Nineteen members of the High Country History Group met in High Ongar. A hint of rain was in the air. Anybody might have suggested the group was headed for the Alps but the slopes of Norton Mandeville were the intended destination.
These expanded “walk notes” are repeated here to encourage others to explore Norton Mandeville. The walk described is approximately three miles of easy walking, starting at High Ongar.
Church of St Mary the Virgin, High Ongar
Pevsner states: “The nave is Norman and has one of the most ornate doorways in Essex, with one order of columns, a curved lintel with zigzag, a tympanum with three strips of rosettes, also curved, an arch with zigzag, and a hood-mould with saltire crosses, etc.”¹. It might be added that the tympanum is the space between the lintel of a doorway and the arch above. Some of the rosettes have four limbs (described as saltire), but the outer rosettes have five limbs.
The nave is built of flint rubble with dressings of clunch partly replaced with limestone. The chancel was built or rebuilt in the middle of C13. Despite gradual repairs, it was reported around 1800 that the “the church of High Ongar is shored up and threatens downfall”. The S tower was built in 1858 and incorporates the S porch, brick with limestone dressing. This tower replaced an earlier tower, dating from the C15, which had a tall spire and survived until the new tower was built². The N vestry was added in 1885.
Church of All Saints, Norton Mandeville
Cross the A414, with care. The short cut at the east end of the main street through High Ongar leads directly to the road opposite. In a short distance, this road branches right to lead along the track to Norton Mandeville, one mile distant.
Today, the parish of Norton Mandeville covers 1,318 acres. The parish used to split the parish of High Ongar into two parts but in 1946, that part of High Ongar bordering the northern boundary of Norton Mandeville was again joined with Norton Mandeville. The parish population centres on Norton Heath, two miles W of the church³.
The church of All Saints is unexpectedly remote, explained by its position at the end of a minor road cul-de-sac. The oil lamps in this small church emphasise its tranquil setting. Pevsner suggests that the present nave and chancel are C14. However, wall fragments from C12 indicate an earlier church on the site. This dating is supported by a column fragment, spiral-carved with projecting moulding, which Pevsner adds, is “considered by the Royal Commission to be part of a pillar piscina”. The font is made of Barnack stone and dates from the late C12.
In 1769, the benefice was just six pounds a year, rather less than the wage of an agricultural worker at about £25 per year. At the same time, the curate held services once a month for a congregation of six or seven, “whose lives were said to be endangered by the damp of the church”. Additional rents had increased the benefice to £94 by 1810.
The church was restored in 1903 largely through an anonymous donation of £900 from the Revd. W. M. Oliver, who is commemorated in the E window. The timber porch and several windows were renewed at that time. The church suffered bomb damage in 1944. The “Friends of All Saints” have continued the maintenance of the church. The church is well preserved today.
Norton Hall, Norton Mandeville
Morant⁴ describes two manors in Norton Mandeville; the Manors of Norton Mandeville and Newarks Norton. There appears to be no trace of the ancient manor of Norton Mandeville; Newarks was demolished with the building of the World War II airfield over the estate.
An estate map of 1740⁵ shows Norton Hall farm to be the largest farm in the parish with an area of 264 acres. In 1490 the manor was sold to Merton College, Oxford, and the college retained the property until 1864. The brick Norton Hall farmhouse dates from 1864, a date scratched on a roof tile. Frederick Chancellor is believed to have been the architect of the house, farm buildings and the workmen’s cottages but fire is thought to have destroyed any remaining drawings. The buildings echo a prosperous era for agriculture. The Hall and farm buildings are immaculately maintained, in keeping with the church.
The present owner of the hall is Mr H. W. Chumbley. A guided tour of the farm buildings failed to discover any blemish on the farm buildings! The garden vegetable plot is kept is similar order, with the cultivation of some 26 different vegetables, outside of the orchard.
Forest Hall, High Ongar
Perhaps consistent with such a large parish, there were several manors in High Ongar. Morant, writing about the parish in the middle of the eighteenth century, refers to the manors of High Ongar, Astelyns, Forest Hall, Chevers, Ashe Hall, Wetherspane, Ongar Park and Passelow.
The manor of Forest Hall was formerly (Norton) Foliots Hall. The track, which passes the site of the hall, is private and permission should be obtained before entering. A useful map of the area is the OS map of 1873-1874⁶. The map shows the wooded nature of the Forest Hall estate, the sites of Little Forest Hall, the original site of Forest Hall, and its successor. The site of the gas works is shown together with the strangely named Dungeon Wood to the south, and nearer to High Ongar.
After the Conquest, the Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s held the manor. St Paul’s exchanged the manor for other lands held by King Henry VIII in 1544. The manor then passed through the ownership of William Rigges, briefly, then Sir Richard Rich, between 1544 and 1562, followed by the Stane family.
The Revd. J. B. Stane built a new mansion about 1845, 300m to the S of the original Hall, which had been built by Richard Stane in 1700. The Stane family owned the Hall and estate until the estate of 2,228 acres was put up for sale in 1862. The purchaser, J. L. Newall, was responsible for the building of Norton Hall Farm in 1864 (?). The Hall estate was again sold in 1919, the estate now comprising seventeen farms and 3,831 acres.
H. M. McCorquodale bought Forest Hall itself in 1924. On his death, the Hall was sold to the Air Ministry, later to be resold to Essex County Council. Forest Hall was demolished around 1951, after being uninhabited for several years. Barbara Cartland was a visitor to the Hall. Indeed, she married two McCorquodales, the second husband being Hugh!
Forest Hall was a large three-storey square structure in gault brick with stone and stucco dressings. On the upper floors there were seven windows in the front and central pediment. The Tuscan portico had three bays. Forest Hall was one of the largest mansions in the area. At its peak, the Hall employed 50 servants and possessed its own gas works and sawmill. The demolition of the Hall coincided with the publication of the Essex volume of the Victoria County History, in which it is still mentioned.
The return follows the Essex Way. The walk can be terminated in and around “The Foresters Arms” in High Ongar.
¹ Pevsner, Nikolaus, Essex, (Penguin Books, 1976) ² Victoria County History, Essex IV ³ Lamb, Elizabeth, Norton Mandeville, a Parish of No Importance, (Good News Press, Ongar, 1997) ⁴ Morant, Rev. Philip, The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex, volume II, (Wakefield, 1978) ⁵ Essex Record Office, D/DCc P1 ⁶ Ordnance Survey, 6th Series, First Edition, 1873-74 Sheet LI