period. 



In 1787-8 a spinning-wheel was purchased for John 

 Little at a cost of is. 6J. In 1 799-1 800 spinning- 

 wheels cost the overseer £2 4/. In several of the follow- 

 ing years 'the poor's spinning' occurs as an item of 

 expenditure in the overseer's accounts. 



In 1692-3 there seem to have been 2 widows receiv- 

 ing weekly doles, the cost to the parish being 5/. 6</. 

 a week. In 1 7 19 there were 4 weekly doles amounting 

 to js. In the years between 1758 and 1775 there were 

 usually 9 households, including several widow house- 

 holds, receiving weekly doles, totalling between 

 16/. ()d. and £1 \s. a week. In 1777-8 there were 10 

 households which throughout the year received doles 



which totalled ;{Jl 5/. a week. In each of the years from 

 1780 to 1797 there were 15-21 households in receipt 

 of regular weekly doles which cost the parish between 

 £1 5/. and £2 2s. 6d. a week. From 1797 the doles 

 increased, reaching their maximum of ^^8 5^^. 6d. a 

 week in 1801. They then declined to £2 ijs. 6d. a 

 week in 1808. From then until 1819 there were 

 usually about 16-18 households in receipt of constant 

 relief at a total cost to the parish of about £2 i js. bd. 

 a week. From 1 8 19 until 1827 the number of house- 

 holds dependent on weekly doles varied between 20 

 and 27, the total weekly cost ranging from ^^3 to ^5. 

 In 161 3-14 the cost of poor relief was £^ los. 

 which was distributed to 5 people.'* In the last years 

 of the 17th century the total cost of poor relief was 

 always below ^^20 a year and was sometimes as little as 

 £j. In the 1 8th century much higher figures were soon 

 reached, rising to an average of ^^32 a year in the three 

 extreme years 17 16—19. There was then a rapid fall 

 to a minimum of £3 14/. 5</. in 1723-4. In the period 

 1725-42 figures have survived for only seven years. 

 These are within a range ^£16-^31. In the period 

 1743-54 expenditure only once fell below ;^45 and on 

 two occasions reached nearly ;^6o. In 1754-5 it was 

 £TI- Between 1759 and 1771 it averaged about £%<i. 

 In 1772 the cost reached the £100 level and from then 

 until 1782 it remained fairly stable between ;^ioo and 

 ;^i20 a year. It then rose to ;^i65 in 1782-3 and to 

 ;^I97 in 1784-5. In the next ten years the cost 

 remained within the range ^^i 60-^^190. In 1794—5 it 

 was ^^170. In 1795-6 it jumped to £2"]},. After a 

 slight drop in the next three years it rose to ^^290 in 

 1 799-1 800 and then in the following year to ^£505, its 

 maximum. In 180 1—2 the cost was £450. It then 

 dropped to ;^293 in 1802-3. Between 1803 and 181 1 

 it varied between ^^246 and £33 1 a year. It then rose 

 to £477 in 1812-13. After this it varied between 

 ^280 and ;^48o, the peak year being 1819—20. 



In 1836 Bobbingworth became part of Ongar Poor 

 Law Union. 



In 1 807 and 1 8 1 8 it was stated that there was no 

 school in the parish.s7 In 1822, with the 

 SCHOOL support of Capel Cure of Blake HaU (see 

 above), a girls' school was established 

 which by 1833 had 24 pupils.58 It was a dame school, 

 with a Sunday school attached,^' and it is said to have 

 been situated in a house which the estate carpenter had 

 erected in the churchyard.**' In 1846—7 there were 

 still only 24 girls attending, the sole educational pro- 

 vision for boys being the Sunday school.*' W. M. 

 Oliver, Rector of Bobbingworth, considered a National 

 School to be 'much wanted'.*^ In 1855-6 Capel Cure 

 built 'a good, substantial schoolroom'*^ and a teacher's 

 residence next to the church, but until about 1869 only 

 girls seem to have attended it.** By 187 1, however, the 

 pupils included 1 8 boys,*5 an addition made possibly in 

 anticipation of the requirements of the Education Act. 

 In the same year an inspector reported to the Educa- 

 tion Department that only 47 places were needed to 

 secure universal elementary schooling in the parish and 

 that 5 5 places were available at the school.** 



** See below, Charities. 



55 E.R.O., g/CR i/io. 



5« E.R.O., Q/SBa 3. 



5' E.R.O., D/AEM 2/4 (Archdeaconry); 

 Retns. Educ. Poor, H.C. 224, p. 248 ( 1 8 19), 

 ix (,). 



58 Educ. Enquiry Ahur. H.C. 62, p. 267 

 (1835), xli. 



59 Nat. Soc. Rep. 1832, p. 36; Nat. Soc. 

 Enquiry into Church Schs. 1 846-7, pp. 2-3. 



"> Ex. inf. Mrs. G. Day, Headmistress, 

 1952. 



61 Earlier, in 1822-3, Capel Cure had 

 sent boys from his estate to Moreton 

 school {E.R.O., D/DCc E6). Whether he 

 continued to do so, after 1823, does not 



17 



appear. 



'2 Nat. Soc. Enquiry into Church Schs. 

 1846-7, pp. 2-3. 



'3 E.R.O., D/AEM i/i/i. 



<>♦ Kelly's Dir. Essex (1870). 



's Retns. Eltm. Educ. H.C. 201, pp. i to- 

 Ii(i87i),lv. 



'•'' Min. of Educ. File 13/26A. 



