High Country History Group

Revd. Edward Reeve (1858–1936) was an extraordinarily keen local historian, researching and publishing work with particular reference to his native parish of Stondon Massey. He has left a goldmine of unexplored and unpublished information, now preserved at the Essex Record Office. Over recent months I have started to unlock some of these treasures and have begun to understand more about this Victorian gentleman clergyman.

One hundred years ago he noted some of the Essex Archdeaconry records for local parishes, dated 1638¹.

Stondon Massey

Visitation of the Ven. Edward Layfield, STB, Archdeacon of Essex
Henry Brand. Richard Sach. Wardens

Order for Stondon Massey Church

• A Wainscott betwixt the Commn. Table and the Walls from the ground, a foote higher than the Table.
• A dyaper clothe for the Commn. Table.
• The chancell to be seeled and the Church next somer.
• The Tenne Commandments to be sett in the East of the Chancell.
• The King’s Armes to be new peynted.
• A Whood for the minister.
• A newe cover for the fonte.
• A border for the pulpit.
• A newe Book of Comon Prayer.
• A case of greene clothe for the pulpit cushion suitable to the carpet.
• A Table for the degrees of Marriage.
• The Churchyard to be paled or rayled.
• A Flagon for the Wyne at the Communion.

“With regard to the order for Stondon”, Reeve writes, “I may observe that the wainscott behind the Communion Table was clearly to provide a re-table for the legal ornaments. The King’s Arms were first ordered to be placed in every Church by King James I. That King was somewhat ostentatious of his position and rights as Defender of the Faith, and fancied himself another Constantine.

The Royal Arms were ordered by Cromwell to be burnt, and a systematic search was made for them. At that time the Arms at Stondon now to be ‘newe peynted’, probably disappeared. Theydon Bois near Epping is one of a very few places where the Arms of James I are still to be seen. The retired position of that Church appears to have screened it from the vigilance of Cromwell’s messengers”.

The Arms may still be seen in the nineteenth century parish church at Theydon Bois. The old church, which stood about a mile out of the village, was demolished in mid-Victorian times.

Items at Stondon Massey Church which even one hundred years ago were not in existence were the “new cover for the fonte” (replaced 1850); the Book of Common Prayer (“which must have been the edition of 1604, practically the Elizabethan Prayer Book of 1559”); the “Table for the Degrees of Marriage” and a “Flagon” which Reeve supposes were “melted down in the troubled times which followed. Archdeacon Layfield was deprived and imprisoned in 1642, but restored in 1660. He survived all his trouble, and died in 1680”.

Reeve then comments on some of the returns for other parishes, noting that at that time the complete set of returns for all Essex parishes survived.

The Archdeacon Order for Blackmore, 1638

• The east end of the Church to be fairely wainscotted, and a rail made with a doore fore eight.
• A newe Table and Book of Homilies.
• A carpet for the Table.
• The pulpit clothe and quishion and new.
• A new Reading deske.
• The Chancell to be separated from the nave of the Church.
• A Table for the Degrees of Marriage.
• The ground to be rayled whereon the raile is to stand.
• The cupp to be changed.
• The commandments to be peynted upon the east end of the Church.
• The ground to be paved new.
• The font stone to be newe peynted, and a new cover on it.
• A newe chest for the ornaments of the Church.
• A Whood for the minister.
• The east of the Chancell to be newe glazed.
• 2 Flaggons.

“Evidently the Archdeacon was doing all he could to restore the Worship of the Church to its proper dignity. Men had lately been accustomed to keep their hats on during service time, and great carelessness and laxity prevailed”.

At Chipping Ongar the Archdeacon’s Order stated: “The congregation to sitt bare at the tyme of Divine service and sermon”².

Reeve continues, “The fact that there was a newe wainscott behind the Holy Table in each case shows that the idea was not new, but there had been the same plan before, probably originating in the time of King Edward VI”.

“The ornaments of the church are mentioned expressly in the case of Blackmore. The rail for Communicants was not straight across the church as now but enclosed the Communion Table as in a sort of pen. This seems referred to in the Order for Kelvedon Hatch where the wainscott is to extend to the back of the Holy Table from ‘rail to rail’.

The Book of Homilies is mentioned a number of times. This contains the doctrine of the Church of England.

“The severance of the Chancel from the Church is provided for at Blackmore and Bobbingworth, and was evidently regarded as important.

“The seating of the parishioners in the Bobbingworth order is curious”.

The Archdeacon ordered:

“The Churchwarden are to place the parishioners in the Church ascnding to their ranke and quality, men on one side, and the women on the other”.

Reeve comments, “It seems opposed to the teaching of St James but may have appeared to be necessary for the maintenance of decorum. At Stondon the separation of the sexes is still voluntarily and automatically observed among the lower orders, while in 1840 it was still observed by the farmer class. Curiously enough, the men claim the north side, the reverse of the usual plan where the separation has only been lately introduced.

“There must have been a good Register Book at Stondon at this time, or we should have found the volume ordered. Alas that it should have completely perished!”

The earliest Parish Register now in existence at Stondon Massey dates from 1708.

“A mat was ordered in several places for kneeling upon at Holy Communion. Every effort was being made to encourage reverence. Cases had been known where people would remain seated in their pews to receive the sacred elements.

At Abbess Roothing (Roding) and North Weald ‘a booke for the fifth of November’ was ordered in each instance.

‘The fifth of November’ was scarcely yet a quarter of a century old, and we may imagine it would be observed with great fervour. Sad times, however, were close at hand for both Church and King”.

In 1845 proposals were laid before the Clerk of the Peace for the County of Essex for an Essex Midland Junction Railway, a 15 mile line running from Harlow to Brentwood.

The route would follow low-lying land from near Harlow, touching High Laver parish and on to Magdalen Laver near the Hall and Church, then following the line of the river to just below the bridge at Moreton.

The railway would hug the Bobbingworth side of the river to Cripsey Brook Bridge, just below Ongar on the Epping road. From there the route would have traversed the edge of Greensted parish to the bottom of Ongar High Street, near to The Two Brewers and the present lorry park.

Land, which included pasture at Greensted Hall, would be taken from Philip Budworth in the occupancy of J. Gibson.

The line would continue to Stondon Massey, passing Langford Bridge and acquiring meadow land from Staines Esq., occupied by John Coe, and pasture land at Great Myleses owned by Major Fane and occupied by William Dodd.

From there it would be a fairly straight run across country, clipping Wright’s Coppice on the edge of Blackmore parish, on to near Doddinghurst Rectory and Shenfield Church, to join the Eastern County Railway at Thrift near Brentwood.

The railway was never built, but the ambitious plans and maps are preserved in the Essex Record Office (ERO Q/Rum 2/35).

The agricultural labourer. His work and life

Victorian England was very class conscious. Cecil Alexander’s hymn, ‘All Things Bright And Beautiful’, contains the now obsolete verse: The rich man in his castle The poor man at his gate He made them high and lowly And ordered his estate.

Agricultural labourers were of a lower social order than the wheelwright, miller or baker who provided the essential services to all villagers.

Work on the land was seasonal and men had to support their families on around 12 shillings a week. In a letter to ‘The Times’ in 1854, ‘a poor parson’ wondered how a man could feed his family given that a bushel of flour, which would last one week, cost 13s.4d.. “I leave you to judge how large a margin is left for rent, clothing, firing, candles, etc”¹. Just over two-thirds of an agricultural labourer’s income was spent on food and drink. In 1838 Essex agricultural labourers spent 57% of their income on bread².

“Corn was the stuff of his life. From it came his wages and his staple food. He took it to the miller to be ground.

He offered it to God among the marrows and Michaelmas daisies of Harvest Thanksgiving”³.

During the winter months work was scarce and many single men were laid off. A farm growing forty to fifty of acres of barley could occupy two men full time throughout the winter. The threshing machine gradually phased out this occupation. The risk of the workhouse was real.

Many labourers belonged to a Club or Benefit Society into which, according to the Royal Commission on Labour (1893), 2d ‘insurance’ was paid per week and about “8s a week sick pay is given for 3 months, and 2s afterwards”⁴. The author commented that too many met in public houses. There were also Doctors’ Clubs to pay for medical assistance. Farm labourers paid 3d a week to cover his wife’s funeral expenses.

For ordinary labourers the weekly wage in the Maldon Poor Law district was 12s in the summer and 11s in the winter. Harvest work done by piece earned the labourer an extra £6 to £8. “The average earnings, including harvest and other piece-work, Mr Spencer estimates at from 14s to 16s a week, a higher rate than obtains in Worcestershire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire and Somersetshire, but below that in Surrey and Kent. But whilst higher wages are earned, the cottage accommodation is very inferior, and this … ‘seemed to be the worst feature of the Essex labourers’ position’”⁵.

In 1907 wages were “13s.9d., and average extra earnings by piecework 3s.2d., so the total amount received per week is 16s.11d.”⁶. With the price of wheat lower, the author of Victoria County History commented that, “the labourer’s position is better … than it had ever been before”⁷.

Taking the average basic weekly wage countywide and applying the national price of wheat per quarter, the “labourer’s position” can be established in terms of the number of days it took to earn a quarter of wheat (see Graph). Relative poverty during the period was worse in 1860 than during the later agricultural depression. The reason was the simple law of supply and demand.

Between 1871 and 1901, one-third of the nation’s male agricultural labourers (including foreman and bailiffs) left the land to find employment elsewhere whilst the population rose by 43%. “The townward pressure was relentless”⁸. Agricultural wages between 1871 and 1901 had risen by 20% but the price of wheat had slumped.

In his book, ‘Meagre Harvest’ (1990), A.F.J. Brown charts the patchy success of the agricultural labourers’ union cause noting the antipathy of farmers towards members. Very few labourers belonged to a trade union.

Union policy, especially during the agricultural depression of the 1870s, was to encourage migration, if only to produce a smaller labour supply. Some Essex labourers emigrated to America or New Zealand in search of a better life. At Christmas 1874, the Vicar of Navestock openly endorsed the policy.

Piece work provided extra income for families. The whole family was often employed. Children were often absent from school. For example, at Great Parndon (now part of Harlow New Town), older girls were kept away from school so that their mothers could go hay-making (6 June 1864). The school closed on 5 August 1864, until 19 September, for “harvest holiday”. The school log book records children absent to “pick stones” (9 February 1869); for “bird scaring” (7 July 1870), “gathering blackberries” (25 September 1884) and, “gleaning” (5 October 1871).

Mark Thurston (born 1861 at Finchingfield) went bird scaring at the age of seven, six days a week, working a twelve hour day from 6am to 6pm for 3d a day. He rarely attended school.

Issac Mead (born 1859 at High Easter) looked after sheep at the age of eleven, “and filling the time weeding and cutting up thistles”⁹. He too earned eighteen pence a week before progressing to milk cows six days a week for 2s.6d.. He was proud to be taking home his own earnings to support the family.

Whilst on the subject of children’s involvement in farming, Mark Thurston became a quarter man about the age of twelve, earning a quarter of a man’s wages. Workers progressed to being ‘half men’ before gaining full adult pay.

Gleaning, a family activity in August, also supplemented wages. It was strictly regulated and only those who lived in the parish could glean in the fields. A sheaf was often left in the middle of the field to indicate that gleaners must not trespass. This was called the guard-sheaf.

Revd. Reeve recalled that in Stondon Massey (1900):

“In harvest the largest of the three [church] bells was tolled at eight in the morning and at five in the afternoon as a signal for gleaners to enter and leave the fields. This was to prevent any unfair advantage being taken by those who had no family ties over those who were not able to leave home so readily. The introduction of machinery for mowing and reaping, and the efficiency of the horse-rakes has made anything like general gleaning a thing of the past, and the bell has not been used for the purpose for many years”¹⁰.

In the 1940s, “Old” Mrs Bourdon of Wethersfield said that the whole family used to go out into the fields all day to collect ears which had been missed: “We gleaned as much as twenty-six to twenty-eight bushels of wheat and barley”¹¹. This was taken to the local miller and when ground into flour – “of course he kept the bran” – provided sufficient home made bread all winter. The money saved enabled the rent to be paid for the cottage.

From good soil a labourer’s wife was able to glean about three to four bushels single-handed. This was equivalent to at least a month’s pay.

This pattern of rural life was repeated elsewhere. At Mountnessing, “The village was almost self-supporting. There was the old mill … perched on an artificial mound and the cottagers used to have their gleaning corn ground there”¹².

Mothers made loaves in batches in a shared bake-house at the rear of their homes. These resembled cottage- loaves “except that they were bigger often weighing from six to eight pounds apiece”¹³.

Accounts vary, but a typical family ate the equivalent of half to one bushel of wheat per week.

“When Mark [Thurston] first went out into the fields to work [c.1868], his mother would pack him up with a hunk of bread (‘nigh as big as a baby’s head’) and a lump of cheese; or, on the more fortunate days, she would cut the bread open, scoop out a core of crumb, and insert a nugget of butter before closing the two halves together again. When he grew older, and the hours were longer and work harder, much the same diet still had to suffice”.

Growing vegetables was another way in which men occupied their free time, and supported their families.

Locally, the Midsummer Day hailstorm of 1897 affected the agricultural labourer. Dozens were seen in their own gardens in Blackmore sobbing at the devastation that has occurred.

Then there was hunting for rabbits and illegally for game. Some sold on their catch to earn extra money. If caught trespassing though, the fines were punitive. There are many occurrences recorded in the local newspaper.

For example, in 1896, John Oliver, a labourer in High Ongar was caught “working a bank with a ferret and nets … in search of game on land belonging to Mr Thomas Hull”. The witness, Keeper Maynard, “took some small rabbits from him after a scuffle”. The defendant was fined 10s plus 8s.6d costs and “removed to the cells”.

The paper carried the headline: “Does Oliver Want Any More” 14 , reference of course to Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

Rat catching and stealing sparrows’ eggs was a legal pastime. The haystacks in the rickyards were a haven and breeding ground for rats and sparrows and this was a way of controlling the population. George Everett of Boxford, Suffolk, recalled that as a child, the schoolmaster paid him a penny for a rat tail and a farthing for an egg.

The Essex Chronicle, 11 January 1907 records:

Blackmore
SPARROW AND RAT CLUB – At the monthly meeting on the 7 th inst. no less than 1797 sparrow heads and a large number of rat tails were brought in.

In one Club in Essex it was a condition that each member produced thirty sparrow heads and thirty rat tails each year. The meetings, which were often held in pubs, ceased in the 1950s with changing farming methods.

Cats were often kept on farms to control the rodent population.

Mention should be made of the public house in the life of the agricultural labourer. It was a place for men to relax and socialise. Drinking must have been a secondary activity: with beer at 2d a pint at the turn of the twentieth century and earnings 11s a week, around 1s only was available for beer and tobacco (“baccy”). The phrase ‘latch lifter’ was coined as being sufficient money for a man to buy a pint and gain entry to an evening’s entertainment at the pub.

Housing was generally very poor. Cottages were poorly constructed with thin walls, rarely a fireplace in the bedroom, and draughty causing rheumatic and chest infections among inhabitants.

Although better cottages might be available, the author Dr Thresh observed, these were in a location which were not close to the occupants’ workplace. Causes of the dilapidation of such cottages were that either the owner relied on limited rents providing a sole income, or rents were collected by agents of absentee landlords who “have not seen the property for years or, having seen them, are ashamed to apply personally for the rent”¹⁵.

Home and work needed to be close by, particularly before the invention of the bicycle.

So when a new farmer took over at Michealmas, the labourer could find himself out of a job and with only one month’s notice to quit his tied cottage.

The attraction to the agricultural labourer to migrate to London was great.

Even though wages had increased by 1900, it was “not sufficient to retain men in the villages”.

The Essex County Chronicle cited “an honest hard-working man, temperate, upright and greatly respected. He receives 12s a week as wages with £6 or £7 for one month’s labour at harvest time. The rent of his cottage is £5 per year. He has six children, the youngest is about six years old. He cultivates an allotment of twenty rods, for which he pays 5s a year. ‘I could not recommend my sons to follow my example and stay on the land’. And thus it comes to pass that one is in London as a footman, another is a tradesman’s employ, and a third in the neighbourhood of London in a hotel”.

“It must be remembered that an unskilled town labourer getting £1 a week has always a chance of rising by good conduct and intelligence to 30s or more; but however industrious a farm labourer may be, he never receives more than 2s or 3s beyond the average weekly wage of the most incompetent yokel”¹⁶.

The words ‘yokel’ or ‘hodge’ were unfair expressions to apply to the agricultural labourer.

Although probably illiterate and uneducated in the formal sense, Charlotte Fell Smith (1898) marvelled at “the unerring eye and mathematical precision of aim which steer the huge unwieldy cart horses down the diagonal line from point to point”¹⁷.

“Only the shepherd, the stock-man, carpenter and thatcher are specialists, each in their own peculiar line, and not infrequently the ordinary labourer may be called to take his turn at one or other of the avocations of these superior workmen”.

In 1914, a horsekeeper of Hill Farm, Ashdon, was paid 14 shillings per week. He worked a seven day week; was up by 4.30am to feed and groom the horses ahead of going out into the fields at 6.00am. At harvest time he would work well into the evening.

Agricultural labourers earned 12 shillings per week.

The Corn Production Act 1917 set minimum wages for agricultural labourers.

George Everett (Boxford, Suffolk) recalled that this was not paid on every farm and men were not unhappy to take work at reduced wages.

As before, when there was no work there was little or no pay.

When the Corn Production Act was repealed in 1921 wages immediately fell. “Farmers lived on their losses” in the inter-war years, one commentator said.

Ashley Cooper concludes his book ‘Our Mother Earth’ (1998) by observing that only in times of national crisis is the necessity for domestic crops supported by Government adding that the spectre of climate change should make the politicians rethink.