A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



the administration of the Essex Education Committee, 

 Ongar District. There was then an average attendance 

 of 68.3' In 1904 there were three teachers, one of 

 them certificated.'^ The average attendance remained 

 about 70 until 1930, when the school was reorganized 

 for mixed juniors and infants, after which it fell to 59 

 in 1938.33 In May 1952, however, there were in 

 children and 4 teachers at the school.34 The building 

 stands a short distance from the parish church on the 

 Stondon Massey road. It has one story and is of yellow 

 brick. 



A 19th-century transcript of a deed records that 

 John Wright and his son John gave to 

 CHJRITIES^^ Anthony Luther and others, parish- 

 ioners, part of the lord's waste next 

 to Kelvedon Common, with the cottages thereon, to 

 be the site of parish almshouses. This appears to be 

 the real origin of the charity which by 1786 was called 

 Jane Luther's Charity in the erroneous belief that it 

 had been established by her will in 1745 (^^^ below). 

 The original endowment may have been supplemented 

 by an exchange made in 1786 by which the parish 

 received a small plot inclosed from Kelvedon Common 

 in place of another plot on which a cottage formerly 

 stood. This was probably the cottage on the road to 

 Beacon Hill which according to a vestry book extant 

 in the 19th century was given to the parish in 1644.3* 

 This exchange of 1786 may explain the statement 

 made in 1835 that the property of the charity was 

 received about 60 years before from John Wright of 

 Kelvedon Hall in exchange for some small pieces of 

 land formerly belonging to it. 



There is no clear record that the cottages were ever 

 used as almshouses, though it seems possible that they 

 were rented by the parish officers for use as a poor- 

 house. 3' In 1834 the property was all let: it consisted 

 of four cottages on Kelvedon Common, and land adjoin- 

 ing. The whole income was ^2 1 10/., and after deduc- 

 tion of expenses it was distributed on the first Monday 

 in the year to all poor married parishioners in equal 

 shares. Between then and 1929 there was little change 

 in administration. In 195 1 the field was sold to the 

 village hall committee for use as a recreation ground. 

 The proceeds were invested in stock. In the same year 

 the rent due from the cottages was ^34 12/.; but for 



many years there has been no profit from rents and a 

 demolition order was pending in 1953.38 



Poor's Cottages were probably built in the 17th 

 century and consist of a timber-framed T-shaped block, 

 partly plastered and partly weather-boarded. There 

 are gabled dormers in the tiled roof. These are un- 

 doubtedly the four cottages of 1834 and earlier. 



At some time in the 1 8th century it was believed that 

 40J. was due to the parish by the gift of Anthony Luther 

 (d. 1627) but there is no record that this was ever paid. 



By her will proved in 1745 J^"^ Luther of Suttons 

 (in Stapleford Tawney, q.v.) gave £2 i js. 6d. a year 

 issuing from a farm in Little Warley to be distributed 

 in bread three times a year to the poor of the parish. 

 In 1834 bread was distributed twice a year with pre- 

 ference to widows. By 1857 the rent was being paid 

 from the Suttons estate. It was redeemed in 1950 for 

 j^ii; stock. 



In 1786 it was stated that an unknown donor gave 

 a rent charge of ^l 10/. to the church and the poor of 

 the parish. In 1834 Charles Dolby of Brizes held a 

 lease from 1789 at j^2 I ox. a year of 'the property of 

 this charity', consisting of an acre of land in his park. 

 In fact the endowment must have been the land itself, 

 not the rent, and the land was certainly sold in i860 

 for j{,'200 which was invested in stock. 



Louisa Dolby, by will proved 1868, left ;^ioo duty- 

 free in trust for the benefit of the poor. The legacy 

 was paid in 1876, together with ^^28 arrears of interest, 

 and was invested in stock. 



In the 19th and early 20th centuries these charities 

 were in practice administered together. From 1855 

 the three earliest shared trustees. By a Scheme made 

 in 1929 all four were combined to form the United 

 Charities. Their income is to be spent for the benefit 

 of the sick and poor, chiefly in gifts in kind and gifts to 

 hospitals serving the parish. In 195 1, after payments 

 for expenses, the income was spent on the cottages 

 belonging to Jane Luther's Charity, and in gifts in cash 

 to six persons. 



Richard Thomas Lagden, by will proved 1866, left 

 £j a year for the purchase of coal for the poor families 

 of the parish. Lagden's wish that the money be paid 

 was not, however, binding, and the bequest con- 

 sequently became invalid. 



LAMBOURNE 



Lambourne adjoins the Urban District of Chigwell 

 to the north-east.' With an area of 2,47 1 acres it is one 

 of the larger parishes in the hundred. From an early 

 date much of the population has been centred in the 

 village of Abridge, in the extreme north-west of the 

 parish.^ The remoteness of the village from the church 

 and the manor houses has helped to determine the his- 

 tory of the parish. Abridge was in Lambourne, but not 

 of it. The population of the parish in 1801 was 515. 

 It rose steadily to 904 in 1841 and subsequently re- 

 mained at about that figure until 1921, when it was 

 780. In 193 1 it was 893. The population in 195 1 was 

 1,371, the increase being due mainly to the building of 

 council houses.3 



3' ScAs. under Bd. of Educ. 1902 [Cd. 

 1490], p. 71, H.C. {1903), li. 



'^ Essex Educ. Citee. Handhk. 1904, 

 p. 185. 



33 Min. of Educ. File 13/214. 



3* Inf. from Essex Educ. Cttee, 



35 Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), H.C. 216, 



p. 229 (1835), XX (i); Char. Com. Files. 



3' This date would be consistent with 

 the participation of an Anthony Luther 

 (see above, Myles's). 



" See above, Parish Government and 

 Poor Relief. 



38 Inf. from the Revd. W. Tirrell. 



The land rises from 100 ft. above sea-level in the 

 north to 325 ft. in the centre, falling to about 200 ft. in 

 the south. The River Roding forms the northern boun- 

 dary of the parish. There are numerous ponds and 

 springs in the parish. Lambourne End, in the south, 

 contains most of what remains of Hainault Forest, now 

 preserved as a recreation ground by the London County 

 Council.* There are several other smaller patches of 

 woodland. The main road from Chipping Ongar to 

 Chigwell and London passes through the north of the 

 parish. Abridge lies along this road at a distance of 

 about 3 miles from Chigwell. It derives its name from 

 the bridge which crosses the river here, carrying the 

 road running north to Theydon Bois. A concentration 



' O.S. 2\ in. Map, sheet $^1^9- 



^ Although the earliest known ref. to 



Abridge is in 1203 the name is of pre- 



conquest origin : P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 



60. 



3 Census; inf. from Essex County 



Council. * See below. 



72 



