LITTLE LAVER
Little Laver is a small parish about 5 miles to the
north of Chipping Ongar, (fn. 1) with an area of 964 acres. (fn. 2)
In 1428 it contained fewer than 10 households. (fn. 3) There
were 15 inhabited houses in 1801, 20 in 1811, and
16 in 1821. (fn. 4) In 1801 the population was 90. (fn. 5) By
1841 it had grown to 128. (fn. 6) It declined in the next 30
years to 104, then rose to 124 in 1891. (fn. 7) At the end of
the century it fell just below 100 and has since remained
about this level. (fn. 8) In 1951 it was 96. (fn. 9)
The land is about 280 ft. above sea-level in the east
and 230 ft. in the west. Three streams run across the
northern half of the parish. There is a small area of
woodland on the north-east boundary. The road from
High Laver to Abbess Roding crosses the western
boundary of the parish and runs eastward. On the
south side of the road, about ½ mile from the boundary,
is Church Farm, where there is part of a large moat.
Farther east are Little Laver Mill and the Mill House. (fn. 10)
Beyond the mill the road is joined by a road which
runs southward to Moreton. On the east side of the
road junction is the Red House, a timber-framed farmhouse of the 18th century or earlier. To the south of
the Red House, on the west side of the Moreton road,
is the former rectory. (fn. 11) East of the Red House on the
road to Abbess Roding is the village hall. (fn. 12) To the
south of the road on the eastern boundary of the parish
is Envilles. (fn. 13)
Nearly opposite the village hall a road runs northwest to Matching Green. On the west side of this road
is Gosling Hall, a two-story timber-framed building
probably of the 15th century. It originally consisted
of an open hall of two bays with a two-story cross-wing
at its north end. The south end of the hall block may
be a later addition. In the 16th or early 17th century
a chimney was built in the south bay of the hall, a ceiling was inserted and the roof was renewed and possibly
raised. The lower part of the arched braces to the tiebeam of the original hall roof-truss can still be seen in
the ground floor room of this block. A cambered tiebeam, originally having arched braces, is also partly
visible above the first floor room of the cross-wing. The
gabled east end of this wing oversails and has curved
supporting brackets. An external chimney on the north
side, partly rebuilt recently, has diagonal shafts and is
probably of the 16th or early 17th century. Beyond
Gosling Hall to the north are the church (fn. 14) and the old
manor house, now called the Grange. (fn. 15) Farther north
there is a windpump on the west side of the road.
Opposite this is a long drive north-east to Little Laver
Hall. (fn. 16) To the north of the drive on the road to Matching Green are Stone Cottages, formerly the parish poorhouse. (fn. 17) About ¼ mile farther north is Hull Green
farm-house, which is probably of 18th-century date.
From Hull Green the road turns westward and forms
the parish boundary for a short distance before joining
the road from Matching Green to Ongar. South of
the junction the Ongar road, called at this point Water
Lane, forms the western boundary of the parish for
about a mile. On the east side of this road is Waterman's End House, a timber-framed building of the
18th century or earlier. North of the house is a pair of
18th-century cottages. South of Waterman's End
House, on the same side of the road, is a brick house
which until 1886-90 (fn. 18) was the Leather Bottle Inn. (fn. 19)
Postal facilities were extended to Little Laver when
a receiving office was set up at Moreton in 1846. (fn. 20)
Water was supplied by the Herts. and Essex Waterworks Co. in 1912. (fn. 21) Electricity was supplied to one
end of the parish in 1950. (fn. 22) There is a village hall,
erected in 1891. (fn. 23)
Little Laver has always been a rural parish devoted
mainly to agriculture. The Collins family, owners of
the manors of Little Laver Hall and Envilles for a
century or more after 1559, lived in the parish at least
during the period 1599-1671. (fn. 24) It is not clear whether
the owners were resident in the period immediately
after the Collinses disposed of the estates. The owners
of Little Laver Hall certainly did not live in the parish
from 1714 until after the Meyers acquired the estate
in 1804-5. (fn. 25) Christian P. Meyer, who succeeded to
the estate in 1828-9, was resident by 1848 and since
his time the owners of this estate have always lived in
the parish. (fn. 26) Whether the owners of Envilles did so in
the first three quarters of the 18th century is not clear;
certainly they were not resident between 1780 and
1897. (fn. 27)
In 1848 the parish consisted of 968 acres. (fn. 28) C. P.
Meyer owned 270 acres of which he occupied only 15
acres. (fn. 29) John Maryon Wilson owned 249 acres but
farmed none of it himself. (fn. 30) The only other substantial owner in the parish was Thomas Poynder who
owned, but did not occupy, Hull Green Farm (119
acres). (fn. 31) There were two other farms of over 40 acres. (fn. 32)
Then, as now, there was mixed farming in the parish,
with a marked predominance of arable. In 1847 it was
estimated that there were 716 acres of arable, 150 acres
of pasture, and 23 acres of woodland. (fn. 33)
There has been a windmill on the site of the present
mill since the first half of the 17th century. (fn. 34) From the
late 18th century until the First World War the mill
descended from father to son, four consecutive millers
being named Stephen Roast. (fn. 35) The first of these, who
died in 1797, is said to have left money for his son to
build the present mill. (fn. 36) This was originally a weatherboarded post mill of the usual local pattern. The tall
brick base, about 20 ft. high, is an improvement said
to date from about 1860. (fn. 37) The wooden superstructure
was raised on jacks and props and a second story was
added to the round house (fn. 38) giving extra height and
storage space. It thus became a combination of smock
and post mill and appears to be the only example known
of this type. The fantail was also added about 1860.
A miller named Hart (fn. 39) succeeded the last of the Roasts
but the mill ceased working soon after 1930. (fn. 40) It is
now the property of J. Brace & Sons of High Ongar
and is used for storage purposes by their tenant. (fn. 41) The
Mill House, which stands west of the mill, is a timberframed building probably dating from the 17th century.