A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



A quarter of a mile east of Slade's is the church, 

 which is reached by a track running from the main 

 road near its junction with the Wood End lane. Near 

 the church to the east is the old rectory. A little to the 

 north of the church track the main road meets the road 

 which runs south-east to Bird's Green. Farther north, 

 on the west side of the main road, is Longbarns (see 

 Manors). Opposite Longbarns is Sparrow's Hope, 

 a small cottage with an 'Off' licence. The site was 

 formerly part of the detached strip belonging to Abbess 

 Roding parish (q.v.). The cottage is weather-boarded 

 and has a thatched roof and probably dates from the 

 17th century. Wicks Farm, now demolished, was also 

 in the detached strip, beside the Roding about a mile 

 east of Longbarns. Half a mile north-east of Long- 

 barns is Frayes (see Manors) from which a long drive 

 leads to the main road. 



On the east side of the main road near the Bird's 

 Green turning are three pairs of council houses. 

 Scattered along the Bird's Green road are cottages, 

 many of which date from the 17th and i8th centuries. 

 The former school, originally the parish poorhouse, is 

 on the east side of the road J mile north-east of the 

 church. Near it on the west side of the road are four 

 pairs of council houses. The 'Two Swans' at Bird's 

 Green was a farm-house until the middle of the 19th 

 century.'* It is a 17th-century timber-framed house 

 that has been refronted in brown brick. Hornets 

 Farm, formerly Homers (see Manors) is near Bird's 

 Green to the west. Gubbiss Farm, which formerly 

 stood on an isolated site between Hornets and Butt 

 Hatch, has now been demolished and the track lead- 

 ing to it from the Bird's Green road is largely obli- 

 terated. The house was of the i6th century, built on 

 an L-shaped plan, and there was an enriched plaster 

 panel above an original fireplace arch on the ground 

 floor.'s From Bird's Green one road runs south-west 

 to join the Ongar road in Fyfield and another runs 

 east via Shallow (formerly Shellow) Bridge toBerners 

 Roding, Willingale, Shellow Bowells, and Chelmsford. 

 Shallow Bridge, between Beauchamp Roding and 

 Willingale Doe, seems to have been accepted as a 

 county bridge from about 1654.'* In 1596 a Beau- 

 champ Roding man was said to be partly responsible 

 for the repair of the bridge,'^ but during the late i6th 

 and early 17th century responsibility was more often 

 assigned to Willingale Doe,'* and a more detailed 

 history of the bridge will be given under that parish 

 in a later volume. 



In 1618 the parish surveyors of highways made a 

 report on the statute work" and a detailed return was 

 made in 1720.^" The most important road in the 

 parish has for many centuries been the Ongar- 

 Dunmow road, which is marked on Norden's Map of 

 Essex, 1594. This probably enjoyed its greatest 

 importance in the l8th and early 19th centuries when 

 it was used by coaches running between Dunmow and 



X E.R.O., D/CT 294.. 



*5 Hiit. Mon. Com. Essex, ii, 13—14. 



>« E.R.O., Q/CP 3, pp. 163, 171, 174, 



352.417- 



" E.R.O., e/SR 135/22, cf. 56/18. 



■8 E.R.O., e/CP I, 37 Eliz., 38 Eliz.; 

 Q/CP 2, pp. 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 69, 71, 72. 



" e/SBa 4/5. 



" Q/SBb 75- 



2' See Abbess Roding. The present bus 

 service between Dunmow and Brentwood 

 runs through Beauchamp Roding, as well 

 as Abbess Roding. 



" Kelly's Dir. Essex (1886). 



23 Inf. from Herts. & Essex Waterworks 

 Co., and personal observation. 



2* For some general comments on agri- 

 culture in the Rodings see Abbess Roding. 



25 E.R.O., D/CT 294. The estimate 

 may have been slightly inaccurate but it is 

 probably a good indication of the land 

 use. 



26 See Abbess Roding. 

 " f^.C.H. Essex, i, 473a. 

 28 Cal. Inq. Misc. i, p. 169. Earl Aubrey 



is mentioned in the list, but this was filed 

 among the inquisitions of Henry Ill's 

 reign. After the death in 1214 of Aubrey 



London.^' The decay of the road from Wood End to 

 Little Laver in recent times has already been mentioned. 



For postal services Beauchamp Roding has usually 

 depended upon Ongar. In 1886 it received letters by 

 foot post from Brentwood through Ongar.^^ Part of 

 the parish has a water-supply by pipes laid in 1952—3 

 by the Herts, and Essex Waterworks Co.^3 Beauchamp 

 Roding shares a village hall with Abbess Roding (q.v.). 



As elsewhere in the Rodings hardly any occupations 

 other than agriculture have been carried on in this 

 parish.^* From the i6th century until late in the 19th 

 the owners of most of the land in Beauchamp Roding 

 were non-resident. In 1840 it was estimated that the 

 parish contained 1,011 acres of arable, 172 acres of 

 meadow and pasture, and 46 acres of wood excluding 

 38 acres of glebe of which 32 acres were arable and the 

 rest meadow and pasture." In 1843 there were six 

 farms of over 50 acres, the largest of which was Long- 

 barns with Frayes, containing some 370 acres. Several 

 farms had more than one homestead and had been 

 formed by the amalgamation of smaller holdings. The 

 same survey refers to a malthouse and elsewhere to a 

 'hop garden field' which recalls Defoe's comment on 

 this area.2* 



In 1086 a manor of Roding was held by Aubrey de 

 Vere, ancestor of the earls of Oxford, as 

 MJNORS tenant of Alan, Count of Brittany. Before 

 the Conquest it had been held by Lewin 

 and Etsi as a manor and as ij hide.^' Most of this 

 Domesday estate later became known as the manor of 

 BEAUCHAMP RODING alias LONGBARNS. 

 Part of it, however, may have split off to form the 

 manor of Rookwood in Abbess Roding (q.v.). 



Beauchamp Roding was apparently still considered 

 as part of the honor of Richmond in the reign of 

 Henry III, when the Earl of Oxford owed guard at 

 Richmond castle in respect of Roding.^* By 1358, if 

 not before, the tenancy in chief was held to rest in the 

 then Earl of Oxford. 2' In 1401 it was stated that the 

 manor had escheated to the Crown in 1389 as a result 

 of the attainder of Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, 

 and that the tenant in demesne had subsequently held 

 directly of the Crown. 3° In 1477 and 148 1 Beauchamp 

 Roding was said to be held of the Duke of Gloucester." 

 In 1558 it was said to be held in chief.^^ In 1485, how- 

 ever, the tenant in chief had again been stated to be the 

 Earl of Oxford.33 



It is probable that Beauchamp Roding was sub- 

 infeudated during the 1 2th century by Aubrey de Vere 

 or one of his successors. About 1190 the manor was 

 referred to as Roding Willelmi filii GaufrUi.i* By 

 1231 it was in the possession of John de Beauchamp 

 of Eaton Socon (Beds.).'' This makes it probable that 

 the William Fitz Geoffrey of about 1 190 was William 

 Fitz Geoffrey de Mandeville, who married Olive, 

 sister and heir of Roger de Beauchamp of Eaton Socon, 

 for John de Beauchamp was the son of Olive de Beau- 



de Vere, Earl of Oxford, there was no earl 

 of that name and title in the 13th cent. 

 For Count Alan and the honor of Rich- 

 mond see Early Torks. Charts, ed. C. T. 

 Clay, vol. V. 



2» Cal. Inq. p.m. x, p. 348. 



3" Cal. Pat. 1 399-1402, 424; Complete 

 Peerage, x, 230-1. 



31 C140/56; C140/80. 



32 Cal. Pat. 1557-8,464. 



33 Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VII, i, p. II. 



34 J. L. Fisher, Colne Cartulary, 53. 

 And see below Church. 



35 Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, 139. 



198 



