A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



request the inhabitants whose lands abutted on Goats 

 Wood Lane to repair it.^' 



Much of the parish on the north-west is bounded by 

 the Roding and there are many references to bridges 

 in records relating to Navestock. The most important 

 was Shonks Mill Bridge between Navestock and Stan- 

 ford Rivers. In 1566 this lay between the land of 

 Robert Shanke and WiUiam Melbourne: its timbers 

 were then badly decayed.^o A little later there was 

 some doubt whether it should be repaired by Nave- 

 stock or by Stanford Rivers. In 161 7, when it had 

 been damaged by floods, Navestock was ordered by 

 Quarter Sessions to repair it,3' but in 161 8 both 

 parishes were presented as responsible for the bridge, 

 then 'very much in decay'. 32 Both parishes were held 

 responsible in 1641.23 By about 1800 the bridge had 

 become a charge on the county and it appears in the 

 later lists of county bridges.^* In 1857 it was described 

 in detail by the county surveyor.^s It was damaged by 

 floods in 1943. One abutment was rebuilt in concrete 

 and the decking was replaced with a temporary struc- 

 ture.3* 



A foot-bridge called Hawkes or Hackes Bridge was 

 in need of repair in 1579 and 1580 and John Greene 

 of Navestock Hall was said to be responsible. 3' In 

 1586 floods destroyed this bridge (then said to be in 

 Broad Mead) and the same John Greene and the 

 parishioners of Stanford Rivers were ordered to repair 

 it.38 In the same year Bartholomew Partrych of Nave- 

 stock was ordered to replace a foot-bridge.39 



For its communications with the outside world 

 Navestock has depended on Ongar, Brentwood, and 

 Romford. Even today, no bus route passes through 

 the parish, and this has the effect of making the centre 

 of the parish, especially Navestock Heath, seem 

 isolated and rural. This is the more remarkable as 

 there is suburban development reaching out in this 

 direction from both Romford and Brentwood, and the 

 great new housing estate of Harold Hill is only 3 miles 

 from Navestock Heath. 



An application in 1840 for a post-office in Nave- 

 stock was refused.**" A receiver was mentioned in 

 1855 and in 1856 Navestock had a post-office under 

 Romford.*' There were several changes in the later 

 postal arrangements for the parish. In 1870 and up to 

 1884 the only post-office was at Shonks Mill, where 

 letters were received via Stanford Rivers from Rom- 

 ford.''^ In 1884 a second post-office was opened at 

 Navestock Side, and in the same year the telegraph was 

 extended to both offices.'ts In about 1890 the main 

 office was that at Navestock Side and the sub-post- 

 office at Shonks Mill had no telegraph.''* Four years 

 later the Shonks Mill office had been replaced by one 

 in the centre of the parish at Sabine's Green.^s During 

 the past 60 years the Navestock Side office has con- 

 tinued to be the more important of the two. The 



Sabine's Green (or Navestock Heath) office has existed 

 for most of this period but does not appear to have been 

 operating immediately after the First World War.** 



Piped water is supplied to the parish by the Herts, 

 and Essex Waterworks Co. but there is no main 

 drainage.*' The Romford Gas Co. acquired powers 

 to supply gas in Navestock in 1935 and this has been 

 laid on for Navestock Side.** Electricity was supplied 

 to Navestock Heath in 1931.*" The Navestock Club 

 established at Navestock Side in 1920 has as its meeting- 

 place a single-story wooden building given by Mr. 

 Walter Tyser, the lord of the manor.'" A branch of the 

 county hbrary was opened in 1938.'' 



Cricket has been played at Navestock since 1784 

 and probably earlier.s^ In 1790 the 'Essex Cricket 

 Club' was holding fortnightly matches at the 'Green 

 Man', Navestock Side. The members of the club 

 included Lord Petre and Lord Winchilsea.ss A map 

 of 1835, based on one of 1785, shows the cricket 

 ground,5* and for most of the 19th century this was 

 the home ground of the West Essex Cricket Club, one 

 of the best known in the county. 55 



The map of 1835 marks the fields immediately to 

 the east of the cricket ground at Navestock Side as a 

 'horse-race ground'. 5* Occasional race meetings were 

 being held at Navestock in the i86o's but had long 

 been discontinued by 1906.57 



During the Middle Ages the most important estate 

 in the parish was that owned by the Dean and Chapter 

 of St. Paul's Cathedral. Their property passed in the 

 1 6th century to the Waldegrave family. From the 

 1 6th century to the 19th the Waldegraves (later 

 barons and eventually earls) increased their estate until 

 by 1 840 it comprised almost three-quarters of the total 

 area of the parish.'* From the early 1 8th until the early 

 1 9th century Navestock Hall was their main seat. Later 

 in the 19th century, in spite of the demolition of the 

 hall, Lady Waldegrave returned to the parish to live at 

 Dudbrook.5' 



It was John, Earl Waldegrave who secured the 

 inclosure of the common in ijjofi" The total area 

 inclosed was 502 acres exclusive of 90 acres set aside 

 for roads and waste. The earl's allotment was about 

 350 acres. 



In 1840 there were some 25 farms in the parish, 

 of which about 12 were over 100 acres and 9 between 

 50 acres and 100 acres. The largest was Bois Hall with 

 Slades, 480 acres. It was one of the largest in the whole 

 of Ongar hundred at that time.*' Two years earlier it 

 had been estimated that some 2,1 50 acres of the parish 

 were cultivated as arable and 1,850 acres as meadow 

 or pasture.*^ These proportions of arable to pasture 

 were typical of this area of mixed farming. As else- 

 where in the hundred the arable open fields, if they 

 ever existed, must have been inclosed at an early date. 

 Open meadow lasted longer. The map of 1835 shows 



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



30 E.R.O., e/SR 20/6. 



" Ibid. 218/30. But cf. Q/CP 3, p. 34. 



" E.R.O., Q/SBa 4/5. Cf. ibid. 1/35. 



33 E.R.O., e/SR 314/62. 



3« E.R.O., Q/ABz I, 2. 



35 E.R.O., Q/ABz 3. 



^^ Inf. from County Surveyor. 



37 E.R.O., Q/SR 73/62, 77/46, 78/43, 

 cf. 93/19. 



38 Ibid. 98/19. 

 » Ibid. 98/15. 



« P.M.G. Mins. 1840, vol. 52, p. 25. 

 «' Kelly' t Dir. Essex (i^SS); Brit. Post. 

 Guide, 1856. 



*2 Kelly s Dir. Essex (1870 f.). 



♦3 P.M.G. Mins. 1884, vol. 272, min. 

 7096; vol. 274, min. 8334; vol. 271, min. 

 6546; vol. 277, min. 10446; vol. 280, 

 min. 13222. 



« Kelly's Dir. Essex (1890). 



45 Ibid. (1894). 



46 Ibid. (1898 f.). 



47 Inf. from Herts. & Essex Water- 

 works Co. and Miss O. Porter. 



48 Inf. from North Thames Gas Bd. and 

 Miss O. Porter. 



4« Inf. from Eastn. Elec. Bd. 

 50 Inf. from Mrs. L. F. Pryor. 

 5' Inf. from County Librarian. 



142 



52 E.R. Iviii, 49. 



53 E.R.O., T/B 69. 



54 E.R.O., D/DXa 24. 



55 F.C.H. Essex, ii, 599. 



56 E.R.O., D/DXa 24. 



57 F.C.H. Essex, ii, 587. 



58 See Manors. 

 s« Ibid. 



6" E.R.O., Q/RDc I. For the inclosure 

 Act (1768) see E.R.O., Q/SBb 261. 



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



62 Ibid. These figures may both have 

 been underestimates, but they probably 

 express the proportions of arable to pasture 

 correctly. 



