ONGAR HUNDRED 



CHIPPING ONGAR 



headmaster was Oswald Clark, M.A.'^ At the 191 1 

 census there were 164 children at the school.^ In the 

 following year the principals were O. W. Clark, M.A., 

 and Benjamin Brucesmith, LL.D.'s In 1926 the 

 principal was Percival H. Bingley and the 'Director of 

 Studies' was William Attlee, M.A. There were 7 

 assistant masters; the rector acted as chaplain. '6 By 

 1937 P. H. Bingley and Thomas A. Owen, B.A., 

 M.R.S.T., were joint principals. There was pro- 

 vision for 140 boarders and there were two university 

 leaving scholarships of ;{^30 a year, tenable for 2 years. ^7 

 The school closed about 1940.88 



The Grammar School was situated on the west side 

 of the High Street at the north end of the town. The 

 tithe map {c. 1 841) shows a number of buildings on this 

 site. They were all owned by Richard Stokes, who also 

 owned the adjoining Little Bansons.*' Between that 

 time and 1874 a large new building was erected.'" In 

 1937 the school was said to include music and recrea- 

 tion rooms, gymnasium, swimming-bath (added in 

 1885), carpentry shop and rifle-range with playing- 

 fields and grounds of over 100 acres. The boarders 

 were accommodated in 3 houses." The main Gram- 

 mar School building fronts upon High Street and has 

 an imposing symmetrical facade. '^ 



The origin and terms of King's Charity (founded 

 1679) have been described above, in 

 CHARITIES connexion with the King's Trust 

 School. By a scheme made in 1905 

 ^48 of capital was set aside for the provision, which 

 had been customary, of ^i a year for bibles and 4/. for 

 the sexton. «3 



Mrs. Septame Mitchell, by will proved 1804, left 

 ;^50 in trust for a yearly distribution to the poor on i 

 ■ January. In 1834 a quartern loaf was given to each 

 poor adult and a half quartern to each child.''* In 

 1950 the income of ^i zs. SJ. was applied to the relief 

 of the poor. 95 



Edward Sammes of Chipping Ongar, by will proved 

 1882, left ;{^loo in trust for the purchase of tea and 

 sugar to be given annually to 30 poor families of 

 Chipping Ongar. The income was ^^2 8/. 8</. in 1950.'* 



In 1786 it was stated that William Green, by will 

 dated 1554, devised a rent charge of j^2 to 12 of the 

 poorest inhabitants of Stanford Rivers and of ^i to 

 six poor of Chipping Ongar, but that this had not been 

 paid since 1739. Nothing was known of this charity 

 in 1835 except that a suit — the result of which was 

 unknown — had been instituted 'many years ago' to 

 recover these bequests.'^ 



HIGH ONGAR 



The parish of High Ongar adjoins Chipping Ongar 

 to the east and south, being divided from it by the 

 River Roding and Cripsey Brook. Until 1946 it 

 included two detached parts, the most important of 

 which was some 3 miles west of the main body of the 

 parish. The main body itself contains two distinct 

 areas. Marden Ash, to the south of Chipping Ongar, 

 is a residential suburb of the town. The soil there is 

 glacial loam and Boulder Clay. The area to the east 

 of the Roding is entirely rural. It includes two villages. 

 High Ongar in the north-west and Paslow Wood 

 Common in the south-east, and numerous farms. The 

 soil is Boulder Clay with a small patch of glacial loam. 

 The detached parts raised special administrative prob- 

 lems, which were made more serious by the poor road 

 system in the main body of the parish. 



Uncertainty as to the area of the parish during the 

 Middle Ages makes it difficult to use the taxation 

 returns for that period as a guide to population density 

 and relative wealth, but if the area of High Ongar in 

 and after the 14th century was about the same as it was 

 in 1945 it is probable that the parish was sparsely 

 populated in the Middle Ages.' In 1 67 1 High Ongar 

 had only 57 houses compared with the 81 of Stanford 

 Rivers, a neighbouring parish of similar area.^ The 

 development of Marden Ash and High Ongar village 

 during the i8th century increased the relative as well 

 as the total population of the parish, and in 1801 High 

 Ongar had 741 inhabitants — one more than Stanford 

 Rivers. The population rose to 1,126 in 1821 and 

 remained at about that figure for the next century. It 

 then increased to 1,419 in 1931, and to 1,675 ™ I95i-' 



Recent growth is mainly due to the building of council 

 houses. 



The ancient parish of High Ongar consisted of 

 4,519 acres of which 1,505 acres were in the two 

 detached portions. The main body of the parish, 

 3,014 acres in extent, was situated to the east and south 

 of Chipping Ongar.* Detached Part No. i, of 962 

 acres, lay between North Weald and Bobbingworth. 

 Its western boundary was that which is now common 

 to those two parishes. Its eastern boundary ran from 

 Bobbingworth Lodge in the north to the southern 

 boundary of Bobbingworth near Blake Hall railway 

 station.5 Detached Part No. 2, of 543 acres, lay to the 

 north of Norton Mandeville. Its northern boundary 

 was part of that which now divides Norton Mandeville 

 from the parishes of Fyfield and Willingale. Its 

 southern boundary ran from the Roding at a point 

 about J mile north of High Ongar Bridge east to the 

 present Norton Mandeville-Willingale boundary 

 near Bassett's Farm in Willingale. These detached 

 parts belonged to High Ongar until 1946, when 

 Detached Part No. i was merged in Bobbingworth 

 and No. 2 in Norton Mandeville.* 



Reasons are given below (see Church) for supposing 

 that in about 1280 a substantial part of the then parish 

 of High Ongar was transferred to Stanford Rivers 

 (q.v.). It is suggested that High Ongar had previously 

 extended continuously from Marden Ash, south of 

 Greenstead and round to Ongar Park Hall and 

 Ashlyns, and that the southern boundary of this part, of 

 High Ongar may have been the stream which joins the 

 Roding at Wash Bridge. It is further suggested that 



«3 Ibid. (1899). 



«* Ibid. (1912). 



»5 Ibid. 



»« Ibid. (1926). 



»' Ibid. (1937). 



«» Inf. from Mr. D. W. Hutchings. 



«» E.R.O., D/CT 262. 



w Cf. O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), sheet li. 



»' Ktlly't Dir. Ettex (1937). 



92 E.R.O., T/P 96, Ongar W.E.A. 

 Survey. The building has now (1955) 

 been converted into business premises. 



93 Char. Com. files. 



9< Ref>. Com. Char. (Essex), H.C. 216, 

 pp. 238-9 (183s), xxi (i); E.R.O., D/P 

 124/8/1 (entry Apr. 1806). 



95 Char. Com. files. 



9' Ibid. 



9' Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), p. 243. 

 * For statistics see below, pp. 300 f. 



2 E.R.O., e/RTh 5. 



3 y.C.H. Essex, ii, 350; Census Rep. 

 1921,1931, 1951. 



< O.S. 2} in. Map, sheet 52/50. 

 5 O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), sheet 1. 

 ' Co. of Essex (Rural Parishes) Conf, 

 Order, 1946, p. 5. 



171 



