ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIGWELL 



clerk for ringing the church bell daily at 6 a.m.''^ In 

 1834 both these payments were still being made, 

 though the clerk was no longer required to ring. A 

 Chancery order of 1863 ignored the provision for the 

 clerk, which thereafter lapsed, but continued the pay- 

 ment for bread. In 1871 this also was stopped by an 

 Endowed Schools Scheme which ruled that the ^lo 

 was to be applied to educational purposes. An old 

 bread cupboard used in connexion with this charity 

 was for many years attached to the inside wall of the 

 church near the south door. About 1900 it was found 

 to be delapidated and was moved to the vestry .■♦3 



John Crowfoot, by will proved 1903, left /Cs°° '" 

 trust for the distribution of coal at Christmas among the 

 poor of the parish of All Saints, Chigwell Row.« For 

 some years part of the income was used to give a 

 bonus to the parish coal club, but in 1950 the whole 

 income of ^14 5/. ^J. was used to buy coal for 22 

 people. 



Philip Savill, by will proved 1922, left ;^i,ooo in 

 trust for gifts to 100 deserving poor of the parish of 

 Chigwell Row, preferably Anglicans.*' In 1950 the 

 income was £2$, which was distributed in cash to 12 

 people. 



FYFIELD 



Fyfield is about 2 miles north of Chipping Ongar,' 

 and has an area of 2,450 acres.^ Its name is derived 

 from the 5-hide unit of assessment used by the Anglo- 

 Saxons.3 In several respects it is one of the most inter- 

 esting parishes in the hundred. There is an unusual 

 number of moated sites and pre- 18th-century houses. 

 Four houses, Fyfield Hall, Lampetts, Dame Anna's 

 Farm, and the rectory, date from the Middle Ages. The 

 church, which dates from the 12th century, is one of 

 the few in the district with a central tower and north and 

 south aisles. Considerable sums must have been spent 

 on its erection and on alterations and additions in the 

 13 th and 14th centuries. Fyfield thus seems to have 

 been a place of some importance and wealth in the 

 Middle Ages and this is borne out by the taxation 

 statistics printed below (pp. 300 f). As late as 1671 it 

 was more densely populated than any other place in the 

 hundred except Chipping Ongar and Moreton (see 

 below, pp. 306 f.). In 1801 the population was jii.'* 

 Fyfield was then sixth of the parishes in the hundred in 

 order of population density.' The population rose 

 slowly to 629 in 1861.* It subsequently declined to 

 468 in 1 88 1.' There was some later fluctuation but in 

 1921 it was again 468.* There was an increase to 693 

 in 193 1 ' and in 195 1 the population was 710.'" The 

 present density is much lower than in those parishes 

 of the hundred where there has been great building 

 development but is still higher than in most of the 

 rural parishes. At the end of the i8th century the 

 principal centre of population was Norwood End, in 

 the north of the parish. Since that time most of the 

 houses there have disappeared and the population is 

 now concentrated mainly in the village of Fyfield near 

 the centre of the parish. This is one of the few nucleated 

 villages in the hundred and near it to the east are the 

 parish church and the ancient manor house of Fyfield 

 Hall. 



There are hills rising to about 260 ft. above sea-level 

 in the south-east and 280 ft. in the north-west. In the 

 valley between these two hills is the River Roding which 

 enters the parish in the east and flows south to form 

 part of the southern boundary before leaving Fyfield in 

 the south-west. At this point the land is below 1 50 ft. 

 Witney Wood is in the south-east, and there are some 

 small patches of woodland in the north-west. The road 



*' Rep. Com. Char. {Essex) ; Char. Com. 

 files. 

 •♦3 Inf. from the late Howard Wall. 

 +♦ Char. Com. files. 

 45 Ibid. 

 ' O.S. 2} in. Map, sheet S'^JS°- 

 * Inf. from Essex County Council. 

 3 Chief Elements in Eng. Place-Names 

 E.P.N.S. i (2)), 36. 



3 so- 



il f. 



♦ V.C.H. Essex, ii, ' 

 5 Ibid. 

 ' Ibid. 

 ' Ibid. 



* Ibid.; Census, 191 

 « Census, 193 1. 



"> Census, 195 I. 



>' Inf. from Mr. Filshie of Witney 

 Green. 



43 



from Chipping Ongar enters the parish in the extreme 

 south-west and runs north-east to the Rodings and 

 Dunmow. Close to the south-west corner a drive leads 

 off the east side of the road to Folyats, an irregularly 

 shaped roughcast house built about 1914 by J. W. 

 Newall of Forest Hall in High Ongar (q.v.). The site 

 was chosen for its fine view over the Forest Hall estate." 

 About I mile farther along the road a lane leads east- 

 wards to Herons Farm.'^ The West Ham Open Air 

 School stands on the west side of the road about 2 50 yds. 

 beyond the turning to Herons. A little farther to the 

 north is the hamlet of Clatterford End. Here there is 

 an L-shaped block of cottages of late 17th or early 1 8th- 

 century date, with pargeted plaster panels of zigzag 

 pattern. Clatterford Hall, on the east side of the road, 

 is a red-brick house, probably of the late i8th or early 

 19th century. There have been picturesque alterations 

 at various later dates. Clatterford House on the opposite 

 side of the road has similar chimney-pots. It was prob- 

 ably built about the middle of the 19th century.'^ 



Beyond Clatterford End Ongar Road is joined by a 

 road which leads westward to Moreton and by a lane 

 which leads northward to Lampetts. '* About J mile 

 along on the north side of the road to Moreton is Penny- 

 feathers. This house stands on a moated site and appears 

 to date from the late 17th or early i8th century. 

 Farther west on the same road are four pairs of council 

 houses. 



Nearly J mile north-east of the road junction, on the 

 south side of Ongar Road, is the village of Fyfield. The 

 post-office is at the north end; from there a road known 

 formerly as the Street and now as Queens Street, runs 

 southward. On the east side of Queens Street is a row 

 of houses of which the most northerly is the Queens 

 Head Inn. These have external details mostly of the 

 1 8th and early 19th centuries but the structures are 

 older. At the south end stands the block of two houses, 

 called Bruetts, devised by Anthony Walker in 1687 for 

 the use of the church clerk'' and of the schoolmaster."' 

 North of Bruetts is another house known as Brewitts. 

 This appears to be a 16th-century structure with later 

 additions. It is said that there was once a tannery at the 

 back of it.'7 All the buildings on the west side of the 

 Street have been built since the middle of the 19th cen- 

 tury. They include the Mission Hall.'* 



'2 See below, Manor of Herons. 



'3 It does not appear on the Tithe Map 

 of 18+2: E.R.O., D/CT 148. 



'♦ See below, Manor of Lampetts. 



'5 See below, Charities. 



'6 See below Schools. 



" Inf. from Mrs. B. S. Blowes, present 

 occupier. 



■8 See below. Nonconformity. 



