ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIPPING ONGAR 



came dukes of Buckingham." Henry Stafford, Duke 

 of Buckingham, suffered execution and forfeiture in 

 1483. Ongar was named among his possessions and 

 was granted by the king in 1484 to Sir Thomas 

 Montgomery for life.'^ Edward Stafford, son of Henry, 

 was restored to the dukedom in 1485. He was 

 executed for treason in I 521 and his possessions, includ- 

 ing Ongar, passed into the hands of the king.'J 



In 1524 Chipping Ongar was leased for 21 years to 

 Thomas Maple, yeoman. '■• In 1537 William Morris, 

 a gentleman usher of the king's chamber, was granted 

 an 80 years' lease of the manor, to run from the 

 expiration of Maple's lease in 1545." In 1542, how- 

 ever, the king granted the manor absolutely to George 

 Harper, who a month later transferred his interest to 

 Morris.'* Morris mortgaged the manor in the same 

 year to Eustace Sulyard for ^400." William Morris 

 died in 1554, leaving James Morris as his son and 

 heir." By his will he devised to his wife Anne a hfe 

 interest in two-thirds of the manor of Chipping 

 Ongar." James Morris is said to have erected a 

 pleasure house on the top of the castle mount." A visit 

 to the 'house of pleasure' may well have been a feature 

 of the visit of Elizabeth I to Anne Morris at Chipping 

 Ongar.^ In 1561 James Morris received the queen's 

 licence to alienate the manor to Andrew Hemerford 

 and Christopher Crowe. s This was evidently for the 

 purpose of a marriage settlement, for in 1563 Hemer- 

 ford and Crowe were licensed to convey Ongar to 

 James Morris and Elizabeth his wife and the heirs of 

 James's body, with remainder to his right heirs.* 



James Morris died in 1597. Four years before 

 Chipping Ongar had been settled on his son and heir 

 John on his marriage with Katherine, daughter of Sir 

 Gabriel Poyntz of North Ockendon.s Sir Gabriel had 

 settled the manor of North Ockendon (q.v.) and other 

 property on his daughter and son-in-law and their joint 

 issue and this explains why John Morris later changed 

 his name to Poyntz. John Morris alias Poyntz was 

 knighted and died in 161 8.* His son and heir Sir 

 James Poyntz died in 1623.^ Sir James was succeeded 

 by his son Richard, who died in France in August 

 1643.* Sir James's brother Poyntz Poyntz evidently 

 succeeded Richard, but died in December of the same 

 year. According to the inquisition on Poyntz Poyntz 

 the next heir to Chipping Ongar was John Morris, son 

 of Edward Morris brother of Sir John Morris alias 

 Poyntz.' 



The next step in the manorial descent is not entirely 



clear. In 1647 John Morris son of Edward was 

 arraigned before the House of Lords on charges of 

 forging various evidences, including Acts of Parlia- 

 ment, to secure his title to Chipping Ongar, North 

 Ockendon, and other manors. The petitioners against 

 him were Sir Adam Littleton, Bt., and Audrey Littleton 

 his wife, Maurice Barrow, and Sir Fulke Greville.'" 

 Audrey was daughter of Thomas Poyntz, son of Sir 

 Gabriel." There seems little doubt that she was the 

 heir to North Ockendon under the settlements made 

 by Gabriel. She had no claim to Chipping Ongar but 

 here John Morris's title was apparently disputed by 

 Barrow and Greville. Barrow is said to have married 

 Sir James Poyntz's widow and Sir Fulke Greville to 

 have married Anne, sister and coheir of Richard 

 Poyntz.'^ Elizabeth, the other sister and coheir was 

 apparently the wife of William Duncombe.'^ Ap- 

 parently Elizabeth and Anne made good their claim to 

 Ongar, for in 1650 and 165 1 a series of conveyances 

 was made by which they secured the manor upon Sir 

 Thomas Whitmore, Bt.'* Thomas (d. 1653) was suc- 

 ceeded by his son William, the 2nd baronet (d. i699).'5 

 In 1663 William's estate at Chipping Ongar was 

 bringing in ^^426 10/. a year.'* The largest tenant was 

 'Mr. Goldsborough', who paid a rent of ;^ioi.'7 



It must have been in 1663 or 1664 that Thomas 

 Goldsborough, no doubt the tenant mentioned above, 

 bought the manor from Sir William Whitmore.' * 

 Goldsborough was dead by 9 September 1664." 

 Another Thomas Goldsborough was holding the 

 manor of Chipping Ongar in 17 1820 and it appears to 

 have been about this time that he sold it to Edward 

 Alexander, second son of Nicholas Alexander of 

 Marden Ash in High Ongar.^' Edward Alexander in 

 1 744 demolished the house built by James Morris and 

 built in its place 'a large and handsome summer house'.^^ 

 He died in 1 7 5 1 and was succeeded by his grandson 

 Richard Henry Alexander Bennet.^3 



Richard H. A. Bennet made a settlement of Chipping 

 Ongar in 1766 before his marriage to Elizabeth 

 Amelia, daughter of Peter Burrell of Beckenham 

 (Kent).^ He died in 18 14 and was succeeded by his 

 son, also named Richard Henry Alexander Bennet.^s 

 The son died in 1 8 r 8, and Elizabeth Amelia his mother 

 in 1837.2* Under the will of R. H. A. Bennet the 

 father (181 1), remainder was to his daughters Emilia 

 Elizabeth, wife of Sir John Swinburne, Bt., and 

 Isabella Julia, wife of Sir James Willoughby Gordon,. 

 Bt.2' By means of a private Act of Parliament (1838) 



»■ Complete Peerage (orig. edn.), vii, 

 211-12; Complete Peerage, ii, 388 f. 

 «2 C145/330; Cal. Pat. 1476-85, 430. 

 « Complete Peerage, ii, 390; Ei5o/File 

 306, no. 6. 



" L. &f P. Hen. Vlll, xii (2), p. 281. 

 Maple had been farmer under the Duke of 

 Buckingham as early as 1510— 1 1 : E.R.O., 

 D/DP Ms88. 

 »5 Ibid. 



«« L. & P. Hen. Fill, xvii, p. 161. 

 «' CP40/iii4m. 8. 

 «8 0142/100/32. 

 «» Ibid. 

 ' Norden^t Descrip. of Eiiex (Camd. 

 See. 1840), 23. 

 » E.R. xxvi, 183. 

 ' Cal. Pat. 1560-3, 136. 

 ■* Ibid. 552; CP40/1211. 

 5 0142/258/74; CP25(2)/i36/i73i. 

 ' C142/369/.48. 

 ' C142/398/133. 

 • P.C.C. Tear Bks. of Probates, 1640-4, 



ES. IV 



249 ; G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, Little- 

 ton (cr. 1642). 



« C142/622/4 & 10, 744/39, 745/65- 



■o L.y. Index Vol. to i-x, p. 386; cf. 

 C. T. Catty, Mary Davie! and the Manor 

 of Ebury, i, 89-96. 



" L.y. ix, 29 312-29 5<j. For a 17th 

 cent. MS. pedigree of the Poyntz and 

 Morris families see E.R.O., D/DRu F7. 



" Morant, £ssirjr, i, 129. 



'3 Ibid. It is suggested by Newcourt, 

 Repert. ii, 450, that Anne and Elizabeth 

 were the sisters of Sir James Poyntz. For 

 the Poyntz and Duncombe families see 

 also Magdalen Laver. 



'•• CP25(2)/55oi, Hil. 1650, Mich. 

 1650, Trin. 1651. 



>5 Complete Baronetage, Whitmore (cr. 

 1641). 



■<■ E.R.O., D/DAc 238. 



>7 There were 1 3 other tenants. 



>8 Morant, Essex, i, 129. 



" Parish Regs, of Ongar, ed. F. A. Crisp, 



161 



107. 



" CP25(2)/ioi2 Hil. 4 Geo. I. He 

 was probably the grandson of the Thomas 

 Goldsborough who died in 1664, and 

 another Thomas Goldsborough, who died 

 at Ongar in 1703, was probably his father: 

 Parish Regs, of Ongar, 119. 



" Morant, Essex, i, 129. 



" Ibid. The summer house is well 

 thown in a drawing of Ongar from the 

 west, 1766: E.R.O., Prints, Chipping 

 Ongar. Remains of the summer house 

 appear in a drawing of 1821: D. M. 

 Armitage, Taylors of Ongar, 57. 



" Edward Alexander's son Bennet 

 Alexander had taken the additional sur- 

 name of Bennet on succeeding to the pro- 

 perty of an aunt: Morant, Essex, i, 129. 



2t E.R.O., D/DC 27/736; Burie's 

 Peerage, Gwydyr. 



25 Ibid. 



" Ibid. 



" Ibid. 



