ONGAR HUNDRED 



HIGH LAYER 



Master of Christ's College, Cambridge.*" The epitaph 

 is thought to have been composed by John Locke.'' 

 Also in the chancel are tablets to Samuel Lowe (1709), 

 Richard Budworth (1805), and Phihp Budworth 

 (1861), rectors. In about 1835 there was in the 

 chancel a broken brass plate bearing an imperfect 

 inscription in ancient characters in memory of Robert 

 Ramsey (probably died about 1436) and his wife Joan ;'^ 

 this plate has now disappeared. 



Outside the south wall of the nave is the brick altar 

 tomb of John Locke (1704). A mural tablet, originally 

 above the tomb, was moved inside the church for pre- 

 servation in 1932,83 the tercentenary of Locke's 

 birth. Outside the church near the east end there are 

 many other altar tombs, of the Budworth, Cleeve, 

 Velley, and Masham families. 



There is a chapel of ease at Matching Green dedi- 

 cated to ST. EDMUND. It was built in 18748* at 

 the expense of Francis R. Miller, Vicar of Kineton 

 (Warws.).8s It is of yellow brick with a small western 

 bell-cote. It consists of a nave and chancel. In 1945 

 it was transferred to the ecclesiastical parish of 

 Matching. 8* 



The house of Robert Morris in High Laver was 

 licensed for Presbyterian wor- 

 NONCONFORMITT ship in 1673,87 but no per- 

 manent congregation appears 

 to have been established. About 1869 Mr. Vale, the 

 Congregational evangelist from Moreton (q-v.), started 

 preaching at Thrushesbush in High Laver.88 In 1870 

 Vale reported that the work at Thrushesbush was not 

 going well, 'great influence is used to prevent the poor 

 from attending'. 89 For several years Thrushesbush 

 continued to be associated with Moreton. In 1876 the 

 Revd. W. Passmore of Moreton and the Revd. G. E. 

 Singleton of Hatfield Heath both helped there, and 

 in 1877 a chapel was opened, the gift of Mr. Matthews 

 of Campions, near Hatfield Heath.'" In 1882 it was 

 attended by about 60, but by 1883 it had ceased to be 

 used by the Congregationalists." 



In 1883 it was proposed that the Wanstead and 

 Woodford Methodist circuit should take it over. The 

 circuit refused, but Messrs. E. Pope, Godwin, and 

 Bowes purchased the chapel, and it was subsequently 

 accepted on the circuit plan.'^ It was later taken over 

 by the North West Essex Mission and had apparently 

 been closed by 1906.'^ 



It is now a dwelling house called 'Drinkwaters'. It 

 lies outside the parish boundary on the north side of 

 the Harlow road. The upper part of the structure is 

 timber framed, the panels being filled with brick 

 Hogging and plaster. The front is altered. 



Vestry minute-books for High Laver survive for 

 1657-1804M and 1863- 



1943-'" 



Until 1682 vestry meetmgs 



seem to have been held only at 



Easter in each year. From 



1682 meetings were held at Easter and Christmas. In 



1739 f"""" meetings were recorded and if a resolution 



PARISH GOVERN- 

 MENT AND 

 POOR RELIEF 



of 23 April 1739 w*' carried out there must afterwards 

 have been at least three meetings a year, at Easter, 

 Michaelmas, and Christmas. In later years meetings 

 were sometimes held at other times also. 



Until John Cleeve became rector in 1734 the 

 minutes were brief and rarely signed. Only three 

 resolutions were entered before 1735 and two of these 

 were not signed. Only the appointment of officers and 

 the approval of their accounts were usually recorded. 

 Until the end of the 17th century the totals of officers' 

 receipts and disbursements were usually entered, but 

 from 1696 until 1735 the minutes only recorded the 

 annual balances and sometimes omitted even this. 

 Cleeve exercised an immediate influence on the parish 

 records. He attended vestry meetings regularly and 

 he wrote the minutes. Vestry resolutions were recorded 

 regularly and were always signed by him and the 

 parishioners present. Moreover, from 1 75 5 it was again 

 the practice to record the details of accounts although 

 it did not become customary to sign them. From 

 Cleeve's death in 1777 until 1804 the accounts con- 

 tinued to be minuted in the same fashion, but only 

 once, in 1790, was a vestry resolution recorded. 



The number of parishioners attending vestry meet- 

 ings before 1776 varied between 2 and 7 but was 

 usually between 4 and 7 until 1745 and 2 or 3 after 

 that date. At a vestry in 1 771 it was agreed that in 

 future anyone absenting himself from a meeting with- 

 out a good excuse should be fined 6J. The next 

 recorded vestry, in 1776, was attended by six parish- 

 ioners. Only once after this, in 1790, were the 

 minutes signed and then there were nine signatures. 

 In the 17th and early i8th centuries the Mashams of 

 Otes evidently took an active interest in parish affairs 

 and attended vestry meetings. Of the five occasions 

 on which minutes were signed before 1735, Sir Francis 

 Masham, 3rd Bt., signed twice, in 1665 and 1667, 

 and F. C. Masham, half brother of Samuel, ist Lord 

 Masham, and heir of John Locke, signed once, in 1728. 

 Sir Francis signed before, and F. C. Masham after, 

 -the rector. When it became the practice to sign the 

 minutes the Mashams were usually not resident in the 

 parish and their signatures never appeared in the 

 minutes. The owners of the capital manor seem never 

 to have attended vestry meetings, but Abraham 

 Thorrowgood, tenant of the estate by 1767, took an 

 active part in parish affairs from 1764 and usually 

 signed the minutes immediately after the rector. 



The main work of the vestry consisted in appoint- 

 ing officers and approving their accounts. It evidently 

 became the practice, however, for the poor to take 

 complaints to vestry meetings and for individuals to use 

 these occasions to settle their accounts with parish 

 officers. In 1767 it was resolved that 'for the future no 

 business whatsoever shall be done on the day the ac- 

 counts are settled but what relates to the parish business 

 of that day only, so that the poor shall bring their com- 

 plaints on the vestry immediately preceding, and all 

 private accounts between officers and others shall be 

 settled either before or after that day'. 



'» Dr. Cudworth and his wife were 

 parents of Damaris, second wife of Sir 

 Francis Masham, 3rd Bt. 



8' Undated cutting c. 1830: E.R.O. 

 Prints, High Laver. 



82 T. Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 348 note. 



83 Inscription in situ. 



8-t Kelly's Dir. Essex (1874). 



85 Ibid. (1886). 



•« Inf. from the Revd. W. D. Topping, 



Rector of High Laver. 



87 G. L. Turner, Orig. Recs. of Early 

 Nonconformity, ii, 929. 



88 Essex Congr. Union Reps. 1869. 



89 Ibid. 1870. 

 9" Ibid. 1876-8. 

 91 Ibid. 1882-3. 



n Address by A. W. Leach, J.P., at 

 Wanstead, Dec. 19 19, reported in Mins. 

 of Local Preachers' Mtg. Wanstead and 



95 



Woodford Circuit. For Pope sec Loughton 

 Nonconformity. 



93 Ibid.; Kellfs Dir. Essex (1906). 



94 E.R.O., D/P 111/8/1 & 2. Unless 

 otherwise stated all the following informa- 

 tion is derived from these minute-books. 

 A separate 'Poor Book' was evidently 

 kept but this is now missing. 



95 In possession of the rector. 



