Kelly’s Directory 1912 (Part 1): Greensted

Greensted-juxta-Ongar

GREENSTED-juxta-ONGAR is an ancient parish, 1 mile west from the Ongar terminal station on a branch of the Great Eastern railway, 8 north-west from Brentwood and 21 from London, in the Western division of the county, Ongar hundred, union and petty sessional division, Brentwood county court district, rural deanery of Ongar, archdeaconry of Essex and diocese of St Albans.

St. Andrew’s Church

The small church of St. Andrew is one of the most singular and ancient in the kingdom, and consists of a chancel, nave and a western tower of wood with shingled spire, containing 2 bells, one which is dated 1618.

The nave is composed of the trunks of large oak trees, split and sawn asunder, roughly hewn on both sides and set upright close to each other, being let into a sill at the bottom and fastened with wooden pins to a plate at the top.

The church is 29ft. 9in. long, 14ft. wide and 5ft. 6in. high on the sides which support the roof, and is believed to be the original structure erected as a temporary shrine in which the body of St. Edmund, king of the East Angles, murdered by the Danes, Nov. 20 A.D. 870, was deposited for the night on its translation from London to Bury St. Edmunds in A.D. 1013.

There are some modern carvings of St. Edmund’s head and various relics, including a fragment of stained glass about six inches in diameter, having on it a crowned head, supposed to represent St. Edmund and now fixed in a modern stained window at the end of the nave.

The covers of the Bible and Prayer Book in the church were made from the wood of the venerable oak tree at Hoxne, against which this king was supposed to have been tied at his martyrdom.

The tree itself, known as St. Edmund’s oak, was 20 feet in circumference, with branches extending over a radius of 84 feet; it fell Sept. 11, 1848 (at which time, by a singular coincidence, the timber walls of Greensted church were undergoing repair), and on examination an old arrow head was found deeply imbedded in the trunk.

There are monuments to the Smyth, Cleeve and Ord families: the church has 100 sittings.

Parish Registers and Living

The register of baptisms dates from 1562; burials, 1561; marriages, 1576.

The living is a rectory, net yearly value £160, with 29 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of London, and held since 1898 by the Rev. Arthur George Breeks Atkinson M.A. of Oriel College, Oxford, who resides in Ongar.

Charities

Three yearly charities, viz. Rayner’s of £5 17s. 4d; Bowner’s of £2, and Samme’s of £2 14s. 4d have been amalgamated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners made in 1904.

Land and Population

The land in the parish, with the exception of 40 acres, the property of Mrs. William Smith, belongs to the trustees of the late Capt. Philip John Budworth.

Greensted Hall is the residence of Howel John James Price esq. D.L., J.P.

The soil is various; subsoil, gravel. The chief crops are wheat, barley and roots.

The area is 683 acres; rateable value, £973; the population in 1901 was 110.

Postal Services and School

Wall Letter Box, Greensted Green: cleared at 7a.m. & 5.45p.m.; Sundays, 9.50a.m.

Letters arrive from Brentwood via Ongar, 1 mile distant, which is the nearest money order and telegraph office, at 7.30a.m.

The School here is discontinued: the children now attend those at Ongar & Stanford Rivers.

Residents

• Etherton Geo. Rt. Silver Birch cot
• Garrett Henry Claude, Rectory
• Hoare G. Noel, The Croft
• Maxwell Edward James Heron, Greensted house
• Price Howell John James B.A. D.L. J.P. Greensted hall

Commercial

• Argent James, head gardener to J. J. Price esq
• Bianchi Gerald, farmer, Hill farm
• Crisp Brothers, farmer, Lodge farm
• East William, farmer, Harding’s farm
• Millbank Herbert W., frmr New house