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unexplored and unpublished information, now preserved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 1638 1 .
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 Archdeacons 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 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 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 bread 2 .
“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.