ONGAR HUNDRED 



STONDON MASSEY 



entrance to the village, were rebuilt in i860. The 

 original cottages were of the i6th century.'* The 

 'Bricklayers' Arms' is a late-igth-century building on 

 the site of a tarred weather-boarded cottage which in 

 the early 19th century served as a small provision 

 shop. '7 



Perhaps the most impressive building in the parish 

 is the former rectory, built about 1800.'' Near it to 

 the south is Rectory Cottage, a tiny house with a very 

 tall chimney, a high-pitched roof, and round-arched 

 central door between two similarly arched 'Gothic' 

 windows. It was formerly thatched but is now slated. 

 Its style is similar to that of some other cottages in the 

 district, for example the gardener's cottage at Marden 

 Ash in High Ongar (q.v.) and is of the early 19th 

 century. The house has been known locally as the 

 Doll's House and is said to have been built by the 

 owner of Stondon House for one of his daughters." 

 There are several other 19th-century houses and there 

 has been considerable development since the First 

 World War, mostly along the road to Hallsford Bridge. 

 There are many privately built houses, including some 

 bungalows and a number of council houses of which 

 the most interesting are nine pairs built about 1947 in 

 Reeve's Close, opposite the Giles Almshouses. Near 

 Hallsford Bridge there is a small engineering works, 

 opened about 1952. 



The population of Stondon Massey was 200 in 

 1801.^° It rose to a peak of 299 in 1 8 3 1 and remained 

 at about that level until late in the 19th century, when 

 it declined gradually to 213 in 1921.^' Since then 

 there has been a great increase, to 282 in 193 1 and 

 489 in 195 1." 



The road system of the parish is simple, consisting 

 only of the Hallsford Bridge and Ongar road, that to 

 Kelvedon Hatch and Blackmore, the road to Paslow 

 Wood Common and Chelmsford, and the loop to the 

 farms in the west of the parish. There have probably 

 been few changes since the Middle Ages. The most 

 important was the building of Hallsford Bridge in the 

 late 1 8th century (see below). The only other change 

 that has been noticed was the disappearance of a track 

 leading from Mellow Purgess to Kelvedon Common. 

 This was in use up to about 1550 but soon after this 

 the right of way was barred by the farmer of the 

 neighbouring land. About 1604 the rector, John 

 Nobbs, sued William Byrd, then tenant of the land, 

 in an attempt to reopen the track, but he was evidently 

 unsuccessful.^' 



No mention has been found of a bridge at Hallsford 

 before the 1 8th century. The map of 1 777 shows only 

 'All Ford'^ but by this time steps had been taken to 

 build a bridge. In 1775 a petition was sent to Quarter 

 Sessions by the inhabitants of Stondon and others com- 

 plaining that the ford was dangerous. They asked for 

 a bridge to be built and this was done.^' Hallsford 

 Bridge appears in the lists of county bridges from about 

 1800.2* jjj 1858 the county surveyor reported that 



the bridge was a recent erection in timber.^' The 

 present bridge was built in concrete in 1934.2* The 

 building of a bridge at Hallsford greatly improved 

 communications between Stondon and Chipping 

 Ongar, but the parish was not on a main road and until 

 the coming of motor-buses after the First World War 

 there was no public transport there. There are now 

 fairly good bus services to Brentwood and via Black- 

 more to Ongar. 



Stondon was in 1852 being served by a postal mes- 

 senger from Kelvedon Hatch.^' It was later served 

 through Brentwood'o and it was not until 1898 that 

 it had its own post-office.^' There was a telephone 

 service by 1930.32 Water is supplied to the parish by 

 the Herts, and Essex Waterworks Co.'' Electricity 

 was laid on in June \()jS.i* There is no gas supply. 

 The village hall was opened in 1919." The Black- 

 more, Stondon and District Ex-Servicemen's Club, 

 founded in 1922, is just outside Stondon parish, at 

 Tips Cross on the south.'* A branch of the county 

 library was opened in 1927.'^ 



In this parish as elsewhere in the hundred mixed 

 farming is carried on. In 1848 it was estimated that 

 there were some 600 acres of arable in the parish and 

 400 acres of meadow and pasture.'* In 1849 there 

 were 10 farms in the parish of over 40 acres and several 

 smaller holdings." The only farms of over 100 acres 

 were Stondon Hall (231 acres), Chivers (127 acres), 

 and Little Myles's which was partly in Stondon and 

 partly in Kelvedon Hatch. In general therefore this 

 was a parish of small farms, and it appears to have been 

 so for centuries.*" In the 19th century the ownership 

 of the land was also widely distributed. The Stondon 

 Place estate was reduced in about 18 16. In 1849 it 

 contained only 250 acres.*' The Revd. G. G. Stone- 

 street then owned Stondon Hall farm and Wool- 

 mongers totalling 247 acres, and John Fane owned 

 Little Myles's and Clapgates, totalling 138 acres. No 

 other owners had as much as 100 acres.*^ During the 

 1850's P. H. Meyer increased the Stondon Place 

 estate slightly but he never came near to owning the 

 greater part of the parish as did his friend Capt. Bud- 

 worth in Greenstead (q-v.). In the i8th century, how- 

 ever, and previously in the 1 6th century and even earlier 

 the lord of the manor had owned much more than in 

 Meyer's time. In this connexion it is perhaps significant 

 that there was never more than one manor in Stondon. 

 From the i6th century at least the lords of the manor 

 were usually resident in the parish. In the i8th and 

 19th centuries they took an active interest in the life of 

 the parish. William Taylor-How (d. 1777) left a 

 legacy for the village schoolmaster.*' P. H. Meyer 

 contributed generously to the village school and the 

 church and led the local Volunteers.** The parish was 

 also fortunate in having a succession of able and public- 

 spirited rectors during the same period. The agricul- 

 tural depression of the 1870's may not have affected 

 Stondon quite so severely as some neighbouring 



" See below, Charities. 



" Reeve, Stondon Massey, 49. 



" See below, Church. 



"> But cf. Church. If this is the former 

 Bell Rope Cottage it is of c. 1842. 



*** For census figures 1801 — 1901 see 

 y.C.H. Essex, ii, 350. 



^^ Ibid.; Census, 1911-21. 



^^ Census, 1931, 1951. 



^' Reeve, Stondon Massey, 126. 



'* Chapman and Andre, Map of Essex, 

 1777, sheet xvii. 



25 E.R.O., D/DFa E43/36. For a photo 

 of Hallsford in flood, 1903, see Reeve, 

 Stondon Massey, 162. 



2' E.R.O., Q/ABz I, 2. 



" E.R.O., 2/ABz 3. 



*8 Inf. from Essex County Surveyor. 



" P.M.G. Mins. 1852, vol. 127, p. 281. 



3» Kelly's Dir. Essex, 1886, &c. 



" P.M.G. Mins. 1898, vol. 631, min. 

 8137, vol. 640, min. 14753. 



32 Brit. Post. Guide, 1930. 



" Inf. from Herts. & Essex Water- 



works Co. 



3* Inf. from Eastn. Elecy. Bd. 



" Inf. from Mr. C. H. Hackney. 



3' Ibid. " Inf. from County Librarian. 



38 E.R.O., D/CT 337. 39 Ibid. 



♦» Cf. Reeve, Stondon Massey, pt. Ill, 

 ch. iv. 



■" E.R.O., D/CT 337. And see below, 

 Manor. ' *» E.R.O., D/CT 337. 



*3 Reeve, Stondon Massey, 47. 



♦« Ibid. 50-51. And see Church, 

 Schools. 



241 



I 1 



