Stondon Massey, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Stondon Massey St Peter and St Paul is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

The church of ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL consists of nave, chancel, north vestry, organ chamber and chapel, south porch, and western bell turret with spire. The nave and chancel date from about 1100, the bell turret and the porch were added in the 15th century and in the 19th century the vestry, organ chamber and chapel were added and the porch rebuilt. The walls are mainly plastered over outside but where exposed at the west end are seen to be of neatly coursed flints with lacing courses of tiles, possibly Roman. Of the original structure, apart from the walls, there remain two characteristic narrow Norman window openings (one now blocked externally) in the north side of the nave, one in the south side of the nave and one in the south wall of the chancel. The south doorway is also of that period. It has an unornamented stone surround with rough, quoined jambs and rudimentary impost blocks. A north doorway of similar date was in use until 1850 but is now blocked externally. Other features which may in part be survivals from the original building are the narrow lancetshaped window and three small circular openings in the western gable of the nave. The original chancel was probably apse-ended. Late in the 14th century a two-light traceried window was added to the south wall of the chancel and a similar window of three lights to the south wall of the nave. It was possibly at the same period that the chancel-arch was removed and the apse replaced by a square end. Early in the 15th century there were further considerable alterations, including the reconstruction of the roof, the addition of the bell turret and south porch and the insertion of a new west window. The roof (now ceiled) has heavy moulded wall plates with three king-post trusses over the nave portion. The bell turret rises from the west end of the nave and is carried on stout chamfered corner posts from the ground with ornamental bracing in which the western-most rooftruss is incorporated. Externally the bell turret is rectangular and weather-boarded with a short octagonal broach spire covered with shingles. It was rebuilt in 1888. The west window is of two lights with traceried head within a four-centered arch. The porch, which was reconstructed in the 19th century, retains one original cambered beam with plate, posts, and braces. The chancel screen dates from the late 15th century. It has five narrow bays with traceried agree arches on each side of a wider central opening with a four-centre arched head. It has been much restored, especially in the lower part. Extensive alterations and repairs were begun in 1850, soon after E. J. Reeve became rector. The lord of the manor, P. H. Meyer, and the patron, Edward Reeve, helped in the work. The roofs of the nave and chancel were covered with tiles in place of the previous slates. A vestry was added, the porch rebuilt, the north doorway walled up, a new priest's door provided in the chancel, and the east window, previously a makeshift sash, replaced by a three-light traceried window. Further extensions were made in 1873-4 as a memorial to P. H. Meyer. These included a new vestry with heating cellar beneath, an organ chamber, and a mortuary chapel. The chapel consists of two bays vaulted in stone in Early English style, with lancet and three-light traceried windows. Externally it is faced with random flint work with stone dressings and has a gable at the north end with an arched doorway and angle buttresses. The chapel is entered from the nave, from which it is divided by a glazed screen, and the organ chamber from the chancel, both through wide arches the construction of which occasioned the removal of a Norman window in the chancel. The abutment of the west wall of the chapel against the nave caused another Norman window to be blocked up. The last major repairs to the church were those of 1888, when the bell-turret and spire were rebuilt. The pulpit is octagonal and has panelled sides with arabesque ornament, and inside it is '2 TIM. 4. 2.' The reading-desk, also panelled and carved with jewel ornament, bears the date 1630. The pulpit and the desk were previously combined in three-decker fashion but were separated during the restorations of 1850. A gallery erected on the north side of the nave by Philip Hollingworth in 1825 was removed in 1850. The singers' pew at the west end of the nave was then enlarged to form a new gallery but this was in turn removed in 1873-4. There are three bells. The oldest, which was no doubt installed when the belfry was built, was made by John Bird early in the 15th century: this is the second in the peal, and is inscribed 'Johannes Cristi Care Dignare Pro Nobis Orare'. The first in the peal is by Robert Mot, 1588, and the third by Thomas Gardiner, 1737. The Bell Rope Charity, of unknown origin, consisted in 1834 of a cottage and 1 acre of land, the profits of which were intended for the purchase of bell ropes. At that date the rent of £2 2s. was carried to the churchwarden's general account. In 1842 the parish vestry agreed to let the property to William Page at £4 a year on a 21-year lease on condition that he rebuilt the cottage. At the end of that period the lord of the manor obtained the lease at an annual rent of £8, renewable each year. After his death in 1870 the property continued to be rented by the tenant of Stondon House. By a Charity Commission Scheme of 1892 the rector and churchwardens were made trustees and the trusts were declared to be the maintenance and repair of the parish church. By 1933 the cottage was in a bad state of repair and was sold with the land for £260 which was invested in stock. In 1952 the income of £8 14s. 6d. was paid into the church account. The cottage is probably that now known as Rectory Cottage, on the opposite side of the road from Stondon House. The church plate consists of a silver cup of 1564, another of 1824 given by Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Smith, a former rector, a silver patent of 1905 given by the rector E. H. L. Reeve in 1909 to match the old cup, an undated paten of silver on copper, and a silver flagon of 1885 given by Tyndale White. The font, which dates from the 15th century, is octagonal, the sides of the bowl being panelled with quatrefoils. The monuments include two notable sets of brasses. The first, in the north-eastern corner of the chancel, is to John Carre, 1570, ironmonger and Merchant Adventurer of London, and shows him flanked by his two wives, with the shields of arms of the City of London, the Ironmongers' Company and the Merchant Adventurers, and Carre's own monogram. The second, now on the north wall of the nave, was formerly in the chancel: it is to Rainold Hollingworth, 1573, and shows him in armour with his wife beside him. This is a palimpsest on earlier Flemish brasses, the patterns of which survive on the backs of the figures. There are floor slabs: in the chancel to (1) John Leigh (1650) and his son Thomas, 1685, (2) James Crooke, rector (1707), and in the nave (3) to Prosper Nicholas (1689) and his wife Mary (1702). Other monuments include a number to owners of Stondon Hall, Stondon Place, and Stondon House. One of these, a slab in the nave, gives details concerning the How and Taylor-How families, 1708-1831. Monu- ments to rectors include those to Thomas Smith (1791), E. J. Reeve (1893), and his son E. H. L. Reeve (1936). On the south wall of the nave is an enriched stone memorial in Jacobean style to William Byrd the musician (d. 1623). It was erected in 1923 to mark the tercentenary of his death. On the north wall of the nave is an oak panel in memory of men who fell in the First World War.

From: 'Stondon Massey: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 245-247. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15689&amp;amp;strquery=stondon massey Date accessed: 07 February 2011.

The village forms part of the 'Tipps Cross' ward of Brentwood Council. It also forms part of the 'Five Parishes'. These are Stondon Massey, Blackmore, Kelvedon Hatch, Navestock and Doddinghurst.

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.

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

The parish book for Stondon Massey covers the period 1711-1922 Detailed overseers' account books also survive for 1741-1801 and 1821-42. The parish vestry usually met only on Easter Monday, for the annual audit of accounts and election of officers. Before 1721 and again between 1772 and 1793 the minutes were not signed. Between 1725 and 1743 John How of Stondon Place, the lord of the manor, acted as chairman whenever he was present. Between 1743 and 1772 the rector, Thomas Smith, usually took the chair. His successor John Oldham was chairman from 1793 to 1821. After 1821 Oldham ceased to attend and there was no regular chairman. The average attendance was six parishioners, including parish officers and the chairman. In 1737 the vestry agreed to allow the parish clerk, who was also sexton, 40s. a year. The expenses of a vestry dinner were regularly included in the overseers' accounts during the second half of the 18th century. Before 1795 a distinction was usually maintained between the expenses of the church and those relating to poor relief, and separate rates were levied. It was recorded in 1737, however, that repairs to the churchyard were customarily met out of the poor rates. From 1795 the churchwarden's expenditure, after the deduction of rent received for the parish land, was usually carried over to the overseer's account and paid by the latter official 'with the consent of the rector'. A rate of 1s. in £1 produced £21 8s. in 1723. By the end of the 18th century it produced nearly £40. New assessments were made in 1822, when the rateable value of the parish was assessed at £1,425, and in 1848 when it was raised to £1,836. One churchwarden, one constable, and usually one overseer were appointed each year. Until about 1750 each overseer usually served for two consecutive years. On the rare occasions when women were nominated for this office they served by deputy. In 1798 it was agreed that the office should be held in rotation by the owners of specific properties, and the rota was entered at the end of the parish book. From 1806 the overseer was allowed a salary of 5 guineas and all expenses except those for making rates and for journeys to Ongar. In 1799 William King was paid one guinea for serving as parish constable. In 1749 the constable was authorized to erect stocks at the parish expense. These probably stood at the cross-roads near Stondon Place, where the ancient whipping-post certainly stood. The parish pound was a few yards south of the whipping-post. Expenditure on poor relief was small in the early 18th century and did not exceed £100 before 1781. The cost of medical attention for the poor was from an early date a prominent item in the annual expenses. In 1741, the first year for which detailed accounts survive, it amounted to £4 out of a total of £25 14s. In 1746 it was decided that the sanction of a parish officer or four other parishioners was necessary before the surgeon and apothecary could be summoned to attend the poor. From about 1760 the parish doctor received a regular salary. In 1833 John Potter, who had been parish doctor at least since 1822, agreed to a contract giving him £12. In the following year he accepted a less favourable contract whereby he undertook to attend all cases (instead of three, as previously) of midwifery and surgery within 3 miles of the parish, the incorporated workhouse at Stanford Rivers included, at a salary of £10. In 1794 expenditure on poor relief was £130. In that year the parish subscribed £1 6s. to the poor relief scheme of John Conyers of Epping, which was designed to reward children for knitting or spinning, and parents for rearing large families without parish relief. The peak of expenditure on poor relief was reached in 1800-1, when it was over £350. In 1801 29 persons were receiving weekly pensions totalling £4 10s. 9d. and in addition 20 of these were receiving pickled pork and potatoes valued at £2 6s. a week. The review of expenditure that produced these figures was followed by economies. Half a hundredweight of rice costing 16s. 6d. replaced the pork and potatoes and general expenditure was also reduced, its average for the next 20 years being under £250. In 1828 the parish contained 12 permanent and 67 occasional paupers out of a total population of 230. A parish poorhouse had existed in 1793; and inventory of goods there then included three spinning-wheels. The statistics of 1801 do not suggest that a poorhouse was then in use, but in 1834 the parish was renting two cottages, divided into a total of five tenements, from the trustees of Giles's Charity, for use as poorhouses. In 1829 Stondon Massey joined the voluntary poor law union under Gilbert's Act with Stanford Rivers and other neighbouring parishes. Thereafter annual expenditure on poor relief in Stondon rose by about £50 above the average of the four years previous to the union. The parish guardian of the poor succeeded to the salary previously given to the overseer. In 1836 the parish became a member of the Ongar Poor Law Union.

From: 'Stondon Massey: Parish government and poor relief', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 247-248. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15692&amp;amp;strquery=stondon massey Date accessed: 07 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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