ONGAR HUNDRED 



MAGDALEN LAYER 



A short stretch of dry moat still remains and there are 

 traces of embankments to the south and east of this. 

 Further south is a large pond or lake. The present 

 house is immediately to the west of the old site. It was 

 probably built during the second half of the i8th 

 century and is of two stories, timber-framed and 

 plastered. Alterations were made in the middle of the 

 19th century and by the present owner. 



The advowson of Magdalen Laver was held by the 

 lords of the manor until shortly after 

 CHURCH 1468 when John Bataille sold the manor 

 to Sir Thomas Cooke.^^ ^t the sale 

 Bataille apparently retained the advowson, for his son 

 John presented to the church in 1497.^3 In 1502 Sir 

 Philip Cooke, then lord of the manor, held the advow- 

 son and he retained it when he leased the manor to John 

 King in that year.^* John Bataille, probably the patron 

 of 1497, presented in 1 5 1 3." After this the advowson 

 was held by the lords of the manor until 1781 when it 

 was conveyed by John Cozens and his wife Elizabeth 

 to Thomas Altham.^* In 1783 Thomas Burford pre- 

 sented. ^^ In 1790 Peter Thomas Burford and Ann, 

 probably his wife, conveyed the advowson to James 

 Watts.2* James William Burford presented in 1 794.^' 

 After this the living remained in the gift of the Burford 

 family until about 1857.30 The Revd. S. C. Mason 

 held it from 1857 until about 18703' after which C. G. 

 Jones, rector 1872-93, held it until 1895.32 The 

 advowson appears to have been acquired in 1895 by 

 Mrs. E. Bellamy who held it until her death in 191 2- 

 13.33 After this it remained with her trustees until 

 about 1928 when it passed to the Reformation Church 

 Trust,34 who stiU owned it in 1941.35 Since 1942 the 

 living has been in the gift of the Bishop of Chelmsford3* 

 and since 1945 it has been united with that of High 

 Laver.37 



In about 1254 and in 1 291 the rectory was valued 

 at 10 marks.38 In 1^28 the church was still taxed on 

 this valuation.39 In 1535 the rectory was valued at 

 ;^i6 125.*° In 1661 its 'improved' value was ^9o.'" 

 In 1621 there were 22 acres of glebe.''^ In 1848 the 

 tithes were commuted for ^310; there were then 30 

 acres of glebe.*3 



Until 1950 the rectory house was situated on the 

 east side of the road leading from Mollmans to Tile- 

 gate Green.'M A terrier of 162 1 described it as 'a 

 dwelling-house all tiled, saving one end, which is 

 thatched' with 'an old kitchen standing by itself'.t' 

 The detached kitchen, a feature which the rectories 

 at all three Lavers retained until the 17th century,''* 

 must have been of medieval origin. A new house was 

 built in about 1850.^7 This is of red brick with stone 

 dressings. It was occupied by the rector until a new 



rectory was built in i95o.4» This new building stands 

 on the south-west side of the road between Humphreys 

 and the 'Green Man'.*" It is a white-plastered two- 

 story house with red brick dressings. 



The parish church'" oi ST. MART MAGDALEN 

 consists of nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch. 

 The walls are of flint rubble, those in the nave includ- 

 ing also some Roman brick. The tower is of timber. 



The nave was built early in the 12th century. The 

 flints are set in herring-bone courses in the lower part 

 of the walls, while above there are indications that the 

 Roman brick was arranged in decorative bands. The 

 north wall retains a blocked single-light window of the 

 original date. A window has been filled in on the south 

 side and it is possible that this was also of the 1 2th 

 century. Two blocked bull's-eye windows in the west 

 wall were noted in 1919s' but are not now visible. It 

 is possible that the west doorway, which has brick 

 jambs, chamfered imposts and a segmental-headed 

 tympanum is also original. The door itself, of heavy 

 oak battens with zigzag ornament to the strap hinges, 

 is evidently of great antiquity. 



The chancel, which is slightly narrower than the 

 nave but has no chancel arch, was built or rebuilt in 

 the 13th century. The north wall and the upper 

 part of the other walls may have been reconstructed 

 later. 



Most of the windows in the church as well as the 

 two south doorways appear to have been inserted at 

 difl^erent times during the 14th century. On the south 

 side of the chancel the single-light window and the 

 pointed door-way are of late-i 3 th- or early-i4th-century 

 date. Two two-light windows in the chancel and three 

 in the nave were probably added later in the 14th 

 century. These have square heads and segmental rear 

 arches. The tracery has been restored or replaced but 

 the design is probably near to the original. In the two 

 easternmost windows of the nave there is some 14th- 

 or 15th-century glass which appears to be in situ. 

 Similar glass in one of the chancel windows has been 

 reset. The east window of the chancel, which has a 

 pointed head and tracery in the 14th-century style, is 

 largely modern but retains original carved head-stops. 

 The south doorway to the nave has a pointed head and 

 moulded jambs. The door itself may be of late-i4th- 

 century date. 



There is a 14th-century oak rood-screen consisting 

 of a central doorway with six bays flanking it on each 

 side. Each bay has an ogee-headed arch supported on 

 slender banded shafts with moulded capitals and bases. 

 Above each arch the tracery consists of two quatre- 

 foiled circles. The screen was evidently reconstructed 

 in the 1 7th century and part of the base panelling is of 



I 



" E.A.T. N.s. xviii, 19; Feet of F. 

 Essex, i, 271; ibid, ii, 197; ibid, iii, 33, 

 241 ; Cal. Close, 1 364.-8, 405 j Newcourt, 

 Repert. ii, 370-1. 



»5 Newcourt, Repert. ii, 371. 



" E.R.O., D/DA T199. 



» Newcourt, Repert. ii, 371. 



" CP25(2)/i309 Trir. 21 Geo. Ill; 



Newcourt, Repert. ii, 371. In the period 



between 1513 and 1781 the only known 



occasions on which a presentation was 



1 made by someone other than the lord of 



I the manor were in 1700 when Josias 

 Harvey presented (Newcourt, Repert. ii, 

 371) and in 1702 when Thomas Harvey 

 presented (J. Bacon, Thesaurus, 616). 

 " P.R.O. Inst. Bks. Ser. C. i (i). 

 " CP25(2)/i3io Mich. 30 Geo. III. 

 1 



" P.R.O. Inst. Bks. Ser. C. i (i). 



» Ecd. Reg. 1 808 ; Cler. Guide, : 8 1 7 f. ; 

 Clergy List, 1845 f. 



" Clergy List, 1857 f.j Crockford's Cler. 

 £>«>.(i857f.). 



32 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1870, 1874); 

 Crockford's Cler. Dir. (1880 f.). 



33 Crockford's Cler. Dir. (1895 f.). 



i* Crockford's Cler. Dir. (191 3 f.); 

 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1914 f-)- 



35 Ckel. Dioc. Tear Bk. 1941. 



36 Ckel. Dioc. rear Bk. 1942 f. 



3' Crockford's Cler. Dir. (1951-2); inf. 

 from the Revd. W. D. Topping. 



38 Lunt, Fal. of Nor-wich, 337; Tax. 

 Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 21. 



39 Feud. Aids, ii, 205. 



40 Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 437. 



107 



4' E.A.T. N.s. xii, 78. 



M Newcourt, Repert. ii, 371. 



43 E.R.O., D/CT2II. 



44 See above, p. 104. 



45 Newcourt, Repert, ii, 371. 



4' See parishes of High Laver and Little 

 Laver. 



4' In 1848 it was stated that a new 

 parsonage house was about to be built : 

 fr kite's Dir. Essex (1848). 



48 Inf. from the Revd. W. D. Topping. 



49 See above, p. 103. 



3° See plate facing p. 202. There was a 

 tradition in the i8th cent, that the church 

 once stood in the field known as Redmill 

 Shot, to the south-east of the present site. 

 Sec above, p. 104. 



" Hist. Mon. Com. Essex, ii, 168. 



