ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIGWELL 



two stories and attics and is of red brick. Brookhouse 

 Farm is a timber-framed and roughcast building having 

 an old tile roof and a central chimney-stack with six 

 diagonal shafts. Church House, though mainly of the 

 1 8th century, incorporates obvious remains of a 17th- 

 century building, including a chimney-stack. It is of 

 two stories, timber-framed, and roughcast. Pettits 

 Hall lodge is of similar construction, with a cross gable 

 overhanging to the right.^' Tumours, on one of the 

 oldest sites in the parish, is particularly interesting. In 

 the entrance hall there is a fine 17th-century fireplace. 

 Late in the i gth century the house was encased in red 

 brick in Gothic style. Cloisters were built on the north 

 side and a chapel behind the house to the west. These 

 alterations were probably planned by Miss Ada Palmer. 

 The Palmers lived at Tumours from about i860 to 

 about 1914.'*^ Ada was a painter and sculptor and 

 many of her works are preserved in the house. During 

 the Second World War Tumours was used for military 

 purposes and a hutted camp was built in the fields to 

 the north-west. After the war the house was acquired 

 by Dr. N. Beattie of Ilford and maintained by hipi as 

 an International Youth Centre.^3 Grange Court, 

 which was remodelled in 1774 was probably built in 

 the late 17th or early i8th century. It is a large and 

 handsome three-story house with lower side wings, and 

 is built mainly of stock brick. It is now part of Chigwell 

 School. 



During the i8th and early 19th centuries several 

 new houses were built in the parish and many old ones 

 greatly altered or completely rebuilt. Among those 

 which in their present form date from the i8th century 

 are Chigwell Lodge, Brook House, the stables at 

 Barton Friars (originally the stables to Grange Court), 

 Vine Cottage, and Tailours, in High Road, and Sheep- 

 cotes and Hainault Hall at Chigwell Row. Flint 

 Cottage, The Haylands, Little Haylands, and Belmont 

 Park, in High Road, are of the early 19th century. 

 Crosby House at Chigwell Row is an early-i 9th-century 

 remodelling of an 18th-century house. Great West 

 Hatch, New Barns in Luxborough Lane, and Barring- 

 ton Lodge and Forest House at Chigwell Row were 

 entirely new houses built in the i8th century. Many 

 smaller houses also date from the i8th and earlier 19th 

 centuries. The old house at Luxborough was replaced 

 about 1 720 by a large mansion, but this was demolished 

 about 1800. There was small-scale but continuous 

 new building throughout the parish and by 185 1 there 

 were 396 houses of all sizes.*^ 



The population of the parish was 1,351 in 1801. 

 By 1 841 it had risen to 2,059. It declined slightly to 

 1,965 in i85i.''5 Between 1850 and 1870 Chigwell 

 Row was greatly changed by the inclosure and destruc- 

 tion of most of Hainault Forest (see Agriculture). At 

 Buckhurst Hill part of Epping Forest was inclosed and 

 some of it built over. 



The rapid building at Buckhurst Hill was a result 

 of the extension of the railway from Woodford to 

 Loughton. By 1871 there were 1,080 houses in Chig- 

 well parish, nearly all the increase being at Buckhurst 

 Hill.'^* The only other building of any importance had 



been in Hainault Road.*' By 1891 the number of 

 houses had increased to i,27i.'»8 The population of 

 the parish rose to 6,324 in 1891 and 7,294 in igoi.*' 



It is interesting to compare the development of 

 Buckhurst Hill between 1851 and 1901 with that of 

 Loughton (q.v.). Both places were affected at the same 

 time by the coming of the railway and both were 

 involved in the controversy concerning the inclosure 

 of Epping Forest.50 At Buckhurst Hill development 

 was much more rapid than at Loughton and was much 

 more concentrated round the railway station. In- 

 closures from the forest were much smaller at Buckhurst 

 Hill than at Loughton, mainly because Buckhurst Hill 

 had a smaller forest frontage, but most of the inclosures 

 at Buckhurst Hill were more quickly built over and 

 thus became exempt from the provisions of the Epping 

 Forest Act of 1878. Loughton's growth took place 

 within the framework of an ancient village. At Buck- 

 hurst Hill a new town sprang up on farm land and 

 forest. 



Growth was much slower after 1 901. The opening 

 of the Woodford-Ilford loop line in 1903 caused some 

 building in Chigwell viOage and at Grange Hill, and 

 there was also some development near Woodford 

 Bridge. In 193 1 the total population was 8,948 

 (Buckhurst Hill U.D. 5,486; Chigwell C.P. 3,462). 

 Between 193 1 and 1939 there was much new build- 

 ing, in Hainault Road, Manor Road, Forest Lane, 

 High Road, and in various parts of Buckhurst Hill, 

 especially at Monkhams. Shortly before 1939 Chigwell 

 lost one of its oldest houses, the Grange in High Road, 

 which was demolished after a fire." It dated from the 

 15th century.52 



Since 1945 restrictions have prevented large-scale 

 private building, and much of Chigwell has been 

 designated as a part of 'the Green Belt'. The new 

 Hainault estate, however, has added 1,900 houses to 

 the urban district since 1945. There has also been 

 some building of local council houses. ■ The Grange 

 Farm Camp, Chigwell, opened in 195 1, provides 

 large-scale facilities for camping, swimming, and many 

 other types of athletics (see also Charities). In 1953 

 the population of Chigwell Ward was estimated at 

 14,000 and that of Buckhurst Hill Ward at i2,ooo.5J 



There was a regular coach service from Chigwell to 

 the 'Blue Boar' at Aldgate from 1790.54 In the 1820's 

 Mary Draper of the 'King's Head' ran a daily service 

 to Aldgate. 55 In 1840 a coach left the 'Maypole' at 

 Chigwell Row every morning, calling at the 'King's 

 Head' on its journey to the 'Three Nuns', White- 

 chapel, and returning by the same route in the even- 

 ing. 5* In 1845 the Ongar coach to London also passed 

 the 'King's Head'. 5' William Fowling kept a coach at 

 his house next to the 'Maypole' at Chigwell Row; from 

 1 844 it ran from there to the 'King's Head' and back 

 to connect with the Ongar coach.s* After his death iri 

 1 84859 his widow kept two coaches for some years, one 

 ran to London daily and the other to the newly opened 

 railway station at Ilford.*" In 1858 these coaches were _ 

 taken over by William Claydon who in 1864 moved to 

 Vicarage Lane.*' For many years before the building 



<■ This is the old Pettits Hall. The 

 present house of that name is modern. 

 " Kellys Dir. Eneic (1859 ^O- 

 *' Inf. from Mrs. Beattie. 

 ♦* H.O. 107/1770, 195/1. 

 45 y. CM. Essex, \\. 350. 

 ■•' Census Retn. 1 87 1. 

 « E.R.O., D/P 166/11/16-18. 



<8 Census Retn. 1891. 

 *•> V.C.H. Essex, ii, 350. 

 s» See Loughton; also Agriculture, 

 below. 51 £•.;?. li, 13. 



52 Hist. Mon. Com. Essex, ii, 48. 



53 Inf. from Chigwell U.D.C. 

 5-t E.R.O., D/P 166/28/9. 



55 Dickensian, xv, 21 1 ; Pigol's Dir. Essex 



(1827). 

 5' Pigot's Dir. Essex (1840). 

 5' Kelly's Dir. Essex (1845). 



58 Ibid. 



59 Chigwell Par. Reg. 



«» ff'Aile's Dir. Essex (1848). 

 <" Chigwell Par. Reg.; E.R.O., 

 166/11/12-28. 



D/P 



21 



