HIGH LAVER
High Laver is a parish about 4 miles north-west of
Chipping Ongar and 5 miles south-east of Harlow. (fn. 1) It
has an area of 1,895 acres. (fn. 2) From the 18th century or
earlier much of the population has been concentrated
in the village of Matching Green and in the two
hamlets of Thrushesbush, alias Threshers Bush, and
Tilegate Green, all of which are situated on the
borders of the parish. (fn. 3) There were 74 inhabited houses
in 1801, 77 in 1811, and 80 in 1821. (fn. 4) In 1801 the
population was 346. (fn. 5) By 1851 it had grown to 534. (fn. 6)
It was a little below this level until the last decade of
the century when there was a sharp decline to 386. (fn. 7)
In the first half of the 20th century it rose gradually to
463 in 1951. (fn. 8)
The land is nearly 300 ft. above sea-level in the
south-west, about 250 ft. in the north and 230 ft. in
the east. The Cripsey Brook runs eastward across the
northern part of the parish and then southward near
the eastern boundary of the parish towards Moreton.
The road from Ongar to Harlow enters the parish at
High Laver Bridge. The former rectory (fn. 9) is on the
north side of the road about ¼ mile from the bridge.
The road then turns northward for about ½ mile to its
junction with the roads leading eastward to Little
Laver and northward to Matching Green. Along the
road to Little Laver is the church (fn. 10) and to the north of
the church on the east side of the road to Matching
Green is High Laver Hall. (fn. 11) Behind church and hall
is a windpump. About ½ mile north of High Laver
Hall on the west side of the road to Matching Green
is High Laver Grange. This has a fine barn, in one
bay of which are two grotesque carved brackets of the
16th or early 17th century. About 1 mile north of
High Laver Grange is Newhouse Farm, formerly
Chalkpits, a timber-framed house which has been
much restored but of which part may date from the
17th century. On the east side of the road north of
Newhouse Farm there are thirteen council houses in
two groups known as Culvers Cottages and Chalkpit
Cottages. Beyond these is the village of Matching
Green, the south side of which is just inside the parish
boundary. Here there are several 19th-century brick
houses, including the Chequers Inn.
From the east side of Matching Green a road runs
south-east to Waterman's End, Little Laver, and the
Rodings. On the west side of this road, immediately
to the south of the parish boundary, is the chapel of
ease (fn. 12) and, next to it, High Laver school. (fn. 13) Immediately
to the south of the school the road is joined by another
road leading south to Ongar. Near this junction on
the north side of the road to Little Laver there are four
pairs of council houses known as Hull Green Cottages.
From High Laver church the Harlow road runs
west past Church Farm, formerly Whites, and Travellers Joy, formerly Herberts. Both these houses are
timber-framed and may date from the 16th century;
they have been much restored. A little beyond Travellers Joy the Harlow road is joined by Faggoters Lane
which runs northward to Loyters Green. About ½ mile
along Faggoters Lane is Faggoters Farm, a timberframed and roughcast house probably built in the 18th
century. By the east side of Faggoters Farm is a footpath leading to the site of Otes. (fn. 14) On the Harlow road
to the west of Faggoters Lane is Mashams, a timberframed house which may date from the 16th century.
Beyond Mashams the road runs past Great Wilmores
and Spinneys, formerly Little Wilmores, to Tilegate
Green. At Spinneys, which stands on the north side of
the road about ½ mile beyond Mashams, there are indications of a former moat. Tilegate Farm, on the north
side of the road at Tilegate Green, may be of the 16th
century but has a later farm-house built in front of it,
the whole being much modernized; the restored barn
has 16th-century timbers. Opposite Tilegate Farm a
road leads southward to Magdalen Laver. There are
two pairs of council houses on the west side of this
road, which forms part of the southern boundary of the
parish. Also on the west side of the road and just within
the boundary are Magdalen Laver school, (fn. 15) built in
1862, and, next to it, a row of timber-framed cottages
called Melanese Cottages, of which part may date from
the 17th century or earlier.
West of Tilegate Farm the Harlow road turns northwest to Thrushesbush, alias Threshers Bush, on the
western boundary of the parish. At Herds Farm, on the
north side of the road ¾ mile north-west of Tilegate
Green, there are indications of a former moat. The
farm-house is probably of the 17th century and has an
original brick chimney. West of Herds Farm is the
John Barleycorn Inn, formerly the 'King's Arms', a
timber-framed house of which part dates from the 17th
century or earlier. The former Methodist chapel (fn. 16) is
on the north side of the Harlow road at Thrushesbush,
just outside the parish boundary.
High Laver Bridge was accepted as a county charge
by 1800. (fn. 17) In 1858 it was described in detail by the
county surveyor. (fn. 18)
The inhabitants of High Laver were several times
indicted for the bad condition of their roads. In 1644
it was said that High Laver and Little Laver were to
share the responsibility for the highway from Matching
Green to Sheepcroft Bridge. (fn. 19) In 1776 the parishes of
High Laver and Magdalen Laver agreed that 'the
roads which these two parishes are obliged in conjunction to mend shall be equally divided and that
the part which lies nearest to each parish shall be appropriated to it, by a post set up at the expense of both
parishes, and marked on one side "M.L. mends thus
far" and on the opposite side "H.L. mends thus far" '. (fn. 20)
High Laver was one of the villages served from
Moreton when a postal receiving house was set up
there in 1846. (fn. 21) A sub-post-office was opened at High
Laver in November 1936, following a petition from
the inhabitants. (fn. 22)
Water was supplied by the Herts. and Essex Waterworks Co. in 1912. (fn. 23) There is no sewerage system. (fn. 24)
Electricity was laid on in part of the village in 1950. (fn. 25)
A sports ground is used by the football club. (fn. 26)
High Laver has always been a rural parish devoted
almost exclusively to agriculture. The owners of the
capital manor never lived in the parish after the first
decade of the 16th century. (fn. 27) The owners of Otes
lived in the parish during most of the period 1614-
1767. (fn. 28) They were not resident from 1767 until
shortly before 1841. (fn. 29) For a few years after 1841 they
did live in the parish but ceased to do so before 1863
and were never resident again. (fn. 30)
In 1848 the parish consisted of 1,894 acres. (fn. 31)
William St. Quintin owned 475 acres but farmed
none of it himself. George Starkins Wallis owned, but
did not occupy, High Laver Farm (340 acres). (fn. 32) John
and Thomas Inkersole owned 223 acres of which
Thomas farmed 74 acres. (fn. 33) There were two other
substantial farms in the parish: Holts Farm (118 acres)
and Tilegate Farm (100 acres). The respective
owners, Joseph Davies and J. M. Gilbertson, did not
occupy them. (fn. 34) There were five other farms of over
40 acres. (fn. 35)
High Laver has always been a parish of mixed farming with a heavy predominance of arable. In 1086
there were 10½ ploughs in the manor of High Laver;
there was woodland for 200 swine and 37½ acres of
meadow. (fn. 36) In 1847 there were estimated to be 1,428
acres of arable, 368 acres of pasture, and 12 acres of
woodland. (fn. 37)
In the 17th and 18th centuries Otes manor house,
the residence of the Mashams, was a large and wellknown dwelling which must have employed a considerable amount of domestic labour. In 1691 John
Locke the philosopher (1632-1704) went to live there
as a paying guest of Sir Francis Masham and his wife
Damaris, who had been Locke's friend for some years. (fn. 38)
He paid £1 a week for himself and his manservant and
1s. a week for his horse. (fn. 39) He was given two of the
best rooms in the house and he remained until his
death. (fn. 40) While he lived there Otes was 'one of the
really important addresses in the world of European
letters'. (fn. 41) Locke assembled there a library of nearly
4,000 volumes. (fn. 42) He also had 'his desk and his specially
constructed chair, his meteorological instruments set
up "in the Drawing Room", his telescope, his botanical
specimens, and a great porous stone through which all
the water he drank-and he drank nothing else-had
to be carefully filtered'. (fn. 43)
From 1723 Otes was occupied by Samuel, 1st Baron
Masham, and his wife Abigail who from 1707 until
1714 had been Queen Anne's friend and one of the
most powerful persons in the country. (fn. 44) Abigail died
in 1734. (fn. 45)