ONGAR HUNDRED 



ABBESS RODING 



In 1807 there was no school in the parish. The 

 rector wished to establish one because he 

 SCHOOL thought that the children of the poor were 

 unruly and in need of training but he had 

 found the village too poor and the local landowners too 

 indifferent to support one.'* There was still no school 

 in 1818." Between 1818 and 1832 local Anglicans 

 succeeded in establishing a Sunday school and a day 

 school which for many years remained closely con- 

 nected. By 1832-3 there were 36 pupils at the day 

 school. Parishioners then subscribed towards its 

 expenses, but by 1846-7 the rector alone seems to 

 have maintained the school, paying the mistress £6 a 

 year and providing her with board and lodging. The 

 number of pupils was then 50.' 



In 1858 Capel Cure, the patron of the church, pro- 

 vided a new school building with accommodation for 

 34 children. It remained his property and he and his 

 heirs appointed the school managers for many years. 

 In 1 87 1 an inspector reported that to ensure universal 

 elementary education in Abbess Roding 10 more places 

 were needed than were available at the school but that 



these were vacant at Beauchamp Roding.^ In 1888 

 the Abbess Roding school was enlarged to take all local 

 children.' In 1893 its accommodation was estimated 

 at 65 and average attendance was 54.* In 1904 there 

 were 56 pupils and 2 teachers.' 



Under the Education Act 1902 the school passed 

 under the administration of the Essex Education Com- 

 mittee, Ongar District. Beauchamp Roding children 

 attended at Abbess Roding after their own school had 

 been closed in 1923.* By 1930, however, attendance 

 had fallen to 36 and in 1937 the school was reorganized 

 for mixed juniors and infants, the seniors going to the 

 new central school at Ongar. In 1947 the Abbess 

 Roding school was closed because the County Council 

 found it impossible to bring the existing site and pre- 

 mises up to a proper standard. The children were 

 transferred to the Fyfield and White Roding schools.^ 



The school building is now a private residence. It 

 is single-storied, of red brick with a tiled roof. The 

 former teacher's house, a two-story building, is 

 attached. 

 CHARITIES. None known. 



BEAUCHAMP RODING 



Beauchamp Roding lies south of Abbess Roding, 

 about 5 miles from Chipping Ongar." For ecclesiastical 

 purposes it is united with Abbess Roding.^ For civil 

 purposes it has since 1946 been united with Abbess 

 Roding and Berners Roding.' The ancient parish of 

 Beauchamp Roding contained 1,262 acres.'* It was 

 bounded on the north by Abbess Roding, on the east by 

 the River Roding, on the south by Willingale Doe, 

 and on the west by Fyfield. It contained a small de- 

 tached part of Abbess Roding.' Bird's Green, a hamlet 

 in the extreme south-east of Beauchamp Roding, and 

 partly in the parish of Willingale Doe, was treated for 

 the purposes of Land Tax Assessment (1780— 1832) as 

 being in Dunmow hundred.* 



In its landscape and general economy Beauchamp 

 Roding is similar to Abbess Roding, but there is one 

 marked difference: unlike Abbess Roding, Beauchamp 

 Roding has no central village grouped about its parish 

 church. Beauchamp Roding church, on a site probably 

 of great antiquity, is indeed in the centre of its ancient 

 parish but it is completely isolated and can only be 

 reached by a field track. There is not even an old 

 manor house near it as is usually the case with the 

 medieval churches of Essex. Most of the population 

 is located to the east of the church, at Bird's Green and 

 along the road leading to it. In 1 801 the population 

 was 220. By 1881 it had risen to 281 but by 1901 it 

 had declined to 221 and it fell further to 162 in 1921. 

 There was then a slight increase to 173 in 1931. The 

 figure for the combined parish of Abbess, Beauchamp, 

 and Berners Roding in 195 1 was 515, which implies a 



slight increase over 1931.' It is probable that some of 

 this results from the building of council houses in Beau- 

 champ Roding and of houses for the London Co- 

 operative Society's farm workers.* 



Beauchamp Roding rises from about 175 ft. above 

 sea-level near the river to 250 ft. in the west. Two 

 streams flow east to join the Roding. Butt Hatch Wood 

 is in the south-west of the ancient parish. The road 

 from Ongar to Dunmow enters the parish in the south 

 near Butt Hatch Farm. In its earlier form 'Burn- 

 thatch', the name of this farm, goes back at least to 

 1 542.' The present house is a square double-fronted 

 building dating from the early or mid- 19th century. 

 Roden Lodge, which adjoins Butt Hatch to the north, 

 is a similar house of the same period. The Rood Inn 

 formerly occupied the same position as Roden Lodge, 

 which at one time was known as Rood House.'" Half 

 a mile north of Roden Lodge, on the west side of the 

 road is Slade's Farm, whose name, like that of Butt 

 Hatch, goes back to 1542." The present building is 

 of the 1 6th century or earlier but is much altered out- 

 side. A J mile north-west of Slade's is Wood End Farm, 

 which is linked with the main road by a lane which ' 

 continues west to Leader's Farm in Abbess Roding. 

 The farm took its name from the wood which formerly 

 lay to the west of it.'^ The name Wood End also goes 

 back to 1 542." The farm-house is timber-framed and 

 plastered and has an original chimney with six octagonal 

 shafts. The front porch, which is dated 162 1, has a 

 moulded frame and an original panelled door. There 

 are later additions at the back of the house. 



•» E.R.O., D/AEM 2/4. 

 »» Retns. Educ. Poor, H.C. 224, p. 266 

 (i8i9),ix(i). 



' Nal. Soc. Rep. 1832, p. 77; Educ. 

 Enquiry Ahstr. H.C. 62, p. 287 (1835), 

 xli; Nat. Soc. Enquiry into Ck. Schs. 

 1846-7, pp. 16-17. 



' Min. of Educ. File 13/2. 



' Kelly's Dir. Essex (1899], 310. 



■• Rein, of Schs. 1893 [C. 7529], p. 712, 

 H.C. (1894), Ixv. 



5 Essex Educ. Cllee. Handhk. 1904, 

 p. 183. 



* Min. of Educ. File 13/16. 



' Ibid. 13/2; inf. from Essex Educ. 

 Cttee. and the Revd. R. T. K. Griffin. 



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

 For some general remarks about the 

 Roding parishes see Abbess Roding. 



' See below, Church. 



' Co. of Essex {Rural Parishes) Conf. 

 Order, 1^46, p. 15. 



♦ O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), sheet xlii. 

 s For the former boundary with Abbess 



Roding, and the detached part, see Abbess 

 Roding. 



6 E.R.O.,Q/RPl3isf. 

 ' Census Reports. 



' See below. Manors of Longbarns and 

 Frayes. 



» P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 76. 

 ■» E.R.O., D/CT-294i O.S. 6 in. Map 

 (ist edn.), sheet xlii. 

 " P.N. Essex, 76. 



** See e.g. Chapman and Andre, Map of 

 Essex, 1777, sheet xii ; O.S. 6 in. Map (ist 

 edn.), sheet xlii. 

 " P.A^.. Essex, 76. 



197 



