ONGAR HUNDRED 



NAVESTOCK 



Common. These changes, while they altered the land- 

 scape of the parish, did not, however, alter the main 

 pattern of settlement.'* Before the inclosure there were 

 several houses along the north edge of the common, 

 mostly at Horseman Side. Their occupants had no 

 doubt found the situation convenient for the exercise 

 of common rights. Inclosure of the common evidently 

 led to the building of one new farm, Princesgate Farm, 

 which existed by 1840," and a few of the houses to 

 the south of the road between Navestock Side and 

 Horseman Side are of late 1 8th- or 19th-century date. 

 The extinguishment of the rights of common in this 

 part of the parish may have led . to the building of 

 cottages around the edges of the wood at Curtismill 

 Green, which was not affected by the inclosure. This 

 was not, however, the first development round Curtis- 

 mill Green.'* 



Chapman and Andre's Map of Essex, lyyj shows 

 houses along most of the western edge of Navestock 

 Side but none on the eastern edge. The 'Green Man', 

 which may have existed long before, was probably re- 

 built in the i8th century when Navestock Side became 

 a cricket centre. It is a tall rectangular building, 

 recently modernized. During the late 1 8th century 

 Navestock Park was embellished by the construction 

 of the Lady's Pond and at about the same time there 

 were alterations to Bois Hall. Abbotswick, at Navestock 

 Side, is a small country house standing in a well- 

 timbered garden with a small lake. It seems to date 

 from about 1800 and has since been rebuilt probably 

 early in the present century. In 18 17 it was described 

 as the seat of Adam Chadwick." The 1777 map shows 

 a small piece of common at Slades, but this had been 

 inclosed by 1840.^0 



In 1801 the population of Navestock was 623, and 

 by 1 82 1 it had risen to 840.^' It continued to rise until 

 1 85 1 when a peak of 982 was reached. The number 

 of inhabited houses in the parish increased from 1 3 1 

 in 1801 to 188 in 1851.^^ After 1851 there was a 

 gradual decline in population which became most rapid 

 between 1871 and 1881, the period of agricultural 

 depression. By 1901 there were only 692 inhabi- 

 tants. 



The most remarkable event in the life of the parish 

 in the 19th century was the demolition (181 1) of 

 Navestock Hall. During the course of the century 

 some of the other larger houses in the parish were 

 extended or improved and continued to offer op- 

 portunities of employment for the cottagers, but the 

 disappearance of the great house of Navestock, at a 

 time when the population was increasing rapidly, may 

 have been partly responsible for the ultimate decrease. 

 Even if it had no other effect the demohtion increased 

 the isolation of the parish church and must have re- 

 inforced the existing tendency for the population to 

 concentrate in the east and south of the parish. This 

 tendency may have been partly counteracted by the 

 rebuilding of the vicarage at Navestock Heath and the 

 erection beside it of a village school. On the other hand 

 again there was the closure of Shonks Mill, which 

 probably failed in competition with the new steam mill 

 at Princesgate. The new mill was built adjoining 

 Princesgate Farm. It is an impressive structure of 



black weather-boarding, with a tall chimney (see plate 

 facing p. I 56). It is no longer used as a mill. 



Between 1901 and 193 1 the population of Nave- 

 stock fluctuated at around 700.^3 In 1953 it was 

 estimated at 680, which is the lowest figure since 

 i8oi.^'» Among the houses built during the past fifty 

 years are five pairs of council houses at the north end of 

 Navestock Heath and twelve pairs near Navestock Side 

 on the road to Bentley church. Three of the last 

 twelve have been erected since 1945, two of them 

 being of Swedish timber. The Navestock Club, built 

 at Navestock Side in 1920, increased the amenities in 

 that part of the parish. Some provision for communal 

 activities at Horseman Side had been made by the 

 building there of the Navestock Mission Room in 

 1897. This was originally a nonconformist chapel but 

 is now used for services in connexion with the parish 

 church. During the Second World War Slades Farm 

 was totally demolished by enemy action and the parish 

 church damaged. 



The Brentwood-Ongar road touches Navestock's 

 easternmost edge, forming the boundary with South 

 Weald for a short distance. Its principal connecting 

 link runs south-west through Navestock Side and 

 Horseman Side to Havering and Romford, and 

 another road goes west and south-west past Bois Hall, 

 Navestock Hall, and Navestock Heath to Havering 

 and Romford. Linking these two principal roads are 

 several by-roads aligned from north-west to south-east. 

 The most important of these follows the WetstafF 

 valley for most of its course and passes out of the parish 

 by Shonks Mill Bridge over the Roding to join the 

 Ongar-Abridge road. 



Most of the parish roads are probably earlier in 

 origin than the 1 8th century. They may always have 

 been poor in the west of Navestock, where the wood 

 of Curtismill Green formed a barrier, but there was 

 evidently a thoroughfare of some sort in that area as 

 early as the i6th century. In 1583 it was reported at 

 Quarter Sessions that the road from Brentwood through 

 Navestock to Epping was blocked by a gate called 

 'Curtinsmiir Gate which was 'the only defence for 

 the cattle commoning on that part of the forest there'.^s 

 There are detailed reports from the surveyors of the 

 highways on their statute labour for 1607-9, 1618, 

 and 1645.^* 



The inclosure award of 1770 contained the usual 

 provisions concerning the construction of roads to 

 serve the inclosed area.^^ Ten new roads were specified 1 

 but many of these were very short lengths and it is 

 clear from the inclosure map that some of them already 

 existed in whole or in part. The most important changes 

 that resulted from the award were the continuation of 

 the road from Horseman Side to Navestock Side and 

 roads running south and south-east from that road. 

 Not all the provisions of the award were actually 

 carried out. This may have resulted from disputes 

 concerning responsibility for the new roads. At a 

 parish vestry meeting in 1844 it was resolved tha't the 

 roads set out by the inclosure commissioners should 

 not be repaired by the parish.^* This decision was 

 repeated at vestry meetings later in the same year and 

 in 1845, when the parish surveyor was ordered to 



" Compare the Inclosure Map (E.R.O., 

 J2/RDc i) with Chapman and Andr^, 

 Map of Essex, lyjT, sheets xvi, xvii and 

 later maps. 



" E.R.O., D/CT 248. 



»8 a. E.R. xiv, I go. 



'9 E.R.O., Prints, Navestock. 

 ^0 E.R.O., D/CT 248. 

 ^' For census figures 1801— 1901 see 

 F.C.H. Essex, ii, 350. 

 22 Census, 1801, 1851. 

 " Census, i 901-3 1. 



^* Inf. from Essex County Council. At 

 the 1951 census it was 6go. 



25 E.R.O., Q/SR 86/60, cf. ibid. 90/31. 



2' -Ibid. 188/80, 329/27; E.R.O.,Q/SB« 

 4/5. " E.R.O., Q/RDc I. 



28 E.R.O., D/P 148/8/2. 



141 



