Kelly’s Directory 1890 (Part 1): Greensted

Greensted-juxta-Ongar

GREENSTED-juxta-ONGAR is an ancient parish, 1 mile west from Ongar 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.

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 or chestnut trees, split or 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, November 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.

A portion on the venerable oak tree at Hoxne, against which this king was supposed to have been tied at his martyrdom, is preserved in the rectory, where also is an oil painting of him.

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 September 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.

Parish Registers and Living

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

The living is a rectory, yearly value from tithe rent charge £200, with 29 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of London, and held since 1880 by the Rev. Frederic Rose B.A. of Queen’s College, Cambridge, and formerly curate (1873-80) of St. Botolph, Aldgate, the curates of which have first claim to the living, arising from a bequest of the Rev. Benjamin Pratt M.A. vicar of St. Botolph’s (1699-1715), who purchased the living of Greensted.

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 Captain Philip John Budworth.

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

The area is 681 acres; rateable value, £1,004; the population in 1881 was 88.

Parish Services

Parish Clerk: William Holt.

Wall Letter Box, Toot Hill: cleared at 5.45p.m. Letters arrive from Brentwood via Ongar, which is the nearest money order and telegraph office, at 7.30a.m.

The School here is discontinued; the children now attend that at Ongar.

Residents

• Etherton George Robert
• Hewett William, Greensted hall
• Rose Rev. Frederic B.A. Rectory
• Smith Mrs. William, Greensted house

Commercial

• Chalmers David, farmer, Lodge farm
• Custance John D. farmer
• Dodson Frederic, farmer, Newhouse
• Jones John Angus, farmer, Greensted Hall farm