ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIPPING ONGAR 



house'. A year later it also approved an estimate for a 

 new parish cage.'* In April i8og a Mr. Peake was 

 appointed parish surgeon at a stipend of £j ijs. 6J. 

 for medicine with additional fees of los. 6d. for mid- 

 wifery and 1$. for inoculation. It was laid down that 

 in future the office of parish surgeon should be held in 

 rotation by Peake and two other doctors. 



Meanwhile the poor rates were still rising: in 1806 

 they were ,^674." In 1815a committee was appointed 

 to investigate recent extravagance in the conduct of the 

 workhouse. Its report revealed that in 18 1 3 and 18 14 

 the average cost of maintaining one person in the work- 

 house was IS. zd. a week. In all £^\o'] had been spent, 

 of which ^£63 was reckoned as the cost of maintaining 

 the 'governess' and her two children. The vestry 

 thereupon advertised for a governor who should con- 

 tract to look after the poor in the workhouse at a fixed 

 sum. A Mr. Jessup of Epping was given the contract 

 in June 1 8 1 5 . John Heard, who was granted the con- 

 tract in July 1 8 19, was apparently Jessup's successor. 

 He was paid 4/. 3d', per person per week. Farming out 

 of the poor was discontinued in June 1820. 



In 1 82 1 the vestry adopted a long and detailed code 

 of regulations for the relief of the poor, with special 

 reference to the keeping of the overseers' accounts. An 

 audit of the overseers' accounts revealed a debt of ;^I96. 

 It is probable that there was no separate master of the 

 workhouse for some years at this period, but in 1828 

 it was resolved that one should be appointed, and a 

 month later the vestry drew up a code of regulations 

 for the conduct of the workhouse, and appointed 

 William Wood senior as master at a salary of ;^io a 

 year for himself and his wife. Improvements were 

 made in the workhouse during the same year. 



In June 1832 the vestry formally adopted the rules 

 laid down in Gilbert's Act (22 Geo. Ill, c. 83) for the 

 conduct of the workhouse. In May 1835 it was further 

 resolved to join with the neighbouring parishes in a 

 poor law union. The first meeting of poor law guardians 

 for the Ongar Union took place in April 1836. In 

 June 1837 the Chipping Ongar vestry resolved to selj 

 the 'timber built messuage used as a workhouse'.'' 



A school teacher at Chipping Ongar was mentioned 

 in 1655." A school also existed in the 

 SCHOOLS town in 1671.20 



By will dated 1678 Joseph King (d. 

 1679) ^^f^ fi^^ cottages on the west side of the High 

 Street, producing £■} 5 3/. a year, in trust for educational 

 purposes.^' From the income ;^io a year was to be paid 

 to a schoolmaster for teaching 6 poor boys; ^^5 as a 

 premium for an apprentice to be chosen annually from 

 among these boys, or ^5 a year for four years to the 

 parents of a boy 'who should prove to be of rare and 

 extraordinary parts and like to make a good minister'; 



£2 to a mistress for teaching 4 poor girls; ^^i for pro- 

 viding bibles for poor families; 10/. for a trustees' audit 

 and dinner and 4/. for the sexton to keep clean a tablet 

 in the church recording the bequest. Any surplus was 

 to provide teaching for more poor children. 



In 1714 £10 was being used to maintain a boys' 

 school with 26 pupils and £2 for a girls' school with 

 12 pupils. Both schools were further supported by 

 voluntary contributions.^^ The boys' school evidently 

 flourished in subsequent years, in 1755 having some 

 100 pupils. The master was then offering a secondary 

 schooling to fee-paying pupils as well as teaching the 6 

 free pupils.^^ In 1779 the 'Free School' was ap- 

 parently situated in the High Street.^* 



Early in the 19th century boys and girls were being 

 taught by a master and a mistress in a single establish- 

 ment, probably in one of the trust cottages, which the 

 master rented for ^14 in 1835 and was still occupying 

 in 1841.25 The free pupils seem to have varied in 

 number according to the amount of surplus income 

 from the trust: there were 15 in 1807,26 ig in 1818,27 

 and 16 in 1833.28 In 1835 the income from the 

 charity was ^^74 js. a year. The schoolmaster received 

 ;^i6 13/. 4.J. for teaching 10 free boys, with an addi- 

 tional allowance of 7/. a boy for books and stationery. 2' 

 He also took paying pupils: in 1833 there had been 20 

 of these.30 Only one boy had recently been apprenticed : 

 a premium of £21 had been paid for him to a shoe- 

 maker.3' In 1835 £2 was also being paid to a mistress 

 to teach 4 girls. 32 The trustees had a balance in hand 

 of ^204 1 1/.33 The children entered the school at 6 

 or 7 years of age on the nomination of trustees, and left 

 at about 14.M The school seems to Have been under 

 Anglican control, as it was in 1871.35 



In 1846 a new school was built behind the trust 

 cottages.36 It had accommodation for 63 pupils but no 

 teacher's residence.37 By 1870 it had not received a 

 parliamentary grant and its growth had been slow 

 owing to the success of the local private schools ;3 8 only 

 66 attended it in 1871.39 



An inspector reported in 1871 that the school was 

 adequate to the needs of Chipping Ongar, but would 

 require enlargement to accommodate 30 children from 

 Shelley, which had no school of its own and which he 

 suggested should be united with Chipping Ongar in a 

 single School District.*" In 1873, therefore, the school 

 was enlarged at a cost of ;{J320'*' and began to receive 

 an annual parliamentary grant.'*2 By 1877 there were 

 over 100 pupils, including the 6 free boys.'^s Children 

 also attended from Greenstead when the school there 

 was closed.'** In 1893, when there was accommodation 

 for 172 children, the average attendance had reached 

 I27.''5 In 1904 there were 162 pupils, 4 teachers, of 

 whom one was certificated, and a needlework super- 



I 



'* The cage was dismantled by the 

 resolution of the vestry in 1853. It stood 

 on the site of the present fire-station. 



■' Ibid. 



*8 In 1846 some of the local paupers 

 were housed in the lower story of the 

 Town Hall: E.R.O., G/On M3. 



■9 E.R.O., Q/SO I, p. 2ioa. 



" E.R.O., Q/RTh 5. 



" Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), H.C. 216, 

 pp. 237-8 (1835), xxi (i); r.C.H. Essex, 

 ii, 560. For King see above, Church. 



" S.P.C.K. ylcct. of Ciariiy Scis. 17 14, 

 p. 27. 



2' Ifs-wich Jnl. 24 May, 21 June 1755. 



2* E.R.O., D/DQk I. 



2« Rep. Cam. Char. (Essex), p. 238; 



E.R.O., D/CT 262. 



" E.R.O., D/AEM 2/4. 



" Retns. on Educ. of Poor, H.C. 224, 

 p. 264 (1819), ix (i). 



2« Educ. Enquiry Abstr. H.C. 62, p. 284 

 (1835), xli. 



2» Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), p. 238. 



'» Educ. Enquiry Abstr. (1835), p. 284. 



" Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), p. 238. 



" Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 



35 Retns. Elem. Educ. H.C. 201, pp. 

 112-13 (1871), Iv. 



36 E.R.O., D/CT 262; Ifhite's Dir. 

 Essex (1863); O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), 

 sheet li (surveyed 1873-4); E.R.O., T/P 

 96 : Ongar W.E.A. Survey. A stone bear- 

 ing the date of foundation lay in 195 1 in 



169 



the cul-de-sac between Ongar Grammar 

 School and Little Bansons. 



3' Retns. Elem. Educ. (1871), pp. 112- 

 13; V.C.H. Essex, W, 561. 



38 E.R.O., D/AEM i/i/i; Min. of" 

 Educ. File 1-}I66. 



39 Retns. Elem. Educ. (1871), pp. 112- 



•3- 



« Min. of Educ. Fik 13/66. 



*■ Kelly's Dir. Essex (1899), 284. 



<2 Essex Standard, 28 Oct. 1874. 



*3 R. I. Porter, Notes on Chipping Ongar, 

 21. 



♦♦ Kelly's Dir. Essex (1899), 284. 



<s Retn. ofSchs. 1893 [C. 7529], p. 713, 

 H.C. (1894), Uv. 



