High Country History Group

Martyn’s account of this outbreak is of considerable interest, not least in the light of the present-day uncertainties caused by the Covid pandemic. Further information from the Theydon Bois outbreak can be gleaned from newspaper reports that appeared in numerous publications across the country, indicating the level of nationwide concern about the disease at that period. Many of the London newspapers carried reassuring articles written by Thomas Forshall, a surgeon who had investigated the Theydon outbreak, and had even been unwise enough to sample some of the farm’s well water which he found to have ‘an unpleasant odour and a nauseous taste’.

Asiatic cholera was a dramatic illness which caused considerable public alarm. It apparently came out of nowhere and could kill with considerable rapidity, usually within 24 hours of onset, though sometimes a previously fit person would be dead within a few hours. With better treatment available in the 1920s, the mortality rate was between 25 and 50%. In the 1860s, it was probably significantly high. It was then widely believed to be caused by ‘noxious effluvia’, an invisible miasma arising from drains and poor sanitation.

More than decade earlier, the pioneer epidemiologist, Dr John Snow, had plotted the incidence of cholera in London on a map, and had clearly linked the outbreak to the consumption of water drawn from one particular pump in Broad Street. He famously took direct action to end the outbreak by removing the pump handle. But in spite of Snow’s detective work, the local press accounts of the 1865 outbreak at Little Gregories, Theydon Bois, show that the belief that ‘noxious effluvia’ caused cholera outbreaks was still well embedded. The press blamed the practice of spreading London’s manure as a fertiliser on local fields, and also reported that quicklime was being thrown onto fresh dung on the streets of Stratford in an attempt to prevent local outbreaks in the metropolis. The Epping magistrates went down a similar path by issuing a directive to disinfect ‘any place … producing bad smells’, and threatened the ‘full penalties of the law’ for anyone who failed to do so after due notification.

Cholera, of course, is a highly infectious disease, principally caused by contamination of drinking water with sewage, though it could also be spread by poor hygiene after person-to-person contact, as is suggested by the death from the disease of Dr McNab senior who succumbed soon after attending the Groombridge family. Person-to-person contact may also have caused the death of the poor woman who was responsible for laying-out the corpse of the Groombridge’s farm labourer, though it might have resulted from accepting food or drink at the house after completing her grim task. The farm labourer himself is more likely to have been infected by drinking water from the farm’s well.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the farmhouse water closet, as well as the kitchen sink waste, had been leaking into the communal well, the water from which was heavily contaminated with hydrogen sulphide. What is less clear is how the disease had found its way to this rather isolated farm. Initially it was attributed to Mr Groombridge’s recent holiday in Weymouth, a suggestion serious enough to result in a visit by a government inspector to that seaside resort, though no evidence was found to confirm this. The source of the Theydon outbreak was never established, though it is interesting that Mr Groombridge himself was reported to have been significantly unwell for many months, raising the possibility that he might have been a carrier who had unknowingly contaminated the farm’s water supply. This could explain why the outbreak was limited to members of that household and their employees, and why it had failed to spread elsewhere in the district.

As already mentioned, cholera was an illness of dramatic onset and high mortality, causing a high fever and rapid dehydration, with circulatory and renal failure. Treatment in the mid nineteenth century included large doses of calomel (mercuric choride), sugar of lead (lead acetate), opium, starch enemas and castor oil, suggesting to a modern observer that, even if cholera did not kill the patient, it was quite likely that the treatment would succeed!

The confidential nature of medical practice makes it very difficult to build a picture of the working life of a GP from a past era, particularly in the absence of any contemporary letters, diaries or day books. Fortuitously Martyn Lockwood’s recent acquisition of a photograph of “Dr Grattan of 7 High Street, Ongar” followed my attempt to uncover something of his working life as a GP. No known medical records have survived but local newspaper reports throughout his working life provide a surprising amount of detail about his day-to-day work. Nothing like this will be available to assist a future historian of twenty first century medical practice! However, these newspaper reports do give a very one-sided view, as they relate almost exclusively by accidents, disasters, deaths, and criminal or anti-social activities, so they provide few clues about the inner workings of his medical practice or the sort of care that he provided to the more run-of-the-mill patients. Though I trod in his footsteps three generations later, I never met anyone old enough to have any memory of him.

Early life

Dr Grattan was born in Ireland in about 1840, probably in Edenderry, not far from Dublin. He qualified in Ireland as licentiate in medicine and surgery, a joint exam administered by the Irish King and Queen’s College of Physicians and the Irish Royal College of Surgeons. He had settled in general practice in Ongar by August 1864. It is not known how and why he came to this town. If he had set up independently he would have expected a long slow struggle to attract patients from his established rivals in the town. It is more likely that he bought into an established practice. The latter seems to be confirmed by the fact that he was advertising a property to let within two years of his arrival. This was a good sized semi-detached house with four bedrooms, three sitting rooms, kitchen scullery and cellar, stabling for three horses, a coachhouse, a wood and coal house – perhaps his first home at 7 High Street. A GP at that time would have required stabling for several horses, as much of his work would have involved visiting patients in their homes in the surrounding rural area, sometimes travelling surprising distances. By 1872 he had moved to the Manor House (where his son was born) and at a later date moved to Ongar House which was sued by one of the town’s practices until 1976.

His Ongar practice

Dr Grattan came to Ongar as a ‘physician and surgeon’, a designation which survived until very recently in the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory, and still survives in a doctor’s qualifying degrees (MB, BS, bachelor of medicine and surgery). The Medical Act of 1858 which required all new doctors to have recognised academic qualifications. Up to that date the local surgeons, such as Mr Potter, would have served a working apprenticeship with another surgeon but were permitted by the 1858 Act to continue in practice, though this route onto the Medical Register was no longer be permitted for new entrants to the profession. It is possible that Dr Grattan’s impressive new qualification gave him a competitive advantage over the established local surgeons.

Accidents

In his early years in Ongar, however, Grattan would doubtless have respected and valued the experience of such men when treating the sort of serious trauma which today would go straight to a district hospital. In December 1867, for example, he sought Mr Potter’s opinion about a man who had been seriously injured after slipping under a moving train at Ongar station. The patient was revived with sal volatile and brandy, but the doctors decided that he was not strong enough to undergo amputation and had him taken home to die. Two years earlier, Grattan had sought assistance from another surgeon to reduce the dislocated shoulder of a man who had been injured when his carriage overturned. At a time when anaesthetics were little used, reducing this dislocation would have required experience, as well as considerable force. Hospital admissions were a rarity, through a few of the injured were taken to be nursed at the workhouse infirmary at Stanford Rivers. A man who was severely concussed when loading large tree trunks in the Ongar goods yard was taken by train to the London Hospital. He did not survive. In 1902 a badly injured cyclist was transferred to the London Hospital in the same way. Compound limb fractures (where the broken bone had pierced the skin) usually necessitated amputation to avoid fatal complications from infection.

Post mortems and a heart-sink patient

Later in his career Dr Grattan does not appear to have sought assistance or a second opinion, though in 1902 an Ongar colleague, Dr Spurgin, performed a post mortem on an infant delivered by one of Grattan’s patients. This would normally have been done by the responsible GP. However, this delegation was perhaps necessary for medico-legal reasons, as Grattan must have had had long-standing difficulties with the family. On this occasion he had refused an aggressive demand to attend a confinement. The father had then threatened Dr Grattan with the police, but the doctor had replied that he “could go where he liked but he would not attend his wife”. It is likely that there had been a long history of provocation for the doctor to have refused to attend, and to use such unprofessional language! In the days before the NHS, non-payment of medical bills could result in considerable strain on the doctor/patient relationship.

Road traffic accidents

As our source of information is entirely gleaned from newspaper reports, it is inevitable that all that almost all that we know of Dr Grattan’s work relates to accidents, deaths and suicides. Though we may think that road accidents are a modern phenomenon, there were numerous reports in Dr Grattan’s time of those caused by horse drawn vehicles overturning, or running over their attendants, as well as horse riders being thrown off their mounts, either on the road or when following the Essex Hunt. Pioneer cyclists were injured in falls from their machines in the 1890s, and from collision with a motor cycle in 1907. In the same year a horse was spooked by a motor car, and threw its rider near the Kings Head.

Suicides

Inevitably a number of suicides were recorded by the press, some of whom Dr Grattan had already been treating for “melancholia” (what we would now call depression). The method usually chosen by suicides was the desperate one of cutting the throat with a sharp knife, but this is not easy to do successfully, and several unfortunates had to endure being stitched up and then handed over to the police and remanded in custody to face trial in Chelmsford quarter sessions. Suicide remained a criminal offence (at least technically) until 1961. Those of my generation will remember that the offence of suicide was usually softened by the coroner’s face-saving verdict of ‘took his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed.’ By no means all failed attempts in Dr Grattan’s time ended up in court, so even then the law was not enforced literally and some discretion must have been exercised in deciding who to prosecute. Suicide by poisoning seems to have been unusual. Though suitable substances could be purchased easily from the town’s chemists, it was necessary to sign for them in the poisons register, and perhaps this acted as a deterrent. The only case of arsenic suicide that I found was the local taxidermist who had legitimate access to the poison which was traditionally used in the preparation of specimens.

The demon drink

It is no surprise that the misuse of alcohol contributed to accidents and violent misbehaviour. In 1873 the landlord of the White Bear inn at Stanford Rivers refused to serve one of his customers who was the worse for drink and who promised “I’ll lay in wait for you and give you a hot ‘un”. As good as his word, he later attacked and laid out the landlord. Dr Grattan was summoned and found the publican unconscious and bleeding freely from a scalp wound. The victim survived, but the assailant rightly ended up before the magistrates.
It was concern about the antisocial effects of alcohol that led to the first attempt to suppress the annual Ongar fair in 1872 when Dr Grattan was called to give evidence on behalf of the petitioners. He told the court that over the previous ten years he had attended accidents caused by drunkenness at every Ongar fair, and that two years earlier he had amputated the arm of a very inebriated man who had fallen under a cart while walking home to Shelley. He also noted that alcohol-fuelled rows at night prevented people from sleeping, and that card sharpers were relieving drunken labourers of every halfpenny of their money, leaving them unable to pay their rent (or their doctor!). He was certainly opposed to the Ongar fair, and later proposed the vote of thanks to the chairman who had called the meeting to consider applying to the Home Secretary for its abolition.

Medical officer to the Ongar Union workhouse

Dr Grattan was appointed MO in August 1864, retiring from the post 40 years later. The newspapers reveal very little of his work there though the workhouse records may reveal much more. In 1891 he was summoned by the Board of Guardians to explain why he had failed to notify a case of enteric fever, and why he had engaged a professional nurse without consulting them. On the first count, he expressed his regret, and on the second, he explained that the resident workhouse nurse had refused to care for the patient, and that the urgency of the case made it impossible to consult with the Board. The lack of a local infectious disease hospital was a serious concern during the national 1901 smallpox outbreak, as the workhouse infirmary was completely unsuitable for isolating the cases from the other rersidents. He was asked to investigate the possibility of sending cases to London, or whether any other local arrangement could be made. Soon after, the Ongar smallpox hospital was established, consisting of nine tents which could be erected when needed on land close to the workhouse.
In the same year, Dr Grattan asked the Guardians for an increase in his salary. He was vigorously supported by the Reverend John Howard,” the outspoken rector of Beauchamp Roding”. Somewhat unprofessionally (one would have thought!) the rector expressed his view that the MO should be paid at least £5 more than the chaplain, as “a doctor of bodies was more necessary than a doctor of souls”.
In 1903 Dr Grattan was pressing the Guardians for a full-time nurse.

Medico-legal cases

Some shameful and damaging aspects of human nature do not change. In 1866, Dr Grattan was asked to give evidence in the case of an assault on a 15 year old girl. The defendant claimed that “the connection” took place at the girl’s solicitation but, in this case, the press was unusually discrete and did not reveal the nature of the medical evidence, or the outcome of the case. In another incident in 1903, a 15 year old boy had invited a 6 year old girl to go mushroom picking with him, assaulted her, then gave her a halfpenny and told her to keep quiet about it. Dr Grattan examined the girl and found “certain injuries”. The young man was committed for trial at the Chelmsford Assizes on two sureties of £20 each.

In 1888 Dr Grattan was waiting for a down train at Epping station, and observed a man nearby beating a horse mercilessly after it had damaged the cart. The doctor subsequently found and reported this incident to the owner, and the driver was taken to court and fined 20 shillings.

Summary

Much of Grattan’s work would seem very familiar to a late twentieth century GP, though he or she would feel very grateful for the benefits of modern drugs and vaccines, ready access to well-equipped hospitals and a working ambulance service. He or she would be pleased to be spared post mortems, and the problems and hazards of relying on horses every working day.

Notice is hereby given that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us the undersigned, carrying on business as Physicians and Surgeons, at Ongar, in the County of Essex, under the style or firm of GRATTAN and WILSON, has been dissolved by mutual consent as from the thirty-first day of August, one thousand nine hundred and eight. All debts due to and owing by the said late firm will be received and paid respectively by Dr. G. R. Wilson, who will continue to carry on the said business. Dated the 31st day of August, one thousand nine hundred and eight.
Matthew Henry Grattan
Geoffrey Remington Wilson.
The London Gazette September 18, 1908.
Death
The funeral of Dr. Matthew Henry Grattan, late of Ongar House, whose death occurred on Friday at the age of 84, took place at noon on Wednesday. A service was held the Parish Church, the Rev. E. E. Barber and Rev. Canon E. H. L. Reeve officiating.
The interment was in Ongar Cemetery. The chief mourners were: Col. H. W. Grattan, D. S. O., son Mrs. Trowell and Mrs. Arnold Richardson, daughters; D. G. R. Wilson, son-in-law; and Miss Wilson. There were many others' present. Dr. Grattan practised in Ongar for over 40 years and retired in 1908. He was held in high esteem.
Chelmsford Chronicle 23rd November 1923

On Tuesday week James Edwards, a marine, store dealer, of Stanford Rivers, was walking with a young woman through a field in the occupation of Mr. Mumford. A party of gentlemen were shooting over the land at the time, and as there was no foot-path or right of way across this particular field, David Worskett, gamekeeper to Mr. Christy, asked him what business he had there. Edwards replied that he had permission from Mr. Mumford; high words ensued, and eventually Edwards struck Worskett, who responded by striking his assailant on the bead with such force that he felled him to the ground and inflicted a severe scalp wound. Edwards them made his way to Ongar and reached the police station in a very pitiable and exhausted condition, his clothes being saturated with blood. Inspector Robinson took him to the surgery of Dr. Grattan. where his wound was dressed, and he has now pretty well restored from the effects of the encounter.

The Late Mr. James Woolmore — The funeral took place on Friday of Mr. James Woolmore. the venerable parish clerk of Stanford Rivers, who passed away at the age of 82. The deceased was a native of Stanford Rivers and had never lived out of the parish. He had been clerk, grave-digger, bellringer, &c., for upwards of 60 years, having succeeded his grandfather, who had served in the office for 38 years. Mr. Woolmore was held in high esteem in the locality. He saw four rectors of the parish — Dr. Dowdeswell, Dr. H. Tatam, the Rev. R. Rolleston, and the Rev. J. 1. Thomas, the present holder of the living. Some time ago a present, subscribed for by nearly all the parishioners, was given to him, and another gift was made in celebration of his diamond jubilee as parish clerk three years ago.
At the funeral at the Parish Church, the Rector, the Rev. J. I. Thomas officiated. The first part of the service was held in the church in the presence of a large congregation.
Among those present were Mr. H. Millbank. churchwarden; Mr. J. Palmer, formerly for years churchwarden with deceased; Dr. Grattan, Mr. W. A. Millbank, Mr. R. Waltham, Mr. J. Clark, and Mrs. Jarvis. The mourners were a son and daughter of deceased.

Mr James Woolmore

The deceased was laid to rest in the same grave in which his late wife was buried. the Sunday following Mr. Woolmore's death, a sympathetic reference was made by the Rector, during his sermon, to the loss which the parish had sustained.
Chelmsford Chronicle 23rd September 1910

“To Thomas my son my black mare and 2 young heifers of 2 years, to be in the keeping of his mother (not named), she to have the profit until he is 21, if she keep herself a widow; if she marry, to deliver his portion to my overseer, he to have the putting forth of his stock; if Thomas die before, to be divided equally betwixt my two daughters. To my eldest daughter, Margaret 5 nobles and my youngest daughter, Julian 4 nobles, each at marriage. I will that my wife keep Thomas until he be able to be put forth to service to get his own living. The residue of my goods to my wife, also my cattle and lease of my house. I make her my executrix.

I ordain William Nicholson of Stapleford Tawney overseet, desiring him to take pains if so be my wife fail in anything.

Witnesses: William Cavell, Robert Levet. Proved 4 May 1579."

The compiler of A Gentleman’s History of Essex wrote in 1771 that Stapleford Tawney ‘hath but few houses, and like the other Stapleford seems to carry on no other business than that of husbandry’. So it was interesting to see the September 2022 Journal’s list of 1670 hearth tax payers (and those exempt) in the parish, and tempting to try to add a little flesh to this list of names. Who were these people, were they all engaged in husbandry, and where in the parish did they live? As a reminder, here is the list of payers – the ones who could afford to pay 2 shillings a hearth – and how many hearths (fireplaces) they had:

Thomas Luther Ar[miger] 15
Johannes Nicholson 7
Robinson 14
Jacobus Burton 5
Thomas Mansell 4
Johannes Wells 4
Thomas Burton 3
Johannes Grave 4
Thomas Mead 3
Johannes Waylett 3
Willelmus Taylford 2
Thomas Gray 3
et p(ro) fabrile 1
Thomas Elliott 2
Johannes Smith 1
Philipus Smith 1
Willelmus Althorpe 1
Johannes Lord 2
Turner 9
Joseph Parrell 1

Four immediately stand out from the others – Thomas Luther Esq with a substantial fifteen hearths, ‘Robinson’ with fourteen, ‘Turner’ with nine and John Nicholson with seven. Some of the others are identifiable by contemporary documents, and some remain a mystery.

Thomas Luther (1627-1694) lived at Suttons, the manor house in the south of the parish by the main Ongar-Romford road. The Luthers had come to England in the early 1500s from the same area in Germany as the famous reformer Martin Luther, who may have been a distant relative. Eventually their estate at Suttons covered most of the southern half of Stapleford Tawney and part of Stanford Rivers, and they rented a large farm in Theydon Mount. Thomas and his wife Ann had 11 children, but only three reached adulthood. Nowadays Suttons is barely visible from the road, lying behind a screen of trees. It boasts an impressive white stucco Regency and Victorian frontage which conceals part of a 16th century timber-framed house, with a 17th century brick wing. There must have been more of it in 1670, which disappeared when it was given a substantial make-over by new owner Charles Smith, who bought it from the Luthers in 1796.

John Nicholson (1606-1686) was a Doctor of Civil Law who lived at Bells Farm, Tawney Lane. The Nicholson family had been in the parish for a couple of generations by then and owned land in Stapleford Tawney and Stanford Rivers. John was the brother of Richard Nicholson, rector at the outbreak of the English Civil War. Like many Essex clergy, Richard was thrown out of his living by the Puritans and ended up in Newgate jail for a while. John became involved when he refused to pay tithes to the new Puritan rector, but as a lawyer he knew how to avoid jail himself. The present Bells Farm is timber-framed, probably built in the 1500s, and now not a 7-hearth household, but there’s clear evidence of it originally being larger than now. Nicholson’s son, also John, donated a silver chalice and paten to Tawney church in 1698. The chalice is still in regular use.

‘Robinson’ was recorded as William Robertson in the 1673-4 Hearth Tax return. With his 14 hearths, his house was probably Great Tawney Hall. Not, however, the present farmhouse built in 1764, but the earlier mediaeval chief manor house once surrounded by a moat, immediately next to the church. In the 13th century, it had been the home of the de Tany family, who gave the parish its name.

‘Turner’ must be the Rev. Edward Turnour, rector of the parish till 1691. The nine-hearth rectory survives, concealed behind a Georgian brick skin, a few hundred yards north of the church. Revd Turnour’s Latin-inscribed chest tomb is on the left of the church path, and was the subject of an article for HCHG Journal in 2020. Behind the brick façade, the Rectory is an H-plan timber-framed house, probably built 1560-1600, after priests were allowed to marry and have a family.

Jacobus Burton was anglicised as James in 1673-4 and he, or a descendant with the same name, was described as ‘at the Moted House’ in a churchyard fence repair allocation of 1703. Moat House is on Tawney Common. The house itself with its 5 hearths was replaced around 1800, but the moat is still there and still full. A moat was a status symbol, reserved for manorial lords in mediaeval times – and later adopted by people who wanted to seem like lords. This suggests the house was originally larger and grander.

‘Thomas Mansell’ may be Thomas Mansfield, a yeoman identified in a recognisance of 1650, with a will dated 1672. However, his name still appeared in the Hearth Tax returns of 1673-4 with his 4 hearths, so he must have lived for over a year after making his will – not remarkable nowadays, but quite unusual then. He lived at Woodhatch Farm on the corner of Tawney Common. The present Woodhatch farmhouse is a replacement built in the mid-1800s.

Thomas Burton may have been the one born in Stapleford Tawney in 1614, whose father’s name was also Thomas, or the one born in 1636 to James and Susanna Burton. There were also Burtons in Stapleford Abbotts and Stanford Rivers.

John Waylett is probably the butcher mentioned in a recognizance of 1666. Waylett was a common name locally.

We can be more confident about Thomas Gray and his forge. This seems to have been a family business, as John Grays, blacksmith of Stapleford Tawney, is mentioned in a recognisance of 1629. The 1673-4 tax return records that Thomas Gray senior ‘with a forge’ had 4 hearths, and Thomas Gray junior lived in a separate house with 3 hearths. Their premises would have been Cutler’s Forge, which was owned by the Luthers of Suttons in 1649 and remained part of the Suttons estate until the mid-20th century. Cutler’s Forge house is timber framed, later encased in brickwork. It was designed in a typical 17th century style, with a central chimney stack and back-to-back hearths on the ground floor but only one upstairs. In about 1970, it was more than doubled in size, plastered over and pargetted. The smithy itself was rebuilt in the 18th century and was still in business, with two furnaces, into the 1950s. In the 1970s it was converted to a dwelling.

Philip Smith described himself as a farmer in his will, written that same year of 1670. The 1673-4 tax return has Widow Smith in the place of Philip. John Smith may have been their son.

Not surprisingly, the homes of the seven who were exempt from the tax – John Fulljohn, Charles Rumbold senior and junior, Rebecca Sherbold, Widow Cakebread, William Elmer and Widow Young – can’t be identified, but all their surnames appear in the parish registers under a variety of spellings. As they were all probably illiterate, the spelling of their names was at the whim of the clergyman or parish clerk. ‘Mary Cakebread Widdow’ died in 1682, ‘John Fuljohn’ in 1683 and ‘Rebecca Shatbolt’ in 1684. ‘Ann Young’ died in 1688, ‘Charles Rumball’ in 1689, and William Elmer in 1702.

William Elmer may be the parish resident who was presented at the Quarter Sessions in 1644 for keeping an alehouse without licence – presumably trying to eke out a meagre living, though his other occupation was not stated.

Joseph Parrell with his modest single hearth was the parish constable who accompanied the collector round the parish.

So the gentleman who wrote in 1771 that residents of the two Staplefords were engaged in nothing but agriculture wasn’t quite right for Tawney in the Hearth Tax period. A manorial lord, a clergyman, a lawyer, a butcher and a blacksmith all played their part in village life in 1670, as well as the farmers, smallholders and farm labourers.

From the Chelmsford Chronicle 14th February 1868.
CHARLES FOSTER has been favored with instructions from the Executors of the late Rev. Dr. Tattam, to SELL BY AUCTION, upon the premises, on Monday and Tuesday, February 24th 25th, 1868, at Eleven for Twelve o'clock each day,
THE remaining HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE and Effects, comprising mahogany four-post, French, and other bedsteads; palliasses, hair and wool mattresses, excellent feather beds and bedding, capital mahogany chests of drawers, chairs, marble-top washstands and toilet sets, toilet tables and glasses, poles and cornices, damask and chintz curtains and hangings, Brussels carpets, Kidderminster ditto, druggets, &c.
Several very Valuable OIL PAINTINGS, a three-feet two telescope (by Newton) on tripod stand with night glasses; very superior microscope (Newton), Herder's condensed galvanic machine, improved magneto electric machine, magic lantern with microscope and slides, 6¾ octave pianoforte, in walnut (Eavestaff), portable harmonium (Keith), capital Turkey carpet, 19 feet 15 feet inches; Brussels and other carpets, hearthrugs, &c, mahogany sideboard, rosewood loo table, couches, sofas, chairs, lounge ditto, cheffoniers, mahogany library, Pembroke, and other tables, bookcases, pier-glasses, gilt cornices and poles, damask curtains, lamps, handsome china dinner and tea services, plated articles, &c, &c.
Very handsome black COB, light town-built carriage, brougham, pony phaeton, spring cart, stump of good meadow hay, garden frames, roller, tools, iron hand-lights quantity of firewood, &c, &c.
First Day's Sale. — All the bedrooms, landings, staircases, study, and breakfast-room.
Second Day. — The scientific apparatus, dining and drawing-room furniture, kitchen and culinary requisites, and out-door effects.
Maybe viewed on Saturday, Feb. 22nd, and Catalogues obtained at the Saracen's Head Hotel, Chelmsford; White Hart, Brentwood; Cock, Epping; Lion, Romford; and of the Auctioneer, Chipping Ongar, Essex.

From Reynolds's Newspaper 18th August 1895
At Epping Police Court on Friday, Walter Bibby, 26, a gipsy, living in a caravan at Hainault Forest, Lambourne, Essex, was charged on a warrant with maliciously wounding William Goddard, an engineer, of 36, Ada-street, Broadway, London Fields, at Lambourne End, on August 6th. Counsel said a party of 140 or 150 members and friends of the Lansdowne Working Men's Club, Hackney, went down to Lambourne End in five breaks. During the afternoon there was a dispute with some gipsies over the hiring of a horse, and this led to the excursionists being attacked in the evening. Prisoner stood on the wheel of the brake, and as the vehicle began to move, he raised a large iron bar and threw it with all his force at the people in the brake. It struck William Goddard on the head, cutting his head open. Prisoner: Not me, sir. I'll fetch the man forward who threw that, sir. William Goddard and James Wynn, a fitter and carpenter, of 28, Well-street, Hackney, bore out the statement of counsel, and swore to the prisoner as the man who threw the iron bar. Goddard said he was still under the care of a doctor. His head was put open by the blow. The prisoner was remanded for a week.
It might have seemed an open and shut case but by 6 September the Chelmsford Chronicle was reporting the other side of the story:
At the Epping Petty Session on Friday, before C. J. Bury, Esq.. and other justices, Alfred J. Truckell, 40, of 1 Suffolk-road, Dalston, was summoned for maliciously wounding Jemima Finch, at Lambourne, August 6th, the occasion of the affray with gipsies already reported. Mr. Atkinson appeared for complainant, and Mr. Hobson defended. Complainant, a married woman, said that on August 6th she saw the defendant at about three o'clock in the afternoon against the Beehive public-house. He asked her to pay him back a sum of 2s. 4d., but she wanted to know what he meant, as she had not had a farthing from him. Defendant was one of the party bean feasters. She saw him several times during the afternoon about the place, but did not speak to him. In the evening she saw the brakes going away and noticed they stopped at Lambourne End. She saw defendant get out the second brake carrying a red stick about a yard and a half long. She was the first person he met, and, without speaking, he raised the stick as if to strike her on the head. She put up her left arm to shield her head, and received the blow across her arm. The blow broke her arm between the elbow and wrist, and she fell to the ground. Defendant remarked, "You cow; I'll do for you." Witness then became unconscious. She was taken to Dr. Brickwell's surgery and her arm was attended to. Cross-examined: She was waker and lived in a van.

On this day she had a pony which she was letting out; there was a dispute about paying for the hire of ponies. She and others heard the brakes coming, and merely went out into the roadway to see them pass. Mr. Hobson: What did they all go out for? I don't know, sir. It's not private property. If they like to go out by the roadside they can. The two first brakes stopped because they were asked to stop by several people. Mr. Hobson: Can you suggest a reason why Mr. Truckell got off the van and at once struck you? He did his own mind, I suppose. I didn't say anything. Ada Bibby, wife of Walter Bibby, said she saw the defendant strike Mrs. Finch as alleged. She saw men jump out of the brake and start beating the gipsies. The Chairman: A free fight? Witness: A fight between them. Esther Dorton, of Lambourne-end, also deposed to seeing the defendant strike the complainant with a stick. The defendant, who reserved his defence, was committed for trial to the Assize, and was allowed out on bail.
In November both cases were disposed of at the Essex Assizes in Chelmsford. The prosecuting barrister was Lord William Cecil, son of the prime minister Lord Salisbury. During the trial it became clear that there had a number of skirmishes between the Hackney excursionist’s and the gypsies on August 6th caused by an argument over the cost of hiring a pony. Although in theory Alfred Truckell was on trial with the two gypsies Walter Bibby and Jemima Finch’s husband Henry in reality the prosecution argued that the gypsies were solely responsible for the violence and it was left for the defence barrister to argue that Truckell was as guilty as the other two accused. Unsurprisingly Truckell was acquitted and Bibby and Finch found guilty and sentenced to 3 months hard labour.

The following items come from the Essex Calendar of Records – Sessions Records, which record the cases heard before the Essex Quarter Sessions at
Chelmsford.

1561/2 Hundred of Ongar.

William Tynge of Stanford Rivers is ordered that he shall not further frequent the society of Joan Palmer, widow of Chipping Ongar, because they are suspected persons and of dishonest conversation under a penalty of foirfeit as often as they are found associating, to wit the said William Tynge 13s.4d and the said Joan 6s 8d.

Jan 1592/53

We present a bridge called Pissingford Bridge in the parishes of Stapleford Tawney and Stapleford Abbots in the common highway which leads from Chipping Ongar towards London, to be very sore decayed in the planking thereof, which if it be not repaired very shortly the Queen’s subjects shall not pass that way neither with horse nor cart without danger, which bridge has been made new not long since by the County.

Midsummer 1674

House of Correction in Barking. Sam Cliffe committed 25th May for being an idle, dissolute and disorderly person and can give no account of himself, brought by the constable of Stanford Rivers before them (to be whipped and sent to “Bradfeild in Yorke”)
Tuesday 12 April 1681.
For not coming to their Parish Church. Ann wife of Wm. Peters esq., Henry Todd (gent) and Margaret his wife, and Dinah Poley and Alice Smyth, his servants, Margt. wife of Edw. Greene and Alice wife of Tho. Besouth, all of Stanford Rivers.
Easter 1691
20 Feb. Jas. Stace of Stanford Rivers (occ. not given) to answer the inhabitants of the parish for refusing to take a poor child of the parish as an apprentice. (owes 2 shillings).

Michaelmas 1691

John Groves of Stapleford Abbots (27), Edw. Brown of Thornwood Hamlet (28), Giles Harding of Stanford Rivers (29) Edw. Elthorp (30) and John Ingold (31) both of Stapleford Tawney, all farmers, John North sen. (for John North jun.) [occupations not given] (32), Ralph Linney (33) and Nick Boules (34), both farmers all of Theydon Mount; each to appear and do what the court shall enjoin him for being in an unlawful assembly in the parish of Theydon Mount on 16 Sept last which was a solemn feast appointed by their Majestys’ proclamation to be religiously and strictly observed and kept throughout the Kingdom. All owe 2 shillings.

Epiphany 1692/3

19 Dec. Geo Eve yeoman; to answer Tho. Staines for refusing to pay him his wages due for work; both of Theydon Mount. They are agreed.

The Heritage at Risk Register includes historic buildings and sites that are at risk of loss through neglect, decay or development, or are vulnerable to becoming so. It includes all types of designated heritage assets, including Conservation Areas, which are designated and assessed by Local Planning Authorities. The aim of the Register is to focus attention on those places in greatest need. Historic England, in partnership with others, is able to help tackle heritage at risk. We work with owners, friends groups, developers and other stakeholders to find imaginative solutions for historic places and sites at risk across England
To be considered for inclusion on the Register, buildings or structures must be listed on the National Heritage List for England; and in secular (non-worship) use. And either:
a grade I or
II* listed building, or
a grade II listed building in London, or
a structural scheduled monument with upstanding remains.
Buildings or structures are assessed on the basis of condition and, where applicable, occupancy (or use) reflecting the fact that a building which is occupied is generally less vulnerable than one that is not.
There are a number of buildings in this area at risk and which appear on the register.

Littlebury Farmhouse, Romford Road, Stanford Rivers.
Timber-framed house of c1540 and earlier. A lean-to roof is not watertight and is in poor condition. The timber frame is protected by ply sheeting. The building remains unoccupied and although gutters have been cleared and vegetation cut back its condition continues to deteriorate. Discussions with owner and the Local Planning Authority are ongoing. Condition Poor.

Church of St Nicholas, Willingale Road, Fyfield

Parish church dated to C12. Central tower incorporating re-used Roman materials, but displaying problems with eroded quoins and open joints. Condition Poor.

Essex Redoubt at Ongar Radio Station, North Weald Bassett / Bobbingworth

Late C19 redoubt consisting of early concrete structures and associated earthworks. Buildings at risk from failure of concrete and vandalism. Discussions with the owners and Local Planning Authority have centred on proposals to commission a Conservation Management Plan for beneficial re-use of the site as an outdoor activity centre in the context of local development proposals. These discussions have stalled and there has been no further progress. Condition Poor.

The following sites contain information of interest.
Bank of England Inflation Indicator.
This allows you to check how prices in the UK have changed over time, from 1209 to now. For example £10 in 1700 is now worth nearly £1640.
www.bankofengland.co.uk
Parish Records
Links to free websites containing information regarding parish records. Covers the whole country. Just type in the parish you are interested in and see what is available. Also gives access to monumental inscriptions and maps of the parish.
www.dustydocs.com
National Survey of Medieval Stained Glass
The Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA) is the international research project dedicated to recording medieval stained glass. In Great Britain, the CVMA is a British Academy Research Project, hosted by the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York.
Essex is well represented, with excellent pictures. Search by parish. The section for Theydon Mount has images of the stained glass in Hill Hall. There are 13 images for St. Andrew’s, Greensted, 12 images for St Michael’s, Theydon Mount.
There are no images for Stanford Rivers and Stapleford Tawney,
Also there magazine Vidimus is on line and free to access.
www.cvma.uk.org

Saturday 1st April.
Playing to the Whistle: The Railways of Essex and East Anglia
Join us on Saturday April 1st for a one-day conference of talks on all different aspects of railways in Essex, from the first days of compulsorily purchasing of land and properties as the railways came out of London, the issues around making a ‘new’ steam locomotive to what it takes to run a railway in the 2020s. With speakers from Greater Anglia to the Great Eastern Railway Society (GERS) and an exhibition of the art of Malcolm Root, we’re sure there will be plenty of interest in this event so make sure to book your ticket – we’ve only got a limited number!
Registration and coffee from 10:00; an individual packed lunch is included in the ticket price. Delegates will be contacted nearer the event with lunch options.
Talks 10:30 to approx. 15:30. Cost £30.
Tuesday 4th April.
Dismantling the Monasteries
The dismantling of the monasteries in the middle decades of the sixteenth century had profound implications for landscape, townscape and the economy. The evidence of this major historic event is all around us. This talk will attempt to put flesh on the bones of some of those people, from almost every level in society, involved in the many aspects of this process in the county of Essex from 1536 onwards. Cost is £6.