ABBESS RODING
Abbess Roding and Beauchamp Roding (q.v.) form
the south-west part of the area known before the
Norman Conquest as Roding or Rodings. After the
Conquest this area was divided into eight parishes, each
retaining the word Roding as part of its name. Of
these parishes only Abbess and Beauchamp Roding
became part of Ongar hundred, the others being in
that of Dunmow. There was also the hamlet of
Morrell Roding, which although it was in White
Roding parish was held to belong to Ongar hundred.
The tithing of Berwick Berners in Abbess Roding
seems to have been attached for some purposes to the
hundred of Dunmow, but the connexion is less clear
in this case. (fn. 1)
Geographically Abbess and Beauchamp Roding have
much more in common with the other Roding parishes
than they have with most of those in Ongar hundred.
All the Rodings are situated on Boulder Clay in the
valley of the River Roding, which takes its name from
them. There are few trees or hedges in the area, which
makes the landscape seem rather bleak. The soil, however, is exceptionally fertile, and is in fact reckoned
among the best in Essex. Agriculture is mainly arable,
the most important crops being wheat, barley, beet, and
potatoes. Sheep are comparatively rare but pigs and
beef cattle do well and provide dung for the cornland. (fn. 2)
Although only 30 miles from London the Rodings are
entirely rural and very isolated; they have no railway,
only infrequent bus services, and some houses in the
area are still without main services of any kind. The
population has been gradually declining over the
past century. Abbess Roding had 205 inhabitants in
1801, 254 in 1841, but only 169 in 1931. (fn. 3) This
decline is reflected in the amalgamation of the parish
with others for both civil and ecclesiastical purposes.
For ecclesiastical purposes Abbess Roding is united
with Beauchamp Roding. (fn. 4) For civil purposes it has
since 1946 been united with Beauchamp Roding and
Berners Roding. (fn. 5) The ancient parish of Abbess Roding
contained 1,619 acres including a detached portion of
41 acres. (fn. 6) It was bounded on the north by White
Roding, on the west by Matching and Little Laver, and
on the east by the River Roding and the parish of
Margaret Roding. Its former boundary with Beauchamp Roding to the south ran from the river near
Pig's Bridge west and south-west to the Little Laver
boundary north of Envilles. The detached portion was
situated locally in Beauchamp Roding and consisted of a
narrow strip extending from Longbarns to the Roding.
The height of the land in Abbess Roding is about
225 ft. above sea-level in the east and about 280 ft. in
the west. A number of small streams flow east into the
Roding. Brick Kiln Wood and Rookwood Hall Wood
are in the west. Abbess Roding village, in the centre
of the ancient parish, is 6 miles north of Chipping
Ongar. It is a nucleated village, containing the ancient
church and manor house, the village hall, the former
parish school, and a number of other buildings. (fn. 7) From
the village roads run north to Berwick Berners Hall, (fn. 8)
White Roding, and Dunmow, south-west to Little
Laver, and east to Beauchamp Roding and the Ongar
road. (fn. 9)
There are a number of 16th-and 17th-century buildings in the parish. Most of them lie to the west of the
Little Laver road, and in spite of their survival it is this
part of Abbess Roding that has changed most. Until
the end of the 17th century this area was dominated by
the mansion of Rookwood Hall, ¾ mile south-west of
the village, the home for over 100 years of the Capel
family. (fn. 10) With their departure about 1700 Rookwood
ceased to be a gentleman's residence and it gradually
deteriorated until today it is almost a ruin. In 1696 it
stood in a wooded park, but this had disappeared by
1777. (fn. 11) The transformation of the area was completed
between 1939 and 1945 when much of it was taken
into Matching Airfield. Old roads were diverted and
new concrete roads made, one of which crosses the
subsidiary moated enclosure south of old Rookwood
Hall. Some huts and other service buildings remain,
some used as stores. Fairlands (formerly Cockerells) is
on an ancient moated site ½ mile north-west of Rookwood Hall. The house is timber-framed and probably
dates from the 16th century. It is L-shaped in plan
with later additions in the angle of the wings. In the
middle of the 19th century the south front was faced
with brick. Inside there is an original fireplace. In
the room above there is said to be painted decoration,
probably of the 17th century, on the plaster panels
between the exposed studs. North of the house a fragment of the moat remains. A quarter of a mile east of
Fairlands is the site of the former Congregational
church of Abbess Roding, which was built (1729) on
land given by the then owner of Cockerells. (fn. 12) Nothing
remains of the church but on the east of its site is
Anchor House, originally given to the church by the
owner of Cockerells and later converted into a public
house for the refreshment of the congregation. (fn. 13) The
road which runs north from Anchor House to join the
White Roding-Matching Green road is modern. (fn. 14)
Falkiners, at one time called Offins, is ¼ mile south-east
of old Rookwood Hall. It is a two-story cottage row
standing at right angles to the road and containing two
dwellings. It is partly weather-boarded and partly
plastered and has a tiled roof. The main timber-framed
structure is of the 17th century. Over a fireplace in
one of the houses is a carved door-head brought here
from old Rookwood Hall. These houses are charged
with an ancient rent for the benefit of the parish clerk. (fn. 15)
Near Falkiners to the east is Sparrows, a timber-framed
house with a thatched roof, recently modernized. It
probably dates from the 17th century. Leader's Farm
(formerly Gilberts) (fn. 16) is ¾ mile south of Rookwood
Hall. It probably dates from the late 17th century and
has a central chimney with attached pilasters.
There are three old houses in the north-east of the
parish, Berwick Berners Hall and Hales and Nether
Farms. Hales Farm, near the parish boundary on the
Ongar-Dunmow road, is a timber-framed building
probably dating from the late 17th century. Nether
Farm (formerly Nether Street), on the same road ¼
mile south of Hales, was probably built about 1700.
It is timber-framed and roughcast and has a hipped
tile roof. Parts of a moat remain. Two 17th-century
cottages on the east side of the road south of Nether
Farm, which were recorded in 1914, have now disappeared. (fn. 17)
Among the modern buildings of the parish are two
pairs of council houses on the road between the village
and Longbarns and seven pairs of 'Airey' type houses
on the south-east side of the Little Laver road.
Communications have never been good in the
Rodings. Defoe, visiting the area in 1724, described it
as 'famous for good land, good malt and dirty roads;
the latter indeed in the winter are scarce passable for
horse or man'. (fn. 18) There is earlier evidence of this, in
relation to Abbess Roding. In 1583 the road between
Longbarns and Nether Street was said to be in ruins
and the inhabitants of Abbess and Beauchamp Roding
were ordered to repair it. (fn. 19) In 1620 the same road was
again in decay 'being very deep and unfit for carts'. (fn. 20)
In 1652 the inhabitants of Abbess Roding were presented at Quarter Sessions for not repairing the way
from Leaden Roding parsonage to Beauchamp Roding. (fn. 21) This was the same road, with an additional
portion to the north. Recent alterations to the roads
have already been mentioned.
During the first half of the 19th century, and probably for much of the 18th, Abbess Roding was on the
coach route from Dunmow to Ongar and London, (fn. 22)
but in the 1850's this route was abandoned in favour
of a link with the railway at Bishop's Stortford, and
ten years later the railway was brought to Dunmow
itself and also to Ongar. (fn. 23) In 1863, however, a coach
ran from Fyfield, 3 miles from Abbess Roding, daily
to London. (fn. 24) Now (1954) Abbess Roding is on a bus
route between Dunmow and Brentwood, with two
services a day in each direction and three on Saturday.
A walking postman operated between Ongar and
Margaret Roding (about 8 miles) in 1844, but in that
year it was stated that this was too far for any man to
travel every day and it was decided to terminate the
post at Abbess Roding and to transfer the receiving
house there from Margaret Roding. (fn. 25) A sub-postoffice was maintained until 1914 but had been discontinued by 1922. (fn. 26)
Piped water was supplied by the Herts. and Essex
Waterworks in 1951. (fn. 27) The new 'Airey' houses have
main drainage, connected to a sewage works which is
situated near the Longbarns road and was installed by
the Air Ministry during the Second World War. (fn. 28)
Electricity is now (1955) supplied to the village. (fn. 29) A
village hall for Abbess and Beauchamp Roding is
situated in the grounds of The Manor. It is a converted cow-shed and has been in use for the past 20
years. (fn. 30) A branch of the county library was opened in
1931. (fn. 31)
Throughout the history of the parish agriculture has
been almost the only occupation of the inhabitants.
From about 1500 to about 1700 there was a resident
landowner living at Rookwood Hall. Apart from that
period it is doubtful whether the owners of any of the
principal estates lived at Abbess Roding. In 1842 it
was estimated that the parish contained 1,257 acres of
arable, 243 acres of meadow and pasture, and 75 acres
of woodland. There were then six farms over 50 acres
of which the largest was 382 acres. None of these
farms was occupied by the owner. (fn. 32) An inventory of
the goods and chattels of Richard Hills of Abbess
Roding, made after his death in 1614, sheds some light
on the life of a small farmer of the parish at that time. (fn. 33)
There is very little evidence of occupations other
than agriculture. The name Brick Kiln Wood, how-
ever, suggests that brickmaking was once carried on in
that part of the parish, as it was in many places in Ongar
hundred, and Defoe's reference to malt recalls another
ancient industry of this locality.
The absence of resident landowners in the 18th and
19th centuries left local affairs in the hands of the
tenant farmers, and these were sometimes indifferent
to the needs of the community. (fn. 34) The existence of
many nonconformists may also have hampered united
action in parish government and education. The provision of the village school and the restoration of the
parish church in the middle of the 19th century were
both carried out largely at the expense of Capel Cure,
the patron of the rectory, who was not a landowner in
Abbess Roding and had many responsibilities elsewhere.
Two notabilities were the sons of local people and
probably lived at Abbess Roding in childhood. Sir
Anthony Browne (1510 ?-67), Chief Justice of Common Pleas, was the son of Sir Wistan Browne of Rookwood. John Thurloe (1616-68), Secretary of State
under Cromwell, was the son of Thomas Thurloe,
Rector of Abbess Roding 1612-33. (fn. 35)