ONGAR HUNDRED 



GREENSTEAD 



it is now being paid and is used for the general purposes 

 of the charities. 



Mary Rayner, by will proved 1873, left j^200 for 

 the purchase of blankets and clothing to be distributed 

 to the deserving poor in winter.33 



Edward Sammes, by will proved 1882, left to the 

 rector ^10 and ;£ioo duty-free to be invested respec- 

 tively for the upkeep of his grave and for the purchase 

 of tea and sugar to be distributed on 6 January to 

 eighteen poor families in the parish-^'* The first bequest 

 was void by the rule against perpetuities. 



The three charities of Bourne, Rayner, and Sammes 



were united in 1904 to form the Consolidated Chari- 

 ties.35 Their income was to be used for the poor and 

 sick, primarily as gifts in kind, and in help to hospitals 

 &c., caring for the sick of the parish. In 1945 the 

 income was used to give £1 is. each to the Ongar 

 nurse and the Ongar Hospital and to give coal to two 

 poor people. 



Howel J. J. Price (d. 1943) left ^100 in trust for 

 the repair of his grave and the benefit of the poor of the 

 parish. 36 The former purpose was void. In 1950 £1 

 was given to the Greenstead School Foundation and 

 £1 to the Greenstead Consolidated Charities. 



KELVEDON HATCH 



Kelvedon Hatch is 3 miles south of Chipping Ongar 

 and 4 miles north-west of Brentwood, on the east bank 

 of the Roding.' It contains 1,683 acres. The soil is 

 mainly London Clay with some patches of Boulder 

 Clay and Bagshot beds. The land slopes up from the 

 river to a height of about 350 ft. above sea-level in the 

 south-east and 300 ft. in the north-east. Two tribu- 

 taries flow into the Roding in the north of the parish 

 through shallow valleys. The parish was part of the 

 ancient forest of Essex and the sufiix 'Hatch' by which 

 it is distinguished from Kelvedon in Witham hundred 

 probably refers to a forest gate.^ Considerable areas of 

 woodland still survive and there are also parks attached 

 to three big houses. The main road from Ongar to 

 Brentwood enters the parish in the north-west by 

 Langford Bridge and runs south-east. In the south of 

 Kelvedon Hatch it crosses a stretch of land which was 

 formerly open common but now largely inclosed. The 

 boundary of the common on the west side followed a 

 line 50 to 100 yds. back from the present road. On the 

 north it was bounded by the road now called School 

 Lane and on the east it extended to Fox Hatch in 

 Doddinghurst parish. This accounts for the apparently 

 haphazard arrangement of the older houses, which 

 bears little relation to the modern road. There has 

 been considerable development in this area during the 

 past I 50 years and it now forms the village centre of 

 the parish. From the village roads also run west to 

 Navestock and east to Blackmore and Stondon Massey. 



There were three ancient manors in Kelvedon Hatch. 

 The capital manor was centred on Kelvedon Hall, a 

 mile south-east of Langford Bridge. The ancient parish 

 church was beside the hall and the 1 8th-century build- 

 ing which replaced it still stands there, though disused 

 and ruinous. In the 17th and i8th centuries the manor 

 house which dominated the little church was owned by 

 Roman Catholics, the Wrights, who were buried in 

 the parish church and erected sepulchral monuments 

 there but worshipped secretly in the chapel which they 

 had built in the hall itself The other old manors were 

 Myles's, J mile north-east of Kelvedon Hall, and 

 Germains, J mile south of the hall. None of the 

 medieval manor houses has survived. The present 

 Germains dates from the i6th century and Kelvedon 

 Hall from the 1 8th, while old Myles's was demolished 

 in 1837.3 These three manor houses were all in the 

 north or centre of the parish, but medieval houses also 

 existed farther south at Hatch Farm, Brizes, Priors, 



and Woodlands.'' Priors is on the main road J mile east 

 of Germains. The other three are in or near the modern 

 village of Kelvedon Hatch. Only Woodlands now 

 retains medieval features. It is a timber-framed house 

 about 50 yds. west of the main road and south of the 

 Eagle Inn, and probably dates from the late 15 th 

 century. It has been partly demolished so that the 

 original construction is exposed. It consists of a single- 

 story hall with smoke-blackened timbers and a two- 

 story cross-wing at the south end. The latter is of three 

 bays, divided above the first floor by king-post trusses 

 with two-way struts. The hall also has a king-post and 

 the remains of what was possibly a second truss. 

 Chimneys which may have been inserted in the i6th 

 or 17th century have recently been demolished. In 

 the 1 8th century the house was weather-boarded and 

 the older windows replaced by sashes. Hatch Farm, 

 on the north side of the former common, and about 

 100 yds. east of the modern parish church, is a timber- 

 framed house probably dating from the second half of 

 the 1 6th century. The house was originally L-shaped 

 with the staircase in the north wing, but there is now 

 a later addition in the angle between the wings. At the 

 junction of the two wings is part of a large original 

 chimney-stack with a moulded capping. The interior 

 retains a staircase, plasterwork, and door-frames of the 

 original date. In the i8th century the roof of the main 

 wing was rebuilt and two sides of the house faced with 

 red brick. Sash windows and Georgian doorways were 

 inserted. Parts of a moat are in existence to the north 

 and east of the house. 



Priors is held by local tradition to have been rebuilt 

 early in the 17th century by the brothers Richard and 

 Anthony Luther.' It was originally a timber-framed 

 structure, but the front was refaced in red brick, prob- 

 ably in the second half of the i8th century. Brizes was 

 also rebuilt in the i8th century. Morant (1768) refers 

 to it as 'a good old house . . . built by Thomas Bryce, 

 citizen and mercer of London, about 1498'.* This 

 earlier house had, however, been replaced before 

 Morant's time by the present mansion. The exact site 

 of the previous house is not known. In the grounds of 

 the present house, about 75 yds. from the road, is a 

 small moated site. It does not appear, however, that 

 the island could have accommodated a medieval house 

 of any size and the moat itself may be an ornamental 

 feature of the i8th century. 



The present house was probably built about 1720: 



" Char. Com. files. 



3* Ibid. Sammes was a prominent builder 

 and shoplteepcr in Chipping Ongar (q.v.). 

 35 Ibid. 

 3' Ibid. Price lived for many years at 



Greenstead Hall. 



1 O.S. 2\ in. Map, sheets 51/S9, 52/50. 



2 P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 59. 

 ' See below, Manors. 



* For the first three of these see P.N. 



Essex, 59. 



s Inf. from Capt. F. L. Fane. For the 

 Luther brothers see Myles's. 



' Morant, Essex, i, 187. 



