A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



at the Easter meetings was sometimes 1 5-20 but was 

 usually about 12. At the other meetings it was rarely 

 more than 8. Thomas Velley, rector 1733-50, usually 

 attended meetings and signed the minutes first. After 

 his death the clergy rarely attended until 1792, when 

 W. Herringham became curate. He soon took his 

 place as chairman of the vestry and when he left the 

 town in 1806 he was given a silver cup worth 25 

 guineas. From 1806 to 1828 the clergy again played 

 little apparent part in the vestry. For some years after 

 1828 Joseph Stanfield, the curate, acted as chairman. 

 In the absence of the clergy the churchwardens pre- 

 sided. 



The vestry clerk, who also acted as caretaker and 

 cleaner of the church, was voted an annual stipend of 

 40J. in 1770. This was increased in 1805 to 5 guineas. 

 In 1 8 19 the office of clerk was amalgamated with that 

 of permanent overseer, at a salary of j^i 5 for both 

 duties. 



In 1823 the public vestry set up a select vestry under 

 the second Sturges Bourne Act (59 Geo. Ill, c. 12). 

 The select vestry contained the minister, church- 

 wardens and overseers and fifteen other members. It 

 functioned only for about three years. In 1836 the 

 public vestry adopted the Lighting and Watching Act, 

 1833 (3 & 4 William IV, c. 90). 



All types of parish business were transacted at the 

 same meetings of the public vestry. A distinction was 

 usually maintained between rates for different pur- 

 poses, but there were frequent adjustments between 

 the accounts of different officers. In 1743 a rate of 

 IS. bd. in the pound produced about [fio. By 1783 a 

 similar rate produced ^^83. A new rating assessment 

 was made in 1832, when it was recommended that 

 the rateable value of the parish should be fixed at 

 ^^1,460 10^.3 This was not the final assessment at this 

 time, for in 1837 the rateable value was fixed at over 

 ^2,960. A rate oi\d. then produced ^^39 \s. 2d.'' The 

 rateable value rose steadily to £,l,o\i in 1842' and in 

 1849 was j^3, 8 56.* It then remained steady until 1858, 

 when evidence from the ratebooks ceases. There can 

 be no doubt that these increases in rateable value had 

 as their main cause the growth of the built-up area of 

 the parish.7 



The general policy of the parish vestry was to ensure 

 that burdens were fairly shared. Thus in May 1800 

 it was resolved that 'every householder of sufficient 

 abihty shall in his turn either take an apprentice or 

 yearly servant a boy or girl from the parish or shall 

 provide a reputable master for such child'. In the 

 following June it was decided to hold a ballot to decide 

 the first allotment of pauper apprentices. In 1803 the 

 vestry introduced an insurance scheme to assist those 

 who had been selected in the ballot for the Army of 

 Reserve. 



All the normal parish officers were appointed until 

 1 8 19, when, as noticed above, a salaried overseer was 

 appointed. This arrangement, however, only lasted 

 for about six years. The offices of parish constable and 

 beadle were sometimes held by the same individual, 

 but in April 1805 William Ainsworth was dismissed 



from the two posts and it was resolved that George 

 Archer be appointed constable and John Burrell beadle. 

 Burrell was to receive an annual salary of 2 guineas and 

 he was to be allowed a laced blue coat and hat once 

 every four years. In 18 13 the parish constable was 

 allowed 5 guineas. In 1842 it was decided that a paid 

 constable was no longer necessary. ^ An entry of 1756 

 shows that the 'hamlet' of Greenstead was being 

 assessed along with Chipping Ongar to the constables' 

 rate. If this refers to Greenstead parish (q.v.) it means 

 that the Ongar constables were also acting at Green- 

 stead; but it may refer to the houses south of Chipping 

 Ongar Bridge, on the Greenstead boundary. In the 

 vestry minutes for 1792 there is a reference to the town 

 crier. 



The ancient pound, pillory, and cage apparently 

 stood on the east side of High Street, opposite the post- 

 office.' They were removed in 1786, when the As- 

 sembly Rooms were built, to a piece of waste ground 

 100 yds. north-west of the bridge.'" The cottage be- 

 hind this piece of ground was subsequently bought by 

 Edward Rayner, who persuaded the vestry to move 

 pound, pillory, and cage to a place farther down the 

 road, near the south-east end of the bridge." 



There was a poorhouse in Chipping Ongar in 1748, 

 if not earlier. It then adjoined the rectory. In 1752-4 

 and perhaps later the duty of looking after the poor 

 (i.e. presumably those in the poorhouse) was farmed 

 out for ^^4 a year. It was provided in 1752 that three 

 men should take turns at this work, each doing it for 

 a year. A parish doctor was appointed in 176 1 at an 

 annual salary of 5 guineas. This was reduced in 1770 

 to ^4. Before 1761 medical treatment appears to have 

 been paid for as each case arose. In 1795 it was 

 resolved that the parish poorhouses should be demolished 

 and that one large building should be erected instead. 

 In the same year it was decided 'that the site of the old 

 building being inconvenient to the rector, the parish- 

 ioners do agree to exchange the present site for a 

 portion of the glebe of equal extent now offered by the 

 rector'; the rector was to enclose and fence the new 

 site. It is possible that the new poorhouse was built on 

 the glebe immediately to the north of the church." 

 But this is difficult to reconcile with the glebe terrier 

 of i8io.'3 It was estimated that the new poorhouse 

 would cost ^(^153 and the vestry agreed that j^ioo of 

 this should be borrowed on a ten-year term. The build- 

 ing was apparently carried out in 1797. John Crabb 

 of Shelley Hall lent £100 but in the same year required 

 repayment. The vestry decided to meet half the debt 

 immediately out of the rates and to borrow ^50 from 

 someone else. By this time poor relief was becoming an 

 urgent problem. The poor rates had risen from ;{^ii9 

 in 1744 to j^l75 in 1778 and about Zl'^o in 1798. ■■♦ 

 In 1800 they were j^454.i5 In July of that year the 

 vestry resolved to enlarge the workhouse. Whether 

 this was done is not clear, but before April 1802 there 

 was a fire at the workhouse and rebuilding was neces- 

 sitated on that account. The house had been insured. 

 In May 1807 the vestry approved an estimate of 

 j^4 I 5/. for finishing 'the back chamber at the work- 



' The entry in the Vestry Minutes 

 gives the name of every ratepayer and his 

 assessment. There are several similar 

 lists for 1758-60. 



* Lighting and Watching Surveyors 

 RateBk. 1837-43, E.R.O.,D/P 124/33/1. 



s Ibid. 



' Ibid. 1848-58, E.R.O., D/P 124/ 



33M. 



' The population increased from 595 

 in 1801 to 870 in 1841 : V.C.H. Essex, ii, 



35°- 



8 The County Constabulary had been 

 set up in 1840. 



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

 23. "" Ibid. 



168 



" Ibid. 24. Perhaps the removal is 

 referred to in the vestry minute-book entry 

 of 1808 — see below. 



** See above, Church. 



■3 Ibid. 



■•< Overseers Rate Bk., E.R.O., D/P 

 124/11/1. 



'5 Ibid. 



