A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



bridge 'wharfed and planked over a certain brook' 

 towards Ongar. This was probably the same bridge 

 as that of 1 575-6. John Barfoot, lord of the manor in 

 1727, offered to seek the support of the neighbouring 

 gentry for a scheme to build a brick bridge. 



At the other end of the London road was the impor- 

 tant Abridge Bridge. In the late 1 6th century there was 

 uncertainty as to who was responsible for it. One entry 

 in the rolls of Quarter Sessions for 1570 attributes re- 

 sponsibility to Sir Anthony Coke, who owned land at 

 the Lambourne side of the bridge, and Sir Thomas 

 Wroth, who owned land on the Theydon Bois side.^* 

 Another entry of the same year leaves the matter un- 

 decided.23 In and after 1594 the bridge seems to have 

 been accepted for repair by the county.^* In 1657 it was 

 said to be in a dangerous state.^5 In 1707 a carpenter 

 was paid the large sum of ^^178 for rebuilding it.^* 



In 1855 the inhabitants of Abridge complained to 

 the justices of the peace of the dangerous state of the 

 road to Theydon Bois and of the foot-bridge at Abridge. 

 During floods it was impossible to use the bridges and 

 a circuit of 6 miles was necessary. A committee was 

 formed in 1 8 56 to investigate the matter and the county 

 surveyor produced plans for an embankment with cul- 

 verts. He reported that a plank and rail foot-bridge to 

 serve pedestrians in time of flood had for 30 years been 

 repaired by the county.^' Thomas Savill, of Barley 

 near Royston, was willing to undertake the work on the 

 bridges and the final estimate was ^^380, of which the 

 parish was to pay ;^200 and the county the remain- 

 der.^' In the following year the surveyor described 

 the bridge as a substantial brick structure in excellent 

 repair.^' 



Abridge is a mile from the parish church, and until 

 1833 there was no other place of worship in the parish. 

 It is therefore remarkable that there has never been a 

 direct road to the church from Abridge. The inhabi- 

 tants of Abridge had an ancient right of way by a foot- 

 path to the church. In 1589 Henry Palmer of Dews 

 Hall was presented at Quarter Sessions for having 'en- 

 closed abowte with a great pale a chace waye which is 

 our church waye and hath been time out of mind'. 3° In 

 1624 this path was 'by discontinuance overgrown, and 

 overworn by the current of the brook which ran by it'. 3' 

 In that year Edward Palmer of Dews Hall granted the 

 parish vestry a new right of way in exchange for the old. 

 The course of the new way, which is described in the 

 vestry book, appears to be the same as the present foot- 

 path from east Abridge to the church, via New Farm 

 and the north-east corner of Soapleys Wood.'^ The 

 parish was to erect three gates, one at the entrance to 

 'Pencroft' (near the main road at the Abridge end of 

 the path),33 one at the upper end of 'Goody Land' 

 entering into Maple's land, and the third over the brook 

 entering lower 'Soap place'. At the third point they 

 were also to provide a bridge. They were to provide 

 locks for the gates and give Edward Palmer a key, and 

 they were responsible for the upkeep of the gates and 

 the bridge. In 1727 the vestry accepted the offer of 



Catlyn Thorogood of Dews Hall to provide a brick 

 arch over the brook in place of the old wooden one. 

 The parish was to maintain the foot-path as before. '♦ In 

 spite of these arrangements the moral condition of 

 Abridge seems to have been bad at the beginning of the 

 19th century.35 The foot-path was hardly a satisfactory 

 substitute for a church in Abridge itself Perhaps more 

 important was the fact that the rectory was just as far 

 from the village as was the church. In 1734 the vestry 

 had resolved to make a new road from the church to the 

 rectory through the glebe land.3* This would have 

 helped the rector to get to church. For access to Abridge 

 he probably had to use foot-paths. 



Communications between Lambourne End and the 

 parish church have been little better than those between 

 the church and Abridge. Church Lane, which ran 

 from the church past Dews Hall to Lambourne End, 

 is marked on Chapman and Andre's map of 1 777 (sheet 

 xvi), but by 1841 it had become impassable. In the 

 latter year the vestry decided that it should be repaired,^' 

 but the north end of the road is now overgrown and 

 disused. 



Manor Road, between Lambourne End and Chig- 

 well Row, was constructed about 1790, mainly at the 

 expense of Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, of Bishops 

 Hall (see below) and Luxborough in Chigwell (q.v.).^' 



Hook Lane, which joins Lambourne End and Staple- 

 ford Abbots, was maintained by the two parishes jointly. 

 In 1832 the Lambourne vestry agreed to an alteration 

 in its course 'when a sufficient subscription can be 

 caused to carry the same into effect, the parish of Staple- 

 ford having agreed to repair the same distance in pro- 

 portion as prior to the exchange'.^' 



There was a regular service of coaches from Abridge 

 to London and Ongar at the beginning of the 19th cen- 

 tury. In 1 8 17 a coach went daily to the 'Three Nuns' 

 and the 'Bull', Whitechapel, while a wagon went on 

 Tuesday and Friday to the 'Blue Boar', Whitechapel.^" 

 In 1826—7 and 1832 the Ongar coach called at 

 Abridge.*' In 1832 also a wagon run by Joseph Wilson 

 ran to the 'Saracen's Head', Aldgate, and the 'Flower 

 Pot', Bishopsgate, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Satur- 

 day; a wagon run by one Clements went on Wednesday 

 and Saturday to the 'Blue Boar', Aldgate, and another, 

 under the name of Willey, went on Tuesday, Thursday, 

 and Saturday to the 'Three Nuns', Aldgate.t^ In 1848 

 a coach left for London every morning except Sunday 

 and for Dunmow every evening, starting from the 

 'White Hart'. William Hanchett was carrier to London 

 every Tuesday and Friday .■♦^ In 1862 the Fyfield 

 coach called daily at Abridge and a carrier went to 

 London daily.''* By this time the railway from London 

 had been extended as far as Loughton, about 4 miles by 

 road from Abridge, and the further extension in 1865 

 to Epping and Ongar included a station at Theydon 

 Bois, li^ mile from Abridge. Since 1949 Theydon 

 Bois has been on the Central London (underground) 

 line. 



There was a postal receiving house at Abridge in 



" E.R.O., e/SR 32/17. 



" Ibid. 34/6. 



" Ibid. 129/17, 314/59- Cf. Q/AB« 

 1, 2. 



" Ibid. Q/CP 3, pp. 185, ,88:cf. pp. 

 197 (1659), 213 (i66o). 



" Ibid. p. 704. 



" E.R.O., e/ABp 36, Q/ABb 1 1. 



*8 This foot-bridge had previously been 

 the responsibility of the parish of Theydon 

 Bois, q.v. " E.R.O., g/ABi 3. 



3» E.R.O., Q/SR 107/53. 



31 E.R.O.,D/P 181/8/1 (11 May 1727). 



32 Soapleys appears in the description as 

 'Soap place'. 



35 Pencroft is probably the Ban-croft of 

 the Tithe Map: E.R.O., D/CT 202 No. 

 393, and the modern Pancroft. 



3t E.R.O., D/P 181/8/1. 



35 See below. Nonconformity. 



3« E.R.O., D/P 181/8/2. 



37 Ibid. 181/8/4. 



38 T. Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 408. The 

 road was presumably built after Hughes 

 acquired Bishops Hall in 1785. He died 

 in 1798. 39 E.R.O., D/P 181/8/4. 



*" Johnstone's DIr. (1817), pt. iv, 2. 



■»' Pigot's Dir. (1826-7), S'i Robson's 

 London Dir. pt. iv, 22. See Chipping 

 Ongar, p. 157. 



♦^ Robson's Dir, pt. iv, 22. 



••3 py kite's Dir. Essex {1848), 422. 



« Ibid. (1863), 729. 



74 



