Lambourne with Abridge, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Lambourne St Mary the Virgin is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

The parish is mostly rural and agricultural, and lies in the valley of the River Roding which forms the northern boundary of the parish. The parish is mostly hilly, rising to above 100 metres in its centre.

There is no actual village called Lambourne, however the principal settlement is the village of Abridge in the far North-West of the parish, with the other main concentration of houses at the hamlet of Lambourne End to the south. A scattering of farms and houses is found throughout the rest of the parish.

Stapleford Aerodrome is located in the east of the parish. Another aviation connection is its status as the location of LAM, a VOR navigational beacon which anchors the North East (NE) Arrival Stack for London Heathrow Airport (ICAO: EGLL / IATA: LHR), which along with Biggin Hill, Kent (BIG - SE Arrivals), Bovingdon, Hertfordshire (BNN - NW Arrivals) and Ockham, Surrey (OCK - SW Arrivals) are London's main holds.

The church of ST. MARY AND ALL SAINTS consists of nave, chancel, and west bell turret. It formerly had north and south porches. The walls are of flint rubble with stone and brick dressings and are covered externally with cement. The bell turret is timber-framed and weather-boarded and has a lead spire. The nave dates from the middle of the 12th century. It has north and south doorways which were blocked and reset in the 18th century. The south door has some of the original voussoirs to the semicircular arch. The north doorway has original scalloped capitals externally but the shafts are missing. The outer order of the opening is semicircular, enriched with chevron ornament. Below is a tympanum now resting on a wood lintel. Some of the reset stones of the tympanum are decorated with axe-cut formy crosses and similar designs. At a high level and partly behind the timber-work of the bell turret on both north and south sides are round-headed single-light 12th-century windows. Part of the internal jamb and arch of a similar window was uncovered farther east on the north side in 1951. An original chancel, built at the same time as the nave, was largely rebuilt in the 13th century. The thicker walls adjoining the nave may be the remains of the 12th-century chancel. A 13th-century blocked lancet window is visible externally on the south side. In the 14th century new windows may have been inserted in the nave and chancel. The nave roof, with its tie-beam and king-post with four-way struts, probably dates from the 15th century. Timber porches, later removed, may have been added in this or the following century. The bell-turret was probably added early in the 16th century. The timber-framing, reaching to the floor of the nave, has angle-posts, tie-beams, and curved braces. In 1704-5 the west gallery was built at the expense of William Walker of Bishops Hall. It is supported on moulded columns and is ornamented with foliage carving incorporating Walker's monogram. The panels are inscribed with a list of benefactions to the parish. A new chancel screen may have been inserted soon afterwards. The panels, which now form a dado at the back of the choir stalls, have similar foliage carving and the monogram T.T. (possibly Thomas Tooke, rector 1707-21). The church was restored and altered between 1723 and 1727. In 1726-7 about £220 was spent on this work. The renovations were inspired by Catlyn Thorogood of Dews Hall, a churchwarden. After his death in 1732 there was a dispute between the parish and his executors concerning his accounts for the period of renovation. The work included the removal of the timber porches to north and south and probably the blocking and resetting of the 12th-century doorways. A new west door was inserted, having a moulded hood on foliated brackets (dated 1726) and an oval window above it. New or altered windows were provided in the chancel and nave. At the same time the interior was decorated. The chancel arch is now three-centred, resting on voluted brackets and enriched with 18th-century plasterwork. The tie-beams across the nave and chancel are covered with moulded and enriched plaster, the mouldings being carried round the walls to form a cornice. The king-post of the nave roof has been clothed in ornamental plaster and acanthus leaves. It was probably at this time, also, that the oak reredos with its fluted Corinthian pilasters was installed, and also a three-decker pulpit and box pews. The renovation was so thorough that the interior gives the impression of a Georgian church, an effect heightened by the large number of painted hatchments and of 18th- and early 19th-century monuments. A print dated 1824 gives a good general view of the interior at this time, including the three-decker pulpit with an enriched soundingboard and the box pews. It also shows a late-18th-century monument above the altar, blocking the east window. An upper tier was added to the gallery in 1820. In 1889 a new organ was installed and a new brick organ chamber was built for it on the north of the chancel. At the same time the church was reseated, the pulpit probably lowered, and a new heating system installed. These alterations were the gift of Col. Lockwood of Bishops Hall. In 1933 a new vestry and entry were constructed under the gallery, the partitions being of oak from Bishops Hall. There is a two-light window in the vestry, on the north wall of the church. There are three bells, of 1640 by John Clifton, of 1684 by James Bartlet, and of 1784 by William Mears. In 1552 there were three bells, breadth 24 in., 20 in., and 21 in., and also two little handbells and a sacring bell. The Bartlet bell was installed in obedience to the direction of the archdeacon at his visitation of 1683. The glass in the south windows of the chancel was installed in 1817, having been brought from Basle. The subjects are as follows: the Choice between Good and Evil, dated 1630; the Adoration of the Magi, dated 1637; the Incredulity of St. Thomas (with the Annunciation in the spandrels) dated 1623; Christ and St. Peter on the sea (with the Apocalyptic Vision in the spandrels) dated 1631; the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Virgin and Child and St. Anne and the Virgin and Child (with St. Christopher and a female saint in the spandrels) dated 1631. The inscriptions are in German. The glass in the east window, representing the Adoration of the Shepherds, was presented in memory of Lord Lambourne (d. 1928). During repairs in 1951 part of a wall-painting of St. Christopher was uncovered between the windows on the south side of the nave. It is thought by Mr. Clive Rouse to be of the 15th or early 16th century and to show traces below of an earlier painting of the same subject. At the same time painted red and yellow strapwork was uncovered farther west. This formed a frame for texts and is of post-Reformation date. The pulpit in oak is four sides of an octagon. The panels are enriched with carved arcading dating from the 16th or early 17th century. This was probably incorporated in the 18th-century three-decker pulpit and retained when the pulpit was lowered in the 19th century. The base is probably part of one of the lower tiers of the three-decker. The font has an 18th-century marble bowl on a tall moulded stone base. The plate consists of a communion cup of 1559, a plain silver paten of 1703 presented by John Wroth, a silver flagon of 1736 presented by Richard Lockwood, and a silver alms dish of 1817. In 1552 the commissioners found at Lambourne a chalice weighing 170z. They delivered for divine service an 8 oz. chalice, of silver parcel gilt. At his visitation of 1683 the archdeacon directed that a bible of the new translation should be provided. This suggests that the Great Bible was still in use at Lambourne more than 70 years after the publication of the Authorized Version. In the chancel is a brass to Robert Barfott (1546) and Katheryn his wife. It has figures of a man and woman together with a group of five sons and another of four sons and ten daughters, also the arms of the Mercers' Company and a merchant's mark. Also in the chancel is a black and white marble tablet with a broken pediment and three shields of arms to Thomas Wynnyff (1654) (see above). On the south wall of the chancel is a tablet with shield of arms and Latin inscription to Thomas Tooke, rector (1721). There are also other tablets to later members of the Tooke family who were rectors. Both in the chancel and nave are many memorials to members of the Lockwood family. Richard Lockwood, the Turkey merchant who bought Dews Hall, is commemorated by a white marble tablet with an urn, broken pediment, garlands, and shield of arms. On the wall of the nave is a tablet in memory of Capt. George Lockwood, killed at Balaclava in 1854. There are floor slabs in the chancel to John Wynnyff (1630), father of Thomas, to Robert Bromfield (1647), and members of his family. In the churchyard are the tombs of Admiral Sir Edward Hughes (1794), his wife, and his two stepsons. The church of THE HOLY TRINITY, Abridge, was built in 1836 as a chapel of ease to the parish church. It was then a plain rectangular building with lancet windows along the sides and was of gault brick with red brick dressings. The gabled street front dates from 1877. A new chancel and vestries were added in 1938.

From: 'Lambourne: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 81-83. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15569&amp;amp;strquery=lambourne essex Date accessed: 06 February 2011.

Lambourne is a civil parishwhich for local administration purposes is in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is located approximately 4.5 miles (7 km) South of Epping and 5 miles (8 km) North-West of Romford, it is situated entirely within the M25 motorway.

Abridge is a village in Essex, England. It is on the River Roding, 16 miles (26 km) southwest of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the district of Epping Forest and in the parliamentary constituency of Brentwood &amp; Ongar. It is part of the civil parish of Lambourne and is served by Lambourne Parish Council.

It takes its name from the brick bridge over the River Roding, which is situated just to the north of the modern centre, on the road to Theydon Bois.

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

Vestry minute-books for Lambourne survive for the periods 1671-1764 and 1810-45. Before 1733 the vestry usually met only at the two appointed times for the election of officers, but these meetings were well attended, there being often ten and sometimes as many as fourteen present. In November 1733 it was resolved to hold a vestry on the first Sunday in every month. This resolution was not fully carried out, but for the next fifteen years meetings were frequent and well attended and a strict control was maintained by the vestry over all sides of parish government. Between 1810 and 1826 four or five meetings were held each year. John Tooke, rector 1721-64, often attended after 1733. Richard Lockwood of Dews Hall often attended between 1736 and 1747 and he or the rector presided over the vestry when present. A dinner was usually held in conjunction with the Easter vestry at one of the public houses in Abridge; the expenses were charged to the churchwarden's accounts. A vestry clerk was appointed in 1745 at an annual salary of 1½ guinea; the person then appointed signed the minutes as clerk. In 1826 a public vestry resolved unanimously to adopt the second Sturges Bourne Act (59 Geo. III, c. 12) and set up a select vestry. Fifteen members were elected with the addition of the rector, Robert Sutcliffe, as chairman, and the parish officers. The select vestry functioned until May 1836, fortnightly meetings being held in the workhouse during the whole period. Poor relief and the management of the workhouse were its main concern. Public vestries were still held occasionally to deal with general matters and to appoint fresh select vestries at intervals of one or two years. The lord of the manor, Edward Lockwood Percival, and the curate, Morgan Lewis, were usually among those appointed to the select vestry, and either one of them or of the churchwardens presided. In 1723 a rate of 1s. in the £1 produced almost £69. This was a general rate levied by the overseers, out of which they paid the accounts of the other parish officers. In 1716 deficiencies in the surveyors' and constable's accounts were met out of the churchwardens' and overseers' accounts and the final balance of 8s. 7d. was spent at the vestry. In 1807 a rate of 1s. in the £1 produced over £90. The parish was surveyed in 1827 by James Thompson and a new valuation made. The rateable value was then over £3,200. A public vestry fixed the scale of rates per acre and according to different qualities of arable, pasture, and woodland. In 1837, under direction from the Poor Law Commissioners, the rateable values were raised by 25 per cent. Relations between the vestry and its officers were not always harmonious. The dispute with the executors of a former churchwarden is mentioned above. In 1737 the constable's absence from the vestry was the subject of complaint, and there were other occasions when officers were censured. It is possible that this disharmony was caused by a conflict of interests between the shopkeepers of Abridge and the farmers of the parish. The normal parish officers were appointed until 1831, when a salaried assistant overseer was appointed at £5 a year. Women were chosen as overseers in 1730 and 1737 and both served. The son of the earlier overseer, however, attended the vestry and signed on her behalf. The constables elected in 1676 were described as being for the 'townside or leite and for the end' (i.e. Abridge and Lambourne End). In 1678 the former was succeeded by the constable for the manor of St. John's with a colleague for the 'Countess of Warwick's leet'. (fn. 45) An ale-conner was appointed in 1685, an assessor of land-tax in 1752, and a reeve in 1826 and 1828, all by the parish vestry. There were stocks at Abridge in 1585, when a vagrant was reported to have escaped from them. In 1728 it was decided to build a parish cage at Abridge with the timber recently removed from the church porches. In 1841 the parish pound stood about ½ mile south of Abridge to the west of Hoe Lane. (fn. 48) In 1832 some labourers were paid 3s. for working the fire-engine. In 1589 the parishioners subscribed towards the building of a cottage for the poor and petitioned Quarter Sessions for permission to erect it without the statutory 4 acres of land. During the early 18th century the parish cottages at Abridge were sometimes used to accommodate the poor, but they were not very satisfactory for this purpose. Plans to convert them into a workhouse were rejected in 1738 and again in 1828. In 1742 three houses in 'the Alley' at Abridge were leased by the parish at £4 10s. a year, and in 1748 a house called 'The Old Crown' was leased for use as a poorhouse at £10 a year. The repair and extension of Church House at Lambourne End, about 1810, were for the purpose of housing the parish poor, and this house remained in use as a workhouse until the formation of the Ongar Union. An Epping surgeon and an apothecary were paid for attending the poor and supplying medicine in 1748, and a midwife received 5s. in 1723 for delivering a bastard child, but it was only from 1810 that regular medical contracts were made for the treatment of the poor. In that year a parish doctor was employed at a salary of 14 guineas. This included all inoculations and attendance at two childbirths, but other childbirths and surgical treatment were excluded, as well as travelling expenses outside the parish. Between 1824 and 1834 further agreements on similar lines were recorded, the appointments usually being reviewed each year. The annual amounts raised by the poor rates in the 18th century were only irregularly recorded, but by the middle of that century the overseers' expenditure was usually over £100 a year. The vestry was fairly strict with its poor. On several occasions individuals and families were moved around, presumably to make the best use of existing accommodation. Orders for badging the poor were issued, chiefly between 1729 and 1745, but once as late as 1825. In 1831 a woman was ordered to wean her child. The policy of the vestry was not, however, merely repressive. In 1743 a silk thrower was brought down from London to instruct the poor in winding silk, and others who were not receiving relief were encouraged by financial assistance to be similarly employed. In 1832 and 1833 several pieces of land, some given by E. Lockwood Percival, the lord of the manor, were acquired for giving employment to the poor. As elsewhere the cost of poor relief mounted steeply after 1780. Over £840 was raised by rates in 1800-1, and this rose to £923 in 1806-7. Between 1810 and 1826 a number of agreements with workhouse masters were recorded. The first of these was for a lump sum, but all the others were on a capitation basis, the tenders varying from 2s. 4d. to 5s. 6d. a head a week. The terms always included an allowance for fuel and an additional allowance for material and the master was allowed to retain all profits. After 1826 the select vestry brought the management of the workhouse more closely under parish control by ensuring that all profits went to the parish. The master's subsequent offer to revert to the old system was rejected. Contracts for the supply of food and other goods for the workhouse were reviewed every six months and a high standard of quality was always required. In 1833 the cheese and soap were sent back to a new contractor as unfit for use and a sample was sent to show the quality required. In 1836 Lambourne became part of the Ongar Poor Law Union.

From: 'Lambourne: Parish government and poor relief', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 84-85. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15571&amp;amp;strquery=lambourne essex 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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