STAPLEFORD ABBOTS
Stapleford Abbots is about 5 miles north of Romford
and 5 miles south-west of Chipping Ongar. (fn. 1) It has an
area of 2,366 acres. (fn. 2) It is still a rural parish but during
the past 30 years there has been some suburban development in the south, from which region there is now a
good bus service to Romford. Until the 19th century
the parish retained over 100 acres of woodland, part
of the ancient forest of Essex, and some 300 acres of
common waste and meadow. (fn. 3) It formerly included
also two large mansions, Albyns and Knolls Hill.
Albyns, a very fine house dating from the 16th century,
is now (1954) being demolished after war damage.
Knolls Hill was pulled down in the 19th century. In
the 18th and early 19th centuries there was a considerable hamlet in the east of the parish at Martins
Hern (fn. 4) but only two derelict cottages now remain there.
There were 47 inhabited houses in the parish in 1801
and 78 in 1821. (fn. 5) In 1801 the population was 320. (fn. 6) By
1831 it had grown to 507. (fn. 7) It remained very close to
500 until the 1880's, when it fell to 320 in 1891. (fn. 8) It
then rose again to 433 in 1911 but fell to 391 in 1921. (fn. 9)
Since 1921 there has been a renewed rise, the figure for
1951 being 731. (fn. 10)
There are hills rising to 291 ft. (Knolls Hill),
257 ft., and 300 ft. in the west, centre, and south-east
of the parish respectively. In the north the land falls
just below 100 ft. where the River Roding forms the
parish boundary. Bourne Brook flows south-west between the hills in the centre andsouth-east of the parish.
The road from Romford crosses the southern boundary
of the parish and runs north-west. At Standish Farm,
just inside the boundary, it is joined by a road which
leads north-east to Navestock. This Navestock road
branches at Tysea Hill Chapel, (fn. 11) one branch running
east to Navestock Side and the other continuing northeast to Navestock Heath. There are some 20th-century
houses on the Navestock road between Standish Farm
and the chapel. Opposite the chapel are three pairs of
council houses and there are another three pairs on the
east side of the road to Navestock Heath, just inside the
parish boundary.
On the west side of the Romford road, nearly opposite the Royal Oak public house, is a field in which a
windmill formerly stood. (fn. 12) The road is lined with
20th-century houses for more than ¼ mile beyond the
'Royal Oak'. Beyond these houses it is joined by
Bournebridge Lane which runs west to Lambourne
End. There are also some 20th-century houses at the
eastern end of Bournebridge Lane. Beyond them, on
the east side of the lane, is Butchers Farm, a red-brick
house dating from the 18th century; it has a dentil
eaves cornice and a mansard roof with dormer windows.
Beyond Butchers Farm the lane crosses Bourne Brook
at Bourne Bridge, to the north-west of which is a
cottage which was formerly Knolls Hill Free School. (fn. 13)
About ¾ mile farther west, just before Bournebridge
Lane crosses the western boundary of the parish, is
Knolls Hill Farm, which is on the hill-crest site of the
mansion demolished in the 19th century. (fn. 14) On the
parish boundary, north-west of Knolls Hill Farm, is
Blackbush Farm, a timber-framed and partly weatherboarded house, which probably dates from the 16th
century; it consists of a central block with gabled crosswings to the north and south.
About ½ mile beyond the junction with Bournebridge Lane, the Romford road is joined by a lane
leading east to Stapleford Hall. (fn. 15) On the south side
of this lane there stood until a recent fire Mitchells
Farm, probably a 17th-century house. About ½ mile
farther along the Romford road is the school. (fn. 16) Beyond
this Hook Lane leads south-west to Blackbush Farm
and Lambourne End. A drive to Battles Hall (fn. 17) leads
north from Hook Lane, near its junction with the
Romford road. About ¼ mile north of this junction
are three pairs of council houses. Beyond these the
Romford road is joined by Church Lane which leads
south-east to the church (fn. 18) and the rectory. (fn. 19) On the
east side of this lane are four pairs of council houses,
south of which is the site of the former parish school. (fn. 20)
North of Church Lane, on the east side of the
Romford road, is Bons Farm, opposite which a lane
leads westward to Hammonds Farm. (fn. 21) Bons farm-house
is timber-framed and plastered and consists of a central
hall block with cross-wings to the east and west. There
are indications that the east wing and some of the
timbers of the hall are of medieval origin. In the 16th
century the roof of the hall was raised to give another
story, a chimney was inserted, and the three-story west
wing was added or rebuilt. This has a small staircase
wing adjoining it. At the front of the house the upper
floors of both wings oversail and have original moulded
bressummers. The doorway, barge-boards, and other
timber-work are also original. Both in the central block
and in the west wing stone fireplaces of the 16th
century have been uncovered. These have four-centred
arches and carved spandrels and are almost identical
with fireplaces of the same period which were formerly
at Albyns. In two instances there are Tudor roses and
fleurs-de-lis above the lintels.
The Romford road leaves the parish at Passingford
Bridge over the Roding. Immediately to the south of
the bridge a lane leads south-east to Albyns, (fn. 22) which
lies in a park, and the main road via Abridge to London
runs west. On the north side of the London road,
about ¼ mile west of Passingford Bridge, is Passingford
Mill. (fn. 23) The former Mill House is a little farther west.
References in the Quarter Sessions rolls to communications in Stapleford Abbots chiefly relate to
Passingford Bridge. (fn. 24)
In 1592 Bourne Bridge was presented as so broken
that no horse and cart could pass. (fn. 25) In 1609-10 it was
said that this bridge was in decay and should be
repaired by the Crown. (fn. 26) In 1656 it was reported that
'the lord of the manor of Stapleford Hall, one Chambers
alias Chamberline' had failed to repair it. (fn. 27)
In 1896 a sub-post-office under Romford was established at Stapleford Abbots, with two rural posts. (fn. 28)
There was a telephone service by 1937. (fn. 29) A police
officer is stationed in the parish. (fn. 30)
Water was first supplied by the Herts. and Essex
Waterworks Co. in 1935, but there is no main drainage. (fn. 31) In 1935 powers were obtained by the Romford
Gas Co. to supply gas to Stapleford Abbots and other
villages but there is not yet a supply. (fn. 32) Electricity was
laid on in 1931. (fn. 33) A branch of the county library was
opened in 1931. (fn. 34)
Stapleford Abbots has always been a rural parish,
devoted mainly to agriculture. The lords of the capital
manor have never lived in the parish. (fn. 35) The owners of
Battles Hall were never resident after the beginning of
the 15th century. (fn. 36) The owners of Albyns manor seem
to have lived in the parish at some periods before the
middle of the 17th century and the Abdys, who bought
the estate in 1654, were resident for nearly the whole
of the period from 1654, if not before, until 1840. (fn. 37)
After 1840 both the house and the estate were leased
and the Abdys did not again live in the parish. (fn. 38)
In 1845 the parish consisted of 2,332 acres, most of
which was occupied by tenant farmers. (fn. 39) The Crown
owned 349 acres of which 226 acres (Stapleford Hall
farm) were occupied by E. and C. Mollett and 123
acres (Hammonds Farm) by J. Fitch. (fn. 40) Lady Mildmay
owned 351 acres of which she occupied 140 acres,
mainly woodland. (fn. 41) Sir Thomas Abdy owned 350
acres of which 125 acres, mainly wood and meadow,
were occupied by R. Currie, 70 acres by E. and C.
Mollett, and 66 acres by J. Surridge; the rest was leased
in 7 parcels. (fn. 42) W. J. Lockwood owned 341 acres of
which 124 acres (Knolls Hill farm) were occupied by
R. Rudd, 96 acres (Blunts farm) by J. Stains, and 75
acres (Olivers Farm) by H. Viney; the rest was leased
in 4 small parcels. (fn. 43) There were 3 other substantial
owners, none of whom farmed the land himself:
D. McIntosh owned 160 acres which he leased in 2
parcels; the Revd. John Bramston Stane owned 142
acres of which Rebecca Roach occupied 84 acres
(Wiggans farm) and C. Stevens 57 acres (Tunbridge
farm). (fn. 44) There were 3 other farms of over 40 acres,
all of them occupied by tenant farmers. (fn. 45)
Then, as now, there was mixed farming in the parish,
with a predominance of pasture. In 1801 it was estimated that more than two-thirds of the parish was
meadow and pasture land. (fn. 46) In 1845 there were about
800 acres of arable, 1,250 acres of meadow and pasture,
and 200 acres of woodland and forest. (fn. 47) There were
also 40 acres of land under hops. (fn. 48)
There is some evidence concerning inclosure in the
parish. Most of the common field and meadow land
had evidently, as elsewhere in the area, been inclosed
before the 19th century. In 1824, however, 291 acres
of land belonging to the capital manor were inclosed. (fn. 49)
This land was mainly in the east of the parish. It was
largely waste but included 36 acres of common meadow
(Rye Mead), 21 acres of which were in Lambourne
parish. (fn. 50)
About 132 acres of woodland in the west of Stapleford Abbots, belonging mostly to the manor of Battles
Hall, formed part of Hainault Forest. (fn. 51) When the
latter was disafforested in 1851, the part of it in Stapleford Abbots was unaffected. (fn. 52) In 1858 the Hainault
Forest Allotment of Commons Act (fn. 53) provided that
191 acres in Stapleford Abbots, Lambourne, and
Dagenham should be allotted as common to the parish
of Stapleford Abbots. (fn. 54) This land was inclosed in
1865; 14 acres of it were sold, almost entirely to the
Crown, to pay the expenses of inclosure; 2 acres were
awarded to the churchwardens and overseers to hold
in trust as an allotment for the labouring poor of the
parish chargeable with a rent of £2 to the Crown; 100
acres were allotted to the Crown in compensation of its
rights in the land as owner of Battles Hall manor; the
remainder was allotted to various individuals in compensation for their rights of common. (fn. 55)
The windmill which formerly stood opposite the
'Royal Oak' does not appear on a map of 1777 (fn. 56) and
may have dated from the early 19th century. It was a
weather-boarded post-mill (fn. 57) on a brick base and ceased
work some years before 1910. (fn. 58) In 1923 the sails were
blown off (fn. 59) and the building was demolished. (fn. 60)