Stanford Rivers
| Stanford Rivers | |
| Essex | |
|---|---|
 The Church of St Margaret | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 51°41’22"N, 0°12’27"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 817 (2011[1]) |
| Post town: | Ongar |
| Postcode: | CM5 |
| Dialling code: | 01277 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Epping Forest |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Brentwood and Ongar |
Stanford Rivers is a village and parish in the Ongar Hundred of Essex. The parish, which is approximately 11 miles west of the county town of Chelmsford, contains the village of Toot Hill and the hamlet of Little End, both settlements larger than Stanford Rivers village, and the hamlet of Clatterford End. The village is two miles south-east of Chipping Ongar, three miles south-west of North Weald Bassett and three miles north-west of Kelvedon Hatch. The parish covers an area of 6¾ square miles.
The nearest London Underground station to the village is Epping, five miles to the west, the terminus of the Central line. Harlow Town Station, a National Rail station is eight miles to the north-west.
History
According to A Dictionary of British Place Names, the 'Stanford' in Stanford Rivers derives from the Old English for "a stone ford or stony ford". Stanford Rivers is listed in the Domesday Book as 'Stanfort', and in 1289 as "Stanford Ryueres", 'Ryueres' being the 13th-century manorial family.[2]
Population shown in directories for Stanford Rivers parish were in 1851: 1,052; in 1871: 938; in 1881: 975; in 1891: 982; in 1901: 982; in 1911: 864, and in 1931: 758. The populations of 1891, 1901 and 1911 includes the officers and inmates of the Ongar Union workhouse. The workhouse—established in 1836 for poor relief provision set up under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834—united poor relief for twenty-six nearby villages or parishes. The Ongar workhouse building survives today as a trade and business area in the hamlet of Little End at the southeast of Stanford Rivers parish. Little End dates to at least 1777, when houses were recorded at the settlement.[3][4][5]
Recorded in 1855 was a National School for boys and girls, which was built in 1850 for 190 children, which in 1882 had an average attendance of 100, in 1894, 146, and in 1902, 152. By 1914 the school had become a Public Elementary School with an average attendance of 125, under the control of the Essex Education (Ongar District) Advisory Sub-committee.[3]
Notable people and principal landowners in Stanford Rivers were, in 1874 and 1882 Sir Charles Cunliffe Smith, 3rd Baronet (1827–1905); in 1894 Sir Cecil Clementi Smith GCMG (1840–1916) who was also lord of the manor, and Capt George Edward Capel Cure; in 1902 Sir Charles Cunliffe Smith again with the now Major George Edward Capel Cure of Blake Hall; in 1914 Sir Drummond Cunliffe Smith, 4th Baronet (1861–1947) of Suttons, Stapleford Tawney who was also lord of the manor, and Major George Edward Capel Cure of Shakenhurst (hall and estate), Cleobury Mortimer. Drummond Cunliffe Smith was still a principal landowner and lord of the manor in 1933. The Smith estate and manor of Suttons in Stapleford Tawney contained 1,384 acres of land in Stanford Rivers.[3][6] Isaac Taylor (1787-1865), artist, author, and inventor lived at Stanford House at Little End.[5]
Licensees of the White Bear Hotel and the Toot Hill Green Man public house were listed from 1855 to 1933, with that of the Green Man being a baker in 1874, 1882 and 1894. A further listing for a baker was in 1902. Beer retailers were also listed as trading in the parish: two in 1874, one in 1882, and two in all lists from 1894 to 1933.[3]
Religion
The Church of St Margaret, of 300 sittings, is of Norman style, with chancel and nave, and a western tower of wood with a spire containing two bells. In south wall of nave is a brass with kneeling lady and six children, with the inscription: " Anne Napper, late the wife of William Nupper, gent., daug of William Shelton." A second brass is to Catherine Mylcaster died 1609, wife to Charles Mylcaeter, to whom she was married for 50 years. Further brasses are one with effigy to Thomas Greville, infant, died 1492, and Robert Barrow died 1503. There are figures of a man in armour and his wife c.1540. The Petres were a significant family in Stanford Rivers and are commemorated by many ledger slabs in chancel. Members of the Stuart family, Earls and Marquisses of Bute were buried here but with the exception of two they have been removed to Roath. The church register dates to 1538.[3]
A Congregational chapel was erected in 1819 at the hamlet of Little End, but destroyed by fire in 1927.[3]
Blake Hall station
Previously, the nearest railway station was Blake Hall which lies at the north of the parish and 450 yds north from Greensted Green in Ongar, between North Weald and Ongar stations. The line was opened by the Great Eastern Railway on 1 April 1865, serving principally as a goods yard carrying agricultural produce from the nearby farms into London. Steam locomotives operated by British Railways for the Underground ran a shuttle service from Epping to Ongar, stopping at Blake Hall, from 1949 until 1957, when the line was electrified and taken over by the Underground's Central line. On 18 April 1966 the goods yard was closed and Blake Hall became a dedicated passenger station.
London Underground closed the station on 31 October 1981 because of a lack of custom.[7] Some reports state that since the station was situated a considerable distance from any substantial settlement, 17 passengers used it a day, making it the quietest on the entire London Underground network. Although the building remained, the platform was removed by LT when they heard that, despite the formal closure, some trains were still dropping off passengers. The platform has now been reinstated, though the building is now a privately owned house.[7]
The Epping Ongar Railway now runs the line. The owner lives in the former station. Passengers on the heritage line can no longer alight at the station, but the train, on occasions stops outside the station to provide an experience of the original journey trains on the line would take.
Blake Hall station, and the surrounding area featured in an episode of Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys in 2012. Portillo rode a train from Blake Hall to North Weald stations whilst explaining the usage of the line in relevance to the surrounding countryside.[8]
Landmarks
There are 90 Grade II listed houses, cottages and structures in Stanford Rivers, and two Grade II*.
The Grade-II* St Margaret of Antioch's Church on School Road is the parish church, dating in parts to the 12th century with 16th to 19th-century additions and fittings, and 16th and 17th-century memorials.[9] Also Grade II* is Littlebury, a previous hall house dating to the early 16th century, 'T' plan two-storey of brick ground floor and timber-framed above. It is at the extreme east of the parish, east off the A113 Romford Road at Littlebury Hall Farm[10]
At 140 yds south from Littlebury is Littlebury Mill, a Grade II c.1840 timber-framed and weatherboarded watermill that was later converted to use steam and then electricity.[11]
The Woodman Public House at the south of the parish on London Road is a timber-framed and weatherboarded and gabled building dating to the 17th century;[12] Adjacent to the north of The Woodman is the White Bear, previously The White Bear Hotel until at least 1933, chiefly an 18th and 19th century gabled and brick building.[3][13]
Stanford Rivers Hall, 40 yds north from St Margaret's Church, is a Grade-II listed 18th- and early 19th-century two-storey red brick house, and the focus for Stanford Hall Farm off Mutton Row.[14] The farm has a farmhouse, outbuildings, a granary and a barn; all listed. On Old Rectory Road 800 yds south-west of the church is The Old Rectory, a two-storey house with attic dating chiefly to c.1780. On the house is a fire-insurance plaque for Central Phoenix Insurance, and at the north of are the remains of a moat.[15] Next to the house is a combined cottage with outbuilding, dating to the 16th century and listed.[16]
Farmhouses
Stanford River Grade=II listed farmhouses have attached, variously, Grade-II barns, granaries, kennels, cottages and other outbuildings.
Listed farmhouses in Stanford Rivers are Traceys Farmhouse (at the south of the parish), dating to the 17th century, with remains of a moat;[17] Berwick Farmhouse (on Berwick Lane at the south of the parish), dating to the 15th century;[18] Murrells Farmhouse, (at the south of the parish), 16th century or earlier;[19] Cesslands Farmhouse, (west from Stanford Rivers village), late 17th century;[20] Clarks Farmhouse (Mutton Row, north from the village), hall house dating to the 14th century;[21] Newhouse Farmhouse (Mutton Row, north from Clarks Farmhouse), timber-framed and dating to the 16th century or earlier;[22] Colemans Farmhouse (Coleman's Lane, south from Clatterford End), timber-framed and dating to the 16th century or earlier;[23] Burrows Farmhouse (Clatterford End), timber-framed and dating to the 16th century with later external and interior alterations;[24] Stewarts Farmhouse (south from Toot Hill), timber-framed and dating to the 17th century;[25] Blakes Farmhouse (south from Toot Hill), red brick with plastered from and dating to the 18th century;[26] Does Farmhouse (Epping Road, Toot Hill), timber-framed and dating to the 16th century, and brick faced in the 19th;[27] Freemans Farmhouse (Epping Road, Toot Hill), rough rendering over timber framing, and dating to the late 18th and early 19th centuries;[28] Weald Farmhouse (Toot Hill Road, Toot Hill), plaster and pargetting over timber framing, and dating to the 16th and 17th century;[29] Widows Farmhouse (Toot Hill Road, Clatterford End), timber-framed and dating to the 16th century, but clad in red brick c.1840;[30] Steers Farmhouse (Toot Hill), timber framed and plastered, dating to the 17th century with later additions;[31] and Cold Hall Farmhouse (north-west from Toot Hill), timber-framed, plastered and dating to the 17th century or earlier;[32]
References
- ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11128959&c=Stanford+Rivers&d=16&e=62&g=6424959&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1473245049422&enc=1. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- ↑ Mills, Anthony David (2003); A Dictionary of British Place Names, Oxford University Press, revised edition (2011), pp. 432. ISBN 019960908X
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Trade diectories: Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex (1855) p.140 / Post Office Directory of Essex (1874) p.206 / Kelly's Directory of Essex (1882) p.272 / Kellys Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex (1894) p.325 / Kellys Directory of Essex (1902) p.392 / Kellys Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex (1914) pp. 582, 583 / Kelly's Directory of Essex (1933) pp. 490, 491
- ↑ "Ongar, Essex", The Workhouse, The story of an institution. Retrieved 27 July 2018
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Stanford Rivers: Introduction", in A History of the County of Essex, Volume 4, Ongar Hundred, ed. W R Powell (London, 1956), pp. 208-210. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
- ↑ "Stapleford Tawney: Manors" in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4, Ongar Hundred, ed. W R Powell (London: Victoria County History, 1956), 234-236. British History Online. Retrieved 27 July 2018
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Along the branch: Blake Hall". http://eorailway.co.uk/your-visit/along-the-branch/.
- ↑ "Michael Portillo visits the EOR". http://eorailway.co.uk/news/eor-on-bbc2-this-thursday-5th-jan.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1337534: Church of St Margaret of Antioch, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 117914: Littlebury, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1337508: Littlebury Mill, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1124032: The Woodman Public House, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1169000: White Bear, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1124002: Stanford Rivers Hall, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1337506: The Old Rectory, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1168926: Outbuilding and Cottage to West of the Old Rectory, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1123991: Traceys Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1168780: Berwick Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1169003: Murrells Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1124016: Cesslands Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1124026: Clarks Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1337505: Newhouse Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1168848: Colemans Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1124021: Burrows Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1124001: Stewarts Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1337532: Blakes Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1168864: Does Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1124024: Freemans Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1306701: Weald Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1124022: Widows Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1124006: Steers Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
- ↑ National Heritage List 1168869: Cold Hall Farmhouse, Stanford Rivers
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