ONGAR HUNDRED 



STONDON MASSEY 



ments to rectors include those to Thomas Smith 

 (1791), E.J. Reeve (1893), and his son E. H. L. Reeve 

 (1936). On the south wall of the nave is an enriched 

 stone memorial in Jacobean style to William Byrd the 

 musician (d. 1623). It was erected in 1923 to mark 

 the tercentenary of his death. On the north wall of the 

 nave is an oak panel in memory of men who fell in the 

 First World War. 



For Canon Reeve's legacy for the church see below, 

 Charities. 



At Stondon, as at Navestock and Kelvedon Hatch, 

 some of the gentry re- 

 ROMJN CATHOLICISM mained Roman Catho- 

 lic after the Reforma- 

 tion. William Shelley, lord of the manor in the late 

 1 6th century, suffered imprisonment and forfeiture of 

 his estates for his recusancy and for his part in Catholic 

 plots. s-* William Byrd the musician, of Stondon Place, 

 was also a Roman Catholic. In 1605 he and his wife, 

 son, and daughter-in-law were all presented to the arch- 

 deacon for their recusancy and failure to attend the 

 parish church. Byrd was also charged with having 

 seduced into popery John Wright, son and heir of John 

 Wright of Kelvedon Hatch. 55 In 1612 Byrd was pre- 

 sented again, this time for failure to pay a church rate. 5* 

 Other members of his family were presented as 

 recusants from time to time after his death. 57 No 

 evidence has been found of any recusancy in the parish 

 after they ceased to live there. 



Nathaniel Ward, Rector of Stondon from 1626, was 

 deprived of the living by 

 PROTESTANT Laud in 1632 for dis- 



NONCONFORMITT obedience of the canons.ss 

 He had probably been pre- 

 sented to Stondon by Sir Nathaniel Rich, then lord of 

 the manor, who was a zealous Puritan. 59 Nathaniel 

 Rich the younger was also a Puritan. His religious 

 view did not change in old age. In 1684 the church- 

 wardens of Stondon presented that he had come to 

 church only once in the past fourteen years, and that 

 for a funeral.*" His will provides the only evidence of 

 organized nonconformity in the parish: he left £\o to 

 a Mr. Paget 'minister of Stondon meeting'. This meet- 

 ing appears to have been short lived.*' 



The parish book for Stondon Massey covers the 



period 1711-1922.*^ 



PARISH GOVERNMENT Detailed overseers' ac- 



AND POOR RELIEF count books also survive 



for 1741-1801 and 

 1821— 42.*3 The parish vestry usually met only on 

 Easter Monday, for the annual audit of accounts and 

 election of officers. Before 1721 and again between 

 1772 and 1793 the minutes were not signed. Between 

 1725 and 1743 John How of Stondon Place, the lord 

 of the manor, acted as chairman whenever he was 

 present. Between 1743 and 1772 the rector, Thomas 

 Smith, usually took the chair. His successor John 

 Oldham was chairman from 1793 to 1821. After 

 1 8 2 1 Oldham ceased to attend and there was no regular 

 chairman. The average attendance was six parishioners. 



including parish officers and the chairman. In 1737 

 the vestry agreed to allow the parish clerk, who was 

 also sexton, \os. a year. The expenses of a vestry 

 dinner were regularly included in the overseers' ac- 

 counts during the second half of the i8th century. 



Before 1795 a distinction was usually maintained 

 between the expenses of the church and those relating 

 to poor relief, and separate rates were levied. It was 

 recorded in 1737, however, that repairs to the church- 

 yard were customarily met out of the poor rates. From 

 1795 the churchwarden's expenditure, after the deduc- 

 tion of rent received for the parish land, was usually 

 carried over to the overseer's account and paid by the 

 latter official 'with the consent of the rector'. A rate of 

 IS. in £1 produced £21 is. in 1723. By the end of the 

 1 8th century it produced nearly X40- New assessments 

 were made in 1822, when the rateable value of the 

 parish was assessed at ^^i ,42 5, and in 1 848 when it was 

 raised to ;^i,836.*'* 



One churchwarden, one constable, and usually one 

 overseer were appointed each year. Until about 1750 

 each overseer usually served for two consecutive years. 

 On the rare occasions when women were nominated 

 for this office they served by deputy. In 1798 it was 

 agreed that the office should be held in rotation by the 

 owners of specific properties, and the rota was entered 

 at the end of the parish book. From 1 806 the overseer 

 was allowed a salary of 5 guineas and all expenses except 

 those for making rates and for journeys to Ongar. In 

 1 799 William King was paid one guinea for serving as 

 parish constable. 



In 1749 the constable was authorized to erect stocks 

 at the parish expense. These probably stood at the 

 cross-roads near Stondon Place, where the ancient 

 whipping-post certainly stood.*5 The parish pound 

 was a few yards south of the whipping-post.** 



Expenditure on poor relief was srriall in the early 

 1 8th century and did not exceed ;^ioo before 178 1. 

 The cost of medical attention for the poor was from an 

 early date a prominent item in the annual expenses. 

 In 1 74 1, the first year for which detailed accounts sur- 

 vive, it amounted to £\ out of a total of ;^2 5 14J. In 

 1746 it was decided that the sanction of a parish officer 

 or four other parishioners was necessary before the 

 surgeon and apothecary could be summoned to attend 

 the poor. From about 1760 the parish doctor received 

 a regular salary. In 1833 John Potter, who had been 

 parish doctor at least since 1822, agreed to a contract 

 giving him £12. In the following year he accepted a 

 less favourable contract whereby he undertook to 

 attend all cases (instead of three, as previously) of mid- 

 wifery and surgery within 3 miles of the parish, the 

 incorporated workhouse at Stanford Rivers included, 

 at a salary of ;^io. 



In 1794 expenditure on poor relief was ;^I30. In 

 that year the parish subscribed £\ 6s. to the poor relief 

 scheme of John Conyers of Epping, which was 

 designed to reward children for knitting or spinning", 

 and parents for rearing large families without parish 

 relief.*7 The peak of expenditure on poor relief was 



** Sec above. Manor. 



55 E.R.O., D/AEA 23. And cf. Kelve- 

 don Hatch. 



5« E. H. L. Reeve, 'WilUam Byrd', E.R. 

 xxxii, 168. 



5' Reeve, Stondon Massey^ 37 and n. 

 For Byrd's Catholic associations see E. 

 Fellowes. fViUiam Byrd., chap. iii. 



58 Reeve, Stondon Massey^ 71-72. And 



see above, Worthies. 



5' Ibid. 37. See above, Worthies. 



"> Ibid. 39. See above, Worthies. 



«■ Ibid. 



'2 E.R.O., D/P 98/8. Some use of this 

 book was made by E. H. L. Reeve in his 

 Hist. Stondon Massey ^ 83 f. and his Supple- 

 mentary Notes, 200-3. 



63 E.R.O., D/P 98/12/1-7. Unless 



otherwise stated all the following informa- 

 tion is taken from these account books and 

 the parish book. 



<■♦ E.R.O., D/P 98/11/1-3: Ratebooks 

 1797-1850. '5 See above, p. 240. 



<•<> E.R.O., D/CT 337. 



6' Acct. of Soc. for Promotion of Industry 

 in hundreds of Ongar and Harloiv and half- 

 hundred of IVahham (1797). 



247 



