A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



reached in 1800-1, when it was over ;^350. In 1801 

 29 persons were receiving weekly pensions totalling 

 £\ los. <)J. and in addition 20 of these were receiving 

 pickled pork and potatoes valued at £2 6s. a week. 

 The review of expenditure that produced these figures 

 was followed by economies. Half a hundredweight of 

 rice costing i6j. 6J. replaced the pork and potatoes and 

 general expenditure was also reduced, its average for 

 the next 20 years being under ;^25o.*8 In 1828 the 

 parish contained 12 permanent and 67 occasional 

 paupers out of a total population of 230. A parish 

 poorhouse had existed in 1793; an inventory of goods 

 there then included three spinning-wheels. The 

 statistics of 180 1 do not suggest that a poorhouse was 

 then in use, but in 1834 the parish was renting two 

 cottages, divided into a total of five tenements, from 

 the trustees of Giles's Charity, for use as poorhouses.*" 



In 1829 Stondon Massey joined the voluntary poor 

 law union under Gilbert's Act with Stanford Rivers 

 and other neighbouring parishes.'" Thereafter annual 

 expenditure on poor relief in Stondon rose by about 

 ^50 above the average of the four years previous to the 

 union. The parish guardian of the poor succeeded to 

 the salary previously given to the overseer. In 1836 

 the parish became a member of the Ongar Poor Law 

 Union. 



There was a schoolmaster in Stondon Massey in 

 1777, but his school had been closed by 

 SCHOOLS 1 79 1 , when John Oldham became rector. 

 Oldham was a subscriber to the Society 

 for Promoting Christian Knowledge and he set up a 

 day school in the parish with a labourer's wife as the 

 mistress. In 1 807 about 1 2 Stondon children attended 

 and possibly others from outside the parish. The 

 curriculum was confined to reading, sewing, and knitt- 

 ing. Expenses were paid by the rector." In 1 8 1 8 this 

 school, still kept by the labourer's wife, remained the 

 only one in the parish. The mistress taught 30 or 40 

 pupils to read but sent them to Chipping Ongar to 

 learn writing and arithmetic.'^ The school had come 

 into union with the National Society in 18 16, and 

 remained so at least until 1832. During that period 

 the number of day pupils seems to have been kept at 

 34, while a further 50 attended the Sunday school held 

 in connexion with the day school.'^ In 1833 the day 

 pupils increased considerably in numbers. They all 

 paid fees except 6 whose fees were paid by benefactors. 

 There were some dame schools and there was a girls' 

 boarding-school at Stondon House, which was founded 

 in 1824 and which by 1833 had 26 pupils.''* 



In 1844 the lord of the manor, P. H. Meyer, built 

 a parish school with accommodation for 48 pupils. 

 The trust deed of that year placed it in union with the 

 National Society, required that the religious teaching 

 should be in accordance with Anglican principles and 

 appointed the rector and churchwardens as trustees." 

 In 1870 there were some 42 pupils, and in 1871 an 

 inspector reported that the accommodation was suffi- 



cient for the needs of the parish.'* Some years passed 

 before the school received a government grant because 

 the rector would not accept a conscience clause for the 

 benefit of nonconformist children on the ground that 

 the founder had specifically required that the principles 

 of religious teaching should be Anglican. When the 

 income of the school was reduced by the agricultural 

 depression that began about 1875, and the rector saw 

 that the conscience clause had been accepted in other 

 Church schools, he also accepted the clause." The 

 school received a government grant of ;^5i in 1893 

 and one of ;^6o in 1899.'* Average attendance in the 

 i88o's was about 36." The school was enlarged in 

 1 89 1 for 70 children, but in spite of this there was little 

 increase in the attendance, which averaged 39 in 

 1898.80 



By the Education Act of 1902 the school passed 

 under the administration of the Essex Education Com- 

 mittee, Ongar District, as a non-provided school. In 

 1904, when accommodation was estimated at 75, there 

 were 45 pupils and 2 teachers.*' In 1910 the average 

 attendance was 31 and in 1920 it was 36. In 1930 the 

 school was reorganized for mixed juniors and infants. 

 Attendance subsequently increased and in 1939 the 

 infants were being taught in the adjacent village hall.'^ 

 In May 1952 there were 47 pupils and 2 teachers. 

 The school was closed in 1953, the children being 

 transferred to that at Kelvedon Hatch. '3 The build- 

 ing was of one story, of red brick with tiled roof. It 

 was inscribed 'Stondon Massey National School, built 

 1 8 44, enlarged 1 8 9 1 .' 1 1 was demolished in July 1954. 



Henry Giles, by deed of 1 575, left two cottages and 

 about 5 acres of land on the west of 

 CHARITIES^ the Ongar-Blackmore road in trust 

 for an annual distribution to the poor. 

 In 1834 the two cottages were used as five almshouses 

 whose inmates were appointed by the overseer.*' The 

 parish then paid no rent and the trustees did not repair 

 the cottages. The land was let for £j 5/., which was 

 distributed at Christmas in shares varying from y. to 

 5/. according to the size of families. In 1841 the lord 

 of the manor supplemented the endowment by a small 

 piece of waste land between the cottages and the road. 

 He also rebuilt and enlarged the cottages in i860.'* 

 Part of the property, including one of the five cottages, 

 has been sold since 1931. In 195 1 the stock held was 

 ;{^I55. In 1952 the total rents received were ^^2 8 is. 2J. 

 Most of this was spent on repairs, the cottages being in 

 poor condition ; ;^i was given away in relief. 



Giles Charity Cottages are a group of five two-story 

 houses in red brick with pilasters on the outer angles, 

 pantile roofs, pierced ornamental barge-boards to the 

 end gables and porches, diagonal chimney-stacks, and 

 'Gothic' casements. The pantiles were substituted for 

 thatch about 20 years ago.*' On the north-east end 

 wall of the block is a stone slab inscribed: 'The gift of 

 Henry Giles to Stondon parish 1574. Enlarged and 

 repaired 1 860.' The repairs of 1 860 seem to have con- 



" Detailed overseer's accounts for this 

 period are missing. 



" See below, Charities. 



'» See Stanford Rivers. 



" Reeve, Stondon Massey, 47; E.R.O., 

 D/AEM 2/4. 



" Retns. Educ. Poor, H.C. 224, p. 272 

 (1819), ix(i). 



" Nat. Soc. Rep. 1816, 1818, 1828, 

 1832. 



'♦ Educ. Enquiry Abstr. H.C. 62, p. 290 

 (1835), xli. Reeve, Stondon Massey, 95, 



49. The Stondon House school closed 

 before 1861. 



'5 Reeve, op. cit. 95—965 Min. of Educ. 

 File 13/356. 



T> Retns. Elem. Educ. H.C. 201, pp. 

 112-13 (1871), Iv; Min. of Educ. File 



'3/356- 



77 Reeve, op. cit. 95-96. 



" Retns. of Schs. 1893 [C. 7529], p. 716, 

 H.C. {1894), Ixv.; ibid. 1899 [Cd- 315]. 

 p. 74, H.C. (1900), Ixv (2). 



'» Kelly's Dir. Essex (1882, 1886, 1890). 



248 



8° Ibid. (1898). 



" Essex Educ. Cttee. Handhk. 1904, 

 p. 187. 



82 Min. of Educ. File 13/356. 



83 Inf. from Essex Educ. Cttee. 



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

 pp. 245-6 (1835), xxi (i); Char. Com. 

 files j Reeve, Stondon Massey, iio— 17. 



85 See Parish Government and Poor 

 Relief. 



86 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1878). 

 " Inf. from an occupant. 



