High Country History Group

When Kerry McCarthy gave a lecture recently to guests at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge she said that William Byrd (c1540 - 1623) set none of his music to the text of the King James Version of the Bible. The lecture was given in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Bible’s publication.

Kerry McCarthy is an influential authority on Stondon Massey’s great composer, an Associate Professor of Duke University in the United States, and prime mover and shaker of the Byrd Festival in Portland, Oregon.

Thinking somewhat laterally, it seems to almost state the obvious that William Byrd would disregard the ‘new’ Anglican Bible of 1611. Byrd was an ardent recusant Catholic living in semi-retirement at Stondon Place in the quiet village of Stondon Massey in Essex. Four hundred years ago he had just published an entire edition of two cycles of Gradualia: illegal settings of Masses for the complete liturgical year to be sung in secret by ‘papist sympathisers’ at such places as Ingatestone Hall, the home of the Petre family, Byrd’s patrons. The year 1611 also marked the final publication of the composer’s work. Here was a man of at least three score and ten years who probably could not be bothered with the new-fangled version of the Bible.

The origin of the King James Version of the Bible is admirably covered in Derek Wilson’s new book, ‘The People’s Bible’ (2010). He tells the story of how churchman of various persuasions, mainstream Anglicans and Puritans, in 1604 flattered King James I into the creation of a unifying work bearing his name. Over six years six teams of scholars in Westminster, Cambridge and Oxford toiled over existing English language translations to create, as a Committee, a definitive work for its time.

Derek Wilson devotes the first seventy pages of his two hundred page book to those Bibles which had already translated and printed in English during the sixteenth century. Among those was the illegally imported translation by Tyndale, which cost him his life in 1536. Ironically only three years later King Henry VIII decreed that another translation, the Great Bible, be made available in all churches up and down the land. The Geneva Bible was published abroad in 1560; the Bishops Bible of 1568 followed which omitted controversial margin notes of the Geneva Bible; and the Rheims Bible published in the Low Countries in 1582. The Douai-Rheims Bible was the fruit of an English College, founded by William Allen, an exiled Jesuit biblical scholar, completed by Gregory Martin.

Byrd’s religious sympathies must have been towards the Rheims Bible, a ‘Catholic translation’ probably used covertly during the services at Ingatestone Hall. We need only think too of Byrd’s reaction to the martyrdom of Edmund Campion in Byrd’s motet, ‘Why Do I Use My Paper Ink and Pen’, and known friendship with Father Henry Garnett who was later arrested and hung in connection with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 because he had heard, in a confessional, the plans of the conspirators. Garnett was a marked man. Throughout his trial was referred to as “Mr Garnett” because the authorities did not recognise his Jesuit priesthood.

1605 and 1607 were the years of publication of Byrd’s two books of Gradualia. This illustrates the dangerous path Byrd trod.

Byrd’s frequent naming before the Essex Archdeaconry Court by the parson and churchwardens of Stondon Massey for non-attendance at St Peter & St Paul Church, coupled with heavy fines, is further illustration of his refusal to embrace the established church. What is interesting is his wife, who died c1606, was consistently named Ellen and not Juliana. Byrd biographer John Harley (1997) suggests this was the same person. We can deduce that whilst Byrd was not known in his immediate local community he moved nonetheless in influential circles and avoided the penalties associated with blatant Catholicism, that of imprisonment, confiscation of property and death. Nowhere could the Catholic mass be legally celebrated.

There is, perhaps, another reason why Byrd did not use the Authorised Version of the Bible. Derek Wilson points out that although the research was completed in 1610, the work itself was hurriedly proof-read; compiled for publication and printed the following year. The finished work was littered with errors and despite stringent efforts to ensure that the King James Version was the only Bible produced in England, copies of the Geneva Bible continued to be imported until the 1640s. In the early days the Authorised Version was hardly a roaring success, but its monopoly, and corrections, ensured its longevity.

The King James Bible was intended to be read out aloud during Divine Worship. Even today its seventeenth century text seems to work through being heard. The success of the King James Version was due to an accident of history. It became the vogue in seventeenth century worship for the pulpit to take more importance than the altar. Lengthy sermons were not uncommon. At Stondon Massey we find part of a triple-decker pulpit. Reverend Reeve, a former Rector, wrote:

“The pulpit in Stondon Church with the reading desk attached was erected during [Nathanial] Ward’s incumbency, and bears the date 1630. In all probability it was introduced into the Church in response to an order from Bishop Laud, but I think we may trace Ward’s handiwork also, and his personal superintendence. On the panels of the desk we find the words “Christ is All in All” the text of the famous discourse of his brother Samuel, “preacher of Ipswich”, which was published in 1627, while in the pulpit is carved “2 Tim. iv. 1-2”, the reference being to the words of St Paul, ‘Preach the word in season and out of season’, which no doubt was a favourite Apostolic injunction with the Puritan divine.”

It is to the Wards that we must look for the Stondon connection and the Authorised Version. Samuel Ward, the Ipswich preacher, became Master of Sidney Sussex College in 1610. But he was also a member of the Cambridge II team of translators responsible, with others, for the Apocrypha. His brother, Nathanial, became incumbent at Stondon Massey in 1628, and was one of the foremost Puritan preachers in Essex.

Nathaniel Ward’s nemesis was William Laud, the Bishop of London who on appointment in 1628 immediately forbade the printing of the Geneva Bible. Laud is described by Wilson as “the scourge of the Puritans” and Reeve as “determined to strengthen the traditional and Catholic position of the Church of England.”

Reeve takes up the story: “The Rector of Stondon was “presented” … “for not wearing a surplice in Church for the two last years past, and that prayers were not constantly read in Church on Wednesdaies, Fridaies and Holydaies”.

“A few years later, however, the end came. The Bishop’s books in the Registry of St Paul’s record that on 27th Sept. 1632 Nathaniel Ward was suspended; on 30th Oct. of the same year he was excommunicated for non-obedience to the Canons, and on 16th Dec. he was deprived.

“On his expulsion from his living, Ward determined to visit the New England about which he had heard so much, and in the following year (1634) he set sail.”

The book which these New England settlers took with them was the Authorised Version of the Bible. Over time wherever Britain colonised and created its Empire, wherever the atlas was coloured red, the Bible was present in the culture of each new society.

The influence of this Bible spread because of its association with the monarchy, with stability and of order in society. Melvyn Bragg, for example, lists the King James Bible in his set of essays, ’12 Books That Changed The World’ (2006). Shakespeare’s ‘The First Folio’, Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’, Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ and ‘The Rule Book for Association Football’ are also listed in his hall of fame. Perhaps it is an overstatement to suggest that the AV played a part in the democratic influence of England on other nations, but it is no understatement that the book had no cultural affect worldwide. It is interesting to reflect that while Britain considers AV – alternative voting – in a referendum, elsewhere in the world there is unrest and uprising against leaders in Middle Eastern countries.

The King James Version became, certainly for over 300 years, a core work in the English language and the teaching of the English language both at home and abroad. It became part of England’s literary heritage. This was both its success and long term failure. Melvyn Bragg suggests that there are some Christians who believe that only a return to regular use of the King James Version will return the nation to “the true path”. Derek Wilson says that the study of the Christian faith adapts with each age and while the works of Shakespeare, a contemporary of the Bible, could not possibly be rewritten, likewise this was mistakenly felt with the King James Version.

Wilson also cites why the KJV’s popularity fell into decline, pointing to the First World War, the break-up of the hierarchical society and increasing secularisation of the nation. Changes in education too meant that learning text by rote is considered out dated and that widespread use of the Bible in teaching in schools is now politically incorrect.

In the Church of England this year, strenuous efforts are being made to encourage greater personal Bible reading. Clergy say that the Bible provides moral compass for peoples’ lives and the King James Version is more than a piece of towering seventeenth century literature.

Know all men by these present that whereas Thomas Luther, late of Suttons in the Parish of Stapleford Tany in the County of Essex; Deceased did and by his last will and testament in writing duly executed bearing the date the thirtieth day of July one thousand seven hundred and eighteen, Give and Devise the sum of five pounds per annum to the poor of the parish of Stapleford Tany in the said County of Essex, forever and charged several lands, Tenements, Hereditaments in the said Parish of Stapleford Tany, with the payment thereof of as and by the said recited will relation being there unto had more fully and at large appears. Now know ye that we the Churchwardens, Overseer of the Poor and other Freeholders and Inhabitants of and in the said Parish of Stapleford Tany in Vestry assembled and held in publick Vestry place in the parish church of Stapleford Tany aforesaid, on Monday the eleventh day of April, seventeen hundred and twenty six. In consideration that Jane Luther of Suttons aforesaid widow, the mother of the said Thomas Luther, Deceased having promised to give four pounds per annum towards a schoole for the Instructing of the poor children of the said Parish of Stapleford Tany in such manner as hereinafter is expressed. Doe hereby agree and consent as much as in us lyes that the five pounds per annum so devised unto the poor of Stapleford Tany in and by the recited will of the said Thomas Luther be applied and paid annually for ever hereafter to some honest Schoolmaster or Mistrifs that shall hereafter reside in the said parish of Stapleford Tany and Instruct the Children of such poor persons that are or hereafter shall be chargeable or likely to become chargeable to the parish aforesaid in Reading, Writing, and Accounts, and also learning them the Church Catechism and bringing them up in the religion of the Church of England, which said Schoolmaster or Mistrifs after the death of the said Jane Luther shall be chosen by the proprietors of the several Mansion Houses Hereinafter named that is to say the proprietor of the Mansion House called Suttons, the proprietors of the Mansion House called Tany Hall, the proprietors of the Mansion House called Bells and the Rector of the said Parish of Stapleford Tany for the time being or by any three or more of them which said Schoolmaster or Mistrifs for any wilful neglect of duty or other Misdemeanour may be removed by the same person or persons Intrusted with the choice of such Schoolmaster or Mistrifs.

Witness our hand this eleventh day of April Anno Dom 1726.

Signatures on the Document

E. Smijth
Wm. Nicholson
P. Parker, Rector
Mary Hadon
Charles Haddon
Hen: Mott, junr
James Mott
X the mark of David Trevice.

The Schoolhouse was built in 1726.
In 1725 Sir Edward Smyth lent £20 towards the cost of the building, to be repaid from the rent of the Church lands.
However in the same year Mrs Jane Luther repaid this debt. It would appear that Mrs Luther undertook the cost of the building of the schoolhouse as in her will of 1845 she stated that she had built the schoolhouse at her expense and afterwards received a rent of 30/- a year for it.
She stipulated that after her death this rent was to be used primarily to keep the schoolhouse and its premises in repair, the residue being used to purchase bibles and prayer-books for distribution to the poor.

STAPLEFORD TAWNEY, which has this adjunct from a family of Tany, who owned it in the reign of Henry III, is a parish, on the north side of the Roding, opposite to Stapleford Abbots, 4 miles west from Theydon Bois station on the London and North Eastern railway, 5 south-west from Ongar, 5 south-east from Epping, 7 north from Romford and 17 from London, in the Chelmsford division of the county, Ongar hundred, petty sessional division and rural district, Romford county court district, rural deanery of Chigwell, Archdeaconry of Southend and diocese of Chelmsford.

The church of St. Mary is a small and ancient structure of flint in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch and a western belfry with spire, containing 2 bells, dated 1611 and 1630: an organ was presented in 1873 by Reginald II. Prance Esq.: there are mural tablets to the Smith family and many flat stones to that of Luther from 1619 and later: in the chancel is a tomb with a brass inscription to a member of the Scott family, dated 1510: the church was restored in 1861, and during the progress of the work two stone coffins were discovered in the chancel: a new panelled roof was added in 1884: there are 200 sittings.

The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a rectory, with that of Theydon Mount annexed, joint net yearly value £800, with residence, in the gift of Lady Edward Hay, and held since 1913 by the Rev. Sidney Margetts Stanley M.A. of Trinity College, Dublin.

Charities amounting to about £25 derived from interest on Consols, are yearly distributed. Suttons, the seat of Sir Drummond Cunliffe Smith bart., is a modern building of stone, picturesquely situated in a finely wooded park through which the river Roding flows. Mrs. Battye and Mrs. Stafford Northcote are jointly ladies of the manor and principal landowners. The soil is mixed; subsoil, heavy clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans and oats. The area is 1,650 acres of land and 7 of water; the population in 1931 was 192 in the civil, and of the ecclesiastical parish in 1921, 357.

PASSINGFORD BRIDGE, 1 mile south, is a place in this parish on the road from Ongar to London.

Post, M. O., T. & T. E. D. Office. Letters through Romford.
(Marked thus * receive their letters through Epping.)

PRIVATE RESIDENTS.

(For T F s see general list of Private Residents at end of book.)

*Galloway Arthur Kenneth, Mount farm
Hillier Harley H. S. Talbot house
Smith Sir Drummond Cunliffe bart., Suttons, & Glenleigh, Hankham, Sussex.
Stanley Rev. Sidney Margetts M.A., (rector), The Rectory

COMMERCIAL

Marked thus + farm 150 acres or over.

*Galloway Arth. Kenneth, farmer, Mount farm. T N North Weald 27
+Gemmill Jas. farmer, Howfields
Green Stanley, farmer, Suttons farm. T N Ongar 1Y1
Knight Arth. G, shopkpr. Post office
Lamb Wm. farmer, Great Tawney hall. T N 227
Padfleld John George, farmer, Little Tawney hall. T N 303
Parker Horace, blacksmith & shoeing smith
Pittam Edward, shopkeeper
*Power Rd. farmer, Wood Hatch
*Smith Jas. Wm. beer retlr. Common
*Stubbings Thomas, farmer, Common

Early music lovers from far and wide flocked to hear the music of William Byrd at Stondon Massey Church over two weekends in May. William Byrd lived in the village until his death in 1623.

A ‘William Byrd Festival’ was organised by the congregation of St Peter & St Paul Church in order to raise money to build a new Garden of Remembrance in the churchyard where Byrd is thought to have been buried in an unmarked grave. The Festival not only realised £2200 but also raised the profile of the man who ought to be as well-known as his contemporary, William Shakespeare. To use a pun, the Festival killed two birds with one stone.

William Byrd was a recusant Catholic, refusing to attend the Church of England at a time when staying away from Services was illegal. He, with other ‘papists’, was frequently named before the Archdeaconry Court and fined huge sums of money. Byrd wrote music for the Catholic faith, which was banned, but was spared punishment because he had friends in high places. He was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, the monarch’s personal choir, and his music was liked by Queen Elizabeth I and her successor King James I. The Petre family of Ingatestone Hall were his Patrons, and it was to John Petre that Byrd dedicated his second book of Latin Catholic church music in 1607. He was both loyal and yet a traitor.

Leading the cast on the first Saturday of the Festival was Richard Turbet, from the University of Aberdeen, an expert on the life and work of Byrd. He led a lecture / recital entitled “William Byrd: His Essex Years” which explored the composer’s musical output while living in Stondon Massey. He was supported by the Stondon Singers under their conductor Christopher Tinker.

The event was held twice. The present Lord Petre attended the matinee performance.

A traditional Morning Prayer service was held the following morning with music by Byrd played on the organ by John Hatt and an anthem sung by the church music group, Jubilate.

The second weekend’s events were led by a Saturday concert by the Writtle Singers, under Christine Gwynn, making their debut performance at St Peter & St Paul Church. Their programme – ‘William Byrd: Loyal Heart or Traitor?’ - explored Byrd’s life as a recusant Catholic and the protest songs he secretly composed.

The Festival concluded on the Sunday with a service of Favourite Hymns, reflecting Byrd’s wish that ‘every man should learne to sing’.

The event has put William Byrd on the map as far as the church is concerned. During the second week one of the congregation visited the church in order to set up the space for a choir rehearsal to find affixed to the door a bunch of flowers with a request to place them on the grave of the ‘English composer’. The flowers were sent by well-wishers from ‘Tom Garrison and the Trinity Choir’ which following a little Internet research turned out to be the Episcopal Cathedral in Kansas City. It was decided to arrange the flowers on the Memorial Tablet to the great composer inside the church. The Festival website (www.williambyrdfestival.blogspot.com), which remains open, shows that William Byrd is very popular in America with over a third of the hits coming from that country.

Members of the congregation received some lovely comments and have been encouraged to make more of William Byrd’s name in Essex. As Revd Edward Reeve, Rector of Stondon Massey wrote a century ago: “We can claim Byrd for our own”.

Two books are available at the church priced £2 each. ‘William Byrd: Some Notes’, and a biography of Reeve himself.

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has reported a steep decline in sparrow populations within the UK over the last thirty-five years. Other wildlife and environmental groups and organisations agree the current status of the sparrow raises increasing alarm. Both the House Sparrow and the Tree Sparrow have declined over this period. Much research and many conservation methods have been applied in seeking to reverse this trend.

Alas, sad to report, the parishes of Stanford Rivers and Greensted played a leading role in the organised reduction of sparrow numbers locally. The blame could be placed at the door of the Rat and Sparrow Club, the rules of which are recorded below. The evidence for the club is just one typewritten sheet of paper listing the Committee together with the rules. There is no evidence that has come to light to suggest that the club was ever active, but the intent is quite clear.

The names of the Committee Members, headed by the Chairman, suggest that several recognisable families who farmed within the parish are the “founders”. The date of the club is not stated but it is thought that it operated sometime in the 1940s. Little concern for the sparrow and its population is implied - in fact there is no concern shown for the sparrow whatsoever! Perhaps the vendetta against the rat is more easily understood.

STANFORD RIVERS, GREENSTED & DISTRICT

RAT & SPARROW CLUB

Chairman . . . . . . Mr. G. Wilson

Committee; Messrs. W. Hinman, J. H. Millbank, G. T. Pledge,
B. Muglestone

Hon. Secretary & Treasurer . . . . Mr. W. Powell, Jnr.

RULES

All rats and sparrows must be caught in above districts and members are asked to take steps to see that this is carried out.

The following are the rates at which the Club will pay members for sparrows and rats handed in:
Sparrow heads 2s. per hundred to be paid at end of season (October 1st.).
Over half-grown rat tail counts 5 sparrow heads,
Under half-grown 1 rat tail = 1 sparrow’s head,
Two sparrows eggs or two fledglings = 1 sparrow head.

All heads and tails to be taken to the nearest member of the above Committee when a receipt will be given.

Membership fee 2s. 6p., payable to the Secretary.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
N.B. It is hoped, if possible, to give prizes at the end of the season.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The membership fee then was 12½ p. in decimal currency - probably equivalent to about £5 today. The payment for one hundred sparrow heads would have been about £4 today. The equivalence of two eggs or two fledglings to one sparrow implies barbarity that would be quite unacceptable today within the standards associated with the British bird watcher. Clearly any member had to work for any return, paid in arrears incidentally. There is no clear definition of a half-grown rat but presumably there was an understanding on the length of a tail as guidance. Twenty full-grown rats tails for four pounds seems hard won, and a member would not yet have covered his subscription at this rate.

Sparrow populations of the era must have been very much larger than they were in 1975, and considerably more so than today. Both the sparrow and the rat must have been regarded significant pests in order to generate such a response. Was such a club the result of a reaction to food rationing and the need to preserve food stocks in “austerity Britain” following the Second World War? Is there any other reference to the club? Or was the club just an excuse for a good evening’s meal and a glass of something?

The local Rat and Sparrow Club was one part of a national movement to reduce pest levels. Clubs with similar aims (and similar bounties, although Stanford Rivers and Greensted did not appear to be the most generous) appeared over England. A search through Internet references identifies, for example; Rickling (Essex), Wadhurst (Kent) and “The Bowl Inn” at Hastingleigh (Kent) as being the home of other such clubs.

Greensted, Nr Ongar.
Thanksgiving sermons for the harvest were preached in the Church of the above small village on Sunday Oct.7, by the Rector, the Rev Philip Ray. The collection which amounted to £4.14s.2½d. was for the funds of that most valuable Institution the National Hospital for the Paralyzed and Epileptic, Queen’s-square, Bloomsbury. Money is greatly needed to enlarge the accommodation and any contribution is
most gratefully received.

On Sunday, the 8th inst, the usual harvest thanksgiving service was held at Greensted, near Ongar, when the sermons were preached by the Rector (the Rev Philip Ray), and £8.0s.6½ d was collected for the oldest Church society (the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge). On the previous day the children of the parish school were provided with tea, sugar, and plum cakes at their several homes.

To The Editor of The Morning Post

Sir,
Some of your readers may be aware that there exists within sound of the City an old wooden building, the last of the Saxon Churches, built of oak timbers, and known as one of the resting places of the body of Saint Edmund, king and martyr. In consequence of dry rot the roof is in danger of collapsing. It is proposed to replace it without altering the character. For this I appeal for help to all interested in the preservation of so remarkable a building and as the parish is poor, I shall esteem it a great favour if you will kindly allow me to use your paper for making my need known. Contributions may be sent to Messrs Sparrow, Tufnel, and Co., bankers, Ongar, or will be gladly and thankfully received by the churchwarden, Mr. William Hewett, Greensted Hall, or by myself. –Yours, &c.,

FREDERICK ROSE
April 22 Rector of Greensted, Ongar, Essex.

FOR THE UNITED PARISHES OF

STAPLEFORD TAWNY & THEYDON MOUNT

To be paid to the Rector of the Parishes aforesaid

AND APPROVED OF BY THE BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE
_________

MARCH 1831

_________________________________

£ s d
£ s d
Marriage By License
10 : 6
Parish Clerk 5

By Banns

5
2 : 6
Funeral

5
2 : 6
From Town
1 : 1
10

Non – Parishioners
10
5

If buried in the Vault
5 : 5
1 : 1

Head and Foot-Stone
2 : 2

And on each removal of Ground
2 : 2

Brick Grave
2 : 2

Rail
2 : 2

Churching
1

Registering Baptism
1

Copying Register
1

Sexton tolling Bell for Funeral and digging the grave
1
If beyond the usual Depth
1 per foot

RICHARD SMYTH, Rector

PARISH of STAPLEFORD TAWNEY with THEYDON MOUNT

Saturday 10th September

7.00 for 7.30pm

ST MICHAEL’S CHURCH, THEYDON MOUNT

THE PEOPLE OF HILL HALL THROUGH THE AGES

An illustrated talk by Anne Padfield

Hill Hall in Theydon Mount is a remarkable historic building, rescued from dereliction by English Heritage. Its Renaissance architecture and wallpaintings are now well-known, but this talk mainly explores the lives of the people – famous and infamous, colourful and eccentric – who have lived or visited there over the centuries.

St Michael’s Church (near CM16 7PP) contains monuments relating to many of the former occupiers of Hill Hall.

Drinks and canapés will be served from 7.00pm

Tickets £10 – includes free glass of wine and eats

For tickets and further information please contact Anne
All proceeds to church repairs

On a recent visit to Fyfield Church, near Ongar, I noticed a brass memorial plate in the Chancel, which read:

IN MEMORY OF
FLIGHT CMDR WILLIAM FRITH HORNER
(LIEUT RN) DSC, RN
Beloved only son of
Leonard and Annie Marion Horner
Drowned at sea whilst undertaking a hazardous flight during the Great War December 21 1917
Aged 22 years

I was curious as to the circumstances surrounding the death of this man, who died at the age of only 22, but had already been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). The medal is awarded to all ranks of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army, and RAF in recognition of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy at sea.

According to the London Gazette Horner was promoted to the rank of Sub Lieutenant in March 1915 and in July 1916 was promoted from Flight Sub Lieutenant to Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS)

The RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force.

At some point Horner was sent to Caldale Camp situated to the west of Kirkwall, in the Orkney Isles. Built as an airship station during WW1 sometime between 1915 and 1916 it was first commissioned with the Royal Naval Air Service in July 1916, and was an element of the strategic network protecting the British coastline.
At a time when German U-Boats were ruthlessly attacking the maritime convoys engaged in bringing essential supplies to British shores, British airships played a vital role in neutralizing this danger and were crucial in enabling Britain to eventually emerge victorious.
The SSP ( Submarine Scout Pusher) airship was developed in early 1917 following the success of the Maurice Farman type using a re- designed car with a rear mounted 75 hp Rolls Royce engine giving a top speed of 52 mph. These engines were later changed for 100 hp Green engines. The Car was rectangular, 25 foot long with a rounded nose and took a crew of three and on the bottom was a single landing skid. The 143.5 foot long envelope of the airship had a capacity of 70,000 cubic feet. Only six SSP airships were ever built.
Horner was awarded his DSC for
‘for zeal and devotion to duty during the period from 1st July to 31st December, 1917’
At 17.00 on the 21st December 1917 the airship SSP 4 left Caldale for anti-submarine patrol of the north of the Orkney Isles. The night had a full moon and weather reported as ''favourable'' and it was hoped the airship may catch a U boat by surprise on the surface. The crew for this flight were:
Pilot Flight Commander William Frith Horner
Engineer A.M (E) Ernest Frank Anthony
W/T A.M 2 (w/t) Rowland Charles Behn

Airship SSP4
By 17.45 the wind and increased with snow showers and at 17.50 SSP 4 reported that she would be returning to base due to heavy snow. At Caldale the base and hanger lights were turned on to await the airships return.
Nothing more was heard from the airship and at 01.00 the lights at Caldale were turned off as the airship was known only to have enough fuel to last until midnight.
Next morning the wreck of SSP 4 was found at Tafts on the south shore of Westray but there was no sign of the crew. The confidential papers, charts, a boot, leather jacket and a glove were found still on board. The airship was salvaged and returned to Caldale where a court of enquiry found that the switch was still in the contact position and the throttle still set at full forward and the propeller was very badly damaged so it is thought the SSP 4 hit the water while the engine was still running. The crew may have abandoned the ship thinking it would sink.
The bodies of the crew were never found. Horner is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

Advertisement in the Chelmsford Chronicle 1849
Persons willing to CONTRACT for the supply of Bread, Flour and Meat as Out Relief and at the Workhouse for three calendar months from and after 26th March next, and for Grocery, beer, Potatoes, and Coals, Drapery, Hats, Hose, Shoes, and Ready-made Clothes, according to sealed samples, to be seen at the Union Workhouse; and for Coffins and the conducting of Funerals of Paupers for six calendar months from the above date, are requested to apply to me or Mr Nicholass, Master of the Workhouse, for forms of tender, which must be filled up and sealed, with an endorsement denoting the articles tendered for, and forwarded to me on or before Monday, 12th March next (being the last day on which tenders will be received); and that the same will be opened and considered by the Board of Guardians at Twelve o’ clock on the 13th March next, the estimated amount of the articles required being as follows, viz:-
For Three Calendar Months
Bread for each District as described in Forms of
Tender

Estimated quantities
No. 1 and 2, about 2,500 Loaves
No. 3 and 4, about 1,800 Loaves

Flour for Each District.
No I and 2, about 6 Sacks
No 3 and 4, about 10 Sacks
Bread for the Workhouse, about 2,300 Loaves
Flour for ditto 3 Sacks
Meat for ditto 160 Stones of 14lb to the stone.

For Six Calendar Months
Estimated quantities and value

Coals for the Workhouse, about 24 Tons
Beer ditto 16 Barrels
Potatoes ditto 30 Cwt.
Groceries ditto to the value of £120.
Drapery, Hats, Hose, &c. to the value of £40.
Shoes and mending, of £30
Coffins and conducting Funerals, £40.

By order of the Board,
W. BAKER
Clerk.

Chipping Ongar, February 28th, 1849

All Persons having Claims on the above Union are requested to send in their accounts on or before Monday 26th March next; and application for payment thereof must be personally made by the contractors or their authorised agents, to the Board of Guardians on 2nd April nest at Three o’ clock.

Whilst I cannot claim to be an old resident of Ongar, I have had, in the past, some connections, in fact quite a few, my late cousin, Daphney Luck and her husband Ray lived at 'Trees' Shelley with their son Peter and daughter, Diana ("Diddy"). Ray was the Council Surveyor and Fire Chief during the war and went on to Harlow and finally as the first Director of Technical Services at Uttlesford District Council.

I came to Stanford Rivers to live for a year, - next door literally to the famous Airman Neville Browning and his son John, with Albert and Grace Woodrow, whilst I spent the year working for W.F. Hinman at Murrel Farm as a pre Writtle College student, my workmates at Murrels farm included Charlie Champion of Toothill, Victor and Charlie Pragnell and former German P.O.W. Kirt, who was the Cowman - a man whose capacity for hardwork I have never seen the likes of before or since. I well remember the sound of John Brownings Crop Dryer, driven by a single cylinder John Deer Vintage tractor, "Pom, Pom, Pom" day and night, and his fleet of Ex WWII American Army 6x4 heavy trucks going by, loaded to the sky with Sugar Beat for Felstead factory - I don't know what modern day vehicle inspectors would have made of them or the huge loads carried, they would have had a fit on the spot I think. Years later I used to often meet John Browning in Cambridge Market by chance.

I remember one severe snow storm too, it was mid-March 1952, a blizzard raged all the Saturday night and by the Sunday morning, like the Ongar correspondent's experience in the last January issue, all was totally quiet as I looked out of my lodgings bedroom window to see the road in front and as far as one could see up and down, blocked by deep drifts.

My great Aunt, Maud Kibble, mother to Daphney Luck, was a great favourite of mine as a child, me the only survivor of my immediate family in the London Blitz of December 1940, "Kibby" as she was known, was kindness itself, her last independent home was a flat in the Rectory at Ongar, on the East side of the road out of Ongar towards Shelley, she took me to London on V.E.Day where we stood in the Mall for the big Parade, and then, after this amazing experience, to some lodgings for the night and then, as guests, to Westminster Abbey to next day for the thanksgiving service, I was in the pews on the mid left, next to the Aisle, where King and Queen, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret passed right by me, within three or four feet, as an eleven year old by this time, I remember the sheer beauty of the two Princesses to this day.

Whilst working at Stanford Rivers in 1951-52 I played football for Toothill most Saturdays in the season, scored one or two goals, but found that hard farm work during the week was not the way to keep fit for football, for unlike when I was playing at Chigwell School the seasons before my legs seemed to feel as they had lumps of lead attached, and I never achieved the speed and fitness on the fields at Chigwell, not so long before, or ever again.

My own war experiences were far more than most kids, but did not involve Ongar, I was pulled out alive from under the wreckage of my home, survived a near miss in Suffolk where I was evacuated, from a crashing Pathfinder Lancaster which failed to take off on the first heavy night raid on the German Baltic Coast, then from two German VI Doodlebugs, and one V2 at Theydon Bois, and must be one of the few people alive today to have seen tons of earth, mud and trees falling back to earth after the huge explosion of the V2 rocket just behind Woodland Way, Theydon Bois, on the edge of land (now the Golf Course extension), in July - August 1944.

Now aged 76, I am quietly retired up here in the Northern Isles, where I have lived for the past twenty years.

Chipping Ongar was one of the first Conservation Areas to be designated by the County Council and contains over 100 listed buildings and other structures. The town was the administrative centre of the Saxon Hundred and the fortress established during this period was enlarged after the Norman Conquest. The town became known as Castle Ongar in the 12th century because of the "motte and bailey" castle, the remains of which still survive. The line of the former medieval town enclosure can also be traced to the north and south of the inner bailey, around the Pleasance car park and along Castle Street.

The oldest surviving building in the town is St. Martin's Church, the chancel and nave of which date from the 11th century. The White House and Castle House are the largest houses in the town which date from the 16th century. The only other building from this period which still stands within the town enclosure is the Old Market House - No. 171 High Street - which housed the market in the 1840's.

The form and layout of the historic core of the town have changed little since the medieval period. A weekly market started in the 12th century and the market place is still apparent as the widest part of the High Street between Wren House and Manor House.

The town was an important staging place for travellers from London to East Anglia and by 1848 coaches departed on a daily basis from the King's Head Inn. The railway service to London, which opened in 1865, brought prosperity and change to the town with a wealth of Victorian buildings, including a police station (now demolished), Budworth Hall and the local water works.