A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



general purposes of the Parochial Charities. The alms- 

 houses were a row of six single-story cottages, with 

 leaded casement windows. Each cottage contained a 

 lofty room in the front with a lean-to scullery behind.' 



John Wyberd, citizen and haberdasher of London, 

 by will proved 1625, left 50^^. a year for bread for the 

 poor, charged on property in Kirton-in-HoUand, Lines. 

 Fourteen years' arrears were paid in 1820. From then 

 the charge was paid regularly until its redemption in 

 1910 for ^100 stock. In 1834 this charity, along with 

 Peacock's and Waller's, was given in bread to all poor 

 parishioners.^ 



William Peacock, at an unknown date, gave 20s. to 

 the poor charged on a cottage in High Ongar. The 

 rent-charge was being regularly received in 1834 and 

 was distributed in bread. In 1926 it was redeemed for 

 j^4o stock. 5 



Humphrey Waller, at an unknown date, gave 10;. 

 charged on a copyhold farm called Farrows at Paslow 

 Wood Common. In 1834 the rent-charge was being 



paid regularly and distributed with Wyberd's and 

 Peacock's Charities. Except for a few years before 

 1907 the rent has apparently been received regularly .■♦ 



Mrs. Alice Thomlinson, by will dated 1655, left 5/. 

 a year each to eight poor widows of High Ongar 

 to help them buy waistcoats. 5 With similar charities 

 for other parishes, it was charged on property in 

 Hatfield Broad Oak. Up to 1769 the 'Widow's 

 Crowns' were paid every year according to the will,* 

 but in 1 834 the money was distributed every two years 

 to about 20 widows.' The money was still being paid 

 in 1951.* 



High Ongar participated in Walker's Charity (see 

 Fyfield). No children were being sent to Fyfield school 

 in 1834 but the Rector of High Ongar received 10/. 

 a year from the Walker Charity which was spent on 

 school-leaving prizes of bibles and prayer books for the 

 High Ongar children. This arrangement was not con- 

 firmed by the scheme controlling Dr. Walker's Founda- 

 tion made in 1874.' 



ABBESS RODING 



Abbess Roding and Beauchamp Roding (q.v.) form 

 the south-west part of the area known before the 

 Norman Conquest as Roding or Rodings. After the 

 Conquest this area was divided into eight parishes, each 

 retaining the word Roding as part of its name. Of 

 these parishes only Abbess and Beauchamp Roding 

 became part of Ongar hundred, the others being in 

 that of Dunmow. There was also the hamlet of 

 Morrell Roding, which although it was in White 

 Roding parish was held to belong to Ongar hundred. 

 The tithing of Berwick Berners in Abbess Roding 

 seems to have been attached for some purposes to the 

 hundred of Dunmow, but the connexion is less clear 

 in this case.' 



Geographically Abbess and Beauchamp Roding have 

 much more in common with the other Roding parishes 

 than they have with most of those in Ongar hundred. 

 All the Rodings are situated on Boulder Clay in the 

 valley of the River Roding, which takes its name from 

 them. There are few trees or hedges in the area, which 

 makes the landscape seem rather bleak. The soil, how- 

 ever, is exceptionally fertile, and is in fact reckoned 

 among the best in Essex. Agriculture is mainly arable, 

 the most important crops being wheat, barley, beet, and 

 potatoes. Sheep are comparatively rare but pigs and 

 beef cattle do well and provide dung for the cornland.^ 

 Although only 30 miles from London the Rodings are 

 entirely rural and very isolated; they have no railway, 

 only infrequent bus services, and some houses in the 

 area are still without main services of any kind. The 

 population has been gradually declining over the 

 past century. Abbess Roding had 205 inhabitants in 

 1801, 254 in 1841, but only 169 in 1931.' This 

 decline is reflected in the amalgamation of the parish 

 with others for both civil and ecclesiastical purposes. 

 For ecclesiastical purposes Abbess Roding is united 



' Inf. from Miss Neville of High Ongar. 



2 Rep. Com. Char. (^Essex)^ p. 240 j 

 Char. Com. files. 



3 Ibid. ♦ Ibid. 

 5 E.R.O., D/P 68/12. 

 ' E.R.O., D/P 68/8/1 and 2. 

 ' Rep. Com. Char. (^Essex), p. 240. 

 * Char. Com. files. 

 ' Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), p. 240; 



Char. Com. files. 



with Beauchamp Roding.'' For civil purposes it has 

 since 1946 been united with Beauchamp Roding and 

 Berners Roding. 5 The ancient parish of Abbess Roding 

 contained 1,619 acres including a detached portion of 

 41 acres.* It was bounded on the north by White 

 Roding, on the west by Matching and Little Laver, and 

 on the east by the River Roding and the parish of 

 Margaret Roding. Its former boundary with Beau- 

 champ Roding to the south ran from the river near 

 Pig's Bridge west and south-west to the Little Laver 

 boundary north of Envilles. The detached portion was 

 situated locally in Beauchamp Roding and consisted of a 

 narrow strip extending from Longbarns to the Roding. 



The height of the land in Abbess Roding is about 

 225 ft. above sea-level in the east and about 280 ft. in 

 the west. A number of small streams flow east into the 

 Roding. Brick Kiln Wood and Rookwood Hall Wood 

 are in the west. Abbess Roding village, in the centre 

 of the ancient parish, is 6 miles north of Chipping 

 Ongar. It is a nucleated village, containing the ancient 

 church and manor house, the village hall, the former 

 parish school, and a number of other buildings.' From 

 the village roads run north to Berwick Berners Hall,* 

 White Roding, and Dunmow, south-west to Little 

 Laver, and east to Beauchamp Roding and the Ongar 

 road.' 



There are a number of i6th-and 17th-century build- 

 ings in the parish. Most of them lie to the west of the 

 Little Laver road, and in spite of their survival it is this 

 part of Abbess Roding that has changed most. Until 

 the end of the 17th century this area was dominated by 

 the mansion of Rookwood Hall, f mile south-west of 

 the village, the home for over 100 years of the Capel 

 family. "> With their departure about 1700 Rookwood 

 ceased to be a gentleman's residence and it gradually 

 deteriorated until today it is almost a ruin. In 1696 it 



• See below. Parish Government and 

 Poor Relief. 



» N. V. Scarfe, Land Util. Survey, 

 Essex, f. ^o; inf. from Major J. G. S. 

 Brinson. 



3 V.C.H. Essex, ii, 350; Census Reports, 

 191 1, 1921, 1931. There has been a 

 slight increase since 193 1 : see Beauchamp 

 Roding. 



♦ See below. Church. 



5 Co. of Essex {Rural Parishes) Conf. 

 Order, ig46, p. 15. 



* O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), sheet ilii. 

 In the tithe award (1843) the parish area 

 was calculated at 1602 acres: E.R.O. 

 D/CT 292. 



' See Manors, Church, School. 



8 See Manors. 



' O.S. 2i in. Map, sheets 52/50, 51. 

 "> See Manors. 



188 



