ONGAR HUNDRED north weald bassett 



Gullet is a timber-framed building probably of the same 

 period. It was restored about 1927." Wheelers, on the 

 north side of the Chelmsford road near the post-office, 

 was mentioned as an estate by Morant.'' The house is 

 an irregular timber-framed structure dating from the 

 17th century or earlier. East of Wheelers is Brickwall 

 House, formerly a farm." It dates from the late 17th 

 century and has a hipped, tiled roof and a central 

 chimney with joined diagonal shafts. Of the smaller 

 buildings the former school house by the church is 

 probably the original 17th-century house,^" and there 

 is another 17th-century cottage to the east of the vicar- 

 age: this has external chimneys at the gable-ends. Two 

 ancient timber-framed cottages which formerly stood 

 on the north side of the main road near the end of 

 Church Lane were destroyed in a German air raid in 

 1 941." 



Schoolgreen Farm, at the north end of School Green 

 Lane, is timber-framed and plastered and dates from 

 the 17th or early i8th century. Opposite this, part of 

 a homestead moat survives. Esgors, formerly Isgoe,^^ 

 at Thornwood, is a square red-brick house dating from 

 about 1750. It formerly had a frontage on the com- 

 mon but is now set back about 100 yards from the 

 main road. Weald Place, at Duck Lane, is a good red- 

 brick house of about the same period. A number of 

 other buildings in Duck Lane and Woodside date from 

 the 1 8th and early 19th centuries. It is probable that 

 the development in this area resulted from the improve- 

 ment in the main road north and south after the forma- 

 tion of the Epping Turnpike Trust in 1768. 



In 1 80 1 North Weald, with 620 inhabitants, was 

 one of the more densely populated parishes of the 

 hundred.^3 In the 19th century the population followed 

 the trend normal in rural Essex until about 1 861: 

 there was an increase to 886 in 1831 and a subsequent 

 slight decrease. But between 1861 and 1901, when the 

 agricultural depression was depopulating most villages, 

 the population of North Weald rose from 842 to i , 1 3 5 . 

 This was clearly due to the coming of the railway in 

 1865. Building development in the 19th century was 

 also encouraged by the inclosure of the commons, 

 which took place shortly before the opening of the 

 railway, and it was at Thornwood and Hastingwood 

 that most of the development took place in that period. 

 Several of the larger houses in the parish, including 

 Newhouse Farm, were rebuilt in the 19th century. 

 Hastingwood House, which was built about 1840, 

 was a completely new residence. It is a large gault 

 brick house standing in extensive grounds. New places 

 of worship in the 19th century were the Congregational 

 chapel in Weald Bridge Road, built about 1830 but 

 closed about 1874, the chapel of ease at Hastingwood 

 (1864), the iron mission church at Thornwood (1888), 

 and the Wesleyan churches at Thornwood (1883) and 

 Weald Gullet (i888).m The original school was 

 relinquished in favour of a larger building and the new 

 school was extended in about 1 842 and again in 1 87 1 .^s 



The population rose very little during the first 20 

 years of the present century, and was only 1,239 in 



" Inf. from present licensee. 



** MoTAnt, Essex, I, 151. 



" E.R.O., D/CT 387. 



" See Schools. 



" Inf. from Mr. H. King. 



" Chapman and Andri, Mafi of Essex, 

 lyyy, sheet xi. 



23 For census figures 1801 — 1901 see 

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



** See Nonconformity, Church. 



25 See Schools. 



26 Census, 191 1, 1921. 

 " Inf. from Mr. D. W. Hutchings. 

 28 Inf. from Mr. H. King. 

 2' Inf. from Essex County Council. At 



the 195 1 Census the population was 



3.127- 

 30 See Church, Nonconformity. 

 3> Inf. from Rev. B. F. Adeney. 

 3* For the ref. to it in 1260 see above. 



192 1. 2* There was an increase to 1,642 in 193 1 and 

 then a burst of building lasting until the Second World 

 War. Between the World Wars development was 

 greatest along the Chelmsford road. On the part of it 

 to the west of Church Lane all the buildings are 

 connected with the R.A.F. Station. Between here 

 and Tylers Green building is almost continuous, much 

 of it dating from the 1930's. A few council houses 

 were built before 1939: 8 pairs in School Green, to 

 the north of the Chelmsford road, 5 pairs opposite the 

 post-office, and 9 pairs on the road to Epping Upland. 

 The Post Office Radio Station (formerly owned by 

 Cable and Wireless Ltd.) was estabhshed at Weald 

 Gullet in 1921." During the Second World War a 

 few buildings were destroyed by German bombing. 

 Two of these have been mentioned above; a third was 

 the Woolpack Inn, which stood opposite them.^^ 



Since 1945 three large housing estates have been 

 built: at Queen's Road and Bluemans by the rural 

 district council, and at School Green by the R.A.F. 

 In 1953 the estimated population of North Weald was 

 3,200 — an increase of almost 100 per cent, on 1931.^' 

 It should rise still further, on the completion of the 

 School Green estate. The provision of public build- 

 ings has not kept pace with that of houses. The iron 

 mission church at Thornwood was replaced in 1923 

 by a brick church and in 193 1 the Wesleyan church at 

 Weald Gullet was rebuilt. In 1939, however, the 

 Wesleyan church at Thornwood was closed owing to 

 lack of support.'" A village hall was built in 1928, on 

 the south side of the Chelmsford road near Church 

 Lane." 



Until the 17th century the Epping-Chelmsford road 

 was probably the most important in the parish.s^ In 

 1786 a petition was presented to the Epping Highway 

 Trust by the people of North Weald asking that the 

 road should be taken over by the trust, in the first place 

 as far as Ongar.33 An Act of Parliament for this pur- 

 pose was passed in the following year.'* A toll-gate was 

 erected at the junction of the main road and Woodside. 

 The gate-keeper lived at first in a rented cottage but a 

 toD-house was built about 1818.35 This still survives: 

 a single-story building of brick, now plastered, with a 

 tiled roof. 



The other main road became important early in the 

 17th century as part of the new route to Newmarket.'* 

 This was one of the roads taken over by the Epping 

 Highway Trust at its formation in 1768." There was 

 a toll-gate at Thornwood Common.' ' Since the 

 coming of motor traffic this road has become one of the 

 busiest in Essex. 



The minor roads of the parish probably changed 

 little between the Middle Ages and the 19th century. 

 The main change in recent times has been the closing 

 of the eastern section of Weald Hall Lane owing to the 

 building of the airfield. Another lane which has dis- 

 appeared formerly ran south of the Chelmsford road 

 from Weald Gullet to Skips Corner. This existed in 

 1777 and 1838 but had disappeared by 1873-4." 

 The parish boundary follows this line. 



33 B. Winstone, Epping and Ongar 

 Highiuay Trust, 130— I. 

 3* Ibid. 132. 



35 Ibid. i+o. 



36 See Loughton. 



37 Winstone, op. cit. 54—83. 



38 Ibid. 94. 

 3' Chapman and Andr^, Map of Essex, 



1777, sheet xi; E.R.O., D/CT 387; O.S. 

 6 in. Map (ist edn.), sheet 1. 



285 



