A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



The Capel Cures continued to support the school 

 until 1904, apparently without assistance from public 

 funds,*' retaining it as their property but allowing it to 

 be administered as a Church school.*' An inspector, 

 visiting it in 1 896, found the buildings in good repair 

 but the scholastic standard low.*' The school did not 

 officially pass under the control of the Essex Education 

 Committee until some three years after the 1902 

 Education Act. In 1904, when there were 42 pupils, 

 the senior teacher received his salary of £,\o not from 

 the Local Education Authority but presumably from 

 Capel Cure and the proceeds of the weekly fees of 2d., 

 paid by each pupil.'" In that year the Education Com- 

 mittee considered the provision of a Council school in 

 the parish, but decided to give the existing school non- 

 provided status if the managers would spend ;^i5o on 

 an additional classroom. The Education Committee 

 accepted some financial responsibility for the school 

 until the new classroom was completed in igo6." The 

 average attendance rose from 36 in 1905 to 53 in 19 10, 

 but fell to 42 in 1927. After the reorganization of the 

 school for juniors and infants in 1936 and the transfer 



of seniors to Chipping Ongar, it fell further to 27 in 

 1938. In 195 1 the school was granted controlled 

 status.'^ In May 1952 it had two teachers and 33 

 pupils.'J It stands a httle west of the church. It is 

 a red-brick gabled building with stone dressings 

 dated 1856 and inscribed with the initials of Capel 

 Cure. 



Robert Bourne of Blake Hall (see above), by will 

 proved 1666, left a cottage and land to 

 CHARITIES provide clothing at Christmas for four 

 poor old people of the parish.'* The 

 rent was £^ 5^. in 1708 and ^^13 in 1866 when the 

 property was sold for ;^500 which was invested. The 

 house seems to have been used before then as the parish 

 poorhouse.'s In 1950 the income of ^^13 9J. 41?. was 

 used to buy clothing vouchers of ^^4. 



John Pool, by will proved 1839, left ;^ioo in trust 

 for the repair of three graves in the churchyard. This 

 was not legally a charitable bequest and the legacy was 

 apparently never paid, although in 1921 it was thought 

 that the income had once been received.'* 



For the Bell Acre see above — Church. 



CHIGWELL 



Chigwell lies in the south-west corner of Ongar 

 hundred, on both banks of the Roding, at a distance of 

 12 miles from London.' The ancient parish had an 

 area of 5,009 acres.^ It contained three distinct sections. 

 The village of Chigwell, on the east side of the Roding, 

 was the main settlement and included the parish 

 church. Chigwell Row, a mile south of the village, was 

 a roadside hamlet on the edge of Hainault Forest. The 

 third section was Buckhurst Hill, ij mile from the 

 village on the west bank of the river. Until the 19th 

 century much of Buckhurst Hill was within Epping 

 Forest and there were only a few scattered houses in 

 that part of the parish before the modern development 

 took place. The soil of the parish is mainly London 

 Clay, but there are thin patches of glacial gravel in and 

 around Chigwell village and smaller patches at Buck- 

 hurst Hill and Chigwell Row. 



For ecclesiastical purposes the ancient parish was 

 divided by the formation of the district of Buckhurst 

 Hill in 1838 and that of Chigwell Row in i860. Both 

 these districts became separate ecclesiastical parishes in 

 1867.3 Buckhurst Hill was made a separate urban 

 district in 1895.'' Chigwell and Chigwell Row to- 

 gether constituted the civil parish of Chigwell from 

 1895 until 1933, when that parish was merged with the 

 Urban Districts of Buckhurst Hill and Loughton to 

 form the new Urban District of Chigwell. 5 



For several centuries the south-west end of the parish 

 and Chigwell Row have been predominantly resi- 

 dential, with houses occupied mainly by people with 

 interests in London, while the rest of the parish has 

 always been devoted to agriculture. Modern develop- 

 ment has emphasized this contrast. Buckhurst Hill and 

 much of Chigwell Row have been built up but Chigwell 

 village has retained its rural appearance. 



From the west bank of the Roding the ground rises 

 steeply from about 50 ft. to 267 ft. at Buckhurst Hill, 



and then falls to about 1 50 ft. at Ching Brook, which 

 roughly defines the western boundary of the ancient 

 parish. On the east of the river the land rises to 2 1 3 ft. 

 in Chigwell village and then falls away to Chigwell 

 (formerly Edensor's) Brook, which flows south-west 

 from the centre of the parish to join the Roding near 

 Luxborough. South of the brook the land rises to 

 Grange Hill (235 ft.) and the ridge of Chigwell Row 

 (280 ft.). From these heights there are long views over 

 the Thames valley to the hills of Kent. Near the north- 

 east boundary is Lambourne Brook, another tributary 

 of the Roding. 



Chigwell was formerly in the 

 forest of Essex and two small 

 patches of woodland still exist 

 within the area of the ancient 

 parish. Lords Bushes at Buck- 

 hurst Hill cover 90 acres be- 

 longing to Epping Forest. At 

 Chigwell Row there are some 

 50 acres which form part of 

 Hainault Forest. 



The main road from London 

 to Ongar, here called High 

 Road 



Chigwell Urban Dis- 

 trict. Or J a stag at rest 

 passes north-east through proper, on a chief gules 



three axe-heads bendtvise 



sinister ivith blades doivn- 



ivards argent. 



[Granted 1951-] 



Chigwell village. From the vil- 

 lage Roding Lane runs west to 

 Buckhurst Hill; near the lane on 

 the east bank of the river are the 

 R.A.F. Station, Chigwell, and the Buckhurst Hill 

 County High School for boys. The R.A.F. Station is 

 on the site of the ancient manor house of Chigwell Hall. 

 Beyond the river to the west Roding Lane passes a 

 public park and finally joins Palmerston Road, Buck- 

 hurst Hill. 



Buckhurst Hill is a residential area developed mainly 

 during the past century. It consists of an inner ring on 



6' Ibid.; Retn. of Schs., iSg3 [C. 7529], 

 p. 714 H.C. (1894), kv. 



'8 Retns. Elem. Educ.{lSyi),fp. IIO-II. 



'0 Min. of Educ. File 13/26A. 



'» Ibid.; Essex Educ. Cttee. Handhk. 

 1904., p. 183. 



" Min. of Educ. File 13/26A; Essex 



Standard, 29 Oct. 1904. 



'2 Min. of Educ. File 13/26A. 



'3 Ex. inf. Essex Educ. Cttee. 



'« Rep. Com. Char. {Essex), H.C. 216, 

 p. 2i8(i835),xxi(i). 



'5 E.R.O., D/P 127/8, 25; see above — 

 Parish Government and Poor Relief. 



" Char. Com. files. 

 ' O.S 2^ in. Map, sheet 51/49. 



2 V.C.H. Essex, n, 350. 



3 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1899). 



4 Ibid. (1933). 



5 Chigviell U.D. Official Guide (2nd ed.), 

 p. 22. 



Il 



