ONGAR HUNDRED 



STAPLEFORD ABBOTS 



paid ;^io for performing the same office in the ensuing 

 year. There was apparently no payment to the over- 

 seer for the year 1 8 1 o-i i but in May 1 8 1 1 , a few days 

 after the Easter vestry, it was agreed 'by the major part 

 of the parishioners' that George Fitch should serve as 

 overseer for 1811-12 at a salary of ^^lo. No salary 

 appears to have been paid to the overseers for the years 

 1812-15.*' The overseer for 1815— 16 may have been 

 paid but the overseer for 1 8 16-17 was probably not. 

 There is no further evidence on the matter until 1822 

 when at the Easter vestry it was agreed that Joseph 

 Green, who had already been overseer in the preceding 

 year (182 1—2), should be allowed ^10 for serving 

 again in 1822-3. Green remained overseer for several 

 years after this. It is not clear whether he was paid a 

 salary between Easter 1823 and Easter 1829 but at 

 Easter 1829 he was appointed assistant overseer at j{^lo 

 a year. He filled this office until at least 1830. Before 

 1800 there were at least three illiterate overseers.*^ 



From 1777 until 1779 the overseer, churchwarden, 

 and constable each submitted a separate account of his 

 term in office. From 1780 until 1833, however, 

 neither churchwardens nor constables submitted 

 separate accounts, their receipts and expenditure being 

 incorporated in the overseers' accounts which continued 

 to be submitted to the Easter vestry each year. Until 

 1808 it is not clear what the usual practice was in 

 regard to the surveyors' accounts. The surveyors 

 delivered an account in September 1779 but after this 

 there is no evidence about them for nearly 30 years. 

 From 1808 two surveyors regularly submitted their 

 account each September. 



At some time there was a parish poorhouse, situated 

 at Tysea Hill. In 1841 the vestry resolved to sell it. 

 It does not seem to have been used as a poor- 

 house during the period for which the vestry books 

 survive. 



In 1776 there were 30 poor households in the parish. 

 Several consisted of only one person, usually old, but 

 most of them consisted of labourers and their families. ^^ 

 Few of these households appear to have had constant 

 relief. In 1776—7 there were 9 persons in receipt of 

 doles, the total of which amounted to £1 4/. 6J. a 

 week. In 1777-8 there were 10 persons receiving 

 weekly doles totalling £1 9/. The following year there 

 were 11, and the doles totalled ^l 16/. 6J. a week. 

 Between 1779 and 1782 there were 8 people each 

 year, the average total of the doles being £1 js. In 

 each of the years 1813-15 there were 17 persons, 

 excluding children, in receipt of 'permanent relief'.'* 

 None of these received relief in a workhouse.*' There 

 were also 30 persons relieved occasionally in each of 

 these years. 8* Weekly doles and occasional gifts of 

 money and clothing continued to be paid to poor per- 

 sons in the parish until the end of the old Poor Law. 

 In February 1829 an unusually large vestry, consist- 

 mg of 12 parishioners in addition to parish officers, 

 unanimously agreed 'to join for a Corporation work- 

 house'.*' In December 1830 an open vestry agreed 



8' E.R.O., Q/CR 1/9. 



'^ In the same period there was at least 

 one illiterate churchwarden. 



*3 In most cases there were 2-4. children. 



S" E.R.O., Q/CR i/io. 



" Ibid. 86 Ibid. 



" This was the voluntary union under 

 Gilbert's Act, which had its workhouse at 

 Stanford Rivers (q.v.). 



*' See above. Manor of Battles Hall. 



«» E.R.O., S/CR i/i. «o Ibid. 



that £1 09 should be borrowed towards the Incorporated 

 House. A few days afterwards a select vestry resolved 

 that 10 persons, including 5 children, should be sent 

 to the Incorporated House forthwith. Some persons 

 were still maintained in the parish on weekly pensions, 

 and at least two of those committed to the Incor- 

 porated House do not appear to have gone there im- 

 mediately, for in the months following their committal 

 each was allowed a small weekly pension by the select 

 vestry. In 1832 it was resolved to apply to Lady 

 Mildmay, owner of Battles Hall,** for the grant of 

 waste land on her manor 'for the purpose of employing 

 and bettering the condition of the poor'. In April 1832 

 when Guardians for the Incorporated Workhouse were 

 appointed for 1832-3 it was resolved that the 'visiting 

 Guardian be allowed ,^3 4/. per annum for his trouble 

 in executing the office'. In 1833 it was proposed by 

 the Guardians 'that certain lands in this parish belong- 

 ing to the parish should be sold by public auction for 

 the purpose of defraying the medium as far asit will go 

 towards erecting the associated workhouse'. 



In 1776 the total cost of poor relief was ;^ioo;*' 

 in the three years 1783—5 it averaged ^160 a year.'" 

 The rise continued irregularly and in the years 1789- 

 90, 1790— I, and from 1794 onwards it appears to have 

 been over £,zoo a year rising to nearly £400 in 1799— 

 1800. In 1 800-1 it was ;^635 but after Easter 1801 

 it declined to ^^313 in 1802-3. Between 1803 and 

 181 1 it varied between about ;^37o and £\J^ a year. 

 In 1812-13 and 1818-19 it reached peaks of ;^620 

 and about ;^7oo respectively. In the 1820's it was 

 usually a little under ^500 and in the early 1830's it 

 declined, being about ^^300 in the last year of the old 

 Poor Law. 9' 



In 1836 Stapleford Abbots became part of the 

 Ongar Poor Law Union. 



In 1734 Sir John Fortescue-Aland of Knolls Hill'^ 

 built a school at Bournebridge, on waste 

 SCHOOLS land belonging to the capital manor,'^ 

 and charged his estate with ^^25 a year 

 for the support of a schoolmaster who should teach 

 reading and writing to 20 boys of Stapleford Abbots 

 and 20 of Lambourne.'* The school seems to have 

 had a continuous existence'^ but by 1 807 it was in poor 

 condition. Owing to parents' reluctance to send their 

 children, the master was teaching elementary subjects 

 to only 1 5 or 16 boys.'* By 18 18, however, 30 free 

 pupils were attending and 16 paying pupils as well. 

 The master lived at the schoolhouse rent-free and was 

 paid the £2^ from the endowment." In 1833 there 

 were 50 pupils, presumably including those paying 

 fees.'* In 1835 there were 55 pupils. Of these 40 

 were free pupils, the children of Anglicans, who entered 

 at 7 years of age and left at fourteen. The hours of 

 attendance were 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the curriculum 

 elementary." In 1846—7 the school was united to the 

 Diocesan Board of Education and the teacher, nowa 

 mistress, was paid ;^35 a year, though the fee-paying 

 pupils seem then to have been very few.' In 1863 the 



9' The exact amounts spent on poor 

 relief are known only for the years 1 776—7, 

 1783-5, 1800— I, 1802-3, and 1804.-17. 

 For all other years a close approximation 

 is possible on the basis of the overseers* 

 total disbursements. 



^2 See above. Knolls Hill estate. 



" E.R.O., D/DLo T51. Subsequently 

 Sir John acquired a tenancy of the land on 

 which the school was built. 



9-t Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), H.C. 216, 



p. 243 (i83S),xxi(i). 



" Morant, Essex, i, 178; Chapman and 

 Andre, Map of Essex, lyjj, pi. xvi. 



96 E.R.O., D/AEM 2/4. 



9' Retns. Educ. Poor, H.C. 224., p. 271 

 (18.9), ix(.). 



98 Educ. Enquiry Ahstr. H.C. 62, p. 290 

 (.835),-xli. 



99 Rep. Com. Char. (Essex), p. 243. 



^ Nat. Soc. Enquiry into Church Schs. 

 1846-7, pp. 18-19. 



231 



