A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



South of the school the road turns sharply eastward 

 by Fyfield Bridge and continues to the eastern boundary 

 of the parish as Willingale Lane. West of the bridge a 

 drive leads northward to Fyfield Hall." Nearly oppo- 

 site the drive is the church.^" At the south-west corner 

 of the churchyard stands the building which in the late 

 19th century was known as the Vicarage.^' There is a 

 water-mill^^ on the River Roding about 200 yds. south- 

 west of the church. Until early in the 20th century 

 there was a windmills about 200 yds. west of the 

 water-mill; the track leading to the windmill still exists. 

 A little to the east of the church a lane known as Church 

 Lane leads southward to Cannon's Green, formerly 

 Bury Green. Wethers, formerly White Hall, stands at 

 the north end of Church Lane on its east side. This 

 house contains a fine oak staircase of late i6th- or early 

 17th-century origin. Near the staircase is the base of an 

 original chimney. The house was altered and probably 

 much reduced in size in the early 1 8th century. Later 

 still brick wings were built at the back. On the west 

 side of Church Lane, opposite Wethers, is a row of 

 three cottages which has gabled dormers and one chim- 

 ney with diagonal shafts. At present only one tenement 

 is occupied. South of the row is a single-story three- 

 roomed cottage which was church property from at 

 least the 17th century until 1947.^^ It probably dates 

 from the i6th century. Since 1947 it has been re- 

 thatched and plastered and thoroughly reconditioned. 

 South of this cottage there are seven pairs of council 

 houses. The cottages at Cannon's Green are mostly of 

 the 1 8th or early 19th centuries. Two of these have 

 some curious coursed rubble walling consisting of 

 knapped flints mixed with broken brick, possibly 

 material from a demolished building. One of the two 

 may have belonged to the church in 1835.^5 Near the 

 church to the east is Fyfield House, a brick building 

 which dates from about 1830. Almost opposite Fyfield 

 House is the rectory .^^ At Witney Green, about ^ mile 

 east of the church, there was in about 1768 a 'fair man- 

 sion house, some time the seat of George Pochin 

 Esquire, SherrifFof this county in 1700'." The present 

 farm-house appears to be mostly of the early 19th cen- 

 tury with an addition of about i860, but at least one 

 wing has evidently been demolished. In the yard is a 

 fine symmetrical red-brick stable range dated 1777. 

 An old farm-house and buildings, all demolished in 

 1886,28 stood about 100 yds. to the north.^' Little 

 Witney Green, opposite Witney Green on the west 

 side of Willingale Lane, is in course of demolition. It 

 appears to have been a small timber-framed house of 

 the early 17th century. 



North of the village the road from Ongar is known 

 as Dunmow Road. Ponders Lodge Farm, on the east 

 side of this road near the post-office, is a two-story 

 timber-framed house with a T-shaped plan. Part of the 

 front oversails and has curved brackets to the soffit 

 probably dating from about i 500. The large chimney 

 and back wing may be later additions. The sash win- 

 dows and pargeting patterns on the plaster are of the 

 1 8th century. On the opposite side of the road there 

 are several cottages which date from the 17th century 

 and earlier. A little to the north of Ponders Lodge 



Farm is the Black Bull Inn, beyond which there is a 

 single-story weather-boarded cottage belonging to the 

 church and perhaps dating from the 17th or i8th cen- 

 tury. 



Opposite the Black Bull Inn a road leads north- 

 westwards to Norwood End. This area of the parish is 

 now more sparsely populated than it was in 1777.30 At 

 Holme Garden in Norwood End there is a moat en- 

 closing an area which is about 1 50 yds. across and con- 

 sists of two adjacent sites of roughly rectangular shape. 

 In 1770 there was a local tradition that Henry, Lord 

 Scrope (d. 141 5) had a 'magnificent seat' on this spot.^' 

 On the west side of the road, opposite the moat, stands 

 the Nook, a small timber-framed building which prob- 

 ably dates from the early 19th century. It has the 

 appearance of a small school or nonconformist chapel 

 of that period and is said to have been a 'nonconformist 

 academy'.32 It is now a private dwelling and is in pro- 

 cess of being rebuilt. A little to the north of the Nook 

 a track, formerly a lane, leads south to Green's Farm 

 and then to Makings Farm. Green's Farm stands on 

 a moated site and appears to date from the late 17th or 

 early i8th century. Makings Farm probably dates 

 from the early 17th century. It is much altered but 

 retains a chimney with diagonal shafts. North-west of 

 Holme Garden is Dame Anna's Farm. This stands on 

 a moated site and is a timber-framed two-story house of 

 medieval origin. It appears to have consisted originally 

 of an open hall possibly with a two-story wing at the 

 west end. The vertical timbers, which are exposed 

 internally, are close-set and heavy. The screens passage 

 across the east end of the hall is still in existence. The 

 screen itself is of chamfered oak studs alternating with 

 tall single panels, probably of i6th- or early 17th- 

 century date. There is a two-story porch at the front 

 of the house and a small staircase wing at the back; 

 these two features may have been added when a ceiling 

 was inserted in the hall. The heavy beams supporting 

 this ceiling, now sagging, are probably of the i6th cen- 

 tury. The brick chimney with four diagonal shafts 

 appears to have been inserted near the west end of the 

 hall at the same period. There are indications that the 

 east end of the house is also a rather later addition, as 

 two separate partitions exist side by side to the east of 

 the screens passage. The westernmost of these has two 

 curved braces to the tie-beam which are visible on the 

 first floor. The upper story of the gabled porch over- 

 sails on three sides and has curved brackets to the soffit. 

 The moulded oak door-frame is of i6th- or early 17th- 

 century date. In the window east of the porch is a frag- 

 ment of heraldic glass of the 17th or 1 8th century. This 

 has the incomplete inscription 'Chard and Brom'. Prob- 

 ably in the present century the west part of the front 

 was faced with red brick. Three-light sash windows 

 were inserted, those on the ground floor having large 

 decorative lintels of stone or cement. There is a brick 

 single-story addition at the east end of the house. From 

 Dame Anna's Farm a lane leads north-westwards to 

 Hales Farm, formerly Old Hides Farm, which probably 

 dates from the early 17th century. 



Nearly J mile from the Bull Inn northward along 

 Dunmow Road is the site of a big house, called Pickerells, 



'^ Sec below, Manor of Fyfield. 



" See below, Church. 



" Ibid. 



" Sec below. 



*5 Sec below. 



*^ See below, Church. 



'i Ibid. 



^' Ibid. 



^' Morant, Essex, i, 135. 



28 Inf. from Mr. Filshie, present oc- 

 cupier. 



" E.R.O., D/CT 148. 



3" Chapman and Andre, Maf> of Essex 

 J777, plate xii. Cf. O.S. 6 in. Map (ist 



cdn.), sheet xlii. 



3' Hisl. Essex by Gent, iii, 334. 



32 Inf. from Rector of Fyfield. Mr. 

 Cooke of Dame Anna's Farm calls it 

 'Norwood End Church'. See below, Non- 

 conformity. 



44 



