ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIPPING ONGAR 



I 



in 1901. An increase to 1,362 in 191 1 was largely 

 accounted for by the arrival of the children at the 

 Hackney home. Population has decreased steadily 

 since 191 1. One cause of this was the decline and 

 closing of the grammar school. In 195 1 the population 

 of the parish was 925.*' In the suburbs of Ongar, just 

 beyond the parish boundaries, there has, however, been 

 a considerable growth of population through the recent 

 building on the Greenstead and Shelley estates and at 

 Marden Ash. An attendance of over 300 pupils at the 

 Ongar primary school in 1952 gives an indication of the 

 population of the town and its suburbs (see below, 

 Schools). 



The roads leading out of Chipping Ongar to the 

 south, east, and west all pass over bridges on or near 

 the parish boundary. Ongar Bridge is entirely in the 

 parish. Ackingford Bridge is common to Chipping 

 Ongar and Bobbingworth and is treated here. High 

 Ongar Bridge, although it spans the boundary between 

 the two Ongars, has usually been considered as falling 

 wholly in the parish from which it takes its name, and 

 is treated under High Ongar (q.v.). 



Ongar Bridge, on the most direct road to London, 

 must have been of the greatest importance to the town. 

 Sir Peter Siggiswyk, whose will was proved in 1503, 

 left 10/. to be spent on the upkeep of the bridge.** In 

 1574 it was stated at Quarter Sessions that the bridge 

 was in decay and that responsibility for it was un- 

 known.*' This presentment was later repeated.** In 

 1 58 1 Quarter Sessions ordered that the county should 

 assume responsibility.*' This decision had apparently 

 been forgotten by 1626 when the bridge was once 

 more in need of repair.so It still needed repair in 1628, 

 and the sessions ordered a county rate to be levied for 

 this purpose." Soon after this the hundred jury com- 

 plained that although the rate had been collected the 

 repairs had still not been carried out.'^ The bridge was 

 again presented for disrepair in 1 641, and by order of 

 the sessions a 'lean-to or rail' was set up on it. 53 Repairs 

 were again ordered in 1657.5* The next reference to 

 the bridge in the sessions rolls is in 1660, when it was 

 stated that the wharf was decayed and should be 

 repaired by the county. 5s In 1677 the bridge was in 

 a dangerous condition. 5* The sessions ordered Richard 

 Luther and Thomas Alexander to employ workmen to 

 repair it without prejudice to the county if it should 

 later be found that the parish was responsible.57 After 

 this time Ongar Bridge seems to have been accepted 

 without dispute as a county bridge. The county paid 

 ;^85 for its repair in 1697 and ;^i66 in 1715.58 In 

 1857 the county surveyor described the bridge as 

 having three unequal arches finished with a brick 

 parapet, the walls being coped with stone.5' It has 

 not been radically altered since.*" 



Ackingford Bridge was in need of repair in 1573, 

 and responsibility for it uncertain.*' The hundred 

 jury stated in 1604 that it should be repaired by the 

 county*^ but in 161 5 they said that Bobbingworth 

 ought to mend their side of it*^ and in 1620 Bobbing- 

 worth and Chipping Ongar were held jointly respon- 

 sible.** In 1 62 1 the county was said to be responsible*' 

 and from this time the bridge always seems to have been 

 regarded as a county bridge. By the end of the 1 8th 

 century the road which crossed it had been turnpiked 

 and was probably carrying much traffic. This was no 

 doubt the reason for the building of a new bridge in 

 1 806. The plan of this bridge, drawn by the architect, 

 John Johnson, still exists.** The bridge was completed 

 by January 1807.*^ 



The county surveyor, who visited Ackingford 

 Bridge in September 1857, described it as being built 

 of oak resting on piles with brick abutments. It was 

 precisely similar to Leaden Wash Bridge (in Leaden 

 Roding).** It was then in good repair, but by 1862 the 

 ends of the main girders had begun to decay.*" Be- 

 tween 1867 and 1875 many big repairs were carried 

 out.'" The bridge was rebuilt in 191 3, in con- 

 crete.'" 



In 1659 the inhabitants of Chipping Ongar were 

 presented at Quarter Sessions for their failure to repair 

 the foot-bridge called Bantons, which spanned Cripsey 

 Brook on the way to Greenstead.'^ 



In 1637 a carrier from Chipping Ongar made a 

 weekly journey to London, stopping on Wednesday at 

 the 'Crown' without Aldgate.73 In 1686 Ongar was 

 evidently a fairly important staging place for travellers: 

 according to a survey of that year there was accommoda- 

 tion in the town for 71 lodgers and 104 horses.'* These 

 figures were larger in both cases than those for Braintree, 

 Harwich, Maldon, Witham, and Coggeshall; for 

 lodgers Ongar had more accommodation than Billericay, 

 Dunmow, Kelvedon, and Saffron Walden, and for 

 horses there was more stabling than at Rayleigh. 



In 1 79 1 a coach left the 'Three Nuns', Whitechapel, 

 for Ongar every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday,'' 

 and a carrier's wagon left from the same place every 

 Tuesday and Friday. Another wagon for Ongar 

 started from the 'Saracen's Head', Aldgate, on Tuesday 

 and Friday.'* In 18 17 coaches plied daily to Ongar 

 from the 'Three Nuns' and from the 'Bull', Aldgate." 

 There were wagons from the 'Three Nuns' on Tuesday 

 and Friday and from the 'Swan', Whitechapel, on- 

 Wednesday and Saturday.'* 



In 1826-7 ^ coach left the Crown Inn, Ongar, 

 every weekday and returned from the 'Bull', Aldgate, 

 the same day." There were two carriers to London, 

 Stephen Clements who left on Tuesday and Friday, and 

 Thomas Nichols who left on Monday and Thursday. 



** Census^ 195'- 



«« E.A.T.K.s.xx\, 256. 



«' E.R.O., e/SR 49/37-2. 



*8 Ibid. 5+/28, 57/77, 58/50, 74/37, 



75/33- •"> Ibid. 78W6. 7- 



'» Ibid. 253/56. 



" Ibid. 261/31, 263/18. 



" Ibid. 263/18, 266/33. 



" E.R.O.,2/CP3,p. 128,130. 



»* Ibid. p. 188. 



" E.R.O., Q/SR 385/27. 



5« Ibid. 435/3,. 



" E.R.O., e/CP 3, p. 352. 



*' Ibid. pp. 577, 649. 



S9 E.R.O., Q/ABz 3. 



** The condition of the bridge, 1857-90, 

 can be traced in the surveyor's annual 



reports : ibid. 



<" E.R.O., Q/SR 44/34. Ackingford is 

 an Old English name of early origin. The 

 first written reference to it is in 1 248 : 

 P.N. Essex, 53. 



62 Ibid. 166/143. " Ibid. 209/55. 



*♦ Ibid. 231/25. '5 Ibid. 232/27. 



" E.R.O., 2/ABb 4. For the career of 

 John Johnson (1732-18 14) see Jack 

 Simmons, 'Notes on a Leicester Archi- 

 tect : John Johnson', Trans. Leics. Arch. 

 Soc. XXV, 144. Johnson became Essex 

 County Surveyor in 1782. The article 

 refers to Ackingford Bridge (p. 148, 

 n. 24). 



" E.R.O., Q/SO 19, p. 602. 



" E.R.O., C/ABz 3. 



'9 Ibid. 70 Ibid. 



" Personal observation. The bridge 

 bears the date of rebuilding. 



'2 E.R.O., <2/SR 378/21; i.e. Bansons 

 bridge. '3 E.R. vii, 30.' 



'♦ Ibid, liii, II. The survey is among the 

 War Office Records in the Public Record 

 Office. 



'5 Universal Brit, Dir. 1791, vol. i, 

 pp. 508, 540. The details are somewhat 

 doubtful because the directory is in- 

 consistent. '6 Ibid. 



" yohnslone's London Commercial Dir. 

 1 8 17, pt. iv, p. 29 



'8 Ibid. 



" Pigot't Commercial Dir. (1826-7), 

 526. 



157 



