ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIPPING ONGAR 



poor', who was supported by subscriptions of £20 a 

 year. 



In 1706 application was made to Quarter Sessions 

 to license the house of Walter Buchanan in Chipping 

 Ongar for worship by Presbyterians.* In 1707 a 

 similar application was made in respect of the house of 

 Samuel Clarke.' The minister at that time was 

 Nathaniel Lacy.* In 17 16 the congregation was said 

 to number 200 persons, of whom 8 had votes for the 

 county and 4 were described as 'gentlemen'.' Before 

 17 1 8 John Nettleton, brother-in-law of Philip Dodd- 

 ridge, had moved from Epping to Ongar as minister.'" 



The first Independent church was built about 1720 

 on the site behind High Street where the present church 

 stands." The first trust deed dates from 1722, when 

 Simeon Weaver was pastor. '^ The property was held 

 of the manor of Chipping Ongar by copy of court 

 roll.'3 In addition to the church it included several 

 cottages fronting on the High Street. Access to the 

 church was provided by removing the ground floor 

 of one of the houses, thus forming an archway. 



In 1784 the ch,urch needed considerable repairs and 

 the cottages south of the gateway were sold to a Mr. 

 Bingham to raise money for this purpose.''' They were 

 subsequently repurchased.'' In 1841 the church 

 trustees held three cottages and a garden in addition to 

 the church itself'* 



In 1811 Isaac Taylor (1759-1829) came to Ongar 

 from Colchester as minister. He remained there until 

 his death. From Ongar he and other members of his 

 family issued many books for the young. For this 

 reason, and in order to distinguish them from the 

 contemporary literary family, the Taylors of Norwich, 

 Isaac Taylor's family became known as the Taylors of 

 Ongar.'7 According to Burls 'during the last years of 

 his ministry at Ongar Mr. Taylor saw, not merely a 

 gradual increase of his congregation but a manifest 

 decline of that strong immemorial prejudice in the 

 tovra which had seemed quite to preclude the hope of 

 winning souls to the gospel'.' * John Fordham (1774- 

 1835) was a zealous deacon at the church during the 

 later years of Taylor's ministry." 



In 1833 the original meeting-house was demolished 

 and the present church built in its place.^" A drawing 

 of the meeting-house was executed very shortly before 

 its demolition. 2' It shows a small building with a 

 classical facade of three bays, having attached pilasters 

 and a pediment. The foundation stone of the new 

 church was laid on 24 April 1833, and the church was 

 opened on 24 September.^^ The total cost was about 

 ^900.^3 Before 24 April ^{^500 had been raised and a 

 further ;^73 was contributed in the collections on the 

 opening day.^'* The church is in classical style with 

 pilastered windows and a string-course at eaves level 



" D.N.B. 



' E.R.O., Q/SBb35. 



' Ibid. 38. 



• T. W. Davids, Evang. Nonconf. in 

 Essex, 435. This Lacy cannot, however, 

 have been a former Rector of Greenstead. 

 The rector of that name died in occupa- 

 tion of the living in 1700: Newcourt, 

 Repert. ii, 289. 



' Davids, op. cit. 435. 



'0 Ibid. ; D.N.B. under Doddridge. 



" R. I. Porter, Notes on Chipping Ongar, 

 19- 



" Ibid.; T. W. Davids, E-vang. Nonconf. 

 in Essex, 4.35. 



" Porter, ibid. 



" Ibid. 



■5 Ibid. 



■' E.R.O., D/CT 262. 



*8 R, Burls, Essex Congr. Union, 94, 



For an amusing description of an old man 

 who used to sit at the top of the pulpit 

 steps during services in Isaac Taylor's 

 time see D. M. Armitage, Tie Taylors of 

 Ongar, 16. 



"> Burls, op. cit. 150-3. 



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



" D. M. Armitage, Tie Taylors of 

 Ongar, 161. From the inclusion of Isaac 

 Taylor's and his wife's tombstone the 

 drawing would appear to have been made 

 in or after 1830. 



" E.R.O., T/P96. 



» Ibid. 24 Ibid. 



25 R. 1. Porter, Notes on Chipping Ongar, 

 20. 



which accentuates the effect of the pediment. It is 

 much bigger than its predecessor, and the graves of 

 Isaac Taylor and his wife and their daughter Jane, 

 previously in the churchyard, are now inside the church. 

 The minister at the time of the rebuilding was Isaac 

 Tozer.^5 John Fordham was active in helping to raise 

 money for the new church.^* 



Richard Cecil was pastor from about 1838 to 1847. 

 While at Ongar he directed a small training school for 

 intending missionaries. Among his students, in 1 8 3 8-9, 

 was David Livingstone (1813-73), the missionary and 

 explorer.^' 



In 1865 the Sunday school was built behind the 

 church by Noble of Ongar to the design of J. C. Gilbert 

 of Nottingham.^' The building was of grey brick with 

 red brick bands and dressings. There was a belfry on 

 the entrance porch on the south side. The Sunday 

 school was damaged by fire during the First World War 

 and partially rebuilt in 1920.^' 



During the 19th century the church at Ongar had 

 sent out two offshoots: to Stanford Rivers (q.v.) in 

 1 8 19 and Moreton (q.v.) in 1862. In 1906 the total 

 membership of the three churches was 112, and there 

 were also 1 3 9 Sunday school pupils and 4 lay preachers.'" 

 In 1926 there were 135 members, 155 Sunday school 

 pupils, 5 lay preachers, and an evangelist who assisted 

 the minister.31 In 195 1 the church at Ongar alone had 

 99 members and 105 Sunday school pupils, and the 

 pastor was the Revd. W. H. Walker.'^ 



The oldest church book starts in 1796. The church 

 book for 181 1-67 contains some materials for the early 

 history of the church.33 



In October 1859 the Revd. Father Kyne, the priest 

 at Brentwood, wrote to 

 ROMJN CATHOLICISM the Cardinal at West- 

 minster: 'I have made a 

 beginning at Chipping Ongar. I have taken in the 

 heart of the town a house and premises for a year. Lord 

 Petre and Miss Tasker undertaking to pay the rent be- 

 tween them, and even to purchase the property for 

 ^^550 if within the year there is a reasonable prospect 

 of success. . . . There are not many Catholics yet, but 

 the Protestants are pretty well disposed.'^* This first 

 venture must have failed, for in March 1861 Father 

 Kyne wrote again to the Cardinal: 'I wish there could 

 be some beginning made at Chipping Ongar. Though 

 it contains only two Catholic families at present still 

 I have no doubt if a mission were once started it would 

 grow into something. I am on the look out for a suitable 

 house there. . . .''5 



It was apparently not until 1865 that anything per- 

 manent was achieved. In that year there was a Mass- 

 centre at Ongar which was served by the Revd. Henry 

 E. Fox; the parish was placed under the patronage of 



2' R. Burls, Essex Congr. Union, 153. 



" D.N.B. Livingstone. 



" E.R.O., T/P 96. J. C. Gilbert was 

 probably a relative of Ann Gilbert, 

 daughter of Isaac Taylor. The architect 

 made no charge for his services. 



" Ibid. 



5" Congr. Tear Bk. 1906. The pastor 

 then was the Revd. A. Goodall. 



3" Ibid. 1926. - 



52 Ibid. 1951. 



33 Inf. from Revd. W. H. Walker. A 

 full list of records has been prepared for the 

 National Register of Archives. 



3* Westminster Archives, Letters and 

 Papers of Cardinal Wiseman, Box for 

 1859. 



35 Ibid. Box for 1861. 



165 



