A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



the site of the rectory" about J mile to the west, to the 

 Moreton road north of Bridge House. Another lane 

 leads eastward from the church to join the Dunmow 

 road about ^ mile north of Shelley Lodge. There are 

 some 18th-century cottages on the west side of the 

 Dunmow road near the turning to the church. Almost 

 opposite the turning a drive leads eastwards to Boarded 

 Barns, formerly New Barns.'* The house is timber- 

 framed and plastered and an oak lintel beside an original 

 brick fireplace is dated 161 3. There is an addition on 

 the south side and the whole house has been altered and 

 restored. The property is now an experimental farm 

 belonging to Messrs. May and Baker. The farm build- 

 ings have been converted and two new red-brick 

 laboratories for veterinary and horticultural research 

 were built in 195 1 and 1952. A building on the road 

 near the drive entrance was formerly called Boarded 

 Barns." Nearly J mile farther north on the west side 

 of the road a long drive leads to Bundish Hall on the 

 northern boundary of the parish.^" 



Shelley Bridge, described as a foot- and horse-bridge 

 in 1665,^' was often in a bad state of repair. In the 

 1 6th and 17th centuries it was claimed that the bridge 

 should be repaired by the parson of Shelley.^^ In 1835 

 the Report of the Charity Commission quoted from the 

 court rolls of Shelley, which purported to show that 

 responsibility for repairing Shelley Bridge rested with 

 the rector.^3 In reply to a letter of inquiry the then 

 rector, Henry Soames, told the commissioners that 

 although he had kept the bridge in good repair since 

 his institution in 1 8 1 2, he did not admit his liability to 

 do so.^ Some time afterwards the county accepted 

 responsibility for repairing the bridge which first ap- 

 pears in a list of county bridges in 1872. In 1873 the 

 county surveyor described it as a new iron bridge, in 

 good repair; the roadway was not to be mended by the 

 county.25 



The roads of Shelley were frequently presented as in 

 need of repair but individual roads are not often dis- 

 tinguished. In 161 3 the inhabitants of both Shelley 

 and Bobbingworth were presented for not repairing 

 the highway leading from 'Moreton Street to Shelley 

 Bridge'.^* This was, doubtless, the highway which 

 led from Ongar via Shelley Bridge to Moreton and 

 which evidently then as now lay partly in Bobbing- 

 worth, partly in Shelley, and also formed part of the 

 boundary between the two parishes. In 161 8 it was 

 said that these parishes shared the responsibility for 

 this road.^' In 1632 the inhabitants of Shelley were 

 presented for neglect of their highways to Bishop's 

 Stortford and Dunmow; they made the cryptic answer 

 that 'they can take it of better cheape some other waye'.^' 



There is no post-office in Shelley. The parish is 

 served by the Shelley Road post-ofEce which is within 

 the boundary of Chipping Ongar and which was 

 opened in May 1934.^' 



Water is supplied by the Herts, and Essex Water- 

 works Co.so Gas was supplied from Ongar in 1926 

 by the Bishop's Stortford Gas C0.31 Electricity mains 

 were laid on in 193 5.32 A branch of the county library 

 was opened in July 1940; it is now closed.33 There is 

 a cycle speedway in the parish.34 



In about 1770 a writer noted that Shelley 'is small 

 and has but few houses in it, the inhabitants of which 

 are chiefly supported by husbandry'. 35 Shelley 

 remained a rural parish, engaged almost entirely in 

 agriculture, until after the Second World War. 



The lords of the manor did not live in the parish in 

 the middle of the l6th century but after John Green 

 purchased the manor in 1582 the Green family lived 

 on the estate until the early i8th century.'* Mary 

 Green went to live in the parish of St. George, Han- 

 over Square, after her husband Andrew Trebeck be- 

 came rector there in 1725.37 She and her son James 

 were still resident in that parish three years after 

 Andrew's death in 1759.38 In 1762-4 Shelley manor 

 house was let to two tenants, one of whom farmed the 

 estate.39 The manor farm continued to be let until 

 1 8 14-15, after which Harvey Kimpton, then lord of 

 the manor, occupied it until his death in 1817.*° The 

 Tomlinson family, who purchased the estate in 1819— 

 20, occupied Shelley Hall from 1822-3 ""^'1 1878-82, 

 since when it has always been let to a tenant.^' 



In 1839 the parish consisted of 601 acres.*^ Of this 

 James Tomlinson owned 197 acres, all of which were 

 farmed by Richard Tomlinson .■'3 There were in the 

 parish only two other substantial owners, neither of 

 whom farmed his land himself; the Revd. John 

 Bramston Stane (of Forest Hall in High Ongar, q.v.) 

 owned New Barns Farm (98 acres) and Boarded Barns 

 Farm (44 acres), and Thomas White owned Shelley 

 Bridge Farm (95 acres).^ There were 59 acres which 

 belonged to Bundish Hall.^s No other farm in the 

 parish was over 40 acres.** 



In Shelley as in neighbouring parishes mixed farm- 

 ing is carried on. In 1837 there were estimated to be 

 330 acres of arable, 188 acres of meadow and pasture, 

 and 2 acres of woodland.*' There was also an enclosed 

 common of 1 3 acres.*' 



In 1066 SHELLETwils held by Levedai as a manor 



and as 80 acres and was worth 60/.*' In 



MANOR 1086 it was held by Rainald of Geoffrey de 



Mandeville and was worth C^.^" The 



manor was subsequently held of the Earls of Essex, 



" Sec below, Church. 



*8 Chapman and Andr^, Map of EsseXy 

 /777, plate xii. 



'9 Ibid. ; O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), sheet 

 li. 



*" See Moreton: Manor of Bundish 

 Hall. The farm-house is in Moreton and 

 is therefore treated under that parish. 

 Some of the outbuildings are in Shelley. 



" E.R.O.,Q/SR 403/10. 



'2 Ibid. Q/SR 16/3, 42/20, 179/62, 

 351/34, 403/10; E.A.T. N.s. vii, 162. 



" Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), H.C. 2i6, 

 pp. 241-2 (1835), xxi(i). 



M Ibid. 



15 E.R.O., Q/ABz 3. 



" Ibid. Q/SR 204/113. 



" Ibid. 2/SBa 1/32. 



28 Ibid. Q/SR 279/4. 



" Inf. from Head Postmaster of Brent- 



wood. 



3° Inf. from Herts, and Essex Water- 

 works Co. : date when water was first 

 supplied not known. 



3' Inf. from East. Gas Bd. 



J» Inf. from East. Elec. Bd. 



33 Inf. from County Librarian. 



3< Inf. from Mr. D. W. Hutchings. 



35 Hisl. Essex hy Gent, iii, 365. 



3' E.R.O., e/RTh I, 5; ibid. D/DFa 

 T17; see below, Church, for memorials to 

 Green family. 



3' E.R.O., D/DFa T17; D.N.B. xiv, 

 403—4; G. Hennessy, Novum Repert, 

 Eccl. Par. Land. 1 64. The Revd. Andrew 

 Trebeck was, however, buried in Shelley : 

 Reg. Burials in possession of rector. 



38 E.R.O., D/DFa T17. James Trebeck 

 was Rector of Shelley from 1752 until 

 c. 1769. His brother-in-law Thomas 



Newton, later Bishop of Bristol, used the 

 parsonage as a retreat in the 1750's (see 

 below. Church) but whether James ever 

 lived in the parish does not appear. All 

 that is certain is that in the middle of his 

 incumbency his place of residence was St. 

 George's, Hanover Square. 



39 See below. Manor. 



«» E.R.O., e/RPl 685 f. 



<■ Ibid. e/RPl 725 f.; ibid. D/CT 314; 

 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1859 f.); fVhite's Dir. 

 Essex {i%^%, 1863). 



« E.R.O., D/CT 314. 



« Ibid. ** Ibid. 



^3 Ibid. Sec Moreton : Manor of Bundish 

 Hall. 



«> E.R.O., D/CT 314. 



" Ibid. ♦» Ibid. 



*9 F.C.H. Essex, i, 504*. 

 . so Ibid. 



204 



