A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



In 1712 it was agreed that 'Henry Marling shall 

 have 20S. a year allowed for church clerk's wages'. In 

 1735 i^ ^35 agreed that 'the clerk shall receive \J. 

 yearly of every householder that does not pay to the 

 poor'. In 1743 it was resolved that los. a year should 

 be added to the clerk's wages. 



There were two churchwardens in each of the years 

 161 3 and 1614. There were also two each year from 

 1657 until 1698. During this period they usually 

 served for 2—4 years consecutively. From 1698 there 

 was only one churchwarden, who usually served for 

 many consecutive years. 



Until 1672 there were two overseers each, year and 

 they usually served for two or three years consecutively. 

 From 1672 there was only one overseer. Until 1724 

 it was usual to serve two years consecutively, but after- 

 wards the overseers served for one year only. They 

 were evidently chosen on a rota system and once, in 

 1802, a woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Speed, tenant of the 

 capital manor, was appointed to serve. 



Constables were nominated in vestry at least from 

 1657. Until 1704 there were always two, each of 

 whom usually served two years consecutively. There- 

 after there was usually only one. Until 1743 this officer 

 usually served no more than two years at a time, but 

 after that date he usually served for at least three con- 

 secutively and sometimes much longer. 



Two surveyors of highways were nominated annu- 

 ally. From 1682, if not before, they were appointed at 

 Christmas. The number of years served consecutively 

 varied from one to five. Sir Francis Masham was 

 surveyor from 1672 until 1676. 



Until at least 1739, ^"<^ perhaps until 1743, the 

 overseers, churchwardens, and constables 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 sur- 

 plus. In the churchwarden's account of expenditure 

 for 1692-3 there were four items, totalling is. \\d., 

 'for relief. These items were passed only after some 

 hesitation and it was resolved 'never to allow any reliefs 

 hereafter paid by churchwardens'. From 1743, if not 

 from 1739, '^^ constables were no longer granted 

 separate rates. Their expenditure was met by the 

 churchwardens who included it in their account. There 

 is no clear evidence that the surveyors accounted 

 directly to the parish until 1743-4 when they received 

 a separate rate for which they accounted to the vestry. 

 From 1744 until 1747 the churchwarden, who was 

 also one of the surveyors, included their expenditure 

 in his accounts, but after 1747 there was always a 

 separate surveyors' account. 



There was a workhouse in High Laver in 1767. 

 In that year the vestry agreed 'that the old persons in 

 the workhouse shall have one-quarter of what they 

 shall earn and the other three parts shall go to the 

 governor of the workhouse'. By 1776, however, the 

 house had become a mere poorhouse where paupers 

 were lodged rent free.'* It lay on the north side of the 

 Harlow Road about \ mile west of the church." In 

 1 84 1, when it was no longer a poorhouse and belonged 



to George Starkins, it was a cottage, occupied by three 

 tenants.'* 



In most cases poor relief was given, in various forms, 

 outside the poorhouse. In each of the years 181 3-1 5 

 there were 20-22 adults on 'permanent' outdoor 

 relief." Provision for the poor was made in various 

 ways, including the binding out of paupers' children as 

 apprentices, the payment of rent, and the provision of 

 clothes. Parish apprentices were allotted on a rota 

 system. In 1738 it was agreed that 'no poor person's 

 rent should be paid by the parish for any time before 

 he becomes chargeable without a special order of 

 vestry'. In 1753 John Parsons agreed to attend the 

 poor as apothecary and surgeon 'except midwifery and 

 smallpox' for 3 years at 4J guineas a year. 



In 161 3-14 the cost of poor relief was ^^4 9^.' In 

 1 734— 5 it was ^24. It then rose sharply to a maximum 

 of j^i04 in 1741-2. In 1776 it was ^£133^ and in 

 1783-5 it averaged ;^i65.3 In 1 800-1 it reached 

 ^^724, but in the next seven years never exceeded ^^520 

 and was sometimes much lower.* In the remaining 

 years of the Napoleonic war the cost averaged ^582. 

 a year and in 1816-17 it was ^^634. 5 



In 1836 High Laver became part of the Ongar Poor 

 Law Union. 



There were no schools in the parish in 1807 and 

 1 8 1 8 although at the latter date the rector, 

 SCHOOL P. Budworth, was helping to maintain a 

 private school in Moreton, to which pre- 

 sumably he sent High Laver children.* By 1 828 a day 

 school in union with the National Society had been 

 established. In that year it had 30 pupils,' but atten- 

 dance declined until in 1832 it seems to have been 

 closed.^ In 1833 there was only a private school in 

 the parish, founded in 1832. It had 40 pupils and 

 further accommodation was available at a dame school 

 in Matching, which some 30 High Laver children 

 attended in 1839.' In 1833, however, the Sunday 

 school was refounded in High Laver and by 1846-7 

 this had apparently led to the setting up of a day school, 

 under the Diocesan Board, with 27 pupils and a 

 further 7 on Sundays. The schoolmistress was paid 

 ;^i6 a year.'" This school had ceased by 1865 when 

 there was only an inefficient dame school in the parish." 



In about 1865 the rector, with the support of the 

 largest landowner (J. W. Perry Watlington) and other 

 churchmen, established a Building Committee to col- 

 lect subscriptions for a new school for High and Little 

 Laver, with a teacher's residence of six rooms attached. 

 The school, with accommodation for about 7 5 children, 

 was built in 1 866 at Matching Green at a cost of j^668, 

 of which the Treasury contributed ;^I43 i?-?., the 

 Diocesan Board £35, the National Society ^^37, and 

 subscribers the rest.'^ It was placed in union with the 

 National Society and was managed by the rector and 

 churchwardens. '3 In 1870 there were 75 pupils at the 

 school and 25 infants in an unsuitable room nearby. 

 In 1 87 1 an infants' classroom was built with the help 

 of ^24 from the Treasury, £,\o from the Diocesan 

 Board, £,(, from the National Society, and some local 

 subscriptions.'* In 1872 the Education Department 



'>'• Rep. Set Cttee. on Overseers Retns. 

 iTJT, H.C. scr. i, vol. ix, p. 350. 

 »' E.R.O., D/P 1 1 1/27/1 & 2. 

 »8 E.R.O., D/P111/27/1. 

 9» E.R.O., Q/CR i/io. 

 ■ E.R.O., g/SBa 3. 



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



3 Ibid. 



-t E.R.O.,Q/CR 1/9. 



5 Ibid. 



* E.R.O., D/AEM 2/4 (Archdeaconry) ; 

 Retns. Educ. Poor, H.C. 224, pp. 260, 262 

 (i8i9),ix{i). 



' Nat. Soc.Rep. 1828, p. 62. 



* Nat. Soc. Rep. 1832, p. 61; Educ. 

 Enquiry Ahstr. H.C. 62, p. 281 (1835), xli. 



« Educ. Enquiry Ahstr. H.C. 62, p. 281 

 (1835), xli; E.R.O., D/P 30/28/19. 



'" Nat. Soc. Enquiry into Church Schs. 

 1846-7, pp. 12-13. 



" Inf. from Nat. Soc. 



'2 Ibid. 



'3 Min. of Educ. File i 3/196. 



» Inf. from Nat. Soc. 



96 



