High Laver, Essex Genealogy

England Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
High Laver All Saints is an Ancient parish in Essex.

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

The parish church of ALL SAINTS consists of nave, chancel, west tower, south porch, and north vestry. The walls are of flint rubble roughly coursed, particularly in the chancel. Roman brick is found among the rubble and forms some of the quoins. Most of the dressings, originally of clunch, have been replaced. The nave was built late in the 12th century. It retains one small round-headed window in the north wall. West of this is an original doorway, partly restored, which now leads to the vestry. It has a semicircular arch and chamfered imposts. The chancel, probably built about 1200, has seven lancets with pointed heads. There are two in each of the north and south walls and three graduated lancets at the east end; all are much restored. Two doorways, one in the north wall of the chancel and one in the south wall of the nave, are probably of the 13th century. The former is now blocked but the arch in clunch is visible externally. The piscina, which has a trefoiled head and a double drain, may be of the 13th century. There are fragments of 13th- or 14thcentury glass in the small nave window. The tower, of three stages, appears to have been added about 1340. It was originally of flint rubble, but this is now mostly plastered and much of the tower has been rebuilt in brick. The moulded tower arch is sharply pointed. In the west wall, but not axial with the arch, is a good 14th-century window with a pointed arch and two ogee-headed lights. There is a blocked window in the second stage of the tower on the north side. The chancel arch was probably rebuilt in the 14th century. The responds and head are finely moulded. It has spread considerably at springing level and this may have caused the arch itself to drop, giving the unusual three-centred shape. Late in the 14th or early in the 15th century four new windows were inserted in the nave and one in the chancel. These are all square-headed externally with label moulds and head stops. Internally the arches are three- or four-centred. The tracery, which has all been replaced, was probably originally of this date and has been copied with fair accuracy. In the 15th or 16th century the roofs of the chancel and nave, which are ceiled in except for the plates and tie-beams, were renewed. In 1737 the vestry agreed that the tower should be repaired and that 'one Tarling should undertake it by the day and put up a brick buttress and restore the plaistering where it is necessary, the parish finding all materials'. The south-west buttresses may have been rebuilt in brick at this time as a result of this decision. In about 1789 the spire and part of the tower were found to be ruinous and were taken down. The upper stage of the tower, and probably the south-west buttresses, were rebuilt in red brick for some £200. The parapet is castellated and there are round-headed windows to the belfry. The octagonal spire is shingled. A general restoration of the church possibly took place in 1865, when the font and tomb of John Locke were repaired. The south porch and the vestry appear to date from this period. The porch, which is of flint with a timber superstructure, replaced a plastered porch of unknown date. The vestry, on the north side of the nave, is of flint with limestone dressings. In 1873 an organ was built in the chancel. In 1927 the chancel was altered, the choir stalls and a 19th-century stone pulpit being cleared away and the organ moved to the west end. The alterations cost £127 of which £43 was contributed by the Rhode Island Society of America. The font, which stands in the tower, dates from the middle of the 14th century. It has an octagonal bowl on each face of which is a quatrefoil panel enclosing a shield. The prayer desk in the chancel is a memorial to those killed in the First World War and the oak pulpit is of the same style and date. There is one bell in use and a small disused sanctus bell. In 1552 there were two bells in the steeple weighing about 18 cwt., two 'rogacione bells' weighing 9 lb., and a sanctus bell of 3 lb. In about 1768 there were three bells. In about 1790 the parishioners agreed that 'one large bell and a small bell or Saints Bell only shall be hung in the steeple of the church instead of three bells and that two of the said three bells shall be sold' and the money used to help defray the cost of rebuilding the steeple. In 1866 the cost of a new bell, evidently a replacement, was raised by a rate of 4d. The sanctus bell is inscribed 'XPE AUDI NOS'. It is probably of the 14th century and is one of the few remaining medieval sanctus bells in Essex. From 1657-8, or earlier, the church owned Bell Acre (1 a. 3 r.), in the north-east of the parish. The rent from this land, which was £1 a year until at least 1805, was usually spent on church repairs in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1921 the rector informed the Charity Commissioners that the rent had been applied to church expenses since before 1915. In 1945 dividends of £2 were spent in maintaining the church grounds. In 1952 the land was sold for £120. Nearly all the church plate was given by Sir Francis Masham, Bt., and his son Samuel, Lord Masham (d. 1758). It includes two silver cups, one of 1674 given by Sir Francis and one of 1735 given by Lord Masham; two silver patens, one undated but given by Sir Francis, and one of 1735 given by Lord Masham; and a silver almsdish dated 1724 and given by Lord Masham in 1735. In the chancel is a brass to Myrabyll (Mirabel), wife of Edward Sulyard (c. 1495). There are figures of a man in 15th-century armour and a woman in a fullskirted gown and a pedimented head-dress. Below are figures of four sons and one daughter and a rhymed inscription. There are floor slabs in the chancel to Sir Francis Masham (1723) and his granddaughter Elizabeth Masham (1724). On the north wall is a marble tablet to Damaris, widow of Ralph Cudworth, Master of Christ's College, Cambridge. The epitaph is thought to have been composed by John Locke. Also in the chancel are tablets to Samuel Lowe (1709), Richard Budworth (1805), and Philip Budworth (1861), rectors. In about 1835 there was in the chancel a broken brass plate bearing an imperfect inscription in ancient characters in memory of Robert Ramsey (probably died about 1436) and his wife Joan; this plate has now disappeared. Outside the south wall of the nave is the brick altar tomb of John Locke (1704). A mural tablet, originally above the tomb, was moved inside the church for preservation in 1932, the tercentenary of Locke's birth. Outside the church near the east end there are many other altar tombs, of the Budworth, Cleeve, Velley, and Masham families. There is a chapel of ease at Matching Green dedicated to ST. EDMUND. It was built in 1874 at the expense of Francis R. Miller, Vicar of Kineton (Warws.). It is of yellow brick with a small western bell-cote. It consists of a nave and chancel. In 1945 it was transferred to the ecclesiastical parish of Matching.

From: 'High Laver: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 93-95. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15576&amp;amp;strquery=high laver Date accessed: 06 February 2011.

High Laver is a village in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Harlow and 1.4 miles (2.2 km) north-west of Moreton.

When John Locke, British philosopher, died in 1704, he was buried at High Laver where he had lived, in the household of Sir Francis Masham, since 1691.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Poor Law Unions
Ongar Poor Law Union, Essex

Vestry minute-books for High Laver survive for 1657-1804 and 1863- 1943. Until 1682 vestry meetings seem to have been held only at Easter in each year. From 1682 meetings were held at Easter and Christmas. In 1739 four meetings were recorded and if a resolution of 23 April 1739 was carried out there must afterwards have been at least three meetings a year, at Easter, Michaelmas, and Christmas. In later years meetings were sometimes held at other times also. Until John Cleeve became rector in 1734 the minutes were brief and rarely signed. Only three resolutions were entered before 1735 and two of these were not signed. Only the appointment of officers and the approval of their accounts were usually recorded. Until the end of the 17th century the totals of officers' receipts and disbursements were usually entered, but from 1696 until 1735 the minutes only recorded the annual balances and sometimes omitted even this. Cleeve exercised an immediate influence on the parish records. He attended vestry meetings regularly and he wrote the minutes. Vestry resolutions were recorded regularly and were always signed by him and the parishioners present. Moreover, from 1735 it was again the practice to record the details of accounts although it did not become customary to sign them. From Cleeve's death in 1777 until 1804 the accounts continued to be minuted in the same fashion, but only once, in 1790, was a vestry resolution recorded. The number of parishioners attending vestry meetings before 1776 varied between 2 and 7 but was usually between 4 and 7 until 1745 and 2 or 3 after that date. At a vestry in 1771 it was agreed that in future anyone absenting himself from a meeting without a good excuse should be fined 6d. The next recorded vestry, in 1776, was attended by six parishioners. Only once after this, in 1790, were the minutes signed and then there were nine signatures. In the 17th and early 18th centuries the Mashams of Otes evidently took an active interest in parish affairs and attended vestry meetings. Of the five occasions on which minutes were signed before 1735, Sir Francis Masham, 3rd Bt., signed twice, in 1665 and 1667, and F. C. Masham, half brother of Samuel, 1st Lord Masham, and heir of John Locke, signed once, in 1728. Sir Francis signed before, and F. C. Masham after, the rector. When it became the practice to sign the minutes the Mashams were usually not resident in the parish and their signatures never appeared in the minutes. The owners of the capital manor seem never to have attended vestry meetings, but Abraham Thorrowgood, tenant of the estate by 1767, took an active part in parish affairs from 1764 and usually signed the minutes immediately after the rector. The main work of the vestry consisted in appointing officers and approving their accounts. It evidently became the practice, however, for the poor to take complaints to vestry meetings and for individuals to use these occasions to settle their accounts with parish officers. In 1767 it was resolved that 'for the future no business whatsoever shall be done on the day the accounts are settled but what relates to the parish business of that day only, so that the poor shall bring their complaints on the vestry immediately preceding, and all private accounts between officers and others shall be settled either before or after that day'. In 1712 it was agreed that 'Henry Marling shall have 20s. a year allowed for church clerk's wages'. In 1735 it was agreed that 'the clerk shall receive 4d. yearly of every householder that does not pay to the poor'. In 1743 it was resolved that 10s. a year should be added to the clerk's wages. There were two churchwardens in each of the years 1613 and 1614. There were also two each year from 1657 until 1698. During this period they usually served for 2-4 years consecutively. From 1698 there was only one churchwarden, who usually served for many consecutive years. Until 1672 there were two overseers each year and they usually served for two or three years consecutively. From 1672 there was only one overseer. Until 1724 it was usual to serve two years consecutively, but afterwards the overseers served for one year only. They were evidently chosen on a rota system and once, in 1802, a woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Speed, tenant of the capital manor, was appointed to serve. Constables were nominated in vestry at least from 1657. Until 1704 there were always two, each of whom usually served two years consecutively. Thereafter there was usually only one. Until 1743 this officer usually served no more than two years at a time, but after that date he usually served for at least three consecutively and sometimes much longer. Two surveyors of highways were nominated annually. From 1682, if not before, they were appointed at Christmas. The number of years served consecutively varied from one to five. Sir Francis Masham was surveyor from 1672 until 1676. Until at least 1739, and perhaps until 1743, the overseers, churchwardens, and constables were each granted separate rates for which they were directly responsible to the parish. Occasionally one officer was ordered to pay another officer's deficit out of his surplus. In the churchwarden's account of expenditure for 1692-3 there were four items, totalling 1s. 11d., 'for relief'. These items were passed only after some hesitation and it was resolved 'never to allow any reliefs hereafter paid by churchwardens'. From 1743, if not from 1739, the constables were no longer granted separate rates. Their expenditure was met by the churchwardens who included it in their account. There is no clear evidence that the surveyors accounted directly to the parish until 1743-4 when they received a separate rate for which they accounted to the vestry. From 1744 until 1747 the churchwarden, who was also one of the surveyors, included their expenditure in his accounts, but after 1747 there was always a separate surveyors' account. There was a workhouse in High Laver in 1767. In that year the vestry agreed 'that the old persons in the workhouse shall have one-quarter of what they shall earn and the other three parts shall go to the governor of the workhouse'. By 1776, however, the house had become a mere poor house where paupers were lodged rent free. It lay on the north side of the Harlow Road about ¼ mile west of the church. In 1841, when it was no longer a poorhouse and belonged to George Starkins, it was a cottage, occupied by three tenants. In most cases poor relief was given, in various forms, outside the poorhouse. In each of the years 1813-15 there were 20-22 adults on 'permanent' outdoor relief. Provision for the poor was made in various ways, including the binding out of paupers' children as apprentices, the payment of rent, and the provision of clothes. Parish apprentices were allotted on a rota system. In 1738 it was agreed that 'no poor person's rent should be paid by the parish for any time before he becomes chargeable without a special order of vestry'. In 1753 John Parsons agreed to attend the poor as apothecary and surgeon 'except midwifery and smallpox' for 3 years at 4½ guineas a year. In 1613-14 the cost of poor relief was £4 9s. In 1734-5 it was £24. It then rose sharply to a maximum of £104 in 1741-2. In 1776 it was £133 and in 1783-5 it averaged £165. In 1800-1 it reached £724, but in the next seven years never exceeded £520 and was sometimes much lower. In the remaining years of the Napoleonic war the cost averaged £582 a year and in 1816-17 it was £634. In 1836 High Laver became part of the Ongar Poor Law Union.

From: 'High Laver: Parish government and poor relief', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 95-96. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15578&amp;amp;strquery=high laver Date accessed: 06 February 2011.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Essex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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