A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



weather road'.^' Its extension from Chigwell Row to 

 Lambourne End {c. 1790) has been described under 

 Lambourne. 



At Buckhurst Hill the Loughton-Woodford road is 

 of ancient origin. It became important early in the 17th 

 century when the road from Loughton to Epping 

 through the forest was completed, thus providing a 

 new direct route from London to Newmarket.^* In 

 the 18th century it came under the control of the 

 Epping and Ongar Highway Trust, which about 1780 

 remade the section between Buckhurst Hill and 

 Loughton-^' In 1834 the trust completed its new road 

 from Woodford to Epping, by-passing Loughton.^o 

 A short stretch of this Epping New Road runs through 

 Buckhurst Hill. 



The only other roads in Buckhurst Hill before the 

 19th century seem to have been a lane leading from 

 the 'Bald Faced Stag' to Langfords (now Westbury 

 Lane) and another, on the opposite side of the main 

 road, leading to Whitehall in Chingford (now White- 

 hall Lane). In 1791 and 1796 the parish resisted 

 magistrates' orders to repair the latter road. 3' Of the 

 newer roads in Buckhurst Hill Queens Road was taken 

 over by the parish in 1867, Princes Road and Victoria 

 Crescent in 1870, Victoria Road in 1881, and Alfred 

 Road, Albert Road, Gladstone Road, and Russell Road 

 in 1883. Kings Place Road was taken over in sections 

 in 1870, 1879, 1881, and 1883.32 



The combined Domesday figures for Chigwell Hall 

 and Woolston give a total of 2 3 villeins, 4 bordars, and 

 8 freemen in 1066, to which a further 4 bordars had 

 been added by 1086.33 In 1391 there were 72 houses 

 in the parish. There was a small concentration round 

 the church in Chigwell Street but most of the houses 

 were scattered throughout the parish.3't They prob- 

 ably included most of those known to have existed in 

 the 15th century, among which were the following:35 

 Little Londons, Tumours, Martins (now Marchings), 

 Brownings, Serjeants, Birds, and Coles (now Taylors 

 Farm) in Gravel Lane; Billingsbourne in Millers Lane 

 (off Gravel Lane); Pettits and Barns a/ias Fulhams in 

 Pudding Lane; Appletons (now Old Farm) in Green 

 Lane (a track off Vicarage Lane); Tailours and the 

 manor house of Barringtons (later Rolls) in High Road, 

 and Woolston Hall off Abridge Road. At Chigwell 

 Row were Sheepcotes, near the Lambourne boundary, 

 Whitehall (formerly Gullivers) with Goodhouse and 

 Haywards near by, Skynners which later became the 

 'Maypole' and stood behind the site of the more recent 

 inn of the same name. Old Bennetts, Hatchmans, Pear- 

 smiths, and Page Hall, all of which stood near the 

 present Hainault Hall, and Hatch House near the later 

 Clare Hall, with perhaps a dozen smaller houses. At 

 Grange Hill there was Grange Farm and in Hainault 

 Road, Ekes (formerly Youngs). In Chigwell village a 

 few houses are known to have existed in the Middle 

 Ages, and in the 15th century there were probably 

 more than a dozen, including the Grange, Church 

 House, and Ringleys on the site of Grange Court. 

 Farther south in High Road there were houses at 

 Broomhill and West Hatch, Brookhouse Farm and the 

 old mansion at Luxborough. At Buckhurst Hill there 



were a few houses in the 15 th century, among them 

 King's Place and Monkhams. 



Some of these houses have disappeared and the others 

 have been rebuilt or so much altered as to leave few 

 traces of their early origin. Among the oldest surviving 

 houses in the parish are the Retreat at Chigwell Row, 

 Woolston Hall (see Manors), Marchings, and Brown- 

 ings, all of which date from the i6th or early 17th 

 centuries. Marchings is a two-story house, timber- 

 framed and roughcast. It was probably built early in 

 the 1 6th century but has been much altered. Brown- 

 ings is a two-story building, also timber-framed and 

 roughcast, with an old tile roof. It has a front of three 

 gables, the centre one being much wider than the 

 others. The Retreat, now a cafe, was probably built 

 in the i6th century but only a small part of the present 

 building is original. There are old timbers inside. 

 Details of some Chigwell houses and their furnishings 

 in the 1 5th-i7th centuries are contained in the printed 

 series 'Old Chigwell Wills'.36 



In 1 67 1 there were 168 houses and two forges in 

 the parish.3' In addition to the houses already men- 

 tioned were Bacons (on the site of Montfort House), 

 Morgans (later Great House and now the Grove), 

 Wheelers a/ias Butlers Bennetts (now the Chace), 

 Langhall (now the Foxhounds), Taylors Hall (on the 

 site of Willow House), Clare Hall, Bowls, and some 

 cottages, all in Manor Road. In Pudding Lane Clark's 

 tenement (later Burnt House) had been built and in 

 Chigwell village there were houses on nearly all the 

 present sites. The original manor house of Chigwell 

 Hall had fallen into disuse after the building of a new 

 house near the church (see Manors). Existing houses 

 which in their present form date from the 17th century 

 are the 'King's Head', Chigwell School, Harsnetts, 

 Woodlands at Chigwell Row, the Foxhounds, Brook- 

 house Farm, Church House, Pettits Hall lodge. 

 Tumours and possibly Grange Court. 



The 'King's Head' in Chigwell village was made 

 famous by Dickens in Barnaby Rudge, where it figures 

 as the 'Maypole'. It was an important inn. From 1713 

 and possibly earlier it was regularly used for meetings 

 of the Court of Attachments of Waltham Forest.3 8 In 

 the 1 850's it was a favourite resort of public authorities 

 banqueting at the public expense, and was famous for 

 pigeon pie.39 The main part of the building is of three 

 stories with attics and cellars and exposed timber- 

 framing. Each upper story overhangs and there are 

 four various-sized gables. There is a large roughcast 

 chimney-stack with diagonal shafts. There have been 

 many alterations and additions to the building. The 

 Chester Room on the first floor has 17th-century 

 panelling. 



The original part of Chigwell School was built soon 

 after the foundation of the school in 1629.^" It is a 

 one-story building of red brick with an old tile roof. 

 There have been additions in the 1 8th century and 

 later. Harsnetts is a two-story building opposite the 

 school, now divided into two houses. 



Woodlands, at Chigwell Row, is a two-story build- 

 ing, roughcast, with a tile roof and a rebuilt chimney- 

 stack of four shafts. The 'Fox and Hounds' consists of 



2' Chelmsford Chronicle i Aug. and 

 14 Nov. 1817 ; indictment at Essex Assizes 

 against the parish for failure to repair the 

 road. 



28 See history of Loughton. 



" Ibid. 



30 Ibid. 



3' E.R.O., D/P 166/8/10. 

 " E.R.O., D/P 166/8/1 1. 

 33 r.C.H. Essex, i, 432*, 553A. 



3* £179/147/60. 



35 The following details of local houses 

 have been gathered from the author's col- 

 lection of notes and abstracts of court rolls, 



public and private records and other sources. 

 3' E.A.T. N.s. I, 237, 312; xi, 10, 150, 



335- 



37 E.R.O., 6/RTh 5. 



38 W. R. Fisher, Forest of Essex, 95. 

 35 Dickensian, xv, 211. 



« y.C.H. Essex, ii, 544. 



20 



