A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



donor's charity above has now the alternative title of 

 Wallenger's but it is not clear that there is any evidence 

 for this identification. Sir William Sedley, by his will 

 of 1 617, directed that his executors should buy 



annuities for the poor of Aylesford and Heme (Kent) 

 and Navestock.'^ Deeds were executed giving rent 

 charges to the other parishes but there is no record of 

 any for Navestock. 



NORTON MANDEVILLE 



The modern parish of Norton Mandeville lies to the 

 north of High Ongar and is bounded on the north by 

 Willingale.' Its present area is 1,318 acres. Until late 

 in the 1 2th century Norton was apparently included in 

 the parish of High Ongar.^ During the later Middle 

 Ages the parish of Norton may have included Forest 

 Hall and Newarks Norton, but in and after the i6th 

 century those places became together a detached part 

 of the parish of High Ongar (q.v.). At the Tithe 

 Commutation (1847) Norton Mandeville contained 

 757 acres.3 The County of Essex (Review of Rural 

 Districts and Parishes) Order, 1939, provided that 

 Forest Hall and Newarks Norton should be merged in 

 Norton Mandeville. This was confirmed by the 

 Minister of Health in 1946.* 



Norton Mandeville has always been a small rural 

 parish with few inhabitants. ' In 1801 the population 

 was 93.* In 1951, after the enlargement of the parish, 

 it was only 202.7 The soil is Boulder Clay with a patch 

 of glacial loam at Norton Heath. 



The River Roding forms the western boundary of 

 the parish. A tributary of the Roding which rises near 

 Dodd's Farm in the east of the parish flows west and 

 south and forms the southern boundary for part of its 

 course. From the river and the stream the land slopes 

 gently upwards to the east and north. Forest Hall (see 

 under High Ongar) is in the west of the present parish 

 of Norton Mandeville, lying in a wooded park of about 

 200 acres. About 200 yds. north of it is the site of the 

 original manor house of Forest (formerly Foliots) Hall. 

 Little Forest Hall, J mile north-west of the present 

 Forest Hall, probably dates from the 17th century. 

 The north end is timber-framed and plastered and is 

 of that period. Haifa mile north-east of Forest Hall is 

 the site of Newarks Hall (see High Ongar) which was 

 demolished during the Second World War to make 

 room for the large airfield which extended into this 

 parish from Willingale.* Offin's Cottages, a mile south- 

 east of Newarks, are a pair of timber-framed and 

 plastered cottages of i6th- or early- 17th-century origin 

 with an oversailing gable-end to the east supported by 

 curved brackets. Near these cottages to the east is 

 Spriggs, where two sides of a moat still exist. The 

 present 19th-century farm-house incorporates old 

 timbers which may have come from an earlier house. 



Norton Heath is in the extreme east of the parish. 

 It consists of about 12 acres of unfenced woodland with 

 a number of small ponds and a road running diagonally 

 through the centre. It has always been common land, 

 and the hamlet around it has for long been the main 



centre of population, although it is 2 miles from 

 Norton Hall and the parish church. The road that 

 links the heath with the hall and the church to the 

 west, formerly known as the Causeway, was mentioned 

 in a charter of about 1260, and gave its name to Great 

 Causeway field and Little Causeway field which in 

 1740 lay to the south of the road about J mile from the 

 church.' 



The building now known as Norton Manor House 

 stands at the north-west corner of the heath.'" It is a 

 mid- 17th-century timber-framed house and is built on 

 a half H -shaped plan with two projecting wings at the 

 back. Adjacent to the northern wing is a small stair- 

 case wing containing an original staircase with moulded 

 finials to the newels and heavy turned balusters. There 

 are three brick chimneys, each with three octagonal 

 shafts joined at the heads with moulded brick capitals. 

 Two tablets on the south chimney have the date 1650 

 and the initials e. ? a." Considerable extensions took 

 place early in the i8th century, and much original 

 work has been obliterated by a very thorough restora- 

 tion of about 1900.'^ 



The main road from Chipping Ongar to Chelmsford 

 passes through Norton Heath and for a short distance 

 forms the parish boundary. Ladyland is a timber- 

 framed and plastered farm-house on the north of this 

 road. It probably dates from the early 17th century 

 with additions in the i8th century and later. Read- 

 ings, near Ladyland to the west, was probably the 

 White Horse Farm of i740.'3 It is of red brick, the 

 back dating from about 1780 and the front having 

 been added by John Caton'* in the mid-i9th century. 

 The White Horse Inn itself stands on the south of the 

 road and is therefore in High Ongar parish. It is of 

 colour-washed brickwork and is of mid-l8th century 

 date with early- 19th-century additions. Between 

 Readings and Ladyland is a single-story roughcast 

 cottage formerly a toll house dating from about 1 830.'5 

 A small red-brick forge on the west of the heath, prob- 

 ably built early in the 19th century, was closed in 

 1944.'* Several of the cottages round the heath are of 

 18th-century origin. Also at the heath are the church 

 hall and the Congregational church. Near the heath, 

 on the road to the parish church, are nine pairs of 

 council houses of various dates. Dodd's Farm is near 

 these houses to the west. Parsonage Farm is J mile 

 east of the church. 



In 1086 a considerable proportion of the manor of 

 Norton was woodland." By about 1250, however, 

 forest clearance must have given the parish something 



" Ref. Com. Char. {Kent), H.C. 681, 

 p. 200 (1833), xix, and [C. loi], p. 310, 

 H.C. (1837), xxiii. 



' O.S. 2i in. Map, sheets 52/50, 52/60. 



* See below. Church. 



3 Tithe Redemp. Com. Recs. Norton 

 Mandeville Tithe Award and Map. 



* County of Essex (Rural Parishes) 

 Confirmation Order, 1946. 



* Some early taxation statistics, given 

 below, pp.300 f.,must be used with caution 

 in view of the possibility that the parish 

 included Forest Hall and Newarks Norton 



in the Middle Ages. 



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



' Census, 1951. 



' Inf. from Mr. K. McCorquodale. 



« For the charter off. 1 260 and the map 

 of 1740 see below. Manor. 



'" The name is recent. This was not an 

 ancient manor house. In 1740 it was 

 called Readings: E.R.O., D/DCc Pi. 



" In 1662 Edward Sandford was taxed 

 on a house at Norton Mandeville having 

 8 hearths: E.R.O., Q/RTh i mem. 24. 

 No other house in the parish had as many 



hearths. 



" Inf. from Mr. E. H. S. Walde, the 

 present occupier. 



" E.R.O., D/DCc Pi : Map of Norton 

 Mandeville 1740. 



'* Inf. from Mrs. McKinlay, present 

 occupier. 



*5 For details of its sale, 1870, see 

 E.R.O., D/TE 13. 



'* Inf. from daughter of former black- 

 smith. 



" F.C.H. Essex, i, 375, 503a. 



150 



