ONGAR HUNDRED beauchamp roding 



in 1 87 1.*' In 1870 the building was enlarged and in 

 1 87 1 an inspector reported that the accommodation was 

 sufficient.'** 



In 1880 a school board of five members was com- 

 pulsorily formed.^' At first it hired the Church school 

 for a small annual sum which was applied to the relief 

 of the rates, but in 1895 it accepted complete transfer 

 of the building. 5° In 1880 average attendance was 

 only 23. It rose to 37 in 1893 and to 60 in 1899, and 

 this in spite of the falling population.'' In 1894 the 

 school was enlarged to accommodate 95 children.'^ 

 The annual government grant rose from ^^13 in 1872 

 tO;^47 in 1893 and ,^78 in 1902.53 



Under the Education Act of 1902 the school passed 



under the administration of the Essex Education Com- 

 mittee, Ongar District. In 1904 there were 2 teachers 

 and 68 pupils.''* Average attendance fell to 33 in 19 14 

 and to 24 in 1923, when the school was closed and the 

 children transferred to the Abbess Roding school." 

 The former school has been converted into two dwell- 

 ings, one a bungalow. The south end of the building 

 consists of a two-story red-brick block with a gable-enrf 

 facing the road. It was formerly the schoolmaster' 

 house and was probably built for the purpose in the 

 middle of the igth century. The single-story school- 

 rooms, which originally extended farther north, have 

 now been plastered. 

 CHARITIES. None known. 



SHELLEY 



Shelley is a small parish immediately to the north of 

 Chipping Ongar.' Its area is 608 acres.^ There were 

 3 2 inhabited houses in 1 80 1 and 34 in 1 8 1 1 and 1 8 2 1 .3 

 In 1 80 1 the population was i69.'' By 1851 it had 

 grown to 21 5; then it declined to 158 in 1901.S Since 

 191 8 there has been a steady increase, mainly due to 

 the building of council houses. The population was 

 386 in 1931 and about 650 in 1953.* 



The land is about 200 ft. above sea-level in the south 

 and slightly less elsewhere. Cripsey Brook, a tributary 

 of the River Roding, flows south through the west of 

 the parish. To the east of the brook lies Shelley Com- 

 mon. The south-eastern corner of the parish is bounded 

 on the south by the road from Chelmsford to Epping 

 and on the east by the road from Chipping Ongar to 

 Dunmow. The junction of the two roads is called The 

 Four Wants and at the north-west corner of the cross- 

 roads stands Shelley House. In about 1770 this was 

 referred to as the only 'good house' in the parish.' In 

 about 183; it was described as 'a handsome dwelling 

 upon a moderate scale'.* It was probably built towards 

 the end of the 17th century and part of the back of the 

 house is faced with brickwork of this date or a little 

 later. The front rooms were added about 1800 and 

 there is a good Georgian facade facing the road. A 

 west wing was added later in the 19th century' and a 

 small extension was built at the back about 1920. '<> 



About 300 yds. north of The Four Wants the 

 Dunmow road is joined by a road running north-west 

 to Moreton. Between this Moreton road and the 

 Epping road there is a large housing estate laid out since 

 1945 by the Ongar Rural District Council. When com- 

 plete it will have seven new roads and will consist of 

 about 450 houses." The plan provides sites for shops, 

 a primary school, and a community hall. By November 

 1953 178 houses had been completed and 147 were 

 under construction.'^ 



At the south-east end of the Moreton road there are 

 council houses, built both before and after the Second 

 World War, including a pair made of Swedish timber. 

 On the north-east side of the road there are 1 2 pairs of 

 older council houses and near Shelley Bridge some pre- 

 fabricated bungalows. From Shelley Bridge over the 

 Cripsey Brook the road runs directly northward. On 

 the east side of the road to the north of Shelley Bridge 

 is Bridge House which appears to have been built about 

 1800. There are gravel pits to the north-east of Bridge 

 House. Farther north there are scattered 18th- 

 century cottages on both sides of the road. On the east 

 side just before the road leaves the parish there is a 

 pair of estate cottages dating from about 1830, called 

 Gothic Cottages. They follow a type of studiously 

 'picturesque' dwelling which was evidently popular 

 with local landowners during the first half of the 19th 

 century. Nearly opposite Gothic Cottages stands 

 Ashlings, which was built on the site of a property 

 called Motes." The present house originated in a pair 

 of timber-framed estate cottages belonging to Blake 

 Hall in Bobbingworth (q.v.), similar in general 

 arrangement to Gothic Cottages but perhaps rather 

 earlier in date. Later a third cottage was added and 

 later still a wing at the back. 



The Dunmow road is built up from the southern 

 boundary of the parish, almost as far north as Shelley 

 Lodge, which is about \ mile north of The Four Wants. 

 This building development dates mostly from the pre- 

 sent century. The Ongar and District War Memorial 

 Hospital'* is on the west side of the road just beyond the 

 turning to Moreton. Shelley Lodge is a single-story 

 thatched cottage, built early in the 19th century by 

 Noble of Ongar." From Shelley Lodge a drive runs 

 straight to Shelley Hall,'* about \ mile to the north. 

 Immediately to the east of the Hall is the church. A 

 foot-path, formerly a lane, leads from the church, past 



♦' Nat. Soc. Enquiry into Ck. Sckt. 

 1846—7, pp. 16-17; R'f". Elem. Educ. 

 H.C. 201, pp. I lo-ii (1871), Iv. 



«8 Kelly' 1 Dir. Essex (1899); Chelmsford 

 Chron. 2 Aug. 1872. 



« Land. Gax. 7 May 1880. 



"> Min. of Educ. File 13/16. 



»■ Rep. of Educ. Cttee. of Council, 1880 

 [C. 2948-1], p. 575, H.C. (1881), xxxii; 

 Retn. of Schs. 1893 [C. 7529], p. 713, 

 H.C. (1894), Ixv; ibid. 1899 [Cd. 315], 

 p. 68, H.C. (1900), Ixv (2). 



s» Min. of Educ. File 13/16; Retn. of 

 Schs. 1899, p. 68. 



" Rep. of Educ. Cllee. of Council, 1872 

 [C. 812], p. 409, H.C. (1873), xxiv; 



Retn. of Schs. 1893, p. 713; Schs. under 

 Bd. of Educ. 1902 [Cd. 1490], p. 68, H.C. 

 (1903), li. 



'4 Essex Educ. Cttee Handbk. 1904, 

 p. 183. 



" Min. of Educ. File 13/16. 

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



* Inf. from Essex County Council. 

 3 Census, 1801, 181 1, 1821. 



* r.C.H. Essex, ii, 350. 



5 Ibid. 



^ Census, I9iif. ; inf. from Essex 

 County Council. At the 195 1 census the 

 population was 519. 



' Hist. Essex by Gent, iii, 365. The 

 comment is particularly interesting in view 



of the fact that very soon afterwards the 

 manor house and its lands were mortgaged 

 to Samuel Evans who was very probably 

 the occupier and afterwards, if not already, 

 the owner of Shelley House. 



« T. Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 356. 

 » A 'ladies' academy' was held in the 

 house in c. 1863 : see below. School. 



'° Inf. from Mr. Avery, present occupier. 



" Inf. from the District Surveyor, Ongar 

 R.D.C. ■! Ibid. 



'3 Chapman and Andri, Map of Essex, 

 1777, plate xii. 



'* See Chipping Ongar, p. 159. 



'5 Inf. from Mrs. Storkey, occupier. 



" See below, Manor. 



203 



