ONGAR HUNDRED 



SHELLEY 



son leaving as his heir his grandson Giles.' 8 In 1530 

 Richard Samford and others presented to the hving." 

 Giles Legh, however, was holding the advowson in 

 1538 and in that year conveyed it with the manor to 

 Sir Richard Rich, later ist Baron Rich, who presented 

 several times between 1542 and 1558.^0 Robert, 2nd 

 Baron Rich, presented in 1568 and 1574.^' In 1582 

 Robert, 3rd Baron Rich, conveyed the advowson with 

 the manor to John and Thomas Green and William 

 Stane.^^ In 1589 John Jollye presented to the living 

 but Robert Green died in possession of the advowson 

 in 1624.^3 In 1628 John son of Robert Green con- 

 veyed the advowson with the manor to Robert Holenden 

 and Thomas Emevere.^* Jollye Stone, a farmer and 

 copyholder of Shelley manor, presented in 1662 and 

 1664. In 1686 Hadsley Green presented,^' and in 

 1732 his daughters Sarah Baker and Mary Trebeck 

 with their husbands John Baker and Andrew Trebeck.^* 

 In 1752 the Archbishop of Canterbury, patron by 

 lapse, presented James Trebeck, son of Mary and 

 Andrew Trebeck.^' James Trebeck probably acquired 

 his aunt Sarah's rights in the advowson when he 

 acquired her half of the manor in about 1764 although 

 he seems not to have mortgaged the advowson when 

 he mortgaged the manor at the end of that year.^* In 

 1769, shortly after his appointment as Rector of St. 

 Michael's, Queenhithe, James Trebeck and his mother 

 presented to Shelley.*' In 1771 and 1773 James 

 mortgaged the advowson with the manor to Samuel 

 Evans.3" The descent of the advowson during the 

 next 40 years is not clear. It is probable, however, that 

 it followed the descent of the manor. Nathaniel 

 Soames presented Henry Soames in i8i2.3' Accord- 

 ing to Wright (1835) James Tomlinson purchased the 

 advowson with the manor in 18 19 or 1820.3* 



The Tomlinson family held the advowson for most 

 of the remainder of the 19th century.'^ In 1895-6 

 J. H. Tomlinson conveyed it to H. Garnett and others 

 who held it until 1898— 9.34 In the latter year William 

 Philp, Rector of Shelley from 1895, acquired the 

 advowson and held it with the living until his death in 

 1926-7.35 Afterwards the advowson was held by his 

 executors until 1930— i when it was acquired by the 

 Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield (Yorks.).3* 

 Since 1932 it has been held by Keble College, Oxford. 3' 

 At present the rectory is held with that of Chipping 

 Ongar.38 



In 1254 the value of the rectory was assessed at 5 



marks. 39 A pension of 3/. was paid to the church of 



" C142/24/12. 



'• Newcourt, Repert. ii, 520. 



«> CP4o/i096rot. ioo;CP25(2)/i2/65 

 Hil. 29 Hen. VIII; CP25{2)/ 12/66. East. 

 30 Hen. VIII; Newcourt, Repert. ii, 521. 



" Newcourt, Repert. ii, 521. 



" CP25(2)7i3i/i686. 



" C142/747/158; Newcourt, Repert. 

 ii, 521. 



" CP43/183. 



*5 Newcourt, Repert. ii, 521. 



" P.R.O. Inst. Blcs. Scr. C. i (i). 



" Ibid. 



" E.R.O., D/DFaTi7. 



" P.R.O. Inst. Bits. Scr. C. i (i); G. 

 Hennessy, Novum Repert. Ecct. Far. Lond. 

 249. In c. 1770 it was reported that 'now 

 the Bishop of London and the lord of the 

 manor present to the living alternately' : 

 Hht. Estex hy Gent, iii, 366. There seems 

 to be no other evidence that this was the 



case. 

 30 E.R.O., D/DFaTi7. 

 " P.R.O. Inst. Bks. Ser. C. i (i). 



'^ See above. Manor. 



33 Cler. Guide, 1829 f.; Clergy List, 

 1842 f.; Crockford's Cler. Dir. {i86of.)i 

 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1870 f.). 



i* Clergy List, 1896 f.; Kelly's Dir. 

 Essex (1899). 



35 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1899); Clergy 

 List, 1 900 f. ; Crockford's CUr, Dir. 

 (192. f.) 



36 Crockford's Cler. Dir. (1927 f.) 

 3' Ibid, (1932 f.); Chel. Diac. Tear Bk. 



1952. 



38 Chel. Dioc. Tear Bk. 1952. 



3» Lunt, f^al. of Nor-wich, 336. 



to Ibid. 



♦' Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 23. 



*^ Feud. Aids, ii, 205. 



■•3 yalor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 437; 

 E.A.T. N.s. xxi, 78. 



« E.R.O., D/CT 314. ■•5 Ibid. 



*<< Inf. from Mrs. Storkey. 



*' Hist. Mors. Com. Essex, ii, 212. 



♦« D.N.B. xiv, 403-4; Kelly's Dir. 

 Essex (1886); White's Dir. Essex (1848). 



High Ongar.^" In 1291 the rectory was valued at 

 £1 loj.'" In 1428 it was assessed at 11 marks.<* Later 

 valuations were £<) 15/. in 1535 and £9iO in i66i.'«3 

 The tithes were commuted in 1839 for ^^192 13^.;** 

 there were then 37 acres of glebe.'*' 



The rectory was burnt down about 1937.** It was 

 unoccupied at the time, the rector then living in Fyfield. 

 The lane leading to it is now a foot-path, still viable, and 

 the foundations doubtless exist on the overgrown site. 

 It was a timber-framed building dating from the 1 6th 

 century, if not earlier.'*' For a short time from about 

 1754 Thomas Newton, brother-in-law of the then 

 Rector of Shelley, James Trebeck, and later Bishop of 

 Bristol, used the rectory as a retreat and apparently 

 wrote his 'Dissertation on the Prophecies' there.^' 

 Later the house was altered and enlarged. Henry 

 Soames,'" Rector of Shelley from 1812 until i860, 

 was said to have spent considerable sums on it by about 

 1835.50 In 1861 the house was restored.5' A photo- 

 graphs* shows a long four-gabled front with a central 

 two-story porch. 



The medieval parish church of ST. PETER be- 

 came ruinous towards the end of the 1 8th century and 

 was considered unsafe for use after June 1800.53 In 

 about 1 768 it was described as 'of one pace with the 

 chancel, and tyled. In the spire, which is shingled, are 

 2 Bells.'5* In 1 8 1 1 a new church was built on the 

 same foundations,55 the cost being met largely by sub- 

 scription. 5* This was a rectangular brick structure 

 with a steep roof and a castellated gable at the west end. 

 The windows were gothic but there was a Georgian 

 bell cupola. Between the windows were massive 

 buttresses, probably added later when the building 

 showed signs of instability.'' In 1888 a faculty was 

 obtained for building yet another church. 5 * The 

 architect's report on the existing structure stated that 

 repair was impossible and that in any case 'not one 

 single feature was worth preservation'." The new 

 church was designed by Habershon and Fawckner,*" 

 and ;^3,ooo towards the cost was contributed anony- 

 mously by the Revd. W. M. Oliver, Rector of Bobbing- 

 worth.*' 



The church is larger than those preceding it and 

 consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, vestry, organ 

 chamber, and combined north porch and bell tower. 

 The external walls are of flint with Bath stone dress- 

 ings. The tower has a shingled spire. The style is a 

 19th-century version of Early English and most of the 

 windows are grouped lancets. The internal walls are • 



<" See Stapleford Tawney, Church. He 

 was also rector of that parish from 1839. 



50 T. Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 356. He 

 lived at the parsonage from about the time 

 he became rector until at least 1839: 

 E.R.O., Q/RPl 721-37; ibid. D/CT 314. 

 By 1848 he was living in Stapleford 

 Tawney: fVhite's Dir. Essex (1848). 



5' ffhite's Dir. Essex (1863). 



5^ In possession of Mrs. Storkey. 



S3 Note in the Register of Baptisms 

 1687-1812 in possession of rector. 



5* Morant, Essex, i, 147. 



55 E.A.T. N.s. xi, 174; ffhite's Dir. 

 Essex {li^.?,). 



5' T. Wright, Hist. Essex, ii, 356. 



5' These details are from an architects' 

 drawing of 1886, a copy of which is in the 

 possession of the rector. 



58 Faculty in possession of rector. 



50 Ibid. 



*" Foundation stone in west wall of 

 church. . 



" E.R. xiv, 186. 



207 



