A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



on the castle mound. 's In 1758 there were 93 pre- 

 mises assessed for the payment of rates.'* It is therefore 

 probable that the buildings shown on the map of 1777 

 covered the same area as those that had existed a 

 century earlier." The map shows that the built-up 

 area extended down High Street from the north end 

 of the town enclosure as far as Ongar Bridge. Roden 

 House (near the bridge) existed, and there were a few 

 buildings to the south of the bridge, on the parish 

 boundary. The main body of the rectory had been 

 built early in the 1 8th century."' Lauriston, on the 

 east side of High Street, below Castle Street, is also of 

 the 1 8th century. The doorway has a pediment sup- 

 ported by Ionic pilasters." The original Independent 

 Meeting House was built in 1720.^" A letter dated at 

 Ongar on 16 October 1798, which describes the illumi- 

 nations by which the town celebrated the Battle of the 

 Nile, mentions some of the larger houses that could then 

 be seen in a walk through the town.^' 



Between 1777 and 1 84 1 some cottages were built 

 to the south-west of Ongar Bridge, probably to ac- 

 commodate the labourers at the brickfield and gas 

 works.^^ This expansion of the town was accompanied 

 by the improvement or rebuilding of some of the older 

 houses.^3 Much of this was carried out by the firm of 

 Noble of Ongar, founded in 1805. 2'* The present 

 fa?ade of the White House, dating from about 1835, 

 is said to have been built by this firm.^' Holmlea, a short 

 distance north of Lauriston, is a good house built about 

 1780, with a central round headed window in the first 

 floor and in the roof.^* Mayfield, a red-brick building 

 in Castle Street, is said to date from 1809." Ongar 

 House, of gault brick, and The Wilderness, which stand 

 on the east of High Street, near the north arm of the 

 towm rampart, were refronted early in the 19th cen- 

 tury.^* Ongar House has a symmetrical facade with five 

 windows in each of the upper floors. The doorway has 

 simple pilasters but no porch. The windows have ex- 

 ternal shutters. A third story was added to the house in 

 1952.^' The Wilderness is an H-shaped house in which 

 there have been many alterations at various times. One 

 important building erected during this period was also 

 demohshed before 1840. This was the Assembly and 

 Card Rooms, built in or soon after 1786 on ground in 

 High Street, previously occupied by the parish pound, 

 pillory, and cage. The Rooms were removed about 

 1 830.30 



Several buildings erected after 1841 are in classical 

 style. The most striking of these is Greylands, which 



adjoins King the greengrocer to the north. It was built 

 in 1843 by J. Gerry to the design of T. M. Baynes." 

 It is a large symmetrical house of gault brick with an 

 imposing porch flanked by heavy Doric columns.'* 

 The wine shop, opposite Greylands, is roughly con- 

 temporary and is also of gault brick. It is said to have 

 formed a pair with a building which once stood on the 

 site of the present London Co-operative grocery .'^ The 

 old grammar school (see below. Schools) was built about 

 1850. The present facade of Roden House dates from 

 the late 19th century (see below. Schools). 



The police station (see below. Public Services) was 

 the first large building in the town to depart from the 

 classical style. Contemporary with it is the original 

 portion of the Ongar Primary School (see below. 

 Schools). The railway station came slightly later, the 

 Budworth Hall, High Street, was built in 1886 and 

 the offices of the Ongar R.D.C. in 1896.3* In 1896-7 

 High Street was made more accessible to traffic by the 

 removal of the old Town Hall.ss This had stood 

 detached in the street at the point where it now widens, 

 to the north of the church. 3* 



Several of the smaller buildings erected about the 

 middle of the 19th century were possibly the work of 

 Edward Sammes, who was described as a builder in a 

 directory of 1840.3' In 1837 he owned two houses in 

 the town. 38 By 1848 he owned some 20 houses and 

 cottages. 3' Sammes Cottages, near the gasworks, were 

 named after him. He was a grocer and general broker 

 as well as a builder.*" 



Apart from those named above few buildings in 

 Ongar were erected between 1875 and 1914. There 

 are some houses in Castle Street dating from this period, 

 a small terrace to the south of the railway station, and 

 also a few houses at the south end of the High Street, 

 and in Bushy Lees.*' The building at the north end of 

 High Street, which is now Great Stoney Boai .ing 

 Secondary School, was erected in 1903.** It was 

 originally a children's home of the Hackney poor law 

 union. In 193 1 there were 206 dwelling houses in the 

 parish.*' 



Medieval taxation assessments, printed below (pp. 

 300 f.) suggest that Chipping Ongar was then much 

 more densely populated than any other place in the 

 hundred, although its total population was not the 

 greatest. Some idea of the population can be gathered 

 from the fact that there were 108 poll taxpayers in 

 1377. In 1801 the population was 595, and by 1841 

 had risen to 870.** After some fluctuations it was 967 



■5 E.R.O., e/RTh 5. 



" Vestry Bk. 1743-75, at the rectory. 



" J. Chapman and P. Andre, Map of 

 Essex, ijyj., sheet xvii. For a drawing of 

 the town from the west, dated July 1766, 

 «ee E.R.O., Prints, Chipping Ongar. 



'8 See below. Church. 



'« E.R.O., T/P 96, Ongar W.E.A. 

 Survey, 1951. 



*** See below, Protestant Nonconformity. 



" R. I. Porter, A Few Notes on the 

 To-wn and Parish of Chipping Ongar 

 (Ongar, 1877), 24.. The letter was written 

 from what is now Shelley House, but 

 which was then called Bowes House. The 

 present Bowes House took over the name 

 early in the 19th cent. Shelley House is 

 in the parish of Shelley, q.v. 



" E.R.O., D/CT 262. For a print of 

 Ongar looking north across Ongar Bridge 

 in 1832 see T.Wright, Hist. Essex, \\, 328. 



*3 For the increase in rateable values see 

 below. Parish Government and Poor 



Relief. 



2* E.R.O., T/P 96. Some of the build- 

 ing was carried out in local brick — perhaps 

 from the brickworks on the Greenstead 

 Road. " Ibid. 



26 N. Lloyd, History of the English 

 House, pp. 286, 303, gives illustrations of 

 Holmlea, which he refers to as the White 

 House. 



" E.R.O., T/P 96. 28 Ibid. 



29 Personal observation. 



3» R. I. Porter, Notes on Chipping Ongar, 

 23. For the site see below. Parish Govern- 

 ment and Poor Relief. 



" E.R.O., T/P 96. 



" In 1897 Diamond Jubilee celebra- 

 tions were held outside Greylands ; see 

 photographs, E.R.O., Prints, Chipping 

 Ongar. s' E.R.O., T/P 96. 



M Ibid. The Budworth Hall was built 

 by FothergiU Watson of Nottingham : inf. 

 from Mr. D. W. Hutchings. 



3' Essex Almanack, 1906, 225. The 



deeds of the Town Hall were bought for 

 ^250 in Dec. 1896 by Thomas Cowee, 

 who undertook to pull the building down 

 by 25 Mar. 1897. There is some iron- 

 work from the Town Hall at the back of 

 Snelling's ironmonger's shop in Chipping 

 Ongar: inf. from Mr. D. W. Hutchings. 



36 E.R.O., D/CT 262. And see below. 

 Occupations. For a good print of the 

 Town Hall, 18 18, by I. Hassall, see 

 E.R.O., Prints, Chipping Ongar. It was 

 a two story building, the ground floor 

 being open at the end. For a photograph of 

 it taken shortly before its demolition see 

 plate facing p. 156. 



3' See below, Occupations. 



38 E.R.O., D/P 124/23/1. 



39 E.R.O., D/P 124/23/2. 



♦» IVhite's Dir. Essex (1848). 



♦' Inf. from County Planning Dept. 



♦2 Inf. from Mr. D. W. Hutchingf. 



*3 Census, 193 1. 



♦♦ F.C.H. Essex, ii, 350. 



156 



