ONGAR HUNDRED 



KELVEDON HATCH 



pointment of officers and the balances remaining in 

 officers' hands at the end of each year. In the period 

 1736—60 there was only one office of churchwarden 

 and one office of overseer. George Wright was church- 

 warden throughout the period. Until 1744 the over- 

 seers served for two years consecutively, but after that 

 date they served for one year only. As late as 1835 

 there was an illiterate overseer. In 161 4' there were 

 two constables, but in the period 1736-60 there was 

 only one office of constable. These officers usually 

 served for several years consecutively. The appoint- 

 ment of surveyors was not recorded in the minute-book, 

 but there appears to have been one office of surveyor. 

 The rateable value of the parish was ^^700 in 1738* 

 and £i,(>7(> in 1835. 



Until 175 1 the overseers, churchwarden, and con- 

 stables were each granted separate rates for which they 

 were directly responsible to the parish. Occasionally 

 one officer was ordered to pay another officer's deficit 

 out of his surplus. In April 175 1 it was decided that 

 the constable's charges for the ensuing year should be 

 paid by the churchwarden. In March 1752 the same 

 constable was reappointed, but on this occasion it was 

 resolved that his charges should be paid by the overseer. 

 No further resolutions were recorded on this matter 

 and it is not clear how the charges of either the con- 

 stable or the churchwarden were met in the years after 

 1753. By 1833, however, their expenditure was 

 evidently met by the overseers who included it in their 

 account. It is not clear what the practice was in regard 

 to the surveyors' accounts. 



There was a poorhouse' in Kelvedon Hatch, situated 

 on Kelvedon Common, and in 1835 there were at least 

 two male paupers in it. In most cases, however, poor 

 relief was given outside the poorhouse. In each of the 

 years 181 3— 15 there were thirteen adults on 'per- 

 manent' outdoor relief'" Provision for the poor 

 included the payment of weekly doles. 



In 1776 the cost of poor relief was £()0.'^ In 

 1783-; it averaged £104 a year.'^ It reached ,^501 

 in 1800-1 and ;^538 in 1801-2, but in the next six 

 years it was always between £300 and ^^4°° ^ year.'^ 

 In the years 1808-17 the cost was usually above ^^400 

 and reached a maximum of ,^567 in 1812-13.'^ In 

 each of the years 1833 and 1834 it was ^^275 and in 

 1835 £250. 



In 1836 Kelvedon Hatch became part of the Ongar 

 Poor Law Union. 



In 1807 there was no day school in Kelvedon Hatch, 

 though there were two just outside the 

 SCHOOLS parish boundaries. The rector was teach- 

 ing reading every Sunday to about 30 

 'regular and orderly' children. 's This Sunday school 

 seems to have led to the establishment of a day school 

 which in 1816 was attended by 13 boys and 29 girls."* 

 For the next 20 years a parish school under Church 

 direction existed in one form or another.'^ In 18 18 



' E.R.O., Q/SBa 3. 



» E.R.O., D/DFa E44/27. 



9 There was a poorhouse by 1776, at 

 latest ; Rep. Sel. Cttee. on Overseer! Reins. 

 1777, H.C. ser. i, vol. ix, p. 350. The 

 parish officers may have rented the cottages 

 which had been given to the parish for use 

 as almshouses : see below. Charities. 



■0 E.R.O., e/CR i/io. 



" E.R.O., Q/CR i/i. 



" Ibid. 



" E.R.O., e/CR 1/9. 



" Ibid. 



" E.R.O., D/AEM 2/4. 



>« Nat. Soc. Ref>. \ii6,f. ^z. 



17 E.R.O., D/P 30/28/18. 



■8 Retns. Educ. Poor, H.C. 224, p. 259 

 (1819), ii (i). 



"> Educ. Enquiry Ahslr. H.C. 62, p. 280 

 (1835), xli; inf. from Nat. Soc. 



20 E.R.O., D/P 30/28/18. 



21 Nat. Soc. Enquiry into Ch. Schs. 

 1846-7, pp. lO-II. 



" Educ. Cttee. Rep. 1853-4, p. 295. 



23 Mins. of Educ. Cttee. of Council, 1857 

 [2380], p. 97, H.C. (1857-8), xl"i 

 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1855, 1862, 1870). 



24 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1862, 1874)) 



71 



there were 40 children in two schools, one supported 

 by a benevolent lady and the other by the rector's wife." 

 One of these schools was later discontinued and the 

 attempt to provide week-day schooling for boys was 

 abandoned, although they continued to attend the 

 Sunday school. In 1833 there was only one school in 

 the parish, attended .by about 30 girls and maintained 

 by voluntary subscriptions. It was a dame school under 

 the rector's control. Its mistress was in failing health 

 and the rector was planning to build a permanent school 

 with separate rooms for boys and girls. He collected 

 some £75 in subscriptions and obtained the promise of 

 a site from the lord of the manor. The National Society 

 agreed to make a grant but the undertaking was eventu- 

 ally abandoned and a schoolroom was rented in which 

 the rector set up a successful Church school." In 

 1839, when it was still the only school in the parish, 20 

 boys and 30 girls attended it, paying no fees except for 

 additional tuition in writing. The boys were given 

 smocks, stockings, hats, and handkerchiefs and the 

 girls complete sets of clothing. Subscriptions, including 

 one particularly large one, amounted to £37 a year, but 

 they were difficult to obtain. The rector also com- 

 plained that many children left school for service at 

 too early an age.^" 



By 1846-7 the school had as many as 53 boys and 

 33 girls in attendance, some of whom paid fees. There 

 were a master and a mistress, earning £4.2 a year be- 

 tween them.^' A few years later an inspector found it 

 'a very nice small village country school under an able 

 and promising young master', but he thought the class- 

 rooms inconvenient and the equipment inadequate. 

 The monitorial system seems then to have been in use. 

 The school was situated on a green which was used as 

 the playground." In 1856-7 the school received a 

 capitation grant of £12 iSs. Most of its income, how- 

 ever, continued to be derived from subscriptions.^^ 



In i860 a new school was established, but it appears 

 to have had smaller accommodation than the one it 

 replaced. The number of children attending had 

 dropped by 1871 to about 20 and a master was no 

 longer employed.^ The school was still apparently 

 without permanent premises^' and in 1875 a school 

 board of five members was compulsorily established. 

 In 1878 the board built a school in the village and the 

 Church school was then closed.^* Kelvedon Hatch 

 was one of the few rural parishes in the hundred where 

 a school board had to be formed. In this case it is 

 significant that the lord of the manor was a Roman 

 Catholic; he clearly gave no support to the Anglican 

 school. 



The board school, built at a cost of ^^l, 150, had 

 accommodation for 80 children. ^7 It was enlarged in 

 1898.28 The annual government grant rose from £'^<) 

 in 1893 to £82 in 1899.^' Further income was 

 derived from the school rate, which in 189 1-2 was 

 IS. \<i. in the £\.^° In 1902 the school passed under 



Retns. Elem. Educ. H.C. 201, pp. I12-13 

 (1871), Iv. 



25 No school is shown on O.S. 6 in. Map 

 (ist edn.), sheet lix. 



26 County Companion, 1880; Min. of 

 Educ. File 13/214; Kelly's Dir. Essex 

 (1882). 



" Kelly's Dir. Essex (1882); Min. of 

 Educ. File 13/214. 



28 Min. of Educ. File 13/214. 



" Retn. ofScAs. 1893 [C. 7529], p. 714, 

 H.C. (1894),. Ixv, ibid. 1899 [Cd. 315], 

 p. 71, H.C. (1900), lxv(2). 



3" Essex Standard, 12 Sept. 1891. 



