Greensted Hall, the Seat of Captain Budworth

To the west of Chipping Ongar, reached by a walk of about a mile through pleasant meadows, and nestling among clumps of trees, as if it still stood in a forest land, is the curious little antique church of Greensted – St Edmund’s shrine. There is little doubt that this is the identical resting-place of the saint, as the register of the Abbey of St. Edmund says: “his body was likewise entertained at Aungre, where a wooden chapel erected to his memory remains to the present day.” Close by is the Hall, commanding prospects over a rich forestal district. The parish, belonged with Ongar, to Sir Richard Lucy; and subsequently the noble families of Stafford, Bourchier, and others.
The manor, with the remainder of the parish and other property in the neighbourhood, was purchased in the reign of Charles II by Alexander Cleeve, of London, merchant. Subsequently these estates were subdivided between three of the grand-daughters, one of whom marrying the Rev. Richard Budworth during the last [eighteenth] century, carried a proportion of this parish to her husband; the manor and Hall, however, passing successively through the hands of the Rebotier, Redman, and Ord families. In 1837 the trustees of the estate of the Rev. Philip Budworth (son of the above Richard Budworth) re-purchased Greensted Hall with the manor, and with one or two small exceptions, the remainder of the parish.
Greensted Hall is now [1861] the seat of Captain Philip John Budworth, son of the last mentioned, who has lately restored the mansion – a large pile of buildings dating from the reign of Elizabeth, but, owing to successive repairs and alterations, possessing no architectural remains of that epoch. The entrance hall, however, is a noble and spacious one, and contains a fine Scarsellino, brought by Captain Budworth from the Sciana Gallery at Rome, as well as a collection of arms and armour, which was partly made by him in the East. From the Hall, eastwards, a fine avenue of elms, of at least a mile in length, runs through the grounds and adjoining fields into the town of Ongar.