ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIPPING ONGAR 



The Ongar Cottage Hospital, consisting of two con- 

 verted bungalows, was opened in 1928. It had 30 

 beds.^' The Ongar and District War Memorial 

 Hospital (in the parish of Shelley) was opened in 

 1932.^* The burial grounds attached to the parish 

 church and the Congregational church were closed by 

 government order in 1864" and in 1866 a new 

 cemetery was opened in the north of the town.^^ 



In 1843 the committee of the newly formed Essex 

 Constabulary rejected an application for a lock-up in 

 Ongar.^' Negotiations were reopened in 1 847, when 

 Mr. Budworth offered land for a police-station.s" By 

 1854 building was proceeding and in 1855 there was 

 a police superintendent at Ongar, Joseph Catchpole.3' 



Before the i8th century the social life of Ongar was 

 probably limited to the parish church, the court house, 

 the shop, and the inn. From about 1720 the Congrega- 

 tional church was drawing nonconformists from the 

 villages as well as the town, and at the end of the 1 8th 

 century the building of the Assembly Rooms provided 

 another social centre. During the ministry of Isaac 

 Taylor at the Congregational church (181 1-29) there 

 is said to have been an improvement in the relations 

 between dissenters and the other inhabitants of Ongar 

 (see Protestant Nonconformity). It is probable that 

 this was largely due to the personalities of Isaac Taylor 

 and his family (see also Worthies). 



In the second half of the 19th century the local 

 gentry gave a strong lead in the social life of the town. 

 Prominent among them was Capt. P. J. Budworth of 

 Greenstead Hall. He was probably responsible for 

 reviving the fair and was active in most local affairs. 

 The Clerk of the Peace for Essex, Henry Gibson, 

 lived at the White House and in 1870 he built a 

 lecture hall for the town.^^ In 1873 a drill hall was 

 built by subscription for the ist Volunteer Battahon, 

 Essex Regiment; it was also used for meetings and 

 concerts.33 The Budworth Hall was built in 1886 as 

 a memorial to Captain Budworth. It contained a large 

 assembly room, reading-rooms, and coffee rooms. A 

 clock tower was added in 1887 and a museum in 

 1898.3't By this time also the Roman Catholic church 

 had been built and the grammar school had greatly 

 increased in size. A cricket club had been formed in 

 1845.35 A Mechanics' Institute is said to have been 

 founded in 1848, but it is not known how long this 

 lasted.36 In 1906 there was an Ongar Agricultural 

 Association, a Constitutional Association, a Horti- 

 cultural Society, and a Reading and Recreation 



Society.37 A branch of the county library was opened 

 in 1930.38 Activities at the Budworth Hall have 

 declined, but Ongar is now (1952) well provided with 

 societies, including the Ongar Social and Sports Club 

 with its own ground.^' There is no cinema. The 

 coming of the motor bus in the 1920's has diminished 

 the importance of Ongar as a local shopping centre, 

 but the town still supplies some of the surrounding 

 villages with certain commodities, particularly food- 

 stuffs.'*'^ Expansion of the present town centre would 

 be difficult owing to lack of suitable space.<' 



Thomas Velley (1748-1806), botanist, was born at 



Chipping Ongar.*^ Isaac Taylor 



fVORTHIES (1759-1829) is mentioned below.« 



His son Isaac Taylor (1787-1865), 



artist, author, and inventor, lived with his father at 



Ongar before moving to Stanford Rivers. Jane Taylor 



(1783-1824) and her sister Ann, later Mrs. Gilbert 



( 1 7 8 2— 1 866), were also children of Isaac Taylor. They 



collaborated in several books for children, including 



Original Poems for Infant Minds (1804) and Rhymes 



for the nursery (1806). Jane also wrote 'Twinkle, 



twinkle little star'.''* John Spriggs Churchill (1801— 



75), medical publisher, was born at Ongar."*' David 



Livingstone (1813—73) is mentioned below.'** 



In early references it is sometimes difficult to dis- 

 tinguish CHIPPING ONGAR from High 

 MANOR Ongar (q.v.). By the will of Thurstan, son 

 of Wine (or Lustwine), 1043-5, 'the wood 

 at Ongar, except the deer enclosure and the stud which 

 I have there', were left to the servants of the testator, 

 and to Thurstan's servant Thurgot was left J hide 

 'which .^Ifstan occupies at Ongar'.''^ Thurstan's wife 

 was mentioned in the will as .lEthelgyth; she appears 

 in Domesday Book as 'Ailid', and was said to have held 

 Ongar before the conquest as i hide and as i manor .'** 

 From her the manor seems to have passed to Ingelric 

 'the priest'; for in 1068 William the Conqueror con- 

 firmed the gift of Ongar by Ingelric to the house of St. 

 Martin-le-Grand, London.'*' In spite of the gift, how- 

 ever, Ongar was held in 1086 by Ingelric's successor 

 Eustace, Count of Boulogne. 5" It was the only one of 

 .iEthelgyth's Essex estates that did not pass to Ralf 

 Bainard.5' Ralf Bainard, however, held J hide at 

 Ongar in 1086 which had previously belonged to a 

 freeman. 52 Possibly this freeman had been Thurgot. 



It was suggested by J. H. Round that Ongar castle, 

 upon its mound, was thrown up by Count Eustace 

 and was the caput of the count's Essex fief.53 From 



" Inf. from Mr. C. H. Hackney. 



" Inf. from Councillor Miss Hadler. 



" E.R.O., D/P 128/8/3. 



»8 Kelly's Dir. Eaex (1886). 



" E.R.O., Q/ACm 15, p. 77. For the 

 old parish cage see above, p. 156, and 

 Parish Government, below. 



30 Ibid. p. 123. 



'■ E.R.O., Q/ACm 16, p. 8; Kelly's 

 Dir. Essex (1855). 



32 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1890). 



33 Ibid. 



3< Ibid. ri9o6). 



35 Inf. from Mr. D. W. Hutchings. The 

 original printed rules still exist. 



3' Inf. from Mr. Hutchings. 



37 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1906). 



3' Inf. from County Librarian. 



39 Inf. from Mr. D. W. Hutchings. 



«> Mr. D. W. Hutchings of Ongar 

 Secondary School recently carried out an 

 inquiry among 200 children at the school, 

 drawn from 35 places, mainly in Ongar 



Rural District, concerning the use made 

 by their families of goods and services pro- 

 vided by Chipping Ongar. The answers 

 to his questions suggest that Chipping 

 Ongar provides some goods and services 

 for most of the places within 4 miles of it 

 but that it is an important centre only for 

 people living in 1 1 villages : Bobbingworth, 

 Fyfield, Greenstead, Kelvedon Hatch, 

 Moreton, High Ongar, Norton Heath, 

 Shelley, Stanford Rivers, Stapleford 

 Tawney, and Toot Hill. Most of these 

 places are within 2 miles of Chipping 

 Ongar, and they lie mainly to the north 

 and west of the town. For villages to the 

 south and east Brentwood is no doubt the 

 main centre. 



*' In The Greater London Plan (1944), 

 Professor Patrick Abercrombie proposed 

 that Chipping Ongar should be the 

 nucleus of a new town of 60,000 inhabi- 

 tants (see pp. 169—71). The suggestion 

 has not been adopted. It involved a large 



area surrounding the present town but 

 did not provide for an important alteration 

 of the old town centre. 



42 D.N.B. 



*3 See Protestant Nonconformity. 



44 For the Taylors see D.N.B. also 

 D. M. Armitage, Tie Taylors of Ongar, 

 and Isaac Taylor, Tit Family Pen. 



45 D.N.B. 



4^ See Protestant Nonconformity. ' 



47 D. Whitelock, Anglo-Saxon fVills, 82, 

 84. 



48 f^.C.H. Essex, i, 467a. 



49 E.H.R. xi, 740. . 



5» f^.C.H. Essex, i, 467a. 



5' For other lands of ^thelgyth see 

 f^.C.Il. Essex, i, 347; D. Whitelock, 

 Anglo-Saxon fVills, 190, 195. 



52 y^.C.H. Essex, i, 467.2. 



53 J. H. Round, 'The Honour of Ongar', 

 E.A.T. N.s. vii, 142-52. At this time 

 Chipping Ongar was apparently a 'mem- 

 ber' of Stanford (Rivers) q.v. 



159 



