A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



Weald Bridge has always been the most important 

 in the parish. Between 15 56 and 1652 it was frequently 

 presented at Quarter Sessions as in need of repair, and 

 responsibility for it was doubtful.''" In i6i5and 1652 

 the parish was said to be responsible.'" In 1653 the 

 inhabitants protested that they had been wrongly 

 indicted for not repairing the Isridge: they had spent 

 ;^4 l^s. on it; but they asserted that it was a county 

 charge and asked for the repayment of their expenses.''^ 

 The justices thereupon ordered that several hundreds 

 should be taxed for the repair of this and other bridges.'*' 

 Weald Bridge appears in the lists of county bridges 

 from about i8oo.-«^ In 1858 the county surveyor 

 described it in detail.^s It appears not to have been 

 altered since that date. Cracks Bridge, at Weald 

 Gullet, was taken over by the county in 1881, when 

 the surveyor reported that it must be rebuilt. This was 

 done within the next year.''* 



During the late i8th and early 19th centuries North 

 Weald was fortunate in its communications with the 

 outside world, since it possessed two turnpike roads, 

 and was near to Epping. In 1865 coach travel in this 

 area was superseded by the opening of the railway 

 through Epping to Ongar, with a station at North 

 Weald. This brought London within easy reach. This 

 line was electrified as far as Epping in 1 949.''^ Beyond 

 Ongar public transport was poor until the introduction 

 of motor buses. There are now (1954) frequent bus 

 services to Epping, Ongar, Brentwood, and Chelmsford. 



North Weald was late in getting its own post-office, 

 probably because it was served directly from Epping. 

 In 1883 a day mail was established at North Weald 

 and a sorting-office sanctioned.'** A telegraph office 

 was set up in 1886.*' The telephone service was 

 introduced in 1920.50 



Piped water was supplied to North Weald by the 

 Herts, and Essex Waterworks Co. before 1886. si 

 Main drainage was introduced at Thornwood and 

 Weald Gullet in 1911-12.52 Electricity was first 

 supplied in 193 1 and gas about 1932. '^ The village 

 hall, opened in 1928, has already been mentioned. 

 There are football clubs at Thornwood and North 

 Weald. A branch of the county library was opened in 

 1932.5* There has been a police station in the parish 

 since about 1 886.55 



For much of their history the larger estates in North 

 Weald have had absentee landlords. This applies 

 specially to the two largest estates. Weald Hall and 

 Canes (see below. Manors). In 1841 Weald Hall had 

 an area of 800 acres and Canes of almost 300 acres. 5* 

 Each was let to a single farmer. This is interesting in 

 the case of Weald Hall for very few farms in the 

 hundred were as large as 500 acres. There were then 

 no other estates in North Weald of more than 200 

 acres, but even the small farms outside the main estates 

 in the parish were mostly rented by tenant farmers. In 



« E.R.O., Q/SR 2/19, 14/32, 21/22, 

 142/17, 206/55. 



♦■ Ibid. 209/55, 354/130. 



« E.R.O., Q/SBa 2/83. 43 ibid. 



« E.R.O., Q/ABz 1,2. 



« E.R.O., Q/ABz 3. 46 Ibid. 



4' Inf. from London Transport. 



■•' P.M.G. Mins. 1883, vol. 261, min. 

 15782, vol. 254, min. 10599. 



** Ibid. 1886, vol. 303, min. 43. 



**• Ibid. 1920, min. 6422. 



" Kelly, Dir. Eisex (1886). 



'* Ibid. 1922. The provision of sewers 

 had been considered by the parish vestry 

 in 1868, but was then shelved: E.R.O., 



D/P 84/8. 



53 Inf. from Eastn. Elec. Bd. and Eastn. 

 Gas Bd. 



54 Inf. from County Librarian. 

 " Kelly's Dir. Essex (1886 f.). 

 s6 E.R.O., D/CT 387. 

 " E.R.O., Q/RDc 54. 



58 E.R.O., D/CT 387; cf. F.C.H. Essex, 

 ii, 423. 



59 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1898 f.). 

 ^0 Cal. Ifiq. p.m. ii, p. 227. 

 ^^ Feet of F. Essex, iii, 123. 

 '2 Inf. from Mr. H. King. 

 '3 See below, Nonconformity; Kelly's 



Dir. Essex (1890). 



all there were some 16 farms in the parish in 1 841, of 

 which about half were over 100 acres. Not more than 

 four were owned by their occupiers. At that time there 

 were approximately equal amounts of arable and 

 pasture — about 1,340 acres in each case — and more 

 than 300 acres of uninclosed common. 



The inclosure of the commons at Hastingwood, 

 Thornwood, Weald Gullet, and Tylers Green was 

 carried out by Act of Parliament passed in 1857.57 

 The inclosure award was made in 1 861. The inclosed 

 area amounted to 280 acres. 



Until recent years North Weald has been mainly an 

 agricultural parish. One old field name. Teazle Field, 

 suggests a connexion with the cloth industry.58 Com- 

 mercial fruit-growing and market-gardening have been 

 carried on since about 1900.59 This was made possible 

 by the railway, which brought the London markets 

 within rapid reach. It now includes tomato growing 

 in large greenhouses in the Vicarage Lane area. 



A windmill belonging to the manor of North Weald 

 was mentioned in 1281*0 and there was a mill at 

 Marshalls in 1 359.*' A fair called 'Gullet Fair' is said 

 to have been held at one time on the former green at 

 Weald Gullet.*^ 



In 1888 an army post, later described as a fort with 

 six guns, was in existence at Weald Gullet.*' It was 

 no doubt one of the establishments planned by the War 

 Office for the defence of London** and it continued to 

 exist until the First World War.*5 



The R.A.F. Station, first established in 191 7 and 

 reopened in 1928,** has become an important part of 

 parish life. It occupies some 400 acres between Weald 

 Hall Lane, Church Lane, and the Chelmsford road. 

 During the Battle of Britain in 1940 it was one of the 

 fighter bases engaged in the defence of London. 



Richard Biscoe (d. 1748), a nonconformist minister 

 who later conformed and became chaplain to George II 

 and Boyle lecturer 1736-8, was Vicar of North Weald 

 from 1738 to 1748.*^ 



There is some doubt about the identification in 

 Domesday of the manor of NORTH 

 MANORS WEALD, but it was probably made up 

 of two estates which in 1086 belonged to 

 Peter de Valognes and were held of him by Ralf. The 

 larger of these estates was 'Walla', which was entered 

 in Domesday after Loughton and Theydon Bois and 

 would therefore seem to have been, hke them, in Ongar 

 hundred.*' Walla had been held in 1066 by two free- 

 men as two manors and as two hides and 40 acres. Peter 

 de Valognes had it by exchange.*' In the hundred of 

 Harlow Ralf held of Peter de Valognes 'Walda', con- 

 sisting of 30 acres which before 1066 had been held by 

 a freeman.'" 



The tenancy in chief of the manor descended as part 

 of the barony of Valognes until the 1 3th century, when 

 the barony was divided among coheirs. North Weald 



'4 333 Pari. Deb. 3rd scr. 1412-13; 5/> 

 fVilliam Butler, An Autobiography (191 1), 



355-6- 



'5 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1914). 



66 Inf. from Mrs. S. Young. 



" D.N.B.; Morant, Essex, i, 152. 



" y.C.H. Essex, i, 538, 406 n., 396-7. 



69 A holding of 40 acres is separately 

 mentioned at the end of the Walla entry. 

 It had been held by a freeman and Peter 

 had it also by exchange. It may have been 

 part of the estate of 2 hides and 40 acres. 



■"> y.C.H. Essex, i, 536*. For Peter de 

 Valognes and his tenant Ralf see also 

 Loughton. 



286 



