David Livingstone was sent to Chipping Ongar in 1838 as part of his training to become a missionary. He resided at what is now Livingstone Cottages in the High Street, for more than a year under the tutorship of the Revd. Richard Cecil, who was then the minister of the Congregational Church.
Livingstone was a keen walker and possessed the sense of adventure he would need in later life when he crossed Africa, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, walking thousands of miles in the process.
Whilst he was in Ongar he decided to walk to London to visit a sik relative – a round trip of some 50 miles. Things dod not start that well. He set off in the early hours of the morning and in the darkness, managed to stumble down a deep ditch. Undeterred he battled on. He could not have spent long in London before it was time to make the return journey to Ongar. However the darkness and fog soon descended and Livingstone discovered that he was well and truly lost. He decided to give up and look for a ditch where he could lie down for the night. One can only assume he could not find one. However much to his relief he found a direction post at Stanford Rivers that pointed the way to Ongar. After getting his bearings, Livingstone arrived home in the middle of the night, footsore and weary; he was the butt of many jokes from his fellow students the next morning, thought they were amazed by his energy and determination.
Adapted from The A-Z of Curious Essex: Strange Stories of Mysteries, Crimes and Eccentrics, by Paul Wreyford [2013]