ONGAR HUNDRED 



STANFORD RIVERS 



the relief of the poor. Medical attention was perhaps 

 new. In 1741 an account for medicine of ^^4 8j-. was 

 passed, and in 1746 there was payment o( £,\ 4/. for 

 medical services. Paupers' rents, and from 1764 the 

 cost of their firing, were often paid and in many cases 

 the money went to prominent vestrymen.' 



In 1769 a workhouse was built on parish land near 

 the church. From 1770 payments for wool and spindles 

 indicate that the inmates were engaged in spinning. 

 From 177 1 this work brought income; the weekly 

 sums recorded were usually greatest in the winter. 

 This income later declined. Another source of income 

 was the hiring of paupers' labour. From 1810 until 

 18 1 5 regular statements of account between the 

 governor of the workhouse and the parishioners were 

 recorded. The overseers made monthly or fortnightly 

 cash payments and supplied flour to the governor. He 

 kept the paupers at an agreed rate for each person, and 

 received extra for fuel, potatoes, and 'hair cutting, 

 shaving, mops, brooms, thread, worsted, tape, oil &c.' 

 In i8og there were 12 beds in the workhouse and in 

 1 8 3 o there were 13.* 



In 1829 Stanford Rivers joined with nine other 

 parishes in a voluntary poor law union.' The parish 

 raised £300 on^^jo bonds at 4 per cent., dated 1830— i, 

 to defray its contribution towards the cost of the new 

 incorporated workhouse,* and in 1831 sold its own 

 workhouse for i,\^o^ 



The new incorporated workhouse was built (prob- 

 ably in 1 830-1) at Little End in Stanford Rivers, on 

 land formerly owned by Capel Cure.* After the forma- 

 tion of the Ongar Union in 1836 it became the pro- 

 perty of the new union and served as its workhouse 

 until the union came to an end in 1930. 



Stanford Rivers became part of the Ongar Union 

 in 1836. 



In 1818 there were two day schools in the parish, 

 with some 50 pupils.' In the following 

 SCHOOLS years one of them seems to have ceased 

 and another to have started, so that in 

 1833 there were still two schools with 44 pupils.'"- As 

 late as 1846-7 the only schools were kept by dames. 

 The rector, however, exercised some supervision over 

 one of these and also gave financial help to some of the 

 others." The number of these schools had evidently 

 increased with the growth of the population and in 

 1851a National School was at last built. It was on the 

 road about half way between Toot Hill and Little 

 End. The Department of Education gave ;{^ii7 and 

 the National Society ;^20 towards the cost. The lord 

 of the manor gave the site and ^^200, and other sub- 

 scriptions were collected. The rector and church- 

 wardens were appointed trustees of the school. They 



and three of the subscribers constituted the board of 

 management. In 1857, when some additions and 

 alterations took place, a further grant of £<) was 

 received from the Department of Education.'^ In 

 1870 there were stated to be places for 117 chil- 

 dren. '^ 



The accommodation at the school was not fully used 

 for many years. In 1858—9 there were 30 boys and 

 37 girls in attendance; there was apparently much 

 truancy.'"* In 1871 there were still only about 65 

 pupils. 's In 1858—9 there were a mistress and two 

 pupil-teachers'* and in 1863 there were a master and 

 a mistress. '7 The school received parliamentary grants 

 for the training of pupil-teachers, the employment of 

 certificated teachers, and the purchase of equipment. 

 In 1858—9 the grant was ^^164, but an inspector found 

 the standard of education to be low.'* In 1871 it was 

 estimated that 140 school places were needed to secure 

 universal elementary education in the parish, and that 

 the National School could provide 1 1 8 of these. The 

 Education Department proposed to unite the parish 

 with North Weald Bassett (q.v.) in a single administra- 

 tive district, apparently to facilitate the attendance of 

 some Stanford Rivers children at a new school to be 

 built in North Weald. There was much opposition 

 from North Weald to these proposals and the amalgama- 

 tion did not take place." The school at Stanford 

 Rivers was enlarged in the following years.^" The 

 average attendance increased from 69 in 1872 to 93 

 in 1880 and 144 in 1902, and the annual grants rose 

 from j^34 14^. in 1872 to ;^74 13/. in 1880 and 

 ;^i46 18/. in 1902.^' 



By the Education Act of 1902 the school passed 

 under the administration of the Essex Education Com- 

 mittee, Ongar District. Its average attendance fell to 

 74 in 1929. In 1936 it was reorganized for mixed 

 juniors and infants, the seniors being transferred to the 

 new school at Chipping Ongar (q.v,).^^ In May 1952 

 there were 2 teachers and 53 pupils. In May 1950 the 

 school was granted aided status.^3 



The school is an L-shaped one-story building of red 

 brick with a tiled roof. The teacher's house attached 

 to it has two stories. 



Thomas Petit^'* (d. before 1602) left 5/. a year each 

 for the poor and 'poor folk's marriages' 

 CHARITIES to the parishes of Stanford Rivers and 

 Greenstead. It issued from lands in 

 Stanford Rivers.^s In 1834 the money had not been 

 paid for at least 2 3 years. The owner of the land was 

 apparently willing to pay the charge in future but there 

 is no later record of the charity. 



William Green,^* by will dated 1554, devised a 

 rent charge of ^^2 to 1 2 poor inhabitants of Stanford 



5 This is, of course, not surprising : they 

 were of the class which owned cottages 

 and had timber to sell. 



* E.R.O., D/P 140/18/4. 



' The union was under Gilbert's Act 

 (22 Geo. Ill, c. 83 (1782)). The other 

 parishes were Abbess Roding, Bobbing- 

 worth, Greenstead, Little Laver, Shelley, 

 Stapleford Abbots, Stapleford Tawney, 

 Stondon Massey, and Great Warley. All 

 were in Ongar hundred except the last, 

 which was in Chafford hundred. For a 

 copy of the agreement see E.R.O., 

 p/RSw I. 



"' E.R.O., D/P 140/8/8. The bond- 

 holders were all London men. 



' Ibid. 140/18/3. 



8 E.R.O., D/DCCT33. 



9 Retns. on Educ. of Poor, H.C. 224, 



p. 271 (1819), i!C(l). 



■" Educ. Enquiry Ahstr., H.C. 62, p. 289 

 (1835), xli. 



" Nat. Soc. Enquiry into Church Schs. 

 1846—7, pp. 18-19. 



'2 Min. of Educ. File 13/342; ex inf. 

 National Society. 



" E.R.O., D/AEM 2/8. 



'* Educ. Cttee. of Council, Reps, on Schs. 

 in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, 1858-9, 

 p. 44 (in Min. of Educ. Libr.). 



■5 Retns. Elem. Educ, H.C. 201, pp. 

 112-13(1871), Iv. 



" Educ. Cttee. of Council, Reps, on Schs. in 

 Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, 1858-9, p. 44. 



" fVhite's Dir. Essex (1863), 744. 



■8 Educ. Cttee. of Council, Reps, on Schs. 

 in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, 1858—9, 

 p. 44; Rep. of Educ. Cttee. of Council, 



1858 [2510], p. 560, H.C. (1859, Sess. i), 

 xxi (i). 



■9 Min. of Educ. File 13/342. 



»» Rep. of Educ. Cttee. of Council, 1886 

 [C. 5123-r], p. 520, H.C. (1887), xxviii. 



" Rep. of Educ. Cttee. of Council, i8y2 

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

 1880 [C. 2948-1], p. 579, H.C. (1881), 

 xxxii ; Schs. under Bd. of Educ, igo2 

 [Cd. 1490], p. 74, H.C. (1903), li. 



2^ Min. of Educ. File 13/342. 



" Ex inf. Essex Educ. Cttee. 



2< Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), H.C. 216, 

 p. 243 (1835), xxi (i); cf. E.R.O., D/P 

 140/1/1 f. 143V. 



^5 Cf. the 'anniversary' in the Church, 

 in 1549 and earlier. 



*^ Rep. Com. Char. [Essex), p. 243 ; cf. 

 D/P 140/1/1 f. 138 f. 



221 



