ONGAR HUNDRED 



LOUGHTON 



before. '5 It shows houses dotted along High Road as 

 far north as Rectory Lane. There were some houses 

 around Mutton Row (now York Hill) and small groups 

 round Debden Hall and in the centre of Englands Lane. 

 Other roads shown were Smarts Lane, Pump Hill, 

 Clays Lane, Traps Hill, and Borders Lane, Pyrles 

 Lane, and Debden Lane.'* Larger houses specifically 

 named were the Parsonage, Loughton Hall, Alderton 

 Hall, Debden Hall, Golden Hill House, Hempstalls 

 (later Borders Farm), 'The Reindeer' (later The' 

 Warren) and High Standing, which lay in the south- 

 west of the parish on the edge of the forest. The 

 ancient parish church beside Loughton Hall is, of 

 course, shown on the map. 



Very few of the houses then existing have survived 

 to the present day. Loughton Hall," which had been 

 rebuilt about 1616, was burnt down in 1836, and 

 Debden Hall has been twice rebuilt since 1777.'* 

 Golden Hill House, shown on the map as the residence 

 of Richard Lomax Clay, stood on the north side of 

 Clay's Lane at its junction with the main road. It was 

 the centre of a small estate built up by R. L. Clay and 

 his father Richard Clay, a London draper. The estate 

 included the White Lion Inn, which was demolished 

 by R. L. Clay in 1777." Golden Hill House was 

 rebuilt on a large scale early in the 19th century. It 

 had three stories and the view from it was said to be 

 'exceedingly rich and extensive, including most of 

 London and much of the intervening district of sub- 

 urban villas in Chigwell, Woodford, Walthamstow 

 etc.'^" After the fire at Loughton Hall in 1836 W. W. 

 Maitland, the lord of the manor, moved to Golden 

 Hill (Goldings) and lived there until his death.^' In 

 1 940 the house was destroyed by a German land mine.^* 

 The former stable block escaped destruction and has 

 now been converted into a house called Stanmores. 

 A small modern house of red brick called Goldings 

 Manor Cottage has been built on the site of Goldings. ^3 



Alderton Hall, which dates from about 1600 is the 

 only one of the three ancient manor houses which has 

 survived.^^ North Farm, at the south of High Road, 

 is of the 1 6th century. It has two stories and attics and 

 is timber-framed and plastered. The north part has 

 three gables, the central part of the house projecting 

 and supported over the ground floor on posts. 



Willow Cottage, High Road, about J mile north of 

 the farm also dates from the i6th century. It consists 

 of two stories, timber-framed with painted weather- 

 boarding. There are gabled cross-wings at each end of 

 the front. 



Beech House, High Road, bears the date 1648 and 

 the initials rwm (probably William and Margaret 

 Rutland) and ir Age 4. It is a two-story brick building, 

 altered externally but with some oak panelling of c. 

 1648 inside. 



No. 363 High Road was built late in the i8th 

 century. It is of two stories, in stock brick with three 

 sash windows. A group of cottages in Pump Hill, 

 Nos. 20, 22, and 24, date from the 17th century. They 

 are of two stories with painted weather-boarding. Rose 

 Farm, Traps Hill, is of the same period or somewhat 



" Chapman and Andre, Map of Essex, 

 J777, sheet xvi. 



'* Of these only Traps Hill is named on 

 the map. 



" See below, Manor. 



'8 Ibid. 



'» Waller, Loughton, i, 127-8. 



" While's Dir. Essex (1848). 



" Waller, Loughton, i, 128; Kelly's Dir. 



later. It is of two stories with painted weather-boarding 

 and small casements. In York Hill there is a group of 

 cottages (Nos. 107-19 inclusive) most of which date 

 from the 1 8th century and are probably those shown on 

 the map of 1777. Some are of red brick, others 

 weather-boarded. Algars at Debden Green dates from 

 the 17th or 1 8th century. It is a two-story weather- 

 boarded building having grouped chimney-stacks and 

 a pedimented doorway with architrave and shaped 

 brackets. 



The population increased steadily after 1801. By 

 1 82 1 it was 979 and there were 166 inhabited houses.^* 

 In 1 83 1 there were 1,269 inhabitants, but the popula- 

 tion subsequently remained stationary until the 1850's 

 when the railway was built.^* The construction of the 

 new by-pass road from Woodford to Epping (see 

 below) may have been partly responsible for halting 

 the growth. The tithe map (1850) shows the parish 

 just before the coming of the railway.^' The general 

 picture had changed httle since 1777. There were a 

 few more houses at the east end of Smarts Lane, in the 

 York Hill area and along High Road. Albion Hill was 

 now clearly marked as a road and some cottages had 

 been erected at Baldwins Hill. Hatfields, in Rectory 

 Lane, had been built in 1799. It consists of two stories 

 and attics and is of stock brick. There is a central 

 cemented Roman Doric porch. The date is on a rain- 

 water head. 



The Warren (formerly 'The Reindeer') had been 

 rebuilt early in the 19th century. 'The Reindeer' was 

 a resort of wealthy visitors and famous for its rabbit 

 pie. About 1800 it was converted into a private house 

 and became the home of General (later Field-Marshal) 

 Thomas Grosvenor (1764-18 51), a friend of the Duke 

 of Wellington. The house is of two stories, in Roman 

 cement. To the rear is a weather-boarded wing of 

 earlier date. The front looks north over a field con- 

 taining a 'monument' said to have been erected by 

 Grosvenor to the memory of his favourite horse, 

 which had carried him at Waterloo.^^ The monument 

 consists of a plain square pedestal above which is an 

 obelisk resting on ball feet.^' 



Other buildings erected between 1777 and 1850 

 were the original National School at the corner of 

 Staples Road (on the site of the present Ashley Grove 

 flats), the British School in Smarts Lane, and the 

 Whitaker Almshouses.^o A directory of 1 848 spoke of 

 the 'many genteel houses' of Loughton. 3i Meanwhile, 

 in 1846 a new parish church had been built in Bhnd ' 

 Lane (now Church Lane) nearer to the main road, and 

 there was also a police station. 



Between 185 1 and 1871 the population doubled, 

 and there were considerable changes in the landscape 

 of the parish. 3^ The railway was the most important 

 new feature. The line from Woodford and London 

 was followed within ten years by an extension to 

 Epping and Ongar, which looped north-east in order to 

 avoid hills and the forest. The station was placed at the 

 south-east end of the town. On the south side of Albion 

 Hill a number of large houses were built, and the land 

 between them and Warren Hill was inclosed to form 



Essex (1859, 1862); E.R.O., Sale Cat. 

 A. 1075 (1893). 



22 Inf. from Mr. Wm. Addison. 



^5 Mr. Wm. Addison has a photo, of 

 Goldings House. 



^* See Manor. 



25 Census, 182 1. 



^* For these and later census figures see 

 y.C.H. Essex, ii, 350. 



" E.R.O., D/CT235. 



28 Waller, Loughton, i, 22-23. 



29 The monument is said to have come 

 from Wanstead House, which was 

 demolished in 1824. 



30 See below, Schools, Charities. 

 3' fVhite's Dir. Essex (1848). 



32 O.S:25 in. Map (ist edn.). 



II I 



