A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



the west doorway is a three-light window with a four- 

 centred head. There are single-h'ght windows to the 

 second stage of the tower and larger windows with 

 four-centred heads to the belfry. Some of the floor-tiles 

 inside the communion rails are thought to be of medieval 

 origin. 



Some early 17th-century carved oak panelling which 

 was in the chancel before 192 1 is now kept in a chest in 

 the church.^' 



On both sides of the nave at the west end are curious 

 oak benches in three stages, probably dating from the 

 1 8th century. Oak steps to the upper stages have ring 

 handles and can be pulled out like drawers when 

 required. 



In 1 870 the church was thoroughly restored and in 

 the same year the south porch was rebuilt in memory 

 of Ann Powell.^* The exterior was restored in 1893^' 

 and much of the stonework was covered with cement, 

 some of which has since been removed. 



In 195 1 the tower and other parts of the church 

 were restored after war damage at a cost of ^1,300.3° 



Memorial stained glass was inserted in various 

 windows in 1850, 1866, 1870, and 1872. There are 

 four bells, said to be by Miles Graye, 1664." In 

 1446-7 William Wiltshire, homer, left a chalice of 

 the value of 30/. to the church.^^ At an Archdeacon's 

 Visitation of about 18 16 it was ordered that a pewter 

 paten and flagon should be sold and a silver or plated 

 paten provided.'' The plate now consists of an un- 

 dated silver cup, a silver paten of 1778, and a plated 

 flagon given by the rector in 1835.3^ There is a tablet 

 in the chancel to William Bond (1887) rector. 



The surviving parish book for Beauchamp Roding 



covers the period 1723 

 PARISH GOFERNMENT 101817.35 It records 

 JND POOR RELIEF only the annual Easter 



vestry meetings for the 

 passing of accounts and the election of new officers. 

 John Siday, rector until 1752, presided every year at 

 these meetings. Often the only other attendants were 

 the churchwarden and one parishioner. Siday's suc- 

 cessor, William Wicksted, attended frequently but less 

 regularly. After 1780 the name of the churchwarden 

 always headed the list of signatures. There were never 

 more than eight parishioners present during this 

 period, four being the average. In 1745 the church 

 clerk received 2^s. in wages — a sum charged to the 

 overseer's account. 



In 1699 the rateable value of the parish was £6()^,^^ 

 and it was not much higher in 18 17, when a 2S. rate 

 produced ^^8 1 . Rates of 7^12'. and SJ. were levied in 

 1790 and 1 79 1 towards the building of the new Shire 

 Hall at Chelmsford. The parish officers seem to have 

 conducted their business honestly. When expenditure 

 was highest about 1800 balances of as much as £j^ 

 were successfully carried from year to year. In 1723 

 the rector and three parishioners resolved that every 

 parishioner should maintain a poor person for a period 

 proportionate to his rateable assessment, receiving i SJ. 

 a week for so doing. 



^' Cf. Hist. Mon, Com. Essex-, ii, 13. 

 " Kelly's Dir. Essex (1895); inscription 

 in porch. 

 i» Kelly's Dir. Essex (1895). 

 30 Inf. from Rev. R. T. K. Griffin. 

 " Ch. Bells Essex, 373. 

 " E.A.T. N.6. xiv, 35. 

 " Ch. Plate Essex, 14.6. 

 " Ibid. The cup is probably c. 17 18. 

 35 E.R.O., D/P 146/8. Unless other- 



All officers except the overseers tended to remain in 

 office for long periods. Thus Richard Nicholas was 

 surveyor of highways from 1 74 1 to 1757 and church- 

 warden from 1753 to 1762, and John Lunnon was 

 constable from 1786 to 1815. No woman was ever 

 appointed to a parish office between 1723 and 18 17. 

 The overseer served for only one year at a time, and 

 service was probably by rotation. The same names 

 recur at intervals of six or seven years, but the absence 

 of women seems to indicate that the service was purely 

 personal and was not associated with the occupation of 

 particular properties. After 1792 a longer list of 

 nominees was entered each year and the order thus 

 established was strictly observed in subsequent years. 

 Each person thus knew several years in advance when 

 he was due to serve. 



In 161 3 £z lis. \od. was raised for poor relief, 

 assessed on nineteen contributors who paid sums 

 ranging from zd. to lo/.'' At the beginning of the 

 1 8th century the overseer's annual expenditure was 

 about £z 5-;^3o, and it had not risen much by the middle 

 of the century, when only two or three families were 

 receiving regular relief. Expenditure thereafter rose to 

 j^i93 in 1795 and then almost doubled in the follow- 

 ing year. It reached a peak of ,{^5 1 5, the equivalent of 

 a 12/. dd. rate, in 1800— i. The average annual 

 expenditure between 1800 and 1817 was over jC35°-'' 

 It dropped slightly to ^^260 for the period 1829-35.39 



A parish almshouse existed in 1745 and 1749, when 

 the overseer's accounts included sums spent on its 

 repair. In 1776 the parish was renting a house for use 

 as a poorhouse but its site is not known.'*" In 1830 the 

 vestry borrowed ;^35o from Sir Eliab Harvey, the lord 

 of the manor (see Beauchamp Roding manor, above) 

 for the erection of a workhouse.^' The final instalment 

 of the debt was repaid in 1837, but by that time 

 Beauchamp Roding had become part of the Ongar 

 Poor Law Union, formed in 1836, and the workhouse 

 was converted into a school. 



There were stocks in the parish in 1767.*^ 



In 18 18 there was a dame school in the parish, 

 attended by 28 children,*' but by 1822 

 SCHOOL it seems to have closed. In that year the 

 rector decided to establish a Church school. 

 Fearing that the parish was too poor to support the cost 

 of building and maintaining a schoolroom he sought 

 subscriptions for the conversion of a room in the church 

 tower into a classroom. The National Society gave ;^20 

 and subscribers all or most of the further ^^24 required.** 

 In 1828 there were 29 pupils at the school and there 

 were 38 in 1833, when the only other local school was 

 a private one with 7 pupils. By 1833 the Church 

 school had been removed to a cottage rented by the 

 rector, who also allowed the mistress ,^10 a year in 

 addition to the school pence.*' By 1839 the old parish 

 workhouse, on the road to Bird's Green, was being 

 used as the school. The new rector was paying 

 expenses with the help of his predecessor, who con- 

 tinued to give a large subscription, and 41 children 

 attended.** Attendance rose to 43 in 1846-7 and 45 



wise stated all the following account is 

 taken from this source. 



3' E.R.O., D/P 146/1/1. 



3' E.R.O., Q/SBa 3. 



38 E.R.O., e/CR 1/9. 



30 E.R.O., D/DOp B39/75. 



*" Ref>. Sel. Cttee. on Overseers Retns. 

 1777, H.C. Ser. i, vol. ix, p. 350. In 184.3 

 Almshouse Field adjoined Butt Hatch 

 Farm: E.R.O., D/CT 294. 



«• E.R.O., D/P 146/18/1. 



42 E.R.O., e/SBb 268. 



*3 Reins. Educ. Poor, H.C. 224, p. 266 

 (i8i9),ix(i). 



** Inf. from Nat. Soc. 



«5 Nat. Soc. Rep. 1828, p. 76; Educ. 

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

 xli. 



*' E.R.O., D/P 30/28/18. 



202 



