ONGAR HUNDRED 



THEYDON GARNON 



building, which still survives, is a low red-brick range 

 dating from the 17th century. The original four 

 dwellings each consisted of one ground-floor room and 

 a small attic. There are now only two doorways to the 

 front. The brass plates on the doors are comparatively 

 modern. The attics are lighted by casements in the 

 gable-ends and by two small dormers at the back. There 

 are two cruciform chimneys, set diagonally. The 

 brickwork has been much patched and the woodwork 

 in general has been renewed. 



John Reynolds, by deed dated 1647, left land in 

 Theydon Garnon in trust for the benefit of Epping 

 and Theydon Garnon. For Theydon Garnon £\ a 

 year was to be paid to the best-behaved poor, 20s. to 

 the preacher of a sermon on 3 November, and 5/. to 

 the sexton. The surplus was to be shared between the 

 poor of the two parishes. In 1861 the property was 

 sold for ^^840, which was invested in stock. In 1 8 34 the 

 Theydon Garnon share of the £1 5 rent was spent with 

 Baker's Charity. In 1861 £1 and 5^. went to the 

 sermon and the sexton and ^j 1 5/. to the poor in 

 bread and money. In 1952 the Theydon Garnon 

 moiety of the income was ^^lo 5^. iJ. 



In 1898 the ecclesiastical part of the charity was 

 separated from the rest and was to receive ;^i 5/. a 

 year from the Baker and Reynolds non-ecclesiastical 

 charities, to be spent as before. In 1952 the payments 

 were duly made. 



Richard Rogers, by will proved 1794, left £100 in 

 trust to repair his family vault and tomb in the church. 

 The charity was not mentioned in the 1835 Report, 

 but in 1862 the dividend of j^3 was spent in accordance 

 with the trusts. The dividends were not received for 

 some years in the late 19th century. In 1933 the income 

 of ^3 was spent on the maintenance of the tomb and 

 vault. 



Elizabeth Cain, by codicil to her will proved 1835, 

 left ;^ioo for the repair and painting of her tomb; any 

 surplus was to go to poor widows in the parish. It was 

 said in 1862 that the tomb was repaired and painted 

 every three or four years and that the surplus was dis- 

 tributed. The stock was held with that of Rogers's 

 Charity and the dividends were similarly lost for some 

 years before 1898. In 1952 the whole income of 

 £■2. I OS. was spent on the poor, since the tomb, the care 

 of which is now a separate ecclesiastical charity, was 

 in good repair. 



Mrs. Kirwan, by will proved in or after 1 847, left 

 ;^20o free of legacy duty in trust for a yearly distribu- 

 tion to the poor of Coopersale. It was apparently 

 originally the gift of her husband, Clement Kirwan. 

 In 1862 the income was spent with that of Baker's 

 Charity. In 1952 the income was £y is. 



In 1790 the Revd. Thomas Abdy, the lord of the 

 manor, provided 2| acres of waste of the manor on 

 which the parish officers were to grow potatoes to be 

 sold to the poor at a price sufficient to cover the costs. 

 The parishioners were to maintain the land as a garden 

 for the use of the poor. The arrangement was, how- 

 ever, found burdensome to the parish and Abdy sub- 

 stituted a yearly gift of 100 loaves of bread, and, later, 

 of £2 in cash. The charity lapsed, however, after his 

 death. 



William Black, by deed of 1793, gave an annuity of 

 40;. issuing from his house. The Grove, to be dis- 

 tributed on Sundays to communicants. In 1834 the 

 payment was made at Christmas, but from 1904 the 

 rector declined to distribute the charity money, since 

 he looked upon it as a bribe to take the sacrament. 

 Instead the money was given away to the poor in tea 

 and beef. The annuity has not apparently been receiv 

 since 191 5 and is now presumed to be lost. 



THEYDON MOUNT 



Theydon Mount, the most easterly of the three 

 Theydon parishes, lies between Theydon Garnon and 

 Stapleford Tawney at a distance of 3 miles from Epping 

 and 1 5 miles from London." The second part of its 

 name is derived from the hill near its centre upon 

 which stand the church and Hill Hall. It has also been 

 called in the past Theydon Paulyn, Theydon Lessing- 

 ton, and Theydon Briwes, from the names of former 

 lords of the manor. The form Theydon Parva (Little 

 Theydon) has also been used.^ Theydon Mount is a 

 small rural parish that has been dominated for four 

 centuries by the great mansion of Hill Hall, formerly 

 the seat of the Bowyer-Smijth family, and now an 

 open prison for women. Although so near to London 

 the parish remains entirely rural, and sparsely populated. 

 The area was given in 1838 as 1,500 acres.3 Later 

 calculations put it as 1,564 acres.* In 1086 there were 

 I villein tenant and 17 bordars in the manor of 

 Theydon Mount.' In 1428 the parish appears to have 

 had a smaller population than at Domesday: it was 

 specially exempted from taxation because there were 

 less than 10 households.* The population was 193 in 

 1 80 1.' It rose to a peak of 249 in 1 83 1 and then 



declined steadily to 123 in 1901. The populatiori in 

 1951 was 162.* 



The parish is long and narrow, running from north 

 to south for over 3 miles with an average width of less 

 than ^ mile. The Roding forms the southern boundary. 

 From there the land rises steeply to a height of over 

 250 ft. at Hill Hall, which stands in a large park. The 

 parish church, J mile south-east of the Hall, adjoins 

 the park. Farther north the ground falls away but 

 rises again to 300 ft. at Mount End and over 350 ft. 

 near the North Weald boundary. There are several 

 patches of woodland in the north of which the largest 

 is Beechet Wood. Apart from Hill Hall with its' 

 prisoners the main centres of population are at Mount 

 End, which contains the former parish school, now 

 used as a village hall, and on Mount Hill. A map of 

 1777 shows a few houses at Mount End.' Some of the- 

 surviving houses there appear to date from the first half 

 of the 1 8th century. 



From Mount End roads run north-east to Stanford 

 Rivers, east to Stapleford Tawney, south-east to the 

 church, south-west to Hobbs Cross in Theydon 

 Garnon (a farm lane), and west to Coopersale and 



' O.S. 2j in. Map, sheets 5 1 j^q, 52/40. 



2 P.N. Essex (E.P.N.S.), 82-83, 85, 

 which, however, wrongly assigns the form 

 Theydon Paulyn to Theydon Garnon. 

 For the meaning of Theydon see Theydon 



Bois. 



3 E.R.O., D/CT 351. 



♦ O.S. 6 in. Map (ist edn.), sheets 1, 

 Iviii. ' f^.C.H. Essex, i, 490^. 



' FeuJ. Aids, ii, 205. 



' For census figures 1801—1901 see 

 V.C.H. Essex, ii, 350. 



8 Census, 1 95 1. 



' Chapman and Andre, Map of Essex, 

 lyyy, sheet xvi. 



275 



