A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



hehad becomeEarlof Mornington.89 In i849Paslow 

 Hall consisted of 705 acres and was occupied by 

 Andrew Ling and John Brown.'" Lord Mornington 

 died in 1857 but by 1855 the lordship of Paslow Hall 

 had passed to his son, later 5th Earl of Mornington." 

 After the death of the 5th earl in 1863 the manor was 

 held for some years by trustees.'^ By 1899 it had be- 

 come the possession of Alfred C. Bristow,'^ who in 

 1 906 still held the manorial rights. '■* Paslow Hall Farm 

 was separated from the manor in 1866-7 ^"d sold to 

 J. L. Newall, thus becoming part of the Forest Hall 

 estate (see above). 's On the break up of the estate in 

 1919 the farm was bought by the Stratford Co- 

 operative Society.'* Paslow Hall Farm is now (1953) 

 owned by the London Co-operative Society, in which 

 the Stratford society is merged. Its area is 687 acres. 

 This includes 56 acres rented from Dr. Walker's Trust 

 (see Frith Hall, above) and 8 acres rented from W. and 

 C. French. The society has a number of other farms 

 in the district, which are managed from Paslow Hall 

 farm: Rookery Farm (see Withers Pawne, above); 

 Nine Ashes Farm, purchased in 1940 and consisting of 

 108 acres; Stanford Hall farm (in Stanford Rivers, 

 q.v.); Berners Hall farm, including Parsonage Farm, 

 in Berners Roding, which was purchased in 1936 and 

 contains 860 acres; Torrells Hall farm, in Willingale, 

 including Rowes and Old Lodge Farms, purchased in 

 1939 and containing 417 acres; and Longbarns Farm, 

 including Frayes (in Beauchamp Roding, q.v.). All 

 these farms have been bought by the society since 1920. 

 Their total area is 3,186 acres and mixed arable and 

 dairy farming is carried on throughout the estates." 



Paslow Hall is a timber-framed L-shaped building, 

 the south front being faced with red brick. The east 

 or back wing is of two stories and basement and may 

 be of the 17th century or earlier. The south wing 

 probably represents the former great hall, but it appears 

 to have been completely reconstructed in the middle of 

 the 1 8th century and faced with brickwork. At about 

 the same time a staircase block was added in the angle 

 between the wings.'* The south front has sash windows 

 somewhat irregularly spaced and a pedimented hood to 

 the doorway. 



The early history of the church of High Ongar is 

 closely bound up with that of Stanford 

 CHURCH Rivers and Little Laver (q.v.). In 1086 

 Eustace, Count of Boulogne, was lord of 

 the manors of Stanford Rivers and Little Laver. Early 

 in the 1 2th century he apparently granted the advowsons 

 of Stanford Rivers, Little Laver, and High Ongar to 

 the priory of Rumilly-le-Comte, a Cluniac house in the 

 Pas-de-Calais." That he had possessed the advowsons 

 of the first two churches is not surprising. Most parish 

 churches in Essex originated as manorial churches and 

 the church is usually close to the site ofan ancient manor 

 house whose lord possessed the advowson. At Stanford 

 Rivers and Little Laver there is no doubt that the 

 manors with which the churches are associated were 



»« E.R.O., D/DCw Mi 25, 126; Com- 

 plete Peerage, ix, 240—1. 



»o E.R.O., D/CT 263. 



»• E.R.O., D/DCw M125, 126; Com- 

 plete Peerage, ix, 240—1. 



«2 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1890, 1895). 



«' Ibid. (1899). 



»♦ Ibid. (1906). For the court rolls of the 

 manor sec below, Parish Govt. 



«' Forest Hall Sale Cat. 19 19 (in poss. 

 London Co-op. Soc.). 



»' Inf. from the Secy. London Co-op. 

 Soc. 



" Ibid. 



" It is not shown on an estate map of 

 1741 : E.R.O., D/DCw P46. 



" E.A.T. N.s. viii, 227. Eustace 

 founded Rumilly in 1105: V.C.H. Essex, 

 ii, 126. 



' Dom. of St. Paul's (Camd. Soc. 1857), 

 1 50. Norton had its own church by 1 190. 



2 Cal. Close, 1227-31,433. 



3 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, 108. The 

 fair was to be held on 7 and 8 Sept. No 

 further reference to it has been found after 

 1230. It was clearly identical with the 



those which belonged to Count Eustace. But the manor 

 with which one would naturally associate High Ongar 

 church for topographical reasons is Nash Hall (see 

 above) and there is no evidence that Eustace had any 

 rights in that manor, or on the other hand that the 

 lords of Nash Hall ever had the patronage of the 

 church. If the church had ever belonged to Nash Hall 

 it had probably passed by 1086 to Count Eustace. It 

 is possible that the church was originally a chapel 

 dependent on the church of Chipping Ongar, which 

 belonged to Eustace as lord of Chipping Ongar. In 

 that case the advowson of High Ongar could have 

 belonged to Eustace and his successors when its church 

 acquired full parochial status. There was certainly a 

 parish church at High Ongar in 1 1 8 1, when its parson 

 had cure of souls in Norton (Mandeville) (q.v.) and 

 received all the tithes from that manor, paying to the 

 church of Fyfield a sack of corn and a sack of oats be- 

 cause Norton was so near to that church.' 



At some date between 1216 and 1227 Robert de 

 Cern', Rector of High Ongar, obtained licence to hold 

 a fair at his church each year until the king's majority.^ 

 In 1229 the then rector, Sylvester de Everdon, 

 secured the renewal of the grant.' In the following 

 year Sylvester was granted oaks from the king's forest 

 in auxilium hospitandi se ad ecclesiam de Angre.^ He 

 resigned from the rectory before 1237' but in 1246, 

 when he was Archdeacon of Chester, he was granted 

 the advowsons of High Ongar, Stanford Rivers, and 

 Little Laver for fifteen years by the Prior of Rumilly.* 

 An official return of about 1254 stated that the patron 

 of High Ongar and Stanford Rivers was Sir Philip 

 Basset, by reason of his wardship of the heirs to Chipp- 

 ing Ongar and Stanford Rivers, and that the patronage 

 of Little Laver belonged to the monks of Rumilly. 

 'Charges' issuing from High Ongar and Little Laver 

 were payable to Rumilly. The value of the rectory of 

 High Ongar was 60 marks and that of Stanford Rivers 

 20 marks.' 



Rumilly had not in fact surrendered its claim to 

 High Ongar and Stanford Rivers. In 1264 the king 

 presented to the rectory of High Ongar during the 

 voidance of the priory* and in the following year it 

 was expressly stated that this should not prejudice the 

 future rights of the priory to the advowson.' In 

 1277—80 there were several conveyances by which 

 Arnulph, Prior of Rumilly, and John de Rivers, lord of 

 Stanford Rivers, both surrendered their rights in the 

 churches of Stanford Rivers, High Ongar, and Little 

 Laver to Edward I and Queen Eleanor. Pensions from 

 all three churches were reserved to the priory.'" In 

 1285 it was stated that the church of Stanford Rivers 

 was in the gift of John de Rivers and was worth 50 

 marks, that the church of High Ongar was in the gift 

 of the king and queen and was worth 50 marks, and 

 that the church of Little Laver (worth 30 marks) was 

 also in the gift of the king and queen." In 1291 the 

 churches of Stanford Rivers and High Ongar were both 



fair granted in or before 1220 to Wm. de 

 Monceux : see above Nash Hall. 



* Cal. Close, 1227-31, 311. This prob- 

 ably means building at the rectory house 

 rather than the church itself. 



5 Reaney, Early Essex Clergy, 1 24. 



' Feet of F. Essex, i, 152. 



' E.A.T. n.s. xviW, 19. 



8 Cal. Pat. 1258-66,382. 



» Ibid. 504. 



'» Feet of F. Essex, ii, 1 5, 25 ; Cal. Close, 

 1272-9, 577-8. 

 ■■ E.R. Hi, 44! J.Li/244. 



182 



