ONGAR HUNDRED 



THEYDON GARNON 



the 1 8th and early 19th centuries, the parish was 

 known also as Coopersale," but this name was subse- 

 quently restricted to that northern part of the ancient 

 parish served by the district church of St. Alban, 

 Coopersale, consecrated in 1852." 



The southern boundary of Theydon Garnon is the 

 River Roding. A stream which rises in the centre of 

 the parish flows south to join the river near the eastern 

 boundary. The ground rises from about 100 ft. above 

 sea-level by the river to 3 50 ft. in the north of the parish. 

 The extreme north-east is well wooded and includes 

 Gernon Bushes, about 100 acres of ancient forest 

 waste. The road from Passingford Bridge to Theydon 

 Bois passes through the southern tip of the parish about 

 J mile north of the Roding. From this a road runs 

 north and west through Hobbs Cross, and over the 

 stream at Mason's Bridge to Fiddlers Hamlet, Cooper- 

 sale Street, and Epping. From Hobbs Cross a lane goes 

 north-east to Toot Hill in Stanford Rivers. From 

 Fiddlers Hamlet roads run east to Theydon Mount 

 and west to Steward's Green and Ivy Chimneys. From 

 Coopersale Street a road runs north to Coopersale 

 Common. Fiddlers Hamlet, which takes its name from 

 the Merry Fiddlers Inn, has been a centre of popula- 

 tion at least since the 17th century. Coopersale Street 

 has been a considerable hamlet since the i8th century 

 or earlier. The village of Coopersale Common has 

 developed mainly during the past century. The 

 Epping— Ongar railway runs through the west and 

 north of the ancient parish. 



Garnish Hall, which stands on the site of the ancient 

 manor house, is I mile south-west of Fiddlers Hamlet. 

 Near it to the south are the parish church and the former 

 rectory, now called Theydon Priory. Gaynes Park, a 

 igth-century mansion J mile east of Coopersale Street, 

 stands in a wooded park near the site of the ancient 

 manor house of Gaynes Park Hall. The third old 

 manor house of the parish was Hemnalls. The site of 

 this is not precisely known. It was in the north-west 

 of Theydon Garnon, probably in the neighbourhood 

 of the modern Hemnall Street, Epping. Coopersale 

 House, formerly the centre of an estate owned by the 

 Archer-Houblon family, lies to the west of the road 

 between Coopersale Street and Coopersale Common. 

 The parish school is on the road north of Fiddlers 

 Hamlet. At Hobbs Cross are the former Fitzwilliam 

 almshouses.'-' 



In the Middle Ages, before the development of 

 Epping town, Theydon Garnon was an ordinary rural 

 parish, probably consisting of scattered farms and 

 cottages. In addition to the three manor houses'^ there 

 are known to have been medieval houses at Masons 

 (now Bridge Farm),' 5 Gardners, Little Thornhall, 

 Hydes, Stonards, and Peak's Farm.'* Bridge Farm 

 stands south-east of Mason's Bridge. It is a late medieval 

 timber house of a type which was formerly thought to 

 be peculiar to Kent and Sussex but which has in fact a 

 much wider distribution. In its original form it had 

 an open hall in the centre, flanked by cross-wings of 

 two stories. Instead of having the usual gabled fronts 

 these wings are combined with the hall under a single 



roof, the line of the eaves being continuous along the 

 front of the house. The side wings oversail at first floor 

 level, but the central portion, having no upper floor, is 

 in the same plane from ground to eaves. The wall- 

 plate at eaves level is carried across in front of this 

 recessed portion and in an unaltered example there 

 would be two large curved braces springing from the 

 angle-posts of the side wings to support the plate." 

 At Bridge Farm the hall was subsequently divided into 

 two stories and at the front the upper floor now oversails 

 almost in line with the floors of the side wings. Probably 

 at the same time a chimney was inserted in the north bay 

 of the hall. That these features are later alterations is 

 clear from the survival of the original roof timbers, 

 including the main open truss with its arched braces, 

 king-post, and four-way struts. These timbers are all 

 blackened with smoke from an open hearth on the floor 

 of the hall. A small section of the original front wall of 

 the upper part of the hall still exists, together with the 

 coved plaster of the former eaves. 



The i6th- or early 17th-century fireplace in the 

 central ground-floor room has a long oak lintel, form- 

 ing a four-centred arch. One spandrel is carved with a 

 shield and foliage; on the other side the carving has been 

 cut away. At the south-east corner of the house is a 

 slightly lower projecting wing, also probably of 

 medieval origin. There is some evidence that here also 

 the upper floor was inserted at a later date. 



Gardners, J mile south-west of Fiddlers Hamlet, is a 

 timber-framed house, part of which may date from the 

 15th century. The remains of a king-post roof-truss 

 were recorded here in 1920.'* The main roof is prob- 

 ably of the 1 6th century and has curved wind-braces 

 and queen-post trusses. On the ground floor an original 

 window, now blocked, has moulded muUions. There 

 is an altered 17th-century staircase with heavy turned 

 balusters and some 16th-century panelling. 



Hydes probably dates in its present form from the 

 l6th century. External weather-boarding has recently 

 been removed and much of the original timbering 

 exposed. The front has two gables and a central 

 gabled porch of two stories. The house is J mile south 

 of the parish church. 



Stonards is a timber-framed house probably dating 

 from the 17th or early iSthcentury, though on the site of 

 a medieval house. One end of it has been refaced in red 

 brick. It is near the railway J mile west of Coopersale 

 Street ; the road formerly passed the farm,' 'but was evi- 

 dently straightened when the railway bridge was built. 



About 200 yds. south of the present Peak's Farm 

 part of a rectangular moat survives. In 1838 there was 

 a farm-house on this site, the property of the Bowyer- 

 Smijths of Hill Hall in Theydon Mount (q.v.).*" 

 Peak's Farm, a timber-framed house mostly dating 

 from the i8th century, formerly had a gabled wing of 

 the 1 6th century or earlier.^' In 1930 this was demo- 

 lished and the present red brick wing was built.^^ The 

 farm is in the extreme east of the parish, adjoining Hill 

 Hall park. 



By the middle of the 17th century the construction 

 of the new road to Newmarket Via Loughton and 



" P.N. Essex, z-}. 



'* See below, Church. 



^^ See below, Charities. 



'* See below, Manors. 



" E.R. XXXV, igS j Chapman and Andre, 

 AIaf> of Essex, lyyy, sheet xvi. 



" T'.N. Essex, 23, 84-85 gives references 

 to medieval tenants. 



" Cf. house at Little Waltham : Hist. 

 Mon. Com. Essex, W, plate p. 96, and Monks 

 Barn, Newport, ibid, i, p. 204. See also 

 Parsonage Farm, Theydon Bois. Bridge 

 Farm differs from these examples in having 

 a hipped roof. Another unusual feature is 

 the incorporation of the screens passage 

 in the north wing instead of in the hall 



itself. 



'^ Hist. Mon. Com. Essex, ii, 233. 



■' Chapman and Andr^, Map of Essex, 

 i-jjj, sheet xvi. 



" E.R.O., D/CT 350. 



^^ Hist. Mon. Com. Essex, ii, 233. 



^^ Inf. from present occupier. 



259 



